Chapter 211: Yūmi Island (Part Seventeen)
Chapter 211: Yūmi Island (Part Seventeen)
“You said… intent?”
Madness and distortion twisted Hayasaka Taeko’s face. She gave a sinister laugh, her voice turning vicious. “For revenge, of course. I will destroy the Cult. I will have my revenge on that damnable man. For that, ‘I’ possessed my very own daughter. I had no other choice.”
“Enough!”
These words carried heavy implications.
But Fang Jing merely shook his head. Pressing his temples, he decided to stop listening. Probably just another dramatic tale worthy of trashy daytime soap operas.
“Listen. My purpose for coming to this island has nothing to do with your revenge or the Cult. I require only one thing: the ‘Keystone’. Hand over the ‘Keystone’, and I will leave this place immediately…”
He stated this plainly, believing the woman still seemed capable of reason.
“… That is impossible!”
Unfortunately, she rejected him as soon as he finished speaking.
“I have forged a pact with the ‘Apostle of the Ring Finger’. How could I possibly hand over something so crucial to your kind, of the Clan?”
The woman claiming to be Hayasaka Taeko unfurled a blue-black tongue from her mouth, flicking it mockingly. The corner of her lips curled in disdain.
“Poor little fool. You must be one of the ‘Dharma Protectors’! Arriving on this island knowing nothing of the truth? Ha… it’s best you die right here!”
Clearly, Hayasaka Taeko seemed to be mistaking Fang Jing for a member of the Clan.
“So, no talking it is!”
His form blurred. A simple punch slammed forward. Hayasaka Taeko’s head shattered.
Without pause, he kicked upward, sending her headless torso flying into the air. In that same instant, what remained of her exploded. Countless writhing tentacles burst forth, flying toward him like a mountain of needles.
Fang Jing moved with divine speed, evading the strike. Where he had stood, the ground was shredded into countless holes.
“Hahaha! Hahaha—!”
An unnerving, mocking laughter rang out amidst a storm of unholy wind swirling like a tornado.
Shlurp… shlurrrrk…
An aberration emerged. Long, black hair flowed from a figure bearing some female traits. Reptilian scales formed keratin armor over the valleys of her chest. Her navel and upper thighs were pitilessly exposed.
Behind her, like a monstrous blooming flower, countless luminescent tentacles swayed freely. They resembled slugs or deep-sea mollusks.
Hayasaka Taeko’s head had transformed into a grotesque burden—an inverted cluster of grape-like heads that manifested atop her neck like hideous fruit. Hundreds of faces and scalps stretched to their limits, fused together in a nightmarish patchwork.
A creature wrought from darkness.
A humanoid monster born of nightmares.
This was Hayasaka Taeko’s revealed true form, unmistakably inhuman.
“Foolish child. Those pathetic wretches you slew earlier were mere foot soldiers of the ‘Apostle of the Ring Finger’. Scattered, low-tier beings from the other realm. Those insignificant cannon fodder? Their deaths hold no meaning, pose no threat.”
Whooosh!
A massive tentacle, over twenty meters long, whipped through the air with terrifying force. It slammed into the gray-skinned giant Fang Jing had summoned, throwing it into a distant pile of ruins. With a crunching rumble, everything within a twenty to thirty-meter radius behind it was leveled, leaving only a cleared path.
“Hah! Hahaha!”
Ruthless light blazed in Fang Jing’s eyes. One thick leg planted firmly on the ground, the other kneeling as he rose. A violent shake sent dust cascading from his hair.
“Seems we’ve finally found someone who can sort of fight!”
He tilted his thick neck, producing cracking sounds. An inexplicable excitement bordering on fervor lit his face. Looking from afar, the air around Fang Jing seemed to twist and distort. A deep crimson hue pulsed beneath his gray skin.
His eyes bloomed bloody red from rage and anticipation.
Huh!
Fang Jing exhaled sharply. Instantly, animalistic instinct flared. Arm muscles corded and tightened like steel cables. Power swelled deep within his Dantian. Strength exploded outward. Vital energy surged, flooding his limbs.
Thoom!
He kicked off the ground and vanished.
The next second, his hand shot forward. He twisted his forearm sharply. His descending chop became the blade of a gigantic axe, cleaving down!
Whoosh!
A torrent of air exploded from his hand blade. This was the secret sword technique “Dragon Return” from the “Nenshin Jikishu Style”—a rare high-speed slash. Fang Jing used his right hand as a blade to unleash its effect.
Sschikk!
A crescent wave of white sonic energy tore forward. The roaring hand-blade shattered a sweeping tentacle.
For an Ancient Martial Arts master of Fang Jing’s level, the underlying principles of fists and swords were interconnected. At his realm, wielding a fist like a blade was effortless.
Slap!
The severed tentacle segment on the ground sprang up. Its tip curled, transformed, split like a malignant flower, revealing layers of jagged teeth.
Like a viper, it shot straight toward Fang Jing beside it.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Fang Jing’s hand-blade movements sliced the air with a tearing sound. The tentacle fragment was diced into several pieces.
While countering the tentacle, he also launched a devastating kick. Power like a mountain range crashing into an ocean materialized from nothingness. It blasted toward the true Hayasaka Taeko before him.
Tap!
A slender palm gently intercepted the kick.
Boom!
An unnatural sound shook the air as if struck. Shockwaves rippled out like waves of water.
“You… don’t actually think brute force at this level can handle me, do you?”
Hayasaka Taeko tilted her head, her lip curving in amusement as she watched Fang Jing.
“Show me your true abilities! Without employing your ‘Curse Entanglement,’ you stand no chance of victory!”
She thrust her hand forward violently. Her fingers clenched tight. Dark, swirling fog spewed from her palm.
Sssss
Instantly, thick, ominous black vapor flooded the surroundings. As it spread countless shrieks, cries, agonized wails, and howls erupted.
Within the expanding cloud, grotesque shapes materialized—ghostly apparitions.
Twisted faces flickered; some skeletal, jaws snapping soundlessly.
It felt like hundreds of voices screamed chaotically near Fang Jing’s ears—frenzied curses, vicious insults, and wretched weeping.
“…All apparitions?”
Intense malevolence saturated the air. The scene was like shades of the dead wailing amidst a desolate wind.
But Fang Jing did not cower. Low-level spirits were merely the weakest form of Evil Filth.
With his own current power, he wouldn’t fear such trifles.
“Bring it ON!”
He roared. Crimson light ignited across his body. Black flame sprang to life across his raised hands. His Life Magnetic Field surged and rippled outward. In one fluid motion without hesitation, his fingers formed a mystic seal. Gripping power capable of shattering steel enforced concrete, he charged once more.
He barreled through the spectral onslaught. Black wraiths emerging from the shifting mist were instantly shredded to nothing by the confluence of Corpse Poison Curse, Rage Blood Aura, and the destructive field of his Life Magnetic Field.
Swoosh!
He burst directly before Hayasaka Taeko’s main body. His hands shot upward simultaneously, fists rising like twin dragons ascending to the heavens, reaching toward her forehead then hammering down!
In the instant of the rising and falling blows, all of Fang Jing’s spirit and focus coalesced to their zenith. Leveraging the foundation of his Ancient Martial Arts skill and the Hiden-ryū Eight Arts, he unleashed his ultimate self-created technique: “Twin Dragon God”!
THWUMP!
Impact hadn’t even occurred yet, but the colossal surge of air pressure slammed downwards. The sheer force alone churned the earth into a dust storm below his fists.
“Missed!”
Hayasaka Taeko vanished before his eyes. Fang Jing’s face flushed red—all his accumulated power and momentum wasted!
His expression hardened. Teeth ground audibly. Cold sweat drenched his back in that critical instant.
“—Useless. You surely understand! Your Clan’s reliance is solely on the power of “Curse Entanglement”—passed down through bloodlines. Depending only on brute force? That’s like punching water with bare fists to destroy the moon reflected within it! Utterly meaningless.”
Hayasaka Taeko’s voice floated toward him like mist, seeming to come from all directions, preventing Fang Jing from pinpointing its source.
(Invisibility? Or some other kind of ability? Why can’t my ‘Illusionless Mind’s Eye’ locate her…)
“Illusionless Mind’s Eye”—an insight gained from the profound meaning within the Immovable Wisdom Mysterious Style. Able to predict an opponent’s location during a state of no visibility.
He’d used it against the massive, glowing invisible monster earlier, successfully tracking it. That behemoth seemed able to manipulate light refraction to become unseen.
(Perhaps ‘Hayasaka Taeko’ possesses something similar, but far more troublesome?)
Releasing that mass of spirits had scrambled his senses, allowing her to vanish unseen.
Fang Jing understood Hayasaka Taeko was extremely difficult to handle. Now, it was clear he had underestimated her.
He couldn’t kill her if he couldn’t locate her true body. Any wild attacks were just pointless exertion draining his stamina and wasting his precious Esoteric Energy Pores.
“What’s wrong? Given up already?”
Hayasaka Taeko laughed from her hidden location.
“This is only the beginning!”
As soon as her voice ceased, Fang Jing felt engulfed by darkness. His consciousness was wrenched violently, transported to an impossibly vast expanse—a hellscape warped for endless suffering, a vortex of doom.
Screams of agony, despair, and savagery echoed everywhere.
Countless souls chained in agony… crucified on colossal mountains of sinew and decaying bone… tormented without end.
Their souls were murdered repeatedly, revived, and thrust back into this crucible of torment.
“LIFE MAGNETIC FIELD!”
Fang Jing loosed a mental bellow!
CRACK!
Like shattering glass crystal, the horrific visions dissolved. Reality snapped back into place.
He drew a sharp breath.
He hadn’t anticipated Hayasaka Taeko possessing psychic attack.
“Hm?”
Hayasaka Taeko clicked her tongue lightly, genuinely surprised.
Without utilizing his Curse Entanglement, he had actually resisted her mental onslaught.