by Fang Xiang
What kind of monster was this?
These two were both xiuzhe that had comprehended “essence.” Their blows had been thrown with all their power, but they hadn’t even left a mark behind. The duo’s hearts sank. This big guy’s strength was far beyond their predictions!
A black red light erupted from the open mouth of the fiend soul beast.
It frightened the two into using all of their power to dodge to the sides.
Boom!
The red and black light lit up behind them. They were not able to react as they thrown backwards, and tossed through the air like blades of grass.
Pia pia, the instant the two landed on the ground, they were barely able to stabilize themselves. Their legs sunk into the dirt from the force, they were left in a sorry state. They could not dwell on the shock they were feeling. Turning around, the fiendish mist behind them had been swept clean away. Black smoke rose from a twenty zhang wide burnt black pit that stretched out behind them.
This, this was a monster!
The duo’s faces were ashen white.
———
Ma Fan moved like a ghost in the fiendish mist as he searched for fiend soul beasts. His entire body was covered in faint sword essence. Ever since he had comprehended sword essence manifestation his strength had leapt forward, but this also made his status slightly awkward, and this was even more evident when Zong Ru had stepped into jindan.
Compared to his normal fellows, he was much stronger, but he was a step behind the strongest group. After Wei Sheng came, and Zong Ru’s core formation, the stage of jindan had become the sign of being in the first group. It seemed as though he was only one step away from the stage of jindan, but this step was not so easily crossed.
If it wasn’t for Wei Sheng teaching the principles of the sword , he wouldn’t have dared to hope he could break through to jindan.
Zong Ru’s core formation was enormously influential on the entire group. Xie Shan’s core formation had been expected due to this many years of cultivation. Teacher Wei’s core formation was to be expected due to his talent. Only Zong Ru’s core formation was motivational to everyone. In the camp, Zong Ru was not the best in strength or the most talented. The fact that he could become jindan made it that core formation no longer seemed so out of reach in everyone else’s eyes.
For Ma Fan, other than motivation, this was also a kind of pressure.
He suddenly raised his head, his expression was grave.
Such a powerful presence!
There was a situation!
He suddenly changed directions and accelerated to fly towards the energy ripple. There were no other people in this fiendish mist other than their group. As he flew, he muttered inside. Who had such misfortune to encounter a big guy?
Ma Fan’s movement skill was not low, and after comprehending sword essence which was merged into his movement method, there were few in the camp that could rival him in speed. When he put focused on speed, he was like lightning. If one looked down from high up, they would see that Ma Fan was cutting through the mist like a sharp knife. Behind him, the two waves of air were like the lines of water when a ship travelled through and was extremely pretty.
That burst of shocking presence quickly became clearer and Ma Fan’s expression became increasingly serious.
Boom boom boom!
Sounds of explosions continuously echoed from ahead. With each sound, Ma Fan’s heart would jump.
At just this moment, his pupils suddenly shrank.
It was Lei Peng and Nian Lu!
The three were teammates from Sky Peak Platoon. Ma Fan was very familiar with the presences of these two, and instantly recognized them. The duo’s appearances were messy and panicked which made it evident that the situation was very dangerous. Ma Fan snorted coldly, and his speed increased again!
When he flew closer and saw Lei Peng and Nian Lu’s sorry state’s, fury rose in his eyes.
With a long howl, his body suddenly shot up in the air. The sword essence vibrated from his body and continuously increased. When he reached his peak, his sword essence had accumulated to an extreme and was blinding!
The fiend soul beast raised its head and shot a fiendish mist bullet towards Ma Fan in the air.
Ma Fan could clearly sense the danger from the black red light. If this was any other situation, he would definitely dodge and wait for a chance to strike. But at this time, his ling power and sword essence were surging without being held back. He seemed to be inside a burning fire cauldron. Every muscle felt as though it was being sliced by a thousand knives. He knew those were fine sword essences. His sword essence might have reached the stage of manifestation, but he still need a considerable amount of practice to control them at will.
He had seen Teacher Wei practice the sword. The sword essence was concentrated without a single thread going astray. That was the stage he dreamed about!
He tried to control the sword essence around his body and concentrated them inside his flying sword.
His blood vessels expanded and were on the verge of rupturing. The countless fine sword essences were like knives, but Ma Fan ignored all of this. All of his attention was focused on the merging of ling power and sword essence. Teacher Wei had said only when ling power and sword essences came together would they have the greatest power. With ling power and no sword essence, it only had the appearance. With sword essence but no ling power, there was blood but no flesh.
All the sword essence and ling power in his body furiously flew towards the sword.
The sword hummed lightly, and released a dazzling blue light. This layer of blinding light also covered Ma Fan.
The blue light was like a drop of ink that had splattered onto a white piece of paper. It spread outwards at astounding speeds. In the blink of an eye, the area ten zhang around Ma Fan was as blue as the sky.
The black red light finally reached him.
The sword energies that were as blue as the sky tore apart the fiendish mist. In a patch of red black fiendish mist, it was peerlessly dazzling.
Pew!
The sword energy sliced across the fiendish mist bullet without any resistance like a hot knife through butter and entered the forehead of the fiendish soul beast.
Pew!
Black liquid flew and turned to a ball of mist in the air before disappearing.
The fiend soul beast wailed in pain. For the first time, its icy cold eyes showed a ripple of emotion. It seemed unable to believe it had been injured! The ripples quickly turned to anger. The ant like prey in front of it had actually wounded it!
The fiendish mist in the surroundings seemed to have felt an invisible magnetism and furiously flooded towards it.
———
“This guy, he is this strong now?” Lei Peng was gaping as he stared.
“Handsome! Too handsome!” Nian Lu’s face was shocked.
They both recognized Ma Fan’s sword scripture. Fifth-grade [Clear Sky Sword Scripture], it had been a spoil of victory after Daren killed Clear Sky Old Forefather. There were many in Vermillion Bird Camp that cultivated this sword scripture, since it was a fifth-grade sword scripture and was very attractive.
However, Ma Fan was the first to cultivate [Clear Sky Sword Scripture] to this level!
He really was too strong!
With one move, Ma Fan was able to wound the fiend soul beast that they could do nothing to!
However, when they saw Ma Fan panting in the air, they realized that this move was at a great cost to Ma Fan.
“How are you?” Lei Peng turned to ask Nian Lu. Battle spirit roiled in his eyes.
“I won’t die!” Nian Lu looked at the sky and smiled with slight difficulty. “He is such a show-off, how can I let this guy take all the glory?”
The two rose into the sky and formed a triangle with Ma Fan. When Lei Peng and Nian Lu stood at his flanks behind him, Ma Fan’s confidence increased. Between the three, a sharp killing intent formed. The terror in their eyes decreased.
&nb
sp; “This big guy definitely has something good on his body.” Lei Peng’s eyes flashed viciously.
“Kill it!” Nian Lu said maliciously.
“Troublesome … …” Ma Fan muttered.
The three figures charged towards the fiend soul beast!
———
Wei Sheng, Xie Shan, and Zong Ru flew through the fiendish mist at high speed. They had all detected the alarming presence in the distance and knew a situation had occurred. They had hurriedly acted.
Deep in thought, Zuo Mo was ignorant of everything else.
The fire yao art that had been spinning on the tip of his finger suddenly stopped on his palm and burned silently.
Zuo Mo’s fingers slowly started to move.
As his finger movements changed, the ling power was like an undercurrent that silently wrapped around the wisp of fire.
The fire wisp shook and became extremely unstable as though it could extinguish at any moment. Pia pia pia, a string of light explosions sounded around the wisp of fire.
The finger movements gradually became faster.
The fire wisp shook more fiercely. Suddenly, it exploded.
In this instant, Zuo Mo’s eyes suddenly lit up. He seemed thoughtful.
Fire yao art, consciousness, ling power, controlling fire … …
He seemed to see a thread that connected them.
Chapter 402: The Results From Ming Jue Zi’s Investigation
Zuo Mo had received a letter from Ming Jue Zi. His expression was excited and filled with hope. It said that Ming Jue Zi had found some important clues.
There was nothing that could make Zuo Mo happier than this, nothing was more urgent. He didn’t even stop to go look for Nan Yue and Cang Ze.
Ming Jue Zi quickly appeared. He recognized Zuo Mo at a glance. “Sir Xiao Mo Ge, I am Ming Jue Zi.”
Zuo Mo felt this person was familiar but he could not remember where he had seen Ming Jue Zi before. He politely responded, “Sir Ming Jue Zi, good day.”
Ming Jue Zi did not waste words and casted a recording yao art.
“In here is everything about the Battle of Sealed Extinction,” Ming Jue Zi said. This battle is truly too ancient. There are very few records about it. I’m very sorry, this is all the information that I was able to find.”
Zuo Mo quickly scanned the contents inside the recording yao art.
The general era in which the battle of Sealed Extinction occurred was not known, but it was approximately twenty five thousand years ago. It happened at that place that was called Constant Scarlet Jie. Supposedly, because the fiercest fighting had occurred near the jie river, the jie river entrance was destroyed in the fighting, and Constant Scarlet Jie became inaccessible, and disappeared from the jie maps from then on.
Zuo Mo look hard at the ancient jie map.
This jie map was extremely primitive. Zuo Mo’s gaze landed on the several jie surrounding Constant Scarlet Jie. From these, he could generally judge the position of Constant Scarlet Jie.
Sky Fold Jie, Gentle Mountain Jie, and Dazzling Splendor Jie. These three bordered Constant Scarlet Jie.
“Do you know the general position of Constant Scarlet Jie based on the present jie maps?” Zuo Mo asked Ming Jue Zi.
“It is probably in the area of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie.” Ming Jue Zi had prepared well. “Constant Scarlet Jie disappeared a long time ago so it is hard to judge its position. But Sky Fold Jie and Dazzling Splendor Jie are presently part of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. Gentle Mountain Jie is the territory of xiuzhe and is a dangerous area. If we use these jie as references, Constant Scarlet Jie should be near the border of Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. People have gone to explore this area before, but no one has found the existence of Constant Scarlet Jie.”
These questions strengthened Ming Jue Zi’s belief that Xiao Mo Ge was searching for treasure. Otherwise, why would he research the position of Constant Scarlet Jie?
Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie
Zuo Mo was stunned. Anyone with some common knowledge would know this place. Wasn’t that the place for the Yao Hunt? From all the news reports, he knew Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie was where the heaviest fighting between xiuzhe and yaomo took place.
For Zuo Mo, this was not good news. Previously, he had decided to determine his present location, and then use transportation formations to leave the ghastly place.
But hearing that Constant Scarlet Jie was in Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie, his heart instantly cooled halfway. He had heard the general story of how Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had formed. Places like these were unsuitable for using transportation formations because the interference caused by the formation was great. When the Yao Hunt had been most fashionable in the past, the xiuzhe attempts in putting down transportation formations inside Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie had never succeeded. All of the supplies had been transported in on treasure ships.
Zuo Mo had only a basic understanding of transportation formations. Because he couldn’t predict the interference, he didn’t dare to move rashly. Any small mistake in the transportation formation was terrifying. The reason that they had been transported to that ghastly place was that someone had changed the transportation formation in Sky Water Jie.
This plan seemed to have failed. Zuo Mo quickly discarded this idea.
His attention was placed on another sentence “the bulk of the fighting was near the jie river.” This sentence caused Zuo Mo’s eyes to light up. After searching through the fiendish mist all this time, they had discovered some trends. The closer to the center of the battlefield they went, the heavier the black fiendish energy was, and the stronger the fiend soul beasts.
If it was like that … …
Zuo Mo quickly organized his thoughts and became more excited as he thought. This way, they could quickly find the past jie river of Constant Scarlet Jie. The report speculated the reason that Constant Scarlet Jie had disappeared was that the jie river from it towards other jie had broke. This had caused the appearance that Constant Scarlet Jie had disappeared.
If they could find the location of the previous jie river, and then open the jie river … …
This way, the chances they could leave would increase greatly!
Zuo Mo repeatedly looked over the information to imprint it deep into his mind. Ming Jue Zi did not hurry him and patiently waited for Zuo Mo to finish reading.
A while later, Zuo Mo raised his head in satisfaction. “This is your payment.”
Ming Jue Zi gathered his courage and said, “Sir Xiao Mo Ge, I hope to use the reward to exchange for a yao art.” He then added, “If you have it.”
Zuo Mo paused. Ming Jue Zi’s request was unexpected but he still asked, “What yao art?”
“[Water Wood Light Art]!” When Ming Jue Zi finished speaking, he looked closely at Zuo Mo. He was extremely nervous.
“[Water Wood Light Art]?” In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao paused upon hearing the name of the yao art. He abruptly said to Zuo Mo, “Ask him if he knows Ming Duan.”
“Do you know Ming Duan?” Zuo Mo asked.
Ming Jue Zi suddenly became excited. “That is my ancestor! Does Daren know Ancestor?”
In the sea of consciousness, Pu Yao was silent, and Wei sighed.
“Pu, you know?” Actually, with Pu Yao’s reactions, Zuo Mo knew that Pu Yao definitely knew Ming Duan and their relationship wasn’t just a casual one. However, he was slightly puzzled. He thought of Nan Yue, Pu Yao’s attitude back then had also been like this.
“Tell him,” Pu Yao did not reply and said, “the yao art will be given, but he must follow you.”
As expected, the conditions were just the same as Nan Yue. Zuo Mo muttered inside, but he still repeated this to Ming Jue Zi.
Ming Jue Zi unhesitatingly bowed, “This subordinate is willing to follow Daren!”
Giving the [Water Wood Light Art] to Ming Jue Zi, he hurriedly got him to leave. He was filled with curiosity, and decided to get to the bottom of the situation. He straightforwardly asked Pu Yao, “Pu,
did you know their ancestors? Why do you have their yao arts?”
After remaining silent for a while, Pu Yao finally spoke, “Their ancestors were once my subordinates.”
Zuo Mo stilled. He had thought that Pu Yao had a close connection to these clans but definitely had not thought it would be this kind of relationship.
“That year, in our final battle, we were trapped.” Pu Yao looked into the distance, his voice reminiscent. “Everyone knew we could not escape. In order to make sure our lines of succession were not broken, we exchanged our yao arts amongst ourselves, said swore that whoever managed to survive was to pass on these yao arts to their descendants.”
Zuo Mo was silent. A moment later, he asked, “Then why do you require them to follow me? Just give it to them.”
“I had not thought that their clans would have declined so far.” Pu Yao twisted his mouth. “Even if I give the yao arts to them, their clans might not be able to survive on their own. Getting them to follow you is for their benefit. Your other skills might be average, but your ability to survive is top notch. If they follow you, they can at least survive.”
Zuo Mo’s face instantly collapsed. “Why push your past debts onto me?”
“You are my student, who do I push them on to if not you?” Pu Yao’s tone was righteous. He then smiled smugly, “It is fortunate that you are not inheriting from Wei. Tsk tsk, otherwise, you would really know what trouble is!”
Wei said with slight helplessness, “Don’t draw me into your matters.” Finishing, he couldn’t help but argue, “All of the gravestone armors stand by their belief and oath, this is glory and strength.”
Zuo Mo and Pu Yao rolled their eyes at the same time. They didn’t like Wei’s conduct at all.
Zuo Mo thought of another matter. He asked Pu Yao, “Then where did you get those xiuzhe spells?”
“Spoils of victory!” Pu Yao had a proud expression. “The xiuzhe that died on my hands aren’t normal ones. These spells are my collection. Aren’t they good?”
Zuo Mo’s eyes lit up. “How many? Give them all to me!”
“Why give them to you?” Pu Yao rolled his eyes.