Chapter 66 - 58: I Have Been Retreating All My Life, But This Time... I Won’t Retreat

Chapter 66: Chapter 58: I Have Been Retreating All My Life, But This Time... I Won’t Retreat

He had deliberately misled Outer Path Fang Heng into believing that the Cyan Lotus Pupil was the reason he knew him inside out. This was all part of Lu Chen’s calculations from the very beginning.

After all, long before this encounter, Lu Chen had repeatedly forced Outer Path Fang Heng to reveal his true form.

Yet, every time they reached this point, Lu Chen would fall short by a single move, narrowly losing to Outer Path Fang Heng. The physical body of Outer Path Fang Heng at this stage was simply too powerful.

It was so powerful that even Lu Chen’s full-force strike could only severely injure him, rather than truly defeat him.

Therefore, Lu Chen had changed his strategy since then. He pondered how to kill Outer Path Fang Heng before he could reveal his true form, or alternatively, how to weaken his Power after he transformed.

For the former, Lu Chen had tried launching a full-force attack the moment he walked through the door.

The result, however, was that Evil Sword Chiwei would act on its survival instinct and instantly seize control of Fang Heng’s body. It would then initiate its second phase on the spot for the Suppression of Lu Chen.

Thus, if it was a head-on confrontation right from the start, Lu Chen had almost no chance of winning. All he could do was weaken Outer Path Fang Heng as much as possible, or rather, weaken the Power of Evil Sword Chiwei.

Using himself as bait to heavily damage Evil Sword Chiwei in one fell swoop—this was the solution Lu Chen had figured out.

Although his own Power would be affected in the process, the impact on Evil Sword Chiwei would be far greater in comparison.

In this way, the gap between him and Evil Sword Chiwei would undoubtedly be narrowed. After several attempts, Lu Chen confirmed that this latter approach was the best solution.

On the second floor of the Sword Pavilion, Lu Chen looked at Sword Snake - Chiwei, whose head nearly touched the ceiling. He knew that as long as he could withstand Chiwei’s impending rampage, the winning opportunity he had been waiting for... would finally arrive.

Because he was not actually fighting alone!

Despite Chiwei’s currently imposing aura, it had actually been driven into a corner.

By revealing its Outer Path true form, it had exhausted all the Power of Outer Path. As a result, it could no longer suppress the will within its body that originally belonged to Fang Heng.

If it failed to defeat Lu Chen in a short time, it would lose the clash of wills against Fang Heng, allowing him to regain control of the body.

When that moment came, Chiwei dared not imagine what would happen. Knowing Fang Heng’s stubbornness, he would probably embrace death without hesitation.

At this thought, Chiwei held nothing back and attacked with full force. Time... was not on its side.

Meanwhile, Lu Chen took a deep breath as he watched the massive Chiwei lunging fiercely toward him. His gaze grew resolute, because time... was on his side!

BANG!

As Chiwei and Lu Chen exerted their strength simultaneously, a battle far more tragic and brutal than before erupted.

In the open space on the second floor of the Sword Pavilion, Chiwei relied on its gigantic body to unleash a barrage of ferocious attacks.

Its tail was like a Giant Sword; every strike caused the entire second floor to shake violently.

Although these attacks were nowhere near as fast as when it was in its initial humanoid form, such wide-area strikes were incredibly difficult for Lu Chen to evade within the confined space of the Sword Pavilion’s second floor. A single moment of carelessness, and he would be smashed to death by its tail.

If one sentence could describe the current situation between Lu Chen and Chiwei, it would be this: Chiwei could afford to make countless mistakes, but Lu Chen... could only make one.

However, what unsettled Chiwei was that even with it going all out, Lu Chen was still able to continuously dodge its attacks. Furthermore, he even managed to counterattack multiple times during the intervals.

It wondered just where this monster in the Qi Cultivation Stage had come from!

Seeing that it couldn’t take Lu Chen down after so long, and feeling the throbbing pain transmitting from its mind, Chiwei knew its time was running out. If this dragged on any longer, it would undoubtedly die!

"ROAR!"

Chiwei let out a furious roar, and a massive amount of red Poisonous Fog billowed from its venomous fangs.

As an Ancient Spirit Sword forged from a millennium-old Poisonous Python, Chiwei’s true capability lay in its lethal poison that killed instantly upon contact with blood.

This poison could not only paralyze a Cultivator’s physical body but also corrode a Cultivator’s Spiritual Power to a certain extent.

For most Cultivators, it had a very strong countering effect—let alone when used against a mere Qi Refining cultivator.

But because it had fallen into Lu Chen’s trap at the very beginning, Chiwei was forced to sacrifice an arm. As a result, of its two fangs that could originally release the Poisonous Fog, only one remained.

This meant that the Poisonous Fog, which could have rapidly engulfed the entire second floor of the Sword Pavilion, could now only spread at a relatively slow pace, and its toxicity was greatly diminished.

Although this move seemed unbeatable, it actually possessed a glaring flaw. Because at this moment, Chiwei... could not move!

Seeing this, Lu Chen unexpectedly chose not to dodge anymore and charged head-on into the Poisonous Fog. "Opportunities... are fleeting."

ROAR!

Accompanied by that signature Dragon Roar, Lu Chen, who had been accumulating his strength all this time, completely erupted.

His figure shifted continuously, leaving an afterimage in place with every burst of speed. After weaving around several times, he violently plunged into Chiwei’s Poisonous Fog.

Seeing Lu Chen willingly charge into the Poisonous Fog, a trace of mockery flashed across Chiwei’s face.

But in the very next second, its smile vanished. A large amount of purple flames erupted from Lu Chen’s body.

While these flames couldn’t dispel the surrounding Poisonous Fog, they prevented the fog from easily touching Lu Chen.

It was exactly this detail that allowed Lu Chen to cross through the Poisonous Fog and arrive right in front of Chiwei.

Meeting Lu Chen’s cold, ruthless gaze in midair, Chiwei felt an unexplainable threat of death.

With no way to evade, Chiwei descended into complete madness.

"You think you can kill me just like this, you arrogant brat?!" Chiwei roared furiously. It then prepared to bite down directly on Lu Chen, its voice and expression fierce.

It refused to believe that its powerful Outer Path body couldn’t withstand a single sword strike from Lu Chen! And as long as Lu Chen was bitten, he would absolutely die without a doubt!

But just as Chiwei was about to make its move, it suddenly realized that the space around it... had changed. It had transformed into a void of white space.

"Chi, all of this... should end now."

Chiwei turned its head and found that Fang Heng, who had disappeared for a long time, was standing beside it, though it didn’t know since when.

It realized that it had reverted to its original Spirit Sword appearance, floating in the void-like space.

And the Fang Heng before its eyes was no longer that hideous living corpse; he had returned to the gentle and humble appearance he used to have in the Cyan Cloud Sect.

Looking at Fang Heng like this, Chiwei felt an unprovoked surge of anger.

"End? You want me to just end it like this?

"Fang Heng, aren’t you taking yourself a bit too seriously!

"If I hadn’t been stuck with a cowardly piece of trash like you, even if I had to die, it definitely wouldn’t be such a stifling death inside the Sword Pavilion. Instead, like all the other Spirit Swords, I would have fought a desperate, final battle against those Outer Path Demon Fiends at the very last moment!

"That way, my death would have at least been a worthy one!

"But what did you do? You actually hid in the Sword Pavilion, too afraid to step outside. Even your eventual death was pathetically stifling—slain by the residual might of someone else’s Sword Qi, dying an obscure and meaningless death.

"What right does someone like you have to tell me to end it!

"Not only will I not end it, but I will fight my way out of the Sword Pavilion and turn the world upside down.

"I just want to tell you that the ultimate destiny of a Sword Cultivator should absolutely never be waiting to die in one place!

"You coward who hasn’t dared to see blood your entire life, what right do you have to tell me what to do!"

Faced with the furious Spirit Sword Chiwei, Fang Heng merely listened gently to it venting its inner resentment, without offering any rebuttal.

That soft smile made him look like a benevolent parent patiently listening to a rebellious child. He held no anger; all he had... was an indescribable tolerance.

Only after Chiwei had finished venting the fury in its heart did Fang Heng finally speak.

"I know, Chi. It was all my fault back then. I was indeed too cowardly...

"Master told me that if I was afraid, I could retreat behind him, and I retreated.

"My Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters told me that if I was afraid, I could retreat behind them, and I retreated then, too.

"But as I kept retreating, I found that everyone who had stood in front of me... had disappeared.

"During the time I hid in the Sword Pavilion, I actually asked myself more than once: if the Sword Pavilion were to fall, where else could I retreat to?

"And that question finally found its answer the moment I awakened again and saw Fellow Daoist Lu.

"Chi, in the end, you and I belong to the Cyan Cloud Sect. We shouldn’t cause trouble for the other disciples anymore.

"I have spent my entire life retreating, but this time... I will retreat no more.

"If you feel afraid, Chi, then let it be your turn to hide behind me this time... As long as you can’t see the blood, you won’t be afraid."

Hearing these words, Chiwei fell silent.

After a long while, Chiwei finally spoke again. Only this time, its tone was no longer filled with complaints, but an inexpressible sense of helplessness.

"Idiot, idiot, you really are an absolute idiot! So what if it’s the Outer Path? So what if they are Demon Fiends? Isn’t it better to just stay alive?!"

Fang Heng smiled, a remarkably free and easy smile.

"But what Master and my Senior Brothers fought to protect has never been the Evil Demon and Heretic Dao, right?

"Besides, if it’s only the blood of Demon Fiends, then maybe the current me... won’t be afraid anymore."

Seeing that Fang Heng’s mind was made up, Chiwei seemed too tired to argue.

"Fine, fine. Meeting you... was just my rotten luck. I don’t care anymore!"

At this, Fang Heng directly grasped Chiwei’s hilt and said softly, "Enduring all the way until now... it’s been hard on you.

"Didn’t you say you’ve never seen blood? Well, this time, you’ll get to see it."

With that, Fang Heng raised the sword and ruthlessly plunged it into his own body.

Gazing at the blood flowing down Chiwei’s blade, Fang Heng smiled. "So the blood of the Evil Demon and Heretic Dao... isn’t that terrifying after all."

Slowly, Fang Heng’s Divine Soul began to continuously shatter.

In his dying moments, Fang Heng looked up at the sky and whispered, "Ancestors above... Your disciple, Fang Heng, at this moment... can be considered to be eliminating demons and defending the Dao, right?

"In that case... I probably haven’t embarrassed the Ancestors, have I?

"After all, your disciple here... has truly tried his best."