HSSB187: Forcing others to the dark side
Yan Zhaoge’s sword-light locked in place those threads of blood that were about to be retracted into the black fog.
This way, the threads of blood did not dissipate, and Yan Zhaoge would be able to follow them to directly arrive at the core of the formation, not have to spend any more effort on continuing to play out the formation within his head as he sought it out.
Yan Zhaoge let out a slight breath of a relief. Only now did he pick up the pair of boxing gloves that remained on the floor following Xue Wuya’s death.
The blood red gloves now saw their colour gradually fade, revealing their original black colour.
Yan Zhaoge was slightly interested, “In that moment just now, this high-grade artifact actually temporarily possessed close to the power of a low-grade spirit artifact? Although it was temporary, and requires a long time to recover after the matter, it is a pretty interesting technique.”
A virtually solitary martial practitioner such as Xue Wuya, as a Martial Scholar, would find it very hard to get his hands on a spirit artifact even having joined the Decimating Abyss Organisation.
“The intelligence of others should not be underestimated ah; the time following the Great Calamity has also seen many capable talents, who’ve come up with quite a few good techniques,” Yan Zhaoge kept the boxing gloves, “Upon returning, I’ll research it a bit.”
Looking in the direction from which the threads of blood extended, he narrowed his eyes slightly, saying, “This major incident must first be settled.”
Yan Zhaoge proceeded along the thread of blood, red light that resembled lightning flashing every so often in the black fog before his eyes.
The ground beneath his feet began to heave up and down unstably, as if he were walking on waves.
Lowering his head, he could see innumerable complicated runes and sigils circulating about like flowing water.
Nearing the core of the formation, the spirit patterns here became more and more intricate, complicated and densely packed as they intermingled.
A powerful aura pulsed, surging ceaselessly.
That terrifying aura that bewitched one’s mind and caused one to feel afraid and lost also became denser and stronger, resembling a tangible, material entity as it seeped into the human body through every single pore, giving one a suffocating feeling.
Retracting his aura and stifling all sounds, as he proceeded onwards, Yan Zhaoge’s heart suddenly palpitated.
The entire devilish domain seemed to be trembling and quaking, as that terrifying aura abruptly skyrocketed!
Yan Zhaoge’s eyes turned severe, “This is the world barrier between the Nine Underworlds and the Eight Extremities World growing weaker and weaker, a gap in it sometimes visible whilst sometimes not, as a rift tunnel is truly soon going to be ripped out within!”
Although he was currently within the devilish domain, Yan Zhaoge could also feel that in and outside of the devilish domain, the clash between the martial practitioners of the various Sacred Grounds and the Decimating Abyss Organisation was also becoming more and more intense.
Soon, the Great Nine Underworlds Door would truly open.
Experts from the other Sacred Grounds aside from Turbid Wave Pavilion also arrived as reinforcements, and it gradually became hard for the Decimating Abyss martial practitioners to withstand them.
However, as the aura of the Nine Underworlds grew suddenly spiked, the fallen practitioners all vaguely had the momentum of a boat surging up on a high, constantly expanding tide!
Yan Zhaoge could especially clearly feel that the devilish formation at the bottom of Clear Concealed Lake, after having connected with the power of the Nine Underworlds, was also becoming more and more powerful.
Not only was the formation distorting space, opening the Great Nine Underworlds Door; as this devilish formation circulated, it was even beginning to switch from defence to offence, assisting the Decimating Abyss martial practitioners in suppressing the experts of the various Sacred Grounds!
Raising his head to look at the all-encompassing sky of black fog, Yan Zhaoge murmured to himself, “The backup plan has indeed also failed, with it now being time for a head-on fight. The Chief of Turbid Wave Pavilion’s reaction shouldn’t be slow, right?”
Of the current six great Sacred Grounds, Broad Creed Mountain and Infinite Boundless Mountain had Sacred Artifacts but lacked Martial Saints. Meanwhile, the other four Sacred Grounds all had Martial Saints sitting over them.
Turbid Wave Pavilion’s number one expert, their current Pavilion Lord, the Roiling Cloud Martial Saint, ‘Turbid Wave Roiling Cloud’ An Qinglin, was the sole female Martial Saint of the current Eight Extremities World, and thus the number one female expert of the current era.
Although Turbid Wave Pavilion was strictly neutral, not getting easily involved in outside matters, the lands of the Lake Domains were guarded by it like an iron barrel, with other powers also not able to easily encroach.
It was just this kind of formless, shapeless power of the Nine Underworlds’ Evil Devils that eroded people’s minds that could barely infiltrate.
However, such a major incident having occurred on the grounds of the Lake Domain, An Qinglin would not sit by doing nothing.
While it was a distance of five thousand kilometres, with a Martial Saint’s speed, rushing over here from Turbid Wave Pavilion, not all that much time would be required.
The only thing that worried Yan Zhaoge was that since the enemy already knew their plans like the backs of their palms, they should also have counterplans for any follow up changes.
Yan Zhaoge didn’t know if the Decimating Abyss Organisation had a Martial Saint, or even an expert who could attain the level of a Martial Saint bolstered by the power of the domain of devilish qi.
However, he knew that if the enemy had planned beforehand for the Fire Devils at the East Sea to make use of this chance to create chaos, flanking them on both sides as they worked together simultaneously from the inside and the outside, let alone An Qinglin, even Jade Sea City’s City Lord, the Jade Sea Martial Saint Song Wuliang would have to keep a close eye on the situation on the sea, and would not have the time to hurry over here.
“That’s why I say that having spies, is truly something that gives one a headache.”
Rubbing his temple, Yan Zhaoge sighed, then continued forward.
Following the threads of blood, as Yan Zhaoge proceeded, he saw that through the black fog before him a bright light had actually begun vaguely shining.
As he progressed even further, the bright light became more and more piercing to the eye; red as blood, it appeared terrifying and mournful.
As Yan Zhaoge traversed the black fog, the scenery before him now instantly changed.
Enveloped by red light, that massive region was completely empty, with only a construct that resembled a tall tower standing erect at its centre.
That tall tower was completely gold in colour, yet emanated a blood red glow. Innumerable black spirit patterns were shining as they congregated in all directions, concentrated on that tall tower.
The black spirit patterns resembled numerous black chains as they tightly wrapped themselves around the tall tower.
Looking closely, Yan Zhaoge discovered that this golden tower, rising from the ground, seemed to still be gradually increasing in height.
The ground near the bottom of the tall tower flowed unceasingly, seeming as though it had a life of its own as mud clustered around the tower, helping it to add bricks and set tiles as its height increased endlessly.
At the peak of the golden tower, numerous streaks of red light shone, as they vaguely seemed to form a door!
This red door of light was projected on the ground before the tall tower.
What caused Yan Zhaoge to take notice was that the red door of light was currently shaking unceasingly in mid-air, trembling as it seemed as though it might open at any moment.
And on the ground before the tall tower, the projection of the red door of light was also trembling as if with excitement.
The space between the two doors continued to distort, causing the ground to also deform intensely.
It was as though something was about to tunnel up from beneath the ground, ripping apart a massive fissure and deep abyss.
Yan Zhaoge’s expression turned stern. The red door of light above the tall tower was the result of the formation, while its projection on the ground was the true Great Nine Underworlds Door that was about to open.
If that rift was truly opened, and transformed into something that truly existed in this physical plane, then the deep abyss below would lead, not to the underground of this Eight Extremities World, nor the mud and rocks of the bottom of Clear Concealed Lake.
But the Nine Underworlds of the legends!
Just by looking at this door, it was obvious that it was currently already in the midst of opening.
Yan Zhaoge’s gaze flickered as he saw that near the distorting projection of the red door of light, a few people were actually present.
One of them, was precisely the Liu Shengfeng who had previously met defeat at Yan Zhaoge’s hands!
At this moment, his pupils had yellowed as a red light shot out from within. Clearly, he had already been consumed by darkness and fallen to the dark side.
Beside Liu Shengfeng were two other martial practitioners, with the same slightly insane twisted smiles on their faces as him. They were similarly fallen practitioners.
Before the three of them, five people were lying limply on the ground, unable to move.
His gaze sweeping over them, Yan Zhaoge discovered that they were actually all people he knew.
Ye Zhongzhou, Ruan Ping, Li Jingwan, Xiao Yu, Zhang Yao.