Plague Rat grit his teeth, desperately channeling death qi. The mist wall barely held together, but the cracks upon it grew more numerous and dense.
“Bald ass, help!” he roared.
Wu Gou pressed his palms together and began to chant a sutra.
Golden Sanskrit characters poured from his mouth, dancing through the air before converging to adhere to the mist wall.
The mist wall was instantly plated with a layer of golden light, stabilizing it slightly.
Even so, their combined strength still could not withstand the casual strike of that woman.
The flames grew more ferocious. The golden light on the mist wall began to flicker, and cracks reappeared.
“Bald ass, shine the light!” Plague Rat shouted anxiously. “Little Six, make it rain! Didn't we agree? Drive her crazy first!”
Nie Chaoxi snapped back to her senses and hurried to channel her spiritual power.
Pure ripples of water emerged from her, as clear as snow atop a mountain peak. They flowed along her fingertips, transforming into a thin stream that headed straight for Wing-Fire Snake.
The stream was very thin, swaying in the scorching air, barely managing to reach Wing-Fire Snake.
But Wing-Fire Snake didn't even look at it. The high temperature surrounding her was enough to instantly evaporate the stream.
The moment the water came within one zhang of her, it hissed and turned into a cloud of white mist, vanishing without a trace.
Nie Chaoxi’s face turned pale. She grit her teeth and channeled her spiritual power again.
Several more streams of water flew out. Her spiritual power was being consumed rapidly, and her face grew paler by the second, yet those streams could not even touch the hem of the woman's dress.
“It’s no use...” Nie Chaoxi said through clenched teeth. “I can't get close to her.”
She was still too weak.
She couldn't help.
But she didn't want to give up.
She took a deep breath and continued to channel her spiritual power.
While Wu Gou maintained the Buddhist light, he raised his other hand.
Golden Buddhist light surged from his palm, condensing in the air to form a massive sphere of golden light.
The sphere grew larger and brighter, finally hanging at the top of the chamber like a miniature sun.
Dazzling golden light spilled down, illuminating the entire stone chamber.
When the golden light hit her, the woman’s movements faltered.
She looked up at the golden sphere, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes.
“Is this... sunlight?”
“So bright...”
“But why... is it not warm at all?”
“Sunlight is supposed to be warm...”
“I remember... I remember the sun shining on me, feeling warm and comfortable...”
“Why is this light not warm at all?”
She lowered her head and looked at her hands.
Then, she suddenly frowned.
“Wait, how do I know the temperature of sunlight?”
“I’ve never been outside...”
“How could I have these memories?”
She murmured to herself, her expression becoming increasingly chaotic.
Just then, her charred hand suddenly reached up and tightly gripped the wrist of her other hand.
“What are you doing?!” the woman barked sharply. “Let go!”
The other hand struggled to break free, but the grip was too tight.
“You can't... you can't kill them...”
“Shut up! They are intruders! Jailbreakers! They must be killed!”
“No... they are friends. Can't you see? It’s that man from before... he came back to life... he came back for us...”
“He came back to see us...”
With the charred arm restraining her, Wing-Fire Snake's fiery assault weakened considerably.
Plague Rat felt the pressure drop and gasped for air.
“Dammit... finally a chance to breathe...”
While maintaining the mist barrier, he glanced back.
Wu Gou was still sitting in meditation, chanting sutras as golden Buddhist light surged from him to reinforce the barrier.
Nie Chaoxi was still channeling water, her face terrifyingly pale.
Plague Rat frowned. “Little Six, why do you look so terrible?”
Nie Chaoxi shook her head, her voice trembling slightly. “It’s... it’s nothing...”
Plague Rat stared at her for a moment, sensing something was wrong.
But he didn't have time to think further and turned back to watch the madwoman.
The woman remained standing where she was, her two hands gripping each other as if they were fighting. The flames surged around her, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
However, they were no longer as violent as before.
“Alright, alright, just like that. Keep it up,” Plague Rat said. “Let her argue with herself. We won't interfere.”
As he spoke, he felt something stirring within him.
It was the plague origin given to him by Old Man Purity and Filth; it was throbbing wildly, as if attracted by something.
Plague Rat frowned and followed the sensation with his gaze.
His eyes fell upon the half-charred snake body on the stone door.
“Bald ass,” he whispered. “There’s something inside that door.”
Wu Gou opened his eyes. “What?”
Nie Chaoxi whispered, “Could it be the thing Wing-Fire Snake mentioned?”
Plague Rat nodded. “Possible. Hey! Don't slack off! Keep the rain coming. Light isn't enough; we need to make her even crazier so we can find a way to get inside and look.”
Nie Chaoxi gave a soft “Oh” and closed her eyes, desperately squeezing the spiritual power within her body.
The ripples of water grew stronger and the flow larger, but she knew it wasn't enough. She needed more power.
The Golden Buddha trait was slowly fusing with her Clean Water Body, but because her rank was too low, the fusion was very slow.
She had heard in the City of the Wrongfully Dead that the Golden Buddha was “Tang Monk's meat” born of heaven and earth. Consuming it could eliminate death qi contamination and stabilize the eighth-stage Siming realm; it was the ultimate cure for all powerful beings tormented by death qi.
To have obtained even a sliver of the Golden Buddha trait was a monumental stroke of luck.
But the fusion process was agonizing.
It was continuous and deep into her marrow, like countless fine needles slowly moving through her body, piercing her meridians, her flesh, and her sea of consciousness.
Ever since the New Year, she had endured the pain of fusing with the Golden Buddha every night, but she had never told anyone.
She hadn't even mentioned it to the Master.
She felt she had no right to cry out in pain. Which of the Master's subordinates hadn't crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood?
She was just hurting a little; what did that matter? She was far behind the others; how could she not strive to catch up?
Besides, this pain was the price for the chance to grow stronger. There was no such thing as a free lunch. If she could become stronger, what was a little suffering?
But now, she needed more power. She needed to make the Golden Buddha trait fuse faster.
Even if it hurt more.
As long as she could help.
Nie Chaoxi grit her teeth and desperately activated the Golden Buddha trait within her. The golden light-points inside her body throbbed wildly as if they were alive.
Sensing her will, they began to accelerate the fusion.
The pain intensified.
It was so intense she began to shake all over.
It was so intense her vision went dark.
It was so intense she almost screamed.
Nie Chaoxi grit her teeth hard. The flow of water became faster and larger.
The pure water patterns grew more vibrant and bright.
Then, the water rose into the air and, under the radiance of the golden sphere created by the Buddhist light, broke into a pitter-patter of droplets.
Golden light, transparent water; a sun shower began to fall within the stone chamber.
Rate on N.U.
