Chapter 120: White-Boned Feathered Serpent

The bone sword, carrying the red moon, plummeted into the Yellow Springs.

The scarlet light between heaven and earth had vanished, and everything had plunged into complete darkness. Only the Yellow Springs burned with a scorching flame, like boiling, surging magma, or a fire serpent endlessly coiling around itself.

Within the waves of light, a long, dark shadow swiftly traversed the churning Yellow Springs, occasionally breaking the surface to reveal its skeletal, jagged spine.

The beautiful maiden with a face like a flower had vanished without a trace. What remained was Madam White Bone, driven mad by the Underworld Lord's authority.

She had lost her legs, but her long tail, assembled from bone joints, was now even thicker, resembling the lower body of a python.

Meanwhile, the water level of the Yellow Springs was continuously dropping.

In the small attic, the girl in the plain dress frantically gulped down Bowls of Oblivion. She huddled in a corner, trembling and covering her ears, sensing the birth of something terrifying—something that would not only bring eternal death but was even more dreadful than death itself.

Ning Changjiu, clad in a white dress, sprinted quickly through the streets. He looked around but couldn't see Jiuyu's figure in the darkness. He simply shouted, "Go tell your master!"

Though he couldn't see her, a whistling gust of wind sounded in his ears, and he knew Jiuyu had acknowledged his command and departed.

Ordinarily, he would have been quite curious about Jiuyu's existence. While Jiuyu was an acquired spirit, acquired spirits and innate spirits should originate from the same source. Yet, what Jiuyu exhibited at that moment already contradicted many characteristics of innate spirits.

Ning Changjiu watched, wide-eyed, as the red moon in the sky shattered and fell. Though he couldn't believe it, he generally guessed what had happened.

Madam White had gone mad, utterly mad. She couldn't bear the thought of dying and her city falling, or of them at least abandoning the city and fleeing. She absolutely could not accept that these young people, who had mocked and plotted against her, would eventually escape unscathed.

Therefore, even knowing she would die, she would drain the last of her divine essence from her bones, perishing along with the city and everyone in it!

In the darkness, a flash of murderous intent flickered before Ning Changjiu.

He didn't have time to open his Sword Eyes, so he could only dodge based on instinctive perception.

His cheek stung slightly, and a thin line of blood spattered open.

Ning Changjiu frowned, parrying and pushing with his sword to block the second sword move that followed.

“Shubai?” Ning Changjiu's expression froze. Opening his Sword Eyes, he looked at the zombie-like figure before him and realized with a shock that Madam White had branded a thought into Shubai's brain: as soon as he detected Ning Changjiu's presence, he would draw his sword and pursue him relentlessly, to the death.

Ning Changjiu sighed, “Madam White is truly ruthless...”

His sigh was quickly drowned out by the clash of metal.

The established plan was now disrupted. Because Zhao Xiang'er was petite, her white dress, which he was wearing, felt a bit tight, restricting his movements.

Shubai, however, had received Madam White's bestowed power, making him even stronger. Although all the boons Shubai currently possessed would turn into a complete backlash once Madam White's divine essence dried up and perished, at this moment, Shubai was like a humanoid fighting machine. Even with Ning Changjiu's extremely fast and ruthless sword, Shubai could still precisely judge the approach and trajectory of his sword, block it with unerring accuracy, and then, in the brief gaps created by their clashing iron swords, adjust with even greater speed, thrusting his sword forward to strike at vital areas.

Ning Changjiu's arm muscles tensed. The immense vibration from the iron sword numbed the bones in his hand as he continuously shifted his sword techniques in a short time.

Though he achieved some results, he only inflicted minor, superficial wounds on Shubai. Shubai had almost no perception of pain; his existence seemed solely for the purest form of slaughter, simply to cut down the person before him with his blade.

The sword moves were indistinguishable in the darkness. The clear ringing of the longswords, carrying the aura of death, continuously echoed from different corners of the long street.

Ning Changjiu wanted to momentarily hold him off and then escape, but Shubai pressed too fiercely and urgently. If he fled rashly, it would be equivalent to exposing his back to his opponent.

In the Yellow Springs, the churning water had ceased. A dense, irresistible aura of death swept over everything. It carried no temperature, solidifying above the Yellow Springs like a layer of viscous silk. Beneath that silk, a vortex began to churn. Long, pointed bones pierced through the silken surface, adhering to it as her body ascended. Her bone-horn-like crown trailed substantial threads formed from condensed death, and she wore a scaly bone armor. Breaking through the surface of the Yellow Springs, she burst forth. Madam White Bone let out a clear roar, looking up at the sky. Her massive tail supported her body, and translucent wings, edged with fine, downy fringes resembling feathers, had grown on her back.

At that moment, she resembled a feathered serpent descending from the Yellow Springs. She still lived within a myth, but it was no longer her own.

It was the myth of the First Underworld Lord!

At the bottom of the Yellow Springs, the corpses that had been washed down from the upstream sandy river and were now buried deep in the sandy waters seemed to come alive. They clawed open the fine river sand and crawled out. Meanwhile, in the bodies of many of those who had already died and become wraiths, soul worms had grown. These worms buzzed around inside them like flies, quickly devouring their souls clean, then transforming into translucent forms and flying into the night, heading towards Madam White Bone's location.

They clung to Madam White Bone, melting into her pale skin and becoming nourishment for her body.

Madam White Bone opened one snow-white eye and one pitch-black eye, like a shattered mirror. She gazed down at everything in the city, either bewildered or indifferent. She couldn't recall her past or the future she was about to face; the Bowls of Oblivion had dissolved her memories and sanity. Her mind held only a few names:

Zhao Xiang'er, Ning Changjiu, Ning Xiaoling.

Behind these three names, her only obsession was slaughter.

Shubai was her killing machine, and now she, too, had gone mad after failing to seize the Underworld Lord's authority, becoming the 'Underworld Lord's' killing machine.

She slithered ashore, yet the city did not tilt.

Ning Changjiu existed by exploiting a loophole in the rules. Although he possessed at least Transcendent Immortal Realm strength, his actual cultivation realm hadn't even reached the Profound Capital, making him "insignificant." Thus, his movements between the two shores would not affect the balance.

Madam White Bone, however, was an existence that transcended rules. Before her divinity vanished, the city inherently acknowledged her as the ruler of Fengdu. The rules of Fengdu were originally created for her; she walked through her domain, inspecting her kingdom, her very existence superior to all.

However, when she chose to drain the last of the divine essence from her divine bones, at the end of her destined path, death was already her only irreversible outcome.

Madam White Bone extended her hand, fingers splayed. The bone sword that had previously fallen into the Yellow Springs was once again clutched in her grasp. The cracks in the bone sword rapidly repaired themselves, quickly becoming smooth and bright, like a new piece of porcelain with a waxy glaze.

With the bone sword in her palm, bones beneath the flesh of her palm grew out, piercing through her skin and fusing with the bone sword, transforming it into a hidden blade completely integrated with her body.

She would first go to kill Zhao Xiang'er, according to the ranking of those who deserved to die in her mind.

She pictured Zhao Xiang'er in her mind and then sensed her location.

At that moment, "Zhao Xiang'er" was fighting Shubai on a long street, clad in a white dress.

Confirming the direction, she slithered towards them with her bone longsword. The sturdy brick walls and courtyard walls seemed like crumpled white paper beneath her body; she effortlessly crushed and tore through everything. Then, in a dark area where the sounds of clashing blades were dense, she coldly raised the bone sword in her hand.

She brought the sword down.

Not a single sound was made on the long street; the aura of death suppressed even the transmission of sound waves.

On the street, a massive chasm had already opened, tearing the entire street surface into two halves. Madam White Bone's figure floated in the center of the chasm, her feet treading on empty space. Her snow-white pupils clearly reflected Ning Changjiu's face.

This face seemed somewhat different from her impression of Zhao Xiang'er; though handsome, it wasn't beautiful enough.

This flicker of oddness was quickly erased by murderous intent.

She began to gather power for her second strike.

Earlier, while Ning Changjiu was clashing swords with Shubai, he suddenly sensed a warning of death. After that warning appeared, all his actions were performed subconsciously. At that moment, the chasm on the ground was only an inch from the edge of his shoe. If he had been even slightly slower, his arm could have been severed!

He looked up, gazing in horror towards the street, where a figure wearing a white bone crown unmistakably stood.

The figure still possessed the proud curves of a woman, but numerous long bones had protruded beneath her skin, like thorns or barbs, grotesque and terrifying, devoid of any beauty. Her lower body was a python-like torso, resembling a goddess of creation from myth and legend.

In that instant of his horror, Shubai's sword pierced his defense, stabbing into his chest and pushing him, slamming him against the end of the long street.

Madam White Bone raised her sword again. An invisible, formless sword intent, seemingly condensed from the aura of death, silently sliced through space and descended before him.

Amidst the tearing pain in his chest, Ning Changjiu calmed down. He held his breath; everything around him vanished from his sight: the bricks and walls, the night and the chasm, the bones and the long blade, even the sword pressed firmly against his chest. His divine consciousness had already expanded the moment Madam White Bone raised her sword—a spiritual awareness unleashed under the pressure of death. Every visible and invisible detail around him was now fully absorbed into his mind.

The moment the sword energy swept across the street, Ning Changjiu adjusted his body to an extremely strange angle.

Then, a cry of agony echoed in the darkness.

It was Shubai's cry of agony.

Where the sword energy passed, his right arm, holding the sword, was instantly severed, and his reaction to the pain was delayed.

Madam White Bone's eyes were fixed solely on Ning Changjiu. Everything in her path was merely an obstacle to be casually destroyed in her mind.

After Shubai's arm was severed, some of his awareness returned to his eyes along with the pain. He instinctively tried to swing his sword, but his arm was no longer attached to his body.

Ning Changjiu pulled out the sword embedded in his chest. He had no time to tend to his wound; he only wanted to use the Daoist Concealment Technique to hide his presence and escape. The moment this thought appeared, Madam White Bone's figure, poised to execute, vanished from her spot.

As his body was still turning, a chill carved a fissure into his divine consciousness.

Madam White Bone stood behind him, holding the bone sword. Her sword-swinging motion continued, seamlessly connecting with the stance she had taken a moment before.

The sea of his divine consciousness was swallowed by the blackness of despair.