"How pitiful... Miao Feng went to the Medicine Master Valley and hasn't returned, and Ming Li is also held back by Miao Huo. Now you can only summon these beasts." Tong turned around with his sword, sneering. Before the mastiffs could pounce, he lightly touched the ground with his toes and leaped off the glacier, transforming into a bolt of lightning.
"How is it?" In just a moment, he landed back on the ice and slowly raised the sword in his right hand.
Blood flowed across the sword's blade, completely obscuring its light. More than a dozen gray mastiff corpses lay scattered around, all cleaved in two from the top by a single sword strike, some still twitching slightly.
This supposedly paradise, a supreme haven, was filled with the stench of blood. The venerable Pope, now back on his throne, had blood on his shoulder and right rib, and was breathing heavily as he looked at the carnage scattered on the ground.
"To be honest, I've wanted to kill these beasts for a long time—don't you usually like to throw people to the dogs?" Tong's narrow eyes revealed a vicious smile. "So, I specially kept one to collect your corpse!"
He chuckled coldly, flicked his wrist, and the Bloodstained Sword trembled from hilt to tip, the blood on the blade turning into a thin line that flew horizontally. The gleaming blade was revealed again, shining brightly on the ice.
The person on the throne struggled several times, trying to stand up, but it was as if their body was controlled by invisible threads, and they eventually collapsed.
"Can't move anymore, can you?" Looking at the slightly trembling figure on the jade throne, Tong revealed a mocking smile. "Besides the eye technique, there's also poison acting up in your body, isn't there? It's strange, isn't it? You've always claimed to be immune to all poisons, so how did you fall for it?"
Tong chuckled softly: "That's the medicinal power of the Dragon Blood Pearl."
Upon hearing the words "Dragon Blood Pearl," the person on the jade throne trembled violently, raised his finger at him, and let out a muffled groan.
"Strange, where did I find these dragon blood beads?" Tong sneered, swinging his sword horizontally and blowing away the blood beads on them. "Foolish."
However, despite saying this, he dared not relax his mental suppression of the old man on the throne for even a moment—even if he had gone mad from his cultivation, even if he had been poisoned by the dragon's blood, the King of the Sect was still the King of the Sect! If he was careless in the slightest, he was afraid that he would be lying dead on the ground in the next instant.
He continued to stare intently, sword in hand, his eyes flashing with alternating shades of dark red, deep purple, and eerie green, making him appear ghostly and unfathomable.
"Do you think I'll kneel before you forever, like a dog?" Tong stared at the white-haired, youthful-faced old man, her eyes flashing with extreme disgust and malice, her voice as soft as a dream, "Dream on."
He suddenly raised his hand and made a gesture as if he were raising his arm to slap his own head!
As if drawn by an invisible thread, the Pope's hand gradually rose and slowly touched the crown of his head.
“You…you…” The old man’s eyes were fixed on him, his lips moved but no sound came out—however, he was clearly very restrained. His hand stopped halfway up and trembled slightly in mid-air, as if he was fighting for control with an invisible fuse.
"Old stubborn..." Tong muttered under his breath, focusing all his mental energy into his eyes, taking a step closer and staring intently.
However, in that instant, he saw a very strange expression suddenly appear in the Pope's eyes: such smugness, playfulness and madness—completely unlike what a sixty-year-old man should have!
That familiar look...it's...it's—
"Mingli?" Tong suddenly realized and exclaimed in surprise, "It's you!"
This isn't the Pope! The person who came to the park for a walk with his mastiff early this morning wasn't the Pope himself!
The "Cult King" gave a sinister smile, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood—the instant he bit off his tongue, his body jolted violently, as if the intense pain had instantly freed him from the shackles of his eye technique. Ming Li's hands gripped six hidden weapons, brimming with astonishingly frenzied killing intent, and he suddenly leaped from his jade throne, rushing towards them at lightning speed.
"Tong, I've broken your eye technique!" Mingli's face was filled with maniacal triumph. It was the first time in over a decade that he had broken through Tong's spell in a fight, and he couldn't help but laugh, "I've finally broken your eye technique! You've lost!"
Tong was startled and retreated, drawing his sword with unparalleled speed to stab.
Strangely, Mingli did not dodge at all.
With a soft "snap," the person who rushed over was cut in half at the waist!
However, at the same instant, he had rushed to within a foot of Tong, and the hidden weapons in his hand flew out—but none of the six hidden weapons hit Tong herself. Instead, they collided with each other in the air at a strange angle, and suddenly a cloud of purple smoke burst out and enveloped her!
—At such close range, there was no time to retreat.
"Thud!" Mingli's body fell onto the glacier and broke in two.
At the same time, Tong also covered her eyes and fell on the ice!
The Bloodstained Sword fell from his hand, and he collapsed, trembling violently. The indescribable pain instantly surpassed his limits of endurance. He fell onto the glacier, letting out a bloodcurdling scream!
What is this... what is this? His eyes suddenly went blind!
That kind of pain pierces straight to the heart and lungs, and can almost crush a person in an instant.
“Foolish pupils…” As he cried out on the glacier, a familiar voice slowly rang out, loving and compassionate, “You think the throne of the Great Bright Palace can be overthrown so easily… How naive you are.”
That was...that was the voice of the Pope!
Tong didn't look up, trying her best to calm herself down, and reached out to grab the sword that had fallen to the side, trying to determine the direction of the amusement park's exit.
—We must descend the mountain immediately and reunite with Miao Huo, otherwise…
"Heh, still trying to escape?" At the same moment, as if seeing through his intentions, something was thrown onto the ice with a thud—a ferocious, angry human head: "Still hoping for help from your companions? Heh, how could that dull-witted Miao Huo be a match for Miao Shui? You've really chosen the wrong companion... my Tong."
Miao Shui? That woman, in the end, betrayed them after all?
He tried to grab the Bloodstained Sword, but the pain piercing his eyes quickly eroded his senses. He had just managed to stand up when he fell heavily to the ground again. He covered his eyes, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
"Hehe... Look, even Tong can't resist it." Miao Shui's soft voice rang out beside her, full of laughter, "Your Majesty, the Seven Star Begonia truly lives up to its name."
Seven-Star Begonia! Even amidst the excruciating pain, he was still shaken upon hearing this, feeling a profound and piercing despair.
That was a deadly poison that no one had been able to cure for a hundred years. It is said that twenty years ago, even the Valley Master of Linxia Valley of Medicine Masters pondered for a month but still could not cure this poison. In the end, he died from exhaustion and vomiting blood.
What's terrifying is that those poisoned by this substance will experience a slow, gradual death, with the poison corroding their bones.
An elderly man with white hair, arm in arm with a graceful beauty, bent down to look at the traitor struggling in agony on the ground, and sighed: "What a pity, Tong. I regarded you as my own eyes, yet you betrayed me—it's strange, why did you dare to do this?"
A cold smile appeared in the Pope's eyes: "Could it be that you have already remembered your origins?"
That sentence was a sharper sword than deadly poison, piercing the person on the ground and causing them to stop struggling in an instant.
Tong trembled violently and raised her head to stare at the Pope. However, those usually clear and ever-changing eyes had lost their luster, shrouded only in a terrifying blood-red hue.
My own origins? Could it be that...