Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 550
Suddenly, a cracking sound rang out that caused the two of them to shoot back. But then they saw that a blood-colored rock had simply shattered. They sighed with relief.
This ancient castle was filled with a strange aura, one that made people’s hair stand on end. Whoever entered it would feel on edge.
“Senior apprentice-brother, maybe we should leave. This place is too bizarre. I always feel like there’s a chilling breeze behind me and like my heart is about to leap out of my chest,” said the younger expert. He didn’t want to go any deeper.
“Fuck, it really is bizarre. When we entered, it was still so sunny outside. But now it’s so gloomy and sinister. Tch, you’re right, this place is too evil and unnatural. Let’s go somewhere else to test our luck…” The slightly older one had just finished speaking when he looked back at his fellow disciple. When he saw him, his face instantly turned pale with terror.
“What is it, senior-?”
PFFT!
A black figure suddenly pierced through his back. The disciple was horrified and was just about to struggle when his whole body withered, becoming a desiccated corpse. He didn’t even have a chance to resist.
A black figure merged back with the earth, as if it had never existed at all. The only sign of its existence was that withered corpse.
The slightly older disciple was terrified. Without even thinking about it, he slashed his sword behind him and then turned to flee.
His sword didn’t strike anything. Or perhaps it could be said that it struck something, but that something was nothing more than a shadow.
His sword went through the shadow without affecting it at all. The shadow grew out of the ground like a tree root, and it suddenly released a thorn that shot toward him.
He tried to dodge, but he suddenly found that his legs were both bound by the shadow.
“NO-!”
His miserable scream was cut short as all his Blood Qi flowed into the shadow and was absorbed.
In just a single breath, he was turned into a withered corpse. He collapsed on the ground, looking like a block of dried up wood.
Once that shadow had absorbed his Blood Qi, it returned to the ground. But suddenly, a ray of light shot over and directly cut it in two.
Blood surprisingly splashed out of it. The shadow was cut in two and disappeared as if it had returned to the ground.
Two new figures appeared in the ruins. One looked like he was heroic and bold, while one was a veiled woman. They were Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian.
“Xiaoqian, what do you think?” Long Chen looked at the blood and corpses on the ground. He frowned as he had never seen such a thing before today. On the way, they had also seen quite a few withered corpses.
“They should be shadow ghouls,” said Yue Xiaoqian. Seeing his blank stare, she explained, “Shadow ghouls are a member of the ghost race. They form when a person dies, but their soul doesn’t completely dissipate. It forms a special kind of lifeform.”
“There really are ghosts in this world?” Long Chen was startled. He had always thought they were just stories to frighten people.
“The ghosts you’re talking about are just some things that people made up. The ghosts that I’m talking about are a kind of life energy. In truth, there are many lifeforms in this world that we can’t come into contact with. To put it another way, they should be in a parallel space next to ours, making it so we can never come into contact with them.
“But there are always people who like to break conventions and do a few heretical things. When dimensional walls are broken, a few things from other worlds will flow into ours. Originally, such things shouldn’t be able to exist within our world. Special conditions need to be met in order for them to survive. For example, these shadow ghosts shouldn’t exist in our world. But they are here. That means someone intentionally drew them here and intentionally set up the environment so they could survive. Drawing over existences from other worlds is no different than playing with fire. If it has no natural predators in its new environment, it would have the potential to destroy the entire world.
“As soon as I entered this castle, I sensed an unusual aura. This aura isn’t something suitable to human cultivators. If my guess isn’t wrong, the Blood-Colored Ancient Castle must have caught ghosts from other worlds as trials for their disciples,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen nodded. This guess of hers was extremely likely. Even if it wasn’t correct, it shouldn’t be that far from the truth.
Because the castle had crumbled, these ghosts had become free of all laws. They actually took the initiative to kill people.
“Do they get anything from killing people?” asked Long Chen.
“A human’s essence blood is a delicacy to them. Although absorbing essence blood doesn’t let them grow, they still find it delightful,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Isn’t it said that ghosts fear sunlight? How could they kill people in broad daylight?” asked Long Chen.
“Ghosts do fear the Yang. Sunlight is something they dislike, but the formations here weaken the sunlight. Furthermore, they weren’t completely exposed to the sunlight, so they were naturally unafraid of it. In truth, these shadow ghouls aren’t powerful. Anyone with powerful Spiritual Strength would be able to easily sense them. That’s why they target those with weak souls, and attacks against them must contain soul energy in order to harm their incorporeal bodies. That’s because soul energy is also a kind of incorporeal energy,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen gave her a thumbs-up. As expected, she was truly knowledgeable about all things. Having Yue Xiaoqian by his side felt amazing.
“Hehe, thank you for your praise,” said Yue Xiaoqian happily.
When it came to theoretical knowledge, she was extremely amazing. But she didn’t have the slightest bit of experience. Long Chen was the opposite. As long as he learned the theory, he could use it in practice.
Yue Xiaoqian held Long Chen’s arm as they slowly went deeper into the castle. It didn’t seem at all like they were trying to pass trials. It was more like two sweethearts were strolling down the streets.
It was just as Yue Xiaoqian said. Long Chen could sense that he was being stared at occasionally, but those things all left in the end.
Yue Xiaoqian told him that shadow ghouls were very crafty and sensitive to danger. Once they sensed that their prey’s Spiritual Strength was too strong, they wouldn’t dare to come over.
A shadow ghoul’s attack could be classified as a spiritual attack. If someone possessed a protective soul item, they also wouldn’t attack.
“This place is so terrifying. Just what kind of attack could turn it into this state?” wondered Yue Xiaoqian as she looked at a construction in front of them.
That was a huge tower. It had already been broken in several places and fallen on the ground. But even those broken segments were taller than mountains. In its broken state, this tower looked like a huge mountain range.
Half the tower was buried, and there were some scars on the land that seemed like they had been caused when it had collapsed.
“Let’s go in and take a look.” Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian entered. They found that it was filled with spider webs and flying bats. It was extremely dark, but they were able to see everything clearly with their excellent vision.
“There’s nothing valuable inside. The secret rooms inside here should have all been destroyed. The runes outside have also lost their effect. Whatever caused the tower to collapse could not have been ordinary. It was definitely caused by some power beyond our current imagination that erased all that runic energy.” Yue Xiaoqian brushed her hand against the wall. The runes on the wall fell and scattered like sand.
Long Chen nodded. It should have been some kind of mysterious energy specialized in targeting runes that caused them to lose their effect. Other than the rune that he had encountered at the entrance of the Immemorial Path, he hadn’t seen any complete runes exposed like that.
“Runes… That’s right, senior,
do you recognize this rune?” Long Chen suddenly asked the Eastern Wasteland Bell, using his Spiritual Strength to form the image of the rune he had obtained with the primal chaos space’s help.
“I recognize it, but this rune isn’t something you can come into contact with right now. You definitely shouldn’t study it any further.”
What disappointed him was that the Eastern Wasteland Bell only said this before going silent. It refused to say how to use the rune, let alone its origin.
They explored the tower for a while but didn’t find anything useful. They left, continuing onwards.
As they continued, Long Chen kept his divine sense spread out. He had already found quite a few hidden places. There were other people moving around in stealth as well, and when they saw Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian holding hands as they leisurely advanced, their expressions became odd.
Long Chen laughed inside. The more carefully you advanced, the more people would think you lacked confidence, and the more they would think you were weak. Then you would become their targets.
The two of them weren’t traveling quickly. After two hours, they had only traveled thirty miles. Long Chen had Yue Xiaoqian lead the way, while he simply followed. He felt that if she led the way, their luck would be a hundred times better than when he led the way.
Reality proved he was right. When Long Chen entered similar places on his own, if he didn’t run into the attacks of wild beasts, he would be provoked by other experts. But with Yue Xiaoqian, everything went smoothly for these two hours.
Just as Long Chen thought that this method could keep them safe and sound, a huge figure appeared behind them and charged at them.
Chapter 862 Ancient Murals
Yue Xiaoqian didn’t even look. Her sword slashed out behind, cutting the figure in two. It rapidly merged with the ground.
“The shadow ghouls are getting stronger and stronger, as well as more berserk. Injuring them isn’t difficult, but killing them would exhaust quite a bit of soul energy. It’s not really worth it,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
“Then it’s fine. You save your energy. If any shadow ghouls appear, just leave them to me.” Long Chen smiled.
As expected, they had only gone a few more miles when another figure shot at them from a crack in the ground.
A bolt of lightning flew by and struck it, turning it into smoke. That shadow ghoul was killed in one attack.
“What terrifying thunderforce. It even contains an aura of annihilation. That’s something only heavenly tribulation lightning could possess. Is your lightning…” Yue Xiaoqian was shocked.
“Nothing can be hidden from you. Yes, my thunderforce was gathered from tribulation lightning.” Long Chen found that Yue Xiaoqian was too learned. There was nothing she didn’t know.
“How is that possible? How could a human control heavenly tribulation lightning?” Yue Xiaoqian still found this hard to believe.
Long Chen explained how he had encountered tribulation in his first advancement and onwards. He also told her how he had raised Lei Long.
After her initial disbelief, she gradually came to accept this power that was beyond her understanding. This was her first time hearing that someone could control heavenly tribulation lightning.
The two of them continued. More and more shadow ghouls appeared, and each time, they would be killed in one shot by the pointing of Long Chen’s finger.
They saw quite a few more corpses on the way. They had all been killed by shadow ghouls. These shadow ghouls were also getting stronger.
But no matter how strong the shadow ghouls became, they were still weeds in front of Long Chen. His thunderforce was their bane.
“There’s an opening below. Let’s go take a look.” Yue Xiaoqian pointed downwards. Long Chen looked and saw that the huge wall was concealing the fact that there was an opening here.
Yue Xiaoqian was just about to slash the wall apart when Long Chen stopped her. He simply grabbed and lifted it. The huge wall that was millions of pounds was easily lifted.
“We should do our best not to leave any marks, or others will find us.”
This entrance was an underground entrance to some construction. Long Chen replaced the wall so that everything looked normal. That way it wouldn’t be likely for others to follow them.
“Do you want to go in front, or should I?” asked Yue Xiaoqian.
“You should stay in front. This place is too dark, so I’ll activate my thunderforce.” Long Chen became covered in violet lightning. Those were his lightning runes. It was like he was wearing clothes made of lightning, making the underground room as bright as if it were daytime.
As they continued onwards, they saw that this passage continued at a slight tilt downwards. They hadn’t gotten far before a huge mouse suddenly attacked Long Chen.
The mouse’s fur ended in black, sharp points that made it look like a porcupine. Its eyes were scarlet, and its long tail was sharp like a blade.
“Careful. This is a Rockthorn Mouse and its quills are poisonous,” warned Yue Xiaoqian.
Bang! Long Chen’s broadsword slammed into the mouse. But it actually blocked it with its teeth. Sparks flew when they collided. The three-meter-long mouse slammed into a wall.
It let out a strange cry. Suddenly, it raised its tail and swung it at them. The end of its tail opened, and countless needle-like quills flew toward Long Chen.
Long Chen’s broadsword blocked all of them easily. They were clearly grown out of flesh, but they were harder than metal.
Long Chen unsheathed Flying Rainbow. Cold light flashed as that mouse’s head was severed.
Flying Rainbow was exceptionally sharp, so it was much easier to kill this kind of Magical Beast with it.
Long Chen picked up one of its quills. The quill was five inches long and around two hundred grams. There were little holes in its tip that were almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
“Those holes hide its poison. The Rockthorn Mouse is extremely special. It doesn’t have a poison sac. Instead, its quills are what store its poison. Although it’s just a sixth rank Magical Beast, its poison quills are very sharp and can easily pierce a seventh rank Magical Beast’s hide. Even if it can’t poison a seventh rank Magical Beast to death, it can poison it half to death,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen’s eyes brightened. If it was this strong, then it was something good.
“Long Chen, what are you doing?”
“I’m gathering all these quills as they are natural weapons for Guo Ran. I’m sure he’ll faint from joy when he sees them,” laughed Long Chen as he gathered them. These were the things that Guo Ran liked the most.
As for the Rockthorn Mouse’s corpse, he tossed it into the primal chaos space. But he didn’t put it in the black soil yet. He needed to keep a few corpses in reserve for when he was running out of life energy. Then he could use the corpses.
Once Yue Xiaoqian learned that he had a use for these quills, she helped him. The two of them began a slaughter of the Rockthorn Mice that lived here. This seemed to be their nest. Long Chen actually killed over a thousand of them, and he had a mountain of their corpses.
Each one of them had over a hundred quills on their tails. So now he had over a hundred thousand of them.
“Wait a moment. Long Chen, we’ve entered a different channel now. There are murals here!” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen looked toward the wall. As expected, there were stone carvings. Long Chen couldn’t help being shocked. The carvings from such ancient times were extremely valuable. They might even be able to peer into some secrets of that era.
“Xiaoqian, what does this say?” Long Chen saw that whatever was carved was unclear. But there was a large mass of words. Long Chen could occasionally recognize a few characters, but he couldn’t comprehend it.
“This is the introduction of the trial. It clearly indicates Qi Wu. In today’s language, it means that a steel body must also be flexible. A strong body has a strong soul, a strong soul has a weak-” ex
plained Yue Xiaoqian.
“Cough, Xiaoqian, could you explain it in simpler terms?” coughed Long Chen.
Yue Xiaoqian smiled. “To put it simpler, this should be a trial for the soul and will. It has high requirements for Spiritual Strength, so this should be a trial suited to soul cultivators. Only those with strong enough Spiritual Strength can handle the shadow ghouls here. However, everything has changed now that it’s broken down. If this was a trial only for people with powerful souls, those Rockthorn Mice shouldn’t have appeared.”
Her guess was truly reasonable. If this was a trial of Spiritual Strength, in other words, a trial for soul cultivators, having soul cultivators face physical attacks was simply murder.
“Oh, why are the people in this mural so strange? They have a pair of bat-like wings?” As the two of them advanced, Long Chen saw a mural that was filled with those strange people.
“Those aren’t people. Those are winged devils, the same as the skeletons we saw in the Jiuli secret realm. Do you see that protuberance on their foreheads? That’s where their devil core is. They’re a mixed existence formed between depraved humans and the devil race. They’ve inherited the devil race’s fierceness and evil desires, while maintaining a portion of the human race’s intelligence,” sighed Yue Xiaoqian.
Long Chen was startled. These were members of the devil race? If she hadn’t said it, he would have thought they were members of the ancient races.
“The human race is that strong? They can not only integrate with Xuan Beasts but also with the devil race?” Long Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Yue Xiaoqian looked at him helplessly. “Humans are the most complicated existence in this world. Their entire existence is a contradiction. They are sometimes kind, sometimes evil; sometimes noble, sometimes depraved; sometimes like a heavenly immortal, sometimes like a demonic devil. Humans are the ones least able to resist temptation, or perhaps it’s that their desires have no end. They like to take risks, have no respect for anything, and as a result… the human race has ended up in their current plight.”
“Was the human race very powerful before?” asked Long Chen.