Chapter 363
Chapter 363
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 364
Chapter Title: The Mist Moon Attacks
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Chen Shi held the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword as he walked out of the immortal hall, suddenly saying, “Wuyu, could you hold off on reporting this to Despair Slope for now? I want to go to Taihua Azure Palace first and have them come welcome Tianzhen Daoist home.”
Wen Wuyu’s purpose on this trip was to investigate the matter of the immortal’s emergence. Having uncovered the truth this time, he would definitely report it to Despair Slope.
If Despair Slope came to handle it, Tianzhen Daoist’s corpse might not be preserved.
Wen Wuyu smiled. “You’re holding the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword—you could just cleave me in two with one strike. Why bother asking?”
Chen Shi shook his head. “Didn’t you say that when we were kids, I was your only friend? I have no memory at all of anything before my rebirth. But when I do recover those memories, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting having killed a friend.”
Wen Wuyu paused for a moment, then smiled. “Alright, I won’t report this to Despair Slope for now. But that little Daoist is definitely going to undergo evil transformation. He won’t hold out much longer.”
Chen Shi let out a breath of relief. “Thank you.”
Wen Wuyu stared at the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword in his hand. “And this sword—it’s far too sinister. The sword qi of this blade is the very rosy glow scattered across these cracked mountain peaks. Even a slight touch will devour half your flesh and blood. It would be best if you handed it over to Despair Slope for sealing.”
Chen Shi shook his head. “I promised him I’d return this sword to Taihua Azure Palace.”
Wen Wuyu hesitated for a moment but, surprisingly, didn’t insist, thinking to himself, “Despair Slope doesn’t lack things like this anyway.”
Chen Shi asked, “Is Tianzhen Daoist an immortal?”
Wen Wuyu shook his head. “No. If he were an immortal, he wouldn’t have died. He must have passed his tribulation and reached the peak of the Ascension Realm, merging with the Dao of heaven and earth, when something went wrong. He began to undergo evil transformation, and then the True King discovered him and ordered him slain.”
Chen Shi speculated, “He was just the firewood boy for True Yang Ancestor Master—who knows how high his cultivation truly was? He probably didn’t even know himself. When he evilized, he still took care to avoid harming the world and sealed himself away in the underworld. I think the True King might have killed the wrong person.”
Wen Wuyu spoke meaningfully, his voice low and eerie. “Who would dare bet he wouldn’t evilize? Anyone cultivating the old laws from the True King’s era can hardly avoid evil transformation.”
Chen Shi fell silent.
He was walking the path of the old laws himself, and he had already keenly sensed evil transformation brewing within him.
Wen Wuyu glanced at him, then changed the subject. “Does Tianzhen Daoist know he’s already dead?”
Xiang Kun, standing to the side, said, “I don’t think he does. He was perfectly fine in the Void Great Realm, chatting and laughing with us.”
You Fei shook her head. “He should know. After all, he took that immortal sword that had been hunting him. The moment he was struck by it, he should have realized he couldn’t survive.”
“But if he was dead, why would he want to go home?”
Gou Xi declared firmly, “So he must still be alive!”
Chi Zun shook his head. “After being hacked like that by that sinister sword, how could he possibly still be alive? He’s just pretending he is.”
Their speculations varied, with no conclusion.
Chen Shi enshrined the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword on the divine shrine in the second small temple, offering incense as he said, “I think the moment he was struck, he knew he was dead. But fearing he would evilize after death, he sealed himself within the mountain, locking himself away. He chose to suppress himself to keep from harming the nearby ghost tribes after his death. But for some reason, the mountain sealing him suddenly split open—”
He looked around, flames flickering in his eye sockets. “The most important technique of Taihua Azure Palace, I remember it all. If he sealed himself in this great mountain, he must have used the Golden Bell Sealing Art. This sealing method continuously draws power from the natural energies of heaven and earth, making the seal stronger and stronger over time. It absolutely could not break open on its own.”
Wen Wuyu followed him as he walked, puzzled. “You mean some external force broke open the Golden Bell Sealing Art?”
Chen Shi stopped at the threshold of the immortal hall, surveying the surroundings and shifting his feet slightly. “If I were Tianzhen the little Daoist, piloting the immortal hall here to evade pursuers and that immortal sword hunting me, I would stand right here to cast the seal. Wuyu, is the position correct?”
Wen Wuyu summoned a mirror and shone it around. In the mirror appeared a thumb-sized girl manipulating beams of light to measure the distance between the mirror surface and the surrounding mountain bodies.
With Chen Shi at the center, the mirror rotated a full circle. Wen Wuyu grasped the distances from Chen Shi to the surrounding cliff walls and said, “Move one inch forward to the left.”
Chen Shi shifted one inch, facing directly ahead. Suddenly, he activated the Golden Bell Sealing Art. With a hum, countless radiant golden talismans spun out from his body, forming a massive golden bell!
The golden bell expanded continuously, its coverage growing wider and wider. It passed through those sword qi beams like rosy glows and connected with the mountain body.
The moment the golden bell touched the mountain, identical talisman patterns emerged on the mountain’s surface.
These talisman patterns together formed a complete golden bell!
Chen Shi’s Golden Bell Art perfectly overlapped with the Golden Bell Art Tianzhen Daoist had cast before his death, every talisman matching without the slightest discrepancy.
Evidently, back then, Tianzhen Daoist had activated the Golden Bell Sealing Art right here, sealing both himself and the immortal hall to resist the evil transformation with all his might!
Xiang Kun and the others watched in dazed awe, unable to believe their eyes.
You Fei nudged Xiang Kun and whispered, “Your Highness, do you have a trick like this?”
Xiang Kun shook his head, a touch of sadness in his voice. “That’s why he’s the Sovereign, and I’m just the Crown Prince—”
Using his own Golden Bell Art, Chen Shi activated all the talismans across the entire mountain. His gaze swept around, and he soon spotted something. “Over there!”
Wen Wuyu looked in the direction he indicated, seeing that at the edge of one cliff wall, a talisman was missing. Where it should have overlapped with one of Chen Shi’s Golden Bell Art talismans, no corresponding talisman had been activated.
There was only a tiny flame flickering there, still burning steadily.
“Strange, what kind of flame is that? It can actually burn away a half-immortal’s seal!”
Chen Shi tried summoning the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword. The immortal sword flew out, approaching the flame as if to pick it up on the blade tip. Suddenly, the flame roared toward him!
Chen Shi hurriedly wielded the sword to block it, barely managing to fend off the flame!
The instant the flame touched the immortal sword, it exploded with a boom. The fireball split into tens of thousands of flames in an instant, scattering in all directions!
Chen Shi’s expression changed drastically as he retreated, shouting loudly, “Into the immortal hall!”
Everyone rushed into the hall. Outside came an incomparably violent explosion. Immortal fire roared past the hall exterior, incinerating everything like the long roars of a hundred dragons and the bellows of ten thousand oxen, deafeningly loud. The immortal hall turned glowing red in an instant!
Crown Prince Louche and Lou Tianyi had lain in ambush at the foot of the mountain, waiting to ambush Chen Shi and the others. After all, Chen Shi was the Sovereign of Tianchi Kingdom, and Xiang Kun the former crown prince. Killing them here would be a tremendous achievement!
The moment the immortal fire burst into tens of thousands of flames, Lou Tianyi’s expression changed. Without a word, he revealed his thousand-zhang true form, grabbed Crown Prince Louche, and flapped his wings to flee!
The other experts from Feather Country felt a chill run down their spines and scattered in flight!
Boom—a terrifying wave of fire erupted with this mountain peak at its center, the flames spreading across a hundred li in an instant!
The moment Lou Tianyi’s wings beat, thunder boomed. He carried Crown Prince Louche and flew a full hundred li. An immense pressure bore down, snapping bones all over Crown Prince Louche’s body with crackling sounds, his five viscera and six bowels nearly shattering!
His bloodline had awakened sixfold, making him one of the rare experts among the younger generation, but Lou Tianyi’s flight speed was unimaginably fast, still leaving him gravely injured!
Lou Tianyi crashed uncontrollably into a mountain peak a hundred li away, rolling to his feet. His wings spread wide, forcibly halting his momentum. He looked back to see the immortal fire like a colossal torch, illuminating the entire Yin Mountain range for ten thousand li!
It was a power beyond his comprehension, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Of all those who had come seeking the immortal this time, only he and Crown Prince Louche survived. The other dozens of Feather Country powerhouses whose bloodlines had awakened eightfold—all perished in the sea of immortal fire, none escaping its range!
Inside the immortal hall, just as the power of the immortal fire was about to invade the treasure hall, a formless force emanated from Tianzhen Daoist’s corpse, blocking the immortal fire’s might outside. The immortal fire never harmed anyone within the hall.
Even after the immortal fire’s power fully dissipated, the group remained perfectly still.
Chi Zun lifted a foot to step outside but was grabbed by Chen Shi, who shook his head. “Don’t go. The immortal hall is still too hot.”
Chi Zun laughed. “I’m from the fire ghost tribe. I’m not afraid of heat.”
He stepped over the threshold. The instant his sole touched the ground, he let out a shrill scream and yanked his leg back— a layer of skin had already been scorched off the bottom of his foot.
Even his racial innate divine ability couldn’t withstand the lingering heat of the immortal fire!
Chi Zun’s eyes teared up from the burn as he sat on the ground.
The group continued waiting quietly. The two little yakshas flanked Chen Shi, one on each side, their incense burning steadily in hand.
The immortal hall cooled very slowly. With nothing else to do, Chen Shi idly took the two little yakshas into his small temple and had them offer incense to Stone Fish Lady.
Stone Fish Lady was quite pleased, thinking to herself, “The envoy treats me well. Next time, I’ll resist a bit longer before fleeing to repay his kindness.”
“Who’ll go test if it’s still hot outside?”
You Fei’s eyes darted around. “Yansi Witch, toss out one of your ghost dolls and see if it gets scorched to death.”
Yansi Witch and the ghost dolls behind her glared fiercely at her.
Chen Shi said, “I’m a skeleton. I’m not afraid of heat.”
He stepped out of the immortal hall, testing the temperature. After a moment, he said, “You can come out now.”
Everyone cautiously emerged, their soles feeling the ground. It was still somewhat hot, but by activating their innate patterns, they could endure it.
Chen Shi glanced at the sky and noticed it had grown slightly brighter—it should be nearing nightfall.
The underworld sky was perennially overcast and gray, but at night it would brighten considerably. This was because at night, yin energy from the yang world grew stronger, thinning the barrier between the yin and yang realms, allowing faint moonlight from the yang world to seep in and make things brighter.
During the day, the barrier thickened, blocking all light.
Chen Shi withdrew his gaze and, almost on impulse, asked, “Crown Prince, how long has it been since your father died?”
“One month,” Prince Xiang Kun replied.
Chen Shi said, “Stop always thinking of rebelling against me. It wasn’t me who killed your father. I can treat you as a crown prince.”
Prince Xiang Kun snorted inwardly. “He really wants to be my dad!”
Wen Wuyu suddenly said, “One month ago—wasn’t it a Mist Moon night? I know how your father and the others died! Let’s hurry down the mountain!”
Chen Shi instantly understood, his expression changing as he dashed downward, saying rapidly, “When the Mist Moon appears, it revives dead immortals and gods! Tianzhen Daoist is going to come back to life!”
Everyone hurried after him.
Xiang Kun said, “Tianzhen Daoist coming back to life—isn’t that a good thing?”
Wen Wuyu snapped irritably, “If it were a good thing, your father wouldn’t be dead!”
Xiang Kun’s eyes widened as a shiver ran through him.
The night his father Xiang Fu had died was indeed a Mist Moon night. All the Xiang boat tribe powerhouses who followed Xiang Fu had perished, and Xiang Fu himself had returned with only half a body, as if struck by the sword light of the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword.
Xiang Fu’s strength was extraordinary. He must have endured until reaching Tianchi before collapsing, the sword wound erupting and claiming his life!
The group wound their way down the mountain, only to find the sky had brightened even more. Light filled the space everywhere, though its source was impossible to discern.
They rushed onward frantically. Chen Shi shouted loudly, “Find a tree taller than the mountaintops! Climb into it! As long as you’re above the mist, you won’t be affected!”
At that moment, the sky suddenly brightened intensely. A colossal moon appeared abruptly, hanging low in the sky like it stood atop the mountain peak, within arm’s reach.
This moon was four or five times larger than the one Chen Shi had seen in the yang world, and six or seven times larger than the one in his ancestral land. Within the moon were layered pupils, from inner to outer, nine layers deep.
Suddenly, rolling thick fog plummeted from the moon, crashing into the valleys of Yin Mountain with a mighty roar.
Soon, the thick fog spread down from the great peaks like a sky-obscuring deluge, surging toward them.
“Run!”
Everyone revealed their true forms and fled with all their might. Some ran on raw physical power, others activated their innate divine abilities to tread yin winds, their speeds no less impressive.
Behind them came the sound of floodwaters cascading, drawing ever closer!
Chen Shi glanced back to see massive, thick tendrils of flesh roiling in the fog— just like the sight they had witnessed in Tianzhen Daoist’s Void Great Realm!
Everyone fled desperately. Chen Shi shouted, “Run! Keep running! Tianzhen’s Void Great Realm has a limit!”
Wen Wuyu whispered, “It does have a limit, but it’s thousands of li away.”
Hearing this, Chen Shi despaired.
Just then, he suddenly felt a familiar power summoning him—Granny Sha using a soul-summoning technique, trying to call his soul back to his body!
Chen Shi gritted his teeth, resisting the soul-summoning as he led the group in a desperate flight.
“As Sovereign, how could I abandon my subjects and flee alone?”
Whoosh—the fog assaulted them like a gale, engulfing them entirely!
Without hesitation, Chen Shi summoned the True Martial Evil-Slaying Sword. Sword light swirled around the group in layers. Frigid radiance enveloped them, clashing violently with the thick fleshy tentacles descending from the air, fending them off!
In the yang world, Granny Sha let out a light hum, her expression peculiar as she looked up. “Some force is blocking me from recalling Little Ten!”
Chen Tang asked with concern, “Is there a way?”
Granny Sha sneered. “In the arts of souls, there’s no one I fear! I’ll borrow the power of heaven and earth from the underworld and compete with this bastard. I’ll definitely seize Little Ten’s soul back!”