Yet hoping to rely on the toxic mist to kill him was pure wishful thinking.
Crouched inside the Gold Glow Armor, shivering, the fat silkworm diligently performed its duty to protect Qin Sang. The moment the toxic mist seeped into his wound, the poison-warding armor sealed it off.
None of this, however, was visible to Cui Ji.
Clutching his wound with one hand, Qin Sang rolled to his feet and simultaneously stowed the battered Flying Yaksha.
Several gaping holes pierced right through the Flying Yaksha's body as it lay motionless on the ground. With no time to inspect its condition, Qin Sang simply put it away first.
The purple glow surged once more.
Clutching his wound tightly, Qin Sang could only urge the ebony sword to mount a feeble defense. He looked thoroughly exhausted and battered, with seemingly no will left to fight.
The ebony sword was already slightly inferior to the Purple Nether Bead, and Qin Sang fought with immense difficulty, parrying left and dodging right, stretched to his limit.
Blood trickled steadily from the shoulder wound, soaking his body.
The saber qi lingered within the flesh, wreaking havoc as it tore deeper inside. Qin Sang could only circulate his true essence to suppress it; forcing it out would be impossible in the short term.
Cui Ji was exceptionally cautious, keeping a wide distance from Qin Sang. He took care never to leave the bone lotus or the Purple Nether Bead exposed, nor did he rashly deploy his flying knife again, fully intending to grind Qin Sang down to death.
If the Blood Filth Divine Light could ruin the bone lotus, the situation could be reversed in an instant.
Yet watching Cui Ji's careful movements, Qin Sang knew he would find no opening if this went on. His condition was worsening by the breath, so he prepared to fall back and lure the enemy deeper.
Just then, both Qin Sang and Cui Ji felt a sudden pang of dread and looked in the same direction at once.
In the next breath, the earth violently quaked.
A thunderous roar tore through the air out of nowhere.
The frenzy-maddened Purple Star Eagles let out terrified shrieks, and the flock scattered in all directions.
Only then did Qin Sang see a pillar of blue light shooting skyward in the distance, blasting apart the surrounding toxic mist. It was only after the pillar vanished that the purple haze slowly closed back in.
*What exploded?*
Qin Sang was shaken. The explosion had to have occurred near the stone hall.
Judging by such an astonishing commotion, its power had to be terrifyingly immense.
Not a single one among the eight of them could have achieved something like that.
*What on earth happened?*
Unsettled, Qin Sang glanced at Cui Ji, only to find him with furrowed brows, a look of worry in his eyes.
From the looks of it, Cui Ji seemed to know something.
Qin Sang drew numerous inferences in an instant: the transfer of the bone lotus, Cui Ji's reckless ambush, this sudden explosion, and Cui Ji's reaction—all of it made him realize there was very likely an ulterior motive behind this expedition.
This was far from a simple treasure-hunting mission for the Merchant Alliance!
Something had definitely gone wrong ahead.
This siege by ferocious beasts might not have been a natural disaster after all!
The Purple Star Eagles and the underground beast had very likely been lured here deliberately by someone.
He recalled the identities of the eight people. Aside from Xiang Yi, whose background was murky and who seemed closely tied to the Alliance Leader, everyone else belonged to the various guilds.
Including himself: he had previously been a guest elder of the Qiongyu Guild, and when purchasing his qualification spot, Elder Zou had required him to officially join the guild.
Unlike a sect, the Merchant Alliance was held together by mutual interest. On the surface, the guilds advanced and retreated together, but each harbored its own selfish motives, and stabbing one another in the back was a common occurrence.
The Liu couple, the cultivator surnamed Pan, the sword-clutching youth...
These figures flashed through Qin Sang's mind in rapid succession. From the moment they met until now, everyone's conduct had seemed completely normal, without revealing the slightest tell.
God knew how many of them were harboring treacherous schemes. None of them could be trusted now.
Qin Sang's heart sank. He abandoned all thoughts of regrouping with the others. Only one thought remained: kill Cui Ji and leave immediately, so as not to be sucked into the undercurrents swirling within the Merchant Alliance.
Where the Alliance Leader and the major guilds were involved, steering well clear was the wisest course.
While fending off the purple glow, Qin Sang split off a ray of sword light behind him to hack through the Purple Star Eagles and carve a path. Caught in a pincer attack between the birds and Cui Ji, he struggled terribly.
His breathing grew increasingly ragged, his aura weak and flagging. The toll of his injuries became ever more pronounced, and even his life spirit sword had grown somewhat dim. His condition looked utterly dire.
Cui Ji glanced at Qin Sang, then looked toward where the explosion had occurred, hesitation flickering across his face.
In the end, he poured all his true essence into the Purple Nether Bead, unleashing a strike just as formidable as the first.
Confronted by the ferocious purple haze, Qin Sang fought desperately to respond. Unable to block it all, he took blow after heavy blow. The wound on his shoulder tore wide open, blood gushing out like a spring.
The Gold Glow Armor looked even more wretched, pocked with indentations and a dense web of cracks.
Fortunately, it had not shattered completely and could still be saved, though restoring it to pristine condition would not be easy.
The most severe issue was Qin Sang himself. Resisting the purple glow rapidly drained his true essence; without the fat silkworm's poison-warding armor, he surely would have failed to keep the toxic mist at bay.
By now, the poison would likely have seeped into his vital organs, leaving him clinging to his last breath.
Using the momentum of the impact, Qin Sang fell back violently, on the verge of vanishing into the depths of the flock of Purple Star Eagles.
Cui Ji cast a deep, lingering look at Qin Sang, but surprisingly did not pursue him further. Instead, he wheeled around and bolted toward where the explosion had just occurred.
To Cui Ji's eyes, Qin Sang was heavily wounded, his true essence exhausted, besieged by both saber qi and toxic mist, with his inner armor nearly ruined. Plunging into the flock of Purple Star Eagles, he had not the slightest chance of survival.
Without the bone lotus to shelter him, he would have to constantly circulate true essence to protect his body. Such energy fluctuations would be glaringly conspicuous, making it impossible to elude the beasts' senses and escape this deathland.
One could say Qin Sang was undoubtedly dead.
Letting him savor his final despair would do just as well.
A sinister smile crept across Cui Ji's lips. While he dearly wished to slaughter his enemy with his own hands, his fear of having his magic treasure defiled had made him overly cautious, meaning it would take too long to finish Qin Sang off. What was happening at the stone hall was far more important.
Cui Ji withdrew.
Qin Sang halted, his expression shifting unpredictably.
Cui Ji's choice took Qin Sang by surprise.
From the looks of it, the explosion over there really was connected to Cui Ji. But among the other six, who was conspiring with Cui Ji, and who had fallen victim? Nothing of the sort had shown before.
Cui Ji's departure had also disrupted Qin Sang's calculations.
He had intended to feign poisoning to lure Cui Ji close, then spring the two-headed hou to catch him completely off guard. Joining forces with the two-headed hou, there was a very strong chance he could slay Cui Ji.
Once he had repaid the ambush, he would leave this hornet's nest.
Now that Cui Ji had withdrawn, he could hardly turn around and give chase.
Qin Sang sighed softly.
He was determined to kill Cui Ji!
Even if Cui Ji hadn't injured him, the feeling of having someone constantly plotting against him was unpleasant; nipping the danger in the bud was always the wiser choice. It was just that there had been no opportunity along the way, allowing Cui Ji to seize the upper hand instead.
Regrettably, under the present circumstances, killing Cui Ji here was virtually impossible. He could only await another opportunity in the future.
Qin Sang glanced toward where Cui Ji had vanished.
He could wait no longer; he had to leave at once.
He released the two-headed hou and mounted its back. The fat silkworm expanded the poison-warding armor, shielding the two-headed hou as well.
"You clear the way. I'll force the saber qi out of my wound first..."
Qin Sang murmured a few instructions to the two-headed hou, stilled his mind, turned his inner vision inward, and circulated his cultivation technique with all his might.
True essence gathered at the wound, forcing the lingering saber qi out of his flesh bit by bit.
A trace of color returned to Qin Sang's face, and he swallowed a healing medicinal pill.
Chapter 755