Lie Huo Jiao Chou Chapter 23

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The heavy sword was nowhere to be seen, yet… there was a "person" sitting in there.

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　　"What the heck is it now?!"

　　After all, Xuan Ji was a person that had gone everywhere and seen many botanical gardens, yet this was the first time he saw the type of flowers that would turn into liquid at one wrong move like this.

　Since his sword "ran away from home," his fate has become extremely b.u.mpy. While it got "possessed" by the great devil, at least the devil was clean and hygienic, but if it were to be smeared with the "period" of the white flowers, how could he ever put it on his back again later?

　　Were there so much requirements just for a man to carry something on his back?

　　But Xuan Ji's hands were full because of the goatee guy and couldn't pick up the sword, so he had to utilize all limbs —— he kicked the sword up from the ground, carried the goatee guy, then ran after the sword while it was midair, planning to pick it up by his leg so it wouldn't get soaked with the "blood soup".

　　But that was just his plan. His leg had still yet to touch the sword when the blood-like flower liquid, already halfway to its destination, suddenly defied gravity and formed an unnatural curve, spraying horizontally.

　　Midair, the blood-like flower liquid weaved out some red clouds. It turned into mystifying mist when it touched Xuan Ji's wings, creating a magnificent sight in the process. But suddenly, the goatee guy screamed b.l.o.o.d.y murder. Only some small drops of blood-like liquid fell on the back of his hand, yet his hand already looked like it was met with some kind of acid and corroded on the spot!

　　Xuan Ji was startled for a moment, he didn't know whether it was because his wings' temperature was still high, but the red mist around him was getting more dense. The mist rose to the top of the cavern, quickly solidifying when it touched the ice-cold rock, before falling down just like rain.

　　Xuan Ji, a human-bird, while he didn't produce acid rain himself, he had obviously become an acid rain carrier.

　　Seeing the acid rain he burned to create was right on his head, he could only care about the living first, so he turned to the sword's direction and said: "This is embarra.s.sing, senior, when we come back I will use '84'* to disinfect you!"

*a highly effective disinfectant

　　As he spoke, Xuan Ji stepped harshly on his feet, the big wings expanded around his person and created a barrier no water or fire could penetrate and barely covered two people.

　　At the same time, the heavy sword along with "the b.l.o.o.d.y rain" made a clunking sound and fell into the lake in the middle of the room.

　　Xuan Ji was startled by this sound and immediately looked out from the gap between his wings — because this sound was not the sound of a heavy object falling into a large body of water, but the sound of metal b.u.mping into each other, making a sound like wind chimes.

　　Right now, only now did he realize, it was because under the lake there was a platform made of stone, just right where the water line ended, so if one looked from the side they wouldn't notice anything and could only see it by looking down from above.

　　And what was on the stone platform…

　　Right afterward, Xuan Ji saw clearly and his eyes suddenly widened —

　　There on the stone platform was an empty coffin whose lid was opened, and his sword directly fell into the coffin!

　　Before he ran there to pick it up, a series of quick heartbeats flitted through his chest, like a steel cone was being stabbed into his heart. A cold, hollowed, and painful feeling surged up like a tsunami, making him unable to breathe for a moment.

　　But the feelings were gone right after they arrived like it was some kind of resonance from far away, and at the same time, the diluted blood-like flower water poured heavily into the lake, the clear water turned red in a blink of an eye and looking horrifying.

　　Xuan Ji suddenly realized, the devil hadn't had any moves for some time now.

　　Sheng Lingyuan felt like all of his senses were plugged, his senses were abnormally quiet, and in a moment, he suddenly hoped for some luck that those blood or water alike would form a coc.o.o.n, thicker and thicker until it locked him inside, muting his ears and eyes, and he got to hide until the end of time.

　　But still… he couldn't hide.

　　At a young age, he understood clearly this life lesson — for him, there was not a single square meter on earth that would shelter his escape.

　　To sleep peacefully, to gasp for breath, to take a rest… for him, all was a delusion.

　　His memory was like an awakened monster, opening its eyes and b.l.o.o.d.y mouth at him.

　　When the heavy sword buzzed, the whole cave trembled, the flowers on the walls withered, the lake took the coffin as its center and formed a whirlpool, right after that, the water surface receded for some reason, like it was sucked in by something in the middle of the coffin.

　　When the blood water in the lake was drained dry and the water became clear and pure, a scene of "once the water subsides, the rock emerges*". 

*this is also an idiom for "truth being revealed", but used in its literal sense here

　　The coffin was completely above the water line, the heavy sword was nowhere to be seen, yet… there was a "person" sitting in there.

　　Xuan Ji for a moment didn't know if it was correct to call that a "person".

　　The goatee guy's iris was darting left and right, he was scared when he pa.s.sed out then was awakened with fear, dangling midair while "hovering between life and death" and reasonably went crazy. Even Xuan Ji couldn't help but have gooseb.u.mps all over. He thought because he himself had seen a scene of "lightning coming from the sky and crushing bones into ashes," after that there was nothing that could scare him, be it local or international horror movies.

　　Yet, that "person" still exceeded his imagination… because it was truly not a human figure.

　　In the coffin, it was clearly a burnt "corpse", broken from the middle, one couldn't distinguish between the head and legs, he didn't have an intact set of bones, being held together by a mess of burnt meat.

　　Yet that "corpse" was still moving!

　　His bones clucked together, and then, poof!, his bones pierced through his skin, automatically tried to find their correct spots and quickly formed a skeleton, then the veins and arteries, muscles, and in no time…

　　Xuan Ji shuddered violently, feeling like this scenario was ten times as cruel, skin and meat was forming layers by layers, seemingly more painful than getting sliced down layer by layer by the sacrificial writing — the time when he was sliced down, Xuan Ji remembered clearly that person was still standing straight on the roof, still smiling until the end.

　　At this time, the burned corpse was writhing nonstop, the hands holding tight onto the coffin, and the copper coffin was deformed under his hold.

　　It was as if he was screaming soundlessly.

　　Because the vocal cords and the tongue weren't formed yet.

　　Even though only standing by the side and watching, Xuan Ji already felt like his own body was burning and cold sweats were all over his body.

　　After fifteen minutes of operation, the flesh and bones of the "burnt corpse" grew completely. Under layers of blood trenching the body was a person with pale skin, his long hair was like waterfalls filling the coffin, the hands grabbing onto the coffin were finally losing their grip and dropped, making a small echoing sound.

　　At this time, the water in the lake decreased by more than two meters, all the stone ground was revealed. Looking down from the top, the stone platform was filled with dense patterns. The patterns had two layers, one was carved onto the stones, which Xuan Ji had never seen, but from his experience, rather than patterns, they were probably a language. The other layer was lined by pigment, this one was familiar — it was the gloomy sacrifice.

　　The water surface calmed again. Xuan Ji was hesitant for a moment then carefully stopped at the stone platform, his footsteps avoiding the demonic writings, hearing the other's chaotic and rapid breathing. 

　　"Ah… Eh…" Xuan Ji was attempting to initiate the conversation, "You are… that senior?"

　　The person in the coffin seemed to have been startled and had no energy to respond.

　　Xuan Ji searched around for a moment, struggling to find a s.p.a.ce on the ground with no sacrificial writing, then put the goatee guy whose tongue had poked out sideways. Only until then did he realize there was something missing.

　　"Wait," Xuan Ji thought, "Where is my sword?"

　　Xuan Ji recovered, and a train of questions lined up in his mind and waited to come out.

　　What was this situation?

　　How did he become human? Forming from where?

　　And that was a small matter not worth discussing, which could be set aside. The most important thing was — the devil was out, then where was his sword?

　　Before his sword was haunted by the devil, it was like a part of his body, he could easily control it with his mind, but right now he couldn't sense where that sword is!

　　Xuan Ji took one step towards the coffin, but before he could find his sword, his eyes were first locked on the person staying inside.

　　He had met Sheng Lingyuan. The person in the coffin and the one he fought at the Chiyuan Hospital was the same person, the same face and body, but after a thorough comparison, one could find the glaring difference — the "Sheng Lingyuan" at the Chiyuan Hospital didn't have "life" to his look, making others feel he couldn't be hurt and couldn't feel emotions. Even when he was struck by lightning into ashes, it only made people feel terrified… like the way people were terrified when they see a large tree get struck by lightning.

　　Yet at this moment, the person in the coffin was "alive," Xuan Ji could almost feel his agony.

　　He laid soundlessly in the coffin, perhaps attempting to prop himself up, the sharp shoulder blades seemed to poke through the taut skin, shivering slightly with each repressed breath.

　　At this moment, Xuan Ji was suddenly filled with a strange intense feeling, an indescribable sense of grief and ecstasy, the two feelings interlaced, making the soul in between them tremble.

　　It was as if the eternal regret that had run for thousands of years finally ended, but also as if he had struggled in the boundless night, then finally saw the glimmer of dawn.

　　Since he was born, he had never been through such joy and sorrow, it was like his soul had left his body. Xuan Ji was startled for a while, then that indescribable feeling was washed away like the tide receding under the moon.

　　He couldn't help but press on his chest, feeling like something just left him.

　　The person in the coffin was so pale it was as if he hadn't seen the sun for a thousand year, his hair was black as ink, scary streaks of dried blood stuck on his cheekbone, connected to the faint pink corner of his eyes, looking like they were tears of blood. The contrast of such colors were so dazzling that it stunned the onlooker.

　　In addition…

　　He didn't wear any clothes.

　　Wait a minute!

　　Xuan Ji suddenly regained his composure. He was standing there and staring non-stop at a naked man in a daze, the time was long enough for him to be charged with "crime of indecent a.s.sault" twice!

　　"Ah, that… I don't, I don't mean to, you didn't say anything and just came out like that…" Xuan Ji quickly looked away, but the sight was glued to his eyes, he blinked forcefully and patted himself down in a fl.u.s.ter, perhaps wanting to give the other person his clothes instead, only to find that he had nothing — his jacket and sweater were burned by his wings into a backless, ripped style. He didn't wear additional layers as a habit, and if he took off his pants, then he would be turning himself into a Haier brother*, which was too much of a self-sacrifice.

*Haier Brothers - two little shorts-wearing boys who are the main characters of an animated series in China