Xiang'er's palms flew, using fists or palms, fingers or claws. Her moves were ancient and sharp, as swift as lightning, and every strike contained the power to shatter mountains and rocks, carrying a sharp sound that could tear through everything. Diao Zeyi resisted hurriedly, his arms shaking with pain and his blood surging. He only had the power to defend and no strength to strike back. His robes were torn in many places and his hair bun was messy, losing all the arrogance of a Foundation Establishment expert.
"Maiden, show mercy, show mercy!" Diao Zeyi was terrified. He no longer cared about his face or status. While barely resisting, he cried out for mercy, "This one was blind to offend the Maiden's tiger-like majesty, please, Maiden, stay your hand and spare my life, today's matter was entirely a misunderstanding, we were blinded by greed, please, Maiden, stop. We will leave immediately and flee thousands of miles away, never to be an enemy of the Maiden again!"
Xiang'er's face was cold and stern, like ice that would not melt for ten thousand years. She was deaf to his pleas and promises, and the killing intent in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest. Her offensive became even more frantic, palm winds whistling and bringing afterimages, the sound of Spirit Power air explosions never-ending, forcing Diao Zeyi into a life-threatening situation where he was barely managing, and several more blood marks were added to his body.
In the blink of an eye, Diao Zeyi was forced under a mountain wall with no way to retreat! Behind him was cold hard rock, and in front was Xiang'er's fatal move. A trace of desperate madness and ruthlessness flashed in his eyes!
"Bitch, you go too far, you really think this old man is afraid of you, I'll fight you to the end!" Diao Zeyi roared, his face distorted by extreme anger and fear. He suddenly slapped his own chest, forcing out a large mouthful of lifeblood and spraying it onto his palms. His surrounding aura suddenly surged, and the originally emerald-mist Spirit Power instantly transformed into a strange and eerie blood-ink color, his palms pushing forward violently! The palm wind carried a nauseating smell of blood and decay, and the Foundation Establishment qi erupted completely.
" — Long Vine Technique!"
A huge ink-colored palm print entwined with viscous blood-colored markings, carrying a decaying death qi that could corrode living beings and annihilate vitality, pressed toward Xiang'er like a foul wind from the abyss! This was Diao Zeyi's Life-Wagering Secret Technique, at the cost of consuming his own lifespan, to forcefully raise his cultivation to near Mid Foundation Establishment for a short time. Its power was startling!
Xiang'er's gaze narrowed slightly, yet she showed no intention of retreating. Amidst her flying white hair, the Black Qi Mist Spirit Power on her jade palm condensed to the limit, as if she were holding a jet-black moon, and she fearlessly met the attack! Wherever the palm wind passed, the air seemed to be frozen.
"Boom—!!!"
At the junction of the palms, a deafening sound erupted like a bolt from the blue! A visible ring-shaped shockwave violently spread out, stirring up dust and crushed stones and forming a short vacuum zone. Within several yards, the ground sank by more than a foot! The Spirit Power gale was piercing and blinding. Pure Black Qi Thread and foul blood-ink colors collided intensely, eroding each other and letting out a tooth-aching "hissing" sound, like cold water dripping into boiling oil.
The two figures were stalled in mid-air, their Spirit Power frantically consuming each other, waves of qi sweeping outward with them as the center. Diao Zeyi's face was as hideous as a demon, with fine bloodlines already seeping from his face, and his bones let out an unbearable creaking sound, clearly reaching his limit and only supported by a surge of ruthlessness. Xiang'er's face was as cold as frost, her palm power seemingly endless, and the pure Black Qi Thread gradually suppressed the foul blood-ink color, looking as if they were about to completely crush it!
At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Xiang'er's delicate body shook violently, and an abnormally demonic blush instantly surged onto her face, which then quickly turned as pale as death! Her majestic and stable Foundation Establishment Spirit Pressure Collapse occurred, and her aura fell! Her head of white hair lost its luster, and the sharp spirit in her eyes also quickly dimmed and dissipated like a receding tide. Her violent offensive suddenly stalled, and her palm power instantly weakened by more than half!
"Haha... Hahaha... Heaven helps me, Heaven helps me!" Diao Zeyi was stunned for a moment, then reacted, his face revealing a look of wild joy and distortion. Although he was also heavily injured and his Spirit Power consumption was huge, seeing Xiang'er's aura plummeting like an avalanche, how could he let go of this god-given opportunity? He immediately disregarded his injuries and frantically boosted all the remaining Spirit Power in his body. The blood-ink palm print that had been suppressed once again shone brightly, with foul death qi churning, intending to take the opportunity to counterattack and completely crush Xiang'er, who was at the end of her rope!
"Roar—!" Xiang'er let out an unwilling, indignant cry filled with endless pain and struggle. The sound was extremely tragic, like the mournful cry of a cuckoo, shaking the wilderness and making those who heard it tremble. She forced out one last bit of Spirit Power that was about to dissipate, disregarding the sharp pain of her meridians being about to snap, and a dim yet still stubborn Black Qi Mist Spirit Power barely condensed on her right palm once again. Using all her remaining strength, with a tragic momentum of dying together with the enemy, she struck forward fiercely once more!
"Bang!"
That palm hit Diao Zeyi's chest directly. The air exploded, and Diao Zeyi's body was sent flying, crashing through the rocks behind him and falling heavily to the ground, rolling several yards before barely stopping. Diao Zeyi could be seen with blood marks overflowed, slumped on the ground with a face as sallow as gold paper, unable to climb up for a while.
[Illustration ↓]
https://i.postimg.cc/rFrj6Y4K/Q0012F1.jpg
And Xiang'er, after striking out this world-shaking palm that consumed everything, also had blood marks overflow from her mouth. Her surrounding aura plummeted rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, she had fallen to the weak state of Qi Refinement Level 3–4, even more feeble, like a candle in the wind. She knelt on one knee, supporting herself on the ground with her hand, her nails sinking deep into the mud to barely keep from falling over immediately. A head of piercing white hair fell down, limply hanging and covering her face that had aged decades in an instant and was covered with wrinkles and deathly stillness.
Xiang'er raised her head with difficulty and extremely slowly. Her gaze pierced through the drifting dust to look at Lin Dalu who was not far away, still unconscious but with the vines removed. Those eyes that were once as bright as autumn water were now filled with endless indignation, helplessness, deep-seated attachment, and a trace of unspeakable... despair. "Why... why must it be at this time..." Her voice was hoarse and dry, like an old bellows, carrying continuously overflowing blood foam and filled with the desolation of the unfairness of the Heavenly Dao and the mockery of fate. She used her trembling hand to touch her neck under the white hair.
"This... is..." She lowered her head... the Black Qi Mist gradually faded, and the remaining Spirit Power in her body slowly dissipated.
"Ah—!"
A cry of mourning that was extremely tragic and seemed to tear the sky suddenly burst from Xiang'er's throat. It shattered the silence of the valley and seemed to want to break through this night sky that was as thick as ink, and to scatter the clouds covering the moon, filled with tragedy and unwillingness.
[Illustration ↓]
https://i.postimg.cc/KvMfXsT1/Q0012G.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/VLCgyHtS/Q0012H.jpg
The surrounding vegetation and sand exploded, the clouds churned, and the moonlight broke through the clouds, silver-white light pouring down and plating Xiang'er's figure in cold light. She stood there silently, her white hair dancing like snow but seemingly no longer possessing vitality. That originally peerless face was now grey and defeated, like withered wood and cold ash. Her robes trembled slightly, and her eyes were dead. At that moment, her Spirit Power was exhausted, the mountain wind whistled, and branches and leaves flew, as if ten thousand people were crying together,
Far away, where the vines had all shattered, Lin Dalu supported himself with his elbows and rose tremblingly. Hearing the sound, he suddenly raised his head and looked toward that tragic cry. Xiang'er's dim, aged, and withered appearance under the moonlight was like an ice pick piercing through his heart, fiercely stabbing into his soul! Panic, pain, and pity were interlaced in his eyes. He wanted to call her name but was speechless.
At this moment, all was silent, as if heaven and earth had also lost their voice for this tragic scene. Within a hundred yards, only the figure with white hair fluttering under the moonlight remained, and her cry of mourning just now echoed. In Lin Dalu's blurred vision occupied by blood and tears, all things in heaven and earth had faded and were lonely and empty, leaving only that one figure, withering for him, her life force exhausted for him, so clear yet so cruel, branded into the depths of Lin Dalu's soul.
Xiang'er murmured softly, "For him... I... have no regrets."
Then, her figure swayed and fell to the ground, her Spirit Power dissipating, leaving only a wisp of residual light slowly being extinguished in the night,
However, the Life-Time Heaven Brand on her chest was still faintly flashing.
——(End of Chapter)