Chapter 48: The Hero Arrives

Calamity Plague Emperor, realizing he’d underestimated Leng Qingqiu and Xia Baiqian, with powerful onlookers circling, decided to go all in.
If he was doomed, why not offer himself as a sacrifice to the being that sustained him through time?
His mouth uttered obscure, guttural syllables, and from the spatial rifts sprouting across his body surged a dao charm that chilled everyone present—neither human, demon, immortal, nor devil, but utterly bizarre!
“Retreat! Now!”
The distant sect masters, faces grave, sensed the aura and fled its range before the dao charm swept over.

Leng Qingqiu and Xia Baiqian, at the storm’s epicenter, weren’t so lucky. The dao charm engulfed them instantly.
The moment they saw the rifts, their movements froze, as if targeted by a terror beyond time and space.
A bone-deep chill gripped them, their spiritual energy stuttering—a sensation unheard of since reaching Great Vehicle and merging with the dao.
What kind of existence could affect them so?
Then, their divine senses were flooded with chaotic information, subtly warping their mastered daos.
Xia Baiqian’s gu paused; weaker ones exploded, exuding an eerie, cold aura.
Others went berserk, devouring everything in sight.
Leng Qingqiu’s left arm, still unhealed from the fiery explosion at the auction, erupted under the dao’s influence, breaking her suppression.
Flames consumed her jade-like arm, sizzling, soon exposing crystalline bones.
Had she not contained it, her whole body might’ve burned to a skeletal husk.
Xia Baiqian, clutching her head, swayed, her face ashen.
“Qingqiu… Sister… what’s happening? It hurts…”
Leng Qingqiu’s unscathed right hand waved, a frigid chill shielding Xia Baiqian from much of the invasive whispers.
“I don’t know. No records mention this, but it’s… hard to counter.”

The sudden shift baffled everyone, the one-sided battle now incomprehensible.
They agreed: this thing didn’t belong in their world and couldn’t be allowed to corrupt it.
Fanyin Temple’s monk chanted like a resonant bell, shaking the heavens.
His Buddhist light flared, forming a Thousand-Armed Guanyin, each palm holding a radiant “卍” seal.
Golden Sanskrit wove a sky-shielding scripture barrier, suppressing the twisted dao charm.
It seemed evenly matched, but his sweating brow, pale cheeks, and bloodied lips betrayed his struggle.
And this was just the outer spillover.
Phantom Beast Abyss Pavilion’s master, Xia Wujie, astride his purple-gold hou, cursed.
“Radish! What did this demon summon? It’s devouring and warping heavenly laws!”
The hou roared, its pure, blazing purple flames igniting half the sky to block the dao’s spread.
Taixuan Creation Sect’s Song Yiwan raised her hand, her twelve jade gourds spinning, spewing vast creation qi into green chains that reinforced the scripture barrier.
Beside her, Pocang Xuanwu Sect’s Lu Ming paused his questioning.
His black armor shattered into meteor-like fragments, raining into the barrier for support.
Wanfa Immortal Sect’s petite master flicked out red-gold and gold talismans to bolster it, though four gold ones flew to unknown corners.
Observing, they calculated victory odds—near zero.
This wasn’t a fight anymore. Without vigilance, Leng Qingqiu and Xia Baiqian could fall!
Tch!
The Wanfa master glanced skyward, awaiting someone.
That useless jerk, still not here? Does he want his disciples maimed?
Bound by her sect’s elders and her position, she couldn’t intervene, only clutching a supreme talisman for a last-second rescue.
Despite their varied thoughts, the sect masters reached a consensus: Old Chu’s definitely compromised!
Normally, he’d be the first on-scene, sword flashing, wiping out such a world-altering threat, then posing coolly with a faint smile as they arrived.
Now? No sign, no aura.
And it was his beloved disciples facing this horror!

Under Bai Li’s full effort, they’d crossed half of Hanyuan Dynasty, nearing the site.
Suddenly, she froze, sensing a distant aura.
Her amber pupils shrank, nine tails puffing up.
Chu Huaizhou: “What’s wrong, Bai Li? Tired? Please, hold on!”
Bai Li shook her head, pawing her chest nervously.
“I… I felt a really bad aura. My instincts scream to flee…”
Before she finished, Chu Huaizhou saw the sky ahead ablaze with purple-gold flames.
Trouble.
He met Bai Li’s worried gaze.
“Bai Li, please! We have to check!”
“Fine… I know, meow. I wasn’t gonna run, just…”
Her nine tails stretched, cloaking him like a cape.
“If danger hits, I’ll grab you and bolt. Can’t promise to save Qingqiu… huh?”
As she surged forward, her nose twitched, catching a familiar scent below.

Calamity Plague Emperor was no longer humanoid. His withered body twisted into a door-like frame, morphing bizarrely.
Its hollow center revealed countless stars.
Leng Qingqiu and Xia Baiqian fought on, unleashing every technique to destroy it.
But their attacks sank like stones in the sea, useless.
Their consciousnesses were crumbling under the strain.
The sect masters wanted to help but were tied up suppressing the dao’s heavenly corruption, wary of the entity’s unknown attacks.
Rushing in might fare no better.
After weighing options, they prepared to abandon the two, combining forbidden techniques to erase the area.
Wanfa’s master, teeth gritted, steeled herself to enter the fray.
Then her divine sense caught a familiar aura nearby.
A flash of white light, and it arrived—Chu Huaizhou!