Chapter 681 The Mysterious Man
Ding Hao’s body, as hard as steel, could not deflect it at all. It pierced through his body instantaneously.
The black silken thread was extremely strange, penetrating through Ding Hao’s breastbone.
So much so that Ding Hao’s ribs and breastbone, fortified by his Yin-Yang Jade in Stone skill, could not stop it from impaling his body.
“This… black energy… the Moke Fleet…” Time seemed to have stood still in that instant.
The scene that happened in the Land of Divine Grace 10,000 years ago flashed across Ding Hao’s mind. The 13th Divine Prince was leading the Moke Fleet to ambush the First Divine Prince. A black silken technique like this one had appeared then, the essence of an extremely pure and diabolical energy. In that battle, the Moke Fleet experts under the 13th Divine Prince had used this move to kill many of the First Divine Prince’s subordinates.
Ding Hao was utterly shocked.
How did the fighting techniques of the Eastern Divine Palace from the distant Land of Divine Grace appear in the Land of Infinity? Could it be that the Moonlight Fairy was really from the Land of Divine Grace? And also a subordinate of his great enemy, the 13th Divine Prince?
Instantly, several baffling mysteries suddenly became clear.
Part of this black demonic energy had integrated into that black fog, which had been pursuing Golden Cicada after the Golden Boat explosion. It was also used by the Black Spear King, Gou Jinwen, after his energy erupted. No wonder Ding Hao found it a little familiar from the start.
In a split second, that black silken thread had pierced through Ding Hao’s heart.
Even if the heart of a Great Grandmaster was shattered, the injury would not be fatal. However, the black silken thread had a terrible corrosive power. The instant it pierced through Ding Hao’s heart, it began corroding in all directions—not only eating into his tendons, bones, flesh and blood, but also his spirit.
Ding Hao was thoroughly shocked. He coursed the Mind Essential around his mind to suppress the attack. Unfortunately, the counteracting effect was negligible. That terrible corrosive force quickly spread out from his heart.
A frailness he had never experienced before overcame Ding Hao.
Opposite him.
The Moonlight Fairy was not looking complacent either.
That black “Moke Force” was her last trump card. Once she depleted it, it would be gone forever.
This youth before her was really the most terrible opponent she had ever met in her life. She had never suffered such a big defeat before in the hands of a man. She was at a disadvantage both in martial arts and intelligence. She really did not want to use this method to kill Ding Hao, had there been some other way, but she could only overcome her inferiority complex as a martial artist by directly knocking him out.
Unfortunately, it was a great pity that such a genius had to die, since this youth was determined to oppose her.
The Moonlight Fairy looked quietly at Ding Hao’s unresigned expression. He slowly collapsed and fell out of the void.
He had died.
This nightmarish youth had finally died.
“The Moke Force has the true power of extermination. Even a Martial Grand Emperor or Martial Sage would not be able to withstand it. What a pity!”
The Moonlight Fairy sighed. She was no longer afraid of having another mishap.
Her entire body finally relaxed.
“Well, this is the best conclusion to the matter. Once Ding Hao is killed, we can execute our plan fully. As for these people…” The Moonlight Fairy’s eyes fell on the thousands of warriors who had pa.s.sed out due to Ding Hao striking them with the ridge of his sword. A flicker of cruelty and rejection flashed across her delicate, jade-like face. The Chaotic Mists turned into twin swords again, materializing in her hands.
“You want to kill them, and frame me again?”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind her.
The Moonlight Fairy was stunned, momentarily scared out of her wits by the appearance of a deceased spirit. She had never experienced such fear before. Before she could react, she felt her heart turn cold. She glanced down, and found the b.l.o.o.d.y tip of a rusted sword thrust out of her chest.
She slowly turned back her head in horror.
“You… you didn’t… die? How… how is that possible?” The great shock distorted her beautiful flawless face, making it look a little grotesque.
Opposite him.
Ding Hao remained unscathed, freezing the void. He slowly sheathed his rusted sword.
“Drip! Drip!”
Drops of crimson blood fell to the ground.
The Moonlight Fairy clenched her chest with her hand. Blood gushed out ceaselessly like a fountain. Four terrible destructive forces were raging and hurtling within her body. She really could not figure out why the Moke Force, strong enough to instantly slay a master at the peak of the Martial Sage Realm, could not kill Ding Hao.
Ding Hao did not speak.
Pained at depleting his resources, he took out a ceramic doll from his Storage Ring. It had shattered into shards, disintegrating into powder in Ding Hao’s hand.
The Scapegoat Doll was a treasure Ding Hao found after killing Ning Huxiao, the successor of the Heaven-Splitting Swordsmans.h.i.+p Sect. Ning Huxiao had used it once. The doll had shattered, leaving only a little of its power of the rules.
After Ding Hao received its fragments, he glued them back to make a new puppet. Guided by the Saber Master and the Sword Master, he used a secret technique to revive the puppet with his blood and essence. Gradually, it regained some of its abilities and could help Ding Hao die half a death.
This divine puppet had many wonderful functions. It could die for its master once, which meant that Ding Hao could have another life. It was such a priceless treasure that Ding Hao would not use it easily.
He had not expected the Moonlight Fairy to use an underhand method to shatter his heart with the Moke Force. The Scapegoat Doll exerted its power out of its own initiative, dying half a death for Ding Hao, completely disintegrating into powder. It was no longer possible to revive it.
Since it was an incomplete doll, its power was limited. Ding Hao had not fully recovered at this moment. Some remnant power of the terrible Moke Force was still inside his body, and his injury was quite serious.
The Moonlight Fairy was indeed cunning. Despite Ding Hao’s careful set-up today, and although he had the upper hand, he had still almost lost to her in the end.
Had she not believed so much in the Moke Force, she would not have been so negligent, allowing Ding Hao to kill her in one strike.
“You… you…” The Moonlight Fairy raised her hand, pointing at Ding Hao, looking like she had seen a ghost.
The four Sword Intents of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter hurtled violently in her body, causing her every pore to spurt out blood. These Sword Intents were the extremities of swordsmans.h.i.+p, not only capable of wounding the flesh, but also the spirit. Her injury was grievous and beyond healing.
Boom!
There was a sudden explosive buzz in the sky.
Ding Hao was shocked and looked up.
A dark crimson demonic cloud was billowing, madly ramming into the inscription chain formation that Ding Hao had set up. After only a few strikes, the golden chains in the sky completely disintegrated, turning into fragmented, crumbling Chinese characters…
“Ah…”
A horrible roar of pain and rage overwhelmed the heavens and the earth, surging over.
The dense dark crimson demonic fog, like a tempestuous sea looming in the sky, poured down uncontrollably. One of the currents, like the hand of a man, caught the Moonlight Fairy who was falling slowly in the void, enwrapping her in its midst.
“No, I won’t let you die!” A sharp hoa.r.s.e bellow came from within the black demonic fog.
One could vaguely see a scrawny human figure in the black demonic fog, clasping the blood-soaked body of the Moonlight Fairy firmly in his arms. With one hand on her back, he was obviously trying to expel the Sword Intents from her body.
“It’s no use. Once the Sword Intents enter her body and erupt, you can’t resurrect this demoness even if you’re divine!” Ding Hao shouted.
In the demonic fog, the scrawny human figure suddenly turned his head. His features were blurry, his pupils like two pools of blood—scarlet and grisly—without any irises or eyeb.a.l.l.s. Dazzling crimson light shot out of them, staring at Ding Hao.
In that instant, a stream of murderous malice, like one that could annihilate the world in ancient times, overwhelmed Ding Hao.
A furious roar of madness echoed between the heavens and the earth, containing a heart-wrenching unforgettable hatred, surging out of the void like a hurricane.
This human figure with bloodshot eyes rushed toward Ding Hao.
The dark crimson demonic fog all over the sky was like churning magma, coming at Ding Hao from all directions, as if trying to drown him. This terrible destructive melting force had turned the surrounding s.p.a.ce into a sticky swamp.
Surely an absolute power surpa.s.sing that of a Martial Emperor.
It was simply too terrifying.
Ding Hao had no doubt that had he himself been enwrapped in that black demonic fog, he would have melted into a pool of blood instantaneously, leaving only his 40 integrated bones reformed by the Yin-Yang Jade in Stone and the Purple Emperor Jade in Stone behind.
Without any hesitation, he gripped the devil saber with both hands, madly injecting Heaven Fire Qi from the middle dantian of his chest and the Six Strange Veins.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The fractured devil saber began vibrating at a speed impossible to discern with the naked eye.
The originally blurred, blood-colored symbols on the blade glittered and flew out of the saber body.
An indescribable desolation and brutality emanated from the fractured blade. Golden flames burst out, and its every fragment began expanding. In the blink of an eye, the entire devil saber had expanded to more than three or four times its former size, morphing into a perfect-formed, gigantic ancient war saber with a primitive air.
The blade was covered with red primitive symbols, as crimson as flowing blood.
Its supreme forbidden power had been unleashed again.
Ding Hao brandished his saber.
The thousands of feet long saber radiance streaked across the void.
That dark crimson demonic fog neatly divided into two halves before the saber brilliance, like a sharp blade cutting through tofu. Split in the middle, the two halves began to dim, fading at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A torrent of black blood rained down from the sky.
A miserable howl of hatred tore through the night sky. The black demonic fog filling the sky rapidly condensed like a whale engulfing water, finally turning into a dense black ball of light, enshrouding the physically shattered man with bloodshot eyes, as well as the Moonlight Fairy’s dead body. They disappeared in a flash into the distant horizon.
Ding Hao did not go after them.
His body swayed and he almost fell from the sky.
After continuously activating the rusted sword and the devil saber, the Qi inside Ding Hao’s body had almost completely depleted. Moreover, the physical injury inflicted by the remnant Moke Force had made Ding Hao really weak this time.