Chapter 69: Word Spirit

Helingchuan’s eyes, however, were sharp: "It's not bleeding, so it shouldn't be dead!"

Besides, creatures here all possess the ability to automatically revive. Doesn't the Black Dragon, as an artifact spirit, have it too?

As if in response to his doubt, smoke erupted from the Black Dragon's head, and soon a complete lower jaw grew back. The parts that had been cut off and fallen to the ground also turned into black water, rolling back onto its tail to become whole again.

In any case, this place was the Black Dragon's home ground; the laws here were most favorable to it.

Needless to say, the two engaged in another round of life-or-death combat. The Black Dragon desperately tried to swallow Nian Songyu, while the latter moved freely and fiercely, even more ferocious and overbearing than before.

What was most astonishing was that the greenish light emanating from his body was extraordinarily bright, indicating that his utilization of the Qiankun Coin had reached its peak.

It was clear that the suppression of Nian Songyu by the illusionary world had surprisingly disappeared.

After the white light enveloped his body, Nian Songyu seemed to be supercharged, shattering the Black Dragon twice in a row. Fortunately, the latter could quickly regenerate, fighting with extreme tenacity. The surrounding demonic apes and sand leopards that attacked were also swept away by him, smashed into pieces.

This was quite strange. Logically, using the power of the Primordial Era comes at a high cost. After those few dozen seconds of holding strong, Nian Songyu should have been weak, short of breath, with dark circles under his eyes, and unstable on his feet. While not needing to lean on a wall to walk, he certainly wouldn't have been able to fight Helingchuan for thirty rounds.

Now Nian Songyu had suddenly had a resurgence of power, and was even more vigorous and fierce than the first time; this must have been the work of the possessing white light. Helingchuan was not envious of this in the least. There is no power without a price in this world. Nian Songyu's forced surge of power mid-battle was likely at the cost of straining his muscles and bones and draining his vital essence, to push his body to its limits. He would probably suffer severe side effects afterward.

Clearly, neither the allies nor the enemies present cared about this.

Another round of combat ensued.

"Too weak! Is this all you've got?" Nian Songyu tapped the ground with his blade tip. "It's not worth my effort to come all this way for nothing."

Helingchuan could tell that its tone was genuinely disappointed, and his heart stirred.

He didn't know how complex the process of summoning a god was, but historically, there had only been three successful divine descents; adding this time, it would only be four. It must be very difficult.

Disappointment means that the effort and reward are not proportional. So what was this fellow disappointed about? Wasn't it better for the artifact spirit to be weaker? That would make it easier for them to acquire the Great Square Cauldron.

The Black Dragon didn't get angry. It simply laughed. "I can keep fighting for three or five years, can you?"

This time, it was cut into three pieces, but its body was rapidly recovering. In twenty breaths at most, it would be as good as new. The other demonic apes that had been cleared away also reassembled and would soon launch another attack.

Sustained stability was the true path to victory. What did it matter how powerful the opponent was? Their borrowed body was tattered, and their foundation was too weak. Time and victory would ultimately be on the Black Dragon's side.

Nian Songyu said no more. He bit his fingertip and drew three runes in the air.

The blood that flowed out congealed in mid-air, turning the runes into characters of blood.

His movements were swift at first, but became more sluggish towards the end, as if each stroke weighed a thousand pounds. Only when the Black Dragon had completely reformed and charged again was he barely able to complete the final strokes.

Then, he roared three times.

Each roar used a single syllable, and the intonation was very strange, but it immediately caused one blood character to transform into a red light and shoot towards the Black Dragon.

After the three great shouts, three blood-red chains appeared on the Black Dragon!

These chains were mere phantoms, seemingly without substance, yet the Black Dragon was instantly pressed down, collapsing to the ground with a crash, as if bearing three great mountains.

Every step it took forward was exceptionally arduous, requiring three to five times more effort.

The faces of those on the city wall changed. How could the Black Dragon be suppressed to such an extent on its own territory?

Was this the "Heavenly God" that Sun Fuping had gone to such great lengths to summon? Truly formidable.

"This is a word-spirit technique I mimicked," Nian Songyu smiled. "It corresponds to three effects: sinking, sluggishness, and fatigue. Even your regeneration will slow down." Therefore, creatures affected by the word-spirit technique move slowly, feel heavy, and have weakened combat power. "Strange, can't you break free?"

The Black Dragon silently watched him. Firmly and slowly, it crawled towards him.

"If you can't break free—" Nian Songyu's eyes shone, and his voice was filled with excitement—"then you are not the true master of this land!"

Helingchuan frowned. Even the master of this illusionary realm couldn't do whatever they wished, could they? Otherwise, they could just press an enemy with one finger and kill them. Why bother contending with them until now?

But this summoned Heavenly God clearly had a hidden meaning in their words, and their expression was so excited, as if they had hit the jackpot.

Thinking of the cost of the god-summoning ritual, and of He Chunhua, Helingchuan's chest suddenly ached.

This pain seemed deeply rooted in the original body's memories.

Since the divine descent had occurred, then He Chunhua was ninety percent likely dead, right?

Helingchuan quickly shifted his thoughts elsewhere. The dead cannot be brought back to life; the most important thing was what he should do next.

After the white light embraced his face, he constantly felt a splitting headache and his mind was hazy. He yearned to lie down and sleep for three days. Recalling the bizarre experience he just had, he knew he must have sustained injury. For one thing, the sand leopard formed from shadows had almost disemboweled him.

After waking, he had checked his chest and abdomen. Apart from internal injuries caused by rolling stones, his skin was completely intact.

So, the injury was in his head?

Helingchuan tried to ignore the discomfort in his heart and mind and calmed himself.

Those two rounds of crossbow bolts had completely shattered his relationship with Sun and Nian. He could only help the Black Dragon deal with his own National Preceptor.

But would the Black Dragon necessarily keep its word?

After eliminating Sun and Nian, would the Black Dragon perhaps swallow them too? After all, the Black Dragon guarded the Great Square Cauldron, and they were also intruders, not essentially different from Sun and Nian.

At this moment, everyone on the city wall was gripping the battlements, looking down. They had no time to spare for anything else. Helingchuan's eyes darted around. Suddenly, a peculiar idea popped into his mind.

It seemed somewhat feasible, perhaps worth a try?

...

Affected by the word-spirit spell, the Black Dragon's attack power was severely curtailed. If before it moved like a nimble dragon, now it was as slow as a snail.

Let alone Nian Songyu, even Zeng Feixiong could roll up his sleeves and engage in a few skirmishes.

Nian Songyu plunged his long blade into the Black Dragon's head and once again wrote in blood in the air.

This time, there was also only one character, but Nian Songyu wrote it with even more difficulty. His fingertips even trembled, finding it hard to continue.

If the Black Dragon's movements hadn't been restricted, he would not have been able to complete this task at all.

Nian Songyu's face turned red then pale. With great effort, he finished writing and roared it out. Immediately afterward, he vomited a mouthful of black blood.

There were also pieces of flesh in the blood; they were fragments of internal organs that he had coughed up.

But the effect of this word-spirit spell on the Black Dragon was better than the previous ones:

The area where the blade struck began to frost over, spreading downwards from its head.

Wherever the white frost spread, that part of the Black Dragon's body completely ceased movement.

Clearly, Nian Songyu had finally found a way to deal with the Black Dragon, which was to freeze it completely. This would eliminate the trouble of the opponent regenerating again and again after being shattered.

The only drawback was that he had to chant auxiliary spells to continue the process.

Evidently, the word-spirit spell was not so easy to use after all.