Chapter 43 - The Bane of Chaos
The Tang Clan of Sichuan was renowned throughout the martial world for their peerless mastery of toxins. Within that shadowed lineage, no one’s skill could eclipse that of the Seventh Young Master, Tang Qi.
Tang Qi was the illegitimate son of the previous clan leader, born with a frail constitution and crippled legs. For years, he remained an obscure figure, a ghost in the corners of the Tang estate. However, the "Pearl Gate Incident" catapulted him to infamy overnight. The singular, devastating poison he concocted wiped out the entire Pearl Gate sect in a single evening. From then on, he shook the foundations of the Jianghu with a succession of increasingly bizarre and lethal toxins, eventually earning the title of the Poison Saint.
One might wonder why this tale is being told now. It is because this "Ugly Little Snake" of the Tang Clan shared a profound, tragic history with Leng Jing.
Because Leng Jing had accumulated countless enemies, those conspirators eventually tracked down Tang Qi’s wife, holding her captive to coerce the Poison Saint into assassinating the dragon. For three years, Tang Qi sequestered himself, pouring his genius and his very life force into his magnum opus—a poison the conspirators named "Spirit-Slaying Bane." The process was so volatile that the toxins backfired, leaving Tang Qi blind. To ensure he could never divulge their secrets, the conspirators went a step further, poisoning his throat until he was rendered mute.
After sacrificing his sight, his voice, and his health, the only reward Tang Qi received was the cold, lifeless corpse of his wife.
Leng Jing, who had once been on friendly terms with the man, had warned him long ago never to step foot into the treacherous waters of the martial world. But Tang Qi, driven by a youthful need to prove his worth, had ignored the advice, inviting this bitter karmic cycle. In his grief and rage, Tang Qi began to loathe the entire world. He swore to exact the most harrowing vengeance upon the heartless Jianghu.
The situation eventually spiraled into what the chronicles of the martial world would record as the "Plague of Resentment." The poison Tang Qi released at the cost of his own life was virulently contagious; within a single month, it had claimed over a thousand lives. It was only when Leng Jing personally ordered the infected regions to be sealed and used his dragon fire to cremate the remains at extreme temperatures that the scourge was finally contained.
Leng Jing had used his primordial abilities to seal the residual toxins within a single dragon scale, which instantly turned as black as the deepest ink. He had attempted many methods to neutralize the poison over the years, but all had failed. Thus, he kept the blackened scale as a dangerous, carefully guarded treasure.
That had all happened three years ago.
Now, in the present, Leng Jing found himself ensnared by the thorny vines of the blue roses, unable to move. The air was thick with a cloying, saccharine fragrance that threatened to melt his very resolve. He took a deep breath, but his mind began to cloud, a heavy lethargy pulling at his consciousness.
He forced himself to organize his thoughts, mentally reviewing his gambit.
Before ascending to the Heavenly Realm, he had made a subtle move: he had wrapped that blackened dragon scale inside a piece of venison and stuffed it into the maw of one of the monsters. He wanted to see if the toxin would prove contagious even to these aberrations. He had long since observed the law of the monsters—they were constantly devouring one another. If luck was on his side, the poison would propagate through the food chain.
Since Qu Yue’s ultimate goal was to consume the final, strongest monster, the toxin should, in theory, find its way into Qu Yue’s stomach after passing through several layers of the "menu."
*And if that doesn't work,* Leng Jing thought, his eyes narrowing, *I’ll just have to bite him to death!*
The "Ugly Little Snake" began to grind his teeth. He rarely resorted to such savage desperation, but he was prepared to stake his life on this fight.
***
When Leng Jing returned from the rooftop garden, the Heavenly Emperor—who was currently drowning his sorrows in wine—stared at him in stunned silence. Leng Jing was a mess; his robes were shredded, his skin marked by the jagged thorns of the roses.
Leng Jing demanded a fresh set of clothes and then succinctly explained Qu Yue’s objective.
"So... you’re saying Qu Yue left the barrier just now to... eat?!" The Emperor’s face turned ashen. He felt as though he were trapped in a waking nightmare.
"Most likely. You should start thinking of a way to stop that monster from causing further ruin," Leng Jing said coldly.
"Perhaps... perhaps he will leave once he is full," the Emperor muttered despondently.
"Unlikely. From what I saw, he intends to make this place his permanent nest." Leng Jing sat down on a stool. Seeing the gravity of the situation, the other celestial maidens tactfully withdrew from the Great Hall.
"I don't know what to do... To think the Heavens would fall during my reign..." The Emperor had completely lost his spirit.
"If we can find Qu Yue’s true body, we might be able to kill him. Can't you provide a single useful clue?"
"Let me think." The Emperor began to pace frantically. Suddenly, he stopped. "Do you know where the Rift that leads to Chaos is located?"
"Is it... somewhere inappropriate on his person?" Leng Jing asked, his tone bordering on the lewd.
"Your mind is truly filthy..." The Emperor’s expression flickered; he suddenly felt that being alone with this dragon might be dangerous in its own right. He gestured toward his own torso. "In truth, the Rift is located in his abdomen. Right about here. It is a long, narrow fissure."
Leng Jing nodded. "So, the form we see might just be an illusion, a shell. His true self is hiding within that abdominal crack?"
"That is my theory. Since he has to emerge to feed, we should be able to see his true form during the process. White Dragon, this might be our only chance. I can lend you the Divine Arrows of the Heavens!" The Emperor finally seemed to rally a spark of courage.
"You’re coming with me." Leng Jing grabbed the Emperor by his collar and dragged him out.
***
As the White Dragon soared out of the sea of fire with the Emperor on his back, the scene that greeted them was harrowing. The monsters had almost entirely devoured one another, leaving behind mountains of gnawed bones. The sole survivor was a grotesque, mutated aberration, rolling in agony amidst the sea of clouds. The Emperor covered his eyes and began to sob. That final monster had once been his most elegant and loyal civil official—the only person who had remained by his side for millennia, the one who had sworn never to leave him.
"Let him die!" the Emperor wailed in anguish.
"No. He is the final bait," Leng Jing said, his voice devoid of pity.
The Emperor wept uncontrollably for a long time before finally wiping his eyes. He drew the divine arrow from his back and aimed at Qu Yue, who was hovering in mid-air.
They were separated by thousands of feet.
The Emperor was the finest archer in the Heavens, but even as he gritted his teeth, his hands trembled. The arrow he held was named "Sun-Chaser," an ancient artifact that had once slain the Great Beasts of the Seven Seas.
Qu Yue floated in the sky, shrouded in a pulsating blue aura. He was entirely nude, and from the jagged rift in his abdomen, a translucent, gelatinous substance began to pour out. It cascaded down like liquid rot, slowly enveloping the mutated monster below. Under the touch of the slime, the monster began to liquefy and decay. It was a nauseating sight.
Leng Jing had been hiding behind a jagged crag, but Qu Yue suddenly whipped his head around, his eyes burning with resentment. "You truly are a restless one, Leng Jing! I despise those who interrupt my meal! Die!"
With a roar, Qu Yue’s human form began to distend, particularly around the abdomen. The Emperor shrieked, "He’s going to release the Power of Chaos!"
Before the Emperor could finish his sentence, he felt the world drop away. The White Dragon had unceremoniously dumped him, charging straight toward Qu Yue.
The Emperor couldn't tell if it was a clash of magic or a primal brawl. He clung to the cliffside to avoid falling into the abyss, watching the horrific struggle from afar.
The White Dragon summoned ten thousand miles of purple lightning, sweeping through the gelatinous slime pouring from the Rift. For a moment, the entire Heavenly Realm was engulfed in blinding electricity. Celestial peaks began to crumble, and the sea of clouds evaporated into steam. The half-dissolved monster within the slime began to thrash and bite back in a final, desperate struggle. It was a scene of pure carnage.
However, the slime continued to surge forth like a rising tide. As the White Dragon unleashed his fury, the gelatinous mass suddenly expanded, swallowing the dragon whole.
*It’s over!*
The Emperor hugged the trembling South Heaven Peak, watching as the final glimmer of hope for the Heavens was extinguished.
***
The Emperor slammed his head against the stone, certain that the end had come.
With blood streaming down his face, he looked up at his dying realm one last time.
But then, a shift occurred. He wiped the blood from his eyes and saw that the gelatinous mass had momentarily ceased its writhing. The slime, which had been churning like boiling water, suddenly went limp, sagging like a stagnant pool.
The poison had finally taken effect. Though its potency was diluted against such a massive entity, it was enough to cause a brief, paralyzing shock to the creature's system.
That fraction of a second was all Leng Jing needed. Enveloped within the slime, the White Dragon had not been digested. Instead, he thrust a sharp claw deep into the Rift on Qu Yue’s belly.
*He might lose that claw!* The Emperor thought, his teeth nearly shattering from the tension.
At that moment, the celestial peak finally gave way. A massive boulder struck the Emperor, and he plummeted into unconsciousness as he fell.
***
Inside the slime, Leng Jing was fighting with everything he had.
The stench was overwhelming—a pungent, metallic rot that stung his nostrils. The substance was thick and viscous, pinning his limbs and causing a stinging itch against his scales. Leng Jing ignored it, treating the experience as if he had merely fallen into a particularly foul sewer, and focused entirely on rummaging through the Rift with his claws.
Just as the slime began to twitch again, Leng Jing’s claws snagged onto something solid.
It was a fleshy, pulsating cord—the internal organs or perhaps the very "anchor" of the slime entity. Leng Jing gripped it tight and suddenly accelerated, shooting upward with explosive force. He burst through the surface of the gelatinous mass. The slime rose up like a dark curtain, attempting to swallow him again, and a desperate chase began.
Leng Jing held onto the end of that "innard" and flew as if his life depended on it. In a heartbeat, he had soared ninety thousand miles. When he looked back, he saw that he had dragged the entity’s entire internal structure out of its shell. The organs were stretched taut, like a rope in a celestial tug-of-war.
The entity shrieked, pulling back with all its might to reclaim its guts.
Because of their titanic struggle, the very space of the Heavenly Realm began to collapse. The boundaries between up and down vanished; everywhere one looked, there were only the ruins of chaos, rolling clouds, and corpses.
The slime had stopped flowing from Qu Yue’s human shell, meaning the true body of the entity had fully manifested. It was large enough to pave the entire Heavenly Realm. However, its vitals were now exposed, half-dragged out by Leng Jing and stripped of their protective coating.
"GIVE IT BACK!!!" Qu Yue screamed with feral rage.
The White Dragon bared his fangs in a predatory smirk. From the tips of his claws, a spiral of lightning and dragon fire ignited, surging down the length of the "innards" like a fuse.
If Leng Qingqing had been there to witness the following sight, he surely would have cheered alongside the White Marten: "What a spectacular firework show!"
The entire Heavenly Realm burned in a maelstrom of fire and electricity. The slime entity, having lost its protective layer, became a perfect conductor for the heat and current. It thrashed and rolled in a final, agonizing dance.
The inferno raged for three days and three nights. When it finally subsided, Leng Jing collapsed onto a sea of clouds, exhausted, and began to laugh maniacally.
Finally, the cacophony of the Heavens fell silent, leaving only Leng Jing’s wild, triumphant laughter echoing through the void.
The dark clouds parted, and a single ray of light pierced through the silent, desolate ruins of the Heavenly Realm.
***
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