Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
After discussing with Spirit Stone, Li Hong and Spirit Stone both agreed that it would be better to stay away from the mountain for a while. Spirit Stone added, "Since it's Jiang Xuanzi's one-sided wish, I can rest easy. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain to your junior sister Chu Xi."
Li Hong felt an indescribable emotion upon hearing this and secretly regretted that when he saved Green Lotus, he might have been a bit reckless. At the very least, he should have thought of a way to avoid being so exposed to her. Now that things had come to this point, thinking too much was pointless; he could only hope that Chu Xi would understand him once she learned about this. But could she really understand?
A woman's heart is as deep as the ocean, and Li Hong was not confident about this, especially since he and Chu Xi were still in an awkward and delicate situation.
Spirit Stone continued, "Now that the Demon Sect has paused their attacks on our Nine Li Sect, we need to think of an excuse to prevent Jiang Xuanzi from becoming suspicious."
The two whispered to each other, and Li Hong recalled that there were only two months left until the year he had agreed upon with the spy from Ruyi Palace, Xiu Ming. He decided to first seek out Yue Fei and see what was happening in his army. When the time came, he could meet with Xiu Ming at Taihang Heavenly Well Pass.
Li Hong returned to Green Pavilion and spoke with Chuxiong about some household matters, instructing him to notify him immediately if there was any news of Chu Xi leaving seclusion. After casually packing a few outfits suitable for the Mortal Realm, he set off.
As he flew to the entrance of Li Fire Formation at Nine Separation Peak's back mountain pavilion, a white light quickly approached. Ling Yi Zi landed and coldly said, "Spirit Stone is worried about you going out alone, so I will continue to be your partner."
Without even looking at Li Hong's expression, he opened the entrance and walked in without turning back, wearing an air that brooked no refusal.
Li Hong smiled wryly; his master was indeed cautious. However, having Ling Yi Zi accompany him was not bad, even if he spoke little.
Upon exiting the Mountain Gate, summer heat enveloped them outside. The traces of the Demon Sect Monster had long disappeared, and peace had returned to the mountains.
Not knowing Yue Fei's exact location at this moment, it was likely that he was engaged in resisting the Jin forces. Thus, the two flew southward.
After passing through Qinling, they reached Hanzhong and landed in a small town. They learned that the Pseudo-Qi supported by the Jin had completely collapsed. The Jin had returned part of their lost territories in Central Plains back to the Song Dynasty under a so-called "peace agreement." Fearing a resurgence of the Jin Army, the Song Dynasty had abandoned Huainan and recalled all defenses from there. Consequently, Huainan now resembled a true wasteland. Yue Fei was leading the Yue Family army in deploying defenses around Huainan.
The two turned east again, flying low and slow to conceal their presence while searching for signs of the Yue Family army below. Li Hong couldn't help but feel puzzled; how could Qin Hui have been dismissed by him yet still engage in peace talks? Did Yue Fei also agree to this peace?
However, despite being called a "peace agreement," they observed along their journey that there was indeed no major battle between Song and Jin; only minor skirmishes occurred frequently. The two armies were entangled along the Huai River area—each side probing into the other's defenses while still fighting. Aside from some remote villages in mountainous areas where only a few elderly and weak remained behind due to illness or disability, most of Huainan's fertile land lay empty as its inhabitants had fled southward into safer territories controlled by the Song Dynasty along the Yangtze River.
Seeing this scene, Li Hong felt relieved; it seemed that the so-called "peace talks" were merely the prelude to another great battle. With Yue Fei around, what was there to worry about? Perhaps he would soon lead the Song Army into the Central Plains and drive those Golden Dogs back to their homeland!
Just as he was thinking with a smile, a warning instinct suddenly arose within him. Ling Yi Zi also sensed it, and the two of them lowered their guard, concealing their presence behind a broken wall. Li Hong released his Divine Consciousness to probe ahead.
In an instant, his Divine Consciousness advanced for about ten miles, where it encountered a small village in ruins. A dozen Demon Sect Monsters were strutting about, engaged in some very strange activities without any attempt to hide their tracks.
These Demons were highly skilled, mostly at the early stages of Transmutation or above, which was a significant difference from the low-level Golden Core Stage cannon fodder like Xiu Ming. They were cloaked in black hooded capes, half of their faces obscured, revealing only the pale lower halves resembling corpses. Their lips were dark purple, and a snake-like eerie light shot out from beneath their hoods. They were indeed the ones driving away the Walking Corpses.
The small village had just experienced a minor skirmish. The ruins were littered with Song Army Corpses, many of which had their skulls crushed by heavy weapons like the Wolf Tooth Club or cleaved by Machetes, lying bloodied behind broken walls and piles of dirt. In the open area in front of the village, several horse and human corpses were discarded. The humans had died from arrows; some were so riddled with arrows that they resembled hedgehogs, propped up against horse corpses yet still standing.
These dozen Demons waved their Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banners in one hand while forming hand seals and chanting incantations with the other. Dark light surged from all directions towards each Demon’s Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banner. The banners grew increasingly ominous, with terrifying skeletal faces flickering in and out of view.
The Demons were collecting the souls of fallen soldiers.
It turned out that the Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banner had this function; no wonder each Demon Sect Monster carried one. This banner was fundamentally essential for their cultivation!
The souls of recently fallen soldiers, commonly referred to as War Souls, possessed immense power—comparable to Evil Spirits. It had been known that they used Evil Spirits for cultivation, but it was unclear where they gathered so many Evil Spirits from. Now it became clear that War Souls were also a source of souls needed for their cultivation. This source was currently abundant; battles raged everywhere, and soldiers who died should find peace in death regardless of their allegiance. The actions of these Demon Sect Monsters were truly appalling.
Li Hong's hands trembled with anger.
As he saw the number of War Souls dwindling, the Demons retracted their Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banners, summoning one corpse after another to fly towards them with a thud, including numerous severed limbs and individual heads.
The Demons picked up severed limbs and heads, rummaging through the pile of corpses. A scene unfolded that nearly made Li Hong jump up in disbelief: whenever they found a severed limb or head belonging to a corpse, they would take out a vial of strange potion from their robes and pour a few drops onto the wound before pressing the severed limb or head back into place. The corpse would instantly become whole again. Then the Demons pointed at their Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banners, causing the corpses to stand upright with eyes wide open, staring blankly ahead with ghastly white eyeballs.
In an instant, over a hundred corpses stood in the clearing before the village, all staring blankly with white eyes.
Suddenly, a vast expanse of ominous black clouds spread out rapidly as the Demons unfurled their Soul Summoning and Spirit Refining Banners. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred corpses vanished without a trace. Immediately afterward, Yin Power surged through the air and sped northward.
Li Hong suddenly realized that this was how the Walking Corpse came to be; it truly was a case of finding something without much effort after searching high and low.
The members of the Nine Li Sect, including himself, had guessed incorrectly all along. They were simply collecting Corpses and War Souls on the battlefield, and then surely returning to some secret Dark Hall to refine these Corpses into true Walking Corpses.
He had to find out where the Dark Hall was! Li Hong jumped up and transmitted a message to Ling Yi Zi: "Let's pursue!"
The two of them stealthily followed the group of Demons northward.
Before long, they flew over Qinling again as darkness fell. The Demon aura had turned eastward, and suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace.
When they arrived near the spot where the aura vanished, they found themselves at Beiming Mountain, north of Luoyang.
Luoyang had long lost its former glory from the Han and Tang dynasties. Since the Wei-Jin period, it had repeatedly suffered from wars and was often established as a capital only to be destroyed again. The Early Southern Song established it as Xijing, but it had long fallen into the hands of the Jin people. The entire city had become increasingly desolate; looking down from above, all one could see was a dark expanse with pitifully few lights. The once vibrant scene of "viewing from Mang Mountain" with thousands of lights and towering palaces had vanished.
Born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, buried in Beiming. Since the Eastern Han dynasty, Beiming Mountain north of Luoyang had been the preferred burial site for nobles and officials. Even commoners from Luoyang were buried here. The tombs were countless and stacked upon each other. A large area of ancient pines covered the mountain, permeated by a chilling aura of death; after dark, flickering phosphorescent lights appeared eerily.
The Demon Sect Monsters had chosen Beiming Mountain as their Dark Hall, which was significant. They must be using the concentrated yin energy and ghosts in this area as an aid for cultivating Demonic Arts. It seemed likely that the Dark Hall lay beneath layers of tombs.
That place must be a den of dragons and tigers.
Even if it was a den of dragons and tigers, they had to investigate! People might not be able to enter, but Divine Consciousness could!
After transmitting to Ling Yi Zi, Li Hong resolutely sat down on the spot, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and sent his Divine Consciousness swiftly forward toward Beiming Mountain.
It was during a waning moon phase; on Beiming Mountain, one could not see their hand in front of their face. Flickering phosphorescent lights danced among towering ancient trees and standing tombstones, with shadowy figures appearing faintly. Beiming Mountain had completely turned into a ghost domain.
Li Hong quickly set his sights on a patrol team of Demons. There were about twenty of them, all at Golden Core Stage cultivation level—low-level cannon fodder. These minor characters were cautiously circling around Beiming Mountain; their movements were quite strange as they floated about with their feet hovering about a foot off the ground, forming a long line as they slowly advanced.
This act appeared quite terrifying in the dark of night. Even if some bold mortals dared to ascend the mountain in the dead of night, they would surely be scared to death upon encountering them.
After walking around the mountain for half an hour, this group of Demons began their descent. They reached a tall mound of earth and stopped, seemingly signaling each other. The ground silently cracked open, revealing a set of stairs leading downwards. The Demons descended the stairs, and the hidden mechanism activated, restoring the mound to its original state.
Inside was very dark, with only a faint greenish phosphorescent light flickering about. The Demons ventured deeper; the long staircase seemed endless. For some reason, Li Hong began to feel disoriented. Just as he found it strange, he suddenly heard a loud shout: "Boldly! How dare you spy on my Underworld Palace!"
The voice exploded next to his ear, piercing into his innards as if someone had struck his head with great force. Li Hong trembled all over; his Awareness surged wildly, and his body shook like leaves in the wind. He couldn't help but spit out large mouthfuls of Purple Blood. Stars danced before his eyes, and he felt dizzy and disoriented. He had sustained severe internal injuries.
Ling Yi Zi sensed something was wrong and quickly supported Li Hong, asking urgently, "Have the Demons discovered us?"
Li Hong nodded, forcing himself to maintain his composure as he took out the Supreme Celestial Stone from his Cosmic Bag and held it tightly in his hand. He said, "You hold on for a moment; they will be here soon." Without further ado, he entered a meditative state to inspect himself internally.
Just now, it was a highly skilled Old Demon who had used a method similar to Divine Consciousness to probe into his Divine Consciousness source and delivered a devastating blow. This strike was too powerful; his Divine Consciousness was severely injured on the spot, affecting even his internal organs. Most importantly, all ten of his Golden Pills had lost their luster. Li Hong didn't have time to think much; he activated the Six Spirit Salty Ritual and began to absorb the Multicolored Spiritual Energy from the Supreme Celestial Stone in order to heal himself quickly.
Meanwhile, Ling Yi Zi's eyes widened as he raised the Ask the Way high.
A massive wave of Yin Power surged rapidly towards their direction. Among them were several powerful auras that made Ling Yi Zi's heart shudder, but an uncontrollable fighting spirit erupted within him. His white robe slowly billowed out as a murderous aura burst forth from him.
Comment 0 Comment Count