Chapter 138: A Perilous Battle

“This place is deeply sinister,” Little White Bear whispered.

A question she had overlooked suddenly occurred to her, and Yu Youwei quickly asked, “Are Rain Yan and the others in this space too?”

Little White Bear replied completely off the point, “Bear Lord didn’t notice any creatures from the Demon Realm here before.”

“I really feel like strangling you, you useless fool!” Yu Youwei scolded in a low voice, then said helplessly, “Get them out of here at once. I’m going in to retrieve the Red Flame Sword.”

“Fire counters demonic creatures. Why not just burn this whole tangle of woods down and be done with it? Besides, where is Bear Lord supposed to find a safer place at such short notice to shelter all those old, weak, sick, and injured members of the Yu family?” Little White Bear said, somewhat unwillingly.

Yu Youwei shot the cub a cold glance and snapped, “What if the fire fails to kill those creatures from the Demon Realm and instead alerts something even more powerful? Are we all supposed to die together?”

Little White Bear said with certainty, “The demonic aura here isn’t particularly strong. There can’t possibly be anything more powerful.”

“Are you sure?”

“Bear Lord is absolutely certain. Any creature from the Demon Realm that could be injured by the damaged Red Flame Sword can’t be all that strong, even if it is powerful. Come on. Bear Lord will go in with you. There’s no need to be afraid.”

“Hmph. If even you, a cowardly glutton who’s terrified of death, aren’t afraid, what have I got to fear?”

Yu Youwei leaped down from the tree stump and walked toward the tangle of woods.

In the silent forest, poisonous vines were everywhere. Vines covered in tiny black blossoms wound around the trunks and branches of the pines. Fallen leaves were caught in the dense mesh of creepers, making the outlines of the trees seem thick and indistinct. At first glance, it looked as though countless gray-green beasts had crawled out of the earth—sinister and dangerous.

Yu Youwei skimmed lightly over the fallen leaves, approaching the Red Flame Sword with extreme caution. Five hundred meters into the forest, she saw the sword suspended motionless in midair and nearly cried out.

Ten meters away, the dark-red eyes that had carried off the Red Flame Sword were set into the eye sockets of a giant’s corpse.

It was the corpse of a giant that had died standing upright. There was scarcely a scrap of flesh left on its body. Its long, thin neck, supporting that enormous head, looked more like a chicken’s neck. Its jutting hipbones were wedged between two trees, while poisonous vines wound around the corpse and pinned it in place, making it appear to be limping along on some endless journey. Though it had been dead for who knew how many years, its sickly pale skin had not rotted, and there was no sign of any fatal wound. The dark-red glow in its eyes made the corpse seem almost alive.

“Split open its skull. There’s a demonic core inside, and that’s far more delicious than spirit stones or demon cores,” Little White Bear said greedily, clicking its tongue.

“You glutton. All you ever think about is eating.” Yu Youwei cursed and flicked out the Azure Frost Sword.

A streak of azure light flashed across the space and stopped before the corpse, less than a hair’s breadth from its perfectly intact dark-red eye. It could go no farther. At the same time, a force surged back along the tip of the sword. The blade suddenly trembled violently, as though it were about to wrench itself free of her control.

“Thousand-Foot Flame Wave!”

With a sharp cry, Yu Youwei changed her hand seal and urged the Red Flame Sword into action from afar. Fiery sword light erupted like a surging tide, instantly engulfing the corpse. It rolled forward like a raging sea. Though it did not truly stretch a thousand feet, it reached several dozen meters, dyeing the entire tangle of woods crimson.

The force pulling at the Azure Frost Sword vanished. Its tip suddenly shot forward through the flames, and a cloud of blood-red mist, deeper and more vivid than the fire itself, exploded within the fiery tide and wrapped around the blade. Yu Youwei could see only a faint azure gleam flickering in the blood mist. Afraid that the Azure Frost Sword might be damaged, she drove the Red Flame Sword with all her strength.

Flames roared along the entire length of the Red Flame Sword. The blood mist enshrouding the Azure Frost Sword quickly thinned. The pair of dark-red eyes, bright as stars, gradually dimmed. From ten meters away, Yu Youwei could clearly see the pleading expression in them. Her heart softened, and for a moment she even considered stopping.

“Put in a little more force and refine the creature,” Little White Bear called out, dispelling the trace of hesitation in her heart.

“Flames Seal a Thousand Miles!”

Brilliant fire swept outward in every direction, soon covering a hundred-meter radius. The cloud patterns on the lotus-colored robe gifted to Yu Youwei by the Water Ancestor began to flow, resembling drifting clouds coiling around her and making her look like an immortal descending upon the mortal world.

The radiant flames rolled and surged. Stones, vegetation, and trees were reduced to ash, yet her robe remained completely unharmed.

This robe from the Water Ancestor really is excellent, Yu Youwei thought.

That moment of distraction caused the pair of eyes pierced by the two swords to suddenly blaze with light. Like a jungle beast waiting to pounce on its prey, they released two streams of blood-colored radiance.

The sword spirit within the Red Flame Sword let out a furious roar. “Damn you! How dare you try to trick me!”

Instead of retreating, the sword drove forward. Half the blade burst through the back of the corpse’s skull, while the blood-colored radiance from its dark-red eyes scattered into mist.

The Azure Frost Sword was flung away and shot toward Yu Youwei along with the blood-colored radiance.

“Fall back!” Little White Bear shouted.

The creature, usually so fearful of death, transformed into a streak of white light and fled toward the edge of the forest.

Yu Youwei’s figure flashed sharply to the left. The instant she moved, the Azure Frost Sword had already transformed into a bracelet around her right wrist. The blood-colored radiance slammed into her right arm, piercing through her sleeve.

A stabbing pain tore through her. Yu Youwei groaned and seized her right hand with her left. Power surged through her palm, and blazing red energy rapidly enveloped the entire arm, suppressing the blood-colored radiance and preventing it from spreading upward.

The blood in her right arm quickly evaporated. Two different forces twisted and tore at her flesh and sinews. The indescribable agony made her wish she could cut the arm off—if only she could still control either the Azure Frost Sword or the Red Flame Sword.

“Auntie!”

Sensing a living presence approaching from outside the forest, Yu Youwei’s heart sank. Then she heard a familiar cry, as sweet as music from heaven.

“Little Five!” she called joyfully, though her voice was so faint that even she could barely hear it.

Ye Wu flew in from beyond the forest and caught Yu Youwei in his arms. He rolled up her sleeve and saw that the flesh of her entire arm had burst open. Two energies were entangled within it, tearing at each other, while the exposed bones rapidly took on a lurid red hue.

He cultivated water-based techniques and did not dare interfere recklessly. Anxiety and pain appeared on his handsome face. He took out a Jade Profound Pill, a supreme elixir for replenishing vital essence, and placed it in her mouth before surveying the surrounding scene.

The sword spirit of the Red Flame Sword had gone berserk. Fiery radiance surged furiously from the blade, and the temperature of the air continued to rise. Within the reach of the flames, the ground, stones, and trees were reduced to ash, leaving only the corpse behind. With no poisonous vines to bind it and no trees to support it, the corpse had fallen rigidly to the ground.

At the edge of the fire, poisonous vines and the branches of the tangled trees were baked until they ignited spontaneously, crackling in a great chorus. Yet within the flames, the silence was strangely eerie. The soil burned away, exposing rocks that melted into scarlet lava, but the corpse remained perfectly intact. Only a faint blood-red glow welled from its eye sockets before quickly dissolving into mist.

Without time to examine the bizarre corpse closely, Ye Wu carried Yu Youwei beyond the reach of the flames and waited for her either to purge the blood-colored energy that had invaded her right arm or for him to sever the limb.

Looking at the face twisted by pain, Ye Wu felt an indescribable ache in his heart. The blood-colored radiance was breaking through the suppression of her power and showed signs of spreading upward. He should have severed her right arm immediately, but he could not bring himself to do it.

“Auntie, keep going!”