Corrosive Water

"True love still exists in this world! Tsk, tsk. The love between you two star-crossed lovers truly moves me."

The leader of the Dark Ghosts wore a Golden Mask and never dared show his true face. Watching Ouyang Duanhai, who looked like a vengeful spirit, he gestured for his men to intercept them while taunting the pair.

Ouyang Duanhai's hideous appearance filled him with glee.

He wore a mask year-round not only because he was still lurking within the Seven Great Families and could not yet reveal his identity, but also because the scarred face beneath it was too terrible to show.

Yet this good-for-nothing from the Ouyang Family was widely acknowledged as a handsome man among the Seven Great Families, and countless women admired him.

Ouyang Duanhai and Shangguan Qin were a tall, handsome man and a pretty, charming woman. Long ago, everyone had considered them a match made in heaven.

Like the Shangguan Family, the Ouyang Family was connected to the Blood Moon of the Upper Realm. They had also been childhood friends, and had feelings for each other. When they were young, they had nearly pledged themselves to one another.

Unfortunately, after the people sent down by the Blood Moon examined their cultivation talents, everything changed.

The Blood Moon decided that neither of them was worth the family's resources to remake their bodies and help them enter the Xisui Realm.

That also meant the Blood Moon would not accept them.

The two had thought they would naturally marry once they came of age, but their families forcibly tore them apart.

In this world, where strength came first, a man's handsome looks counted for little, while a woman's beauty... could be traded for resources.

So the beautiful Shangguan Qin was forced by her family to marry a member of the Dong Family with great cultivation potential.

Aside from his talent, he was good for nothing—and he was hideously ugly, too.

No matter how much Shangguan Qin threatened to kill herself or kicked up a fuss, the Shangguan Family eventually sent her to the strongest family in the Fourth Realm, the Dong Family. She was nothing more than a small perk for that clan member.

A few years later, the man died while exploring a secret realm, and the Dong Family arranged for Shangguan Qin to become another clan member's concubine.

Her second husband also died, accidentally suffering qi deviation while advancing into the Xisui Realm.

After that, the Dong Family considered her ill-omened and simply sent her back to the Shangguan Family.

Her clan members treated her with disdain, and the tasks assigned to her were often dangerous—like this expedition into the Cenji Mountains.

"A pair of ill-fated lovebirds."

The leader kept backing away, quietly signaling his men to keep Shangguan Qin alive.

Understanding what he meant, his men smiled knowingly as they surrounded Shangguan Qin and Ouyang Duanhai, who had changed into something strange.

"Ouyang Duanhai is nothing to worry about. You don't need to—"

The masked leader saw Ouyang Duanhai charging toward them like a monster, and noticed that some of his men were growing timid. He was about to tell them that Ouyang Duanhai was a renowned pretty boy among the Seven Great Families, all show and no substance.

But before he could finish, his brow suddenly furrowed, and his expression changed as he fell silent.

He saw the contorted Ouyang Duanhai unleash the Blood Moon's lowest-level technique, "Blood Handprint." The moment a bloody handprint flew from his palm, it strangely transformed into a blood-red feather.

The sinister feather seemed to weigh ten thousand jun. It struck one of his men, shattering every bone in his body.

The feather, condensed from spiritual power, then slipped into the man's body, as though devouring his flesh and bones.

"Be careful. He's not the same as before."

The masked Dark Ghost leader watched Ouyang Duanhai's chest, his gaze grave as it fixed on the Phoenix Bird Totem.

"Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!"

Ouyang Duanhai attacked again, wildly slapping the air with both hands. Blood-red feathers flew out one after another, killing every Dark Ghost attacker who came near.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight mangled corpses lay scattered across the grass beside him.

The bloody feathers, evil and ravenous, kept burrowing into the corpses. The flesh of those they pierced visibly shriveled.

Each body grew more and more like Ouyang Duanhai, gaunt as if all its flesh and blood had been stripped away.

Meanwhile, the light of reason in Ouyang Duanhai's eyes slowly faded.

It was as if each time he used "Blood Handprint" and refined a bloody feather to devour someone, a little more of his self vanished, and the demon in his heart grew stronger.

"Q-Qin, hurry... run!" he growled in a low voice, like a trapped beast. His eyes seemed to bleed. "I can't hold on much longer!"

Shangguan Qin, stunned by his bloody methods, stared at him in a daze, feeling as if she had never known him.

Her bright clothes were tattered, and she looked disheveled. She had never imagined that her usually timid sweetheart could be so brutal and bloodthirsty.

Though she and Ouyang Duanhai had plotted the deaths of her first two husbands, she had been the one to actually kill them.

Ouyang Duanhai was timid by nature, an elegant, gentle man to the core. He was also obsessively fastidious and had never dared to get blood on his hands.

She couldn't imagine that Ouyang Duanhai could become so violent and murderous!

"Go!"

Ouyang Duanhai shrieked madly and charged again at the man in the Golden Mask. Blood-red feathers burst from the bodies of the Dark Ghosts lying in pools of blood.

The feathers flew back and joined the divine phoenix design on his chest, as if becoming part of a tattoo.

Each time a feather returned, the light of reason in Ouyang Duanhai's eyes faded a little more. It looked as though he would soon be completely consumed.

Shangguan Qin watched him, and the Phoenix Bird Totem on his chest, which seemed almost alive. Hearing his repeated, hoarse cries for her to hurry, she finally gritted her teeth, stamped her foot, and ran off into the distance. "Duanhai, I'll wait for you at the agreed place!"

"After her!"

As soon as she moved, more Dark Ghosts hiding in the woods tried to give chase.

"Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!"

Ouyang Duanhai struck the air from afar. New "Blood Handprints" transformed into feathers, blasting every pursuer to death on the spot.

Standing amid the corpses, Ouyang Duanhai watched his lover leave with his demonic, dark-red eyes. He murmured, "As long as you're alive... that's enough. I couldn't do much for you in this life. But now that an evil demon has possessed me, it's given me strength and courage."

Deep in his bloodthirsty eyes, a look of release slowly appeared. He no longer feared the moment of his end.

Han Duping, not far away, had meant to flee with Shangguan Qin while Ouyang Duanhai was showing off his might.

But seeing the Dark Ghosts die in droves in the blink of an eye, and unable to tell what was happening to Ouyang Duanhai, he feared the man might mistake him for someone pursuing Shangguan Qin. He stayed rooted to the spot, not daring to move.

"Rumble!"

The earth continued shaking. The underground fissures spreading out from Blackwater Pool widened further and further.

Han Duping was frantic. He feared something might burst out from below, but he also didn't dare provoke Ouyang Duanhai, who had become some unknown monster. He could only look around helplessly.

He soon noticed that almost all the Zhou Family servants Zhou Qingchen had roused to fight were dead.

Ning Yao, who had kept shouting for the Dark Ghosts to let her go, had failed to escape. She was trapped in a giant net woven from silver threads.

Another Dark Ghost leader had caught her in the net. Holding its rope, he avoided the underground fissures as he dragged her and the net across the ground toward Blackwater Pool.

As Han Duping watched the scene around him, he suddenly realized the rumbling of the earth seemed to be slowly fading.

His face went pale with terror. He suspected that as soon as the shaking stopped, something terrifying would surge out of the underground fissures.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

Suddenly, he heard urgent sword cries from behind him, in the direction of Blackwater Pool.

He hurriedly turned to look. Seven "Cicada Wing Swords," controlled by Jin Yang, were whistling around the Phoenix Bone protruding from the water, but Pang Jian was nowhere to be seen.

"Could that kid still be alive?"

Han Duping was astonished.

Underwater.

Pang Jian's face was flushed from holding his breath. By the faint divine light released by the Phoenix Bone, he could make out part of his surroundings—and he could naturally see the "Cicada Wing Swords" above him.

If he didn't surface for air, he would sooner or later suffocate.

But if he surfaced to breathe, he would be attacked by the "Cicada Wing Swords." Tormented by the dilemma, he silently waited for something strange to emerge from the earth's fissures.

He hoped that something terrifying would surge out of the deep cracks radiating from Blackwater Pool, something powerful enough to wipe out every Dark Ghost.

But no matter how long he waited, no terrifying creature appeared.

Pang Jian had treated Blackwater Pool and the Phoenix Bone as his lifeline. Little by little, despair and helplessness overcame him.

"I see you."

Jin Yang, who had been controlling the flying swords, had also spotted a figure huddled beneath the water beside the Phoenix Bone, one hand braced against it, in the glow of the faint divine light.

"Now that I've seen you, did you think you could keep hiding?"

Jin Yang narrowed his eyes and sneered.

One of the "Cicada Wing Swords" moved at his will and stabbed toward Pang Jian's shoulder beneath the water. He wanted to force Pang Jian out so he could question him thoroughly.

Seeing the Spirit Sword coming, Pang Jian hurriedly moved underwater, trying to dodge its thrust.

"Pfft!"

The instant the "Cicada Wing Sword" pierced the water, it was suddenly met with a thousandfold increase in buoyancy, slowing its thrust a thousandfold.

What's more, the gleaming Spirit Sword instantly lost all its light.

The next moment, the "Cicada Wing Sword," forged by an expert, sank slowly toward the bottom of the pool like scrap metal.

Pang Jian had thought there was no way to dodge. Watching the Spirit Sword slip past his left shoulder, he looked confused and uncertain.

After a moment's thought, he suddenly surfaced and took a deep breath.

Before Jin Yang could react, he slipped back into Blackwater Pool and continued hiding beneath the surface around the Phoenix Bone.

"My Cicada Wing Sword!"

Jin Yang was stunned by the strange pool. By the time he tried to attack Pang Jian, Pang Jian had already sunk beneath the water again.

With a furrowed brow, he stepped to the edge of the pool, crouched down, and peered into the pitch-black water.

When the Spirit Sword entered the pool, the spiritual power he had infused into it was corroded. His connection to the sword was severed in an instant.

He couldn't tell whether the cause was the water or the pale, glowing light from the Phoenix Bone, so he decided to test it himself.

"I checked this place before. Aside from being cold and dark, and making it impossible to see anything, this black water had nothing strange about it. And the Phoenix Bone didn't hold any secrets, either. That doesn't make sense..."

Jin Yang, who had explored the area before Pang Jian and Zhou Qingchen, muttered to himself. Then he reached his left hand into the pool, wanting to test the black water again.

He plunged his left hand into the water, then yanked it back as if every hair on his body had stood on end. He was in so much pain that cold sweat poured from him.

His long, bamboo-joint fingers had emerged without a scrap of flesh.

Jin Yang's left hand had become a bare bone, not a trace of blood or flesh left. The pool had corroded the flesh, veins, and blood encasing his hand in an instant.

Staring at the stark white bones of his hand, Jin Yang bared his teeth and shuddered as he sucked in a breath of cold air.

Suddenly, he looked at Pang Jian with cold eyes.

By now, Pang Jian had submerged his whole body, still holding onto the Phoenix Bone.

Yet Pang Jian was clearly alive and well.

"Jin Yang, that good-for-nothing from the Ouyang Family is coming for you!"

The Dark Ghost leader in the Golden Mask suddenly shouted. Once he realized Ouyang Duanhai had completely lost his reason, he knew he was no longer Ouyang Duanhai's match.

Ouyang Duanhai had abandoned him entirely. He no longer remembered who Shangguan Qin was; he was simply heading for Blackwater Pool.

Something in Blackwater Pool seemed to be drawing Ouyang Duanhai toward it, compelling the man, who looked like a vengeful spirit, to reach it as quickly as possible.

The earth had stopped shaking long ago, and nothing terrifying had emerged from the depths of the cracked ground.

"Stop Ouyang Duanhai!"

Another leader, dragging the Silver Silk Giant Net with Ning Yao trapped inside and followed by several Dark Ghost attackers, feared that Jin Yang might be in danger. He dropped the net and shouted, "You lot, bring that girl over to me!"

The Dark Ghost leader and the man in the Golden Mask both sprinted toward Blackwater Pool.

Neither of them saw Jin Yang, who had his back to them, and whose left hand had become a skeleton.

Neither noticed that Jin Yang was staring fixedly at Pang Jian beneath the Phoenix Bone, his expression twisted.