Chapter 186: Broken Stone
’Thirty degrees, one breath.’
’Two hundred and forty degrees, one and a half breaths.’
’Eighty degrees, three breaths.’
As he perceived the wind blades around him, Yu Nianzhen swung his sword and broke the closest three.
Soon after, he dodged a fourth wind blade and swung just in time to break five more.
However, he didn’t stick around after countering the five wind blades. Instead, he dashed to his left and only stopped when he was ten metres away.
’Two black wind beasts.’ He thought, and on cue, two beasts appeared where he was previously standing.
The beasts were black and had smoke-like bodies.
Their black eyes were searching the surroundings, but Yu Nianzhen had run close enough to see them but far enough to avoid their notice.
’Mid-rank class three black wind beasts.’ He thought, and his heart skipped a beat.
After three years in the abyss, Yu Nianzhen could leapfrog to defeat low-rank and mid-rank class three black wind beasts.
However, he had never fought against two at the same time.
’Cultivation is going against the sky.’ He thought and gripped his sword tighter.
A moment later, he appeared next to the black wind beasts and struck the flank of one. Almost simultaneously, the beast released a black wind which collided with Yu Nianzhen’s sword light.
’It’s too bad.’ He thought and sighed.
However, he did not give up.
Since he could defeat one mid-rank class three black wind beast, it was only natural to seek the next challenge. Before he challenged a high-rank black wind beast, fighting against two mid-ranks was good exercise.
When his sword collided with the wind blade of the first beast, the second circled around him and attacked his back.
Yu Nianzhen felt a chill at the back of his neck, and he rolled on the ground while swinging his sword to block a wind blade.
When he recovered from the roll, he lunged forward and two silver lights flew out from his sword.
One sword light attacked the first black wind beast, and the other attacked the second.
However, Yu Nianzhen knew that the sword lights couldn’t really hurt the beasts.
Although their bodies looked like smoke, they were not flimsy.
Beneath the smoky surface, the black wind beasts had an extremely tough hide, and ordinary attacks could not hurt them.
’I need to get rid of one as soon as possible.’
At the thought, Yu Nianzhen closed his eyes, and his demeanour changed.
The world around him became still, and his body became indistinguishable from the world around him.
A breath later, his arm moved, and a sword light cantered towards one of the black wind beasts.
This sword light was different from the usual bright silver. Instead, it was dull and tended towards grey than silver.
’It’s still not perfect.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and sighed.
However, although the move wasn’t as perfect as he wanted, it was effective.
As soon as it appeared, the black wind beast was paralysed and could only stand as the greyish light penetrated its neck.
Soon after, its head was separated from its body, and its companion roared in anger.
Fortunately, Yu Nianzhen was prepared.
Although the previous attack used most of his qi and sword intent, he still had enough strength to dodge the attack of the remaining black wind beast.
After eliminating one opponent, Yu Nianzhen no longer used the previous attack.
Instead, he took his time to fight the beast and only defeated it after half an hour of struggle.
After the beast died, he collected the two bodies in his storage ring and quickly left the vicinity.
Yu Nianzhen ran for an hour and encountered several black wind beasts before he found a safe area.
However, just as he was about to enter the safe area, his body froze, and his divine sense spread around him.
After a while, his brows creased in a frown, and he became even more tense.
Although the area was called a safe zone, it was only compared to the rest of zone C.
In the safe area, there were also sharp winds, but the winds were clear and not poisonous.
This was because the area had many black windflowers, and the black wind beasts didn’t dare to approach.
However, many cultivators gathered in these safe areas.
The first reason was that they could avoid the poisonous black winds and black wind beasts if they stayed in the safe areas. They could also find black windflowers for when they left the safe zone.
The second reason was that the safe areas had the harshest and sharpest winds.
Yu Nianzhen and everyone else in the Black Wind Abyss was there for training.
As such, those who could stand it liked to train in the safe areas and only ventured to other places when they needed a rest. Because of this, there were many fights in the safe areas.
’It doesn’t matter if someone is already there." Yu Nianzhen decided and walked to the safe area.
However, his body froze again when he entered the safe area.
This was because he didn’t see anything, but his divine sense told him that someone was there.
’Is it someone using an invisibility talisman?’ He wondered and became more alert.
If someone was hiding using such a talisman, Yu Nianzhen was at a disadvantage. Although he would notice the attacker if an attack was made, there was no guarantee that he could avoid the attack.
’Should I leave this place?’ He looked around but still could not see anyone or anything.
At a loss, he closed his eyes and focused his divine sense on the safe area.
However, he still did not uncover anything after a long time, so he became even more cautious.
"Fellow Daoist..." He called.
Unfortunately, he did not receive an answer after calling a few times.
"Please come out and talk." He said.
However, there were no movements, and Yu Nianzen decided to leave. In this situation where he didn’t know what was up, he felt it was better to leave than stay to face an unknown risk.
After deciding, Yu Nianzhen did not linger.
He turned around and was about to leave when he noticed that something had changed in the safe area.
Ordinarily, safe areas were encircled within a barrier of clear winds.
This was true when Yu Nianzhen entered the area, but when he was not looking, the winds had turned white.
Looking out from inside, he couldn’t see anything, but he could feel that the surrounding winds were becoming stronger.
"What’s going on?" He held his sword and looked around vigilantly.
’Is this caused by the person hiding in this area?’ He wondered.
Unfortunately, there was no one to answer his questions, and he could only watch as the barrier shrunk around him.
’I have to get out of here quickly.’
Without delay, he began to attack the wind barrier.
However, his attacks were like trying to drain an ocean with a spoon. Even his strongest attack could not make a ripple in the wind barrier, and Yu Nianzhen began to worry.
He had never encountered something like this and couldn’t figure out the culprit’s motive.
From what happened when he attacked the barrier, he knew that the culprit was at least several realms stronger than him.
However, this made him even more confused.
If the person was so strong, why were they going to so much trouble to deal with him? With such power, Yu Nianzhen wouldn’t be able to resist if the person attacked him.
’What should I do? Should I use the golden talisman to leave this place?’ He wondered but then shook his head.
Although the situation was strange, he didn’t feel any threat to his life.
If he used the talisman, he would be teleported out of the Black Wind Abyss, and Yu Nianzhen didn’t want that.
He still wanted to train for a few more years and create the first move of his self-made sword art. Also, he had yet to recover the grain he threw out when he entered the abyss.
This meant that his divine sense was still inadequate and not subtle enough. Otherwise, he would have found the grain by now.
’I can’t leave yet.’ He decided and calmed his heart.
When he calmed down, he felt an attraction from the ground.
This confused him, and he looked down only to see that he was standing on a broken stone tablet.
When he first entered the safe zone, Yu Nianzhen saw the stone, but he didn’t think much of it.
At the time, he was focused on finding the invisible person and ignored everything else.
However, when he looked at the stone now, he felt that it was not ordinary. Uncontrollably, Yu Nianzhen bent down and touched the stone.
A moment later, a sharp pain hit his finger, and blood dripped on the stone. Before he could react, a phantom escaped from the broken stone and entered his body.
