Wang Yu
Chapter 975: A Desperate Gambit
Sha Xin gazed at the skeleton within the crystal coffin, a complex expression flickering in her eyes. She took a deep breath and said:
"Fellow Daoist Shi, I need a drop of your essence blood. After this matter, I will keep my promise."
Shi Zhanfeng nodded, saying nothing. He raised his palm and heavily stroked the three-edged bone sword, causing a cut to appear on his palm.
He then secretly circulated the power of the stars within his body, causing strands of scarlet blood with a hint of golden luster to seep from the wound on his palm.
Seeing this, Sha Xin took out a Xinglan Brush carved from white bone from her sleeve, covered with镂空 patterns.
With a wave, the Xinglan Brush, as if saturated with dark ink, became filled with Shi Zhanfeng's essence blood and began to rapidly draw on the crystal coffin with vigorous strokes.
Strands of scarlet blood transformed into lines, forming a blood-colored talisman array that covered the entire coffin, perfectly matching the complex pentagram on the crystal coffin, merging into one.
Han Li frowned as he watched, seeing the crystal coffin glow with a great red light and tremble violently, causing the entire blood lake to ripple.
A layer of blood-red lake water spread upward like a living thing, enveloping the entire crystal coffin, transforming it into a giant blood cocoon.
A loud "boom" shook the air.
E Kui once again launched an attack on the bone chain formation trapping him, its power still overwhelmingly strong.
The lightning-wrapped restriction formation still absorbed the stellar power contained in his attack and blocked it, but the cracks on the twelve bone armor puppets around it doubled in number.
A soft "crack" sound could be heard.
On the array disk in front of "Xiao Zi," all twelve white chess pieces also cracked.
Her body trembled violently, and her cheeks, visible beneath the black veil, were pale and bloodless.
Han Li noticed this scene, his expression slightly tightening, a hint of hesitation appearing in his eyes.
In the current situation, if he rashly intervened, there was no guarantee what actions E Kui and Sha Xin would take. Moreover, he couldn't guarantee that his impromptu action wouldn't backfire, causing some accident to occur with "Xiao Zi."
Although he was certain that this "Xiao Zi" was most likely Zi Ling, this was clearly not the place to recognize her.
Just then, a dull sound suddenly came from the crystal coffin wrapped in the blood cocoon.
Immediately afterward, the blood water on the blood cocoon flowed down with a "哗啦啦" sound, and the legendary sacred corpse was revealed from within.
Strangely, the crystal coffin that had previously contained it had disappeared, leaving only a blood-red crystal slab supporting his corpse, floating on the blood lake.
The appearance of the sacred corpse was not accompanied by any grand omens. There weren't even any strong fluctuations emanating from the corpse. It looked no different from an ordinary Demon corpse.
However, when Han Li's gaze fell on the blood-colored crystal slab beneath it, a strange light flashed in his eyes.
He noticed that the crystal slab was covered in incredibly profound runes, most of which he had never seen before. However, the small portion that he could recognize already indicated that the purpose of the crystal slab was to suppress the power of blood energy on the corpse.
E Kui's gaze passed through the lightning towards this side, the greed in his eyes growing even stronger. He once again frantically used his means to attack the formation trapping him.
Seeing this, Sha Xin's gaze narrowed, and she put away all her reminiscences and sorrows, rapidly forming seals with her hands in front of her.
She chanted softly in her mouth, her ten fingers twirling like blooming petals, pinching out an extremely strange spell in front of her, and lightly pressing her palm on her lower abdomen.
A white halo immediately lit up from her lower abdomen, and a whirring sound of gears turning could be heard from her seemingly firm and fleshy abdomen. The snow-white skin turned outward, opening like a blooming lotus flower.
"She actually transformed herself into a puppet…" Madam Liu Hua said, somewhat surprised.
Han Li also frowned, looking very surprised.
As the opening at her lower abdomen opened, a dazzling blood-colored light shone out from within.
Around the blood lake, except for Sha Xin and E Kui, almost everyone who saw the blood light showed an expression of extreme shock on their faces.
What appeared in the blood light was actually a fresh heart sealed in a crystal ball.
Through the crystal ball, Han Li saw that the heart was still contracting and expanding, and he even heard the sound of the heart beating in his ears:
"咚咚, 咚咚, 咚咚…"
At the same time, a strong life force also emanated from the heart.
After taking out the heart, the opening at Sha Xin's lower abdomen began to close layer by layer, like lotus petals retracting, returning to its original state.
However, her entire aura became much weaker, as if half of her strength had been drained in an instant, and her face turned pale.
"Haha… I didn't expect that in order to protect this heart, you would actually nourish it in your own body, but you didn't dare to take even a little bit from it. No wonder you haven't made any progress for so many years, and your cultivation has actually declined a lot. How foolish!" E Kui laughed loudly when he saw this.
Sha Xin turned her back to E Kui, not looking at him. She just took out a beast pill and swallowed it, then held the crystal ball in both hands, her palms beginning to light up with a dazzling white light, wanting to take out the heart sealed within.
Just then, an unexpected change occurred!
Sha Xin's expression suddenly changed, and she let out a muffled groan.
A white sharp bone suddenly protruded from her chest, directly piercing her heart.
The white sharp bone had three-edged grooves, guiding the blood from her heart to flow out, instantly dyeing half of her body red.
"City Lord Sha, I'm sorry…" Shi Zhanfeng, standing behind Sha Xin, said expressionlessly. The three-edged bone sword in his hand suddenly twisted, and a sound of shattering immediately came from her chest.
Sha Xin immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, her figure suddenly twisting around, and she struck her palm towards Shi Zhanfeng's head.
The latter had already released the three-edged bone sword, and the Xuan Qiao on his body suddenly lit up. His speed was so fast that he slipped past her side, and a white bone short knife had appeared in his palm at some point. He took advantage of the situation and stabbed it into Sha Xin's lower abdomen.
At the same time, his figure suddenly burst out, and he snatched the crystal ball from Sha Xin's hand. He tapped his toes and retreated to the other side of the blood lake, distancing himself from Sha Xin and the others.
Before everyone could recover from the sudden change in front of them, explosions rang out again on the shore of the blood lake.
A loud "轰" sounded!
Large swathes of silver electric light exploded, turning into countless silver snake-like currents, shooting in all directions, directly shaking the entire underground space.
Mixed in the electric light were countless white broken bones, scattered and flying, hitting the upper dome and surrounding mountain walls, creating holes everywhere.
Han Li's eyes narrowed, and his figure lowered. A broken white bone scimitar flew over, leveling the strange rock that was covering his figure.
The bone chain formation surrounding E Kui finally shattered, and all twelve bone armor puppets flashed with white light and exploded one after another.
The twelve white chess pieces also exploded with a "啪" sound, and even the entire black array disk cracked. "Xiao Zi," who was controlling the formation, was hit by this force and fell backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
After E Kui escaped, he ignored "Xiao Zi". He glanced at Sha Xin, who still had a bone sword stabbed in her chest, and then looked at Shi Zhanfeng, laughing: "First Prince, the heart is already in hand. E will first congratulate you…"
"Hehe, thank you, City Lord E, for your accomplishment." Shi Zhanfeng replied with a smile.
"So, uh… you have already colluded together." Sha Xin pulled out the three-edged bone sword stabbed in her heart, her brow furrowing fiercely, and said word by word.
"City Lord Sha, I apologize. How was it? Was the act of self-inflicted injuries that I and the First Prince performed earlier convincing enough?" E Kui laughed.
Sha Xin remained silent.
Earlier, when E Kui was chasing Shi Zhanfeng, she did not immediately stop him because she wanted to see clearly whether he was on her side. However, she did not expect that the devil would be one step higher, and those two had still deceived her.
She reached into her arms and took out a black stone bottle about an inch high. She pulled out the stopper and poured it into her palm, and a clump of golden sand-like things flowed out.
Sha Xin clenched her palm and smeared it on the wound on her chest. The golden sand immediately poured into it like a living thing, repairing the wound that was still bleeding.
"Without the heart, you no longer have the possibility of resurrecting the master. I am willing to give you another chance to share this sacred corpse with me. What do you say?" E Kui looked at Sha Xin and called her "Master" for the first time.
"Xiao Zi, spare no effort to retrieve the heart." Sha Xin did not answer him, but her palm split open, revealing a metal ball the size of a dragon's eye from within.
"It seems that you intend to fight me to the end, then don't blame me for not remembering the old feelings." E Kui snorted coldly, and his figure leapt up, heading towards the center of the sacred corpse lake.
Sha Xin waved her palm and pinched a magic formula with both hands.
The metal ball shot out, glowing brightly in mid-air. A Vajra Arhat ten zhang tall emerged from it, its whole body seemingly cast from bronze and iron, with an iron robe and kasaya chiseled on its body. It had eight arms behind it, all bare-handed, with bulging muscles and protruding veins, looking full of explosive power.
The red light in Vajra's eyes suddenly brightened, and the eight arms behind him simultaneously slammed out, immediately enveloping a violent gust of wind and thunder.
E Kui laughed and raised a fist, smashing it head-on.
The light of the thousand Xuan Qiao on his body flickered frequently, like dazzling stars. With a single punch, he roared!
Countless fist shadows surged like a tsunami, overwhelmingly colliding with the eight arms of the Vajra. The sound of clanging immediately rang out in mid-air, and waves of violent air were rolled up.
The entire underground space echoed continuously, the roar deafening.
On the other side, "Xiao Zi," who had already sat up again, had two strange-looking puppets reappear in front of her. One, although human-shaped, had four metal wings growing on its back, and the other, although beast-shaped, like a tiger lying on the ground, had the head of a girl.
Under her control, the two puppets rushed towards Shi Zhanfeng, one on the left and one on the right, one above and one below.