842 The Right Time! (2/2)
His current state was similar to that of a person who had just hypnotized themselves. He had deceived even himself at that moment. That was how he could keep himself on guard without revealing any of his caution in his thoughts. In fact, the impression that he was giving others was that of smug overconfidence.
Wang Baole carried that appearance of smugness with him as he dashed forward. The imperial cemetery was spread across a vast land. Even with his current speed, he would need half an hour to cover the entire grounds. Regardless, just a moment after he had started moving, Wang Baole paused momentarily in his tracks, and an intense light flashed in his eyes. He tilted his head towards the right before his form blurred and vanished in an instant.
Twenty seconds after Wang Baole's disappearance, seven to eight people came racing from the direction that Wang Baole had last looked. They weren't traveling at particularly high speeds. The spirit energies that they were exuding were only at the Nascent Soul realm. They were dressed in lavish clothes, and their eyes shone with arrogance. The faint aura of the Divine Eye Art exuded from them as they sped past the spot where Wang Baole was last seen.
As the last cultivator sped past, a wisp of black mist appeared on his hair. It slipped between the strands of the middle-aged cultivator's hair and snaked into his ear. The man shuddered suddenly in the next moment, and the air around him appeared to distort itself momentarily. No one in the group noticed anything.
None of the cultivators in front of the middle-aged cultivator realized what had happened to him. No one knew that the momentary distortion was the result of Wang Baole taking on the middle-aged cultivator's form, sealing the man and trapping him inside his storage bag.
He even managed to complete a simple soul search.
The royal family… Transformed as the middle-aged cultivator, Wang Baole followed the cultivators in front of him as they raced across the sky, his eyes flickering imperceptibly. The soul search revealed that these cultivators were from the royal family. He also knew why they were there and what they were going to do next.
The current Divine Eye emperor is going to unlock the gate to the cemetery. All cultivators from the royal family are to head for the imperial cemetery. Interesting. This golden ticket that Xie Haiyang gave me seems too good to be true… Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. The cultivator whom he had conducted the soul search on didn't know much. As a result, Wang Baole only had an inkling of what was going on. He wasn't in a rush, though. He followed the group quietly as they raced across the cemetery grounds. Half an hour later, they arrived at the center of the imperial cemetery!
Wang Baole could see a huge statue when they were still a distance away. It towered above the ground, looking down with a single huge eye from its otherwise featureless face!
The statue was made of stone. The Demonic Eye Art inside Wang Baole's body activated without his conscious instruction as soon as he laid eyes on the statue's huge eye. He suppressed the Demonic Eye Art forcibly, then, without showing anything on his face, continued to follow the group of cultivators he was traveling with. They approached the statue steadily.
There were… hundreds of cultivators already gathered there.
Those cultivators were clearly not mere passersby. They were divided into two clear groups. One group was spread around the periphery. There were more than thirty of them. They were dressed in rainbow-colored robes, and their faces were covered with purple masks. The intense, powerful auras that were exuding from that group had a distinct tinge of violence to them. They had incredibly powerful cultivations. Besides five Soul Conduit realm cultivators, Wang Baole instantly spotted a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator within the group!
Those cultivators shared a distinct trait, their auras were tinged with blood. If one were to take a closer look at them, they would be able to notice a blood-colored jade pendant in their hands!
The blood-tinged aura emanating from the jade pendants appeared to afford a degree of resistance to the forces of repulsion in this place. As a result, there were no indications of repulsion in the area.
Wang Baole narrowed his eyes at the sight. He then turned and looked at the other group.
They stood closer to the statue. They were dressed in lavish clothing and had waves of Divine Eye Art spirit energy emanating from them. They were obviously part of the royal family. Out of the group, four cultivators were giving off spirit energies significantly more powerful than the rest.
They were all old men. Three of them were dressed in purple robes and appeared to be at the perfected Soul Conduit realm. The look in their eyes was cold, and they stared at the old man dressed in yellow. He had a crown on his head, and his clothes made him look like some kind of emperor.
”My dear brother, does that mean… that you're not going to do it?” one of the three old men in purple robes asked icily.
The emperor-like figure shuddered at the voice, a look of helplessness on his face. He looked at the three old men around him with fear in his eyes and said bitterly, ”I've done my best. I wish I could open it too… but my blood simply isn't pure enough to unlock the gate. It doesn't matter if you force a Bloodline Pill down my throat. This just isn't going to work.”