chapter 15
"I told you not to move the sword energy too much. Anyway, if you can hold on for another half an hour, the people from the South Realm will arrive." Jiang Xingfeng looked around quickly and hurriedly picked up the mask that the swordsman had dropped on the ground. "Did I tell you not to recklessly manipulate the sword energy to break the seal? Did you activate the demonic blood!?"
The swordsman didn't move. His eyes gradually began to display the pupils typical of demon races, and the signs of demonization became more and more apparent. The heavy stench of blood seemed to linger in the air, and the swordsman licked his sharp tiger fangs, their edges obvious. Aside from that, there was the demon energy inside his body, stirred up by the blood scent. He frowned and stared at the puddle of dirty blood at his feet. On instinct, he suppressed his sense of smell and taste, but even so, he could still feel the distinct taste of the blood from that person lingering on his lips.
It had nothing to do with sword energy… The swordsman lowered his gaze to the ground.
At that moment, several powerful auras suddenly appeared from the high peaks of Nanwu Mountain. The two people speaking immediately fell silent and looked up toward the heights.
The corpse water in the fog pool splashed everywhere, and the cultivators on the shore were still in a state of panic, unable to react in time. When the seal at the edge of Nanwu Mountain was pierced by the astonishing sword light, the elder with white hair, who was protecting the cultivators, furrowed his brow slightly. "Why is Xuan Yu Zhuang here?"
The seal at Nanwu Mountain's horizon had turned to ash under the earth-shattering sword light. At this moment, several spiritual ships were floating at various points on the mountain peak, and the foremost ship belonged to Xuan Yu Zhuang and the Qi family.
The most famous sects in the Eastern Realm's Southern Region were the Four Great Sects, with Xuan Yu Zhuang among them. The most influential families were the Qi family and the Su family.
As the spiritual ship from Xuan Yu Zhuang landed, a middle-aged man at the forefront of the ship glanced sideways at the Su family cultivators. His eyes swept over the cultivators who were collapsed on the ground and the corpse of the Su family elder carried out by the corpse water, then he waved his hand calmly. Soon, disciples from Xuan Yu Zhuang came to clean up the mess.
A cultivator from the Qi family stepped forward and politely said, "Su Young Master, we, the Qi family and Xuan Yu Zhuang, will handle the aftermath here. Do you have any objections?"
Su Yushi, the young master of the Su family, frowned but said nothing more. He simply cupped his hands and glanced at the Xuan Yu Zhuang members who had come with the Qi family.
If it was just the Qi family, he wouldn't have to worry, but the leader of Xuan Yu Zhuang himself had arrived.
While the Su family was famous in the Eastern Realm for their talismans and spiritual ship techniques, Xuan Yu Zhuang was known for their beast mastery techniques. They were world-renowned for their ability to control spiritual beasts and demon races, and they had close ties with the Immortal Spirit Village in the South Realm. They were considered the most attuned to all living beings among all cultivators. However, Xuan Yu Zhuang rarely interfered in worldly matters of the Southern Realm. Usually, the Qi family or the Su family would handle such things. Even when it came to competing for the burial grounds of powerful beings, Xuan Yu Zhuang would avoid getting involved.
For Xuan Yu Zhuang, their greatest strength came from their relationship with the Immortal Spirit Village and their connections with the spiritual beast and demon races. With this backing, they were able to maintain their position as one of the Four Great Sects in the Eastern Realm. Every year, numerous cultivators would go there to seek knowledge and cultivation.
"Why did that group from Xuan Yu Mountain come!" Jiang Xingfeng's expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly looked at the swordsman's teeth, then handed the mask to him. "While they haven't noticed us yet, should we…"
The swordsman remained silent, then looked toward the deep mountains of Nanwu behind them. With a wave of his hand, he wiped the bloodstains from the ground. "Let's go."
"Go where?" Jiang Xingfeng asked in confusion.
The swordsman put the mask on, hiding his demonically fierce face.
"Chase them."
Here is the translation of the text you provided:
"I told you not to move the sword energy too much. Anyway, if you can hold on for another half an hour, the people from the South Realm will arrive." Jiang Xingfeng looked around quickly and hurriedly picked up the mask that the swordsman had dropped on the ground. "Did I tell you not to recklessly manipulate the sword energy to break the seal? Did you activate the demonic blood!?"
The swordsman didn't move. His eyes gradually began to display the pupils typical of demon races, and the signs of demonization became more and more apparent. The heavy stench of blood seemed to linger in the air, and the swordsman licked his sharp tiger fangs, their edges obvious. Aside from that, there was the demon energy inside his body, stirred up by the blood scent. He frowned and stared at the puddle of dirty blood at his feet. On instinct, he suppressed his sense of smell and taste, but even so, he could still feel the distinct taste of the blood from that person lingering on his lips.
It had nothing to do with sword energy… The swordsman lowered his gaze to the ground.
At that moment, several powerful auras suddenly appeared from the high peaks of Nanwu Mountain. The two people speaking immediately fell silent and looked up toward the heights.
The corpse water in the fog pool splashed everywhere, and the cultivators on the shore were still in a state of panic, unable to react in time. When the seal at the edge of Nanwu Mountain was pierced by the astonishing sword light, the elder with white hair, who was protecting the cultivators, furrowed his brow slightly. "Why is Xuan Yu Zhuang here?"
The seal at Nanwu Mountain's horizon had turned to ash under the earth-shattering sword light. At this moment, several spiritual ships were floating at various points on the mountain peak, and the foremost ship belonged to Xuan Yu Zhuang and the Qi family.
The most famous sects in the Eastern Realm's Southern Region were the Four Great Sects, with Xuan Yu Zhuang among them. The most influential families were the Qi family and the Su family.
As the spiritual ship from Xuan Yu Zhuang landed, a middle-aged man at the forefront of the ship glanced sideways at the Su family cultivators. His eyes swept over the cultivators who were collapsed on the ground and the corpse of the Su family elder carried out by the corpse water, then he waved his hand calmly. Soon, disciples from Xuan Yu Zhuang came to clean up the mess.
A cultivator from the Qi family stepped forward and politely said, "Su Young Master, we, the Qi family and Xuan Yu Zhuang, will handle the aftermath here. Do you have any objections?"
Su Yushi, the young master of the Su family, frowned but said nothing more. He simply cupped his hands and glanced at the Xuan Yu Zhuang members who had come with the Qi family.
If it was just the Qi family, he wouldn't have to worry, but the leader of Xuan Yu Zhuang himself had arrived.
While the Su family was famous in the Eastern Realm for their talismans and spiritual ship techniques, Xuan Yu Zhuang was known for their beast mastery techniques. They were world-renowned for their ability to control spiritual beasts and demon races, and they had close ties with the Immortal Spirit Village in the South Realm. They were considered the most attuned to all living beings among all cultivators. However, Xuan Yu Zhuang rarely interfered in worldly matters of the Southern Realm. Usually, the Qi family or the Su family would handle such things. Even when it came to competing for the burial grounds of powerful beings, Xuan Yu Zhuang would avoid getting involved.
For Xuan Yu Zhuang, their greatest strength came from their relationship with the Immortal Spirit Village and their connections with the spiritual beast and demon races. With this backing, they were able to maintain their position as one of the Four Great Sects in the Eastern Realm. Every year, numerous cultivators would go there to seek knowledge and cultivation.
"Why did that group from Xuan Yu Mountain come!" Jiang Xingfeng's expression shifted slightly, and he hurriedly looked at the swordsman's teeth, then handed the mask to him. "While they haven't noticed us yet, should we…"
The swordsman remained silent, then looked toward the deep mountains of Nanwu behind them. With a wave of his hand, he wiped the bloodstains from the ground. "Let's go."
"Go where?" Jiang Xingfeng asked in confusion.
The swordsman put the mask on, hiding his demonically fierce face.
"Chase them."
In the depths of Nanwu Mountain, Su Yu crawled out of the river, drenched. After taking a few steps, the shattered meridians inside his body caused him to fall uncontrollably to the ground.
The feeling of hunger had disappeared, replaced by an endless pain. He was in so much pain that he could hardly make a sound. It felt as if his meridians had been torn apart, only to be reconnected by a strange power. In the previous moment, it seemed like his body was about to be split open by the overwhelming Yin energy, but in the next moment, the violent energy was suppressed by the totem circulating in his dantian.
He painfully grabbed at the stones on the shore, the sharp rocks cutting into his palms.
Su Yu struggled to regain his awareness. His eyes had already transformed to resemble the totem in his dantian. The lively totem had completely taken root in his eyes, spinning faster and faster, bringing him an indescribable feeling of exhilaration. His consciousness expanded infinitely, and his memories flickered in and out.
With the constant influx of energy, the meridians that had been broken and reconnected became wider. His original narrow meridians had been expanded several times over, and the chaotic Yin energy found an outlet, flowing through the young man's limbs and bones.
If an elder were present, they would be able to tell that the youth was undergoing a unique and unprecedented process of marrow-washing.
As the erratic Yin energy disappeared, the vision in his mind returned to its void-like state, as if everything around him had become still. All that remained was the ever-faster beating of his heart. In that instant, Su Yu felt as if the bones in his body were cracking, the meridians breaking, and his internal organs violently shaking.
The totem in his dantian spun rapidly, and collided with the burial beast's clasped orb, which Su Yu had swallowed earlier. The dark orb desperately tried to escape, but the totem wouldn't allow it. Instead, it used the solidified Yin energy in Su Yu's body to wrap around the orb, pulling it back deeper into his dantian.
The resistance of the orb weakened, and eventually, it was fully embedded within the totem. Once the orb was embedded, a continuous stream of dark energy surged into Su Yu's body, mixing with the white Yin energy, rapidly flowing through his meridians…
At that moment, something strange happened. The wounds on the youth's body, torn by the cold wind, gradually began to heal. The broken leg bones also regenerated under the influence of the Yin energy. The scars disappeared, and the stone beach was covered with the filthy residues that had been flushed out of the youth's body.
It was unclear how much time passed, but when Su Yu regained consciousness, the pain from his broken leg had vanished. The sensation of his meridians being stretched and swollen also dissipated. In its place was a lightness that flowed from within. He lay silently on the stone beach, looking inward at his consciousness sea, where he saw the eye totem slowly turning... At this moment, the withered platform on the totem had disappeared, and it was even larger than it had been when Su Yu first observed it.
Previously, it had been coiled at the center of Su Yu's dantian, but now it had expanded, covering half of his dantian. In the exact center of the totem, there was now a solidified mass of energy, resembling a bead. The ink-colored bead showed no resistance under the pressure of the totem. It obediently rotated along with the totem's motion.
Has this totem become full? Su Yu thought to himself. At that moment, he felt a hunger stirring inside him once again. He clutched his abdomen, his fingers instinctively curling and stretching, as if he could reach deeper into his dantian and extract the totem.
The eye totem remained indifferent, and the Yin energy in his dantian seemed to sense Su Yu's intentions. As Su Yu made a move, the Yin energy in his dantian began to circulate smoothly. Just as it neared the totem, the ink-colored bead in the center of the totem suddenly detached and appeared in Su Yu's palm.
Without thinking, Su Yu looked at the bead in his hand, and at that moment, the bead grew larger by half. Around it, the surrounding Yin energy seemed to stir, and it rushed toward Su Yu's direction. The bead greedily absorbed the Yin energy that had scattered throughout Nanwu Mountain, and this energy flowed into Su Yu's body.
What's going on!? Su Yu was shocked as he looked at the bead in his palm. Only now did he realize that his meridians had widened. In the past, his body could absorb the Yin energy from Nanwu Mountain, but it was far slower than the bead. What had once taken him several breaths to absorb, the bead now absorbed in an instant, like a flood reversing its course, continuously drawing in all the surrounding Yin energy.
It was hard to tell how long it had been, but the ink-colored bead in his palm gradually calmed down, returning to its original size. As it fell back into Su Yu's palm, it returned to the totem.
Su Yu looked up. The hunger inside him had disappeared, and the Yin energy of Nanwu Mountain seemed to have vanished. Had it all been absorbed by the bead?
Earlier in Nanwu Mountain, Su Yu had noticed that the Yin energy around him was always subtly drawn away by something. It turned out to be this bead hidden within the mountain.
His dantian now contained a bit more Yin energy, but this new energy was no longer just the usual pale white. It had mixed with dark ink spots, creating a black-and-white mottled energy similar to the one Su Yu had seen in the mountain. After sensing it for a moment, he realized that this energy was different from the usual Yin energy of Nanwu Mountain.
Su Yu tried to mobilize the Yin energy within his dantian. The Yin energy quickly flowed through his meridians, but it felt completely different. This Yin energy, having passed through the bead, moved more smoothly and lightly. He had once thought the Yin energy gathered around the totem was already pure enough, but he had not expected that the energy processed by the bead would be even purer and more suitable for him.
Su Yu couldn't help but glance again at the totem and the bead inside him. There was still some ink energy swirling around the bead, and just as he was about to manipulate the Yin energy, something unexpected happened. The ink energy in his dantian suddenly surged, and a small ink-colored beast jumped out from beside the bead.
The small beast resembled the phantom of the burial beast he had seen in the fog pool earlier. As the pain from his shoulder being torn apart by the burial beast resurfaced, Su Yu clenched his fist. The Yin energy in his dantian immediately gathered and surged toward the ink beast in the center of the totem.
"What are you doing!? Are you not satisfied after swallowing the Ink Spirit Bead!?"
A voice suddenly appeared in Su Yu's consciousness sea, different from the usual voice of the totem.
Su Yu's movements froze, and the murderous Yin energy in his dantian halted immediately. What is this?
The ink beast suddenly became agitated, baring its teeth and growling, its voice resonating in Su Yu's consciousness sea: "You little brat, you ate all my treasures over the centuries! Finally, I took form again, and now you want to destroy me... How could you be so cruel, human? Are you tearing down the bridge after crossing the river?!"
Su Yu didn't respond. He extended his Yin energy and immediately crushed the beast. The ink beast, still small and weak, was easily dispersed, its form breaking into countless ink particles that were sucked back into the totem. Not long later, it reformed into a smaller version of itself and was unceremoniously dropped back into Su Yu's dantian.
Su Yu coldly asked, "What are you?"
The ink beast quickly retreated a few steps, curling up next to the totem. "I am the guardian spirit of this place, suppressing the wandering souls and wild ghosts. I am also the protector spirit of the Ink Spirit Bead that you swallowed."
It grumbled with some indignation, and Su Yu relaxed his hand, which had been tightly gripping his abdomen. He had grown accustomed to the stern admonishments of the totem, and hearing this voice felt somewhat strange.
It was not threatening, just weak.
Sensing that the Yin energy around him had receded, the ink beast finally relaxed, "Fine, let's talk."
The ink beast had never experienced such humiliation. As a guardian spirit of the stone stele, it had been well-fed and well-treated ever since its birth. It had suppressed hundreds and thousands of wild ghosts in the mountains. If the stone stele hadn't cracked recently, allowing the evil spirits in the deep mountains to discover the seal's weaknesses, and if the Yin energy hadn't leaked out, attracting human cultivators, it wouldn't have fallen into such a situation.
First, the evil spirits in the mountains tried to take the stele, and then the unending stream of cultivators invaded the mountain. Just as it had subdued the disobedient little ghosts, another group of annoying cultivators arrived. In the end, the Ink Spirit Bead was swallowed, and the stele lost its defensive power. It had originally planned to counterattack and possess this little ghost, but it never expected that the totem in Su Yu's dantian would almost consume it. If it hadn't been for a large influx of Yin energy, it might not even have been able to take form...
Now, it had to rely on this human and endure the humiliation.
"No wonder you were able to find my core so easily and locate the Ink Spirit Bead. You have natural spiritual eyes, and I have to be cautious of you." The ink beast muttered under its breath as it stayed a distance away from the totem. "Those spiritual eyes made the Ink Spirit Bead recognize you as its master... Freak!"
Su Yu heard the mention of "natural spiritual eyes" and asked, "Natural spiritual eyes?"
The ink beast shrank to a more comfortable position and replied, surprised, "Eh, you don't know? It's the thing in your dantian. That's a natural spiritual eye. There are very few people with natural spiritual eyes in the world. It's a rare gift that no one can seek. Even your human race's so-called natural Dao Body, compared to the natural spiritual eyes, is inferior by a level."
Su Yu looked at the ink beast beside the totem and asked, "Are you afraid of it?"
The ink beast scoffed, "Afraid of what? I'm not even afraid of the sword cultivator who attacked me!"
Sword cultivator? Su Yu recalled the sword lights he had seen at the bottom of the pool. Those sword lights were far more terrifying than any evil spirits or cultivators he had encountered before. He lowered his head in thought, not saying anything further.
The ink beast continued, "If I were in ancient times, I could easily handle those with natural Dao Bodies!"
After a moment, it muttered again, "...But your natural spiritual eyes are a bit strange."
The ink beast couldn't quite explain why they were strange. While rare, natural spiritual eyes were still an unusual gift. However, the totem was filled with a sinister energy. Not only the totem, but also this human was extremely odd. It had never seen a human whose body was so worn out. Despite being on the brink of death, the Yin energy inside this human's body was denser than that of a powerful ghost. Normally, a cultivator with so much Yin energy in their body would have already fallen into madness, but this one, despite being on the verge of death, was still alive and well.
And his spiritual eyes easily suppressed it.
Su Yu ignored the ink beast.
The ink beast noticed that the human spoke very little and was persistent: "Why don't you ask me what's strange about me?"
Su Yu ignored the strange ink beast inside him. This thing was talkative, and it couldn't keep secrets. There was no need to waste words talking to something hidden within his own body. His attention shifted to his surroundings. The unfamiliar environment made it difficult for him to determine where he was. Before he lost consciousness, he remembered escaping from the hands of a human cultivator.
The feeling of being threatened was unpleasant. Su Yu despised that feeling and had no good feelings for those human cultivators. He wondered what those cultivators had been searching for in this mountain. His eyesight was poor, and his movements were sluggish. If he stayed in this mountain for too long, he would inevitably encounter them.
Suddenly, Su Yu found himself missing the wild ghost named Zhang Fugui. At least there had been a ghost guiding him.
But it didn't matter. If necessary, he could find another one. This mountain wasn't lacking in ghosts with good eyes.
The mountain paths were full of trees and underbrush. Not long after he started walking, he stumbled into several trees.
But the further he went, the more he noticed something unusual. The dense Yin energy that had once filled Nanwu Mountain was now thin and sparse. In fact, there wasn't even a single wandering ghost to be seen.
Sensing his thoughts, the ink beast weakly replied, "Of course, there isn't a single one."
"You brat, you've swallowed all the Yin energy of Nanwu Mountain, and you still don't know what you've eaten?"
The ink beast lifted its tail and knocked on the Ink Spirit Bead on the totem. "What you've swallowed is the Mountain Sealing Stele of the Ancient Abyss of All Evil!"