From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 519 Horrifying Ruins

Before the tremors of the closing gate had subsided, I smelled the musty scent of incense—much like the sandalwood ash that had accumulated for centuries in my ancestral hall back home, mixed with the damp smell of stone dust that crept into my nostrils.

Wen Chen's fingertips gently touched the back of my neck, and I realized that I had been gripping the ebony hairpin tightly without realizing it, my knuckles turning white.

"Watch your step." His voice was deeper than when he was outside the door. The moment his black wide sleeve swept across the wall, the array patterns on the stone wall suddenly glowed with a faint blue light, like a living thing that had been awakened.

I then noticed that the patterns were not carved on, but drawn with some kind of fluorescent mineral powder, and each line flowed with a faint spiritual power. "This is a fragment of the Spirit Locking Array."

Only an old monster at the Tribulation Transcending stage could set up such a formation at the entrance of the ruins.

Zi Ling's embroidered spring knife jingled softly in its sheath. As she leaned closer, the silver bell in her hair tinkled: "Fairy Xiao, can you smell... a little sweet?" I sniffed, and sure enough, beneath the scent of incense, there was a faint, sweet, and slightly fishy smell, like fresh blood mixed with honey.

Suddenly, A-Zhu, who was in Elder Qingfeng's arms, sneezed. The mirror light flickered, blocking out the sweet, fishy smell—this old immortal's protective mirror was becoming more and more effective.

After passing through three corridors, the door to the secret room is a piece of green jade about half a person's height, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

When Wen Chen's sword parted the spider silk, I heard a soft "click," and suddenly a rich spiritual energy surged out from inside the door, making my eyes sting.

"Spirit Crystal!" Zi Ling's scabbard hit my arm, her voice trembling.

The object, about the size of a millstone, was suspended in the center of the secret chamber. Its surface was covered with bands of light like the Milky Way, and each band of light contained tiny starlight.

My throat tightened—I had seen a thumb-sized spirit crystal at Wanbaoge last time, which could be exchanged for ten medium-sized spirit veins, and this one in front of me... was enough to feed the entire Cangwu Continent for a hundred years.

But I didn't dare to move forward.

Blood Fiend's words, "There are many things that can take your lives," were still ringing in my ears. I stared at the ground beneath the spirit crystal and, sure enough, saw faint gray patterns on the stone bricks—the outline of a sealing array. The sweet, fishy smell was emanating from the array's core.

"This is the cultivation place of some ancient powerful being." Wen Chen had appeared to my left at some point. His sword energy condensed into a semi-transparent barrier, separating us from the spirit crystal stone by two zhang. "But the spirit crystal shouldn't be exposed like this." Before he finished speaking, black mist suddenly rose from the four corners of the secret room, like ink scattered by the wind, and in the blink of an eye, it gathered into a human shape.

"This belongs to me."

The sound was like ice shards hitting a stone slab. When I looked up, I was met with a pair of cold eyes.

The newcomer wore black iron scale armor and held a black spear, the tip of which dripped dark purple blood—not the stench of human blood, but the putrid stench of a demon beast's inner core shattering.

His body was shrouded in black mist, containing broken bones and fragments of armor. I recognized half of a golden scale among them, which had the same pattern as the black-scaled giant hand summoned by the Blood Fiend.

"Mo Yuan." Wen Chen's sword was fully drawn, its clang carrying killing intent. "You chased us for three thousand miles, just for this spirit crystal?"

Mo Yuan's spear tip pointed at Wen Chen, and the black mist suddenly condensed into chains that wrapped around our ankles: "Immortal Venerable, you ask a question you already know the answer to." As he glanced at me, his pupils narrowed to slits. "This little girl has a jade token from Qingwei Palace on her...no wonder she was able to break Blood Fiend's Spirit-Trapping Array."

A chill ran down my spine—how did he know about the jade pendant?

The ethereal immortal suddenly coughed, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him retreat to the right corner of the secret room, his hand inside his sleeve making a hand gesture against the crack in the wall.

There was a piece of green jade about the size of a thumb embedded in the crack in the wall, and its pattern was exactly the same as the blue jade pendant in my palm.

"Ziling." I lowered my voice, tapping the sealing array on the ground with the tip of my shoe, then quickly glanced at the jade in the corner. "The array's core is over there."

Zi Ling's eyes lit up. She shoved the embroidered spring knife into my hand, and the silver bells in her hair jingled rapidly: "Fairy Xiao, please hold off for half a breath for me." Before she finished speaking, she slipped like a fish, brushing against Wen Chen's sword aura barrier, and slid towards the corner of the wall.

Mo Yuan's chains grazed the ends of her hair, leaving charred marks on the wall.

"You're courting death!" A purple light burst from the tip of Mo Yuan's spear. I hurriedly raised my Embroidered Spring Blade to block, but the blade was corroded by the black mist, leaving a notch.

Wen Chen's sword was held horizontally in front of me. The moment the sword energy collided with the black mist, the entire secret chamber trembled. The light patterns on the spirit crystal suddenly surged, illuminating the sealing array in every detail.

I saw Ziling's fingertips press against the green jade in the corner of the wall, and the red string on her wrist swayed—it was braided by her mother before she died, saying it could ward off disaster.

Suddenly, the jade glowed with a blue light, and the sealing array on the ground began to reverse, turning the sweet, fishy smell into a pungent, burnt smell.

"Dare to touch my things?" Mo Yuan's voice changed, as if two people spoke at the same time. A woman's face emerged from the black mist, exactly the same as the soul in the Blood Fiend Jade Tablet.

His spear tip suddenly pointed at Wen Chen's heart, and the black iron scales on the spear shaft cracked open, revealing a writhing black snake inside.

Wen Chen's sword drew a silver arc, and the moment the sword energy cut through the black mist, I saw a ghostly blue fire burning in his eyes—a sign that he was getting serious.

The light patterns on the spirit crystal began to become disordered, like stars scattered by the wind, and the patterns of the sealing array were collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Suddenly, Zi Ling called out, "Fairy Xiao!" When I turned around, she was stuffing Qingyu into her bosom; the surface of the jade was covered with spiderweb-like cracks. "This is the key to activate the restriction!"

Mo Yuan's spear tip was only three inches away from Wen Chen's chest. The woman's face in the black mist let out a shriek, and I heard a cracking sound coming from inside the spirit crystal—oh no, the seal is about to break.

Wen Chen's sword suddenly burst out with a blinding light, and the sword energy wrapped around me, causing me to take three steps back. My black wide sleeves were torn by the spear tip, revealing the bluish skin underneath.

"Yao Yao," his voice held an unusual urgency, "take Zi Ling and A Zhu and retreat behind the door."

My hand gripping the Embroidered Spring Blade trembled, but a burning sensation rose in my throat—the "deadly thing" Xue Sha had mentioned was probably coming.

On Mo Yuan's spear shaft, a black snake was flicking its tongue and coiling around Wen Chen's sword. The light patterns on the spirit crystal had turned blood red, and the sealing array on the ground had completely cracked, revealing the surging black magma beneath.

Zi Ling tugged at my sleeve; her palms were sweaty. "Fairy Xiao, that black liquid...it looks exactly like the blood of the Soul-Eating Beast."

Soul-Eating Beast?

My mind went blank—it was an ancient ferocious beast that devoured the souls of cultivators, and it required a living person's blood sacrifice to be sealed away.

No wonder there's a woman's face inside the Blood Fiend Jade Tablet, no wonder there's a sweet, fishy smell in the sealing array...

Mo Yuan suddenly laughed, his laughter mingling with the woman's shrill scream, causing the spirit crystal to vibrate loudly: "Immortal Venerable, do you think this spirit crystal contains the core of the Soul-Eating Beast, or the soul of that powerful being?"

Wen Chen twirled his sword in his palm, and the barrier formed by the sword energy suddenly expanded, protecting Zi Ling and me in the center.

His gaze as he stared at the spirit crystal was as deep as an abyss. I knew he was making rapid calculations—with his cultivation level, he should have already guessed it.

"Back off." He suddenly shoved me, and as his dark, wide sleeve swept across the back of my hand, he slipped me a bead that gleamed coldly. "Crush this; it will protect you for half an incense stick's time."

Before I could even ask, Mo Yuan's spear tip had already pierced through Wen Chen's sword energy barrier, and black mist wrapped in purple light rushed towards me.

Wen Chen's sword met the attack head-on. Amidst the thunderous clang of metal clashing, I heard the crisp sound of the spirit crystal shattering completely—

Something crawled out of the black liquid.

The crisp sound of spirit crystals shattering, mixed with the sticky crawling sounds of soul-devouring beasts, created a cacophony in the secret chamber.

My throat tightened—when the thing raised its head from the black liquid, I could see its outline: eight eyes glowing eerily green in the rotting flesh, and half a bloodstained jade pendant hanging between its sharp teeth, the very one that Blood Fiend had worn close to its body before.

"Wen Chen!" I called his name with a trembling voice, still clutching the life-protecting bead he had given me in my hand.

His sword energy was entangled with Mo Yuan's black mist. His dark sleeves were torn into strips, and his exposed forearms were covered with bloodstains, but he still held the tip of his sword firmly against Mo Yuan's spear shaft.

Hearing me call him, he turned his head and glanced at me, the dark blue flames in his eyes burning even more fiercely, as if to say, "Proceed according to plan."

plan?

I suddenly remembered the jade that Ziling had given me earlier—it was the key to activate the restriction.

Although the sealing array beneath the spirit crystal stone had collapsed, the jade array eye in the corner of the wall was still glowing with a faint light.

I bit my tongue, the taste of blood spreading, and my mind suddenly cleared: Mo Yuan wanted what was inside the spirit crystal. Wen Chen was holding him off, and I had to take this opportunity to break the last spirit-locking array so that the spirit crystal could be completely freed from its seal!

The stench of the Soul-Eating Beast swept across the back of my neck. I gripped the ebony hairpin tightly, braced myself against the ground, and darted towards the control panel, hugging the wall.

Zi Ling had somehow gotten to my side, and with a flourish of her embroidered spring knife, she deflected a wisp of black mist for me: "Fairy Xiao, the array's core is under the third brick!" Before she finished speaking, her left shoulder was slashed open by the Soul-Eating Beast's claws, and blood splattered onto the jade, causing the stone to suddenly emit a blinding white light.

"Ziling!" I rushed over to grab her, but she pushed me away.

She gritted her teeth and stuffed the blood-stained jade into my palm: "My mother said that red rope can ward off disasters, you have to believe me!" Sure enough, the red rope on her wrist glowed faintly, and the claws of the Soul-Eating Beast grazed her earlobe and scratched five deep marks on the wall.

I staggered to the control panel, the jade pendant burning hot against my palm—this was the Spirit Locking Seal, a secret technique passed down from Qingwei Palace, which I had seen illustrated in ancient books!

The control panel was a recessed bluestone slab with nine rotating runes engraved on it.

My fingertips trembled as I pressed the jade into the central groove, channeling spiritual energy into it along the jade's patterns.

The talisman suddenly began to reverse; the first "life" mark lit up, but the second "death" mark remained stuck.

The roar of the Soul-Eating Beast cracked the stone slab. I heard Wen Chen groan, and when I looked up, I saw a bloody gash on his chest, pierced by the tip of Mo Yuan's spear, his black clothes soaked in dark red.

"Don't stop!" I bit my fingertip, and the blood dripped onto the "death" mark.

The talismans suddenly spun rapidly. When the third "Break," the fourth "Establish," and so on, the eighth "Extinguish" lit up, the light patterns on the spirit crystal abruptly contracted, as if all the spiritual power had been drained.

The last "empty" mark burned its imprint on my palm, and the entire secret chamber suddenly shook violently, with stone chips falling from above with a crackling sound.

"It's done!" I screamed.

The spirit crystal broke free from its seal, and the band of light that had been floating in mid-air completely dissipated, revealing half of a remnant soul inside—an old man in a moon-white Taoist robe with a cinnabar dot between his brows, the very same ancient powerful being recorded in ancient texts who had fallen.

Mo Yuan's black mist suddenly dissipated, and a hint of panic flashed in his eyes as he looked at the remnant soul: "Impossible!"

How did you manage to break the spirit-locking seal of the Wei Palace?

“Because I am a member of Qingwei Palace.” I stood up, panting, the spiritual energy on the ebony hairpin humming.

Wen Chen's sword seized the opportunity to pierce Mo Yuan's left shoulder, and a painful roar burst out from the black mist.

Before I could even catch my breath, Blood Fiend's figure suddenly darted out from the corner of the secret chamber, his hand already on the spirit crystal: "Little wench, this thing belongs to me—"

"Get out!" Mo Yuan swept his spear out, and Xue Sha was flung away like a withered leaf, crashing into the wall and falling down, black blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

I took the opportunity to raise my hand and form a hand seal, and spiritual power wrapped around the spirit crystal like a swimming dragon.

The chill from the storage ring surged up my fingertips, and the spirit crystal "whooshed" into the ring. My vision went black, and I almost collapsed—the spiritual power of this thing was too immense, almost bursting my meridians.

"Go!" Wen Chen's voice was tinged with blood. He grabbed my wrist and ran out the door.

Zi Ling followed behind, clutching her left shoulder. Elder Qing Feng's protective goggles glowed with golden light, shielding us from the Soul-Eating Beast's pursuit.

The ethereal immortal had somehow made his way to the front of the group. His Taoist robe was burned with several holes, but he still calmly performed the obstacle-avoiding incantation: "Quick!"

The door hinge is about to break!

The moment we burst through the portal, a deafening roar echoed behind us.

I glanced back—the entire ruins were collapsing, and amidst the sound of boulders rolling down, Mo Yuan's figure appeared in the dust and smoke.

He clutched the wound on his left shoulder, his eyes like poisoned knives: "Xiao Yao, do you think you've won just by stealing the spirit crystal?"

The secrets of Qingwei Palace have only just been partially revealed. "Before he finished speaking, he was buried in the rubble, leaving only black mist dissipating in the air, carrying a putrid stench."

Zi Ling slumped to the ground, her blood-stained handkerchief falling to her feet: "Is that all?" Elder Qingfeng's Azhu peeked out from his arms, its little paws pawing at his beard, while the mirror kept its light shining behind us—it was still on guard.

Wen Chen tore off a piece of his shirt to bandage the wound on my palm; his fingers were icy cold. "It's not over yet."

There is an even more powerful mastermind behind Mo Yuan, the remnant soul in the spirit crystal... He paused, looked up at the distant layered green mountains, "Find a place with abundant spiritual energy to rest."

Some things require careful consideration.

I gazed at the sky, now stained gray with smoke and dust, and suddenly remembered a line from the Qingwei Palace's ancient texts: "When the Spirit-Locking Array opens, the key appears; when the key appears, calamity begins." The wind whistled past my ears, carrying pebbles. I gripped my storage ring tightly; the spiritual energy of the spirit crystals inside was still surging.

Perhaps the real trouble is just beginning.