That day, Wen Fengli lost three important things.

The first one was Annu, who was her faithful friend, and a trustworthy companion. The Air Cutter technique cut his head off before the sheepboy knew what’s happening. His eyes were still wide open and reddened with tears pricking them, as it rolled on the ground, leaving red stains in its wake.

The other important thing she lost, was the amulet that allowed her to transform her very soul into a shape she desired. Well, she didn’t completely lose it yet- if she focused and followed the magical thread, she’d be sure to find it sooner or later. But there was a slight problem with that plan- for right here, right now, there was a rather annoying human-shaped obstacle shooting a barrage of fire and ice shards in her general direction.

This leads us to the third thing she was going to lose soon…

………..

The goal of every cultivator was Immortality Ascension. It was when their soul, over the course of countless years of training and meditation, reached such a level of purity, that it was removed from the cycle of death and rebirth, and admitted to the heavenly realm.

It was common knowledge that one lifespan wouldn’t be enough to reach such a lofty goal. Thus, even when they died, those who devoted their lives to qi refinement knew that their soul, the condensed qi energy that retained its consciousness after death, would not scatter as yaren or animals do; but rather reincarnate into another sentient being, and their quest to immortality would continue.

Chen Mengyao advanced several levels throughout his life already. Each time, a sticky, black substance that bordered in an ambiguous realm between solid, liquid and gas, would be exerted from his every orifice, and dissipate. This was known as Impurity, the condensed form of imperfections, regrets, negative emotions, and inner demons that plague the soul and prevent it from reaching the heavens.

Thus, the true quest for immortality is one of not only obtaining raw power but also honing one’s moral character. Bai Caoren taught that the reason why no one achieved immortality in centuries was that the cultivator world became corrupt and forgot that vital component.

Coincidentally, when a person died in brutal and sudden circumstances, the impurity of their soul sometimes lingered behind as the so-called “resentful energy” and anchored them to the mortal realm.

Right now, in the midst of the overcrowded encampment, countless people were dying in exactly such fashion. Taken down by exploding arrows, cut down by yaren soldiers, or trampled by their own friends and family as the latter desperately tried to escape the carnage, their bodies would exert resentful energy as soon as the light of their lives was snuffed.

And, Chen Mengyao’s opponent was actively utilizing that same energy in combat, aiming to take him down.

Although the title of “martial hero” was mostly just a disguise meant to allow him, a Wuyun spy, to travel the land incognito, he actually did his fair share of undead exorcism. He wasn’t quite unused to fighting monsters that utilized such an unholy source of power. But unlike them, this particular opponent wasn’t mindless, which made her many times more dangerous.

For now, he decided to stay on the defensive and let her tire herself. Just like his master, Chen Mengyao preferred internal arts of external, and his combat style prioritized evasion and indirect movements over direct confrontation.

This was, right now, in direct opposition to Wen Fengli’s erratic and dynamic movement. She went berserk and was seeking direct confrontation, chasing after him as he kept retreating all over the burning camp.

Let her tire herself out and wait for openings….

……….

A barrage of black projectiles.

Explosive balls of dark energy.

And last, of all, a thick dark shield, protecting her from the bullet hell of elemental projectiles Chen Mengyao shot at her. The shards of ice would just turn into steam as soon as they hit the black shield; the tiny fireballs would snuff on impact as if they were never there in the first place.

Fengli, until now, had no idea that resentful energy could be utilized that way. She just wanted to shield herself from Air Cutter, and this appeared on its own, summoned by her instinctive need for protection. Now then, she was hardly the most scientific type out there, but this begged the question of what other uses of this substance could there be.

After the barrage of fire and ice projectiles ceased, she envisioned the shield enveloping her entire body like a barrier, and it did as she imagined. However, she couldn’t see anything inside the black hole, which was far from perfect.

——What if it moved?

In a rare moment of ingenuity, she forced the energies around her to swirl, occasionally opening up in places, and closing immediately afterwards, like a dark tornado.

Through the gaps in the storm, she saw Chen Mengyao standing some distance away, his sword already drawn.

——Ah, if only she had a sword too.

No matter. She extended her hand forward and shot a ball of energy at the opponent. She imagined it tracing him whenever he went….alas, the ball shot as straight as always, and exploded upon hitting the ground.

Looked like there were some limits to these abilities after all.

Not a problem. She’d just do like she did to Jiangshi- pin him in melee and shoot at point blanc. This time Annu wasn’t there to disturb her….

And there wouldn’t be ever again.

Suddenly, she realized that the sheepboy was dead.

It’s not like she didn’t see it happen a moment ago, but being hyperfocused on defending herself and among defeating roar of elemental projectiles hitting everything around her, that information wasn’t quite processed until now.

A feeling of grief and rage overtook her, and she charged at the enemy, wishing to make him pay.

However, the coward just kept retreating, dancing around and laughing at her. He didn’t even counterattack, just got out of her way each time she was about to clash with him. That of course, only made her more enraged, and more willing to exact vengeance.

-He mustn’t be allowed to escape!

She shot another ball of energy, and quickly followed it with a widespread shower of smaller projectiles, not leaving him a single opportunity to break out. As expected, he summoned an elemental shield of stone and ice, hiding beneath it…

All according to the plan! Fengli jumped up and descended at…absolutely nothing. There was nothing behind the shield!?

Where did he go? She was frantically looking around, trying to find her target. Suddenly, the ground beneath her lit up, and a fiery explosion enveloped her.

….To no effect at all! Her stormy shield mitigated all damage she could have sustained.

“Haha, cheap tricks won’t save you!” she laughed, though she wasn’t certain if he heard her over countless screams and explosions shocking the battlefield right now.

And, actually, she didn’t quite care if he could hear her or not, because in her mind he was dead meat. Locating her target once again, she charged in pursuit.

-Is this how wolves felt when hunting for prey?

Yet he kept dodging, evading, running….did he hope she would give up or run out of energy at a certain point? A futile wish! This place, at this point in time, was inherently skewed in her favor!

-It is you who will tire first, cultivator!

Although Fengli was mostly hyperfocused on Chen Mengyao, it didn’t escape her attention that at a certain point during their fight a camp was showered in a rain of burning arrows, inflicting causalities upon the refugees and causing panic and fires everywhere around.

And every time a person was hit and died, a shadow of resentful energy was produced from their corpse, becoming a new source of the power of hers.

Thus there were hundreds, if not thousands of power sources all around her! What did he have, just his own qi? Weak, so weak!

She heard herself laughing, as another ingenious idea crossed her mind in that instant.

She raised her hand- not to the front, but up, as if pointing to the sky…and manifested a dozen orbs of dark energy, circling over her head like some kind of halo.

And then they shot in random directions, exploding and destroying everything in their path.

And immediately after that, significant amounts of resentful energy were added to her own.

——My, what a ripe harvest!

She laughed once again and continued shooting orbs and projectiles in random directions around her. For each human she killed, more and more power was absorbed into her, growing her dark shield further, and further around, and eventually even adding several layers to it. If before she was like a metaphorical tornado, then right now, she became a literal whirlpool of black wind, slowly expanding and swallowing everything around her.

“Evade that, Chen Mengyao!” she screamed once again, at no one in particular. She had long lost sight of her target, but it didn’t bother her, because she was planning to destroy everything in a single, all power-full area of effect attack.

Just as she was gathering energy to summon a huge orb and do just that, she fell herself coughing. At first, it was light, but soon, it transformed into a violent fit. Her focus was broken, and the orb above her dissipated.

Blood….and lots of it, mixed with white foam, sprinkled on the ground and tainted her clothes. And when it hit, it formed…moving, geometrical patterns..?

She tried touching it, but for some reason, her hands didn’t reach it. She thought they would, but then remembered she was still standing up. Of course, she couldn’t touch the blood on the ground….haha.

…….

Chen Mengyao knew now is the best and possibly the only chance he was going to get to turn this battle in his favor. Wen Fengli was succumbing to the effects of qi deviation and wasn’t paying him any attention. What’s better, the dark storm protecting her lost a lot of its intensity as well!

He suppressed his qi output, making sure he wouldn’t be accidentally sensed by the enemy, and circled around, his sword at the ready. He couldn’t just shoot an elemental bullet in her direction, because even that had a trace of qi within it, and would betray his location.

……..

Wen Fengli was down on her knees, desperately gasping for breath. Her heart was beating madly, and her entire body felt hot as if she was on fire.

What was the poetic description of qi deviation again?

*To catch fire and be entered by devils*

The deafening sound playing in her head formed words and answered her unspoken question.

But it didn’t matter, none of that mattered, Chen Mengyao, she had to find Chen Mengyao, the battle wasn’t over yet!

She tried summoning an orb of energy but her fingers felt numb and didn’t listen to her commands. Shifting geometrical patterns spread over all of her vision, and were preventing her from clearly seeing around.

A headless bipedal lizard ran nearby. Wait, it wasn’t a lizard, it was a chicken! A huge, oversized headless chicken running around the place like it owned it!

She laughed at the thought and coughed more blood.

*All power…*

…demands sacrifice. That’s right, long ago, she used to repeat these words like a mantra over and over again. How could she forget? And the gritting sound of gears that formed the words, wasn’t that familiar, too?

Her nostalgic train of thoughts was broken by a sudden realization she wasn’t breathing heavily anymore. In fact, she wasn’t breathing at all. Was she dead?

ꟻɘnϱli waved her arm in front of her face. Or at least she thought it was an arm. Maybe it was a log, maybe it was a blade?

Terrified, she realized she couldn’t classify the shape of her own arm as anything tangible. Were these fingers? Were these fishing nets? Wooden chopsticks!? …With little eyes all over their surface, looking at her, mocking her…

Suddenly, she noticed something protruding from the left side of her chest. A…what was it called again?

“drows A”

A cold voice answered for her. But she didn’t quite catch what it said. She examined the object again and touched its surface, trying to investigate its nature. But to no avail- she couldn’t feel anything….

Her vision flashed red, and she collapsed in the puddle of her own blood.

The third thing Wen Fengli lost this day, was her life.