Chapter 1785: A Long Journey (Part Five)

The verdant mountains were as dark as ink, and the snow fell in drifting flurries. Although the storm was fierce, it had not yet completely covered the ten thousand peaks.

“Crack!”

Mu Guyue’s foot stepped onto the chest of the middle-aged cultivator. The man lay on the mountain peak, still clutching a greatsword, his face a mask of savage ferocity. Once incredibly powerful, he had been brutally knocked from his pedestal, his refined cultivation completely spent. He tried to struggle to his feet, but as Mu Guyue crushed his ribs, blood sprayed from his seven orifices, along with countless fragments of his internal organs.

“You… you… wench… puff!”

The middle-aged cultivator lay on his back, listening to the dying screams around him. He knew his sect, like his life, would soon be extinguished. He stared up at the swirling snow falling from the sky, struggling to see the cold-blooded female demonic cultivator. It was this she-devil who had ordered the slaughter of his entire sect, regardless of age or gender. Curses were forming in his mouth, but just as they were about to leave, Mu Guyue’s foot slid and twisted over his lower abdomen.

“Rip!”

She stepped straight through his collapsing Nascent Soul. The light in the man’s eyes instantly vanished, his Dao dissipating and his body perishing.

The Crescent Moon Handguard Sabers were held tightly against her elbows. In the wind and snow, Mu Guyue appeared solitary and cold-blooded. Suddenly, one of the sabers vanished, and she reached back with a sudden snatching motion.

“Screech!”

With a mournful cry, a strange hawk with iron-colored scales was caught by its neck in her slender hand. The hawk struggled desperately, its eyes still filled with bloodthirsty ferocity. Its master was dead, and it was determined to kill this female demonic cultivator. Mu Guyue glanced at the hawk; it was only at the initial Level 5 stage, so what could it possibly do to her? Her slender hand tightened.

“Bang!”

The hawk’s body instantly turned into a spray of blood, scattering into the heavy snow. The falling flakes were instantly stained a tragic crimson. These red-stained flakes danced wildly in the air before being subsumed back into the white world, sliding to the ground with the warmth of fresh blood.

The moment Mu Guyue’s hand closed around the hawk, she had struck its soul with an invisible force before its Nascent Soul could even attempt to flee. She withdrew her hand and swept her Divine Sense around, finding that the sect was nearly extinct. Her subordinates were busy killing the final remnants. It was because she had ordered total extermination, and these people carried it out faithfully.

Those demonic cultivators who had already finished were standing in the snow, their armor pristine and their weapons drawn, with only ruthless gazes visible beneath their helmets. Whenever they looked at the slender figure standing by the cliff in the wind and snow, their eyes showed a deep respect for the powerful.

Although this lady was only at the mid-stage of the Spirit Transformation realm, she had already become their commander. She was a ruthless person who dared to fight even Void Refining cultivators. Leading their grand squad, she had swept through one rival power after another, nearly invincible. Thus, Mu Guyue had been exceptionally promoted to commander and also oversaw two other grand squads. She was highly regarded by the clan elders and was often entrusted with important tasks, becoming a razor-sharp blade for the clan.

In the blizzard, the ground at Mu Guyue’s feet was stained a deep crimson. Blood flowed like a river! The falling snow melted quickly into the red pools, and the crystalline edges of the ice rapidly turned from clear to dark red. But more snow continued to fall from the sky, as if trying to use its pristine white body to make up for the world’s broken beauty.

The middle-aged cultivator’s mouth was slightly open, and though ferocity remained on his face, his dull eyes revealed endless fear and resentment. The blood in his body quickly turned cold. Large flakes of snow landed on his face, hair, and body, no longer melting. In a short time, they had covered more than half of his corpse.

Mu Guyue was unmoved by the final, miserable screams in the distance. She remained by the cliff, watching the heavy snow. The falling flakes formed a vast, white world, but within it, she saw a man’s face, looking at her with that same indifferent expression.

‘How are you doing now…’

Her heart was cold and ruthless. Her blade had taken countless lives. But there was one person who would always remain in her heart, the one source of warmth she felt whenever she thought of him!

On the mountain cliff, the wind and snow whipped her long hair. Her phoenix eyes looked down upon the world, and her crimson cloak fluttered loudly in the wind!

The light within the cavern was not very strong. Only a portion of light from the recently opened entrance reached inside, illuminating the debris Li Yan had just shaken loose. The cavern was about three fathoms wide and one fathom high, with its path extending downward into the earth. The walls were dry, and because no living creatures had been here, there was no accumulation of waste.

Li Yan made a quick circuit before flying out of the cave. “Thank you, Seniors. It seems the entrance here is at least not a trap. This might be the right place.”

Ming Qi and Ming Yu bowed to Li Yan. They appreciated his willingness to risk entering first, as no one wanted a repeat of the courtyard incident.

After entering the cavern, the three of them moved downward. Their speed was not very fast, as they needed to carefully inspect their surroundings. It was pitch black, but to a cultivator, it was no different from daylight. They traveled for about a mile before the space began to widen. By the ten-mile mark, the width had grown to six fathoms and the height to about fifteen feet, appearing increasingly deep.

Furthermore, the walls here had begun to turn damp. Every so often, a stone pillar would hang from the ceiling. These pillars were covered in deep, vertical gouges, as if someone had used a knife to carve dark brown furrows into them. The edges of these furrows were as sharp as knife blades. If a cultivator were to accidentally crash into one, their head might be sliced into ribbons.

The three flew side-by-side, their feet never touching the ground. They never stopped probing their surroundings, and though no anomalies had appeared, they did not dare let down their guard. The terrain continued to slope downward, and the cavern remained devoid of life, containing only the silent mountain stone.

After a while, the path began to twist and turn. Even for these three, the constant winding was somewhat disorienting. If they hadn’t kept a strand of Divine Sense locked on the entrance above, they would have long lost their sense of direction.

The journey was uneventful, and in less than half an hour, they had reached a depth of thirty miles. The walls on either side remained similar to what they had seen, but a gray light screen appeared ahead of them. When they had probed with their Divine Sense earlier, it had been blocked and bounced back by this very screen.

The three stood before the gray light screen, none of them daring to charge in blindly. The screen provided a small amount of light, turning the pitch-black world into a gray, hazy scene.

“Even at such a close distance, Divine Sense cannot penetrate it!” Ming Qi’s voice broke the silence. Li Yan didn’t speak; instead, he waved his hand, and another black beetle flew out.

The beetle was covered in a black shell and emitted a buzzing sound as it took flight, heading straight into the light screen. This was a ‘Tiger-Devouring Gu’ that Li Yan had refined. Such a Gu had a high resistance to physical impact and defensive corrosion.

The moment the Tiger-Devouring Gu entered the light screen, its aura disappeared from their perception. However, the mental connection with Li Yan remained, which brought him a measure of relief. If he couldn’t even maintain a connection with his own Gu, he would have no other way to proceed for the time being. This gray light screen looked exceedingly eerie, and Li Yan did not dare step into it recklessly.

Ming Qi and Ming Yu watched as Li Yan summoned another type of Gu, and they remained still. They had other ways to investigate, but those required using magical treasures. In comparison, a sentient creature was much better for probing.

Li Yan stood before the light screen, his eyes closed as he sensed the Tiger-Devouring Gu…

Ming Qi and Ming Yu stood side-by-side a short distance away. They intentionally maintained some space between themselves and Li Yan. After all, it was best not to cause any misunderstandings while he was performing his techniques.

“Sister, I have a feeling. This should be the place we are looking for!” Ming Yu transmitted. Her heart was filled with hope.

“I hope so. But you should be prepared for failure. So far, besides the formation at the riverbed entrance, which contained the restrictions we hypothesized, we haven’t found any traces of our kin in any of the other places we searched. This might just be an ancient sect, a place where other experts once lived.”

Although Ming Qi didn’t want to shatter her sister’s fantasies, she had to provide a timely reminder. This was to ensure that if Ming Yu decided this was the place, she wouldn’t approach the rest of the task with an impatient or biased mindset. Such a state of mind could easily lead to mistakes.