Journey to the End of the Night

Chapter 1652 - 997: Moon in the Sky, Ghosts Beneath the Clouds (Part 2)

The relapse of the old ailment while forcefully using spiritual power gradually imparted a touch of deathly pallor to his face.Yet, even so, Chen Xiaolan, a mere mortal without a spirit root and only shallow cultivation, was utterly powerless against him.

With a slight movement of Meng Zifei’s fingers, the chords in the air transformed into bursts of high-frequency buzzing sounds.

"Buzz..."

The transparent thread danced frantically in the wind, suddenly tightening around Chen Xiaolan’s slender neck.

The crimson liquid dyed the invisible threads, casting sharp, elongated outlines, and as the wind and snow blew, tiny blood-colored ice crystals clung to them.

Chen Xiaolan’s neck split with pain, unable to utter a sound, she could only look at Meng Zifei with a gaze full of terror and helplessness, pleading for mercy.

The barren and desolate snowy mountain wind grew stronger.

For reasons unknown, Meng Zifei did not immediately sever the girl’s neck; he staggered step by step to stand before Chen Xiaolan.

Using the torch, he illuminated the fear and helplessness in her eyes, making it all the clearer.

Amidst the howling wind and snow, the sound of a man’s sigh echoed:

"I don’t want to kill you, but Xiaolan, sometimes being too meticulous is not a good thing."

After speaking, his dangling fingers slowly curled, and the invisible threads gradually tightened, slicing into her skin, blood flowing freely.

The fierce wind and snow howled as if someone were crying in grief.

Chen Xiaolan knew there was no chance of survival today, her desperate eyes closed, tears slowly streaming down.

In a corner of the cloud layer blown apart by the fierce wind, under the moonlight, the girl’s tears were poignant and captivating.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

On the brink of death, Chen Xiaolan heard the man’s mournful wail in front of her, like a wounded beast’s howl of agony.

The thread tightly strangling her neck suddenly loosened, and the cold air rushed into her chest cavity.

Chen Xiaolan felt like a fish about to die of thirst, suddenly drawing in a gulp of clear spring water.

She gasped frantically, her body collapsing to the ground, breathing urgently; drifting on the line of death, she tasted unprecedented fear.

Her body trembled uncontrollably with terror, shaking so violently as if her slender frame of bones might fall apart.

Disregarding the bleeding wound on her neck, her eyes reddened, one hand firmly covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming out in breakdown.

Until that heart-wrenching scream did not cease for a moment, she realized she was not hearing things.

Chen Xiaolan, fearful and bewildered, raised her head, only to be met with an unbelievably horrific sight.

As if the Heavenly God intended to punish him for his recent cruel deeds, the already cloud-covered sky was thinned out by the fierce wind.

The scattered starlight and moonlight poured down on Meng Zifei’s body with a terrifying corrosive effect.

He convulsed and rolled in the snow like an earthworm sliced in half, engaged in a beast’s desperate struggle.

His demeanor was hideous, his face ulcerated, and his flesh fell away in chunks like snow-laden branches overloaded.

The once gentle and handsome face collapsed instantly, sloughing off like the skin of a fierce ghost in a painting.

The exposed red facial muscles mixed with rice-grain-sized fat, tendons, and blood vessels, with faint glimpses of the stark white bones beneath.

Underneath his blue garment spread swathes of terrifying crimson liquid, as Meng Zifei struggled, rolled, and screamed.

Chunks of flesh, emitting a foul rotting stench, shook out from his sleeves.

His hairpin had long fallen, and his full head of black hair dispersed like withered dandelions.

With a gust of wind, his scalp was ripped open atrociously, revealing the sinister red and white skull underneath.

Even having followed Meng Zifei all this way, capturing ghosts and suppressing demons, Chen Xiaolan had never experienced anything so horrific.

Moreover, the person whose body was shedding flesh was none other than her most trusted master, Meng Zifei.

This was nothing short of a nightmare!

Chen Xiaolan pinched her thigh hard; the intense pain kept her from fainting in fright from the scene before her.

She pressed her lips tightly, tears uncontrollably flowing from her eyes.

But thankfully, she did not lose her mind completely.

She had already guessed that her mention of ’old ailment’ had touched Meng Zifei’s Reverse Scale.

Old ailment meant that occurrences like today’s had often happened in the past.

Ordinary people would not survive with their whole body ulcerated and flesh disintegrated to bone, yet Meng Zifei usually appeared as if nothing was wrong, showing no trace.

Chen Xiaolan was not the ignorant and mediocre mortal she once was; she also knew many things about cultivation.

In this state, Meng Zifei seemed less like he was ill and more like he was under some kind of... curse.

After suffering through such inhuman torment tonight, he might just return to normal.

If by then she still hadn’t left, she feared she wouldn’t be so lucky again.

Chen Xiaolan kicked Meng Zifei away with both hands and feet, feeling as if her life had been snatched back from the grasp of fate.

In terror and trembling, she got up in a panic, fleeing toward the path down the mountain.

As she fled, Chen Xiaolan, perhaps driven by some unknown impulse, dared to look back.

She glanced one last time at the figure collapsed helplessly in the snow, covered in blood and scattered flesh.

His once towering frame had diminished to half, appearing as a mere skeletal figure.

If not for the occasional twitch, he truly resembled a corpse.

A shiver ran through Chen Xiaolan’s heart; perhaps fear had numbed her to the point that she couldn’t even describe her feelings.

She wiped the wet, cold tears from her cheeks, leaving behind a trail of chaotic footprints in the snow as she scrambled away.

The snow-covered mountains stretched endlessly, despite the starlight and bright moon countering the sky, the air remained bitterly cold.

The cold wind sliced through the night like countless sharp blades, leaving her cheeks stinging with pain, the whistling wind filled her ears.

Despite wiping them away, tears kept streaming down Chen Xiaolan’s face as she whimpered in despair.

She felt as though she had truly reached the end of her rope.

Though the journey was long, she was not alone on the way there.

On the way back, the endless mountain path seemed like an inescapable nightmare.

She couldn’t understand why Meng Zifei, usually so gentle and refined, had such an incomprehensible devilish side.

With her mind in turmoil and her vision blurred, Chen Xiaolan failed to see the snow-covered path beneath her feet.

Suddenly, she stepped into thin air, her eyes widening in terror as she tumbled down the slope of the mountain.

It was not until she landed in a thick, soft patch of snow on a meadow that Chen Xiaolan could finally feel the reality of survival.

She lay in the snow, panting, her throat in agonizing pain, wrapped in a thick fox fur coat.

Her body, previously frozen and numb, gradually warmed with the lingering heat of the Fire Talisman inside the coat.

Soon, tears were streaming down uncontrollably once more.

Under that warmth, Chen Xiaolan felt an intense emotional surge.

She got up, yanking off the fox fur with force, tearing away the Fire Talismans stuck to her clothes, shredding them to pieces.

But even that couldn’t suppress the fear in her heart.

She had to get down the mountain... she had to get away from that demon as quickly as possible.

The farther she got from him, the better.

She wanted to return to the Mountain Realm and tell everything she saw to the Mountain God, to Lin Yuan, and to that person.

Meng Zifei was definitely not the innocent person they thought he was; he must have had ulterior motives for approaching the Mountain Realm!

"Awooooo!!!!!!!!"

A piercing howl of a wolf broke Chen Xiaolan’s train of thought.

Startled, she looked up, hearing the sound of countless wild wolves sharpening their claws and sprinting among the mountain shrubs.

Chen Xiaolan’s limbs turned cold, yet in this desolate wilderness, listening to the howls of wolves, she strangely felt a sense of comfort.

Compared to Meng Zifei, what was there to fear about these wild wolves?

She let out a self-deprecating, bitter smile.

All along the journey, she knew there were packs of wolves lingering in these snowy mountains.

But with Meng Zifei leading the way, a cultivator, the naturally sensitive wolves kept their distance, fearful of his aura.

Now, without Meng Zifei, although descending the mountain was still challenging,

Chen Xiaolan still had with her the talismans she had drawn during her studies.

As long as she didn’t provoke the wolves, she’d have enough means to protect herself.