YM778.TV Chapter 261 - The Sword’s Mark
Chapter 261: The Sword’s Mark
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Following the Black and White Island, the guiding magic formation guided in another pristine evil-suppressing land – the Desert Rebel Mountain.
The boldness that was connected for a thousand miles, the enchantment of the Golden Horn with red lining, the ghastliness of rickety hills, the Desert Rebel Mountain was akin to a deceased giant alligator that was floating quietly in the air. There was not an ounce of liveliness. After a long while, there was still not a sound that echoed from within.
When the golden monkey was frowning, it appeared unusually innocently foolish, “On the Desert Rebel Mountain... there is no malevolent energy or righteous energy... there is also no circulation of spirit primordial energy. This is just a stretch of dead land!” Qian Ren inherited the monkey’s body, it also inherited this rare beast’s ability to sense the world. It was unusually sensitive to all sorts of smells in nature.
Chang Li was too lazy to wait anymore. She coiled her hands and scattered demonic primordial energy that was accompanied by arrogance and evil intent. She shouted in an awe-inspiring manner, “Search!”
A stretch of demonic primordial energy scattered in all directions in the blink of an eye, and swept towards the entire Desert Rebel Mountain like the wind!
Cone Nail also guided her life vitality at the same time to join Chang Li in searching the huge mountain together.
In carrying out the act of mobilizing one’s primordial spirit to search the mountain, the higher the cultivation the larger the area of search was covered. Similarly, it would startle the master cultivators that were meditating and recuperating in the mountain. In cultivators’ perception, the act of using spiritual vitality to search the mountain was already recognized as a challenge since earlier.
The demonic primordial energy spread a thousand miles in a flash. The scene in the Desert Rebel Mountain flashed across the two top demon immortals’ minds, Chang Li’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter. Cone Nail’s expression appeared unusually suspicious, she explained to Wen Leyang softly, “The magic protective circle of the mountain is damaged since earlier, Many shattered treasured weapons are scattered about, there are also some traces of the mountain being blasted with supernatural power... in the Desert Rebel Mountain, a violent battle broke out apparently... huh, I have found some corpses, that have already turned into white bones...”
Cone Nail was halfway through her speech when Chang Li who was searching the mountain together with her suddenly gave out an alarming cry. Chang Li suddenly leaped up and completely disregarded the rest of the people, her movements were so swift she was beyond comparison. She entered the Desert Rebel Mountain.
Cone Nail was shocked, she did not know what the important matter that Chang Li discovered was, she was also afraid that Chang Li would be harmed in the evil land. Hence, she grabbed Wen Leyang and followed closely behind Chang Li’s back. The golden monkey roared to the rest, “Stay on the same spot and do not act rashly!” Soon after, its body turned into a streak of a golden arc as it pursued together with Cone Nail.
The three top demon immortals spared no effort in urging their life vitality. They moved hurriedly through the air. When they took their first step they were still before the crowd’s eyes. With their second step, they had already disappeared on the edge on everyone’s sight. As Wen Leyang could only run but not fly, he could only be lifted in Cone Nail’s hands. The strong wind from speed blew his face askew, he appeared to be giving a maniacal smile there...
The moment they entered the Desert Rebel Mountain, Wen Leyang could only feel that the pores on his entire body opened up simultaneously. Within the extreme silence and stuffiness, a layer of faintly discernible gloominess surrounded himself as if a dead man’s hairs were gently sweeping past his body.
Cone Nail’s face was filled with unhappiness. She frowned as she complained to Wen Leyang softly, “What is going on with Chang Li actually?”
Wen Leyang shook his head strenuously. Hill upon hill that was grown full of red fungus was enshrouded with heavy deathliness flashed across swiftly from underneath his body. Occasionally, a streak of ferocious-looking scar lashed past in between the mountain ridge diagonally...
The further they ventured into the depth, the more scars that pierced through or slashed the mountain ridge diagonally. There were also some treasured weapons that were broken or shattered tragically that remained. The golden monkey followed next to Cone Nail’s side sturdily, it gasped in slight astonishment, “These scars are caused by supernatural power... do you think someone fought his way into the Desert Rebel Mountain?”
Cone Nail’s expression had already turned from dissatisfaction to solemnness at this moment. Similar to the golden monkey, her gaze contained a sense of astonishment, she was speculating about the course of event that took place here, “Someone entered the boundary of Desert Rebel Mountain, following that, he was discovered by the formation-guarding cultivators, the trespasser dodged and hid from the pursuit, while he dashed towards the Golden Horn Peak...”
No matter how spiritual was a huge mountain, it would never pin down a monster by itself, it was certainly done by the profound cultivators who depended on the magic formation to guide the mountain mannerism. Only then they managed to suppress the evildoer. The Desert Rebel Mountain was the same as the Black and White Island. Apart from the magic formation, there would also be the disciples who guarded the formation.
The enormous scars grew in numbers. After a while, the stacked chain of mountain ridges before Wen Leyang’s eyes seemed to turn into a twisted chessboard. It was unknown how many gigantic cracks were wedged into the little hills’ peaks, while the mountain valley was covered with what appeared to be gigantic craters left behind from meteorite impact. Cone Nail stretched out her hand and pointed to the few most frightening cracks on the mountain peak, she asked the golden monkey softly, “If it were you, do you think you can fight your way in?”
The golden monkey pondered for a while, then it spoke slowly, “I can still fight my way up to here... however, if I were to act accordingly, I will absolutely never dash my way into the Golden Horn Peak! But... the corpses are still in the depth... there are no corpses here!” As it was saying that, the golden monkey suddenly widened its eyes, “The trespasser had yet to kill anyone up to this point, he was only dashing urgently towards the Golden Horn. These supernatural power’s scars were left behind by the formation-guarding cultivators!”
Wen Leyang visualized the situation that had happened for a while. The Desert Rebel Mountain that had been quiet for many years, a peerlessly brave trespasser suddenly appeared. The formation-guarding disciples counterattacked and launched their treasured weapons and supernatural powers that were exceedingly powerful. Yet, they did not manage to stop the enemy, the trespasser completely refused to wage war with them. Under the blasting of treasured weapons that covered the entire sky, he dashed all the way towards the Golden Horn! At least until where they had passed through, whether it was the trespasser or the warriors, no one was injured or killed yet.
Cone Nail, the golden monkey and Wen Leyang’s telegnosis ability were spread far and wide, there were no corpses in the nearby areas.
The golden monkey’s voice carried some slight unwillingness, “If I was the trespasser, and similarly I dodged all the way like this and never counterattack, I would have stopped over here...”
Cone Nail gave a forced smile, “It is already remarkable to dash all the way to here under the blasting of such vast supernatural powers! However...have you ever think of this, if people like you and I were to travel through the air and intrude into the Desert Rebel Mountain, why were there so many scars on the ground?”
The golden monkey squalled. The corners of its mouth twitched, “Could it be...that the trespasser...did not fly in but he leaped and ran and jumped?!”
The Desert Rebel Mountain’s Golden Horn was still soaring afar at the edge of sight as if one would never reach it. Chang Li was traveling in the air in front, Cone Nail lifted Wen Leyang. She was discussing with the golden monkey softly, while they followed closely behind Chang Li. With their speed, they swept past quickly for another ten more minutes. Chang Li suddenly stopped moving, she turned around and revealed in a strange smile towards Wen Leyang, “From this point onwards, there are dead people!”
Underneath Chang Li’s feet, there was a ghastly pale skeleton that was lying down, its white finger bones were still coiled together and pinched into a simple and unsophisticated Taoist magic conjuration gesture. The trespasser dashed his way until this spot, he finally could no longer disregard the attacks in his surrounding, so he could only launch his counterattack.
There were no specific wounds on the entire remnant skeleton, only in between its eye sockets, there was a round and small hole.
Wen Leyang felt that there was nothing unusual about the skeleton, he was only visualizing that back then, this cultivator was pinching the magic conjuration gesture and was guiding his treasured weapon to pursue the enemy, yet unexpectedly the other party struck his head. He could not even cry out in agony in time before he fell to the ground and died.
At this moment Chang Li suddenly stretched out her hand. At the muffled sound of a crack, she pulled down the remnant skeleton’s skull, Wen Leyang was startled, just as he was wondering what Chang Li was about to do, Chang Li turned over her hand, from the skeleton’s skull, she poured out a piece of small stone...
A piece of stone, that was completely unappealing lied comfortably on Chang Li’s warm jade-like palm. Cone Nail and the golden monkey gasped in surprise softly almost at the same time. The two top demon immortals’ faces were plastered with shock and disbelief!
Chang Li smiled slightly, yet her voice was trembling, “This cultivator, was not killed by supernatural power, the thing that killed him was, this little piece of stone here... Moreover, the strength was exerted in perfection, it did not crush his skull, nor shot out from the back of his head. It only pierced through the area between the brows and took his life!”
The thing that killed this cultivator was not supernatural power or magic art but it was a piece of tiny stone that was filled with brute force. He looked at the mottled scars that covered the mountain, he could tell about the warriors’ actual power. These years, Wen Leyang gained a lot of insight about cultivators. He understood better than anyone else that the possibility of a profound cultivator dying of concealed weapon was lower than a rhinoceros to be killed by a mischievous child’s slingshot!
The golden monkey’s gaze was slack. It was almost clenching its teeth in rage as it spoke softly, “That is impossible...”
Chang Li suddenly widened her eyes, “How is it impossible? He can do it!” Upon saying that, the demon cat once again started moving and swept towards the Golden Horn but this time she was not traveling through the air. She ran and leaped step by step.
Wen Leyang’s brain hummed, his gaze turned bright in the blink of an eye!
The corpse skeletons on the ground gradually grew. In the beginning, the skeletons were mostly killed by a stone that pierced through their skulls. Gradually, the skeletons were damaged in more and more terrifying ways. Some of the skulls were completed shattered, while some of the chest bones or ribs were pulverized, some were only left with half a side of a body!
Each of these skeletons died savagely, their fatal wounds were similarly gruesome yet terrifying. The wounds were absolutely not caused by supernatural power or sharp weapons. If one were to look closely, one could even find traces of soil in between the bones. The golden monkey was almost in tears without its notice, “They were all killed by stones!” In its eyes, a group of profound cultivators’ bodies was shattered by stones, it was as amusing as warriors were crushed to death by the fruit pits that were tossed by a monkey... or terrifying.
Cone Nail seemed to have already known who the trespasser was, she followed the footsteps to speculate the situation back then, “More and more formation-guarding cultivators came, the trespasser also started counterattacking violently, he was too busy so he could only aim for the skulls. A handful of broken stones were scattered, whoever was struck was killed, heh-heh, so impressive!”
In between Chang Li’s brows, a sense of pride accompanied by boundless heartache was revealed unknowingly!
They were already not far away from the Golden Horn. Wen Leyang’s heart was beating loudly. Suddenly, Chang Li stopped walking once again, she pointed to a skeleton, “Wen Leyang, come and take a closer look!”
There was no need for a closer look, Wen Leyang had only taken a glance and he gave out a voice that was unknown if it was a surprised cry or a cheer. There was the excitement of his entire lifetime contained in his voice. It surged from the bottom of his heart to the edge of the sky!
From the top of the skull to the little toes, every inch of that skeleton was covered with fine fissures. The arms were tightly stuck to the ribs, the two legs were twisted in an unnatural position. Anyone would not doubt that this skeleton would immediately turn into fine dust the moment it was slightly touched, any inner disciple of the Wen family could tell by one glance, that before this person died, he was hugged by another person and struck repeatedly with the Faulty Punch to death.
In the entire world, over the time of ten thousand years, there could only be one person other than Wen Leyang who was capable of using the Faulty Punch to kill profound cultivators! Wen Leyang almost spoke out the four words as if he was sleep talking, “Grand Master Tuo Xie!”
While after Chang Li heard of these four words, she suddenly bawled and cried aloud, “It was him!”
The golden monkey inhaled a long breath ferociously, its gaze suddenly turned sharp, “This dead man here...is Tuo Xie?” Qian Ren had been spending time with Wen Leyang and the rest all the time recently, it had heard so much about Tuo Xie’s person, it was also very familiar about the course of events that took place since the beginning to the end.
Chang Li’s bawl turned into a cough all at once. She raised her hand and tossed a demon blade at the golden monkey, “Bullsh*t!”
Cone Nail burst out laughing, she blocked the demon blade on behalf of the monkey, “The killer was Tuo Xie!”
The golden monkey’s expression turned oppressed, it spoke shyly, “I was still wondering, this skeleton would have been a skinny and tall person in life...”
The nearer they approached the Golden Horn, the more cultivator’s skeletons they discovered. In the beginning, the cultivators were killed by stone and struck with the Faulty Punch. Then, the skeletons were mottled with the ghastly colors of red, green, black, yellow and et cetera. Grand Master Tuo Xie had started using poison at this point.
From when they first entered the Desert Rebel Mountain, they discovered more than a few hundreds of skeletons that died tragically. The skeletons were scattered everywhere in a mess while the shattered treasured weapons were half buried in the soil, the weapons appeared unwilling yet helpless.
The golden monkey’s voice, sounded more unpleasant that the welding sound of iron, it muttered softly, “If...brute force and strong poison were effective, then what was the point of cultivation...” Wen Leyang’s expression was filled with deep concern, he was afraid that he would discover a short and small remnant skeleton that looked like a pickle jar.
Cone Nail understood Wen Leyang’s concern, she pulled his hand and laughed, “Your concern is useless, your family’s grand master won this battle! Otherwise, how would the remaining formation-guarding cultivators allow the corpses of their companions to be scattered everywhere!” As she was saying that, Cone Nail spat out a mouthful of sulky air gently, “It was only that... why did Tuo Xie try to fight his way into the Desert Rebel Mountain? Was he trying to rescue the Red Pot?”
As she was saying that, Wen Leyang could only feel as the vision before his eyes brightened, they had already walked out of the Red Fungus Hills, the Golden Peak stood alone impressively, stabbing diagonally towards the heaven!
In between the Red Hill and the Golden Horn, there was a stretch of open space that was not considered too big. Dozens of gigantic rocks the size of houses scattered in a mess, it appeared disordered and messy at first glance, on top of every gigantic rock, a ghastly skeleton was sitting up straight and steadily.
The golden monkey shielded itself against the rest of the people, its body swayed as it shuttled back and forth swiftly in between the gigantic rocks. When it returned, its face was excited and agitated, its voice carried a sense of hoarseness, “Liang Li Immortal Formation! This is...this is the mother*cking Liang Li Immortal Formation!”
Even for Chang Li who was experienced and knowledgeable, her gaze was misted with a layer of uncertainty, “What is that?”
The monkey wanted to explain more but it did not know how to explain, it stuttered for a long while before it finally waved its hand, “Anyhow, it is the profound sect’s immortal formation that was already lost to the world long ago. I have only ever heard of it but I have never seen a real one before! This is the entire Desert Rebel Mountain’s eye of formation, it guided the power of the huge mountain to seal down the Red Pot and that was done by this magic formation here.”
Chang Li was of a demon body. She did not have a deep understanding of profound sect’s magic formation and she was even less interested. She shook her head and walked towards the middle of the formation, Wen Leyang was still afraid that the place could be dangerous. He was about to speak when Cone Nail laughed from the side, “The people who cast the formation were turned into bones, the magic formation was destroyed long ago!” She grabbed hold of Wen Leyang and they walked into the gigantic rocks that were scattered around.
The cultivators’ skeletons on the gigantic rocks were glowing with faint red-colored radiance from inside out. This was different from the unusual ghastly magnificence under the influence of strong poison, the red glow within the skeletons was enshrouded by awe-inspiring righteous energy and heaven’s power.
As compared to the skeletons that were scattered in between the Red Hills, each of the skeletons on the magic formation gigantic rocks were sitting upright. Their expressions solemn, there was not a scar on their bodies, as if they passed away naturally while sitting cross-legged.
Cone Nail pointed towards those skeletons that were sitting upright, “During these cultivators’ lifetime, they have already cultivated into the Red-refined spirit, that is why their skeletons are penetrating with a faint red glow.
Wen Leyang’s gaze was filled with anticipation, he inquired closely, “How incisive were they? As compared to me?”
Cone Nail laughed as she shook her head, “The cultivation of Red-refined spirit pays particular attention to the faith and determination. The people who engaged in this cultivation may not necessarily be the most incisive but their hearts were as firm as the rock. They could never be wavered by outside forces. These cultivators were capable of giving free reign to the biggest power in the profound sect’s magic formation!”
The golden monkey nodded, “This magic formation is not chaotic at all. Not even Tuo Xie was capable of breaking the formation back in those years.”
Chang Li’s eyes were beyond bright and shiny. She turned around and laughed, “How did he pass through if he did not break the formation? In the end, it was still Tuo Xie who triumphed!”
Wen Leyang was clearly confused, he looked at the golden monkey then he looked at Chang Li, his brows furrowed, “Did not break the formation but triumphed?” As he was saying that swung his arms strenuously, “Can we please stop speaking only half a sentence all the time?”
Cone Nail was very patient, she continued to point at those skeletons. She explained to Wen Leyang smilingly, “They still retained their magic-casting postures before they died and there was not a scar on them, these cultivators died of exhaustion!”
Grand Master Tuo Xie dashed into the Desert Rebel Mountain and fought violently along the way. He attacked and killed hundreds of cultivators and arrived here, the ancient immortal formation’s power was unsurpassed. The vast and mighty divine power circulated in layers and endless cycles, even Tuo Xie could not dash into it. In the end, he pounced onto the great formation headfirst and used the Faulty Punch to break the magic, continuously exhausting the mighty power of spirit primordial energy that was used by the immortal formation and forcefully exhausted a group of cultivators’ powers into nothingness!
This group of formation cultivators lost their reinforcements, naturally, there was no one else who could come and take turns with them. Finally, they were exhausted to death by Tuo Xie.
Wen Leyang’s was so astonished that he never shut his mouth during the entire story. At this point, the story was no longer as exciting as before, he looked towards those skeletons in slight puzzlement, “Are you certain that these people were killed by the grand master...”
Cone Nail understood his question, she did not wait for him to finish asking before she answered, “If it was not for the spurting pressure that required all the cultivators to risk their lives and replenished their life vitality into the magic formation, they would never die in such a tidy manner, the people who died first would be compressed into flesh mud and bone shavings by the power of the magic formation.”
At the final moment, the power of the magic formation was drenched by the Faulty Punch all at once.
During the time they spent discussing, the group of people had already walked past the open space where the magic formation was cast. Underneath the tilted mountain of the Golden Horn, a cave that was not considered too high but was spacious enough was revealed suddenly. Wen Leyang walked forward in quick strides, he studied the soil around the cave’s walls, his voice was trembling as if someone was thumping his chest rapidly, “This...is the cave that was dug out with the Faulty Punch!”
In the discussion of magic formation and supernatural power, Wen Leyang was unskilled but in the discussion of using the Faulty Punch to dig a hole, Wen Leyang was absolutely the expert, the stone walls around the cave was loose on the outside and compact on the inside, there were threads and vines of strong poison passages that ran through the walls!
The magic formation was halted, the Golden Horn was turned into an ordinary mountain peak. Tuo Xie then used the Faulty Punch to dig a cave and punched his way into the mountain.
Chang Li did not waste time talking nonsense. She lowered her head and bored into the cave, the rest of the people followed behind her. Cone Nail lowered her head and walked as she laughed to Wen Leyang softly, “Grand Master Tuo Xie is truly not that tall! But he is truly not considered skinny as well...”
If the cave was only meant for the person who launched the Faulty Punch to enter and exit, then the cave’s shape was generally almost the size of the person who dug out the cave. When Wen Leyang was digging through Mount Emei back then, in order to take care of the Rainbow fat men, he had to punch a hole that was twice the size of him.
The cave’s height was roughly over one point six meters, the width was also over a meter. For people with Chang Li and Cone Nail’s figure, they could walk side by side but they would need to lower their heads.
Chang Li heard Cone Nail’s words, she was not furious but on the contrary, she was joyous, she turned around and laughed, “That is correct, he has such a sturdy and burly figure. It makes him so awe-inspiring!”
The cave was long and narrow with twists and turns, yet they still did not manage to raise their heads all along. The huge mountain was used to seal the giant monster Red Pot, there should be one more huge path that was suppressed by a talisman seal that would only allow the person who cast the formation to pass through. However, Tuo Xie seemed to be too lazy to even look for that, he straightforwardly used the Faulty Punch to dig through the mountain and punched his way into the depth of the huge mountain!
Cone Nail and the golden monkey became more curious the further they walked, while Chang Li and Wen Leyang were growing more and more anxious. The group of people could not figure out the purpose of Tuo Xie’s for visiting this place. Due to the demon cat, Tuo Xie made the cultivation world his enemy. He then entrusted his two senior brother disciples to kill all the great demons in the world for the past two thousand years and even completely entrapped the Qilian Immortal Sect, he was absolutely not considered a person of righteousness but he was also not that senseless such that he would come here to break into the jail and release the giant monster Red Pot for no reason.
Chang Li walked faster and faster, she was too impatient to walk slowly in small strides, she finally unfolded her movements. Lowering her body, she flew forward rapidly, while the rest of the people followed closely behind her. They walked all the way for an unknown amount of time. Wen Leyang’s body suddenly felt lighter, an empty mountainside that was not considered too big appeared before their eyes silently.
When Wen Leyang first bumped into Wei Mo on Mount Emei’s mountainside, the place was so enormous such that he could not see the edge. In comparison, the Golden Horn’s mountainside before his eyes was much inferior, at best, it was only the size of half a football field, it could be clearly seen with a glance.
The moment Chang Li walked into the mountainside, she gave a ‘huh’ in surprise.
In the middle of the mountainside, similar to before, there was a skeleton that was lying horizontally. Wen Leyang was nervous for a while. He then felt relieved, this skeleton was skinny and tiny. At most, it was about one point four or five meters when it was alive. Judging by its skinny leg bones, when this person was still alive, he could only be about thirty-five to forty kilograms.
In the hand of the short and skinny skeleton, there was a sword, the sword’s radiance was gloomy and desolated, its coldness and sharpness were completely not worn away with time.
What was truly surprising to Chang Li was, the mountainside was not pitch black. There was a trace of indistinctive light that was slowly enshrouding out of the oblique direction. Even though it appeared weak and soft, it was beyond appealing within the surrounding pitch blackness.
The golden monkey could not care about examining the skeleton. It observed closely at the fissure that allowed light from the outside to penetrate into the depth of the mountainside.
The fissure was long and narrow, it was less than one and half inch wide, about the thickness of a nail but its opening was smooth and even. After a moment, at the sound of a ‘thud’, the golden monkey sat onto the ground, “This is a...sword’s mark!” The expression on the monkey’s face was indescribable with words. If Fei Fei was at the scene, she would certainly take a photo of it and brought it back to use as a subject to study.
The power of a sword that pierced through the Golden Horn Heaven’s Peak in a diagonal manner!
Even Wen Leyang was anymore ignorant, he could understand this sword easily and the power it possessed!
Tuo Xie did not use a sword, the Red Pot was a monster... so who was this short and small skeleton actually, who was capable of such supernatural power. Tuo Xie killed all the way into the Desert Rebel Mountain. The enemy in his final battle was surprisingly as bold and fierce as a lion!
The few people gathered around the short and small skeleton. Chang Li had only stretched out her hand and touched the long sword in its hand when she suddenly gasped softly, her body swayed as she retreated for a few steps. A stretch of water spread from the tip of her finger rapidly, it rippled and crawled upwards.
Chang Li was poisoned.
Based on Chang Li’s demonic primordial energy’s cultivation base, even after she exerted all her strength to force and urge, to her surprise, she could not dissolve the poison. The layer of pale blue-colored water slowly spread from in between her fingers onto her wrist...
Wen Leyang did not know about this strong poison and there was no way he could dissolve it, but speaking of water element poison, he was afraid that there was no other poison in the world that was stronger and thicker than the firecracker’s poison. However, the poison that was inflicted on Chang Lim was apparently bonded with other forms of toxicity. Under the combination, it was even much more incisive than Wen Leyang’s Poison of Life and Death.
Chang Li’s expression was very peculiar, she revealed a smile at Wen Leyang surprisingly, “I did not expect that I will be poisoned to death by him...”
Wen Leyang could not care about expressing his emotions with Chang Li. After he tried seven to eight types of Art of Expelling Poison, his effort still remained futile. He suddenly clenched his teeth and grabbed onto Chang Li’s delicate hand that had already completely turned into the color of aqua blue.