Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After an hour, Sheng Ge ended up venturing into the depths of the Eighteen Linked Mountains, following the trail of the faint aura. She stopped midway several times, and she almost ended up losing track of the aura altogether.
It was only after reaching a mountain that she stopped and said, “It’s impossible. The aura has already dissipated completely, so I can’t continue tracking it.”
Su Yu surveyed the surroundings and was surprised to discover that the black mountain in front of him was the exact mountain that he was in charge of excavating.
“There’s not even a little bit of it left?” Su Yu’s heart sank upon hearing this.
Sheng Ge nodded. “No. I’m incapable of detecting the outer party’s aura any longer. I could still sense it faintly along the way here, but once we reached this place, it disappeared completely.”
Su Yu remembered how Xue Qi had comforted him before as he walked around the black mountain and observed it carefully. But, he didn’t find any trace of Xue Qi.
Their search lasted for most of the night, and after they returned to the camp, all of other the people who went to look for her came back one after the other, none of them finding anything either. It seemed that Xue Qi was truly in danger.
“Don’t get anxious! Xue Qi is an inner sanctum’s disciple, and her cultivation is at the Divine Master Realm level. Thus, she has many ways of protecting herself, and even if she was kidnapped, her life won’t really be in danger. But, we should notify the Manor Master and ask for reinforcements to help us look for her. That would be better than us continuing to look for her aimlessly by ourselves.” Bai Shanliang attempted to comfort Su Yu.
In reality, though, all of the people here knew clearly that this possibility was quite low. Since the enemy could kidnap Xue Qi quietly, it could be seen that the enemy’s power surpassed Xue Qi’s, which meant that it was quite unlikely that Xue Qi was capable of protecting herself.
As he thought of this, Su Yu forced himself to smile as he said, “Well… We can only try this route and hope for the best. I hope that she won’t suffer any harm until we are able to get to her.”
He figured that all he could do now was resign himself to fate, while doing his best to help remedy the situation. After they reported this matter, it alarmed the Elegant Spirit Manor’s members and its master greatly.
It was no secret in the Elegant Spirit Mountain that people were constantly going missing in the Eighteen Linked Mountains. As such, this was a grave matter, and no one dared to assume responsibility for it.
On the same night, the Manor Master sent a hundred people to search the Eighteen Linked Mountains. He even went there personally.
The Eighteen Linked Mountains were brightly lit with their torchlights for the whole night, making it seem like it was daytime, while the voices of the people searching echoed everywhere. They bustled about for the whole night, continuing their search until dawn, but they still didn’t find Xue Qi.
Everyone wore a solemn expression. They were all restless and terrified. This was especially the case for the people who had been sent by the sanctum to stay here for a long period of time. They were more nervous than the others.
Many people had gone missing in the last half a year, and they didn’t find them to verify that they were still alive, nor did they find their corpses to confirm their deaths. This matter caused them all to be in incredibly low spirits. As such, none of them felt like working.
“Sirs, there are evil spirits running amuck in the Elegant Spirit Mountain, and I have already notified the inner sanctum. There will be upper layer members of the sanctum coming here in two or three days, and even the Palace Master may come here personally to examine everything. So, please calm down,” the Manor Master divulged.
After hearing this piece of shocking news, they all wondered… Will the Red Blood Palace’s Master, Mo Tianxuan, really come here personally?
All of the people, who had been in such low spirits, became energetic once again. It was as if they had just been injected with chicken blood!
After all, Mo Tianxuan was a legendary person in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands, and his All Creation Realm cultivation made all eighteen domains cower before him in fear and awe. So, if she undertook this task personally, she would surely find the people behind all of this!
“As for Xue Qi’s disappearance, you can just set your mind at ease about it, as when I contacted the inner sanctum, I learned that her Life Badge is still intact! This means that she’s still alive and her life isn’t in danger. When the Palace Master comes here, she will surely be saved!” the Manor Master informed Su Yu and the others with this piece of good news.
Upon hearing this, Su Yu relaxed slightly and thought with relief… She is still alive?
The Life Badge was a privilege that was enjoyed by only inner sanctum’s disciples. These inner sanctum’s disciples were the only people considered worthy of protection by the sanctum. Thus, the sanctum cared about their safeties greatly.
One way that they could track the safety of these inner sanctum’s disciples was through their Life Badges. They could leave behind a drop of their blood essence, imbuing it into a special badge, which would become their Life Badges.
Then, if a disciple died, his Life Badge would detect it and would shatter into pieces. Thus, if the badge was still intact, it meant that the disciple was still alive!
Su Yu heaved a sigh of relief when he learned that Xue Qi was still alive. Now, they just had to wait for the Palace Master to come here and deal with the evil spirit.
All of the people returned to their work and continued excavating the black mountains, including Su Yu. He had already excavated a third of a mountain, and after he continued excavating it for another day, he had dug out another third.
So, just a third of it was left. Such a ridiculously fast excavation speed was quite terrifying and astonishing!
Also, after excavating for a whole day, Su Yu had found five Ghost Clan objects and six Human Clan objects, which he could probably exchange for a total of 16,000 merit points! At this rate, if he finished excavating the whole mountain the next day, he could probably get another 16,000 merit points. He would then end up having more than a 100,000 merit points total, which would be enough for him to get the Nine Suns Cosmos Sword Formation!
Splash!
At that moment, Sheng Ge came out from the mud, her face filled with delight. Her body’s aura was slightly more powerful now, and it seemed like she was close to reaching the Level Three Fairy Realm. In fact, she could probably reach it easily within the next day!
“It seems like you have received many benefits during this time!” Su Yu commented after sizing her up.
Sheng Ge’s heart shuddered upon hearing him, and she quickly spoke in a submisse tone, “Master, all of this has only been bestowed upon me because of you.”
She feared Su Yu because she had been imprisoned and tormented by him for a long time. This made her fearful of ever daring to betray him again.
“Fine. Did you find anything in the last third?” Su Yu asked.
Although Sheng Ge was quite sensitive to the ghosts’ aura, her senses were still limited by its distance from them. The closer she was to the aura, the clearer she could sense it. It was understandable that Su Yu had almost finished excavating the whole mountain, he wanted to know whether there were still any treasures buried in it.
Sheng Ge spoke in confusion, “Master, the Ghost Clan’s aura’s fluctuations that I am sensing were the same as yesterday’s. There are around ten aural fluctuations, and it still seems like there is something strange at the bottom of the mountain.”
Su Yu raised his brows, then asked, “Why do you think it is strange?”
Sheng Ge replied, “Well… I didn’t detect it yesterday because I was too far away from it. So, I was only able to sense it a while ago. It seems like there is a hidden space beneath the mountain, which has intense fluctuations of ghost energy within it.”
Is a powerful magical treasure from the Ghost Clan buried at the bottom of the mountain? Su Yu wondered as his eyes lit up.
He then said, “Rest for a while before you continue the absorption. Meanwhile, I will see whether I can open a small tunnel to use to get inside.”
Su Yu knew that if he delayed this matter, many accidents might occur. People would surely be suspicious of him because he had managed to dig out a large number of treasures, and this night, many people would be coming to the mountain that he had excavated in order to investigate. They might even go to the bottom of the mountain before him, which meant that Su Yu would end up missing an opportunity to get a precious treasure.
Sheng Ge was clearly equally as interested in the mysterious space at the bottom of the mountain as she said, “Okay. I will try absorbing a part of the blood essence to cause a part of the ground to turn into mud.”
After five minutes, Sheng Ge had drilled into the ground. She didn’t need to absorb all of the ghost’s blood essence in the mountain, but had only needed to soften enough ground to form a tunnel, through which a single person could pass. This meant that she wouldn’t need to absorb too much blood essence!
After four hours had passed and the sky was darkening, Su Yu finally managed, with Sheng Ge’s help, to open a tunnel that led to the bottom of the mountain. Su Yu carefully drilled into it and went down to the bottom. It was only when he reached the very bottom of the mountain that he discovered that a natural cave was beneath the black mountain!
The cave was quite spacious and had many pitch-black and crisscrossing tunnels, which made the cave extremely complex to navigate. In fact, it would be nearly impossible for someone to his their direction in it!
Su Yu was startled by this discovery. Judging from the cave’s great expanse, it seemed like it stretched beneath all of the Eighteen Linked Mountains! If an ordinary person came here, he would probably need to proceed carefully in order to not get lost. But, since Su Yu had Soul Eyes, he wasn’t really afraid of anything.
His eyes shone with a white light as the whole cave turned transparent in his eyes, allowing him to see through everything in it clearly. As Su Yu surveyed it with his eyes, he discovered that there weren’t any living beings here. Also, it seemed like it was a natural cave, which had existed here for countless years.
All of a sudden, Su Yu’s pupils contracted slightly, and his eyes, which were capable of seeing through everything, saw a great stone gate that his gaze couldn’t penetrate. Since it could isolate his Soul’s power outside, this giant gate was surely no ordinary thing. This meant that the person who had constructed it must be extraordinary!
His heart shuddered slightly, but he hesitated for only a moment before he started walking toward the gate. After all, he was determined to not allow the crisscrossing tunnels to bewilder him or cause him to get lost. Besides, this was impossible because his eyes could see through it all!
After he walked for an hour, Su Yu finally reached the stone gate. At that moment, Sheng Ge’s eyes lit up and she said, “Oh that’s right! The powerful ghost energy fluctuation I felt came from this stone gate!” She seemed quite excited.
Su Yu stroked his chin and examined the stone gate. It was a thousand-feet-long, and was made from black materials that gave people an eerie feeling.
Su Yu could also feel the Ghost Clan’s aura coming from the gate, and it made him wonder… Why is there was a man-made gate in this natural cave?
Su Yu, while harboring doubts about this, strode forward. After he examined the gate carefully, he discovered that the gate wasn’t closed tightly and a gap could be faintly seen in it. It seemed like it had been opened by someone recently.
As Su Yu looked through the gap, what appeared before his eyes shocked him. He unexpectedly saw Xue Qi, who had gone missing!
Xue Qi was confined in a blood-red light sphere that had numerous tentacles stretching out from it. These tentacles were trying to reach Xue Qi’s body, but luckily, she was wearing a necklace that had a yellow bead that emitted a yellow light, which kept the tentacles from reaching her.
At the moment, Xue Qi’s eyes were closed tightly and her brows were furrowed. It seemed like she was struggling to persist.
Su Yu saw a big pile of bones next to Xue Qi, and from their shading, it could be deduced that their owners had died just recently. In fact, it looked like not even half a year had passed since the oldest owner of the bones had died, while the newest set of bones seemed to have only been there for a few days.
As he thought about the constant disappearance of people in the last half a year, Su Yu couldn’t help but shiver. He wondered… Is the ghost that’s been running amuck behind the stone gate?
A sense of crisis welled up in Su Yu’s heart as he swept his gaze over the other nooks of the room with his eyes and observed its terrain. After he observed it carefully, he discovered that the room’s structure resembled an altar.
The surroundings were all sunken in, while a giant platform was erected in the middle. There was a flight of stairs that had been constructed in it, and mysterious patterns were carved all over the surroundings. These patterns were distorted and strange, and it didn’t seem like the patterns depicted a human language at all.
However, Su Yu still needed just a single glance to recognize it, and he exclaimed, “The Ghost Clan’s language!”
Those distorted patterns were clearly from the Ghost Clan’s language, which was also present in Yun Yazi’s research. As Su Yu had once studied Yun Yazi’s research, he recognized the language immediately.
“It’s an Illusory Spirit Departed Soul Formation!” Su Yu then exclaimed, as he realized what the writing in the Ghost Clan’s language meant. It seemed like it was a secret technique that was related to souls.
The platform was probably an altar for using this formation. This altar seemed to be quite old, maybe even a hundred years old! At the moment, ghost energy was running amuck above it, and an evil wind was also blowing in that space.
Su Yu’s pupils suddenly contracted as he saw a person among the tumbling ghost energy. The person was laying on the middle of the altar.
Su Yu couldn’t see his face because it was covered by ghost energy, but he could still feel a powerful aura emanating from the man. Su Yu’s expression became grave, as this aura was too powerful,. In fact, he could tell that it was at the middle-stage Divine Master level.
Sheng Ge started shivering and her small face became pale as she said in a terrified tone, “Master, you must flee! This is probably the All Creation Ghost, which died in the past and is now using a Human Clan’s Divine Master’s blood as a sacrifice in order to activate the Illusory Spirit Departed Soul Formation to heal his soul, which was damaged in the past!”
She then added, “His current power is just at the middle-stage of the Divine Master Realm, but he will likely advance into the later stage of the Divine Master Realm very soon!”
