Chapter 247: The Song of Slaughter
All of the battleship crew listened to the order. Those stationed at the battle posts quickly carried out their duties, charging spiritual energy and adjusting the cannons. As for those who were not on standby, they quickly surrounded their patriarch, hiding him behind a wall of bodies.
Seeing this, Youqi raised her hand and was about to unleash a palm strike to destroy the battleship, but she decided against it.
A knowing smile crept onto her beautiful face. She then looked toward the west, the direction of the border.
The powerful spiritual qi charge was almost ready, but before it could fire, an overwhelming spiritual pressure descended upon the entire battleship.
A beautiful zither melody reverberated throughout the area, followed by a beautiful voice singing the lyrics.
[I was once a gentle daughter, a flower to be pitied and loved.
They pushed me into the abyss. So I chose to kill.]
The moment the first verse ended, the beautiful melody slowly mixed with an eerie tune as the voice grew colder and more horrifying.
[Rage-fire burns within my heart. Blood-light flows through my fingers.
Today I stand with a bloodied blade. Heaven and earth tremble for me.]
Like the whisper of a demoness promising only death and destruction, a manifestation formed from the powerful intent within the song.
It created a ten-meter-tall demoness clad in black and blood-red garments. Her clothes were ragged, and her right eye, visible beneath her long black hair, shone with a bloody light.
[Come, thousand armies. Come, so-called righteous path.
Let me teach you this:
A gentle woman, once enraged, is your final dusk!]
As the song continued, powerful death qi and murderous qi swirled around her body before a large bloodied curved saw-toothed blade formed in her right hand.
At the sight of the demoness, a figure capable of shaking the hearts of men and generals alike, those who witnessed this manifestation of intent trembled inwardly, while those with strong dao hearts were able to maintain their composure.
But for those with average dao hearts, cowardice began to take root as fear crept from the deepest and darkest corners of their minds. All of their dirty deeds and negative thoughts surged to the forefront of their minds, shaking their dao hearts even further.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeechhh!!
The otherworldly screech of a hellspawn erupted from the demoness’s throat, demoralizing more than half of the warriors who witnessed it.
Then she launched her attack.
Booooooom!
The first slash cut through the energy supply system connected to the cannon, causing all of the accumulated spiritual qi to implode.
Booooooooooooooomm!
Blue spiritual qi flames tore the battleship in half. Wooden debris and twisted metal scraps scattered across the battlefield. The crew inside the battleship all lost their lives in the process, their bodies torn apart by the inward explosion.
Whether mortal or cultivator, all were equal when death came to claim them. They were fortunate, for they saw only a flash of light before being swallowed by darkness. None felt any pain as the gentle embrace of death claimed them.
The problem was that those who were still alive found the bloodied demoness manifestation’s slaughter intent growing stronger and stronger as the casualties among the armies rose.
The more death there was, especially gruesome deaths witnessed by others, the more powerful the slaughter intent feeding the demoness manifestation became.
The colossal curved saw-toothed blade swung once again, this time cleaving the second battleship in half. Blood trailed behind the blade like strokes of crimson ink as it drew in the lives lost in its wake and absorbed them. With another swing, more lives were claimed, creating several humanoid figures made of blood and thick murderous intent.
They were the Blood Servants.
Without waiting for any command, the murderous Blood Servants rushed toward the living and began their dance of slaughter.
Blade, claw, and whip sang through the air as they cut through the flesh, tendons, and bones of their victims. The screams of mortals were like sweets to them, while the agony of powerful warriors was music to their ears. The blood spilled in suffering served as an irresistible wine flowing through their very beings.
The intoxication of murder made them stronger and stronger until they reached the Peak Soul Transformation Stage. Coupled with their overwhelming murderous intent, they became nothing less than walking reapers of death harvesting the lives of the living.
Some weak-willed warriors began to grow intoxicated and charmed by the dance and song of murder reverberating throughout the battlefield. They joined in the slaughter.
Their minds shattered, unable to differentiate between friend and foe. They attacked the nearest living beings while laughing and smiling in intoxication.
A blood mist began to rise as the scent of blood grew sweeter and sweeter, like the irresistible fragrance of fine wine. Blood itself seemed like heavenly dew descending from the heavens.
They inhaled it in intoxication, killed in exhilaration, and drank blood in hunger as they indulged their battle lust.
"Stop! All of you, stop!" Nether Patriarch tried to regain control of the situation, but none of his people listened to him. All of them were reveling in slaughter.
"What kind of demonic art is this!?" Nether Patriarch blurted out in alarm.
But he had no time to ponder the question as the blade descended from above his head.
It came so suddenly that Nether Patriarch had no time to dodge. He raised an arm to block, but the blade cut through skin and muscle before becoming lodged in the bone.
"Grrr..."
Nether Patriarch felt pain erupt from deep within the bone as it struggled to resist the saw blade.
He looked up at the ten-meter-tall demoness manifestation.
She was glaring murderously at him while the sounds of fighting and slaughter echoed all around.
Then a smile appeared.
An eerie smile slowly crept across the demoness’s face.
It was like the smile of a child whose innocence led them to commit horrible deeds. Like a child who found an insect and delighted in pinning it down, watching it struggle while tearing off its limbs one by one.
The kind of smile that looked innocent, yet sent chills down one’s spine.
Then the saw blade began to move.
Slowly.
Methodically.
It started sawing through the arm bone as the manifestation sang along to the rhythm of grinding bone.
[Saw away, saw away,
Bone by bone.
Sing for me, sing for me,
One last moan.]
"Arrrggggghhhh!"
Nether Patriarch’s agonized scream escaped his throat as his arm bone was slowly sawed apart while the song continued.
The song came from the demoness manifestation’s mouth, while the original song controlling the manifestation and the battlefield continued to play in the background.
It was as if...
As if the manifestation possessed a life of its own.
What... what the hell was this thing!?
Fear began to creep into Nether Patriarch’s heart and mind.
The most primitive and fundamental fear of humanity.
The fear of the unknown.
[Sinew snaps,
Marrow weeps.
Hush now, darling,
Go to sleep.]
The voice of the demoness was nothing like a human voice, yet to Nether Patriarch, the sole audience of her song, it began to feel intoxicating.
A smile appeared on his face as his arm was sawed away.
Now it was his body.
The bones protecting his vital organs, his ribcage, were beginning to be sawed apart.
Insane laughter started to escape Nether Patriarch’s throat as his smile widened and widened in an increasingly unnatural manner.
As the battlefield fell into complete chaos, Youqi watched the events unfold.
She knew what was happening right now.
It was Dream Butterfly controlling the demoness manifestation. As the one who oversaw the Merit Shop, she knew exactly what Wei Chen had bought for his wife.
There were three manuals that he had purchased.
The first was the Hundred Rivers Return to Sea Art. This cultivation method perfectly matched Dream Butterfly’s awakened physique, the Divine Voidless Physique.
It eliminated all the drawbacks of recklessly using spiritual qi by turning one’s body into a river-like state. The flow of spiritual qi became endless, allowing the user to sustain all arts indefinitely without suffering meridian injuries or qi deviation from overuse.
The second was the Traceless Return to Simplicity Art. This supplementary cultivation method allowed Dream Butterfly to avoid punishment from the Laws of Heaven and Earth. Her physique, coupled with the Hundred Rivers Return to Sea Art, was practically cheating in the eyes of heaven, and it would inevitably attract heavenly tribulation.
To prevent this, she also needed to cultivate the Traceless Return to Simplicity Art.
As for the last one, it was the reason behind the current situation.
The Five Resonances, Heavenly Verses.
This art turned poetry, songs, calligraphy, painting, and zither music into powerful manifestations or phenomena depending on the user’s will.
It was an extremely powerful art.
If Dream Butterfly wished it, it could even shape reality itself.
Youqi looked at the armies slowly tearing themselves apart as the demoness manifestation rampaged throughout the battlefield. She could not help but shake her head.
"Hope Mr. Wei won’t be too shocked after he finishes breaking through. Since the killing done by his wife is treated as if he himself did it with a 50% reduction in the killing penalty. But at this quantity, he’ll definitely end up in the red again..." Youqi muttered to herself as she chuckled.
