CH 153

Chapter 153 – Drizzle Upon the Soul

Several bloodstained rogue cultivators saw the gap in the array and they inwardly went wild with joy. But the moment they flew through the gap out into the open and thought they were free, they immediately lost their consciousnesses to several dazzlingly bright sword lights that shone like starlight.

Jing Xingchen cut down several dozens of rogue cultivators in succession until a woman flew out, looking worse for wear. She cried out anxiously, “Martial Uncle Jing!”

It was Luo Hongying. Her long hair was a mess, and she was covered in bloodstains, but it wasn’t clear if it was her blood or the blood of the monsters.

Even after saving her, Jing Xingchen’s tightly furrowed brows didn’t loosen one bit.

This time, among the disciples he brought, there was Jian Liangbi, who was the direct disciple of Severing Meridian Spirit Master Feng Simiao, and He Junyu, who was the eldest son of Celestial Tide Spirit Master He Wenshu.

If those two died here, while it admittedly wouldn’t make any waves whatsoever among the younger generations of the two overlord sects of the region, Jing Xingchen wouldn’t be able to escape the guilt of being unable to look after them since he was the team leader on this mission.

He didn’t think that over the course of merely one hour, Hong Zhao and Yan Wuji would do something as heavy-handed as commencing indiscriminate slaughter.

While Hong Zhao and Yan Wuji had a deep connection with Sacred Son Bai Lu, these ties didn’t seem to compel them to extend any mercy to the disciples of the Shangqing Sacred Sect, nor Jing Xingchen for that matter.

He felt that he was too naive. He thought that because they could be considered well acquainted, it wouldn’t matter if he left the Great Harmony Water Palace. He didn’t expect that they would be so callous to all emotion and wrongfully massacre all of these people.

Although there were several disciples from large sects among these few thousand people and many of them were from small sects and aristocratic families, it wouldn’t cause a single ripple in the Shan Mountain Territory even if they were to all die here.

The remaining several hundred people in the demon array were still bitterly fighting and trying their best to stay alive. They were making use of the most malicious expletives to curse out those few people who spoke poorly of the Ancient Nuwa Sect. It was them who directly brought about the deaths of these several thousand people, the grand majority of which were completely innocent.

The Ancient Nuwa Sect usually was pretty fair, and they wouldn’t discriminate against rogue cultivators that much. But when it came to people who didn’t know the difference between demons and monsters, they wouldn’t hesitate to show their cold, unfeeling side.

“Martial Uncle Jing.” Jian Liangbi, Xu Disheng, and Li Cangyun flew out from the gap in the demon array.

Jing Xingchen looked them over. Seeing that they weren’t in too bad of a shape, he snorted coldly and put away the Broken Star Sword. The celestial map unfurled, and he brought them with him to ascend into the skies.

“Senior Martial Brother Jian, are you okay?” Luo Hongying asked, approaching Jian Liangbi with deep concern in her eyes.

“I’m fine,” Jian Liangbi said, eyes flashing as he looked at the gradually closing gap in the demon array, his thoughts unclear.

Li Cangyun suddenly remembered and said urgently, “Martial Uncle Jing! Ruan Xun still hasn’t come out!”

Hearing these words, Jian Liangbi’s expression changed slightly. In the midst of all the chaos, he had somehow forgotten too.

“Even if you all died, he alone would be fine,” Jing Xingchen said coldly. “Although the monsters in the demon array are strong, the restriction power of the barrier of light is only in the category of the Dao Foundation stage. If the few of you all used your Magic Treasures and attacked a single point at the same time, you would definitely have been able to break through. Why did you all not try this?”

Their faces turned stiff and no one responded.

When the demon array had just taken shape, some Dao Foundation stage rogue cultivators tried to bombard the barrier of light, but it didn’t budge at all. From that point, a preconceived notion was instilled in them that there was no way to break the barrier of light surrounding the demon array.

If only they had carefully thought it over, they would have been able to see through it. The Magic Treasures that those rogue cultivators had were all ordinary, with very mediocre levels of power. On the other hand, genius disciples like them weren’t short for even top-grade Magic Treasures.

If they had all attacked one point together with all their might, they would have broken the restriction barrier of the demon array and escaped long ago.

If they were a bit more attentive, they would have seen that after the disciples of the large sects such as Daji Shrine, the Spirit Flower Sect, and the House of Bliss attempted to beg Yan Wuji to let them escape and failed, the Dao Foundation stage disciples from each of their sects such used all of their Magic Treasures to blast a single point. In the end, even they were able to quietly escape using this method.

It wasn’t clear what Yan Wuji was thinking. He was simply hovering in the air over the massive demon array, controlling the five array banners. He didn’t pay much mind to the disciples of the large sects who managed to break through the restriction barrier and escape. He simply shot them a glance, then used the array flags to reseal the hole they made to escape.

“Those people from the Ancient Nuwa Sect tacitly left you all a way to survive, but you just didn’t take it. If I didn’t show up in time, would you all have just died in the demon array?” Jing Xingchen said, his tone becoming even more strict.

As they were speaking, the space above the celestial map twisted and Ruan Xun’s figure appeared atop it. He clapped a hand on Jian Liangbi’s shoulder and said, “I was about to save you guys just now, but then I saw Martial Uncle Jing came, so I didn’t bother.”

As the direct descendent of a Primordial Spirit stage powerhouse, Ruan Xun clearly had the skill and knowledge to back his status. He had many hidden treasures on him, so these kinds of risky life-or-death situations were nothing to him. From his tone, he seemed to have plenty of energy left over, more than enough to save Xu Disheng and the others.

Jian Liangbi wasn’t in any mood to bicker with him. He simply closed his eyes and submerged himself in meditation, thinking deeply and introspectively on what had just happened.

“Hong Zhao, I want an explanation,” Jing Xingchen said, grasping the Broken Star Sword in his hand. The radiance surrounding the sword grew brighter as he turned to look at Hong Zhao atop his demonic cloud.

“What explanation do you want?” Hong Zhao said with a smile, raising a brow.

Jing Xingchen remained silent. The Broken Star Sword in his hand began to tremble as an extremely powerful aura gradually condensed into being around his body.

Hong Zhao’s expression became a bit more serious. “If you were here at the time, Wuji and I wouldn’t have troubled these little fellows. But since you just so happened to leave, why would I still need to show any mercy to those people who slandered the Ancient Nuwa Sect?”

“So a Dao Foundation stage demon race genius like you still needs to shove false arguments down peoples’ throats and speak such thoughtless nonsense? Color me surprised,” Jing Xingchen mocked. The radiance surrounding the Broken Star Sword in his hand faded and he activated the celestial map, departing from the Great Harmony Water Palace. “I, Jing Xingchen, will remember this.”

“Those demon race of the Ancient Nuwa Sect… is there something wrong with their brains or something?” Li Cangyun said, a lingering hint of fear in his voice. “The way they do things is so weird.”

“Most of the demon race are like this. Usually they’re still pretty amiable, but as soon as they get angry, they become extremely unreasonable and vicious and don’t listen to common sense,” Jian Liangbi said, already seeming to have regained his calm. He turned to Jing Xingchen and said, “Junior Martial Brother He still hasn’t come out from the Great Harmony Water Palace, is he…”

“No, he’ll be fine,” Jing Xingchen said flatly. Below him, the celestial map put on even more speed as they flew back in the direction of the Shangqing Sacred Sect.

In a tributary river of the Zhaojiang River System, at the Great Harmony Water Palace…

The massive demon array gradually fell silent, until not a single sound echoed out.

Yan Wuji put away the five array banners and the demon array slowly faded. The countless monsters crawling and vying against one another dove back into the five array banners.

Returning to his usual frivolous and uninhibited temperament, Yan Wuji looked at the pile of corpses and sea of blood and said, “Look through their things and tidy up a bit. These rogue cultivators probably don’t have anything good. Then we’ll continue towards the He Yin Territory to carry out our mission.”

The disciples of the Ancient Nuwa Sect complied and each flew towards the piles of corpses. They would reach out their hands from time to time and storage pouches and Spirit Tools would fly into their hands.

… …

Several hours later…

Countless monsters from the waters of the Zhaojiang came, attracted by the smell of blood. They were frenzied and crazed as they swarmed over the thousands of mangled corpses belonging to the profound cultivators. Their eyes glowed with green light as they commenced their wild feast.

The red and gold great hall slowly turned into an eye-catching mass of light. It shrank and condensed, eventually transforming into a figure, clad in brilliant light. The facial features of the figure were still indistinct.

It flew into the sky with a step, causing the feasting monsters nearby to pause and look at the illusory figure made of light.

When the radiance faded, the face of a handsome man was revealed. In his eyes, there was a vacant look of perplexion.

He reached out and lightly closed his hand. A huge power coalesced around him, causing the wind to whistle and howl.

A massive gale swept!

Oppressive, dark clouds covered the sky above the Zhaojiang tributary. Anyone who saw the scene would feel despair in their heart.

Some of the monsters stopped eating as if they detected the latent danger. They brought a few corpses with them and quickly escaped into the river.

Many of the monsters were too dull and continued to gorge themselves. The aura in the air surrounding them grew unceasingly, and the light in front of their eyes grew more and more bright.

The handsome, slender figure moved his finger, and his gaze gradually became clear.

He glanced around at the dense mob of monsters. There were even two or three among them that were fully-transformed Dao Foundation stage monsters.

“Samadhi True Water, First Form.”

“The inky clouds fly in but do not hide the hills; as large drops of white rain scatter and leap into the boat. A sudden wind arrives and sweeps across the earth; below I see the lake, a mirror of the sky.”

(TL: This is a poem called “Written While Drunk in the Lake-View Pavilion on the 27th Day of the Sixth Month”, written by a famous Song dynasty poet called Su Shi.)

“Drizzle Upon the Soul.”

As the handsome young man muttered these words, the clear and bright gaze in his eyes grew stronger. When he flipped his palm over, the massive black cloud began to rain down in a continuous, unending drizzle.

Under the hour of dusk, the pale, beaming moonlight spilled forth from the three moons, illuminating the sinister, squalid faces of the innumerable monsters on the riverbank.