Chapter 162: Descending from the Sky

The crystal coffin suddenly trembled, and with a bang, the lid was blasted away like a cannonball.

At that very moment, the giant clad in blood-red armor inside the coffin sat up. His copper-bell-like eyes snapped open, radiating a shimmering blood-red halo.

A chill ran through my heart. The evil and bizarre aura rolling off this giant was so oppressive that it actually made breathing difficult.

Abruptly, the giant stood up. With a single wave of his hand, the crimson spear resting behind him fell into his grasp.

Clutching my Blood-Searing Saber, I stepped back, one pace at a time. The aura emanating from this giant was terrifying.

Right then, the giant let out a loud laugh, and the blood-red spear in his hand thrust straight toward me.

The malevolent Qi surged like arrows. Even before the spear reached me, its horrific evil might assaulted me from all directions.

My entire body instantly felt as though it were being pricked by needles, leaving me with the suffocating sensation that there was nowhere to run.

Since escape was impossible, I would simply stop running.

A fierce ruthlessness hardened in my heart, and I let out a sharp roar. My figure dissolved into several lingering afterimages as the Nether Dragon manifestation condensed and merged into the single slash I delivered.

"Boom!"

A shockwave erupted from the center, and a tremendous force battered me, sending me flying backward. I hit the ground and skidded back a dozen paces, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood as pain racked my body, making every bone feel as though it had shattered.

"Cackle, go die! Once this humble monk extracts and devours your powerful soul, I will be able to resurrect from the dead and turn everyone into this humble monk's spirit-slaves," the giant shrieked with a grating, eerie laugh. Taking two strides forward, he swept his giant spear, its tip flashing violently as it transformed into a flurry of blood-red dragons that roared toward me.

"Boom!"

My entire body was sent flying like a kite with a snapped string. Yet, midway through the air, I suddenly straightened my posture and drifted downward gently as if falling like a piece of paper.

My body was covered in blood, and the piercing points of the giant's spear had left dozens of wounds upon me.

My expression remained blank, but my eyes flashed with a restless, sharp gleam.

The giant's aura was terrifying to the extreme, yet while its attacks were fierce, they were far weaker than I had anticipated.

The malevolent entity possessing this giant's body was likely entirely incapable of unleashing the giant's true strength.

"Boom!"

At that exact fraction of a second, my body flickered dozens of times at a minuscule frequency. However, to the naked eye of a normal person, I would have appeared completely motionless.

The evil Qi surged like a wave, and my body was once again blasted into the air.

Yet, just as before, as soon as my body was sent aloft, it floated down lightly once more. This time, a dozen more wounds were added to my skin, though they were all superficial.

My gaze grew increasingly bright. I felt as though I had grasped something—it was the concept of force-deflection hidden within the Nether Ghost Steps. Previously, when I utilized the Nether Ghost Steps, I relied solely on speed and evasion, but this time, a stroke of accidental luck allowed me to comprehend the art of deflecting force.

Furthermore, I discovered that despite the giant's immense might, its repertoire of attack patterns was limited to just those few moves.

The giant roared continuously, its attacks growing increasingly ferocious.

I was sent flying again and again, but by the end, not a single new wound was being added to my body.

"Hahaha, have you had enough hitting? It's my turn now," I laughed aloud, a profound sense of confidence settling in my heart.

My figure swept forward like a phantom, the Blood-Searing Saber slashing out to unleash towering waves of blood and billowing malevolent aura.

In an instant, I delivered dozens of strikes, and one of them landed squarely on the giant. The massive body of the giant swayed heavily, and with an angry roar, it lunged at me once more.

However, I had already fully grasped its rhythm. Waiting for its attack to miss, I closed in and struck again.

Slash after slash...

The evil Qi within the giant began to vent outward. It roared repeatedly, yet it could do nothing against me, its aura growing weaker by the moment instead.

"Boom!"

I struck the giant with another heavy blow, and to my surprise, the giant was sent flying directly, crashing heavily onto the ground.

"Haha, exhilarating!" My emotions surged, and laughing heartily, I pressed the attack once more. This feeling was beyond exhilarating.

The giant was left with zero ability to parry. Under my tempestuous assault, it was chipped away piece by piece.

Suddenly, the evil Qi surrounding the giant exploded across the heavens.

"Wretched fool, if I cannot kill you, then let us go to hell together!" the giant roared fiercely. Abruptly, a golden beam of light shot forth from its forehead, smashing directly into the roof of the Buddhist hall.

At that very instant, the entire Buddhist hall trembled violently, as if it were on the verge of collapse.

"Hahaha, this entire Buddhist hall shall plummet into the endless abyss, and you shall be utterly buried!" the giant laughed in a crazed, pathological manner.

Looking from the void outside, the entire massive Buddhist hall was swaying from side to side, and even the space supporting it was cracking with countless fissures.

"Crack, crack..."

The colossal Buddhist hall began to tilt, leaning toward one side.

Right then, the Buddhist hall completely collapsed, hurtling down toward the endless abyss.

I only felt a sudden sense of weightlessness engulf my body as I crashed against the roof of the Buddhist hall.

Immediately afterward, I clung desperately to a stone beam, experiencing a dizzying vertigo that felt as though my brain were being twisted into a knot in a split second.

...

Ling Xinyue ran onward, covered in blood and drenched in sweat.

Deep fissures in the surrounding rocks radiated dark red flames, and the temperature was exceptionally high.

Leaping over a boulder, Ling Xinyue suddenly saw a dark spear thrust upward from below, its tip flashing like a venomous snake.

Her gaze flashed; she clamped her feet onto the tip of the spear and twisted her body, her Soul-Slaying Sword sweeping out a arc of light resembling a shooting star.

"Swish!"

A head wearing dark-red armor flew into the air, though no blood spurted forth.

Ling Xinyue landed, taking a slight breath.

At that moment, spears stood like a forest all around her, and countless evil warriors clad in dark-red armor emerged, surrounding her completely.

Breathing in the scorching air, her Soul-Slaying Sword hummed with a faint vibration.

Abruptly, these evil warriors formed a formation and charged forward in unison. A forest of spears closed in wave upon wave, blocking every possible exit for Ling Xinyue.

With a soft cry, Ling Xinyue leaped into the air, dozens of sword rays dancing to create a succession of icy, glittering lights.

Dozens of evil warriors were instantly hacked to pieces, yet even more surged forward to take their places.

Biting her lower lip, Ling Xinyue retrieved a crystalline talisman stone, formed a hand seal, and hurled it outward.

"Boom!"

Shattered limbs and broken bodies flew through the air as the explosion blasted a gap in the encirclement.

Ling Xinyue dashed toward the opening like lightning, but right then, an angry roar echoed, and a fire dragon hurtled straight toward her.

"I'll fight you!" Ling Xinyue hardened her resolve inwardly. A protective barrier flared around her body, increasing her speed by a further thirty percent.

"Boom!"

The fire dragon slammed into Ling Xinyue's back. She let out a muffled grunt, spat a mouthful of blood, and tumbled through the air a few times before landing unsteadily. Daring not to pause for even a second, she scrambled forward.

Just then, a phantom shot forth like lightning, abruptly transforming into a blood-red spear trailing a wake of dark-red flames, hurtling directly toward the fleeing Ling Xinyue.

Daring not to meet it head-on, Ling Xinyue forcibly shifted her footing three feet to the side.

The spear struck the ground, instantly unleashing a violent shockwave.

Rock fragments and dark-red flames scattered everywhere, and a few of them grazed Ling Xinyue, causing her to tumble to the ground.

At that moment, raising her head, Ling Xinyue saw the ghostly projection of an old monk floating right before her, staring down at her with an eerie, mocking grin.

"Venerable Cangyang, you have guided countless souls, and your passing should have led to ascension. Why have you instead transformed into an evil entity and harmed the mortal world?" Ling Xinyue asked through clenched teeth.

"Cackle, ascension? There is no Pure Land in the West; if one wishes for eternity, one must become a demon," the old monk laughed in a sinister tone.

Then, the old monk raised his hand, and Ling Xinyue floated into the air. Her throat visibly constricted, and her fair face turned as pale as paper.

Suddenly, seeming to sense something, the old monk raised his head.

He saw a massive black shadow hurtling downward from above, aiming straight for him.

"Boom!"

Rubble flew across the subterranean valley, and underground flames flickered wildly amidst a violent and prolonged tremor.

The old monk's ghostly figure flickered and vanished completely, while the group of evil warriors was practically wiped out, smashed to smithereens.

And the colossal object that had smashed down from above was none other than that massive Buddhist hall.

Fortuitously, Ling Xinyue was just outside its direct impact zone, though she was still buried under a heap of shattered rocks.

Channeling her spiritual energy, she sat up and gazed in utter bewilderment at the pile of ruins.

Right then, she suddenly noticed that someone was lying across her lap—yes, a person, not one of the bizarre evil warriors of this place.

Reaching out, Ling Xinyue grabbed the person and dragged them aside, causing the figure to flip onto the ground face-up.

"Qin Feng!" Ling Xinyue gasped in astonishment, disbelief washing over her features.

At this moment, I was unconscious and similarly covered in blood.

Yet, hadn't this fellow gone to the so-called Emperor's Tomb? And yet here we were, inside the Nirvana Cave of Venerable Cangyang.

He had fallen from the sky and crashed right into the Tomb of the Evil Emperor...

Ling Xinyue's mind was in utter chaos. She had already failed to understand why Venerable Cangyang's Nirvana Cave was overrun with evil warriors, and now she found it even harder to make sense of everything unfolding before her.