by <unknown>
The skulls were in fact made of metal and crystal. They were as vivid as natural. Green, ghostly fire was burning inside the hollow eyes and mouth. When they reached the Ghost Qin Knights, they exploded into thousands of skeletons of fire, blocking the riders from their general in a wall.
Sensing the eccentric demonic energy contained inside the fiery wall, although the Ghost Qin Knights intended to jump over it, the Dragon Wolves below them were all shrieking and howling before they collapsed to the ground, foaming and shivering, utterly intimidated.
When the Ghost Qin Knights who fell to the ground stood on their feet again, they saw the most unbelievable picture through the skeletons of ghostly fire!
Han Yuantai—the invincible Lord of Behemothic Eagle in their mind, a great expert in the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage, and a prominent man who had dominated the Dark Cloud Prairies for decades—had been bound by an enormous shackle that looked like the bones of a vulture.
The vulture's two wings pierced deeply into his ribs, and his shoulder blades were grabbed by the vulture's claws. Its narrow, long neck that was full of sharp teeth entangled Han Yuantai's neck!
Han Yuantai was bound to the bizarre-looking shackle and unable to move at all. His countenance could not have been weirder!
The green-robed freak opened his hand and grabbed Han Yuantai by his head like a falcon grabbing a chicken. There was not the slightest emotion in his deep, dark eyes while he glanced at the Ghost Qin Knights casually.
Within a breath, everything had been settled. One of the two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators was as dead as anyone could ever be. The other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was alive, but he might be better off dead!
At this moment, all the barbarian Cultivators nearby finally realized what had happened and what was going on. They all kneeled to the ground. There was no telling who started it, but everybody was crying at the top of their voice!
"Master Spiritual Vulture!"
"Elder Spiritual Vulture!"
"Everybody in Wolf Tail Village of the Silver Wolf Mountain welcomes Master Spiritual Vulture's return!"
"Elder, elder. We—we've been looking forward to today for sixty years. You have finally come back!"
Chapter 1365: Unfreeable Nightmare |
"Congratulations, Elder. You have finally perfected your techniques and become the real dominator of the Southland of Sorcerers!"
"Elder Spiritual Vulture, you are truly invincible in the world. Everybody in the Silver Wolf Mountain is at your service!"
"Elder! Elder! Elder!"
"Ah!"
Ling Lanyin suddenly woke up from a bizarre nightmare and moaned, only to discover that the adulations that she heard in her dream were actually happening in the town of the Fire Rude Clan!
She was shuddering coldly as if she had fallen into an icy cave. The golden core inside her abdomen was shaking like a candle in the blowing wind. She breathed for a long time before it occurred to her that she was not in Huo Wujiu's messy camp but in the Fire Rude Clan's town.
She was safe for now.
But she did not know how long her safety could last.
For Ling Lanyin, everything that had happened in that short day was as long as a nightmare that she could not wake up or free herself from.
Just two days earlier, she had been a center of public attention, a rarely-seen prodigy in training, and an orchid angel that everybody adored.
She had been born and raised in the Ling family, a noble family in the Great Qian Dynasty. Although she was a female, she had never been neglected by her family because she had revealed her talent for training very young. Instead, she had been given even more resources than the males of her family were.
She had lived up to her family's expectations, too. At the age of twelve, she had already distinguished herself and gotten officially recruited by the Purple Pole Sword Sect, her family's reliance. Ever since then, her path of Cultivation had been smooth and unstoppable. After several decades, she had grown into one of the youngest Cultivators at the peak of the Core Formation Stage in the Purple Pole Sword Sect and even in the entire Great Qian Dynasty!
Ling Lanyin had always been confident in herself. She believed that nothing in this world could not be resolved by her orchid sword.
Although it was her first field mission off the mountain, she had not thought too much of it because her targets were merely a bunch of ignorant barbarians.
Moreover, she was just a support; her senior brother 'Thunderous Straight Swordsman' Lou Chongxiao was the man to make the calls. What was there to be worried about?
It had never occurred to her that…
Everything changed after only one day. Her senior brother as well as the elite swordsmen in her sect had been beheaded. Master Black Moon, who had always been a close friend to the Cultivators from central plateaus, had defected. The enemy had sent out such an important person as Han Yuantai, the Lord of Behemothic Eagle. To make matters worse, at the life and death moment, a creepy, wicked Master Spiritual Vulture jumped out of nowhere!
What—what was happening?
Ling Lanyin had completely lost her cool.
It was not until then that she realized how weak and vulnerable she actually was despite her indifference and condescension on the surface.
"Lanyin!"
Right then, Ling Shoujing, her father and the Appeasing Ambassador of the Fifth Prefecture of the Southland of Sorcerers, heard the sound and walked in after knocking on the door.
Ling Lanyin had been training in the Purple Pole Sword Sect for decades and hardly went back home. She and her father were rather emotionally distant.
Also, after she advanced into the peak of the Core Formation Stage, under everybody's adulation, she had slowly changed her attitude and begun to respect her father, who was only in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, less. She had believed that she was the true pillar of the Ling family.
When they were on their way south, her father had been quite courteous and respectful due to her identity as a Cultivator in the peak of the Core Formation Stage, too, which added to her arrogance.
But at this moment, with everything being more chaotic than ever, Ling Shoujing, a Class-Two official of the court, showed his calmness and wisdom.
While Ling Lanyin was still panicking, he had recovered from confusion quickly and started studying the new situation, hoping to save the lost cause!
Ling Lanyin hurried to greet her father and ask, "Father, what's the situation outside?"
They were now under house custody in the Fire Rude Clan's town. No one was to leave the town without Master Spiritual Vulture's permission.
Although the barbarian guards outside of the house could not stop them, the father and the daughter did not dare act recklessly when they thought of Master Spiritual Vulture's cruel methods at the bloodstained dawn.
"Right now, we cannot tell who's friend and who's foe. Everything is still ambiguous. I have asked Yuan Wu to officially meet Master Spiritual Vulture and see what he plans to do. Yuan Wu has always been the smartest one of them all. He should be reporting to us soon. There's no need to fret, my child!"
Ling Shoujing waved his hands and drank from the pot of cold tea on the table. It was obvious that the Class-Two official of the court was not as calm as he appeared to be.
"What he plans to do…"
Ling Lanyin was still at a loss. Thinking for a moment, she asked in self-comfort, "But Master Spiritual Vulture killed Master Black Moon brutally and beat Han Yuantai up the moment that he appeared in the morning. It should be a sign that he's on the court's side, shouldn't it?"
Ling Shoujing was amused. Pondering for a moment, he explained, "You didn't know his backstory. So, it's understandable that you made such a conclusion. Master Spiritual Vulture was a person of the older generation who was active almost eighty years ago. He also spent most of his time in the Southland of Sorcerers and never went to the central plateaus. Therefore, it is perfectly normal that yo
u young folk never heard the stories of his ruthless past."
Ling Shoujing sighed and described Master Spiritual Vulture's past doings to his daughter.
The female Cultivator was gasping nonstop the whole time.
"Master Spiritual Vulture and Master Black Moon hate each other's guts. It is said that Master Black Moon found an opportunity to kill Master Spiritual Vulture because he wanted his junior brother's share of their master Elder Five Despairs' heritage!"
With a bitter smile, Ling Shoujing said, "But it appears now that Master Spiritual Vulture wasn't really killed. He might've gone through other fortuitous incidents. All in all, he trained himself in seclusion for decades and finally grasped marvelous arts recently. So, he came back to Master Black Moon for revenge!
"He was hiding inside our army. He even held back the pain when the trap was activated while he was waiting for the chance to finish his senior brother Master Black Moon in one attack!
"Although the brutal man did kill Master Black Moon, it was purely for a personal grudge. He is not necessarily on the Great Qian Dynasty's side!
"If he had killed Han Yuantai, his stance would have been very clear, but Han Yuantai was merely wounded and captured. So, there's still a lot of suspense!"
"A brutal barbarian from almost a hundred years ago!" Ling Lanyin found it hard to believe. "Then, how come he looks so young?"
"There are many evil spells and arts in the Southland of Sorcerers," Ling Shoujing said. "A lot of uncanny things may have happened during his decades of seclusion. It is also possible that he has possessed someone's body or even built a new body from scratch on his own!
"The brutal man was a rarely-seen expert at the peak of the Core Formation Stage in the Southland of Sorcerers seventy years ago. After decades of seclusion, he must've grasped certain amazing arts that allowed him to advance into the middle level or even high level of the Nascent Soul Stage. He is one of the top experts in the world right now!
"Don't underestimate him because of his appearance, my child. He is definitely one of the most brutal men in the world!"
Ling Lanyin quickly nodded.
If anybody dared underestimate him after witnessing the brutal man's performance at dawn, they have felt that they had lived long enough!
"Well—" Ling Lanyin pondered for a moment and asked another question. "Father, which side do you think this Master Spiritual Vulture, who has just broken out of his decades of seclusion after grasping marvelous arts, will take? Great Qian or Ghost Qin?"
Ling Lanyin was quite worried.
She felt that the brutal man's cruelty was quite similar to the viciousness of the Ghost Qin people propagated in her sect. They could easily become conspirators.
"It's hard to say. Very hard!" Ling Shoujing shook his head with that still bitter smile. "He is a man of the older generation who has been gone for decades after all. He hardly visited the central plateaus, too. We know little about Master Spiritual Vulture's personality and habits.
"Moreover, the man is cruel, petty, wicked, and utterly unpredictable. He does everything just because he wants to. He is an out-and-out maniac!
"The man is ten times more difficult to predict than Master Black Moon. Nobody knows which side he will take for what reason. Or maybe, he will take neither side and simply act on his own to please himself!
"However, my child, for the Great Qian Dynasty, for the Ling family, and for the Purple Pole Sword Sect, we must try everything we can to make the guy join us!"
"Well…"
There was obvious resistance on Ling Lanyin's pretty face.
The Purple Pole Sword Sect was a righteous sect. The ideology to serve justice and help the weak was believed in by everyone.
She was naturally resistant to brutal barbarians who bordered between eccentric and evil such as Master Spiritual Vulture.
"My child, we are in the middle of a great crisis. You must bear the big picture in mind!" Ling Shoujing sighed and said solemnly, "I know that you certainly won't see eye to eye with Master Spiritual Vulture simply because of his cruel and sordid style. In fact, do you think that I want to deal with such a barbarian?
"However, he has proved that his Cultivation is almost immeasurable by suppressing two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators instantly purely on his own. How much trouble can such an unparalleled expert cause if he chooses to join Ghost Qin's side instead of the Great Qian Dynasty?
"Moreover, his brutality was already well known in the Southland of Sorcerers decades ago, and today, he has cruelly tormented Master Black Moon, the top expert in the Southland of Sorcerers, in front of everyone, awing all the local tribes!
"It is very possible that his attitude will decide the attitude of the entire Southland of Sorcerers!
"The attitude of the Southland of Sorcerers concerns the life of the thousand people in the Ling family and the continuity of the entire Purple Pole Sword Sect. I believe that your master must've explained it to you already before you left for the mission, right?"
Conflicted, Ling Lanyin nodded rather helplessly.
"Everybody in the court was gloating and waiting for us to humiliate ourselves on our trip to the Southland of Sorcerers." Ling Shoujing sniffed and said, "However, if we not only keep the Southland of Sorcerers stabilized but also bring a great expert above the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage back with us, what will the noble sirs in the court have to say? Will they have any reason to punish the Ling family or to appropriate the Purple Pole Sword Sect?"
Chapter 1366: Man from the North! |
Ling Lanyin hesitated, with confusion beaming out of her beautiful eyes. She had obviously thought of the dark cloud looming over her family and sect and was not as unwavering as before.
Ling Shoujing coughed and said, "My child, although Master Spiritual Vulture is extreme and cruel, he has never committed any crimes in the central plateaus. As a barbarian born and raised in a far-flung area, it is perfectly understandable that he is uncivilized and practices all kinds of terrible arts.
"We are in the middle of an unprecedented change right now, and the court needs every useful hand. The Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty have more ferocious enemies to deal with, too. As long as he is willing to serve the court, I believe that the Cultivators will not pursue what he did in the past!
"If we can edify him with the rules and courtesies of the central plateaus and make him abandon evilness for righteousness, we will be making even greater contribution!"
Her heart in a mess, Ling Lanyin smiled bitterly. Her lips shivered for a long time, but she only sighed in depression in the end. "This—this—this is very different from what I imagined before I left the mountain!"
"It is indeed different!" Ling Shoujing felt that he was somewhat shameless, too, considering that he was ignoring all the crimes that the guy had committed in the past.
However, in the middle of the turbulence, even a Core Formation Stage Cultivator could only drift along with the current. One moment of carelessness, and his entire family would be annihilated. What choice did he have except to struggle no matter what?
"My child, you will understand it better later." The Appeasing Ambassador of the Fifth Prefecture of the Southland of Sorcerers whined. "Everybody says that Cultivation is more difficult than leaping into the sky, but they don't know that struggling and surviving in the world of mortals is a hundred times more difficult than Cultivation!"
While the father and the daughter were sighing and concocting their plans, the servants outside reported that his two subordinates who went to visit Master Spiritual Vulture had returned.
"Yuan Wu, what did Master Spiritual Vulture say? Did he grant an audience?"
Because of the emergency, Ling Shoujing had no time to keep us his demeanor as the Appeasing Ambassador and degraded himself by saying 'grant an audience'.
The guy named 'Yuan Wu' was a tough-looking young man who was close to the Building Foundation Stage. But right now, he was like a frosted eggplant and replied lethargi
cally, "Your lordship, I was pushed out by a bunch of barbarian Cultivators before I had chance to meet Master Spiritual Vulture. According to them, Master Spiritual Vulture had gone to talk to Han Yuantai, and he would only have time to meet us after he decided what to do with Han Yuantai!"
"What!" Ling Shoujing and Ling Lanyin both seemed to have been hit by lightning. They looked at each other, only to discover that they were both pale and sweating.
Master Spiritual Vulture indeed did not kill the Ghost Qin captives. Moreover, he was meeting the Ghost Qin people before he met the envoy from the Great Qian Dynasty.
That—that—that—
In a moment, Master Spiritual Vulture became even more mysterious and unpredictable to them.
…
At the center of the Fire Rude Clan's town, there was a great house in the popular style of the central plateaus.
The place used to be the residence of the leader of the Fire Rude Clan. The wall was high, the yard was vast, and the floor was paved with green bricks. There was also a pond in the backyard, filled with lotuses and fish and surrounded by willows and bamboos.
To maintain such an elegant and peaceful house in the Southland of Sorcerers was quite costly. It was also a sign of the Fire Rule Clan's immense wealth.
At this moment, the fine cottage naturally became the temporary residence for Master Spiritual Vulture, the new 'top expert of the southland'.
However, the guy kneeling on the ground below the willows near the pond in the backyard was not Master Spiritual Vulture but Han Yuantai, the Lord of Behemothic Eagle, whose air did not befit the delicate environment at all.
Bloody stains covered his body. Quite a few claw traces left by Master Spiritual Vulture were still lingering on his forehead. Dense scars caused by the venomous needles had marred his face. He was bruised and swollen and could not have looked more miserable.
The weird shackle on him was not taken off, either, but sank even deeper, making him unable to summon his spiritual energy at all. He was almost a cripple, and even breathing was a painful task for him.