Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 468 It's Not Too Late
In fact, when the formation was still relatively intact, Jiang Duxu could only hold his own against Zhao En, while Yuan Muyu was already dominating the Flame Demon...

Over the past few days, the heartache of knowing that Lu Xingzhou was getting married, the excruciating pain of arranging marriages for him like a walking corpse, the agonizing pain of watching Lu Xingzhou and other women cuddling in Qingyao Garden under the sun, the shame, anger, and frustration of being attacked by Shen Tang and the others... all these things had already simmered in Yuan Muyu's heart, fueling an explosive rage.

Unable to vent to anyone, I could only drain myself internally, spitting out countless mouthfuls of blood.

Coupled with the desire to make amends and prove oneself, this moment of full-blown outburst was overwhelming.

At this moment, Yuan Muyu had only one thought—Xingzhou and his "family" were besieging Huo Liancheng, but what about him?
We must resolve this issue as soon as possible and go help Xingzhou!
The fire demons, who didn't possess many human emotions, were all startled by the woman's madness and couldn't immediately tell who the real demon was.

What did I do to offend you that you hit me like this?

What's even more troublesome is that this woman is its natural enemy.

There is no Netherworld in this world. If there were, it could only exist in the Immortal Realm or the Ancient Realm, not in this world. This kind of Netherworld Ghost Fire is a remnant from ancient times and is extremely unique. Logically speaking, there should be no corresponding cultivation in this world, let alone any way to restrain it. Perhaps only Jiang Duxu knows a little about how to fight it.

Unfortunately, it encountered Yuan Muyu, who transformed Tianyao Xuanyue into a peerless genius of the Netherworld River of Oblivion.

The judgment of Yama, the cycle of life and death, the Yama Palace and the name of Yama are not just for show, but are the fundamental proof of her cultivation.

Yuan Muyu's research on the transformation between life and death is unparalleled in this world—his ability to extract a demon core with his bare hands and refine it into a fruit brimming with life force was a classic application of the principle of reversing the flow of his cultivation. Not to mention Lu Xingzhou, who was only at the seventh rank of cultivation at the time, even Shen Tang, who was at the fourth rank, couldn't possibly understand the intricacies of this; it was the pinnacle of cultivation in this world.

There is no Yama in this world; Yuan Muyu is Yama.

No one could counter the Netherworld Ghost Fire. In Yuan Muyu's hands, almost every move transformed its ghost fire attribute into yang fire, making each move equivalent to bleeding an ordinary person.

Conversely, the Flame Demon's attacks had almost no effect on Yuan Muyu.

It does not have the effect of burning physical objects; it burns the soul. If an ordinary person comes into contact with it, their soul will be completely burned and they will die.

No matter how much it burned, it was like a clay ox sinking into the sea, without any reaction. Instead, a Yama's face would always appear in his mind, its cold eyes hanging like the sun and moon.

This is her way of life: her body is the six realms, her mind is the Wheel of Life. No ghost fire can burn her; they are all merely under her rule.

The Flame Demon never imagined that such a person existed in the world. After being imprisoned in the Demon-Slaying Domain for so many years, what changes had occurred in the world? Where did this King of Hell come from?

Seeing that Gu Zhanting's situation was dire, and knowing that the demons had no loyalty to their allies, the demon suddenly transmitted its voice: "My cooperation with the Qian Emperor is merely a matter of him borrowing the demonic energy of Qian Yuan, causing the demonic flames of the world to rise naturally, and my power to expand further. That's all. It's not that I necessarily want to help him. I see that you are also a member of the demonic path, so why not cooperate with me?"

Yuan Muyu originally didn't want to waste time arguing with it and just wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible, but she also knew that it wouldn't be easy to defeat it in a short time and that it could easily escape.

A thought flickered in his mind, and he sneered, "What can you offer me?"

"The Yama Palace must be in dire need of top-tier combatants like myself, and the nature of my Netherworld Ghost Fire is also very compatible with the attributes of Your Yama Palace. I can serve as a deputy palace master and create a Netherworld in the mortal realm for Your Yama, which is worthy of the title Yama. It is even possible that Yama's path to the Qian Yuan Dao can be proven in this way. I wonder what Your Yama thinks?"

This could very well be Yuan Muyu's path to enlightenment. Yanmo believed that any cultivator with the Qian Yuan Heart would find it impossible to resist the allure of the path.

Yuan Muyu was indeed very tempted and slowed her attack: "Then how should our contract be established?"

Humans and demons can often form contracts, just like Lu Xingzhou cultivating the Wutian Black Flame into the main soul of the Soul Banner, which is also a kind of subordinate spiritual contract.

The Flame Demon laughed, "If our divine senses connect, and you leave your mark on me, you can control my actions to a certain extent. How sincere is that?"

Yuan Muyu nodded: "Okay."

As the words were spoken, a wisp of divine thought was indeed separated and entered the Flame Demon's sea of ​​consciousness.

The Balrog's smile turned ferocious: "Fool."

Her overall sea of ​​consciousness was incredibly powerful, but if she separated a wisp of divine thought, it would naturally be devoured, which would also cause her injury.

People are easily deceived when they are greedy.

As expected, a wisp of divine thought was devoured by the Flame Demon, and Yuan Muyu groaned as blood spilled from his mouth and nose.

But his eyes were fierce and incomparably malevolent. While the Flame Demon was digesting and devouring, he pushed his palms out and slammed them heavily onto the seemingly ethereal chest.

—After fighting for so long, she had been searching for the Flame Demon's life core, but it was proving difficult to find. Now she was certain that wherever her divine sense had been absorbed, that was the source of the Flame Demon's life.

The Flame Demon was horrified: "You did this on purpose... You've gone mad! Your soul is damaged, do you know how much this will hinder your cultivation path?!"

But with their thoughts intertwined, how could they possibly dodge?

With a "bang," Yuan Muyu slammed both palms heavily onto the Flame Demon's chest, turning the illusory into the real thing.

The Flame Demon let out a deafening scream. Its ethereal body, the size of a normal person, was refined by this palm strike, twisting and struggling as it was compressed and slowly refined into a palm-sized crystal core.

Its defiant roar still lingered in the air: "Yuan Muyu, you're a madman!"

"You still dare to tempt me with the path of cultivation? I'd be crazy to do that again!" Yuan Muyu bled from all seven orifices, his expression growing increasingly ferocious: "You are at least a spark of fire, useful for traveling."

"You fucking..." The Flame Demon completely lost its breath, leaving only a small black crystal core emitting a faint light.

Jiang Duxu, who was about to make a move, was dumbfounded.

That madman is both strong and insane.

You must warn your granddaughter not to get involved with Lu Xingzhou. You can't handle his women; it could lead to your death.

The next moment, Yuan Muyu shot off like lightning, heading straight for the place where Lu Xingzhou and Huo Liancheng were fighting fiercely. Jiang Duxu turned his longsword and went to help Feng Ziliu fight Gu Shaoli.

…………

Huo Liancheng had been besieged and his white hair was disheveled; he had long lost the aura of a Grand Tutor of the highest rank.

Lu Xingzhou's words made him question his so-called superior rank and left him confused about what he had been doing all his life. His entire family was wiped out, his path was wrong, and the emperor he had served his whole life was unwilling to even lend a helping hand, instead leading him down a crooked path.

Now, his hair is white and he looks like a withered tree, while his opponent is young, vigorous, and full of spirit.

What have I been doing all my life?!
This kind of confused mindset is the biggest taboo in battle.

With his super-grade strength, even if he wasn't as strong as a normal super-grade, breaking through the encirclement and escaping shouldn't have been a problem, since Lu Xingzhou's side really didn't have enough super-grades to stop him. But Huo Liancheng was fighting in a daze, even forgetting to run. Until Gu Zhanting and Ye Tinglan both ascended to the heavens, Huo Liancheng had already subconsciously judged that "the situation was hopeless."

Perhaps I really am going to die here today.

Lu Xingzhou cast a spell from the outside, and lotus-like flames bloomed under his feet. As they burned, many memories seemed to flash through his mind.

In fact, he killed more than just Huo Xingtian's family.

Even Huo Xingtian's father, Lu Xingzhou's grandfather, and Huo Liancheng's own brother, could be considered to have died at his hands. He had been assassinated when they were young and vying for the position of head of the Huo family.

From then on, his younger brother was bedridden and unable to compete for the position of head of the family. He succeeded as the main branch and expelled his younger brother, who then became a branch of the family.

His younger brother later married and had several children, living in the mountains. Due to the lingering illness from years ago, coupled with the harsh life in the mountains, he fell ill again more than ten years later and passed away.

The children grew up, became hunters in Danxia Mountain, married and had children. The large family of more than ten people lived together without dividing the household. Although they were poor, they were happy and harmonious.

Huo Liancheng knew their living conditions and had no intention of exterminating them; there was no need.

The new generation of children, like Huo Qing, don't even know they are close relatives of the Grand Tutor. Anyway, the peasants are left to fend for themselves; sooner or later, some natural disaster or man-made calamity might wipe them all out.

During those years, he took the blame for Gu Zhanting and was impeached by Pei Qingyan and others, forced to leave the capital and return to his old family home.

It's a good time to take advantage of my leisure time to ponder the secrets of Danxia landforms passed down from previous generations.

Huo Liancheng had actually uncovered some secrets, such as the location for observing the sunrise, so he had Liu Qingcang stationed there to keep watch.

Over the years, nothing was discovered... and Huo Shang was killed by Huo Qi, who stole the credit.

Just as Gu Zhanting and Long Qinghuang finished their great battle, the Northern Frontier was short of manpower. So, taking advantage of Hongshu's proposal, Huo Liancheng was reinstated and prepared to go to the capital.

Just then, Liu Qingcang secretly reported that there was a mystical aura emanating from the Valley of Sunrise, suggesting that Huo Xingtian's family had accidentally found a treasure.

What else is there to say... a massacre that was only to be expected.

Now that the alchemy furnace is in hand, there seems to be no need to unravel the secrets of Danxia Mountain. Isn't this the secret of Danxia Mountain? Although I don't know how it jumped out and was picked up by Huo Xingtian's family, it's Huo Liancheng's now anyway.

Huo Liancheng was overjoyed and led his entire clan to the capital.

I never even considered that something like this could have any negative consequences.

Never did they imagine that a vengeful ghost had been left behind here, and ten years later, it would slowly torture their entire family to death.

A fleeting moment passed, followed by a sharp pain in my shoulder blade.

Huo Liancheng roared and swung his sword to deflect the attack, but he was unable to deflect the sword as he had hoped.

The purple aura is so familiar, and the Imperial Power is so powerful it's astonishing.

It felt like His Majesty himself had come to kill him.

Is it Princess Chaohuang?
If she were to ascend the throne, her entire family would likely face execution sooner or later.

Unable to deflect Shen Tang's sword in one strike, his weakness was exposed, and an ice sword, an umbrella tip, and a willow leaf knife almost simultaneously slashed his back and chest.

Dugu Qingli, Pei Chuyun, Sheng Yuanyao...

Then there was a strange contraption that grabbed his ankle.

Jiang Yuan?

She was originally going to marry into the Huo family... Yes, does that still count now?

Despite being severely injured, Huo Liancheng suddenly burst into laughter.

Lu Xingzhou's stern and cold face appeared ahead. He, who had been harassing from the outside, seized the opportunity to close in and unleashed a furious punch, causing water and fire to erupt.

"Even if I die here, I won't let you, you little brat, get away with it!" Huo Liancheng, who was already somewhat dazed, became clear-headed upon seeing Lu Xingzhou's face. Without dodging or avoiding, he thrust his sword straight at Lu Xingzhou's throat!
Ultimately, the hatred of wiping out the entire family was enough to awaken all the obsessions.

Lu Xingzhou blinked, then suddenly dodged away: "I've already taken enough revenge with my own hands, why do you have this obsession with killing you with your own hands? Are you getting old and taking too many brain-dead pills?"

Huo Liancheng's sword missed its mark, and the next moment he felt a sharp pain in his ribs as a child punched him.

The overwhelming force sent his entire body flying to the side and backward, spraying blood into the sky.

As expected, he's a fake top-tier martial artist. A dignified martial arts master can't even withstand a child's punch.

Huo Liancheng suddenly became more lucid while in mid-air. Was this the best time to escape?
He mustered his remaining strength, swung his longsword in a wide arc, and a crescent-shaped sword aura flashed past, blocking Chu Zhaohuai, Qi Zijiu, and Sheng Qingfeng all outside, before he was about to escape.

A pale face with blood flowing from all seven orifices suddenly appeared before me, like a capricious ghost from the underworld chasing after my soul.

It's not impermanence, it's Yama, the King of Hell.

"Bang!" A pair of slender hands slammed heavily on his chest, shattering Huo Liancheng's sternum, and he fell backward through the air.

Lu Xingzhou's fist struck him in the back at that moment, and with a cracking sound, his spine shattered inch by inch.

Countless high-ranking officials, princes, and generals watched from a distance, but not a single person offered a helping hand, or even uttered a single word.

He watched helplessly as the hunter's son launched a final act of revenge against the Grand Tutor and the Marquis's families, resulting in the extermination of their entire clan.

Huo Liancheng collapsed to the ground, looking up at Lu Xingzhou's face, and suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu...

It's like a collection of faces of all the relatives he killed back then; it turns out the Huo family can be this good-looking.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

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(End of this chapter)