276 Blood Battle to the End

The peacock is called nanke, and is also called the surpassing bird. Whendescribing innate talent, the latter is often used. TL: Peacock can be 孔雀 (kongque, which is often used), 南客 (nanke) or 越鸟(yueniao, surpassing bird). The latter two are rarely used to describe peacocks. The blood that flowed within Nanke’s body was the true blood of the surpassingbird. This kind of blood was cold to the bone, so cold that passing wind wouldturn into frost. When compared to the cultivation methods of the sects in thesnowy mountain in the north-west, it is unknown how many times the blood isnaturally colder by. Other than the blood of the black frost dragons, it isimpossible to find a substance that is colder than it. The even more terrifyingpart of the blood of the surpassing bird is that it is extremely poisonous, sopoisonous that even the strongest monsters are unable to resist against it. The brightly colored blood dripped from Nanke’s wrist onto the sword hilt, andthen it fell onto the Wutong Longbow. An ordinary person would have diedimmediately at the moment before, however, Xu Yourong did not. She was notfrozen by Nanke’s blood, and also did not become poisoned by the toxins withinthe blood. This was because she was the reincarnation of a Heavenly Phoenix,and inside her body flowed the true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix. Her bloodcarried inexhaustible heat, able to burn everything. The battle on the peak of Sunset Valley reached the final part, and Xu Yourongand Nanke finally began their contest of innate talent. In the previousclashes, they had already proven that no matter if it was the level ofcultivation, the strength of willpower and spiritual sense or the aspect ofsword and shooting techniques, their abilities were almost completely equal.Now, they could only look at whose blood would burn the world or freeze theworld. In the land of demons, in the world of humans and in the White Emperor City bythe shores of the Red River, there were countless legends that the phoenix wasthe king of all birds. Logically, Xu Yourong almost would definitely be thefinal victor in this contest in innate talent. However, it could not beforgotten that in the countless legends, there was always the peacock thatlooked at the world of birds with a cold and proud gaze. That peacock neverobeyed the orders of the phoenix. If the phoenix really could be victorious over the peacock so easily, howcould the peacock disobey it and have its own cold pride and freedom? Thisexplained a very simple truth, which was that between the peacock and thephoenix, the biggest difference was their temperament and the different choicesthey had made in the world. As for the strength of their bloodline, it wasactually extremely close. Xu Yourong and Nanke’s blood continued to flow, smearing all over the swordhilt, blade, and bow and discoloring them. Afterwards, it fell on the surfaceof the peak between the two, and those tough rocks also began to burn swiftly. The entire peak of Sunset Valley began to burn. No matter if it was thebright, golden holy fire, or the mottled, dark, icy-cold fire; they were alltrue flames, as if they were even able to burn the spirit. The two incredibly powerful Qi rapidly increased with the clash between thetwo noble yet proud bloodlines. The space created by the zither-playing old mancould no longer withstand it, and with countless sounds of shattering, ittransformed into countless pieces of clear glass, before disappearing into thenight sky. A wave of light rushed out in all directions from between Xu Yourong andNanke’s bodies, immediately illuminating a radius of several hundreds of li,and lighting the Sunset Valley mountain range like daytime. The wide grasslandin front of the mountain range suddenly brightened up, especially in the outerborders. Those weeds also seemed to begin burning, and those cold, brokenterrifying sounds in the depths of the grassland also immediately disappeared.Countless great monsters hidden within it felt that the wave of light thatoriginated from the peak carried two incomparably noble and powerful auras,deterring them from daring to perform any reckless actions. “It really is impressive,” Liu Wan’er said with great surprise, looking in thedirection of the Sunset Valley. The Demon General couple were outside the grasslands to prevent Zhexiu and QiJian from escaping. After eating dinner, they were currently washing thedishes. However, they never thought that on a mountain peak far away, such aterrifying battle was currently happening. Teng Xiaoming put the bowl into the basket, and asked, “Should we go help out?” With the strength of his spiritual sense, he could clearly feel exactly howintense the battle on the peak of Sunset Valley was. That golden flame thatoriginated from the true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix was just too bright. “We won’t make it.” Liu Wan’er shook her head. “Also, Her Highness does notlike it when we make unnecessary moves. Since the Military Advisor has alreadysaid that Xu Yourong will die, she will definitely die.” With the breaking of the space that separated the peak of Sunset Valley andthat lonely mountain path from the world of the Garden of Zhou, the BlackDragon which flew extremely high in the air was able to see what was below forthe first time. Only with this did she know that Xu Yourong had already left,and this fated battle had already begun. At this moment, many people in the Garden of Zhou had already noticed thebattle on the peak of Sunset Valley. Although they could not see the detailsand did not know who was battling whom, the wild flames on the peak and theterrifyingly powerful auras that originated vaguely from the flames were enoughto disturb and shock them. However, the Black Dragon was unperturbed. She looked down on the two girlsbetween the mountain range, and the gaze from her pupil was very cold andindifferent, or even vaguely scornful. If she was not a spiritual soul at thatmoment, and instead in her real body, it would not matter that the battlebetween the two girls was so intense and lively. A casual dragon breath fromher could probably put out all of the flames. “A small, small world with two small birds playing with fire. Ants praise howgreat their countries are and discuss how easy it is to shake a big tree.” She laughed at them with these words, but in the next moment, she discoveredthat the aura that flowed from the burning blood and flames on the peak of theSunset Valley actually gave her pause… as it turned out, those two girls werenot normal small birds. If they had fully awakened their bloodline, they wouldactually be on the same level as her. On the peak of Sunset Valley, the two noble but completely different bloodsmixed together. Two flames that varied between light and dark also mixedtogether. This was the so-called blend of blood and flames. Beyond the layersof flames and above the light of the sword and bow, Xu Yourong and Nanke’s eyesmet. They were faintly linked mentally. In that moment, Xu Yourong saw many images: the images of inside Xuelao City,the images inside the demon’s palace and the images of the growth of thepigweed-harvesting girl. Conversely, the images Nanke saw were very few. She only saw the small stonebridge in the Divine General of the East’s estate, the catkin beneath thebridge and the school yard of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green. Nanke did not cover up anything. She was cold and proud, not scared of anyone,even if an opponent like Xu Yourong saw her true inner self. For some reason,intentional or not, Xu Yourong, who should have led a brighter life, concealedin her consciousness many of the scenes from her years of cultivation.. “The phoenix indeed is a hypocritical organism. You actually lived in such apetty way and still want to become the ruler that sits on the decaying throne?Why don’t you just go die instead?” Nanke looked into her eyes, and spoke coldly in the world of consciousnessformed from the connection. Xu Yourong did not follow up, and asked calmly, “You want to perish with me?” Nanke replied with an indifferent expression, “I am not afraid of death. Youare afraid of death. So if we perish together, the one who dies first willdefinitely be you.” Xu Yourong arched her brow slightly. She disliked this method of battle, andalso disliked the way Nanke spoke. She believed that life and death were thingsworthy of respect, and should not have been spoken of so lightly. Nanke stared at her. “You humans always believe that rubbish: great powercomes with great responsibility. Since it’s like that, you don’t want to die,because you still carry a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders.”  Xu Yourong asked levelly, “What about you? As a Demon Princess, don’t you alsoneed to carry a lot of responsibilities?” Nanke replied indifferently again, “I have several dozen siblings. Theresponsibilities I carry are extremely few, other than my own aspirations andmy master’s hope.” Xu Yourong stayed silent for a while, before saying, “Does your father knowabout this? If you die today in the Garden of Zhou, won’t something occurbetween your master and your father?” In this simple conversation, life, death, and responsibilities were discussed.However, no principles were discussed, as they each only wanted to let theiropponent know why they did not fear death, and the reasons why the opponentshould have feared death. The conversation occurred in the linked world of consciousness, and theattacks were also spiritual. It was very obvious that what Xu Yourong had said after thinking did notachieve any of her imagined results. Nanke’s expression remained indifferent,and she did not care about her own life and death or the future of the demonsat all. “My race needs a strong succeeding generation and the glory of victory. Aslong as I can kill you, it will prove that the blood of my race is the mostnoble. How can Father be sad or disappointed? He will only compose a few longpoems happily in front of my gravestone.” Saying that, Nanke took a step forwards. Her indifferent gaze was full ofdetermination, and between the hands holding the sword hilt, the rate of bloodflow suddenly increased. With her step forwards, a crack appeared on the mountain several hundred zhangaway. A boulder with a circumference of several zhang fell into the deep abyss. The Southern Cross Sword grew even brighter. One was in front of her, like atrue galaxy, and one was behind her, like a peacock spreading its tail,blocking the arrows flying in from all directions. The cold yet bright blood transformed into numerous flames, burning violentlyon the cliff. Her expression was still just as indifferent, as if she could notfeel pain, nor fear death. She looked into Xu Yourong’s eyes, and finally said in the world ofconsciousness, “You are indeed very strong. In order to kill you, of course Ihave to bleed so much.” Xu Yourong’s expression remained calm, with not even a sliver of weariness tobe seen. However, after two days and two nights without sleep, rushing aroundin the wild to use her Sacred Light to save people, she was actually alreadyvery tired. How could she win against the crazed Nanke? Only through blood for blood. A slight thought set fresh blood flowing from her palm that grasped thelongbow, like water from a spring. The holy, golden flames burned fiercely,allowing the freezing peak to warm up again. That holy and powerful aura was rapidly released from within her body. The two powerful auras clashed, rushing into the night sky above Sunset Valley. Only a soft pop could be heard from somewhere far away. In the depths of thenight, there was a surface that seemed to be transparent. Suddenly, a crackappeared, and afterwards, a shooting star descended. This was the Garden of Zhou, so the shooting star could not have been a realmeteor, but it was not a Wu Arrow either. That meteor landed somewhere to theside of Sunset Valley, and only a huge bang could be heard. The entire mountainrange began to shake, and a mountain on the side of the mountain rangecompletely collapsed. Xu Yourong and Nanke looked at each other, and ignored it. Their fresh blood constantly flowed, and their aura constantly increased.