Chapter 72: One Stands, One Falls
He looked more corpse than man, with blood running all over him. The majority of the Wool Surgeon’s Needle’s effort had been poured into his lower body so that his legs could bear his stance.
Jiang Chen finally stood with great difficulty, his body swaying like a candle flame harassed by a relentless wind.
The violent storm of explosions that had engulfed the battlefield moments ago finally began to settle.
It was He Lan. Her arms and legs had been blasted away, her exquisite armor reduced to molten slag, and her delicate skin was like burnt wood on the verge of crumbling into ash. Blood oozed uncontrollably from her mangled back, trailing behind her like a macabre ribbon of silk. She was no longer the jade-like beauty she once was, yet her will to fight had not diminished.
As she descended, a horrifying transformation took hold. From her limbless stumps, protrusions of ice and dancing tongues of solar fire erupted, weaving together to physically regenerate her lost limbs at a shocking pace.
At this moment, she had used the forbidden final layer of the art known as the Nirvana of Polar Extremes. In this state, as long as a single fragment of her heart remained, she could not truly perish. Fire rebuilt what was lost and frost preserved what remained. Her body acted as a spiritual vacuum, greedily devouring the spiritual energy of the surroundings to fuel her endless regeneration.
Jiang Chen watched her with a ruthless expression.
But even in such a situation, he had not lost hope.
"I’m going to kill you!" He Lan’s expression twisted further, her already unstable aura flaring violently.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"What!?!" He Lan’s expression changed, her heart leaping into her throat. She immediately realized the pillars were falling inward, converging upon her path like a collapsing cage of ice.
But the third pillar came at an angle she could not fully counter. Her attack struck it and partially disintegrated it, but a massive chunk of ice, weighing thousands of catties, hurtled toward her.
’It worked.’ Jiang Chen watched, his heart pounding like a war drum in his ears.
That was just the pretense he wanted her to believe. From that very instant, he had been plotting to use these pillars as weapons against her.
It had been a risk.
Just as a sense of relief began to overtake him, a beam of purple light punctured through the shattered pillars with unstoppable momentum. It was neither flame nor frost alone, but both intertwined into a single killing force that blasted forth a path of destruction as it shot directly toward him.
He was too weak to move or fight back. Even with all his schemes and methods, death managed to close in.
Jiang Chen’s eyes, adjusting to the fading brilliance, found Sun Jian standing before him, his index finger extended toward the spot where the light had been neutralized.
He Lan’s body, more than half reduced to mangled, smoking flesh, was pulled out from the debris and slowly returned to Sun Jian’s side. Her head was lowered in profound shame.
He Lan did not respond. She simply collapsed to the ground submissively, her body curling into a ball as the regeneration process began anew.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Sun Jian tossed two items forward. One was a cold, metallic token, the official Formation Assistant token for the Jade Heart Plantation. The other was a small black pouch embroidered with intricate beast-subduing symbols.
"This is your reward," Sun Jian said calmly. "To become the master of the Rank One King-tier Golden Eyed Fire Raven, you must first refine this Spatial Beast Pouch. Normally, such a pouch only has the ability to house a beast, but my father has personally refined this treasure to include a soul-binding array. I have already suppressed my residing will within it. Refine it now while the resistance is low."
With Sun Jian’s active assistance, the refinement took only seconds. The pouch shivered, acknowledging a new master, and Jiang Chen felt a mental connection snap into place with a fierce, beastly consciousness.
"Come out," Jiang Chen commanded.
A magnificent raven, its feathers shimmering like molten gold and its wingspan stretching over thirty meters. Its eyes glowing with the intensity of twin suns, were filled with intelligence and innate arrogance. It was a King-tier Rank One beast, easily comparable to the strength of a fifteenth-layer cultivator.
He mounted the raven, pulling the terrified Meng Kai up behind him. With a thunderous beat of its massive wings, flames scattered in all directions as the raven surged into the sky, covering a kilometer in a mere five breaths. Embers trailed behind its wings, leaving streaks of fire that lingered in the air like burning scars.
The sun had begun to crest over the horizon, painting the world in shades of amber and gold as they approached the sect’s outer boundaries. The silence was broken only by the whistling wind and Meng Kai’s hesitant, trembling voice.
"That is true," Jiang Chen replied, his gaze fixed on the emerald expanse of the Jade Heart Plantation in the distance.
Jiang Chen turned his face lightly, his eyes dark and bottomless, sinking into Meng Kai’s, who immediately lowered his gaze unconsciously.
Meng Kai quickly shook his head, his face even uglier in its state of fright.
Jiang Chen paused, a faint smile forming despite the blood still staining his lips. "I’m now what people would call... hm, what’s that term again... ah yes, a genius."
