Chapter 1694: All of Them Are Dead
“If a person suffers enough setbacks and torment yet still manages to hold on and live, their spiritual will naturally becomes strong.” Zhang Ruochen said with a bitter smile.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy knew that this man likely had many untold stories, but she did not press further. “Let’s climb the mountain. The top of this ancient mountain should be the source of the divine spring.”
“The divine spring is located within this ancient mountain?”
Zhang Ruochen was surprised and looked up.
The ancient mountain before him was impossibly tall, half shrouded in dark gloom and half radiating sacred grandeur—nothing like the small hill he had seen from afar.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy gazed toward the summit. “Look, purple-blue divine mist is drifting down from the top.”
At the very peak of the ancient mountain, it was indeed enveloped in purple-blue mist, which was slowly spreading downward.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Didn’t you say there are divine inscriptions left by a god in this ancient mountain? If we charge in recklessly and trigger those divine patterns, won’t we die inside?”
“Earlier, I was struck by the power of the divine patterns because I didn’t know they existed. Now that I know, I naturally have a way to erase them.”
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy, dressed in white robes, exuded a fragrant aura as she walked ahead, stepping onto the path into the mountain.
Zhang Ruochen caught up. “Fairy, I have some refined warrior constructs. Let them lead the way—it will be safer.”
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen took twelve iron balls from his space ring. The balls hit the ground and transformed into humanoid metal warriors.
“Boom.”
After a short while, complex patterns appeared beneath the feet of one refined warrior.
At the same time, a wisp of ancient residual divine power struck the warrior, shattering it into pieces. Some of its metal bones even melted into droplets.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression tightened. He calculated silently—if that ancient divine power had struck him, even wearing his inscribed armor, his body would likely have been pierced.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She then took out a purple bottle and poured out a drop of dark red liquid.
“Hiss.”
The liquid hit the ground with a corrosive sound, actually melting the divine patterns.
One must understand that divine patterns were inscriptions carved by gods. Even a Great Saint would find it difficult to destroy them. Although these patterns had weakened significantly after more than a hundred thousand years, they still contained the spiritual will of a god. How could they be melted so easily?
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy saw the doubt in Zhang Ruochen’s mind and said, “This liquid was refined from the blood of a demon god from the Hell Realm. It can corrode everything in the world.”
The two continued climbing.
Gradually, palace-like structures appeared within the ancient mountain, each brick and tile made from extremely precious materials. The buildings here were relatively well-preserved, and in some palace complexes, the faint fragrance of sacred fruits wafted out.
However, those palace complexes were patrolled by ancient ferocious beasts. Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Beginning Fairy, not wanting to cause trouble, bypassed them and headed straight for the summit.
Zhang Ruochen felt a slight movement against his chest and a look of joy appeared on his face. He reached inside.
The weak voice of the True Marvel Little Daoist came out: “True Marvel, true marvel—this poor Daoist has come back to life! Zhang Ruochen, you saved me, didn’t you?”
“Do you think anyone else would save you?” Zhang Ruochen transmitted his voice.
“That’s true. If it were another cultivator, they would have taken the chance to devour me. But you, when I was severely injured, used some kind of medicinal liquid to help repair my primordial spirit and give me new life. Not bad, not bad—I didn’t misjudge you.” The True Marvel Little Daoist chuckled.
“Some kind of medicinal liquid? That was the last bit of life spring I had, saved for myself.” Zhang Ruochen said.
The True Marvel Little Daoist crawled out of Zhang Ruochen’s embrace and laughed, “So they say, true feelings are revealed in adversity! Your feelings for me are absolutely genuine—I can see that! Huh? Isn’t that the fairy from the ancient civilization faction?”
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy sensed something and turned around, fixing her gaze on the True Marvel Little Daoist. “A hundred-thousand-year-old ancient sacred medicine. Lin Yue, the treasures you carry are quite numerous. But that ancient sacred medicine is very strange—its spiritual will is even stronger than yours.”
“How is that possible?” Zhang Ruochen said.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy warned, “That’s the truth. You’d better be wary of it, or you might end up as its nourishment.”
“Sowing discord—this woman is sowing discord! Don’t believe her. I’m just a mild-tempered lingzhi, not some ferocious plant like the Devouring Saint Flower.” The True Marvel Little Daoist said through gritted teeth.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy said no more and continued forward, leaving only a graceful silhouette.
“The True Marvel’s spiritual will is strong?” Zhang Ruochen found it hard to believe.
This sentient sacred lingzhi always surrendered immediately when suppressed, showing no spirit of defiance. How could it have a powerful spiritual will?
The True Marvel Little Daoist quickly explained, “Don’t believe her! She’s just trying to drive a wedge between us, worried that if we join forces, we’ll threaten her. ‘A wasp’s stinger is sharp, but a woman’s heart is sharper.’”
When they reached the mountainside, the True Marvel Little Daoist jumped onto Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder, sniffing the air and looking around. He then transmitted to Zhang Ruochen, “This place is very close to the True Marvel Daoist Temple. How did we end up here?”
“Are you sure?” Zhang Ruochen said.
The True Marvel Little Daoist said solemnly, “Of course I’m sure. I’ve been in the area around the True Marvel Daoist Temple for a hundred thousand years. Going further up will be very dangerous. What exactly are you trying to do?”
Suddenly, the Heavenly Beginning Fairy, who was walking ahead, stopped.
“There’s the smell of blood.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes grew serious, and he quickened his pace to catch up.
Ahead on the ground lay a mutilated corpse, half of its body reduced to bloody fragments—a gruesome sight.
“Chou Gu? Why him?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Chou Gu was one of the space cultivators invited by the ancient civilization faction. He had considerable skill in the Way of Space, possessing iron boots that could “reduce distance to inches” and a dragon-head staff that could trigger a “gravity space domain.”
Unfortunately, both space treasures had disappeared.
Zhang Ruochen walked over to the remains and examined them. “He wasn’t killed by an ancient ferocious beast. It was man-made.”
“It’s Gu Feng. His spiritual will lingers here, and it carries killing intent.” The Heavenly Beginning Fairy said.
Zhang Ruochen asked curiously, “What kind of person is Gu Feng? It seems even you can’t do anything about him.”
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy said, “Gu Feng was a prodigy from an ancient evil sect in the Huan Realm. He is arrogant, reckless, of extremely low character, and addicted to lust. Yet his strength is unfathomably strange. Once, he drained the essence of a Great Saint’s legitimate daughter and survived the pursuit of the Great Saint’s doppelganger.”
“After that, relying on his profound poison skills, Gu Feng planted seven Harmony Pills in that Great Saint’s sacred domain. Instantly, all living beings in the domain were affected by the poison, losing their minds and turning into animals obsessed only with mating, causing many scandals and shaming the Great Saint.”
“From then on, his reputation grew even more. No one wanted to offend him, fearing his revenge.”
“A man like that will do anything. If he retaliates, even a Great Saint would have a headache.”
Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly. This Gu Feng was indeed a formidable figure—even a Great Saint couldn’t handle him and had suffered a loss instead.
Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Beginning Fairy followed the bloodstains into a palace complex ahead. Soon, they saw a second corpse on the ground, then a third…
Pu Shan Master and Li Qinghai had both fallen, their bodies broken and blood still dripping.
When they saw the fourth corpse, both Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Beginning Fairy were stunned.
It was Gu Feng.
There was a transparent hole in Gu Feng’s chest, a bowl-sized chunk of flesh missing, including his heart. His eyes were wide open, staring upward, with a look of extreme terror.
Before his death, he seemed to have seen something truly horrifying.
“Even the Great Saint’s doppelganger couldn’t kill Gu Feng, yet he died here. Did he encounter an ancient ferocious beast at the Great Saint level?” The Heavenly Beginning Fairy became extremely vigilant, scanning the surroundings.
Zhang Ruochen examined Gu Feng’s corpse and let out a soft exclamation. “He was killed by space power.”
Then, Zhang Ruochen pried open Gu Feng’s fingers and found that the space imprint on his palm had disappeared.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy said, “Among the six space cultivators invited by the ancient civilization faction, who is the last one?”
“Mo Xiaogu from the Space Divine Temple.”
Zhang Ruochen added, “But with her cultivation level, even if she ambushed him, she couldn’t have killed Gu Feng. Unless she was hiding her true strength…”
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power stirred slightly. His expression changed drastically, and he quickly crouched down, sticking his finger into Gu Feng’s wound.
Sure enough, that familiar spiritual power fluctuation appeared again.
“Could it be her? Impossible—how would she dare come to the Heavenly Court Realm?” Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
In an ancient tower within this palace complex, Mo Xiaogu stood behind a window, staring at Zhang Ruochen and the Heavenly Beginning Fairy in the distance. A smug smile curled on her lips. “That idiot Gu Feng dared to set his sights on this princess—he deserved to die. But these two are a bit troublesome. Better use poison.”
Mo Xiaogu placed the space storage vessel she had taken from Gu Feng in front of her and took out bottle after bottle of poison liquids and pills.
The Heavenly Beginning Fairy said, “That Mo Xiaogu must have cultivated some extremely powerful technique, and she understands my abilities. She’s managed to conceal her spiritual will. But I can still sense that she’s hiding nearby.”
…
(I’m truly sorry. I’ve been suffering from food poisoning and a severe cold for the past two days, lying in bed and unable to write. I wanted to mention it in the chapter, but every time I post a single-chapter note, the entire book’s chapter order gets messed up, so I explained it on WeChat.
This afternoon, though still weak and dizzy, I managed to persist in writing. I’ll update one chapter first. If I’m feeling better later, I’ll write a second chapter.)