Everlasting

 

Shua!

The blood-red lance left her hand, leaving after-images in its wake as it nailed the Demon Scorpion into the ground. A bloodthirsty aura burst out and the blood-red lance absorbed every last drop of the Demon Scorpion’s blood. After that, the Demon Scorpion’s withered body fell to the ground, devoid of any signs of life.

The young cultivator, the one with the pierced chest, was pulled out by the others and they shoved medicinal pills into his mouth. Some stepped forward to use their own essence power to help him recover. In the end, however, they failed to save his life.

“A pity. If only he had condensed out his Soulflame, we would have been able to save him. By now, though, the poison within his body has already destroyed all the vitality within him. Even his mind has been stained by the poison,” said Mo Xigui, who shook his head.

“Be careful!”

Suddenly, Mo Xigui lashed out. A condensed astral sword, seemingly tangible in quality, shot towards one of the cultivators there.

“Have you gone mad?!” the cultivator was shocked senseless.

Unexpectedly, before piercing the cultivator’s body, the astral sword abruptly turned to knock a Demon Scorpion away; the Demon Scorpion had appeared without any warning. 

Bang!

Shockingly, Mo Xigui’s astral sword attack succeeded in shattering the Demon Scorpion’s tough body. An unpleasant stench spread out, giving the others a suffocating feeling.

The battle began.

One after another, three-chi long Demon Scorpions appeared before their eyes. Their sharp and poisonous stingers, complemented with formidable corrosive attributes, charged towards the cultivators. Some of the scorpions displayed an even more ferocious attitude as they swung their large and sharp pincers about, engaging the cultivators in a melee battle (1 chi = 0.333 m).

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Flying swords shot out again and again only to cause sparks to erupt from a Demon Scorpion. It ended up aggravating this demon-like creature’s violent nature. Its upraised tail abruptly shot out as its black, shiny and poisonous stinger flew out, piercing through a cultivator’s shield of astral energy before stabbing his shoulder.

“Hurry up and stop the blood flow.” Mo Ji waved her hand and a clump of flames struck the man’s body to immediately burn the entire poisonous stinger away. At the same time, the flames also burned a circular hole on the cultivator’s shoulder.

The pain caused the cultivator to grimace as sweat stained his whole body. However, he knew that he had been saved.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

An unknown number of Demon Scorpions swarmed the ground as countless stingers fell upon the cultivators like rain.

Puchi!

Another stinger pierced through a cultivator’s chest. This time, there was no time to rescue him as the violent poison instantly killed him.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

Every time Mo Ji brandished the demonic artefact in her hand, she would nail a Demon Scorpion to its death. At the same time, their blood essence would be completely absorbed away.

The demonic artefact possessed an innate ability to deter creatures from the Demon Plane. Add its Prized artefact tier to the equation, the Demon Scorpions simply fell, one after another. They were all killed before they could even offer any resistance.

As usual, Mo Ji’s four bodyguards were not attacking. They simply stayed close to Mo Ji to protect her. Only when a Demon Scorpion popped out silently from the earth would one of them unsheathe their blade. That person would send out a powerful blade beam to cut the Demon Scorpion’s body into two.

Mo Xigui and the other escorting cultivators with higher cultivation bases began displaying their killer moves to kill the surrounding Demon Scorpions.

“Fire Palm!”

A large flaming palm silhouette swept three Demon Scorpion up in a row. The three Demon Scorpions caught on fire and were quickly burned until crackling sounds erupted from their bodies.

“Ha ha ha, these Demon Scorpions are only good at sneak attacks. Their combat ability is not that strong,” said the attacking cultivator with a pleased tone.

Kacha!

A large pincer swiftly clamped tight, cutting the cultivator’s left leg. A Demon Scorpion had suddenly popped out from underground, its eyes shining with bloody light

“Argh!”

Instantly, the cultivator shrieked out in misery, unaware of the poisonous stinger rushing towards him.

Bang!

A flying sword swiftly shot forward, sending the Demon Scorpion flying away. The cultivator beside him had stepped forward to help him.

“You fool! Be careful! I won’t be saving you next time,” the cultivator berated the wounded cultivator.

Sigh! Unexpectedly, there are also good-for-nothings amongst those from immortal dao sects. Seeing that incident, Mo Ji could not stop herself from sneering.

However, their overall combat power was quite strong. Some of them possessed cultivation bases and techniques that were in no way inferior to Mo Xigui. After all of them joined the battle, the Demon Scorpions were all killed off, leaving only an area filled with their corpses.

“What a pity. The levels of these Demon Scorpions are too low. If their levels are just slightly higher, their poisonous stingers could be used to forge Magic artefacts,” one of the cultivators said while shaking his head.

Generally, after killing powerful yao beasts, cultivators would use the materials gained from the yao beasts’ bodies to forge or improve magic treasures. The more powerful the yao beast, the stronger the magic treasure forged from its flesh, bones or claws could be. During battles, magic treasures can also activate the power that the yao beasts once possessed.

Even though all the Demon Scorpions had been killed, Mo Ji’s face only grew more serious. Likewise, Mo Xigui and a few others with higher cultivation bases had also sensed it. An abnormal aura was seeping out from somewhere.

“Underground!”

Mo Ji shouted with a hushed tone and the demonic artefact in her hand thrust heavily down the ground. A massive power penetrated the hard ground, surging deep under.

Rumble! Rumble!

The rumbling sound continued reverberating outwards as soil and rocks deep underground were shattered apart by the power. The bloodthirsty and soul-biting aura emanating from the blood-coloured lance caused the surrounding cultivators to back away.

What a powerful demonic artefact. How is Mo Ji controlling it? Mo Xigui was secretly shocked. This attack by Mo Ji was not something that he could casually take on. Rather, even the bloodthirsty aura emanating from the demonic artefact was enough to affect his mind.

“What is underground? Could there be another Demon Scorpion?” shouted another cultivator.

“There is another big guy left,” said Mo Ji with an extremely grim expression. 

There was actually no need for Mo Ji to say that. The others had also sensed the violent aura surging out from underground. The creature had yet to emerge. And yet, the thick aura it exuded could already affect their minds.

Bang!

A booming sound rang out and the demonic artefact Mo Ji inserted into the ground was bounced away by a powerful force. The force sent it slamming deep into a nearby boulder.

“Could the thing underground be a Great Yao?” someone shouted.

Puchi!

Another black and shiny stinger suddenly burst out from the ground. Next, swift and forceful blades of energy, superior to flying swords, shot out at the crowd of cultivators.

“Be careful, dodge!”

All of them were shocked. As they had never encountered this attack in the earlier battle, some of them were unable to dodge in time. They were struck by the potent blades of energy, which left see-though holes upon their bodies.

The remaining blades of energy struck the walls and left deep holes in their wake. The cultivators fell into a state of panic and they all revealed grim expressions while staying on guard, awaiting the appearance of the monster that was about to emerge.

Bang!

The ground abruptly exploded to form a very deep and large crater. Rocks and soil flew about and the violent aura bombarding the cultivators made it so they were incapable of keeping their eyes open.

Kacha!

A large pincer clamped tightly and a cultivator was cut from the waist down. Before he could even scream out, the violent aura blew up his sea of wisdom. Even the Soulflame residing within his sea of wisdom was snuffed out.

“What a gigantic Demon Scorpion!” The one to exclaim out in shock was the usually taciturn Mo Xigui.

A one-zhang long Demon Scorpion emerged from underground (1 zhang = 3.333 m). The instant it appeared, it had utilized its mighty pincer to snip a cultivator at the condensed Soulflame realm to death.

Sou!

Its sharp and poisonous stinger spun as it stabbed Mo Xigui with it. Before Mo Xigui could even react, every hair on his body was already standing erect.

Get away!

That was the only thought Mo Xigui had. At the same time, he pushed out the potential of his body as he attempted to dodge. He felt as though he was moving at an unprecedented level of velocity as his movement speed rose by a notch during this crisis.

He successfully dodged the attack.

Crash!

The stinger, which was spinning silently, thrust deep into the hard rocky wall. Next, the surrounding wall became as soft as tofu. The entire spot then transformed into fine grains of sand, which flowed down to create a black-coloured, one-chi radius, one-zhang deep crater.

Savage! If that attack had struck me, I would have died. Cold sweat oozed out from Mo Xigui due to fright.

Sou!

After its attack failed to connect, the massive Demon Scorpion attacked again. This time, it attacked a different cultivator. Its poisonous stinger flashed forward, becoming like a black-coloured lightning bolt. The stinger then re-appeared right before the cultivator.

The cultivator was also one with an extraordinary level of cultivation base. He instinctively moved his flying sword, which had been hovering above his head, down to stand between the attack and him.

At the same time, Mo Ji and her four bodyguards attacked simultaneously. The formidable, blood-coloured demonic artefact and four astral swords, condensed to the point of attaining tangibility, hacked down upon the massive Demon Scorpion.

Bang!

The flying sword exploded into fragments.

Sensing a dark and chilling sensation charging into his body, the cultivator sighed. “It’s over. I am dead.”

Unexpectedly, when it seemed as though the poisonous stinger would pierce him, the Demon Scorpion abruptly retracted its stinger. A series of clashing sounds rang out as the dexterous and tough stinger clashed against the attacks that Mo Ji and her bodyguards were unleashing.

“Phew! Saved.” The cultivator breathed a sigh of relief.

“You, you, you.”

Turning, the cultivator saw the nearby cultivators looking at him in shock. They extended their fingers to point at him.

“What is it? What happened?” The cultivator grew puzzled. Then, he instinctively sensed something terrible occurring to his body.

Lowering his head, he saw that a black hole had appeared on his chest. It was an incomparably black in colour. Blood, exuding an unpleasant smell, kept flowing out from the hole, instantly turning black in colour as it did.

All this while, the hole kept expanding in size. Before the cultivator could figure out what was going on, he saw light. No, that black, large hole had become a see-through hole!

“Argh!”

The cultivator cried out wretchedly as he rolled on the ground and his Soulflame was forced to escape from his mind. 

The battle came to a brief intermission. The Demon Scorpion stood silently and its blood-red eyes quietly regarded everyone there. Its dexterous stinger kept swaying about, seemingly ready to attack at any moment.

Mo Ji’s countenance was one of seriousness and she gripped her blood-red lance tightly. Her four bodyguards were lined up alongside her and thick blade energies radiated out from their bodies.

That flying sword the cultivator used to block its attack earlier was a grade 7 Magic artefact, but it was easily destroyed. Additionally, its stinger also blocked my Prized artefact’s attack and four other astral swords at the same time. This Demon Scorpion does not simply possess a tough carapace. Judging from the battle earlier, it is not hard to determine that this Demon Scorpion is most likely practicing some secret combat magic. One thought after another crossed Mo Ji’s mind as she regarded the Demon Scorpion.

“Be careful. Although this Demon Scorpion has yet to cultivate up to the Great Yao stage, it is not too far away from it. Consider it a very powerful yao beast,” the elderly voice spoke into Mo Ji’s ear once more.

“So, it is not a Great Yao. In that case, it will be easier to deal with.” Mo Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t be careless. This Demon Scorpion’s stinger is truly a treasure. There is a high chance of forging out a Prized artefact with it. How about it? Do you want me to step forward?” said the elderly voice with an amused tone.

“No. Since it is not a Great Yao, I will be able to handle it myself. Although we did not find a Prized artefact, killing this yao beast will give us some gains. Besides, even the poison inside this Demon Scorpion’s body is very precious,” said Mo Ji leisurely.

Not too far from the battle, somewhere 100 zhang away, was a boulder; it was as tall as an average human. Chen Feng and Xiao Yin were secretly hiding behind the boulder as they carefully inspected the situation.

“How lively. To think that such a massive Demon Scorpion would appear here. Tsk, tsk. That is a high-level Yao beast. Just a little longer and it might have become a Great Yao. However, it will have to die today. A pity, a pity!” Xiao Yin whispered with an amused tone.

“Nothing to pity here. However, since they are attacking it, we can save our strength.” Chen Feng chuckled as his eyes kept darting about. Clearly, he was thinking about doing something bad.

“Right, are these Invisibility Talismans of yours reliable? We absolutely do not want to be discovered by them,” Chen Feng peeked his head out to look at the battle before whispering.