SWDnovel Chapter 90 Fate Uncertain
Chapter 90 Fate Uncertain
Inside the teleportation channel, there was no dazzling, fairyland-like scene as described in legends.
Instead, a suffocating grayness and chaos prevailed.
This place was like a collapsing tunnel, the surrounding spatial barriers riddled with spiderweb-like cracks, and countless pitch-black spatial rifts appearing and disappearing around it, like gaping maws ready to devour anyone. The raging spatial turbulence, like countless invisible blades, raged wildly within this narrow passage, emitting a teeth-grinding shriek.
"puff!"
As soon as Gu An entered the passage, he felt as if he had been hit in the chest with a heavy blow, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Nine Dragons Demon-Suppressing Cauldron, which had been protecting the two above their heads and radiating a blue light, let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain. The nine illusory blue dragons on the cauldron's body shattered completely in less than two breaths under the crushing force of the spatial storm.
Without the protection of the cauldron spirit, the violent spatial power instantly poured in.
"Damn it! This formation is indeed severely incomplete!"
Gu An's face turned pale, and he cursed inwardly.
Although he anticipated the risks of this ancient, fragmented formation, he hadn't expected them to come so quickly and so fiercely. Furthermore, while Li Tianxing's final attack hadn't managed to capture them, the terrifying spiritual energy shockwave severely disrupted the stability of the teleportation channel.
They are now like two withered leaves caught in the eye of a hurricane, ready to be torn to shreds at any moment.
Hold on tight!
Gu An let out a low growl, gripping Shen Wan's waist tightly with both hands and forcibly pressing her into his arms.
Shen Wan was already in a semi-conscious state due to overexertion, but driven by her survival instinct, her icy hands still instinctively gripped Gu An's clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
"Sizzle—"
A jet-black spatial wind blade swept in from the side without warning.
With nowhere to hide, Gu An could only twist his body sharply, exposing his back to the wind blades.
"clang!"
A dull, metallic clang rang out.
Gu An's prized "copper skin" physical body was as fragile as paper in the face of these spatial wind blades.
The wind blade instantly sliced through his hard, iron-like skin, tore through his muscles, and even left a deep gash on his spine.
"snort……"
Gu An groaned, and cold sweat instantly poured down his forehead like rain.
Excruciating pain!
The excruciating pain, as if his soul were being ripped apart, almost made him faint on the spot.
But he dared not faint, nor did he dare let go.
The Shen Wan in his arms was not only his ally, but also his only "living map" to escape this hellish place. If she died, or was lost in the spatial turbulence, even if Gu An managed to survive by chance, he would be lost in the unknown void, never to be reincarnated.
"Yi Wood...regeneration!"
Gu An gritted his teeth and frantically circulated the "Life Forest Wood Technique" within his body.
The wisp of Yi Wood True Qi that had just merged with the dragon's energy surged relentlessly toward the wound on his back.
Under the combined effects of a "weak self-healing" constitution and the vitality of the Yi Wood element, the deep wound that revealed the bone began to wriggle and stop bleeding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
However, there are far too many wind blades here.
One had barely passed when three more arrived.
"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"
Blood splattered.
Gu An was like a piece of rotten meat being torn apart in a meat grinder. His back, arms, and thighs were cut to pieces in just a few breaths.
Blood stained his tattered clothes and also stained Shen Wan's bright red wedding dress.
Shen Wan managed to open her eyes a crack amidst the violent jolts.
In the chaotic light and shadow around her, she saw Gu An's face, distorted and twisted, yet still clenching his teeth and refusing to let go.
She saw the crisscrossing, deep wounds on his back, so deep that the bone was visible. She could even see the white bones inside struggling to heal under the protection of the Wood Spiritual Light, only to be mercilessly torn apart by new wind blades.
With each cut, Gu An's body would tremble violently, but his arms holding her remained as steady as a rock, without the slightest slip.
At this moment, Shen Wan's heart, which had long since become cold and numb from the infighting within the sect and the inhuman torture, suddenly trembled.
She had seen countless cultivators betray their fellow disciples for personal gain, and countless Daoist couples abandon each other when disaster struck.
But she had never seen anyone like Gu An, who was clearly a greedy, cowardly, and cunning low-level cultivator, yet could do this in a life-or-death situation.
Was it for that vow? Or for the value of that so-called "key"?
Shen Wan didn't know.
All she knew was that this man's blood was very hot.
The heat made her icy heart show signs of warming up.
"Don't... don't worry about me..."
Shen Wan weakly opened her mouth, her voice so faint it was almost inaudible, "Taking me... you... will die..."
"Shut up!"
Gu An had no time to listen to her nonsense. His eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a beastly roar, "I've invested so much money in you! If you die, who am I going to get my money back from?!"
"You better...live on!"
boom!
Suddenly, a blinding light appeared in the chaotic darkness ahead.
That's the exit!
But along with the exit appeared a spatial tearing force ten times more violent than before.
That was the enormous repulsive force generated when two different spatial planes intersected, like two giant millstones grinding against each other.
"Snap! Snap!"
Gu An felt as if every bone in his body was groaning under the immense pressure.
His protective aura had long since shattered, and the true energy of the Wood element within his body had been completely exhausted.
At this moment, he was like a lamp wick that had been drained of oil, ready to go out at any moment.
My consciousness began to blur, and the scene before my eyes became double.
"No... I can't hold on any longer..."
Gu An felt as if his eyelids weighed a ton, and the arm holding Shen Wan began to gradually lose feeling.
If they were to faint like this, under the final pressure of this space, the two of them would definitely be crushed into a pulp.
We must... we must squeeze out even a tiny bit more strength!
Gu An's tongue tip had already been bitten raw, and the intense pain could no longer stimulate his nerves.
At this critical moment of life and death, his consciousness sank into his dantian and looked at the golden light thread that had been coiled in the center of his dantian and had never been truly refined.
That was a trace of the purest [Dragon Soul Origin] that remained in his body when the Nine Dragon Cauldron nourished him.
Although this thing is extremely precious, containing the opportunity to establish a foundation or even form a core, if it is not used now, one will lose one's life. What use is the opportunity then?
"Awesome!"
A hint of mad determination flashed in Gu An's eyes.
Without any hesitation, he directly detonated that wisp of dragon soul essence!
"hold head high--!!!"
A high-pitched and stirring dragon roar exploded within his body.
A domineering and incomparable golden flame, seemingly capable of burning everything, instantly erupted from the dantian and swept through the entire body along the meridians.
pain!
It's ten thousand times more painful than being torn to pieces!
Gu An felt as if his meridians were being filled with molten iron, every inch of his flesh was burning and screaming.
But this power also instantly filled his already withered body with explosive power.
"Golden Body! Gather!"
Gu An roared to the sky, and his skin instantly turned crimson gold, with a faint phantom of dragon scales appearing on his body.
He suddenly shielded Shen Wan with his chest, curling himself into a ball like a golden meteor, crashing headfirst into the rapidly shrinking exit light.
"Boom!"
The sound of space shattering exploded in my ears.
Gu An felt as if his body had crashed into an impenetrable wall, followed by a dizzying, weightless sensation.
……
outside world.
This is a primeval swamp where the sun never shines.
Thick, dark clouds pressed down on the treetops, and the air was thick with a putrid miasma.
Sudden.
Without warning, a pitch-black crack appeared in the space in mid-air.
Two intertwined figures were violently ejected from the crack, like a burnt-out meteorite.
"Bang!"
The two crashed through the dense canopy of trees below, breaking countless thick branches, and finally slammed into the pitch-black water below with tremendous force.
"Thump!"
Huge splashes of water rose three zhang (approximately 10 meters) high.
The icy, bone-chilling black water, carrying a strong, putrid stench, instantly submerged Gu An's mouth and nose.
The intense heat from the burning dragon soul instantly transformed into a bone-chilling cold under the stimulation of the icy pool water.
Gu An's consciousness completely went blank at that moment.
In the last second before he was plunged into darkness, he only felt that his hand was still tightly gripping something.
That was Shen Wan's arm.
Then, endless darkness and cold completely engulfed the two, slowly sinking them to the bottom of this mysterious waterway whose depth and location were unknown.
On the water's surface, the ripples gradually subsided.
Only a few faint streaks of blood rose from the bottom of the water, only to be quickly swallowed up by several ferocious fish swimming around them.
Everything returned to a deathly silence.
……
I don't know how much time passed.
It might be an hour, or it might be a whole day.
Deep underwater, in a mud cave covered by aquatic plants.
A seemingly long-dead "corpse" suddenly twitched its fingers slightly.
Gu An woke up.
But he did not open his eyes immediately, nor did he make any large movements.
This is an instinct he developed after countless brushes with death—playing dead is always the best defense until he confirms that the environment is safe.
pain.
Every part of my body aches.
Especially his back, the burning, tearing sensation made even the slightest breath feel like someone was sawing his spine.
His internal meridians were in complete disarray. Although the burned dragon soul essence had protected his heart meridian, it had also left serious aftereffects. At this moment, his dantian was completely empty, and he couldn't even muster a trace of spiritual energy.
"Still alive..."
Gu An silently thought to himself, "It's tragic, but as long as I didn't die, it's a win."
He tried to sense his surroundings.
Cold water, soft silt, and...
The faint sound of breathing beside me, almost as if it would stop at any moment.
With great effort, Gu An turned his head and, through the faint senses of the dark water, "saw" Shen Wan lying beside him.
Her condition was even worse than Gu An's at this moment.
The red wedding dress was already tattered and torn, and the exposed skin was deathly pale, devoid of any color. The life force within her was extremely weak, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
Worse still, the "living Yi Wood poison" that had been suppressed within her body, now freed from the suppression of spiritual power, began to stir again, spreading strange black lines under her pale skin.
"This is troublesome..."
Gu An gave a bitter smile.
He's barely able to take care of himself right now, so how could he possibly have the strength to save others?
But if he doesn't save her, this woman will surely die. If she dies, not only will all his efforts be for nothing, but he might even suffer a backlash from that damned "Blood Soul Pact" and become an idiot.
"I really owe you one."
Gu An gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain, and rummaged through his storage bag to find a water-repelling bead, which he put in his mouth. This was a little gadget he had bought on the black market. Although it was worthless, it could save him from suffocation at this moment.
Then, he took out the jade box containing the [Corroded Bone Spirit Flower].
This thing was originally intended for use in diving into the corpse-raising pool, but now it seems it can only be used as a temporary solution.
With trembling fingers, Gu An picked up a little pollen, mixed it with a drop of blood squeezed from his fingertip, and carefully applied it to Shen Wan's philtrum and chest.
The pollen of the Corrupting Bone Flower has a strong neutralizing effect on toxicity. Although it cannot cure the poison, it can at least temporarily suppress the poisonous fire that is about to erupt in her body.
After doing all this, Gu An was exhausted and panting heavily, his vision blurring.
"This place is not safe to stay for long."
Gu An forced himself to stay alert and surveyed his surroundings.
This place seemed to be the confluence of an underground river. Although the water flowed gently, it was filled with an extremely heavy yin energy. Moreover, he could sense that deep within these waters lurked some kind of immense aura that made his heart tremble.
You must get out of the water and find a dry place to heal your wounds.
Gu An struggled to sit up, dragging Shen Wan along, and swam towards the faint light above, following the direction of the current.
His movements were slow, and with each stroke of the water, the wound on his back would burst open, and blood would stain the water behind him red.
But he didn't stop.
Like a tenacious ant, carrying a hope for survival several times heavier than itself, it struggles forward in the darkness.
at last.
"Splash!"
The water splashed open.
Gu An dragged Shen Wan along, and they climbed up a moss-covered riverbank in a disheveled state.
This is a natural cave located at the bottom of a cliff, surrounded by jagged rocks, with a narrow canyon crack overhead, through which only faint sunlight filters down.
"Huff... huff..."
Gu An lay on his back on the slippery rocks, breathing in the earthy, fishy air.
At that moment, he felt that the murky air was so sweet.
He turned his head and glanced at Shen Wan, who was still unconscious beside him, then looked at his own hands, which were covered in wounds and almost exposed to the bone.
"Qi Refining Level 5... Severely injured physical body... Exhausted spiritual energy..."
Gu An muttered to himself, but a smile that looked more like a grimace crept onto his lips.
"Li Tianxing, Corpse Puppet Sect... we'll settle this score slowly."
He closed his eyes and began to circulate the tattered "Life Forest Wood Technique," slowly absorbing the sparse spiritual energy around him to repair his battered body.
In the depths of this unfamiliar wilderness, two lost souls who have crawled back from hell begin their new journey to survive.