Chapter 389 - Infiltrating the Ghost-wailing Hill (1/2)
After a long time, Xiao Chen finally felt himself landing on the ground. His vision also cleared up. What appeared in front of him was the opening to a quiet valley, filled with towering trees and green grass cushioning the forest floor. There were gigantic flowers of every color imaginable everywhere. The flowers were particularly thick and solid, some of them even as tall as a human. They fluttered as wind swept them. These must be the rumored Exotic Man-eating Flowers.
“You’re finally here? I thought you wandered off elsewhere.”
Su Lianyue stood next to a bluestone stele, gazing into the distance. The breeze swept her, billowing her sleeves. She was the very picture of a fairy in the human world. Xiao Chen walked up to her. “You jest, Fairy.” He stared into the distance, where all he saw was range upon range of towering mountains that seemed endless.
“The Rancorous Qi here is intense. We must be within the vicinity of Ghost-wailing Hill.”
“Let’s go. The emergence of the extraordinary treasure yesterday must have ignited the battle between the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. I’m sure the Corpse Refinery Sect is going to show up today to pick up the corpses.”
The two of them immediately entered the valley, all while trying their best to evade the Exotic Man-eating Flowers. Some five kilometers later, they came across an ear-piercing sound of murder. They hid behind a tree as wide as three humans and poked their heads out, where they saw nearly a hundred people engaged in an intense battle. Twenty to thirty corpses were lying on the ground.
Judging from the dazzling scene of clashing saber radiance and Sword Qi, magic treasures and multi-colored rays of sword light, there was no doubt that the sects from the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice were fighting it out. For thousands of years, both sides had declared each other their nemesis. Each time they met, a bloody battle would surely follow without the need to ask questions first.
The eruption of unnatural phenomenon yesterday must have attracted countless members of the Orthodox Path and Devil’s Practice. This place was likely not the only place covered in blood and corpses.
Xiao Chen’s brows were tightly pinched. He couldn’t help recalling how the Wuwang Wind Cloud City had spread the news of the Ancient Immortal Clan, drawing countless people to the oasis of death in the desert. Similar chaos happened as cultivators fought over an ancient treasure that didn’t really exist. Little did they know that Mu Luo had released the news because he needed the cultivators to fight so that he could get their blood and souls to trigger the Blood Soul Formation.
The news about the extraordinary treasure emerging in the Miasma Mountain Range must be someone’s deliberate scheme. The end goal must be similar to Mu Luo’s.
“Young Master Xiao, aren’t you going to help your Orthodox friends? They’re about to lose,” Su Lianyue said with a faint smile, her gaze resting on the fighting crowd.
Xiao Chen spared them a glance and found that several Orthodox sects were indeed at a disadvantage. He said coldly, “What does their life or death have to do with me?”
Su Lianyue took one look at his face and put on an alluring smile, looking as if she had completely forgotten about the fox demon incident. Now that she thought about it, she had been overreacting earlier and nearly ruined their plan.
Xiao Chen said, “Let’s go. We’ll take the other way around.” They chose a path that evaded the battle and continued walking for another four hours. Even so, they still found themselves in the valley, where they came across several battles along the way.
The range of the Ghost-wailing Hill had exceeded his expectations. Finding the spot where the extraordinary treasure emerged yesterday in such a vast area felt like finding a needle in a haystack. Unless there was another display of unnatural phenomenon, it wouldn’t be an easy task to find the treasure.
“Swish!”
His Unsullied Sword turned into a white light and flew out, slicing an Exotic Man-eating Flower charging at them in half. This particular flower was a lot thicker than the ones they saw at the entrance of the valley and was nearly ten feet tall. Blood-like red juice was dripping from its mouth. In the flower’s abdomen was remnants of skeletons yet to be digested.
Su Lianyue’s brows knitted. She grabbed a few tree leaves and wiped her cuffs clean. They ran into many of such flowers earlier and she accidentally dirtied her clothes with such juice while slaying them. This annoyed her immensely.
Xiao Chen wasn’t that concerned. He said softly, “Walk behind me.” He continued taking the lead, walking into a canyon ahead.
The deeper into the valley they were, the colder it became. The Rancorous Qi that seemed to have emerged from deep under the ground became even denser.
The interior of the Ghost-wailing Hill was much more perilous than its exterior. Besides the miasma and the plethora of gigantic Man-eating Flowers, there were also many hundred-year-old Walking Corpses popping up from the ground out of nowhere as well as ponds hiding under some grass-covered flatlands. Even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators would have a hard time escaping those ponds once sunk in.
Thus, few people came here in the past thousand years. It wasn’t until the news of the extraordinary treasure spread that the typically quiet and still mountain range came to life.
“Kaboom!”
Following the sound of thunder, large drops of rainwater began pelting the ground. So dense were the raindrops that Xiao Chen was soon soaked through. It wasn’t unwelcome though, as his clothes were stained with the Man-eating Flowers’ juice. Su Lianyue walked up to him with an umbrella. “Let’s find shelter first.”
“Hmm.” Xiao Chen nodded, carelessly wiping the rainwater on his face. He continued to walk at a slower pace. His Unsullied Sword swirled around them, immediately cutting down any Man-eating Flower that dared to come close within ten feet of them.
At twilight, the rain finally ceased. The two of them reached a forest by the cliff. When they looked down, all they could see was a boundless expanse of towering rocky mountains covered in lush greenery. Only God knew how many creatures were hiding in the forest below. There must be two or three thousands of cultivators who have come to the Ghost-wailing Hill now.
The curtain of the night gradually descended upon them. It was impossible for them to continue their journey tonight. Ever since the extraordinary treasure showed up, it hadn’t shown another unnatural phenomenon. The others must still be looking.
Nighttime was bitterly cold at the Ghost-wailing Hill. It was an indescribable kind of sinister coldness. When the wind swept through the forest, it would howl like a ghost. That was where it got its name from.
Flames gradually lit up some parts of the forest under the cliff, most of them belonging to the stronger sects. The smaller sects or independent cultivators wouldn’t dare to start a bonfire lest they attract enemies or monsters.
Xiao Chen’s brows furrowed as he thought of how Brother Yifeng’s camp must be here by now, along with Xiaoyue’s group, and Seven Killings and Yi Yeqiu who were hiding… Even with Su Lianyue’s help, it wouldn’t be easy to steal the extraordinary treasure in front of these people.