Chapter 178: Dark Night Starry Sky Barrier
Just as Qi Bei disappeared into the tent, three shadowy figures appeared like ghosts.
“He escaped. Let’s chase him,” one of the figures said sharply.
In an instant, the three shadows disappeared once again from his tent.
Qi Bei swiftly maneuvered through the jungle like lightning, aware that he was being relentlessly pursued. The sense of danger in his heart reached its peak. Dean Mo had issued a warning but had not shown up, which already indicated a few things.
In a valley, the three shadows appeared from three different directions, trapping Qi Bei in the center.
Qi Bei stood still, his nerves and muscles tense, but his mind became incredibly clear due to heightened concentration. His senses instantly became much sharper.
“Are you from the Dark faction? Isn’t it too audacious for you to appear now? Do you not consider the Temple and the disciples of the Holy Land a threat?” Qi Bei taunted, trying to distract the attention of the three individuals without letting his guard down.
“Kill!” one of them uttered a cold word.
Immediately, the three shadows moved at the same time, leaving only an afterimage in their original positions. Qi Bei was enveloped in a dark and deathly aura, blocking off all routes of retreat.
“Earth-grade,” Qi Bei instantly understood their strength. All three of them were Earth-grade experts. His eyes narrowed, and he swung his sword fiercely, creating a golden light that traced an arc, opening up a gap. He then turned into a wisp of light smoke and darted out through the gap.
“Ha!” Not only did Qi Bei not escape but instead paused in mid-air. The Blade of Silence unleashed a golden dragon-shaped battle qi, slashing towards the closest shadowy figure.
Although Qi Bei’s current strength hadn’t broken through to the Earth-grade realm, he had already condensed four qi pills within his dantian. His strength was infinitely close to that of an Earth-grade expert. Coupled with the amplification of his internal energy through the Divine Dragon Art which was stronger than his battle qi, his attack had definitely reached the level of a Earth-grade expert.
The shadowy figure reacted quickly and swung his sword in defiance. A black wave surged towards Qi Bei’s battle qi.
However, something unexpected happened. Qi Bei’s dragon-shaped battle qi actually broke through the black wave like a bamboo, raging fiercely towards the shadowy figure.
At this moment, the shadowy figure finally reacted, but it was already too late to evade. In desperation, a dark battle qi armor formed on their body, forcibly enduring the attack.
“Boom!”
The shadowy figure was sent flying, their battle qi armor shattered into pieces, and even their clothes were torn apart, revealing two flesh masses.
“Damn, it’s a woman…” Qi Bei thought, realizing that it was another woman with peculiar preferences. The beauty scorpion he had encountered before had a tattoo on her face, and this woman had a star map tattoo on her breasts. There were even two golden rings piercing the tops of two nipples.
However, this woman didn’t care about her exposed upper body. As her body flipped and flew backward, she forcibly stabilized herself. Letting out a miserable howl akin to a fierce ghost, the star map tattoos on her breasts suddenly lit up. At the same time, the other two shadowy figures tore their clothes, revealing chest tattoos identical to the woman’s, except they were men.
In an instant, the star maps on the three individuals’ chests became dreamlike. Qi Bei’s gaze became unfocused for a moment, and suddenly, he found himself in an endless starry sky.
“The Fifth-level Dark Night Starry Sky Barrier. Once it envelops a person, it continuously draws their blood and soul until they completely disappear. With each strong soul it absorbs, its barrier becomes stronger. The only way to break it is by releasing a soul power stronger than theirs, but if the released soul power exceeds your control, the barrier will not collapse on its own.” A piece of information came from the Blade of Silence.
The soul! That’s the solution!
Qi Bei immediately sat cross-legged and began to unleash his soul power.
If it came down to a head-on confrontation, Qi Bei might not be able to handle these three Earth-grade experts from the dark faction. But when it came to a battle of souls, he was confident. Although he didn’t know what level his soul had reached, he believed that the combined strength of five or six Earth-grade experts wouldn’t surpass the power of his soul.
…
…
“You Laoba! Have you gone mad? If we continue like this, we’ll both end up injured,” shouted the old man with white hair and beard.
“Is being mutually injured enough for you? I want you dead, old friend,” Dean Mo laughed heartily. White smoke entwined around the old man, and at that moment, faint black lines appeared within the white smoke.
However, the old man seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying. He started struggling violently. At first, he thought Dean Mo (You Laoba) wouldn’t actually attack him and was just symbolically following him. Even if they were restrained, they could reminisce and chat.
But he guessed the beginning correctly, yet failed to predict the ending.
Dean Mo did indeed reminisce and chat with him at first. Just when the old man relaxed his guard, Dean Mo suddenly launched an attack on him, using his full power.
Both of them were ghosts from the nine layers of the Netherworld. Once their true powers were engaged, unless both sides simultaneously gave up, the outcome would be a fight to the death.
“You Laoba! I beg you, let’s stop this. I won’t interfere with whatever you want to do,” the old man and Dean Mo confronted each other for quite some time. The old man felt Dean Mo’s determination and thus pleaded.
“It’s impossible.” Dean Mo’s mouth curled into a sinister smile, indicating his refusal. He understood his counterpart. Once he let go now, revenge would be on his mind every moment. Besides, he had initially planned to perish together with him.
Radiant light emanated from both of them, one wave after another, like a surging tide.
“You Laoba, if I die, you won’t survive either. We are both immortal beings. It’s not worth it for such a trivial matter,” the old man earnestly advised. As he saw their true forms beginning to burn, he felt helpless and teary-eyed.
Dean Mo sighed lightly in his heart. A breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared before him, smiling enchantingly, causing him to lose all sense of reality and fall into a trance.
“In this world, with no attachments, what is the meaning of living? Old friend, I’m glad you can accompany me on this journey,” Dean Mo laughed heartily.
You may be glad, but I’m not. The old man cried out in his heart. He didn’t want to go up in smoke with this madman. He was still waiting for the Lord of the Netherworld to return, hoping to rise above the mortal realm, perhaps even becoming one of the dark gods under his command.
However, the true forms of the ghosts were already almost completely consumed by flames, and their consciousness was dispersing.
“You, you crazy dog. I’ll fight you with all I have, let’s see who dies first,” the old man roared fiercely, no longer holding any hope. He began fighting desperately against Dean Mo.
Suddenly, two clusters of light and shadows surged violently, then dissipated into the wind. There was not much movement, but in that spot, an extremely dense power of darkness condensed.
At that moment, three figures swiftly arrived, the same three people who were attempting to assassinate Qi Bei.
Seeing the scene before them, they couldn’t help but be stunned. In their minds, no one could surpass the White Elder and the God-like strength of Dean Mo. Yet, both of them lay motionless on the ground, devoid of breath.
“What’s going on?” one of them exclaimed in shock.
“Leave that aside for now. Let’s take the White Elder’s body back and discuss it later. We’re too close to the Golden Leaf Imperial Capital, and there are many people from the temples and the five holy lands nearby. Let’s go quickly,” the woman said.
But at that moment, the bodies of the three individuals simultaneously stiffened, and then they began shaking uncontrollably like a sieve.
“Ah, it hurts…!” The three of them clutched their heads and screamed in agony.
Soon, the three of them were writhing on the ground, their agonizing cries echoing as if they were coming from hell itself. Fresh blood began to seep from their seven apertures, while a flickering light appeared on their brows.
Suddenly, a loud noise rang out in their minds, and their souls were instantly torn into pieces. The star maps on their chests, each star exploded, blood spurted out, and their flesh became mangled, revealing their internal organs.
The space fluctuated, and Qi Bei, enveloped in golden mist, appeared out of thin air.
“Phew, finally came out.” He exhaled an exhausted breath and then absorbed the golden mist into his body.
At this moment, the runic inscription on the Blade of Silence in Qi Bei’s hand flickered, madly absorbing the surrounding dark power.
“Dean Mo?” Qi Bei suddenly noticed the Dean’s body lying lifeless on the ground and couldn’t help but be greatly shocked. He quickly rushed forward to support him.
However, no matter how much Qi Bei called out, Dean Mo could no longer awaken.
Qi Bei fell silent in his heart as he glanced at another elderly man not far away, coupled with the immensely dense dark power in the surroundings. He could roughly guess what had happened.
“Dean Mo, thank you.” Qi Bei sighed.
Suddenly, Dean Mo coughed and abruptly opened his eyes.
“Dean, are you okay?” Qi Bei asked in pleasant surprise.
Dean Mo initially looked at Qi Bei as if he were a stranger, but then seemed to remember something, and his expression gradually changed.
“I’m fine.” Dean Mo stood up, shook his arms, kicked his legs, showing no major injuries.
“You are not him…” Qi Bei furrowed his brow.
Dean Mo looked at Qi Bei and said, “Indeed, I am not him. I am me, and he was him. Now that he has dissipated, the body is naturally under my control. However, some memories are retained in my consciousness, so I know what has happened.”
Qi Bei suddenly felt a sense of melancholy. Dean Mo hadn’t died, but this Dean Mo was not the same as the previous one.
“I want to know why he, who originally belonged to the dark faction, would help me, or rather, our family,” Qi Bei asked.
Dean Mo pondered for a moment and said, “I don’t know the exact reason, but there is one name deeply imprinted in my memory.”
“What name?” Qi Bei asked.
“Lilith,” Dean Mo replied.
Qi Bei was suddenly startled, frozen in shock.