Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

Chapter 309. A clever plan breaks through the fog in Miao territory, and a chivalrous spirit opens up the sky over Bozhou.

Shi Feiyang noticed the newly applied bandage on her ankle and took out a white jade bottle from his pocket. "This is newly made tissue-regenerating powder; it's even more effective than yesterday's." He gently sprinkled the powder onto the wound, his icy blue true energy flowing along his fingertips. Yun Wuyue felt a cool sensation seep into her bones, and the pain immediately subsided considerably. Looking at his focused profile, Yun Wuyue suddenly smiled meaningfully, "Master Shi, you came so late at night; it wasn't just to deliver medicine, was it?" She picked up the ceramic bowl from the ground and poured Shi Feiyang a bowl of cool tea. "Tell me, what trouble have Yang Yinglong's remnants caused this time?"

Shi Feiyang took the teacup, the tea reflecting their images: "As expected, I couldn't hide it from you. News has come from the Miao village that the Five Poisons Sect is gathering in the southwest, and seems to be making unusual moves." He frowned, "I heard you once served as a strategist in the rebel army's camp. What are your thoughts on this?"

Yun Wuyue traced the rim of the bowl with her fingertips, her gaze gradually deepening: "Although Lan Qin'er is dead, her sister Lan Xiaodie's temperament is unpredictable. The Five Poisons Sect is skilled in using Gu worms and poisonous miasma; if they were to collude with Yang Yinglong's remaining followers..."

She suddenly grabbed Shi Feiyang's sleeve, "They are very likely using the terrain in the southwest to set up the 'Ten Thousand Gu Devouring the Sky Formation'!"

Shi Feiyang's pupils contracted sharply, and he nearly dropped his teacup. He vividly recalled the horrific scene of poisonous insects tearing flesh apart during the battle at Miaoling the day before, and asked urgently, "How can this formation be broken?"

Yun Wuyue rose and paced back and forth. Moonlight streamed through the broken window, bathing her in a silvery veil. "We need to find the core of the formation and destroy it with the most yang and powerful internal energy. But..." She stopped. "To set up this formation, we must choose the 'eye of the earth's vein,' where the yin energy is heaviest. The mountains in the southwest are continuous. Where is the core of the formation?" The two fell into deep thought. Only the mountain wind blew through the forest, stirring up the fallen leaves.

Looking at Yun Wuyue's furrowed brows, Shi Feiyang suddenly recalled Xie Wen's words, "Her sharpness is too great." At this moment, her eyes sparkled with wisdom, making her even more captivating than when she had playfully demanded to be the leader of the grasslands that day.

"No matter what, we must give it a try." Shi Feiyang broke the silence. "I will soon gather heroes from all walks of life to discuss strategies for defeating the enemy. Miss Yun... would you be willing to lend me a hand?"

Yun Wuyue chuckled, picked up the Qingfeng sword, and flicked a fallen leaf with its tip: "Is Master Shi trying to recruit me?" She took a few steps closer, her eyes full of cunning, "Then I have a condition—after the rebellion is quelled, you must personally teach me the Hundred Victories Saber Technique!"

Looking at the light dancing in her eyes, Shi Feiyang's heart stirred, and he smiled, "It's a deal!"

Moonlight filtered through the dappled shadows of the trees, intertwining the figures of the two.

In the distance, the lights of Feima Pass flickered in the night.

The two slowly returned to the tent, where the combustible ice in the copper stove crackled and the pale blue flames cast flickering light on the tent walls.

Shi Feiyang added an ice crystal to the stove. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Yun Wuyue's hand, which was holding the tiger bone soup, was still trembling slightly. Her blood-stained sleeve was carefully rolled up, revealing her wrist wrapped in bandages.

“When I first entered the martial world, I was just as strong-willed as you,” Shi Feiyang suddenly spoke, his voice as mellow as aged wine. “When I fought bandits alone in Liaodong, I was slashed in the shoulder blade by a curved blade, but I still stubbornly chased them for thirty miles. Later I realized that being stubborn only makes those who care about you worry.” Yun Wuyue paused, the spoon creating small ripples in the bowl: “Is Master Shi talking about… Senior Sister Bai Zhi?”

She looked up and saw Shi Feiyang staring at the dancing flames, his expression calm and deep, with only a hint of melancholy flashing in his eyes.

“Xiangyu once said that a true hero is not made of iron.” Shi Feiyang unconsciously stroked the sachet at his waist, which Guo Xiangyu had sewn by hand, with fine stitches still visible on the edges. “It’s like this combustible ice, which looks indestructible but contains a spark that can warm people’s hearts.” He suddenly turned his head, his gaze intense. “Does Miss Yun know why you chose this place to stay?”

Yun Wuyue followed his gaze and looked out the window.

Moonlight filtered through the dappled shadows of the trees, illuminating the dilapidated eaves of the cottage.

A half-strand of faded wind chimes still hung there, tinkling faintly in the wind. "Because this place holds the memories of Master Shi?" she said softly, "But the situation is critical now, shouldn't we discuss a way to break the miasma as soon as possible?"

"It is precisely because of the crisis that we must guard our true intentions." Shi Feiyang stood up and pulled the quilt over her shoulders again. His icy blue true energy flowed through his fingertips, dispelling the lingering chill in her body. "Lan Xiaodie's whereabouts are unpredictable. Rather than searching blindly, we should first stabilize the morale of the troops."

He pulled a yellowed map from his pocket and slowly unfurled it on the low table. "Look," he said, "this is a map showing the distribution of the Five Poisons Sect's secret strongholds in the southwest. Back then, Xiangyu..."

The conversation abruptly ended. Both fell silent, with only the soft crackling of the flames echoing in the tent.

Yun Wuyue suddenly chuckled: "So even Master Shi has moments when hesitant to speak."

She scooped up a spoonful of soup, and in the rising steam, her eyes became even clearer. After a pause, she said, "But I think that the person that Master Shi can remember must be a rare and extraordinary woman in this world."

Upon hearing this, Shi Feiyang burst into laughter, his laughter so loud it made the copper bells tremble slightly: "Miss Yun's mouth is sharper than a plum blossom dart." He pointed his finger to a spot on the map, "This is the Miao village where Lan Xiaodie last appeared, but if we go there rashly, we might fall into an ambush. In your opinion, what should we do?"

Yun Wuyue put down her soup bowl, her jade-like fingers tracing the winding mountain range on the map: "The Five Poisons Sect is skilled in using insect poisons, so there must be miasma protecting the Miao village. We can first have Miao Menlong clear the way with antidote herbs, and then..." She suddenly coughed violently, her handkerchief stained with blood.

Shi Feiyang reacted quickly, pressing on the acupoints on her wrist and channeling his icy blue true energy like a trickle: "Heal your injuries first, we can discuss these matters later."

Yun Wuyue leaned against the embroidered pillow, gazing at Shi Feiyang's profile as he focused on practicing his internal energy, and said softly, "Does Master Shi know why I risked my life to send out the secret letter?" Her voice gradually lowered, "Because I have seen... seen the look in Senior Sister Baizhi's eyes when she mentioned you, just like the flame of this combustible ice, seemingly cold, but actually burning hot."

A sudden night wind rose outside the tent, making the tent flap loudly.

After a long silence, Shi Feiyang finally spoke: "Once you've recovered, we'll go find Lan Xiaodie together."

He refilled the extinguished bronze furnace with ice crystals, saying, "The poisonous miasma of Bozhou will eventually dissipate."

The moonlight of late spring shone through the broken window frames in the woods, casting dappled silver patterns on Yun Wuyue's pale face.

She forced herself to stay alert and work with Shi Feiyang to devise a strategy to break the formation, but her eyelids gradually grew heavy, as if weighed down by lead.

Seeing this, Shi Feiyang tucked the quilt over her shoulders again: "Miss Yun, please rest first, we can discuss it later."

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Xiong's deep voice came from outside the tent: "Chief, the horses are ready."

As Shi Feiyang and Shi Xiong disappeared into the night and the sound of horses' hooves faded into the distance, Yun Wuyue finally succumbed to sleepiness and fell into a deep slumber.

The southwestern mountains were shrouded in a thick twilight as Lan Xiaodie walked barefoot across the moss-covered stone steps.

The plain white Miao skirt fluttered in the chilly mountain wind, and the silver horn tied around the waist with scarlet silk thread had long lost its luster, leaving only a few dull jade pendants that gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

She gazed at the crescent moon in the sky, her eyelashes still adorned with ice crystals from her journey across the snow-capped mountains. The sinister aura that had once been obscured by the illusions of the Sacred Heart Technique had now transformed into a burning starlight in her eyes, searching for the truth.

The mountain wind swirled up withered leaves, and the rustling sound was faintly mixed with the distant howls of wolves.

Lan Xiaodie knew that her younger sister Lan Qin'er was secretly plotting a vicious scheme with Yang Yinglong's rebel army, but she also knew that only by uncovering her father Lan Xianglin's past could the thousand-year-old karmic ties of the Five Poisons Sect be severed.

She gripped the poisoned silver hairpin at her waist, letting the scorching sun burn her cheeks red and the wind and sand wear holes in her plain dress, as she walked step by step toward the valley where the legendary blind old woman was said to live in seclusion.

When Lan Xiaodie stepped into the valley filled with the fragrance of herbs, her ankles were already covered in countless bloody scratches from the thorns.

A damp mist filled the valley, and occasionally, the eerie green eyes of venomous snakes would flash among the wild grass on either side of the stone steps.

She endured the stinging pain from her wound and slowly descended the moss-covered stone steps. Suddenly, she saw a dim light shining from the depths of the bamboo forest. In the mortar in front of the thatched house, the fragrance of crushed mugwort and realgar still lingered.

"Grandma, this junior, Lan Xiaodie, requests an audience!" Lan Xiaodie's voice echoed through the valley, startling the birds roosting in the forest.

Before the words were finished, the sound of a bamboo cane tapping on the ground came from inside the house. A white-haired, blind old woman lifted the coarse cloth curtain. She was dressed in faded linen clothes, and the wrinkles on her face were as deep as if they were carved by a knife. Yet her blind eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.

“Child, you’ve finally come.” The blind old woman’s voice was hoarse but steady, and she tapped her bamboo cane lightly on the stone bench. “From the moment you stepped into this valley, I heard your footsteps—just like the young man who stumbled into the valley in the rainy night twenty years ago.”

Lan Xiaodie's heart trembled. She knelt down, her forehead pressed against the cold stone slab: "This junior dares to inquire about the past of my late father, Lan Xianglin. The world says he was utterly wicked, but Xiaodie does not believe it. Did he truly have not a single shred of kindness in his heart?"

The wind in the valley suddenly began to howl, blowing the blind old woman's gray hair.

The old woman remained silent for a long time, her withered fingers tracing the engravings on her bamboo cane: "Lan Xianglin... sigh! When he was young, in order to seize the position of leader of the Five Poisons Sect, he colluded with sorcerers from the Southern Frontier, using living people to refine Gu worms. His ruthless methods made the entire Miao region turn pale with fear."

She paused, her voice tinged with a sigh, "His 'Thousand Spider Poison Hand' has turned countless martial arts heroes into blood and gore; his 'Bone-Corroding Miasma' has left countless innocent people to rot in the wilderness."

Lan Xiaodie dug her nails deep into her palms, and the mountain wind lifted her white skirt, revealing the burn marks on her calves from the poisonous vines.

She had heard these things before, but hearing them from the blind old woman's mouth still struck her heart like a heavy hammer.

However, she still refused to give up: "Isn't there... even one thing that can prove he still has a conscience?"

The blind old woman turned her cloudy eyes toward her, a bitter smile appearing on her lips: "Yes. Twenty years ago, on a snowy night, he found a child who had wandered into the church's dungeon. The child was only seven or eight years old, but he was being used as nourishment for the Gu worms."

The old woman's voice suddenly softened, "Lan Xianglin inexplicably let the child go, and even when the pursuers arrived, he used his own arm to shield the child from a deadly poisoned arrow."

Lan Xiaodie looked up abruptly, tears welling in her eyes: "Why? Why did he do this?"

“Because…” The blind old woman groped and pulled out half of a bloodstained jade pendant from her bosom, “The jade pendant that the child was wearing was exactly the same as the one his mother left him when he was a child.”

She placed the jade pendant on the stone table. "From then on, I often saw him staring blankly at the moonlight, but he never had the courage to turn around."

The mountain wind howled through the bamboo forest. Lan Xiaodie stared at the jade pendant on the stone table, and seemed to hear her father's suppressed sigh in the dead of night.

She finally understood that what she was pursuing was not only the truth, but also a glimmer of hope in this sinful family lineage.

The mountain breeze of late spring, carrying the sound of pine trees, swept through the valley. The blind old woman's withered fingers traced the marks of years on her bamboo cane. Under Lan Xiaodie's breathless gaze, she finally began to slowly recount the long-buried story: "However..."

Her cloudy eyes turned to the void, and a ripple appeared in her aged voice, "Twenty years ago, on a rainy night, a child accidentally fell into the 'Ten Thousand Scorpion Cave' set up by the Five Poisons Sect in the dense forest. The trap was ten feet deep, and the walls were covered with scorpion venom. If an ordinary person fell in, he would be devoured to the bone in less than half an incense stick's time."

Lan Xiaodie looked up abruptly, the moonlight casting trembling shadows on her pale face: "Father... he actually saved someone?"

Her voice trembled with disbelief, and the mountain wind lifted her white skirt, revealing bruises on her calves from the long journey.

The old woman gave a bitter smile, a smile that contained both pity and relief: "I asked the same question back then." He stared at the old wound on his palm for a long time before saying: "When that child looked up and cried for help, the fear in his eyes reminded me of myself when I was eight years old, bitten by a poisonous spider, waiting to die alone in a cave." It turns out that even the most ruthless person has a soft spot in their heart that they don't want to touch.

Lan Xiaodie's eyes instantly welled up with tears, and a scene she had never seen before appeared before her eyes: a night of torrential rain, a young father leaning over a trap, the moonlight illuminating his hesitant yet resolute profile.

She suddenly remembered the half-carved wood she had found in a secret compartment of her ancestral home when she was a child. It depicted a child holding a kite, and now, thinking about it, it seemed to hold a profound meaning.

"What happened to that child?" Her voice choked with sobs, and her fingertips unconsciously gripped the hem of her skirt.

The old woman sighed, a trace of melancholy crossing her wrinkled face: "After being rescued, he hurriedly left the southwest without even leaving his name. Lan Xianglin stared blankly in the direction the child had gone for three whole days. After that, whenever the new moon rose, his gaze toward the Miao Mountains always seemed to be searching for a lost soul."

The mountain mist had risen up at some point, dampening Lan Xiaodie's hair and eyelashes.

She knelt on the damp stone slab, suddenly realizing that the pain in her knees was nothing compared to the turmoil surging in her heart.

The father, known to the world as the "Poison Demon," had once held up a glimmer of hope with his blood-stained hands on a rainy night.

"Thank you for informing me, Grandma." She kowtowed heavily, her forehead pressed against the cold stone slab. "Although I am weak, I want the world to know that the Lan family bloodline is not only filled with sin."

The blind old woman fumbled and took out a cloth bag embroidered with the patterns of the five poisonous creatures. She placed her aged hand on the back of the woman's hand and said, "This is a powder to ward off all poisons. Take it with you. Remember, what is harder to break than poison is the obsession of the human heart."

Lan Xiaodie pressed the cloth bag to her heart; the warmth throbbing there seemed to resonate strangely with the redemption she felt in the rain twenty years ago. The mountain wind howled past, dispelling the long-standing gloom in her heart and illuminating her path ahead.

The night fog of late spring is like crushed ink, making the world even more hazy.

Lan Xiaodie walked barefoot on the decaying leaves, her plain white Miao dress soaked with mountain dew, and the scarlet silk thread around her waist was faintly visible in the night.

As she walked deeper into the valley, she suddenly heard a soft, rustling sound coming from the cracks in the rock wall, as if countless insects and ants were gnawing at something.

The late spring moonlight, like frost, permeated the valley. The natural curtain of intertwined vines rustled in the night wind, cutting the bluestone slabs into spiderweb-like shadows. Lan Xiaodie walked barefoot on the damp moss, her plain white Miao dress soaked with night dew, the scarlet silk thread at her waist rising and falling slightly with her breath.

Her gaze was fixed on the depths of the shadows—the ancient bronze coffin entwined with vines, its surface covered in dark purple moss like congealed blood scabs, the carved centipede totem glowing with a fluorescent phosphorescence, as if it might crawl into reality at any moment.

The moment my fingertips touched the drooping vines, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly shot through me.

Lan Xiaodie's pupils contracted sharply as three poisoned silver needles shot towards her like the spitting tongues of venomous snakes!

She lightly touched the ground with her toes, and with her Azure Phosphorus Sword, she executed a move called "Plum Blossoms in Winter," the sword light as cold as frost, and with a crisp clang, she knocked away the silver needles.

However, at that moment, the coffin lid emitted a teeth-grinding scraping sound, and a hunched figure slowly sat up. "Who gave you permission to trespass on this forbidden area?" A hoarse female voice startled the birds roosting in the forest.

The man was wearing a tattered Miao embroidered robe, and half of his face was covered with dark purple poisonous patterns, resembling tree bark scorched by fire.

It was none other than A'duo, the Third Elder of the Five Poisons Sect, who had long been "dead"!
Her withered fingers gripped the broken snake-bone whip tightly, her cloudy eyes fixed on the scarlet thread around Lan Xiaodie's waist, as if it were the source of deep hatred.

Lan Xiaodie's sword tip trembled slightly as she forced herself to remain calm: "Elder A'duo, back then you weren't..."

Before she could finish speaking, A'duo suddenly sprang into action, her snake-bone whip flashing like a serpent emerging from its hole, whistling sharply as it aimed straight for her throat!
"It's all that bitch Lan Qin'er's fault!" A'duo roared, the poisonous mist from her whip condensing into a hideous skull shape in the air. "She colluded with Yang Yinglong, using the 'Heart-Eating Gu' to control the followers! I refused to be complicit, so she poisoned me with the 'Thousand-Day Bone-Corroding Poison'!"

Lan Xiaodie dodged the poisonous mist, her Azure Phosphorus Sword transforming into a whirlwind. In the flash of cold light, she was shocked to realize that A'duo was surrounded by black mist, with countless tiny Gu worms surging within, burrowing into the old man's festering wounds.

A'duo's laughter was laced with blood and foam, and sounded extremely mournful: "This is Lan Xianglin's cenotaph! Back then, the sect leader suddenly disappeared, and Lan Qin'er said he had defected to the Central Plains. But I clearly remember that night, the forbidden area was filled with earth-shattering fighting sounds!"

The snake-bone whip suddenly lashed out, wrapping around Lan Xiaodie's longsword. A strange flush rose on A'duo's withered face: "Go to the bottom of the coffin and you'll know how your father died!"

Lan Xiaodie channeled her power into the sword, but felt a surge of insidious internal energy flowing through the blade, causing her hand to go numb.

In a moment of quick thinking, she lightly touched the ground with her toes and leaped into the air, using the "Butterfly Shadow Step" to circle behind Ado.

"Take this!" Lan Xiaodie thrust her sword tip toward A Duo's back.

Suddenly, Ado turned around, opened her mouth which was covered with sores, and spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling black blood!

Lan Xiaodie swung her sword to block, and the black blood splattered on the sword, making a "sizzling" corrosive sound.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, A'duo lashed out with her snake-bone whip, the barb at the end of which hooked onto her skirt and yanked it sharply!
Lan Xiaodie staggered forward, and in her haste, she threw out the poisoned silver needles from her waist.

Ado swept the silver needles away with her whip, but revealed a momentary flaw.

Lan Xiaodie seized the opportunity, and her Jade Phosphorus Sword transformed into "Poison Dragon Piercing the Heart," aiming straight for A Duo's throat.

At the critical moment, A'duo suddenly ripped open her clothes, revealing her chest covered with countless Gu worms!

Provoked, the Gu worms flew up and pounced on Lan Xiaodie like black clouds.

"Beware of the Heart-Eating Gu!" A'duo laughed maniacally, her laughter causing the leaves in the forest to fall in a rustling sound.

Lan Xiaodie brandished her longsword to protect herself, but she felt the poisonous mist spewed by the Gu worms corroding her internal energy.

She suddenly remembered the detoxifying powder given to her by the blind old woman, and immediately reached into her bosom and sprinkled the powder into the air.

When the Gu worms encountered the medicine, they emitted a piercing hiss and fell to the ground, convulsing.

Seeing this, A'duo's eyes flashed with despair: "You think you can beat me like this?" She suddenly plunged the snake bone whip into her heart. As blood gushed out, more Gu worms crawled out of the wound, forming a blood-red barrier around her.

Lan Xiaodie knew that this was the "Blood Gu Self-Destruction" technique, which had been lost by the Five Poisons Sect for a long time, and immediately used her lightness skill to retreat quickly.

With a deafening roar, blood mist filled the valley.

Lan Xiaodie clutched her chest, injured by the aftershocks, watching the blood mist gradually dissipate. The last scream of A'duo still echoed in her ears: "Go to the bottom of the coffin...and see the truth..."

She forced back her pain and walked toward the ancient bronze coffin. Under the moonlight, the engravings on the bottom of the coffin awaited the revelation of their fate.

Lan Xiaodie leaped a few times and arrived at the side of the coffin.

By the moonlight, she saw densely packed small characters engraved on the bottom of the coffin, recording that bloody night twenty years ago: Lan Xianglin discovered Yang Yinglong's conspiracy to collude with a cult in the Western Regions and wanted to report it to the imperial court, but was besieged by traitors of the Five Poisons Sect.

To protect his young son, he did everything in his power to get Lan Qin'er out of the encirclement, but he himself perished in the "Ten Thousand Gu Devouring Heaven Formation"!
"So that's how it is..." Lan Xiaodie's voice was barely audible, and she felt her vision going black.

In the corner of the coffin, half a line of blurry writing was engraved: "Xiao Die... Do not believe..." She turned around abruptly, only to see A Duo lying in a pool of blood, the black blood overflowing from the corner of her mouth corroding the ground, and in the old man's pupils, a golden Gu worm was crawling!
"Lan Qin'er... has long had people monitoring this place..." A'duo's voice was weak, her withered hand tightly gripping Lan Xiaodie's skirt, "The core of the Ten Thousand Gu Devouring Heaven Formation... is..." Before she could finish speaking, the golden Gu worm suddenly burst out, turning into poisonous smoke and dissipating in the night wind.

Lan Xiaodie knelt amidst the bloodstains, staring at the tattered record in her hand, her nails digging deep into her palms until they almost bled.

Thunder rumbled from the depths of the valley, and a torrential downpour washed away the bloodstains on the bronze coffin, also washing away the last remaining doubts in her heart. She finally understood that what she was pursuing was not only the truth about her father, but also to stop the catastrophe in the martial world unleashed by Lan Qin'er's "Ten Thousand Gu Devouring Heaven Formation." And now, Lan Xiaodie had to go to the headquarters of the Crimson Robe Sect, which had close ties with Lan Qin'er.

The White Bone Sect, the Red Robe Sect, and the Healing Society are two sects and one society that migrated from the Western Regions to Bozhou and have recently stirred up a bloody storm in Bozhou. Blood Rakshasa had previously told Shi Feiyang about this situation when they were in the Helan Mountains.

The blurry writing on the bottom of the coffin was carved by A'duo, while the words on top revealed a conspiracy to kill Lan Xiaodie. Late autumn in Bozhou was filled with the stench of rust and rotting flesh. Lan Xiaodie walked barefoot across the scorched earth, the hem of her plain white Miao dress stained grayish-brown by gunpowder.

When she burst through the blood-stained bronze door of the Crimson Robe Cult's branch headquarters, the sight before her made her gasp—twelve Crimson Robe Cult members, their collarbones pierced by black iron chains, hung like puppets around the bronze altar, their blood gushing and meandering down the grooves into the boiling pool of blood in the center. At the bottom of the pool, a grotesque demonic image vaguely emerged, its eyes burning crimson with flames as the blood flowed in, and the grin at the corner of its mouth mirroring the Crimson Robe Cult leader's sinister smile.

"Stop!" The clear sound of the Bilin Sword being drawn shattered the deathly silence, and Lan Xiaodie's face beneath her silver phoenix crown was as cold as ice.

She lightly touched the edge of the altar with her toes, and where her Miao embroidered skirt swept, black spots appeared on the bricks and stones—it was the Five Poisons Sect's unique "Bone-Corroding Powder".

The sword's edge was aimed directly at the chief priest's throat, but twelve curved blades, like venomous snakes spitting their tongues, instantly formed an impenetrable array of blades.

Lan Xiaodie spun around to avoid the blade, and with a flick of her wrist, three poisoned silver needles shot out and precisely pierced the cultist's "Quchi" acupoint.

The moment the man's curved blade hit the ground, she had already lunged forward, her Azure Phosphorus Sword drawing a strange arc: "Poisonous Dragon Emerges from Cave!" The tip of the sword pierced the man's throat, and blood splattered onto her pale cheeks like a fountain, only making her eyes appear even sharper.

"You mere remnants of the Five Poisons dare to ruin the great affairs of my Crimson Robe Sect!" A scarlet robe rose from the blood pool, accompanied by a foul wind. The sect leader held a bone whip wrapped around the spine of a living person, with barbs on the whip tip still hanging with undried brain matter.

He swung his whip, creating a piercing whistle in the air. Lan Xiaodie raised her sword to parry, only to feel a numbness in her hand.

The barbs on the bone whip hooked onto the Azure Phosphorus Sword. The cult leader grinned and exerted force, causing the sword to twist and creak under the strain.

Lan Xiaodie abandoned her sword and retreated, then took out a bamboo tube carved with Gu insect patterns from her waist and poured it out.

The purplish-black "ghostly mist" spread out like a tide, but the leader opened his mouth full of fangs and spewed out crimson flames: "A mere trick!"

Wherever the flames reached, the poisonous mist instantly turned into blue smoke.

Lan Xiaodie was shocked to realize that the flames surrounding the other party were not ordinary flames, but the "Crimson Flame Demon Art" refined with the essence and blood of living people!
The crimson flames coiled around her ankles like venomous snakes, but she flicked her sleeve and unleashed "Thousand Spider Silks," which turned into wisps of smoke in the intense heat.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the cult leader moved closer and lashed out at the face with his bone whip, which was crackling with sparks.

Lan Xiaodie used her "Butterfly Shadow Step" to dodge a fatal blow like a butterfly flitting among the flashing blades and flames.

His shoulder was scorched by sparks, and a burning pain emanated from the skin beneath the Miao embroidered fabric.

She swung her "Scorpion Tail Dart" in a backhand motion, only to see a blood-red magic seal appear in the sect leader's palm, melting the hidden weapon into molten iron. "Do you know why Bozhou was chosen as the altar?" The sect leader's laughter was laced with madness, and the demonic statue in the blood pool suddenly opened its enormous eyes. "The earth's veins here belong to fire, perfectly suited to my 'Blood Sacrifice Burning Heaven Formation'!" He thrust out with both palms, and crimson flames transformed into a hundred-foot-long fire dragon, turning bricks and stones into dust wherever it passed. Lan Xiaodie was forced to the edge of the altar, staring at the boiling blood pool beneath her feet, when she suddenly tore off the silver bell from her neck—the Five Poisons Sect's treasured "Ten Thousand Poison Bell."

Amidst the clanging of bells, the poisonous insects lurking in the shadows swarmed out.

Golden-headed centipedes, jade spiders, seven-colored venomous snakes... a dense swarm of insects surged towards the cult leader like a black tide.

However, the Crimson Flame Demon Art was so domineering that the Gu worms would ignite upon contact, and the air was filled with the stench of burnt insect corpses.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lan Xiaodie pulled out the last packet of "Heart-Eating Powder" from her bosom and sprinkled it into the air, mixed with blood.

This is the most insidious Gu poison of the Five Poisons Sect, specifically designed to devour the blood from people's hearts.

The cult leader roared, and crimson flames surged three zhang around his body: "You're courting death!"

He swung his bone whip to crush the swarm of insects, and the tip of the whip suddenly split into nine blood pythons, which wrapped around Lan Xiaodie's limbs and throat respectively.

The late autumn in Bozhou seemed to be stained with blood and fire. The blood pool on the altar of the Crimson Robe Cult surged like boiling water, and the scarlet pupils of the golem reflected Lan Xiaodie's swaying figure. Her plain white Miao dress was soaked with blood, and the blade of her Azure Phosphorus Sword was chipped, as she was locked in a stalemate with the bone whip of the Crimson Robe Cult leader.

Just as her true energy was about to run out, a sharp, tearing sound suddenly came from the sky, and a black shadow wrapped in icy blue true energy plummeted from the clouds. "Shi Feiyang!" Lan Xiaodie's eyes lit up with surprise. Shi Feiyang, his black martial arts attire fluttering in the wind, stood in mid-air, the icy blue true energy he was wielding, colliding with the crimson flames, exploding into a dazzling bluish-white light.

"Slay the mortal world!" His palms were like knives, and nine golden blade energies slashed down in a fan shape. Before the blade energies even arrived, the scorched earth on the ground was already plowed into deep trenches by the fierce palm wind. The Crimson-Clad Cult Leader hurriedly swung his whip to block, but the barbs on the bone whip were actually shaken by the blade energy and shattered inch by inch. He also staggered back three steps.

"You dog, take this!" Shi Xiong's angry roar came from the side.

The young man wielding the White Rainbow Sword charged into the battle like a black tiger pouncing on its prey. He unleashed the "Azure Peak Slicing Face" technique from the "Thirteen Deadly Swords," aiming a daring attack directly at the cult leader's ribs. The red-clad cult leader grinned maliciously, his palm crackling with crimson flames that formed a shield. The White Rainbow Sword struck the flames, producing a sizzling sound as if metal was melting.

Shi Xiong's tiger's mouth cracked from the shock, and the precious sword almost slipped from his hand.

Seeing this, Lan Xiaodie gritted her teeth and took out a poisoned scorpion tail dart from the leather pouch at her waist.

Three black rays, like venomous snakes spitting their tongues, aimed directly at the cult leader's vital acupoints.

The cult leader waved his sleeve to deflect the hidden weapons, but then Lan Xiaodie lightly touched the ground with her toes and used the "Butterfly Shadow Step" to circle behind him. The Jade Phosphorus Sword transformed into the "Poison Dragon Piercing the Heart" and stabbed towards his vital point.

"A mere trick!" The cult leader's crimson flames surged three zhang (approximately 10 meters) around him, and the demonic statue in the blood pool suddenly opened its giant eyes, condensing a crimson fireball with a diameter of ten zhang (approximately 3 meters) in its palm. A wave of heat swept over them, and the stone walls around the altar began to melt and flow.

Shi Feiyang's expression was solemn. The cold air around him transformed into a roaring ice dragon. He activated the Mingyu Gong to the "Limitless Asura's Human Purgatory" and unleashed the move "Severing the Edge of Heaven!" The ice dragon and the fireball collided with a deafening roar, and the air within a radius of ten feet emitted a piercing explosion.

The ground cracked like a spiderweb, and the red-robed cultists on the altar were thrown back by the shockwave, crashing into the stone wall and instantly becoming bloodied and mangled, their brains gushing out of the cracks. Lan Xiaodie used the shockwave to leap into the air, her Azure Phosphorus Sword gleaming with an eerie light as she thrust it toward the cult leader's back.

The cult leader suddenly turned around, and the bone whip coiled towards her throat like a serpent.

At the critical moment, Shi Feiyang unleashed the "Heaven and Earth Live Together" technique with both palms, and the golden palm shadows, carrying the chilling aura of the Ice Soul Cold Prison, roared in.

Ice and fire collided in mid-air, the crimson flames were twisted into countless sparks by the cold air, and the sect leader's protective true energy crumbled inch by inch under the double attack.

"Today we will send you to your death!" Shi Feiyang and Lan Xiaodie exerted their power at the same time, their palm winds and sword energy merging into a spiraling vortex of death.

The Crimson Cult Leader let out a shrill scream as his scarlet robe was torn to shreds. His skin peeled away piece by piece amidst the interplay of ice and fire, revealing his stark white bones. With a deafening roar, the cult leader's body exploded into dust within the vortex, leaving only charred remains scattered across the ground.

Leaning on her blood-stained longsword, Lan Xiaodie gazed at the icy blue true energy flowing around Shi Feiyang, a blush rising on her pale face: "Master Shi's divine skill has truly broadened Xiaodie's horizons."

She wiped the blood from the sword's blade, a resolute light flashing in her eyes. "The remnants of the Red-Clad Cult have not yet been eradicated. Xiao Die is willing to follow Hero Shi to wipe out the evil cult and restore order to the martial world!"

Shi Feiyang stood up after finishing his work. His black outfit was soaked with blood, but it did not diminish his majesty in the slightest: "Miss Lan is both wise and brave. If we encounter a strong enemy again in the future, I hope we can fight side by side."

The setting sun, like blood, dyed the "Xiongying" banner on the walls of Feima Pass a solidified crimson.

Shi Feiyang, his dark-colored outfit stained with dark red blood, still stood tall and straight like a pine tree. He looked at the still-burning flames of the Red Robe Sect branch in the distance, his icy blue true energy flowing in his palm, condensing the surrounding air into fine ice crystals. He said, "Miss Lan, the Red Robe Sect's foundation has not been eliminated. This battle between good and evil has only just begun."

The dark patterns on Lan Xiaodie's plain white Miao dress were faintly visible in the twilight, and the faded scarlet silk thread at her waist swayed gently in the wind.

She gently stroked the silver bell around her neck, the Five Poisons Totem gleaming coldly in the setting sun: "What Master Shi said is absolutely right. This sect acts in secret, and we need to send someone infiltrate first to find out their lair and weaknesses."

She traced the old wound on her palm with her fingertips, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, and said, "Only by luring the snake out of its hole can we deliver a fatal blow."

Inside the central command tent, the candlelight flickered.

Shi Feiyang's Mingyu Gong activated icy blue true energy, which swirled around his body and intertwined with the warm light of the sheepskin map on the table to create a strange halo.

He pointed to the area marked with the Bone-Corroding Miasma on the map: "Miss Lan, the harm of this miasma is greater than that of a thousand armies; the solution still depends on you." Lan Xiaodie leaned closer to the map, her delicate hand lightly touching the winding mountain path: "Hero Shi, you flatter me. This Bone-Corroding Miasma may seem invisible, but in reality, it requires 'Poison-Attracting Incense' as a catalyst, then diluted with snowmelt from the Tianshan Mountains. However..."

"But that scoundrel Yang Yinglong will definitely send men to stop us!" Shi Xiong strode in, gripping his blood-stained black iron sword. The scabbard slammed against the threshold with a dull thud, startling crows from the rafters. "I, Shi, will lead three thousand men to clear the way. Let's see who dares to come!"

Lan Xiaodie shook her head, her brows furrowing slightly: "No. The poisonous miasma will dissipate when it encounters the wind. If we take advantage of the southwest monsoon and use fire to burn its source, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort."

She looked at Shi Feiyang, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes, "But this plan requires someone to go deep into the heart of the poisonous miasma and ignite the igniter—that's a perilous path with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death."

Before the words were finished, the sound of galloping hooves suddenly came from outside the tent. A scout, covered in blood, rushed in: "Report! Yang Yinglong's rebel army has set up the 'Blood Fiend Formation' at the source of the miasma. Three hundred assassins in the formation are armed with flamethrowers and are burning anyone they see! The imperial troops have suffered heavy casualties."

Shi Feiyang slammed his palms on the table, unleashing nine golden sword energies that shaved off three inches from the corner of the table: "Perfect timing! I will use the Hundred Victories Sword Technique to break the formation, Shi Xiong will lead the rearguard, and Miss Lan will command from the center, using the Poison-Inducing Incense to disrupt the flow of the miasma."

He activated the Bright Jade Technique, and his icy blue true energy transformed into frost, covering his entire body. "I want to see whether his Blood Fiend Array is more powerful, or my Ice Soul Frost Prison is superior!"

At dawn the next day, the southwest monsoon brought a putrid stench.

Shi Feiyang, using his "Thousand Miles Without Leaving a Trace" light footwork, his black outfit fluttering in the wind, was the first to rush into the Blood Fiend Formation.

He unleashed the "Slaying the Mortal World" technique with both palms, unleashing nine golden blade energies that spun like wheels. Wherever they passed, the rebels' flamethrowers exploded, flames colliding with icy air and billowing white mist. Shi Xiong, wielding the White Rainbow Sword, wielded the "Thirteen Deadly Swords," its sharp edge sweeping across, smashing a rebel's head to pieces, blood and brains splattering onto the rock wall.

Lan Xiaodie was in the middle of the formation, holding a specially made bamboo tube and scattering poisonous incense.

The purplish-black poisonous mist intertwined with the raging flames of the Blood Fiend Array, forming a bizarre purple sea of ​​fire.

She used her "Butterfly Shadow Step" to weave through the sea of ​​fire, when suddenly she saw three rockets shot toward the ignition point. In the nick of time, she threw out her poisoned scorpion tail dart to knock down the rockets, but she was thrown back by the shockwave and slammed her back heavily against the rocks, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

(End of this chapter)