Shura’s Wrath

Ling Chen saw the Warring Palace Skeleton, which should have been dead, slowly stand up… the only difference between its current condition and that of before was that it now had many burn marks on its body, but it had still stood up and still held that monstrous, gigantic sword.

“This… this is impossible…” Seeing this, Ling Chen was at a loss for words. He had clearly seen the amount of damage that the Heavenly Wrath of the Nine Suns had dealt to it. That sort of damage was enough to instantly kill it twice… it had obviously died, so why was it able to stand up again!?

Its ‘death’ had been traded with Xi Ling’s life. Now, Xi Ling had lost her life, and yet it had stood up again, how was Ling Chen meant to accept this!

However, immediately, Ling Chen sensed that something was different. The mountain-like skeleton was very close to him, and the vibrations from its voice still shook his spirit, but the pressure was definitely not as a great as before- at least, it was not so overwhelming that Ling Chen couldn’t breathe.

While still wondering what was going on, Xiao Hui transmitted the information about the skeleton into his mind.

[Undying Will- Warring Palace Skeleton]: Type: Undead, Level: LV20, Grade: Celestial, HP: 250,000. A gigantic skeleton that resides in the heart of the Forest of Bones, its history is unknown. Although it is a skeleton, but in order to protect its master, it still has a bit of consciousness that has not dissipated yet. The skeleton’s body is also filled with powerful energy. Although it had been slain by the Heavenly Wrath of the Nine Suns, but its undying will caused its spirit to recover and revive. However, its power has been greatly decreased.

Passive Abilities: Fairly high Defence and high Attack Power. Its attacks also have large AOEs. Negates 50% of Darkness Damage, and is immune to all status effects except freeze, burn, and petrification, and is also immune to all stat debuffs.

Attack Skills:

[Earth Splitting Slash]: Uses its sword to slash at the ground, causing the ground to split. Knocks any target within 10 metres flying, and has a 10% chance to induce 2-4 seconds of stun. Usage frequency: High.

[Earth Shaking Stomp]: Uses its feet to stomp on the ground, causing severe tremors. Any targets within 30 metres will be knocked down. The tremors have a 70% chance to add 5 seconds of stun and 20% reduction to Movement Speed. This attack does no damage. Before activating, the user will raise its left or right foot high in the air. Usage frequency: Fairly high.

[Baleful Shield]: Creates an invisible shield reflecting 10% of all physical damage. Automatically activates when HP is lower than 50%, and automatically deactivates when HP is greater than 50%.

[Thundering Heavens and Shaking Earth]: The user releases its battle power, and swings in a destructive arc, destroying everything within 50 metres. The attack has a slight destruction effect. When activated, the attack will charge for 10 seconds, and after usage, the user will not be able to move for 15 seconds. The skill has a certain chance to activate when the user’s HP is less than 10%, and can only be used once per day.

……………………

The skeleton before him was still the same Warring Palace Skeleton. Although it had been slain by the Heavenly Wrath of the Nine Suns, its persistence and the girl’s calling caused it to use the last of its energy to revive. Although it was still the same level, its grade had dropped to Celestial.

All of the Warring Palace Skeleton’s stats had greatly dropped after falling to Celestial grade. There were also many differences to its skills. Its skill “Absolute Darkness” had disappeared, and the Earth Splitting Slash and Earth Shaking Stomp had both become significantly weaker. The AOE of its only attacking skill apart from its ultimate, Earth Splitting Slash, had been reduced from 20 metres to only 10 metres!

Ling Chen was definitely able to deal with this sort of AOE!!

The Warring Palace Skeleton’s revival caused the black-clothed girl to smile. She then floated upwards onto its hand. With the semi-spirit girl in one hand, and the giant sword in the other, the Warring Palace Skeleton took its first step after being revived…

Boom!

Its steps still caused tremors on the ground, as it gradually neared Ling Chen. Ling Chen clasped the weak Xi Ling close to him, and narrowed his eyes… the Warring Palace Skeleton in front of him was no longer as scary, and was no longer impossible to defeat. Although his peak condition was not able to break through the Defence of the Heaven’s End Warring Palace Skeleton, there should be no reason to not be able to break through the Defence of the Celestial grade Warring Palace Skeleton.

“Very good… are you giving me… a chance to avenge Xi Ling?” Ling Chen muttered in a low voice as he put away his weapons. He took a step back, and then used his fastest speed to escape. Right now to Ling Chen, there was nothing more important than Xi Ling’s safety. What he needed to do right now was to find a safe place and save Xi Ling.

A single step from the Warring Palace Skeleton was equivalent to ten of Ling Chen’s steps. Under normal circumstances, Ling Chen would not have been able to outrun it. However, after Ling Chen ran out from the area where the Eerie Castle had originally been, the Warring Palace Skeleton stopped chasing him.

Ling Chen exhaled in relief. After escaping from the Warring Palace Skeleton, he had not chosen to return back to town, but kept running until he reached the place where the skeleton army had been. After the skeleton army had been completed annihilated by Xi Ling, it was completely peaceful here. Ling Chen carefully put Xi Ling down, then asked, “Qi Yue, immediately tell me how I can rescue Xi Ling.”

“Put her back in the Pet Dimension for now. After returning to the Pet Dimension, the speed at which her life is fading away will be reduced to the lowest rate, which can help her survive for a while longer.”

Ling Chen nodded, and put his hands on Xi Ling’s body, “Xi Ling, have a good rest… no matter what, I won’t let you die.”

Xi Ling turned into a ray of red light and returned into the Pet Dimension. In Mystic Moon, after creatures became pets, although their power would fall to that of a pet’s, but they would gain a special characteristic… which was that they could be revived after death (usually with penalties or costs). However, this right now could not save Xi Ling, but could only prevent her death for a little while longer.

“Since little master wants to know, I’ll just tell you. Although, after I tell you, perhaps little master will be even more disappointed.” Qi Yue slowly said.

Ling Chen: “…..”

“Although Xi Ling did not immediately die, and her life will only fade slowly in the Pet Dimension, she cannot hold on for too long. To my knowledge, there are only two ways to save her.”

“Two?”

“That’s right, two. One of the methods is to reignite the flames of her lifeforce, causing her to come back to life. However, because she has already used her special revival method before, reigniting the flames of her lifeforce will be incredibly difficult. Despite this, there is a way- not only will it reignite the flames of her lifeforce, but will even cause her flames to grow even stronger.”

Qi Yue’s explanation caused Ling Chen’s heart to start beating faster. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, and impatiently asked, “What method is it?!”

“The flames Xi Ling uses are rootless flames, which are the strongest flames in the world. The only flames that are strong enough to reignite Xi Ling’s rootless flames are the Flames of Life. There are only two beings that are able to release this sort of flame- the Golden Crow and the Vermillion Bird. The Golden Crow has already disappeared for a long time, so the only way is to find the Vermillion Bird, one of Mystic Moon’s guardian beasts.”

“Vermillion bird… Vermillion bird…” Ling Chen muttered this name, then asked, “So that means if I can find the Vermillion bird, then ask it to reignite the flames of Xi Ling’s lifeforce, then we’ll be able to save Xi Ling?”

Qi Yue replied steadily, “It’s just like that. Indeed, the Vermillion bird has that power, however… even if little master can find the Vermillion bird, it might not be willing to reignite the flames of Xi Ling’s lifeforce.”

“Why is that?”

“Because in order to reignite the flames of Xi Ling’s lifeforce, the Vermillion bird must use the flames of its own lifeforce. This means that after reviving Xi Ling, it will die and forever disappear. Moreover, the Vermillion bird must be willing. Even if little master can defeat the Vermillion bird, getting it to willingly give up its life would still be incredibly difficult.”

Ling Chen: “……”

Ling Chen felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, extinguishing all of the hope he had.

The Vermillion bird was one of Mystic Moon’s guardian beasts, and was only inferior to the five Saint Destroyer Beasts. Just finding it would be incredibly difficult for humans, and even if he did find it… could he really convince it to give up its life for a being that was completely unrelated to it, much less a player’s pet?

Ling Chen unconsciously twisted his hands together, and closed his eyes. He exhaled, and asked, “What’s the other method?”

Ling Chen’s reaction was completely within Qi Yue’s expectations. No one would think that such a method was even remotely possible. “The second method is even more difficult than the first method. The first method has a slight possibility, whereas this is just a legend… little master, have you ever heard of the ‘rising back from the dead’ of the legends?”

“Rising back… from the dead?” Ling Chen was very surprised

“The second method is the ‘rising back from the dead’ of the legends. However, life and death are both two things that are fundamental to the balance and order of this world. Rising back from the dead is something that is going against the heavens, and thus is taboo. If it really happened, it would greatly affect the natural world and the law and order of the world. Thus, in theory, rising back from the dead is impossible, and should not exist anyways. However… in the ancient times, there was a legend… the legend said that as long as four ritual elements are gathered together, one will be able to produce the effects of ‘rising back from the dead’.”

“The four necessary ritual elements are… the blood of the Moon Goddesses, the soul of the Demon Emperor, the tears of a Shura, and… the Scourge of the Moon.”