20demayo Chapter 3290 Lesser Fullness (Protecting Them)
Chapter 3290 Lesser Fullness (Protecting Them)
The bottom of the death row cell was not a hard ground, but a bottomless pool of corrosive black water.
This black water originates from an ancient battlefield and contains endless resentment and deathly intent.
Yang Rui and Hua Nian were then immersed in this viscous black water.
Heavy black iron chains gripped their ankles, seemingly trying to drag them into the depths of hell.
Under the glow of the eerie green phosphorescence, Yang Rui's face appeared almost transparently pale.
He tilted his head back, his bloodshot eyes fixed on his suffering fellow disciples above him.
With each breath, corrosive black water would rush into his lungs through his trachea, taking away his already meager life force.
"Eldest brother... second brother... third brother, cough cough cough..."
Yang Rui coughed incessantly, his voice becoming extremely hoarse, like two rusty iron pieces rubbing against each other violently.
He tried to struggle, but the snake-like runes engraved on the chains made every movement of his body accompanied by the cracking sound of bones breaking.
That feeling of powerlessness drove him even more mad than the physical torment.
He has had the worst health since childhood.
His three senior brothers took great care of him.
But now, he could only watch helplessly as they were slaughtered and their souls extracted like animals, while he himself didn't even have the strength to lift a hand.
"Damn it... cough cough cough..."
He let out a low growl like a wild beast, but was choked by the black water that was poured into his throat and coughed violently. Every mouthful of blood he coughed up contained fragments of internal organs, which dissolved instantly in the black water.
Hua Nian was standing not far from him.
Her condition was equally bad. The yin energy was already cold and damp, and in this highly corrosive black water, the meridians in her body began to break inch by inch.
But she did not give up.
She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, a faint, ethereal light shimmering in her palms.
And in her palm were Little Yellow and Little Purple.
She was desperately protecting Little Yellow and Little Purple.
The two usually lively and energetic little spirit pets were now curled up into two faint balls of light.
Their souls were so transparent that they seemed to disappear from the world if the black water rose even an inch higher.
"Brother Yang Rui... hang in there." Hua Nian's voice trembled.
She needed to protect Xiao Huang and Xiao Zi's souls first, otherwise she wouldn't have time to spare for Yang Rui's Yin energy.
Even so, such rapid depletion of yin energy would accelerate the collapse of her physical body.
She knew how important Xiao Huang and Xiao Zi were to her young lady.
"We can't die here... Miss is still waiting for us."
She looked up at the deep darkness above, which led to the surface, to the crimson palace, and to the person they had sworn to protect with their lives.
The array within the death row cell began to rotate again, and the lightning and fire shone brightly, illuminating the faces that had been tortured to the extreme yet still refused to bow their heads.
The black liquid was viscous and cold, with a slippery texture, constantly eroding Yang Rui's remaining skin.
This stagnant water, originating from the netherworld, is not only dissolving his physical body but also corroding his will.
"Little Nian Nian..."
Yang Rui felt that he had lost all feeling in his legs.
Most of his body was submerged in the stagnant, muddy water.
He looked at the girl who was still struggling, his eyes filled with sorrow.
"Little Niannian, cough cough cough... If you have a chance, you must escape from here!"
The faint light emanating from Hua Nian's palm was exceptionally dazzling in the endless darkness.
"Escape? Where to?"
Hua Nian wiped the black water from her face, revealing that her delicate features were now covered with hideous red marks.
"Zhou Wenlun is the Heavenly Dao of this world. As long as we are still here, there is nowhere to escape."
"The young lady agreed to the marriage in exchange for our lives."
“If we die here now, all her sacrifices will have been in vain.”
Upon hearing the word "marriage," Yang Rui's body trembled violently.
How could his delicate, adorable, yet stubborn junior sister marry a scoundrel like Zhou Wenlun?
"No, Junior Sister can't marry that beast..."
Yang Rui clenched his teeth so hard they made a grinding sound, and blood gushed out from between his teeth.
"He schemed against everyone, using us as bait to lure our junior sister into his trap."
"Now I'm forcing her to wear a wedding dress... I only hate that my cultivation level is too low to protect her!"
Hua Nian felt the two orbs of light in her palm gradually weakening, which was Xiao Huang and Xiao Zi making their last struggle.
“Brother Yang Rui, do you know? In the Evil Realm, I have seen countless people who betrayed their companions for survival.”
"But the Kunlun Sect is different."
She turned her head, her gaze unusually bright in the eerie green phosphorescence.
“Even when the senior brothers were nailed to the wall, they never begged for mercy.”
"Even when facing the will of Heaven, Miss has never bowed her head."
"If we admit defeat first, then it's truly over."
Yang Rui fell silent.
The black water washed over his chest, and the burning sensation almost made him faint.
“You’re right…we can’t give up.”
He took a deep breath of the bloody air and forcibly activated his long-dried-up dantian.
“That beast Zhou Wenlun wants to see us begging for mercy, and wants to see our junior sister heartbroken.”
"I'll make sure he doesn't get his way!"
He reached out and grabbed Hua Nian's cold wrist.
"Give me those two little ones."
Hua Nian was stunned for a moment: "Brother Yang Rui, what are you going to do?"
“My fate is tough; it brings misfortune to my father, mother, and myself. Perhaps it can also overcome this black water.”
A miserable smile stretched across Yang Rui's lips.
“There is still a trace of pure yang energy left by my master in my blood essence. I have used up my cultivation to protect it.”
"As long as they don't die, Junior Sister will be able to sense our location."
"We must fight for every glimmer of hope!"
Looking into Yang Rui's resolute eyes, Hua Nian finally burst into tears.
She knew that Yang Rui was about to sacrifice his last bit of spiritual power.
"No... there must be another way."
"Time is running out."
Yang Rui weakly used his spiritual power to summon the two orbs of light and stuffed them into his chest.
He began to whisper an ancient and forbidden incantation.
That was a fragment of a scroll he had once found in a corner of the library, titled "Sacrificing Oneself to Cross the River".
As the incantation was recited, his bones cracked rapidly, and a pale red aura emanated from his heart, protecting Xiao Huang and Xiao Zi.
The black water seemed to sense this resistance, instantly boiling and frantically washing over Yang Rui's body.
"Brother Yang Rui!"
Hua Nian screamed and tried to rush over, but was pushed back by the ripples emitted by the formation.
Just then, the heavy stone door above the death row cell let out a muffled rumble.
A white figure, accompanied by an oppressive aura, slowly emerged from the darkness.
Yang Rui stopped chanting the incantation and stared intently in that direction.
Zhou Wenlun has arrived.
He was still dressed in a snow-white robe, spotless, completely out of place in this filthy, stinking death cell.