Chapter 116: Righteous Return Army

  Both individuals were at the ninth yer of Qi Refining, having cultivated their essence and nurtured their spirit to the final stage. They only needed to wait for the emergence of “Divine Consciousness” before preparing for Foundation Establishment.

  The Sword Spirit, sharing its vision with An Jing, remarked, “However, that martial cultivator has not mastered a proper method of cultivating his disposition and nourishing life. He relied on pills to forcibly advance, leaving his blood essence unstable and his foundation unsteady.”

  “The other one… is a ghost cultivator. He uses a nether vessel to contain his soul, nurtures it with Blood Baleful Qi, and conceals his aura. Indeed, it is a legitimate method of the Nether Gloom Demonic Dao.”

  “Still, when all is said and done, this type of soul-binding trick isn’t particurly profound, and that ghost cultivator is nothing more than a tool.”

  “Can you tell which side they belong to?” An Jing maneuvered the child unit into a crack in the wall, evading the aftermath of the two cultivators’ battle. Sword Spirit carefully observed the pair, who were once again locked in combat, then shook Its head. “They’re both using crude minor techniques; neither is employing their fundamental cultivation method.”

  “What a shame,” An Jing sighed. He had originally hoped to discover which side had stolen that rare relic from the Luofu Group, but it seemed it would not be that simple.

  Before long, he noticed something else crucial. “That martial cultivator just now… he threw a box behind him…”

  “It’s not the relic,” Sword Spirit replied quickly, fully aware of An Jing’s thoughts. “It may have once contained the relic, but now it’s just a diversion. The real relic is still on that man’s person… Wait!”

  Suddenly, Sword Spirit raised Its voice. “Serene Sword Technique—hold your breath and still your qi!”

  “?!” An Jing was startled, but he obeyed without hesitation, instantly entering a meditative state and hiding his aura.

  Two seconds ter.

  Dong.

  A footstep echoed, not heavy, almost “gentle,” yet it caused the entire passage to quake faintly.

  Pitch-bck shadows unfurled like a colossal beast in the depths of a heavy sea. Strange noises emerged amid the jolts and tremors, pushing An Jing’s nerves to the limit.

  Already immersed in the Serene Sword Technique, he stifled the anger welling up inside him, fully aware of what had suddenly arrived at Little Ochre Mountain and prompted Sword Spirit’s warning.

  —It could only be that Fengdu Guard pursuing the tall man!

  Encased head to toe in bck armor, the Fengdu Guard strode through the passage strewn with rubble and corpses. The moment he set foot on the ground, a swath of pitch-bck mist arose. Mysterious and unfathomable, it flowed through every crevice like bck water, seeping into the shadows and rippling outward.

  Those ripples caused the tremors. His gaze swept over An Jing, which should have elicited a response, but the Serene Sword Technique was exceptionally profound. In the Fengdu Guard’s perception, An Jing registered only as a rusty sword, letting the ripples pass without triggering any anomaly.

  Instead, the nearby shop’s female cultivator’s corpse was momentarily engulfed by the pitch-bck shadows, which then quietly withdrew, causing the Fengdu Guard to pause briefly before continuing toward the vent where the sounds of fighting echoed.

  The footsteps and tremors subsided. Several seconds ter, Sword Spirit spoke. “All right, he’s gone.”

  “I can’t believe these Fengdu Guards truly possess the power to tread into the nether—this is the most orthodox Nether Gloom ‘Umbral Sea Passage’ method, a genuine inheritance of the ‘Northern Yin Fengdu’ lineage.”

  “But…” Sword Spirit’s voice carried a hint of doubt. “What does any of this have to do with Luofu? The Luofu inheritance should involve Yang Paces and Yin Chambers, using a Grotto-Heaven method—right?”

  He couldn’t crify the issue, so he attributed it to the passage of time. “Perhaps it evolved or merged over ter generations.”

  “Phew…” An Jing exhaled deeply, feeling fortunate he hadn’t fled recklessly but had instead remained in this seemingly perilous spot.

  Otherwise, if he had encountered a Fengdu Guard—who came and went without a trace—on the open road, he would undoubtedly have been crushed, probably not even having time to use the Grand Void Sword secret technique to return to the Huaixu Realm.

  Fortunately, in this underground bck market, Divine Consciousness could not easily extend. As a result, the Fengdu Guard had to rely on indirect scanning; otherwise, if he had unleashed his consciousness, An Jing would have had no chance to hide.

  But why had the Guard come here? Had he specifically targeted the female cultivator of Little Ochre Mountain?

  An Jing shook his head slightly, finding it unlikely. It seemed the Fengdu Guard was checking all nearby shops for any anomaly. The Little Ochre Mountain cultivator was probably scanned only because she was an employee of the Shouyang Mountain Group.

  In the distance, the martial cultivator and the ghost cultivator continued their battle, their cshes rising and falling. Meanwhile, An Jing swiftly put his drone goggles back on.

  Then he witnessed the Fengdu Guard ambushing them both.

  The gray-haired martial cultivator cshed with the ghost cultivator, whose face was etched with trigram markings. Even though Sword Spirit had noted that one had an “unsteady foundation” and the other relied on “minor ghostly arts,” the intensity of their fight to the death was still shockingly fierce.

  The martial cultivator appeared to be using some kind of earth-and-stone body refinement technique. He wore sturdy blood-rock armor, exuding an imposing majesty like a battlefield general. With a rock spear in hand, he conjured nine overpping phantom images, forming an impenetrable defense impervious to water or rain.

  As the spear’s shadows flitted about, pale, misty waves shot outward, crashing into the walls on both sides and splintering the rock. Debris and dust showered down, causing the corridor to rumble without cease.

  Yet the ghost cultivator was even more unpredictable, darting around with strange, elusive movements to evade the martial cultivator’s blows. Occasionally, he brandished the ghost sword in his hand, unleashing streaks of eerie blue chill that lunged straight at his foe.

  Although the spear’s shadows shattered the chill before it nded, it still wore down the martial cultivator’s stamina.

  Although the martial cultivator seemed to hold the upper hand, his true objective was to flee the bck market through the “pipeline,” not to vanquish the ghost cultivator. Aware that a Fengdu Guard could be right on his heels, he became even more desperate.

  “Scorch!”

  He roared and drove his spear forward with all his strength. A scarlet fre erupted from his chest, unleashing a thick surge of ashen qi that wrapped around the rock spear. Veins of glowing crimson, like red-hot branding irons, spread across the spear’s tip as it lunged toward the ghost cultivator, taking him by surprise.

  This was obviously his hidden trump card: an Earthly Ashen Fme that greatly amplified its corrosive and destructive power.

  Yet the strike never connected.

  Because before it could reach his enemy, he was struck by yet another foe!

  Dong!

  A brilliant streak of spirit light bzed from behind him, piercing through and severing his left arm. In an instant, the rock armor on his body shattered. He fell to one knee, and the once-formidable fming rock spear cttered uselessly to the ground.

  Then, stepping forward from within the pitch-bck shadows, the Fengdu Guard who had ambushed them charged with a menacing aura and grabbed hold of the ghost cultivator who was attempting to escape.

  —He should have dodged, but An Jing saw bck, root-like tendrils sprout from the Fengdu Guard’s palm, bursting with sinister vitality and dragging the briefly escaped ghost cultivator back into his grasp.

  Ghostly fmes, boiling like roiling shadows, burst from the Fengdu Guard’s hand, scorching the previously silent ghost cultivator and forcing a pained cry from him. A mass of ash-gray, frigid ghost qi billowed forth, causing his spectral form to thin perceptibly.

  【Speak. Whose side are you on? The Northern Mountain Alliance? Or the Righteous Return Army?】

  With a rge Spiritlight Gun in his right hand, he had already gravely wounded the martial cultivator. Meanwhile, ghostly fmes flickered in his left hand, refining the soul and subduing the ghost cultivator. In the blink of an eye, he had overwhelmed these two ninth-yer Qi Refining fighters, a testament to the might of his full-body Spiritual Artifact armor.

  He snarled in a cold voice: 【You dare intercept our goods… Then I’ll take you back and refine your soul thoroughly, rooting through your spirit so you can experience the torment of having your soul torn apart piece by piece!】

  As the ghost fmes burned him, the ghost cultivator was unable to endure. A torrent of information poured from his soul, causing crimson lights to flicker within the Fengdu Guard’s helmet. The guard then gnced at the nearby martial cultivator, who seemed unconscious.

  【A rogue cultivator, a rebel force… the Righteous Return Army. Indeed, only that band of rebels would dare steal from the company. Obviously, there are other factions and traitors supporting you.】

  【Capturing you will be quite the achievement.】

  Then he turned sharply to the ghost cultivator, yelling: 【And you lot who tried to snatch our goods—who’s backing you?】

  【Hmm?】 As he interrogated him, the crimson light within his helmet flickered. The Fengdu Guard suddenly tilted his head, gazing toward the Six Qi Lotus Ptform child unit. 【Is there some bug spying on us as well?】

  Boom!

  Ghostly fmes consumed it, and the child unit exploded at once. A surge of strange, eerie energy rebounded, trying to track down the drone’s operator.

  “We’ve been discovered!” On the other side of the feed, An Jing swiftly severed the child unit’s link, his expression grim. “They can actually trace the signal back to me? The Tianyuan Realm is far too unfriendly!”

  An Jing knew only one secret passage out of the bck market: the one at Little Ochre Mountain. The ghost cultivator had guarded it before; now the Fengdu Guard was there. Deeper inside, there would likely be more Fengdu Guards performing inspections. Acting rashly would mean walking into a trap.

  An Jing immediately deployed another child unit near the main entrance to survey the scene. However, a violent surge of spiritual energy knocked it aside the moment it unched. Evidently, Purple Mansion cultivators were still battling outside, their auras pervading the area. Leaving through the front gate was impossible!

  There was no way out!

  —So should he just return to the Huaixu Realm now?

  What a joke—that would only postpone his death. At the moment, if he fought now, he’d face only one Fengdu Guard. But if he got stuck in the bck market, the next time he arrived, he might encounter multiple Fengdu Guards—or even Purple Mansion cultivators!

  His circumstances in the Huaixu Realm were likely even more dangerous, not only because the Demonic Sect was hunting him but also due to the Heavenly Demon blocking his path!

  He absolutely could not lose his safe haven in the Tianyuan Realm.

  Coming to this realization, An Jing actually ughed, feeling as though molten va coursed through his veins. “Indeed, this is what I must do.”

  “It’s time to fight!”

  (End of Chapter)

  aeterism