Chapter 108: Entering the Mountains

“What was that thunder just now?” Meng Qi felt a sense of awe.

Xiao Zi furrowed her distant mountain eyebrows and thought for a moment before replying, “It is said that when the Demon Lord was killed by the Heavenly Dao Seal, his body was pierced by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Spear. This should be the residual essence and will of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Spear. I never expected that even after hundreds of thousands of years, it would still be pinning down the Demon Lord’s remains.”

Hundreds of thousands of years… the essence and will still enduring… Meng Qi truly broadened his horizons. It seemed the path ahead in martial cultivation held infinite wonders!

He took a deep breath, adjusted his direction, and whispered, “Let’s go.”

The most terrifying aspect within the Demon’s Grave was not the evil beings themselves, but the omnipresent corruption of demonic qi. Meng Qi found his Golden Bell Shield technique increasingly draining to maintain, as if it were being tested by evil, bloodshed, slaughter, emotions, and despair.

This made Meng Qi extremely strained, almost like when he had once trained while simultaneously fighting at the “doorstep” of the Fire Crane and Cold Turtle. If he hadn’t already opened his spiritual aperture, he likely would have collapsed long ago, his body invaded by demonic qi and his true nature destroyed.

Therefore, there was no time to waste; the sooner he left, the better.

The saying goes, “Mountains appear close but take forever to reach.” Meng Qi and Xiao Zi walked for a full hour before finally arriving at the mountain formed from the Demon Lord’s remains. Fortunately, for reasons unknown, the further they approached this mountain, the fewer evil beings there were, as if they all feared and dreaded this place, keeping their distance.

At the foot of the mountain, Meng Qi felt even more awestruck. This pitch-black mountain was majestic and towering, soaring into the clouds as if supporting the heavens and earth.

Its rocky peaks were uneven and devoid of even a single weed, occasionally trickling with dark red blood, often shrouded in black mist.

And piercing through heaven and earth was a colossal bolt of thunder, brilliant purple, shining brightly, masculine and fierce, like a spear pinning down the mountain.

Lightning snakes danced everywhere, dispersing the black mist, striking down evil beings, enveloping the entire mountain in thunder and lightning.

Both the thunder and the mountain exuded an indescribable aura of might. Even though they were not directly targeting Meng Qi, he still felt his heart pounding and his nerves tightening. An ordinary person in his place would likely have already been reduced to trembling limbs and utter panic.

Of course, Xiao Zi, who outwardly appeared to be an ordinary person, was not particularly affected. She merely lightly furrowed her brows and slightly trembled as she moved to hide beside Meng Qi.

“Which path?” Meng Qi resisted the oppressive pressure of this mighty aura and pointed toward the foot of the mountain as he spoke to Xiao Zi.

It could be seen that there were three other identical paths leading up the mountain in the distance, all dancing with dark qi and lightning.

Xiao Zi’s clear voice replied, “Right here. I didn’t understand why before, but now I do. The essence of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Spear has killed most of the evil beings along this path, creating a passage. It’s relatively safer, we just need to be careful of a few terrifying ones, but there’s a way to get through.”

She intentionally mentioned this to highlight her usefulness, so as to prevent the compassionate Zhen Ding from momentarily clouding his judgment and committing a transgression.

Crackling, purple electric sparks danced wildly, dispersing the black mist and isolating it outside, naturally forming a path that could barely be called a road.

For an ordinary person, this would obviously be difficult to traverse, but Meng Qi’s lightness kung fu was exceptional. Carrying Xiao Zi, he still moved as if walking on flat ground, weaving through the electric lights.

…

With a single punch, immense and mighty, the evil being before him flew backward, bones cracking loudly, black flesh and dark blood flying everywhere.

Luo Shengyi withdrew his fist, looking at the fallen four-armed demon, circulating his inner qi, his clothes puffing up to block out the demonic aura.

His expression was extremely grave, for part of his inner energy had been drained, and the constant exertion of his full strength placed a tremendous burden on his body.

He pulled out a bottle of pills and swallowed them to alleviate his condition, then took out a yellow talisman and pasted it on himself.

The talisman ignited itself without wind, emitting a faintly purifying aura that helped resist the demonic corruption, giving his body some respite. As an expert who had experienced many reincarnation missions, he had encountered evil beings before and thus prepared some small items. Although they were of no help in battling the demons, they significantly eased his pressure.

“What kind of place is this?” He muttered to himself with an extremely grave expression. Thinking about the secret passage beneath the Demon Lord’s temple and recalling that there was only one place in this world with such dense demonic energy, he began to suspect where he was.

The current problem was, with the vast wilderness around him, where should he go? How could he escape from this perilous place?

He looked up at the blood moon in the sky and suddenly saw four streaks of light descending from heaven, accompanied by swirling white clouds and howling gales, sparkling stars and brilliant clarity, blinding sword light piercing straight into the heart, and thunder and lightning flashing with a strong aura of immortality.

With a boom, they landed in the distance, causing the earth to tremble violently and undulate continuously.

Luo Shengyi, already unsure of where to go, did not hesitate and quickened his pace toward the location where the four streaks of light landed.

…

A brilliant flash, like the sudden appearance of the azure sky, moved the heart and soul, as if there were subtle changes in heaven and earth.

The sword light dissipated, and the sword was firmly embedded in the center of the forehead, piercing several inches deep, destroying all signs of life.

Pah! The huge demon fell backward, clad in black armor, wielding a pitch-black great sword, exuding a strong aura of filth, with an eye opened on his forehead.

With each breath, the demon completely disintegrated, both body and armor and great sword turning into black mist and returning to the mountain.

Jiang Zhiwei’s right hand trembled, yet she still managed to grip the sword tightly. Her face was pale as she kept panting heavily. The demon she had just defeated was nearly at the Half-Step Beyond Scenery level, the strongest enemy she had encountered in the mountains. Since the Yama’s Slip had no effect, she had no choice but to unleash the “Sword of No Self” to end the battle quickly, to avoid being dragged down.

She took out some Hundred Grass Pills, swallowed them, hoping to quickly recover some energy, then climbed to the summit, gazing in all directions to search for Meng Qi and the others.

Around her, purple lightning snakes darted about, significantly thinning the omnipresent demonic aura. Otherwise, in Jiang Zhiwei’s current state, it would have been difficult to avoid the calamity of demonic invasion.

Even so, there were still faint traces of black mist clinging to her skin, remnants that had been shredded by her explosive sword intent. At this point, Jiang Zhiwei was powerless to deal with them.

After recovering slightly, Jiang Zhiwei, gripping the Baihong Guanri Sword, which had been somewhat tainted and corroded by demonic energy, leapt onto a steep slope, turning onto the path behind her. The summit wasn’t far now!

At that moment, four streaks of light tore through the sky, intertwining with the purple lightning, and with a thunderous crash, they struck down at the four corners of the mountain peak.

Jiang Zhiwei turned her head and saw the Four Precious Weapons—Fengyun Blade, Taihua Sword, and others—each radiating brilliant light, their principles intertwining, forcefully suppressing the spreading black mist, complementing the purple thunder.

She bit her lower lip, her expression a mixture of joy and worry. If the Four Precious Weapons sealed the Demon’s Grave, then she and the others could consider their main mission accomplished and return safely without fear of being eliminated. However, for the Four Precious Weapons to seal the Demon’s Grave, a fierce battle would inevitably ensue. She needed to recover her strength as much as possible. She wondered how the young monk and the others were faring now.

…

A dark red blood lake bubbled with foul-smelling gas, and nearby evil beings dared not approach.

Qi Zhengyan was half-submerged in the lake, his entire body surrounded by brilliant red light like blooming flowers, catching his breath and recovering.

He had killed many evil beings, but the higher he climbed toward the peak, the stronger the evil beings became, making him consider turning back. However, once entangled by the evil beings, he found himself unable to escape even if he wanted to. He had barely managed to escape to this place after exhausting all his life-saving techniques and giving his all. Originally, he thought he would perish here, but to his surprise, after being knocked into the blood lake, the evil beings actually dared not approach.

“Could there be something strange about this blood lake?” Seeing that the evil beings dared not approach, Qi Zhengyan did not leave. After recovering slightly, he recklessly sank to the bottom of the lake, wanting to discover what made the evil beings fear this place.

The blood water rippled, seeping into his ears and nose. Since Qi Zhengyan had already opened his eye aperture, he wasn’t afraid of seeing underwater. By the dim light, he carefully examined the bottom of the lake but found nothing. There were no stones or water plants here, just a pitch-black ground with absolutely nothing else.

“How strange…” After searching everywhere without success, he had no choice but to surface and slowly approach one side where there were fewer evil beings, seeking an escape route.

To his surprise, as he approached, those few evil beings actually began to retreat slowly, then turned and fled.

“What’s going on? Could the blood lake water clinging to my body also scare away the evil beings?” He was quite astonished, cautiously climbing out of the water and approaching an evil being.

The evil being suddenly trembled and fled in panic.

After trying several times, Qi Zhengyan finally confirmed that the water from this lake was indeed effective. A rare smile appeared on his usually expressionless face: “This lake water is indeed a treasure.”

He took out a bottle of wound medicine from the Huanhua Sword Sect, directly throwing away the pills inside and filling it with a small amount of lake water as a backup. Then he rushed toward the peak.

Suddenly, he saw four streaks of light rushing over, landing nearby, their aura spreading and suppressing the mountain.

After thinking for a moment, he ultimately chose to head toward the peak.

…

The path Xiao Zi chose indeed proved safe. Along the way, Meng Qi encountered no significant evil beings. As they were about to approach the summit, Xiao Zi suddenly stopped.

“Master, be careful. There should be an especially powerful evil being ahead,” Xiao Zi, now more familiar with Meng Qi after traveling together, no longer used the awkward title of “Master.”

“How powerful could it be?” Meng Qi asked cautiously.

Xiao Zi shook her head: “I don’t know exactly, but the clues mentioned it. It’s said to be the most powerful evil being on the entire mountain, perhaps even close to the Beyond Scenery level.”

Meng Qi frowned: “Then how do we get past it?”

“Don’t worry. Although that evil being is powerful, it was formed from the injured part of the Demon Lord. Its senses are dull, and it detects enemies only through spiritual perception. If we’re careful, we can sneak past it.” Xiao Zi’s words made Meng Qi secretly relax. He possessed the Shape-Shifting Technique, which was precisely the perfect counter to spiritual detection. All he needed was to remain cautious and avoid being noticed.

Thus, he felt his forehead swell, his mind radiating outward, enveloping himself and Xiao Zi beside him, carefully pulling her forward.

Turning around a rock wall, Meng Qi saw an evil being standing ahead. It resembled a human, but its eyes were blood-red, filled with cruelty. At its feet lay the Chen elder of the Zhaixing Tower, his chest and abdomen torn open, his internal organs gone, his skull shattered, and his brains missing.

Even from a distance, Meng Qi could feel a terrifying demonic might, stronger than any enemy he had encountered before, of course, excluding the Crying Old Man.

He patiently waited, waiting for the evil being to look elsewhere.

At that moment, the wind and clouds surged, sword qi crisscrossed, and four streaks of light descended from the sky, causing intense tremors.

The evil being’s face twisted in fury; with a few leaps, it landed at the edge of the cliff, roaring at the Taihua Sword.

This was the opportunity. Meng Qi didn’t dwell on the arrival of the Four Precious Weapons. Carefully enveloping his mind around himself and Xiao Zi, he passed through this checkpoint.

After advancing a certain distance, Meng Qi saw a stone door ahead, separating the summit from the lower path.

The demonic aura roiled over the stone door, inscribed with various evil seal scripts, making one’s scalp tingle and difficult to control oneself.

“The summit lies behind this door. As long as you can control your inner emotions, you can push open the stone door,” Xiao Zi whispered.