Chapter 195 - Tokens (2/2)

The three magnates locked their brows, the strongest card that Shui Zian possessed was not his prowess as a magnate cultivator, but his wide circle of acquaintances. Each and every token was given by an expert cultivator, and with the tokens, he could call upon a one time favor from the owners of the tokens. It would be nice to be able to kill Shui Zian but if the tokens remained in the hands of Swords Gate, then there would be no much difference at all!

Xiao Yin said solemnly, "On the other end of the Lian Yun Mountain Ridge is the Great Wilderness, we can't recklessly cross the line or the old Sword God will be alerted, and our lives will be at stake. You are the celestial messenger, you will go to the Lian Yun Mountain Ridge and you will take down that brat, snatch over the tokens!"

The figure of the celestial messenger flickered and blurred away.

Xiao Yuan the old lady sighed, "What an unexpectedly troubling issue we have here, who would've foreseen that the human brat knew of a second passage, giving him an escape route to run away with the tokens. Let's go, we shall leave these small matters to the little ones."

The three magnates then left.

In the depths of the Divine Battlefield, colorful rays illuminated the sky while mists billowed like pythons. From time to time, there would be broken souls of the fallen gods lingering in the swamp and there would be shattered soul weapons clashing with the godly weapons; or the collisions between skills and spells, lunging immense impact forces in the space.

There was an upended vast ocean in the sky, and floating mountains like stamps in mid-air. Oftentimes, there would be huge tidal waves of water gushing over, and volcanoes erupting incessantly underground. Then they would all suddenly disappear in a split second. All the while, there were also beasts and living beings striking marvelous and yet dreadful appearances, galloping all over the places.

Zhong Yue arduously traipsed through this forsaken land, his mind was vacant and his thoughts were unfocused. If it weren't for Xin Huo who has been running the calculations in search of a safe passage, and prompting Zhong Yue on the steps to take, Zhong Yue would long be dead by now.

Huge sadness and sorrow consumed his heart as he was in grief over Shui Zian's death.

"Strange…."

Xin Huo suddenly said, "Now come to think of it, I realized something very, very strange. Brat Yue, have you seen the tokens of that little geezer Shui Zian?"

Zhong Yue was still stupefied as he shook his head and answered apathetically, "No."

"This where it gets really strange."

Xin Huo was baffled, and continued, "He is strong, the secret realms in his Yuan Shen can be forged into spatial soul weapons like the spatial wristlets, but that would require him to extract the secret realms and forge them himself; or otherwise, when he dies, his Yuan Shen secret realms would crumble and spew out everything in the realms. In other words, the tokens will be splattered all over the places the moment he dies as the secret realm crumbles…."

Zhong Yue was stunned, a glimpse of hope emerged in his eyes, "You are saying that…."

"That little geezer might be feigning his death?"

Xin Huo said, "Or he might really be dead, but his prowess is too strong that the Yuan Shen realms did not crumble and the tokens are still hidden in the realms. But that old brat Shui Zian's surely doesn't have that kind of strength…."

Zhong Yue inhaled a deep breath, the air of the heroic and valorous young man he once had has returned. He said staunchly, "Xin Huo, turn back, find that lone island, I want to take a look and inspect Elder Shui again!"

Xin Huo was shocked, he quickly replied, "It'd be even harder to return back to the island, it's very difficult to find it again."

"No matter how long I have to spend, nothing can stop me from returning to the island!" Zhong Yue said solemnly.

Xin Huo was helpless without any other options, and could only concede to his decision.

....

Tens of days passed, Zhong Yue had finally found the lone island, and he arduously boarded the island. On the island, Shui Zian's grave remained untouched ever since he left. Zhong Yue bowed to Shui Zian and the next moment, he launched his power and opened the grave, unveiling the scenery below which, tossed him into a state of disbelief.

Shui Zian who was buried in the grave was gone!

The grave was empty!

"This…."

Xin Huo scratched his head, he was baffled and mumbling, "I've definitely sensed the disappearance of his breath, he is dead for sure, how is the grave now empty? With his prowess, he can't possibly deceive me, could the body have been eaten away by wolves? But there aren't any living beings here … or could it be that he had been reduced to ash by the spells of the gods, but that's impossible too, the island was unscatched … Ah! I know already!"

The little flame turned stern and solemn as he said to Zhong Yue, "This Elder Shui of yours, he has turned into a zombie!"

However, Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief and replied, "There is no need to investigate further whether or not he had turned into a zombie or if he was just feigning his death. Probably, when we've returned to Swords Gate, we will meet with a living Elder Shui who would be jumping and hopping around."

While Xin Huo mumbled on the side, "He is dead for sure, even his Yuan Shen was crumbling, let alone his heartbeat, and yet, how can he not die? It must be it, he must have turned into a zombie! Brat Yue, when you see him in Swords Gate, you must chop his head off, or else, he would start to eat people. This kind of expert cultivator will be extremely dangerous if he turns into a zombie…."

Zhong Yue strode away from the lone island and headed towards the Lian Yun Mountain Ridge.

In the deeper rim of the Divine Battlefield, an old man placed his hands on his back as he gazed at Zhong Yue leaving, the air of death wreathed all around him.

"Headmaster, this Zhong Shan Clan member is concealing a large secret in his heart, but he is not an enemy of the Swords Gate."

Behind the old man was another old man with severe injuries, gasping for breath he said, "He has the pure and innocent heart of a newborn and he risked his life to save mine. I was planning to just die in the swamp and yet, he came forward, putting his life at stake to carry me in hope of saving my life. I had to crush off the last surge of life force in me so that he would leave. If it weren't for you coming in time and digging me out from the dark abyss, I'd be dead for sure, I even nearly disintegrated my Yuan Shen…."