Chapter 69
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Collapse - 2
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How much time did her body have left?
The Girl felt the demonic qi crammed thickly into her three meridians. Sticky, razor-sharp thorns extended everywhere. Like living creatures, they roamed her entire body, leaving wounds with every step.
Her meridians were already a mess of scars, barely able to support her body with qi.
She had pushed herself too hard for far too many days. It wouldn't be strange if her body gave out at any moment.
But precisely because of that, the Girl was stronger than ever.
"Arghhh!"
She seized him.
Flesh pierced like mud, someone's uniform stained with spots of blood.
Pale, fragile hands repeated the familiar task. They crushed the pulsing heart and twisted the neck, bringing instant death.
Each scene of slaughter felt utterly unreal.
These were first-rate warriors who had honed their exquisite martial arts for ten or fifteen years. Elites of the Nine Sects and Great Clans, who had triumphed over harsh training with talents surpassing all others in the world.
And yet they were slain like a child playing with insects.
Swordsmanship failed. Blade arts were useless.
Snap.
Nothing could halt the Girl's steps. Slender fingers claimed yet another life.
It was a sudden midnight raid. Chaos spread in an instant.
"It's the Demonic Cult! The Demonic Cult has attacked!"
The intrusion of a single absolute master. A reckless charge that ignored even basic tactics or personal safety.
The fatal blow that had toppled the Huangfu Clan.
"There's only one enemy! Don't panic!"
"The Divine Maiden is at the south gate! Buy time calmly!"
Without Bai Hui, the tower wouldn't burn. Without Zhang Ping, no reinforcements would follow.
But still.
The Divine Maiden remained here.
"Die, you monster!"
Someone lunged from behind the Divine Maiden. A sneak attack unworthy of an upright faction hero.
But when survival was at stake, who cared about shame? Everyone was watching.
Take the Divine Maiden's life—no, even a single scratch would spread his fame far and wide. That was his aim.
Yet the sword strike, infused with his life's worth of inner power, was effortlessly blocked. Had he at least drawn her attention?
The Girl didn't even turn.
Clang! Like swatting a fly, her arm swept casually, shattering the sturdy steel sword.
In shock, he tried to pull back, but the Girl grabbed his sleeve. A pure white hand yanked him close—light as a corpse, unnaturally pale.
A scream—or was it a gasp?—escaped the warrior's lips as he was dragged in, then fell silent.
Another corpse, head smashed to pulp, piled at the Girl's feet.
Illusions of black flames erupted everywhere. The acrid smell of ash spread through the night air.
The scent of blood quietly devoured the darkness.
"That's far enough!"
At that moment, two elders charged through the black flames. It had been less than a quarter hour since she'd slain the guards at the main gate, yet their reaction was astonishingly swift.
The elder in Wudang's signature blue robes rushed in without hesitation.
The Twin Dragon Sages were both Wudang elders versed in the Yang Heart Technique, said to fight like four masters combined.
They held their own at first.
Their martial arts, infused with the essence of softness and yielding, were well-suited against the Divine Maiden. These two elders were masters of the Four-Two Pushing a Thousand Catties principle—the core of Wudang arts—deflecting immense force with skill.
The perfect counter to the Demonic Cult's brute-force assaults.
Thud. Attacks flowed softly aside. One elder deftly redirected the Girl's arm, only for the other to follow up and press down.
Palm strikes traced endless circular paths. Their teamwork was indeed formidable.
"A demon in human skin!"
"Do you even know who you've slain?!"
"No. I try not to remember."
Crack! Hands clashed. Hatred and rage poured from the elders' eyes.
The fallen at the Girl's side must have been dear to them. And that, strangely, pleased her. Deep down, it felt good.
The corner of her mouth twitched upward. Stirred emotions made her demonic qi surge heavier.
Do you remember?
All those you've felled with those hands—do you remember them all?
"You thought a mere cultist could surpass the high path?!"
"Wudang's Cotton Palm can deflect even a thousand catties!"
The elders endured.
They deflected countless heavy blows. They turned power that could shatter millennial boulders into mere technique.
But four ounces can shift a thousand catties—never ten thousand.
"Cotton Palm."
The Girl could clearly see the flow of their qi.
Swoosh. Her hand gesture shifted. Where once Huangfu's fierce strikes had scattered, a new form emerged.
Layer upon layer of soft, slow circles flowed. An inverted taiji bloomed in mockery.
"Such a grand name."
Without study.
Without training, sweat, effort, or insight.
She stole techniques honed and refined over decades. She took the martial arts passed down and perfected through Wudang generations.
Efficient qi circulation. Arm and hand movements. She matched the Twin Dragon Sages without flaw.
To the elders, this grotesque fusion of Wudang's secret Cotton Palm and demonic arts was an unbearable insult.
"You... how dare you!"
They couldn't maintain composure seeing their lifelong pursuit toyed with in the Girl's grasp.
One elder charged, eyes half-rolled back in fury. That was the end.
Twisted angles deflected nothing.
Tap. Lightly. Her hand brushed his abdomen like a breeze. Her inner power flowed along the reversing taiji.
Then—boom!
The Twin Dragon Sages' bodies shattered like they'd been struck by cannon fire.
The Girl walked on amid the rain of blood.
Inner Zhong Thrust Technique. Instead of striking the shell, inject power directly inside to harm without breaking bones.
Paradoxically, it was a Wudang specialty.
New elders appeared. Two more, in green and yellow robes.
"You bastard!"
Zhongnan's Thirty-Six Swords of the World targeted the Divine Maiden. Swords perfectly covering thirty-six directions formed a net to trap the world itself.
Dian Cang's Four Pointing Swords pierced at her heart. Flawless straight lines, like arrows from legendary sun-piercing divine bows.
The Girl's lightless eyes etched them in. Her hands, scarred by countless deaths, moved.
Her once-white skin was now red with wounds and abrasions.
Crunch! A sword packed with power crumpled pathetically. Fine steel couldn't withstand the Divine Maiden's grip.
Nor could they.
Snap. The rustle of her skirt, and another peak master fell. The Girl lightly scattered the Dian Cang elder's right arm as she stepped forward.
Forward, simply forward. Deeper in. Urging the Sword King to appear quickly.
Suddenly, an alien scent mixed into the air. At the fishy, unpleasant smell like rotting fish, the Girl turned—to see a green-masked figure hurling hidden weapons.
A shower of ox-hair needles. Floating soul-seizing butterflies.
Spiked flying darts whirled, targeting vital points. Ghostly yin threads that melted flesh on touch coiled around her.
No carelessness here. The Heavenly Poison Hall Lord unleashed the essence of the Sichen Tang family's hidden weapons.
Yet even so.
The Girl didn't crumble. Didn't fall.
Sizzle. Smoke rose from her skin. Red lines slashed across her clothes.
Then—drip. The ghostly threads snapped one by one. The Heavenly Poison Hall Lord, gripping them with all his might, could only gape in horror.
Even a giant of the world couldn't budge in such a bind.
"How is this possible...! Urgh!"
Pouring every ounce of inner power changed nothing. He seemed less man than monster.
The spine-chilling poison failed its task. The demonic qi filling her five viscera and six bowels blocked the toxin's spread.
Ravenous black flames devoured the greenish venom, and the Hall Lord's eyes widened as he prepared his next move.
Scree!
Guangdong had its dagger masters. One who ruled Mount Bufeng's nights with a single knife.
Flying Heaven Golden Blade Yong Heisha's ultimate technique transcended death to reappear here—from utterly different hands, against a different foe.
A casually flung shard of hidden weapon took its form. It burrowed into the unprepared Heavenly Poison Hall Lord's skull.
Instant death.
He toppled backward like struck by a shell.
Black flames surged. Farther, higher. Irregular phantom fires engulfed the Martial Alliance.
Like the Sword Demon's darkness, intermittent explosions of black fire plunged everyone into deep despair.
Whoosh—
Then, a storm blew.
A violet storm descended in the form of a massive cleaver. A whirlwind sweeping up the world's black flames flashed bright.
"So you're the Divine Maiden."
He'd grabbed his blade and rushed out at the news, only to find countless dead in the interim. The Hebei Peng Clan head tightened his grip at the sight of slain heroes.
Revenge he'd inwardly forsaken—left to Nangong Jincheon, who had lost a son as well. But luck favored him today.
Grip. Calluses clenched the hilt firm. From the Five Tiger Single Gate Sword formation poised to charge, fierce winds howled.
"I'll avenge my son."
"Will the Sword King appear if I kill you?"
The Divine Maiden smiled. Blood on her cheek gleamed eerily in the moonlight.