Love & Redemption
Chapter 179: Volume 4 Hua Meng’s Sudden Rift - 36 Conference (Part 8)

Chapter 179: Volume 4 Hua Meng’s Sudden Rift Chapter 36 Conference (Part 8)

Intense clamor surrounded them, and Xuanji, seeing the ferocity of the monster, which even the Tengshe didn’t fear, couldn’t help but feel a chill. As the Tengshe grabbed the monster’s jaw and forcefully pried it open, half of the creature’s body, dripping with blood, leapt into the air. Having tasted blood, the monster refused to let go. It clung to the Tengshe like a shadow, its thick tail swinging back and forth, attempting to stab, yet always missing its mark.

Xuanji watched with terror, fearing that the Tengshe might get bitten to death if it was not careful. Suddenly, she heard Valley Master Rong whispering beside her, "Since it’s your spiritual beast, why are you just standing by and watching? This creature is no ordinary beast! It fears neither water nor fire, and Tengshe’s Fire has no effect on it!"

Xuanji was startled and urgently asked, "Valley Master Rong, do you know what that is?"

Valley Master Rong spoke gravely, "That thing has a human face, clearly it’s the gluttonous monster Taotie, known for its insatiable greed! There is nothing in this world it can’t consume! How daring of the Lize Palace disciples, to release a Taotie as a spiritual beast!"

Xuanji vaguely recalled reading about the Taotie in the Demon Name List; its gluttony was famous throughout the lands. When hungry, it would even swallow stones and mud. The founder of the Shaoyang Sect once drew a circle on it with a vermillion pen and inscribed the words: If you happen to meet it, flee immediately. Otherwise, you will surely die.

Surely die! Surely die! Xuanji felt her heart pounding violently as Tengshe’s blood rained down with every move it made. The Taotie was impervious to water and fire, and her Tengshe’s Fire was useless against it. No wonder she couldn’t handle it! One thing in this world overcomes another, and even Divine Beasts have their nemeses among demons.

She couldn’t just stand by and watch the Taotie devour the Tengshe! What should she do? What to do?!

As she was consumed with burning anxiety, she suddenly felt Valley Master Rong shove her fiercely, followed by the whistling of the wind and the grating sound of clashing weapons behind her. Xuanji stumbled a few steps, and upon turning around, she saw Valley Master Rong using his sword to fend off the Taotie—not the one chasing after the Tengshe, but a new one! Within Emperor Bai’s shadow, there were actually two Taotie!

"How dare you! Have you all forgotten the rules of the Flower Pinning Conference? You must not use spiritual beasts to harm people! Withdraw it at once!" Valley Master Rong, with a sweep of his sword, drove back the second Taotie and barked sternly.

Emperor Bai stood as if deaf to the rebuke, silently remaining at the center of the arena. The pitch-black shadow at his feet spread in circles, nearly covering half of the platform. "Emperor Bai! Li Ze Palace’s disciple, Emperor Bai!" Valley Master Rong shouted his name in desperation as the Taotie kept pressing forward, and he could only just contain it to prevent it from leaping forth to bite, "If you do not withdraw it now, I will declare this contest void!"

Emperor Bai suddenly burst into laughter, proclaiming loudly, "It’s just a trivial Flower Pinning Conference. Your declaration means nothing!" As he blew a sharp whistle, the second Taotie immediately sprang into action, leaping high and pouncing on Valley Master Rong, biting down as it knocked him to the ground.

"Crack," instead of a human body, what it bit into was a segment of a cold, hard treasure sword. Xuanji stuffed the Bengyu into its mouth, said "Pardon the offense," and kicked the unconscious Valley Master Rong aside. The Taotie, unable to distinguish right from wrong, crunched down on the Bengyu several times, and upon realizing it couldn’t bite through, had to spit it out. It then turned its head to see Xuanji standing to the side, very much alive, and it let out a gleeful howl like metal scraping against metal. Drool slipped from its mouth, puddle by puddle, emitting a putrid stench.

Xuanji delivered a kick to its grotesque and weird face, causing it to stagger, then turned to see Hao Feng motionless inside the ring. Catching the ringleader first to defeat the gang, with two Taoties so hard to handle, it would be better to capture him first! With that in mind, she quickly stepped forward, but unknowingly set her foot on the pitch-black shadow, finding no solid ground beneath her foot—it was empty! Before she had time to react, the other Taotie had already pounced from behind. Xuanji swung her sword to fend it off but ended up with a sleeve full of saliva, which was disgusting.

She immediately took to the air with Sword Control; still, the Taotie kept closely behind her, doggedly chasing the tail of her sword. She couldn’t keep running like this forever! Looking up at Tengshe, he had abandoned fleeing and was wrestling with the Taotie, covered in countless fresh bites, his silver hair also stained with blood, looking pitiful. Anxious, she hesitated for a moment and the Taotie trailing her bit down instantly—"Crunch"—but it ended up biting off a good chunk of the hilt of her flying sword, chewed it a few times without concern, and then swallowed it.

In her desperation, Xuanji generated a stubborn ferocity, turned around and advanced instead of retreating, stabbing at its weird face, but the silly beast didn’t know better and bit down on the blade of the Bengyu Sword, unable to bite through it. Xuanji tried to pull it back several times but failed. Enraged and shouting loudly, she said, "A beast courting death!" With that, she kicked its eyeball, and the Taotie cried out in pain, immediately letting go. Xuanji then thrust her sword towards its face, and as it dodged swiftly, she only managed to slash a long wound across its face.

The Taotie, feeling pain, tried to flee with its tail between its legs, but Xuanji leapt at it, jumped on its back, grabbed its head hair, and plunged the Bengyu down fiercely! Unexpectedly, the Taotie’s thick skin was too much, and the Bengyu sword could only pierce two or three inches in before it could go no further. The Taotie, in agony, twisted and turned in midair while clumps of thick blood rolled down.

Xuanji, dizzy from being thrown around, had no choice but to let go and jump off its back. Turning to look, she saw that one of Tengshe’s arms was already in the mouth of the other Taotie, his face covered with blood, looking ferocious, as he forcefully pried open its jaws. Xuanji cried out urgently, "Tengshe!" She leapt up to help, but Tengshe shouted, "Get away from me! I won’t die!" Before he could finish, he screamed in pain, clearly in great agony.

Xuanji said urgently, "Aren’t you always bragging about being the best in the world? How come you can’t even deal with a Taotie! From now on, stop talking big!"

Tengshe was furious inside, yet at such a critical moment, he had no energy to bicker with her. The Taotie feared neither water nor fire, what could he do to it? Releasing his true form to burn it wouldn’t kill it, and instead, he would end up harming the others here. He glared viciously at the Taotie, the bane of his existence. Not just he but other immortals in heaven found it overwhelming. It was inconceivable that a mere Lize Palace disciple could raise two Taoties—he vowed to report this matter to Emperor Bai later so it could be investigated.

Suddenly exerting strength, he forcefully pulled his arm from its clamped teeth, shouting fiercely, "I’ll blind you first, beast!" He scooped up the blood on his body and flung it into the Taotie’s round eyes. Tengshe’s blood was even more scalding than boiling oil, but it had no effect on the Taotie, which just blinked dumbly a couple of times. Tengshe, then, jabbed his fingers into its eyeballs, and only then did the creature leap in shock, pushing with its paw and sending Tengshe flying a good distance away before plummeting from the sky. Xuanji hurriedly caught him and, seeing his body covered with dripping blood, her heart felt compassion and, with trembling voice, she said, "I was wrong! I shouldn’t have let you deal with the Taotie alone!"

"Shut up!" Tengshe, seeing the two injured Taoties coming at him one after the other, hadn’t the time to listen to her sentimentality and urgently said, "Give me a sword!"

Xuanji swiftly handed him the Bengyu, Tengshe shouted, "Not that one! Don’t you have another at your feet?!"

"I’ll fall off if you give this to me!" Xuanji was also frantic.

"You won’t die from a fall!" Tengshe pushed her off the sword, bent over to pick up the blade, fended off one Taotie to the left with a sword thrust, then flipped over, scooped up Xuanji by her waist, hoisting her up and leaning her against his body.

Xuanji felt his blood was scaldingly hot, burning through the clothing and reaching her skin, making her break out in goosebumps. She couldn’t bear it any longer and called out, "You’d better put me down!"

Tengshe shouted in anger, "You’re such an irresponsible master! You don’t transfer any of your power to me—am I supposed to do all this work for nothing?!"

"How do I transfer power? You never told me!" Xuanji said, seeing the two Taotie pouncing again, fending them off with Bengyu all the while shouting back.

"How would I know how to transfer power if I’m not the master!?" Tengshe roared back with greater righteousness than her.

Xuanji was at a loss for words. Seeing that the two Taotie continued their relentless attack, she steeled herself and shouted fiercely, "I refuse to believe I can’t deal with them!" She snatched the treasure sword from Tengshe’s hand, flew up with Sword Control, circled Bengyu in her hand, and lightly ran her fingers over it, making the blade emit a bright firelight. She made several swift movements and chopped toward the crown of a Taotie’s head. Tengshe yelled, "They’re not afraid of fire! It’s useless!" But before the words had settled, Bengyu sliced into the Taotie’s back as if cutting through melons, piercing its heart.

Xuanji said harshly, "I won’t burn it—I’ll chop it to pieces!" With force, she sliced the Taotie down its spine, cleaving it in two. It didn’t even grunt before rolling to the ground, falling into Hao Feng’s shadow and remaining motionless.

Seeing its situation turn dire, the other Taotie tried to retreat back into the shadow as well. Tengshe urgently shouted, "Try burning it with the Nine Heavens Mysterious Fire!"

What is Nine Heavens Mysterious Fire? Xuanji turned to ask but was interrupted when he grabbed her hand and shouted fiercely, "Quick! Call my name!" Xuanji dumbly cried out, "Tengshe." The Bengyu Sword in her hand immediately reacted, trembling violently as if she were clutching a rapidly beating heart.

"Swing the sword, you idiot!" Tengshe was beside himself with frustration.

A certain sense of knowing stirred within Xuanji’s heart, and she instinctively held up the Bengyu Sword and swung it. Tengshe took to the air, with the Fire Wings behind him suddenly flaring open, no longer the red of fresh blood. The blazing wings were a nearly transparent pale blue, devoid of Tengshe’s Fire’s dominance and without the brightness of Samadhi True Fire. They burned quietly, unimpressively, their cold hue seeming without a trace of warmth.

The gathering clouds above dispersed in an instant, as if a giant hand had stirred them into disarray. His vast and beautiful Fire Wings gently wafted, like a lover’s arms, softly embracing the remaining Taotie.

With a faint "pop," before even a chance to react, the Taotie turned into green smoke, leaving not a trace of debris behind, disappearing completely.

This was the Nine Heavens Mysterious Fire! Xuanji was stunned. Her heart raced and her ears buzzed until all turned silent except for the breathing of the two of them, coupled with intense heartbeats echoing and reverberating in her mind...

Had they won? She looked at Tengshe, dazed. He seemed just as baffled, and they stared at each other.

Suddenly, Hao Feng chuckled softly, murmuring, "Impressive!"

"What the hell are you mumbling about?!" Sneered Tengshe, covered in agonizing bites from the Taotie, with no pleasant expression, wishing he could incinerate him with the Nine Heavens Mysterious Fire right then and there.

Hao Feng ignored him, merely sheathed his twin blades, and turned to leave, his shadow gradually shrinking back to normal size. Xuanji called out, "Wait! The outcome hasn’t been decided yet!" She then remembered that Valley Master Rong had fainted and probably no one was there to judge the result, and was at a loss. Hao Feng didn’t look back, laughing, "At a time like this, what does winning or losing matter!"

What does ’a time like this’ mean? Both were confused and about to ask when they heard an uproar from the Martial Arts Arena, followed by an elderly voice, "You sect leaders are really at ease! Can it even be called the Flower Pinning Conference without the involvement of Xuanyuan Sect?"

Xuanji found this voice both strange and familiar, and hastily joined Tengshe at the edge of the platform to look down. The Martial Arts Arena was in chaos; many people were removing their outer garments to reveal black clothes underneath, all armed with White Iron Rings. The purple-faced speaker was the Sect Leader of Xuanyuan Sect, Zhu Shi. The guards of Fuyu Island could have never imagined that these people were disguised infiltrators, and moreover, they were from the Xuanyuan Sect. The place turned into pandemonium, with some drawing swords and some standing dazed.(To be continued, for the following story, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)