CH 38

JUNE 2, 2023 BY ILOVEYURI

Within a radius of several kilometres, all illusions quickly collapsed and disappeared like a tidal wave. Shen Qingjia leaned against a ruins wall to rest, panting slightly. Although the wound had already stopped bleeding, the massive loss of blood still made her face and lips pale, her head was heavy and her eyes were foggy.

She dispersed her fire powers into invisible energy molecules that spread twenty metres around her so that she would know if there was any movement close by. After barely making a warning mechanism, Shen Qingjia leaned against a somewhat hidden wall and quickly passed out.

When she regained consciousness again, the sky was already bright and when she took out her watch and looked at it, she found that it was already six o’clock the next morning and the smell of blood in the air was far thicker than it had been two days ago.

“Damn it!” Shen Qingjia quickly stood up, although her wound had completely stopped bleeding and healed, she found that her legs were still a bit weak.

She didn’t know what Zhu Ai had used to heal her, but Shen Qingjia found that her wounds often recovered very quickly after that. even  serious wounds that would have taken an ability user days to heal and the scar would only take 1 or 2 days to disappear from her body.

Taking out beef jerky and fresh water from her backpack to eat as she hurried along, Shen Qingjia realised that not only was the area thousands of metres in circumference, but most of the illusionary world as far as her eyes could see had now completely collapsed. Countless intact and collapsed tall buildings stood side by side in an indescribably odd manner.

There were only two reasons why the illusionary worlds within such formations disappeared and collapsed: one was that most of the people in the illusionary formations had broken out, and the other was that most of the people in the illusionary formations had died.

“Such a thick smell of blood …… just how many people have died.”

Frowning as she felt the thick, almost congealed scent of blood in the air, she thought to herself that the hundreds of bases that had come to Yuanjiang City this time would be half gone. This time the secret realm is unprecedentedly secretive and terrifying, and so many people have already died before they even encountered the secret realm guardian beast. It’s too abnormal …… and this insidious formation that looks like it’s not naturally formed ……

Who exactly is behind all this ……

Shen Qingjia tightened her clothes, feeling that there was a vast conspiracy enveloping herself, enveloping everyone in the formation. The person behind the curtain may be watching the struggle for desperation and final annihilation of life here with an amused smile.

This feeling of being killed by others on the chopping board …… Shen Qingjia clenched her hands!

It was three hours later when Xia Yu was found, and rightfully so she was unharmed, without even a drop of blood splattered on her body.

The bodies of more than a dozen unidentified members of the base expedition lay on the ground, no, it was no longer a body, but rather a mass of flesh. It seemed that in a past life they had been too abusive, and in this life they had run into Xia You who was in demonic mode.

The blood-dried knife plunged deep into the ground, half of Xia You’s body leaning on it, eyes blank, mumbling, the look that seemed to have transformed from a mental hospital trainee to a full-fledged lunatic.

“I killed her …… I actually killed her …… I finally killed her, heh heh heh ……”

It seems that although this murderous loli has come out of the illusion, she has suffered a considerable blow mentally. Seeing how arrogant she usually was not afraid of the sky and the earth, it was really rare that there were still things that could shock her …….

“I killed her …… no, not me, you killed me …… I’m going to kill you!!!”

After getting close to Xia Yu, Shen Qingjia rolled her eyes and heard such a string of logically confusing sentences as if the language teacher had died early.

“Hey ……”

As soon as she uttered a word, Xia You’s gaze, which was sharper than a blade, cut into Shen Qingjia’s face. The violent girl’s bright eyes looked at her, her face smiling with innocence and bewilderment, before revealing pure joy, “Ah, another new toy has come!”

Warning signs suddenly sounded in Shen Qingjia’s heart, and the next second she saw Xia Yu holding a large sword in her hand, chopping at her like she was sweeping across a thousand mountains.

“………… This is why I hate psychopaths!!!”

Shen Qingjia leapt back a few metres on her feet, and the bow and arrow instantly appeared in her hand pointing at Xia You.

At that moment, she suddenly thought of many things, the past few days she had been puzzled, unable to understand the various doubts, Ji Qianhuang, precognition, the task …… herself, a clue strung together, she suddenly understood everything.

So, this is another one of Ji Qianyuan’s games, Xia You’s precognition is actually fulfilled by me …… Even if I don’t come here to do this task Xia You will know about this matter, so, Ji Qianyuan, you are also hoodwinking me this time?

Where the hell are you, Zhu Ai? Will I be able to find you or not ……

Shen Qingjia took a deep breath, holding a longbow in her hand, and said calmly, “Xia You since you want to fight I won’t be afraid of you, why don’t we have a betting match …… If you win I will tell you where Xia Han is, if I win I will tell you the same, but you have to do one thing for me. “

The originally crazed Xia Yu’s eyes suddenly glowed, the aura around the body condensed for a moment, while holding a knife with both hands she arrived in front of Shen Qingjia with a step, the blade with a whistling wind sound slashed at her head, the speed is undetectable to the naked eyes, almost can be called an instantaneous movement. If this slash was real, there was no doubt that Shen Qingjia’s whole body would be split in half!

Her body fell backwards, the blade narrowly brushing the tip of Shen Qingjia’s nose, and she slid back a few metres to put some distance between her and Xia You.

“Shadow Step? Dark ability users are really good at speed, so it looks like my bow and arrow won’t be of much use. ……”

Xia Yu, whose face had already begun to distort, did not reply, took a step out of her body and disappeared, and in the next moment had appeared behind Shen Qingjia, and her long knife stabbed at Shen Qingjia’s back heart like a poisonous snake.

“Bang!”

However, instead of the texture of flesh and blood being pierced and torn, the sound of a clash and strike of metal struck the eardrums of both people.

Holding the long knife in her hand Shen Qingjia blocked the tricky thrust, “I say, don’t treat me like someone who only attacks from long range!”

Looking at the long sword in her hand, Shen Qingjia laughed in low tone, “Old buddy, it’s been a long time, time to get up and fight.”

Both of them were extremely fast, only the sound of clanking was heard continuously, and in an instant they had already duelled several times, both in terms of strength and speed of their moves were equal.

Xia Yu frowned as a layer of grey-black energy was suddenly attached to her blade and she whispered, “Dark Corruption Curse Art – Hunger!”

The cold grey-black energy spread along the interlocking blades and into Shen Qingjia’s hand, the sudden piercing coldness almost making her grip on the hilt unstable. The cold energy exploded and spread rapidly throughout her body, and after the cold it felt like she hadn’t eaten for three days and nights, her internal organs were screaming with hunger!

Xia Yu obviously felt Shen Qingjia’s attack weakening, and sneered, “Dark Corruption Curse Art – Chaos!”

Shen Qingjia’s body stiffened, but she still did her best to block Xia Yu’s attack.

“Dark Corruption Curse Art – Confusion!”

Shen Qingjia’s eyes clouded up, and she shook her head hard, sweat dripping down her forehead, looking as tough as ever.

“Dark Corruption Curse Art – Mania!”

“Dark Corruption Curse Art – Pain!”

“Dark Corruption Curse Art – Tear!”

Tiny wounds appeared on the skin of Shen Qingjia’s hands as blood dripped down as she struggled to hold on.

The Dark ability was somewhat similar to the Spiritual one, yet it was also a physical attack. Her main attack is upon a person’s heart, breaking down a person’s psychological defences in a simple and direct manner from the depths of their mind.

It is said that the curse of darkness comes from the seven deadly sins of Western legend, Romans 3:10, which says “There is no one righteous, not even one!” Romans 3:20 goes on to say, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

Every human being is a sinner from birth, while the Holy Son bears all the original sins of the world, the demons seek to destroy mankind in order to exterminate the sins.

The principle of the Dark Corruption Curse Art is probably similar to that of the Seven Deadly Sins: Sin of [1] punished by chaos, Sin of Gluttony punished by hunger, Sin of Greed punished by tearing, Sin of Laziness punished by weakness, Sin of Wrath punished by mania, Sin of Envy punished by pain ……

A dark ability user uses a specific frequency of spoken words to evoke negative emotions in the enemy’s mind that resonate with their own dark energy, thus attacking them. Every human being has negative emotions in their body, which is the original sin, and it can be said that without absolute strength to suppress them, almost no one can resist this move of the Dark ability user.

One dark curse after another, Shen Qingjia’s movements became slower and slower, and in Xia Yu’s eyes this speed was as ridiculous as a snail’s pace. If it was any other day, she would have trampled Shen Qingjia to the ground in ridicule and sarcasm, but now she was in a desperate mood for answers, and she was not even in the mood to tease people.

“Dark Corruption Curse Technique – Blindness!”

Xia Yu’s voice was hoarse as she whispered the name of this last and strongest spell, and just as she thought, Shen Qingjia’s body stiffened in place, her eyes dazed, already blinded.

The corners of her mouth curled up as Xia Yu side-stepped Shen Qingjia’s long knife that she was waving around, and the tip of the knife in her hand stabbed at Shen Qingjia’s heart without a sound.

Translator’s notes :

[1] *之罪以混乱惩戒; so, I have no idea why this part is *. I guess this is Lust? I mean, I noticed that the author did not put Lust there. Or maybe Pride.