Chapter 69: The Killing Formation Is Activated
The black, icy pool churned with surging waves. The battered ancient war chariots seemed to have been baptized by blood and fire, covered in sword scars and arrow holes as they crushed through the black water, riding the wind and waves forward.
"This is truly sinister. Over ten thousand years have passed, yet the Demon Emperor's Yin Tomb still has guardians. It's too absurd, unimaginable!" The unscrupulous Taoist frowned deeply.
"Whoosh"
Just as he was lost in thought, a black arrow shot swiftly toward him, its arrowhead burning with netherfire, and thick black mist surging from its fletching.
"Clang"
The unscrupulous Taoist raised a shield of red agate-like material, blocking the arrow. But at that moment, the arrow shattered, sending netherfire spraying in all directions and black mist billowing. The netherfire scorched the ground around them, melting rock, while the black mist surged in, freezing and shattering everything into powder.
These terrifying energies nearly struck Ye Fan and the unscrupulous Taoist. The arrow's dual nature of ice and fire was extremely dangerous; even a slight lapse in attention from an ordinary cultivator could cost them their life.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
The sounds of piercing air came without end. Black arrows, one after another, pierced through the black mist, raining down like a dark storm.
"Clang clang clang"
The red agate shield took hundreds of arrows in succession. Surrounding them, netherfire blazed, and endless black mist churned violently.
"Hiss hiss hiss"
The shield emitted crimson light, surging outward like water waves, dispersing the netherfire and driving away the black mist, finally blocking this wave of attacks.
However, at that moment, a rumbling sound arose. The battered war chariots, carrying ghost soldiers, charged forward and had already reached the shore, bearing down on them.
"Let me see what you really are!" The unscrupulous Taoist gritted his molars in determination. Opening his mouth, he spat out a green light—a one-inch-long dagger, gleaming green. As it caught the wind, it quickly grew to half a foot in length, like a pool of clear water, crystalline and translucent, radiating waves of chilling cold.
When Ye Fan saw this, he clenched his teeth. It was the dagger he had obtained, snatched away by this unscrupulous Taoist, now being used against the enemy.
"Hiss"
The green dagger transformed into a ribbon of green light, shooting forward and emitting dazzling divine radiance, instantly blocking a battered ancient war chariot.
Then, the unscrupulous Taoist's Sea of Suffering burst with light. A blood-colored pearl shot out, crimson light radiating in all directions, stirring up waves of powerful divine energy that surged forward, freezing three war chariots in place, unable to move an inch.
At the same time, a thumb ring shimmering with purple light appeared on the Taoist's thumb, illuminating his entire hand with a crystalline glow, purple mist spreading everywhere.
"Chop!"
The unscrupulous Taoist shouted softly, raising his finger. The purple thumb ring instantly emitted a thousand strands of auspicious light, shooting out sharp purple blade rays.
"Puff puff puff"
The blade rays cleaved two battered chariots apart, blocking the group of ghost soldiers.
Seeing all this, Ye Fan cursed inwardly. These three spirit weapons were all things he had found, but the unscrupulous Taoist had taken them and was now using them against the enemy.
"Hiss hiss hiss"
At that moment, the spirit green dagger pierced through five ghost soldiers and shattered a chariot. Meanwhile, the blood-red pearl successfully completely immobilized three chariots.
"Good stuff!" the unscrupulous Taoist exclaimed.
In the end, all the battered chariots were shattered, and nearly all the ghost soldiers were pierced through. The unscrupulous Taoist rushed over quickly, tearing open their black iron armor to see what was inside.
To his astonishment, when he tore open the armor of the first few ghost soldiers, a pile of fine sand poured out—they were not living beings at all. Then, he finally found a few ghost soldiers that weren't sand. Upon closer inspection, he discovered they were the corpses of beasts, simply frozen solid.
"What's going on..." The unscrupulous Taoist was greatly surprised. "Could it be that Dao patterns are sustaining them?" He quickly swept the sand aside and indeed found a small wooden plaque on the ground, engraved with complex "Dao patterns."
"Just as I thought. Scatter sand to form soldiers, gather corpses to form generals. Impressive technique." After saying this, the unscrupulous Taoist showed an excited expression. "These are Dao patterns from ten thousand years ago. Maybe I can study something terrifying from them."
He quickly blew away the sand on the ground, shattered a few skeletons, and collected all the wooden plaques, piling them up in a large heap on the ground.
"Boom"
At that moment, another sound came from the icy black pool. A demon general, clad entirely in black-gold armor, with a wolf's head, slowly walked up, exuding a dense aura of death. He was countless times more powerful than the ghost soldiers.
"This is a demon general who died in battle long ago, also being used. It doesn't seem like Dao patterns are sustaining his corpse." The unscrupulous Taoist showed a contemplative expression.
The demon general slowly advanced, the ground trembling, and black mist churning around him.
"This is no simple matter." At that moment, the unscrupulous Taoist's Sea of Suffering bloomed with dazzling azure light. A large expanse of green flame surged forward, surrounding the wolf-headed demon general.
"Bang"
However, this demon general was extraordinary. He emitted waves of dense death energy, continuously pushing back the green flames.
"He's undergone corpse transformation, gaining a vague intelligence. His demon body is immortal, producing a powerful deathly resentment force." The unscrupulous Taoist was startled, realizing the gravity of the situation. He told Ye Fan to retreat, then sacrificed several spirit weapons, supplementing them with the green flames.
"There's something strange here." Just then, a cold voice rang out. A young man in his twenties arrived on this mountain ridge and said, "Good, you can leave now..." His gaze locked onto the wooden plaques engraved with Dao patterns on the ground, then fixed on the demon general.
The unscrupulous Taoist glanced at him coldly but immediately showed a strange expression. On the other's sleeve was embroidered the mark of the Yaoguang Holy Land.
"I am a disciple of Yaoguang. By order of my elders, I command you to leave immediately." The young man was extremely arrogant, as if born with a sense of superiority. He glanced at Ye Fan, noticed no divine energy fluctuations, and said, "If you don't want to die, get out of here now!"
"Bang"
At that moment, the demon general broke free from the unscrupulous Taoist's restraint, quickly leaped into the black pool, and disappeared.
The unscrupulous Taoist turned around and said coldly, "You reckless fool. Wrapping yourself in a tiger skin to wave a big flag—I hate scum like you the most. Pretending to be a disciple of the Yaoguang Holy Land? Even if you were, I, your Daoist master, would dare to slap you to death!"
"Swish"
Seeing he was exposed, the young man struck first. Hundreds of golden rays, dense as a golden rain of light, shot toward the unscrupulous Taoist.
"Hiss hiss hiss"
The unscrupulous Taoist waved his large sleeve, azure light scattering, and collected all the golden light rain—it turned out to be a bunch of golden needles.
"Bang"
The unscrupulous Taoist rushed forward quickly, grabbed the young man by the neck, and dragged him to the edge of the icy pool. "Wrapping yourself in a tiger skin to wave a big flag, trying to fool your Daoist master? Tell me, which sect's disciple are you? Otherwise, I'll throw you in."
"I really am a Yaoguang disciple!" The young man showed fear.
"Taoist, why waste words with him? Just throw him in to feed the demon general," Ye Fan suggested from a distance, deliberately trying to scare the young man.
"Well said. No need for nonsense." The unscrupulous Taoist gave a slight shake, and the young man instantly fell into the icy pool, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
In the distance, Ye Fan was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the unscrupulous Taoist to actually do it. This morally bankrupt Taoist suddenly seemed quite dangerous in his eyes—a man with no scruples.
"Splash splash"
The black pool churned. Over a dozen demon generals appeared, all clad in black-gold armor, only their heads exposed. Their forms were bizarre—some had dog heads, some tiger heads—clearly demons, all exuding a dense aura of death. In their hands, they held the young man from before. With a "bang," they tore him apart, blood splattering everywhere.
"Rumble"
At that moment, the icy pool seemed to boil. It turned from pitch black to blood red, eerily beautiful.
"Not good. We've messed up. The Demon Emperor's Yin Tomb, stained with blood, has activated a certain-death killing formation!" The unscrupulous Taoist's face turned extremely ugly.
"Boom"
At that instant, heaven and earth shook. The icy pool shot up a sky-filling blood light, dyeing the entire desolate ancient ruins in a mournful red, alarming all the cultivators.
"Could it be... we're going to die here?!" Ye Fan showed a look of terror.
Today's second chapter has arrived. The third chapter, I estimate, will be around midnight. Fellow readers, wait until morning to read it. I'm off to write the third chapter.