Chapter Seventy-Nine: Innocents Caught in the Crossfire

Soon, the sun had fully disappeared beneath the horizon, and a round moon rose from the sky. In the Blazing Domain’s Crimson Desert, the moon was always full, never waning. When Ji Mo first arrived, she was astonished by this strange phenomenon. Moreover, she discovered that cultivating her Heavenly Demon Body Tempering Technique beneath the full moon made her progress nearly twice as fast as usual.

Now, at this very moment, she was unconscious, her senses sealed, yet her body, bathed in moonlight, automatically accelerated the circulation of her cultivation technique, swiftly repairing her injuries.

Ji Mo had no idea how long she slept. When she finally awoke, her spiritual sense swept over herself and found all her wounds had healed, except her face remained covered in soot. She quickly cast a cleansing spell: a blue water orb appeared out of thin air, dropped onto her face, and scrubbed away the dark stains until her face was clean once more.

The burnt skin on her face, after a period of automatic regeneration, had returned to its original state. Yet her singed hair seemed impervious to the technique—it hung on her head like a bundle of straw, scorched and unruly. Ji Mo was only at the fourth stage of Qi Refinement and lacked the ability to reshape her appearance. Helpless, she shaved off all her burnt hair, leaving her with a bald head as she continued her arduous cultivation and search for an escape from the desert.

Time passed like a white colt galloping past a crack, and in the blink of an eye, half a year had gone by. Over these months, Ji Mo’s Heavenly Demon Body Tempering Technique advanced another stage, reaching the fourth level of Transcendence. Under ordinary circumstances, it would have taken her over a year to break through, but burning her life force to defeat the second-stage Thunderflame Beast half a year ago, combined with the perpetual full moon, had greatly accelerated her progress. Thus, in merely six months, she advanced once more.

The Heavenly Demon Body Tempering Technique was wondrous beyond compare. The longer Ji Mo cultivated it, the more profound her understanding became. Those who practiced it possessed bodies far stronger than others of the same stage, and their regenerative abilities were monstrous. Most remarkable was that, when facing mortal peril, as long as one had the courage to burn their life force, their combat power would multiply several times, enabling them to kill even vastly stronger foes in a single moment.

Moreover, if one survived after burning their life force, they could quickly ascend to a higher stage. No wonder this technique was considered a treasured secret of both the Witch and Demon clans. Of course, it wasn’t without drawbacks: every time one burned their life force, the body would enter a period of weakness. If strong enemies were nearby during that time, death was inevitable.

Also, burning life force was essentially overdrawing one’s lifespan. At Ji Mo’s current stage, each time she did so, her life would be shortened by twenty years. For body cultivators below the sixth stage of Transcendence, their average lifespan was only about one hundred fifty years. Only upon reaching the sixth stage could their lifespan extend by another hundred years. Ji Mo was just fourteen; with over a century ahead of her, losing forty years showed no immediate side effects.

However, if she failed to reach the sixth stage by age twenty, her body would begin to deteriorate, aging faster than ordinary folk. Of course, Ji Mo was unaware of these consequences for now; her current goal was simply to escape this barren desert. As a teenage girl, who would wish to spend their life in such a desolate, monster-infested and bizarre land?

Let us return to the main thread. On the third day after Ji Mo successfully advanced to the fourth stage, she encountered a peak first-stage monster. With her current strength, such creatures no longer posed any threat. She dispatched it easily, carved off some meat, and used spices scavenged from Moon City to roast a heap of fragrant beast meat, thoroughly enjoying a hearty meal.

During her eight months in the Crimson Desert, she mostly subsisted on fasting pills; eating beast meat was a rare luxury. Since entering this place called the Blazing Domain, she had only encountered monsters five times: the first was a tree demon right after she arrived, followed by the Thunderflame Beast, whose memory lingered vividly—she had nearly perished in that battle.

Over the following half year, she encountered two more, both even higher-ranked than the Thunderflame Beast, at the level of Condensation Stage monsters like Uncle Chiyan. Ji Mo spotted them from afar and immediately fled, not daring to provoke them. Luckily, whether they despised her as a mere human or for other reasons, they did not pursue, allowing her to escape unharmed.

The fifth encounter was the present one: a first-stage beast that happened to stumble upon her and challenge her. Ji Mo certainly wouldn’t waste such precious food. After slaying it and feasting on fresh meat, she roasted and stored hundreds of pounds of leftovers in her storage ring for future enjoyment.

After roasting the meat, the sun had vanished beneath the horizon and the bright full moon ascended the sky. Ji Mo closed her eyes in the moonlight and began her cultivation. The night passed swiftly. At dawn, as the first rays rose from the horizon, Ji Mo opened her eyes and stood up, ready to begin another day’s journey. But before she could take a single step, her gaze was drawn to a distant sea of crimson waves rolling at the edge of her vision.

At first glance, she thought it was just sand dunes shifting in the wind—a sight she’d seen many times. Once, she was even buried in a moving dune and struggled desperately to dig herself out.

Yet upon closer inspection, she realized these rolling sand waves were not caused by tornadoes, but by some other force. The tide of crimson sand, a hundred miles away, surged dozens of meters high. It looked as if two monsters were battling beneath the waves, rising and falling, never ceasing. The sounds of collision echoed endlessly through the sand, and even at such a distance, Ji Mo could hear them clearly.

Judging by the scene, it must be human experts or high-ranked monsters fighting. Upon seeing this, Ji Mo’s heart began to pound wildly, and she dared not move recklessly. She crouched down, hoping to hide herself. She didn’t know who was fighting ahead, but any being capable of causing such commotion was surely beyond her ability to contend with. If she could avoid attracting attention and slip by unnoticed, that would be best.

No one could blame Ji Mo for her caution. Against peers, she feared no one, but when faced with foes she could not match or even understand, deliberately approaching would be courting disaster in her eyes.

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed; the combatants moved swiftly toward her. The rolling crimson waves, thunderous and relentless, surged in her direction. At that speed, the hundred-mile gap would vanish in moments.

Ji Mo cursed inwardly, sprang up, and fled in the opposite direction, muttering as she ran, “Come on, you two—whether you’re monsters, demons, or humans—fight all you want, just don’t come near me!”

“Hey, you there, little girl, stop right there.” Alas, not a single deity heard her plea. She hadn’t gone more than a few kilometers when a voice, rough as a broken gong, startled her so much she nearly stumbled.

Steadying herself, Ji Mo turned around awkwardly and saw a muscular young man, bare-chested and burly, glaring at her from just a few dozen meters away. Clearly, he was the one who had called out.

“Um, I wonder what advice you might have for me, big brother?” Ji Mo coughed lightly, asking with obvious anxiety.

By rights, after eight months alone in the Crimson Desert, encountering another person should have delighted her. Yet she knew nothing of his temperament, and after witnessing his ferocious battle, if he proved ill-tempered and killed her on a whim, who could avenge her?

“Don’t be afraid, little girl. I’m not a bad guy. I just want to ask you something. Are you…?” The red-faced man started to speak.

But before he could finish, another voice interrupted, “Baize, the fight isn’t over—where do you think you’re going?” As the words fell, Ji Mo saw a handsome, cold-faced youth in black leap out from the sand. His icy gaze swept over Ji Mo and settled on the burly man, burning with battle intent.

“Geng Xiao, you’ve fought me for ten days and nights without a winner. Aren’t you tired? I finally met someone—let me ask her something.” The red-faced man frowned at the black-clad youth, clearly irritated.

“Finish the fight first.” The cold youth, Geng Xiao, snapped, raising his hand in a slash. Ji Mo then noticed he held a black curved blade, no more than three feet long, shaped like a crescent moon. It looked ordinary enough, but when Geng Xiao raised his arm, Ji Mo felt the sky darken as a chilling aura from the blade froze her entire body.

Ji Mo was both shocked and furious, cursing inwardly: Damn it, if you want to fight, take it somewhere else! You’re strong, but can’t you see there’s a weakling like me nearby? Are you trying to get me killed? She wanted to run, but the domain released by the cold youth pinned her in place, leaving her unable to move.

Unfortunately, Geng Xiao couldn’t hear her complaints. Had he heard, that slash might have been aimed at her instead. Never mind Ji Mo’s sense of injustice and anger; the red-faced man was hot-tempered as well. Seeing Geng Xiao attack without a word, a torrent of blade energy surging toward him, he grew furious, conjured an iron staff out of thin air, and boldly met the attack.

Bang! Blade and staff collided. Their strength was evenly matched; after the clash, both were knocked back dozens of meters, suffering no harm themselves. But Ji Mo, several dozen meters away, suffered for it—the shockwave left her blacking out and sent her flying, powerless to resist.

Damn it, truly the city gate burns, and the fish in the moat suffer. Her body drifted backward, and just before consciousness slipped into darkness, Ji Mo cursed bitterly in her heart!

(To be continued…)