However, when coming near the artificial mountain, Qin Yu feels the presence of something dangerous here. This feeling of fear from the bottom of his heart is very unpleasant. He immediately stops his approach and goes into the ground at a corner of the artificial mountain. He can feel that someone is hiding in the surroundings.
Moreover, this is a very powerful being. Therefore, Qin Yu does not dare to use his holy sense and suppresses his aura completely with the Northern Darkness. He relies only on his hearing to observe.
Qin Yu thus remains motionless under the artificial mountain as time passes. All along, he has an intuitive feeling of danger. For the moment, he must be patient.
……
In the Blood-red Cave’s secret room,
Cha Hong is sitting with legs crossed on a bulrush mat. Various streams of demonic elemental energy are continuously wearing away the Dust Removing restrictive spell. The light on the surface of the black jade case is getting increasingly dull. Cha Hong’s eyes are blazing. There are indistinct blood-red lines in his eyes. Obviously he is extremely excited at the moment.
Poof!
A very soft noise is heard. But to Cha Hong, it is no different from a crash of thunder. His whole body shakes. In an instant, he withdraws his demonic elemental energy and focuses his glittering eyes entirely on the black jade case.
“I’ve finally succeeded!” Cha Hong opens the case with shaky hands.
It requires no special techniques to open the black jade case. After opening it, he sees a 3-cun long jade sword inside. This jade sword is lustrous throughout. There is a seal character for ‘Eight' written on it. A jade slip is put on the jade sword. Cha Hong immediately gets that jade slip. Right after he makes a sweep with his holy sense, an ecstatic expression appears on his face.
“Ha-ha, indeed, it’s indeed the same as the legend. The 9 Swords Immortal Mansion, oh my, a mansion left behind by an immortal. And this is none other than the 8th sword.”
Cha Hong’s entire body is extremely excited.
Who would not get excited upon succeeding after spending their own energy to wear away that Dust Removing restrictive spell almost every day for more than 100 consecutive years like Cha Hong? Moreover, this jade sword will also make his dreams a bit more attainable.
Even the jade sword itself is already a treasure to Cha Hong, because it is a top-grade holy weapon.
The 5 superpowers, Penglai Immortal Region, Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, Azure Dragon Palace, Nine Demons Hall and Blue Water Mansion, regard top-grade holy weapons as treasures, but they do not lack these weapons. However, in the eyes of Cha Hong, this jade sword is a top-class treasure. His own holy weapon is only a high-grade one.
Boom!
Following an explosion, a silhouette appears in the secret room. The defense of the room was totally useless against this figure. The arriver is a stalwart man who is dressed in fitted purple clothes. This man stares at Cha Hong. His eyes are full of amusement.
When Cha Hong suddenly sees this purple-clad man, his face changes color at once.
“Di Tong!”
His face darkens as he sees this 8th brother of the Nine Demons Hall. At the same time, he also becomes somewhat flustered inwardly. The Nine Demons Hall’s 9 brothers are not equally powerful. The big brother among them, Di Long, is the strongest. And this Di Tong can definitely rank 3rd among them in power.
“Cha Hong, I have to thank you for spending the past 100 years helping the Nine Demons Hall break the restrictive spell of this black jade case.” Di Tong says smilingly.
Cha Hong calms down in the blink of an eye and says: “8th Majesty, I was absolutely sure that nobody alive knew I got one of the 9 Swords. How did you know about this?”
Di Tong says with a smile: “Nobody alive knew about this, but couldn’t the fellas you killed write it down?” Hearing these words, Cha Hong cannot help forcing a smile. In the past he also thought about the possibility of those victims recording this information, so he destroyed all of their belongings.
However, must those victims have carried the things they wrote it down on with them? Erasing all the information about this therefore was not something that could be done.
“Alright, Di Tong, it’s said that you’ve reached the middle Dongxu stage. Looks like I’m no match for you!” Cha Hong says in such a defeatist manner on the outside, but he fuses a drop of blood with the jade sword in the blink of an eye. Now he has already personalized the sword. With this top-grade holy weapon, his power has been enhanced quite a bit.
Di Tong has noticed this, but he is not worried. There is a hint of disdain on the corners of his mouth.
However, at this moment, someone is quietly eavesdropping in a dark corner just outside the secret room. It is none other than Qin Yu.
When Di Tong set up a restrictive spell, he only covered the entire artificial mountain from above with it. He did not know that a man had been hiding silently in the ground under the mountain for a long time. After Qin Yu heard the door of the secret room blasted open, he waited for a moment then quietly came in after Di Tong.
Chapter 31: Underground Battle
The artificial mountain in the northern part of the Blood-red Cave occupies a very large area. The secret rooms under it are constructed next to each other in a systematically irregular manner like a maze. Together, they occupy an area that is at least 1 km in both length and width.
Qin Yu is standing with his back against a corner.
“Black jade case? One of the 9 Swords? 8th Majesty Di Tong?” Hearing what Cha Hong said inside, he has a rough idea of what is going on.
Obviously the black jade case was relatively difficult to open. Cha Hong had to spend 100 years to open it and there is one of the 9 Swords in it. However, now 8th Majesty of the Nine Demons Hall wants to rob him of that sword.
“Cha Hong had to spend 100 years to open that black jade case, plus he’s been very careful, but in the end it’ll still be snatched by 8th Majesty of the Nine Demons Hall himself.” Qin Yu feels his heart beating slightly faster. When even the Nine Demons Hall is so eager to have that jade sword, what kind of treasure is it?
Because he is holding his breath completely and is using the Northern Darkness, his body is not giving off a bit of his aura.
“I can’t observe with my eyes. Both Cha Hong and Di Tong are Dongxu experts and highly gifted, if I look at them, perhaps this’ll make them notice me.” At this point, Qin Yu definitely cannot afford to make a mistake.
He stands closely to the wall and focuses his entire attention on his ears. Now he can only eavesdrop on the conversation between the 2 of them to guess the situation inside.
In the secret room,
Di Tong is neither arrogant nor impatient. He is not worried in the slightest either. He looks casually at Cha Hong. In his view, Cha Hong is basically defenseless against him and once he gets into action, he will succeed with ease. Therefore, even though Cha Hong has personalized the jade sword by blood, Di Tong is not worried by this at all.
“That jade sword has fused with your body. Are you ready yet?” Di Tong looks at Cha Hong with a mocking smile. His manner is not fierce or imposing but there is an air of absolute sureness about him.
Facing Di Tong, Cha Hong, who has personalized the jade sword, is not frightened in the least.
“Di Tong, did you kill my 2nd brother?” Cha Hong asks.
Di Tong nods smilingly.
“Why? My 2nd brother was only at the middle Yuanying stage. He wasn’t a threat to you at all, why did you kill him?” Cha Hong’s expression changes to the point where it looks very unpleasant. Di Tong, however, laughs out loud coldly.
“Ha-ha, such deep brotherhood. Ha-ha … this is really laughable as hell.” There is a note of disdain in his hysterical laughter.
He then looks at Cha Hong and says coldly: “Don’t pretend you care deeply about your brother like that. Just now you personalized that jade sword but you basically haven’t finished familiarizing yourself with
it using your internal flame. Perhaps now you’re burning it with your demonic spiritual flame, right?”
“Humph, you’re talking to me here only to buy some time to familiarize yourself with the sword so that you can control it more easily.” Di Tong has quickly figured out Cha Hong’s goal.
However, Cha Hong’s expression is unchanged. He does not deny or admit it.
“All right, I can wait for you.” Di Tong folds his arms before his chest and slightly raises his chin. He stares coldly at Cha Hong while waiting for Cha Hong to familiarize himself with the jade sword. He is totally confident that he is going to win this fight.
In terms of true forms, a Purple Demon aquatic dragon is certainly stronger than a blood-red aquatic python.
In terms of power levels, he is at the middle Dongxu stage whereas Cha Hong is only at the early Dongxu stage.
In terms of weapons, he also has a top-grade holy weapon. Moreover, it is the weapon that he is most adept at using. By contrast, Cha Hong cannot choose his weapon. The jade sword is the only top-grade holy weapon available to him.
And in terms of practice techniques, the technique of the Nine Demons Hall’s 8th Majesty is of course more profound than that of Cha Hong!
It can be said that Di Tong is superior to Cha Hong in every aspect.
“Di Tong, you and your 8 brothers can be so arrogant only thanks to your true forms as Purple Demon aquatic dragons and your combined force. Today you’re here alone. I want to see how strong you are individually.” Cha Hong says coldly. At the same time, the look in his eyes becomes so fierce that it seems as if it can pierce through rock and metal.
Cha Hong knows that as the underdog he can only rely on courage and momentum.
All out!
Being the underdog, Cha Hong has to go all out and risk his life to fight a battle. He cannot afford to lose no matter what. Once he loses, he will end up with nothing. Even his life will be taken, let alone the jade sword.
He has been lying low for so long so how can he possibly admit defeat easily?
Cha Hong looks at Di Tong with his eyes full of tenacity. No matter what happens, he is going to give his all in this fight first. In the Xiuzhen world, losers have no say in anything.
“Good, looks like you still got some courage. But, if you want to be ambitious, not only must you have brains, you must also have real power!” Di Tong’s voice suddenly becomes resonant while his eyes glitter with coldness. “The most important thing is your fists must be tougher than mine!”
Di Tong and Cha Hong focus their eyes on one another.
Oppressive, the atmosphere in the secret room is frighteningly oppressive. The 2 of them are fixing their entire attention on each other, observing every movement of each other. Whoever slightly relaxes his concentration first will probably suffer nonstop attacks by the opponent.
Even though Qin Yu is outside the secret room, he can still feel an oppressive atmosphere.
Suddenly --
A noise that sounds as if it is made by a sharp sword piercing through the air rises and destroys the oppressive atmosphere in an instant. Immediately afterwards, a series of resounding metallic noises is heard. Concurrently with this, there are also deep noises of the air getting torn through. Qin Yu simply does not dare to see with his eyes. He can only hide in a dark corner and rely on his ears to listen.
In the secret room,
Di Tong, dressed fully in fitted purple clothes, is holding a long spear. The spear is extremely dynamic in his hands. Di Tong’s close-quarters spear technique is not inferior to Xiang Yang’s in the least. Moreover, when it comes to using the long spear to execute long-distance attacks, Di Tong is even more formidable than Xiang Yang.
Sometimes the spear leaves his hands and thrusts at vital points on Cha Hong’s body like a flash. Sometimes, while he is holding it, it springs forth like various aquatic dragons and surrounds Cha Hong completely at once. Cha Hong simply cannot run away.
Facing this move, Cha Hong has no choice but to go all out!
“Ah ah ~~~ Break!”
Put at a disadvantage as a result of being surrounded by countless silhouettes of the spear, Cha Hong opens his eyes wide and shouts furiously all of a sudden. That jade sword also enlarges and becomes a huge sword. Holding the huge jade sword, Cha Hong immediately makes a horizontal sweep at the enemy. He wants to counter finesse with brute force.
Various silhouettes of the spear vanish but Di Tong gives a cold laugh. Suddenly, the long spear shakes once.
The tip of the spear immediately begins to oscillate. In an instant, it hits the huge sword rapidly several hundred times. The entire energy of the huge sword is quickly neutralized. Di Tong then reaches out his hand and the spear suddenly moves along the sword like a snake to come at Cha Hong.
“No good!”
Cha Hong’s face changes color. No matter how he moves the huge sword, the tip of Di Tong’s spear keeps sticking to it. Moreover, in just about an instant, the spear tip thrusts at his body extremely fast along the sword like a snake spitting venom.
“Majesty Di Tong, your close combat techniques are excellent!”
Cha Hong says loudly. At the same time the huge sword becomes 3 cun long again. Cha Hong himself then retreats straight to a corner of the secret room. Instead of chasing after him, Di Tong pulls back the spear and stands still. However, various halos of purple light begin to rise from his body.
“Cha Hong, you still dare to use your human form to fight me? Looks like you’ve got a death wish. In this case, I won’t show any mercy. I’ll let you taste my special skill.” Various purple halos enfold Di Tong. His aura increases at a frightening speed.
Cha Hong’s face changes color: “No good. Looks like I should use that move in advance.” He immediately lets out a shout then disappears from his original place.
Afterimages!
Several afterimages instantly appear around Di Tong. They surround him in just a moment. Concurrently with this, various streams of sword energy are shot out extremely fast. Di Tong stands firmly in the center. He uses his spear so skillfully that his whole body seems to be shrouded in silhouettes of the spear. There are simply no openings in his defense. A vacuum has even formed in the area surrounded by Di Tong’s spear.
“Growl ~~”
A terrifying deep growl rises. At the same time, a huge python head appears in front of Di Tong out of thin air. It opens its mouth wide and bites at him, seemingly wanting to swallow him up directly.
“Child’s play!”
Di Tong is not worried in the least. He swings his spear at the python head ruthlessly like a long whip. However, at this moment --
Whizz!
A green beam of light shoots out from the python’s mouth like lightning and arrives at Di Tong’s face in an instant. Di Tong has basically no time to block it. The best he can do is to move his body to one side a bit. But his shoulder blade is still penetrated by the jade sword.
In the blink of an eye, Di Tong’s expression becomes unpleasant.
Di Tong, who has been fooling around since the beginning, has finally become angry. Just now, when Cha Hong bit at him using the python form, he did not care about this. But who could have thought that the bite was just a camouflage for the real attack -- the shot of the jade sword from the mouth?
Di Tong has been wounded and has become furious as well!
“Cha Hong, you dug your own grave!”
His originally calm expression has been distorted completely. His eyes have reddened indistinctly and blue veins have even stuck out on his face, making him look frighteningly ferocious. He suddenly opens his mouth and his body starts to transform into a terrifying aquatic dragon extremely fast.
“Growl ~~”
A raging sound rises.
“Boom ~~~” Smashed into by the huge body of the Purple Demon aquatic dragon, the walls of the secret room shatter, creating a series of loud explosions. The huge purple body keeps rocking, hitting one wall after another. The underground
secret rooms therefore have to suffer an unprecedented amount of damage.
Moments ago, Qin Yu, who was eavesdropping outside, knew that the situation was not good when he noticed the tail of a blood-red aquatic python sticking out of the secret room’s door.
“These 2 fellas have transformed!” He immediately moved outwards extremely fast.
He no longer dared to stay just outside the secret room because if he kept staying there, when Di Tong transformed, the secret room would definitely be destroyed and he would be detected as a result. If he was discovered by 2 these furious fellows, his life would be in danger.
Even though he has reached the early Meteor stage, it is uncertain whether he can compare with Di Tong or Cha Hong.
Stellar Transformations Page 104
