Chapter 124: Chapter 59: Sacrificing Oneself to Save Another, Senior Sister Has No Regrets
Two streaks of sword light suddenly split apart the sea’s surface, tearing through the water like white satin.
Ling Yunpo was rapidly ascending when An Zhisu suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked him away.
The high-pressure water jet, sharp as a knife and spewing from the chasing Jiaolong’s mouth, barely missed scraping Ling Yunpo’s scalp.
Even though it missed, Ling Yunpo still sensed the extreme sharpness within the water jet, carrying a terrifying power that seemed capable of tearing everything apart.
If it had hit him, even if he risked exposing the Divine Fire Mantle for protection, it might not withstand a single blow!
The disparity between the Golden Core Realm and the Foundation Establishment Realm felt like an insurmountable chasm of despair.
He had plotted and schemed for so long, only managing to strike the Jiaolong through a sneak attack with the dragon-restraining Polar Thunder, and yet he still had not killed it.
Meanwhile, the other party could freely wield demon magic, launching a saturation attack with dense water arrows. Even if he and Senior Sister An successfully dodged countless times, a single hit would mean instant annihilation…
This battle held no chance of victory; they needed to escape, and fast!
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he found himself enveloped in a warm embrace—Senior Sister An grabbed him from the front, pushing the Frostfall Sword Light to its limit, zigzagging at an extremely high frequency.
Ling Yunpo barely held back his dizziness and swiftly turned his head for a quick glance backward.
He saw that, in addition to the two injured Jiaolongs, even more white-scaled Jiaolongs had been alerted and were breaking through the sea’s surface to give chase—from a distance, they were numerous, swarming like a plague, hundreds upon a hasty glance!
If hundreds of Golden Core Rank dragons caught up, he might as well use his Flying Sword to end his own life—death would come more swiftly!
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Ling Yunpo took a deep breath, letting An Zhisu drag him through ultra-high-speed maneuvers while channeling all his True Yuan into his Qi Sea, desperately charging the Godspeed Talisman with energy from the boundless water vein.
Finally, the charging was complete! Just as Ling Yunpo was about to activate the talisman, An Zhisu suddenly jumped in front of him again, and then they were both struck by a powerful blow, knocked into the air together.
The impact left Ling Yunpo completely disoriented, his stomach almost churning like a tumultuous river.
He gritted through the pain, fully activated the Godspeed Talisman, and their forms abruptly vanished from the spot.
The next second, an impenetrable barrage of water arrows, like a deluge, inundated their former location.
About a dozen Jiaolongs rushed to the scene, and with golden vertical pupils, they surveyed the area and then began roaring in the dragon tongue:
“Those two human cultivators have run away!”
“We must capture them!”
“Quick, go inform the Holy Messenger!”
“We can’t afford any disruptions in the final stages of the plan!”
The combined roar of thousands of dragons stirred the sea until waves rose tens of feet high, the heavens and the earth quaking in response.
In a whirl of confusion, Ling Yunpo and An Zhisu found themselves in a valley, standing in a waist-deep pool of water.
The surroundings were indeed picturesque, with no demonic beasts in sight.
Ling Yunpo steadied An Zhisu, only to find that Senior Sister An was limp and too weak to stand on her own.
And on her back, fragments of a broken Immortal Sword were embedded, drenching her entire being in blood.
Ling Yunpo hurriedly checked for her breath, alarmed.
Fortunately, she wasn’t dead, there was hope for her.
For those engaged in cultivation, physical injuries were the easiest to deal with, far less terrible than the poisons and curses of demons or some notoriously insidious, poisonous demonic techniques.
Ling Yunpo found a house nearby, which had all sorts of furniture in it, yet there were no signs that it had been inhabited by human beings.
After confirming there were no traps with the Kunlun Mirror, he let An Zhisu lie down on the bed and then carefully removed her upper garments to extract all the fragments of the Immortal Sword embedded within her.
From the distribution and the angle of the fragments’ penetration, it appeared that Senior Sister An had attempted to protect him by intercepting the Water Arrows with the Flying Sword behind her while trying to shield him in front. Eventually, the Flying Sword could not withstand the power of the demon magic of hundreds of Jiaolongs, shattered, and became embedded in her body.
Of course, if it weren’t for blocking the attack with the Flying Sword, Senior Sister An’s body would not have been able to withstand such an assault… wait, this Flying Sword is?
Ling Yunpo picked up a bloodied fragment and examined it closely.
The Frostfall Sword…
In order to buy him time to activate the Talisman Scripts, Senior Sister An had sacrificed her Life-bound Sword Artifact, the Frostfall Sword, which spelled trouble.
According to the essence of Shushan Swordsmanship, the Life-bound Sword Artifact was linked to the Sword Immortal’s vital energy, greatly enhancing all its abilities.
But the destruction of a Life-bound Sword Artifact was like losing an arm for a Sword Immortal, leading inevitably to a standstill in their realm and a regression in cultivation level.
A standstill in realm meant that no matter how one practiced breathing and Qi Refinement, it was impossible for their realm to make further progress for a short period.
A regression in cultivation level meant what used to exhibit 100% power can now, perhaps, only manifest 40%.
Thinking this, Ling Yunpo stared blankly at the still unconscious Senior Sister on the bed, his expression fluctuating between light and dark.
The time needed for a damaged Life-bound Sword Artifact to recover varied from person to person, as short as two to three months or as long as half a year to a year, but once recovered, it would not leave any side effects.
However, for a Sword Immortal, the loss of a Life-bound Sword Artifact was not as simple as losing just a sword.
Having nurtured the Frostfall Sword for a long time, it could be said to be as responsive as her own limb. Even if she was given another Tenth Rank Flying Sword, how could she get used to it in the short term?
Even if she got used to a new Immortal Sword, what about the Sword Dao Techniques? They couldn’t possibly be the same as those of the Frostfall Sword, could they? If the Daoist Magic sealed on the sword changed, wouldn’t the matching swordsmanship and combat techniques have to change as well?
What’s more, never mind the swordsmanship and combat techniques, the Sword Immortal’s own familiar battle strategies might need to be completely overturned and started from scratch… The negative impact on the Sword Immortal herself was far from something that could be eliminated in just a few years.
Alas, Senior Sister.
Ling Yunpo felt an unspeakable emotion and guilt. The reason for the emotion goes without saying, as Senior Sister had sacrificed herself to save him, which would move even the most cold-hearted and ungrateful of people.
The guilt, however, stemmed from the fact that in his desire to conceal his identity, he had refrained from using too many of his trump cards, inadvertently dragging Senior Sister into choosing to sacrifice herself.
Not to mention other things, just the sky-filling barrage of Water Arrows from the Jiaolong swarm could have been dispelled by Luo Yan activating the Postnatal Five Elements Great Extermination Divine Light with a single sweep… what of the Golden Core Rank? The Five Elements Divine Light is a power of Immortal Law!
Of course, such secretive thoughts could only be buried deep in Ling Yunpo’s heart.
What An Zhisu was willing to sacrifice for was that little junior brother Ling Yunpo who had joined the Qingluo Peak.
As for an individual who schemed to infiltrate Shushan with the intent of seizing fragments of the Heaven-Mending Stone, a spy and a traitor… it was best not to reveal him before her attitude was certain.
With these thoughts, Ling Yunpo shed a few tears, took An Zhisu’s delicate hand into his own, and called out in a mournful voice:
“Senior Sister!”