Volume 9 Chapter 4
Original and most updated translations are from volare. Please don’t read elsewhere and stop supporting theft.
"A... All of it?" Chen Quan stood still, baffled. Bai Ze waved her hand in impatience, producing a violent gust of wind which sent all of his clothes flying away in shreds. Chen Quan stood still, showing his short but oddly muscular limbs.
Other than Bai Ze, who closed her eyes and concentrated on recalling the spell, most of the group turned their heads away.
Bai Ze suddenly produced a wind blade aimed at Chen Quan’s throat, slicing his artery open, causing a jetstream of blood.
"What...!" Shao Xian, who had been peeking through her fingers, exclaimed.
"Don’t worry, he’s not going to die," Bai Ze said as she began to trace glyphs in the air.
Chen Quan, who had barely recovered from his injuries, was set in place by Bai Ze’s power, unable to move an inch as he continued to bleed out. Upon finishing tracing the spell, the glyphs shone brightly as they spun towards Chen Quan.
"Alright, it’s done." Bai Ze wiped her sweat away. It had only been ten minutes of channeling the spell, and the toll on her body was palpable.
Chen Quan fell to the ground with a loud thud. Afraid of interrupting the spell, he remained immobile, with his hand covering his crotch area in embarrassment.
"Can he put his clothes back on?" Li Yiming asked.
"Yes." Bai Ze said before sitting down to focus on recuperating.
"On behalf of the entire world, I thank you." Li Yiming said to Chen Quan as he threw out a set of clothing from his storage ring.
Chen Quan immediately jumped up and stood with his chest lifted, proud of his contribution.
"Put on some clothes, Mr. Savior." Shao Xian said as she could not bear looking at him.
"Can we be a little more serious when the entire world is at stake?" Sai Gao interjected.
Ying Mei wiped the sweat away from her palms, as she still could not believe how casually Li Yiming and his friends acted in the midst of their predicament.
"Alright, it’s her turn now." Bai Ze opened her eyes and let out a long sigh.
The entire group held their breath as they waited for what was to come. Even Li Yiming began to scratch his head nervously as he imagined the erotic scene which was soon to ensue.
Instead of the violent gust of wind ripping Wu Jia’s clothes to shreds, Bai Ze approached her and placed her finger on the center of Wu Jia’s forehead.
"It’s done."
"What?" Chen Quan was confused.
"I said it’s done." Bai Ze repeated.
"But why did I..."
"Your role was to amplify the effects of the spell. She was simply needed for guidance, so a single marking is enough." Bai Ze cut Chen Quan off with an authoritative stare.
The group sank into an awkward silence at the comical scene.
"Alright, we should hurry. We don’t have any more time to waste." Li Yiming shook his head.
"Should we go to the entrance then?" Sai Gao closed his eyes. He could feel the pressure from the ominous aura emanating from the underground become stronger.
"The entrance is over there." Tian Yan pointed at the mountain peak in the distance.
"We should go then." Ying Mei picked Wu Jia up from the ground, eager to prove her worth to Li Yiming, since she knew that unlike Li Yiming’s friends, she did not belong in the group.
"I’ll transport you all over. It’s faster this way," Sai Gao said, and a flash of golden light later, he transformed into a chimeric beast.
"He’s a sage?" Ying Mei’s countenance shifted, as she could feel just how strong Sai Gao in his original form was. ’Li Yiming, Bai Ze, Fang Shui’er, and now him? How much strength is he hiding?’
"Before we enter the gate, I want to be clear about something. The gate is going to send its strongest forces at us as soon as we start the sealing ritual. If we can’t hold the lines until the seal is finished, then everything is done for," Bai Ze said as she punched the air in excitement at the same time as she jumped on top of Sai Gao.
"Let’s go." Li Yiming led the way and everyone else hopped on board. Sai Gao made for the mountain in a flash of golden light.
"The entrance is over there!" Tian Yan pointed at a location where the tenebrous smoke seemed particularly thick.
"Are you sure about this?" Chen Quan looked below worriedly, knowing that only a small amount of the black smoke was enough to turn him into a skeleton.
"Grab onto something!" Bai Ze opened her mouth slightly and an orb of golden light appeared inside. After a few seconds, it formed a giant lion’s head which shot down toward the ground.
"Beast Monarch’s Roar?" Ying Mei could not believe that Bai Ze had attained her complete form.
"Hold on tight!" Li Yiming barely had time to erect a barrier protecting his friends before Sai Gao dove down into the hole Bai Ze had created. It only took a few moments of Sai Gao clawing his way through the earth before they reached several thousands of meters underground.
"There it is!" Bai Ze spotted the giant stone gate. On the other side shone a blue, ghastly light, and the screams and howling of ghosts and spirits were heard.
"The gate is almost completely opened! We have to hurry!" Tian Yan exclaimed.
"Shao Xian, just focus on singing and do not stop. Sai Gao, I’ll leave the spell to you." Bai Ze put her hand down on Sai Gao’s head, and the glyphs constituting the spell sank into his body.
"We’ll have to focus on fighting whatever comes out of it." Bai Ze said as she sent Wu Jia and Chen Quan, the two key channelers of the spell, levitating in front of her.
"The Great Path is invisible, but it gives birth to heaven and earth.
The Great Path is impassive, but it moves moon and stars..." As soon as Bai Ze gave out the order, Shao Xian began singing the lyrics which were etched into her mind.
Sai Gao curled up and wrapped his tail around his friends. A shockwave was suddenly emitted from the top of his head.
Shao Xian’s voice went silent after barely two sentences. Instead of an audible sound, a string of light came out of her mouth and flew toward Wu Jia’s forehead. Wu Jia’s body began shaking and her mouth opened, sending a red wave toward Chen Quan. He opened his mouth to receive the wave, only to see it enter his chest instead. The next moment, a golden beam suddenly shot out of his head and flew toward the gate.
"It’s coming!" Bai Ze cried out with a severe countenance.
An ear-piercing screech was heard. It did not sound like it came from a human or a beast, but it was nothing short of appalling. The thick black smoke suddenly condensed and formed giant tentacles which moved violently as the spell continued to have its effect.
"There’s a lot of them. Careful!" Tian Yan pointed forward.
Li Yiming was the first one to jump to the action, lifting one hand up. A flash of purple light shot out from his finger and blasted a ghost ahead.
A screech was heard as some of the shadows which had just emerged from the gate were obliterated.
"We have to protect these two at all costs.." Li Yiming took a deep breath, relieved to see the effectiveness of his attack.
Bai Ze put her hands together and harnessed energy. Instead of jumping to the attack right away, she stayed on guard and watched over Chen Quan and Wu Jia.
As for Ying Mei, after glancing at Li Yiming one last time, she sighed and closed her eyes. The shadow beneath her feet suddenly began moving and made for the direction of the gate. A group of ghosts was suddenly caught by giant shadow claws that emerged from the ground and pulled them down, absorbing them into the shadows.
"We can’t help them right now. They’ll be fine." Tian Yan made Fu Bo put down his notebook. He looked around with a bitter expression and abided.
The ghosts were all wiped out by Li Yiming’s bombardment before they could even get close. Even the few who were lucky enough to escape his onslaught were disposed of by Ying Mei. It was an odd scene to cooperate with Ying Mei, but he was rather glad to see her change of heart.
"Something’s wrong!" Bai Ze exclaimed all of a sudden.