manynovel Chapter 73 The Ghost of the Three Souls
Chapter 73 The Ghost of the Three Souls
Jiang Yiyou did not continue her attack.
It wasn't because he was unwilling, but because someone grabbed his wrist from behind.
Su Nian didn't see how that person appeared.
Just a second ago, Jiang Yiyou was standing less than ten meters in front of her, with that disgusting smile on her face.
The next second, a hand reached out from behind Jiang Yiyou and grabbed his right wrist.
That hand isn't young.
But the moment Jiang Yiyou's right hand was grabbed, he froze completely.
That ambiguous smile froze on his face, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Jiang Yiyou turned his head and saw the person who had grabbed him.
"you……"
For the first time, there was something like surprise in his voice.
Su Nian saw it too.
That red hair.
Old Red.
The old man who owed three months' worth of drinks at the tavern.
He stood behind Jiang Yiyou, his gray jacket fluttering in the wind.
His face no longer held the dejection and listlessness of the tavern; instead, it displayed a sharp, razor-sharp expression.
Fire-attribute elemental energy.
Su Nian was stunned.
What happened next was almost entirely invisible to Su Nian.
Jiang Yiyou moved the moment her wrist was grabbed.
His body twisted like a snake, and his left hand formed a palm, striking towards Lao Hong's face.
The speed was so fast that Su Nian could only see a blurry afterimage.
Old Hong loosened his wrist, leaned back, and the palm wind swept past him, leaving a visible shockwave in the air.
The shockwave struck a boulder a dozen meters behind Lao Hong, splitting it in two as if cleaved by an invisible knife.
Old Hong took two steps back, steadied himself, and pulled his right hand out of his jacket pocket.
He had nothing in his hands, but a red light shone from his fingertips.
The heat emanating from the orb made Su Nian's face feel hot even from more than ten meters away.
Jiang Yiyou did not give him a chance to make a move.
His body was moving so fast that Su Nian's eyes couldn't keep up at all.
She could only see a blurry black shadow darting across the open space at high speed, leaving a deep footprint on the ground with each pause.
Old Hong stood still, his left hand behind his back and his right hand raised to his chest, palm facing outward.
The ball of orange-red light spun rapidly in his palm.
Jiang Yiyou's shadow appeared to Lao Hong's left.
Su Nian saw that his fist was covered with a layer of purple light, and he blasted it towards Lao Hong's temple.
Old Hong didn't dodge, but instead turned his right hand at a very small angle. The ball of light in his palm exploded, turning into a red wall of light that blocked the space between his fist and temple.
The fist collided with the wall of light.
"boom!"
A visible shockwave spread outwards from the point of impact in all directions.
Su Nian was pushed back several steps by the shockwave, stumbled, and almost fell.
She crossed her arms to shield herself, and the pebbles and sand hitting her arms felt like being shot with a shotgun.
When she lowered her arm, Lao Hong and Jiang Yiyou were no longer there.
They are in the air.
Su Nian looked up and saw two figures intersecting, colliding, separating, and colliding again in mid-air.
Each collision produces a blinding flash of light and a deafening roar.
The dark red sky was torn open by these rays of light, creating gaping wounds.
Those zeros moved the instant the battle began.
But they weren't heading towards Su Nian; instead, they were heading towards the martial arts club members who were still unconscious on the ground.
Su Nian immediately understood Jiang Yiyou's intention.
He didn't need to do it himself; he only needed to have Zero kill those gang members to tear another wound in Su Nian's heart.
Su Nian gritted her teeth and rushed over.
Her vital energy has recovered considerably.
The energy fluctuations emitted by Lao Hong during her battle with Jiang Yiyou were like an invisible nutrient, and her dantian automatically absorbed the dissipated energy.
She didn't know the underlying principle, but she didn't have time to think about it.
The first zero had already rushed in front of Zhao Meng, reaching for Zhao Meng's neck.
Su Nian glided to Zhao Meng's side, gathered his primordial energy in his right fist, and punched Ling in the chest.
Zero's body exploded instantly.
The second, the third, the fourth.
Su Nian repelled the zeros one by one, while using her feet to gather the club members together, making it easier for her to protect them at the same time.
Her movements were quick and precise, each strike shattering Zero's hidden form with pinpoint accuracy.
But these zeros seem endless; as soon as one falls, two more appear.
Their numbers have not decreased, but rather increased.
A shockwave swept over her head and struck the ground a dozen meters behind her.
The ground was blasted open, creating a crater three or four meters in diameter, from which rubble and sand shot into the sky like a fountain.
Su Nian was thrown to the ground by the blast wave, her back hitting the ground, and she felt a dull pain in her chest.
She gritted her teeth and got up, only to see the battlefield between Lao Hong and Jiang Yiyou moving in her direction.
Each of their attacks causes enormous destruction to the surrounding area.
The ground was riddled with craters and cracks, and the Zeros, caught in the aftershocks of their battle, were reduced to black mist in large swaths.
But Su Nian had no time to feel relieved, because the shattered stones and flying fragments of Yuan Qi would also injure the unconscious people on the ground.
A stone the size of a fist flew towards Lin Xiaoxi's head.
Su Nian didn't have time to rush over, so she could only throw out a ball of Yuan Qi and shatter the stone in mid-air.
The debris hit Lin Xiaoxi's face, leaving several bloody marks, but it was still better than having her skull smashed by a rock.
Another wave of the attack's aftershocks surged toward this side.
This time it was an arc-shaped airflow that swept across the ground, covering a large area. Su Nian didn't have time to move all the club members away.
A figure landed in front of her.
Gray jacket, dark red hair.
He had his back to Su Nian and was facing the wave of air, his right hand swinging out from the side.
An orange-red wall of light unfolded from his palm, shielding Su Nian and all the club members on the ground behind him.
The shockwave crashed into the wall of light, producing a thunderous roar.
The wall of light trembled violently, its orange-red glow flickering erratically, as if it might shatter at any moment.
But Lao Hong's hand was as steady as a rock, not moving an inch.
The shockwave has passed.
The wall of light disappeared.
Old Hong's shoulders heaved slightly, and his breathing became somewhat rapid.
Su Nian looked at his hunched back, opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
This figure was completely different from the one she remembered—the one who held a cheap beer in a tavern and would wipe away tears when talking about his deceased wife.
But they are the same person.
The person she thought was just a pitiful old drunkard was someone who could withstand a direct confrontation in a battle of that caliber and still manage to step back to protect her.
Old Hong did not turn back.
His gaze fell on the distance not far ahead.
Jiang Yiyou stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, her breathing somewhat rapid.
His black robe was torn in several places during the battle, and the ambiguous smile on his face was gone, replaced by an expression that Su Nian had never seen on his face before.
serious.
For the first time, he regarded someone other than Su Nian as an opponent.
"You're still alive," Jiang Yiyou said, her voice slightly breathless. "I thought you were dead."
Old Hong didn't say anything.
"No," Jiang Yiyou tilted her head, as if pondering something, "You should already be dead. You should have died three hundred years ago. The reason you're still alive is because of..."
He didn't continue.
Old Hong didn't let him continue.
This was the first time Su Nian had clearly seen his actions.
But it wasn't because his speed had slowed down, but because Su Nian's eyes, after this period of adjustment, were finally able to keep up with his pace.
His speed is ridiculously fast.
He thrust his right fist out from his waist, without any fancy movements; it was just the simplest and most direct punch.
The primordial energy condensed on the fist was not red, but a white and intense light.
Jiang Yiyou did not take the hit head-on.
He dodged to the side, then swept his right leg across, aiming for Lao Hong's knee.
Old Hong raised his leg to dodge, then changed his fist into a palm and pressed it towards Jiang Yiyou's chest.
The two clashed again.
This time, Su Nian saw it more clearly than before.
She noticed that Lao Hong's fighting style was completely different from Jiang Yiyou's.
Jiang Yiyou's movements are flamboyant, varied, and deceptive.
Lao Hong's movements are simple and direct, and each move carries a sense of weight and experience honed through countless trials.
But that's all Su Nian can see.
They were still moving too fast, so fast that her eyes could only catch fragmented images.
What shocked Su Nian even more was that she finally saw the source of the two people's power.
By this point in the battle, both of them had exhausted most of their strength, and their deliberate concealment and disguise could no longer be maintained.
Although Su Nian's detection technique still couldn't accurately sense their strength level, it was already able to capture the essence of their power.
Jiang Yiyou's power is zero.
It's not ordinary zero force.
Ordinary zero force has no attribute characteristics.
But Jiang Yiyou's zero power has color.
Yellow, blue, red, gold, green.
It's not a single color; almost every color is covered by a deep purple.
Five colors flowed, intertwined, and transformed within his body.
Five attributes.
Earth, water, fire, metal, wood.
Su Nian could hardly believe her eyes.
She always thought he was using primordial energy.
Because his way of expressing power is too similar to that of the Xia Lan.
It has attributes, colors, and shapes, and can unleash attacks similar to the Xia Lan technique.
She thought he was at least at the Yin-Yang level, or even possibly at the Taiji level.
But now she knows.
That's not primordial energy, it's zero force.
He is not a Xia Lan; he is a Zero with five attributes of Zero Power.
A zero that is more terrifying than the Seven Souls.
And Lao Hong.
Su Nian's gaze fell on the figure in the gray jacket.
Old Red's power is primordial energy.
Pure, unadorned fire-attribute primordial energy.
It has only one attribute, only one color, and only one shape.
But his primordial energy was so intense that Su Nian couldn't comprehend it.
She had seen what it looked like when a Xia Lan at the Tai Chi level released their Yuan Qi.
She saw it once when she was a child at Jiugongling.
It was a retired elder who, while demonstrating to her young disciples, released the most powerful primordial energy she had ever seen in her life.
That primordial energy was like a volcano—fiery, violent, and unstoppable.
But Lao Hong's primordial energy is different.
His vital energy is not a volcano.
Volcanoes erupt, deplete, and cool down.
Old Red's primordial energy is like a star.
It doesn't erupt; it just sits there, burning steadily, continuously, and inexhaustibly.
Its temperature isn't the highest, its brightness isn't the brightest, but it has something that volcanoes can't match: persistence.
No, it's not just about being durable.
Su Nian watched as Lao Hong's fist and Jiang Yiyou's palm collided once again, unleashing a blinding light and a deafening roar.
Both of them were pushed back a few steps by the recoil.
Jiang Yiyou took five steps back.
Old Hong took four steps back.
Su Nian's eyes widened.
Old Red had the upper hand.
A Xia Lan with only one attribute, facing a Zero with five attributes, not only did not fall behind, but actually gained the upper hand in the head-on collision.
That's impossible.
But Su Nian's eyes told her that this was true.
Jiang Yiyou was clearly aware of this as well.
His expression changed.
An expression of being offended.
It's as if they're saying, "How dare you fight me to a draw?"
He raised his hands from his sides, palms facing up.
Five colors of zero force surged from his palm, intertwining, swirling, and merging in the air, eventually coalescing into a giant sphere of light.
The orb of light hovered above his head, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.
"Meteorite Burial"
Jiang Yiyou uttered those two words.
The voice wasn't loud, but the moment Su Nian heard those two words, her ears felt like they were being pricked by needles.
It wasn't because the sound was loud, but because the two words themselves carried a kind of power, a power that could influence everything around them.
The air grew heavy.
Su Nian felt as if she were buried in the sand, and every breath she took required all her strength.
The ground trembled, and gravel bounced on the ground, making a dense, rain-like sound.
All the players still on the field knelt down, not in submission, but because they were crushed by that force.
Su Nian's knees were also going weak.
Her body was telling her to run.
Run as far as possible.
This is something you can't fight against.
But she didn't run away.
It wasn't because she didn't want to run, but because there were seven people behind her.
Seven unconscious, unsuspecting people who could be killed at any moment by the aftermath of the battle.
Su Nian gritted her teeth, braced her hands on the ground, and used her body to shield the club members.
That's all she can do.
With my insignificant strength, I will shield them from even a small portion of the impact.
Lao Hong stood between Su Nian and Jiang Yiyou.
He looked up at the five-colored orb of light.
The light emanating from the orb illuminated his entire face.
His expression was calm.
Old Hong raised his right hand from his side.
A ball of red primordial energy condensed in his palm.
The primordial energy was rotating, but not in place; rather, it was undergoing an extremely complex, multi-dimensional movement within a very small area.
It seems to be folding itself, or replicating itself. Each time it folds, its brightness increases by one point, and each time it replicates, its temperature rises by one degree.
Su Nian couldn't understand this process.
Her rank was too low, her experience too shallow, and her understanding of the world was still at the level of "condensing primordial energy into flames and then shooting them out".
What was happening in Lao Hong's palm was far beyond her comprehension.
But she understood the outcome.
Old Hong flipped his palm, and the ball of primordial energy flew out from his palm, not in a straight line, not in a curve, but in a trajectory that could not be described in words.
It was as if it folded distance in space; you could clearly see it fly out of Old Red's palm, and the next second it was already above Jiang Yiyou's head.
Face to face with that five-colored orb of light.
"Fire Separation - Radiant Moon"
The five-colored light sphere and the orange-red primordial energy exploded simultaneously.
Su Nian could see nothing at all.
The whole world turned white.
She could not hear any sound, and could not even feel her own body.
She felt like a speck of dust stripped from the universe, floating in a void where nothing existed.
Then everything came back to normal.
The sound came back first.
Then came the light; the white faded, replaced by a blinding interplay of red and purple light.
Finally, there was the wind, a fierce wind carrying the smell of burning.
Su Nian lay on the ground, her arms tightly protecting the club members behind her.
Her back was exposed to the gale and rubble, her skin was cut open in many places, and beads of blood seeped from the wounds, which were quickly dried by the wind.
She gritted her teeth, determined not to be blown away.
I don't know how much time has passed.
Maybe a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour.
Su Nian couldn't tell the difference.
The wind stopped.
The light dimmed.
The sound disappeared.
Su Nian slowly raised her head.
The sight before her made her forget to breathe.
The Gobi Desert has disappeared.
No, it's not gone, it's been completely changed.
The ground was covered with huge craters and deep cracks, the deepest of which were bottomless, like wounds torn open in the earth.
The terrain within a radius of several hundred meters was completely reshaped.
The rocks, sand dunes, and camel thorns that once existed have all disappeared.
Instead, there was a landscape that Su Nian had never seen before, a landscape that did not belong to this world.
It looks like the surface of the moon.
No, it's more desolate and broken than the surface of the moon; it's more like a place ravaged by some indescribable force.
All those zeros disappeared.
Not even ashes remained.
Lao Hong and Jiang Yiyou stood on that destroyed land, less than twenty meters apart.
Both of them were panting.
Old Hong's gray jacket was tattered beyond recognition; the left sleeve was completely gone, revealing an arm covered in scars.
Jiang Yiyou wasn't much better off.
His black robe was completely torn to shreds, leaving only a few strips of cloth hanging on his body.
Jiang Yiyou glanced at Lao Hong, then at Su Nian.
Then he turned around.
gone.
His figure grew smaller and smaller against the dark red sky, becoming increasingly blurry until it finally disappeared at the horizon.
Those things he summoned also disappeared along with him.
Su Nian knelt on the messy ground, staring in the direction Jiang Yiyou had disappeared, remaining motionless for a long time.
Behind her, the seven gang members were still unconscious.
Their breathing was steady; they were unaffected by the fighting.
Su Nian shielded everyone with her own body.
A hand was stretched out in front of her.
Su Nian raised her head.
Old Hong stood in front of her.
He looked at Su Nian without saying anything, but simply stretched out his hand.
Su Nian looked at him.
She had never associated the old man's image with the powerful figure who had just unleashed "Fire Separation - Radiant Moon".
But they are the same person.
Always.
Su Nian reached out and placed her hand on Lao Hong's palm.
He gripped Su Nian's hand tightly.
Then he pulled her up.