Somewhere in Bai's vague memories, he had seen similar curses before, and perhaps knew a way to break it.
He was racking his mind, but had yet to find a clue.
Qin Sang was growing restless. Old Devil Mou was closing in rapidly, and there was no telling how much time was left to them.
"Are you certain the fire curse hasn't invaded your essence soul...?"
Bai finally spoke.
Qin Sang's eyes flashed, and he nodded. "Indeed. The fire curse has only fused with my physical body."
Bai had once mentioned that once someone was struck by a curse, both their essence soul and physical body would be invaded simultaneously. If one did not know the method to lift the curse, expelling it would be extraordinarily difficult.
The jade Buddha once again shielded Qin Sang.
Whenever the curse flared up, Qin Sang could sense the fire curse runes surfacing on the outer layer of his essence soul. That fragile layer of Yin-Yang Armor was of little help; only the jade Buddha completely blocked the fire curse from penetrating.
Yet that was all.
Just like the Heart-Devouring Insect gu once refined by Patriarch Kuiyin, the fire curse could not penetrate his essence soul in the slightest, but it clung tightly to the outside of it, leaving Qin Sang at his wits' end.
"That shouldn't be..."
Bai muttered in puzzlement. "Didn't you say that the top-tier cultivation methods in today's cultivation world are all fragmented and incomplete? It's likely that fellow's attainments in curse techniques aren't high! Your luck is decent. If the fire curse had fused with your essence soul, it would be the most troublesome thing to deal with—with our current strength, it would practically be an unsolvable problem. Since that's the case, the fire curse isn't impossible to break. Release control over your arm; I need to see what kind of curse this is first..."
Bai separated a wisp of divine soul, emerged from the corpse puppet bag, and landed on Qin Sang's right arm.
Qin Sang felt only a chill spreading across his arm.
Suddenly, the fire curse flared up once more.
"He's still some distance away from us! I'll try to break the fire curse. Don't be distracted; use your movement techniques at full power to buy as much time as possible. Breaking a curse will likely not be accomplished overnight, not to mention the person who cast it has a cultivation far exceeding ours, which makes it even harder," Bai warned.
Hearing this, Qin Sang's expression darkened. Nodding slightly, he relinquished control over his arm.
Previously, he had been dividing his attention to suppress the fire curse.
Leaving the fire curse to Bai, Qin Sang shifted his hand seals. A flood dragon phantom coiled around him, and immediately afterward, the ebony sword flashed out, the spirit sword circling his body.
With a crack of thunder, Qin Sang simultaneously unleashed three top-tier escape techniques. Flapping his wings without a word, he transformed into a streak of tri-colored rainbow light and tore through the sky.
At the same time, Qin Sang sent his divine sense into the Qianjun Ring, sorting out all the spirit pills and marvelous medicines that could restore true essence, including the remaining Three Light Jade Liquid and those few top-grade spirit stones.
Looking at the Three Light Jade Liquid, Qin Sang sighed inwardly. He hadn't expected that after having just consumed a drop earlier, he might now have to use the Three Light Jade Liquid again to flee for his life.
Consuming pills to restore true essence, or directly absorbing spiritual power from spirit stones, would leave a certain amount of impurities accumulating inside the body.
If one took too much in a short period and didn't have time to refine and purge the impurities, the buildup would cause chaos in one's true essence and lead to the collapse of the qi sea.
Bai's words made him realize that this would be a protracted battle of endurance.
His opponent possessed incomparably vast true essence, whereas maintaining three escape techniques consumed his true essence at a terrifying speed. He would have to rely continuously on external aid to replenish it, with no time whatsoever to meditate and recover.
Once things reached that point, only the Three Light Jade Liquid could save him.
The Spirit Gathering Bowl harvested the essence of heaven and earth to produce the jade liquid, nourishing the origin. The Three Light Jade Liquid operated on the level of one's origin—it was the purest of power, completely free of such hidden dangers.
The sea was vast and boundless.
Fixing his bearings in one direction, Qin Sang dared not pause for a single moment.
Old Devil Mou pursued relentlessly.
From time to time, he stimulated the fire curse to prevent his prey from altering direction.
To his surprise, his prey had somehow increased his speed considerably compared to the beginning; such speed seemed beyond what a Core Formation cultivator ought to possess.
However, the disparity in cultivation between the two sides was simply too vast. No matter how fast the prey flew, he could never rival him.
If he couldn't even catch prey afflicted with his fire curse, he might as well bash his head against a wall.
Old Devil Mou gazed ahead, his expression brimming with confidence.
Time slipped away little by little.
In the blink of an eye, dusk had already fallen.
With one pursuing and the other fleeing, an entire day had passed.
Qin Sang could not calculate how far he had flown. He only knew that no matter what tricks he exhausted to flee, the fluctuations each time the fire curse flared grew stronger and stronger.
The distance between them was gradually shrinking.
At this moment, Qin Sang held a top-grade spirit stone in his hand, absorbing the spiritual power within it while flying to replenish his true essence.
The spiritual power within a top-grade spirit stone was far purer than that of a mid-grade spirit stone, so the hidden danger of directly absorbing it was much smaller, allowing him to hold out a bit longer.
Under these circumstances, even the time it took to drink a cup of tea or burn a stick of incense was exceedingly precious.
Back when he had slain the disciples of Black Snake Mountain, he had obtained several top-grade spirit stones. When he killed Vice Envoy Zuo and the others at Dayu Isle, he had also retrieved two from Vice Envoy Zuo's body, so he had plenty.
Gripping the spirit stone with one hand, Qin Sang glanced from time to time at his other arm.
Bai's divine soul was intently analyzing the fire curse runes, remaining silent the entire time, leaving it uncertain how things were progressing.
Qin Sang did not dare disturb Bai.
He looked up into the distance ahead.
By continuing north like this, he was drawing closer and closer to the Tiandao Sect. If he truly could escape to the Tiandao Sect, perhaps relying on his connection to Senior Qingzhu, he could ask that sword cultivator surnamed Ning to shelter him.
Calculating the time, Qin Sang sighed faintly and abandoned his illusions.
Although the Tiandao Sect's headquarters was not as remote as the Rain Desert, rushing there from here would likely take nearly a month; Old Devil Mou would have caught up long before then.
Just then, Bai's divine soul manifested on his arm, translucent and ethereal.
Yet what made Qin Sang's heart sink was that Bai's expression showed not the slightest hint of ease.
"I remember you saying that the Dongming cold flame is terrified of demonic fire, and that you once used demonic fire to refine it into a fire bead. Separate a wisp of it now..." Bai said in a heavy voice.
"All right!"
Qin Sang nodded. Because he had to divide a portion of his mind, his flying speed slowed by a fraction. He summoned only a single demonic banner, which placed less of a burden on him.
A cluster of Nine Nether Demonic Fire was drawn out from the demonic banner.
Qin Sang guided the demonic fire toward his arm. Under his control, the demonic fire moved as smoothly as an extension of his limbs, and through Qin Sang, Bai could also manipulate it.
Seeing Bai's actions, Qin Sang grew extremely nervous.
Previously, he had attempted many times to use the Nine Nether Demonic Fire to break the fire curse.
The fire curse did seem slightly fearful of the demonic fire, but it was impossible for Qin Sang to draw demonic fire into his own body; doing so had only forced the fire curse to burrow deeper.
Furthermore, even if Qin Sang enveloped his entire body in Nine Nether Demonic Fire, he could not block the fluctuations emitted whenever the fire curse flared.
Bai 'grasped' that wisp of demonic fire and stared intently at Qin Sang's arm.
A moment later, Bai suddenly unleashed a succession of incantation seals toward the demonic fire.
Seeing this, Qin Sang tensed inwardly, doing everything he could to suppress the demonic fire to prevent it from backfiring and causing failure.
Under their cooperation, the demonic fire remained remarkably docile, bearing the power of the seals.
Under Bai's manipulations, the form of the Nine Nether Demonic Fire gradually shifted, splitting from a ball of flame into slender fiery threads that twisted and warped.
Ultimately, the ball of demonic fire vanished entirely, transforming into a tangled mass of fiery threads.
Chapter 986