Chapter 453: Lifeless Fire
The cover of Gao Sheng’s Testament was made of metal.
On the cover stood four bold vertical characters—“Gao Sheng’s Testament”—each stroke vigorous and forceful, as if a tempest surged straight toward the viewer, evoking an indescribable sense of oppression.
Ning Zhuo couldn’t tell what kind of metal it was. He speculated it might be the result of some alloy refining.
When Sun Lingtong cast his thieving art Direct Copy Hand, he immediately felt as if thousands of fine needles were stabbing into his palm, the piercing pain causing his face to contort.
But no matter how excruciating the pain, he gritted his teeth and held on, eyes bloodshot, unusually ecstatic!
“Gao Sheng’s military strategy—this is the personal work of a Soul Formation expert. What an invaluable relic!”
Ning Zhuo tried a variety of methods in turn but still couldn’t do much about Gao Sheng’s Testament.
His cultivation in the art of warfare was simply too shallow.
Fortunately, they had long made extensive preparations for this very operation.
At once, Ning Zhuo took out a formation disk and began laying down a sealing formation around the military manual.
The formation activated, rapidly consuming the embedded high-grade spirit stones. Its power gradually climbed, sealing the manual layer by layer.
“This military manual is like a dead object… How odd.”
“Is it because it’s damaged that Shuangjing was qualified to use it?” Ning Zhuo pondered.
“Good thing it’s damaged! If it truly possessed sentience, it wouldn’t have been so easy to seize!” Sun Lingtong’s face was pale, drenched in sweat, and his condition was extremely weak.
He had paid a heavy price.
A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, attempting to steal a Soul Formation master’s handwritten manual.
“No! That’s my clan’s Gao Sheng’s Testament!” General Shuangjing cried out in shock.
He watched helplessly as the Stone Dwelling Old Monster swallowed the manual whole, his vision blacking out from fury as he nearly fainted.
Grandfather Long also witnessed the scene and was livid.
He had fought for his life, only for the reward to be stolen by the Stone Dwelling Old Monster.
Who wouldn’t be furious?!
He immediately transmitted with spiritual sense: “Stone Dwelling Old Monster, you keep the manual for now. After the battle, hand it over.”
Sun and Ning ignored him entirely, controlling the Stone Dwelling Old Monster as it burrowed back underground.
Earth-Walking Technique!
This spell was not the same as Earth Escape Technique.
The two had key differences.
Earth Escape Technique did allow travel through the soil, but its escape light was obvious, its aura overwhelming.
Earth-Walking Technique had much stricter activation requirements, moved faster underground, and truly merged the user with the earth.
Therefore, using Earth-Walking Technique often required specific physique and cultivation methods.
The Stone Dwelling Old Monster was born from a Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Essence, and his body was made entirely of Earth-Element treasure materials—his physique met the standard.
Ning Zhuo’s Earth-Walking Spleen Temple was primarily derived from the Divine Spirit Art of the Five Viscera Temple. Though an ancient technique, it was highly refined. Ning Zhuo was at least at the Grandmaster level in the Five Elements, and had personally improved it—so the cultivation method was also up to par.
Thus, “Stone Dwelling Old Monster” was able to wield the Earth-Walking Technique.
Normally, Sun and Ning would travel underground with ease. But this time, the underground was riddled with obstacles.
It turned out that countless ginseng roots had taken root below, tangled and sprawling.
Moving through soil with the Earth-Walking Technique was usually as easy as breathing. But when colliding with Wood-Element ginseng roots, it was like slamming into walls.
As a result, the two had to keep rerouting underground, weaving between the roots through narrow gaps.
More and more ginseng roots erupted from the mountain, centering on Grandfather Long, shooting up and slaughtering all enemies in their path.
The routed White Jade Camp soldiers were massacred as they fled.
General Shuangjing and the others scattered in madness.
Mu Lan’s face had gone deathly pale—what she feared most was happening right before her eyes.
This time, she no longer dared hope to rescue the White Jade Camp. She glanced up at the Red Flower Avatar above her, where enemy cultivators like Bi Tengyi were trapped.
“If we don’t retreat now, it’ll be too late!”
However, after fighting in formation for so long, the Red Flower Camp was utterly exhausted.
Maintaining the Red Flower Avatar felt like bearing a thousand-pound burden—they could barely march, let alone retreat.
Their pace was far too slow. Retreating was a distant dream.
Earlier, with the Three Generals Camp by their side, the Red Flower Camp could still employ Not Fit to Stand Together, offloading the burden onto their allies. But now, the White Jade Camp had collapsed and could no longer shoulder anything.
Sun and Ning had noticed this scene too, and were speeding through the earth toward the Red Flower Camp.
“Zhang Chongyi isn’t bad. Worth lending a hand.”
“Though the Red Flower Camp isn’t wealthy, even a wrecked ship has three pounds of nails. There’s bound to be something valuable left.”
“Exactly!” Sun Lingtong nodded. “Just now, Mu Lan’s astonishing shot—without some treasure to support it, how could it have had such terrifying power?”
—
Inside the Mist-Laden Map of Light Mountain.
The latest battlefield intel was delivered into the hands of Ink Abyss Cave Lord, Lu Hongtu.
He laughed heartily and passed the jade slip to the other three Nascent Soul cave lords.
“Grandfather Long is mighty!”
“This ambush will be a complete victory!”
“Hahaha, wonderful! Simply marvelous.”
Cave Lords Heart Demon, Blood Shadow, and Poison Scorpion were all in high spirits.
Lu Hongtu said, “Next, we just need to wait for Grandfather Long to shatter the enemy army and regroup with us—then we’ll swallow the Golden Halberd Army as well!”
Just as he thought this, a strange feeling crept into his heart.
He savored the emotion more carefully and became increasingly certain: “Something… feels off.”
Just then, a word from Cave Lord Heart Demon jolted him awake: “Grand Cave Lord, though victory seems close, we must remain cautious.”
“The Golden Halberd Army is one of the imperial guards. Every imperial guard of Liangzhu Kingdom trains in the Imperial Guard Ascending Step Art.”
“We must guard against them striking back in desperation!”
Lu Hongtu’s heart skipped a beat. “Imperial Guard Ascending Step Art? Right! If Sun Gan were truly desperate, why wouldn’t he use this technique?!”
“So much time has passed since he received earlier intelligence. Why hasn’t he used it?”
“He appears deeply anxious… but perhaps it’s a ruse!”
“Or… he has no intention of going all out to rescue the White Jade Camp?”
Suspicion bloomed rapidly in Lu Hongtu’s heart—but he couldn’t confirm it.
Without delay, he waved his sleeve and commanded the other three cultivators to shift the formation diagram and make some changes.
To Sun Gan and his men, it now appeared that the heavy mountains and light drifting fog had returned to normal. Like interlocking clasps slightly loosened, a gap had appeared.
Yet Sun Gan didn’t charge through. Instead, he kept maneuvering the Golden Dragon Avatar.
“Not good!” Seeing this, Lu Hongtu exclaimed in shock.
The three cultivators were baffled.
Lu Hongtu’s expression had turned grim. He gave no explanation, only barked: “Obey my command—help me dismantle the formation and escape immediately!”
Cave Lords Heart Demon and the rest: ?!
—
A hundred zhang in the sky above.
A massive white cloud drifted silently.
Hidden within the cloud was a military force.
With red flags fluttering and ranks tightly aligned, the soldiers had already formed up, their strength at its peak.
It was the Fire Cloud Camp!
“Sun Gan ordered us to march in secret, and it truly paid off,” the Fire Cloud Camp's commander, Lu Chi, said calmly.
He stared at a mirror before him, which displayed the battles unfolding across the frontlines.
“This is the moment—attack!” Lu Chi’s voice erupted like spring thunder as he decisively gave the order.
In the next instant, the Fire Cloud Camp’s formation avatar shot out like a streak of flame, descending straight onto the battlefield.
The avatar looked like a fiery thread—thin, blindingly fast, and landed squarely on Grandfather Long.
BOOM!!!
In the blink of an eye, raging flames erupted, rising six zhang high in a towering inferno.
Grandfather Long was instantly engulfed in flames, his form and vital aura plummeting at once!
His heart shook violently as he shouted in horror, “Lifeless Fire?!”
Lifeless Fire dances in crimson haze,
Flaming brilliance drives heaven and earth ablaze.
Scarlet blaze consumes life with no trace,
Dead bones watch as ash flies with grace.
Fire-Element Sinful Treasure—Lifeless Fire.
It burned only the living—ineffective on the dead or ghosts.
The more abundant the vitality, the richer the fuel, and the stronger the blaze!
Before long, Grandfather Long could no longer hold on and fainted from the burning.