Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Hearing Shen Huaizhou’s words, Tang Yuanxiao gave him a look that said, “You’re being ridiculous.”
Even now, he thought Xie Qingling was certain to win? Nothing could explain that except a rose-tinted lens 2.8 meters thick.
At least, Tang Yuanxiao could see no chance for her to turn things around.
The strength of Yang Baduan’s ability had nothing to do with Yang Baduan himself. It depended on the target’s “karma of killing.”
Had he not seen how many creatures Xie Qingling had killed in this match?
Even if she made it through the Punishment Field, she would suffer terribly.
Tang Yuanxiao thought Shen Huaizhou was still too young to understand how dangerous this world was, or else was merely putting on a brave front. Shen Huaizhou, meanwhile, found Tang Yuanxiao unreasonable. Explaining would be wasted on him, like discussing ice with a summer insect. So both remained silent, looking back at the arena and exchanging no more thoughts.
Tang Yuanxiao said nothing, no longer cheering for Xie Qingling. Holding her cat, Wangsun Huahua had also fallen quiet. She had even stopped stroking its soft fur.
They watched the arena tensely and without a sound.
In the arena, Xie Qingling’s expression had become very grim.
Standing there herself, she could sense much more than anyone else.
Many harsh, indescribable, chaotic sounds appeared in her mind.
Screams, sobs, and laughter.
They mingled together like demonic sounds piercing her brain, as though stabbing sharply through her eardrums. She could not shut them out however she tried.
Her head felt about to explode.
Then those voices became demands for her life, every cry seeming to shout: A life for a life. A life for a life. A life for a life.
Her body felt as though plunged into an ice cellar one moment, burned by raging fire the next.
Xie Qingling seemed trapped in a suffocating prison from which there was no escape.
This invisible, intangible “prison” could take her life at any moment!
She knew these were the adverse effects of the withered wasteland beneath her feet. Her first thought was to find a way out.
But as she moved, the wasteland moved too, following her fleeing steps and enveloping her like a dark cloud.
It spread with her movements, like a pool of flowing, living water, and grew larger and larger.
She tried to rush toward Yang Baduan or pull him inside. Neither attempt succeeded.
A thick barrier rose between them, preventing any physical contact and even pushing them farther and farther apart. Within the withered wasteland, everything Xie Qingling did was futile.
She could neither dodge it nor outrun it. After several unsuccessful attempts, she gave up.
It seemed a boundary had been drawn to imprison her.
Running alone would not free her from this wasteland’s confinement. She had to find a way to break it.
This withered wasteland had evolved from the animal corpses just now.
Its size corresponded to how many animals she had killed.
Frowning, she stared straight at Yang Baduan, instinctively realizing that this was his trap, and his divine ability.
Now Yang Baduan moved too.
He turned the Judge’s Brush again, brought out its tip, and moved his wrist to sketch a few more strokes in empty air.
A few cracking sounds rang out. Gleaming bronze mirrors rose from nowhere in the withered wasteland before Xie Qingling.
The mirrors were as tall as a person, their polished surfaces bright enough to reflect a face. Ferocious evil ghosts were engraved on their backs, giving them a sinister air.
Mirror after mirror rose. Before long, they surrounded her.
[The fourth of the eighteen levels of hell: Hell of the Mirror of Sin. Look into these mirrors and reveal your sins. Look at your face. Meet your eyes. See the crimes you have committed, uncover every secret you have buried and never spoken aloud. In the Hell of the Mirror of Sin, your recent crimes will be revealed. Your heart will be cut open and displayed. Is it black or red? Dripping with blood, or utterly unstained?]
Xie Qingling’s image appeared in a mirror. That image and the mirror itself were reflected in other mirrors, each within the others, making the space seem to stretch endlessly.
The infinitely layered effect dazzled her eyes. Enduring the discomfort, she looked carefully at herself in the mirror.
The person in the mirror was still her.
Black clothes. Perfectly clean.
Nothing strange happened.
Instead, much of her discomfort faded. The demonic demands for her life assaulting her ears fell by at least a few decibels.
As Xie Qingling looked straight at her reflected self, the sound of shattering rang out. Countless mirror surfaces cracked, then broke together.
Outside the mirrors, nothing happened to her.
[Spirit Wielder stubborn as stone, unyielding Spirit Wielder. Even the Hell of the Mirror of Sin cannot open your heart or reveal your sins. Are you innocent, or hiding too deeply? The Hell of the Mirror of Sin cannot decide where to send you. The Civil Judge’s Chosen begins playing his tricks once again.]
Seeing this, Yang Baduan’s brows drew together slightly, but his expression remained calm. He wielded the Judge’s Brush again, drawing another vast, magnificent scene.
Before Xie Qingling, a road paved with blades gradually unfurled from far away to nearby.
Broken blades, swords planted at an angle, rusted spears… Every sharp weapon in the mortal world displayed its edge before her at that moment.
One step onto this road of thorns and blades would draw streams of blood.
Sharp edges would pierce the toes. Spears would pierce the body.
Anyone trying to cross it would either be held forever on those blades, or have both feet wounded and bloody, their body torn all over.
[The seventh of the eighteen levels of hell: Hell of the Mountain of Blades. Here, humans are no different from other livestock. Oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs are living beings too. Killing livestock is killing people. Killing livestock creates killing karma. Though the Hell of the Mirror of Sin cannot reveal your sins, listen to the cries and wails around you!]
[Those desperate cries of sorrow, those pleas for mercy!]
[All of this is the sin of killing you created, your karmic burden. The deeper your sins, the sharper the mountain of blades. Go. Step onto this road of blades. Let blood repay your sins; let pain awaken your soul.]
[Only when you have cleansed your sins and repaid your karmic debt can you shatter this cage and reach the other shore.]
Shatter the cage and reach the other shore?
Was Yang Baduan on that shore?
If he was, reaching it would mean she could win.
As long as she repaid her karmic debt, she could break out.
Xie Qingling looked at the rust on the sharp edges, mingled with green bronze corrosion, without a change in expression.
The entire arena was quiet now. Everyone held their breath, watching her struggle with Yang Baduan.
Even the spectators outside could feel the suffocating demands for her life and the sense of guilt in those bizarre scenes.
It was as uncomfortable as having a sword suspended over the heart.
The old hands who had eagerly wanted to enter in her place and give Yang Baduan a thrashing were all quiet now, obedient as quails, growing afraid at what might have happened to them.
Yang Baduan’s divine ability might not kill someone with one punch, but once he truly used it… Looking at that mountain of blades, who could endure it?
Terrifying.
Fortunately, they had not excitedly cheered for Xie Qingling like Tang Yuanxiao.
Otherwise, Director Yang would surely be angry if he heard them, wouldn’t he?
The other newcomers, meanwhile, felt fortunate.
Fortunate that they were not the unlucky one facing Yang Baduan.
Otherwise, there would be only one possible outcome – elimination.
Elimination was one thing. Being publicly executed in the Hell of the Mountain of Blades, dying horribly… Just imagining that scene was almost too wonderful. Too wonderful to bear looking at.
Everyone watched Xie Qingling.
To see how she would break out.
To see how she would face the Hell of the Mountain of Blades.
Xie Qingling was thinking.
In her ears, those deadly cries and demands for her life grew more chaotic and harsher.
Her head was almost bursting.
She quietly watched the mountain paved with sharp edges. The gleam of cold steel reflected in her eyes. There was no panic there, only resolve and the courage to stake everything.
Suddenly, she moved.
She began running, her skirt flying, straight toward the road of blades.
She neither dodged nor evaded. She played no chasing game with the mountain of blades, but headed directly toward it.
She stepped onto the road paved with sharp edges.
One step, two, three…
Xie Qingling began walking slowly over the road of swords and blades.
Her movements were gentle, as though on a spring outing. Slow, but light.
Though she wrapped Spirit around the soles of her feet, after about two or three meters, the blades still broke through her defenses and pierced them, drawing red blood from both feet.
Stabbing pain came from her soles. Yet she did not even frown and kept walking forward.
Soon, more and more blood flowed from her toes, dripping steadily. As it fell onto the sharp edges, the already rusty blades instantly acquired a deeper layer of rust. At the same time, a dull gray cast covered their points and edges. Their cold gleam grew darker and weaker.
It hurt. Her feet hurt badly. Yet Xie Qingling began to smile instead.
Smiling as she endured the pain, her expression was bizarrely twisted, yet people could feel her happiness came from the heart.
For as more blood flowed, every blade that had touched her quickly disintegrated into flying ash.
Before long, the mountain of blades before her vanished too.
[Terrifying Spirit Wielder. Spirit Wielder who will not relent until staring death in the face. Even upon the mountain of blades, you still insist on your innocence.]
[Your heart shows no repentance. Your soul needs no atonement. You simply walk your own road with conviction, never looking back, needing no redemption.]
[The mountain of blades that punishes evil has seen your resolve, touched your steadfast soul, yet sensed no sin. Of its own accord, it veils its points and withdraws its edges, no longer harming your fragile feet.]
[The Judge’s Brush has finished its duty. The judgment of the Spirit Wielder has ended. You have repaid your karmic debt. The holder of the Judge’s Brush can do nothing more to you.]
The withered wasteland beneath her feet receded. Wisps of black vapor disappeared.
The arena floor returned to its original state.
Her blood-soaked feet returned to normal too, as though everything she had just experienced had been nothing but a long dream.
She raised her head and gave the stunned Yang Baduan a brilliant smile.
The next moment, she vanished from everyone’s sight.
Yang Baduan could do nothing more to her. But she had yet to begin showing what she could do.
Open your eyes wide and watch how she wins.