Chapter 1415: Chapter 26: Primordial Saint (2)

Primordial Saint had cultivated under the Holy Emperor for many years, and had once, through a special Secret Technique, sworn a Life Oath.

It was said.

This Life Oath forced his breakthrough, letting him step into the Yang God Realm... but the price was that he could never again move about in a "human body." That deal was naturally worth it; if you offered it to the vast majority of Venerables in the Demon Country, they would agree without the slightest hesitation. However, Ao Ying had heard from other channels that the price Primordial Saint paid was not just that; guarding the mountain gate of Great Ape Mountain also seemed to be one of the conditions of that Life Oath.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The sandy ground let out a series of vast tremors.

A few breaths later, Ao Ying finally saw the face of the newcomer clearly...

"That guy isn’t going to the Northern Border Great Wall—what the hell is he doing coming to the Ruins?"

Ao Ying’s pupils shrank, and she couldn’t help cursing in her heart.

Speak of the devil and he appears—it really was that Primordial Saint of Great Ape Mountain!

With the Great Divine Power User Primordial Saint leading the team, behind him surged a mighty Demon Tide... There actually weren’t many of them, only a bit over a hundred, but they exuded a terrifying aura. Every one of these Great Demons was an elite, a famed powerhouse of Great Ape Mountain with name and reputation, all at least in the Qi-controlling Realm.

They stepped into the Ruins and laid down a Demon Pattern Array, which seemed to be resisting the wind and sand, but in truth was concealing their presence.

No one knew what this squad’s goal was, but stepping into the Ruins this time was clearly "moving under cover of another route," with another purpose in mind.

"Damn it..."

Ao Ying had originally planned to withdraw her aura and hide away.

But after Primordial Saint discovered the talisman, he changed direction and headed straight toward her.

And then.

The sound of wind and thunder tearing through the sky had already rung out.

Boom!

A massive wild boulder, like a cannonball, tore across the heavens and came crashing toward Ao Ying with pinpoint accuracy.

This was a casual throw from Primordial Saint, following the aura of the talisman.

"!!!"

But for Ao Ying, a Yin God Realm Cultivator, this already counted as a life-and-death calamity.

"Feng Mou, open!"

Ao Ying clenched her teeth so hard they almost broke and poured Essence Blood into it.

That scarlet vertical pupil snapped open.

"Wbuzz!"

Across dozens of zhang, Ao Ying used the Feng Mou to make the void tremble, directly shattering that giant boulder, which then burst apart in midair into countless fragments!

Clatter-clatter.

Innumerable shards of rock fell like fireworks.

But the crisis was far from over.

Twenty li away, the Great Ape narrowed its eyes. It might not be able to take human form, and its demon body looked unbearably clumsy and stupid.

Yet if one looked carefully, one would discover.

Those eyes... were exceedingly bright and keen.

"Oh?"

The Great Ape let out a soft sound of surprise.

The stone it had casually thrown had been shattered by a tremor in the void.

Twenty li away, in the wind and sand, there seemed to be an unremarkable figure sitting hidden.

With a swish.

The Great Ape moved. It ignored the Demon Tide behind it, planted its feet on the desert ground, and slightly crouched.

The next instant—

The void exploded with sound as the Great Ape turned itself into a cannonball, stamping the ground and shooting out.

...

...

This was the second time Ao Ying had directly faced a Yang God Realm Great Divine Power User.

The previous time had been three days ago.

This time.

Even greater despair rose in her heart.

The instant she was locked onto by Primordial Saint’s Divine Thought, she knew that even if she had nine lives, they wouldn’t be enough.

No time for fear, no time to hesitate.

There wasn’t even time to run.

Ao Ying had never imagined that the movement speed of Primordial Saint’s clumsy body would be this fast!

That boulder had just shattered; the rain of stone in the sky hadn’t even hit the ground yet, and the ten-li and five-li talisman formations she had arranged were already smashed apart. A colossal pale figure like a mountain appeared in front of her in an instant. Ao Ying raised her eyes, and what she saw at this moment... was an eye that, even narrowed to slits, was still larger than her entire body.

Primordial Saint didn’t waste a single extra word.

He did not know Ao Ying, nor could he be bothered to know her.

Having confirmed that a living being existed in the void.

There was only one thing he would do...

Exterminate.

"Rumble-rumble-rumble."

The thunder in the void was still roaring; a vast wind pressure swept out. Ao Ying no longer even had the Heart Power to drive the Feng Mou. With a pale face she felt that gang wind, which seemed capable of grinding her to dust, surging in from both sides—that was Primordial Saint’s palms slapping down toward her.

The whole world was plunged into pitch-black darkness in that instant.

Fate was fucking bullshit.

Ao Ying’s lips twitched; she had the sudden urge to curse someone’s mother.

Just a few dozen breaths ago, she’d still been worrying about "Xie Xuanyi"?

Who could have imagined.

The real unlucky bastard was actually herself.

If time could turn back, if fate could be re-chosen, then Ao Ying would rather go head-to-head with that Filthy Spirit tide...

At least there’d have been the tiniest sliver of a chance to escape.

Taken head-on by a slap from a Primordial Saint, she probably wouldn’t even have a shot at Reincarnation, right?

In that brief instant.

Countless thoughts flashed through Ao Ying’s mind like lightning.

The wind howled over, heaven and earth drowned in annihilating silence.

Right then, from deep beneath the desert came a sound—extremely soft, yet incomparably sharp.

"Ssshhk!"

Along with that faint tearing sound.

Countless grains of flying sand shattered as a black-robed figure shot up into the air. Black and white Sword Qi swirled around him, smashing all the sand in the sky to dust. In just an instant, he streaked unerringly to the Heavenly Peak, coming level with Ao Ying’s height.

The gale screamed.

The cutting wind swept in.

The Primordial Saint brought both hands together and slammed down with all his might. A spray of scarlet blood-mist exploded between heaven and earth.

And then.

A low, furious, pain-filled roar echoed through the world.

"...Aoo!"

The snow-white Great Ape looked as if it had slapped a hedgehog. Its expression twisted in agony; it retreated just as fast as it had rushed in. That massive body staggered backward, smashing several Sand Mountains in succession. The Primordial Saint stared painfully at his own palm—right at the spot where he had clapped his hands together, two half-moon chunks of flesh had been "gouged" out of the center of his palm. Put together, they formed a perfectly round, sunken circular hollow.

When that cloud of blood-mist dispersed.

In the void.

A black-robed figure hung there quietly, two strands of black-and-white Sword Qi whipping like dragon whiskers, weaving together a Primordial Sword Domain that fit perfectly into the missing flesh of the Primordial Saint’s palm.

The sword domain wasn’t large.

Only three zhang across.

But within that three zhang, no wind or sand could enter, no Killing Intent could invade.

"Xie... Xie Xuanyi..."

Ao Ying had already steeled herself for death.

This life-saving Sword Qi had come too fast; even now, she still hadn’t fully processed it.

Her heart was pounding like a war drum as she stared blankly at the scene before her, feeling it all unreal.

Shh, shh, shh...

Xie Xuanyi brushed at his shoulder, flicking off the broken sand and stone clinging to his clothes.

"No need to worry."

Xie Xuanyi spoke calmly, expression relaxed.

"Since you’ve chosen to follow me, I won’t let you die like this."

"Xie Xuanyi..."

Ao Ying’s eyes grew a little red as she gritted her teeth. "I thought you’d died down there..."

She didn’t know why.

The moment she saw that black robe appear, her heart instantly went quiet and at peace.

The crushing pressure brought by the Primordial Saint... vanished in an instant. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"..."

Xie Xuanyi looked at Ao Ying in silence, a little surprised to hear those words.

Ao Ying also froze for a moment.

Even she hadn’t expected herself to say something like that.

She’d cultivated in the Demon Country for so many years.

Ao Ying had feigned closeness to who knew how many "young nobles," how many "Holy Land Geniuses"... In all honesty, she’d always thought of herself as someone fake to the core, cold and utterly heartless; those ties were nothing more than playing along with the act.

Only, in these three days of bitterly standing guard over the Earth Abyss, she had indeed felt worry and anxiety rising in her heart.

To be fair, most of that worry was over her bright future—finally within reach—possibly going up in smoke.

But there was, at the end of the day... a little something different.

"Sorry, stayed down there a bit longer than planned."

Xie Xuanyi said lightly, flicking his sleeve.

From within the sand, a Flying Sword burst out of the ground and shot into his sleeve.

He had left a Flying Sword condensed with Sword Intent by Ao Ying’s side.

After exiting the Imagination World, every rustle of grass and shift of wind around these Ruins fell within Xie Xuanyi’s sensing.

The anomaly from the Array Talismans twenty li away, Xie Xuanyi had sensed it even faster than Ao Ying.

Once he detected something wrong, he’d left the Primordial Immortal Hall at once and rushed for the surface.

It was just that the Earth Abyss entrance was too long, and the Primordial Saint’s strike came too quickly...

He had almost not made it in time.

Still, even if he had been a step "slower," there was no need to worry; to trigger the Flying Sword would take but an instant.

One way or another.

Ao Ying’s life was going to be saved.