Chapter 884: Blood Slaves
Under the guidance of Half-Saint Li Ku, the three traversed a vast wilderness and entered deep into a desolate mountain range.
All around, towering peaks rose high, clear and spiritual rivers flowed, and massive barbarian beasts frequently flew across the sky.
Throughout the journey, Zhang Ruochen observed carefully, clearly sensing faint fluctuations of formations within the rugged mountains and ridges.
Every mountain peak seemed like a formation tower.
Walking at the front, Half-Saint Li Ku said, "The Zhenyu Ancient Clan is one of the hidden ancient clans, and has never participated in the conflicts among the major powers of the Kunlun Realm."
"However, the Zhenyu Ancient Clan also has inseparable connections with the major powers of the Kunlun Realm."
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his spiritual power that had been probing the ground, his expression natural, and asked, "How so?"
Half-Saint Li Ku stroked his beard and smiled, "You should have noticed that the ground is covered with formation inscriptions along the way. For an outsider to break into the Zhenyu Ancient Clan, it would undoubtedly be a dead end."
Zhang Ruochen said, "The formation inscriptions are indeed quite dense, complex, and profound, and they intersect with each other. They are certainly not ordinary formations."
Half-Saint Li Ku said, "Those ancient formations are all remnants from the Middle Ages, with boundless power. Not to mention Saints, even a Great Saint would have to pay a heavy price to force their way in."
"To put it plainly, back in the Middle Ages, the Sword Tomb was the largest prison built by humanity, specifically used to imprison the most heinous human experts and barbarian beast overlords. The three surnames of the Zhenyu Ancient Clan were the three families tasked with guarding the prison at that time."
"With the arrival of the Great Turmoil, the Sword Tomb was abandoned. It wasn't until ten thousand years ago, when the Undying Blood Clan's Underworld King emerged, causing chaos across the world, that the entire human race nearly faced extinction."
"At the most critical moment, the saints of humanity joined forces to repel the Undying Blood Clan and suppress the Underworld King."
"The Underworld King's cultivation was infinitely close to that of a god, making him the most powerful being in the entire Kunlun Realm after the Middle Ages."
"Even though the saints suppressed him, they could not kill him and could only seal him temporarily. Thus, someone proposed reopening the Sword Tomb specifically to imprison the Underworld King. It was from that time that the Sword Tomb gradually became known as the Underworld King Sword Tomb."
"In the past ten thousand years, whether it was the Holy Bright Central Empire, the Qingchi Central Empire, or the current First Central Empire, the great evils and villains they captured were also sent to the Underworld King Sword Tomb, to be guarded by the Zhenyu Ancient Clan."
"Because of this, the Zhenyu Ancient Clan has remained aloof from worldly affairs and does not wish to participate in the conflicts among the major powers of the Kunlun Realm. Your conflict with the imperial court has indeed put the Zhenyu Ancient Clan in a difficult position."
Zhang Ruochen asked curiously, "Then what exactly is the relationship between the Six Sword Holders and the Zhenyu Ancient Clan?"
Half-Saint Li Ku's expression turned solemn, and he shook his head, saying, "This matter is of great importance. I believe only the Six Sword Holders and the heads of the three families know the secret."
The Zhenyu Ancient Clan was composed of three major families, and of course, each family had cultivated some peripheral forces spread across the prefecture, deeply rooted in this land.
For example, the Li family of Qingli Commandery was merely a peripheral family, not one of the three major families.
As they spoke, two three-thousand-meter-tall stone mountains appeared ahead.
The stone mountains were shaped like two stone swords thrust into the ground, extremely steep, covered with emerald-green spiritual herbs and some ancient spiritual trees.
Standing below and looking up, one could see countless iron swords embedded in the two stone mountains, too numerous to count. Rusty iron chains also coiled around the stone mountains like vines, pythons, or crimson dragons.
Arriving here, the Sky-Soaring Sword on Zhang Ruochen's back began to tremble slightly, emitting a sword hum.
The thousands of ancient swords on the two stone mountains also seemed to sense something, all trembling as if about to fly out from the mountains.
"Why are there so many swords?"
Li Min's small mouth opened slightly as she gazed at the two stone mountains, a look of amazement on her face.
Half-Saint Li Ku said, "You are only seeing the tip of the iceberg now. If you go to the Sword Tomb, you will see that the ancient swords there are a thousand or ten thousand times more numerous than here."
Just then, Zhang Ruochen let out a soft exclamation and looked back in the direction they came from.
Half-Saint Li Ku also sensed something, his expression changing slightly as he opened his heavenly eye on his forehead and followed Zhang Ruochen's gaze.
From the depths of the forest, a thick blood aura emanated, dyeing all the trees in the forest a blood-red color.
"Roar!"
Immediately after, the ground shook violently as a group of ragged cultivators rushed out from the forest. Their numbers were immense, like a sea of people, roughly estimated to be tens of thousands of figures.
Their eyes were bloodshot, their bodies covered in blood, bones protruding outward, with green faces and fangs, emitting beast-like howls as they charged desperately toward the direction of the two stone mountains.
Half-Saint Li Ku's expression changed slightly, "Those are blood slaves refined by a Saint of the Undying Blood Clan."
"Whoosh!"
Half-Saint Li Ku extended both hands, fully mobilizing his spiritual power.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth rapidly gathered toward him, condensing in his hands into two masses of white light.
He thrust his hands forward, and the white light immediately scattered, forming a light barrier that blocked all the blood slaves outside.
"Bang, bang."
The attacks of the blood slaves continuously fell on the light barrier, producing deafening sounds.
Even with Half-Saint Li Ku's cultivation, facing the attacks of tens of thousands of blood slaves, he could barely hold on, forced to retreat step by step to alleviate the pressure on his body.
Zhang Ruochen did not intervene but stood aside, observing the blood slaves, "Clearly only at the Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection, yet they can unleash attacks at the Fish-Dragon Realm level. The blood slaves refined by a Saint of the Undying Blood Clan are truly terrifying."
"A Saint of the Undying Blood Clan can attach a strand of saintly qi and a trace of saintly will to a blood slave, commanding the blood slave to act on their behalf. However, these blood slaves before us are indeed somewhat unusual."
Li Min scratched her head, a thoughtful expression on her face. Clearly, this situation was not recorded in any books.
Zhang Ruochen said, "They should be desperate blood slaves."
"What are desperate blood slaves?" Li Min asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "So-called desperate blood slaves are created when a Saint of the Undying Blood Clan issues a command, forcing the blood slaves to burn their own blood qi and life force, thereby unleashing power ten times greater than their own. Of course, the life of a desperate blood slave is extremely short, lasting only a single day."
"I see."
Li Min nodded, silently noting this, looking as if she had been taught.
"The Undying Blood Clan is really making a move on the Underworld King Sword Tomb. I wonder how many times they have attacked so far?"
Zhang Ruochen showed no intention of acting, instead turning to Half-Saint Li Ku, "The Undying Blood Clan has already attacked. Why haven't the cultivators of the Zhenyu Ancient Clan activated the formation to kill the blood slaves?"
Due to the massive consumption of spiritual power, sweat kept beading on Half-Saint Li Ku's forehead, and his lips trembled, "Before this, the Undying Blood Clan has come to provoke three times. They are not truly trying to attack the Underworld King Sword Tomb but are testing the strength of the formations on the periphery of the Sword Tomb."
"At the same time, they also want to use this to deplete the spiritual qi in the earth's veins beneath the formations. Once the spiritual qi is too depleted, the power of the formations will sharply decrease."
"Not long ago, the clan leader ordered that if only blood slaves come to attack, there is no need to activate the formation."
Zhang Ruochen nodded, "I see."
Since the formation would not be activated, Zhang Ruochen prepared to act, helping the Zhenyu Ancient Clan repel this wave of blood slaves as a gesture of goodwill.
Before Zhang Ruochen could act, a vast sword qi suddenly descended from above, completely enveloping the surrounding space.
"Clatter, clatter."
The ancient swords embedded in the two stone mountains all flew up, soaring toward the top of the left stone mountain, forming a massive vortex as they spun rapidly.
"What a powerful sword intent."
Zhang Ruochen was somewhat surprised, so he temporarily held back, looking up toward the top of the stone mountain.
There, an extremely young man stood tall and imposing, exuding a formidable sword intent from his entire being.
It was that sword intent that had drawn the ancient swords from the two stone mountains, causing them to fly toward him.
"Go."
The man muttered softly.
Tens of thousands of ancient swords turned into a rain of swords, flying out and descending into the midst of the blood slaves.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft..."
...
In moments, all the blood slaves fell to the ground, lifeless.
The man at the top of the stone mountain dispersed his sword intent, and the ancient swords flew back, re-embedding themselves into the stone mountain.
With a slight flicker, the man vanished from the top of the stone mountain.
The next instant, he appeared above the tens of thousands of corpses, hovering three zhang in the air, and snorted coldly, "The Undying Blood Clan dares to provoke the Sword Tomb again. Truly reckless."
Seeing the man hovering in midair, Half-Saint Li Ku let out a long sigh of relief and withdrew his spiritual power. Then, he cupped his hands and bowed to the man, "Greetings, Sword Holder."
The man turned and glanced at Half-Saint Li Ku, nodding slightly.
Sword Holder?
Zhang Ruochen was somewhat surprised. Was this person also a Sword Holder?
According to what Xuanji Sword Saint had said, the Six Sword Holders were all sword saints renowned across the world. Was this man before him also a sword saint?
Zhang Ruochen immediately shook his head. Although this man's sword intent was quite powerful, he was still a bit short of the realm of "unity of man and sword."
Moreover, this man's cultivation was still at the Half-Saint level, not a Saint.
Zhang Ruochen was about to ask Li Min, as she should know this person's identity.
However, when Zhang Ruochen looked at Li Min, he found that the usually reserved little girl was staring at the young Sword Holder hovering in midair with a somewhat infatuated look, two blushes appearing on her fair cheeks.
Even when she had met Wan Zhaoyi and Shengshu Cainü, she had not shown such an expression.
Zhang Ruochen roughly guessed the situation and smiled slightly, deciding not to ask her.
(A bit later, there will be another chapter.) (To be continued.)