NEBM Chapter 61.2: A Fierce Battle

It may not be accurate to say that this was the sea. But, Sui Xian looked into the distance and could not see the water’s edge. Because there was no wind here, the water’s surface was very smooth and still. It was very calm, as if the stagnant water had a bottomless floor underneath.

A half-moon hung slanted above the sea, it’s dim lights bright enough to only illuminate the shore. The cold moonlight faintly penetrated the darkness. It seemed to hug the juncture between light and dark, casting looming, indistinguishable shadows that blurred into the brightness.

There were several small white stones by Sui Xian’s feet, all in various lengths and sizes. Without thinking about it, he kicked them into the water. The stones silently sank to the bottom, creating rippling circles that spread out dark and heavy on the water’s surface.

Sui Xian was worried.

The road back was dangerous, but the path in front was a boundless sea.

He still hadn’t decided what to do yet when the water’s surface suddenly trembled. A large ripple cascaded out from the distance, crashing against the shore. There was no wind, but in the distance, a wave of water surged up. It emitted a rumbling vibration that carried with it an exceedingly dangerous breath.

Sui Xian gazed at it attentively and cautiously took two steps back.

A massive spray of water exploded out as a wicked four-clawed dragon burst out from the water. It roared, shaking out seven to eight columns of water that crashed down. The ground shook.

Sui Xian’s face paled.

This wicked four-clawed dragon was a twelfth-tier demon beast, which made it nearly three-tiers higher than Sui Xian.

He carried Little Yan Jin on his back and quietly disappeared into the darkness. The wicked dragon hovered over the water’s surface, when it suddenly hummed. As if it’d sensed something, it snapped it’s head forward and saw Sui Xian, who was still trying to hide.

It’s round pupils dilated into sharp, needle-like lines, and its voice was dull. “Food?”

Its tail swayed, slapping the water. It excitedly soared over, its pupils full of greed. “Delicious…”

Sui Xian knew that it was too late to escape. He put Little Yan Jin down. Frost Return unsheathed and instantaneously collided fiercely with the dragon’s claws!

The wicked dragon didn’t expect the little cultivator, who looked weak and feeble, to have the ability to block one of its claws. It growled angrily and twisted its body, flinging its tail toward Sui Xian.

This single attack brimmed with the power of a thirteenth-tier demon beast, the strength enough to crush an ordinary person’s body into mists.

Sui Xiian didn’t look at it and only mobilized a bit of spiritual power to try to lead it away from Little Yan Jin’s location.

Sui Xian had never been in such a desperate, miserable situation before.

He was innately smart with astonishing talents. He’d been a well-known genius since he was a child, and with the help of top cultivators, he’d made rapid progress. Among his peers, he stood out as an unmatched talent.

To gain experience and to improve his cultivation, he’d challenged many high-level demon beasts and had struggled for life and death. But, he’d never been in this kind of situation…

The chance of victory was negligible.

Logic told him he should avoid battling with the dragon. Even if he was in top shape, he may not be able to escape from the dragon’s claws, much less at this moment when his spiritual power was almost exhausted.

But he couldn’t retreat.

If he retreated, what would happen to Little Yan Jin?

Inside his body, his spirit pellet was spinning chaotically, squeezing that last bit of spiritual force from the veins of his spirit root. Pain blossomed throughout his body, causing the hand gripping Frost Return to tremble. Only his strong willpower prevented him from losing consciousness and kept him awake to fight back against the wicked dragon.

The wicked dragon was very powerful and had long dominated this area. It hadn’t met such a strong opponent in a long time. He was blocked time and time again by Sui Xian, which only increased his rage. “I’ll eat you! This is what you get from obstructing me!”

Immortal cultivators had a foul smell. It didn’t like to eat them at all and would only consider eating one or two when forced. At this moment, it only wanted to eat the natural born devil on the shore. Natural born devils was rarely seen in thousands of years. After eating the natural born devil, it would become stronger.

It would become so mighty that….maybe it could even break free of its shackles and leave this place that had imprisoned it for hundreds of years!

Sui Xian gritted his teeth and fought back, refusing to allow it to hurt Little Yan Jin. He collided with the wicked dragon again and again. No matter how strong his sword skills, it was only backed by a bit of strength. Therefore, in the face of strengths that outpaced his own, his sword skills weren’t even worth mentioning. The wicked dragon managed to successfully land an attack, causing darkness to sway in front of Sui Xian’s eyes. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“…This ancient secret method can instantly increase your cultivation, but its effect is very short and will only cause endless troubles. My disciple mustn’t use it no matter what.”

The words that Master once said a few years ago suddenly sounded in his mind. Sui Xian’s vision was becoming blurry, making it difficult for him to see, but his mind was very clear.

So clear that it wasn’t difficult at all for him to activate this secret method.

When the last spell was cast, he felt scalding hot all over. His veins forcibly expanded, and his spirit pellet spun so fast that it almost looked like a specter of itself. Spiritual force surged one after another from within his spiritual sea, which roiled and seethed in bellowing waves. Extreme agony crushed him even as he felt his barrier shattered.

He’d been promoted!

Tier ten–Tier eleven–Tier twelve.

Even if he’d only crossed three tiers, he would still be able to fight!

Sui Xian and Frost Return were tightly bound. The sword issued a loud, sharp hiss as innumerable sword qi condensed into a massive murderous sword qi. It shot toward the wicked dragon!

The wicked dragon noticed the danger and tried to dodge, wanting to escape to the bottom of the sea. But, it was too slow and had no time to avoid the attack. The giant sword qi stabbed the wicked dragon’s tail, and a shower of blood burst out, emitting a fishy stench.

Sui Xian controlled the sword’s movement and, without pause, the sword swung back and sliced off one of the dragon’s claws!

“Aaaoooo—-”

The wounded dragon twisted back and forth along the water’s surface, stirring up great waves. It was enraged and unwilling to retreat. Once the giant word qi had dissipated, it rushed into the water. The huge dragon head hung down, its eyes raised to stare with resentment at Sui Xian. “If I don’t kill you, I would never be able to dispel the hatred in my heart!”

After using his sword qi, Sui Xian’s internal strength was rapidly draining. Gasping violently, he stepped in front of the wicked dragon and stared at it. .

Blood oozed from where the dragon’s claw had been cut off, but it totally disregarded it. As it spoke, its deep voice was full of malice, “The natural born devil is a big supplement. I’ve been eating enough half-devils to make me sick. Today, I’ve finally found a rare and delicious delicacy. First, I’ll kill you and then I’ll eat him—Who dares to touch my food?!”

The huge dragon head suddenly swerved sideways and, at the point of light and darkness, something crawled out. It fell on to the comatose Little Yan Jin.

—It was an ice-cold skeleton.

—This pile was made up of all the leftover demon bones, and the skeleton was one of them.

A cloud of black qi lingered between the bones, controlling its movements and making it stiffly grasp on to Little Yan Jin’s neck!

Sui Xian was completely shakened. He turned back, angrily drawing his sword, and slashed at the skeleton. The skeleton was thrown far away and shattered into many piles of small bones.

But Sui Xian had finally exhausted his last remaining strength. His legs softened, and he could no longer remain standing. His knees buckled and hit the ground, his sword tumbling down next to him.

The wicked dragon saw this and no longer cared about him. Instead, he took this opportunity to splash up a wave of water, which rolled toward Little Yan Jin and sweep him into the sea.

A haze of darkness had fallen across Sui Xian’s eyes, nearly blinding him. But, he instinctively felt Little Yan Jin float pass him, and he reached out and hugged the smaller person into his arms.

The current dragged them to the bottom of the sea.

As water rushed over and around them, their eardrums swelled. A massive pressure instantly pressed them down. However, Frost Return’s sword spirit created a barrier around them, barely protecting the two of them.

But Frost Return’s sword spirit was connected to Sui Xian. After he’d suffered such severe injuries, the sword spirit would naturally also be greatly affected. It was only able to support the barrier for a short while before the barrier suddenly burst.

Water rushed in from all directions, and the cold moonlight above gradually faded away into the distance. They began rapidly sinking into this icy undersea of purgatory. Sui Xian held Little Yan Jin with one hand, desperately swimming back up, holding his last breath tightly in his chest. The suffocation nearly made him collapse.

Little Yan Jin’s breath was also getting weaker and weaker. When Sui Xian realized this, he turned his head slightly, groped for Little Yan Jin’s face, and covered his cold lips without hesitation. He passed on that last breath.

Suddenly, the surface opened up with a splash, and Sui Xian, who was on the edge of passing out, finally burst to the surface. He gasped, heavy with exhaustion, and dragged Little Yan Jin by the hand to shore.

He first pushed Little Yan Jin ashore. But, as he tried to climb ashore himself, panting hurriedly, he found that he was unable to.

Something dangerous was approaching at great speed. Frost Return trembled. The sword spirit protected its master wholeheartedly and used its final strength to slash fiercely toward that source of danger!

Just as the wicked dragon’s claw pierced Sui Xian’s chest, it was immediately severed. The wicked dragon bellowed with rage, wanting to swallow Sui Xian no matter what.

In that moment, the heavy cloak of darkness was suddenly lifted and dazzling light poured in. A familiar figure rushed forward. Seeing the scene before him, the person’s eyes widened, and he shredded the wicked dragon’s body with his sword. With one arm, he lifted Sui Xian out of the water.

“Sui Xian! Disciple child!”

Sui Xian was delirious with pain and on the verge of fainting. He heard his master’s familiar voice and his heart eased. Then, in the next moment, he twitched his fingers and grabbed on to Sect Leader Wen’s sleeve. “Master, A’jin…bring…bring A’jin with…”

Blood poured from the corner of his mouth. His body was in terrible shape, and his bloodied chest was gravely wounded and nearly pierced through by the wicked dragon’s claw. He’d only managed to mumble a few words before he choked and had to violently cough up a few mouthfuls of blood. His face was like golden paper, with only a breath of life left.

Sect Leader Wen was so anxious that he didn’t bother to understand what Sui Xian was talking about. His fingers pressed against the large hole on Sui Xian’s chest, but it was useless. While transferring spiritual power to Sui Xian, he fed him a life-saving pellet with his other hand. But, as soon as the pellet entered Sui Xian’s mouth, he coughed it back up with another mouthful of blood.

Sect Leader Wen’s eyes flashed. He hurriedly hoisted the half-conscious Sui Xian up and turned to leave. In his anxiety, he didn’t notice that there was a small child lying near by his feet.

Nor did he notice that, on one of the bones he’d stepped on, a strand of cold, black qi had quietly climbed up, coiling along Sui Xian’s ankle. It traveled up, using the blood and the dim light as camouflage, and plunged into the bloody wound on Sui Xian’s chest.

Sui Xian’s hand, which had originally been tugging on Sect Leader Wen’s sleeve, grew rigid. In the next instant, it lost all strength and quietly fell limply.

——————-
Xixi: Gotta admit, I got a little teary eyed. All that hard work and, in the end, Yan Jin still got left behind in that darkness.

Translation Notes:
(1) Spirit Pellet – synonymous with spirit core. HuanXu at Wuxiaworld posted an interesting and enlightening article here about the usage of “core” and “pellet” if you’re interested in reading.

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