Translator: Seventh Peril Editor: Anuvrat
Sound of wind breaking continuously echoed out from the floating ice blocks. After which, several figures began to gather towards the stone platform. Not long after, miserable screams rang out as people fell into the dark lake and lost their lives.
A day had passed since the initial chaos, and most of the Purple Frost Profound Lotuses had been taken away by others. However, this item had quite a lot of benefits to one’s Body Tempering. Therefore, even though this was the case, there were still quite a number of people sweeping around at this moment.
At the edge of the stone platform, there were nearly ten people standing with their hands behind their backs. The one leading the group was shockingly the old man who had been in charge of the auction back in Qingshan Town. However, the warm smile on his face had long since disappeared and was replaced with a cold expression.
This person was actually an elder of Qingshan Town’s Mo Clan. After Mo Fanlong left and smoothly gathered with the clan elders who had also entered this time around. However, he was still extremely worried about Ye Zhong. Therefore, although he had more important things to do at the moment, he still sent an elder and a group of powerhouses to watch over the frozen lake.
It would have been fine if Ye Zhong died, but if he had not, Mo Fanlong believed that the clan elder was enough to kill him. No matter what, Mo Fanlong was extremely cautious, the enemies like Ye Zhong who might grow up should be dealt with as soon as possible.
“Young Lord is good in every aspect, except for being too cautious. He’s a mere Junior at the Third Layer of Body Tempering. Even if he doesn’t die, what kind of turbulence could he cause? Furthermore, at this moment, even after so many powerhouses fell into the lake, they had all died without leaving even their corpses intact. As a mere member of the younger generation, how could he possibly survive?” Elder Mo shook his head and said with a hint of playfulness.
“Hehe, Elder, you are right. Young Lord is indeed too cautious with his actions, and it is inevitable to be a little superfluous sometimes. I think that we should also leave and find some opportunities, right? Otherwise, we won’t have the chance to go to the Inheritance Grounds. If we don’t take advantage of the situation and enter the Innate Temple, wouldn’t we be at a disadvantage?” A powerhouse standing behind the old man surnamed Mo said with a chuckle. Obviously, he did not place any importance on Ye Zhong.
“You little fellows, aren’t you afraid that the Young Lord will blame you? However……” The Elder smiled and shook his head, but he did not reject this matter. It was obvious that he was somewhat dissatisfied with Mo Fanlong’s order, but at this moment, he suddenly froze, and in the next instant, he shouted, “Not good, retreat!”
At the same time, many of the powerhouses who were still on the stone platform reacted in an instant. One by one, they quickly left the stone platform.
After many people had left for less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they saw deep cracks appearing on the ancient stone platform. After which, the stone platform was just like a rotten tree, slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake, only leaving behind a bubbling area. Obviously, something below was destroyed, so much so that the stone platform sank.
“Could it be……”
The Elder surnamed Mo clearly had some understanding of this Innate Sanctuary. After staring at the lake’s surface for a moment, his complexion suddenly paled, and in the next instant, he suddenly laughed sinisterly. “Boys, it seems like we do not have to look for opportunities anywhere else. It looks like someone has found the location of the Purple Wood Spirit Root and obtained it! Otherwise, such a change would not have happened!”
“Hehehe, indeed when fortune knocks at your door, any obstacles in the way, cannot block against it!” The ten or so powerhouses behind him all let out cold laughs as well, their faces were filled with greed. They were well aware of what a Purple Wood Spirit Root was. That thing was an extremely precious Spirit Herb of the Body Tempering, it was a hard-to-find item even in the Innate Temple. However, now that there was someone who had gotten their hands on it, it was only natural that they would take a great advantage of it as if they were the Oriole behind. [1]
The group of Mo Clan powerhouses spread out in all directions as they stared intently at the lake’s surface. In the distance, quite a number of powerhouses who had retreated earlier had also sensed something. At this moment, these people did not move too far away. Instead, they looked towards the center of the lake with a puzzled expression.
“*Bang——*”
In the next moment, a pillar of water suddenly shot up into the sky. A handsome and slender young figure emerged from it and landed on the closest floating ice block.
When they saw this figure, quite a few people were stunned. Disbelief surfaced in their eyes!
“It’s actually the youngster from the Xingxiang Sect who was beaten into the frozen lake by Mo Fanlong earlier!”
“How is this possible!? All those people fell and died, but he actually did not die!?”
“What happened?”
There were gasps and strange expressions on the faces of many people. Ye Zhong’s appearance meant that he was not only fine but also seemed to have gotten some benefits out of it. Furthermore, no one wouldn’t believe that the collapse of the stone platform had anything to do with him!
Ye Zhong did not feel the slightest bit of these strange gazes around him, but he just lifted his head and looked at his own palm. At that moment, in the palm of his right hand, there was a blood-red sword imprint. The sword imprint looked like a tattoo, but if one looked closely, they would see that there was the imprint stacking repeatedly to form at least four layers of sword imprints. Indistinctly, a scent of a bloody massacre spread from within.
Four Imprints of Shura Sword Seal!
At the bottom of the lake, Ye Zhong borrowed the residual Energy of the Purple Wood Spirit Root after successfully breaking through to the Fourth Layer of Body Tempering, cultivated the Secret Art to such a level!
During the process of cultivation, Ye Zhong discovered that the so-called Shura Sword Seal, required one exerting the Energy within one’s own body to form more imprints. And before one could step into the Innate Martial Dao Realm and cultivate their own Spiritual Power, the Energy required would be the Blood and Qi within one’s body. Moreover, every single one imprint of these Shura Sword Seals had been successfully formed, the cultivation time and the amount of Energy required on each was exactly twice as much as the last one.
It was a good thing that he was cultivating the Secret Art of Six Grave Swords, and his body had already formed a Heavenly Circuit of Spiritual Qi, that was why he could barely cultivate this Spiritual Secret Art, moreover, was able to form Four Imprints of Shura Sword Seal. However, with Ye Zhong’s current strength, he could only form four imprints at most. If he were to form one more, it might damage his Cultivation Base which he found a little unwilling to do.
However, even though there were only Four Imprints of Shura Sword Seals, this Spiritual Secret Art of Offensive Attack possessed mighty power. Ye Zhong had just tried out the move at the bottom of the lake, and with one move he destroyed the roots that supported the stone platform, before making a scene just now.
After testing the moves, Ye Zhong discovered that the Shura Sword Seal was not as simple as he thought. Based on Ye Zhong’s experience and analysis, the Shura Sword Seal should be part of a complete set of Spiritual Secret Art. If the rest could be gathered, even Ye Zhong could not deduce the rank of the complete set.
Even so, Ye Zhong could only smile in satisfaction. With this Shura Sword Seal, he would be able to unleash his full power. If he were to meet Mo Fanlong again, both of them would definitely be able to have some fun this time. It was a pity that Mo Fanlong had already left. Otherwise, Ye Zhong would not mind a second time. He would have asked him to try the move.
“It’s time to find an entrance map to the temple.” A chill flashed in Ye Zhong’s eyes as he prepared to leave. However, his expression suddenly changed and his gaze landed on the opposite side. He saw that there was a group of nearly ten people staring at him, but their eyes were filled with envy and greed.
“Heh——”
Looking at the nearly ten people, a smile emerged on Ye Zhong’s face. There was a road in heaven, they didn’t go; There was no door to hell, they forcefully barged in. [2] Unexpectedly, this Mo Fanlong didn’t disappoint him!
Elder Mo’s eyes were fixed on Ye Zhong. He naturally recognized Ye Zhong as the person Mo Fanlong had told him to watch out for. However, he would never have thought that Ye Zhong was actually the person who obtained the Purple Wood Spirit Root at the bottom of the lake.
Based on his experiences as the Old Freak, he could tell in an instant that Ye Zhong must have found something when he was sent flying into the lake, so he could dive into the bottom to find the treasure. However, even Elder Mo didn’t understand how a mere Junior at the Third Layer of Body Tempering was able to stay at the bottom of the lake for so long? Even if he wasn’t swallowed by those Black Striped Pythons, wouldn’t he need to breathe at the bottom of the lake?
“Anyway, that’s all——”
After a moment of thought, Elder Mo smirked. None of these things mattered at the moment. The important thing was that Ye Zhong was still alive, and he probably had the Purple Wood Spirit Root with him.
As he thought of this, Elder Mo waved his hand, and the nearly ten experts with cold expression behind him shot out, directly surrounding Ye Zhong. He smiled at Ye Zhong and extended his hand slowly, “Young Fellow, I don’t know how you managed to hide in the lake for so long, but you are still alive……However, since you have obtained the Purple Wood Spirit Root, hand it over! Hand over the item and I will let you have a quick death!”
Elder Mo stomped on the ground as soon as his voice sounded out. The Blood and Qi in his body surged and an extremely intimidating aura slowly spread out with his movements. It was as if there was a ferocious beast lurking in his body!
Except for this time, the nearly ten powerhouses also drew their long sabres from their waists. The extremely eerie smiles crept over their faces!
As Ye Zhong watched this scene, a faint smile surfaced on his face. So there really were people in this world who didn’t know how to write the word death!
TL note(s):
[1] “the Oriole behind” is derived from the full idiom “the Mantis stalks the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind”, refers to “covet gains ahead without being aware of danger behind”, here they think MC as the mantis and themselves as the oriole.
[2] “There was a road in heaven, they didn’t go; There was no door to hell, they barged in.” should be figurative of “there is always an easy way to do things but they don’t choose. Instead, they insist on choosing a very difficult one”.