Chapter 290: Dragon-subduing Stand
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Blood gushed out of Meng Qi’s nose and also flowed from the corners of his eyes and mouth. He felt dizzy as his aches and pains found their way to his bones. The feeling of blending with heaven and earth immediately disappeared as well as the sense of devilish transformation. His hands trembled violently while holding the Heaven Inflicted Pain and the Meridian.
At the same time, a roar brimming with hatred and anger escaped from the ground and reverberated in the souls of everyone there.
It seemed to have been hiding deep in the mausoleum, below the true nether world for many years. Because it felt violated by Meng Qi’s “Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth”, which aroused the souls, it came back to life angry. Its roar was creepy.
The “Zombie” that was integrating with the moonlight still looked half dead. Its breath was very weak without any sign of madness. It seemed that “Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth” had no effect on it.
However, it still had obvious stagnation, which allowed Jiang Zhiwei and the others to see its appearance clearly.
It was a lady with long white hair and deep wrinkles. Her elegant clothes told people that she was from a noble family.
Her eyes were shining with the silver light of two bright moons. The area that she was standing in was much colder than the others. Therefore, she must have been an expert of the Exterior. At present, her rotted neck was flowing with pus. She could only bring the Half-step Exterior Scenery into play. It seemed that her soul was forced to cultivate in the rotten body and it was hard to escape.
Qi Zhengyan, who had already started to attack, could not miss this opportunity. The tip of his “Dragon Stripe Golden Sword” suddenly gained the expansion of sword light, which extended to 10 meters.
The sword light was sparkling and dazzling like thousand years old ice. It came at Zombie’s mid-brows in a flash.
At this moment, a bolt of electricity sparked from a distance but was instantly blocked, leaving the burial chamber as bright as day.
Meng Qi could barely recognize that it was a spear, because it was so fast; much faster than Xiao Zhenhai’s “Aurora Electric Sword”. Its power completely overshadowed Meng Qi’s ability. Hardly had he sensed it when it got very close to him. Thus, there was no chance for him to wield his blade. Though not as powerful as a real Thunderclap, it was quite outstanding!
The Thunder Light found its way into Meng Qi’s eyes, filling them with the silver light.
In front of it, Meng Qi and his teammates looked like mud carved puppets.
Suddenly, a sword light shone like a flying cloud. It shook the void and changed the world. Everyone and everything bathed in it became shapeless.
The surging Sword Qi blocked the moonlight in the chamber, making it half bright and half dim. Apart from that, there were no signs of the swords connecting. It seemed that the inner force of the Sword Qi was highly concentrated, letting out nothing.
The light exploded into countless flowers across the entire sky, and the Sword Qi overflowed in all directions with Thunder Light travelling from place to place. The floor and the walls were either burned black or scratched, which caused it to take on a look of ruin.
“POW!”
“BOOM!”
Meng Qi and the others did not hear the collision of the sword and the spear or the rolling thunders until all of these things took place.
The speed of the spear was really much faster than that of sound.
Jiang Zhiwei’s right hand, which was holding the “Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow”, was slightly shaking. She took three consecutive steps back, and each step made a footprint on the bluestone floor. The expression in her eyes was quite calm and still reflected the residual shadow of the silver light. It seemed that the move she made was not of her own initiative.
It occurred to Meng Qi that attacking before the opponent’s intent and changing the move with the situation was another aspect of Jiang Zhiwei’s sword art. If not, the spear would have stabbed them before she raised the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow, for she would have needed time to react and make a decision to attack.
Affected by the electricity, Qi Zhengyan subconsciously wanted to wield his sword to defend them, but before he could, the spear was up close to him. Fortunately, Jiang Zhiwei’s sword blocked it in time. However, the sword was a bit slow and the white-haired woman had time to lean back, narrowly escaping the edge of a sword to her forehead with just a few strands of white hair snipped off.
Before the hair fell to the ground it turned into snow.
The white-haired woman took a small step back. Her figure became blurry and integrated into the moonlight before Ruan Yushu played her Zither again.
Meng Qi had no time to worry about Ruan Shuyu. He had to take the white-haired woman’s martial art into consideration. “She must be a real master of the Exterior” . That was the reason Jiang Zhiwei was forced to mobilize her Precious Weapon, the “Anatta Sword”. How could he treat this carelessly?
“She can control electricity and had a bit of tolerance towards the Thunderclap attack. If I use ‘Heaven Inflicted Pain’ and ‘Violent Thunder Shocking the Sky’ to attack her, I might succeed.” As soon as he had thought of this, Meng Qi was about to take out the Buddha’s Lamp.
It was then that the light of the spear retreated, and it was too fast for Meng Qi to catch sight of it. At almost the same time, a figure turned up on the other side of the burial chamber.
It was a half dead Zombie with weak breath, wearing a loose robe and carried a long spear. However, his uncoordinated appearance exuded a kingly manner. There were a lot of silver Thunderbolt Pythons winding his body like the Thunder God descending to the world, which was totally different from ordinarily evil Thunder Light.
His face looked young at first sight, but the trials of life could be seen with a careful look at his fine wrinkles and indifferent gaze. After looking around Meng Qi and the others, he disappeared into the darkness.
“How strange it is that he not attack us…” Meng Qi was slightly shocked.
“No matter how powerful the opponents were, all the other Zombies would attack them first. They would not retreat until they sensed the danger. Could it be that he had noticed the Buddha’s Lamp?”
“With my current strength, how much power of ‘Buddha’s Lamp’ can I exert? And how effective is it when facing a real master of the Exterior?”
Jiang Zhiwei calmed down her oscillating inner force, furrowed her beautiful eyebrows and said, “I didn’t feel his hostility. The strike of his spear was mainly aimed at blocking us.”
“Could it be that he still has some remaining wisdom which could help him resist zombie instinct to some extent?” Meng Qi guessed, “He must be one of the newerZombies, because he can maintain the level of the Exterior. That’s why it is possible for him to manage it.”
Qi Zhengyan swung his long sword at a slant, assuming a defensive stance. He intended to prevent the walking Zombie with the moonlight from attacking them. He pondered for a moment and said, “Perhaps the ‘Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth’ you just showed has activated his hope, so he has no hostility.”
“I agree with you.”Meng Qi gently nodded. “It’s much harder than the task I expected, facing Zombies of the Exterior and the Half-step Exterior Scenery. Have you heard the howls from the ground and the depths of the tomb?”
What he was most worried about were these howls which made his soul freeze.
“Yeah.” Ruan Yushu briefly said, “If you hadn’t used the Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth, the one in the depths of the tomb and the Zombie of the Exterior wouldn’t have been disturbed.”
“So is it my fault?” Meng Qi was thick-skinned, so he made a joke to ease the awkward atmosphere.
In fact, it was his “Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth” that had caused such a commotion. If he had only dealt with the Zombie of the Half-step Exterior Scenery, it would not be so dangerous.
Ruan Yushu calmly said, “We agree with you.”
Everyone’s decisions should be owned by everyone.
“This was a disguised form of an excuse for me…” Meng Qi suddenly understood Sui Yushu’s intention.
Jiang Zhiwei did not care much. Instead, she was eager to say, “We have nothing to be afraid of. We can stop the task and return at any time. Of course, it’s good to complete the interlinked task. However if we don’t, we won’t lose anything. As for me, the strike of my sword blocked his spear after the little monk stimulated him. So, I feel content with this trip.”
Under Qi-traction and the enemy’s strong oppression, she motivated her potential to push away her sword and succeeded in resisting the spear through her solid accumulation. If not, they would be more embarrassed. Compared with that, the great consumption of the using of “Anatta Sword” to activate the Precious Weapon did not deserve mentioning.
Of course, the premise was that the opponent was not hostile, and had not done his best.
“With the help of the Netherworld Reishi Mushroom and the Tai-yin Devil-Rinsing Scripture, we’re sure to have a good harvest.” Qi Zhengyan comforted Meng Qi with his lifeless face. “In addition, that Zombie of the Exterior used his spear and the taking-in thunder just now. I doubt he’s one of the impartations of Thunder God.”
After being reminded by Qi Zhengyan, Meng Qi suddenly understood and said, “It seems so.”
“Zhenwu Great Emperor and Thunder God were the big powers of their times. And Zhenwu Great Emperor was superior to Thunder God. He was one of the five emperors in the Five Lands, ranked first among the top senior Taoists of ancient times. It’s not strange that he had some skills of the Thunder God.” Jiang Zhiwei said with a smile.
Zhenwu Great Emperor, also called the Devil-rinsing Primogenitor, was the Devil-Rinsing Grandmaster and one of the top nine senior taoists. He did not submit to Heaven Sovereign. Actually, he was his ally.
Ruan Yushu pursed her lips and said, “My elders once told me that Zhenwu Great Emperor’s main duty was to suppress the Nine Serenities and sweep out the demons. In the Celestial Court of the ancient times, it was Thunder God who took the responsibility of this job, so they must have collaborated with each other a lot.”
“Well, though he cannot be one of the Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights, he must have enlightened the Acupores.” Meng Qi said hopefully.
Even if he was not an impartation of Thunder God, his Thunder-like skill was at the level of the thunder Exterior, and that was formidable!
“Yes, Little monk, what did you wake up with the Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth? How did you get the countercharge?” Jiang Zhiwei cared about Meng Qi’s condition.
Meng Qi’s face looked grave. He said, “While I was waking up, I saw Zhenwu Great Emperor.”
“What?” Much to Jiang Zhiwei and the others’ surprise, Meng Qi had seen Zhenwu Great Emperor. How could they fight against the top major powers of the ancient times with their current strength? Maybe it was difficult for Dominator of Samsara in the Six Realms too!
“Don’t worry. If Zhenwu Great Emperor really did so, our task would be completed and we could return now. However, that’s not the case. I think there’s something strange going on here.” Meng Qi eased the atmosphere.
The interlink task was designed to investigate the Mystery of the Deceased Zhenwu Great Emperor. If they had found out that it was true that he had manipulated the Zombies here, their task should have been seen as completed.
With an expressionless face, Qi Zheng said: “If so, we’re supposed to seize the time to monotype the Tai-yin Devil-Rinsing Scripture first.”
The four people worked in an orderly manner and cooperated with one another. While defending, they monotyped “the Tai-yin Devil-Rinsing Scripture”, put it in the Space Ring and carefully left the burial chamber.
Outside of the chamber were countless downward steps, with no end in sight.
And on both sides of the initial steps, there were pillars that stretched vertically. They formed a strange high platform in the sky, which looked like an ancient seal, lofty and desolate.
“The Dragon-subduing Stand… Something is wrong with its mausoleum.” Qi Zhengyan’s face changed slightly.
“What’s wrong with the Dragon-subduing Stand?” Meng Qi wondered.
Ruan Yushu furrowed her brows and pondered for a while. She said, “The layout of Zhenwu’s mausoleum hid some mysteries of nature, which can change life to death, so the lower world can be explained as hiding in the lower world. However, the Heaven Dao is difficult for us to examine, and adding this strange Dragon-subduing Stand, everything is different. It seems they’ve joined together to suppress something.”
“She’s worthy of a scholarly family’s daughter…” Meng Qi exclaimed. As he unconsciously gazed at Jiang Zhiwei and saw her nod slightly, he realized that it really was strange.
The howl from the underground, the appearance of the Zombies and the unchanged Dragon-subduing Stand together made Meng Qi and his teammates pupils shrink.
“What on earth is it that made Zhenwu Great Emperor repress himself in this mausoleum?”