Chapter 98.1: Fourth Level pt. 1

Clank!

With a clear shrill from the sword, thin lines of blood trickled down from Jing Yue's forehead. His body split in half instantly and turned into ashes.

Qin Yanzhi gasped rapidly. The world in his eyes was like a reflection of the wind brushing over the water surface, rippling in layers. The next moment, he fell into darkness.

At the same time, the big world.

‘Original self’ Qin Yanzhi opened his eyes abruptly. His chest pounded violently, his blood surged, and his face, which was always as cold as frost, was tinged with red.

He restrained himself and took two deep breaths before he gradually calmed down.

Then, his gaze moved to Jing Yue. The other party was still in the meditation. Obviously, he didn't know what Qin Yanzhi experienced in the secret realm. Otherwise…

Qin Yanzhi lowered his eyes and couldn’t help but be grateful. However, when he thought of the alluring fantasy that belonged to him alone, he became troubled again.

The ‘other self’ might be temporarily confused but he knew from the beginning that what the ‘other self’ had encountered was just a Heart Fantasy Array.

The illusion created by the Heart Fantasy Array was not caused by the heart demon, but it was a hidden danger that could lead to a heart demon. It was also an unknown intent that lurked in the depths of the heart.

And the ‘other self’s’ intent, or rather, desire, was actually Jing Yue!

The dilemma of the ‘original self’ was not felt at all by Qin Yanzhi in the secret realm, who had just awakened and found himself lying on the ground.

“Are you awake?”

Qin Yanzhi froze. When he raised his head, he met Jing Yue’s dark eyes. Instantly, all kinds of tantalizing images occupied his mind. Qin Yanzhi quickly lowered his head, feeling ashamed and remorseful, and a little inexplicable bitterness and grievance.

“What’s wrong?” Jing Yue asked curiously when he saw that his expression wasn’t right.

Qin Yanzhi didn't answer immediately. He was reflecting on why he didn't find it wrong in the first place.

Gege’s magic power was profound, so how could he get wet by the rain? Moreover, Gege always tidied himself up neatly, so how could his hair be loose? What's more, he wouldn't show that… kind of strange demeanor. It was such a clumsy illusion but he actually almost fell for it!

“Yanzhi, what happened to you?”

Jing Yue got a little anxious. After they came out of the illusion, Qin Yanzhi suddenly fainted, and wouldn’t wake up no matter what he did. Just as he was at a loss, Qin Yanzhi got well again, but he had become a little weird.

“Something is wrong!” Blue phoenix suddenly said. “Ji-ji can read guilt and remorse from his face. Jing-jing, ask him quickly if he did something to let you down!”

Jing Yue raised his eyebrows. He also thought that Qin Yanzhi was very abnormal, so he smoothly said, “Did you do something wrong?”

“Cough, cough… cough.”

A violent bout of coughing almost coughed Qin Yanzhi’s heart and lungs out. He anxiously said, “No, I didn’t!”

But when he spoke, his face was as red as if he had applied rouge.

Jing Yue narrowed his eyes slightly. It was just a casual remark, but Qin Yanzhi’s reaction… Hehe.

Qin Yanzhi deliberately concealed some content and briefly said, “I don't know what's going on either. I somehow appeared in a small mountain temple and met an illusion that looked exactly like Gege. He… I… I later killed him…”

Jing Yue only thought that Qin Yanzhi had a guilty conscience because he killed the ‘him’ who was an illusion, so he didn't pursue the matter further. Obviously, Qin Yanzhi had just fallen into another illusion, but why was Qin Yanzhi the only one affected?

Suddenly, he recalled what Daoist Tian Luo once said. There was a curse in the Six Wheel Secret Realm and those who entered might probably end up unconscious. Could it be that they had fallen into an illusion like Qin Yanzhi and couldn’t find a way out?

“Ge, are we on the fourth floor?”

Qin Yanzhi's question pulled Jing Yue's attention back. He nodded and looked up. “It’s recorded on the maps that the world on the fourth level is upside down and there is a fight colosseum floating in the air. This should be the place.”

“Oh, right,” Jing Yue took out another porcelain bottle from his arms. “When I came out of the illusion just now, I found this bottle next to me, containing two Nanweng elixirs.”

Qin Yanzhi, “What’s that?”

Jing Yue, “A rare elixir that can prolong a cultivator’s life for 1,500 years. We don’t have to use it for the time being.”

At that moment, someone not far away said, “Sect Leader Jing, Fellow Daoist Qin!”

As soon as they turned around, they saw Wang Yingfeng of Bluecloud Valley leading a disciple over, looking rather disheveled in appearance.

Seeing that neither Jing Yue nor Qin Yanzhi had a single strand of hair out of place, Wang Yingfeng said in a sour tone, “You two seem to be doing quite well.”

Jing Yue, “And you don’t seem too well.”

Wang Yingfeng, “…”

He was in very bad shape! They searched through more than 60 caves on the second floor before entering the third floor, during which a disciple was even killed by a ferocious beast! Fortunately, the illusion on the third level was quite simple, but they accidentally got tricked and lost another disciple! Now, out of the initial four, there were only two left, exactly the same number as Mini Frostcloud Sect.

However, Mini Frostcloud Sect had a full unit while they had lost half of them.

“Ahem, Sect Leader Jing,” Wang Yingfeng arched his hands. “You have seen the map of Bluecloud Valley and should know that the fourth floor is extremely dangerous.”

Jing Yue nodded. The map said that the enemies on the fourth floor often used unprecedented techniques. Last time, if not for a disciple of Bluecloud Valley who was cautious and didn't enter the colosseum directly, they might have been totally wiped out.

Wang Yingfeng, “I’m thinking, why don’t we cooperate? Although we don't know if there will be any changes on the fourth floor once we have more people, if we went in alone, I’m afraid…”

“Please include me.”

Wang Yingfeng, "So it's Fairy Xu, you're here too."

Xu Fenglan came carrying a disciple from Tianshui Palace on her back. The latter seemed to be in a coma and didn’t respond at all.

Wang Yingfeng was shocked. “Could it be that this fairy is under a curse?”

Xu Fenglan smiled bitterly. “She fainted just after walking out of the third level. I guess so.”

“Alas…” Wang Yingfeng sighed. “Since Fairy Xu is also here, why don't we wait for the others?”

He looked at Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi. Seeing that the two had no objection, he sighed in relief. After all, it seemed that the two from Mini Frostcloud Sect were the strongest combat power.

They waited for more than ten days in a row and saw Yongming and Yongqing of Cihang Gate, as well as Zhao Ying of Bodhisattva Yu, but no one from Tiangang Sect arrived, and everyone had no intention of waiting any longer.

Since the Tianshui Palace disciple who fainted never woke up and all living signs disappeared after a few days, only eight people headed to the colosseum this time.

When they arrived on flying magic weapons, they immediately smelled a strong bloody stench and all of them unconsciously quieted down.

At this time, the arena was empty, but many beams lit up in an instant. When the beams of light disappeared, more than 20 figures stood in the field, including people and ferocious beasts.

Blue phoenix hid in Jing Yue's arms in fear, while Qin Yanzhi leaned closer to him. At this moment, two disciples of Bluecloud Valley suddenly exclaimed, “S-shishu?”

Everyone was startled. Seeing Wang Yingfeng staring at a Daoist priest in the field in amazement, Jing Yue asked, “Is that your Shishu? The one who ended up staying here when the secret realm opened last time?”

Wang Yingfeng, “It’s him!”

Jing Yue's gaze changed. Could it be that all these opponents who seemed to have no rationale in front of him had died in the fighting arena? Some of them were dressed rather oddly, and those ferocious beasts didn’t seem to belong to Haotian Realm. In other words, was this rootless secret realm open to other worlds as well?

Without waiting for him to figure it out, the opponents had already attacked them!

When Jing Yue saw Wang Yingfeng still standing there in a daze, he said, “He has lost his mind but still trapped in the secret realm and cannot find release. Do you want to be like him?”

Wang Yingfeng's expression changed instantly. With a roar, his eyes flushed red as he rushed forward!

The scene fell into a chaotic battle. Those who could reach the fourth level were either extremely lucky or the strength was by no means weak. Although more than twenty people or beasts had no consciousness, they still retained their original attack ability. For a time, clashes of swords and different techniques exploded, rendering the sky dark and ominous, like the battlefield of Asura.

During this period, some people were injured one after another, and some people gradually lost their spiritual energy. Even Jing Yue was slightly tired.

He turned to look at Qin Yanzhi. Although the other party was invincible within the Foundation Establishment stage, it didn’t mean that he could take it easy when faced with five or six opponents of the same level. At this time, he seemed a little swamped. This secret realm seemed to possess some wisdom and could sense that Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi were the strongest, even arranging more than ten people to besiege them.

Not far away, a flying sword shot towards Jing Yue. Halfway through, it divided into sixteen. Jing Yue calmly avoided the attack while transforming water into ice and stabbed at a Daoist. To his surprise, the opponent’s body was as hard as iron. The ice blade was like an egg hitting a stone, shattering into powder upon impact. Even so, Jing Yue still didn’t panic. He condensed the surrounding water vapor into water balls and smashed them at the Daoist.

When the Daoist dodged the water balls, he didn’t notice that water vapor had quietly penetrated his pores, under the skin, and into the blood.

Jing Yue once again urged the water into ice. Sharp icy shards grew from the Daoist’s body, breaking through from the inside out. The Daoist crashed to the ground and slowly disappeared.

On the other side, although Qin Yanzhi didn't practice any complete sword techniques, and his every action didn’t follow any specific steps, he could choose the most appropriate and perfect move simply by intuition. The more he fought, the more aggressive he became. One sword seemed to transform into ten swords and a hundred swords. Onlookers couldn’t even see his person, only the sharp glint of the sword. And after every flash, opponents would always turn into flying ash.

“Watch out!”

Qin Yanzhi felt a sudden pain in his lower abdomen and saw a seven-inch snake nail pierce his flesh. However, the latter half of the snake nail was firmly held by a hand, so it did not cause him much harm.

“Ge!” Qin Yanzhi saw that the sharp edge of the nail had cut through Jing Yue's palm and blood was dripping, and couldn’t help his anxiety.

“It’s okay.” Jing Yue pulled out the snake nail, but the nail had shrunk by a few inches. It stuck to his hand like a leech and tried to drill into his wound.

He felt his blood essence surging in his body and constantly gushed to the wound for the snake nail to feed on, and he guessed that this was a magical artifact that could suck blood essence.

No, perhaps it was already a spiritual weapon.

Jing Yue quickly froze the wound and finally got rid of the snake nail, but a lot of blood had been sucked away after all, and his face turned pale.

Qin Yanzhi was both in pain and anger, and could hardly wait to beat the owner of the snake nail into pulp. He raised his sword to attack, but the owner of the snake nail had reached the absolute level of Foundation Establishment stage and met his attack head-on.

Qin Yanzhi couldn’t gain the upper hand even after a long while and the fire in his heart grew stronger and stronger. He felt that a sword intent was gradually condensing and his dantian swelled with pain. He unconsciously waved his sword at his opponent and actually cut him to pieces!

After that, Qin Yanzhi swung his sword a few more times, and wherever the sword light went, no enemies could evade in time, leaving a series of brutal sword wounds.

Daoyi Sword Technique!

The more Jing Yue watched, the more shocked he was. Had Qin Yanzhi comprehended the Daoyi Sword again? Even if he no longer held Daoyi in his hand, Daoyi was still in his heart!

With Qin Yanzhi's strong assault, Jing Yue took advantage of the head start to pursue the attack. The arena alternated between light and dark as various magic treasures and spells were used.

Gradually, only Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi were left holding the fort. When Jing Yue used an ice sword to slash a red-robed female cultivator with an unusual body structure through her waist, he finally wiped out all the enemies.

He was covered with blood at this point but most of them belonged to others. Zhao Ying was dead while only Wang Yingfeng was left from Bluecloud Valley. Xu Fenglan had long been exhausted. Only the two monks of Cihang Gate had survived and were now collapsed in a heap, without the strength to even open their eyes.

No one spoke, only gasping for air.

In the silence, Qin Yanzhi stared at his sword as his heart stirred with agitation.

He had known of the white mist in his dantian. Gege once told him that it was a sword spirit, but his peach wood sword didn't even have sword consciousness, so where did the sword spirit come from? Moreover, if it was a sword spirit, why had he been unable to communicate with it?

But just now, he felt the sword spirit awakened for a moment and transmitted to him a very affectionate notion. Immediately, his divine consciousness seemed to merge with the sword spirit. Without thinking, he instinctively displayed a set of swordsmanship.

Now, he knew the name of the sword spirit, called Daoyi.

He also knew the name of the sword moves, called Daoyi Sword Technique.

Gege once said that his chance encounter had not arrived, yet at this moment, he finally found the sword that belonged to him!

At this time, Xu Fenglan, who collapsed on the ground, said with difficulty, “I… have pill… please…”

Jing Yue gestured to indicate his reply, but he took out some pills from his own Qiankun bag and arranged blue phoenix, who finally came out in the open again to distribute it to everyone.

He also took one pill and sat down to meditate.