Chapter 158: Karma Fire Red Lotus
Before the masked man could finish speaking, both of them sprang into action almost simultaneously.
Lin Huai pushed off the ground, her body darting toward the Blood Pool like a wisp of smoke. At the same time, she threw out a handful of talismans. They instantly transformed into sharp ice cones and roaring fireballs, shooting toward her opponent to block his path.
The mysterious player’s movements were incredibly fluid and strange. He dodged the barrage of magic like a slippery fish in water. With a flick of his wrist, a dark beam of light shot from his sleeve, aiming straight for Lin Huai’s back!
Lin Huai spun the Reaper’s Scythe in her hands, drawing a protective circle in the air. Amidst a flash of crackling purple lightning, a crisp metallic clang rang out. A dark, glowing dagger was violently deflected, clattering harmlessly to the rocky ground.
She stared at the fallen weapon, her eyes narrowing. This mysterious player was clearly a highly skilled fighter. If it came down to pure close-quarters combat without her usual advantages, she wasn’t entirely sure she could win.
Just as she prepared to launch another assault and fight to the death, the figure opposite her paused. After getting a clear look at her scythe, he let out a soft sigh and lowered his hands, giving up the attack.
The man reached up and pulled off his mask, revealing a very familiar face. “Little Daoist friend, it seems we truly share a deep connection. We meet again!”
“Since it is you,” he continued smoothly, “let’s split these Karma Fire Red Lotuses right down the middle. How does that sound?”
Lin Huai tightened her grip on her scythe, gritting her teeth as she called out his name. “Cloud Cliff Master! Why are you here?”
Cloud Cliff Master curled his lips into a faint smile, maintaining his profound, unfathomable aura. “I assume you are here to upgrade your coffin, right? In my previous life, when Chen Feng’s coffin needed to reach Level Seven, it required a Karma Fire Red Lotus. I was the one who guided him here.”
“Otherwise, with his limited abilities, he would have died long before he ever laid eyes on the Blood Pool.”
“You are much stronger than he ever was. You even arrived here faster than I did. It seems that abandoning Chen Feng and choosing you as a partner was the correct decision after all.”
Lin Huai let out a cold snort. “I haven’t agreed to cooperate with you yet. Don’t be so presumptuous.”
Cloud Cliff Master looked incredibly confident. “You will agree. Very soon, you will realize that you need me—you need us. Otherwise, you will never reach the end of the road.”
Whether his words were true or false, Lin Huai did not intend to kill him right now. After all, Cloud Cliff Master knew too many valuable secrets about this survival game.
However, Lin Huai was not someone who would let herself be led by the nose. She withdrew her offensive stance and calmly put her long scythe away.
She chuckled softly, speaking in a deliberately ambiguous tone. “Daoist Master Yun, do you know if there is a way to cross dimensional boundaries, overcome all physical obstacles, and kill a person without ever needing to get close to them?”
Cloud Cliff Master frowned. He clearly didn’t quite believe her, or at least found it highly unlikely. “Does such a method actually exist?”
But his sharp mind quickly caught the underlying clue. “Is it an NPC? That Bone-Picking Child I saw last time? How do you summon him to do it?”
Lin Huai smiled faintly. “I won’t tell you that. You just need to know that I have mastered this method, and that is enough. So, if you ever lie to me, I can kill you at any given moment!”
After all, Cloud Cliff Master was standing right in front of her. Floating clearly above his head, his true name—Ye Shaoyuan—was perfectly visible to Lin Huai’s eyes.
Because of this, she looked at him with absolute composure and confidence. There was not the slightest hint of a bluff in her eyes, which forced Cloud Cliff Master to take her threat seriously.
A flash of jealousy crossed his face. “What kind of monstrous luck do you have to stumble upon all these treasures?”
Lin Huai simply spread her hands. “Who knows? Maybe the King of Hell just likes me a little more.”
Cloud Cliff Master stopped bickering. He turned his attention back, staring intently at the bubbling Blood Pool before them. “You should first figure out how you plan to enter the Sea of Blood.”
With that, he pulled out a yellow paper talisman and slapped it onto his own chest. Instantly, his feet left the ground, and he floated lightly into the air.
Lin Huai narrowed her eyes. A Flying Talisman. That was a high-level magical item.
It made sense. By choosing not to compete for the vehicle upgrade milestones, Cloud Cliff Master and his group had prioritized upgrading their crafting stations and skill cards, giving them access to advanced tools like this.
Lin Huai didn’t have a Flying Talisman, but she had a powerful magic treasure of her own.
She summoned the Blood Jade Coffin from her spatial bracelet. The massive, heavy artifact landed with a solid thud right at her feet.
Lin Huai leaped lightly onto the lid and crouched down, gently patting the smooth jade surface. “Blood Jade Coffin, I’m counting on you. Rise!”
At her command, the heavy coffin slowly floated upward, hovering about a meter above the bubbling Blood Pool. Smoothly, it began drifting toward the center of the crimson lake.
The closer they got to the center, the denser the red mist became. This crimson fog clearly carried deadly toxins and potent hallucinogenic effects.
Cloud Cliff Master flew near the edge of the thickest red mist, then abruptly stopped. The invisible pressure radiating from the center of the Blood Pool was growing too intense, making it difficult for his talisman to push him forward.
However, Lin Huai’s Blood Jade Coffin was barely affected. It continued its slow, steady advance through the haze.
She quickly left Cloud Cliff Master behind. Glancing back, Lin Huai saw him hovering at the periphery of the red mist, quietly watching her progress.
Lin Huai refused to believe that someone with Cloud Cliff Master’s strength could actually be blocked by mere fog. Either he was hiding a trump card he didn’t want her to see, preferring to miss an opportunity rather than expose his secrets… or there was some terrible, hidden danger up ahead, and he was using her to test the waters!
Despite her suspicions, Lin Huai didn’t stop. She simply raised her vigilance and pressed onward.
The Blood Jade Coffin carried her forward like a lone boat breaking through crimson waves, sailing deeper into the impenetrable, suffocating red mist.
The pressure in the air grew so thick it felt like wading through liquid mercury. It weighed heavily on her shoulders, carrying a scorching heat and countless chaotic, maddening whispers that tried to bore directly into her mind.
Lin Huai held her breath and focused her concentration. Although the protective shield naturally generated by the Blood Jade Coffin was weakened in this harsh environment, it still managed to block a significant portion of the crushing pressure.
Finally, the glowing Karma Fire Red Lotuses were right beneath her feet.
Lin Huai guided the coffin to descend slightly. She drew her long scythe, preparing to hook one of the flowers.
By this time, Cloud Cliff Master had forcibly pushed his way into the red mist behind her. Though his face was a bit pale from the strain, his voice remained perfectly calm. “You won’t be able to pick a Karma Fire Red Lotus like that. If you agree to cooperate with me, I will tell you the proper method.”
Lin Huai completely ignored him. She swept her long scythe forward in a quick, precise arc, cleanly severing a lotus flower and flicking it into the air. She reached out and caught it firmly in her hand.
She raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “Didn’t I just pick—”
Before she could finish her sentence, an agonizing spike of pain pierced her mind. A massive mental attack struck deep into her brain. The sudden, overwhelming agony robbed her of her balance, forcing her to drop to her knees on the coffin lid. She teetered on the edge, nearly tumbling directly into the boiling Blood Pool.
Cloud Cliff Master wore a clear ‘I told you so’ expression. “See? I didn’t lie to you.”
But Lin Huai couldn’t hear a word he was saying. At this moment, it felt as though thousands of voices were screaming simultaneously inside her head, all spewing words dripping with pure violence.
“Kill him… kill… kill… go to hell… everyone go to hell…”
A boundless tide of evil thoughts and dark resentment surged forward, flooding violently into Lin Huai’s consciousness.
Standing at a safe distance, Cloud Cliff Master continued his explanation. “The Blood Pool exists to burn and purify heinous evil spirits. The depths of this sea are packed with trapped, malicious souls.”
