Chapter 421 - Desecrated

The staggering presence grew until the green sarcophagus reached within a mile from the battlefield. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, a voice screamed, “It’s the Divine Corpse! The Divine Corpse has awakened!”

The peaking morale of the invaders pouring through the crumbling formation of the routed defenders immediately plummeted down a dark hole and the deserters felt themselves filled with renewed faith that their accursed order might be salvaged after all. “We’re saved!” Exultant cries from the defenders tore through the air with whoops and exclamations of joy, “Come back, all of you! The Divine Corpse is awakened! The Divine Corpse is awakened!”

The sarcophagus continued its flight and stopped overhead the center of the square, casting a canopy of fear and deathly chill over everything below. Everyone stopped and looked up, hardly moving a muscle as if petrified into stone. As if with a will of its own, the green sarcophagus seemed attracted to Xiao Chen; it whirled and flew at Xiao Chen in ramming speed but Xiao Chen, still startled beyond comprehension, could still not move.

“Beware, My Lord!” Guifeng shouted a warning, swinging his polearm to deflect the charging sarcophagus as he rushed to defend Xiao Chen. But the sarcophagus slammed into him and his horse and both reeled into a decrepit building and a loud crash followed as everything tumbled.

The sarcophagus wheeled back and rammed into Xiao Chen, sending him flying away and the rest of the invaders into frenzies of panic. But the green stone chest did not stop; it continued its rampage, charging at different targets like a bloodhound on a scent. First at Zi Mo, Qing Feng, then Perfected Immortal Feng Lan, then Su Yue, the daughter of Clan Su, and Feng Xi before it went on and on…

No one was left standing after being struck by the stone sarcophagus, mages of the Nirvana Realm or the Apotheosis Realm alike. The sarcophagus had willfully pursued and attacked the most powerful mages among the invaders, striking them with the force of a mountain that some of them were frothing blood while some could not even stand. Aghast by this, the surviving invaders of the Orthodox Path felt the color leaving their faces with fear. This is the Divine Corpse of the Corpse Refinery Sect! The most invincible creature of war that could possibly be fielded into battle!

On the other side, the excitement and furor rekindled the spirits of the defenders and they regrouped once again, reforming their formations. But the Elders looked far from pleased; the Great Immortal gasped worriedly, “The Divine Corpse has risen?!”

He was joined by a frowning Ye Wuxin, who agreed somberly, “It’s not yet the seventh day of the seventh month. It should not have been so soon. Something is wrong…”

BOOM!

With a deep and heavy thud and the crunching of shattering cobblestones, the green sarcophagus finally came to a rest and landed, its binge of destruction ending finally with a rolling wave of dust. Still frozen by fear, the invaders knew not what to do. With their breaths held by intense consternation, they could only wait and watch.

Xiao Chen stared blankly at the green sarcophagus with a panting Guifeng towering over his shoulders defensively with his polearm in a wary stance.

BOOM!

Another loud crash. The thickset lid of the sarcophagus trembled as it inched open slowly. Bone-stabbing mists of chilly air escaped from inside like apparitions and still, no one dared to move.

The distraction was time enough for Xiao Chen to calm down; his breath and his eyes were back to normal now, although the sorrow of losing Muxue lingered still in his heart. The cold air pouring from within the stone sarcophagus made everyone afraid. Everyone, but for him. Instead, it only made him sad. How, he could not say, but the forlornness that wrenched his heart struck with the keenness and suddenness of a bolt of lightning.

BOOM!

Another thunderous crash resounded, making everyone, the members of the Sect included, leap with a jolt. The sturdy lid lifted up high with a deluge of cold mists in its wake and no one could see what was inside through the thick, murky fog.

Xiao Chen felt his eyes watering and his vision began to blur as the strange and indescribable sadness swelled in him. Then he saw her. A young woman sitting up from inside the sarcophagus.

She looked nowhere as hideous and horrid as the Corpse King. Only a girl with flowing jet-black hair, young and fair, sweet and innocent in her robes of red.

With her hands holding on to the side of the coffin, she pushed herself up and vaulted herself gracefully out of it, her robes fluttering behind her as if she was in a waltz.

She stood in the night breeze, her clothes and stray locks of hair rippling gently in the wind. The skin on the lithe and tender arms of hers was fair like snow and her eyes as deep and serene as the waters of a lake. Yet, in her misty eyes, there was the unmistakable hint of rancor and spite…

Xiao Chen could no longer see; the angst and anguish worsened markedly that his own Qi fluctuated violently, so badly that he spat a mouthful of blood and the reminiscences of his former lifetimes flashed before his eyes, as vivid as the swelter of the sun hanging above.

“Don’t you forget! You’ve lost! That means you owe me three favors! Remember me, I’m Hua Weiyang!”

“Don’t even think of going back on your word. The first thing: I still don’t know your name.”

“The second thing is, you’re not allowed to engage in zither matches with other girls, especially not promising them that you’ll promise them three favors after you lose. Got it?”

“Of the three favors, you still owe me the final one… And here it is: I want you to be alive and well…”

… …

“Arghh!” Another mouthful of blood and froth poured from his mouth. Everything he remembered about him and Hua Weiyang, beginning from their meeting at the Beautiful Immortal Mountains to the end, replay around him as if he was looking at himself through a looking glass. But the glass shattered suddenly and so was the visions…

“Lil Chen!” Yu Yifeng cried as he rushed forward to help the wobbling Xiao Chen. Then in a shaking voice, he spoke, “It’s Muxue…”

“Muxue?!” Xiao Chen jerked himself awake, wiping off the tears welling in his eyes. He looked at the young woman standing motionlessly beside the stone sarcophagus. It really was Li Muxue, looking evermore a spitting image of Hua Weiyang. It was the strange sorrow that assailed him and caused him to mistaken Muxue as Hua Weiyang.

On the other side, every one of the defenders knelt on their knees, bowing deeply in worship to the silent young woman. Only Ye Wuxin and the Great Immortal remained standing with looks of incredulity wiped across their faces. No one moved, even the Corpse Puppets which looked as if they were being petrified by a source of Malicious Grudge so astounding and massive that even the Corpse King dipped its head reverently.

“No… This is not right,” Ye Wuxin stammered in a hushed voice, his face curdling with horror and disappointment, “The sacrificial ritual has failed. What we’ve only managed to accomplish is to inject the girl with a strong supply of Heavy Grudge to desecrate her soul and render her under our control. Desecrated, that’s what she is now. But nothing more. But why? Why have we failed to remove her memories? And why have they allowed her to be fielded into battle… It’s too risky…”

Every member of the Jade Qing Sect was too stunned to speak while Perfected Immortal Yanluo, still wavering in her steps, murmured, “Muxue…” Zi Mo rushed to hold her, keeping her steady as he said gently, “Rest easy, Junior Sister. The girl is only under their control. She is not yet a full-fledged Corpse Puppet yet.”

Tears gushed from Xiao Chen’s eyes again as he moved step by step slowly towards the partially-corrupted Li Muxue. A stiff arm clutched at his elbow; it was Yu Yifeng, imploring tersely, “Wait, Lil Chen! Muxue’s already…”

The desecrated Li Muxue turned slowly, surveying the crowds on both sides of the battlefield through her dreamy, lethargic eyes. There was nothing in her. No hate nor love, no qualms nor scruples. Only orders and commands that she would obey without failure. And there was only one command she had received: kill. Kill everyone!

Swish!

She melted into a bat-like silhouette of red that reappeared before the ranks of the invaders of the Orthodox Path and began her work. The work of blood and flesh. In the blink of an eye and the swing of her arm, more than a handful of heads leaped off the necks of a few mages with fountains of blood gushing out morbidly for several feet. Then she disappeared again, reappearing in the midst of another cluster of mages and their heads plopped off again. She was so quick and agile as a panther on a hunt, doling out death and blood with unnerving zeal. By the time the invaders truly grasped what was going on, dozens of headless corpses were already left sprawling on the ground, lying in growing pools of blood and viscera; all of them dead by her bare hands.

The formation of the invaders went into terrible disarray with the pandemonium brought about by the desecrated Li Muxue’s single-minded slaughter that went on and on. The formerly-courageous and confident invaders, who were so close to having taken the Ridge, were now fleeing frantically for their lives. Xiao Chen beheld the chaos, his face positively distraught, “STOP! MUXUE! YOU MUST STOP!” He freed himself from Yu Yifeng’s hold and dashed towards the desecrated Muxue now in a deadly pirouette of her waltz of death.

The desecrated Li Muxue sensed someone approaching and she instinctively swung her arm, sending a magical bolt of dark energy straight at Xiao Chen. It slammed into him with a dull bang and he flew off his feet, landing in a heap several yards away, vomiting blood and saliva.

“My Lord!” Guifeng yelled, rushing to his aid. He helped Xiao Chen to his feet as the latter wiped off some blood from around his mouth. “Stand down, General.”

The desecrated Li Muxue continued her dance of death, leaving more mages dead or maimed and yet no one could stop her. Looking from the other side of the battlefield was the pleased Great Immortal from Hell and Ye Wuxin. The former looked at his High Chieftain, stroking his beard as the two men shared a look with some satisfied smiles.

“STOP! MUXUE! STOP KILLING PEOPLE!” Xiao Chen roared at the top of his voice, his eyes bulging as if they were going to pop. I will never forgive this infernal order and all its members! I’ll kill this Red Sleeve myself if I have to! He vowed to himself, the knot in his stomach clenching tightly. He sprang up and rushed to Li Muxue again.

Li Muxue stopped at the sight of this man whom she could not recognize. She knew him not. Yet she could not bring herself to lay a hand on him. She shook her head, as if trying to summon a long-dormant memory from within the depths of her mind. Yet she found nothing. A blank mind with hardly any shred of anything she could remember, save for the words of the command she had received: kill everyone.

Hesitantly, her lips parted to stammer out the words, “W-who… are… you?”

The brief layoff gave enough time for the invaders of the Orthodox Path to quickly retreat and regroup somewhere farther away. They could not leave; the way down the Ridge was already closed off by the reinforcements of Corpse Puppets, yet their advance forward was now encumbered by a corrupted and berserking Li Muxue. Their morale was spent and the mood was miserable.

In the meantime, the Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin could hardly believe their eyes. With frowns forming over their brows, they wondered, Impossible. A person with his soul desecrated live only by the orders and commands of his master. He would never speak nor have emotional sentiments. But what is going on? What drives her to speak? Was this a whiff of her former consciousness that the sentience of the Divine Corpse failed to consume?

Looking at Muxue through eyes red and wet, Xiao Chen croaked hoarsely, “It’s me, Muxue… Weiyang… Do you not remember me? I’m Xiao Chen… It’s me..” His voice faltered and two lines of tears dribbled down his cheeks.

Li Muxue tilted her head as if she was studying him. Then she raised a hand, her eyes slowly returning to its original pigment, and it caressed tenderly upon Xiao Chen’s face, wiping at his tears.

No one was hardly unperturbed or startled by this. Not many within the ranks of the invaders knew Li Muxue nor her relationship with Xiao Chen and the rest of the Jade Qing Sect. To the most of the Orthodox Path, she was merely an unknown girl now corrupted to be the vessel of the Divine Corpse of the Corpse Refinery Sect, destined to wreak havoc and despair. But no one anticipated this unexpected change in her behavior, not especially when she was just embarking on a killing spree just moments before.

At the far end of the battlefield, the formation of the defenders was fraught with incredulity and denial. Few of them had seen the Divine Corpse prior to its appearance today and fewer more knew who Li Muxue was. Yet the Divine Corpse, the object of their hope and salvation and the harbinger of death for their foes, was showing signs of affection and tenderness to a mortal. Impossible! Far away, still watching from the forest, Su Lianyue had hardly moved an inch. Her eyes had been on the battlefield, seeing everything unfold and her eyes trembled for the briefest moment before it went still again.

Fear and disbelief now shone in the eyes of the Great Immortal and Ye Wuxin. They could simply not comprehend what was going on. But Ye Wuxin took a long, deep breath, and said, “We are losing control of the Mystic Yin Body. Quick. Draw her away from the battlefield before something bad happens…”

The tears never stopped. Xiao Chen could not tell who she was in front of him. Whether Weiyang or Muxue, he did not know. She would never have been Hua Weiyang’s replacement; not when the Li Muxue he knew had a mind, a temperament, and consciousness of her own. But now, with Li Muxue standing like a mindless and empty husk in front of him, he felt as if he was meeting Hua Weiyang again.

“Who are you…” He spoke rapidly, “Are you Muxue? Or are you Weiyang?” He could no longer see clearly with the tears obscuring his vision, raising a hand slowly to touch the face of the person in front of him. But before his fingers grazed her skin, he felt a stab of ice piercing into him. Then came the sensation of pain. Li Muxue had driven a hand through his chest.

He watched as his blood dribbled down her hand and dripping off her elbow, trickling into a pool of red that was spreading on the cobblestones of the square.