Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 488 - 134: No Way Out

Chapter 488: Chapter 134: No Way Out

Considering Zhou Yan’s insanely cruel and ruthless slaughter methods, many cultivators already no longer wanted to make an enemy of such a man, even thinking to themselves that upon encountering such a person, it would be better to simply take a detour to avoid unwitting involvement.

"You’re thinking that way is for the best!" Zhou Yan said coldly.

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the nearly seven thousand cultivators in the distance. He saw the Holy Daughter, Jiang Yuning, who conveyed a warm and caring look towards him with her eyes, a look that soothed his violent mood somewhat.

He saw Feng Jiu Xian and Hou Ling. The two weren’t faring well here either; even in their soul forms, their bodies bore numerous scars.

Zhou Yan originally wanted to have Hou Ling, also known as Zhou Lingyi, meet Zhou Lingyao but then reconsidered. Facing the Yuan Ci Secret Realm now, it was better not to involve them so as to avoid putting them in greater danger.

Zhou Yan’s gaze flickered, as if he hadn’t seen these people at all.

Seeing Zhou Yan’s indifferent glance over them, both Hou Ling and Feng Jiu Xian looked slightly dejected for a moment. After all, their relationship had been quite good previously—although not intimate, they could still be considered friends.

But now...

Hou Ling looked somewhat conflicted, her gaze deepening with puzzlement over some unclear matters, lacking any clarity, as if she had fallen into a great confusion.

Feng Jiu Xian, on the other hand, just stared deeply at Zhou Yan. Her pale face in her soul form seemed even more bloodless, and what was going through her mind was unknown.

Just then, Zhou Yan withdrew his gaze and looked towards the distance. Suddenly, his body shook, and his expression became intensely serious as he shouted loudly, "Everyone get ready, danger is coming."

With those words, an incredibly cold wind immediately started to blow across heaven and earth.

The wind was bitterly cold, and its chill grew stronger and stronger.

As the cold wind blew, the souls of some lower-strength cultivators were frozen. Their soul bodies stiffened, then turned into statues like those made of soul ice; these statues eventually shattered violently.

The scene unfolded very quickly; from the moment Zhou Yan spoke to the freezing deaths of several cultivators, it was but an instant.

At this time, Zhou Yan’s fearsomeness was no longer a concern for the cultivators, and the previous frenzied slaughter was no longer on their minds. All the cultivators frantically used their abilities to resist this terrifying cold.

All the cultivators, having experienced countless deadly ancient sites, most of the geniuses among them had survived through disasters and even had serendipitous encounters in desperate situations. However, many of these cultivators died one after the other on this Frost Tears Netherworld Heavenly Road.

The terror here was incomparable to any ancient and deadly sites. Everything here was unknown!

Survival was uncertain for everyone.

As the cold wind blew, the world turned desolate.

The cold wind, like the wailing of ghosts, caused fear and unrest in people’s spirits.

As the cold wind continued, a heavy black snow suddenly began to fall from the sky. Falling on their bodies, this black snow was like a highly corrosive poison, immediately causing terrible corrosion to their souls.

"Ah, ah, ah—"

Cultivators screamed bitterly in agony, writhing in pain, but ultimately collapsed to the ground. Their soul bodies turned into pools of pus and finally transformed into black particulate matter, scattering into the sky and mixing with the black snow.

Cultivators died one after the other, the whole process brutally cruel.

...

"Puff—"

The powerful Body of Destiny, Jia Yongheng, with innate luck that defied heaven and fortune in misfortune, suddenly had his arm corroded by the black snow. He nearly instantly swung out with his sword, severing his own arm.

Blood spurted like a flying crane, splashing a deep red brilliant pattern onto the pitch-black ground.

But he quickly stemmed the flow of blood from his physical body, cloaking himself in a powerful invincible purple aura.

This purple aura was akin to Noble Energy, the fortune power of a truly extraordinary individual. At this moment, he spared no expense in using this fortune power to resist, a testament to the terrifying nature of the black snow.

Zhou Yan didn’t resist any of the dangers, neither the icy wind nor the black snow approached him.

He didn’t know why, whether because he had the most comprehensive map or for some other reason.

But instead of showing this invulnerability, he appeared as if protected by a special cultivation technique.

He saw how difficult it was for Feng Jiu Xian and Hou Ling to resist, and he saw Yan Ran Xuan teetering between life and death but still managing to hold on. Finally, he walked over to them.

As everyone struggled desperately, Zhou Yan was able to move about as if nothing was wrong, leaving a profoundly deep impression on those who witnessed him.

Those geniuses, those extraordinary women who were still alive, all watched Zhou Yan intensely, as if at this moment, Zhou Yan was the most fascinating genius under the heavens.

"Come over to me, I’ll help you to resist for a while."

Zhou Yan approached Feng Jiu Xian and Hou Ling. The cultivators around them immediately cleared a pathway, maintaining a distance of nearly a hundred meters from Zhou Yan, fearing the dangerous man might suddenly lash out and kill someone.

"We can still hold on."

Hou Ling bit her lip, seemingly maintaining her distance from Zhou Yan, not wanting their relationship to become too close.

Zhou Yan sensed this estrangement, but being extremely astute, he quickly realized that Hou Ling, who was actually Zhou Lingyi, liked Emperor Qi Sword Body Zhou Yan, hence she did not want to get too close to a man like him.

Zhou Yan felt an inexplicable warmth in his heart, recalling the little girl, Zhou Lingyi, who used to look down at him from atop the rocky cliff above Cold Pond. He rarely showed it, but now he revealed a gentle smile and softly said, "It’s okay, I understand you can’t forget him, but he and I are good friends, and I will certainly take good care of those he cares about."

Upon hearing this, Hou Ling’s nose tingled, her eyes nearly brimming with tears.

She softly asked, "Is he, is he doing well?"

"He’s doing very well, even better than me. You can be completely assured."

Zhou Yan said those words and unreservedly pulled an extraordinary woman closer to his side.

Feng Jiu Xian was somewhat stunned and lost, as the current Zhou Yan was even someone she had to look up to. Yet, he did not betray them and still took care of them, filling her heart with emotion.

In foreign lands, she had always been hunted by family, friends, and kin, her life filled with betrayal, and nobody had truly cared about her. When Zhou Yan had seen her earlier but ignored her, her heart had felt utterly dejected, her gaze becoming numb and cold, as if seeing through everything in the world.

Now, Zhou Yan was close to her, helping her, and suddenly she felt her heart fill with warmth and light, feeling that, in this lifetime, she finally hadn’t misjudged someone.

She felt an indescribable emotion.

Life was like this, adding flowers to brocade never moved people as much as sending charcoal in snowy weather.

Now, she was almost in a desolate land, and he was also hardly comfortable, yet he still came to take care of her...

"Thank you, Zhou Xuanzhe, thank you for not giving up on me, and for still being willing to help me at this time."

Feng Jiu Xian’s voice was somewhat choked.

The more a woman appeared heartless, the more sentimental her heart was inside, because that heartlessness came from too much sentiment sharpened by desperation to become heartlessness.

Feng Jiu Xian was such a person, having gone through family oppression, assassinations, betrayal, and schemes. Now, she hardly found anyone she could trust, and Zhou Yan helping her in desperate times definitely won his way into her heart.

Feng Jiu Xian’s expressions and thoughts were clearly observed by Zhou Yan, who after slight contemplation, understood the woman’s mindset. Then, he tenderly touched Feng Jiu Xian’s head and said, "Don’t think too much. Previously, due to the danger in the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, I feared you two might face even greater peril by following me, so I chose not to bring you along. But this unexpected danger arrived early, and if I did not intervene, you absolutely wouldn’t have managed, so I had to step in. Even if I face endless calamities, I will never abandon you."

Zhou Yan’s words were gentle and sincere, touching the hearts of the two women entirely.

Hou Ling let out a deep sigh and said, "Brother Zhou Yan is truly fortunate to have a friend like you, perfect in every aspect, even the friends he makes..."

"It’s because love blinds one, after all, in the eyes of a lover, where can there be faults in the other? They’re all merits. Just like on this Netherworld Heavenly Road, it appears dim, dazzling with light, so beautiful, but only when we are in it do we know, the scenery here isn’t beautiful at all. The road is uneven, and the ground is constantly fraught with peril... and now danger is upon us again."

Zhou Yan intended to reassure the two women, hoping to restore their confidence, but he was only halfway through when he suddenly stopped.

He swiftly activated the energy of the Purple Flame Void, enveloping them, ready to defend against the impending peril.

This time, the danger originated from fire.

Previously, it had been wind, snow.

Now, it was fire.

In the moment he sensed it, Heaven and Earth suddenly displayed ghostly pale flames, turning the dim world ghostly white, the entire world becoming incredibly pallid and bleak.

Such flames, ordinary cultivators couldn’t withstand, because these flames couldn’t be resisted with energy; encountering such flames, energy would be like pouring oil on fire, becoming even more terrifying.

"Everyone, do not resist, just control your souls with the thought of ’the void of thoughts and desires,’ purify your souls, eliminating murderous intent and the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, and immediately you will be able to withstand this fiery attack!"

At that moment, the Holy Daughter suddenly spoke aloud.

She had discovered the solution and immediately announced it.

At this point, out of seven thousand cultivators, fewer than five thousand were left. If this continued, not a single one would survive passing the Netherworld Heavenly Road, let alone entering the Yuan Ci Secret Realm?

Therefore, after weighing the options, only by uniting might there be a chance to live.

The meaning behind Holy Daughter’s words was understood by nearly all the cultivators, and for a moment, many immediately followed suit.

However, achieving a state of ’void of thoughts and desires’—was that so easy?

Even geniuses, facing death, rarely could maintain calm and immediately enter such a state; moreover, some cultivators, not believing this could withstand the ghastly fierce flames, still resisted.

There were also cultivators who wanted to achieve the ’void of thoughts and desires’ and even could do so, but when the terrifying flames swept over their bodies, their minds still wavered, thereby dropping out of that state, and thus immediately suffered a devastating incineration attack.