This all happened smoothly without a problem. The treasures were swept up by the lights without any resistance and flew back to their respective owners.
When Marquis Nanlong took the alms bowl into his hand, he couldn’t help but reveal an expression of joy. As for Lu Weiying, he didn’t express the slight emotion upon acquiring his treasures.
As Marquis Nanlong looked at the flawless alms bowl in his hand, his smile faded away. With a quick flip of his hand, he slapped the alms bowl in a blur, placing a yellow talisman on top of it.
Lu Weiying’s expression vastly changed at the sight of this. In his alarm, he asked, “Marquis Nanlong, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing? You think I didn’t see that the treasures and jade talismans were being used to suppress this alms bowl? Although I don’t know what it is, I know that it is a supreme ancient treasure. Whatever it is that lies within should also be quite fearsome. However, if you think that I’ll be opening this alms bowl in front of you, I fear you will be disappointed. Unless I am completely certain of suppressing it, I will not be opening it.” As Marquis Nanlong spoke, his hand continued to slap down on the alms bowl, placing five various-colored talismans down in a single breath.
Lu Weiying soon regained his composure and said, “Hehe! I didn’t think that you’d misunderstand my concession to your terms. I don’t know why, but I feel we should immediately depart as soon as the medicines are divided. I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.”
Marquis Nanlong snorted in derision and said, “Then let’s do as you says. We’ll evenly split the medicines which will extend our lifespans. As for the remaining medicines, we’ll pick them one by one.” With one hand holding the alms bowl, he reached out towards the table with his other. In that instant, a foot-large hand of golden light appeared on the table and grabbed at the Heaven Essence Fruit.
Lu Weiying’s expression turned sullen. Without giving a reply, a hand of white light appeared above the table and grabbed at the purple Heavenmend Mushroom on the side.
With a muffled sound, both the Heaven Essence Fruits and the Heavenmend Mushroom disappeared from the table and the two hands of light grabbed nothing. Then the table brilliantly shined with light and all the spirit medicines bubbled away without a trace.
Interrupted by this, Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying were dumbstruck.
At that moment, the alms bowl that Marquis Nanlong held in his hand began to wildly flash with light and the talismans sealing it began to combust. The talismans were instantly turned to ashes by pitch-black demonic flames.
The flames spread across the spirit medicines like wildfire. In Marquis Nanlong’s furious alarm, he looked down at the alms bowl in his hand and his face turned deathly pale. Without another thought, golden light shined from his hand and a worn golden talisman appeared on his finger as he fiercely slapped it onto the alms bowl.
But it was clear to see that it was too late. The lid of the alms bowl shot up into the air with an explosive bang and an indistinct black light was quickly released from it, shooting towards the holder of the alms bowl — Marquis Nanlong.
At such a close distance, he wasn’t able to avoid it. With his other hand still several inches away from placing the golden talisman on the alms bowl, the black light sunk into his face and disappeared without a trace.
“AH!” A miserable and pained scream left Marquis Nanlong’s mouth and he fiercely smashed the alms bowl into the wall beside him before kneeling onto the floor with his hands covering his head. As for the golden talisman, it had already dropped to the floor. Soon, his face began to warp.
‘Possession?’ When Lu Weiying saw this, his face turned pale from fright. Without another thought, he pointed to Marquis Nanlong and two blue halberds shot out from his body to fiercely strike at Marquis Nanlong without mercy.
But in the following moment, Marquis Nanlong roared and raised his head to reveal a face covered in a dense layer of black Qi. His eyes had become silver-white and they glared at the incoming blue halberds without emotion.
Just as the blue halberds arrived before him, Marquis Nanlong suddenly raised his arm. Clang. Clang. The two halberds were quickly blocked by his arm, the sound of metal striking metal resonating from the impact. The blow had scattered the robes to reveal his bare skin underneath.
When Lu Weiying saw this, his eyes were wide with shock.
The arm was glowing with black light and covered in purple-red tendons and his hand became entirely hard and was tangled with black Qi. This grotesque, monstrous arm was currently blocking the two blue halberds without the slightest injury.
‘Inconceivable.’ Lu Weiying’s heart dropped. Despite Marquis Nanlong’s mid Nascent Soul-stage spiritual sense, he had been possessed in an instant, causing his body to undergo a complete transformation. ‘That black light was no ordinary evil soul.’
With that thought, Lu Weiying suddenly flung his sleeve and summoned a white spell flag into his hand and a fire-red scarf into the other. He tossed out the scarf as soon as it appeared, forming a red barrier of light in front of him, alleviating some of the panic that filled his mind.
To the best of his understanding, his Vast Yang Scarf should be enough to block any devilish or demonic attacks, given that he was facing an evil soul.
Marquis Nanlong’s body stood up with a stagger but didn’t immediately attack Lu Weiying. Instead, it held out its arms in front of it and carefully examined its body once through. Then with its head facing the sky, it monstrously howled in laughter, “Haha! Keke... After so many years, I’ve finally been freed. Let’s see who will block the rise of the Sacred Ancestors now? This world now belongs to our Holy Realm.”
‘Sacred Ancestor? Holy Realm?’ Despite not know what this meant, Lu Weiying felt a chill overwhelm his heart when he heard it. He silently turned to look at the hall’s entrance and recalled the spell formation he had placed outside the hall.
Suddenly, his body brilliantly shined with white light and shot towards the hall’s entrance. In that short time, he arrived at the hall’s entrance. But as soon as he rejoiced, a silhouette blurred in front of him, a huge bang appearing in its wake.
Lu Weiying felt a blow of huge strength resonate through his Vast Yang Scarf and blow him back deep into the hall. Like a rag, he crashed flat against the wall and sank a meter deep into it.
Although a barrier of light protected him, he felt a thunderous tremble shake through his back and his body became completely numb. For the time being, he had lost control of his body.
At that moment, Lu Weiying clearly saw Marquis Nanlong’s body standing at the hall’s entrance. It coldly lowered its fist and smirked at him, causing his complexion to blanch.
Chapter 833: Consuming Souls
“Not bad, not bad! Despite the fact that this devilfied body is inferior to my original body, you must be quite the cultivator to withstand that blow. I will accept you as a blood sacrifice!” A sinister voice left the mouth of Marquis Nanlong’s body.
The black Qi surrounding his face grew even more concentrated and his pair of silver-white eyes icily stared at Lu Weiying as if he were already dead. Lu Weiying felt an icy tremble fill his heart.
Once those words were said, Marquis Nanlong’s body blurred and pounced towards Lu Weiying, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake.
Lu Weiying felt himself overcome with fear. He thought to emerge from the wall, but he didn’t have nearly enough time as Marquis Nanlong was far too quick. In a display of monstrous strength, black Qi-clad claws were stabbing towards Lu Weiying’s skull.
In his panic, Lu Weiying resolved himself and white light flashed from his body, pouring the entirety of his magic power into his fire-red scarf. In that instant, the barrier of fire-red light sharply expanded to six inches thick, right before ‘Marquis Nanlong’ fiercely stabbed his claws into him with emotionless eyes.
A bizarre crackle sounded out and blinding light flashed before Lu Weiying. He watched in fear as the monstrous
claw pierced through the barrier before eventually coming to a stop. Lu Weiying was greatly relieved to see this and regained a bit of his composure. Then, light began to flash once more around his body as he attempted to break free of the metal-like walls.
When ‘Marquis Nanlong’ saw this, a smirk appeared on his face. With another loud bang, he smashed his other hand into the red light barrier.
In that moment, most of the spirit light that Lu Weiying had emitted from his body suddenly dispersed for some unknown reason. Before Lu Weiying even realized what had happened, ‘Marquis Nanlong’ pulled on his arm stuck in the barrier and smashed his free hand into the light barrier.
The light barrier trembled and blew away the remaining spirit light that Lu Weiying had summoned, scattering it away entirely. At that moment, his body sank several inches deeper into the wall.
‘Not good!” Lu Weiying suddenly realized what was happening and his expression vastly changed. He hastily shook the white spell flag in his hand in an attempt to activate it.
However, ‘Marquis Nanlong’ began to methodically pound down his fist, refusing to give Lu Weiying the opportunity to activate the flag. Each punch struck down just as he began to pour spiritual Qi into the flag and forcefully interrupted him, with each continuous strike coming down faster and with increasing force. Trembles resonated throughout the wall.
Lu Weiying thought to execute a secret technique, but half of his magic power faded away when he attempted to activate it.
As a result, Lu Weiying was denied the use of his abilities as he was helplessly trapped inside the stone wall. He could only blankly watch in despair as the red light barrier around him gradually became dimmer.
Lu Weiying met eyes with ‘Marquis Nanlong’ and he felt his heart violently tremble. It was only a matter of time before his treasure was broken through and his body smashed to a pulp.
With that thought, Lu Weiying gritted his teeth and loudly shouted. White light shined from his head as a Nascent Soul with his face emerged from it. Its face was panicked and it was tightly holding onto a small blue sword.
At the same time, the Vast Yang Scarf suddenly ruptured. The last trace of hesitation faded from the Nascent Soul’s mind and it suddenly disappeared with a stamp of its foot, blurring towards the hall’s entrance.
However, things didn’t go as planned.
With his back still facing the entrance as if oblivious to what was happening, Marquis Nanlong’s back suddenly exploded and a ghost face with its eyes shut sprouted out from it, identical to the one on the Blood Curse Gate.
At that moment, the ghost face opened its silver eyes and released a purple streak from its mouth.
At that same moment, Lu Weiying’s Nascent Soul had already tossed out his flying sword and was riding away on it as quickly as he could. But when it heard a howl across its ear, the Nascent Soul felt its mind burn as something spurted forth from its head.
The Nascent Soul blankly stared at the long strip that emerged from its brow and sharply screamed. Then an instant later, it lost all the strength in its body and it fell onto the ground, motionless.
Were there anyone present to see this, they would’ve seen a long purple strip shot out from the ghost face’s mouth and pierce through the Nascent Soul’s head, the purple strip being the ghost face’s tongue.
When the ghost face saw the Nascent Soul fell, it sneered and withdrew its tongue, drawing Lu Weiying’s Nascent Soul into its mouth and chewing it several times before swallowing. It then slowly closed its eyes with a satisfied expression.
At that moment, ‘Marquis Nanlong’ finally turned around and expressionlessly looked at the masterless small blue sword. A harsh expression appeared on its face and it swiped its hand, tearing out the heart from Lu Weiying’s body and crushing it, scattering it into the air as a bloody mist. The body was now completely lifeless.
With this done, ‘Marquis Nanlong’ expressionlessly swept his gaze around and then effortlessly turned into a black mist before heading outside. A moment later, he found himself facing several masterless spell formations. He scoffed and passed through them before directly rushing out of the pool.
In the time it took to finish a cup of tea, ‘Marquis Nanlong’ appeared several hundred meters above a mountain and glanced around. Flying at such a height naturally stirred a few of the restrictions in Devilfall Valley. Countless bolts of lightning rained down upon him from the sky. But whenever they arrived three meters away from him, they were redirected and turned away, leaving him entirely safe and peaceful.
‘Marquis Nanlong’ look around him for half a day and eventually got his bearings. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes, silver light flickering from within them, and he streaked through the sky in a streak of black light.
...
At that moment, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master’s party was standing at the side of the giant altar and were looking at the endless stairs that rose above them with expressions of awe.
Earlier, they had been caught in a large scale restriction over five kilometers away from the altar and were delayed for nearly a day as a result.
Now that they had finally arrived next to the altar, they were able to see that although it was grand and imposing, there were clear signs of the vast passage of time. Not only were the stairs overgrown with weeds, but there were also a few areas that were completely worn down.
Wang Tiansheng examined the altar for a long while. He eventually said, “Go! When we arrive at the top portion of the altar, we’ll be able to find traces of the Spirit Ether Garden. According to the soul remnant, the entrance should be there.” He then stepped forward and took the lead climbing up the altar.
But much to the shock of the others, Wang Tiansheng loudly cursed as soon as he set off. Yellow light then appeared all around him. Looking up at the seemingly endless flight of stairs, he resentfully gritted his teeth and said, “Everyone be careful! Restrictions exist on these steps. Climbing to the top of the altar won’t be an easy task.”
Wei Wuya frowned when he heard this. Although he didn’t care about a few restrictions, it would definitely slow down the rest of the party. He was helpless to do anything about this.
The others also shared his thoughts. Knowing that the Spirit Ether Garden lay in front of them, the existence of these restrictions aroused irritation and impatience in them.
“Let’s go!” Wang Tiangu sighed and set foot on the stairs. Yellow light then lit up around him and he felt his body become half a ton heavier.
At that moment, the others were affected by the formation as well. While Wei Wuya was able to move unimpeded, the three Core Formation cultivators paled as they struggled to climb.
The party of cultivators slowly climbed to the top of the altar.
...
Next to an oasis concealed by restrictions, Han Li looked at the water in front of him and muttered, “This is the Spirit Kindle Fruit?” Outside of the restrictions, there was boundless yellow sand surrounding them.
“That’s right. This is definitely the fruit. Regardless of its exterior appearance, all the signs point to it being genuine!” Violet Spirit stood three meters away from Han Li and spoke with an expression of excitement. Her luminous eyes were unerringly focused on the oasis.
At the center of the water in front of them, there was some sludge emerging from the water along with the stalk of a glistening emerald-green plant. It was a meter tall and covered in thumb-sized oval leaves. Growing at the very top of the plant were four odd fruits. They were fire-red, slender at the top and wide at the bottom, and glowed with a faint red light at the top. Along with the faint scent that it emitted, it bore a striking resemblance to a lit candle on a stand.
Han Li was also certain that this was the Spirit Kindle Fruit and smiled when he heard that Violet Spirit thought so as well.
Violet Spirit deeply sighed and turned to Han Li, saying with a decisive tone, “I’m going to pick the fruits right now. It’s best not to let matters drag on.”
Ch
apter 834: An Odd Beast
“There is no need to be so impatient. Since the plant has existed here for so many years, it is possible that there is something guarding it, or it would’ve already been consumed. Even with the illusion formation protecting it.” Despite his excitement, Han Li maintained a calm exterior as he spoke.
“Brother Han means to say that there could be an ancient beast guarding it?” Alarmed, Violet Spirit regained clarity of mind. Han Li had previously mentioned a bit about the ancient beasts found in the valley.
“That’s right. Do you see the two snapped branches at the top of the tree? Two of the fruits should’ve already been consumed by the ancient beast guarding it. Although it will not raise one’s cultivation realm when unrefined, it will still have some effect on breaking through a bottleneck. That should be why the fruits still haven’t been entirely consumed.”
There was no doubt that if the creature was nearby, it would be hidden in the lake.
Ever since Han Li had entered the valley depths with Violet Spirit, he had taken the cloak off of his head. He figured she would’ve already guessed that he possessed the ability to avoid spatial tears after he drove the Wind Riding Chariot, so he hadn’t bothered to hide it.
Having discovered nothing after sweeping his spiritual sense across the lake, he looked at it with glowing blue eyes; his gaze penetrated a hundred meters into the depths of the pond and his expression stirred.
Staring at Han Li’s face, Violet Spirit noticed his change of expression and frowned, asking, “What? Has Brother Han discovered something?”
With a calm expression, he turned his head to Violet Spirit and said, “Step back. The ancient beast guarding the fruit seems to be troublesome. It will take a bit of effort before I can dispose of it.” The fact that the beast was able to evade the notice of his spiritual sense left a deep impression on Han Li.
“Then I must thank Brother Han for his trouble!” Knowing that her own abilities were lacking, she could only rely on Han Li and tactfully obeyed. She then flew back a hundred meters and motionlessly floated in the air.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 449