Chapter 136: Six Curses of the Blood Raven

Chapter 136: The Six Curses of the Blood Raven
Chapter 13: Cold Waves on the Sea of Passion Reveal a Slender Figure; Ancient Treasures Acquired in a Mysterious Immortal Abyss (Part 20)

Staring for a long while, those six blood-colored demonic ravens merely rotated slowly, showing no other unusual features!

Qing Que could no longer afford to hesitate. Pointing with his index finger, a stream of bloody light slowly moved forward. The blazing fire floating in mid-air before Ye Hua suddenly trembled, faintly emitting sounds of groaning.

After another moment, the blazing fire shifted and morphed, gradually forming a demonic human face that slowly opened its eyes with a dazed expression. Upon seeing the restrained figure bound to the stone pillar, the face could not help but reveal a greedy look. Before Qing Que could cast another spell, the face within the flames opened its mouth and spat out a crimson radiance directly enveloping him!

Unexpectedly, the blood-red demonic raven around the human's neck flashed brightly and suddenly turned. When the crimson radiance struck it, with a soft "pop," it bent away and scattered into nothingness!

Standing nearby, Qing Que felt a shock in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he shrieked, "You little thief! How dare you still attempt to resist!"

Ye Hua's astonishment was truly no less than Qing Que's. He had already watched in complete dumbfounding as several blood-colored demonic ravens inexplicably grew within his body! Hearing Qing Que's curse, he finally snapped back to his senses, just as he was about to reply!

He then heard Qing Que let out a sharp cry, reaching out to embrace the air while chanting a rapid, deafening incantation, as if preparing to unleash an even more formidable spell.

"Fellow Daoist Qing Que, hold on!" Everyone heard an urgent cry, and immediately a figure dressed in black appeared beside Qing Que. It was none other than Zhao Sanduo, who, staring at the blood-colored demonic ravens, wore an expression of shifting uncertainty!

Startled, Qing Que hurriedly recalled his hand gestures, forcefully suppressing the surging, boiling vital energy within his body. After a moment, catching his breath, he asked slowly, "Brother Zhao, is something amiss?! Could it be that you know the origin of this blood-red demonic raven?!"

Zhao Sanduo nodded, glanced at the anxiously shifting, demonic human face within the blazing fire, and sighed, shaking his head, "I never expected to witness the legendary 'Six Curses of the Blood Raven' here, hehe!"

Immediately, a faint, brilliant light flickered in his eyes, and with a trace of excitement, he said, "This scoundrel has no idea what kind of character he has provoked to have been planted with such an ultimate evil artifact from the Western Regions! Brother Qing Que, encountering this today can truly be considered our good fortune, haha!"

Upon hearing the four words "Six Curses of the Blood Raven," Qing Que's expression changed abruptly. He involuntarily cried out, "The Six Curses of the Blood Raven!" Stunned for a long while, he slowly recalled the various sinister and toxic legends associated with the Six Curses of the Blood Raven, sending chills straight down his spine. Pointing a finger at the blazing fire in the air, he watched as the demonic face within let out a fierce roar, seemingly filled with unwillingness. As the fire gradually dimmed, the face slowly dissipated into nothingness!

Inwardly, Ye Hua's mind was already churning with towering waves, leaving him with only a single thought: *So that's how it is, so that's how it is! It turns out to be the Six Curses of the Blood Raven! This... this... I never imagined that the Black September cultivator would be so vicious!*

Seeing Qing Que's shock and suspicion, Zhao Sanduo laughed heartily and said, "Brother Qing Que, since this brat has been struck by the Six Curses of the Blood Raven, he is already an utterly defiled and evil entity. I presume he can no longer be used as an offering to your sacred spiritual master. You might as well hand him over to me to deal with!"

***

Having recovered from his shock, Qing Que paused upon hearing Zhao Sanduo's words. After a brief moment of thought, he nodded and smiled, "The branches are like bronze and the roots like stone, with iron trunks, copper skin, and jade-green boughs! Could Brother Zhao be planning to forge a Jade-Green Plum Corpse?"

Zhao Sanduo laughed heartily, "Brother Qing Que actually knows so much about our Plum Blossom Fist sect, haha! Your brother has no wish to conceal it from you: *'Qi congeals in the Yin and Zhou snow, heaven forges an iron and stone body!'* Someone bearing the Six Curses of the Blood Raven, being such an extremely evil entity, is precisely the absolute finest material for forging a Jade-Green Plum Corpse!"

Hearing this, Qing Que let out two dry, chuckling laughs. "I have long heard of Brother Zhao's Plum Blossom Fist's great renown, and this Jade-Green Plum Corpse is an even more formidable technique among them. I wonder when you might allow me to witness it..."

"A Jade-Green Plum Corpse! Haha, such petty tricks! To think there are still people who consider it a formidable secret art, haha, utterly laughable!" A burst of loud laughter echoed from afar.

The expressions of both Zhao Sanduo and Qing Que shifted. Turning their gazes in unison toward the source, they saw a dozen figures slowly emerging from the distant darkness. The leading man wore purple cloud armor and was none other than Xu Tieshan, who had clashed with Zhao Sanduo earlier that day among the Six Tribes of Beixi.

Anger flashed across Zhao Sanduo's face, but he quickly concealed it, saying darkly, "I was wondering who it could be?! So it is General Xu! What brings you here?! Could it be that you still wish to fight me once more?"

Xu Tieshan laughed heartily twice at Zhao Sanduo and said, "Why, Brother Zhao, after you used the Myriad Plum Swirl and Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell to escape during the day, your brother originally intended to spar with you properly. Why did you have to be so ungracious? It left your brother in a rather humiliating position! So I simply tracked you all the way here—tsk tsk, if you hadn't led the way, Brother Zhao, your brother would have had to expend quite a bit of effort!" With that, he cast a glance at Ye Hua, who was restrained on the stone platform!

Qing Que's expression changed slightly, and he asked Zhao Sanduo, "Brother Zhao, what is the meaning of this?"

After maintaining a gloomy expression for a moment, Zhao Sanduo coldly said to Xu Tieshan, "You hit me with the Duan family's 'Adhering Sleeve Solitary Fragrance'!"

A young man beside Xu Tieshan stepped forward two paces and whispered a few words into his ear. Xu Tieshan nodded slightly, a flash of delight crossing his features. He smiled faintly at Zhao Sanduo and said, "Brother Zhao is indeed as sharp-witted as rumored, but isn't it a bit too late to realize it now? It seems your Shaliu Village Plum Blossom Fist lineage's Dusk Moon Fragrance has not yet been mastered to perfection! It still lacks a bit of refinement!"

Du Laohei, standing beside Zhao Sanduo, stepped forward and shouted, "How could our ancestor's *Faint Fragrance Floating in the Dusk Moon* ever compare to some crooked, heterodox path of yours! Boss, you tell them..."

"Shut up!" Zhao Sanduo roared in fury. Du Laohei's face fell in embarrassment; daring not to reply further, he stepped back a few paces.

Looking at Xu Tieshan, Zhao Sanduo raged, "Since you've hunted me down to my doorstep, enough idle chatter!" With a wave of his hand, an extremely ancient, winding dragon-trunked branch appeared in his grip, writhing as if eager to leap into the air.

Xu Tieshan laughed heartily and said, "So this is your Plum Blossom Iron Dragon Trunk!" Reaching back with his right hand, he pulled out a saber a zhang in length, which floated before him as he stood on guard!

Without uttering a word, Zhao Sanduo said coldly, "Sparse Boughs Crossing Jade!" He thrust his dragon trunk upward and swept it out in a rapid flurry, conjuring thousands of illusory shadows that densely attacked his opponent!

Without the slightest trace of fear, Xu Tieshan let out a fierce roar and slashed downward with the long saber in his hand, striking straight toward the sweeping, winding branches! He was employing a purely brute-force method of meeting force with force!

***

Seeing his opponent adopt such a tactic, Zhao Sanduo glided sideways, evading the slash. The thousands of winding branch illusions in the air abruptly merged as he shouted, "Stems Cold and Boughs Slender!"

The tips of the winding branches suddenly shivered, and a white flash abruptly unleashed thousands of chilling lights that swept forward.

Xu Tieshan laughed heartily twice. The long saber in his hand swiftly swept three times horizontally and three times vertically with astonishing speed, once again completely ignoring the incoming chilling light and hacking straight toward his opponent's chest!

Slightly angered, Zhao Sanduo shouted, "The Character-King Three Sabers!" As he stepped diagonally, his right hand horizontally braced the winding branch while his left hand swung out, stabbing directly forward! A plum branch abruptly extended from his left hand, piercing straight toward his opponent! Seeing that his opponent was still slashing with six consecutive blades without dodging in the slightest, he thought to himself, *Could it be that you intend to rely purely on your physical flesh to withstand my Stems Cold and Boughs Slender? Very well!*

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he felt his right hand grow heavy; his opponent's six blades had landed entirely upon the winding branch. Feeling an aching numbness in his right arm, he cursed inwardly, *What monstrous brute strength!*

Glancing sideways, he saw that the chilling light he had released had already reached his opponent's chest. Yet, to his surprise, his opponent cackled mockingly. A red light flashed across his chest, revealing a tiny golden seal that spun rapidly, releasing several swimming dragons that coiled outward. The thousands of chilling lights collided slightly with the swimming dragons before suddenly bending and flying backward in reverse! The opponent then sealed the incoming thrust with a horizontal sweep of his long saber!

Realizing that his opponent had deployed a golden seal of seemingly formidable power and daring not to be careless, Zhao Sanduo retreated abruptly, landing a hundred odd zhang away. Staring at the glittering golden seal on Xu Tieshan's chest, he said darkly, "The Chi Dragon Golden Seal!?"

Xu Tieshan chuckled, "Brother Zhao is quite knowledgeable! Haha, although this Chi Dragon Golden Seal of mine is a counterfeit, it still possesses three-tenths of the true power! Brother Zhao, you had best experience it properly!"

With that, he stepped forward, arriving right before Zhao Sanduo. The golden seal on his chest roared deafeningly, and five streams of colorful radiance erupted fiercely, enveloping his opponent!

Zhao Sanduo sneered, "Very well, I shall see if this Chi Dragon Golden Seal of yours truly possesses three-tenths of its power!" Shaking his figure and spinning once more, brilliant white light flashed beneath his feet. As the white light faded slightly, it transformed into glowing, full moons.

From a distance, the onlookers saw Zhao Sanduo's figure gradually grow transparent and dissipate under the illumination of the moons! Immediately, a faint, lingering fragrance drifted over!

Seeing this, Du Laohei was overjoyed. Chuckling softly, he muttered, *"The courtyard is empty with no moon-shadow, dreams are warm and snow births fragrance"*—he had rarely seen the boss deploy this divine skill!

On the stone platform, however, Ye Hua had no heart to watch the duel between Zhao Sanduo and Xu Tieshan; he could only curse his rotten luck inwardly. As it turned out, among the group who had arrived with Xu Tieshan was none other than the young gentleman who had fought with him at the Jingji Manor!

*Could that person also be one of the Six Tribes of Beixi?! If so, it will be hard to escape unscathed today!* Even as Ye Hua was thinking this, he suddenly felt a piercing, bone-chilling wind strike him. Turning his head, he saw a stern, jade-green sword beam, swift as a lightning bolt, slashing directly toward him! Stunned, he looked further into the distance and saw a young man standing there, flashing a sinister, persistent smile at him!