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Chapter 273 Symphony of Flesh and Blood (Part 7) (Please vote with monthly tickets!)

The icy valley was deathly silent.

Only the howling of the cold wind whipping snowflakes against the glacier.

Fang Qingyu hovered in mid-air, the dark golden divine lightning flowing around him like liquid gold, leaping silently and isolating him from the biting cold and icy wind and snow.

My gaze pierced through the thick snow curtain, fixed firmly on the center of the icy valley below.

There, Jiang Taixuan clung desperately to the enormous, chillingly frozen heart, like a dying reptile.

madman
Fang Qingyu murmured silently to himself.

Any martial artist with even a modicum of common sense would come to the same conclusion upon seeing this scene.

In the path of martial arts, cultivating one's qi and blood is fundamental.

For martial arts practitioners, the most essential and common resource is "Qi and Blood Crystals".

It is the essence nurtured from the remains of a deity's true form under specific conditions.

Pure, powerful, and easily absorbed and transformed.

Why not use the Ghost of Fate?

This question had flashed through Fang Qingyu's mind long ago when he saw the immense blood and energy contained within those life-destroying ghosts.

The number of Fate Ghosts is enormous, and some Fate Ghosts with strong physical bodies even have a blood and qi strength far exceeding that of martial artists of the same level.

Why is no one collecting and utilizing this data?

The answer is cruel yet simple.

Because of those who have tried it.
All crazy.

Or rather, they all exploded and died.

The life force of the ghost seems to be completely opposite to the life essence of human martial artists.

They are even mutually exclusive.

Forcibly swallowing it is like pouring ice water into boiling oil.

At best, it can cause qi deviation, blood and qi to surge in reverse, and meridians to rupture.

In severe cases, their consciousness is corrupted and assimilated, turning them into monsters who only know how to kill, and ultimately, under the power of violent conflict, they explode into a cloud of blood mist.

This is an ironclad rule that the Federation Martial Arts has learned through countless painful lessons.

It's a taboo inscribed on the title page of textbooks.

No one dared to cross the line.

And now.
This martial saint, once revered as a hero and who guarded the City of Glazed Light for fifty years, actually embraced this deepest taboo in order to gain enough power to fight him and to survive.

He did it.

It is still frantically absorbing that life-destroying heart at an almost self-destructive pace.

He was gambling with his life.

He was betting that his decaying body could, before completely collapsing, fuse together enough power to tear Fang Qingyu apart.

If they win the gamble, they might be able to drag Fang Qingyu down with them.

Losing the bet is simply a premature arrival at a predetermined ending.

But is it really so?

Fang Qingyu hovered in the air, his golden eyes icy cold.

They did not intervene.

Instead, it looked around and slowly descended.

His feet landed silently on a relatively flat ice surface dozens of meters away from Jiang Taixuan.

And just as he landed...

Rumble——! ! !
The solid, permafrost beneath our feet began to tremble violently without warning.

The magnitude of the change far exceeds any previous one.

The ice beneath Fang Qingyu's feet instantly cracked open with spiderweb-like fissures.

In the distance, towering glaciers groaned with a chilling sound, and huge icicles broke off like swords and fell, crashing onto the ice with a deafening roar.

Fang Qingyu suddenly looked up.

Thunder Eyes pierced through the swirling snow and ice dust, locking onto the direction of the Ice Valley entrance.

The end of the field of vision.

A boundless, surging wave composed of countless tiny gray-black dots.

Like a death torrent swallowing the heavens and earth, carrying a terrifying momentum that crushes everything, it whips up a blizzard of ice and snow that blots out the sky.
It is moving at an incredible speed towards the location of the Ice Valley.
It surged in like a tidal wave!

The gray-black waves surged forward at an unimaginable speed.

In just two or three breaths.

The waves, which were originally just a blurry black line on the horizon, were now clearly visible.

Countless grotesque and twisted ghostly figures appeared and disappeared in the snowstorm.

A low growl, a sharp screech, and heavy footsteps blended into a chilling symphony of death!

Their target was none other than this icy valley.

Army of Fate Ghosts
To save a human?!

This is simply impossible!

unless…

Fang Qingyu's gaze, like a cold blade, instantly pierced back onto Jiang Taixuan.

Under this terrifying pressure of earth-shaking tremors and the overwhelming force of the destructive army, they were on the verge of defeat.

Center of the Ice Valley.

That hunched figure, clinging desperately to the enormous, icy blue heart…

Finally moved.

In an extremely bizarre way, completely contrary to the way human joints move...

"Click. Click."

Accompanied by a tooth-grinding sound of bones grinding together.

Jiang Taixuan's body was like a puppet on strings, with his limbs twisted and supported at incredible angles.

First, it landed on all fours, like a wild beast poised to pounce, its back arched high.

Those eyes.

One of its eyes was still a human's cloudy, bulging eye, filled with resentment and madness.

The other one, however, had somehow transformed into a blood-red vertical pupil burning with endless greed and violence.

Inhuman!

An utterly inhuman aura!
But the moment his gaze fell upon Fang Qingyu…

The strange posture suddenly froze.

A fleeting, almost human-like, sense of apprehension crossed his blood-red vertical pupils!

Immediately afterwards, under the gaze of Fang Qingyu's molten gold vertical pupils.

The three violent and conflicting forces within Jiang Taixuan's body seemed to be forcibly suppressed for a moment.

The twisted joints emitted a series of rapid "clicking" sounds, like rusty gears being forcibly reset.

He actually managed to stand up again!

Although the posture still carried an indescribable stiffness and awkwardness, at least it had returned to the upright posture of a human.

In Fang Qingyu's field of vision.
The blood-red name "Martial Saint" above Jiang Taixuan's head flickered and twisted violently, as if there was a bad signal.

After several flashes of light and shadow
It has transformed into the [Gluttonous - Greedy Body]!
Another bizarre title I've never seen before!

Fang Qingyu looked at the completely mutated "Jiang Taixuan" in front of him.

He seemed to ignore the deadly vanguard who was roaring and charging towards him, its stench filling the air.

He merely tilted his head slightly, his gaze piercing through the chaotic snow curtain, landing on "Jiang Taixuan's" pair of violent and greedy dark red eyes.

The clear, cold voice was like a thunderous decree descending from the heavens.

The sound rang out clearly in this icy valley shrouded in a death swarm:
"Taotie?"

The voice, though not loud, carried the majestic might of the divine authority of the heavens, instantly overwhelming the roar of ten thousand ghosts.

Jiang Taixuan's violent and greedy eyes.

He paused abruptly upon hearing the question.

A series of "hoarse" sounds came from his throat, as if something was struggling wildly inside his vocal cords.

The human's cloudy eyeball instantly filled with painful bloodshot veins, staring at Fang Qingyu with resentment.

But that blood-red vertical pupil was filled with icy ferocity and a deeper sense of apprehension.

next second.

A hoarse, harsh sound, like the friction of rusty iron, was squeezed out intermittently from Jiang Taixuan's throat:

"who are you?!"

The voice was sharp and piercing, completely unlike Jiang Taixuan's original voice.

Upon hearing this, Fang Qingyu's lips twitched upwards very slightly, and a cold, playful glint flashed in his molten gold vertical pupils.

Take a step forward.

The divine sky spread silently beneath his feet, instantly vaporizing the approaching ice and snow.

"Ah"

A soft laugh, carrying the lingering echo of thunder.

"this problem."

Fang Qingyu's voice was like a cold blade, piercing through the wind and snow.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you?"

His gaze swept over the [Gluttonous - Greedy Body] above the other person's head.

It swept towards the entrance to the Ice Valley, where an overwhelming, gray-black wave of death was drawing ever closer.

"after all."

Even them

Fang Qingyu raised his hand and pointed at the surging army of ghosts, his fingertips crackling with tiny golden arcs of lightning.

"It all seems to have come for you."

boom--! ! !
He seemed to be completely enraged by Fang Qingyu's words.

It was as if the very source of his being was stung by the divine lightning dancing at his fingertips.

Jiang Taixuan's blood-red vertical pupil suddenly contracted, unleashing an even more intense greed and violence.

The gurgling sounds of struggle in his throat were instantly suppressed.

The hoarse, unnatural voice suddenly rose in pitch, filled with twisted resentment:

"You're not human either!!!"

Fang Qingyu's molten gold-like vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

What does this mean?
However, there was no time to think about it anymore.

At the entrance to the Ice Valley, the vanguard of the Fate Ghosts, who were at the forefront, were less than a hundred meters away from Fang Qingyu.

It was a pack of giant wolves from the ice plains, their bodies covered with sharp, grayish-white bone spikes. They moved with incredible speed, their eerie green eyes burning with a pure bloodlust!
A foul stench filled the air!

A thick, foul stench mixed with the icy chill of death crashed against us like a tangible wave.

The nearest giant wolf with bone spikes, its massive jaws filled with fangs, was already open, its foul-smelling saliva dripping onto the ice, hissing and producing white smoke as it corroded. Its ferocious front paws, covered in bone spikes, were less than a meter away from Fang Qingyu's head, accompanied by a piercing howl that tore through the air!
A close call.

Fang Qingyu could even see his own reflection in those eerie green pupils, as well as every pale white bone spur with barbs on those giant claws!
Just as the giant claw was about to touch a strand of hair—

Fang Qingyu didn't even turn around.

He merely frowned slightly.

Like shooing away an annoying fly.

His lips parted slightly, uttering two words:

"Noisy."

boom--! ! !
Centered on Fang Qingyu's location!
The infinite and pure Divine Firmament.

Like a sea of ​​thunder that has been dormant for millennia, it suddenly awakens.

A sudden burst of power!!!

All I could see was pure gold!

The giant wolf with bone spikes that pounced within a meter of Fang Qingyu couldn't even let out a howl.

Like a snowman thrown into the core of the sun, its massive body was annihilated the moment it touched the dark golden lightning.

Next came the second and third wave of all the Life Demon Vanguards that rushed into the range of the lightning burst!

Whether it was the second-tier Bone Spike Giant Wolf, or the even larger Elephant Life Demon that followed closely behind, covered in heavy bone armor like a battering ram.
Before the magnificent Divine Firmament Thunder Sea, they are all like ants!

Death upon contact!

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle—! !!
Like a red-hot iron pressed onto snow.

The dull, dense cracking sounds finally rang out belatedly.

That was the sound of countless ghosts being instantly carbonized and disintegrated into charred fragments.

A fan-shaped, scorched area with molten gold flames flowing along its edges was brutally carved out, with Fang Qingyu at its apex, towards the entrance of the Ice Valley.

Wherever it passed, the earth turned into scorched earth and glazed glass, and the air became distorted and vaporous.

The hundreds of ghosts charging at the forefront, regardless of their rank, were instantly reduced to nothing.

The surging gray-black waves behind them seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall of sighs, and their momentum abruptly halted.

Countless ghosts roared in terror and chaos, instinctively trying to retreat and avoid the destructive golden lightning domain!

However, the even larger torrent behind them continued its forward momentum.
Trampling, squeezing, colliding!

The dark gray tide instantly descended into terrible chaos.

Just as the golden sea of ​​lightning erupted, instantly clearing the area hundreds of meters in front of him.

Fang Qingyu caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye
The [Gluttonous Greedy Body] that was just standing next to the giant heart...

He didn't even glance at the scene.

There was absolutely no intention of taking advantage of the chaos to attack or command the army of ghosts.

His body was enveloped in a violent interplay of crimson light and chilling blue aura, which suddenly broke free from the shackles of the ice crystals beneath his feet.

His whole being was like a blood-red arrow that had broken free of a bowstring.

At a speed even faster than when it escaped the stomach of the glutton.
Without looking back, they headed towards the other end of the icy valley, towards the even deeper and colder glacial heartland to the north.
Fleeing for their lives!!!

Ran away?!
They just ran away like that?!
Fang Qingyu's golden eyes revealed an extremely obvious look of astonishment.

It appears that Jiang Taixuan's body has been taken over by Taotie, and given Taotie's personality and the support of the army of life-destroying demons...
It can run!?
Do I look that scary?!
A sense of absurdity welled up in Fang Qingyu's heart.

But then he shook his head. Today, whether it's Jiang Taixuan or some other kind of gluttonous being...
All must die! ! !
Thoughts are spinning.

Fang Qingyu ignored the army of life-destroying ghosts that were in brief chaos at the entrance to the Ice Valley.

The dark golden divine lightning beneath their feet exploded violently once more!

His figure transformed into a golden lightning bolt that tore through the wind and snow, relentlessly pursuing the direction in which Jiang Taixuan was fleeing for his life.

One person is an army.

Wherever the divine thunder passes, all evil will be warded off.

……

Meanwhile, in the icy valley, lightning and blood light clashed and chased each other.

On a relatively open ice field hundreds of kilometers away from here.

Another desperate escape has reached a critical moment.

"Faster! Faster!!"

"Keep up! Don't fall behind!!"

"Those in the back! Activate your qi and blood! Hold on!!"

The hoarse roar sounded broken and fragmented in the gale.

Hundreds of disheveled figures were desperately running through the bottom of a relatively wide glacial crevasse, braving the raging wind and snow.

It was Wei Banmeng, Shi Kong, Liu Hanyan and others, as well as the dozens of grandmasters who had managed to crawl out of the Taotie's stomach, and the few surviving members of Deep Blue Heavy Industry.

Wei Banmeng rushed to the front, her pale face devoid of color, her lips frozen purple.

But the straps on her back still firmly secured the unconscious Jiang Wei.

The small body pressed against her back, and a faint heartbeat could be heard through the thick winter coat.

Chu Kuanglan followed closely behind, carrying the unconscious Lu Jiuyuan on his back as well.

Shi Kong and Liu Hanyan lagged behind at the very back of the group, like two moving gates.

Shi Kong ripped off the cumbersome wig, his bald head covered in ice shards. Although the golden light of the Buddhist staff in his hand had dimmed, it still exuded a peaceful and resilient aura. With each swing, it scattered specks of golden light to dispel the cold and gloom, barely stabilizing the somewhat disheartened hearts of those behind him.

"Hold on!!"

Shi Kong's voice forcefully drowned out the sound of the wind, reaching every frightened ear.

"North! Only north! Going back the way we came is a dead end! Our brothers in Deep Blue have already sent out the highest level of distress signal! The nearest beacon tower must have already dispatched elite troops to meet us! Hold on!! As long as we rendezvous with reinforcements..."

"Reinforcements?! Where are the reinforcements?!"

In the middle of the group, a Grandmaster-level figure roared in despair, his voice trembling with tears, "Behind us! Those monstrous things are catching up!!"

As if to confirm his words.

Woo——! ! !
The howl of the vengeful spirit pierced through the wind and snow once more, striking everyone's hearts hard.

Immediately following this, the earth trembled even more violently.

Rumble, rumble—! ! !
Everyone turned around in horror.

They could see the direction of the glacial crevasse entrance from which they had just escaped.
A gray-black wave!

Like a river of death bursting its banks, carrying a terrifying force capable of crushing everything, it is raging into the crevice!

Leading the charge were hundreds of ghouls, resembling enlarged versions of hyenas, their bodies dripping with corrosive slime.

They moved across the ice on all fours, their eerie green eyes fixed on the fleeing crowd ahead, emitting greedy and rapid "snoring" sounds!

We are less than 300 meters from the back of the line.

Despair, like an icy tide, instantly engulfed everyone.

Once you get entangled.

The endless army of vengeful spirits behind them will eventually devour them alive.

The old technician from Deep Blue Heavy Industry looked ashen-faced, his lips trembling, and he was filled with deep regret.

I should have known it earlier.
I'd rather die than follow that damned meatball out to keep watch.

"Kill, kill, kill!!!"

At this critical moment!
Liu Hanyan's voice, clear and cold as ice, pierced through despair like a sharp sword.

He suddenly stopped and turned around!
The golden sword in his hand instantly erupted with an unprecedentedly dazzling starlight.

Shi Kong stepped forward almost simultaneously and stood side by side with Liu Hanyan.

He slammed his Buddhist staff heavily on the ground!

"Om!"

A Buddhist mantra, like a resounding bell, exploded with the power to dispel evil and delusion.

"Those who don't want to die, get moving!!"

In a life-or-death situation, the instinct to survive outweighs fear and selfishness.

In addition, Shi Kong and Liu Hanyan's prestige and strength as prodigies of the Hidden Dragons were instantly displayed.

The chaotic group seemed to have found its leader.

Those masters who were initially panicked grasped at straws and instinctively obeyed the orders.

Everyone gritted their teeth and rushed to the front, their blood boiling, forming a thin but firm defensive line.

Members of the Shi Kong Squad and the Liu Hanyan Squad were positioned at key points of the defensive line, ready to pounce on any charging ghosts!
A hastily constructed but determined defensive line quickly took shape in the glacial fissures.

"Roar!!!"

The vanguard of the Bone-Eating Hounds has already pounced.

The foul-smelling slime sprayed out like a torrential rain.

fighting
It unfolded instantly in the narrow glacial crevice.

Blood splattered on the pale ice wall, instantly freezing into dazzling scarlet ice flowers.

The ghosts that rushed in earlier were just easy prey for them.

After all, they were all second-tier grandmasters.

Their combat power is terrifying.

But the sheer number of second-tier demons in that army was no less than theirs, and might even be more!

The defensive line began to falter under the onslaught of the frenzied demons.

"Hang in there! Just a little longer!!"

Shi Kong's eyes were bloodshot, and he swung his Buddhist staff like a wheel. Wherever the golden light reached, the bone-eating dogs that rushed at him were like hitting a copper wall and an iron wall, howling and flying backward. But more ghosts of life surged up, stepping on the corpses of their own kind.

The defensive line is retreating step by step.

The collapse seems imminent.

Just as this defensive line was about to be completely breached, and despair was about to engulf everyone.

"You wicked creature! How dare you act so violently!!!"

A thunderous shout suddenly came from the ice wall above everyone's heads.

His voice was powerful and domineering.

boom--! ! !
A massive, fiery red fist-shaped aura, condensed and substantial, crashed into the densest area of ​​the frenzied tide of life-destroying ghosts, like a meteor falling from the sky!

The fist's energy exploded.

The terrifying shockwave was like a tangible shockwave, instantly blasting dozens of ghosts away and tearing them to shreds.

The stench of burning flesh filled the air!
A tall and imposing figure, enveloped in crimson blood and wolf smoke, descended like a war god, landing heavily at the forefront of the defensive line, blocking everyone's path!

He wore heavy, dark gold armor, the plates of which were stained with dark red blood and ice shards. His face was as hard as if carved by a knife and axe, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's as he swept across the chaotic battlefield with a calm and composed air of control.

Third-tier Martial Saint!

"Qin Wu, Deputy Commander of the 7th Army Corps of the Great Wall Garrison!"

The burly martial saint's voice, like a booming bell, resounded through the rift, "By order of the beacon tower! Rush to the aid of this place!"

He whirled around, his crimson gaze sweeping over the wounded yet fiercely fighting force behind him. With a sweeping gesture, his voice echoed through the icy valley:

"Gentlemen! Follow me..."

"kill!!!"

"kill--!!!"

The roar, as powerful as a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down, instantly drowned out the wailing of the ghost.

With the Martial Saint as the spearhead, he stood at the forefront and bore the greatest pressure.

The hundreds of exhausted but miraculously alive second-tier grandmasters behind them unleashed a combat power far exceeding their previous strength.

Swords flashed and blood flowed freely.

The previously precarious defensive line was instantly stabilized and began to push forward.

The veteran technician from Deep Blue Heavy Industry wiped the mixture of blood and ice water from his face, looked at the crimson figure blocking the raging tide of death demons like a reef, let out a long sigh, slumped onto the cold ice, and muttered:
They survived.

……

The clamor of battle gradually faded away.

When the last howl of the dying ghost completely disappeared into the glacial crevice, leaving only charred, carbonized remains and frozen, foul blood.
More than an hour has passed.

The cold wind continued to howl through the cracks, whipping up snow and trying to cover up the traces of the fierce battle.

Of the hundreds of grandmasters, fewer than seventy are still standing.

Almost everyone was wounded and weak. Their heavy, cold-weather combat suits were tattered and covered in blood, ice shards, and the sticky bodily fluids of the dead.

They either sat leaning against the cold ice wall, panting heavily, their chests heaving like broken bellows, each breath exhaling large plumes of visible white mist.

Or they might collapse onto the frozen ground, staring blankly at the leaden sky with its fine snow, their faces etched with the bewilderment of surviving a catastrophe and a deep-seated weariness.

too tired.

My body is tired, but my mind is even more tired.

From stepping into the fake ruins.

They were driven into a bloody hell and hunted by monsters.

Then, after escaping, they found themselves in a desperate place outside the Great Wall.

Finally, they were relentlessly pursued by the army of the Fated Ghosts, and a bloody battle broke out in their desperate situation.
This series of dramatic and nightmarish experiences nearly drained them of every ounce of their energy and strength.

Deep Blue Heavy Industry's money
It's fucking hard to make money!!!
This wasn't a shopping trip; it was more like a journey through the eighteen levels of hell, only to be dragged back by the Martial Saint at the gates of the King of Hell.

Just as everyone relaxed, and exhaustion washed over them like a tidal wave, all they wanted to do was lie down on the cold frozen ground and catch their breath.
An unexpected change occurred without warning.

hum-

An indescribable sense of stagnation, seemingly originating from time and space itself, swept through the entire glacial crevice like an invisible cold wave!

The sound of the wind disappeared.

The falling snowflakes froze in mid-air.

The white mist that people were spraying has stopped.

Absolute silence, frozen!

Time seemed to have been paused at that moment!

Everyone remained in the same position and expression as they had been a second ago.

Those who were leaning still leaned, those who were slumped still slumped, and those who looked up at the sky still had blank stares.
But their pupils were instantly filled with boundless horror and fear.

They can clearly "see" everything around them!
I can "feel" that I am still alive!

But my body is completely unable to move!

He can't even move his eyes.

It was as if the soul was imprisoned in a frozen stone statue.

Only thought screams wildly in absolute stillness.

what happened? !
what happened? !

Wei Banmeng was also pinned to the spot by this terrifying stagnation force.

He leaned forward slightly, his cool face still bearing the pallor of the battle and a hint of relief.

But at this moment, the emotions surging deep within her pupils were the most complex.

Shock! Doubt! Trembling!

because
The source of that terrifying power that freezes time and space.

Right in front of her!

Directly ahead!
Silently.

A figure descended.

It's as if it's always been standing there, only to be "revealed" after time and space have frozen.

It was a woman.

A woman whose beauty defies description in any language.

Her very existence is a reinterpretation of the concept of "beauty".

Her skin, like the finest white jade, radiated a warm glow amidst the gloomy, icy landscape.

Every line of her facial features is perfect to the extreme, and together they create a face that can eclipse the sun and moon.

The most eye-catching.
It was her long, fiery red hair, flowing like flames, reaching her ankles, moving without wind. In the stillness of time and space, each strand of hair seemed like a solidified flame spirit.

She wore a simple, antique-style crimson dress, the hem of which cascaded down like a burning sunset.

There was no deliberate pressure emanating from him.

But that power that freezes time and space is itself an explanation of her existence.

The woman walked barefoot, gently stepping on the cold, frozen earth.

Wherever your toes land, the frozen ice and snow melt silently, forming a small patch of damp ground steaming with heat.

She didn't even glance at the crowd around her, frozen like stone statues.

Those clear, deep, crimson eyes, seemingly containing endless lava and starlight, fell directly on Wei Banmeng.
He carried the unconscious Jiang Wei on his back.

The woman moved with light, graceful steps, her bare feet treading across the still ice and snow, silently walking to Wei Banmeng's side.

The distance is so close.

Wei Banmeng could even smell a faint, peculiar fragrance emanating from the other person, as if it were a mixture of sunlight and the scent of lava.

The woman leaned forward slightly.

The movements were gentle, with an indescribable divine elegance.

A flawless, work of art hand, extremely gentle
He slowly lifted Jiang Wei's small chin.

When that pale, delicate face, with its eyes tightly closed, was fully revealed in the woman's crimson pupils.
The woman's flawless, seemingly eternally serene face...
Extremely rare, a smile slowly bloomed, a smile that could eclipse the heavens and earth.

A clear voice, like a spring flowing deep within lava, rang out distinctly in the absolutely silent glacial fissure:

"finally."

"Got you."

(End of this chapter)