Chapter 102: Dead End

“Eh…eh…”

Old Bell Bright, hearing that, showed a strange, hard-to-read expression and watched Lin Hao before him with interest. After two soft clicks of his tongue, a flash of nostalgia crossed his old eyes. In a dry, aged voice he said, “Decades ago, during the great sect war, a major fiend tore at my Dao foundation. In this life, I can only reach the peak of Foundation Establishment. I can never force my way into Core Formation.”

“A demon-holding body! Your appearance has given this old man hope,” he said, and in an instant his eyes flashed with fierce greed. His body shivered as if by itself, and an excited breath slipped out. “Your nature itself contains demon qi from birth. As long as enough demon cores are gathered and condensed to the right degree, you can break through on your own. In time you can even condense a Demon Foundation. If I can temper your foundation platform, the spiritual injury in my body will surely mend by itself!”

“Is that so…?” Lin Hao exhaled softly. His crimson pupils dimmed with a trace of sorrow, and when he glanced at the Heaven-Slaying Blade in his hand, his expression twisted into a sudden, ruthless ferocity.

“Frostbite!”

At his hoarse cry, the dark mood in his eyes vanished. He clenched down the pain caused by the havoc of ruinous force inside him, and a cold, decisive will spread across his face. He took two of the Spirit-Immortal Steps, and an entire storm of pressure surged outward. Frost-breath gathered in endless thickness, and a sheen of white frost appeared across the Heaven-Slaying Battle Blade. With his Inching-Step compression, he struck at Bell Bright at once.

“Interesting…”

Bell Bright looked at Lin Hao’s battered figure and frowned with gravity. The shadowy force returned, and again he sent a palm crashing toward Lin Hao’s back.

“Die!”

Lin Hao did not waver. His gaze remained as cold and unsparing as before; his eyes held no less madness. In a burst, he took three Spirit-Immortal Steps. A rippling illusion power flared around him, and in an instant he appeared at Bell Bright’s side.

“You truly bear this art!”

Bell Bright’s eyes widened in astonishment. A towering wave of mortal panic rose in his chest, and he roared a surge of mature Foundation power, sweeping it toward Lin Hao.

“Die!”

Feeling that feral strength, Lin Hao did not retreat in the least; he surged forward, and the Heaven-Slaying Blade, radiating endless keenness, came down toward Bell Bright in one stroke.

“Abomination!”

When Bell Bright saw such a desperate assault from Lin Hao, panic flashed in his eyes, then fury. He dodged the fatal arc in haste, spun, and with one hand drew up a colossal force of spirit power, hurling a single palm at him.

“Pshh…”

“Thud!”

A tearing sound of flesh followed, then a heavy, muted impact. In that brief exchange, Bell Bright lost an arm to the cut, and Lin Hao crashed down hard to the ground. Blood he spat from his mouth was mixed with bits of flesh. Bell Bright’s strike had already shattered his internal organs.

At this moment, Lin Hao stood at his most perilous. Every wound he had received here was the worst he had ever sustained since entering the cultivation world. It was no mere matter of strength; even if fortune itself dropped from heaven now and he broke through to mid-Foundation Instantiation in an instant, these injuries still left him no chance against Bell Bright.

“Wretched beast! You dare sever my arm—now you die by my hand!”

Bell Bright, too, was in agony. Lin Hao’s Heaven-Slaying strike had torn away most of his left arm, and blood had already dyed his floating white Dao robe a deep red. His face contorted into a cruel snarl. Boundless hatred gathered in his eyes as he lashed out with overwhelming force toward Lin Hao.

“Hah…”

Even as that crushing pressure descended like a skyfall, Lin Hao’s gaze stayed cold. He gave a slight grin and, with a faintly mournful look, let the Heaven-Slaying Blade in his hand suddenly become a streak of light, spearing toward Bell Bright.

What felt like a long exchange had happened in a few heartbeats—from Bell Bright losing an arm to Lin Hao turning the Blade into a bolt of light.

“Boom!”

A blast split the air. Lin Hao was flung backward across a great distance. The Heaven-Slaying Blade, reaching near Bell Bright, was halted by a sudden black-clad woman who appeared in an instant, her blade descending in savage fury to his neck.

“Demon-fiend!!!”

Bell Bright’s entire state snapped like a sprung wire. A wave of death-prayer panic rose from his gut. He shouted in anger and unleashed something unknown; the half-severed arm exploded apart, his form blurred, and in a most perilous instant he dodged that black-clad woman’s cut, then answered with an avalanche of feral force, hurling a palm at her.

That black-clad woman was sent flying backward, and at last once again became a ribbon of light that flowed into Lin Hao’s body. Bell Bright had already been unhinged in spirit; he never imagined that a Lin Hao barely at Foundation stage could be so hard to kill.

“Lin Hao, Lin Hao…you truly open my eyes,” he said, glaring at the distant, faintly breathing form of Lin Hao. Hatred did not hide in his face as he stalked toward him.

“Do you really think you can do this and not fear censure from the Master of the Heavenly-Mystery Sect?” A cold, detached voice interrupted him.

Bell Bright looked over. A white-robed figure stood there, sharp eyes like drawn blades, a flask hanging at his waist, staring coldly. It was Bai Chou.

At the sight of him, Bell Bright gave a flicker of contempt and said slowly, “When I breach Core Formation, I shall not care about this person at all. Besides, this place is already warded by formations laid long ago. As for you—since you have come, you may as well stay.”

No sooner had he spoken than Bell Bright surged forward, all his force lurching toward Bai Chou in an attack.

“After I slay him, I will take you away.”

Bai Chou cast one glance at the half-collapsed Lin Hao not far off and replied.

With a violent surge of force around him, he unleashed an astonishing wave of thunder. A formidable suit of thunder armor wrapped him in a flash, exuding an aura like the peak of late Foundation Establishment.

“Heaven-Slayer…go…help him…”

Lin Hao, seeing that overwhelming presence, sent a faint thought outward and steadied himself. He began quietly circulating inner qi, constantly mending his internal damage.

This injury was too severe. Even when he fought Chen Ping before, he had never suffered such harm. His five vital organs were displaced, badly damaged; a power of destruction had been running through him unceasingly. Even though the seed of the Undying Asura Scripture had shattered and transformed within him into a fierce restorative force, it still could not, in short order, neutralize that destructive torrent.

Together with Bell Bright’s several killing techniques, this was, for Lin Hao, the very brink of despair. Good that Bai Chou arrived in time; without him, there would have been not a whisper of hope. Yet even with Bai Chou at the peak of mid-stage Foundation power, the danger was not removed. The divide between mid Foundation and late Foundation is already a chasm, and the gulf between late Foundation and completion is like heaven and earth.

Only someone like Ji Tianya—one of those clan prodigies trained from childhood in law-defying arts, with an unshakeable foundation—could leap beyond the boundary and carve down foes in such a place. Bai Chou’s power was not overwhelmingly strong. Even with the Heaven-Slaying Blade’s aid, it was but drinking poison to quench thirst. In the end, both of them would surely be cut down by Bell Bright.

“There is no way out…only…to gamble with death,” Lin Hao muttered inwardly. As his inner qi churned violently, the purple tinge of his Dao foundation was mostly replaced by red demon intent. A wild, violent aura flickered up, as if something was about to be forged inside him.

“White-clan boy, do you truly look exactly like your sister? If that is all, then you may share the same fate,” Bell Bright called out from above, smirking, his words sharp with ridicule.

“Seek death!”

At these words, Bai Chou’s eyes filled with red veins. Though he had been badly hurt from their earlier exchange, rage surged through him at once. A murderous light sparked in his gaze as endless lightning surged over the Heaven-Slaying Long Sword in his hand, and he struck toward Bell Bright.

“Your arts are not bad—too bad… Shadow River!”

Seeing the terrible lightning hurtling at him, Bell Bright’s eyes flashed with murderous intent. He roared, and from him gathered a cold, ominous force that instantly became a phantom river, crashing straight into the vengeful thunder.

“Boom!!!”

With a booming crack, Bai Chou’s fierce thunderburst shattered, splintering outward into the ground in all directions. Even he was flung back by the impact, blood spurting from his form like a ripped kite line snapping.

“Supreme Yin! Falling-Heart Palm!”

Bell Bright laughed coldly, eyes gleaming with killing intent, and lunged to pursue.

“I’ve waited for you a long time… a blood sacrifice,” he said.

As Bell Bright was moments away from cutting him down, Bai Chou’s eyes suddenly flashed with ultimate ferocity. A cruel smile touched her lips. As her blood-heat withered rapidly, a layer of extreme bitter frost and snow spread over the Heaven-Slayer. In a twisting burst, she drove a thrust straight for Bell Bright’s dantian, putting everything into it, as if to cut him dead.

“Demon-fiend!”

Bell Bright felt the boundless, bleak will radiating from her blade. He shouted in anger, and his aura turned intensely illusory. Echoing images of himself overlaid his form, and Bai Chou’s stroke landed at that instant.

“Die!”

An old, ragged howl tore from him. Bai Chou’s form crashed hard into the earth. Bell Bright’s stacked apparitions dissolved at once, and he spat a mouthful of freezing blood. When that blood struck the ground, the place instantly breathed out endless cold, and frost spread.

“Demon-fiend! Demon-fiend!!!”

His aura fell rapidly, confusion flashing in his eyes. He had dodged a vital opening only moments ago, but the cold had already entered his foundation, worsening the injury in his already damaged Dao base. His spiritual breath dropped in a single avalanche: late Foundation, middle Foundation, initial Foundation, and even to half a step to Foundation.

Bai Chou, too, did not fare well. The secret technique he had just used had consumed vast living energy; then with a weakened body he had endured Bell Bright’s full blow. His once-black hair had already begun to turn white; his whole body churned like a torrent, and after vomiting blood several times he collapsed to the ground, nearly spent.

“Little brute…”

Bell Bright stared at the two fallen figures. His face was deeply shadowed, and his rasping voice came like a wailing spirit from the underworld. Hatred flickered in his gaze. He reached into his storage pouch and drew out a long knife, then, despite the heart-splitting pain gnawing through him, he strode forward slowly.

“Die.”

He brought the long knife down toward Bai Chou.

“Nhinn!”

A humming clash of metal rang out. His knife was suddenly flung from his hand, and he was struck backward several steps by the impact. Shocked, he stood frozen, eyes wide.

A black-clad woman suddenly appeared at Bai Chou’s side, wielding an impossibly fierce weapon.

The Heaven-Slayer.

And at the same time, not far away, Lin Hao swayed and managed to stand. Seeing that Bai Chou had no grave injury beyond fainting, his breath eased a little, and a blade of killing intent cut across his eyes as he smiled cruelly at Bell Bright, whose face had gone white with astonishment.

“So much plotting and calculation—your Dao foundation is half-broken. It is time for you to leave this path.”

That cruel smile hardened as his voice, like judgment from a buried abyss, drifted out. The Heaven-Slayer in his hand transformed into a ravening battle saber. He took two Spirit-Immortal Steps and, with a spurt of blood from his mouth, gritted through the crushing pain coursing through him and stepped instantly to Bell Bright’s front. He struck with the Heaven-Slayer, pouring endless sharpness into the cut.

“Pchh…”

A sound of torn flesh came again. A savage wound split Bell Bright’s chest, and a rush of blood burst forth. When it was done, Lin Hao seemed to have spent his last grain of strength and toppled straight to the ground.

Lin Hao had already been grievously wounded. On that final edge, he had forced a technique that drew heavenly spirit-force into himself; after it ended he lost all power and lay struggling for breath. The restorative force born of the shattered Undying Asura Script seed kept churning inside him, slowly repairing his body.

One could sense that his Dao foundation had now become entirely red, with violet threads in the blood-red glow, and a strange, uncanny aura streamed from him that was far from ordinary.

“Junior fellow disciple Lin, it has been many days—your brilliance remains intact,” said a gentle voice.

Lin Hao’s heart, which had just begun to settle, lurched tight. He looked up. The newcomer walked toward him in white robes, handsome and composed, each movement carrying a gentle kindness. A pure, heavenly glow floated from him.

It was Chen Ping—the very man he had cut down months ago.

“Chen…Ping,” Lin Hao said, his face darkening, voice faint and rough. He had truly broken that man’s Dao foundation and killed him. Yet now Chen Ping stood alive before him. Such a strange event, to appear in front of him now.

“I know this must perplex you greatly,” Chen Ping said with the same calm, jade-like gentleness as always, smiling slightly.

“In Chuling there has long been a secret art from time immemorial...”