Chapter Ninety-Five: Scaring Off the Enemy

"Huh? It can speak?"

And from the voice alone, Qin Feng immediately recognized that the speaker had been the Death Scythe itself.

He was momentarily taken aback, genuinely surprised.

The Death Scythe was clearly not before his eyes, nor could it possibly have divided its consciousness into two. By the looks of it, there was only one explanation: someone must be secretly controlling both the Death Scythe and that enormous black scythe by some special method.

While Qin Feng was still mulling it over, the giant scythe opposite him suddenly spun once in midair, then vanished without a trace.

Qin Feng’s heart tightened, and an inexplicable sense of death surged through him.

At once, the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin appeared, drawing Qin Feng and Li Haoran inside.

And at that very same instant, a metallic clang rang out. A gigantic black blade came crashing down upon the body of the coffin. The immense recoil sent the black scythe flying backward.

The scythe hurtled another several yards before finally steadying itself after several spirals in the air. Then, from within the black blade, there emerged a face as dark as pitch. The moment it opened its eyes, it was struck with sudden alarm and blurted out:

"The Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin!"

There was unmistakable fear in the other party’s voice.

Qin Feng caught that keenly.

Lifting one corner of the coffin lid, Qin Feng poked his head out and burst into wild laughter at the giant scythe outside. "Good that you know it. Now get lost at once. If you ruin my affairs, don’t blame me for killing you!"

His words were thick with threat and killing intent.

Qin Feng could sense the other side’s hesitation. It seemed his threat had some effect after all.

The ghost face on the black scythe narrowed its eyes and stared at the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin for a long while before finally sighing and asking, "And how should I address you, fellow Daoist?"

"Red Corpse!"

Qin Feng had a flash of inspiration and reported the name of the Red Corpse Patriarch.

At that, the ghost face narrowed its eyes, thought for a moment, and then said in surprise, "The Red Corpse Patriarch? From the Earth Corpse Sect?"

He had not expected the other party to have heard of Red Corpse’s name.

"That’s right, it is I. What of it?" Qin Feng said, then extended one hand. Bone-white marrow spirit bone flame blossomed in his palm in an instant, eerie and wild. With a sinister grin, he said, "Care to come up and try this old man’s divine powers? Let’s see whether I can extinguish you or not?"

The moment it saw the marrow spirit bone flame, the ghost face’s gaze tightened at once, its expression full of deep apprehension.

Clearly, Death Scythe knew all too well the formidable reputation of the marrow spirit bone flame.

"Hmph! So be it. Let us see who has the last laugh!"

With a cold snort, the ghost face was filled with unwillingness, yet it let out a howl. From within the black scythe’s blade, a massive ghost head extended outward. After swallowing the giant scythe whole, it transformed into a thick mass of black qi and sped rapidly toward a direction in the sky. Before Qin Feng could even react, it had already slipped into some hidden place within the void and disappeared without a trace.

Clearly, in Death Scythe’s view, in its current state there was no way it could snatch Li Haoran back from this unfathomable Red Corpse before it. The one was also decisive in action; once a decision had been made, it would never dither. Its departure was likewise direct, as it was sent straight out of Mount Shu Sword.

Seeing that Death Scythe had left, Qin Feng finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

That had truly been a close call. Even though the other side had only been a weapon, the terrifying pressure it exuded was not something Qin Feng could withstand at his current level. Fortunately, he had the black cloth on him, making it difficult for the other side to sense his true cultivation. Added to that were the intimidation of the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin and the marrow spirit bone flame, and only then had he barely managed to frighten the other away.

"A lucky escape indeed."

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Qin Feng quickly emerged from the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin, put it away, and glanced toward the distance.

While Li Xingjian had not yet caught up, he had to finish things quickly.

Having made up his mind, Qin Feng immediately grabbed the unconscious Li Haoran and raced toward Ghost Sword Cliff.

At the same time, somewhere outside Mount Shu Sword, within a cave, two mysterious figures seated on the ground with hand seals suddenly woke.

One of them, a somewhat shorter man in black, suddenly extended his right hand and caught a huge black scythe flying in from outside the cave. He muttered, "Red Corpse? Hmph! Dare to ruin my good deed? The next time I see you, I will make sure you die!"

The other, a burly giant covered in bone spurs, rose from the cave and touched a broken bone spur on his back. In a booming voice he said, "That silver puppet corpse talisman from Kuang Hua is nothing much after all. It can only bring out less than twenty percent of the body’s strength. This battle was truly stifling! Next time, I’ll ask that fellow for two gold puppet corpse talismans to play with!"

"Enough. Let’s leave this place at once and proceed to the next task."

The man in black said coldly, seemingly unaffected by the setback.

The bone-spur giant asked, "Death Scythe, did our mission this time count as a failure?"

Death Scythe’s icy voice sounded again. "No. Sixty percent, perhaps. The main objective has already been achieved. From today’s events, that despicable Li Xingjian likely still will not reveal who that child of the ancient lineage is, even if it costs his son’s life. In that case, let him remain in Mount Shu Sword for now."

"Understood."

As soon as the words fell, the two figures vanished without a trace, as though they had never been there at all.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng sped all the way to the summit of Ghost Sword Cliff.

"Zhan Bai, come out quickly! It’s me, Qin Feng!"

From afar, Qin Feng called out urgently.

Zhan Bai had been standing by the cliff’s edge all this time, gazing into the howling ghost winds, his eyes deep and motionless. No one knew what he was thinking, but the melancholy on his face was unmistakable.

Yet upon hearing Qin Feng’s voice, he still came back to himself.

"Qin Feng, why have you come back again?"

In the span of a single night, Qin Feng had come twice, and this time he had returned in such haste and suddenness. Something urgent must have happened. So Zhan Bai asked.

"Of course it’s good news!"

Qin Feng was overjoyed, because according to his plan, once Li Haoran was killed, Zhan Bai’s matter would be solved at once. Moreover, with those two mysterious figures taking the blame, what better outcome could there be?

At the thought that his good friend would soon break free of the inner demon that had bound him, Qin Feng felt indescribably happy.

Bracing himself, and unable to even catch his breath properly, Qin Feng took out the Heavenly Demon Blood-Branch Coffin. With the lid opened, he released Li Haoran and Fang Xinyi.

Both of them were unconscious. Fang Xinyi’s complexion was rosy, while Li Haoran’s face was covered in black qi; clearly, he had fallen under some mysterious demonic art.

Qin Feng did not care about the details. He said, "Zhan Bai, hurry. Kill Li Haoran, take out the Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus, and leave Mount Shu Sword with your woman!"

Zhan Bai looked bewildered.

Qin Feng slapped his forehead and quickly gave him a brief, rapid account of everything that had happened that night, focusing especially on the part where Li Haoran had intended to disgrace Fang Xinyi.

At the end, Qin Feng did not forget to tell Zhan Bai that someone else would be taking the blame.

"Go ahead and kill him with confidence, Brother Zhan! This man deserves to die. Even if he died a hundred times over, it would still not be enough. For your woman’s sake, kill him!"

After pouring out all this in one breath, Qin Feng looked toward Zhan Bai once more.

This time—

Zhan Bai was furious, and the consequences would be severe.

Qin Feng was delighted.

It looked like this had worked.