Translator: CinderTL
"Hmph, you vile thing!"
Xu Sanyan glared at the colossal golden statue, knowing this was all Ci Sheng's doing, that old virgin's trickery.
Boom, boom...
The statue's footsteps thundered as it moved, crushing countless corpses into pulp. Blood and flesh oozed out from beneath its feet like toothpaste.
"Playing God and demons!"
As the words left his lips, Xu Sanyan leaped high into the air, his fist aimed directly at the statue's head.
The statue clenched its fists and slammed them down with tremendous force, the movement generating a violent gust of wind. Its massive frame seemed to slow its speed, but in reality, its fists were upon Xu Sanyan in the blink of an eye.
The contrast in their sizes was stark. Xu Sanyan looked like a child standing before a giant, dwarfed by the statue's imposing presence.
Boom!
Their fists collided with explosive force, the air around them shattering with a deafening roar. For a fleeting moment, time seemed to freeze.
In the next instant, Xu Sanyan was sent flying backward at incredible speed, crashing heavily against a wooden beam.
Pfft...
A sudden itch in his throat brought up a mouthful of clotted blood, clearing his chest.
Xu Sanyan wiped his mouth, his eyes burning with ferocity as he glared at the golden statue. A savage grin twisted his lips.
The golden statue's massive fist shattered, revealing the gray-blue brickwork beneath. Cracks spread rapidly across the fist, like a spiderweb soon covering the entire body.
With a deafening "BOOM," the statue crumbled into a pile of rubble.
"Hahahaha... Let's see what else you've got!" Xu Sanyan pushed himself up, roaring with laughter, his eyes devoid of fear.
He had survived countless dangers; a mere old ghost couldn't take his life.
If Ci Sheng had been a bit more attractive, he might have even been tempted to "paint her red"—to show her the true virility of a Northwestern man!
Ci Sheng's ethereal voice echoed from the Great Hero Hall: "Don't struggle. You can't escape..."
Xu Sanyan sneered inwardly. The Ferocious Demon burst from the darkness and charged into the hall at lightning speed.
BANG!
The Ferocious Demon flew out even faster, as if repelled by an invisible barrier.
Something was definitely amiss!
Xu Sanyan didn't dare enter the hall recklessly. He turned to the entrance, where the two young nuns were still staring at him with unwavering gazes.
"What are you looking at?"
Xu Sanyan snorted coldly. The Blood Demon's legs tensed, and he instantly appeared beside the two nuns, severing their heads with a single claw strike each.
In the blink of an eye, two figures emerged from the Great Hero Hall once more—the two young nuns.
"Damn it, this is endless!" Xu Sanyan gasped for breath, his eyes growing even redder, and the violent intent in his heart surged with renewed fury.
"Stay... stay..." Ci Sheng's voice echoed from within the hall, the seductive melody stirring unrest in his heart.
"Shut up!!" Xu Sanyan roared, hefting his massive fist and leaping into the air like a raging bull charging straight into the hall.
Bang!
An invisible barrier blocked his path. Peering through the barrier, he saw Ci Sheng seated on a meditation cushion with her back to him, facing a towering Buddha statue. She appeared completely unguarded, her lips still murmuring the same phrase, "Stay... stay..."
"Stay... your... mother..."
Xu Sanyan's rage surged uncontrollably, a wave of evil fire surging into his brain, threatening to consume his sanity.
His violent emotions seemed to reach a critical point. A soft pop echoed in his ears, as if something had shattered...
In that instant, the third eye on his forehead, which had been tightly closed, slowly lifted its eyelid, revealing a tiny slit. It was just a hairline crack, barely noticeable unless one looked closely.
Ci Sheng seemed to sense something. Though her body remained facing away from him, her head snapped around, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
In that instant, she felt a deadly threat...
Was it an illusion?
Crimson Mist seeped from the crack in Xu Sanyan's forehead, slowly enveloping his entire body. To Ci Sheng, it looked as though he were now draped in a thin, pale red veil, obscuring his naked form.
Xu Sanyan's eyes slowly closed, but the crack in his forehead widened. First, a pale red iris appeared, followed by a pitch-black pupil filled with an aura of utter death.
He saw...
Through those eyes, Xu Sanyan finally saw what had been invisible before.
As his gaze shifted, the majestic temple before him suddenly transformed into a scene of utter ruin. The golden pagoda was shrouded in a hazy gray mist, its former grandeur completely lost.
The main hall lay in ruins, with only a few pillars supporting the crumbling framework. The massive Buddha statue that had once sat serenely on its lotus throne now lay headless in the rubble.
The corpses he had left behind from his earlier massacre began to decay, their flesh dissolving in an instant to reveal piles of dry bones. Even the two young nuns were now nothing more than complete skeletons.
As Ci Sheng's gaze shifted, her appearance began to change. Her plain monk's robes gradually brightened, and the monk's cap atop her head transformed into a cascade of jet-black hair.
In an instant, the elderly nun became a beautiful young woman in a crimson corduroy jacket, her hair elegantly coiled high on her head. It was one of the girls from Ci Sheng's story.
Yet a pervasive aura of Yin energy clung to her, making her seem less than alive.
"Hahaha... This is the form I find truly appealing," Xu Sanyan laughed heartily. If she looked like this, he wouldn't mind playing the role of Ning Caichen. [1]
Ci Sheng remained silent.
As time passed, the crimson mist around her grew thicker, but the scarlet mist flowing from the single eye on her forehead gradually diminished until it ceased completely.
Xu Sanyan felt the changes within himself. A cruel smile curled his lips as he ran his tongue over his sharp fangs, recalling the origin of the crimson mist.
When he had first obtained the Blood-Red Dagger, he had fought a young man surnamed Fang. Though the young man had no martial training, his physical strength and this layer of crimson mist had allowed him to hold his own against Xu Sanyan.
At the time, Xu Sanyan was already in the Inner Qi Realm, while the young man only knew some crude village martial arts. However, the Crimson Mist's suppression of Inner Qi was so pronounced that Xu Sanyan couldn't defeat him.
Later, Xu Sanyan tried to discover the source of the Crimson Mist but failed. In the end, he had to give up, which he found deeply regrettable.
Only now did he realize that it required "heart."
Young Master Fang, driven to desperation by Xu Sanyan's relentless pressure and threats against his fellow villagers, must have been consumed by rage. This fury had then triggered the blood mist.
Now, fueled by his own heart brimming with violent intent, Xu Sanyan had successfully summoned the mist as well.
It seemed that as long as one's emotions reached a certain intensity, it should be possible.
Once he succeeded, he would remember the sensation and wouldn't need to go through such elaborate preparations again.
Ci Sheng rose to her feet, her eyes filled with a mixture of shock and uncertainty as she stared at Xu Sanyan. "You... what are you?"
"Hah~~"
Xu Sanyan let out a long, satisfied groan, his crimson eyes tilting slightly.
"What am I? I'm your father!"
Ci Sheng smiled. "My father died long ago. I killed him."
Translator's Notes:
[1] Ning Caichen is a character from "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" ("聊斋志异", also known as "Liaozhai Zhiyi"), a classic Chinese collection of supernatural stories by Pu Songling. Ning Caichen is a timid scholar who encounters Nie Xiaoqian, a ghost forced to kill men by an evil spirit. Despite her supernatural allure, Ning Caichen doesn't fall for her at first. They eventually fall in love, and Ning Caichen helps free her from the evil spirit's control, giving her a chance at redemption and a happy ending together.
(End of the Chapter)
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