Chapter 1224: Chapter 1222: Sitting on a Treasure Mountain (9/10 update for ’poonlo’)
With his martial power gripping his left arm, Xuanyuan Lang was terrified and in a split second, vanished without a trace.
Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder also attempted to flee, but they were enveloped by a terrifying force that rendered them immovable, like fish on a cutting board, unable to do anything but await their fate.
"If this old man killed you, it would inevitably leave a demon in Shi Xiaole’s heart. Your lives should be taken by him personally."
The blind old man held the little girl in his left hand and Qin Elder, who was barely hanging on, in his right. The Erhu hovered in the air and began to play on its own.
Twice a hissing sound!
The sonic blades struck the chests of Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder, sending them flying tens of thousands of meters and spraying a trail of blood mist.
If Shi Xiaole had died, the blind old man would, of course, have avenged him, but he sensed it clearly that Shi Xiaole was not dead. With the other’s martial arts of life and death, recovery would not be difficult.
"You deceitful old man, let’s go."
Ignoring the terrified Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder, the blind old man took the little girl and Qin Elder and swiftly departed.
"Just you wait, Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller."
At that moment, the Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller’s robe was covered with pieces of liver. Although it was just a brief moment, holding off five great masters alone without dying meant he was very advanced in his path.
The Bagua moved in reverse, kaleidoscope-like rays aimed at the Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller who, in the blink of an eye, vanished along with the trigram, leaving only crisscrossing lines of fate, leading who knows where.
"Damn scoundrel!"
Chi Evil Great Witch slapped around multiple times in frustration, his face as ugly as it could be.
The assassination attempt, which seemed impressive, ended up a complete failure as Shi Xiaole was not killed and they had severely offended Qin Elder and his two companions— a complete disaster!
"We shall return to Miaojiang immediately, and instruct the outstanding disciples from our sect and clan to stay indoors."
Chi Evil Great Witch made a swift decision.
"Would those three truly dare to do this? Shi Xiaole might not necessarily be dead."
The only beautiful woman among the five masters expressed her surprise.
"Better safe than sorry. If Shi Xiaole isn’t dead, they won’t be as mad as they claimed, but they will take action in retaliation. In any case, it never hurts to be cautious."
Chi Evil Great Witch knew all too well the truth in the saying that caution is the parent of safety. In fact, he was more concerned about retaliation from Shi Xiaole than from Qin Elder’s trio.
Having lived for tens of thousands of years, he had never seen a talent more fearsome than Shi Xiaole.
The progress of others was gradual, but Shi Xiaole’s was in leaps and bounds, which made Chi Evil Great Witch especially anxious having provoked such a persona.
"No matter how fast he progresses, to catch up with me will take hundreds of years, not to mention by that time, whether East Victory Continent even exists is another matter."
So-called Fake Sky Origin Realm masters are those who have honed their spiritual power to one hundred percent and have approached the peak of Supreme Martial Arts by nearly one hundred ten percent. Even for unparalleled geniuses, achieving such feats is as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Chi Evil Great Witch did not doubt that Shi Xiaole could achieve it, but he considered it a fool’s dream to do so within a few hundred years. With a calmer heart, he mocked himself for being cowardly, to be frightened by a mere youngster.
"Black Abyss, once we return, we need to be careful."
The ones in the worst mood were not the five masters, but Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder. They were very aware of what the failure of the mission implied.
Hearing Scorpion Lady’s words, Black Abyss Elder coldly said, "What’s there to fear? Miaojiang is vast and sparsely populated; he might not even be able to find us. At least for a hundred years, this youngster can’t turn heaven and earth."
Scorpion Lady remained silent.
Black Abyss Elder was defiant in words, but even he perhaps did not notice the deep fear in his voice. He said a hundred years, but what about after a hundred years?
...
"Grandpa Qin, are you okay?"
In a dense forest, Qin Elder slowly opened his eyes, and the little girl immediately asked with concern.
Qin Elder reached out to touch the little girl’s head and smiled, "Girl, Grandpa Qin is fine, doing very well."
"You old fool, activating that secret technique cost you at least eighty years of life span, I’m afraid you won’t live past a hundred more years, and it will also affect your martial power."
The Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller said with a sigh, blocking the little girl’s hearing.
"What’s my life worth? If it weren’t for Holy Monarch, I would’ve died years ago... Old cheat, how about you? You’ve been hit hard as well."
Qin Elder was unconcerned about his own condition.
The Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller replied with a wry smile, "I’m a bit better, just broke a few dozen ribs, some internal organs are injured, plus some damage to my heart meridian, that’s all."
Qin Elder’s expression faltered. The heart meridian matters for a person’s lifespan, any damage to it would greatly diminish one’s life force. It seemed the old cheat was worse off than himself.
The blind old man said, "I did not do enough this time. During the future grand clash of heaven and earth, I will be at the very front."
The two gave a slight laugh, knowing that the blind old man was serious, but they didn’t bother to engage him.
Qin Elder promptly inquired about Shi Xiaole’s whereabouts, to which the Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller said, "I won’t hide from you that I’ve calculated a divination for Young Master a few days ago. I knew he was facing a life-and-death tribulation, and now it seems that tribulation has come to pass. Next, he’ll experience a reversal of fortune, obtaining a great opportunity!"
"However, this opportunity must not be disturbed by any external forces, so we can’t go looking for Young Master. Otherwise, we would actually be harming him."
Hearing him speak so seriously, Qin Elder and the blind old man remained silent, for they knew the capabilities of the Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller; his predictions were rarely wrong. Moreover, the events that had unfolded corroborated the divination.
After pondering for a moment, Qin Elder nodded and said, "If that’s the case, let’s first visit Miaojiang and the South Sea. Heh, thinking just because Young Master is not dead, the matter is settled? Some people won’t realize the consequences of offending us until they are beaten to their senses."
By the last words, the entire forest was filled with a murderous aura, and the nearby birds and beasts trembled with fear.
"I’ll first ensure Hong’er is settled. She shouldn’t see too much of the bloodshed."
The blind old man began to play the Erhu.
The Heavenly Destiny Divine Fortune Teller started to fiddle with the divination trigrams, calculating whose downfall would be most fitting to orchestrate first.
While the three individuals had different personalities, their bottom lines were identical. In their hearts, some people and some matters were simply untouchable, and to provoke them meant certain death!
...
Groggily falling into the lake, Shi Xiaole kept sinking deeper and deeper.
He was left with only half his body, having lost all limbs; his entire form was a blur of gaping wounds. If someone familiar with him were there, they would never recognize him as the ravishingly handsome Shi Xiaole.
Only his pitch-black, profound eyes remained fiercely bright.
Using his mental strength, he retrieved healing medicine from the system space and swallowed it down. After half a 2-hour period had passed, Shi Xiaole regained some strength and began to operate the Life-and-Death Martial Arts.
Three days and nights later.
A perfectly robust and masculine body burst from the lake to settle on the shore, already draped in a sky-blue changshan.
The young man’s jet-black hair, dried by his internal energy, was swept up and tied with a grey ribbon at the back of his head. Only two strands dangled in front of his forehead, framing his cheeks, adding a hint of unruliness to his striking and carefree appearance.
If not Shi Xiaole, then who?
The peak perfection of the Life-and-Death Martial Arts significantly enhanced Shi Xiaole’s survival skills — as long as he had a single breath left, given enough time, any injury could be healed.
"The mental fortitude of a Fake Sky Origin Realm expert isn’t weaker than mine. If the opponent were to hide carefully, they would truly be difficult to detect," he mused.
This incident had undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for Shi Xiaole.
In the past, he had placed too much faith in his mental strength, always believing he could detect any danger in advance. However, one must understand that the process of tempering mental strength is essentially about improving mental fortitude.
Shi Xiaole’s mental tempering was ultimately only at forty-one percent. Once he reached one hundred percent, he would have no reason to fear a Fake Sky Origin Realm master.
At critical moments, it’s still true strength that decides everything! As for killer moves, one wouldn’t be able to draw a Fake Sky Origin Realm level technique every time, like in this instance, where it was utterly useless.
Initially, Shi Xiaole hadn’t thought much of the Life-and-Death Unfounded Cave, but now, he suddenly felt a great urgency.
Without delay, he took out a black formation plate and, blending into invisibility in an instant, he swept towards the direction of the Life-and-Death Unfounded Cave.
Two days passed.
Shi Xiaole had delved deep into the Lingkong Mountain Range, and in an inconspicuous hollow of a small hill, the black formation plate lost its guiding function.
"It seems I’ve arrived at the right place."
His mental strength stretched out like tendrils, and not long after, Shi Xiaole’s eyes brightened. He unsheathed his sword and slashed the void, channeling not the Wind Sword Way but the Life-and-Death Martial Arts.
Crack, crack!
A severe rift appeared, and Shi Xiaole stepped through.
What kind of world was this? It seemed like an endless passage filled with an ancient grey aura, continually washing over Shi Xiaole’s body.
After merely a few dozen breaths and advancing several hundred meters, Shi Xiaole had to retreat.
"Such strong essences of life and death!"
Pale-faced, in just this short while, Shi Xiaole’s life force had been significantly drained, almost as severe as the injuries he had received earlier.
There’s an old saying, extremes meet — the life and death auras within the Life-and-Death Unfounded Cave combined so tightly that even the Life-and-Death Martial Arts had difficulty dissecting and converting them. However, from within, Shi Xiaole saw a tremendous opportunity for advancing his martial arts.
If he managed to convert them successfully, his progress would be meteoric!
After adjusting outside for several days and recovering, Shi Xiaole entered the Life-and-Death Unfounded Cave for the second time.
In the past, the Qin Elder and his companions stayed inside for a moment and it took nearly a thousand years to recover. Shi Xiaole didn’t dare to act recklessly; each time, he only stayed for dozens of breaths, desperately capturing the grey auras, then frantically converting them outside.
Regrettably, he hadn’t managed to convert even a slightest bit. The dissipated aura transformed tens of thousands of miles around into barren deathlands where not even a single blade of grass grew.
Ten times.
Twenty times.
Thirty times.
...
Shi Xiaole had no idea how many times he had tried over the course of nearly a year. Due to the frequent extreme activation, his Life-and-Death Martial Arts gradually neared a breakthrough point, yet it still wasn’t enough to dissect a strand of grey aura.
Shi Xiaole was truly discontented; it felt as though he had a treasure mountain at his disposal but was utterly unable to mine and utilize it.
One year and three months later.
Shi Xiaole’s Life-and-Death Martial Arts made further progress, inching ever closer to the early stages of eleven percent.
Even the Heart Sword force, which he had temporarily ceased to comprehend, grew automatically from the past five hundred and fifty strands to five hundred and seventy strands due to his previous substantial cultivation.
One could say that at this very moment, Shi Xiaole’s strength was hardly inferior to that of Scorpion Lady and Black Abyss Elder a year and a half ago.
But he was still frustrated.
"Do I really have to give up?"
Once more entering the Life-and-Death Unfounded Cave, Shi Xiaole made his final attempt.
