Breaking Free

The blazing sun hung high in the sky. An escape light sliced through the heavens as though chasing the morning sun. *Snap!* A crisp cracking sound came from the palm of his hand. Qin Sang looked down. The top-grade spirit stone in his grasp had shattered, its spiritual energy exhausted. He tossed the fragments aside and fetched a bottle of spirit pills. Just as he was about to take one, his true essence suddenly surged with restlessness. His expression shifted slightly, and he hastily smoothed out the turbulent true essence. This meant the impurities within his true essence had reached a critical threshold. "It's time to take the Three Light Jade Liquid..." Qin Sang murmured to himself, retrieving a jade bottle. He could not wait until the impurities accumulated to the point of compromising the stability of his true essence. Drinking the Three Light Jade Liquid midway to refine and purge a portion of them would relieve the strain and allow him to hold out longer. As the spiritual liquid entered his stomach, an abundant, pure spiritual qi instantly filled his sea of qi, while the remaining vast medicinal potency settled within his body. Qin Sang felt invigorated, most of his exhaustion washing away. Time slipped past. Dusk fell, followed by a moonlit night. Ever since he had been afflicted by the fire curse, Qin Sang had been fleeing for nearly two full days. Two days without rest or sleep. Qin Sang flew continuously without stopping for a single breath, while Bai relentlessly tested various methods to seal or break the fire curse, all the while maintaining the demonic fire net so that no fluctuations leaked out to be detected by Old Devil Mou. Both of them were thoroughly exhausted, their reserves depleted to an immense degree. Right then, Qin Sang suddenly let out a muffled groan, his face turning deathly pale. His figure lurched violently, stumbling in midair. His escape light plummeted, then bobbed up and down erratically over the sea, nearly failing completely and sending him plunging headfirst into the water. Startled, Bai looked up toward him. Noticing Bai's gaze, Qin Sang shook his head to signal he was fundamentally unharmed, but delivered a piece of bad news. "The sword soul is broken." Qin Sang fixed his gaze toward the direction his incarnation had fled. The shattering of the sword soul meant Old Devil Mou had caught up to the incarnation, which had subsequently self-detonated. A splitting headache tore through Qin Sang's mind. The sword soul was akin to a split soul; when it detonated, he was affected as well. Needle-like agony stabbed at his origin soul. Fortunately, Qin Sang had prepared spirit pills capable of nourishing the origin soul beforehand. He immediately took one out and swallowed it, after which some color returned to his face. "He's already caught up with it... faster than expected..." Bai's tone was grave. Before he could finish his sentence, his expression suddenly shifted. With a furious shout, he swiftly cast a flurry of hand seals toward Qin Sang. At the same time, Qin Sang also sensed something amiss. The fire curse had flared up once more. This time, the flare-up was far more violent than before. Countless shimmering blue runes surfaced from within his body, making Qin Sang appear as if enveloped in blue flames. At the same moment, the demonic fire net manifested as well. But before Bai could complete his hand seals, the fire curse abruptly unleashed a tremendous burst of fluctuations. *Bang!* The surge of the fire curse ripped through the demonic fire net. Qin Sang's heart sank like a stone. ... In another stretch of sea. Old Devil Mou's figure appeared beside a cloud of blood mist, his countenance dark to the extreme. The blood mist was sealed in midair like a massive chunk of blood-red amber, hovering above the ocean surface. It was the remnant left behind after the incarnation's self-detonation. When Old Devil Mou had drawn close to the incarnation, he had faintly sensed something was amiss and rushed over at full speed, yet he had still arrived a step too late. The incarnation had self-detonated without waiting for him to close the distance. By the time Old Devil Mou arrived, only this slowly dispersing mist of blood remained. Both physical body and origin soul had been utterly annihilated. Old Devil Mou's spiritual sense had scoured the bloody mist countless times, but he had failed to find even a wisp of a remnant soul, let alone the treasures he truly sought. Yet all signs indicated that the person who had detonated was abnormal; the lingering power of the fire curse left behind was pitifully meager. Old Devil Mou was exceedingly cunning and shrewd, and he instantly realized the truth: his prey was likely far more cunning than he had imagined. As before, he channeled the fire curse again, but sensed nothing at all. His gaze darkened. Suddenly tossing the cold flame into the air, his fingers moved like a spinning wheel, completing an extraordinarily complex incantation. He directed the entirety of his spiritual sense to surge straight into the Dongming Cold Flame. At the same time, Old Devil Mou turned pale and spat a mouthful of essence blood, which sank into the flame alongside his consciousness. *Whoosh!* The cold flame flared wildly. In an instant, a pillar of fire soared into the sky from the cold flame. The pillar was composed entirely of fire curse runes, exceptionally dense and radiating potent fluctuations. Old Devil Mou half-closed his eyes, carefully sensing the connection for a moment. Then he snapped his eyes open and whirled around toward the southeast, a ferocious look spreading across his face. "I had intended to give you a swift death..." The taste of sorrow following fleeting joy was far from pleasant. Old Devil Mou had been completely confident, yet had ended up being played for a fool by his prey. A towering inferno of rage blazed in his chest. At the same time, numerous questions baffled him. This curse technique was an ancient secret art he had stumbled upon in the Hall of Seven Kills. Later, after refining it, he had wielded it through the Dongming Cold Flame, making it more powerful and longer-ranged than the original. In the cultivation world of the Canglang Sea, he had never heard of anyone versed in curse techniques. A mere Core Formation cultivator had not only recognized the curse's function and fled immediately, but had even found a way to mask its fluctuations and mislead his judgment. Furthermore, after pursuing for so long, even someone as mighty as Old Devil Mou felt strained. The toll on his true essence was heavy, forcing him to rely on spirit stones and elixirs to recover. Yet his prey was still full of vigor and life. A touch of curiosity toward his quarry arose in Old Devil Mou's mind. To accomplish so much at the Core Formation stage—if this person were allowed to mature, he might well become another legend of the cultivation world. "What a pity... what a pity..." Old Devil Mou sneered savagely. Activating an unknown secret art, he transformed into a streak of bloody shadow and tore through the air, his speed skyrocketing. ... After the demonic fire net was shattered, Bai made several more attempts, all ending in failure. "I have a lead now. Give me a bit more time, and I should be able to seal the fire curse!" Bai hesitated for a moment before adding, "However, such a seal can only be temporary." "What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist?" Qin Sang asked hastily. "Over this time, an idea has slowly taken form in my mind, and it's worth trying. I can borrow my soul power and blend it with the demonic fire curse seal to lay down a binding together. However, once the seal is complete, I must exert all my strength to maintain it. The moment my soul power runs dry, the seal will collapse," Bai sighed. Qin Sang understood what Bai meant. The duration of the seal would be limited, and the time Bai could buy him would not be enough to reach the Storm Belt. Right then, the Primordial Concentric Rings on his wrist suddenly vibrated. Qin Sang's heart stirred. Glancing down, he released the two-headed hou. "Roar..." The two-headed hou let out several low growls toward Qin Sang. Qin Sang was astonished. "You are willing to act as bait to lure Old Devil Mou away, on the condition that I remove your bindings and give you a Tyrant Blood Fruit?" The two-headed hou flicked its ears, its vertical slits locking eyes with Qin Sang, and gave a slight nod. Having spent days and nights together, Qin Sang knew the two-headed hou's proud nature well. It had wanted nothing more than to break free from the Primordial Concentric Rings' control and regain its freedom. Even a Tyrant Blood Fruit had failed to entice it before; it had even given up breaking through to the late Demon Core stage for that very reason. He had not expected the two-headed hou to offer to be the bait on its own initiative. "This is the Canglang Sea, the domain of human cultivators. Have you thought this through?" Qin Sang asked in a solemn voice.