Sacrifices

To most people, tonight was no different from any other. Yet in a hidden corner of the world, someone was fighting desperately for his life. "Fellow Daoist, have you found a way?" Qin Sang watched Bai condense demonic fire curse seals time and time again, each iteration taking a slightly different shape. There was no telling how many times he had failed. In the end, it was no longer shaped like a seal at all; interlocking threads of fire formed a massive net instead. The net descended upon Qin Sang, sinking into the skin of his arm. A moment later, the fire curse flared up again, sending out strange fluctuations. However, the fluctuations emanating from his arm were noticeably weaker, and the runes of the fire curse there grew dimmer than elsewhere. Seeing this, both Bai and Qin Sang were overjoyed. "It worked! Though it can only mask a portion of the curse's fluctuations, according to your plan, it should be enough to mislead him. Unless he suspects something and activates the curse with all his might, we should be able to deceive him for a while." Bai pulled back the net of demonic fire, looking thoroughly drained despite his excitement. In order to devise a way to suppress the fire curse's fluctuations, he had wracked his brains to the point of utter mental exhaustion. Seeing hope, Qin Sang shouted in approval and awakened his external incarnation without hesitation. *Clack!* The Heavenly Corpse Coffin opened. The external incarnation hovered before Qin Sang. "I must trouble you to force out a trace of the fire curse and transfer it into the incarnation's body," Qin Sang said in a deep voice. This was Qin Sang's plan. He would conceal the fluctuations on his own body, pulling the wool over Old Devil Mou's eyes by luring him in another direction to buy time, while he himself took the opportunity to head back and find Yuan Zhu. There were still a few baleful corpses in his corpse puppet bag, but they lacked intelligence and flew far too slowly; Old Devil Mou would catch up to them in no time. Once Old Devil Mou saw through the ruse, there would be no second chance. The net of demonic fire could only weaken the fire curse's fluctuations; as long as Old Devil Mou poured all his power into driving the curse, he would still be able to find Qin Sang. The external incarnation had taken him decades to nurture drop by drop with his essence blood. Its power was comparable to a peak Core Formation cultivator. Although there was a risk of backlash, it was still something other Core Formation cultivators could only dream of possessing. Yet now, Qin Sang had to abandon it as bait. Parting with the external incarnation naturally pained him. However, at such a perilous juncture, he had to make hard sacrifices. A flicker of reluctance crossed Qin Sang's eyes, only to be replaced by resolute determination. He reached out and pressed his palm toward the incarnation's sea of qi. As if sensing what was coming, the incarnation's pupils turned crimson in an instant. It glared at Qin Sang with an aura that suddenly became exceedingly violent and bloodthirsty, attempting to devour its master. At that moment, two figures appeared on either side of the incarnation. Qin Sang channeled a secret technique, while Bai and the two-headed hou struck simultaneously, suppressing the incarnation's resistance. The incarnation struggled, throwing its head back in an unwilling roar. Qin Sang ignored it, surging his true essence into its sea of qi and striking directly at its golden core. The incarnation's golden core had been refined from a corpse core, having rendered countless meritorious services for Qin Sang in the past. Now, it had to be discarded along with the body. The true essence slammed into the corpse core. The incarnation's dantian violently shuddered, its golden core was damaged, and true essence leaked outward. Its cultivation was knocked all the way back down to the peak of the mid Core Formation stage. It was precisely because it was Qin Sang's external incarnation, and the corpse core had once belonged to him, that Qin Sang could accomplish this so easily. Once its cultivation plummeted, the incarnation's resistance grew increasingly feeble. With a cold gaze, Qin Sang channeled a secret technique, finally purging the demonic thoughts entirely. Next, Qin Sang wiped away its vital memories and commanded it to fly due north at full speed, ordering it to self-detonate the instant Old Devil Mou caught up. The incarnation's origin soul had been refined from Qin Sang's sword soul. According to Senior Qingzhu, a sword soul manifested through this cultivation technique was of vital importance to the practitioner. If it fell into Old Devil Mou's hands and was brought under his control, the consequences would be endless. "This is an incarnation at the peak of the Core Formation stage! If the two of you could both reach the Nascent Soul stage, your strength would instantly double, and you would be able to triumph even against veteran Nascent Soul cultivators..." Even Bai felt heartache on Qin Sang's behalf. "Once both my cultivation and physical body achieve breakthroughs, I won't need an incarnation to walk unchallenged among cultivators of the same rank. When facing a Nascent Soul Patriarch, having it or not won't make much difference anyway. Besides, its cultivation was forcibly raised through blood-refining techniques by devouring others' essence blood, leaving behind massive hidden perils. There is virtually no chance of it reaching the Nascent Soul stage, and it would only become more useless over time..." Qin Sang, on the other hand, had come to terms with it. If he truly needed an external incarnation in the future, the worst that could happen was having to refine another one, costing him a few decades at most. Qin Sang then placed various restrictions on the incarnation's body to prevent any unexpected mishaps. Without another word, Bai also got straight to work. A demonic fire curse seal reappeared, far more solid than before. Bai forced out a trace of the fire curse and transferred it into the incarnation's body. Then, he formed a massive net of demonic fire and draped it over Qin Sang to veil the curse's fluctuations. The fire curse flared up once more. A dim blue light emanated from Qin Sang's body. The fire curse sealed within the incarnation's body flared up at the same time, but it was extremely unstable. The incarnation had to actively employ the secret technique Bai had taught it to stabilize the curse and keep it from collapsing. "Success or failure hinges entirely on this!" Bai said in a grave voice, looking toward Qin Sang. Above the vast, open sea. Qin Sang and his incarnation stood face-to-face. Already aware of its mission, the external incarnation cupped its hands in salute to Qin Sang. Carrying the trace of the fire curse, it turned resolutely and sped away toward the north. Temporarily free from the influence of demonic thoughts, the incarnation would obediently follow its true body's commands. The midnight wind was cold. The ocean waves surged like a tide. As the incarnation's figure vanished into the night, Qin Sang withdrew his gaze and said softly, "It's time for us to leave as well." He raised his escape light and flew east to find Yuan Zhu. The net of demonic fire required both him and Bai to maintain it. Watching the incarnation's retreating figure, Bai sighed in admiration at Qin Sang's decisiveness. "Your external incarnation should be able to buy us a great deal of time... I can try to seal the fire curse's fluctuations completely." "How confident are you?" Qin Sang's eyes lit up. If they could completely seal the fluctuations, he would not have to flee like a stray dog into the depths of the Storm Belt just to grasp at a sliver of hope. He could simply seize the opportunity to put distance between himself and Old Devil Mou. He could head to another sea region, find a secluded spot to hide, and take his time unraveling the fire curse. Bai shook his head. "It's hard to say. My current understanding of the fire curse is only superficial; masking its fluctuations is mostly thanks to the demonic fire. Still, I have some ideas now and can give it a try. For now, focus all your energy on maintaining your flight and put as much distance as possible between us and Old Devil Mou." "All right!" ... In the sea region behind them. Old Devil Mou flew at unabated speed, looking relaxed. Triggering the fire curse once again, Old Devil Mou let out a soft exclamation of surprise and sneered. "Unable to hold out any longer, are we?" He sensed that his prey's speed had clearly slowed. In truth, how fast the prey had fled had come as a shock and surprise even to him. Now it seemed the man had merely used some secret technique that could not be maintained indefinitely. ... Early the next morning. A full day and night had passed in flight. To Qin Sang's relief, he could sense that the distance between himself and Old Devil Mou was growing wider and wider; the incarnation had successfully lured him away! Yet the crisis had by no means passed. Once Old Devil Mou caught up with the incarnation, everything would return to square one.