Chapter 1169 - 307: Blood Shadows and Ringing Bells Bewitch the Ancient Path, Golden Radiance Pierces the Mist Revealing the Heroic Soul (Part 5)

Dugu yan was curled up in the corner of the wall, the duster left with only half a bamboo handle, still trembling as he begged for mercy: "Mr. Shi, please raise your noble hand high! I’m willing to hold your horse and steady your stirrup! Mr. Shi, spare my life! For the sake of the pitiful souls of my five dead sons, won’t you?"

In front of the pass, the poisonous miasma surged and rolled; rotting flesh, shattered bones, and venomous moss intertwined, paving an ink-dark Hellish tableau. The blood mist steaming around Blood Venerable twisted and coiled like a living thing, dyeing a ten-zhang radius into a viscous scarlet purgatory, the air thick with nauseating scents of rusty iron and decaying corpses.

His emaciated fingers were tinged bluish purple at the joints, and the congealed black blood in his nail beds shook loose and trickled down. The look he cast at Shi Feiyang was like a dying, yet still snarling, vicious wolf; his voice hoarse and shrill: "Shi Feiyang! You cut off my reliance, slaughtered my dearest kin—this blood debt, even as a ghost I’ll never let you off! Hand over your life!"

"Just you, a rat of your sort, you think you’re fit to speak of grudges with me?" Shi Feiyang’s dark battle garb snapped in the wind. Bright Jade Technique was driven to "Infinite Asura’s Human Purgatory"; the ice-blue True Qi around him surged wildly, the green bricks beneath his feet cracking inch by inch as spiderweb-like frost veining spread in all directions.

He slowly raised his hand, golden light flowing in his palm like a blazing sun. His voice boomed like a great bell, shaking dust from the walls of the pass, "Today I’ll let you, wicked disciple, know what it means to be truly invincible in a hundred battles!" Blood Venerable bellowed, and the blood mist suddenly condensed into a three-headed, six-armed phantom, the blood blades in its hands gleaming with eerie ghostly light.

"Blood Shadow Thousand Illusion Slash!" He shrieked himself hoarse, as three blood blades tore through the air and hacked down; wherever they passed, green bricks exploded into powder, and the flying fragments were corroded midair into dark green toxic smoke, hissing "zizizi".

Shi Feiyang threw back his head and howled at the heavens, using the wondrous Lightweight Technique "After finishing, wipe the clothes and leave." His figure turned into a streak of golden light weaving between the blood blades, as both palms thundered forth "Red Dust Slash!" Nine ribbons of saber qi crisscrossed in the air like brocade sashes, shredding the blood shadow phantom into thousands of blood beads that spattered all over the ground.

In the shadow of the pass wall, Zhong Renwang’s face was deathly pale. He clutched Ding Hong’s lapel, the Nine-Ring Bamboo Staff trembling in his palm until it clanged, "Old Ding! Those two fiends are going at it till both are maimed—this is exactly when we should grease the soles and run! The brothers of the Beggar Gang are still waiting for us to go back and rally the ranks. If we don’t bolt now, we’ll really leave our old lives here!"

Having said so, he was about to slip away, when he saw Xie Zhichuan stagger and lunge toward them, his gold-embroidered hem stained with venomous moss, his face full of terror: "Two seniors, have mercy, take me with you! Divine Sword Manor cannot be without me!"

Before the words were finished, the bamboo staff in Zhong Renwang’s hand had already smashed viciously into his temples. "Dragging you, this oil jar, along—do you think our lives are too long?"

Zhong Renwang spat a mouthful of bloody spittle, and dragged Ding Hong, burrowing into the depths of the miasma.

Ding Hong muttered as he ran, "As long as the green hills remain, there’ll be no shortage of firewood. Staying alive comes first!"

Dugu yan screeched at Li Wuduo, his voice full of raw terror: "Lady Bodhisattva, if we keep dawdling we’ll both be finished! Quick, use your Lightweight Technique—this Bone Shrinking Technique of mine can be of some use too!"

"A turtle shrinking its head dares speak of Martial Arts?" Shi Feiyang’s roar cracked like thunder, freezing the two of them on the spot.

Li Wuduo’s vermilion-painted fingers dug death-tight into the city wall. Her gaudy skirt hem had been eaten into charred holes by the poisonous mist. Her legs went limp; she nearly collapsed to the ground, yet did not even dare wail aloud, only letting out pitiful whimpers from her throat.

Blood Venerable’s blood mist grew ever thinner, yet suddenly turned into chains of blood, coiling around Shi Feiyang’s arms like venomous serpents. "Die!" He seemed possessed, the blood he spat forming a horrific skull in midair, exuding a sickening stink of blood and rot.

Shi Feiyang’s pupils shrank; the ice-blue True Qi around him transformed into a roaring ice dragon, as he cleaved forth the ultimate killing move within the Hundred Victories Saber Technique, "Heaven and Earth Sharing Longevity!"

The golden palm shadow surged forth with a world-annihilating might; blood mist and icy qi collided, erupting in blinding white light and deafening thunder.

Amid the piercing screams, Blood Venerable’s body shattered apart inch by inch.

Shi Feiyang drew back his palms and stood upright, gazing at the distant figures who were fleeing in panic, his eyes cold as frost. His roar shook the land in all directions: "Today I’ll spare your dog lives for the time being! But if you dare stir up trouble again, to the ends of the earth, I will surely tear your bodies into ten thousand pieces!"

Golden radiance exploded from his palm; a distant rocky outcrop erupted with a boom, shards of stone spraying everywhere.

The setting sun cast a blood-colored outline upon him, and the aura around him was as deep as an abyss, as towering as a mountain, making even heaven and earth lose their hue.

Yet, using Blood Venerable’s departed soul as cover, Zhong Renwang, Ding Hong, Xie Zhichuan, Dugu yan, and Li Wuduo had already fled far, vanished without a trace.

Amid flying sand and rolling stones, the banners upon Feima Pass’s battlements snapped and fluttered loudly.

Heroic Sakura Association’s "Long Arm Fist" Liao Pei raised his bandage-wrapped arms high, shaking the accumulated dust from the parapets in a whispering shower: "Grand Squad Leader’s ’Heaven and Earth Sharing Longevity’ palm force truly bears the might of splitting heaven and sundering earth!"

Beside him, "Heaven and Earth Saber" Lie Quan pounded the cowhide war drum with all his strength; the booming beats wove together with cries of acclaim, startling the cold crows from the dead trees before the pass.

Among the seven sons of Wudang, Master Yuxu pointed his Long Sword straight at the firmament, his Daoist robe billowing in the fierce wind like a sail: "Hero Shi has shattered all demons with his vast righteous qi—such conduct is truly the fortune of the Martial Arts world!" Behind him, the other six simultaneously raised their arms; their Daoist titles rang out like great bells, making the remnants of toxic mist beyond the pass quiver.

The Fifteen Shaolin Stick Monks stomped in unison, the sound of their Qi Mei Staffs striking the ground neat and uniform, like muffled thunder on the horizon: "Amitabha Buddha! Well done! Well done! Patrons Shi, demon-queller and spirit-subduer, should stand as a model for all under heaven!"

Emei Female Hero Su Qinghan removed her blood-stained veil, the Cyan Nether Sword in her hand refracting a chilly gleam in the evening sun: "The other day we tasted bitter defeat; now, beholding Hero Shi’s divine might, we finally understand what is meant by a true, great hero of the way!"

With a gentle wave of her fair hand, the sword tip lifted a wisp of lingering mist, tracing a graceful arc through the dusk.

Tianshan Beauty Ling Lanzhi gazed into Shi Feiyang’s eyes, and her look gradually softened.

The cheers of the three thousand disciples of the Heroic Sakura Association surged like a tide.

The disciples in the front rank hammered their iron shields until the sound echoed off the mountains; those in the rear loosed whistling arrows into the sky together, the shriek of fletching and the roar of shouts merging into one. "Grand Squad Leader mighty and brave! Sakura raised high, invincible under heaven!"

The young disciples’ faces flushed as they screamed, their eyes burning with frenzied worship. Waves of cries of "Sakura raised high, invincible under heaven! Unify the Jianghu, for thousands of autumns, ten thousand generations!" surged straight into the clouds, shaking the bronze wind chimes upon the battlements into ringing.

Shi Feiyang stood within the blood pool before the pass, his dark battle garb stained with gore yet making him appear even more valiant.

He clasped his fists and bowed to the heroes on all sides atop the walls; as Bright Jade Technique circulated, the ice-blue True Qi around him glowed, shining in splendid harmony with the evening clouds on the horizon.

Shi Ying held her son Shi Nian in her arms, her smile so broad it could not be closed.