Aunt Su lay collapsed like a shattered butterfly beneath the cold stone pillar. Blood spread beneath her, her life energy so faint it was like a candle flame. Her pale face beneath the shattered mask carried a trace of regret at not being able to witness the ending with her own eyes, along with deep hidden relief.
"Auntie."
Tang Xiaoqi's grief-filled cry was heartrending. Watching this relative who had given him countless helps and ultimately gave her life for him collapse before his eyes, that heart-piercing pain instantly overwhelmed the pain from his shoulder and leg wounds, transforming into a raging inferno of fury and infinite grief burning through his five viscera and six bowels.
Ahead, just having broken free from the restraint of Aunt Su's life-costing forbidden technique, Xu Zhan's demonic energy erupted like a boiling volcano. The crimson spear was raised once more. Within those hollow scarlet eyes, that brief flicker of struggle had been thoroughly buried by even more violent rage. The demonic entity fragment's sinister laughter echoed in his knowledge sea, filled with vengeful pleasure and the complacency of controlling everything.
Liu Yun's white shooting star had already resolutely crashed into Xu Zhan. Sword light and spear shadow collided intensely once more, erupting in earth-shaking booms. Liu Yun employed an utterly desperate fighting style, using attack as defense, attempting to forcibly hold down Xu Zhan with the fiercest offensive to buy Xiaoqi even one more instant of time. But her tiger's mouth had long since shattered, her internal organs injured. Each head-on exchange caused her to spit blood. Her sword light dimmed visibly to the naked eye.
Mu Qingfeng's summoned water dragon scroll fiercely impacted the altar's edge but was like crashing into an invisible wall. It merely caused that crimson crystal to slightly sway, unable to break through the altar's own protection at all. His face was pale, blood constantly dripping from the corners of his lips. He had clearly also reached his limit.
There was no time. Liu Yun could not hold on much longer. Once Xu Zhan thoroughly broke free from interference, or once the demonic entity fragment had leisure to act, everyone would die without a place for burial.
Xiaoqi's eyes were crimson red, blood tears streaming down his face. He watched that spear being raised again, about to swing toward Liu Yun. He watched that Soul-Controlling Jade floating above the altar, continuously drawing his father's soul power. He watched the demonic entity fragment's fuzzy and ferocious black shadow.
Despair and fury burned his soul like wildfire.
No. It absolutely could not end like this. Auntie could not have died in vain. Father, must not be forever lost.
A crazy idea, to the extreme, like a final flash of lightning, cleaved open the mind of his filled with grief and indignation.
Since he could not get close, could not destroy the Soul-Controlling Jade, then he would directly awaken his father. Using his most fundamental power, using this unbreakable bloodline connection, to impact, to purify the demonic thoughts imprisoning his father's soul.
He abruptly stopped his charge toward the altar. He stood just at the edge of where the spear shadows raged, less than ten zhang from Xu Zhan. Ignoring the terrifying pressure that could tear him apart at any moment, his hands abruptly formed a seal. This was not an attack seal but rather, he poured all his concentration, will, along with the nearly exhausted purification origin within his body, and the last drawable fundamental power from the Four Symbols Jade Pendant on his chest that was covered in cracks yet still connected to his life. In a self-destructive manner, he forcibly extracted, fused them.
"Father."
He let out a cry from the deepest part of his soul. This cry was no longer the previous pain and questioning but contained all his longing for his father, all his understanding, all his unwillingness, and the most pure, deepest protection and call from the bottom of the Xu family's bloodline.
Hum.
That jade pendant on his chest covered with cracks, at this moment responded to the host's utterly desperate will and bloodline resonance, and burst forth unprecedented brilliant light. That light was no longer single-colored green, white, crimson, black, but fused into a chaotic yet holy radiance.
This radiance did not spread outward but, like a living thing, transformed into a condensed to the extreme light column containing the purification origin and Four Symbols balance intention. It did not shoot toward the Soul-Controlling Jade but crossed space, ignoring the violent demonic energy, directly through that mysteriously existing, uncuttable bloodline connection, forcibly poured into Xu Zhan's chest. Poured into that soul core buried deep within the demonic energy, imprisoned by the Soul-Controlling Jade.
This was not an attack but a gamble. A dangerous to the extreme attempt to directly connect his own origin with his father's soul. Succeed, and perhaps it could awaken a trace of his father's true spirit. Fail, and his own origin would suffer unimaginable backlash, or he might even be polluted and assimilated by demonic energy following this connection.
"Ugh ah ah."
The instant that chaotic light column passed through the bloodline connection into Xu Zhan's chest, Xu Zhan's spear that was about to swing down suddenly froze midair. He let out a roar more mournful and more painful than any before.
This time, it was no longer simply the rage of being controlled but was filled with the extreme pain brought by two forces fiercely clashing at the deepest level of his soul.
The violent demonic energy boiling around him was like being thrown into a cauldron of scalding stones. It churned and scattered violently. The body within that dark armor trembled madly. Both handsclutched his head hard, as if something was trying to tear out from within.
Within his hollow scarlet eyes, the dense violence and death were retreating like an ebbing tide. Instead, scenes flashing rapidly like a carousel appeared, filled with struggle, pain, guilt, and a faint yet extremely clear, belonging to "Xu Zhan" himself spark of sobriety.
Within that sobriety, reflected was Xiaoqi's blood-soaked, tear-streaked yet resolute figure.
"Xiao, Qi."
An extremely faint, intermittent sound, as if using up all strength to squeeze from the depths of his soul's cracks, carrying infinite pain and tenderness, like a candle in the wind, lightly echoed within Xu Zhan's throat. It also clearly entered Xiaoqi's ears.
Father, heard his call. He responded.
"Father." Xiaoqi wept profusely. His heart surged with tremendous wild joy and deeper sorrow. He maintained that origin light column's transmission. He felt his body and soul being emptied, but he dared not relax in the slightest.
"Bastard." Above the altar, the demonic entity fragment let out a sky-shaking roar of extreme fury. The Soul-Controlling Jade upon which it relied flashed black light frantically. It tried to re-stabilize its control over Xu Zhan's soul. But that light column forcibly poured through the bloodline connection, containing purification and Four Symbols balance power, was like the most stubborn nail,firmly nailed to the core of Xu Zhan's soul, interfering with its absolute control.
Xu Zhan's body became a battlefield. On one side was the demonic entity fragment and Soul-Controlling Jade's demonic thought erosion. On the other was Xiaoqi's purification and call poured with life as the wager. His movements completely stopped. He struggled violently in place. His facial expression twisted and changed, sometimes demonic like a demon, sometimes agonizing, sometimes flashing a complex expression belonging to his father filled with guilt and resolution.
The bloodline's ultimate call had finally penetrated a hundred years of demonic barriers, touching the deeply buried soul. However, this also thoroughly enraged the demonic entity fragment, pushing the battle toward an even more dangerous, even more unpredictable situation. Beneath the momentary stalemate was a more terrifying storm brewing.