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Chapter 294 – Toothed Bur Clover with Garlic (l)
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou
Gumihou: It’s a battle scene. Gumi expects to encounter many things to fix. (Hopefully not though. Miss Author, jia you)
Now that they knew the exact location of their enemies, they swiftly moved in to encircle the enemy camp.
Within a large cave, a man dressed in a grey cloak was sitting in a crossed-legged position. Beside him was the Soul Drawing Flag. A faint black mist floated around it. Under the soft glow of night pearls, it looked as though the black mist formed itself into wispy human faces now and then. The more one stared at the flag, the creepier it felt.
[1] Not long after that, men in black cloaks marched into the cave with three hostages.
[2] The hostages were brought into the back of the cave and made to sit down. For a hostage situation, it was all very orderly. No one made too much of a fuss. The prisoners were too frightened to be noisy.
As the people in the cave settled down to rest, [3] no one noticed a small piece of green vine slithering into the cave…
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[3] Well, almost no one.
[3] “…” Li Tian suddenly looked up.
[3] Something had disturbed him while he was Cultivating… he looked around but there was nothing untoward to be seen. His men were sitting around Cultivating or minding their own business. The prisoners were as quiet as mice, his Soul Drawing Flag was fluttering in its own self-made breeze.
By now those people should have discovered that their emperor and empress had gone missing…
He had no idea why Third Miss wanted the death of those two specific people. However, his interest was only as small as his fingertip… mainly centred around how much his Soul Drawing Flag will grow once it swallowed a few Divine Transformation souls. Certainly, it should advance even further?
Greed flashed in his eyes as Li Tian stood up. Suddenly, he could not wait to see the end of this little game.
“Alright, now-” he was about to give his orders [4a] when suddenly, a green vine shot out from the dark and wrapped around his body.
While the people in the cave were still struggling to comprehend what had happened, [5] the sky suddenly opened up. The faint buzz of sword energy lifted the hairs on their necks as the roof of the cave fell away. [5] Someone had taken the whole mountain top off.
[3] Before Li Tian’s eyes, a group of people came rushing towards him. There were more than a dozen Divine Transformation powerhouses.
Is this still the Ninth Realm?
His shock lasted only an instant. [3] With a sudden lash of power, the Demon Vine that had wrapped around his arms broke apart and he seized the Soul Drawing Flag.
Terrifying wailing and screaming soon filled the air.
When Shiyu sensed the presence of evil spirits she shouted, “Uncle Wang, block him!”
Uncle Wang was a powerful Nascent Formation Cultivator and even with his mind compromised, he reacted decisively.
Li Tian had not expected the group that attacked him would have hidden a Nascent Formation Cultivator in their midst. [6] Sure, everyone’s strength was suppressed but it was all in different degrees of suppression. Silently, he cursed Third Miss for giving him faulty information.
Didn’t you say there were only a few Divine Transformation masters with the College? Does more than 10 count as ‘a few’ now?
While Uncle Wang was harassing Li Tian, the rest of his entourage was being attacked by others. Elder Gu, Lin Fan, Shiyu and Xuan Yin backed Uncle Wang to attack Li Tian.
Li Tian was also a Nascent Formation master. If he had been fighting anywhere other than Ninth Realm, he could have suppressed a dozen Divine Transformation Cultivators easily. However, he was under the Ninth Realm’s Dao of Suppression. Though his abilities were great, it was heavily restricted.
The only advantage he has now is his more powerful body, his battle experience and natural resistance to attacks. He has more qi and could last longer in a fight. [7] However, despite all these advantages, he was still more used to fighting at a certain advantage. Once that advantage had been taken away, he found himself making attacks that were suddenly much less effective and consumed more energy than usual.
[7] On the other hand, the Champions were used to melee fights where they ganged against a much more powerful opponent. Uncle Wang and Elder Gu might not be their usual fighting companions but the Champions were used to fighting with others and were able to adapt their skills on the fly.
In short, Li Tian and his group were overwhelmed right from the beginning.
In fact, Shiyu’s group was very nervous about fighting the Enforcers. Once the attack was launched, there was no turning back. They had to push their advantage as much as they can.
Stab!
An injury appeared on Li Tian’s abdomen where Lin Fan has stabbed him. [7] While he was reeling from the stab wound, the others did not let up their aggression.
Meanwhile, the mists around them were getting denser and denser. Several people were already suffering from the effects.
When Shiyu noticed [8] one of the people on her side turned pale and stumbled to the side, she unleashed Ocean Heart Flame. Flame burst across the room and lit up everything it touched. The black mist recoiled and evaporated with thin high pitched screams.
The moment Ocean Heart Flame appeared, Li Tian’s eyes shrank. He screeched, “Impossible! H- how can Ocean Heart Flame be in your hands?!”
He was a Demonic Cultivator. [8] As a person who utilize yin energy as the basis of his power, he was weak against the yang energy of a Fire Spirit. In fact, he had met this particular Fire Spirit more than a hundred years ago. Later, when Ocean Heart Flame disappeared, he never thought he’d encounter it on a Ninth Realm Cultivator.
Frightened, the flames of Ocean Heart Flame finally swallowed up all the greed and arrogance in Lu Tian’s heart.
“Who are you people?!” Li Tian shrieked.
However, no one answered him.
When Shiyu thought of the hundreds of thousands of people who died at Dawn City, her eyes reddened. Li Tian’s blood splashed on her with every slash on her knife. Instead of nausea, all she felt was pleasure and gratification at each splash of blood.
By now, Li Tian too realised the end is nigh for him.
He slammed the Soul Drawing Flag into the ground before him and grinned. “Want me to die? Pay the price!”
The wind around him suddenly screamed. The previously formless black mists suddenly developed solid faces that began to bite at Shiyu. Li Tian’s aura was also becoming chaotic.
“Careful! He’s about to blow himself up!” Elder Gu suddenly called out.
Just then, someone said weakly, “His death spot is three inches above the belly button.”
Before Shiyu could determine who said this, Lin Fan’s sword was already flying towards Li Tian’s abdomen.
Li Tian’s eyes widened as he stared at the sword sticking out of his belly. [8] Black mist began to leak out from the wound. More mist hissed out of his other orifices until his body began to shrivel and rot.
[8] Suddenly, the hissing sound stop.
“Aarrggghh!! I won’t die so easily!” through the thick black fog, Shiyu could see that the body had already rotted beyond the point of recovery.
She turned her face away and sent Ocean Heart Flame over. Fire wrapped around the body, melting it like ice under a hot sun. Now that she had reached Divine Transformation realm, Ocean Heart Flame had also grown along with her.
Now that Li Tian was gone, everyone turned their attention to the remaining entourage. Shiyu looked and found the one who gave away Li Tian’s death point.
“Don’t kill him yet,” said Shiyu. Demon Vine sprang up and wrapped itself around the man.
As for the rest, counting the bodies and the survivors… one was missing!
Shiyu and Elder Gu immediately set out to chase.
They can’t afford to let even one go. So long as one escapes, all their effort would be futile.
Fortunately, Qing Chen and his people guarded the surroundings very tightly. By the time Shiyu caught up, the escapee had already been apprehended. To Shiyu’s surprise, Suo Lan was there too.
Suo Lan delivered the body of the escaped person before Shiyu, “Consider this as me throwing my lot with you.”
“Thank you!” Shiyu saluted him with clasped fists. “With Li Tian dead, this matter would not leak out.”
Suo Lan’s eye twitched. “That’s would be good. Speaking of which, where is his Soul Drawing Flag?”
[Gumihou: … by the way, in the original text, Lin Fan stabbed Li Tian and made a ‘pu~’ sound. Like a leaky blowup doll… haha]
We now have Glossaries for Character , Cultivation Terms , Clan Names, Restaurants & Places
[1] Some minor changes
[2] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: Where do you put prisoners anyway?
[3] Adjusted Details for Dramatic Purpose: Entrance of the Demon Vine as well as Li Tian’s reaction to it. POV unclear. Put it all under Li Tian’s POV and reduce Demon Vine’s existence as ‘a bad feeling’.
[4] Deleted Stuff:
[a] …(give his orders) to his followers
Who else would he give orders to?
[5] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Someone just lopped off a mountain, make it more exciting, please.
[6] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: Even though Uncle Wang is a Nascent Formation master, surely it doesn’t matter? Just mention it as ‘different degrees of suppression’ to explain why Li Tian was pissed off by it.
[7] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Describe what it really means for a powerful person to suddenly be limited. Also, described the Champion’s experience in ganging up against a more powerful person. It happened twice already (and probably more times) therefore, it should be brought up now as a full circle.
[8] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Mist issue. How to realistically depict it. Also, explain a bit more about why he’s scared of Ocean Heart Flame.