The chaotic Yang energy pulsing beneath Ye Chen’s calloused fingertips collided directly with the abyssal blood runes carved into the needle.
Sssssssss!
A sickening, acidic hiss tore through the open air between them as the conflicting energies rejected each other. The oily toxin coating the black iron combusted into a thick, boiling plume of pitch black smoke that spiraled upward toward the sky. The vapor reeked of rotting corpses, stagnant slaughterhouse gutters, and coagulated blood, a foul stench so potent that the front rows of disciples in the lower tiers gagged and threw their sleeves over their noses.
Su Rou thrashed against the timber wall, the black smoke swirling around her pale face as her pupils dilated in pure, unmasked terror.
"Drop it, you fool!" Su Rou shrieked, her vo
