Chapter 485 - 483: Eternal Sleep at the Bottom of the Lake?
"Tear me to shreds? Hmph, you’ll have to make it out of this ice cavern alive first!"
Beneath his cloak, Pei Shenghai’s face was a mask of savagery and madness. He looked down at the Storage Ring in his hand, his expression turning to one of sheer ecstasy. "The Mystic Sect Sword Order! I’ve finally obtained the Mystic Sect Sword Order! HAHAHA..."
Pei Shenghai was practically insane with excitement!
He had once been just an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect.
But by a stroke of luck, he obtained a Mystic Sect Sword Order. After over a decade of research, he finally managed to comprehend some of its secrets.
This allowed him to rise from a mere Outer Sect Disciple, step by step, to become a Power-Holding Inner Sect Elder of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect!
Now, he had even reached the Fourth Stage of the Human King Realm.
When Jiang Chen secretly infiltrated the Jiuhua Celestial Sect and passed through the Teleportation Array, he had inadvertently opened his Storage Ring, allowing Pei Shenghai to sense the presence of the Mystic Sect Sword Order.
He had tracked him all this way, even spending a fortune to buy a Secret Treasure that could fool the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm’s Space Array into misreading his age.
He had successfully entered the Profound Celestial Ancestor Realm.
He had bided his time until now, finally finding a golden opportunity to snatch Jiang Chen’s Storage Ring.
’Damn it... why is the soul imprint on this Storage Ring so strong?’ Pei Shenghai tried to destroy Jiang Chen’s soul imprint on the Storage Ring but found it to be incredibly powerful. Even with his Cultivation Realm at the Human King Realm, it would take him ten days to half a month to forcibly break it.
Left with no other choice, he could only put the Storage Ring away.
He cast a cold glance toward the Ice Lake, but there was no longer any trace of Jiang Chen.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a slight smirk. ’Jiang Chen is dead, so no one else knows the secret of the Mystic Sect Sword Order. I need to find a safe, secluded place to destroy the soul imprint on this Storage Ring and get the Mystic Sect Sword Spirit!’
A single Mystic Sect Sword Order had allowed him to grow from an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple into a Power-Holding Elder of the Jiuhua Celestial Sect.
A dignified Human King!
He couldn’t wait to open the Storage Ring and comprehend the mysteries of the second Mystic Sect Sword Order!
Just as Pei Shenghai was preparing to leave, Gai Shi, who had just forced the third Ice Corpse into the Ice Lake, finally noticed that Jiang Chen had been ambushed by Pei Shenghai. His eyes widened in fury, filled with a crimson rage. A thunderous roar echoed between heaven and earth. "You bastard! How dare you harm my brother? Die!"
BOOM!
Gai Shi’s power was immense. Having just broken through to the Human King Realm, he was at the very height of his strength.
He clenched his right hand into a fist. Golden light flickered over its surface, as if it were the most venerable fist in existence, and he smashed a razor-sharp punch toward Pei Shenghai.
RUMBLE!
The golden phantom of his fist coalesced into a long river.
Countless fist phantoms surged chaotically, rushing toward the sky in a vast and mighty torrent.
The moment this punch appeared, the Spiritual Qi in the surrounding world fell into disarray, as if it had been drained in an instant. A vacuum formed, devouring all light and energy. All that remained was the blindingly brilliant golden fist phantom, which looked as if it would tear the Celestial Vault asunder.
’Not good!’
Pei Shenghai’s heart skipped a beat.
A torrent of energy like a vast ocean erupted from his body, coalescing around him to form a True Essence Mountain.
RUMBLE!
Gai Shi’s peerless punch slammed viciously into the True Essence Mountain.
The entire mountain peak began to crack and crumble.
"Gah!"
Pei Shenghai spat out a mouthful of blood, his body flying backward through the air like a falling star, streaking across the Celestial Vault.
"You bastard! I’ll make you die with my brother, Jiang Chen!"
Gai Shi roared, his killing intent howling like the wind as he chased after Pei Shenghai.
’Damn it...’ A look of terror appeared in Pei Shenghai’s eyes as he glanced at the pursuing Gai Shi. ’This Gai Shi is too terrifying! He just broke through to the Human King Realm, how is he already this strong? I’m no match for him. I have to get out of here...’
BOOM!
Holding nothing back, Pei Shenghai burned his blood and executed a Blood Escape.
He transformed into a streak of red light that shot across the Celestial Vault.
He fled toward the distant sky.
Gai Shi roared, giving chase. "You bastard, where do you think you’re going!"
"Gai Shi... there’s no enmity between us! Why are you chasing me so relentlessly?" Pei Shenghai bellowed.
Gai Shi snorted coldly, the killing intent in his eyes blazing like a fierce fire. "Jiang Chen is my brother, and you killed him. I’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth to kill you and make you pay with your life!"
"Damn it!"
Pei Shenghai’s features twisted into a savage expression. "Gai Shi, I admit I’m no match for you right now, but you just wait. It won’t be long before I personally take back everything you’ve done to me today. Blood-stained Escape Technique..."
BOOM!
The blood in his body burned like a Blazing Fire.
The bloody light around Pei Shenghai grew even more intense, wrapping him in a pillar of light that shot toward the sky. His speed increased tenfold!
SWOOSH—
Pei Shenghai tore through the sky and sped away.
Gai Shi gave it his all, but he could only watch helplessly as the distance between him and Pei Shenghai grew wider and wider.
’Damn it... I can’t believe he got away!’
Gai Shi stared at the figure disappearing from sight. Like an enraged lion, he tilted his head back and roared at the sky. His bellows crashed down like thunder, causing mountains to collapse and the earth to sink. Even the thick clouds in the Celestial Vault were forcefully dispersed by his furious cries.
Within a hundred-mile radius, everything became a casualty of Gai Shi’s vented fury, flattened into wasteland!
......
「In the Ice Lake.」
An all-encompassing, bone-chilling cold surrounded him. The cold was insidious, seeping into every pore of Jiang Chen’s body.
This energy was glacial.
It froze Jiang Chen’s muscles and meridians. The True Essence and blood flowing through his body began to solidify under the chill’s assault.
Their flow slowed to a crawl.
His blood and True Essence had already congealed into ice. His body grew completely rigid, like an ice sculpture.
A thick layer of solid ice encased Jiang Chen’s body.
Only his eyeballs could still move. He looked around, seeing only the frigid lake water all around him as his body sank continuously toward the bottom.
As he descended, Jiang Chen saw figures encased in solid ice—Ice Corpses. There were hundreds, maybe even a thousand of them...
Each Ice Corpse emanated a cold aura of death.
Only their unfeeling eyes watched Jiang Chen, filled with the presence of death, as if welcoming a new companion.
’Am I going to die?’
’This place is full of Ice Corpses. What is this Ice Lake?’
’Why are there so many of them?’
’Am I really going to die here?’
The biting cold continuously eroded Jiang Chen’s body, and even more so, his will and his soul.
His body and mind felt as if they were sealed in ice.
Jiang Chen’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy. He could no longer see anything before him, only a vast expanse of Ice Corpses. More and more of them completely surrounded him, sinking toward the bottom of the lake in their icy cocoons.
’Am... I... really... going... to... die?’
’Father...’
’Qingyi...’
Jiang Chen’s consciousness was almost completely gone.
His body slowly sank.
Like all the other Ice Corpses, he seemed destined to sleep eternally at the bottom of the Ice Lake.
The surrounding Ice Corpses also drifted closer to Jiang Chen, as if wanting to pin him down in the cold, desolate Darkness of the lakebed.
However...
Just as Jiang Chen’s body touched the frigid lakebed, the God-slaying Sword within him emitted a faint glimmer of light...
[First Chapter of the day. I finally figured out this plot point; writer’s block was killing me. There are still seven more Chapters tonight, Little Tian will keep writing!]