Chapter 138: Impossible

Chapter 138: Impossible

"Senior!" Shang Yunduo hit the wrong string.

King Hundun snapped back to reality at the abrupt qin note: "You're full of surprises."

Pei Jie sent a voice transmission: "Keep playing, move upwind, stall until the Silverwing Butterfly's poison dust takes effect."

"Okay!"

"Don't be afraid; he's also at the end of his strength, now. Using clones will only make the poison work faster on him."

"Okay."

Shang Yunduo steadied his mind, hastily swallowed a few pills, and continued playing.

King Hundun casually took out a crude bone handbell, cutting off Shang Yunduo's melody. "Which sect's disciple are you? How dare you impersonate the Sacred Clan and run wild here!"

Pei Jie: "Ordinary music won't work. He has to expend spiritual power to resist your qin sound. Keep wearing him down."

But Shang Yunduo suddenly snapped awake. No!

Pei Jie's voice sounded off. He might be more severely injured than King Hundun. Continuing to play would hurt Pei Jie too!

He put away the qin and charged forward, fists wreathed in fire, grabbing the nearest clone and crushing it in his hand.

King Hundun didn't expect him to actually attack. "Do you think you're the Tiger King?!"

Only the Tiger King's current Water-Thunder could counter his splitting technique, allowing him to fight up close. Was this kid insane? Mere spirit fire, even if a bit stronger than ordinary flames, did he think he was some all-burning heavenly or earthly flame?!

"Just what I wanted," the King surrounded Shang Yunduo with his clones. "Be my meal!"

"Shang Yunduo! Get out of there!"

Shang Yunduo didn't listen to Pei Jie.

Because Pei Jie told him to use the Silverwing Butterfly, that meant he couldn't win with his current strength.

His greatest advantage was the Silverwing Butterfly.

But would throwing it from an upwind position really work?

Forget that the butterfly was alive and might not obey him; what if King Hundun was too alert? What if too little scale powder stuck? Or the butterfly's poison wasn't strong enough against the trees?

To take the gamble, he had to improve his chances.

Didn't the King want to eat him?

Fine. Let's see whether his bones were tougher, or King Hundun's life was more fragile.

He covered his body with only a thin layer of compressed fire, concentrating all the remaining Seven Baleful Fire into his fists.

Getting stung by insects—he had experience with that. Back in the Ancient Land Secret Realm, he had been stung by bees. If he couldn't outrun the swarm, he would be stung. So he'd see how many 'bees' he could kill before being stung to death himself.

Then...

His fire-formed hands slammed into the 'swarm'. Shang Yunduo fought in a berserk rage.

King Hundun was also stirred to bloodlust. How could a Demon King be afraid of some human junior?

More clones gathered, their sharp thorny barbs stabbing toward Shang Yunduo.

Just then, Shang Yunduo pulled out a shield and the jar containing the Silverwing Butterfly. He used the shield to knock the jar away, scattering more scale powder at a tricky angle!

What?!

King Hundun tried to dodge instinctively but sensed no spiritual power. He only saw a tiny butterfly fluttering up in panic, flying slowly and shakily between Shang Yunduo and the cage of clones, looking half-dead.

To be safe, a poison thorn pierced the slow butterfly. Shang Yunduo, shocked and angry but also regretful, yelled: "My spirit butterfly! You destroyed my spirit butterfly—die!"

Hah! A butterfly with zero spiritual power, and he calls it a spirit butterfly?!

Another thorn pierced it. The struggling wings stopped, and it fell like a leaf, swaying downward. Then...

With a pop, it grew larger.

The two-meter-wide butterfly was caught in Shang Yunduo's flames, and its nearly transparent wings rained down silver dust in the flames.

What is this?

A faint memory flashed through King Hundun's mind, but he couldn't recall it. Shang Yunduo, like a madman, began to relentlessly attack him, targeting…

his true body?!

Coincidence? Or could he find it?

King Hundun instinctively ducked among his clones.

Impossible! Aside from Flying Owl, one of the four great Demon Kings, no one could locate his true body so quickly!

If not for that, he wouldn't have been so badly beaten by Flying Owl. A mere Nascence Stage junior was nothing more than an insect!

Sure enough, it was a coincidence. The moment he shifted his Spiritual Sense to another clone, the kid was fooled.

However, he had underestimated the kid. He could locate his true body using Spiritual Sense so quickly.

No wonder this Nascence Stage cultivator could kill foes of the same level, even those from the Chaos Clan with slightly higher cultivation level.

He suddenly didn't want to kill the kid. Better bring him back to the clan, interrogate him thoroughly, and then throw him to the juniors for sparring.

He decided to test again whether Shang Yunduo was guessing or could actually see.

He shifted his Spiritual Sense again.

But Shang Yunduo felt something was wrong.

A decoy!

Spiritual Sense pointed to here, but his instinct said no. His true body wasn't here, but it was nearby, very close. Which one?

"Shang Yunduo... Shang Yunduo!!"

He heard Pei Jie calling him, sounding angry, but it might be an illusion. Had he misheard? Where is the true body?

Here?

Or here?

Then...

The world suddenly slowed down.

After he started to get the hang of the Illusion Art, it had been ages since he'd seen the whole world turn into an abstract painting.

And now it was happening again.

The world turned into an enormous 3D sand painting.

Those specks that looked like spiritual energy flowed slowly up, down, and everywhere.

He saw Pei Jie.

He looked like a fossil buried deep underground, with strange magma erupting from his body.

Was it blood?

Or uncontrolled power?

Shang Yunduo instinctively wanted to dig him out, but a wall blocked his path.

A dark, thin wall made of fragments.

Something was flowing inside the wall.

Ah!

It was blood!

He caught the faint smell of decay.

The Silverwing Butterfly's poison was already taking effect.

It seemed the Chaos Clan was indeed different from real trees.

The surrounding trees and grass looked more translucent, giving off a fresh vibe, while the Wood-elemental energy on the Chaos Clan members was bitingly cold.

The dots on King Hundun's body all seemed to have thorns.

Then...

He spotted a speck that was more colorful and brighter than the rest.

"Senior, I found his true body!"

Before he even thought about it, the condensed fire arrow shot out instinctively.

Ah!

The temperature was still slightly higher than elsewhere.

Fortunately, he had so much fire on him that the opponent didn't seem to notice.

That true body was using Spiritual Sense to transfer to another Clone to deceive him, but his cleverness backfired—he failed to notice the approaching fire arrow in time, taking it for ordinary flames.

That cluster of flames, which was already not small for a clone, brushed past the true body. King Hundun instinctively dodged.

His attention was indeed focused on the direction Shang Yunduo was facing; the clone he controlled had successfully diverted Shang Yunduo's attention.

Just as he confirmed that Shang Yunduo was sufficiently sharp at detecting Spiritual Sense, the small fire arrow exploded right next to his true body, unleashing temperatures far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator should be able to control.

"Ah!" King Hundun yelped in surprise, leaping back. "Impossible!"

It really was his true body!

Shang Yunduo didn't hesitate to press the attack to prevent his escape. He activated his formation plates again, dropping one formation after another while swallowing Qi Recovery Pills as he chased, frustrated that his fire arrows weren't fast enough and couldn't make turns. King Hundun's clones swarmed him like flies, no matter how much he burned them, they wouldn't be completely destroyed. So damn annoying!

"What is your relationship with that old bastard Flying Owl?!"

Who was Flying Owl? Shang Yunduo replied, "None of your business!"

"No, Flying Owl would never take a human cultivator as a disciple. Who are you? How can you see my true body like Flying Owl?!"

Shang Yunduo wouldn't admit it. "I smelled it. You stink!"

"Presumptuous!" King Hundun was furious. The kid was clearly using an Eye Technique—blood was streaming from his eyes—and yet he claimed to have smelled it! "Do you think I, the King, will be humiliated by you? Fine, fine, fine! Since you refuse to speak, then I'll personally perform a soul search on you! Urgh—"

He stared at the sword light piercing through his chest, looking behind him in disbelief.

Who was hiding underground?

How had he not detected them at all?

Pei Jie...

He suddenly remembered the name Shang Yunduo had called out earlier.

So this kid really was looking for someone, and that someone was indeed here.

Pei Jie, Pei Jie...

The clones all returned to his body, quickly supplying spiritual power and blood to his true body. "It's you!"

King Hundun, clutching his wound, pointed at the ground. "Yuheng! It's actually you!"

Shang Yunduo was stunned. Yuheng?

Who was Yuheng?

King Hundun himself seemed both incredulous and even more unwilling to accept it. He shouted like a madman: "Impossible! Who are you?! A disciple of Yuheng? No! Pei Jie is Yuheng's name! Who exactly are you? Who's playing games here? Show yourself!"

Wooden vines stabbed toward where Pei Jie was hiding. Shang Yunduo lunged forward to block them. "Senior!"

A torrent of fire swept through, burning away those venomous vines just as they were about to pierce the ground.

Shang Yunduo was livid. "Are you insane?!"

King Hundun: "Is the person you're looking for really Pei Jie? Divine Lord Yuheng?"

Shang Yunduo was even more bewildered. What Divine Lord Yuheng?

"Who cares who I'm looking for?! Right now, you're asking for death!"

"Hahaha! Absolutely impossible! Divine Lord Yuheng died over a thousand years ago—not even ashes were left! If it were him, why would he be hiding underground? Hmph, but if that lunatic Flying Owl found out someone claiming to be Divine Lord Yuheng slipped away under his nose again, haha..." His laughter cut off as he stared in disbelief at his itching, festering wound. "Poison..."

"You've heard of Divine Lord Yuheng but not the Silverwing Butterfly?" Pei Jie's voice came from underground, more muffled than usual.

King Hundun's eyes widened. "That butterfly just now! Impossible! How could a Silverwing Butterfly be caught?!" Pei Jie: "You've said 'impossible' too many times today. Could it be... that your knowledge and imagination are just too shallow?"

“Hah…”

King Hundun once again transformed into scattered clones, forcefully breaking out of Shang Yunduo’s layered array.

Pei Jie: “Kill him!”

Shang Yunduo pursued relentlessly, his flames chasing and scorching fiercely even as his strength ebbed. But King Hundun was determined not to engage further, scattering too many clones. Even with an endless supply of fire, Shang Yunduo couldn’t turn into that many points of light to chase and burn—and his spiritual power was at its limit, having taken the Qi Recovery Pill to its limit.

The moment King Hundun burst out, countless swords rained up from underground, slaughtering most of his clones.

Shang Yunduo chased from within the array, finally catching up and enveloping King Hundun’s true body in flames once more.

“It really is you! Why aren’t you dead? I don’t believe it…”

Pei Jie crawled out from underground, with one sword stroke cutting down all the surviving weeds below, cutting off any chance for King Hundun to escape through roots or leaves. “No different from you.”

“Impossible! Only the Chaos Clan, only the Sacred Clan bloodline can…”

“In the cultivation world’s techniques, what’s possible or impossible? You know too little and lack imagination.” A flash of sword light pierced through King Hundun’s true body, sealing all the fleeing clones in ice.

He planted his sword into the ground to support himself, swayed, and was steadied by Shang Yunduo.

Pei Jie looked up. Shang Yunduo’s face was streaked with dried blood, and new tears welled up in his reddened eyes.

“Ah…” Pei Jie almost smiled—what a miserable sight.

He reached out to touch Shang Yunduo’s face, leaned in, and kissed him on the lips. “It’s okay.”

“Mm…” Tears suddenly broke free, rolling down uncontrollably. Shang Yunduo hugged Pei Jie tightly. “Senior…”

Author’s note:

0 HP +1+1

King Hundun: I refuse to accept this!

Silverwing Butterfly: Cursing and grumbling

Low HP +1+1

Yunduo: Senior!! [Sobbing][Sobbing][Sobbing]

Pei Jie: Head pat