Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 856.17: The Bridge of Fire and Poison
Previously on Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?...
The group slipped out through the back door of the main hall, reaching the iron-chain bridge that connected to the second floating peak.
Whereas the abyss under the first bridge had been a lifeless, hushed chaos, this spot turned into a roiling hell.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
No longer was there emptiness below the iron-chain bridge, but instead surging dark-red magma.
Such magma wasn't plain fire; it bore a ghostly purplish-red shade.
Without warning, gigantic fiery geysers would blast upward sporadically, lancing toward the heavens, superheating the iron chains to a cherry-red incandescence amid crackling sizzles.
Searing heat blasts battered over them, the air itself warping and rippling from the ferocious temperatures.
"This... this is too dangerous, isn't it?" Wang Shouyi stared at the glowing red chains and gulped hard. "If you fall down there, wouldn't you just turn to ash instantly?"
"More than just falling down."Zhang Yibai's face grew solemn. "This earth fire contains an extremely potent fire poison. If you get even a speck of it on you, I'm afraid even a Nascent Soul would be burned through."
"Hmph, ignorant fools making a fuss over nothing."
Tu Fu Xing pressed on impatiently from the back. "It's just earth lung fire, isn't it? Mortals are as timid as mice."
Right now, a surge of fury churned in his gut.
He'd been shamed by the bronze statues earlier and harvested nothing from the main hall. The mortals' lingering hesitation now only ignited his wrath more.
To reclaim a bit of the Immortals' honor and daunt Chen Huaian and company, Tu Fu Xing issued a frosty chuckle and stepped forth boldly.
"Step aside! Let This Venerable One show you what true immortal methods are!"
He brushed Gu Changsheng away, strode to the cliff's brink, and with some scorn stretched a hand into the vacant space near the bridge.
In his eyes, earth fire at this level merely looked fearsome.
Possessing a True Spirit immortal body refined a thousand times over, a direct plunge into it would feel no worse than a cozy dip.
"Immortal, this magma doesn't look right, I fear..." Chen Huaian coughed softly, intentionally needling him.
"Silence! When This Venerable One acts, who are you to..."
Tu Fu Xing's words got severed.
BOOM!!!
The purplish-red magma below, till then flowing steadily, abruptly exploded in rage.
A finger-thin fiery tendril rocketed from the chasm like a striking venomous serpent, whipping out to graze Tu Fu Xing's outstretched arm at once.
Just a single graze.
No burning phase occurred.
"AAAHHHHH—!!!"
A deafening scream of excruciating torment blasted everyone's eardrums.
Tu Fu Xing yanked back as if shocked by lightning, staggering rearward, crashing down, and convulsing in agony.
All watched in terror: Tu Fu Xing's left arm was gone!
Erased entirely!
As if a candle thrust into blazing inferno, his full arm—flesh and bones alike—melted forthwith into a stinking pool of golden-yellow pus, eating into the white jade floor with hissing corrosion.
Furthermore, the gash refused to mend; rather, purplish-red fire poison burrowed swiftly through his meridians, encroaching on his innards.
Torment drove this True Immortal to roll across the ground, tears and snot pouring down his face.
Any vestige of Immortal poise had vanished utterly.
"What... what kind of fire is this?!"
Bi Yue Wu yelled in dismay. He yanked out a fistful of immortal pills, jammed them into Tu Fu Xing's maw, then unleashed spells to scarcely curb the fire poison's advance.
Yet that limb of Tu Fu Xing's True Spirit stood forever destroyed.
Silence descended on the scene, disturbed solely by Tu Fu Xing's heaving breaths.
At this sight, icy sweat beaded instantly on Zhang Yibai and the rest.
Even an Immortal's True Spirit body unable to endure one brush and dissolving on contact—what hope for their mortal sinews and blood? Utter annihilation without residue!
What manner of iron-chain bridge was this?
This was unmistakably the Naihe Bridge plunging direct to the Yellow Springs!
"What are you standing around for?!"
Bi Yue Wu shot murderous glares at Chen Huaian and others as he aided Tu Fu Xing's treatment. "Get moving! If you delay the timing, This Venerable One will throw you all down to fill the pit!"
His charade of feigned kindness lay fully discarded now.
Terror rippled across the crowd.
Wang Shouyi's legs buckled weakly. Gu Changsheng's visage drained to ghostly pallor. Even Zhang Yibai clenched his sword hilt tighter, feet glued in place.
At that moment.
A figure emerged from the throng.
Chen Huaian.
His countenance stayed impeccably tranquil, as if Tu Fu Xing's arm-melting spectacle had never unfolded.
He advanced to the cliff edge, peered into the boiling, endless magma abyss, then scanned the red-hot iron chains.
To others' gazes, a realm of inescapable doom.
But through his eyes, those spewing fiery pillars adhered to a precise rhythm, akin to... heaven and earth's vital breath.
"Brother Chen..." Zhang Yibai stretched out to halt him.
Chen Huaian merely waved dismissively, his azure robe whipping in the searing winds.
He hoisted his foot and planted it on the glowing red iron chain.
Sizzle—!
Odor of charred soles drifted up from his soles, yet not a wrinkle creased his forehead.
Thus, hands locked behind his back, he paced leisurely—as though on a garden jaunt—step upon step toward the far side, confronting the heavens rent by poisonous fire bursts.