As the bullet formed of darkness shot toward Daoyi's head, Jiang Chunye recalled all that had happened since their last battle.
After their last encounter, Jiang Chunye waited for Daoyi's revenge, but to her surprise, it never came. Jiang Chunye sighed in relief. She didn't know what she would do if Daoyi asked the Sword Sovereign to take revenge for her. She didn't want to stay holed up in the Nihility Sect forever.
At the same time, Jiang Chunye experienced discomfort. Why didn't Daoyi look for her? She had almost killed Daoyi and forced her to seal herself. Had the same been done to her, Jiang Chunye would have sought revenge at the earliest time, yet Daoyi seemed to have forgotten all about her.
It made Jiang Chunye feel as if Daoyi didn't take her seriously, despite Daoyi losing. The more Daoyi ignored her, the more unbalanced Jiang Chunye felt.
What right do you have to look down upon me? You're just an unenlightened girl, stuck in a backwater mindset and relying on a man for everything you have.
That's why Jiang Chunye released news of Daoyi's heavenly water spiritual root. Even if Daoyi was the disciple of the Sword Sovereign, there should still be some unscrupulous devilish cultivators who wouldn't care and try to turn her into a Living Pill.
Yet, soon after, Daoyi seemed to have disappeared from the Huang Realm. Jiang Chunye knew that the Buzhou Immortal Sect had the ability to traverse the myriad realms, and she couldn't help but think that Daoyi ran away after hearing this. Of course, she knew that it was unlikely that the sole hegemonic sect of the Huang Realm would use their realm traversing artifact for a mortal disciple. Still, it made Jiang Chunye feel better.
With Daoyi seemingly vanishing from the Huang Realm, Jiang Chunye focused on the war and made a name for herself. When she was in the Mortality Shedding Realm, she was known as the Shadowless Saint.
A hundred years later, Jiang Chunye suddenly heard the news that Daoyi and Xi Tianyi was going to be married. Of course, as a member of the Tripartite Alliance, she wasn't invited.
She sneered when she heard how Xi Tianyi blocked three moves from Buzhou Immortal Sect's newest immortal monarch, her grandfather, Jiang Ziya. It became even worse when she heard Xi Tianyi enter the Seamless Immortal Realm on the night of their wedding.
"In the end, did you become a Living Pill?" Jiang Chunye had muttered. In her eyes, the only reason Xi Tianyi could enter the Seamless Realm was because of Daoyi's heavenly water spiritual root.
Still, that didn't discount the fact that Daoyi now had three backers: her master, the Sword Sovereign, her husband, Xi Tianyi, and their grandfather, Monarch Jiang. Chunye had no doubt that their coldhearted grandfather would stand on Daoyi's side and kill her.
Although Daoyi didn't come looking for her, Jiang Chunye couldn't help but worry about Daoyi. It was like something stuck between her teeth or throat. It wouldn't kill her, but it made her extremely uncomfortable.
So, Jiang Chunye constantly waited for a chance. Her instincts told her that once she killed Daoyi, she would gain a massive benefit. She couldn't kill Daoyi in the Heaven Continent and had to avoid her in case Daoyi summoned one of her three backers.
Her chance came with the appearance of the Yellow Mausoleum. Not only did the pocket dimension restrict entrance to those in the Seamless Immortal Realm and above, but Daoyi also entered, giving her a perfect opportunity.
After entering, the Yellow Mausoleum, Jiang Chunye deliberately looked for Daoyi, but it was as if she had never entered. No matter how she looked, Jiang Chunye couldn't discover any traces of Daoyi. In her anger, she slaughtered the immortals from the Buzhou Immortal Sect.
Soon, Jiang Chunye didn't have time to worry about Daoyi. After discovering the benefits of absorbing the law fragments, she began to focus on killing earth beasts and comprehending the Law of Earth.
Jiang Chunye never expected that while comprehending the Law of Earth, she would gain an epiphany into the Law of Darkness and fully master it. After completely mastering the Law of Darkness, Jiang Chunye didn't need to fear anyone in the Yellow Mausoleum.
She even had the spare effort to gather a few law fragments for Yi Dongli. Although Yi Dongli had just entered the Unity Realm and could not compare to her current suitors, he was still the first man Jiang Chunye's heart moved for.
While she was hunting for the earth beasts, the ground of the Yellow Mausoleum began to shake. She, like most immortals present, assembled to the source of the change, hoping to find a miraculous treasure.
Upon reaching the source, Jiang Chunye saw nine mountains. Of the nine, only two were corporeal, while the rest were illusionary. She had done her research, and so she recognized the nine mountains as the formation Tianyi could unleash using an artifact. Since Tianyi couldn't enter, it meant that someone close to him had it.
Who else could it be but Daoyi?
To Jiang Chunye's surprise, Daoyi's concealment technique was extremely good. Had she not mastered the Law of Darkness, Daoyi would have slipped from her senses.
She followed Daoyi away from the erupting earth qi. After following her for some time, Daoyi stopped by a lake of yellowish water. The moment Daoyi tried to unleash the Mountains and Seas Formation, Jiang Chunye struck.
She condensed a bullet and shot toward Daoyi. Daoyi's quick reflex surprised Jiang Chunye. Still, how could her attack so easily be dodged? As she expected and willed, the bullet of darkness pierced Daoyi's heart.
It didn't simply pierce Daoyi's heart, but it also infected Daoyi with the Eterndark Poison refined by yours truly. The Eterndark Poison would cause the victim's veins to become black as it corrupted their blood. Not only that, but it also drowned them under an illusion.
Honestly, it impressed her that Daoyi could resist the illusions enough to converse. She guessed soul cultivators were feared for a reason. After a few words with Daoyi, Jiang Chunye prepared to deliver the killing blow. It was amazing that Daoyi could survive her attack once it pierced her heart.
"Goodbye, Daoyi," Jiang Chunye said.
The bullet of darkness shot toward Daoyi, but the moment the bullet reached Daoyi's forehead, Jiang Chunye felt the shadow of death loom over her.
Without a second thought, Jiang Chunye dived into her shadow and disappeared. Inside her shadow, she felt the Eterndark Poison fulfill its job. Perhaps Daoyi had unleashed her final struggle before her death.
Jiang Chunye still cautiously rose out of her shadow, and what she witnessed shocked her. Everything around her and Daoyi had turned into a lifeless zone. The grass and land had transformed into dark sand, and the lake's water level had dipped several degrees.
Daoyi stood floating in the air. An ethereal garment seemingly formed of silvery blue light adorned her body, causing her to emit a deathly light. Her eyes glowed a bright white, yet they exuded a black light that seemed to decree death on anyone they gazed upon.
Jiang Chunye's eyes widened as she popped back into her shadow. Strings shot out from Daoyi's sleeve and pierced the shadow. Moments later, the strings vibrated at an insane speed, destroying the shadow.
A thousand meters away, a black spot appeared, and Jiang Chunye floated out of it with an ugly expression. She glared at Daoyi, and the shadow under her expanded until it covered the surrounding ten kilometers in darkness.
Everything in her domain of darkness would sink into a world of black, but the hundred meters around Daoyi remained unaffected.
Jiang Chunye narrowed her eyes. Under her control, spikes shot forth from the shadows, but they seemed to have entered a quagmire upon nearing Daoyi. No matter how Jiang Chunye commanded them, the spikes slowed to a crawl.
Seeing that she couldn’t pierce Daoyi, Jiang Chunye changed her method. Spikes transformed into tendrils that snaked toward Daoyi from all sides. Although Daoyi flew away, her speed had been impacted by the rules governing the Yellow Mausoleum.
Seeing as the black tendrils would trap her soon, Daoyi summoned a pipa to her hand. Jiang Chunye's eyes sharpened, and she strengthened her tendrils, causing them to speed up without warning.
Soon, Daoyi found herself bound by the shadow tendrils. Jiang Chunye clenched her hand, and the tendrils tightened around Daoyi. Daoyi's greatest weakness as a soul cultivator was her comparatively weaker body, something Jiang Chunye was all too familiar with.
As an assassin, Jiang Chunye had invested much effort into gathering information about her target's weaknesses. Although Daoyi didn't have an expansive battle record, Jiang Chunye had killed enough soul cultivators to know their usual weaknesses.
Daoyi could feel her bones creak under the tightening grip. She didn't panic, and the ethereal glow around her increased in intensity. The tendrils weakened and slid off her body. Despite not being alive, they seemed to have entered a feeble state.
Without waiting, Daoyi held the pipa on her body and plucked the strings. Instantly, an ominous melody rippled through the air. The shadow tendrils around Daoyi stopped moving and decayed into dust.
Jiang Chunye gritted her teeth and covered her ears. She could feel the musical notes boom in her mind each time a ripple passed her. She felt her control over the darkness weaken as they started withdrawing back to their origin.
Just like how soul cultivators had their strengths and weaknesses, so did martial cultivators like Jiang Chunye. She pursued the martial path since her spiritual roots were lacking, and that remained true even in the Pathfinding Immortal Realm.
Although her body was strong, her soul was lacking, making her more susceptible to Daoyi's musical assault. Jiang Chunye swore she would make up for her weakness in the future.
Jiang Chunye sunk into her shadow once more. Although Daoyi's soul attack still affected her, the effect had decreased to a substantial degree. She didn't take this chance to catch her breath. Instead, Jiang Chunye began to plan her next attack.
Daoyi increased the intensity of her music, hoping to force Jiang Chunye out of the shadows. She didn't expect the shadow to rise out of the ground and form a sphere around her like a cage of darkness.
Jiang Chunye shot out of the surface of the darkness from Daoyi's blind spot. In her hand was a black dagger that absorbed all light and resembled a dagger-shaped hole in reality.
Despite minimizing her presence to the max, Daoyi still sensed her and shifted out of the way. Jiang Chunye's efforts did not go down the drain, as she managed to slice through Daoyi's sleeve and leave a gash on her arm.
The blood leaking out from Daoyi's arm turned black from the poison, but Daoyi remained unconcerned. Moments later, the blackness disappeared, and the blood returned to its red color as the wound healed and her dress fixed itself.
Jiang Chunye's movement didn't stop as she merged into the other end of the darkness. From there, she began to shoot out at random intervals and locations, attacking Daoyi with her dagger. With each passing second, her speed increased, and it appeared like there were two Jiang Chunye attacking Daoyi despite her not using an incarnation or avatar technique.
Facing the increasingly perilous situation, Daoyi did not lose her calm and continued dodging. Her fingers increased their pace, and the pipa started to turn translucent, shrouding Daoyi in a ball of light.
Jiang Chunye felt some of her vitality weaken each time she phased through the ball of light. It reached the point where she damaged herself more than she injured Daoyi.
To counteract this situation, Jiang Chunye attacked Daoyi by assaulting her with bullets of darkness from all directions, but as soon as the bullets entered the ball of light, they would decay. If she continued, she knew that she would only be wasting her immortal qi of darkness.
Jiang Chunye stopped her assault and analyzed the situation. Despite the fragile balance between the two, Daoyi did not seem like she would run out of qi anytime soon. Conversely, Jiang Chunye's reserve had already reached sixty percent.
Because of her inferior spiritual roots and inadequate cultivation method, Jiang Chunye's qi reserves were average at best. Even if she joined the Jade Cauldron Sect and the Nihility Sect after, it could not change her lacking foundation. If this continued, she would have no choice but to run away.
However, victory and defeat were not solely determined by the power of the law mastered, or how much immortal qi a cultivator had. All Jiang Chunye needed was one good strike, and it would be all over.
Jiang Chunye gritted her teeth and stored her dagger immortal artifact, and took out another dagger. The dagger had a shiny black blade with blood-red veins running through it, and it emitted a devilish aura.
Just by holding it, Jiang Chunye felt her mind assaulted, and her willpower consumed. Decisiveness flashed through her eyes as she increased her grip around the devil dagger.
Jiang Chunye didn't charge out with the dagger in hand and instead imbued the dagger with ten percent of her qi. This resulted in the dagger running rampant, and she almost lost control of it.
Before she could lose control, Jiang Chunye threw the dagger at Daoyi with all her strength. Daoyi didn't need to raise her senses as she immediately sensed the malice overflowing from the dagger. She could even see a faint phantom of a devil behind the dagger.
Daoyi turned around and used her pipa to block the dagger's tip. Her face paled as the dagger started to corrupt the ball of light that protected her. Even her ethereal garment started to flicker as it lost its luster.
At this time, Jiang Chunye suddenly shot out from behind Daoyi with a dagger in hand. Daoyi had to defend against the dagger. If she slipped up, she might become corrupted, leaving her defenseless to Jiang Chunye's attack.
As Jiang Chunye wished, her dagger pierced Daoyi's heart from the back, but she wasn't done.
"Die!"
She twisted her dagger, causing Daoyi to spit out a mouthful of blood. Less than a second later, Daoyi screamed as darkness exploded out of all her orifices, and the devil dagger shattered her pipa and pierced her chest.
