Chapter 39: Congratulations on the completion of the task.
Chi Hou couldn't seal the void rift and felt his consciousness becoming fainter and fainter. His condition was so severe that it was impossible for him to seal the void with the Jiulu Xuantian Formation. He also vaguely started to feel the power of Heavenly Dao from that gap.
Less than a minute later, the formation fully collapsed. The ground shook hundred times stronger than before, as if a ten-level earthquake had hit. The walls of both sides of the hall were cracked and countless big and small debris fell from the roof. But before they could hit the ground, they were all sucked into the black hole-like gap.
The Chaos Qi that was dispersed by Shi Xia's spiritual energy began to run rampant again. The black and white energy began to run more violently than before. As if it could see, they flew wildly everywhere as far as the eye could see.
Chi Hou felt more pain the more time passed. Thin beads of sweats began to drop from his forehead as he was struggling to surpass the haywire Qi in his body. Blood was pouring from his mouth like water.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't scare me, what is going on?"
Shi Xia panicked as she held his hand and asked in a shaky voice.
A powerful force came from the hexagonal gap in the air, as if a black hole had opened. The ice on the ground and the debris of the walls, everything began to fly towards the black hole and being sucked inside, never to see again.
The hole was like a greedy taotie*, devouring everything within a circle of more than ten meters. The floor tiles flew up layer by layer like a solitaire game and headed toward the gap with rapid speed. Seeing the tiles under their feet also begin to loosen, Shi Xia screamed.
[T/N: Taotie is a motif depicting a gluttonous ogre, commonly found on Chinese ritual bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou Dynasty. For more information, click here.]
"Run!"
Shi Xia was shocked, pulling up Chi Hou, she hurriedly ran towards the exit. But she was slow because of carrying Chi Hou. Suddenly, she felt her body becoming light and a powerful force coming from behind. Her feet left the ground as she felt her body flying backwards.
"Benefactor!" Long Aotian had quick eyes and hands. Pulling her hand, he wanted to pull her towards himself. But the force was so powerful that he himself was sent flying with Shi Xia.
Chi Hou used his last bits of energy and conjured up a vine from the ground in time before wrapping it around Long Aotian's feet. The two of them, Shi Xia and him, were still flying in the air. He quickly formed a formation to hold themselves in one place.
For a while, the three were floating in the air like strips of cloth fluttering in the wind.
All the stones on the ground flew towards the black hole and got sucked in. Because they could not move, the flying stones, piece by piece, pounced on their heads and faces. Long Aotian was standing on the ground and was bigger in size, so all the debris smashed on him.
Poof ……
Long Aotian was directly smashed with a big debris and immediately threw a mouthful of blood on Shi Xia's face.
"Long Aotian!"
Even after being hurt, he still didn't dare to let go of her hand. He began to tug her hard, even after feeling one of his hands had dislocated at the powerful force.
"Benefactor, hold on tight!" He gritted his teeth and held Shi Xia's hand. Reaching out, he used his other hand to pull her towards him.
Shi Xia was about to reach her other hand but she saw a surprising scene when she turned around. Several vines were seen leaving Chi Hou's body and pulling them back. Many wounds suddenly appeared on his body, and his white face immediately became bloody red as his red clothes became redder.
"Chi Hou!" Shi Xia was startled.
Chi Hou raised his head to look at her. Lifting the corners of his mouth, he tried to assure her, "Don't be afraid, Brother …… Brother will come to save you."
Save my ass! You yourself are so injured? Why did so many wounds suddenly appear on his body? He was fine just a moment ago.
Could it be …… Chaos Qi!
Kong Yang said that Chaos Qi can devour all spiritual things. The higher the cultivation level, the greater the backlash. Chi Hou's current body is at the stage of Golden Pill, and his divine sense is at least the stage of God Transformation.
With how rampant Chaos Qi was running around, if this continues he will become the same as the old man who fell from the cliff.
Shi Xia was anxious and began to think how they could save themselves from the current situation. Even though Chi Hou was at the verge of collapse, he was using every bit of energy to try to pull her back .
Why is it that all the brothers are too careless? What should I do? What should I do?
"Benefactor, please stop moving around, you will get dragged in!" Caught in the middle of the two of them, Long Aotian wanted to cry, "that hole looks palm-sized, but the power is amazing. I just saw a large stone flying over and getting sucked in. If we don't find a way to escape, once we fall in, it's over."
"What do you mean?!" Shi Xia froze.
"I said the hole cannot be mend."
"Mend …… fix!" A flash of light flashed in Shi Xia's mind, something was instantly connected. The content of the task on the phone, to complete the task …… could it be referring to this hole! But how can she close it?
Long Aotian was right, the hole was hexagonal and looked small, but ……
Wait!
Hexagonal shaped star ……
She suddenly remembered the ‘Secret Book of Mixed Elements' that was sucked in by the phone! She hastily pulled out the phone at her side, opened the item bar on the app, and saw a hexagonal badge floating out from the phone. The shape was exactly the same as that black hole, except that it was smaller than the original one.
"I know what's going on. Long Aotian, get off me."
"Huh?!" Long Aotian was dumbfounded, "If I let go, you'll be sucked in."
"No time to explain, let go." Shi Xia was impatient and shook off his hand with force.
"Benefactor ……"
Her body became light, and the whole person flew toward the black hole. Seeing the right moment, she picked the hexagonal badge in the phone and threw it towards that black hole. With a click, the badge instantly expanded, and became as exactly as the one floating in the air and set itself on the gap. The black hole instantly disappeared.
A circle of golden light flashed around the badge, maybe it was her illusion, but she could see rows of green numbers that seemed to be computer source code flashed on the original silver-gray surface of the badge. The next moment, the entire badge disappeared along with the hexagonal shaped hole from the air, as if the black hole had never existed.
Shi Xia, who was hovering in the air, immediately fell to the ground.
Ouch, my ass ……
Ding!
The phone rang and a line of green font appeared on it.
Mission-1: Completed!
Damn, so that's what the badge is for!
Chi Hou!
Because the gap disappeared, all the flying and fluttering stopped immediately. Shi Xia quickly got up and ran wildly to her lying companions.
The two people were already lying on the ground like two dead corpses.
"Chi Hou, Long Aotian!" Shi Xia's voice couldn't help but shake as she quietly looked at the two. Long Aotian was still spitting blood. Because his hand was dislocated, it had twisted into a bizarre arc. Just seeing it Shi Xia could say the injury was not light.
Chi Hou's injury was more serious, the whole person had been injured beyond recognition. He was completely covered in blood, even his breathing was inaudible. Eventually the shimmering light on his body became brighter and brighter, and not being able to hold any longer, he completely changed back into a fox.
"Chi Hou! Chi Hou!" Shi Xia anxiously called him but the fox on the ground did not respond. Even so, the wounds on the fox's body continued to grow. Little by little, the skin and flesh on the body began to tear and the bones were also seen. Even his tail was broken two.
"How could …… this happen?" Long Aotian supported himself to climb up, while gasping for air. "Isn't that hole up there …… gone? Why are his wounds appearing…… more and more severe?"
"It's the Chaos Qi." Shi Xia closed her eyes and replied, "The higher the cultivation level, the greater the backlash."
Although that gap was sealed, the Chaos Qi that came out of the gap didn't disappear, and even spread throughout the whole space. If this continues, Chi Hou will definitely be like those old men who fell from the top of the cliff.
Shi Xia looked up, the black hole was the reason why an earthquake was triggered and the ground was shaking so much. The whole underground immortal mansion became a mess, a nearly one-meter-wide crack appeared above. The sky far above could also be seen from the crack. It was the exit since the entrance was blocked, but the road up there was high. And the Chaos Qi was running densely between the crack and the ground. Even if they climbed up, they wouldn't be able to get out because of the Chaos Qi. Not to mention, the walls were steep and high, it was impossible to climb that high.
Take a deep breath, calm down, there must be a way out.
"You are talking about these black and white winds running around……? Why can't I feel anything?" Long Aotian asked.
"It's Chaos Qi, it can devour the spiritual energy of all spiritual things. You are not an spiritual cultivator, so you are fine."
"But benefactor, you also seem fine."
Shi Xia froze, "Right oh! Why am I fine?"
Although her cultivation level was low and the backlash from the Chaos Qi should be small, it was impossible that nothing happened to her at all! At the beginning, Kong Yang also fell to the bottom of the valley when he was at the stage of Qi Refining and was also injured. Then why is she not injured?
Is there something special about her?
But the only thing special about her is …… Spiritual Root!
Just now Chi Hou said, her Spiritual Root is the purest …… that the spiritual energy in her body and the Chaos Qi are of the same origin and the same source. Does it mean that ……
Shi Xia looked up at the black and white Qi running around and gritted her teeth. No matter what! If this goes on, Chi Hou will have to become the "old man number N". She can't let it happen!
She helped Long Aotian and Chi Hou up and took them to the most inconspicuous corner where Chaos Qi was absent and instructed, "Long Aotian, look after Chi Hou. I'll solve these Chaos Qi."
Long Aotian hesitated for a moment before nodding heavily, "Be careful, benefactor."
Shi Xia turned towards the place where Chaos Qi was the densest and sat cross-legged on the ground. Calming her mind, she used her sea of consciousness to sense everything around her wholeheartedly, and began to induce the Chaos Qi into her body.
That's right! The method she thought of to get rid of Chaos Qi was to directly introduce the Chaos Qi into her physical body. If she guessed correctly, the reason why Chi Hou said that her Qi was of the same origin as the Chaos Qi was because the Chaos Qi was originally made of two Qi's. Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang are mutually exclusive, that's why these two Qi's appear at the same time. That's why they are so destructive and can't be restrained by any power, including themselves.
Her Spiritual Root is pure Yang. If she could absorb all the Yang spiritual energy of the Chaos Qi in her body, then the only part of Qi that would remain would be Yin. And without an opponent, the Yin will naturally dissipate.
Shi Xia concentrated all her energy and her consciousness to the Chaos Qi. As she thought, she could sense that the black and white Qi was so dense that they were almost solid. The white Qi made her feel very close, while the black made her feel disgusted. What's even more amazing was that the five elemental spiritual energies of various colors around her were also gradually affected by these two spiritual energies. They began to accumulate and convert into black and white spiritual energy. If this continues, she was afraid more and more Chaos Qi would appear as the time passed.
Shi Xia did not hesitate and directly pulled those white Qi into her body. At once, a large amount of spiritual energy swarmed into her dantian and instantly poured into her Spiritual Root like a dam that had broken. In less than an hour, she could feel that her dantian had been filled to the brim, and the dragon pearl inside her Spiritual Root began to emit a white light. A large amount of spiritual energy floated towards the seedling of the Spiritual Root below. The entire sprout began to grow extremely fast. It originally had only three leaves, but two more sprouted in a second with a ‘poof!'.