Chapter 1042: Chapter 1041: The Discovery Deep in Thousand Poison Cave_1
"Heaven and Earth are boundless, Poison transforms the universe!"
With a grave look in his eyes, the Thousand Dark Poison Emperor dare not be the slightest bit negligent, channeling his full power to the limit and conjuring a nine-colored light sphere around his body. Inside the light sphere, two unified light shields coalesced, representing two top-tier No Gang Spiritual Armors that did not require Vigorous Air to activate.
With three layers of defense set, the Thousand Dark Poison Emperor dodged sideward swiftly, breathing a sigh of relief in his heart.
He had been worried that Shi Xiaole might strike first since, according to the rumors about his speed, he might not have the chance to react. Unexpectedly, his opponent’s overconfidence had given him an opportunity instead.
While he was pondering this, Shi Xiaole launched his attack. To the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor’s fury and disbelief, the latter didn’t even draw his sword but simply extended two fingers and poked forward.
"What an arrogant fellow!"
The Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor was enraged and flabbergasted, but before he could explode in anger, two insubstantial and initially inconspicuous beams of Sword Qi suddenly expanded infinitely in his eyes, rapidly engulfing his surroundings.
Crack.
A crisp sound was heard as the nine-colored light shield shattered first. The Sword Qi, after losing a mere thirty percent of its strength, continued its surge forward, piercing through the defenses of the two layers of No Gang Spiritual Armor.
Throughout this process, the agility and defenses that the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor so relied upon were utterly ineffective. He could only watch the Sword Qi approach, not because he was locked on, but his consciousness could keep up with the sword technique, while his body could not.
"Pu..."
A mouthful of fresh blood was spat out as the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor appeared ten thousand meters away, his face pale with fear.
In that instant, he genuinely sensed the approach of death. If Shi Xiaole had been a little more accurate, his chest would have been pierced through.
And the accuracy of the opponent was by no means a matter of skill, but of mood, which meant that Shi Xiaole had the power to kill him at will.
With this thought, the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor was overcome with lingering fear, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He hurried forward and respectfully cupped his fists, saying, "The Kirin Sword Emperor truly lives up to his reputation. I am thoroughly impressed. Please follow me, and I will release Ling Jingsi."
Shi Xiaole added, "And his second disciple as well."
He remembered that back then, Yan Yuchai and her two Senior Brothers had sneaked into the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace together, and in the end, only Yan Yuchai and her Senior Brother had escaped.
"Yes, yes, all will be released."
The Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor dared not protest.
Seeing the revered Palace Master exhibit such fear and respect toward a young man, everyone in the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace felt as if they were dreaming. What they couldn’t forget, even more, was Shi Xiaole’s sword strike from just before, which already hinted at the bearing of a Monarch Overlooking the World.
"This youth’s strength seems to surpass the rumors. Could it be that he has really made progress in these past two years?"
The Holy Elephant Poison Emperor felt powerless.
Compared with Shi Xiaole, he, who had advanced to the Void Origin Realm only by relying on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, seemed insignificant and probably couldn’t withstand even thirty percent of the opponent’s power.
Under the personal lead of the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor, Shi Xiaole returned underground, passed through a long stone corridor, and in a silver pool, saw Ling Jingsi, whom he had not seen for many years.
"Child, how did you get here! Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor, if you dare to harm him, even in death Ling will not let you off!"
This place was separated by a Void Origin Array System, and with Ling Jingsi’s martial arts sealed, he was unaware of what had happened above.
Seeing Shi Xiaole standing with the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor, Ling Jingsi’s first reaction was that they must have cooperated. Perhaps to save himself, Shi Xiaole paid some tremendous price, or perhaps he was being coerced. Or, he had submitted to the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor...
Whichever it was, it pained Ling Jingsi to consider.
"Swordsman Ling, the past has been a misunderstanding. I apologize to you, and now I’ll set you free."
The mouth of the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor twitched, forcing a smile on his crestfallen face.
Harm Shi Xiaole? What a joke. If the other party didn’t kill him, he would already consider it a mercy.
The Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor could guess that after this incident, Ling Jingsi would not let things go easily. The reason Shi Xiaole did not kill him might well be to leave it to Ling Jingsi to dispel his own demons.
But regardless, he finally had a chance to catch his breath. Once this situation was over, he must escape at all costs!
He personally dismantled the Array System and unlocked the Dragon Binding Rope. The Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor carefully lifted Ling Jingsi out of the silver pool. After a few moments, Shi Xiaole could feel that Ling Jingsi’s sealed power had fully returned.
Shi Xiaole stepped forward and respectfully said, "Congratulations, Uncle Ling, on regaining your freedom."
"What, what exactly is going on?"
Ling Jingsi was bewildered.
Even now, he could not fail to see the terror that the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor harbored for the young man in green, resembling a mouse in the presence of a cat.
"The Kirin Sword Emperor’s power is supreme, and he has subdued me. It was my fault before, and I hope Swordsman Ling can be magnanimous."
The Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor bowed deeply in submission.
Kirin Sword Emperor?
Ling Jingsi was dumbfounded.
A hundred years ago, the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor was just a second-rate Earthly Realm Martial Emperor, only slightly inferior to himself. For him to be so submissive, Shi Xiaole’s strength must be far beyond a first-rate Earthly Realm Martial Emperor.
Taking a deep breath, Ling Jingsi looked at Shi Xiaole and, from him, he felt the grace that once only Shi Xuanzhong possessed.
It seemed that he had greatly underestimated this young man.
Ling Jingsi’s second disciple, named Liu Yuanming, had been captured and subjected to severe torture; fortunately, with the deterrence of Qin Building, the people of the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace did not dare to truly harm him.
When master and disciple reunited, it was an emotional scene. Liu Yuanming, seeing his master who looked the same as before, immediately knelt down, hugged his legs, and wept bitterly.
Ling Jingsi only scolded his younger daughter for her emotional state, but by the end, his eyes too were blurred. From Shi Xiaole’s account, he already knew how much his junior brother and disciple had sacrificed to rescue him.
"Master, if Brother Shi’s skills are so superior, why not eliminate the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor and avenge you?"
After talking about their emotions, Liu Yuanming suddenly spoke.
Ling Jingsi’s eyes softened, "This is your Brother Shi’s painstaking efforts. Having been imprisoned for a hundred years, as a teacher, I must personally seek revenge to advance further." By the end, his gaze became exceptionally sharp.
Without rushing to leave, after rescuing Ling Jingsi and his disciple, Shi Xiaole went to the forbidden area of the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace, outside the Thousand Poison Cave.
The Thousand Poison Cave was nine hundred and ninety-nine Zhang deep. Last time, he had ventured in five hundred and fifty Zhang and found himself unable to move a step further.
It was also at that time that the incomplete, blood-stained bracelet on his body sensed a fluctuation deep inside the cave, suggesting that Shi Xuanzhong and his wife had been here. (Chapter 794)
Without pause, Shi Xiaole strolled leisurely; the poison fog within the cave couldn’t get close to him at all. In the blink of an eye, he was standing at the deepest part of the Thousand Poison Cave.
The colorful mist here was extraordinarily vibrant, its venom seemingly at the pinnacle first-class level of strange poisons, but for a Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor, it was no different from the ordinary air.
His blood inexplicably began to surge, and the drop of blood within the incomplete bracelet issued a strong signal—Shi Xiaole’s gaze fell directly on a pool of blood on the left wall.
This pool of blood was exceptionally bright. As Shi Xiaole approached, it began to emit a dazzling light. Suppressing his pounding heart, Shi Xiaole extended his hand, and the blood swiftly contracted into a single drop, suspended in his palm.
A certain indescribable sense of familiarity made Shi Xiaole’s nose go sour.
In this moment, many disjointed fragments seemed to form a complete thread.
A thousand years ago, Ling Yujie was poisoned by "Accompany You to Hell." To save her, Shi Xuanzhong voluntarily tested the poison on himself by ingesting a massive amount of "Accompany You to Hell" enough to kill a million people, after which both vanished without a trace.
Ling Jingsi searched madly for over nine hundred years and finally fell into the trap set by the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor and the Emotionless Whip Emperor, among others, ultimately becoming imprisoned in the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace.
Decades later, a couple appeared in Qingxue State and saved a girl named Su Yanru. Later, they were invited to Mingliu Villa and temporarily entrusted their child to Su Yanru before disappearing once again.
Decades passed quickly, and as the opening of Rainbow Island approached, Niu Dali was attacked by an enemy but happened to be rescued by a man who looked remarkably similar to himself. That man seemed to be out of his senses, continuously muttering the name Shi Xuanzhong.
Later on, that man, while on Rainbow Island, encountered the injured Thousand Dark Poison Emperor and told him that to successfully detoxify his wife, one must utilize the sacred fire command of Rainbow State and the boundless fate.
Until the end, in pursuit of his father’s whereabouts, he too entered Rainbow Island and there, met a mysterious man in a blue mask, who gave him a feeling of both distance and closeness, yet unmistakably familiar.
"So, when did Shi Xuanzhong enter this place?"
Integrating the blood into his body and stepping out of the Thousand Poison Cave, Shi Xiaole immediately summoned the archives of the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace and began to check them one by one. Finally, in the records of a certain night fifteen years ago, he saw these words.
"That night, guard Lu Lingbo suspected an unexplained noise from the Thousand Poison Cave, thus reporting through the ranks. The Grand Elders went a hundred Zhang deep but found nothing and, as the acting palace master was in seclusion for cultivation, the matter was left unresolved."
At that time, the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor was the only Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor in the Thousand Darkness Poison Palace, while Earth Immortals of the Divine Barrier Realm couldn’t possibly reach the depths of the Thousand Poison Cave. Shi Xiaole then inquired with the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor.
"Indeed, that did happen, I dare not deceive the Kirin Sword Emperor. When I broke out of seclusion, I immediately entered the deepest part of the Thousand Poison Cave, but I couldn’t disperse that pool of blood."
Talking about this, the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor’s face was filled with horror.
With his strength, the fact that he couldn’t erase a pool of blood was a terrifying notion. It was hard to imagine just how powerful the owner of that blood must have been, and what had injured him so seriously.
Some things are inevitably beyond his ability to inquire or discover.
"Was there nothing else discovered?"
Fearing that the other party had erased something else and might deliberately conceal it, Shi Xiaole silently used "Heavenly Palace Illusion," but he didn’t get any useful answers.
Afterward, the Thousand Ghosts Poison Emperor, full of doubt, subconsciously entered the Thousand Poison Cave; when he emerged, his face was pale, and his body trembled slightly.
The pool of blood was gone. Could it be, could it be him...
"If the person that night was indeed Shi Xuanzhong, and the timing was before he met Niu Dali, his cultivation level should have been below the sixth layer of the Divine Barrier Realm. Who could have injured him, and how did he sneak in?"
Shi Xiaole was nothing but perplexed.
