Stellar Transformation Book 09 – Nine Swords Immortal

Book 09 – Nine Swords Immortal

Mansion

B9C1: The Wilderness’s Real Power

There is a huge divine beast on either the left or right hand side of the luxurious vast hall. They are giving off their auras wantonly, but even so, the smiling black-robed man on the upper part of the hall makes everybody feel far more mentally oppressed than they do.

“Meow ~~”  All of a sudden, the snowy cat on the thighs of the black-robed man meows gently.

Immediately, the Dragon Rocky lion and the Hong Luan suppress their auras completely. The Dragon Rocky lion now looks like a small mountain while the Hong Luan gradually absorbs the flames around it into its body. In contrast, the snowy cat glances at everybody with its golden eyes.

“Expert!”

Everyone’s face changes color greatly. Judging from this glance alone, they can tell that this snowy cat is absolutely an expert and, moreover, a super expert. The snowy cat swings its tail then shuts it eyes and lies quietly on the black-robed man’s thighs again.

“Yan Mo?” Azure Dragon looks at the black-robed man, his pupils contracting.

That black-robed man called Yan Mo says smilingly: “Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t stand on ceremony too much. I already knew about your recent movements in my Wilderness some time ago. Come, sit down first then we’ll slowly talk. There are many things I want to discuss with you about.”

At the moment, there is a line of stone chairs on both the left and right sides of the lower part of the hall.

With a cold humph, Old Freak Three-Eyed becomes the first to go the left line of chairs and take the first seat directly. Afterwards, Yi Da gently draws a breath and says smilingly: “Interesting, interesting, the whole thing is getting more and more interesting now.” As he is saying so, he sits down too. The others also sit down one by one, except for Azure Dragon and Teng Shan, who keep standing.

Azure Dragon is staring at the black-robed man above him with a solemn expression. Teng Shan beside him is just following his lead. Suddenly, Azure Dragon says: “Yan Mo, why are you still using an illusion technique in front of us? Do you think it can fool us?”

A smile appears on the corners of the black-robed man’s mouth: “You’re right.”

He unexpectedly changes from a normal man into a dragon- headed man in an instant. This black-robed man turns out to be a dragon. He has not gone through the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation so naturally he cannot take a full human form.

In general, only those who are as strong as or stronger than the user of an illusion technique can see through it.

“I’m surprised you can see through my illusion technique.” Yan Mo looks at Azure Dragon curiously. 

This Yan Mo’s head is that of a black dragon. His horns are even sharper and his air of lordliness is even stronger than Azure Dragon’s. He is none other than a black dragon. Even in the dragon clan, black dragons are a sub-species with extremely powerful offense.

Azure Dragon goes to the left line of chairs, takes a seat and says with an indifferent smile: “Your power level is very high so naturally I’m still unable to see through your illusions. But

… I can recognize that snowy cat’s true form. It should be a

divine beast Zhe Chu, right?”

Qin Yu is amazed. Having read so many Xiuzhen books, he is certainly aware of the Zhe Chu’s famous name too. This Zhe Chu also has dragon blood like that Dragon Rocky lion, which is born to a dragon and a Fiery Rocky lion.

“So what if it is? You could discover my illusion technique using this alone?” Yan Mo says with a smile. However, Azure Dragon says: “Dragon Rocky lion, Hong Luan and Zhe Chu are all divine beasts. Moreover, the Wilderness is a world of demonic beasts. If you were not a divine beast, even though you’re powerful, it would still be impossible for you to make these 3 divine beasts submit to you.”

Yan Mo praises with a nod: “That’s true. Divine beasts are haughty, even if other demonic beasts are powerful, they generally won’t submit to them, unless the gaps in power are extremely great.”

Azure Dragon continues: “Therefore, I figured out that you’re a divine beast. Plus, you said that you’re only the outermost ruler of the Wilderness so I thought … you shouldn’t have overcome the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation. If even the outermost ruler had gone through this tribulation, I simply couldn’t imagine how powerful the experts of the inner parts are.”

“Smart. I haven’t undergone the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation indeed.” “As a divine beast that hasn’t gone through the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation, you’re naturally a beast-headed man. So I concluded you’re using illusions.” Azure Dragon says firmly.

Pa! Pa!

Yan Mo claps smilingly. “Not bad, not bad. I never expected you to have such a good brain, Azure Dragon. All right, judging from your expressions and the looks in your eyes, all of you must have many questions. Feel free to ask me.”

After saying so, Yan Mo glances at everybody.

The black dragon head looks even more ferocious than Azure Dragon’s dragon head so even though Yan Mo’s mouth corners are curving up into a smile, everybody is still somewhat frightened by him. After all, a black dragon is a divine beast whose offense is even stronger than an azure dragon’s and this black dragon is at a higher power level than Azure Dragon …

“In fact, my power level is not high. I’m only at the middle Kongming stage and still some distance away from the Dujie stage.”  Yan Mo gently strokes the snowy cat with a hand and says smilingly.

The middle Kongming stage is still not high?

Qin Yu and the others are speechless for a while. As a middle Kongming-stage divine beast, this Yan Mo is exactly one level above Azure Dragon, who has only reached the early Kongming stage. Even so, the gap in power between them is not too great. If everybody joins forces, they can still subdue him with some certainty.

“Brother Yan Mo, I want to ask you a question.”  Yi Da says with a smile.

Yam Mo says smilingly with a nod: “Please ask, brother Yi Da, the Purple-Haired Dungeon King of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon.”

Hearing these words, everybody’s heart gets a shock because this outermost ruler of the Wilderness, this mysterious Yan Mo, knows very well about the overseas Xiuzhen world. Despite having never met them before, now he can differentiate one of them from another easily.

The enemy knows about them clearly, but they know almost nothing about him.

Yi Da continues: “Brother Yan Mo, just now you said you’re the holder of the 9th jade sword. Could it be the jade sword in your hands? But how did you know about the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion business?”

Yi Da does not understand how Yan Mo knew about the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion because even though Yan Mo can collect information about the overseas Xiuzhen world, this matter is a secret only known about by the top echelons of the overseas Xiuzhen world.

Yan Mo says smilingly: “Speaking of this, it was really very dangerous. Several tens thousand li from here, there is my Black Dragon City. In the past, when I knew that all of you had come into the Wilderness, as the outermost ruler, I had to treat you politely so I ordered all the Xiuyaoists at the Jindan stage and above to gather in the area around Black Dragon City — the Black Dragon domain.”

Only when everybody hears this do they suddenly understand.

It turns out they did not see any formidable demonic beasts because Yan Mo had already ordered these beasts to gather in the Black Dragon domain.

“Of course, there was a little misunderstanding later. Most recently, a group of troops entered the Black Dragon domain despite having been warned. Oh dear, my subordinate Dragon Rocky lion is a bit hot-tempered so he unexpectedly killed them all. Though they were wrong for not heeding the warning, massacring them like that was too bloodthirsty, wasn’t it?” Yan Mo says while looking at Azure Dragon.

“Overlord, I was rash.”

A deep voice resounds through the main hall. Everybody looks towards the source of the voice. It is none other than that Dragon Rocky lion, which is like a small mountain.

Azure Dragon says with an indifferent smile: “No need to blame Dragon Rocky too much, brother Yan Mo. My subordinates were indeed wrong in this matter. Though they were already killed, I’ve got no complaints about this.” He said so, but nobody really believes his words.

“Don’t change the subject.” Yi Da says frowningly.

Yan Mo says with a nod: “A long time ago, my forces discovered the peculiarity of this place. The entrance which you all went through, that quiet deep cave, do you think it’s unique?”

Everybody is startled.

Could it be that quiet deep cave is not the only one of its kind? “It’s not. There are 8 caves in total. The entire keeping place of the 9th jade sword is built according to a very profound formation. In the past, I went in with my subordinates through another quiet deep cave and eventually reached a large cave. Facing a choice between 9 passages, I checked them out using

my subordinates. Luckily one of the 9 subordinates I sent survived while the others died. After going through that passage of life, I eventually came to this place and obtained the 9th jade sword.”

Yan Mo points to towards everybody’s back smilingly: “Look behind you, everybody, there are exactly 8 passages of life.”

There are 8 quiet deep caves so naturally there are 8 large caves, 72 passages and 8 passages of life.

“Oh? Checking out the passages with your subordinates? 8 died, 1 survived?” Di Long says. “Brother Yan Mo, you said one of the subordinates sent by you survived. We also used the same method, but … why did all of the people we sent into the 9 passages die?”

Yan Mo gives a broad smile, looking very amused. 

“In theory, anyone who goes into a passage of life should survive, but that Xiuzhenist died because … I killed him.” He answers.

Everybody’s expression freezes. Now they finally understand why the Xiuzhenists who entered the 9 passages all died — Yan Mo killed the last of them. However … Yan Mo was a bit excessive by doing so. Is this not the same as pushing everyone into a passage of death?

Had they not had a method of searching for the 9th jade sword, they would have had to randomly choose a passage to enter, which would definitely have killed most of them.

Old Freak Three-Eyed says with several cold laughs: “Yan Mo, you went a little overboard. What you did is no different from trying to kill us with the passages of death. Who could have thought you would dare to reveal it and even dare to meet us directly here? Could it be you aren’t afraid of us ganging up on you?” Azure Dragon, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu and the others all look at Yan Mo, including a first-class expert like Hou Fei and those who are somewhat weaker than him such as Qin Yu, Hei Yu, Di Long, Di Jian, Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng, who all have a Kongming-stage offense.

At this moment, everybody from the overseas Xiuzhen world is undoubtedly standing on the same side.

“Ha-ha …  you still want to fight?”  Yan Mo turns his face upwards, laughing out loud with no fear. “That’s right. If you join forces, you really can be one up on me, but have you all gone bonkers? When I dare to sit here, how can I not have some methods of dealing with you?”

The pupils of everybody contract.

“Kaka, Yan Mo, I’m curious to know why you killed that man who had gone into the passage of life. If we really hadn’t known which passage it is and had died in a passage of death, our jade swords would’ve fallen down in a passage of death. As the holder of the 9th jade sword, could you have just watched the other swords in a passage of death doing nothing? Could you have given up searching for that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion?”

Hou Fei asks rhetorically and everybody else understands his meaning.

Obviously this Yan Mo should have a method for entering the passages of death safely.

Yan Mo’s eyes brighten and look at Hou Fei in admiration: “You’re really smart, monkey. Not bad … When I obtained the 9th jade sword, I became the controller of this great formation so naturally all passages of life and of death are also under my control. No one else can go into a passage of death, but I can.”

“Control this great formation?”

Azure Dragon and the others all exchange a look, having a bad feeling. Who knows how powerful this great formation actually is? After all, this mysterious formation was left behind by an immortal so it may have some special attacks. If Yan Mo assaults them with it, that will be bad for them.

“Humph.” Yan Mo utters a cold humph, his face suddenly changing color. “You all want to kill me to take my jade sword, right?”

Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Qin Yu and the others frown. Yan Mo, who was still laughing moments ago, has now had a great change of attitude.

But he laughs again: “Ha-ha, I’m surprised you’re all scared stiff. To tell you the truth, this main hall is safe. Though I can control the formation, I can’t hurt you in this hall … but would I be afraid of you?”

“Though you can gain the upper hand and badly injure me if you join forces, it should be easy for me to kill some of you then run away, right?” Yan Mo asks rhetorically. Indeed, if a middle Kongming-stage divine beast risks heavy injury to kill some of them then flees, he will very likely succeed. If Yan Mo goes all out, he can even perish together with everybody.

Yan Mo says smilingly: “Don’t forget my status. I’m just the ruler of the Wilderness’s outermost area. You should know that in the Wilderness, besides the outer ruler, there are also the inner ruler and the central ruler!”

Now everybody all restrains themselves.

“The inner ruler is a Dacheng-stage divine beast.” Yan Mo’s words cause everybody’s face to change color greatly. The Dacheng stage? And a divine beast at that? This is a Xiuyaoist who is even more formidable than a level-1 or level-2 immortal and surpasses a 4th level or 5th tribulation loose immortal in power.

Yan  Mo  continues:  “The  center  of  the  Wilderness  is controlled mostly by loose demons. The central ruler is also the king of the entire Wilderness. According to legend … he is a 12th tribulation loose demon. Too bad, that’s only a legend. Even with my status, I’ve only met the inner ruler once.”

Everybody’s eyes pop out of their head.

Qin Yu is also very frightened. There are loose immortals and loose devils in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, but who could have thought that the center of this Wilderness also had a large number of loose demons, and the most powerful of them, the central ruler, is even a 12th tribulation loose demon? This is a legend, but even if the center of the Wilderness does not have 12th tribulation or 11th tribulation loose demons, it must have 10th tribulation and 8th tribulation ones.

If the central Wilderness casually dispatches some loose demons, they will be able to kill everybody here like squashing an ant.

Yan Mo continues: “So you all better discuss with me in peace. We’ll find that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion together. If you go overboard, then I’ll have no choice. I treat others very well so I won’t attack you. I’ll only give this 9th jade sword and the jade slip in that black jade case to the inner ruler. I believe that Dacheng divine beast will be very happy to get them.”

Everybody’s face changes color greatly.

If they open the immortal mansion with Yan Mo, they can still haggle. But if the 9th jade sword is given to that inner ruler, a Dacheng stage divine beast, perhaps that super expert will kill everybody right away to take the other 8 jade swords instead of bargaining with them. Yan Mo is obviously threatening them.

“It’s  well-known  that  I’m  very  hearty  and  friendly.  Am  I right, Xiao Xue?” Yan Mo says while stroking the snowy cat.

“Meow ~~” That snowy cat cries gently. Its voice resounds in the main hall unceasingly.

NOTE: Zhe Chu is an animal made up by the author. It is not real. Xiao Xue is the cat’s informal name, meaning ‘little snow’.

B9C2: Instant Kills

Yan Mo is smiling but because he is looking down at everybody from the upper part of the hall and because his simple words contain pressure, everybody has a heavy feeling. Pressure! Not only is it the pressure coming from Yan Mo himself, it is also the pressure coming from the vast Xiuyaoist powers of the Wilderness behind Yan Mo.

“Yan Mo, you’re really still the same as you were in the past.” Azure Dragon talks to himself while looking at Yan Mo. There is a faint frustrated smile on the corners of his mouth. He knows that it has probably become impossible for Yan Mo to remember him, but he cannot forget Yan Mo.

That weak and small, aloof and proud figure of the past has always been in Azure Dragon’s mind. Perhaps anyone of the same generation as Azure Dragon Yan Lang in the Yan family of the dragon clan will never forget Yan Mo’s name.

Yi Da says with a faint smile: “Brother Yan Mo, what you just said really made us jump out of our skins. So it turns out we from the overseas Xiuzhen world have been looking at the sky from the bottom of a well. A Dacheng divine beast and a 12th tribulation loose demon, oh my, they both are super experts who can turn the world inside out.”

Yan Mo is slowly stroking the snowy cat’s pliant tail, saying nothing.

“All right, you’ll be one of the participants in opening the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. Is anybody against this?”  Yi Da agrees by himself just like that.

Qin Yu takes a look at Old Freak Three-Eyed, Azure Dragon and the others then exchanges a smile with Hou Fei and says: “I don’t mind. My brothers and I don’t even take searching for the 9th jade sword seriously. If brother Yan Mo joins us, then so be it.”

Old  Freak  Three-Eyed  also  says  with  a  nod:  “I’ve  got  no objection either.”

When things have reached this stage, nobody will disagree. Reverend Yan Xu, Azure Dragon and the others all nod in agreement. 

“Ha-ha …” With a broad smile, Yan Mo suddenly stands up and laughs out loud. His robe automatically expands as if it is blowing  in  the  wind.  “This  is  very  good.  Since  you’ve  all agreed, the whole thing is simple. Now let’s use our nine jade swords to find the location of that Nine Swords Immortal

Mansion.”

The Nine Swords Immortal Mansion’s location?

“There’s  no  hurry.  We’d  better  leave  this  place  before searching for the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion’s location.” Reverend Yan Xu says at once.

“Reverend Yan Xu is right. We’d better leave here then talk again.” Di Long also says smilingly.

Yan Mo suddenly looks at Di Long and says with an ice-cold expression: “Who are you?” Everybody at the scene feels doubtful. Judging from Yan Mo’s behavior moments ago, he should know very well about the overseas Xiuzhen world, but why does he ask this question now? Is it only because he wants to make Di Long lose face? Di Long does not mind and says immediately: “I am Di Long of the Nine Demons Hall.”

“Oh, you’re the big brother of the 9 little worms. Ah, now there are only 4 little worms remaining, right?” Yan Mo’s tone contains arrogance.

Obviously he looks down on the Nine Demons Hall.

The faces of Di Long, Di Jian and Di Xu change color. However, at this moment, that snowy cat stares at the 3 of them with its golden eyes. Their expressions change again and eventually they really suppress their anger.

The opponent is at the middle Kongming stage and is even a divine beast whereas they are merely late Dongxu-stage Purple Demon aquatic dragons. The gaps in power are really too great. “Ha-ha …  you all want to come out, don’t you? Well, I also know that you’re afraid I’ll use the great formation here to confine you, but you’ve got me wrong.” Yan Mo is mercurial. Now he looks like he has been wronged.

He goes down to the lower part of the hall. A passage leading straight to the surface of the ground unexpectedly appears above the hall.

“Follow  me,  everybody.”  Yan  Mo  soars  into  the  air.  That snowy cat then flies up after him. All of a sudden, the Dragon Rocky lion’s and the Hong Luan’s bodies shrink by several times. Afterwards, they also fly up to the ground’s surface through this passage.

The experts of the Penglai Immortal Region, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, the Blue Water Mansion, the Azure Dragon Palace, the Nine Demons Hall and the Stellar Tower all look at each other.

Although they cannot be sure if this passage is dangerous or not, they cannot stay here either, so in the end they have no choice but to carefully fly up through the passage. Luckily for them, Yan Mo takes no ruthless actions and everybody eventually gets to the surface of the ground safely.

After reaching the ground, they choose an area in a prairie as the place of negotiation.

The snowy cat now has transformed into a cat-headed human whose body seems to be covered in a layer of snowy fur. She stands beside Yan Mo with a frosty expression, glancing at everybody at will with her golden pupils.

Everybody then sits down with legs crossed on the soft grass of the prairie in a circle.

“There are 9 jade swords in total. I don’t know how many of them you’ve got, but I already told you I’m the holder of the 9th jade sword.” Yan Mo says smilingly.

Reverend Yan Xu says: “My Penglai Immortal Region has the 1st sword.” Yi Da gives several laughs and says: “My Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon has a bit more, the 3rd and the 5th swords, 2 swords in total.”

Azure Dragon says: “I’ve got 2 jade swords, the 4th and the 7th ones.”

“The Stellar Tower has the 8th sword.” Qin Yu says.

Grand Founder Three-Eyed says with a ‘humph’: “The Blue Water Mansion only has the 2nd sword.”

Di Long also says with a smile: “The Nine Demons Hall has the 6th jade sword.”

Hearing this, Yan Mo takes a look at Di Long then says loudly: “I believe everybody has already looked through those jade slips in the black jade cases, so you should know how to use the 9 jade swords to find the location of that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, right?” “That’s certainty true.” Reverend Yan Xu says indifferently.

“In this case, let’s find the location of that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, shall we?”  Yan Mo makes a wave of his hand. The 9th jade sword becomes the first to send out various rays of light and float high up in the air.

Azure Dragon also makes a wave of his hand. His 2 jade swords also radiate rays of light then float up in the air to come near the 9th jade sword.

Afterwards, Qin Yu, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu, Di Long and Yi Da all mentally activate their jade swords, making them send out rays of light and float up in the air. The 9 jade swords form a circle with each sword radiating a slightly different light.

In the end, the lights of the 9 swords slowly fuse with each other. That combined light then spreads out towards the several holders of the swords, covering them. Qin Yu, Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Di Long, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu and Yan Mo are all bathed in that light. After a while, the light disappears and the 9 swords fly back into the hands of their respective owners. Now the 7 of them all have a faint smile on their faces.

However, in just a while, they frown deeply.

They already know the location of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, but knowing does not mean they can go into it easily.

“I  never  expected  it  to  be  in  the  Chaotic  Astral  Ocean.” Reverend Yan Xu says frowningly. “Though it’s only on the edge of the Chaotic Astral Ocean, we’ll have to go in 10,000 li. To us, 10,000 li can be covered in the time to drink a cup of tea if we go fast, but it’s still a considerable distance.”

The Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is located deep down in the ocean, more than 13,000 li due south of the Golden Tree Island. This Golden Tree Island is none other than that island which has that ancient teleport formation. It is 2000 to 3000 li away from the border of the Chaotic Astral Ocean. The Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is really located in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, which is an exceptionally distressing thing.

The distance is only more than 10,000 li while everybody here can go a million li in a day so they can really cover it in the time to drink a cup of tea.

But this short period of time is enough for very many things to happen. Maybe they will run into ferobeasts in the Chaotic Astral Ocean. If these are weak ferobeasts, they will have an easy time, but if these are Dujie stage ferobeasts or even Dacheng stage ones then they will be finished.

Yan Mo says in an unconcerned manner: “It’s only 10,000 li. This place still belongs to the periphery of the Chaotic Astral Ocean so it’s very unlikely that we’ll encounter Dujie stage or Dacheng stage ferobeasts. As for the loose immortal, loose devil and loose demon experts, most of them stay in the depths of this ocean. So, if we’re lucky, we’ll only encounter a couple of Yuanying stage or Kongming stage ferobeasts.” “You’re right. It’s only 10,000 li. Because of the Nine Swords Immortal  Mansion,  it’s  worth  taking  this  risk.”  Old  Freak Three-Eyed ponders for a while then agrees.

The others also contemplate then nod in agreement.

All of them want to try their luck.

However, what Yan Mo said is very reasonable. They will only be entering the outermost area of the Chaotic Astral Ocean whereas formidable ferobeasts are probably not present here and loose immortal, loose devil and loose demon super experts are also rarely seen here.

Di Long says: “Everybody has already agreed, but how many individuals from each side will go to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion?”

Azure Dragon says with a smile: “Of course we’ll decide the numbers of individuals based on how many swords we’ve got. Let it be this way. If you have one sword, one of you can go, and if you have 2 swords, two of you can go.” Azure Dragon has 2 jade swords, but in fact he only needs a place for himself.

“That’s no good.”

Reverend Yan Xu, Di Long, Yi Da and some others say almost simultaneously.

“Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng certainly want to go, but the Penglai Immortal Region has only 1 jade sword, so how can this be resolved? This way is better. For every sword you  have,  you  can  send  3  individuals.”   Reverend  Yan  Xu proposes another plan.

“That won’t do!”

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon disagree with him. The more individuals from a power enter the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, the more benefit that power can possibly gain. Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed think that going alone is enough for them so naturally they want to minimize the number of individuals coming into the mansion. 

Qin Yu says smilingly: “Since everybody disagrees with each other, how about this? Let’s all take a step backwards. For every jade sword you’ve got, two of you can go. Is this okay?” He does not really mind how many individuals from each side can go at all.

“That’s no good.” Di Long looks at him and says with a cold laugh. “Qin Yu, it’s already a concession that every sword allows 3 individuals to go. Besides, I believe Yi Da and Reverend Yan Xu won’t agree with your suggestion. Your Stellar Tower only got 3 experts so you don’t mind how many can go, but you even want to tie us down, you’re really too malicious.”

“Bullshit.”

Qin Yu’s eyes flash with fierceness. “Di Long, I am malicious? Why do you slander me? Do you really think that I’m so easy to slander? You and your brothers in the Nine Demons Hall aren’t worthy of my attention yet.” “Do you think I’m a pushover just because I’ve been nice for some time? They say all lay loads on the willing horse. It looks like they’re right. Be careful, Di Long. Don’t provoke me, or else … my Uncle Lan won’t even need to go into action, my 2 brothers and I will destroy your Nine Demons Hall.” Qin Yu

does not conceal the killing intent on his body in the least.

Qin Yu has been living together with his relatives for the past 10 years so he has become much kinder. This time, he has also been very friendly since the 6 powers came together. Seeing him so affable, Di Long unexpectedly wanted to bully him, which naturally angered him.

Hou Fei says with strange laughter: “Kaka, Di Long, last time I couldn’t fight you to my heart’s content. Now my power has improved by one step, I’ll single-handedly play with you 4 little worms a bit.”

Even now Azure Dragon still cannot tell what kind of divine beast Hou Fei actually is. But he can transform at least twice so his class is far superior to those of ordinary divine beasts. Even such a rare divine beast as a Three-Blue-Eyed toad is far inferior to him. Although he has only reached the early Dongxu stage, if he transforms twice, even Azure Dragon will not dare to take him lightly. When Hou Fei was still at the late Yuanying stage in the past, he was already able to beat Di Long up, so now he will really have no difficulty annihilating the Di brothers.

“Humph.” Di Long utters a cold humph, but says nothing.

He has always been harboring a grudge against Qin Yu. Because Qin Yu has been very friendly since the 6 powers gathered, he wanted to verbally insult Qin Yu, but he never expected Qin Yu to react so fiercely and to get ready for a fight almost immediately.

Reverend Yan Xu says frowningly: “Di Long, what you said is wrong. The Stellar Tower has 3 masters. If all of them go, they will have a very great advantage. So, tower master Qin Yu already made a concession by saying 2 of them would go. You were a bit much to say he is malicious.”

“Well, well, don’t change the subject.”  Yan Mo says with a smile. 

Everybody’s eyes are focused on him.

“Just now we were discussing how many individuals can go with a jade sword. Has everybody made a decision?”  Yan Mo glances at everybody.

Reverend Yan Xu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng begin to discuss with each other, as do Yi Da, Situ Xue and Jiao Jiu. After all, both the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon are formed from various big Xiuxian and Xiumo schools so to them it is very troublesome to decide how many people they will dispatch.

After a long time,

“We  agree,  every  jade  sword  allows  2  individuals  to  go.” Reverend Yan Xu nods to Qin Yu in a friendly manner then says loudly. Yi Da also says indifferently: “You can send 2 individuals with every jade sword. We’ve got no objection either.”

Old Freak Three-Eyed and Azure Dragon naturally do not have an opinion. And the maker of this suggestion Qin Yu has no reason to disagree with it. Since the other 5 powers have come to an agreement, Di Long has no choice but to give a cold humph then to accept this result.

“Oh my, what can I do when Xiao Xue, Dragon Rocky and Hong Luan all want to go?” Yan Mo says in a low voice. “This is a bit troublesome. I only got 1 sword, but all the 4 of us want to go. What should I do now?”

The others cannot help frowning when they hear him talking to himself.

“Ah, I’ve already got a solution.”

Yan Mo’s eyes suddenly glitter as he says while clapping happily. 

“Oh, you’ve got a solution? What is it? A jade sword can only let 2 individuals go and this has already been agreed upon. What solution have you come up with?” Old Freak Three-Eyed looks askance at him and asks.

Yan Mo gives a smile.

In an instant, his body disappears. Everybody’s face changes color. They only see a black beam of light rush at Di Long, Di Jian and Di Xu. A blink of an eye later, Yan Mo returns to his original place and sits down with legs crossed smilingly.

“This is okay, isn’t it? Now I’ve got 2 jade swords so the 4 of us can go, right?” Another jade sword has unexpectedly appeared in his hand. He smiles very brilliantly at everybody.

At this moment, the bodies of the 3 Di brothers are motionless, but their pupils dilate and their eyes become totally dim and colorless. With a sweep of their holy sense, everybody at the scene cannot help getting astonished — Di Long and his 2 brothers have already been killed!

B9C3: Hidden Crisis

“Yan Mo, what’s the meaning of this?!”

Old Freak Three-Eyed, who has been sitting with legs crossed in meditation, suddenly stands up. His aura surges and his green hair flows. The crack right between his eyebrows opens, revealing his 3rd eye, which is sparkling with a green light. Having become extremely furious, he glares at Yan Mo.

Reverend Yan Xu and the others from the Penglai Immortal Region, Qin Yu and his 2 brothers from the Stellar Tower also stand up suddenly and look angrily at Yan Mo. Their eyes are flashing with coldness. In contrast, Azure Dragon frowns deeply. His eyes, which are looking at Yan Mo, occasionally glitter with coldness.

Yi Da’s face turns blue. He points at Yan Mo and says without delay: “Yan Mo, we 6 powers have already agreed to let you join us, so the 7 sides of us can be considered an alliance. Why did you still kill your allies without permission?” His tone becomes cold: “What do want by killing at will? Today you killed the 3 Di brothers so tomorrow you’ll kill us, right?”

As soon as Yi Da says so, everybody stares furiously at Yan Mo with surging killing intent. Obviously, if Yan Mo says a provocative word, Reverend Yan Xu and the others will disregard everything to chase and kill him.

Yan Mo is too powerful so it will take the combined force of the 4 top experts, Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu and Yi Da, to just slightly restrain him. If they let Yan Mo go this time and if next time one of these 4 experts gets killed by him, they will not be able to restrain him anymore even if they want.

A belligerent element must not be allowed to exist!

“Ah ~~~”  Yan Mo stretches his waist then says laughingly: “What are you doing? Why does everybody want to kill me? Could I have done something that evokes the wrath of both Heaven and men?” His expression is full of bafflement. 

Azure Dragon narrows his eyes then says: “Yan Mo, because you’ve joined us, our 7 sides are an alliance. Let me ask you something. Why did you kill the 3 Di brothers? How can we trust you later on when you’ve already killed your allies?”

“If we can’t trust you, how can we possibly go open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion with you?” Azure Dragon stares at Yan Mo.

The experts of the other 5 powers, the Penglai Immortal Region, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, the Azure Dragon, the Blue Water Mansion and the Stellar Tower, all look coldly at Yan Mo in a very unfriendly manner. Now they have formed a complete circle. Only by joining forces can they subdue him.

“Don’t be rude to Overlord.”  The snowy cat shouts coldly. Qin Yu’s and the others’ faces change color. This snowy cat appears to be a cat but she is actually a divine beast Zhe Chu that has reached the middle Dongxu stage. Therefore she is also extremely powerful. “Xiao Xue, you must treat guests politely.” Yan Mo shouts in a low voice.

“Yes.” The snowy cat answers obediently then stands quietly beside him again.

Yan Mo looks smilingly at his angry guests, saying: “Oh, this is just a small matter. I even thought it was some big problem.” Yan Mo says in a totally unconcerned manner.

“A small matter? Killing us is a small matter? If later you kill me,  will  that  be  a  big  problem  or  still  a  small  matter?” Reverend Yan Xu says coldly.

“Of course it’d be a big problem.” Yan Mo says in a surprised manner.  “Reverend  Yan  Xu,  you’re  the  grand  elder  of  the Qingxu Temple in the Northern Territory. What kind of status do you have? If I killed you, the Qingxu Temple on the Teng Long continent would surely send experts to find me and cause me trouble. How could I be stupid enough to kill you?”

Reverend Yan Xu is startled. 

Qin Yu, Azure Dragon, Yi Da and the others are also startled.

Yan Mo says very solemnly: “The Penglai Immortal Region’s schools are merely branches of schools on the Teng Long continent. Though your power levels are average, you’re backed by your schools. I’m not such a fool that I’d provoke you.”

Yan Mo looks at Yi Da and his subordinates: “Likewise, I won’t easily offend the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon’s men either because on the Teng Long continent Xiumoists are about as powerful as Xiuxianists.”

“As for the Blue Water Mansion, Three-Eyed, you still haven’t used the true power of your 3rd eye, right?” Yan Mo says with a smile.

The look in Old Freak Three-Eyed’s eyes turns grim. He then says coldly: “Why don’t you have a taste of it?” Yan Mo says smilingly in an unconcerned manner: “I don’t want to. You’re quite weaker than me and I’m pretty sure I can kill you too, but … a Three-Blue-Eyed toad is a fairly formidable divine beast. If you strike me a desperate blow with your 3rd eye, even I will be badly injured. I don’t want to carry

out such a disadvantageous exchange.”

There is nothing special about the attacks that Old Freak Three-Eyed usually executes with his 3rd eye, but facing death, he will use the 3rd eye to launch a desperate, all-out attack, which is so powerful that not even Yan Mo will dare to take it lightly.

“As for Azure Dragon, you’re a member of some family in the dragon clan, right?” Yan Mo asks.

Azure Dragon says with a smile: “The Yan family, Yan Mo, looks like you’ve already forgotten me.”

Yan Mo is startled then gives a ha-ha laugh: “The Yan family, I never expected to run into a member of my family here. In the dragon clan, the Yan family has a whole lot of members. Quite a few of them are of the same generation as me but I’m only acquainted with 2 or 3 of them. I don’t know the others and I don’t feel like knowing them either.”

“Azure Dragon, there’s no need to explain why I won’t kill you, right? The dragon clan lets you stay in the Northern Territory so it must consider you important. If I killed you, it would casually send an old monster over here and then even the inner ruler wouldn’t be able to protect me.”

As a member of the dragon clan, Yan Mo naturally knows how powerful it is.

“As for the Stellar Tower, I heard it has the backing of a loose immortal who is tower master Qin Yu’s uncle, right? Azure Dragon, tell me, what’s the level of that loose immortal?” Yan Mo says smilingly to Azure Dragon in a seemingly very enthusiastic manner.

Azure Dragon looks frowningly at him: “Yan Mo, at that time you were very grim and arrogant. Since when have you become so oily?” Yan Mo is startled.

Grim and arrogant?

When he was still in the Yan family in the past, he was indeed grim and arrogant and different from his peers. However … after so many years of struggling for survival in the Wilderness, he has changed a lot.

Remembering his days in the dragon clan and his experiences in so many years, Yan Mo falls into a trance, but he wakes up immediately then says smilingly to Azure Dragon: “I asked you but you replied with a question. Just tell me what loose immortal level tower master Qin Yu’s uncle has actually reached.”

“I don’t know for sure.”

Azure Dragon’s eyes have a tinge of doubt: “Yan Mo, Qin Yu’s Uncle Lan is extremely strong. I feel that he’s even more formidable than the strongest experts I’ve seen in the dragon clan, which means he’s … at least a 6th tribulation loose immortal.”

“At least a 6th tribulation loose immortal?” Yan Mo falls silent.

“I once saw that Uncle Lan teleport both Qin Yu and Hou Fei directly with him. Teleportation is a magic power only 4th tribulation loose immortals and above can use. Qin Yu’s Uncle Lan can even teleport 2 others with him. This power level …” Azure Dragon shakes his head with a forced smile.

Yan Mo’s expression becomes solemn: “He may not only be a 6th tribulation loose immortal.”

At this moment, after hearing what Yan Mo and Azure Dragon just said to each other, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng look coldly at Reverend Yan Xu. This is because in the past Reverend Yan Xu told them that Uncle Lan was merely a common loose immortal and did not deserve attention. However, now, judging from what they just heard, it seems that Uncle Lan is awfully powerful.

They must treat any loose immortal who has overcome the 4th tribulation carefully, not to mention a 6th tribulation loose immortal. Even the headmasters of their schools on the Teng Long continent will have to treat such a super expert with caution too.

“Ha-ha,  brother  Qin  Yu.”   Yan  Mo  embraces  Qin  Yu’s shoulders.

Qin Yu cannot help getting frightened inwardly, but he still suppresses the thought of attacking Yan Mo. Even though he is worried by Yan Mo embracing his shoulders, he believes that Yan Mo will not attack him.

While hugging Qin Yu’s shoulders, Yan Mo says enthusiastically: “Brother Qin Yu, you don’t have to worry. Even if I’m bold, I don’t have a death wish. Your Uncle Lan can probably destroy me with just a finger. Dacheng stage divine beasts will be no match for him either. So … do you think I’ll dare to kill you?” Qin Yu says nothing.

Everybody understands this reason, but there is no need to say it out. This Yan Mo fellow … is really strange.

Qin Yu also feels that after knowing about Uncle Lan’s power, Yan Mo treats him very differently.

“So everybody has understood, right? In spite of my background, if I die, the dragon clan probably won’t care about me. Azure Dragon, you should know that I’m not lying, right?” There is a faint forced smile on the corners of Yan Mo’s mouth.

Azure Dragon slightly nods his head.

When Yan Mo was young, he was frivolous and ignorant so he left the dragon clan. Losing the strong backing of the clan was not a blessing to him. Under the wing of the dragon clan, he would not necessarily have been unable to really mature. 

Yan Mo glances at everybody and says with a smile: “See, I’m at least not stupid enough to provoke you. As for why I killed the 3 Di brothers, humph, they were merely 3 Purple Demon aquatic dragons with no backing. I’m even doubtful about … why you let the Nine Demons Hall become a major power in the overseas Xiuzhen world.”

There is incomprehension in his eyes: “The Nine Demons Hall doesn’t have experts, nor does it have any backing.”

“Even  so,  they  still  wanted  to  go  to  the  Nine  Swords Immortal Mansion to contend for treasures. Weren’t they afraid that immortal-class weapons would be too hot for them to handle?” The look in Yan Mo’s eyes is disdainful. Obviously, among the 6 major powers of the overseas Xiuzhen world, he looks down on the Nine Demons Hall the most. This is also the reason why he got into action.

Yan Mo looks at everybody, saying: “They’re a power with no experts or backing, I’m curious to know why you didn’t kill them to take their jade sword, which in the end suited my convenience?” After everybody heard Yan Mo say these words, their hostility decreases.

Azure Dragon says smilingly: “Yan Mo, when I and Three- Eyed were fighting each other fiercely in the past, these 9 little worms appeared. By relying on formations and joining forces, they could greatly improve their power. Even I found it a little troublesome to deal with them so we simply let them become the 3rd major power in the underwater Xiuyao world, which is located between me and Three-Eyed, to make it more stable.”

“Oh, I see.” Yan Mo understands.

The Nine Demons Hall is just a balancing element. The Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion were about equally powerful and had been fighting so fiercely that they did not want to fight anymore, so they have been allowing the Nine Demons Hall to exist as a buffer zone between them. In fact, both the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion have never thought highly of the Nine Demons Hall. ……

In the place where the soul jade slips of the Nine Demons Hall are kept,

Every day, someone comes to check this place once. Today, the time for checking has come again. The guard squad leader lazily opens the gate of the place with drooping eyes and takes a glance at the counter.

There should be only 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf because, after all, the other 5 majesties are already dead.

“Ah!”  That squad leader’s eyes pop out of his head. His jaw drops. He seems to be saying something, but no sounds are coming out. At the moment, he is totally scared stiff, as if he has been struck by lightning.

The 2 most powerful majesties of the Nine Demons Hall are Di Long and Di Jian. Even though 5 other majesties already died, as long as these 2 are around, the Nine Demons Hall will be fairly stable. 

However —

Now only 1 among the 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf is intact. The 3 soul jade slips of Di Long, Di Jian and Di Xu have shattered completely. The squad leader of course understands the meaning of this.

He swallows hard with his dry throat. Knowing that this is a serious matter, he does not even dare to shout and tries to calm his fear. He then executes the hand sign for closing the gate and rushes towards Di Nai’s palace.

“9th majesty, the squad leader of the soul jade slips’ keeping place requests an audience.”

“Let him come in.”

Di Nai’s expression is somewhat unsightly. The squad leader in charge of the soul jade slips is the one he does not want to see the most because when this guy comes, that means at least a relatively important member of the Nine Demons Hall has died.

The squad leader suddenly kneels down upon his entrance.

When Di Nai sees the squad leader’s behavior, his heart immediately skips a beat.

At the moment, the squad leader’s eyes are slightly red, there is terror deep in his pupils and his lips are white. Even though he is trying to suppress his fear, his expression says it all. What can actually terrify the squad leader like this?

“Say it. What happened?” Di Nai shouts coldly. His breathing becomes heavy.

“9th, 9th majesty.” The squad leader’s throat is very dry like that of a traveller who has not drunk water for a very long time. “9th majesty, great majesty and the other majesties, they

… they …” Hearing this, Di Nai only feels his head spinning. But there is still a glimmer of hope left in him. He continues to ask: “Tell me clearly. What happened to them? If you lie, I’ll destroy your soul.”

There is only a glimmer of hope.

“They are dead. All of them are already dead.”  Right after saying this, the squad leader sits down in paralysis. Even so, he feels much less worried now. A moment ago, he was under very great pressure because he was suppressing such a big matter in his heart.

“I got it. You can go, but don’t tell anybody about this.” Di Nai says calmly as if nothing has happened.

“Yes.” That squad leader hurriedly goes backwards.

Di Nai then keeps sitting in his chair, looking very collected. However, he does not notice that his face has turned dreadfully pale. 

A blank, his mind is a blank.

Di Nai remains seated in this way. He appears to be not thinking, but in fact his mind is thinking about many things. Now time is basically meaningless to him. Only when a long time has passed does he feel that his heart is in … great pain.

The ladies-in-waiting of the palace simply do not dare to approach him. He has been sitting in such an apathetic manner for 3 whole days, but the ladies-in-waiting do not know that, to him, these 3 days seemed endless and also seemed instantaneous.

“Phew, phew, phew …” Di Nai breathes heavily like a pair of bellows. His mind is dizzy. After an indeterminate period of time, he begins to feel rotten. With a purple expression, he grabs the part of his chest near the heart with his right hand. His heart is in a lot of pain, a tearing pain.

“Big brother, 2nd brother, 3rd brother, 4th brother …” One after another, images of the 9 brothers roaming the underwater Xiuyao world in the past emerge in his eyes.

“No, my brothers aren’t necessarily dead. They may be living. Right, that squad leader must’ve lied to me. He lied to me.”  Di Nai says in a low voice. His eyes then turn crimson, making him look like a psycho. In an instant, he goes out of the main hall and rushes straight towards the keeping place of the soul jade slips.

B9C4: Crisis

Slowly —

The gate opens.

Di Nai sees that 3 of the 4 soul jade slips on the top shelf of the counter have already shattered, which means his last 3 brothers are already dead. He falls silent at this moment then slowly enters the room and performs the hand sign for shutting the gate.

He stands alone in front of the old-wood counter, looking at the 3 shattered soul jade slips.

When the 9 Purple Demon aquatic dragons were young, they had to run from place to place unceasingly in the dangerous underwater Xiuyao world. Whether in killing, robbing or fleeing, the 9 brothers always stuck together. Their brotherhood was even more important than their lives. However, now, 8 of the 9 brothers have died and only one of them remains.

“Ha-ha …” Di Nai laughs in a very low voice. His laughter is very soft. Afterwards, he is unexpectedly all smiles: “Brothers, at that time the 9 of us were roaming the underwater Xiuyao world in such a wild, glorious manner, but now all of you are already gone. The only one of us left in this world is me, your 9th brother.”

Di Nai sits down at will. A bottle of wine appears in his hand out of thin air. He then drinks a mouthful and says slowly to the shattered soul jade slips: “Brothers, we didn’t suffer any big losses for so many years, but several years ago, 8th brother died.”

Di Nai frowns because it is exactly Di Tong’s death that led to a train of events which successively caused the deaths of his brothers.

“After 8th brother died, 2nd brother also died. Then 3 of you died continuously on that black rock island. In just a short time, 5 of you died successively. But even though we knew the killers were Hou Fei and Qin Yu, we feared that loose immortal and didn’t dare to kill them to avenge our brothers’ deaths. Every time I think about this, I feel like a knife is piercing my heart.”

Di Nai’s breathing starts to quiver. He then takes another mouthful of wine.

“But today … the last 3 of you have died as well. Dead, all of you are already dead … I can still vaguely see the images of the 9 of us before my eyes, but now there’s only me left. I … would still have no brothers even if I searched the entire world.”

After saying so, Di Nai slowly drinks wine in silence. There is unexpectedly a hint of relaxation on his face as he enjoys the fine wine, an expression of complete disregard and unconcern. Now he is totally different from he was before.

To each of the Di brothers, his brothers are his greatest constraint. Now all of Di Nai’s brothers are already dead, what else can possibly restrict him?

A barefooted man does not have to worry about shoes, as the saying goes. Di Nai’s 8 brothers are dead so he is like a barefooted man.

Di Nai stands up and looks at the shattered soul jade slips with a brilliant smile!

“Brothers, since all of you are dead, I won’t care anymore. In the past I didn’t dare to deal with Qin Yu for fear that I would embroil the living among you. But now with only me left in the world, I don’t need to worry about anything. From today onwards, I’ll definitely live well. Don’t worry, brothers. Those killers … none of them will be able to feel safe.”

The coldness in his eyes looks like it comes from the 9th level of Hell.

Afterwards, he leaves the keeping place of the soul jade slips. 

What are the most fearsome enemies? They are not the crazed, bloodthirsty people, but the cool-headed people with nothing to lose whose only goal is to seek revenge. This is the most fearsome kind of enemy.

In the past, the Nine Demons Hall had to restrain itself because several of the Di brothers were still living. However, now that 8 of them have died, as the only survivor, Di Nai no longer fears anything. The most dangerous thing is, after experiencing such a drastic change and suffering such a blow, Di Nai does not go mad. On the contrary, he has become more clear-headed than ever.

Or perhaps, it can be said that he has become cold and cruel.

……

At the moment, in the Wilderness on the Qian Long continent, “My fellow Xiuzhenists, now we already know where the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is, then when are we going to go open it?” Reverend Yan Xu looks at everybody and asks.

Yan Mo says frowningly: “When are we going to open it? The Qian Long continent is about 200 million li away from that Golden Tree Island. It will take an early Kongming stage expert almost a year to reach that island using his normal speed. But I don’t know about the power levels of the individuals sent by each side so I can’t fix a time either …”

Yi Da says with a cold smile: “My Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon’s men will definitely arrive on the Golden Tree Island in one and a half year.”

“I will need 3 years to reach the Golden Tree Island.”  Yan Mo’s words make everybody jump.

“Yan Mo, given your speed, perhaps it’ll take you just a month or two to arrive. Why do you still need 3 years?” Azure Dragon asks. He certainly can guess how fast Yan Mo is. If Yan Mo flies at top speed, even a month will be enough. 

Yan Mo says with a nod: “Hong Luan is going to undergo the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation in a while. Dragon Rocky’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation may also come anytime. So, we better take time a bit.”

“3 years, then so be it.” Qin Yu says with a nod.

Hou Fei has already passed the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation but Xiao Hei is going to undergo this tribulation in a half year so Qin Yu is not worried about opening the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion right away.

“Good, that settles it. 3 years later, we’re going to gather on the Golden Tree Island then go into the Chaotic Astral Ocean together to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. Is this okay?” Yan Mo looks at everybody and says.

Having been waiting for many years, who would mind waiting for 3 more years? In addition, it requires all the 9 jade swords to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. The mansion cannot be opened if any of the jade swords is missing, and each side has at least a jade sword so naturally nobody worries that someone will open the mansion in advance.

Immediately, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Qin Yu, Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed agree with this plan. Afterwards, they all prepare to return.

When everybody is about to part, suddenly —

“Hey, brother Qin Yu, I got to warn you about something.” Yan Mo says to Qin Yu.

“Oh, what is it, brother Yan Mo?” Qin Yu asks smilingly.

Yan Mo replies by asking: “Brother Qin Yu, have you ever thought about the consequences of me killing the 3 Di brothers? To my knowledge, you and Hou Fei killed some of their brothers and now there is still Di Nai left in the Nine Demons Hall.” Qin Yu’s face changes color at once.

Just now, when they were discussing the matter of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, even though the 3 Di brothers were killed, he only thought that they were killed by Yan Mo and that, given Yan Mo’s power, Di Nai would not be able to get revenge. He did not think about anything else.

However, now, after being warned by Yan Mo, he realizes that the situation is bad for him.

“This Yan Mo fella killed Di Long and 2 other Di brothers so there’s only Di Nai left in the Nine Demons Hall. In the past the 4 of them cared about each other’s live so they didn’t dare get revenge on me and Hou Fei. But now it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen.” Qin Yu frowns deeply.

“Di Nai’s power is average so he can’t kill Hou Fei and me, but

… there are still father, big brother and 2nd brother!”

At this moment he has a bad feeling. 

Di Long and the other experts also know his father’s and brothers’ identities. Previously, the Di brothers did not dare to hurt his relatives, but now the situation has changed because there is only Di Nai remaining.

“You’re  really  stupid,  Qin  Yu.  Why  did  you  reveal  your identity  completely  at  that  time?”   Qin  Yu  scolds  himself angrily in his mind.

However, in the past he was so open about his identity because he thought that the Nine Demons Hall absolutely would not dare to touch his relatives without permission. Moreover, he came back to the Qin dynasty to live together with his relatives so the powers’ leaders such as Di Long would definitely have found out who he is even if he had tried to conceal his identity.

“Yan Mo, you killed the 3 of them, but I got to face the consequences.” Qin Yu feels bitter in his mouth. Yan Mo says with an innocent face: “Brother Qin Yu, how can I be blamed for this? Don’t worry. I won’t let you take the blame. I’ll immediately tell my subordinates to spread the news that I killed the 3 Di brothers, all right?”

Qin Yu lets out a sigh.

So what if Di Nai knows that Yan Mo killed his 3 brothers?

Yan Mo is even stronger than Azure Dragon so Di Nai stands no chance of avenging the deaths of Di Long and the other two. Therefore, he probably will not set himself the goal of taking revenge on Yan Mo. Most likely he will vent his hatred on his relatives.

“Don’t worry, Qin Yu. From here on in, the Nine Demons Hall no longer exists in the underwater Xiuyao world. I’ll immediately send subordinates to tell the caves under it that there’s only Di Nai left and that it’s already finished. Those several caves will be divided among us.” Azure Dragon says at once. Old Freak Three-Eyed also says with a nod: “Now there are only the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Stellar Tower in the underwater Xiuyao world. The Nine Demons Hall is no more.”

With just a few sentences, Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed have pronounced the termination of the Nine Demons Hall.

“I’ll send some guardians of the Azure Dragon Palace to hunt Di Nai down. As long as he’s killed, he won’t be a threat to your relatives’  safety.”  Azure Dragon quickly understands why Qin Yu is worried.

Old Freak Three-Eyed also gives the same guarantee.

“Brother  Azure  Dragon,  Grand  Founder,  thank  you  very much.” Qin Yu’s eyes flash with a tinge of coldness.

Afterwards, he takes a look at everybody: “Since the matter of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion has been decided, let’s meet again on the Golden Tree Island 3 years later. I want to make a request that no Xiuyaoists are allowed to enter the Qin dynasty.”

“From now on, any Xiuyaoists not from the Stellar Tower entering the Qin dynasty will definitely be killed.” Qin Yu says in a cold voice.

He looks at everybody, saying: “Brother Azure Dragon, Grand Founder and Yan Mo, that’s the warning I want to give you in advance. I think that Di Nai will surely send large forces to harm my relatives. Given the Nine Demons Hall’s history, it must have a bunch of loyal subordinates. I definitely can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

“Good, this is certainly no problem. As the matter of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion has been decided for the moment, I’ll also return to the Azure Dragon Palace. Plus, the subordinates I sent here were already killed by Yan Mo’s forces.” Azure Dragon says immediately.

Old Freak Three-Eyed also says with a nod: “The matter has been decided so I’ll go back to the Blue Water Mansion too. I’ll take the Blue Water Mansion’s forces back with me. Later, if any Xiuyaoists enter the Qin dynasty, just kill them as you wish.” He also supports Qin Yu.

“Don’t worry. The Wilderness’s demonic beasts won’t go into the territories of mortals for no reason. Besides, I’ll give a strict order. If someone violates the order, even if you don’t kill them, I’ll kill them.” Yan Mo assures Qin Yu too.

After the 3 of them gave him a guarantee, Qin Yu no longer has any misgivings.

“Thank you very much. This matter is serious so I can’t waste any time. I’m leaving now.” He says to everybody with folded hands.

“Goodbye.”  Everybody present knows how anxious he is at the moment.

Qin Yu, Hou Fei and Hei Yu then fly towards the Qin dynasty extremely fast without delay. “Azure Dragon, Three-Eyed, help me spread the news that I killed Di Long and 2 other Di brothers. Maybe Di Nai is stupid enough to come here to kill me, in which case I’ll be a little help to Qin Yu.” Yan Mo says to Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed.

……

The Qin dynasty’s Imperial Palace, Pure Forest Garden,

On a stone table under a willow, there is a chessboard with various crisscrossed lines. A refined old man wearing black scholarly clothes and a silk headscarf and holding a feather fan and a blue-clad long-bearded middle-aged man are sitting opposite each other at the table quietly playing the game of Go. Fengyuzi is sitting on one side watching in silence.

After thinking for a long time, that blue-clad middle-aged man says smilingly: “Xu Yuan, your Go skill is becoming more and more profound.” This old man, who is waving a black-feathered fan, is none other than Xu Yuan. Unlike Qin De, he has not achieved much on the path of practice so now, near his sixties, he has started to show signs of age.

“There’s no need to overstate my skill, Supreme Emperor. I’m still far inferior to Miss Li’er.” Xu Yuan says with a sigh. “I never thought that after returning from more than 10 years of wandering and sightseeing outside, I would be able to meet such a wonderful girl.”

In the past, after the destruction of the Xiang clan and the establishment of the Qin dynasty, Xu Yuan, a meritorious official, unexpectedly resigned and began to travel the world. He spent over 10 years visiting various scenic places with his servants. He only returned recently and met Qin De soon afterwards.

On the outside, Qin De and Xu Yuan are a master and a servant, but they are actually like brothers.

“Li’er?  Ha-ha,  looks  like  you  also  heard  about  Li’er’s reputation  while  travelling  outside.”  Qin  De  says  with  loud laughter.

“That goes without saying, Supreme Emperor. Miss Li’er continuously beat the capital’s God of Go and even the top figures of the Go world so everybody in the Go community knows about her reputation. Even though I was travelling the remotest corners of the world, her name was still resounding in my ears like thunder.” Xu Yuan says loudly.

Qin De observes Xu Yuan’s appearance for a long time then says with a sigh: “More than 30 years has passed so quickly since Yu’er came to Misty Villa at the age of 6. At that time you were still young but now the hair on your temples has already turned white a little.”

When Qin Yu was 6, Xu Yuan was in the prime of his youth.

“During the past over 10 years, I tried to find you but you were travelling outside and there was absolutely no news about you. Last time Yu’er made Base Building Pills, maybe there are some left. Even though you haven’t practiced, after you take them, they can still improve your longevity.” Qin De says with a smile. 

At this moment, 3 blurs come rushing.

Afterwards, Qin Yu, Hou Fei and Hei Yu appear in front of Qin De and the other two.

Seeing Qin Yu, Qin De immediately stands up, as does Xu Yuan on one side.

“This is Uncle Xu, Yu’er. Your Uncle Xu just finished his over

10 years of travelling outside too.” When Qin De has just stopped talking, Xu Yuan makes a wave of his feather fan and says with an indifferent smile: “Xiao Yu, judging from your expression, it seems something serious has happened. Tell us about it.”

B9C5: Using Little Plans

“Uncle Xu.” Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

In terms of stratagems, Xu Yuan is certainly on a very high level because he was a former general advisor of the Qin clan.

Qin De has also noticed that Qin Yu has something serious to deal with so he immediately looks at him and listen attentively.

“Father,  Uncle  Xu,  Uncle  Feng,  a  big  problem has  indeed arisen. It’s related to the lives of the Qin clan’s members.” Qin Yu’s expression is solemn.

Qin De’s face also becomes solemn. He frowns deeply then says in a low voice: “Yu’er, tell us about it clearly. What actually happened?”

“In the past in the underwater Xiuyao world, Fei Fei and I killed several majesties of the Nine Demons Hall so there’s a big feud between us and the 4 remaining majesties. But … they were afraid of Uncle Lan’s power so they didn’t dare to cause us trouble. Fei Fei, Xiao Hei and I didn’t care about the Nine Demons Hall either. However …”

Qin  Yu’s  voice  becomes  serious:  “Just  now,  3  of  those  4 remaining majesties were killed in the Wilderness, which means there’s only a majesty left in the Nine Demons Hall. As far as I know, the Nine Demons Hall’s majesties value brotherhood very much. So I think this last majesty, Di Nai, will definitely disregard everything to take revenge on me. Though I’m not afraid of him and his subordinates, I’m worried that they will attack the Qin clan’s members.”

Qin De raises his eyebrows. His face changes color.

He has heard Qin Yu talk about the Nine Demons Hall so he also knows that it is a superpower in the underwater Xiuyao world. If a leader of such a power wants to assassinate the Qin clan’s members, even Qin Yu, who controls quite a lot of forces, will find this fairly difficult to deal with.

After all, Qin Yu is in the light whereas Di Nai is in the dark. 

“Xiao Yu, the underwater Xiuyao world you mentioned should have other powers, right?” Xu Yuan asks.

Qin Yu says with a nod: “Yes, Uncle Xu. This underwater Xiuyao world got 4 major powers in total, the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion, the Nine Demons Hall and the Stellar Tower. This Stellar Tower is also my power. The Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion are the strongest powers.”

“Then  what  are  the  Azure  Dragon  Palace’s  and  the  Blue Water Mansion’s stands on this matter?” Xu Yuan asks again.

Qin Yu says: “Of course they’re on my side. The Nine Demons Hall only has Di Nai left, how can they possibly support it? The Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and my Stellar Tower have agreed to announce that the Nine Demons Hall is now terminated for good. Given that Di Nai is not very powerful, we won’t even need to get into action. When he knows that the other 3 powers are joining to attack him, he’ll run away himself.” “Very good.” A smile appears on Xu Yuan’s face.

“Xiao Yu, let me ask you again. How many subordinates in the Nine Demons Hall are likely determined to follow Di Nai? And how many Xiuyaoists do you have in the Qin dynasty?” Xu Yuan continues to ask.

“Even though most Xiuyaoists follow strong individuals, very few of them should still stick with him after knowing that the Nine Demons Hall is finished. But the Nine Demons Hall has a history of 1000 years so I think around several hundred Xiuyaoists will resolutely follow him.” Qin Yu thinks for a while then continues: “My Stellar Tower has at least 10,000 subordinates in the Qin dynasty.”

Xu Yuan ponders for a moment.

Afterwards, he looks at Qin Yu and asks: “I remember Xiuzhenists can detect people using their holy senses?”

“Yes, the range of a holy sense is related to an individual’s soul level. The higher your soul level, the wider the range of your holy sense. As for detecting people, generally, you can detect those on par with you or inferior to you. It’s hard to detect those stronger than you, unless they don’t suppress their auras.”

“How do your experts compare with him?” Xu Yuan asks again.

Qin Yu says confidently: “Fei Fei, Xiao Hei and I can all kill Di Nai. Any of those 4 guardians of mine can also subdue him.”

Xu Yuan considers for a while then gives a faint smile.

“Xu Yuan, you already have a solution, don’t you?” Qin De asks with brightening eyes.

Xu Yuan says smilingly: “This matter is very simple to deal with. Some tactics will still need to be worked out based on the enemies’ actions, but I have a simple, little plan to guard against them.” Qin Yu is delighted and says at once: “Uncle Xu, quickly tell me about it.”

Xu Yuan says while waving his fan gently: “Firstly, because you have 10,000 Xiuyaoists, let’s make use of their holy senses by sending 5000 of them to stay temporarily in various places on the border of the Qin dynasty. They will occasionally go on patrol using their holy senses. This is the first line of defense.”

“Secondly, the capital’s area isn’t large so just 1000 Xiuyaoists on the 4 city walls can cover everything with their holy senses. When they are tired, the can even take turns to search and guard.”

“However, Xiao Yu also said that one’s holy sense can only detect people who are weaker than or on par with him. If someone stronger than those Xiuyaoists appears, they probably won’t be able to spot him. Therefore we’ll mix them with several pretty strong experts at regular intervals.”

“Thirdly, the Imperial Palace, its area is small so we’ll send the 10 most powerful among these 10,000 Xiuyaoists to guard it. They can definitely cover it with their holy senses. The last line of defense is inside Pure Forest Garden. Xiao Yu, one of you and your 2 sworn brothers must be on guard here.”

This plan proposed by Xu Yuan is the simplest defense plan.

In the beginning Qin Yu thought that Di Nai would come to assassinate his relatives so his thoughts were in turmoil, but now he has no mental problem after listening to Xu Yuan’s analysis.

Xu Yuan continues: “Di Nai and you haven’t seen each other for some time so nobody knows if he has made a breakthrough in power. Therefore, whatever happens, we must not be careless. Thus, fourthly, we’ll use political decoys in this Pure Forest Garden. We’re going to ask other people to disguise themselves as your father and Uncle Feng and stay here. Even if Di Nai personally gets into action and reaches this place in the end, he’ll achieve nothing. We’ll even be able to take the chance to kill him.”

Qin Yu cannot help feeling ashamed. After listening to the first 3 points, he thought that the plan was perfect, but he has not seen Di Nai for 10 years so maybe Di Nai has reached the late Dongxu stage, in which case it will be very difficult even for Qin Yu himself to deal with Di Nai.

“These  4  points  are  the  1st  plan,  whose  goal  is  to  guard against the enemies.” Xu Yuan says with a smile.

Qin Yu is startled.

Xu  Yuan  continues:  “The  2nd  plan  allows  us  to  hit  them proactively. It has 2 points. First, you have to send subordinates to spread the news that the Nine Demons Hall is finished throughout the underwater Xiuyao world, making the Nine Demons Hall’s subordinates lose hope and become anxious.”

Qin Yu gives a smile. Is this not incitement?

“Most of those subordinates will probably leave Di Nai after knowing that the Nine Demons Hall is finished. Second, you have to order your subordinates to get acquainted with the Nine Demons Hall’s subordinates and try every means to communicate with those at the side of Di Nai. If you can infiltrate several subordinates into Di Nai’s suit, the matter will become easy to handle.”

Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

Everybody hits a man when he is down so when the times come, most members of the Nine Demons Hall will definitely leave Di Nai. Naturally, those who will leave are acquainted with those who will follow Di Nai. Therefore, it will not be difficult to find ways to make contact with the ones who will follow Di Nai.

He can lure them with holy weapons, holy pills and so on to infiltrate some spies into the ranks of Di Nai’s close subordinates, which subsequently will make it possible to eliminate Di Nai.

Xu Yuan says smilingly while waving his feather fan: “These are merely the 2 plans I came up with when not knowing what Di Nai is going to do. If Di Nai is too weak, they will be enough to finish him. If he’s got some brains, I’ll certainly think of other plans.”

Seeing Xu Yuan’s mysterious expression, Qin Yu cannot help giving a smile.

“Uncle Xu, what would you do if you were him?” He asks.

“I’d infiltrate into the Qian Long continent and use mortals to deal with mortals. Only this method can take advantage of the element of surprise. Moreover, it’s the most dangerous method.” Xu Yuan says indifferently. “There are various ways of putting this method into effect, which give different results as well. But any of them is better than attacking directly using Xiuyaoists.”

Xu Yuan gives an indifferent smile: “However, I’ve already taken those various ways into consideration. I want to see what moves Di Nai is going to make.”

Hou Fei blinks a couple of times. 

He then says to Qin Yu: “Big brother, those Xiuyaoists are just fools compared to this old man.”

Having now become relaxed, Qin Yu says smilingly: “Fei Fei, you can’t imagine how formidable my Uncle Xu is. Plus, Xiuyaoists are not good enough at stratagem because personal power rules the Xiuyao world. What’s the use of tricks in the face of absolute power?”

“If I were extremely strong, I’d cover the entire Qian Long continent with my holy sense. Once Di Nai appears, I would simply kill him. Whatever plans would be rendered useless by this move of mine. Too bad I’m not so strong so I can only rely on Uncle Xu’s tactics.”

When personal power reaches a certain level, any schemes or tricks will become ineffective against it.

“Xiao Yu, I think Di Nai will most probably assassinate the Qin clan’s members. If he fails, perhaps he’ll target the Qin dynasty’s important officials … You should make some preparations for this because if those important officials get killed, the Qin dynasty’s stability will suffer a huge blow.” Xu Yuan advises.

……

1000 Xiuyaoists, these are Di Nai’s most loyal subordinates. Di Nai already left the Nine Demons Hall, bringing along these 1000. When he left, he also took all of its treasures away with him.

“3 of the Nine Demons Hall’s 4 majesties have died. Now the only one left is the 9th brother. The Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Stellar Tower hereby jointly declare that from now on the Nine Demons Hall no longer exists. Whoever captures Di Nai shall be rewarded with a top- grade holy weapon by the Stellar Tower. Any Xiuyaoists following Di Nai are traitors to the entire underwater Xiuyao world and shall be killed!”

This order spread throughout the underwater Xiuyao world extremely fast. 

Based on Xu Yuan’s suggestions, Qin Yu contacted Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed then jointly determined to give this order.

When it spread, the Nine Demons Hall collapsed in the blink of an eye.

“Whoever runs will die!”

Di Nai turns into a huge Purple Demon aquatic dragon and rips ten something Xiuyaoists who want to flee apart directly with his dragon claws.

He expected his subordinates to possibly rebel therefore when he left that day, he only brought along the most important and loyal ones among the Nine Demons Hall’s several tens thousand subordinates. Too bad, even some among these 1000 most loyal subordinates run away when faced with that order. Capturing Di Nai will be rewarded with a top-grade holy weapon!

Following Di Nai is the same as betraying the entire underwater Xiuyao world and will be punished with death!

These 2 clauses make the hearts of those loyal Xiuyaoists pound. They are betraying the entire underwater Xiuyao world, no less!

“All of you listen. From now on, whoever betrays me shall be killed. If you don’t betray me, I’ll ensure that you live.” Di Nai tells the more than 800 remaining subordinates.

Half of these over 800 subordinates are absolutely loyal to him. Even though the other half are loyal to him, they also fear for their lives.

Di Nai says indifferently: “Don’t worry. Now the Nine Demons Hall has fallen apart, who knows who I took with me when I left? Basically nobody can know who you are, let alone kill you.” Those Xiuyaoists feel a bit more relaxed.

“Moreover, I won’t push you into the road to destruction.” Di Nai says smilingly. “I have with me all the treasures of the Nine Demons Hall. Originally several tens thousand members of the Nine Demons Hall were going to be supplied with them, but now only the several hundred of you can use them so there are a lot of holy weapons and holy pills for everybody.”

Those Xiuyaoists’ eyes glitter. They also know that Di Nai took all the Nine Demons Hall’s treasures with him when he fled.

“Yan Mou, Yan Xin, you secretly take 300 troops each to the northern extremity of the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave under the Stellar Tower and gather in the waters next to the Qian Long continent. I’ll take the remaining troops to meet up with you there. We’re going to go forwards in 3 directions.”

Di Nai has divided his forces into 3 groups and put his 2 most trustworthy subordinates in charge of 2 of them. 

Yan Mou and Yan Xin have been following him since they were little and consider him their father. They take his order without delay.

“Have no fear, everybody. Just throw away your jade identity cards and go to the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave to get the new ones. From now on, you’re members of the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave under the Stellar Tower outwardly but you’re secretly my subordinates.” Di Nai says with a smile.

Those Xiuyaoists calm down a lot.

“This way, nobody will know that you’re my subordinates so there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.” Di Nai says confidently. “After reaching the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave’s territory, we’ll first choose a place in the waters next to the Qian Long continent to set up our base.”

Di Nai looks at those slightly calm Xiuyaoists, saying: “Trust me, if you follow me, you’ll have more treasures than any other Xiuyaoists do. Besides, nobody will know your real identities

…”

“Remember one thing. Nobody is allowed to rat. From now on, transmitters will be distributed strictly. Only the special ones can have transmitters. The others are not allowed to contact outsiders. 10 troops form a squad. Whoever runs away will be killed and the other members of his squad will be collectively punished with death.” Di Nai says in a cold voice.

Those Xiuyaoists’ hearts tremble.

Di Nai smiles again and says comfortingly: “Don’t worry. As long as you don’t betray me, you’ll live very well. But if any member of a squad runs away, the other members of the squad should blame that runaway instead of me. It’s he who does you harm.”

The use of collective punishment makes the members of a squad monitor each other. After all, their lives are on the line here. Afterwards, the squads are formed and the transmitters are distributed.

“All right, let’s get going in 3 directions.” Di Nai orders.

Under the command of Di Nai, Yan Xin and Yan Mou, Di Nai’s subordinates split up into 3 groups, which follow different paths to rush to the Stellar Tower’s Black Aquatic Dragon Cave.

“Qin Yu, even if I can’t kill you, I’ll kill all of your relatives … Right, your clan is the royal clan of the Qin dynasty, isn’t it? I heard a dynasty’s high-ranking officials are very important. Killing some of them will most probably give you a headache too.” Di Nai gives a faint cold smile.

B9C6: Mutated Heavenly Tribulation

Qin Yu and Li’er are standing side by side on the shore of a blue lake, looking at a silhouette in the distance.

At the moment, the sky is gloom, the ground is dark and storm clouds are raging. The whole sky has a strange dark red color, looking as if it has become a huge furnace. A purple tribulation cloud is floating in the sky while a myriad of serpentine electric sparks are flashing.

Boom!

A purple thunderbolt strikes down at that proudly standing figure with a boom, carrying a seemingly irresistible force. That figure below the cloud is none other than Xiao Hei, who is going through his 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation. Xiao Hei raises his head to stare at the tribulation cloud with his sharp eagle eyes.

As the thunderbolt is striking down, he suddenly utters an eagle cry. 

A swirl appears with Xiao Hei’s Xiao Heiing its center. That purple thunderbolt is unexpectedly sucked in by the swirl then goes into Xiao Hei’s stomach. Swallowing thunderbolts is the move Xiao Hei is best at.

“Li’er,   this   is   the   3rd   thunderbolt.   When   taking   on tribulations, other people all defend themselves with formations and restrictive spells first then withstand the thunderbolts with holy weapons, but Xiao Hei mostly swallows the thunderbolts. To him, the thunderbolts are even powering- up treasures.” Qin Yu says happily with a smile.

Li’er looks at Xiao Hei in the distance with a note of praise in her eyes, saying: “Big brother Qin Yu, Xiao Hei is a special divine beast. Even divine beasts are divided into high, middle and low classes. Xiao Hei is definitely not inferior to Fei Fei.”

Qin Yu smiles to the point where his eyes begin to narrow.

This is not because he is happy for Xiao Hei, but because Li’er called him ‘big brother Qin Yu’. 

Her calling him so was brought about by a plan he and Hou Fei came up with a month ago. With Hou Fei getting into action and him acting the fool, they put on a good play and eventually succeeded in forcing Li’er to call him big brother Qin Yu. Even now he still revels in this very much.

Of course, he cannot let her know what he feels.

Boom!

The 4th thunderbolt strikes down with a boom. Dust and stones quickly fly up as if there is an ongoing storm. The pressure given off by the thunderbolt is frighteningly great, but Xiao Hei spreads his wings and opens his mouth, creating a swirl again. Part of the thunderbolt’s energy is absorbed directly while the remainder bombards Xiao Hei’s body.

“Awesome, it feels awesome bathing in this thunderbolt.” Xiao Hei’s voice resounds through the sky. He even stretches his wings wantonly. When the lightning comes into contact with his wings, most of it is absorbed directly and only a small part of it actually hits the wings with very negligible damage.

“Perhaps no other divine beasts can bathe in thunderbolts like this.” Qin Yu is very happy.

Li’er also says with an indifferent smile: “Last time Fei Fei went through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation very easily. But judging by Xiao Hei’s situation, perhaps he’s going to overcome this tribulation even more easily than Fei Fei did. Look, this is already the 5th thunderbolt.”

When she has just finished talking, the 5th thunderbolt strikes down at Xiao Hei’s body.

Xiao Hei spreads his wings wantonly. An indistinct blood-red light moves along the surface of the wings. At the same time, various electric sparks flicker around his body unceasingly. This time Xiao Hei does not swallow the lightning with his mouth because he feels that this thunderbolt is somewhat oppressive. 

The 5th thunderbolt hits Xiao Hei’s body with a boom. The blood-red light moves extremely fast at once.

Whizz!

Like cotton sucking up water, the blood-red light unexpectedly absorbs more than half of the thunderbolt right away. The remaining lightning cannot even hurt Xiao Hei in the least. The 5th thunderbolt thus has been defeated in such an incredible manner.

“Xiao Hei, don’t be too careless. We’ll return after the 6th thunderbolt.” Qin Yu says with loud laughter.

Even though he warned Xiao Hei not to be too careless, his last sentence shows that he does not pay too much attention to the 6th thunderbolt either. After all, he saw Hou Fei go through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation so naturally he knows that the 6th thunderbolt is only a bit more powerful than the 5th. “Don’t worry, big …”

Xiao Hei’s voice is stifled. Qin Yu’s face changes color greatly while Li’er takes 2 steps forwards all of a sudden staring at that tribulation cloud.

Boom ~~~

The whole world seems to start to rumble. Meanwhile, countless serpentine electric sparks are generated from all over the dark red sky again then gather towards the tribulation cloud like a controlled pit of snakes.

“What’s going on? Doesn’t a tribulation generally end when the energy of its tribulation cloud has been spent completely in the bombardment? Why does this tribulation cloud gather lightning again as it did in the beginning when it had just formed?” Qin Yu immediately has a bad feeling.

Since antiquity, every heavenly tribulation has struck down one thunderbolt after another until the energy of the original tribulation cloud is used up. 

Only in the beginning can lightning be gathered to form a tribulation cloud. Nobody has ever seen a 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation that unexpectedly gathers electricity again to power up the tribulation cloud when the 6th thunderbolt is about to strike down.

Li’er looks coldly into the sky with an unprecedented serious expression in her eyes.

“Big brother Qin Yu, I’ll use the method of my clan to check it out a bit.” She tells Qin Yu.

Immediately, she sits down with legs crossed and her hands seem to turn into thousands of hands. Multiple green beams of light shoot out from her body, enfolding her in them. At the same time, she closes her eyes.

Li’er’s mouth then slightly moves. Various golden rays of light radiate from the edge of her mouth. She opens her eyes in a moment and shouts to Xiao Hei: “Xiao Hei, do your best. Don’t even think about fooling around. If you’re careless, both your body and soul will be destroyed completely.”

Xiao Hei gently nods, but his eyes shines with an indistinct red light.

Even now Qin Yu still does not know what Li’er’s race is. But he knows that despite her very slow progress in practice, she has many magic powers and is simply unfathomable. According to what she said, these are some special secret techniques of her clan.

When she already said so, it is obvious that … Xiao Hei is very likely to be struck dead by this 6th thunderbolt.

Whizz!

A noise that seems like the sound of the breathing of nature is heard. The electricity absorption speed increases a hundredfold in the blink of an eye. When that noise disappears, the lightning in nature has been absorbed completely. Right afterwards, the tribulation cloud begins to shake.

Boom!

Speed, an extremely terrifying speed,

A dark purple thunderbolt that is as thick as an arm strikes down. In terms of thunderbolts, one with the thickness of an arm is exceptionally small. As this thunderbolt is formed from the entire energy of a tribulation cloud which has absorbed electricity twice, it is easy to imagine how frighteningly powerful it is.

Xiao Hei has gone mad. His eyes are glistening with a red light. He spreads his wings to the utmost. The red light on his body surges forth completely, occupying an area of 2 to 3 m in radius. He yells again and that swirl is created once more, but this time the swirl spins even faster and also has a larger range.

That blackish purple thunderbolt as thick as an arm shoots at the swirl. 

The swirl is shattered immediately. That thunderbolt is really too powerful for Xiao Hei’s swirl to withstand. It then pierces through 2 to 3 m of the red light easily like a small needle penetrating a thick layer of snow.

The red light only absorbs a very small part of the lightning in the process so there is still a great amount of electricity left.

Screeching!

Screeching like crazy!

Qin Yu cannot help starting to tremble because he can feel that Xiao Hei is currently on the border between life and death.

The extremely hard feathers are smashed. Blood scatters. Not even Xiao Hei’s tough feathers can withstand the power of the thunderbolt. His flesh is immediately blackened and scorched by the lightning. Qin Yu goes mad as soon as he sees this scene. 

All of a sudden —

Xiao Hei’s entire body gives off an extremely black type of darkness. This darkness is very pure, so pure that it even swallows the rays of light around it. At the same time, Xiao Hei’s body disappears completely, leaving behind only the darkness. That thunderbolt eventually hits the darkness with a boom.

“So that’s what he is!”

Li’er murmurs in a low voice with brightening eyes. But Qin Yu does not pay attention to what she says. His mind is being focused completely on Xiao Hei.

Xiao Hei has been following Qin Yu since he was little so if Xiao Hei dies, it will simply be an unbearable blow to him.

The sky has now regained its calmness and changed back to its former blue color. Except for that area of the ground which has been scorched and blackened by the tribulation, no places have been affected. But that mass of darkness is boiling and twisting nonstop.

After a long time, the darkness gradually calms down then immediately turns into an eagle-headed man. As soon as Qin Yu feels his aura, he knows that this is none other than Xiao Hei, whose body is slightly thin like that of a juvenile.

“Big brother.” Xiao Hei looks at Qin Yu and says.

“Are you okay?” Qin Yu feels that his whole body is sweating.

Just now he was really on tenterhooks.

Xiao Hei says smilingly: “Somehow the last thunderbolt of that 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation became much more powerful. If I hadn’t gone all out, perhaps I really would’ve been destroyed by it, but I did. Even though now I’m pretty weak, some hidden troubles caused by using that forbidden technique in the past seem to have been removed completely.”

Qin Yu’s heart is filled with joy. 

After Xiao Hei had used that forbidden technique, Qin Yu felt that Xiao Hei had changed. Originally Xiao Hei had an ice-cold air about him but after using that forbidden technique, he had a ‘frighteningly chaotic’ air.

However, now Qin Yu feels that the air about Xiao Hei has become pure again, or to be exact, purely dark and ice-cold.

“Big brother Qin Yu, I have to warn you about something.” Li’er tells Qin Yu with no traces of a smile on her face.

At the moment Qin Yu is in a very good mood because his brother Xiao Hei has overcome the tribulation. He says with a smile: “Feel free to tell me about it, Li’er. Ha-ha … don’t put on such sad a face … ha-ha … Xiao Hei passing the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is an exciting event.”

Li’er says with a sigh: “Brother Qin Yu, if the calculation I did using my clan’s secret method is correct, your tribulation later will be exceptionally powerful. I hope you’ll be cautious.” Qin Yu is startled.

“What  do  you  mean?”  He  finds  what  she  said  somewhat mysterious.

Li’er says with a shake of her head: “I can’t explain this secret to you. By telling you so much I’ve already broken my clan’s rules. I can only warn you that you have to improve your power as much as possible. Don’t be anxious about the tribulation. Before taking it on, you have to do your best to power up and make yourself ready.”

Seeing her current expression, Qin Yu knows that she does not want to say much so he nods gently and takes her words to heart.

……

Because there is quite a distance between the Nine Demons Hall and the Qian Long continent, it takes Di Nai’s forces a very long time to arrive. A half year after Xiao Hei’s tribulation, the long-lasting calmness in the Qin dynasty finally starts to be disturbed.

Poof ~~

Blood spatters. Heads roll.

Several hundred grim-faced Xiuyaoists charge directly at some other Xiuyaoists.

“Di Nai’s troops, you even dare to infiltrate into the Qin dynasty. Looks like you all have a death wish.”  The leading Xiuyaoist says with a cold laugh. “Could it be you don’t know that any Xiuyaoists entering the Qin dynasty without permission shall be killed?”

Those other 7 Xiuyaoists look at each other.

Now they have been surrounded so naturally they cannot run. 

“Sir.”

A short-haired Xiuyaoist suddenly kneels down and says: “Sir, even though I have been following Di Nai, there was nothing that I could do. Because he took our transmitters away, none of us was able to contact outsiders. We have been forced into doing this.”

“Shan Ling, how dare you betray our lord?” Another Xiuyaoist on Di Nai’s side stares at that Xiuyaoist furiously.

The short-haired Xiuyaoist, however, rebukes angrily: “Betray? That Di Nai fella uses collective punishment to limit our freedom and even set up an illusionary formation around the base so that we can’t go out. We didn’t even know where we were staying. All we could do was obey his orders. I’m already sick of living like that.”

The  leading  Xiuyaoist  says  with  glittering  eyes:  “Tell  me where Di Nai is. If you do, not only will your life be spared, you’ll even be rewarded handsomely.” “Di Nai is very cautious. The Xiuyaoists like us usually stay inside a huge illusionary formation. When we come out, we have to follow the guardians. After several turns, we have already gone several hundred thousand li so it’s simply impossible for us to find out where Di Nai’s base is.”

“Only Di Nai and the several guardians know the location of his base, right?”

“That is true, Sir.” The short-haired Xiuyaoist says respectfully.

The leading Xiuyaoist of the Stellar Tower frowns for a while then  says:  “Spare  this  surrendering  Xiuyaoist.  Kill  all  the others.”

“Ah, please spare me.”

2 other Xiuyaoists, who just now were very adamant, immediately kneel down and beg. 

The leading Xiuyaoist from the Stellar Tower says with a cold laugh: “Do you two know where Di Nai’s base is?”

The 2 of them are startled then shake their heads.

“You 2 waited until the last moment to surrender instead of doing it in the beginning. Besides, you’re totally useless. You’re the worst kind of trash.”  The leading Xiuyaoist utters a cold humph. The flying sword under his feet takes the lives of these

2 Xiuyaoists immediately. Several other hundred Xiuyaoists then shoot their flying swords together.

Countless flying swords soar into the sky and pierce through the bodies of those several Xiuyaoists in an instant. Their blood is scattered all over the air. Only the short-haired Xiuyaoist is still living.

… During this night, fighting breaks out at a good several places on the border of the Qin dynasty with 10 hostile Xiuyaoists appearing at every place, who are all killed. However, Di Nai dispatched far more Xiuyaoists in his first attack than that and quite a few of them have already entered the Qin dynasty.

The retaliatory killing is about to start!

B9C7: Massacre

In a certain underwater mountain range belonging to the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave under the Stellar Tower,

Nobody knows that this underwater mountain range is the current base of Di Nai, the only majesty of the Nine Demons Hall who was lucky to survive. There is a large formation set up around the base so Di Nai and the 2 vice masters of the valley, Yan Mou and Yan Xin, are the only ones who know the way to get out of the base.

Holding a jade cup, Di Nai is enjoying the savor of fine wine.

“Yan Xin, what’s the current situation of the 10 squads we sent out?” He asks indifferently.

The 2 below him, Yan Xin and Yan Mou, are his most trusted subordinates. Yan Xin says immediately: “Valley master, this time we dispatched 10 squads to infiltrate into the Qin dynasty through various places. However, the Stellar Tower is defending with really too many troops so 4 squads have still been killed.” “Oh? 4 squads have still been killed?” Di Nai slightly frowns.

The 10 squads sent by him this time entered the Qin dynasty via 10 different directions. They either went through city gates directly in broad daylight, or came in through out-of-the-way corners of obscure mountain ranges, or took a large detour by going into the Wilderness from the ocean before entering the Qin dynasty.

Even so, 4 of the 10 squads have been wiped out.

Di Nai gives several cold laughs: “Looks like that Qin Yu fella has gone to a lot of trouble to protect his relatives.”

Yan Xin chimes in: “Valley master, we can see from this that Qin Yu values his clan’s members. Only in this case can you torment his heart by killing his relatives, thereby venting your fury a little bit.”

“That’s right.” Di Nai gives a smile: “If he didn’t value his family, killing his relatives wouldn’t affect him so it’d be useless for me to do it. I must torment his heart and make him suffer mentally. The more he grieves and suffers, the happier I’ll be.”

“6 squads, 60 troops, after entering the capital, they’ll divide into 12 small groups. I wonder how many people they’ll be able to kill.” Di Nai drinks up the wine in his cup then stands up and leaves.

The 2 brothers Yan Xin and Yan Mou bow to bid farewell to him.

“Big brother, valley master hates Qin Yu to the bone. His hatred is already near the point of obsession. But the Stellar Tower is much more powerful than us and the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion are also supporting Qin Yu. If things go on this way …” Yan Mou says frowningly via holy sense communication. Even though the 2 of them are loyal to Di Nai, they are still somewhat unsure about their future. However, they can only discuss this matter using their holy senses because they do not dare to let Di Nai know.

Yan Xin gives a cold laugh then says via his holy sense: “2nd brother, both of us were brought up by valley master. When the other majesties are already dead, how can we possibly betray him? Besides, the ones who’ll go carry out the task are all ordinary troops. The 2 of us and the 6 guardians won’t have to leave the valley so we won’t encounter any dangers …”

After  pondering  for  a  while,  Yan  Xin  continues:  “2nd brother, you only need to put your effort into training. It doesn’t matter how many Qin Yu’s relatives they can kill, just don’t pay attention to anything else. Considering valley master is lying so low like this, I don’t think Qin Yu can find us.”

Yan Mou nods his head.

After all, anyone with some brains can see that Di Nai is at a disadvantage, but he also has an advantage, that is, he is in the dark whereas Qin Yu is in the light. 

Therefore, Di Nai can attack Qin Yu, but Qin Yu cannot attack him despite being powerful because it is difficult to find out his location.

……

Inside a garret of a city gate tower of the Qin dynasty’s capital, 2 Xiuyaoists are talking to each other.

“Hey, brother Yan, we’ve been here for more than a half year but the remaining thugs of the Nine Demons Hall just don’t show up. We’re even forced to keep watch using our holy senses. This is really …” A short man says.

The other, a strongly-built man who is sitting with legs crossed, now opens his eyes, saying: “Be careful. If what you said is leaked out, tower master will get furious. Don’t play with your life.”

At this moment, the strongly-built man’s face changes color. 

“Xiuyaoists detected!”

10 Xiuyaoists have appeared within 1 km of this city gate tower. The strongly-built man immediately tells the nearby Xiuyaoists under him via holy sense communication. Various silhouettes then rush out from the many small garrets of the city gate towers like lightning.

They all use holy sense communication and nearly 100 Xiuyaoists within several km of them charge towards the same location instantly.

“It’s daytime now. Move faster, so that those mortals can’t see us.”

The leader of the 100-strong squad immediately shouts to his subordinates using his holy sense. Those 100 troops reach their top speeds at once. They move like strong wind and in the blink of an eye they have already gone 100 m. At such speeds, only some Xiantian experts can manage to see them, but how many Xiantian experts are there on the whole Qian Long continent? And how many Xiantian experts are there within such a short distance?

Poof ~~

Bloods spatters!

Bang!

Flesh is torn apart violently!

“You’re  killing  the  wrong  guys.  I’m  the  Stellar  Tower’s guard.” A member of the attacked group of 5, a green-haired thin man, says to the attacking Xiuyaoists via holy sense communication without delay. When Xiuyaoists kill each other, they basically have no time to talk with their mouths and therefore can only communicate via their holy senses. “Wrong guys? Stellar Tower’s guard?”

That squad leader stands in front of the green-haired Xiuyaoist, who is lucky to be alive, and says with a cold laugh.

4 of the 5 strange Xiuyaoists have been killed instantly and this is the only one of them left.

“Sir, I’m really the Stellar Tower’s member. If you don’t believe me, you can check my jade identity card out.” The green-haired Xiuyaoist hurriedly says in terror at once.

The squad leader says with a cold laugh: “Your jade identity card belongs to the Stellar Tower indeed. But … tower master ordered long ago that any Xiuyaoists entering the Qin dynasty be killed.”

“I’m …” The green-haired Xiuyaoist still wants to quibble. There is a tinge of mockery and amusement on the squad leader’s face: “Brat, quit lying. Let me tell you something. Tower master has already told Manager Zhuang Zhong that not even the Stellar Tower’s forces are allowed to enter the Qin dynasty.”

The green-haired Xiuyaoist moves his eyes in a circle and says: “Sir, I’m one of the 10,000 Xiuyaoists who came here in the beginning. I was sent to guard the Qin dynasty’s border.”

“Oh …” The squad leader is stupefied.

This is a possibility. 5000 Xiuyaoists are indeed guarding various places on the border of the Qin dynasty.

“Didn’t tower master give you an order? Why did you guys leave without permission?”  The squad leader asks doubtfully. He has not loosened his vigilance yet.

The green-haired Xiuyaoist is delighted to see some hope. “Well …  sir, those Xiuyaoists you killed just now were with me. You killed the wrong targets. They were our comrades.” The green-haired Xiuyaoist says with grief.

“Ah.” The squad leader appears totally stunned.

At this moment, the green-haired Xiuyaoist has already come up with a way to escape, however —

Poof!

A sharp sword penetrates his stomach. The green-haired Xiuyaoist looks at the squad leader before him with popping eyes and says in disbelief: “You … why did you …?”

“Brother, you’re really smart. Unfortunately, tower master already took this simple flaw into account. The jade identity cards of us 10,000 guards were already altered. So, as soon as we sensed you, we knew that … you’re not one of us.” The squad leader smiles broadly.

“Then why did you … still talk with me so much …?” Because a vital body part of his was pierced through, the green-haired Xiuyaoist, who has merely reached the Jindan stage, is wounded very badly. But he still wants to know the answer.

The squad leader says solemnly: “Well, this … is because you didn’t show up until now. We’ve been waiting here for more than a half year without seeing anything. We were bored so naturally we wanted to toy with you a bit!”

“Ha-ha …”

Those nearly 100 Xiuyaoists all laugh out loud. Some mortals in the surroundings become doubtful as to why that group of men is laughing. But seeing that those men are muscular, nobody dares to approach them.

“Brothers, clean it up and leave.” After destroying the corpses, the 100 members of this squad slowly enter the city gate with no worries then return to their respective posts on the city wall.

……

At almost the same time, 5 other small groups attempt to secretly intrude into the capital through different places.

However —

It can be said that the capital’s defense is almost watertight as one group after another is totally annihilated. The Stellar Tower’s guards, who have not killed for more than a half year, take the opportunity to toy with these Xiuyaoists at will.

But these guards are too careless.

Right after they killed the first batch of groups, another batch of groups appears and intrudes into the capital through the same places. Because the original guards of these places have already left to kill the first groups, the later groups are able to sneak in safely.

If the Stellar Tower’s guards were vigilant and kept watch all the time with their holy senses, they would very likely have detected the 2nd batch of groups of 5.

But obviously not many guards are vigilant.

Among the 12 small groups of 5, 5 groups succeed in entering the capital with this method.

As for going in through the sky, this method simply does not work because the airspace of the capital has been sealed up with restrictive spells and not even a birdie can dream of flying in.

…… The capital, Prince Yu’s Mansion,

Qin Yu is sitting in a chair. Yan Rui and Liang Tan are in front of him. Yan Rui is dressed in a black suit of armor which outlines her curvy figure but Liang Tan has a solemn expression and does not glances sideways at her.

“Tower master, various places on the city walls have reported that many small groups attempted to sneak into the capital. It is still unknown whether any such groups have breached our defense to come in.” Liang Tan says seriously.

Qin Yu nods and says with a smile: “They’re very formidable, aren’t they? Every Xiuyaoist inside the capital must be vigilant and search carefully. As for the ones in the Imperial Palace, I don’t have to tell them what to do, right?”

“Don’t worry, tower master. Di Nai’s forces will be exterminated if they come here regardless of their number. None of them will succeed.” Liang Tan says confidently.

Qin Yu slightly nods. 

He is certainly at ease.

Not only did he spread the Stellar Tower’s guards along the border of the Qin dynasty to provide surveillance, he also had guards stationed on the city walls. Moreover … there are currently over 1000 Xiuyaoists inside the capital. They are staying in various places of the capital and monitoring it constantly.

The inside of the Imperial Palace is even more heavily guarded.

……

“Sir, the Imperial Palace is guarded too strictly inside. More than half of the 25 brothers who were lucky to survive are already dead.”

A scholarly-looking Xiuyaoist listens to his subordinate via holy sense communication while sitting in a restaurant. He then gives an order: “Change the targets. Attack the members of the royal family and the important officials in the capital. Kill as many as possible.”

“Yes.”

The scholar takes a sip of tea and lets out a sigh.

“Valley master really told us to seek our own deaths with this mission.”  A forced smile appears on his face. But he and the other do not dare not to come here because, if they disobey, Di Nai will … make them suffer a fate worse than death instead of killing them.

Suddenly —

“Brother,  you’re  really  brave  to  have  broken  in  the  Qin dynasty’s capital.” A juvenile walks towards the scholar. The scholar’s face changes color greatly. He unexpectedly cannot tell the power level of the juvenile before him.

“A little late Jindan stage fella like you even dared to break into the capital? You must have a death wish.” As this sentence rises in the ears of the scholar, the juvenile also arrives at his side. The scholar, however, remains motionless.

This is because … he is already dead.

This juvenile is none other than one of the 10 company leaders of the 10,000 guards from the Stellar Tower.

……

“Roar ~~”

A terrifying shout is heard, immediately followed by a series of explosions. More than half of the mansion of the Minister of War has been destroyed. 

Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! ……

In an instant, 10-odd silhouettes appear simultaneously in the Minister of War’s mansion. Their expressions are very unsightly. Each important high-ranking official is protected by

3 Xiuyaoists, but the Xiuyaoist who attacked just now was

unexpectedly an octopus.

When attacked, he changed into his huge true form and self- destructed out of desperation and fury, killing more than half of the Minister of War’s family on the spot, including the Minister of War.

“Sir.” Those 3 guards whose duty is to protect the Minister of War are trembling in fear at the moment.

Pa!

A large man with an ice-cold face violently gives one of them a slap on the face then says coldly: “The 3 of you couldn’t even deal with an enemy. If you had held on for a short while, we would’ve arrived in time. But … you couldn’t even hold on for a little while. Prepare to be punished by tower master.”

Hold on?

How could they have held on when the enemy self- destructed?

These 3 Xiuyaoists feel greatly wronged.

……

Meanwhile, attacks are launched at various places in the capital. More than half of the 25 Xiuyaoists successful in entering the capital died in the Imperial Palace but they had still managed to kill several tens eunuchs, several tens ladies- in-waiting and an imperial concubine in the palace. The nearly 10 remaining Xiuyaoists also succeed in killing several important officials and several hundred ordinary people.

……

Seeing the outcome, Qin Yu has a somewhat unsightly expression.

“Tower master, our guards are also at the Jindan stage so despite their superior number, they could not kill the enemies in one hit. Because they cannot one shot the enemies, the enemies can kill a large number of mortals just by sending out their energy …  Mortals are really too weak.”  Yan Rui says in frustration.

Qin Yu forces a smile.

Indeed, when Xiuyaoists fight each other, even though his forces outnumber the enemies, the energy sent out in the fighting alone can kill mortals. Thus, an imperial concubine, several important officials and even more than 100 eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting and ordinary people were killed this time.

“Increase the surveillance on the city walls. I never thought so many Xiuyaoists would be able to sneak in. From now on, increase the number of monitoring guards. The best solution is to prevent the enemies from getting into the capital.” Qin Yu immediately gives an order.

The deaths of a minister and several other important officials are really a severe blow to the Qin dynasty and its subjects.

However, Di Nai used this wave of attack only to test the water. His real, ruthless attacks are still to come!

B9C8: Change Of Heart

“Valley master, the most recent news I received says that 25 troops managed to enter the capital. When attacking the Imperial Palace, one of them self-destructed out of desperation, killing some noble. It should be the empress or an imperial concubine of the Qin dynasty.”

Yan Xin reports respectfully. Di Nai’s eyes immediately glitter.

“Really?”

Di Nai asks again.

Yan Xin says with a nod: “Valley master, according to the news, the ladies-in-waiting in the Imperial Palace called that woman ‘Lady’. Therefore, she was either the empress or an imperial concubine.” “Very well … what happened next?” Di Nai’s face is covered in a layer of joy.

Yan Xin is startled, but Yan Mou says: “Valley master, this is the last news. After sending this news, that squad leader was killed … but the remaining Xiuyaoists should have attacked the important officials and some royals who live outside the Imperial Palace in the capital according to the plan. Mortals are very fragile so any Xiuyaoist can kill them by casually sending out his energy. The Qin dynasty must have suffered quite a lot of damage.”

“Very good.”

Di Nai stands up while laughing: “However, judging from the fighting this time, we can see that the Qin dynasty has an extremely tight defense. After suffering such heavy losses, it will definitely raise its defense again. Perhaps it’ll be very difficult to sneak in without being spotted by the surveillance on the capital’s walls.”

Yan Xin says frowningly: “Then what should we do, valley master?” “Yan Xin, after considering for a long time, I’ve come up with a  great  solution  —  fighting  mortals  with  mortals!”  Di  Nai smiles broadly.

Yan Xin and Yan Mou are startled.

“They  are  watching  out  for  Xiuyaoists  but  how  can  they defend against mortals? If we can control and order a bunch of mortals to go attack the Qin dynasty, we’ll surely be able to catch them by surprise. This’ll probably achieve an even better result than attacking with Xiuyaoists do.” Di Nai says confidently.

Yan Xin’s and Yan Mou’s eyes immediately brighten.

“According to the intelligence gathered in the Qin dynasty, the Qian Long continent has assassin organizations as well as spy  organizations.”  Di  Nai  says  smilingly.  “And  pearls  and agates, which are worthless to us at the bottom of the ocean, are loved by mortals the most.” “Valley master, you mean …” Yan Xin has also figured it out.

“You’re   not   bad.   First   we’ll   make   those   assassin organizations get into action with money and jewels.”  Di Nai says slowly. “However … according to intelligence, the range of assassinating missions they accept is limited. They won’t dare to assassinate the Qin dynasty’s princes. Therefore … in addition to that, we’ll have to establish an assassin organization of our own.”

“We’ll establish it ourselves?” Yan Xin asks doubtfully.

Di Nai says with a nod: “Correct. We’ll send several tens Xiuyaoists into the Ming dynasty and Han dynasty. They’ll display their power in front of some Xiantian experts to tempt these experts into joining our organization.”

“At the same time, we’ll showcase the power of Xiuyaoists to some big clans to get their support and even to control some big clans’ influence!”

Di Nai’s eyes glitter. 

“Using the Ming dynasty and Han dynasty as the bases, we’re going to set up an assassin organization called Specter! Its top priority is going to be to kill the members of the Qin dynasty’s royal clan.” A note of extreme coldness surges in his eyes.

He has decided that the top goal is to kill the royal clan’s members. Never has he thought that those mortals will be able to kill Qin Yu.

“You’re so brilliant, valley master.”

Yan Xin and Yan Mou both get down on one knee and say with joy. After listening to this plan of fighting mortals with mortals, they have found it to be exceptionally feasible because while those guarding Xiuyaoists can monitor other Xiuyaoists using holy senses, mortals cannot be kept under surveillance in the same way.

“The Specter assassin organization,” Di Nai laughs coldly in his mind, “Qin Yu, I’ll let your clan know how it feels to be haunted by a specter!” ……

Inside the Ming dynasty,

Sky Raising Hand Yu Wenshang, a prominent expert of the Ming dynasty, is riding a horse on a main road. It is already dark now but he is still going slowly.

“Stop.”

A cold shout rises.

“Who?” Yu Wenshang’s face changes color. He unexpectedly cannot feel the location of the shouter.

“I’m behind you.” That ice-cold voice is heard again. Yu Wenshang gets off the horse and turns around. His movements are very smooth. He takes no provocative action because he understands … that if someone who can appear behind him undetected wanted to kill him, he would have been dead already.

“You …”

Yu Wenshang’s face changes color greatly because the man before him is unexpectedly standing in midair.

According to legend, only Shangxian can stand in midair without the help of anyone or any tools.

“You’re a Shangxian?” He asks in disbelief.

“Yes.” This blue-clad stalwart man admits right away. In fact, this blue-clad large man is merely a Xiuyaoist. “I see that you’re pretty talented and already a Xiantian expert so I want to make you my disciple. Do you want it?” Hearing that the Shangxian wants him to become his disciple, Yu Wenshang is dumbfounded.

“Oh, you don’t want it?” The blue-clad large man says frowningly.

“No,  I  want  it.  It  is  an  honor  to  meet  you,  master.”  Yu Wenshang immediately kneels down and says.

A Shangxian, no less! This is a supreme being. Countless martial artists can only dream about becoming Shangxian’s disciples so how can Yu Wenshang possibly decline when now a Shangxian wants to make him his disciple? After all, the attraction of a Shangxian is really too great.

……

In such a short time as 3 months, a large assassin organization is founded. This assassin organization is based in the Ming dynasty and Han dynasty. There are several tens big clans with a history of more than 100 years working for it. These big clans have agreed to work for it only because some of their members have become Shangxian’s disciples.

In addition, a large number of Xiantian experts have also joined this assassin organization.

To become a Shangxian is a dream of every top-class martial artist.

The assassin organization is such a huge power and has so many Xiantian experts so naturally it has attracted some Houtian experts. Like a strong wind scattering the clouds, its influence has even spread into the Qin dynasty.

In 3 months, an assassin organization second only to the Heavenly Net has been established. It is called Specter.

…… In Prince Yu’s Mansion,

“Uncle Xu, your prediction at that time is really not bad. In the last several months, an assassin organization has indeed appeared.” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Xu Yuan already took a Base Building Pill and afterwards Qin Yu used his own energy to clear his channels and purify his marrow, helping him to absorb the medicines of the pill, so now he is also a Xiantian expert and looks like a man in his forties or fifties.

Base Building Pills are very precious and ordinary Xiuzhen schools cannot obtain them.

Using some materials in Treasure Storing Palace, which he stole from the Nine Demons Hall, Qin Yu made quite a few Base Building Pills. One of such pills coupled with his personal assistance certainly can turn a normal person into a Xiantian expert in no time. “Blending in with the mortal world, handling mortals with mortals … but Di Nai is only a little smart. He’s unexpectedly using an assassin organization, which is the easiest thing for us to deal with.” Xu Yuan says while waving his feather fan, seeming totally unconcerned.

Qin Yu looks at Uncle Xu.

“Don’t worry. For the moment you don’t have to get into action. As he’s already using mortals, I can deal with him using only mortals.” Xu Yuan slightly waves the feather fan and says with confidence.

Qin Yu nods his head with a smile.

……

In the evening of the same day, Qin Yu is reading a book under a lamp alone. Suddenly there are knocks at the door.

“So it’s you, father.” Qin Yu opens the door of the room. He is surprised and very excited to see his father Qin De outside the door. According to Xu Yuan’s ruse of using political decoys, the ones staying in Pure Forest Garden are simply not Qin De and Fengyuzi. Actually, Qin De and Fengyuzi are staying in Prince Yu’s Mansion.

Qin De nods smilingly. Seeing the book on the desk, he says with a smile: “You’re still reading books in the evening?”

“I’m just bored.”

Qin Yu immediately sits down on one side. Qin De picks the book up and takes a look: “Gain and Loss? This book was written by an authority on Taoism. It can be used as a source of reference indeed.”

Qin Yu says with a shake of his head: “Xiuzhenists respect true power, but the longer I stay in this world, the more mentally tired I am. Reading these books can help me relax a bit.” In front of his father, he unconsciously shows his own weakness.

Qin Yu is strong-willed. It is really unbelievable that a brat who entered the Xiuzhen world not long ago like him has been able to reach his current level.

“Yu’er, you should take a good break. Don’t keep fighting.” Qin De says comfortingly.

“Fighting? Father, I don’t want to fight at all, but other people have been forcing me to fight. In the overseas Xiuzhen world, people wanted to kill me, if I didn’t want to get killed, I could only kill them!” Qin Yu takes a deep breath.

Qin De of course understands this reason. He is speechless for a while.

“I’ve always believed in the saying ‘the weak let their ideals control their actions, but the strong control their ideals with their actions’!” His expression becomes resolute. 

“When I’m sad and in pain, I’ll sing loudly. When I’m scared, I’ll go forwards bravely. When my ability doesn’t match my desire, I’ll remember past successes to summon the courage to try again! I definitely won’t let my ideals control my actions, or else … I’ll probably be killed very soon.”

Qin Yu’s eyes glitter.

“In the underwater Xiuyao world, I didn’t want to kill at first, but I then knew that if I was soft-hearted, I surely wouldn’t be able to keep my subordinates under control and they would turn against me. So, I had no choice but to be tenacious and frosty!”

“At that time I was being hunted. When I was running for my life alone, when I was feeling lonely, when I was feeling weak

… I could only recall the happy days in the past and the times when I was with you and brothers to give myself strength again to keep running for my life. I believed there’d eventually be a day when I could free myself.” Qin Yu clenches his fists, making their blue veins visible.

“Yu’er …” Qin De grabs Qin Yu’s shoulders.

“Do I let my actions control myself against my will? I don’t know … That day, after knowing that my master was dead and that your and Uncle Feng’s arms had been cut off, at first I only wanted to kill Dongfang Yu, but … Dongfang Nian refused to hand him over. If I had been soft-hearted, perhaps even more people would bully the Qin clan. So, I had to go against my true feelings. I had to be ruthless and massacre them.”

Qin Yu’s eyes are fierce.

“In my childhood, limit training made me suffer. I didn’t want to practice but I forced myself to practice … Every time I broke through a limit, I would feel comfortable. It was like seeing a rainbow after the rain. I knew that one day I’d eventually get your approval. Your smiles were the rainbow I looked forward to the most.”

Qin Yu gives a smile which is like that of a child. 

“Father, the world of Xiuzhenists is very cruel.” He says with a sigh.

Qin De only holds his hands without saying anything.

“If not for Uncle Lan, I would’ve had to keep fighting and killing people. Otherwise … I wouldn’t be able to take revenge even if my relatives were insulted.” Qin Yu says in a low voice. He feels very grateful to Uncle Lan.

Because of Uncle Lan, he has been able to relax a bit and act in accordance with his true feelings.

This is a world of the strong. If Qin Yu is not the strongest, he can only act against his will.

“I didn’t want to kill, to act cold, to be ruthless and to be bloodthirsty, but there was nothing I could do. Every time I was alone, I would feel a pain in my heart. But even though it was hard to bear, I had to play it cool on the outside or put on a smiling face because I’m the tower master. I can’t lose my nerve, be in fear or be weak. I’ve got to appear resolute, cold and merciless!”

Qin Yu looks at his father and laughs in a low voice. But then he says as if sobbing: “Father, do you know how it feels?”

“I know, Yu’er. I know.” Qin De’s heart is also in pain.

In the past,

Even when experts of the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion, 2 powers which have been in existence for several thousand years, saw Qin Yu, they all could not help admitting that he was determined and cold and that he would even be able to face a collapsing huge mountain smilingly.

The experts such as Azure Dragon, Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu and Yi Da have even been living in this kind of environment for several thousand to 10,000 years, starting from when they were little. 

It is normal for them to be tough and merciless.

Qin Yu, however, is different from them. He stepped into the underwater Xiuyao world when he was already 20 years old. When he was little, he was in the company of his close relatives. At Misty Villa, he was taught by Grandpa Lian. He has a kind and passionate nature.

However, he became the victim of circumstances.

When he was a child, he pushed himself to the limit to improve his power and get his father’s approval. In the end he was successful and almost perished together with Wu Xing.

Then he went into the underwater Xiuyao world and had to act against his will once more to adapt to this world of Xiuyaoists.

“’The  weak  let  their  ideals  control  their  actions,  but  the strong control their ideals with their actions.’ If not for this saying supporting my inner world like a column at the bottom of my heart, perhaps … I would have collapsed long ago due to being unable to stand acting against my will.”

Qin Yu’s eyes glisten with tears. After releasing the repressed pain in his heart, he cannot control his emotions.

“Yu’er.”

Qin De looks at his son, his emotions running high in his heart: “Yu’er, you can’t keep everything at the bottom of your heart. Do you understand? You have to tell me your feelings at home, and your friends outside. Don’t suppress all of them in your heart.”

Qin Yu takes a deep breath then gives a smile.

“Father, I’ve been lucky to be helped by Uncle Lan. If he didn’t help me, that would mean fate is fair to me. But … my life is mine so I must be my own master.” Qin Yu stands up and opens the room’s door.

“Likewise, I must continue to act against my will because I want to become the strong!” Qin Yu’s voice is very unyielding.

He walks out of the room and raises his head to look at the bright stars in the sky. He talks to himself inwardly: “I can’t stand seeing my relatives insulted and suffering so I must become the strong, strong enough to protect them!”

“Smiling, collected, tough and bloodthirsty, this is how I should be! Weakness and soft-heartedness can only be buried in my heart! Definitely!!!”  Qin Yu’s expression becomes even more resolute.

B9C9: Location Of The Tribulation

The weak let their ideals control their actions, but the strong control their ideals with their actions.

Acting against the will!

Qin Yu must go on this way until the day when he stands at the top of the world and nobody can threaten him. Only then will he be able to do whatever he wishes freely.

From the door of the room, Qin De calmly looks at Qin Yu, who is looking up at the starry sky in the courtyard.

Qin Yu is watching the stars in the sky but the look in his eyes is extremely resolute.

Suddenly he gives a faint smile. “Has the Meteoric Tear also felt the change in me? In the future, no matter what happens, I’ll still deal with it calmly, even if the sky collapses and the ground shatters.” He feels that the energy of the Meteoric Tear has changed and that the connection between him and the Meteoric Tear seems to have deepened by one level.

In an instant, Qin Yu’s mental state also transforms.

“Mental state of the middle Kongming stage? 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation in 5 months?” A faint smile appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth.

When his mental state has suddenly reached the middle Kongming stage from the early Kongming stage, he has also suddenly sensed the long-awaited 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation. It is going to come exactly 5 months later. However, at the moment Qin Yu is not ecstatic at all.

The road he still has to walk in the future is very long. This tribulation is just a small episode. And the Nine Demons Hall’s Di Nai, who is bothering him now, is merely a little fork on the road of his life.

If Qin Yu did not want to keep doing what he is doing, if he was the weak, he would only need to practice quietly in a certain corner of scenic beauty to be able to enjoy life and not worry about things. However, if he really did so, perhaps he would have no choice but to watch his relatives getting harmed when a strong individual threatens their lives.

Therefore … Qin Yu has chosen to become one that is strong enough to protect his relatives and brothers. When he made this decision, his path was also decided at the same time.

Fighting, bloodthirstiness, coldness, madness, acting against the will, killing, dangers … they are the things on Qin Yu’s path. This is his own choice so naturally he has to be responsible for them himself.

Hu! Qin Yu expands his holy sense to the utmost. Having reached the middle Kongming stage, it has an extremely wide range which can cover the entire capital. Now he can see clearly that

… in the Imperial Palace, the princes are sleeping peacefully and his brother Qin Zheng is seriously correcting memorials to the throne.

His big brother Qin Feng is practicing quietly.

Peacefulness and happiness,

Only when he sees his relatives living happily does Qin Yu feels satisfied with his choice.

It is like … how he did external practice for 10 something years to obtain his father’s approval and smiles when he was a kid.

Now he is walking the path of the strong for an indeterminable amount of time to see the smiles of his relatives and brothers. 

……

Time goes by. A month after Qin Yu sensed his 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, in Prince Yu’s Mansion,

Xu Yuan and Li’er are playing Go.

Compared to Qin Yu’s standard, Xu Yuan’s Go skill is obviously much stronger. Now he is even more quick-minded than in the past because he has already started to practice after absorbing a Base Building Pill so naturally his Go skill has improved too.

“Ha-ha, I’ve lost, Miss Li’er. Your Go skill is really excellent.” Xu Yuan gives up laughingly and admits defeat.

“Your skill has clearly improved, Uncle Xu. I think you’re just a bit weaker than the capital’s God of Go.” Li’er collects the Go pieces smilingly. 

After the game is finished, Qin Yu, Li’er and Xu Yuan chat with each other.

“What? You’re going to undergo the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation 4 months later?” Xu Yuan is shocked and loses his usual calmness and easiness.

Qin Yu says smilingly with a nod: “What’s the matter, Uncle Xu? Isn’t it just the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation? It’s not worth making such a fuss of.”

Li’er also looks at Qin Yu and says in a slightly annoyed manner: “Qin Yu, you didn’t even tell me that you’re going to undergo the tribulation.”

Qin Yu is startled. When she calls him Qin Yu instead of big brother Qin Yu, she has obviously become angry.

“Given my current power, it should be very easy to overcome that 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, unless some strange change will take place like what happened to Xiao Hei that day. Even so, I’ll still be able to withstand it by going all out.” Qin Yu is totally confident.

Li’er looks at him for a long time then says with a sigh: “Be careful, big brother Qin Yu. Your heavenly tribulation definitely won’t be so simple as you think.”

Xu Yuan, however, says: “Xiao Yu, I’ve just come up with a plan which can easily lure Di Nai out and even kill him.”

“Oh?” His eyes brightening, Qin Yu says: “Quickly tell me, Uncle Xu. Don’t beat around the bush. What’s actually your good plan? As long as this Di Nai fella isn’t terminated, I always feel a little anxious.”

Xu Yuan waves his feather fan and says confidently: “Xiao Yu, according to what you said, you and Hou Fei are the ones that Di Nai fellow wants to kill the most because you two killed his brothers. But his power is weaker than yours so he basically has no chance at all.” “Therefore …  you’ll only need to leak the info that you’re going to go through the tribulation to him.” Xu Yuan looks at Qin Yu with sureness.

Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.

“Ha-ha, that’s right. Di Nai hates me and Fei Fei the most, but he’s got no chance so he’s hiding like a turtle at some place in the underwater Xiuyao world. If he knows the time and location of my tribulation … he’ll definitely come.”

Qin Yu has already thought carefully about Di Nai.

Life and death? For the sake of revenge, Di Nai absolutely will not care about them.

He wants to kill the Qin clan’s members only to make Qin Yu grieve. How can that possibly compare with hurting Qin Yu physically to vent his hatred in person? “That won’t do!” However, Li’er says coldly.

Qin Yu is startled.

“Qin Yu, you can’t be careless about taking on this tribulation. As I already told you long ago, this 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation definitely won’t be so simple as you think. Didn’t you see Xiao Hei’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation? If you lure Di Nai to you, and if he takes advantage of you going through the tribulation to attack you, you’ll be in real mess.” Her eyes are filled with urgency.

Qin Yu’s heart warms up.

“Don’t worry, Miss Li’er. I devised this plan so naturally I won’t let Xiao Yu face danger. When the times come, I’ll let Hou Fei, the most powerful among us, hide on one side. If Di Nai appears, Hou Fei will smash him dead immediately.”  Xu Yuan says indifferently.

But  Li’er  says:  “Smash  him  dead?  That  Di  Nai  isn’t  as powerful as Fei Fei, but he’s eager to get revenge. He’ll definitely resort to every means. If he explodes himself, maybe he’ll be able to affect Qin Yu. Besides, going through that tribulation will be extremely dangerous. So, if something unexpected happens, that’ll be terrible.”

Xu Yuan is startled then looks at Qin Yu: “Xiao Yu, this plan of mine is a bit too audacious. Let’s not use it for the time being.”

At first he thought that Qin Yu would overcome the tribulation very easily but now, according to what Li’er said, that tribulation seems so exceptionally dangerous that if Qin Yu is a little careless, he will probably fail with his soul destroyed.

Li’er also stares at Qin Yu.

“All right, all right, I won’t use this plan, okay?” Qin Yu says smilingly to her.

…… In that nameless mountain range at the bottom of the ocean,

“Qin Yu’s going to undergo a tribulation?”

Di Nai is shocked. Then he suddenly grabs Yan Xin’s arms and says with goggling eyes: “That Qin Yu fella is going to undergo a tribulation. Could it be the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation? Yan Xin, you can’t joke about this matter. Tell me the truth!” His eyes are blazing as if he wants to devour people.

Seeing  Di  Nai  like  this,  Yan  Xin  hurriedly  says:  “Valley master, according to the news I received, that Qin Yu fella said

3 and a half months later that he’ll leave the Qian Long continent for that Stone Crane Island, which is relatively near the continent, to undergo the tribulation. It seems he deliberately spread this news.”

“Three and a half months later on the Stone Crane Island?” Di Nai mumbles in a low voice then raises his head, his eyes flashing  with  coldness.  “Deliberately  spread  the  news?  Of course I know Qin Yu deliberately did this. If he hadn’t spread this news about the tribulation, given our intelligence network, how could we possibly have known about it?”

“Valley master, that Qin Yu fella definitely wants to lure you into coming to him.” Yan Mou says firmly.

Di Nai says with a cold laugh: “Of course I know he wants to lure me out.”

“Valley master …” Yan Xin and Yan Mou are astonished.

Di Nai’s eyes narrow: “According to the info my 3 elder brothers sent me at that time, Qin Yu is a son of the Qin dynasty. He’s been practicing for less than 100 years but he’s reached such a power level in such a short time … If this continues, the gap in power between me and him will only grow larger and larger and my hope of getting revenge will only become increasingly smaller!” Yan Xin and Yan Mou fall silent.

They indeed know Qin Yu’s information. He is already at such a high power level having been practicing for such a short time. If he keeps progressing at this speed, the gap between Di Nai and him will only become larger and larger.

“As for that Hou Fei fella, he’s an extraordinary divine beast. At that time, my brothers and I were joining forces but we were still no match for him. According to my big brother, he passed the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation several years ago. Now he must be even stronger than he was in the past so I’m all the more not a match for him!”

“Valley master, seeking revenge shouldn’t be rushed.”  Yan Xin and Yan Mou have become worried.

Di Nai, however, says with a cold humph: “It shouldn’t be rushed, but I’m different. If I keep not getting into action, later I’ll stand absolutely no chance.” “Yan Xin, Yan Mou, at the moment I can only plan to take the lives of Qin Yu’s relatives. Why? It’s because I stand no chance against Qin Yu and Hou Fei. But I simply can’t kill Qin Yu’s relatives in person. Perhaps Qin Yu and Hou Fei are laughing about me in the capital.”

Di Nai bursts out laughing like crazy: “Ha-ha, I want to kill Qin Yu’s relatives, but I don’t dare to personally get into action. I can only stay here. What’s the use of me staying here? I’m totally useless! So, I better go and seize that only glimmer of hope!”

“Yan Xin, Yan Mou.”

Di Nai suddenly stares at the 2 Yan brothers.

“Yes, valley master.” They look at him.

“The 2 of you listen up. Even if I stay in the valley, I won’t have any hope of killing Qin Yu’s relatives … Therefore, later you’ll take charge of the matters in the valley and manage the matters of the Specter. Remember … kill Qin Yu’s relatives.” Di Nai’s eyes redden: “As for me, I’m going to seize that only chance of getting revenge. Qin Yu is setting up a trap, but … one’s cleverness may overreach itself. Has he ever heard of this saying? Even if I have to die, I’ll cause him to fail to overcome the tribulation, thus destroying his soul!”

“You two, vow to me that you’ll definitely take charge of the valley and kill Qin Yu’s relatives.” Di Nai stares at Yan Xin and Yan Mou.

He is forcing them to make a pledge because after Xiuzhenists make a pledge, they cannot go back on their words.

Yan Xin and Yan Mou exchange a look, but facing that terrifying look in Di Nai’s eyes, they have no choice but to make a vow. They know that if they decline, he will most probably kill them right away because he has already become obsessed.

“I, Yan Xin, swear to Heaven that I shall definitely take charge of the matters in the valley and do everything for the goal of killing the members of Qin Yu’s clan. I shall never give up. If I ever do, my soul shall be destroyed by thunderbolts from Heaven.”

“I, Yan Mou, swear to Heaven that I shall definitely take charge of the matters in the valley and do everything for the goal of killing the members of Qin Yu’s clan. I shall never give up. If I ever do, my soul shall be destroyed by thunderbolts from Heaven.”

The 2 brothers make a vow at the same time.

“Very good, extremely good.” When Di Nai sees this, his face is full of a smiling expression.

“From now on, I’ll isolate myself to make some secret offensive weapons. I’ll leave the matters in the valley to you. When that day comes, I’ll appear by myself … Remember, don’t ever disturb me.”  He makes a wave of his large sleeve and leaves immediately. Yan Xin and Yan Mou exchange a look, feeling bitter in their hearts.

At first they planned to, in case Di Nai dies that day, abandon everything to live peaceful days. But now they have been forced into making a pledge by Di Nai so even if they were allowed to violate it, they would not dare to.

……

Prince Yu’s Mansion,

Qin Yu and Hou Fei fly away directly. Below them, Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Li’er and the others are all watching them.

Seeing Qin Yu leaving, Li’er shakes her head in frustration, talking to herself inwardly: “Big brother Qin Yu, you even spread that news. I didn’t think you’d be willing to put yourself in danger for the sake of killing Di Nai … However, with Fei Fei beside you and that thing … there shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully there won’t be too much trouble during this 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation.”

……

Qin Yu and Hou Fei are flying side by side.

“Fei Fei, after reaching that Stone Crane Island, you’ll keep your holy sense spread out all the time. If that Di Nai fella appears, just smash him to death right away for me. Though I’m not afraid of him, I feel what Li’er said is right. This 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation will very likely exceed my expectations.” Qin Yu’s expression is solemn.

“Don’t worry, big brother. No matter what happens, I won’t let that Di Nai fella touch you.” Hou Fei says confidently.

Qin Yu gives a smile. Actually, in his heart, he has always looked down upon Di Nai. If this was Di Long or Di Jian, he would have to pay a little bit attention, but this is Di Nai so the danger level is naturally lower.

Moreover, a post-6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation Hou Fei would even be able to handle Di Long and Di Jian with a blow of his stick if they personally came there. This time Xiao Hei does not go because Qin Yu forced him to stay behind to protect Qin De and the others. He was worried that Di Nai would take advantage of the fact that there would be too few experts in the capital to attack the capital, which would be terrible.

After flying out of the Qian Long continent and going south for some time, they see an uninhabited islet. There is a naturally formed mountain peak which looks very similar to a crane on this islet so it is called the Stone Crane Island. This island is also the location Qin Yu has chosen to undergo the tribulation.

B9C10: The 6th Thunderbolt

The Stone Crane Island,

Qin Yu carefully takes out from his spatial ring 6 chunks of green wood. All of them are glistening with a green light. Obviously they are not ordinary objects. He then sticks the 6 chunks of green wood in 6 different places around him and executes hand signs and restrictive spells, setting up a large formation.

On one side, Hou Fei whispers: “Oh my, big brother, this is the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation.”

Qin Yu, however, pays no attention to him.

“The Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation is a top-class large defensive formation. I asked sis Li’er for 6 chunks of defensive wood but she said she didn’t have enough … It turns out she kept them for you.” Hou Fei says in a very resentful manner. Qin Yu does not pay attention to him, but there is a smiling expression on his face.

This Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation was given to him by none other than Li’er before he left. Previously, he had also prepared some defensive formations, but the gaps between them and this formation are really great. In fact, it is not difficult to set up this Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation at all. The only difficult thing is to gather ‘defensive wood.’

A chunk of defensive wood can compare with a top-grade crystal, not to mention 6 chunks!

“Let’s not activate the defensive function of the formation for the moment. It won’t be late for me to wait until the 6th thunderbolt to use it.” Qin Yu makes a decision in his mind. To him, the attack of the lightning in the beginning should be very simple to deal with.

Therefore, it is not worth using this formation in the beginning either. There are still 3 days until the tribulation so Qin Yu sits down with legs crossed in the formation and waits in meditation. Hou Fei is almost bored to death but he can only roam about the Stone Crane Island then lie down on one side, cross his legs and rest.

……

“Kaka ~~~” The stone door opens.

A cold, sinister aura spreads out as Di Nai walks out of the secret room. Compared to before he went into this room, now he is a bit colder and his killing intent is a bit stronger. The air about him alone is frightening.

“Valley master.”

Yan Xin and Yan Mou immediately say with respect. For the past several days, they have been waiting for Di Nai to come out. After all, they also know that Qin Yu is going to undergo his tribulation within a couple of days. 

“Yan Xin, Yan Mou, tell those 6 guardians to come here.” Di Nai gives an order in an ice-cold voice at once.

“Yes.”

In just a while, the 6 guardians in the valley arrive in front of Di Nai. All of them appear very respectful.

“Today, I’m going to leave the valley to go kill Qin Yu …” Di Nai’s words immediately shock the 6 guardians, but his facial expression is still cold. He continues: “The 6 of you will have to sincerely listen to the 2 valley vice masters’ orders and do everything for the goal of killing the Qin clan’s members.”

The 6 guardians respectfully take the order at once.

Di Nai, however, says with a cold laugh: “This time, it’s hard to tell if I’ll live or die. Even though you’ve accepted the order like that, I’m still not at ease. So, you have to take a vow right here, right now. The fate of anyone who refuses is easy to imagine.”

Those 6 guardians are very terrified so they all take a vow without delay.

Bound by the vow, they will not dare to disobey the order at will.

“Very well … Remember, if someone becomes a betrayer, the others can kill him.” Di Nai gives several mad laughs. His body then disappears before everybody’s eyes with a movement.

The 6 guardians and the 2 valley vice masters look at each other but do not know what to say.

……

Di Nai is quietly waiting in an area of water far from the Stone Crane Island. 

“Qin Yu, I spent great amounts of materials to make so many offensive talismans and offensive cards. I want to see how you can survive the tribulation.” At the bottom of the ocean, the look in Di Nai’s eyes is very cold and sinister. Originally he was only at the middle Dongxu stage but, fueled by his hatred, he has unexpectedly broken through that limit to reach the late Dongxu stage.

This is also one of Di Nai’s trump cards to get revenge this time.

……

“Hopefully   big   brother   Qin   Yu   doesn’t   make   any insurmountable mistakes while going through this 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation.”

Li’er is walking back and forth frowningly in her room. Even she cannot calm down for the moment. ……

The Stone Crane Island,

At first the sun was shining brightly high in the azure sky. But in just a moment, the sky seems to drop down by one level. The entire part of it within several thousand li of the Stone Crane Island becomes dark red and the vertical axis of this dark red sky goes through the island.

Qin Yu, who is sitting with legs crossed and eyes closed, opens his eyes and looks up.

“The  6-in-9  Heavenly  Tribulation  is  already  starting.”  He stands up, focusing his entire attention on the tribulation.

Fierce winds suddenly blow. Immediately, the waves around the Stone Crane Island all surge up violently, reaching several tens to nearly 100 m in height and hitting every place of the island with loud explosions which sound like crashes of thunder. The entire world seems to be filled with noises of total chaos. 

Countless serpentine electric sparks are dancing in the dark red sky.

All of a sudden –

Whizz!

A noise which is similar to a man’s sniff resounds through the air. The fierce winds disappear at once and the big waves also quiet down extremely fast. In just a short time, the area around the Stone Crane Island has become calm and lovely with no billows.

All of the electric sparks have also disappeared because just now, in a breath, they were unexpectedly absorbed completely into that tribulation cloud.

Blackish purple tribulation cloud! “Big brother, last time when I underwent my tribulation, that cloud wasn’t as black as this and it didn’t absorb the lightning in the sky so fast like this either. Apparently … there’s something unusual here. Be careful.”  Hou Fei warns from the distance.

Qin Yu nods his head and takes a look at the 6 chunks of defensive wood on the ground around him. At the moment, the defense of the formation has not been activated yet.

Diamond cuts diamond. This top-class defensive formation certainly must be used at the last moment to protect against the attack of the 6th thunderbolt.

“Fei Fei, observe carefully using your holy sense for me. If you discover any traces of that Di Nai fella, kill him right away. Your mission is to kill Di Nai. Don’t get distracted.” Qin Yu says via holy sense communication then begins to prepare to take on the thunderbolts.

Any of the 6 thunderbolts will be more powerful than the previous one. 

Naturally Qin Yu is going to resist the 1st, the weakest thunderbolt using his body. If his body cannot even withstand the first thunderbolt, there will be no need for him to undergo the other 5 thunderbolts.

Boom!

An explosion is heard. A huge purple bolt which is as thick as a water tank has already struck down on Qin Yu’s body. In an instant, his whole body is bathed in lightning, causing him to look like a god of thunder, but it does not suffer any injuries.

“Awesome, awesome, it feels really awesome.”

Qin Yu narrows his eyes with a lot of enjoyment. An ordinary thunderbolt is totally unable to damage his body. The attack of the first thunderbolt gave his entire body a numbing sensation which was even more comfortable than getting massaged. “Even though the 1st of the 6 thunderbolts should be the weakest, it was a bit too weak already.” Qin Yu mutters.

Despite muttering so with his mouth, he still does not dare to treat the tribulation lightly. After all, when the tribulation cloud was being formed in the beginning, it gathered lightning too fast, and moreover, it is so purple that it appears black. Obviously it is containing a frighteningly great amount of energy.

Boom!

The 2nd thunderbolt strikes down. Qin Yu still resists it directly with his body.

Various sinuous electric sparks stimulate every place on his body like small needles. The pores on his whole body cannot help contracting. The electricity passes through his muscles and permeates into every part of his body directly. Qin Yu’s flesh is refined by lightning once again.

…… Something which nobody ever expected has happened.

For some reason, the first 5 thunderbolts were … only so powerful.

Before Qin Yu started to undergo the tribulation, Li’er had given him a warning. He also watched Hou Fei and Xiao Hei take on their 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations. Even though the last bolt that attacked Xiao Hei was terrifying, it was unable to take Xiao Hei’s life.

Compared to Xiao Hei’s and Hou Fei’s, Qin Yu’s first 5 thunderbolts even seem … somewhat weaker.

“What’s going on? This is simply unthinkable. I could only complete the Lightning Body Training process Master had mentioned after the 5th thunderbolt. According to my plan, it should’ve been completed after the 3rd one.”  Qin Yu talks to himself in his mind frowningly. He used liquid purple gold to make quite a lot of talismans and set up a large formation but by now he has withstood the first 5 thunderbolts directly using only his body.

“No good.”

His face suddenly changes color greatly.

He has immediately thought about one possibility. Generally, a heavenly tribulation will use up the energy contained in the tribulation cloud.

That blackish purple tribulation cloud, both he and Hou Fei feel that it has much more energy than Xiao Hei’s and Hou Fei’s tribulation clouds did. It has such a great amount of energy and yet the first 5 thunderbolts it generated were not very powerful, that means it has not used much energy.

And that also means there remains an exceptionally large amount of energy! All of the remaining energy will form the 6th thunderbolt.

How terrifying will it be?

“Damned Heaven, what game are you playing? Any of these 6 thunderbolts is stronger than the previous one, but the gaps between them shouldn’t be too great. You’ve unexpectedly been saving energy for the 6th thunderbolt by generating such 5 weak thunderbolts first. That 6th bolt …”

Qin Yu only has a bad feeling.

No wonder Li’er gave him a warning. Now he does not even have time to curse.

Without delay, he shakes his finger. A drop of blood flies out from his chest. He then starts up the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation and fuses it with his blood at the same time. This large formation has become even easier to control and its power has increased a bit too.

“12   Lightning   Breaking   Talismans,   hopefully   they’re somewhat effective. If everything else fails, I’ll have no choice but to use my last move.”

He has prepared quite a few reserve moves.

Chi chi ~~~

That tribulation cloud sounds as if it is being refined. A flame unexpectedly emerges from inside the cloud, which then starts to shrink nonstop. Meanwhile, serpentine electric sparks begin to flash unceasingly in the cloud. But the tribulation cloud is still shrinking under the burning of that flame.

……

“Even Heaven is helping me! Judging from the manner of this tribulation, the 6th thunderbolt will no doubt be extraordinarily powerful. Qin Yu, it’s hard to tell whether you’ll be able to survive the 6th thunderbolt. In addition, I’m going to strike you a blow. You’ll definitely die!” Di Nai is observing the sky from under the water so he has seen everything happening in the sky.

“It’s about time.”

His body suddenly rushes extremely fast towards the Stone Crane Island.

……

Whizz!

The tribulation cloud shrinks fiercely, but it does not become a blackish purple lightning bolt in the end. Simply speaking, after blending, it becomes a rather blue lightning bolt. The pale blue lightning bolt is very small, only as thick as 2 fingers put together. It is even smaller than a wrist.

This extremely small pale blue bolt then strikes down at Qin Yu’s head from the sky! 

The Flaming Sword has already flown out of the formation. At the moment the sword is shining brilliantly and rushing straight at that pale blue thunderbolt.

The Flaming Sword and the extremely small pale blue thunderbolt collide with each other. The sword unexpectedly shatters completely with a bang like glass getting smashed by a hammer. The pale blue thunderbolt, however, seems not to be weakened at all.

Pu!

Qin Yu spouts a mouthful of blood from his mouth immediately. His face reddens.

“Damned Heaven, you’re messing with me!”

Qin Yu curses inwardly, but his entire mind is focused on the inside of his body. In just one collision, his top-grade holy weapon, the Flaming Sword, was unexpectedly destroyed just like that. Even though it was partially because his power level is not high … this is merely a 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation! It is a bit too terrifying that a 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation can be this powerful.

Bang!

That extremely small pale blue thunderbolt bombards the protective barrier formed by the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, creating various flashes of lights. The light of the pale blue thunderbolt and that of the 6 defensive wood chunks blend together. But the protective barrier’s energy begins to undulate extremely fast.

After persisting for a breath’s time, the protective barrier shatters. The color of that pale blue thunderbolt has already turned purple a bit. However, a breath’s time is sufficient for Qin Yu to execute that one move. 12 Lightning Breaking Talismans have been thrown out.

“Damn it! Let’s go all out!” Qin Yu disregards everything else.

Now he does not even care if his power will suffer a huge loss. 

Qin Yu gives a loud shout in his heart. In the blink of an eye, his entire body is enfolded in a golden light. Now Qin Yu has become a golden man. At the same time, the whole Stone Crane Island begins to vibrate under his feet.

Rumbling ~~~

The rock under his feet shatters. From the depths of the seabed beneath the island, a flame rushes out. This is the Core Flame, which comes from the deepest part of the seabed.

“Stellar Field – Moving Core!”

Qin Yu shouts loudly in his mind!

The Core Flame immediately covers him completely as if burning him. He opens his hands at once and throws 2 palm strikes upwards. Having just destroyed the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, that lightning bolt now collides with this attack by Qin Yu squarely. 

From his palms, a large golden beam of light shoots out straight in the direction the palms are moving in. At the same time, that golden beam of light even enfolds the deep-ground Core Flame.

Bang!

The light beam and the thunderbolt clash.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ……

The entire Stone Crane Island starts to explode.

“Qin Yu, prepare to die!”

Loud gnashing shouts resound through the whole island. Di Nai has seized a very good opportunity. When the 6th thunderbolt struck down, he also started to charge at Qin Yu. Di Nai waves his hands, shooting out a large numbers of talismans and jade cards.

Explode. They explode in very quick succession.

Even Hou Fei is shocked. There are so many talismans and powerful jade cards. How many treasures did it take to make them? Hou Fei, however, does not know that for the sake of this occasion, Di Nai spent almost half of the Nine Demons Hall’s treasures.

“Kaka, die!”

With a movement of his body, Hou Fei arrives at the face of Di Nai. His black stick is immediately swung down at Di Nai’s head from the air.

Di Nai’s face becomes ferocious. He figured out long ago that this is a trap but he had no choice but to come here because this is his only hope.

“Ah ~~~”

Di Nai instantly transforms into a huge Purple Demon aquatic dragon, whose body is not only very long but is also very thick. Hou Fei’s black stick smashes onto the Purple Demon aquatic dragon’s waist squarely.

Taking such a powerful, heavy strike, the aquatic dragon twists his waist to neutralize the offensive force as much as possible. But his scales are still shattered, causing his blood to flow out.

“Taste another stick!”

Hou Fei swings his stick at Di Nai again. The latter suddenly lets out a dragon cry. A golden beam of light shoots straight at Qin Yu from his mouth.

……

Unexpectedly stop,

When the 6th thunderbolt and Qin Yu’s strongest attack collide, they unexpectedly stop for a moment, during which it seems the whole world stops and time freezes.

However —

Boom!

The golden beam of light is shattered. The Core Flame is scattered all over the place. That thunderbolt, which has become blackish purple, strikes upon Qin Yu’s palms, which are being held high. Qin Yu’s hands are wearing the Flaming Gloves, which are flashing with a dazzling light. His stellar energy has reached the utmost limit.

However, a flying sword shoots at him at the same time.

Bang!

Qin Yu tries his best to resist the thunderbolt with his hands. Owing to the Flaming Gloves and his stellar energy, he unexpectedly can hinder it again.

Poof!

Because Qin Yu has no time to dodge, the flying sword pierces through his chest. At this very moment, the flying sword penetrating his chest causes the stellar energy in his body to shake once. The Flaming Gloves are no longer charged with stellar energy and therefore are unexpectedly blown to pieces right away. Qin Yu’s hands and arms are also struck so hard they are scorched and blackened immediately.

……

“Die!”

Seeing this scene, an extremely furious Hou Fei enters berserk mode without delay, turning into a giant. Holding the huge black stick and using his brute force, he takes a swing at the Purple Demon aquatic dragon. However, at this moment, a golden beam of light shoots out from the aquatic dragon’s mouth.

Bang!

Enraged, Hou Fei turns the aquatic dragon into minced meat with his huge black stick at once, causing blood to splatter over a large area. The physical body of this Purple Demon aquatic dragon is now dead as dead can be. However … the golden beam of light shooting out from its mouth a moment ago is a yuanying, small and holding a short sword.

This yuanying is none other than Di Nai’s. And the short sword is a top-grade holy weapon.

For the sake of vengeance, even though originally Di Nai had only one top-grade holy weapon, he used his own top-grade crystals to make another top-grade holy weapon. No matter what happens, no matter the cost, he wants to kill Qin Yu.

Whizz!

A yuanying can ride a sword much faster than its physical body can.

Hou Fei smashed the body of the aquatic dragon just a moment ago but it is already too late when he notices the yuanying. “Qin Yu, die!”  Di Nai’s eyes are blazing very fiercely. The entire yuanying starts to burn … It has reached its top speed so even if Hou Fei risks his life, he will still not be able to catch up with it.

Turning into a dazzling meteor, Di Nai collides with Qin Yu. By now, that blackish purple thunderbolt has already shattered Qin Yu’s hands and scorched and blackened his whole arms, covering his entire body in blood.

The self-destruction of Di Nai’s yuanying, the stab of a top- grade holy weapon and the attack of the blackish purple thunderbolt eventually cause a frightening explosion!

Boom!

The sound of the explosion shakes the sky. The Stone Crane Islet is unexpectedly blown up completely. Ocean waves immediately sweep across the whole island. Shattered stones are scattered around but there is not even a trace at the location of the explosion. “Big brother!”

Hou Fei shouts himself hoarse then expands his holy sense to search carefully like mad!

B9C11: Protective Magic Treasure

At the moment, Hou Fei’s face is full of anxiety while his heart is filled with regret and anger.

He still remembers that in the beginning he beat his chest in front of Qin Yu and guaranteed that he would definitely be able to kill Di Nai with ease and not let Di Nai harm Qin Yu in the least. However, in the end he was careless and underestimated the opponent’s resolution.

Actually, Hou Fei cannot be blamed because when Xiuzhenists fight each other, no one will immediately leave their physical body with the yuanying when the fight has not been started yet.

Generally, a Xiuzhenist will only flee their physical body with the yuanying when they know that they are going to lose. However, this time, as soon as Di Nai transformed into a Purple Demon aquatic dragon, he spit his yuanying out from his mouth instead of exchanging blows with Hou Fei. Only when Hou Fei destroyed Di Nai’s physical body with a blow of the stick did he notice that Di Nai had already run away with the yuanying. The most important thing is … Di Nai was so resolute in his actions that he immediately burnt the yuanying and charged at Qin Yu at his fastest speed.

It was a sword-riding yuanying and, even worse, a burning yuanying. Such speed was impossible for Hou Fei to catch up with. He could only watch that sky-shaking explosion with wide opened eyes!

“Big brother, big brother!”

Hou Fei shouts loudly, his expression filled with worry. At the same time, he spreads his holy sense out to search carefully. But no matter how hard he tries, he cannot discover even a tiny trace of Qin Yu. In fact, Hou Fei’s soul level has been improving at average speeds therefore his soul simply cannot compare with Qin Yu’s.

The ocean’s water is splashing over the shattered island, whose many trees have all been broken and their branches are floating on the water surface. The island has become an area of destruction. And Hou Fei is standing on this almost completely ruined island.

Lustrous tears are glistening in the corners of Hou Fei’s eyes.

He clenches his fists.

Boom!

Hou Fei’s entire body goes into the water. In just a while, he resurfaces at a place several tens li away and takes a look around. He then re-enters the water. Hou Fei keeps searching nonstop, sometimes on the water, sometimes under the water.

2 hours, 4 hours … 6 hours has passed!

It has been 6 whole hours. During these 6 hours, Hou Fei has been going in and out of the water searching carefully unceasingly. However, all his efforts have come to naught.

Bang! 

Water splashes in all directions as a body emerges. It is none other than Hou Fei.

Hou Fei’s eyelashes are totally drenched with beads of water. Even though he is gasping for breath nonstop, he still looks around. However, the only things he sees are the boundless ocean and some floating branches of those broken trees. There are no signs of anybody.

“Where  have  you  gone,  big  brother?”   Standing  on  the surface of the water, Hou Fei murmurs in a low voice.

Even if Qin Yu died after that explosion, his body should remain. Why not even his corpse can be seen? Could that explosion have reduced his body to ashes? Hou Fei does not believe in this possibility.

Drip, drip! One drop of blood after another slowly falls on the ocean surface from his hands. This is because he is clenching his fists so tight that his fingernails have pierced into his palms. Hou Fei, however, does not feel anything and exerts even more strength in his fists.

……

In Prince Yu’s Mansion of the Qin dynasty,

“Father.” Qin Zheng bows and says to Qin De.

Qin De raises his head to take a look then immediately forces a smile and says: “So it’s you, Zheng’er. Recently, is the border between the Ming dynasty and our Qin dynasty still calm?”

“It’s  calm.  The  Ming  dynasty  is  now  very  well-behaved. Right, father, Xiao Yu has to undergo a tribulation, doesn’t he? I wonder if he’s succeeded by now. Have any messages been sent back?” Qin Zheng asks Qin De. “There’s been no message, but he’ll definitely succeed.”  Qin De says very firmly.

“Um, he’ll definitely succeed.” Qin Zheng says with a nod.

Despite saying so, both of them are not totally confident at the bottom of their hearts. Before Qin Yu returns, it is simply difficult for them to rest easy.

……

Miss Li’er and her lady-in-waiting, Xue’er, are chatting. Even though they are chatting, Li’er suddenly falls into a trance.

“Milady, are you all right …?” Xue’er shakes Li’er’s arm and asks, her big eyes widening.

“Ah.” Li’er wakes up at once and says hurriedly: “It’s nothing.

It’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.” Xue’er  says  with  a  mischievous  wink:  “Tee-hee,  you  were thinking about the Prince, weren’t you?”

“Nonsense.”  Li’er says with shyness and anger, but her face cannot help slightly reddening.

“I talked nonsense. I talked nonsense, all right?” Xue’er says laughingly. Li’er gives a smile, but she is wishing in her heart: “Big brother Qin Yu, please don’t have any accidents. You must successfully go through the tribulation and return safely.”

……

Hou Fei is sitting with legs crossed on the water surface waiting quietly. His face is impassive as if it is carved out of rock. “Bang!” A noise suddenly rises. At the same time, water is splashed in all directions. The calm ocean surface quickly starts to undulate.

Hou Fei’s eyes, which have been closed all the time, suddenly open and look straight at the source location of that noise. 

He sees a silhouette appear vaguely amid the scattered water spray. That familiar figure, that familiar smile and that familiar look!

“Big brother!”

Hou Fei stands up abruptly.

“Fei Fei.”

Qin Yu smilingly arrives at Hou Fei’s side with a movement of his body. Now Hou Fei is so excited that his eyes redden. Suddenly he hugs Qin Yu tightly: “Very good, this is very good. I even thought that you …” He stops all of a sudden.

“Tell me. Where did you hide?” Hou Fei says to Qin Yu. He has quickly resumed his normal appearance with one hand on his hip and the other hand keeping the black stick rested on his shoulder. 

“Hide? I didn’t hide.” Qin Yu says laughingly.

“You didn’t hide? How is this possible?”  Hou Fei curls his mouth. “Big brother, you should know that I turned the area within several thousand li of this place upside down to carry out a search. I even thought that the last thunderbolt and Di Nai’s suicide attack had destroyed your body and soul completely.”

“How could your big brother possibly be so useless?” Qin Yu says laughingly. But then he restrains his behavior: “Fei Fei, it was really very dangerous this time.”

Recalling the 6th thunderbolt he faced and Di Nai’s self- explosion, Qin Yu is still a bit frightened.

That strange 6th thunderbolt was perhaps the most powerful 6th thunderbolt in history. Even though Qin Yu has not seen all of the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations in history, he still believes so in his heart mostly because this 6th thunderbolt was really too strange and unbelievable. 

Generally, 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations of divine beasts are all much stronger than those of Xiuxianists and Xiumoists.

Hou Fei’s and Xiao Hei’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations were already extremely formidable. However, in the beginning, the tribulation cloud of Qin Yu’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation absorbed an exceptionally large amount of lightning, much larger than Xiao Hei’s and Hou Fei’s. The most important thing is … the first 5 thunderbolts were not very powerful and were even much weaker than the first 5 thunderbolts of Hou Fei’s and Xiao Hei’s tribulations and the remaining energy was concentrated entirely in the 6th bolt.

What to make of this?

It looks like Heaven intentionally tormented Qin Yu by controlling the energy of the 6th thunderbolt. If the thunderbolts had become stronger gradually in order of appearance by a given percentage, he would definitely have been able to resist them safely. But this 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation of Qin Yu’s saved more than half of the first 5 thunderbolts’ energy for the 6th thunderbolt. 

“Murder, this was simply murder.”

When Qin Yu thinks about this, he too cannot understand.

Could it be Heaven was jealous of him?

Di Nai’s self-destruction in the end really made Qin Yu’s situation go from bad to worse. After he had lost the Flaming Sword, the Flaming Gloves, the 12 talismans and the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, the thunderbolt’s power had been weakened a lot. Even though his hands were blown to pieces and his arms were scorched black, the thunderbolt would have only seriously injured him at most, nothing more.

However, Di Nai’s flying sword pierced through his chest. Additionally, Di Nai’s yuanying exploded beside him, which unexpectedly resulted in a huge hole in his chest.

The place of the explosion happened to be right next to the place of the Meteoric Tear. Qin Yu will never forget that splendid, full-of-vitality light which appeared after he had been blown into the water. Under the assistance of the Meteoric Tear, he restored his damaged body back to normal. At the same time, he also achieved the Nine Meteors Unification at one stroke, thereby breaking

through the Meteor stage to enter the early Core stage.

“This  time  I  was  really  lucky  to  survive  the  tribulation, extremely lucky.” Qin Yu says with a sigh.

If the thunderbolt had been a little more powerful or if he had been without the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, that thunderbolt would absolutely have been able to blow his body to pieces, in which case, not only would his body have been destroyed, the 9 golden meteors in his dantian would probably have exploded too.

If his body is shattered, can the Meteoric Tear still protect his soul? Qin Yu does not know the answer.

“Big brother, that mixed hairy bird, sis Li’er and your father have all messaged me a good several times, asking me if you’ve succeeded or not. I could only say … you hadn’t undergone the tribulation. I’ve been stalling for time, you know.” Hou Fei says laughingly. Now he has also become relaxed.

When Qin Yu thinks about his relatives, his mind is struck by a thought. He then says laughingly: “Let’s go, Fei Fei.”

At the moment, there is only a golden ball the size of a table tennis ball in his dantian. This golden ball’s stellar energy is even purer and also much more vigorous than that of the original golden meteors.

A stream of golden stellar energy runs through Qin Yu’s entire body. He immediately turns into a golden rainbow, flying straight north.

“Big brother, you’ve lost your holy weapons but why are you still so fast?” Hou Fei is astonished.

Qin Yu’s 2 holy weapons were both shattered completely during the tribulation. Theoretically, without a holy weapon, Qin Yu should be slower than black-stick-riding Hou Fei. But … after reaching the early Core stage, he can fly as fast as Hou Fei can just by riding on the air.

“Fei Fei, now I don’t have a holy weapon. When I’ve forged another one, I’ll let you know my real speed!”

While talking to each other, Qin Yu and Hou Fei fly towards the Qian Long continent.

……

When Qin Yu gets back to Prince Yu’s Mansion with Hou Fei, a large crowd is waiting for him, including his father Qin De, his big brother, his 2nd brother, Li’er, who has been worried all the time, Fengyuzi and Xu Yuan.

In order to calm everybody down, Qin Yu does not tell them about all the dangers during the tribulation and only reveals part of the story. ……

The hall of Prince Yu’s Mansion is certainly luxurious, magnificent and richly ornamented with dazzling decorations.

At the moment, a sumptuous banquet is being held in the hall. It has been prepared only to celebrate Qin Yu’s success in passing the tribulation. The attenders at the banquet are none other than those who are closest to Qin Yu such as his father, brothers, Uncle Xu and so on.

Moreover, there is a special guest — Uncle Lan.

“Big brother, there’s something strange about this affair.” Xiao Hei, who is dressed completely in black and has the form of an eagle-headed man, says coldly with his arms crossed before  his  chest.  “There’s  no  such  strange  6-in-9  Heavenly Tribulation in my memories. All Xiuzhenists know that each thunderbolt of a heavenly tribulation is more formidable than the previous. But the difference in power is only that much. It can’t be too extreme.” “However,  your  6-in-9  Heavenly  Tribulation  unexpectedly had very weak first 5 thunderbolts and concentrated most of its energy in the 6th bolt, making this one terrifyingly powerful. This … this is simply an impossible thing and shouldn’t have happened.”

Hei Yu’s sharp eagle eyes are flashing nonstop. Nobody knows what he is thinking.

Hou Fei nods his head.

The others do the same, except for Li’er, who is pondering while frowning deeply, and Uncle Lan, who is frowning slightly.

“My 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was so strange. But let’s forget it. What could I do when Heaven dropped such a tribulation on me? I could only take it on. Don’t think about it. It’s useless to think about it. Come, let’s drink a toast!” Qin Yu raises his goblet and says smilingly to everyone.

“Li’er, why don’t you raise your goblet?” Qin Yu looks at Li’er. 

She is startled then looks at him. Qin Yu is entranced by that look in her eyes.

Is it sincere, remorseful or loving? He unexpectedly cannot discern her look. He cannot help giving himself a smile of derision. Loving? Perhaps he has thought too highly of himself already.

“Big brother Qin Yu, did Di Nai come with a sneak attack while you were going through the tribulation?” Li’er looks at him with no trace of a smile on her face.

“This …” Qin Yu temporarily does not know what to say.

There is a hint of anger in Li’er’s eyes: “Big brother Qin Yu, I know it’s your father who should say these words, but I must say them. Undergoing a tribulation is extremely important and dangerous. You can be careless with other things, but you must not play with going through a tribulation. Though you wanted to kill Di Nai, you shouldn’t have made use of the tribulation. You must know that if you had made a mistake, you would most probably have failed to pass the tribulation.”

Hearing such words from Li’er, Qin Yu however feels his heart warm up.

“Don’t worry. Later I won’t do the same thing.” He says firmly while looking her in the eye.

“It’s good that you won’t.” However, Uncle Lan says.

“Xiao Yu, it definitely wasn’t accidental that your 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was like that this time. Other people’s tribulations aren’t like that, so why was yours? There must be some reason. When your 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was already like that, your 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation surely won’t be so simple either. Later on, you must be careful when you go through a tribulation.”

“Yes, Uncle Lan.” Qin Yu always listens to Uncle Lan’s words with absolute sincerity. 

Uncle Lan says again: “I know that some time later you’re going into the Chaotic Astral Ocean to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion …”

“How did you know, Uncle Lan?” Qin Yu is shocked because only those experts at that time know the location of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion and he has never told Uncle Lan about it.

“There’s no need for you to ask about this. I also know that a jade sword lets 2 people go. Your Stellar Tower can send 2 people. I think you and Li’er should go. You’ll definitely benefit a lot from her going with you.” Uncle Lan says indifferently.

Qin Yu is extremely shocked in his heart: “Uncle Lan, Li’er can’t protect herself …”

“Don’t worry. She’s got a protective magic treasure of my clan. Any expert weaker than an immortal can’t hurt her. You’ll only need to take good care of yourself.” Uncle Lan says without delay.

B9C12: New Weapon

When Uncle Lan already said that Li’er has a magic treasure which makes it impossible for any expert weaker than an immortal to harm her, even though Qin Yu is shocked, he does not doubt that she has such a formidable protective magic treasure.

This is because in his heart he finds Uncle Lan and Li’er to be fairly mysterious. He once inquired about them, but they both just smilingly consoled him, saying that he would eventually know one day and that the right time had not come yet.

Their clan? Qin Yu has already reached the point where he is not surprised when he sees those strange magical powers of Li’er’s. It should be nothing unusual that such a mysterious clan as hers has such a protective magic treasure.

Therefore, in the end Qin Yu agrees on this matter. He and Li’er are the two members of the Stellar Tower who are going to enter the Chaotic Astral Ocean to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. ……

In the capital of the Qin dynasty, there is a huge storied building inside the back garden of Prince Yu’s Mansion. It is none other than Lei Mountain House.

In the Weapon Forging Chamber on the first floor of Lei Mountain House,

Qin Yu is sitting still with legs crossed and eyes closed. In front of him is a huge 8 Diagrams furnace. Deep blue flames are shining inside the furnace. The whole Weapon Forging Chamber is hot like a stove, except for the vicinity of Qin Yu, which is still very cool.

On his right hand side, there is a pile of at least nearly 100 crystals. Moreover, all of them are top-grade crystals!

Qin Yu opens his eyes and takes a look at that pile of crystals. His eyes are filled with amusement: “Master was really a bit much. He got that storeroom more than half of which was filled with various unused top-grade crystals but he made it so that I could only remove that restrictive spell after reaching the Core stage.”

More than half of Lei Mountain House’s storeroom was filled with top-grade crystals. There were so many of them that their number was simply shocking, being at least over 10,000. Qin Yu always coveted them a lot.

Only after going through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation and reaching the Core stage did he gain the right to use these crystals.

“In the past, because I didn’t have many top-grade crystals, I couldn’t forge excellent holy weapons. Now that I’ve got so many top-grade crystals, I should make … an ultimate top- grade holy weapon.” Qin Yu murmurs to himself.

The Stellar Transformations absorbs the energy of the sun, moon and stars so its flame is extremely hot. In the beginning, this Stellar Flame was already light blue. It should be known that generally the flames of Xiuxianists and Xiumoists are light red in the beginning.

From being light red, they will become red, dark red, and then light blue, blue and deep blue. These 6 stages correspond with the 6 stages of practice, Jindan, Yuanying, Dongxu, Kongming, Dujie and Dacheng, respectively.

Qin Yu’s internal flame is like that only because of the Stellar Transformations technique’s peculiarity.

At the Nebula stage, it was light blue. Then it became blue. At Qin Yu’s current level, it has become deep blue. However, someone who uses the holy sense to tell a light blue Stellar Flame, a blue one and a deep blue one apart will see that they are actually not much different from each other in strength.

The early, middle and late phases of the Meteor stage all have a so-called blue flame but in fact the color of the flame gradually becomes deeper as the practitioner improves. At the early Core stage, the color of the flame is only a bit deeper than it was at the late Meteor stage. 

Between blue and deep blue, the limits of the word ‘deep’ are actually not well-defined.

The colors of the Stellar Flame respectively corresponding with the Nebula stage, Meteor stage, Core stage, Planet stage, Dujie stage and Star stage are light blue, blue, deep blue, light purple, purple and deep purple.

This is also the reason why Qin Yu’s master, Lei Wei, dared to say that he was the no. 1 forging expert in the Xiuzhen world. After all, his internal flame was superior to those of ordinary Xiuzhenists by several whole levels.

……

“A top-grade holy weapon, weren’t my previous weapons also called top-grade holy weapons?”  Qin Yu gives a smile of self- derision. He then immediately makes a wave of a hand, shooting out his golden stellar energy into the several holes on the side of the 8 Diagrams furnace. Afterwards, using his hands, he makes several hand signs and smashes them towards the furnace in an overlapping manner. Immediately, the furnace brightens.

“Chi chi ~~”  The deep blue flames inside the 8 Diagrams furnace unexpectedly contain a tinge of light purple.

A faint smile appears on Qin Yu’s face. It is only because he has so many top-grade crystals that he dares to use this forging method. The deep blue flames with a tinge of light purple can burn much stronger than they can without.

In the past, 3 top-grade crystals could be forged into a top- grade holy weapon. But now … perhaps it will require at least several tens top-grade crystals to forge one.

Qin Yu makes a wave of his hand. 6 top-grade crystals of different colors fly out from the pile of crystals beside him then form a hexagon right above the 8 Diagrams furnace. Burnt by those flames which contain a tinge of light purple, the 6 top- grade crystals shrink rapidly. 

In a short while, they have turned into 6 small lumps.

Qin Yu waves continuously with one hand. 16 crimson top- grade crystals fly out and cover one of the small lumps above the furnace. He then makes another wave of his hand. 16 golden top-grade crystals fly out and cover another small lump.

The colors are crimson, golden, bluish green, azure, earthy grey and black.

After every 16 top-grade crystals of a color have enfolded a lump, Qin Yu’s expression becomes solemn. His hands continuously make several hundred hand signs. The various kinds of talismans and seals on the entire surface of the furnace all brighten.

“Black Origin — Combine!”

Qin Yu shouts in a low voice. The several hundred hand signs turn into an indistinct body of light and enfold those top-grade crystals. Slowly burnt by a thread of light purple flame, those hand signs and crystals undergo some special changes and seem to fuse together.

“Using the 5 Elements’ energy as the base and the energy of darkness as the master, I wonder if this will succeed.”  At the moment Qin Yu is not very sure in his heart either.

If the forging is successful, the Black Origin will be able to transform into various kinds of weapons and be hard or soft. It will be ever-changing. However, according to Lei Wei’s description, the chance of successfully forging it is relatively low, only about one in three.

Moreover, it requires a particularly large number of top- grade crystals of the 5 Elements. How can ordinary people possibly obtain them? Also, even one failure will result in a massive loss.

After a long time … A body of a black liquid is twisting unceasingly above the 8 Diagrams furnace.

“Succeeded.” Qin Yu is delighted. “The Black Origin has been completed. Now it’s naturally easy to forge the weapon.”

Forging the Black Origin is the most important thing. If this process fails, the imbalanced 5 Elements will explode, and the over 100 top-grade crystals used will be totally wasted. It is different from forging ordinary weapons, which afterwards can be melted again and re-forged.

Once the Black Origin, that is to say that black liquid, is successfully created, it is certainly easy to forge the holy weapon.

……

From now on, Qin Yu no longer uses a simple flying sword.

His weapon is … an ever-changing black weapon. After the Black Origin has undergone various forging procedures, it finally can be changed at will. It can turn into a flying sword, a pair of gloves, a long spear, a broadax or any other kind of weapon.

This Black Origin’s sharpness is the same as that of an ordinary top-grade holy weapon, but it was forged from over 100 top-grade crystals whereas other top-grade holy weapons only take a top-grade crystal or two to make. The only reason behind this is its ability to change.

……

When there is a half year left until the gathering on the Golden Tree Island,

Today, with the blessings of Hou Fei, Hei Yu, his father, big brother, 2nd brother and Uncle Lan, Qin Yu leaves the Qian Long continent with Li’er, flying south extremely fast. The destination this time is the Chaotic Astral Ocean, which is an exceptionally long distance away. Li’er is riding on the air with ease. Her long hair is flowing in the wind. By contrast, Qin Yu is standing on a black cloud, flying at a very high speed.

“Big brother Qin Yu, your black cloud is really strange.” Li’er praises.

Qin Yu gives it a thought. The black cloud immediately turns into a black flying sword. He keeps flying riding the sword.

“Oh, big brother Qin Yu, so this is the weapon you forged in Lei Mountain House at that time? It’s indeed a rare sight. I’ve never seen another Xiuzhenist use this kind of weapon. How did you forge it?” Li’er is surprised.

Qin Yu says smilingly: “This is a secret method of my school. I had to use 100 top-grade crystals to successfully make it. But after its forging succeeded, it can change into various kinds of weapons.”

“100 top-grade crystals?” Li’er says with a shake of her head: “You spent so many top- grade crystals to forge this weapon. It seems not worth it.”

“You’re  wrong,  Li’er.  It  can  turn  into  various  kinds  of weapons. How could you say it’s not worth it?” Qin Yu says with a smile. At the bottom of his heart, he likes this new weapon very much.

Li’er says with a brilliant smile: “Big brother Qin Yu, a good several tens top-grade holy weapons can be forged from nearly 100 top-grade crystals. With so many top-grade holy weapons, you could’ve forge knives, spears, sticks and the other kinds of holy weapons, right?”

“If you personalized all of those many holy weapons by blood, later you could choose to use any kind of holy weapon you like, right? And you wouldn’t have to bother with changing the form of the weapon.”

Qin Yu is stunned. That seems true too. If he personalized several tens top-grade holy weapons by blood, he would be able to choose to use any weapon he likes. After all, personalization by blood is nothing.

“But this Black Origin can change into any kind of weapon so if later you see some strange weapons, you can still turn it into one of them. Well, I should say that you didn’t waste too much by making this Black Origin.” Li’er says to Qin Yu comfortingly.

Qin Yu does not mind either. In fact, he does not like to personalize so many holy weapons by blood.

Having one holy weapon is enough.

“Too bad, this Black Origin is only so sharp and strong. If only it could reach the level of immortal-class weapons.”  Qin Yu is daydreaming. It is really too difficult to make a weapon that is capable of changing, tough, and extremely sharp.

The Black Origin being able to reach the level of top-grade holy weapons is already something hard to come by. 

……

Having reached the early Core stage, Qin Yu is quite a lot faster than he was at the late Meteor stage. Therefore, despite a distance of 200 million li between the Qian Long continent and the Golden Tree Island, he and Li’er fly in a relaxed manner on the way instead of hurrying.

Their calculation was nicely done as they reach the Golden Tree Island in exactly a half year.

From the distance, the whole Golden Tree Island is a golden area, looking like a chunk of gold in the ocean. When they have come near it, they can see that there is a strange kind of old tree all over the island. These old trees are very short, generally less than 10 m tall, but they are very thick, roughly 8 to 9 m in diameter.

These trees’ trunks are golden and their leaves are also golden so they are called golden trees. This kind of tree can be seen everywhere on the Golden Tree Island, but its ground is covered with green grass. Only that if one looks at the island from the sky, they will not see the green grass on the ground because most of the island’s surface will be kept out of sight by the golden trees’ dense branches and leaves.

By now, the representatives of the Penglai Immortal Region, the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon, the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion have already arrived in the vicinity of the ancient teleport formation in the center of the Golden Tree Island.

Azure Dragon Yan Lang is sitting with legs crossed on the grass. There are 3 yellow-clad men behind him. However, Teng Shan is not here. Old Freak Three-Eyed is also sitting with legs crossed. His long green hair has fallen on the ground. Behind him is only a green-clad girl.

The Penglai Immortal Region unexpectedly has only 1 participant — Reverend Yan Xu. 4 members of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon have come here, consisting of Yi Da, Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu and a black-haired old man. “Brother Qin Yu, I didn’t expect that you wouldn’t arrive until now.” Azure Dragon welcomes Qin Yu laughingly as soon as he sees Qin Yu come flying.

Qin Yu and Li’er land on the green grass: “Big brother Azure Dragon, it seems I’m not late, right? Looks like Yan Mo hasn’t come  yet.”  Qin  Yu  takes  a  look  at  the  other  participants. Suddenly a faint smile appears on the corners of his mouth because he has noticed some ‘interesting’ things.

“I’m right behind you.”

Yan Mo’s voice rises. Everybody looks into the sky.

They see Yan Mo riding a black cloud. There are 2 girls behind him, one white and the other red. One girl is wrapped in white fur and the other is wrapped in red fur. They are both hiding their animal heads with illusion techniques.

“Yan Mo, I remember you saying at that time 4 of you would come. Why are there only 3 of you now?” Yi Da stands up and says. 

Yan Mo says smilingly: “At first I thought I would let both Hong Luan and Dragon Rocky come with me. Too bad Dragon Rocky hasn’t sensed his 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation yet. So … I could only tell him to stay in the Wilderness.”

Old Freak Three-Eyed suddenly stands up.

“Since everybody has come, let’s not waste time. Let’s enter the Chaotic Astral Ocean according to that map and head for that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion at the bottom of the ocean.” He sweeps his eyes on everyone and says coldly.

“There’s no hurry. There’s no hurry.” Yan Mo says smilingly. “Before starting off, we’ve got to be clear about some things. Firstly, even though we’re only going to go 10,000 li into the Chaotic Astral Ocean, if we encounter any ferobeasts, everybody must not run away in the face of a battle.”

“That goes without saying.” Old Freak Three-Eyed is the first to agree. The others also nod. Yan Mo continues: “The 2nd matter is about the treasures in the immortal mansion. According to the rules at that time, if there are 9 treasures, they’ll be distributed based on the numbers of jade swords. If they can’t be distributed this way, for example if there is only 1 treasure, then …”

“Humph, no need to talk much. We’ll decide it with personal abilities.” Yi Da says with a cold humph.

Nobody disagrees with him. The Xiuzhen world is where the strong thrives. If the treasures cannot be distributed, naturally they will have to fight for them when the time comes using their own skills.

“Very good, then let’s get going.”  Yan Mo is very satisfied with everybody’s response. Afterwards, he takes the lead in flying up. The other leaders such as Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da and Old Freak Three-Eyed also fly away from the Golden Tree Island with their respective subordinates.

They fly in the direction Yan Mo is going in the front. Situ Xue and Jiao Jiu exchange a look then give a cold humph. Flying on one side, Reverend Yan Xu takes a look at them. His eyes, however, flash with coldness. This journey to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is definitely not so simple as some of them think.

B9C13: Ferobeasts In The Chaotic Astral Ocean

The only Xiuxianist is Reverend Yan Xu. By contrast, there are 4 Xiumoists. Xiuxianists and Xiumoists are basically enemies regardless of whether on the Teng Long continent or in the Penglai Immortal Region and the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon. And everybody present knows this.

As the group is flying, Qin Yu and Li’er smilingly watch the show.

“Yan Xu, nobody knows how many treasures there are in this Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. It’s unlikely that their number is a multiple of 9. When the time comes, we’ll have to get into action to fight for them. Are you going to be okay … being on your own?” Jiao Jiu says with jeering laughter.

He comes from the Yanmo school. Xiumoists tend to be wild and do not mind killing, yet the Yanmo school is even well- known among Xiumoists’ schools for being bloodthirsty, crazy and arrogant, so there is nothing strange about Jiao Jiu behaving in such a manner at all. 

Yan  Xu  gives  an  indifferent  smile:  “The  Nine  Swords Immortal Mansion was left behind by an immortal. Besides, judging from the keeping place of the 9th jade sword last time, we already concluded that this immortal was at least a level-1 universal golden immortal. To us, the treasures left behind by

such an expert are like gifts bestowed by Heaven. So, we’ll have to rely on individual luck to get them, and not simply on superior number or superior power.”

“You’re  so  full  of  crap.”  Jiao  Jiu  says  disdainfully.  While Xiuxianists pay particular attention to manners and etiquette, most Xiumoists are carefree and have an unbridled nature.

“Jiao Jiu, you can’t be rude to Reverend Yan Xu. You were wrong to talk to him that way.” Situ Xue unexpectedly supports Yan Xu. “Jiao Jiu, how can Reverend Yan Xu possibly not want treasures and more people? But there was nothing he could do. After all, the Penglai Immortal Region’s got only 1 jade sword so only 2 people could come. Considering the relation between the Ziyang school and the Lanyang school, perhaps neither of them wanted to give up, so in the end Yan Xu was the only one who came.” “It’s not that Reverend Yan Xu is unwilling to have more people. He actually just can’t.” Situ Xue says with a sigh.

Yan Xu seems totally unconcerned. He looks coldly at Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue: “The 2 of you please don’t run off at the mouth here. Everybody knows how dangerous the Chaotic Astral Ocean is. Even though that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is only 10,000 li away from the border of the Chaotic Astral Ocean, who knows what ferobeasts will appear within this 10,000 li distance? Humph, humph …”

“Let’s not talk about the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion yet. Those not strong enough will probably be killed by ferobeasts even before reaching the immortal mansion. Compared to everybody else, the power of you two isn’t up to much. So, be careful a bit.” These words said by Reverend Yan Xu are very sharp.

Seeing Reverend Yan Xu give an apparently disdainful smile, Jiao Jiu and Situ Xue utter a cold humph but no longer say anything.

At the moment, everybody is flying very slowly. 

In fact, the Golden Tree Island is very close to the boundary of the Chaotic Astral Ocean. If they flew at their fastest speeds, they would probably reach the Chaotic Astral Ocean in just a short while, only they are being exceptionally cautious.

The Chaotic Astral Ocean is very notorious and nobody wants to die in the stomachs of its ferobeasts before seeing the immortal mansion.

……

A boundless aura blows on everybody’s face violently. In the distance, those terrifying noises of billows are like a myriad of crashes of thunder. At the moment, they can already see those monstrously huge waves 100 li ahead of them. However, the waters below them are still very calm.

They all know that … 100 li ahead of them is the Chaotic Astral Ocean. “Everybody.”

With a solemn expression, Yan Mo sweeps his eyes over the others, saying: “We’re already not far from the border of the Chaotic Astral Ocean and going to reach it very soon, but we must be clear about one thing before entering that ocean … If we encounter any ferobeasts, nobody can desperately run away!”

The look in his eyes turns cold: “Yi Da, Azure Dragon and I will be in the front. Reverend Yan Xu and Three-Eyed will be at the rear. The others will be in the middle… If any ferobeasts appear ahead of us, Yi Da, Azure Dragon and I will get into action. If it is behind us, Reverend Yan Xu and Three-Eyed will. The others had better not show off their power. In case we’re outmatched, run away immediately.”

“Yi Da, Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Three-Eyed, have you got any opinions?” Yan Mo is like everybody’s leader.

Azure Dragon slightly nods his head, saying: “Of course not. This Chaotic Astral Ocean is mine, although only the periphery, but I’m still a bit worried. We being in the front will make it a bit safer. If we’re disorganized like disbanded soldiers, once a ferobeast appears, everybody will be in total confusion.”

“I don’t have an opinion.” Yi Da says coldly.

Reverend  Yan  Xu  also  says  smilingly  with  a  nod:  “You’ve calculated for all of us, brother Yi Da.”

Seeing Old Freak Three-Eyed nod, Yan Mo says loudly: “All right, since the 4 of you have all agreed, I believe the others don’t mind that either.” This is a no-brainer. Being protected in the front and at the rear by experts, who would object to that?

“Remember the formation. Yi Da, Azure Dragon and I are the 3 in the front. Reverend Yan Xu and Three-Eyed are the 2 at the rear. The others can’t get in front of us, nor can they fall behind  us.  They  can  only  be  in  the  middle.”  Yan  Mo  says solemnly.

Now a clear rule must be set down because if it is not, once they run into any ferobeasts, their situation will probably be miserable.

Seeing everybody’s nod, Yan Mo says smilingly in a loud voice: “Very good. Since everybody has reached an agreement, let’s prepare to enter the Chaotic Astral Ocean. Start!”

With Yan Mo, Yi Da and Azure Dragon at the head, Reverend Yan Xu and Three-Eyed at the rear and the others in the middle, the group starts to fly towards the Chaotic Astral Ocean. Despite being known as the top figures of the Northern Territory, these experts have never gone into the Chaotic Astral Ocean.

This time, if not for the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, if the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion was not located only 10,000 li from the border of the Chaotic Astral Ocean, who among them would dare to come here?

“Wow!”   Everybody  exclaims,  feelings  surging  up  inside them.

“Really spectacular.” Qin Yu’s eyes also brighten. 

When everybody has come near the Chaotic Astral Ocean, they see an incredibly spectacular scene.

At the moment, several li ahead of them, there are countless 100 m high rolling waves. When they take a look towards the south, they see cyclones and billows basically everywhere. Starting from a limit several li in front of them, the area south of them is filled with a myriad billows and cyclones.

However, the waters north of that limit are very calm and have no big waves.

It is strange.

It is extremely strange. The waters on one side have 100 m high huge waves but the waters on the other side are calm. It seems there is an invisible huge barrier between the 2 areas of water, separating them from each other completely. The 2 of them seem to belong to different worlds. “Nature  is  so  mysterious.  It’s  impossible  to  understand clearly such a spectacle. The way of Heaven is vague, vast and distant, even if we spend 10 million years’ time, perhaps we’ll only be able to peep into a corner of nature.” Reverend Yan Xu says with a sigh.

Nature is mysterious. Who can understand it?

Qin Yu, however, remembers Uncle Lan telling him in the past that there was no restrictive spell or barrier at all and that this was an invisible rule of nature … At least now Qin Yu still cannot understand it. Probably even Uncle Lan can only call it a rule of nature and is still far from intuitively comprehending it.

“What level does it require to intuitively understand the rules of nature?” Qin Yu sighs in his heart.

“Be careful, everybody. Once we go into the Chaotic Astral Ocean, natural holy energy will become exceptionally chaotic. At the same time, the people who lack determination will become riotous and agitated. Everybody must keep a clear mind and fly extremely fast towards the site of that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion.” Reverend Yan Xu warns loudly.

The others nod their heads.

Not only does the Chaotic Astral Ocean have cyclones and billows, its natural holy energy is also extremely chaotic.

In the Chaotic Astral Ocean, ordinary people will feel irritated and hot-tempered. Those who lack determination will easily lose control of their energy and mind to become utterly insane.

It has been guessed that those ferobeasts have low intelligence and are brutal and bloodthirsty probably because they are affected by this environment. If an aquatic animal which has just been born and is weak-minded lives in this environment, naturally it will be affected and become irascible and crazed. Because it starts to be like this when it is still little, naturally later it will become what is called a ferobeast. Any environment has its own creatures. This Chaotic Astral Ocean has also brought into existence the special ferobeasts.

……

From the airspace of the calm ocean, everybody flies into the airspace of the Chaotic Astral Ocean.

All of them feel a strange change.

The density of holy energy increases several tenfold and become exceptionally chaotic simultaneously. If the density of holy energy on the Qian Long continent is like a docile rabbit, then holy energy at this place is like a furious gorilla. Even everybody’s state of mind is affected.

Confused, agitated, those with weak minds have certainly been affected. “Keep your mind clear. Fly extremely fast towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion!” Reverend Yan Xu’s voice suddenly rises in everybody’s mind via holy sense communication.

Immediately, the ones who have just been affected wake up.

When they wake up, they are also shocked.

This Chaotic Astral Ocean indeed deserves its reputation.

Qin Yu takes a deep breath. Just now he was also a little affected. But he is tough-minded so he withstood it with ease. After hearing Reverend Yan Xu’s voice, everybody accelerates extremely fast at once, flying towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion at very high speeds.

“Big brother Qin Yu, this place is very good for training your mind and refining your energy. Moreover, I feel that the closer it is to the center of the Chaotic Astral Ocean, the more vigorous and chaotic holy energy is. No wonder so many loose immortals, loose demons and loose devils have gathered in this ocean.” Li’er says smilingly to Qin Yu using her holy sense. “Indeed, if I stay in an environment like this for a long time, my mind will surely become very tough. Also, my energy will become purer as a result of being refined by the chaotic holy energy.” Qin Yu agrees with her on this.

Li’er suddenly says curiously: “Big brother Qin Yu, why haven’t we seen any ferobeasts? How do they look?”

“Ferobeasts,  I  hope  we  won’t  see  any  of  them.”  Qin  Yu, however, is not curious like her.

Everybody is flying extremely fast. Qin Yu and Li’er have talked to each other for just about 1 minute, but during this period of time, the group has already gone 1000 li. However, at this moment … it seems everybody’s luck has ended. They have been hoping that ferobeasts will not appear, but one still appears.

A huge body shows up amid the billows.

A shark, an over 100 m long shark! 

Only this shark has blood-red eyes and naturally gives off a brutal aura. No … As everybody gets close to it, they discover that it cannot simply be called a shark because there are unexpectedly 2 sharp claws hiding under its fins.

“Growl ~~” The shark lets out a sky-shaking sound, that pair of blood-red eyes staring at everybody. Obviously he has already fixed his mind on targeting them. That shark increases his speed by several times at once, charging at everybody.

“Be careful, it’s a ferobeast!”

Yan Mo’s voice rises in the others’ minds: “Don’t run wild, everybody. Ferobeasts are generally close to divine beasts. Their attacks are exceptionally powerful so don’t be careless. Azure Dragon, Yi Da, let’s roll!”

Holy sense communication is done via just a thought so it is extremely quick. When the message has just risen in everybody’s mind, Azure Dragon, Yi Da and Yan Mo charge at that ferobeast shark. As for the others, they certainly will not show off their power because, judging from the aura of this shark alone, they can tell that it is definitely no ordinary ferobeast.

Azure Dragon is charging in the front. His 2 arms suddenly become thick. At the same time, they are covered entirely in azure scales and his 2 hands turn into a pair of dragon claws.

That ferobeast shark opens its large mouth. Everybody believes that those sharp teeth can even bite through top-grade holy weapons easily. The ferobeast shark is extremely fast and is following a very profound path of movement. Having grown up in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, this ferobeast has exceptionally strong fighting capability.

Azure Dragon’s body moves in an arc and arrives at the area right under the shark. He wants to attack its stomach using the dragon claws.

A clang is heard. A sharp claw under the ferobeast shark’s fin suddenly reaches out and grabs at Azure Dragon, who wants to back away to avoid it. However, he does not have enough time because the distance between them is too short. In the end, a claw of human-shaped Azure Dragon and the shark’s claw clash with each other.

Azure Dragon flies backwards but the shark lets out a growl and becomes even more ferocious.

“Ha-ha, you’re a bit too weak, Azure Dragon Yan Lang. Now watch me.”  Yan Mo says via his holy sense. Right afterwards, he charges at the ferobeast shark.

“Don’t be careless, Yan Mo. A ferobeast is not much weaker than a divine beast of the same level. Besides, the ferobeast has even  stronger  fighting  instinct.”  Azure  Dragon  immediately warns. He just exchanged a blow with that ferobeast shark so naturally he knows its power.

A noise which can make people’s hearts palpitate is heard. It sounds like the noise of a blade carving in glass. This noise was caused by a collision between Yi Da’s right hand and the ferobeast shark’s fin, which ended up with Yi Da’s right hand damaged and dripping blood. 

However, right after that —

In his human form, Yan Mo unexpectedly clashes head-on with that ferobeast shark.

After a series of loud explosions, both he and the shark slightly stop for a moment. They seem to be neck and neck. That shark has been enraged. It immediately utters a furious growl and opens its large mouth to take a bite at Yan Mo, wanting to tear him to shreds.

“Hiss ~~” A huge azure dragon suddenly appears and takes a claw swipe at the body of that ferobeast shark, which has no time to react. A large wound appears right away and blood flows out from it. The shark growls furiously and swings its tail violently at Azure Dragon’s body.

Azure Dragon dodges extremely fast but the side of his body still gets hit. Several of his scales are shattered, causing his blood to drip on the water, dying red a large area. “Let me kill him, Azure Dragon.” Yan Mo has become angry.

He immediately switches to his true form, a black dragon about the same size as Azure Dragon. Only this black dragon’s eyes are blood-red. This is none other than a divine beast black dragon, an extremely formidable kind of dragon even in the dragon clan.

“Poof ~~~”  Blood is scattered and large chunks of flesh fall into the water. That ferobeast shark has been torn into 2 pieces directly and died on the spot.

Yan Mo switches back to his human form in an instant. His hand is gripping a neidan, his whole face ice-cold: “An early Kongming ferobeast wanted to take me on? You must’ve had a death wish.”

An early Kongming ferobeast is not much weaker than an early Kongming divine beast. In the beginning, Azure Dragon was not using his true form so his power could not be unleashed completely and naturally he was at a disadvantage. After Yan Mo had changed into his true form, he killed the shark in one hit. 

However … because everybody has never been to the Chaotic Astral Ocean, they do not know about some things that should be avoided here!

The smell of blood!

The smell of non-ferobeast blood will even make the ferobeasts in the surroundings go crazy. Just now, both Azure Dragon and Yi Da bled, but they do not know about this no-no, therefore …

NOTE:

Later on, ‘universal golden immortal’ will be called ‘golden immortal’ for short.

B9C14: Blood-Dyed Astral Ocean

After Yan Mo, Azure Dragon and Yi Da got into action, they ripped that ferobeast shark to 2 pieces in just several bouts, killing it on the spot. The others also secretly let out a sigh of relief.

“Brother Yan Mo is really powerful. You killed this ferobeast so   easily.”    Jiao   Jiu   says   with   an   apparently   admiring expression.

However, Situ Xue says: “Jiao Jiu, could it be you don’t know that in the dragon clan, when it comes to offense, black dragons absolutely belong to the top. Only golden dragons can be a bit better than them. At any given level, a black dragon is much more formidable than an azure dragon.”

Yan Mo takes a cold look at the 2 of them and says via holy sense communication: “Don’t waste time talking nonsense here. This is the Chaotic Astral Ocean. Let’s quickly rush to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, everybody.” Qin Yu also takes a look at Situ Xue and Jiao Jiu, secretly thinking that these 2 are a bit too insensible. At the moment, everybody is in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, where dangers are everywhere. The longer they stay at one place, the more danger they will be in. Who is to say some other ferobeasts will not appear in a short while?

Everybody immediately flies forwards at a very fast speed.

Like sharp arrows and a rainbow —

They pierce through the cyclones and billows with lightning speed. Their clothes are flapping and their long hair is flowing, making them really look like the immortals in the hearts of mortals.

……

If any of them had a holy sense with a range of several thousand li, that individual would discover that all the ferobeasts within several thousand li of them have reddened eyes, as if these beasts are being beckoned by something, and are rushing towards Azure Dragon and Yi Da’s location extremely fast.

The weak ferobeasts are comparable to Jindan-stage and Yuanying-stage Xiuzhenists, but the strong ones are even more powerful than Yan Mo.

All of the ferobeasts within several thousand li are surrounding and rushing towards them. Too bad, at the moment Yan Mo and the others simply know nothing about that.

In the front, Yan Mo, Yi Da and Azure Dragon are all keeping their holy senses spread out with solemn expressions. Their minds are highly focused. The 3 of them are going at the head of the group, riding winds and breaking waves for the sake of the others … They do not dare to relax their holy senses or be careless at all.

After flying for roughly 2 to 3 minutes,

“No good!” Yi Da’s face changes color greatly. 

In terms of soul levels, he is one level superior to Yan Mo. It is only because Yan Mo is a divine beast that he is no match for Yan Mo. At the moment, Yi Da has noticed the ferobeasts charging at everybody in the distance.

“It’s  ferobeasts.  No,  it’s  a  horde  of  ferobeasts!  Be  careful, everybody!”     The    message    he    sends    via    holy    sense communication shows that he has become nervous.

Immediately afterwards, Reverend Yan Xu detects the ferobeasts, as do Yan Mo and Azure Dragon. In the beginning they still think that there are only 3 ferobeasts charging at them in front of them, but after just a while, they discover that ferobeasts are coming at them from all directions.

A horde of ferobeasts!

All of these ferobeasts look monstrous. They appear to be mutated sharks and octopuses. Their mutations are different but all improve their attacking capability. These ferobeasts also share one characteristic — their eyes are blood-red. 

“It’s a horde of ferobeasts. Don’t think too much. Be quick, be quick. Don’t even try to kill them all. Just charge forwards immediately, everybody. Let’s hurry to the Nine Swords Immortal  Mansion  first  before  doing  something  else!”  Yan Mo’s voice rises in everybody’s mind through holy sense communication like thunder.

When he talks so loudly via his holy sense, it is easy to imagine how anxious he is at the moment.

“Charge!” Azure Dragon also utters a loud shout.

“Charge!” Yi Da’s expression is frosty, only there is a hint of fierceness in his eyes.

Facing the horde of ferobeasts, nobody dares to kill them all. It should be known that this is the Chaotic Astral Ocean. If they are held down here, more and more ferobeasts will come, and if a Dujie-stage ferobeast appears at some point, the situation will simply be terrible for everybody. “Be careful, Li’er.” Qin Yu looks at Li’er and tells her using his holy sense.

She suddenly reaches out her hand to grasp his hand and says via holy sense communication while staring him in the eye: “You have to be careful too.”

Qin Yu nods.

Li’er has a protective magic treasure so her defense must be much stronger than Qin Yu’s. Moreover, she knows that Divine Traveling Art so, despite her weak power, once she uses the Divine Traveling Art, she will be much faster than Qin Yu even though his power has improved greatly recently and he can ride the Black Origin.

Having fast speeds and a high defense, Li’er is unexpectedly the safest here.

“Growl ~~” “Howl ~~~” “Roar ~~” A series of strange sounds resounds through the sky. Various pairs of blood-red eyes also appear. And the entire sky is dusky as black clouds have covered all of it. Judgment Day seems to be coming.

Boom!

All of a sudden, in the sky, there is a crash of thunder and lightning strikes down sinuously. Meanwhile, torrential rain starts to fall down.

Countless cyclones, towering billows, boundless black clouds, endless torrential rain … Various pairs of blood-red eyes are all staring at everybody. For some reason, these ferobeasts unexpectedly pause for a while instead of going on the offensive immediately.

Facing the several tens ferobeasts with blood-red eyes before them, everybody cannot help decelerating.

“Charge with me!” Yan Mo’s voice rises in everybody’s mind. Immediately, Yan Mo, Yi Da and Azure Dragon take the lead in rushing forwards in a slight curve. The others rush closely after them without hesitation.

Everybody attempts to go around the ferobeasts in front of them, but …

The moment they swerve, those several tens ferobeasts suddenly move. Like lightning, they charge at everybody. When everybody is about to kill these beasts, more than 10 other ferobeasts charge at them from behind and from the left.

“There’s no place to hide. Rush straight to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. Don’t be engrossed in fighting.”

When Yan Mo’s voice has just risen, his body turns into a huge black dragon whose eyes are also blood-red. Someone who does not know him would probably think that this black dragon is a ferobeast too. At the same time, an azure dragon also appears. Yan Mo and Azure Dragon Yan Lang have both changed into their true forms because now is already not the time to keep hiding their power. They can see that the most powerful among these ferobeasts are only on par with the shark moments ago, but now there are too many ferobeasts for them to deal with.

Poof ~~~

Blood scatters. A swordfish which is as thick as an arm but is 10-odd m long is torn in half by the black dragon’s claw directly. The black dragon has taken the lead in charging and killing. Azure Dragon and Yi Da assist him on either side of him.

Charging and killing!

In a breath’s time, all around them are water and blood, consisting of both the ferobeasts’ blood and their own blood.

Everybody charges and kills in the middle of the ferobeast horde this way. Needless to say, the ones in the middle such as Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu and Qin Yu are also attacked. All of the ferobeasts are charging at them with blood-red eyes and no regard for life and death. These ferobeasts’ brutal killing intent is so crazy.

Crazy, brutal, bloodthirsty!

A black light beam flickers for a while. A huge ferobeast is ripped to several pieces directly. Qin Yu, whose body is covered in a black suit of armor, is holding a neidan in his hand. He immediately sucks the neidan into his spatial ring.

This black suit of armor is none other than a transformation of the Black Origin, which was forged by refining over 100 top- grade crystals until there was only their essence left and can change into any forms.

Going forwards!

Going forwards! Going forwards disregarding everything!

The killing has lasted for almost 3 minutes. Luckily the ones who are slightly weak in the middle are protected by the experts in the front and at the rear so they have only suffered flesh wounds. Yan Mo, Azure Dragon and Yi Da, the 3 experts taking the lead, have killed the most ferobeasts. At the same time, they have received some minor injuries too.

3 minutes of charging and killing.

Of the nearly 70 to 80 original ferobeasts around, everybody has killed 10 and wounded 34. The remaining ones, however, have yet to clash with them.

“Quick. The ferobeasts on the edge aren’t powerful. Be a bit faster. If we’re delayed, some formidable ferobeasts will come and  it’ll  be  too  late  for  us.”  Yan  Mo  shouts  via  holy  sense communication. At the same time, he moves even faster. The other experts also increase their speeds to the utmost. As for someone weak like Old Freak Three-Eyed’s lady-in- waiting, Old Freak Three-Eyed immediately grabs her and flies, taking her with him. He is doing his best to raise the speed of the group.

Everybody has now experienced the terrors of the Chaotic Astral Ocean. How many minutes has it been since their entrance? Yet they have encountered the ferobeasts whose collective power is about the same as theirs. If they really fought these beasts till the end, quite a few of them would definitely die or be badly injured.

As they go through the billows, the blood left on their bodies by the killing is also washed off.

……

From 1000 li away from everybody, a black blur is rushing towards them extremely fast, much faster than those ferobeasts just now did, dislodging billows wherever it goes. In just a while … Yan Mo’s face changes color greatly when his eyes see a blur in the distance, as do Yi Da’s and Azure Dragon’s faces. When they have just sensed the aura of that ferobeast and have not even found out the opponent’s power, the ferobeast has already appeared in their fields of vision.

“Be careful!”

Yan Mo only has enough time to give a warning through his holy sense before using his black dragon form to charge at that blur.

Just a moment ago, Yan Mo, Yi Da and Azure Dragon already discovered that the blur is even quite a lot faster than Yan Mo himself so now it is impossible for everybody to run away and they can only face it. Using his body of a divine beast black dragon, Yan Mo is trying to defeat this blur.

None of the other 10-odd experts such as Yi Da, Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Old Freak Three-Eyed and Qin Yu gets into action because they have no confidence. A series of explosions rises. Meanwhile, the billows in the surroundings are sent flying in all directions by the shockwaves. The drops of water sent flying all around are extremely fast, to the point where they seem to be projectiles.

When those drops of water hit the bodies of Yi Da, Qin Yu and the others, they shatter immediately.

In an instant —

That black blur and the black dragon move apart. Now everybody finally sees the true identity of that black blur.

It is a gigantic black crab that is 10 something m tall. Its black legs look very slim and powerful and those 2 huge claws are extremely sharp. Every piece of this crab’s armor is shiny black and nobody has any doubts about its defense because just now this black crab fought a fierce battle against the black dragon.

After this momentary battle, a wound that is several m long has already appeared on the black dragon’s body. The dragon scales at the wound have been smashed and blood is flowing out. However, the black crab is not injured at all with only a white mark on his armor. It is easy to tell who the stronger is from this.

“It’s a Dujie-stage ferobeast, a bit stronger than me. Don’t even think about attacking him, everybody. Given his defense, you basically won’t be able to damage him. Let’s all rush towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion.”

Yan Mo immediately uses holy sense communication.

As soon as he exchanged blows with the black crab, he knew that this crab has to be stronger than him by one level and is definitely a Dujie-stage ferobeast.

Suddenly, that huge black crab moves. Its body rushes violently at the black dragon. That pair of blood-red eyes is extraordinarily small. However, despite their small size, those blood-red eyes are like bright, blood-red stars — grim and ice- cold. Another series of explosions is heard as the black crab and the black dragon charge at each other. Because they are far more powerful than everybody else, they exchange blows so fast that they turn into two blurs again in the eyes of everybody.

“Don’t waste time. Run!”

Yi Da, however, shouts via holy sense communication. Immediately, he and Azure Dragon take the lead in rushing towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. At the moment, they do not even have time to care about the black dragon. Given the black dragon’s power, everybody would be totally useless if they stayed here.

More than 10 individuals rush towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion without delay.

In just a while, a black blur overtakes them.

“This ferobeast crab is too formidable. We can’t waste time fighting him. Let’s run away as far as possible and get into the Nine  Swords  Immortal  Mansion  first.”   The  black  dragon’s voice rises in everybody’s mind. This black blur is none other than a fleeing Black Dragon Yan Mo.

Everybody basically does not waste time talking and keeps rushing straight towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion.

But how can the black ferobeast crab possibly let them go? When they have been flying for just several breaths’ time, the crab appears again. Black Dragon lets out a furious roar and engages in another battle with him so that the others can run a bit farther. After a while, Black Dragon flees again …

Yan Mo keeps exchanging blows with the black crab to pin him down so that everybody else can run a little farther, but he also keeps alternating between fleeing for a while and fighting.

He wants to rely on this tactic to reach the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion a bit faster.

However, after fighting the black crab again and again, Black Dragon has suffered countless wounds on his huge dragon body, which has become covered completely with blood. The dragon scales at a good several places have also been shattered. That black ferobeast crab has received some injuries too, for example, the silvery protective armor on his stomach has been torn to 2 pieces by Black Dragon.

In terms of divine beast classes, azure dragons are only common divine beasts while black dragons and Three-Blue- Eyed toads are on the same level. Even a middle Kongming stage black dragon is comparable to a late Kongming stage azure dragon… Therefore, Yan Mo is only a bit weaker than that Dujie-stage ferobeast crab.

“Keep carrying on for a while. We’re almost there.” Yan Mo shouts through holy sense communication.

He is encouraging the others and also himself.

If they really keep going on like this for a while, he will suffer several wounds at worst and they will still be able to reach the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. However — Qin Yu suddenly catches a glimpse of a black blur which is rushing extremely fast towards them amid the billows in the distance. It is definitely not weaker than that black ferobeast crab just now. At the same time, Yi Da, Azure Dragon and the others have also detected that black blur.

“No good. It’s another ferobeast crab.”

The black ferobeast crab in the front has stopped, blocking everybody’s way. Behind them, that black ferobeast crab is also coming while chasing after Black Dragon to kill him.

“Don’t, even think, about, running. All … prepare, to die!”

A powerful, deep voice rises. Only it seems to have a lot of difficulty talking as it had to pause after every word or two.

Flying beside everybody, Black Dragon Yan Mo takes a look at the 2 black ferobeast crabs ahead of and behind them. “Ferobeasts have very low intelligence, but when they have reached very high power levels, their intelligence is still improved a bit. These 2 ferobeast crabs should be at the Dujie stage. If there was only one of them, we could still manage to run away. But now there are 2 of them… Everybody, prepare to risk your life!”

Yan Mo’s voice rises in everybody’s mind through holy sense communication.

Knowing that there are 2 Dujie-stage ferobeasts ahead of and behind them, Yi Da, Azure Dragon, Situ Xue, Qin Yu and the others all have somewhat unsightly expressions. At the same time, a tinge of bloodthirstiness appears in their eyes … They can only go all out!

B9C15: Blood-Splattered Nine Swords Immortal Mansion

There is a black ferobeast crab in the front and another at the back. These 2 ferobeasts are both extremely powerful. Even if Black Dragon Yan Mo gets into action, he will still be a bit weaker than either of them.

“This, black dragon, you’re pretty strong. You, were able to, injure my younger brother.”  The black ferobeast crab in the front now can talk a little more fluently.

Only at the moment does everybody know that these 2 ferobeasts ahead of and behind them are brothers. Moreover, judging from their manners, the one in the front is definitely not weaker than his younger brother and can even be somewhat more powerful.

“This  place  is  not  far  from  the  Nine  Swords  Immortal Mansion, only 1000 li away. Let’s run at your top speeds, everybody. There are only 2 of them so they absolutely won’t be able to harm all of us. Let’s run …” Yan Mo’s voice rises in everybody’s mind. 

Run!

Everybody will have to rely on their own skills to escape!

Qin Yu is holding Li’er hand, very tight!

Also holding his hand, she says seriously using her holy sense: “Rush as fast as possible, big brother Qin Yu.”

Qin Yu stares at that ferobeast in front of him. The black light on his body moves away and quickly turns into a flying sword. He stands on the sword. The core in his dantian then sends its golden stellar energy out into the sword.

“Li’er, use your protective magic treasure. You must not have any accidents. As for me … you don’t have to worry about me. Since reaching the Core stage, I’ve never used my full speed.” Qin Yu says with a chuckle, but his eyes, which are staring at that black ferobeast crab, flash with a hint of fierceness.

A series of sonic booms is heard. Everybody at the scene has put to use their own fastest speed. They also follow different paths, either rushing straight to the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, flying away in a curve using a light-based escaping art or going underwater then running away.

Qin Yu’s golden stellar energy has completely linked the Black Origin flying sword with every place of his body. Turning into a golden rainbow and following a graceful path of movement, he rushes extremely fast in the direction of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion.

However, Li’er looks like she is taking a stroll. With just several steps, she easily follows Qin Yu.

“Black dragon, prepare to die.” The big brother of the black ferobeast crabs in the front charges at Black Dragon Yan Mo. As for his younger brother at the back, this black ferobeast crab charges at the others. It seems all crabs are hostile to dragons as this 2nd brother ferobeast crab unexpectedly charges straight at Azure Dragon Yan Lang, who immediately knows that he has a situation.

“Roar ~~~”

With a furious roar, Azure Dragon unexpectedly changes into his human form. He is facing the attack of the 2nd brother of the black ferobeast crabs, yet he has switched back to his human form, whose offense is relatively weak.

“Get in formation!”

Azure Dragon’s expression is solemn. The 3 yellow-clad men going with him this time immediately create a Three Powers Formation behind him. Afterwards, the 3 yellow-clad men’s bodies all radiate various rays of light. A dazzling light also appears on Azure Dragon’s 2 hands. The others, who are all fleeing extremely fast, hear an explosion that shakes the sky.

Both sides fly backwards.

Azure Dragon and the 3 yellow-clad men, with Azure Dragon leading, make use of the backlash to run away even faster. But that 2nd brother black ferobeast crab is knocked back. When this ferobeast wants to chase after them, they are already several tens li away from him.

With a furious growl, this ferobeast crab chases forwards like crazy.

……

By now, Black Dragon Yan Mo has already started to fight that big brother ferobeast crab too. This time he has gone completely mad, ready to show the true power of a black dragon, a type of dragon with extremely high offense in the dragon clan. 

Sharp dragon claws, powerful dragon tail and … black dragons’ special skill.

Yan Mo’s blood-red eyes shine brilliantly, sending out various red rays of light, which then fuse with every place on his black dragon body. The many wounds on his body unexpectedly begin to recover at an obviously very fast speed.

“You, prepare to die.” He also stares at the big brother black ferobeast crab and shouts furiously.

Naturally, the big brother black ferobeast crab is enraged. As a ferobeast, how can he possibly be scared? Meeting such a formidable black dragon will only make him even madder. The black ferobeast crab turns his face upwards, letting out a furious growl, then rushes fiercely at the enemy.

Fighting!

Bloody fighting! 

This time, Yan Mo is quite a lot faster. His body’s recovery speed has increased greatly and his defense has become quite a lot stronger too. The cause of all of this is his blood-red eyes, which is different from ferobeasts’ eyes. This is the basis of the black dragon family’s formidability.

Dragon scales shattered, crab armor coming off … The blood of both of them dyes red the water but because of the rolling billows, it disappears after a while.

Suddenly —

Black Dragon Yan Mo takes a swing of his tail and unexpectedly rushes straight towards the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. This is because he understands very well that this time his goal is to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion and not to fight a ferobeast to the death here. Ferobeasts like killing but Yan Mo himself does not.

…… Qin Yu’s speed is exceptionally fast. After riding a flying sword, he is even so fast that he is not much slower than Yi Da and Reverend Yan Xu.

“Li’er, of the 2 ferobeasts, one is fighting Yan Mo while the other is fighting Azure Dragon. The rest of us are unexpectedly having a little easier time.” Qin Yu is a bit relaxed in his heart at the moment. If he had to fight a black ferobeast crab head- on, he would probably suffer a very miserable fate.

“Big brother Qin Yu, Azure Dragon and those 3 yellow-clad men seem to be very formidable. I don’t know who those 3 men are but I never expected them to be able to form such a strange formation. The 4 of them could even knock back that black ferobeast crab by joining forces.” Li’er says with surprise.

Qin Yu’s holy sense has also noticed that scene.

In terms of power, that black ferobeast crab is at the Dujie stage so he is a good several times more formidable than Azure Dragon. However, after transforming into his human form, Azure Dragon and the 3 yellow-clad men joined forces and were able to knock back the ferobeast crab by launching a combined attack using a special formation.

“Could this be Azure Dragon’s trump card?” Qin Yu raises his eyebrows.

How many treasures are there in the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion actually? No one knows. Considering the agreement at that time, if their number is a multiple of 9, it will be easy to distribute them. But will their number really happen to be so? Moreover, even if there will really be such a coincidence, once the experts such as Yan Mo become greedy and kill the others to take the treasures, nobody will be able to stop them.

When they have entered the immortal mansion this time, snatching each other’s magic treasures will be very normal.

Therefore, perhaps every power has a trump card.

Various extremely furious growls are heard. The 2nd brother black ferobeast crab has been knocked back several times by Azure Dragon so he has finally gone crazy. He unexpectedly no longer attacks Azure Dragon and the 3 yellow-clad men. Instead, he charges at the others. But at this moment —

“The  Nine  Swords  Immortal  Mansion  is  below  us.  Dive down.”

Reverend Yan Xu shouts loudly and be the first to come down. The others also dive down.

After going through this bloody battle, everybody has eventually reached the site of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. Immediately, all of them dive towards the bottom of the Chaotic Astral Ocean.

Poof!

A miserable cry rises. That green-clad girl Old Freak Three- Eyed has taken here with him has been smashed directly by a slim leg of a black ferobeast crab. While smaller than his 2 massive claws, each of which is several meters thick, these slim legs are also nearly half a meter thick. And they are all ten something meters long. 

Old Freak Three-Eyed’s face changes color, but he dives towards the bottom of the ocean even faster instead of going to fight this ferobeast.

Now it is not worth fighting a ferobeast because of a subordinate. Moreover … Old Freak Three-Eyed does not have the power to fight this ferobeast either.

Bang!

Water is scattered around. Black Dragon Yan Mo has also dived into the ocean. Afterwards, he swims extremely fast towards the bottom. Behind him, that big brother ferobeast crab is still chasing him. Only now Black Dragon is quite a lot faster than the crab as the blood-red light has fused with his body.

Black Dragon Yan Mo is very fast, truly very fast. In just a while, he catches up with Old Freak Three-Eyed, Reverend Yan Xu, Qin Yu and the others. “No good.”

Qin Yu’s face changes color. He has discovered that 2 ferobeast crabs are unexpectedly charging behind him. Of course, these 2 ferobeasts are not targeting Qin Yu alone. Rather, they are targeting everybody … That big brother crab is probably chasing after Yan Mo.

The group goes extremely fast.

However, the divine beast Hong Luan, which passed the 6-in-

9 Heavenly Tribulation not long ago, is the slowest of the group. The foremost black ferobeast crab launches an attack directly at Hong Luan … A loud noise is heard. Afterwards, the water in the surroundings heats up and boils.

“Hong Luan.”

Hong Luan is a divine beast under Yan Mo. Seeing her covered in blood and flames, he becomes furious at once. However … he does not dare to take 2 Dujie-stage ferobeasts on single-handedly. 

Yan Mo turns around extremely fast. With a sweep of his dragon tail, he has a collision with one of the black ferobeast crabs. Afterwards, he grabs Xue Nu and Hong Luan using 2 dragon claws then rushes down at his top speed.

Qin Yu, Li’er, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed go behind him. At the rear are Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu, the black-haired old man and the 3 yellow-clad men.

“Where’s the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion?”

According to the map transmitted by the 9 jade swords at that time, this Nine Swords Immortal Mansion should be several hundred meters below them, merely several hundred meters. Given everybody’s vision, naturally they should have already seen it. But now they discover that there are only rock and coral below them.

Where is the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion? Everybody is a bit stupefied.

They have risked their lives to come here, yet the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is simply nowhere to be seen. For the sake of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, each of them has had to use countless subordinates and an enormous amount of mental effort. They had to fight for every jade sword and even almost died when searching for the keeping place of the 9th jade sword. Di Long, Di Jian and Di Xu were even killed by Yan Mo. Only in the end did they know that the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion is located in the Chaotic Astral Ocean.

After entering the Chaotic Astral Ocean, they had to kill on the way and nearly lost their lives.

If they can get into the immortal mansion, everything will be forgotten, but there is no immortal mansion here.

It is not here! Carrying his subordinates Xue Nu and Hong Luan, Black Dragon Yan Mo stands on the rocky mountain range, but he does not know what to do. In theory, the immortal mansion should be located here. Why is there not an immortal mansion here?

The others also land and fly to this rocky mountain range.

Everybody is a bit confused.

“Growl ~~” A furious growl rises. The 2 chasing huge black ferobeast crabs have arrived.

Having gone through innumerable hardships to reach this place only to be unable to find the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion and yet have to face the onslaught of the black ferobeast crabs, everybody does not know what to do. They only feel that they have been wronged greatly. If they die here, they will have been wronged even more.

“You … can’t run.” The big brother black ferobeast crab stands in front of everybody and says coldly. “Yan Lang, let me handle the big brother. I’ll leave the 2nd brother to you. I think that formation of yours was pretty good. With the help of Yi Da and some others, you’ll be able to put up a fight against the 2nd brother ferobeast.” Yan Mo tells everybody at the scene through holy sense communication.

“As for the others, search this place to see if there are any mechanisms or not.” He looks at the participants such as Situ Xue.

Everybody nods.

Yan Mo is going to single-handedly deal with a black ferobeast crab. Azure Dragon, the 3 yellow-clad men, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu and Old Freak Three-Eyed are going to join forces to gang up on the 2nd brother black ferobeast crab.

This plan is not bad, but can it really be implemented?

“You’re all, very stupid.” The big brother black ferobeast crab seems not worried in the least. 

Since the opponents have not got into action, Yan Mo and the strongest experts do not want to fight either. They only want to stall for time so that the others can find out the mechanism and discover the location of that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion. The top experts such as Yan Mo are staring at these 2 ferobeast crabs while Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu, Xue Nu, a badly injured Hong Luan, Qin Yu and Li’er are all searching carefully.

“Non-ferobeast  blood  …   will  attract  a  great  number  of ferobeasts. You fought us for so long … your blood will surely lead quite a few ferobeasts to this place … Some of them are as strong as us … some are even stronger.”

The big brother black ferobeast crab now talks leisurely. He seems to enjoy a chance to talk very much.

Ordinary ferobeasts cannot talk. Only some somewhat intelligent ferobeasts can.

The faces of Yan Mo, Azure Dragon, Yi Da and the ones who are searching carefully for a mechanism such as Qin Yu all change color.

So this is the reason!

No wonder soon after they had killed the 1st ferobeast shark, so many more ferobeasts surrounded and attacked them. It turns out non-ferobeast blood will attract the ferobeasts in the surroundings.

At this moment —

One furious growl after another is heard. At the same time, several pairs of blood-red eyes come rushing. Everybody knows that this means even more ferobeasts are arriving.

6 ferobeasts, 3 of which are around the Dongxu stage, 2 of which are at the Kongming stage and 1 of which has even reached the Dujie stage!

“No good …” Yan Mo’s face changes color. 

2 Dujie-stage ferobeasts are already very difficult to deal with, but now another ferobeast not weaker than the 2 black ferobeast crabs has come. However, when the heart of everybody present is trembling, many furious growls rise again as many other pairs of blood-red eyes come.

The more time passes, the more ferobeasts gather at this place.

“What now, Yan Mo?” Azure Dragon looks at Yan Mo with a very unsightly expression. At the moment, they stand absolutely no chance of putting up a fight.

Qin Yu, Li’er and the others are searching but they also pay attention to these ferobeasts. All of them feel a great pressure. By now, the number of ferobeasts has already reached several tens. 5 among them are even at the Dujie stage and nearly 10 are at the Kongming stage.

Moreover … as time goes by, their number keeps increasing gradually. 

The 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts are in the front. Compared to the overseas Xiuzhen world, this world of ferobeasts in the Chaotic Astral Ocean is definitely, truly one where the strong are respected.

“Of the ten something strangers here, we brothers want that black dragon and the 2 beside him.” The big brother black crab says.

The one in the middle of the 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts is a tiger shark, but there are 2 sharp blood-red horns on his forehead. He says extremely slowly: “I … don’t want … the others … I only want 2 … that man … and that girl.”

The 2-horned ferobeast tiger shark is referring to none other than Qin Yu and Li’er. Those blood-red eyes are staring at them with a tinge of voracity.

… Only now does everybody know that the 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts consider them their prey and are dividing them among themselves.

But at this moment —

A furious deep roar is heard. The 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts unexpectedly get a shock. Immediately afterwards, they move apart. Everybody only sees an extremely huge ferobeast which looks like a several-hundred-meter-tall black object shooting towards them in the distance.

Yan Mo, Yi Da, Qin Yu and the others feel the pressure they are under greatly increase again.

This several-hundred-meter-tall huge black object is none other than a massive octopus. This octopus is very strange as he has an exceptionally large number of tentacles. At first sight, there are unexpectedly several tens tentacles. Normal octopuses have 8 tentacles but this one has several tens.

Moreover, this octopus has only 1 blood-red eye. 

The one-eyed ferobeast octopus stands in the middle. Those 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts move back behind him very respectfully at once.

“Dacheng-stage ferobeast.” Azure Dragon says in a low voice.

The others’ faces change color.

The one-eyed octopus casts a glance at Azure Dragon and says: “How did you know I’m a Dacheng-stage ferobeast? You

… seem to be merely a Kongming-stage divine beast.” In terms

of intelligence, this one-eyed octopus is quite a lot superior to the 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts.

Azure Dragon feels his heart pounding in his chest. He says immediately: “I guessed it. I guessed it. Seeing those 5 so respectful to you, I was able to guess it.”

A Dacheng-stage ferobeast, no less! 

This is a being close to Dacheng-stage divine beasts. If he wants to kill everybody here, he will only need a little effort.

However, right at this moment —

Various beams of light of different colors such as bright yellow, bright white, azure and so on shoot out from the underwater rocky mountain range everybody is standing on. Totally unaffected by anything, these lights destroy the darkness, causing the waters within several tens li of the mountain range to greatly brighten.

“Ah ~~~”

That one-eyed octopus suddenly howls in anguish. His body has been hit by some light beams and, as a result, seems to have been corroded. His blood starts to seep out. Uttering a painful growl, the one-eyed octopus runs away immediately with a movement of his body. The 5 Dujie-stage ferobeasts also growl in pain. It seems they cannot bear the pains. The blood of all of them flows out. They turn around and flee without delay, paying absolutely no attention to Yan Mo, Qin Yu and the others.

Only they seem to be affected by those lights as their speeds are particularly slow. But anyway, they still manage to go more than several tens li away and escape.

As for the ferobeasts of the Kongming stage and Dongxu stage, all of them howl in pain and try to flee, but they are too slow so they are damaged more badly. Their defenses are weaker therefore, in just a while, their bodies decay then turn into ashes.

Yan Mo, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu, Qin Yu, Old Freak Three- Eyed and the others are all dumbfounded.

An extremely powerful Dacheng-stage ferobeast was unexpectedly scared off by these lights. Moreover, he was even seriously injured. And the Kongming-stage ferobeasts were even reduced to ashes directly. 

“Immortal mansion, the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion!”

An exclamation is heard. It was uttered by none other than Jiao Jiu. Everybody turns around to take a look and sees that more and more beams of light are shooting out, but that rocky mountain range unexpectedly begins to shatters as an extremely large building starts to emerge.

Bathed in the miraculous lights, a magnificent immortal mansion is eventually showing up.

No ferobeasts dare to approach the area of several tens li in radius illuminated by the lights. However, Qin Yu, Yan Mo and the others are not affected at all when the lights shine on them. Instead, their entire bodies feel comfortable. The rocky mountain range shatters more and more rapidly. In the end, the appearance of the whole immortal mansion is revealed.

Under the illumination of the light beams, an immortal mansion which seems to be made entire of jade has appeared. Its powerful aura makes everybody’s heart tremble. Good Heavens! Is this the immortal mansion?

For the moment, everybody is both astonished and delighted by this immortal mansion.

When its appearance is already so impressive, how can there possibly be a lack of treasures inside?

“Ah!” An anguished cry rises.

Qin Yu’s face changes color greatly because, beside him, Old Freak Three-Eyed is unexpectedly blown to pieces directly. That yuanying is even pierced through and falls down. Old Freak Three-Eyed, who was extremely formidable, has died just like that. Qin Yu knows that his situation is bad. At the same time, he feels a terrifyingly powerful blast coming at him from behind.

He is under attack! Despite feeling so, now he basically has no time to avoid it because the enemy is too fast. But he must go all out whatever happens so he does his best to dodge to the right. At least he cannot afford to let his head or dantian be damaged.

“Li’er.” The moment Qin Yu makes a dodging movement with his body, he discovers that Li’er has unexpected got behind him and is covering his back. He cannot help getting shocked.

A loud noise is heard. Li’er’s body sends out transparent ripples, which easily ward off that terrifying attack.

Her protective magic treasure has been brought into play.

That attack could have made Old Freak Three-Eyed explode with ease but Li’er has blocked it effortlessly. However, it seems Qin Yu and Old Freak Three-Eyed are not the only targets of the mysterious assailant. At the same time, others have also been attacked!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! …… A series of explosions rises. After a while, the noises stop.

When the dust has settled,

Qin Yu takes a look around. Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Situ Xue and Jiao Jiu are still smiling but the Xiuyaoists …

At the moment, Yan Mo is on one knee, his face is totally pale and his blood has covered a large area of the ground.

By contrast, Azure Dragon is lying on one side. Those 3 yellow-clad men are supporting him. Yan Mo’s 2 subordinates, Xue Nu and Hong Luan, have fallen on the ground, completely lifeless… They are already dead.

“Tut-tut … Young lady, you must be from the Stellar Tower, right? You were even able to take one hit from me without dying so you must have that loose immortal’s protective magic treasure. It looks like the Stellar Tower’s loose immortal really deserves his reputation.”  Standing in front of the immortal mansion, a black-robed man says smilingly.

There is currently another black-robed man beside him. Obviously, the assailant just now is this mysterious black-robed man.

Seeing the 2 black-robed men, Jiao Jiu is immediately delighted. He kneels down at once, saying respectfully: “It is an honor to meet you, grand master and grand uncle master! I am Jiao Jiu!”