chapter 43 The woman in the black

Xiao Luo asked trying to figure out the intentions of the demon. He wanted to know the true goal of the demons.

"Yes, there might be something but I am not sure since it didn't say it itself. It was awfully focused on my Dragon Sword. First I thought that it knew that the weapon was dangerous and knocked it out of my hand before I could use it but afterwards it kept moving towards my sword as if it was more interested in my sword rather than taking my life. Only after I kept getting in its way, it focused on eliminating me but was stopped by the painting you gave me. It escaped just before you came here. My guess is that it might have sensed you coming."

Long Yi let out a huge breath afterwards after spilling everything in a single breath. He couldn't wait to get it all out. It was a load off his chest which had been feeling heavy after his loss.

"Did you say it was interested in the Dragon Sword?"

"Yes, more than necessary. I think it might have been its goal all along."

Hearing the confirmation from Long Yi's mouth, Xiao Luo's heart almost gave out. His breath grew heavier and heavier before he muttered something under his breath that made Long Yi very uneasy.

"Something serious must have happened in the Twilight Zone for them to covet our Dragon Sword this desperately. It seems that they are finally making a big move. We have to be prepared for what's coming next."

Xiao Luo put his hands on Long Yi's shoulders and gripped them tightly before giving him a stern look and said, "Hold on to the Dragon Sword with your life. At no times are you to separate it from yourself. Do not trust anyone from now onwards, not even me until I figure out this matter completely."

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He had to return to the place that occupied an essential part of all his dreams. Never had he thought of returning here voluntarily but circumstances had dictated otherwise leading him to step into the most dangerous of all forbidden regions.

The grey world devoid of all color depicted the true nature of this land. It didn't have any emotions and neither did its residents, all of them being the monsters that they were. Few people from the Immortal faction ever came out alive from the hellish place that now symbolized the core of all those who were twisted to the very end.

All that this region had to offer was endless bleakness with endless horde of demonic monsters and exiled murderous cultivators filled in between, waiting to pounce on anyone from the Immortal faction.

Xiao Luo had known the true danger of the area since he had been here before. He had escaped with barely a single breath in his body. He had never dared to come back again even if it meant saving his own life and yet he was back again.

The land looked as if ashes and ruin had replaced the soil and structures he was familiar with on Earth. It was a twisted reality to the world that he was used to living in. Even his worst nightmares were not much terrifying to him as this grey world was.

The chill had gathered in his bones and he was constantly shivering while his eyes darted about in a frenzied manner looking for any signs for an ambush. His previous experiences had been so devastating that he had hid them in the depths of his mind where even he never dared trespass.

His previous experiences in the Twilight Zone had rendered him scared to his toenails. He was freaked out of his wits yet he had to stay alert. His body was pumping adrenaline like crazy in order to keep him in the hyperactive state that he had been in.

Anyone else would have been relatively calm when in this situation but Xiao Luo had a previous trauma that he had to face if he wanted to continue to find out what had happened in the Twilight Zone for the demons to want that Dragon Sword so badly.

He moved cautiously along the terrain that never seemed to change and followed the path from his memory towards the residence of the person who had scarred him for life and had bound him with the shackles of fate that he had been unable to escape from ever since.

It had happened in the past when Xiao Luo had been handed over the position of the Sect Leader by the previous generation Sect Leader of the Purple Sect. Xiao Luo who had started to let the position get to his head, ventured into the depths of Twilight Zone in order to hunt demons.

The result was something to be expected. Before he had even met the core leaders of the Demonic World, he had met a mysterious woman who had asked him to make a bet with him.

At first he had thought that the woman in black wanted to attack him but he could not sense any killing intent from her at all. Her black dress and the black Equinox flower adorned in her jet black hair revealed the grace and elegance ingrained in the woman. She wore black from top to bottom yet she appeared to be the most sparkling thing in the dark abyss like Twilight Zone.

As soon as she said that she had no intention of attacking him and only wanted to gamble to pass time. He agreed to the gamble as if intoxicated on something before mumbling a yes. Yet there was a sense of dread that had taken over his body as soon as he agreed to bet with the woman who did not seem to hold any power at all.

The game they played was similar to Fan-Tan which meant that it was a game of pure chance and luck yet Xiao Luo hadn't managed to run a single game against her. He had eventually lost everything valuable on him as well as his life.

Only after he had lost everything did he realize that the mysterious woman was powerful beyond his imagination. It was just that her strength came not from her cultivation level but the type of cultivation she pursued. She cultivated the Dao of Reincarnation and Fate.

Once he lost against her, his fate was sealed and he was set on the path of reincarnation. The Equinox flower that had been branded on his chest by the mysterious woman was the guide on his path to reincarnation as well as the leech sucking on his life qi leading him to a slow death.

The woman was so terrifying that Xiao Luo had never dared to come back to make a deal in order to save his life from her hands.

Yet he was actively seeking her out at her last place of residence now. If he had not been desperate, he would never have come to the Twilight Zone. He needed to know what the demons were planning.

Before he could call out to her from outside her residence, the woman came out with confident stride that not only showed her strength but also her ability to detect threats.

"You are here."

A single sentence escaped her mouth before she stopped speaking and walked towards Xiao Luo.

Xiao Luo freaked and wanted to step backwards to avoid her advance yet his feet were stuck to the spot. He could not bring himself to move even though he tried his best. It was as if his feet had been filled with lead and implanted in quicksand.

"Your life is mine. Your fate is in my hands. So why bother trying to escape? I can kill you whenever I want if I will so."

The voice that declared ownership over Xiao Luo's voice seemed so indifferent that it felt as if Xiao Luo's resistance was futile to the extreme and did not bother her at all.

The woman in the black attire had been the constant part of his darkest nightmares yet he was facing her head on since it was his responsibility to find out the details of the crisis that was about to descend on his sect. It was the least he could do for the sect that had nurtured him.