Chapter 262: To Go Back or Not to Go Back…

“Go!”

Song Tingyu extended her rainbow wings, pulled Qin Lie along with one hand, and rushed towards the sky.

A Horned Demon warrior with five horns that was equal to a Fulfillment Realm human martial practitioner and a Rank Four Soul Devouring Beast were definitely not entities that she and Qin Lie could deal with.

The moment she saw the Soul Devouring Beast appear, Song Tingyu realized the reason why she hadn’t managed to sense the energy of elites in this city.

A Rank Four Soul Devouring Beast could hide their soul aura and confuse the detection of the soul. It kept her from detecting the soul energy inside the city, so she was unable to sense the five horned warrior hiding within.

“Uoooooh!”

The Horned Demon warrior with five horns opened his mouth and let out a terrifying howl. That howl felt like sharp blades and iron needles that could penetrate metal and shatter stone. Its sound wave cut straight into Qin Lie and Song Tingyu’s minds.

It even seemed to tear open holes in the sky above.

“Crack!”

Qin Lie grasped his head and felt as if his skull was about to shatter. The terrifying penetrating sound wave hurt him to the point that he bled out of seven orifices.

Song Tingyu’s lithe, normally dancing body came to a sudden stop as her flying speed slowed instantly.

Pain also showed on her exquisite face. It was obvious that the sound wave caused her considerable discomfort as well.

“Ouuuuuuuuuh!”

The Soul Devouring Beast let out a howl that sounded like a distant cry from beneath the city. Gray souls burst out of the pimples that covered it.

The souls floated out into the open and swiftly formed into many vile souls and vicious ghosts. They rode the wind towards Song Tingyu and Qin Lie. Dark, cold and evil oppressive mind energy surged like waves, layer after layer, towards Song Tingyu and Qin Lie seeking to attack their minds and destroy their hearts.

Countless evil apparitions, an endless sea of blood, and mountains made of corpses and bone instantly appeared inside Qin Lie’s mind. It was like the most horrifying purgatory or deathly abyss of the nine hells. It corroded his soul and invaded the Soul Lake in his mind.

Qin Lie, who had reached the early stage of the Manifestation Realm had only recently formed his Soul Lake. At this moment, it was as if his Soul Lake had been tainted with an endless amount of rotting corpses and wicked ghosts.

“Qin Lie!” Song Tingyu cried out. Her voice was like a sharp sword beam that stabbed into the mind.

Qin Lie’s entire body shuddered, barely managing to gather his mind consciousness and withdraw into the Soul Suppressing Orb.

The fear, worry, and terror in his soul finally drew the Soul Suppressing Orb’s attention. A ray of purifying light capable of smothering all evil shone from the center of his forehead.

Under the light’s illumination, all evil, negative emotions, and illusions were swiftly scattered and obliterated like smoke.

His originally tarnished Soul Lake became clean and translucent once more.

Qin Lie’s eyes became clear again. He turned his head to look back, lightning flashing in his eyes and the rumble of thunder in his body.

Bolts of dark blue lightning swam around him like wildly dancing electric serpents. The deep rumbling of thunder ran continuously throughout his body.

All of the negative emotions and intent invading thoughts from the Soul Devouring Beast were instantly reduced to smoke by bolts of lightning the moment they came near him.

Even Song Tingyu was no longer influenced by the Soul Devouring Beast’s soul attack because of his Heavenly Thunder Eradication.

Thunder and lightning were the bane of all things evil. Even if Qin Lie was only in the Manifestation Realm, the moment he activated all of his thunder and lightning energy, he would still be able to nullify all of the Soul Devouring Beast’s soul attack.

“Blast the ground below us with the Terminator Profound Bombs!” Song Tingyu exclaimed softly while gritting her teeth as a trace of blood trickled from the corner of her lips.

Qin Lie looked at the Soul Devouring Beast running towards them like a living mountain, looked at the Horned Demon warrior on top of its body lifting a gigantic club with an odd grin, looked at the certainty of success leaking out of his eyes…

Three Terminator Profound Bombs flew out from his palm and, like three bolts of lightning, arced towards the Soul Devouring Beasts chasing them.

“Explode!” Qin Lie’s thoughts flashed as lightning shot from his eyes.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Three earthshaking rumbles came from the city below. The many large houses instantly collapsed. The wood splinters and bone dust formed a thick cloud that covered the entire area in dark gray smoke.

“Aoooh!”

For a moment, they couldn’t see the Soul Devouring Beast or the Horned Demon warrior with five horns, but they could hear an angry roar. Suddenly, the blood stained body of the Soul Devouring Beast appeared amidst the roar from the wreckage.

The Soul Devouring Beast actually managed to survive the three Terminator Profound Bombs despite the massive amounts it bled. In fact, its carnal instincts awoke as it worked itself into a frenzy.

The Horned Demon warrior with five horns still stood atop it, covered in dust and bone fragments. He looked slightly disheveled but was otherwise unhurt.

“My Terminator Profound Bomb can only kill a Netherpassage Realm expert at best and it also must be detonated at close range. The Rank Four Soul Devouring Beast is even scarier than a normal Netherpassage Realm expert and it’s a nether beast. Its physical strength far exceeds that of a human, so it may be a little difficult to kill the Soul Devouring Beast with the Terminator Profound Bombs. It will be even more impossible to kill the Horned Demon warrior with the Terminator Profound Bombs. Its explosive power is limited and not invincible. There is almost no hope of success to destroy these two with the Terminator Profound Bomb.”

He had just finished speaking when he noticed that Song Tingyu had tossed him towards the woods outside the city.

Just when he thought that Song Tingyu was going to sacrifice him and use her rainbow wings to escape alone, he realized that Song Tingyu had stopped in midair.

“Boom!”

Qin Lie’s body fell into the forest. The tall trees and bushes slithered towards him as if they smelled a vicious beast covered in blood.

He destroyed the woods around him with thunder and lifted his head. He realized that Song Tingyu’s entire body shined with rainbow light and rose high up into the air. Her beautiful face unleashed a blinding light.

A translucent ball shimmering with divine rainbow light appeared in her palm. Only the size of a fist, the ball held countless holes in it.

At this moment, however, every one of the small holes were shining with prismatic light. Every shocking ray of unimaginable energy contained a tremendous, divine might.

Song Tingyu gripped the round rainbow ball tightly as strings of multicolored light came out of her thin, long fingers. The light flying out of the ball slowly spread like vines, stretching to her arms, shoulders, upper body, thin waist, beautiful thighs, and ankles…

Waves of astonishing divine might emanated from her entire body in the form of cascading rainbow light. At this moment, it was as if Song Tingyu had broken through the barrier of the Fulfillment Realm. Her aura and power rose dramatically.

Qin Lie was incredibly shocked by the energy emanating from her body. It proved to him that her true strength was incredibly terrifying.

“Qin Lie! You go first! Escape in the direction we discussed earlier!” Song Tingyu glared at the Soul Devouring Beast and the Horned Demon warrior with five horns. Yet her words were directed at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie looked at the shining Song Tingyu who resembled a rainbow goddess. His expression was heavy and he still hesitated within his heart.

“Go!” Song Tingyu exclaimed softly.

Qin Lie nodded and rushed in the direction of Nether Battlefield as fast as he could.

He knew that he would only be a burden if he stayed. At this level of combat, the effect he could have was miniscule—he would only weigh Song Tingyu down.

Therefore, he quietly retreated.

His expression was incredibly dark and he felt unspeakably frustrated on the inside. For the first time, he was furious with the inadequacy of his realm.

“I do not have enough power! My Realm isn’t enough! I didn’t even have the power to participate in this battle!” Qin Lie gritted his teeth in silence and his expression grew savage. His pupils were filled with deep frustration and anger.

As he ran in the distance, he looked back repeatedly to watch Song Tingyu in the skies.

He could see that Song Tingyu was already locked in combat against the five horned warrior and the Soul Devouring Beast. Even this far away he could hear the sounds of energy clashing, see the radiant rainbow behind him, and feel a shocking amount of intense energy.

He retreated while continuously looking back.

He realized that the rainbow light in the distance was growing thinner. He could feel the energy waves that belonged to Song Tingyu grow weaker and weaker…

“This is the Nether Realm!” Qin Lie let out a low roar.

In the Nether Realm, it would be incredibly difficult for Song Tingyu to recover spirit energy. She also had to protect her entire body with spirit energy to prevent nether demonic energy from invading.

In this place, there was no way she could unleash one hundred percent of her power. She would be restrained by the environment in many ways.

The Horned Demon elite had no such limitations whatsoever and was able to unleash the full extent of his strength.

Watching Song Tingyu’s rainbow light growing weaker and weaker, sensing the life energy behind him swiftly weaken, Qin Lie’s retreating footsteps grew heavier and heavier as if they had been filled with lead.

He suddenly came to a stop.

He turned around and looked at the light flicker, sometimes bright and sometimes weak, and asked himself repeatedly, “To go back, or not to go back…”

He did not know if Song Tingyu could escape.

From his current point of view, the rainbow light that belonged to Song Tingyu was growing weaker. He felt that Song Tingyu would most likely not survive this.

If he went back, he might not necessarily be able to help her. There was even an incredibly high chance that he would be killed trying to do so.

If he didn’t go back, he might be able to temporarily avoid a crisis, but he had to ask himself… Could he live with himself if he left her like this?

In the future, if he managed to survive, would the cowardly choice he made today would become his inner demon and torture him for the rest of his life?

Qin Lie sucked in a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Logic and emotion were waging a great war within him.

Suddenly, the scene from earlier appeared in his mind—the giant structure imprisoning those female slaves. These slaves were trapped in bone cages. Their minds were lost and their eyes were only filled with lust. They were wearing collars and they lifted their butts like dogs…

These female slaves were kept alive by the Horned Demon warrior with five horns. This Horned Demon clansman had looked at Song Tingyu with unconcealed lust.

Qin Lie shuddered.

“If I die, then so be it!” He gritting his teeth, then let out an angry roar and turned back,rushing with all his strength in the direction he had escaped from earlier.

He took out all five remaining Terminator Profound Bombs. Gripping them tightly with both hands, he locked his gaze in the direction of the city with a terrible ferocity flooding from deep within his eyes.