Chapter 324: Nothing but Sentiments

Chapter 324 Only Passion Remaining

Zhao Changhe watched in sheer dumbfoundment.

From afar, he had assumed such a formidable, fire-attribute female expert could only be Suzaku... but it was actually Huangfu Qing?

Oh right, Suzaku had indeed mentioned that she would send Yihuoshe or Weihuohu to this place, so her appearance was not entirely unexpected.

Her current attire was not only leagues apart from Suzaku's, but it wasn't even her old Yihuoshe ritual vestments; she was actually wearing an exceedingly opulent mink fur coat in a blue-and-white color scheme, looking just like the noble ladies one would encounter back in the capital.

Didn't the red ritual robe look perfectly fine out in the wild, so why change into this... though, of course, changing into something like Shiranui Mai's outfit would look even better...

No, the real question was, since when was Huangfu Qing this strong? Judging by the sheer display of power before him, there was no way this could just be the "Ninth Layer of the Meridian Pass"! With this level of skill, she definitely belonged on the Chaos Ranking; he wasn't even sure if the Earth Ranking could contain her, and it felt like even the Vulture or the Hunting Fang weren't nearly this ferocious...

Could it be the Heaven Ranking?

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Huangfu Qing sensed someone approaching and abruptly turned her head.

Her eyes, which had almost completely turned into blazing fire, locked onto Zhao Changhe's face, her expression savage and cruel, while fresh blood still dripped from both her hands.

Zhao Changhe's heart skipped a beat, and he spun around to bolt.

This older sister had also succumbed to inner demons; it would be a hilarious tragedy to die by her hand!

Zhao Changhe was highly experienced with this kind of state; it was exactly like when the blood-fiend fury rushed to one's head, causing a person to recognize neither friend nor foe. At such moments, one was indeed fully buffed, with a combat capability far exceeding normal parameters, but the subsequent exhaustion was also severe, as it was essentially the result of fully unlocking one's latent potential. A state like Huangfu Qing's would only be fiercer than his own blood-fiend fury; assuming his own power amplified by ten or twenty percent, her current state likely doubled it or more.

No wonder she was so ferocious!

The people besieging Huangfu Qing at this moment were the same; otherwise, with Zhao Changhe now infinitely close to the Earth Ranking, where could he possibly find a whole horde of people who felt stronger than himself just by casually looking around? This place was filled with berserkers who had fallen into inner demons and far exceeded their normal states, which was why no matter how many died or were wounded, no one fled, blindly fighting to their absolute last breath, sworn to tear every living creature they saw into shreds.

In truth, because Zhao Changhe did not dare to get close enough to engage her, he failed to realize that Huangfu Qing had not actually reached the same level of madness as the others. She possessed reason and recognized people; it was merely that the killing intent in her heart was hard to bear, and Zhao Changhe's favorability rating in her heart had not reached the point where it could suppress the inner demon and awaken her tenderness. On the contrary, she recalled several instances where she had harbored killing intent toward this man, so why not kill him now instead of waiting for the New Year?

In other words, her strength had not received much of an amplification; the power she displayed right now was exactly what she possessed in her true identity as Suzaku...

Her own inherent strength allowed her to slaughter this crowd of corrupted ones like chickens and dogs, pulling them together for a casual area-of-effect sweep... meaning that even if several dozen Zhao Changhes attacked together, they would all be wiped out by her alone.

The Vermilion Bird of the South was a peerless fiend who had practically supported the ferocious reputation of the Four Symbols Sect entirely on her own! That slacking turtle basically didn't count.

Zhao Changhe had assumed Yihuoshe had received a buff, which was a miscalculation on his part, but his judgment of the crisis was not flawed in the slightest; he knew that at this moment Huangfu Qing was beyond communication and beyond reason, and if he did not run, he would undoubtedly die. While there was still a group of corrupted ones who hadn't died out yet and were still entangling Huangfu Qing, he still had time to put some distance between them.

Sure enough, just as Huangfu Qing was about to pursue and kill this stinky bastard whom she wanted to kill the most, swords, spears, halberds, and axes from her left and right struck again in a frenzy. Huangfu Qing suddenly thrust out a hand to break through a sword beside her, her claws plunging into the opponent's head and turning it to mush, before casually twisting, forcing the entire skull to face backward: "Begone!"

In the blink of an eye, that bastard had already run out of sight.

Huangfu Qing was furious: "Die!"

"Boom!" Raging flames scorched the heavens, melting away all ice and snow.

Holy mother, she's strong... Zhao Changhe took the opportunity to pull out the sword seed, tracking the direction indicated by that sliver of sword intent as if looking at a compass, taking a detour to rush straight toward the secret realm.

Running was certainly no match for this older sister in her berserk state, but rushing into the secret realm would offer a chance at survival.

As long as he could stall for a period of time, according to Zhao Changhe's experience, Huangfu Qing would inevitably fall into a state of weakness and exhaustion, and gradually regain her reason. Stalling through this period would settle the matter...

The sword intent spun rapidly, pointing unexpectedly toward the summit of the mountain.

Wasn't that the volcanic crater?

Zhao Changhe had no time to think further, detouring as he sprinted upward.

"Die!" Huangfu Qing had already slaughtered all the corrupted ones and was swiftly pursuing him from behind.

Zhao Changhe exerted every ounce of his life, deploying his water-treading and bloodless-stride techniques all at once, rushing toward the mountain top like a flying arrow. Along the way, he was astonished to find many more corpses, all of whom appeared to have been killed by Huangfu Qing based on their wounds.

Just how many people had she killed...

Fortunately, this mountain was not high; surrounded by various perilous peaks in the vicinity, it could only be considered a short dwarf, which was also the reason why the volcanic eruption had not covered the surrounding peaks and was restricted to this small area.

A low mountain meant a short distance. By the time Huangfu Qing swiftly finished off all the corrupted ones and pursued him to the halfway point of the mountain, Zhao Changhe had already reached the volcanic crater. Peering down into it, his heart chilled slightly.

Zhao Changhe had explored many secret realms, and he could sense that this volcanic crater originally had a spatial concealment; normally jumping down might just lead to a regular volcanic belly, but in reality, there was another independent space inside, though this spatial concealment had already been partially breached by someone at this moment.

Consequently, a wave of fiery aura and savage demonic energy, highly similar to what was currently on Huangfu Qing, faintly wafted outward from within the volcanic belly. It was easy to imagine that both Huangfu Qing and those corrupted ones from earlier had fallen into a frenzy because their inner demons were triggered by being tainted by this demonic energy.

But curiously, Zhao Changhe felt that he wasn't particularly affected by this demonic energy. Channeling the heart mantra taught by Tang Wanzhuang, which resembled the moon reflecting on water, was basically enough to resist it... If even someone of his meager skill level could resist it, why couldn't Huangfu Qing? Could it be because he had experienced the blood-fiend fury state too many times and had developed an immunity?

No...

Zhao Changhe recalled the old woodcutter's words from earlier: external demons can be slain, but inner demons are hard to restrain.

It was because a savage killing intent had arisen in one's heart that one would be tainted by the demonic energy. Especially for someone like Huangfu Qing who practiced fire-attribute cultivation, she was originally just a single thought away from her heart-fire turning into a demon—well, there wasn't even a separation, she was originally a fire-system demoness... Whereas he was unaffected because his mind was calm and peaceful, devoid of evil thoughts, and thus with the protection of Tang Wanzhuang's heart mantra, he could be immune.

Zhao Changhe could basically piece together what had transpired here before.

Due to the rumors of the "Blazing Fire of Kungang," Huangfu Qing had been sent here by Suzaku to investigate. Given her matching attribute and vast knowledge, she had probably truly found the secret realm space and discovered the method to open it.

But it might have required a certain amount of time to crack, and was likely highly exhausting to her mind. Right at this moment, a group of Kunlun scoundrels who were also here hunting for treasure and trying their luck discovered the anomaly, and attacked while Huangfu Qing was hard-pressed to divide her attention.

With Huangfu Qing's temper, how could she not be enraged... Under this rage, the external demon triggered her inner demon, throwing her into a frenzy. And since these people harbored evil thoughts, they naturally could not escape the invasion of the demonic energy either. Both sides fell into inner demons simultaneously, fighting all the way from the mountaintop to the base, with corpses paving the mountain paths.

Zhao Changhe hesitated for a moment.

If analyzed according to this template, it wasn't quite the same as the blood-fiend fury; Huangfu Qing might not truly be able to regain her reason on her own, and might well remain like this forever... Over time, she would truly become an completely unreasonable grand arch-fiend.

Just as he hesitated for that brief moment, Huangfu Qing had already pursued him to his back: "Die!"

Zhao Changhe clearly could have broken through the restriction and jumped inside, yet he actually didn't jump, executing a lazy donkey roll to evade to the side.

Huangfu Qing's claw slammed directly into the spot where he had just crouched to observe, completely shattering a patch of mountain stone.

"Clang!" The Dragon-Sparrow leaped from the ring into his palm, and the moment Zhao Changhe gripped the hilt, he abruptly swung the blade in a sweeping rotation.

It was not aimed at Suzaku's claw which was striking at him once more, but in the exact opposite direction behind him.

A poisonous dart silently bypassed Zhao Changhe'

The Art of Returning Spring... it healed not his own wound, but her demon.

He knew not if it would work... this was, after all, no mere injury. Yet according to Third Lady, the vitality of the Azure Dragon and the rebirth of the Vermilion Bird were, in principle, of the same nature—could it not stir some awakening and renewal in her?

In any case, this gentle vitality might at least soothe her temper, hmm? Be good...

In the distance, it seemed a wind had risen.

Ye Wuzong, chasing a mere child, would naturally not bother to conceal his tracks too much.

Huangfu Qing, who had been silently sensing his Art of Returning Spring, seemed to perceive something. She suddenly turned her head, murderous intent flaring again in her eyes.

Zhao Changhe lacked her spiritual perception, but he guessed that Ye Wuzong was nearly upon them. He sighed, "You can't beat him. Let's hide."

So saying, he tentatively reached out to grasp Huangfu Qing's wrist, which still remained embedded in his shoulder.

Huangfu Qing, lost in thought, watched as his hand slowly moved hers away. Then he staggered over to Longque, retrieved the blade, and dragged the corpse to the crater's edge, tossing it down.

He explained, "The bodies here cannot be seen, or else it'll be easy to guess where we are."

Huangfu Qing seemed to understand. The next moment, all the corpses on the mountain burst into flames, burning to ash.

Zhao Changhe grabbed her hand and leaped into the volcano's mouth.

The corpse he had just thrown in had fallen into the normal mountainside, but their descent led to a different place.

Huangfu Qing, midair, suddenly flicked a finger upward.

A wisp of flame shot out, masking the leaking demonic energy here with ordinary fire, barely concealing the half-open spatial barrier.

Almost at the same moment, Ye Wuzong appeared outside the mountain. Gazing at the devastated aftermath of the battle, he was utterly bewildered.