Chapter 9-The Mystic Diabolic Enchantmen (2/2)
He shook his head and sighed. But just when he was about to turn and leave, he sensed a sudden turbulence of auric energies churning in the cave. It seemed to come from under the ground.
Warily, he crept slowly deeper into the cave. Through the veil of darkness, he could vaguely see eight tombstones, each engraved with strange runic symbols. The eight tombstones were erected in a hexagon, each in the positions of the eight trigrams on the Bagua symbol. In the center of the stone formation was a round, stone sarcophagus.
The strange anomaly seemed to have come from the stone sarcophagus. Xiao Chen carefully traipsed past the tombstones and stepped before the sarcophagus. The stone surface of the coffin was battered with dents and scratches; all of which were hallmarks of its age.
He placed a hand on the sarcophagus and released his Divine Sense to peer inside. But a sudden torrent of force erupted from within and blocked his Divine Sense, sending a jolt of shock into him that he nearly fainted.
Xiao Chen lurched a few steps backward that he nearly knocked down one of the tombstones. He swiftly bowed and clasped his hands with respect and apologized, ”Please accept my apologies, Senior, for my brash intrusion of your rest.”
Just then, a hoarse, shrilling voice squealed from within the stone coffin, ”You will never be able to keep me here, Xiao Ning! The end for the Xiao Family will come when I once again see the light of day...” The hollow voice echoed from deep within the ground, sending shivers of chill down Xiao Chen's spine.
But Xiao Chen did not fully catch the gruesome roar of anger, hearing only ”Xiao Ning”, ”once again see the light of day” and a few other staggered words. Was Xiao Ning not the earliest patriarch of the Xiao Family? Who was the person buried here?
It took him some moments before he regained his senses. The voice of the dead person resting here must be a residue of his former powers. He must have been extremely powerful that his powers still guarded his corpse even after thousands of years since his demise.
But then he thought, ”Can a warrior so powerful die? Had my master escaped the deadly pitfalls of the Samsara after the great upheaval which had befallen the land?” Xiao Chen could not help but feel a melancholic gloom.
Moments passed as night came slowly. Xiao Chen was beginning to leave when the cognizance of his Divine Sense alerted him to several cubicle alcoves hewed from the stone of the cavern walls. In these crude shelves fashioned from stone were many ancient books and manuscripts which were covered with layers of dust and soot. Xiao Chen walked closer and removed a book from one of the alcoves. He looked closely at it and found its title, ”Heavenly Sky Palm”.
”The Heavenly Sky Palm; at its earliest its strokes fall with the grace of a peaceful dove, but powerful forces are hidden within each stroke. Its strength peaks when its user is against stronger opponents. The ending strokes contained nine different Palm Strengths; each stronger than the one before, wielding indomitable strength that could lay waste to even Earth and Sea.”
As he read, he could hardly hold himself from shaking apart. This was the martial discipline that Xiao Yuan had used, although he was still not yet adept in utilizing this discipline to its fullness. Xiao Chen recited and memorized the pithy rule of the Heavenly Sky Palm and began riffling through the pages of other books he found. At length, he came across another old book, covered also by a thick film of grime.
The words ”The Mystic Diabolic Enchantment” were on the face of its cover. Xiao Chen's brows furrowed with curiosity. As he was once a student of a Cultivators' sect, his interest was piqued at the ”Diabolic” word he saw on the cover of the book. He flipped opened the book.
But when he opened the book, the rest of the pages swiftly turned as if being blown by a strong wind. The words from the book floated off its pages and melded together into a black mass of smoke which suddenly shot into his forehead.
In his fright and panic, Xiao Chen tried to throw the book as far as he could. He calmed himself and began channeling his powers using the Mystic Cyan Cultivation Method, trying his best to clear his minds of all thoughts. But the vile cultivation methods contained in the strange book earlier were so deeply imprinted into his mind that he could not forget about them.
”The First Diabolic Shift: your blood is your palm.”
”The Second Diabolic Shift: your auric energy is your fist.”
”The Third Diabolic Shift: your soul is your blade.”
Just then, he began to feel his True Qi beginning to flow differently. He remembered a lesson he had learned so long ago: the inversive flow of one's True Qi could see one falling into the dark side. He immediately collapsed to the floor, sitting cross-legged and began to recite the Mystic Sacred Writ. Moments passed and finally, he was able to suppress the tempestuous True Qi churning within him.
By then, the back of his robes was wet with sweat. Gasping for breath for his luck, he realized that he was but mere inches away from being corrupted. He cast a look at the evil book he had thrown away earlier and thought of the perils which might befall humanity if its secrets were to leak outside.
Summoning his True Qi, he blasted the book into bits.
The night was almost here when he left. In the shadowy dearth of light, Xiao Chen slipped past the guards and returned to the Purple Bine Pavilion. Three days passed without any events. Every day he tried meditating and training, still, there has yet to be any noticeable increase in his powers. Instead, the methods from the evil book that he had inadvertently riffled through would beckon to him bewitchingly, troubling and unsettling him
He was frowning at his plight when Evernight's voice called out to him, ”There was a person who had come two days ago. I heard that he had chosen three amongst your kin who possesses Spiritual Meridians. Only three of your kin. Do you not want to have a look?”