166. Blood Frenzy
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'It would have been nice to have you pour tea for me one last time...' Kai Zhen thought, briefly recalling the past months with Luoyin and the rest.
Then with a saddened smile, he shut his eyes in resignation...
But then,
"Die."
A soft sigh echoed through the battlefield.
The air rippled and a fearsome wave of aura slammed into the demon, flinging him far and wide!
His aura vanished at once as his life-force was extinguished.
Both Kai Zhen and the larger demon swivelled in shock to find a calm figure.
The large demon's eyes widened, but Kai Zhen's shoulders sagged in relief.
Old Man Bao stood there casually, his hair, beard, and robes fluttering lazily in the wind.
'Tch! Show off!' Kai Zhen thought, but couldn't help a smile.
The large demon roared and charged at Old man Bao with his club.
Old Man Bao didn't even spare him a glance, but with a wave of his sleeve, a gentle breeze flew across the space...
And that 'gentle' breeze instantly exploded the club, the demon holding it, and half the ground behind him into fragments, returning the space to silence.
'S- So powerful!!!' Kai Zhen's jaw nearly hit the ground.
Old Man Bao dusted off his sleeve, glancing at Kai Zhen. "Why are you so surprised?
"It's hard to calculate the stages within the Eternal Tier, but we know there are at least ten stages, thanks to a certain someone who reached a tenth stage in the past (Bailong)!
"I'm at the sixth level, but most demons can only ever attain the first two stages... How did you think the fight would end?"
"Old... man Bao..." Kai Zhen coughed weakly. "You're indeed a showoff!" Still he linked his thumbs and bowed respectfully.
"You might be a disciple thief, but you've saved my life yet again! I'll surely repay it!"
Old man Bao sighed. "You already repaid these small favours... You burned years of your cultivation to bring Xiaobai back from the dead, so I can't accept your gratitude!
"You spared this old man centuries of mourning yet another loss! And besides..."
His eyes narrowed slightly at some demons in the distance. "We have much more to worry about..."
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In other areas of Yu Shui City, the battle raged.
Luoyin, Weiyan, and the newly arrived Immortals were facing off the Eternal tier demons.
The demons were immensely powerful, so Luoyin and Weiyan faced each one together, taking them down with a combination of their powers and several clever tricks!
The other Immortals didn't have it easy, but managed to hold their own, with most of them keeping the Universal Tier demons from leaving Yu Shui City.
Old man Bao was certainly the most fearsome force around, as he eliminated most of the Eternal tier demons with supreme ease, with Kai Zhen only too happy to be the 'Fox borrowing the Tiger's power'!
Zhurong Fen only became angrier and angrier as she realized the immortals had been prepared for her demons!
But she gleamed in satisfaction when her eyes fell on a few lower-level immortals...
These were the Swallows who appeared here and there, taking the fleeing Yu Shui Citizens back to the arena, where Yinying's Bell technique kept the Mortals safe.
After the battle had gone on for a while, thousands of the Yu Shui citizens had been brought right into Yinying's Bell shield, and his golden bell was now expanded beyond the arena to accommodate for the vastly increasing mortals within.
Zhurong Fen secretly appeared somewhere near the City's center and she smirked down at Yinying's golden bell.
"Hmph." She shut her eyes, held her hand up in a Seal, and then whispered,
"Death Void...!"
At first nothing happened.
But suddenly...
A disciple within the bell cried out in pain, and the mortals around turned to see that a Yu Shui citizen had stabbed him, nearly ending his life.
The Citizen's irises had turned blood red, and his skin had a pale deathly palor.
"Ei?!" A nearby disciple exclaimed in panic. "Wh- What is this?!"
Just then, another cry rang out from the other end of the Arena.
And then there was another.
And another...
More and more of the Yu Shui citizens were turning into pale and creepy blood-seeking monsters, spreading panic among the mortals.
The disciples, Sect warriors, and dignitaries were backing away in confusion.
"Kill them!" A random disciple yelled as he evaded one of the blood seeking citizen, but just as he charged his hand with aura, Yin Xing appeared and caught his wrist.
"Don't be so quick to harm them!" He loudly stated. "These people are being controlled!"
Sect Leader Xu swiftly trapped a citizen within a small shield. "Aren't their actions familiar?" He asked, yanking a disciple away from another citizen, and as he spoke, they began to notice that the Yu Shui Citizens were also attacking themselves, from men, to women, to even children.
"The Blood Frenzy Curse!" Sect Leader Huo pointed out, sealing an approaching citizen in place.
"It's indeed the Blood Frenzy Curse!" The Grand Wulin Master observed.
"But how?! It didn't rain! Wasn't it said to start with a blood red rain?!" Sect Leader Ju asked.
Yin Xing simply waved a hand, trapping several of the Citizens within a white shield.
"The Golden Bell technique would shield us from rain, so Zhurong Fen must have found another way! For now trap the citizens within shields, in case they can be saved later!"
But hidden from sight, Zhurong Fen's lips slowly widened into a sickening smile.
"Hmph." She scoffed, her hands delicately forming seals. "Your weak hearts are your downfall!"
She raised her hand, charging it with blood-red aura. "Immense Fury!"
The effect was instant.
At the arena, the crazed citizens began grasping their own heads in a frenzy, their irises now emitting red light.
Then their bones began to crick strangely and their auras were suddenly beyond normal!
"Weren't these regular mortals who don't cultivate?!" The Grand Wulin Master stepped away, as the Yu Shui Citizen closest to him emitted an aura which surpassed his by far!
One of the citizens suddenly lunged at the shield and instantly shattered it.
"This is -!" Yin Xing appeared to block the citizen before he could do any damage, but surprisingly, the citizen leapt right at him, and their clash revealed similar levels of aura.
Somehow the possessed Yu Shui Citizens were now on par with High Immortals!
"Move!" Yin Xing ordered, swiftly shielding the mortals closest to him.
He cast a hand seal, summoning as many of his scale clones as possible, and the Swallows also joined in, making the battle a bit easier.
The Mortal Elders didn't sit still and also helped wherever they could, especially saving the weaker mortals and holding off the crazed citizens till Yin Xing's clones or a Swallow stepped in.
However, Yin Xing's clones and the Swallows were only about a hundred put together... Far outnumbered by the almost thousands of blood-thirsty citizens.
'Hmph!' High above, Zhurong Fen scoffed. 'I've spent thirty thousand years planning! I can certainly deal with one High Immortal and a sea of stupid mortals!'
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Somewhere else in the city, Luoyin suddenly halted.
Since he and Yinying shared a Soul Link, he could sense the disturbance within Yinying's bell technique, and he held up a hand.
"Yanyan!" He called, and Weiyan materialized beside him.
With a single hand seal, he instantly reverse-summoned himself and Weiyan to Yinying's bell.
~"Laoying! Release your bell technique!"~ Luoyin telepathically found Yinying who had hidden amidst the crowd as a tiny black cub.
~"Hao!"~ Yinying replied as Luoyin's hands simultaneously moved into a seal, and the starlight furnace appeared.
A ring of herbs appeared around it, all jumping into the furnace on their own, and three counter spinning formations appeared beneath the furnace, each with a different colour of flame.
Meanwhile, Xu Weiyan jumped in to help Yin Xing and the Swallows, while Luoyin rose into the air.
With a quick series of hand seals, the clouds thickened above them, just as the Furnace lid opened and sent forth a ring of dark green pills which pulsed as they rose into the clouds.
The entire thing took less than ten seconds, and with a rumble of thunder, a light rain began to fall just as Yinying's bell technique vanished.
It was a clear dark greenish shower, falling only over the arena and its surroundings, and the effect was so quick that it made the crazed citizens halt at once.
One after another, their blood-red eyes returned to normal and they began collapsing to the muddy ground.
A Wulin Elder tentatively approached a kneeling citizen.
"Is it over?"
"Are they alive?"
"They're alive!"
"They're back to normal!"
The shouts rang out as the rain stopped and the mortals cheered, several of them helping the confused citizens to their feet, or mostly laying the unconscious ones aside.
Yin Xing appeared beside Luoyin and Weiyan, and appeared as Yinying, reverting back to his old man form.
"Elder brother!" Yin Xing hailed.
"Xiaobai!" Yinying called out.
Luoyin grinned at them, but shot Yin Xing a pointed look. "Umh! Your wings have hardened, haven't they? You can now disregard my words... I sent you to investigate the stars... Instead you went to Sky Palace? What if *that person had harmed you, rather than help?"
(*Tianlong)
"Elder brother, it's not like that! I sent a clone, a clone!"
"Oh? And what did you intend, if he didn't permit the Star Edict?" Luoyin's brows furrowed. "To burn your essence and use it by force?!"
Yin Xing's eyes rounded. He indeed had that intention, and surprising anyone, he instantly dropped to his knees.
"Elder brother! I'm sorry! I- I just couldn't stand it! The Sky Emperor proclaimed your innocence months ago, but the Immortals didn't believe it! They endlessly whispered that he was simply overcome with yearning and guilt after your death." Yin Xing scoffed.
"Some remarked that you were secretly behind the attack on Yueyan Mountain and the War in the Floral realm! Then there were the Mortals who didn't know anything, still believing 'Yin Xiaolong' was the black dragon who caused so much bloodshed!"
Yin Xing sighed. "I couldn't stand the possibility of you bearing those sins again!"
Meanwhile, though the Mortals now knew 'Zhang Luoyin' was one and the same Yin Xiaolong...
But it was still strange to see their powerful Night Immortal kneeling before a mortal who had been considered trash not too long ago!
Luoyin sighed and helped Yin Ying to his feet.
"A-Xing, I didn't mean to scold you." He said.
"But you must remember at all times... I would rather bear the world's sins than have anything happen to you! It's bad enough that I'm mortal, so I can't do much to protect you... How can you harm yourself?!"
"Elder brother, I was wrong! I'm sorry!" Yin Xing apologized.
But then Luoyin's words sank in and Yin Xing stumbled a half-step.
He stared at Luoyin incredulously.
"Elder brother, have a heart... You defeated Immortal Fei, broke the Gatekeeper's spell, protected the mortals and even saved me just now! How can you say things like, 'I can't do much to protect you'...?!"
"Ehehe, those were tricks, tricks!"
The Swallows laughed, Weiyan shook her head, but the mortals still stared in astonishment...!
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