Chapter 17: “Second Chance”

Upon hearing Cheng Shan mention the “spirit insect,” Han Luo’s expression darkened a few shades. Glancing at her, he asked, “Did Yinlin tell you something?”

Cheng Shan lowered her gaze, afraid to look at him directly, and whispered, “She said…”

“What she said is correct,” Han Luo interrupted before she could finish. “Indeed, the spirit insect is not a good thing for others, but if you want to stay by my side, you have to accept it.”

Cheng Shan remained silent for a moment, speaking in a soft but serious tone, “Shan’er is willing to sacrifice herself for the benefactor, but I won’t be a slave. My parents wouldn’t approve of me demeaning myself like this.”

“Demeaning?” Han Luo’s eyes turned cold. Taking a step forward, he sneered, “Do you think I am demeaning you?”

Cheng Shan resisted the urge to step back, gritted her teeth, and said, “A true master-disciple relationship isn’t like this. You don’t trust me, you don’t respect me. I would rather die than let you demean me.”

Han Luo, infuriated, laughed sarcastically. He grabbed Cheng Shan’s chin and pulled her closer, making her fingers touch his forehead. His voice was light but chilling. “This is my death point. Right now, my cultivation is only at thirty percent. If you want to kill me, it’s not impossible. Your true energy is the same as mine, and your true qi can be a blade that pierces my death point. Under the heavens, only you can easily harm me like this. Do you want to try?”

Han Luo’s eyes were pitch black, bottomless. Cheng Shan, however, inexplicably sensed a sign of madness between his brows. Only at this moment did Cheng Shan truly understand why, with Yinlin’s abilities, she still regarded Han Luo as a demon. He was like a stone, without emotions or warmth, without desires or concerns. He acted entirely based on his mood, being unpredictable and capricious.

Cheng Shan’s scalp was tingling, and she was frightened into goosebumps all over her body. She struggled to break free from Han Luo’s icy hand, staggered backward in embarrassment, and, in her confusion, raised the Demon King’s bow, trembling as she said, “Don’t come any closer, you… don’t think I won’t dare!”

“Heh,” Han Luo sneered, his black eyes cold and ominous. “Of course, you dare. Since you dared to deceive me, naturally, you would dare to kill me.”

Cheng Shan continued to step back, shaking her head. “I’m not…”

Han Luo said, “Not what? The spiritual power on this Demon King’s bow has been nearly depleted by you. Why did you bury it back in the furnace? Weren’t you thinking that bringing it with you could let you escape far and wide? You want to leave? Let me tell you, the Soul Perception Gu will stick to you like maggots on bones.” Han Luo swiftly approached Cheng Shan, and a chilling aura surrounded him. “For eternity, you will never be able to shake it off.”

Cheng Shan suddenly became furious. Her hand holding the bow stopped trembling, and she took a step back, resentfully saying, “Don’t come any closer!”

Han Luo continued to approach, coldly smiling. It seemed that the more Cheng Shan feared him, the more interesting he found it. “Are you going to attack? Use your true qi to kill me, and you’ll be famous in the Three Realms in no time.”

Han Luo slightly tilted his head and then, with a low shout, covered his left eye as if truly injured. The remaining right eye slowly lifted, appearing mysterious to Cheng Shan.

Cheng Shan was dumbfounded. “I warned you…”

Cheng Shan stared at the red bow in her hand, unable to believe she had actually hurt Han Luo. Suddenly, a chill spread rapidly through her body, and with a sharp scream, she turned and ran, almost instinctively jumping into the dark river under the waterfall, risking her life to swim downstream.

In her moment of fear, True Qi uncontrollably leaked out. The surface of the dark river gradually froze. As Cheng Shan dove deeper, the ice on the river’s surface thickened. She wasn’t sure if Han Luo was chasing her, but she desperately wanted to escape. Water became her sustenance again. Her body’s potential was triggered to the extreme by extreme fear. In a moment, she swam a considerable distance, touching the boundary of the Demon King Valley once again.

At this moment, Cheng Shan’s fear of Han Luo far exceeded that of Ming Yan. Without hesitation, she lifted the Demon King’s bow in the water, skillfully used her true qi, and shattered the barrier, not daring to pause. She plunged forward in the water, soon emerging from the cave, vaguely seeing the familiar sky underwater.

Cheng Shan surfaced, seeing the bright moonlight, sparkling stars, and the warm breeze. In front of her was lush vegetation, and at night, the sound of frogs echoed from an unknown location. Cheng Shan looked back, and behind her were towering cliffs, confirming that she had reached the outside of the Demon King Valley.

Finally catching a glimpse of a human atmosphere, Cheng Shan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She floated for a while and then, following the current, swam a distance, recuperating in the water. Cheng Shan realized that the water was her sanctuary; the circulation of her qi was faster than when she was outside the water. She seized the opportunity to accumulate true qi. When she opened her eyes again, she found that the path she had taken had turned into an ice surface, turning the midsummer river into an ice road because of her.

Climbing ashore, Cheng Shan lay back in the grass, her mind blank. Just then, a few fireflies flew past her, and Cheng Shan couldn’t help but feel a sense of impending disaster. As expected, Ming Yan stood tall in the air, his eyes filled with puzzlement and shock. “Why do you possess the power of the Samsara True Qi? What about Han Bu Shang?”

Cheng Shan was stunned by the question, immediately regretting her actions. She felt a sense of confusion and regret, and her mind was in a state of turmoil. If she had really injured him, wouldn’t it be a boon for Ming Yan? Seeing her dumbfounded, Ming Yan didn’t press the question further. He raised his arm, and a red fire snake emerged from his sleeve, swiftly moving towards Cheng Shan. It circled around her feet, forming a circle, then slowly ascended, enclosing Cheng Shan.

In the midst of remorse, confusion, and bewilderment, Cheng Shan took a while to realize that she was surrounded by a snake emitting flames. Subconsciously releasing her true qi, the fire snake instantly extinguished and fell to the ground, seemingly afraid of Cheng Shan. Without any resistance, it swam into the bushes and disappeared.

Ming Yan was quite surprised. His fire snake had controlled many cultivators with hundreds of years of cultivation, yet it seemed to meet its nemesis in front of Cheng Shan. He was about to take action against Cheng Shan himself when a thunderous roar erupted from the mountain behind him. The ground beneath his feet trembled, and both Cheng Shan and Ming Yan turned their heads to see a surge of bone soldiers rushing towards the entrance of the cave along the ice road. After the roar, the stone cliff collapsed, and countless rocks and dust fell, mingled with scattered bone fragments.

The entire cliff cracked open, forming a gap of one person’s width. The ice river exploded, and water splashed. Countless bone soldiers fell into the water, but these mindless creatures continued to advance, as if there was an endless target of attack ahead of them.

Cheng Shan thought she had accidentally hurt him in her panic, feeling regret. However, when Han Luo appeared, fear immediately took over her heart. She couldn’t help but feel that beneath his calm exterior, there was deep ruthlessness and cruelty. Her legs went weak, and she couldn’t speak.

Han Luo ignored Cheng Shan, only speaking to Ming Yan: “If you want to compete, let’s compete. First, withdraw these soulless wastes. If you continue to disrupt like this, don’t blame me for not remembering the camaraderie of many years and destroying all your hard work.”

Ming Yan smiled slightly, gesturing a spell in the air. Those bone soldiers lost control and gradually stopped, standing still in their tracks. Ming Yan waved his hand again, and the bone army began to withdraw, sinking into the ground. Ignoring the scattered bone puppets that had turned into fragments, Ming Yan, with a dismissive look, said, “Little brother, I indeed don’t have Brother Han’s methods. To control so many living beings, it’s nothing more than that.” Ming Yan’s eyes sparkled, taking a step forward. “Brother Han, your cultivation hasn’t recovered, wasting your true essence and assisting this little girl all the while. Dare you say such things in front of me without feeling too arrogant?”

 Han Luo casually glanced at Cheng Shan, who was trembling beside him, ignoring her. He spoke to Ming Yan, “Feeling too arrogant? Try it, and you’ll find out.”

As Han Luo spoke, he circulated his true qi, and a fierce wind erupted around him. The momentum soared, causing trees and rocks to scatter in all directions, as if a myriad of blades and arrows were piercing the air, making it impossible to open one’s eyes. Cheng Shan, however, placed her hand over her eyebrows, trying to widen her eyes. She thought this must be the Samsara Qi Blades mentioned by Yin Lin. Her own accidentally-shot energy arrow was probably derived from this.

Ming Yan raised both arms, and suddenly, flames erupted all over his body, making a crackling sound. In an instant, Ming Yan was enveloped in a ball of fire. However, the Samsara true qi did not support the fire, and Ming Yan dared not face the wind directly. He released a thousand flowers of demonic fire into the air, blocking the Samsara Qi Blades while dodging and avoiding Han Luo, never daring to approach him directly.

As Cheng Shan saw Ming Yan turn into a ball of fire, she was amazed. Holding the Demon King’s bow, her hand twitched involuntarily. She thought that, with her affinity for water, she might be able to confront ordinary earthly fire, but compared to Han Luo, who used true qi as his weapon, she was at a disadvantage. However, thinking about it again, her mother’s cultivation must be higher than hers. Even though the dragon king who controlled rainbows lost to her mother and was sealed in an incense burner, her mother’s abilities were definitely superior.

Cheng Shan couldn’t help but sigh in her heart, retracting herself. She thought that, in the end, whoever won the battle between these two would probably turn to deal with her. So, the more she thought about it, the more hesitant she became. After hesitating for a moment, she gritted her teeth. When else could she leave? However, Cheng Shan still leaned towards Han Luo in her heart. Before leaving, she raised the Demon King’s bow, aimed at the dancing fireball in the air, and shot a cold arrow before running away without looking back.

The fireball, disturbed by Cheng Shan’s energy arrow, was hit by a Samsara Qi Blade from Han Luo, freezing momentarily in mid-air. Ming Yan’s Samsara Qi Blades were once considered the top poison in the Netherworld. However, Ming Yan only felt his true qi being slightly hindered, and aside from that, he felt no discomfort. He immediately understood that Han Luo was at the end of his strength. Laughing loudly, he said, “Brother Han, in the Netherworld, you could control countless creatures, ghosts, and demons at will. How come today, with such a blood sacrifice, you can’t deal with a little girl?”

Han Luo turned around, seeing Cheng Shan running like a little rabbit, and couldn’t help but let out a cold snort, marking her with a second demerit in his heart.

Ming Yan seemed to enjoy adding fuel to the fire. Laughing, he said, “How could you bother with such an ungrateful little brat? Is this what they call birds of a feather? Brother Han, aren’t you afraid that one day the farmer will get bitten by the snake he raised? Oh, no, perhaps,” Ming Yan smiled, appreciating the blood on Han Luo’s left eye, “it seems you’ve already been bitten? But I should thank that little girl. Without her, how could I be your opponent and invite you back to the Netherworld?”

As Ming Yan’s words fell, he approached. His entire body transformed into a tangled mass of blue, purple, and black flames, rushing towards Han Luo with a whistling wind. However, Han Luo suddenly frowned, unable to muster the slightest bit of true qi in his body. Unable to dodge, he was hit in the chest by the flames. The fire did not burn an inch of skin or damage his clothes; instead, it quietly entered his chest and disappeared without a trace.

Han Luo suddenly felt as if his heart and lungs were being burned by the flames. His consciousness scattered, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, falling to the ground.