Chapter 127: Going Together to the Yellow Springs
Although Liu Ciming did not know exactly who Wu Daoxuan was, the mere fact that he was a Deity Transformation Stage cultivator meant that the ink treasure he left behind could not possibly be ordinary.
In the vast Chu State, the highest cultivation level was merely the Golden Core Stage.
Above the Golden Core was the Nascent Soul, and above the Nascent Soul was the Deity Transformation.
He could not even imagine what heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power a Deity Transformation Stage cultivator possessed.
Jin Tianya continued, “However, until now, no one has discovered where the clue is hidden.”
“Even after I have carried this painting scroll and fled for so long, I have noticed nothing unusual.”
A Qi Refining Stage cultivator at the tenth level failing to understand a great power’s treasure—was that not to be expected?
Liu Ciming thought to himself.
His face still wore that courteous smile.
“Brother Jin, such a priceless treasure… might you bring it out and let me take a look?”
Ink treasures were not like cultivation techniques or secret manuals.
For cultivators with lower cultivation or poorer comprehension, an ink treasure was merely a painting.
If it was truly just “a look,” there seemed to be no harm.
“Brother Jin, you have spent so many years in the Central Domain and witnessed far more than I, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, ever could.”
“We who dwell in the remote borderlands rarely have such an opportunity…”
No matter what, for cultivators at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, something left behind by a Deity Transformation power was undoubtedly the most precious thing they would ever see in their lives.
“Once Brother Jin returns to the Demonic Ruins, this treasure will have to be handed over to the sect.”
“I, Liu, have never seen such a priceless treasure in my life.”
Jin Tianya chuckled softly, unclear whether he was moved by the flattery or mocking the so-called “experience” Liu Ciming spoke of.
“Heh heh…”
However, he did not refuse. His gaze was deep, his movements unhurried.
“Very well.”
“But Brother Liu, when it comes to my return to the Demonic Ruins, you must act quickly.”
A flash of spirit light flickered at his fingertip, and he drew a painting scroll from his Cosmos Bag.
Then he handed it to Liu Ciming.
“Good, good, good. Thank you, Brother Jin.”
A flicker of doubt crossed Liu Ciming’s expression.
But he still accepted the scroll.
The moment his hand touched the scroll, a faint chill seeped into his palm.
Liu Ciming’s gaze sharpened.
The scroll unfurled slowly before him. On the dark cyan silk, the ink marks were mottled and worn.
“Ah…”
The scene depicted countless grotesque ghostly shadows, seemingly chaotic and hasty, yet radiating a soul-piercing aura of savage violence.
The figures in the painting lay in various grotesque postures, none alike.
A winding river of blood cut through the scenery.
At the center, upon a small hill formed of white bones, a vague human figure stood.
Though its features were indistinct, it exuded an air of gazing down upon all living things.
The painting’s brushwork was fierce and powerful, its forms strange and unsettling. Looking at it made one’s hair stand on end.
Though it was merely a painting, gazing upon it seemed to produce the wailing of vengeful spirits at one’s ear.
After merely a brief contact, his spiritual consciousness trembled, and his mind wavered in a daze.
Liu Ciming abruptly closed the scroll. Only then did he realize, belatedly, that cold sweat had already soaked through his back.
A great cultivator’s ink treasure—truly eerie and mystical!
“Well?”
Jin Tianya grinned, a flash of mockery in his eyes.
“Having beheld this priceless treasure, does Brother Liu have any insights?”
Liu Ciming forced down the alarm in his heart and nodded with feigned composure.
“Truly worthy of being a treasure from the Central Domain…”
“Brother Jin, what a great fortune!”
Jin Tianya laughed coldly.
“Shall I bestow this great fortune upon you, Brother Liu?”
“Brother Jin jests.”
Liu Ciming smiled. “This is yours, and also Master’s.”
He suddenly changed the tone of his words. “However—”
Spirit light flared without warning in the room!
A pitch-black dagger, like a venomous snake, thrust forward with no warning.
Caught completely off guard, it pierced into Jin Tianya’s heart.
The intricate patterns on the blade writhed as though alive, and the instant it pierced his flesh, it began devouring his vital blood.
Jin Tianya’s eyes went wide. A strangled sound rose in his throat, as though he wished to speak, but Liu Ciming seized his neck in a grip.
“Please do not blame me, Brother Jin.”
He leaned close to the other’s ear, his voice gentle.
“Right now, Changping is tightly guarded by the six sects. Qi State and Ning State also have Central Region cultivators searching everywhere.”
“This kind of treasure… would be safer if I delivered it to Master personally.”
“Don’t you agree?”
Jin Tianya’s body rapidly withered, eventually becoming nothing but a dry skeleton.
“Heh.”
Liu Ciming let out a cold laugh and was about to put away the short dagger in his hand.
Then he froze where he stood.
Jin Tianya’s skeletal fingers—already drained of blood—were clamped tightly around his wrist!
“What?!”
Liu Ciming cried out in shock.
A bone-piercing cold surged from his hand, his consciousness swaying dizzily, and the painting scroll flew from his grasp.
Behind Jin Tianya, ink cascaded downward like a tide.
In Jin Tianya’s hollow eye sockets, pitch-black spirit light ignited.
The ink surged into his body, and his withered corpse swelled and became full once more.
“You…”
“From the very beginning, you never intended for me to return alive to the Demonic Ruins, did you?”
Jin Tianya slowly raised his head and gazed at Liu Ciming.
“Simply because you feared the Tang Court would trace me back to the Demonic Ruins.”
“The resurgence of the demonic path is imminent. You did not wish to take even that small a risk.”
“I knew it too.”
“No matter what, I was going to die.”
Sensing the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from Jin Tianya, Liu Ciming roared, “You madman!”
This man had actually refined his own soul into the painting!
“That way, you are merely a single stroke within this ink treasure—you cannot possibly control it!”
“So what?”
Finally, Jin Tianya’s body returned to its original appearance.
He slowly lifted his gaze, fixing it on Liu Ciming, his eyes devoid of life.
“In the end, I am going to die regardless.”
“Since that is the case, then let no one have this Deity Transformation ink treasure!”
In an instant, a torrent of demonic qi surged forth, swallowing the entire cellar in a single breath.
Liu Ciming no longer cared about anything else. Spiritual energy erupted around him, and he blasted his way out of the cellar.
He soared into the sky above the small courtyard.
The mortals of Shigu Ping stared blankly at the figure hovering in the sky.
Countless ink-stained ghosts and spirits spilled from the courtyard like a splash of ink.
The ink’s domain expanded ever wider.
The mortals around had initially been frozen in terror by the sight, until someone was touched by the ink.
In nearly an instant, flesh and blood were corroded, skin and muscle melted away.
Without even a single scream, the person was reduced to a pile of dry bones.
“Ahhhh!!!”
Piercing screams of terror erupted from the mouths of other mortals, echoing throughout the entire village.
But it was already too late.
The ghosts within the painting crawled out over one another, tearing at and devouring the surrounding mortals.
A fleeing mortal need only pause for the briefest moment before the ink on the ground would dissolve them into a heap of bones.
Jin Tianya’s figure slowly walked out from the farmhouse courtyard.
In only a few breaths, the vast ink domain had already enveloped the entirety of Shigu Ping.
Every last mortal perished.
They died miserably on the spot.
Demonic qi and vengeful spirits converged from every direction toward Changping.
The bones on the ground stirred without wind, converging toward the center of the village, gathering beneath Jin Tianya’s feet to form a small mountain of white bones.
He climbed, step by step, to the very summit of the bone mountain.
Just like the figure in the painting.
“Heh heh heh…”
Jin Tianya laughed wildly.
“Changping’s Corpse Bone Abyss—four hundred and fifty thousand cultivator souls!”
“Today…”
“I invite you all to join me in Avici!”