Chapter 988: Take or Leave

The Human World

The Human World

For most people, tonight was no different from any other night.

Yet, in an unknown place, someone was fighting desperately for survival.

“Fellow Daoist, do you have any ideas?”

Qin Sang watched Bai conjure the Demonic Flame Talisman repeatedly, each time forming a different shape.

He didn't know how many times it had failed.

Eventually, it was no longer a talisman shape; intersecting lines of fire formed a large net. The net landed on Qin Sang, merging into the skin of his arm. A moment later, the fire curse flared up again, emitting strange fluctuations. However, the fluctuations emanating from his arm were noticeably weaker, and the fire curse runes there were dimmer than elsewhere.

Witnessing this, both Bai and Qin Sang were pleasantly surprised.

“It worked! Although it can only shield some of the fire curse's fluctuations, according to your plan, it might mislead his judgment. Unless he senses something and fully activates the fire curse, it should deceive him for a while.”

Bai retracted the demonic net, excitement mingled with exhaustion. He had racked his brains trying to suppress the fire curse's fluctuations, leaving him mentally and physically drained.

Qin Sang saw hope, cheered loudly, and then immediately summoned his external avatar without hesitation.

'Clack!'

The Heavenly Corpse Coffin opened.

The external avatar floated before Qin Sang.

“Fellow Daoist, I trouble you to force a fire curse out and transfer it into the avatar's body.”

Qin Sang said in a low voice. This was Qin Sang's plan: to conceal the fluctuations on his own body and mislead Old Devil Mou by leading him in another direction, buying time for himself to seize the opportunity to return and find Yuan Zhu.

There were still several fiend corpses in the Corpse Puppet Bag, but these fiend corpses lacked intelligence and were too slow, so Old Devil Mou would quickly catch up to them. Once Old Devil Mou saw through the plan, there would be no second chance. The net of demonic fire could only weaken the fire curse's fluctuations; Old Devil Mou could still find him by fully activating the fire curse.

The external avatar had been painstakingly cultivated by him for decades, nurtured bit by bit with his essence blood. Its power was comparable to a peak Core Formation cultivator, and although there was a risk of backlash, it was still something other Core Formation cultivators could only dream of. Now, however, it was to be abandoned by Qin Sang and used as bait.

Abandoning the external avatar was indeed painful. But in such a critical moment, he had to make a choice.

A hint of reluctance flashed in Qin Sang's eyes, but ultimately, he showed resolve, reaching out to press down on the avatar's Qi Sea.

The avatar seemed to sense something; its pupils instantly turned crimson, glaring furiously at Qin Sang. Its aura suddenly became extremely violent and bloodthirsty, attempting to devour its master.

At this moment, two figures appeared on either side of the avatar. Qin Sang activated a secret technique, and Bai and the Two-Headed Gou simultaneously acted, suppressing the avatar's resistance.

The avatar struggled, roaring to the sky, deeply unwilling.

Qin Sang ignored it, channeling his True Essence into the avatar's Qi Sea, striking towards its Golden Core. The avatar's Golden Core, formed from a corpse pill, had once served Qin Sang exceptionally well. Now, it too was to be discarded.

The True Essence collided with the corpse pill. The avatar's Dantian violently shook, its Golden Core was damaged, and True Essence dispersed. Its cultivation was actually knocked back to the peak of the mid-Core Formation stage. It was precisely because it was Qin Sang's external avatar, and the corpse pill had once belonged to Qin Sang, that he could do this so easily.

After the avatar's cultivation fell, its resistance grew weaker and weaker.

Qin Sang's gaze was cold. He then activated a secret technique, finally completely refining away the demonic thoughts.

Next, Qin Sang erased the avatar's important memories, instructing it to fly straight north at full speed, and to self-destruct immediately if Old Devil Mou caught up.

The avatar's primordial spirit was refined from Qin Sang's sword soul. According to Senior Azure Bamboo, a sword soul born from cultivation techniques played a crucial role for cultivators. If it fell into Old Devil Mou's hands and was controlled by him, there would be endless troubles.

“This is a peak Core Formation avatar! If both of you could form Nascent Souls, it would be equivalent to your power instantly doubling. In the future, you could even defeat veteran Nascent Soul cultivators...” Bai felt sorry for Qin Sang.

“Once both my cultivation and physical body break through, I won't need an avatar. I'll be able to walk unhindered among cultivators of the same rank, and even face Nascent Soul patriarchs directly. Having him or not will make little difference. Besides, the avatar's cultivation was forcibly raised by devouring others' essence blood through the Blood Refinement Art, which carries immense hidden dangers. It has almost no chance of forming a Nascent Soul and will become increasingly useless in the future...” Qin Sang, on the other hand, had come to terms with it.

If he truly needed an external avatar, at worst, he could just refine another one later; it would only take a few more decades.

Next, Qin Sang set up various restrictions on the avatar's body to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

Bai, without another word, immediately began to act.

The Demonic Flame Talisman reappeared, but it was more solid than before. Bai forced out a fire curse and transferred it into the avatar's body. Then he condensed a massive net of demonic fire and covered Qin Sang with it, concealing the fluctuations of the fire curse.

The fire curse flared up again. A faint blue light emanated from Qin Sang's body. The fire curse sealed within the avatar's body also flared up simultaneously, but it was very unstable. The avatar had to actively help stabilize it according to the secret technique Bai taught him, to prevent the fire curse from collapsing.

“Success or failure, it all depends on this one move!”

Bai looked at Qin Sang and said in a deep voice.

On the vast expanse of the sea.

Qin Sang and the avatar stood facing each other.

The external avatar, now aware of its mission, cupped its hands to Qin Sang, and with a fire curse within it, resolutely turned and flew north. For now, unaffected by demonic thoughts, the avatar would fully obey its main body's commands.

The night wind was cold.

Waves surged.

The avatar's figure disappeared into the night. Qin Sang withdrew his gaze and softly said, “We should leave too.”

He conjured his escape light and headed east to find Yuan Zhu.

The net of demonic fire required both him and Bai to maintain.

Bai watched the avatar's disappearing back, greatly impressed by Qin Sang's decisiveness. He said, “Your external avatar should be able to buy us a lot of time... I can try to completely seal off the fire curse's fluctuations.”

“Fellow Daoist, how confident are you?” Qin Sang's eyes lit up. If he could seal off the fire curse's fluctuations, he wouldn't have to flee like a homeless dog into the depths of the storm belt, fighting for a slim chance of survival. He could completely use this opportunity to get far away from Old Devil Mou. He could go to other sea regions, find a secluded spot to hide, and calmly break the fire curse.

Bai shook his head and said, “It's hard to say. My understanding of the fire curse is still superficial. Most of the ability to conceal its fluctuations comes from the demonic fire itself. However, I have some ideas now and can give it a try. Fellow Daoist, you should still fully maintain your escape light and try to get as far away from Old Devil Mou as possible.”

“Alright!”

In the sea region behind them.

Old Devil Mou's escape speed remained undiminished, his expression relaxed.

Activating the fire curse again, Old Devil Mou let out a soft exclamation of surprise, then sneered, “Finally can't hold on anymore, can you?”

He sensed that his prey's speed had significantly slowed. In fact, the prey's previous high escape speed had somewhat shocked and surprised him. Now it seemed it must have used some secret technique that couldn't be sustained indefinitely.

The next morning.

They had been fleeing for a full day and night.

Reassuringly, Qin Sang could feel that the distance between himself and Old Devil Mou was growing, and he had successfully been led away by the avatar!

However, the danger had not yet disappeared.

Once Old Devil Mou caught up with the avatar, everything would return to square one.