Chapter Seventy-Nine: Fighting to the Death
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“I never imagined this formation would drain my spirit so severely. With my strength, I could wield my blade for a whole day and night without fatigue!” Chu Youcai felt himself on the verge of fainting—a sensation he had not experienced since he established his foundation in the Dao. Without hesitation, he drank a portion of medicinal juice he carried, a divine concoction brewed by Ju Xue over the past three days. He had prepared ten vials for himself, and ensured that Yun Cui Xian and the others each carried five, just in case.
As soon as the medicine coursed through him, a wave of warmth surged forth, invigorating his body. Beside him, Jiang Xue spoke softly, “The Six-Jia Divine Formation is designed to unleash all one's vitality in an instant. If you didn’t have a Daoist foundation, you would have collapsed after a mere blink, left utterly exhausted and gravely ill!”
Her expression turned grave. “You must never use this formation before others!”
Chu Youcai was taken aback. “Why?”
Jiang Xue replied, “This formation is a demon technique.”
Both Chu Youcai and Wen Ji froze at her words. A demon technique? Daoist arts, demon arts—these were all methods of cultivation, but weren’t demon arts unique to demons themselves? How could Chu Youcai learn them as well?
Shocked, Chu Youcai wanted to ask for an explanation, but Jiang Xue suddenly struck out, sending a golden-armored locust flying. “No time to explain! We must break through the swarm. Beware of the locust demon!”
Just then, Chu Youcai’s gaze sharpened as he took in the scene before him. The locust demon was only a hundred meters ahead. Around it, Liu Shen lay collapsed, face pallid, while Second Lady and Yan Yunfei were bound by countless locust threads, unable to move.
The locust demon let out a cold, sinister laugh, casually glancing in Chu Youcai’s direction. “Liu Shen, you deserve death. Now, above and below the earth, no one can save you. You’ve used your Dao techniques three times, spent all your strength, and you don’t even have the power to detonate your cursed treasure! I, on the other hand, have used only two demon arts.”
Bloodshot eyes blazing like ghostly flames, the locust demon was about to annihilate Liu Shen.
Chu Youcai could clearly see that the body possessed by the locust demon belonged to Song Peng, the son of the Imperial Censor.
Time was running out. The locust demon still had one more demon art to unleash, its power enough to shake earth and sky—far beyond what Chu Youcai could withstand. Thoughts raced through his mind, searching for a way to respond.
In that crucial instant, he turned to Wen Ji. “Wen Ji, quickly use your illusion technique—make me look like you!”
Wen Ji hesitated only briefly, then deftly cast her spell. Ripples like water enveloped Chu Youcai, and a gentle jade radiance smoothed his features, rapidly transforming his face.
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In less than three breaths, Chu Youcai’s appearance had changed almost entirely, closely resembling Wen Ji.
He had no time for Wen Ji to perfect his disguise. Immediately, he burst through the swarm, rushing straight at the locust demon. His scaled blade flashed with a multitude of sharp gleams as he unleashed the Six-Jia Formation, merging its power with his blade’s aura.
“So slow!” the locust demon sneered, effortlessly raising a hand. Locusts surged from his sleeve, blocking Chu Youcai’s blade.
But in that moment, catching sight of Chu Youcai’s transformed face, the demon was startled and blurted out, “Wen Ji?”
His movements faltered.
A flame-like light blazed in Chu Youcai’s eyes. The opponent’s momentary distraction—this was his chance! Song Peng, the body possessed by the demon, was rumored to be as fond of brothels as Zhu Yuzheng, and surely familiar with Wen Ji. Borrowing that instant’s hesitation, Chu Youcai seized the opportunity.
With a lightning-quick motion, his right hand wielded the scaled blade and launched the To-Dragon Curse Technique!
His four years of lifespan instantly shrank to three.
Darkness enveloped the world. Within it, the scaled blade moved fluidly, becoming formless and intangible, and pierced straight toward the locust demon’s heart.
When masters clash, the outcome hinges on a hair’s breadth.
Chu Youcai was now so close to the demon, with the advantage of surprise, and his scaled blade was a bronze-grade cursed treasure, formidable beyond compare.
The locust demon’s face twisted in horror. He had never expected this frail human to possess a bronze-grade cursed treasure—equivalent to the blood-red eye in his own hand!
Feeling his life threatened, he ignored Chu Youcai’s cultivation, hurriedly raised the blood-red eye before him, and activated his demon art, unleashing a third curse technique.
Black rays swept up from the earth, the sun and moon shattered in the sky, and on the distant horizon, some Death’s Eye opened, its crimson gaze turning all it touched to ash.
Chu Youcai was closest to the demon, and his body felt as if it were being torn apart. The scaled blade was snatched away, and his right hand, struck by the blood-red eye, turned to ash—pain searing to the bone.
In the next instant, Chu Youcai sensed his own life draining away. He was about to be shattered, forever sinking into the abyss of death.
The locust demon possessed fifty years’ worth of demon arts; the curse he unleashed was unimaginably stronger than Chu Youcai’s own.
He seemed to hear the locust demon’s cold laughter in his ears: “Just a little ant—so weak. But this scaled blade is mine now. Once I kill you and claim its mark, I’ll have two bronze-grade cursed treasures, and be able to use demon arts six times a day. No one will be able to stop me! Hahaha!”
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Just then, Chu Youcai no longer hesitated. He clenched the To-Dragon Mountain River Pearl in his left hand and activated the To-Dragon Curse Technique!
The blood fox fur within him was ignited, and the technique of time reversal was unleashed once more!
Flames blazed fiercely, engulfing all heaven and earth before him. Time seemed to halt, frozen in place.
A nine-palace golden tower descended from the heavens, its face marked by different measures of time. The tower’s markings abruptly retreated ten increments!
Time instantly rewound to ten breaths earlier!
The blood fox fur burned to ash.
His lifespan dropped from three years to two.
At that moment, Chu Youcai had just broken through the formation and reached the locust demon.
Having used two cursed treasures in succession, his body was exhausted to the extreme—his mind clouded, his hand barely able to grasp the scaled blade.
But his plan had succeeded.
A faint smile of relief appeared on Chu Youcai’s lips.
Seeing Chu Youcai before him, breathless and weary, the locust demon mistook him for Wen Ji, and eyed him lecherously. “Wen Ji! So you’re here as well! Haha, after I deal with these fools, let’s enjoy the finest banquet the world has to offer together!”
He had not realized he had already used three curse techniques.
Now, Chu Youcai’s body was depleted, his pupils dull; even his steps were sluggish.
Yet in that moment, Chu Youcai pressed on with all his strength, once again grasped the scaled blade, pushed his body beyond its limits, and for the third time unleashed the To-Dragon Technique!
A desperate battle to the death!
His lifespan dropped from two years to just one.
He had given everything. There was no turning back.
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