The phantom ghost claw tore through the air!
Cold! Deathly still! Carrying a decaying aura that froze the soul!
It was too fast! Cheng Xi did not even have time to turn around! The shadow of death engulfed him like an icy tide in an instant! Yan Lingji was likewise stunned by that terrifying pressure, and even the flames at her fingertips went out at once!
They couldn't dodge! They couldn't block it!
Just at this critical moment!
In Cheng Xi's arms, the Witch Script Wood Fragment he had obtained from Ying Xi's wooden box, covered with cracks, suddenly burst forth with its last bit of faint silver light!
At the same time, the Qingping Sword Sheath clenched in Yan Lingji's hand seemed to sense that pure, sinister death qi. The cloud patterns at its opening abruptly lit up! The residual Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent reacted on its own, releasing a faint metallic clang!
The silver light of the Witch Script Wood Fragment and the sword intent of the Qingping Sword Sheath unexpectedly produced an instantaneous, exceedingly faint resonance under the stimulation of impending death!
Buzz!
The space all over Cheng Xi and Yan Lingji twisted ever so briefly!
Rip—!
That phantom of a shriveled, jet-black ghost claw swept past Cheng Xi's back and Yan Lingji's shoulder by a hair! The razor-sharp claw wind tore Cheng Xi's outer robe apart, leaving three Blood Stains on his back, deep enough to see bone, which instantly Darkened and festered! The claw wind also struck Yan Lingji's shoulder wound, which had only just healed, and blood poured out once more!
Excruciating pain! Accompanied by bone-chilling sinister qi that invaded wildly!
"Puh!" Cheng Xi spit out a mouthful of Black Blood, his vision going dark! But using the enormous force of the ghost claw's passing sweep, as well as the instant displacement brought by the spatial distortion, he exhausted the last of his strength to drag Yan Lingji and vault onto the cliff top!
"Roar—!"
From the gorge below came the demonic person's furious roar! It was clearly unable to believe that its certain-kill strike had missed!
Cheng Xi did not dare pause in the slightest. He did not even spare a thought for the agonizing pain in his back or the sinister qi crazily corroding him. He poured his remaining Earth Element Spiritual Energy into his legs, grabbed Yan Lingji, and fled desperately toward the outskirts of Mount Li! Behind them were collapsing cliffs, chaotic energy turbulence, and the demonic person's enraged howls!
He did not know how long they fled. Only after they had completely moved away from the Yin Gorge and plunged into a dense primordial forest did Cheng Xi finally collapse to the ground from exhaustion, Spitting Out another mouthful of Black Blood. The wounds on his back felt as if they had been frozen by ten thousand years of ice, while countless venomous insects gnawed at his marrow! The sinister death qi spread madly through his meridians, and even the vitality of the Jianmu Fragment could only barely slow down its corrosion!
Yan Lingji also crumpled to the ground. Her shoulder wound had split open, blood dyed her crimson robes red, and she was barely breathing. The Qingping Sword Sheath's glow had dimmed to its faintest.
[Warning! Suffering corrosion from high-level sinister death qi! Target: Corpse Fiend Ghost Claw (Curse Grade)... Corrosion speed: Extremely fast... Jianmu Vitality suppression efficiency: 37%... System energy forcibly converted for suppression... Energy consumption intensified...]
The cold system prompt was like a death warrant.
Cheng Xi struggled to lean against a large tree and sit down. His pale complexion was white as paper, cold sweat and blood soaking through his clothes. He looked at the equally severely injured Yan Lingji, then toward the chaotic sky above the Yin Gorge, and in his heart was nothing but coldness.
They had startled the snake... and the snake had indeed been startled, yet also revealing fangs poisonous enough to kill! This demonic person's strength far exceeded expectations!
"Must... remove this ghost qi... quickly..." Cheng Xi's voice was hoarse. Every word pulled at his wounds, bringing piercing pain. System energy and Jianmu Vitality could only slow it down, not eradicate it. At this rate, within three days, this curse-like Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi would completely corrode him, turning him into a walking corpse!
Yan Lingji weakly raised her head. Her flame-like eyes had dimmed somewhat from excessive blood loss. She looked at the three savage black wounds on Cheng Xi's back, then at the faintly glowing Qingping Sword Sheath in her Hand. A trace of struggle flashed in her eyes before finally turning into resolve.
She laboriously shifted to Cheng Xi's side, stretched out her bloodied hand, and tremblingly pressed it against the Qingping Sword Sheath.
"Use... this..." Her voice was weak, yet exceptionally firm. "Sword intent... is supremely hard and supremely yang... perhaps... it can sever... the ghost qi..."
Use the remaining Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent within the sheath, send it into his body, and purge the ghost qi?
Cheng Xi's pupils contracted! This was no different from playing with fire! How tyrannical and sharp was Heaven-Connecting Sword Intent? With the slightest mistake, the ghost qi might remain while he was first cut by the sword intent until his soul scattered!
But... did they have any other choice now?
Looking at the nearly desperate fire in Yan Lingji's eyes and feeling the icy death qi spreading madly across his back...
Cheng Xi suddenly gritted his teeth!
"Good!"
He sat cross-legged and forced himself into the deepest state of meditation. Within his sea of consciousness, the system display shone at maximum brightness, fully calculating the optimal route and protection for the sword intent to enter his body!
Yan Lingji drew a deep breath. With her last strength, she gripped the Qingping Sword Sheath with both hands, poured all her focus into it, and attempted to awaken that sleeping strand of incomparably sharp Sky-Severing Sword Intent!
The sword sheath trembled faintly. The cloud patterns at its opening Flickered Unsteadily, and a wisp of faint yet utterly pure sharpness that made the soul tremble began to gather slowly...
Just as the matter of life and death hung in the balance, at the instant the sword intent was about to be invoked!
Whoosh!
An air-piercing sound, sharp to the extreme, suddenly rang out from the tree canopy above the two of them!
A poison needle as thin as an ox hair, glinting with an eerie blue chill, like a venomous snake that had lain in wait for a long time, silently shot towards Cheng Xi's completely unguarded brow with piercing Killing Intent!
The timing was vicious! The angle was treacherous!
The true fatal killing move had only now silently revealed itself!
Before you continue