Chapter 168: The Lucky Bastard (Part - 3)
"The Qi circulation is still stable." Gu Fan tracked the Blood Spiritual Qi with his Eyes, "Of course it was."
This black tree had been feeding on blood for so long. It would be foolish to think it will collapse with just a few low-level talismans even if they damage the right channels.
But this did not stop Gu Fan. He lifted the three Crimson Flame Talismans and smiled viciously, "Then let me make it rain."
The blood-fueled arrays were generally Yin in nature. They were rich in Blood Qi. Oozing with Death Qi. Filled with Resentment.
All of it was cold and corrupt, and Yin in nature.
To destroy it, Gu Fan needed to force an opposing energy into its core.
He needed to burn it. He needed to make it explode. He needed pure Yang energy.
And with that calculation done in his mind, Gu Fan tossed the three Crimson Flame Talismans into the air.
And instead of falling on the ground, they floated around the black tree.
Then he pressed the Purifying Sunfire Talisman between his fingers, and circulated his Spiritual Qi through the talisman while the pale-gold paper began to glow.
And just like that, a warm radiance spread through the poisonous forest which even made the surrounding miasma hiss and retreat.
Even the black tree shook and Gu Fan could visibly see the roots tremble inside the ground. It had sensed danger.
"Oh! So you can feel it?!" Gu Fan smiled, "Good."
As he continued to inject his Qi into the talisman, the golden light continued to lit brighter.
Finally he extended his arm and threw the Purifying Sunfire Talisman shot towards the tree and it stopped directly above the blood pool.
And the moment it happened, the black roots immediately surged upward. they were like thousands of black snakes, attempting to drag the talisman into the blood.
Gu Fan had been waiting for that.
"Now!" His fingers snapped... And...
Boom!
The first Crimson Flame Talisman detonated.
Boom!
The second exploded.
Boom!
The third followed.
Three explosions struck the damaged blood-energy channels simultaneously.
The black roots rushed back inside the ground and the blood that was pooled beneath the tree gushed out from within the cracks and surged upwards.
At that exact moment, the Purifying Sunfire Talisman descended and it entered the blood pool, submerging deep beneath all that blood.
Gu Fan watched. For the next couple of breaths nothing happened. He waited for another few breaths but it was all so silent.
"She did not scam me, did she?" Gu Fan started to have his doubts. Because if that was the case, he is gong to have a long all night chat with her, and it won’t be pretty for her ass.
But then the ground shook.
BOOM!
A pillar of golden fire erupted from the blood pool, and shot straight for the sky, and suddenly the whole bluish-black sky turned golden.
The corrupted blood Qi screamed. No, he wasn’t imagining it. He could actually hear it scream.
Thousands of resentful voices echoed from beneath the earth, and reverberated hauntingly throughout the forest.
And in all this, the black tree convulsed, and its trunk split open.
The roots thrashed wildly beneath the mud as if it was squirming in pain while the array attempted to keep the illusion working.
But the damaged channels could no longer contain it.
The Yin blood energy and The Yang flame, the two opposing forces collided directly within the formation core.
The black tree began to swell, and through the cracked bark, blood began to pour out.
The crimson cage above them started to flicker as well.
Gu Fan raised his sword, and sensing all the blood around it, the Blood Drinker Sword released an impatient cry, wanting to taste all that delicious blood.
"Bon Appetit," Gu Fan loosened his grip, and the Blood Drinker Sword floated above his palm.
Faced with the enormous pool of corrupted cultivator blood, the King-Tier weapon seemed to have awakened from its sleep.
A deep red light crawled across its blade., and the crimson glow only grew darker and thicker. Like fresh blood flowing beneath black ice.
Gu Fan looked at the sword still waiting for his permission and gentle patted its hilt, "Go."
Whoosh!
The Blood Drinker Sword shot forward like a meteor.
The black tree attempted to defend itself, and thousands of twisted roots burst from the ground rushing toward the sword like venomous serpents.
But the Blood Drinker Sword pierced through them all like cutting through paper... And...
Puchi!
The blade buried itself deep inside the split trunk of the black tree. For a second the tree stopped moving, but the very next moment, the sword began to tremble.
A low metallic hum spread through the forest, and the Blood Drinker Sword greedily started sucking all of the blood Qi surrounding it.
The massive blood pool beneath the tree began to churn.
Streams of dark red blood rose from the mud, twisted through the air like crimson dragons before rushing toward the embedded blade.
The black tree violently shook. Its roots thrashed beneath the earth. But the hungry Sword did not care one bit.
Every drop of blood the array tried to absorb was stolen by the sword.
And the pool rapidly shrank.
The crimson runes beneath the mud dimmed one after another.
The black tree let out a strange, shrill sound.
It was not the cry of a tree.
It was the cry of something that had been feeding for decades and had suddenly found itself being devoured.
Gu Fan stood outside the collapsing formation with his hands behind his back.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"How does it feel?"
"You used the blood of others to survive."
"Now... You are loosing it all."
And in a change visible to the eyes, the blade became brighter. The glow surrounding it deepened until the entire clearing was illuminated in blood-red light.
And, on the other hand, the black tree began to wither. Its trunk cracked. Its roots dried. The blood pool vanished completely. And without the blood Qi, the Slaughter Array lost its foundation.
The runes shattered one after another.
Crack!
The sound resembled that of something cracking.
And then...
BOOM!
The black tree exploded.
Blood rained everywhere as the transparent, crimson dome holding them all up vanished while the runes beneath the mud cracked one after another.
The illusion vanished, and the disciples froze.
Their bloodstained weapons fell from their hands, as they looked around themselves in confusion and then towards the corpses around them.
They looked at the familiar faces, at the brothers they had just killed, and blurry memories of whatever had happened in the last couple of hours began to flow in their heads.
"No..."
One disciple fell to his knees.
"What have I done?"
Another stared at the sword in his hand.
His hands began to shake.
"Brother Zhao..." His voice broke, "I thought... i thought you were a beast."
Gu Fan stepped forward. While everyone else was covered in blood, his black robes remained spotless.
He walked past Gu Chen’s unconscious body without even glancing at him.
Then he looked around at the survivors scattered across the mud.
Some were injured.
Some were crying.
Some stared blankly at the dead.
But ignoring all of them, Gu Fan counted as he continued walking.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"..."
"..."
"Ten."
"Eleven."
"Twelve."
A satisfied smile appeared on his face. Exactly twelve disciples remained alive.
Even the System screen appeared on time.
[DING!]
[Calculating surviving targets...]
Gu Fan waited.
The rewards were almost his.
But exactly as Gu Fan confidently prepared to hear the reward notification and happily claim his massive rewards, a heavily bleeding disciple kneeling right in the middle of the group suddenly convulsed.
The man’s eyes flashed with a lingering trace of madness that hadn’t completely faded, and without a single second of hesitation, he grabbed his heavy steel sword from the mud and drove the incredibly sharp blade straight through the back of the completely defenseless disciple kneeling directly in front of him.
Squelch!
The bloody blade ripped straight out of the victim’s chest, piercing his heart and spraying hot, dark red blood directly onto Gu Fan’s leather boots.
Gu Fan’s green eyes widened in sheer disbelief as the smirk on his face froze, staring directly at the freshly slaughtered corpse dropping heavily into the mud exactly as the system screen violently flashed a deep, bloody red.
[Ding! Current surviving targets: 11.]
[Quest Failed.]
[Surprise Penalty Activating...]
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[A/N: Do you have Power Stones? What about Golden Tickets? Well, NovelFire isn’t a bank so would you mind splurging them a little on my story?]