A layer of mud-like Gui Water Yin Thunder, identical to Liu Xiu's, surfaced over Shi Shaojian's body. The Xuandun Sword in his hand flared with golden light, and with black lightning swirling around its blade, he thrust it straight at the imperial-clan jiangshi's chest.
*Clang!*
A crisp sound of clashing metal rang out alongside a shower of sparks, but the jiangshi's chest was not pierced again.
Aside from the fact that the monster had empowered itself by drinking its kinsmen's blood, the Xuandun Sword—while indeed a magic treasure—was never meant for offensive strikes in the first place.
It was a magic treasure Shi Jian had asked Elder Zhang to specially forge for Shi Shaojian, endowed with the power of flight. In short, it was an escape treasure.
"Fuck you, bitch..."
Staring at the Xuandun Sword, which couldn't advance even a fraction of an inch, Shi Shaojian let fly a continuous string of English curses.
Yet no panic or fear appeared on the jiangshi's face. All that answered him was a furious bestial roar and a pair of lunging hands, tipped with pitch-black claws.
*Damn it!*
*My junior brother lied to me!*
*This thing isn't afraid of English curses at all!*
Unable to fathom what the imperial-clan jiangshi was actually terrified of, Shi Shaojian cursed inwardly and instinctively tried to leap back.
He was too late, however. Just as he was about to trigger the life-saving ward Shi Jian had placed on him, Liu Xiu's voice suddenly rang out!
"Guard Vent!"
A sharp ache struck Shi Shaojian's waist, sending him sprawling to the ground. Looking up from the mud, he saw his wonderful junior brother Liu Xiu, who had brought the Black Jiangshi along to shield him.
"Junior Brother..."
"Get out of here, quick! I'll cover the retreat!"
*If you don't run now, you're going to get me killed!*
Liu Xiu cursed in his heart, though his expression remained steadfast as he shouted toward Shi Shaojian and Daoist Qianhe's group: "Hurry back and ask Martial Uncle Simu for help!"
"Junior Brother, I won't—"
Before Shi Shaojian could even finish approaching him, Liu Xiu felled him with a swift chop to the neck and kicked him aside.
Then, vigorously shaking the Three Purities bell to drive the Black Jiangshi into combat against the imperial-clan jiangshi, Liu Xiu yelled at Daoist Qianhe and his disciples, who were staring blankly:
"Get moving already!"
"Nephew... take care!"
Daoist Qianhe gave a grim nod. He had no choice; two of his disciples were gravely wounded, Shi Shaojian had been knocked unconscious by Liu Xiu, and he was injured as well.
Staying behind would only make them dead weight!
"Hurry up! Run! Only when you run can I run, fuck's sake..." Liu Xiu bellowed, though this time he wasn't swearing in English.
To be frank, he felt that if Daoist Qianhe and the others lingered any longer, they would simply be the death of him. He had noticed that their brains had been malfunctioning today as if gnawed on by a zombie.
It was just like those horror-movie characters whose IQs were dropped for the sake of the plot. He worried that if Qianhe's group stayed, they would genuinely end up fulfilling one of his master's looming tribulations.
*Wait, could the high-level Daoist method for dodging the Three Disasters and Nine Tribulations actually be a brain-rotting aura?* The thought flashed through Liu Xiu's mind.
"Take care, Junior Brother..."
Seeing Liu Xiu risk his own life to hold the line, Dong, Nan, Xi, and Bei spoke with sorrowful expressions and bloodshot eyes. Without another word, they scooped up the unconscious Shi Shaojian and beat a hasty retreat.
They didn't have to worry about the Seventy-First Prince, as Vice Minister Wu had already carried him away long ago.
As for the three imperial palace experts lying motionless on the ground, by Liu Xiu's reckoning, their three souls should have already arrived in the underworld.
"Nephew... take care!"
"Care my ass..."
Seeing Daoist Qianhe still dallying, Liu Xiu instantly cursed at him. Flushed with shame, Qianhe hurried away after his disciples.
With all six of them finally gone, Liu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and concentrated on ringing the Three Purities bell to direct the Black Jiangshi against the imperial-clan jiangshi.
"Things aren't looking good..."
Liu Xiu knitted his brows. As the words left his mouth, he had already backed more than ten meters away from the imperial-clan jiangshi—not out of cowardice, but because the Black Jiangshi, only partially refined into a Silver-Armored Corpse, was no match for a royal jiangshi gorged on human blood. Then again, it was never an even match to begin with.
Electroplating could indeed advance a Black Jiangshi into a partial Silver-Armored Corpse, but thunder arts also weakened its original corpse qi.
Moreover, beyond the diminished corpse qi, Liu Xiu always felt something was missing—or rather, it lacked the grandeur of time.
*Right, what it truly lacks is Shi Jian's immense power. Looks like once the electroplating is done, I'll have to ask Master to find a corpse-nourishing ground and bury it for a few days to build up some carbon-14 or whatever...*
Liu Xiu mused inwardly. Keeping his distance from the imperial-clan jiangshi, which was now more than twenty meters away, he glanced toward the three imperial palace experts on the ground.
Just as he was wondering whether the three corpses would suddenly reanimate, their eyes snapped open in unison, and they lunged with bared fangs toward his shins.
*D-D-D-Decade!*
*Wrong one, try again!*
*Emperor Armor—Combine!*
*Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method—Activate!*
The torrential downpour pouring from the sky became the perfect reservoir of power for the Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method. Borrowing the external force of heaven and earth and using his own Kan-palace Gui Water thunder qi as the foundation, Liu Xiu executed the art of controlling water to forge arms.
The mud-like Gui Water Yin Thunder blended with the water qi brought by the pouring rain. Starting from his feet and working upward, it encased Liu Xiu in a suit of dark Emperor Armor that crackled with arcs of electricity.
The suit was composed primarily of black and crimson, threaded with faint flecks of gold granted by the Golden Light Divine Incantation.
As for why it took the shape of a dark Emperor Armor—the answer was simple: looking cool was a lifelong pursuit!
Besides, who didn't have a dream?
Ahem, digressions aside, the Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method acted a step ahead, encasing Liu Xiu's calves in armor just before the three palace experts could bite down.
*Crack! Crack! Crack!*
The sound of shattering teeth echoed alongside the crackle of electrical arcs and agonized shrieks from the three transformed corpses. Seeing this, Liu Xiu flicked the Crimson Firmament Sword in his right hand!
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—*
Three sword-qi beams woven of black and red lightning shot from the blade, lopping off the three braided heads instantly.
"Now I don't lack a thing..."
Having completed the armor fusion, Liu Xiu muttered slowly. But halfway through his sentence, he abruptly halted. As the armor dissolved, he silently looked up at the sky.
Looking at the black expanse above—it hadn't cleared, but the rain had abruptly stopped. The corners of Liu Xiu's mouth twitched twice. Then he turned his gaze to the Three Purities bell in his left hand, which had just split apart with a sharp snap.
His face darkened, but he immediately produced another Three Purities bell with a sudden grin: "I've got two of these th—"
*Ding... ling...*
The bell rang once, faltered halfway through the second chime, and the clapper inside shot out with a sharp whistle. The smile on Liu Xiu's face froze solid.
Seeing that the Black Jiangshi was no longer restraining it, a sinister semblance of a smile seemed to creep onto the imperial-clan jiangshi's face as it leaped straight toward Liu Xiu.
Curling his lip, Liu Xiu tossed the useless bell aside. From his storage thumb ring, he pulled out arsenic and various other medicinal herbs, dumped them straight into his mouth, and swallowed them down.
"You know, I'm actually the most cowardly person around. If I dare to stay behind and cover the retreat, it means I won't die. In fact, I might just win..."
The moment his words fell—
*Crash! Swish!*
The torrential downpour that had paused in the dark sky burst forth once more. The faded Emperor Armor instantly reformed across Liu Xiu's body.
With a smile returning to his face, Liu Xiu circulated his spiritual power. Wisps of black qi rose from the Crimson Firmament Sword, growing deeper and thicker as the dark red hue on the blade flared.
A pungent reek of rusted iron billowed outward as Liu Xiu swung the sword, sending arcs of sword qi that bloomed across the trunks of the surrounding trees.
Had Shi Jian been present, he would have recognized that Liu Xiu was using his sword qi to stimulate the fierce, sinister qi inherent to the blade's celestial star meteoric iron.
By attaching this baleful qi to the vegetation, transforming it into metal-baleful shooting stars, Liu Xiu had laid down a baleful array, while simultaneously utilizing the form of the plants to gather the flying rays and amplify their power to dissolve elixir toxins.
In Liu Xiu's eyes, however, he was simply using sword qi to dislodge the radioactive particulates native to the Crimson Firmament Sword.
By suspending and depositing these radioactive particles onto the surface of the surrounding trees, he created a vast, planar alpha and beta radiation field.
This formed a close-range, multi-source superposition to drastically ramp up the radiation dose. Next, by exposing his body to the intensified beta radiation, the water molecules in the shallow blood vessels of his dermis underwent continuous radiolysis, causing the total volume of reactive oxygen species to spike dramatically.
This accelerated the oxidation of the free lead and mercury ions from his heavy metal poisoning by ten to a hundred times, allowing them to be swiftly filtered and expelled through his kidneys!
*Radiation therapy—complete!*
*Immortal aspect Ice-Skin Jade-Bones, level up for daddy!*
By the same token, with the rate of oxidation boosted ten- or a hundredfold, the speed at which he dissolved elixir toxins escalated at the exact same pace. That was the sole reason he had popped medicine right on the battlefield!
Because the radiation was so intense, Liu Xiu's hit points steadily ticked down: minus one, minus one... Yet the progress of his barely initiated immortal aspect, Ice-Skin Jade-Bones, began to skyrocket.
*Immortal aspect Ice-Skin Jade-Bones: 10%...*
*Immortal aspect Ice-Skin Jade-Bones: 13%...*
*Immortal aspect Ice-Skin Jade-Bones: 20%...*
As Ice-Skin Jade-Bones surged, the remaining two immortal aspects were passively dragged upward at high speed as well.
The combined rise of all three immortal aspects began to spur the growth of the Gui Water thunder seed within him, which in turn passively drove the advancement of the Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Body-Refining Art.
A comprehensive breakthrough across the board—
Save for his steadily dropping health.
Liu Xiu took a deep breath, inhaling the increasingly sharp stench of rust and the heavy reek of ozone in the air.
Watching the surrounding leaves yellow and wither, and the tree bark crack, he began to taste a faint sweetness in the back of his throat.
*Fierce radiation...*
Encased fully in his dark Emperor Armor, Liu Xiu looked at the surrounding vegetation and marveled inward.
Then he turned his gaze toward the imperial-clan jiangshi, which had ground to a halt several meters away, not daring to advance. Liu Xiu grinned, revealing a bloody maw hidden beneath his visor.
In truth, the bloody maw was largely due to the surging radiation causing his gums to bleed, staining his teeth crimson.
Staring down the hesitant jiangshi, the red and black radiance on the Crimson Firmament Sword in Liu Xiu's right hand blazed with fury.
"If you're scared, then I'm not! Die!"
Before the shout faded, his body was already in motion. The sharp stench of iron rust erupted as Liu Xiu swung the Crimson Firmament Sword, which had been enlarged by the Profound Abyss Weapon-Condensing Water Method.
Only this time, accompanied by the clash of steel and a spray of sparks, the blow bloomed directly across the imperial-clan jiangshi's body.
*Immortal aspect Ice-Skin Jade-Bones: 40% complete.*
*Remaining Health: 85%...*
Chapter 51