Chapter 792: Passing Down the Torch (3k)
“Drip, drip, drip…”
The sound of blood dripping echoed pointlessly. The clown’s smile had frozen on his face. He stood there dumbfounded, everything happening too fast for him to react.
It was hard to believe that the opponent, who was slightly weaker than him, could inflict such a heavy injury so easily. Even though he wasn’t at full strength, he shouldn’t have been…
He had been careless!
Just as the bewilderment on his face turned into anger, a light voice sounded in his ear again, “Shun.” His brow furrowed, and he waved with his only remaining right hand. Suddenly, his severed left arm throbbed with pain, and his external qi seemed to be blocked…
“I need to stop the bleeding.”
The Clown Ferryman’s pupils suddenly shrank. By the time he reacted, the scythe was already heading for his face. Gritting his teeth, he bit his tongue and held the black staff vertically in front of him.
“Bang!” A collision sound rang out, sending waves of air surging outwards.
The two clashed, their hair wildly tossed, then they separated. Both were sent flying several meters away.
“Screech…”
Suddenly, blood splattered. Another hidden injury appeared on the clown’s face, and an inexplicable fear began to spread in his heart. His black eyes stared at the silver-haired figure and he muttered in a low voice:
“When did she make her move? She actually pierced through my external qi defense…”
His expression became increasingly grim. He knew in his heart that his advantage, due to his carelessness and injury, had narrowed.
But it was only by a little.
“You can be proud to have forced me to use my avatar. Blood Clan can only target blood, but my avatar has no blood…”
A smile slowly spread across the clown’s face, and his entire face began to change, turning into a black rubbery appearance.
“Gurgle, gurgle…”
At the severed arm, black liquid appeared and began to fill the gap automatically. In an instant, it replaced the arm, turning into a black liquid arm that was indistinguishable from a normal one.
In his hand, he held another staff formed from the same black liquid. He tilted his slightly fearful head and asked with a grin, “Blood Clan’s finest, what can you do about this?”
“I can…”
Looking at this monstrous avatar made of black liquid, Su Jiu smiled, “Call for backup.”
With that said, her eyes lifted slightly. Instead of attacking again, she chose to hold her scythe upside down in front of her, and a fiery red amplification formation appeared at her feet.
“What do you mean?!” The Clown Ferryman was stunned. When Su Jiu had inverted her weapon, he was about to mock her for giving up, but soon…
He understood Su Jiu’s meaning. As if realizing something, he suddenly looked up, his pupils constricting sharply: “This is…”
He saw a handsome man holding a Black-clad Bishop of an ancient god – Bishop White Phosphorus – standing in the void.
“Boom!”
In mid-air, a massive phantom of a trident, intertwined with earthy yellow water vapor, struck down. It was like Poseidon’s punishment for filth, heavy and mysterious, filled with oppressive force as it descended.
“My body is being suppressed by a more complete rule. Have High-Rank Battle Gods appeared?!”
Sensing the oppressive force, the Clown Ferryman’s face turned very ugly. His already dark face seemed to darken further in an instant. Who would have thought that a crackdown on a traitor would lead to such a gathering of powerhouses.
High-Rank Battle Gods were truly high-end combat forces. Even within the Holy See, there were those who had a chance to advance to become true Cardinals.
“Go!”
However, Mu Qi gave him no time to think. Looking down from above, he slowly waved his arm downwards, and the colossal trident also descended with his voice.
His eyes glinted with a hint of desire. As long as he resolved this Red Tide incident, he could meet Iron Turtle Immortal and completely reclaim his voice.
“Boom!”
The trident violently squeezed out gusts of wind. Under Mu Qi’s control, it descended like a massive mountain, crushing down on the Clown Ferryman. When the two made contact, the entire ground even began to shake.
The latter gritted his teeth and transformed the surrounding walls into black liquid, drawing them towards him. With a series of hand seals, he created rows of black pillars around his body, attempting to withstand the overwhelming trident.
The phantom trident struck down with a roar. The pillars of black liquid met it squarely. The Clown Ferryman’s face lit up with joy, but in the next second, the first pillar suddenly cracked…
The joy on his face turned into fear.
On the ground around them, spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards. At the very center, he could still sense some resistance. The next moment, Mu Qi snorted coldly, and his foot, clad in large slippers, stomped down on the trident’s handle.
Waves of air carrying the scent of the sea spread outwards.
“Chic—” A sound rang out, and the commotion quieted down. The entire sequence of actions had the visual effect of a landlord from a neighboring province swatting a cockroach.
“Is Uncle this strong?”
Raising his right hand to block the impact of the airwaves, Su Jiu was somewhat astonished. When Mu Qi fought against the Rotating Turtle before, she couldn’t tell that he was so powerful. Such a top-tier Mid-Rank Battle God was just suppressed as easily as that.
The reason she could confront the Clown Ferryman was because he had been weakened for a while, he was overconfident, and due to skill synergy (Blood Surge, String Moon Swordsmanship’s Hidden Sword, Dream of Blossoms). All three conditions were essential.
Su Jiu knew that to truly exchange a few blows with a fully-powered top-tier Mid-Rank Battle God, she would need to reach at least High-Rank Battle King. As for defeating them…
That would require Demigod or near-god level strength.
And this “Tear of the Ocean” would be the opportunity to break through to High-Rank Battle King!
While Su Jiu was pondering, a red stream of light flashed over. It was Feng, carrying something in his hand. With a casual toss, a figure fell, kicking up a cloud of sand and dust beside Su Jiu.
“It’s already handled? I remember this guy was a Mid-Rank Battle God.”
Subconsciously taking off her flip-flops, Su Jiu shook off the sand that had gotten on them. Her gaze fell upon the Short Ferryman, who was lying there like a dead pig, and she seemed somewhat confused.
It seemed that no one had returned to the gourd due to death in this encirclement battle.
“He was very seriously injured. When we fought him, he could only exert the strength of a Beginner War God. Boss, I’ll be going back now.”
Feng bowed slightly, then turned into a mass of red energy and returned to the gourd. Immediately after, Shadow, who had also returned, followed Feng’s example and returned to the gourd.
Only the Short Ferryman, lying there like a dead pig, and Su Jiu, fiddling with her slippers, remained.
“That… cough, cough, are you the strong one codenamed Jiu?”
A cough came from not far away, growing louder as its owner approached, supported by a young figure.
“Uncle is done, I’ll go handle other matters first.”
Glancing at Zhou Hong, Su Jiu let out a breath and waved towards Mu Qi in the air. Some things related to the Night Watcher couldn’t be leaked.
The latter understood and made an “OK” gesture, pointing to a small cabin elsewhere on the island, indicating that he needed to go in and rest for a while.
Bernice also returned to her original form and stood beside Su Jiu. Seeing Su Jiu’s sandy little feet, she couldn’t help but chuckle – Miss is still as cute as ever.
It seemed that everything had settled down.
“Yes, Liuli told me your location…”
At this moment, Su Jiu realized that someone had already appeared before her. She looked at the middle-aged man with white hair as if it had grown all over his head, and nodded silently, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips:
“You must be the Night Watcher Zhou Hong, right? I’ve heard of you from the Old Man, and I’ve also met your daughter – Zhou Zhizhi.”
Internally, she sighed, realizing that this was the true consequence of using [Elegy], the need for life force.
If she hadn’t had the special green feather for support and continuously increased her life force, she wouldn’t have been able to withstand such consumption.
“You’ve met Zhizhi?”
Zhou Hong was taken aback, and Zhou Zhizhi, who was supporting him, was also stunned, a hint of sadness appearing in her eyes.
“She’s studying at Jiang Hai High School, currently the class leader of Senior Class D. In about a month, she’ll be taking the Gaokao and graduating.”
Su Jiu smiled. The somewhat stern class leader had left a deep impression on her. She was a very diligent girl, strict with others, and even more so with herself.
“She’s almost graduating from high school. It’s a shame I haven’t been with her all these years…”
Hearing this, Zhou Hong sighed with a sense of mixed joy and helplessness. If he hadn’t rejected the young man’s invitation back then, perhaps things would be different now.
Zhou Zhizhi just listened quietly, her head lowered slightly, as if she didn’t want to be involved in this conversation.
“Cough, cough…”
Without pausing for long, he suddenly bent over, his body wracked by a severe cough. An unnatural flush appeared on his face, and some dark blood sprayed onto the ground.
The side effects of Elegy were too taxing for a bloodline focused on combat.
Su Jiu quickly used Spring Bloom Technique to heal him. Petals fell, and a surge of life force carried wisps of healing aura.
“It’s difficult for me to recover after continuously overusing Healing Arts, and I can’t endure intense combat anymore. I probably can’t be a Night Watcher in the future.”
This action surprised the old Night Watcher. He waved his hand, not expecting someone so capable in combat to be a Priest…
But Zhou Hong didn’t ask. After all, everyone had their own secrets. During the healing, Su Jiu discussed the specific details of this mission with him, and he didn’t hide much.
It was almost exactly as she had guessed. The Red Tide was for a sacrifice, and the purpose of the sacrifice was to attract that Cardinal – Zichuan – who had killed many public officials.
This operation would involve multiple parties. Zichuan was the biggest, but there were also Southeast Asian warlords and remnants of the Singers, all seeking to gain a share from the sacrifice.
The final topic was about Zhizhi’s future and arrangements. Su Jiu stated that she could arrange a nationality and normal citizen status for her.
Zhou Hong said thank you, then turned his head and gave the frail young girl behind him a gentle smile:
“Zhizhi, would you be willing to come with me to Fuzhou in the future? I can arrange a stable job for you, like an Exorcist.”
“Exorcist?”
Zhou Zhizhi was stunned for a moment, then remembered what kind of job that was – a city cleaner. She was silent for a moment, then gently nodded.
As long as she could live in the sunlight, that was enough.
Seeing Zhou Zhizhi nod, Zhou Hong’s smile seemed to deepen. Exorcists were very weak, their status similar to lower-level civil servants, but…
Many Night Watchers honed their character by starting as Exorcists.
Exorcists were also known as reserve Night Watchers by those in the know.
