The black cold pool surged with waves. The crumbling ancient war chariots, as though having endured the baptism of blood and fire, were covered in sword gashes and spear holes. They rolled and crushed through the black water, riding the waves as they came.
“This is truly bizarre. Over ten thousand years have passed, and the Demon Emperor’s Yin Grave still has tomb guardians — this is absurd, beyond all imagining!” The unscrupulous Daoist kept furrowing his brow.
Whoosh!
While he stood there in a momentary daze, a black arrow feather came shooting in at high speed. The arrowhead was wreathed in smoldering netherworld fire, while thick black mist surged from the arrow’s tail.
Clang!
The unscrupulous Daoist raised the shield of red agate, blocking the arrow feather outside. But at that moment the arrow feather shattered, sending netherworld fire scattering in all directions and black mist surging forward. The netherworld fire scorched the surrounding ground to char, melting the rock — and then the black mist arrived, sealing it again in ice, which then cracked and crumbled to powder.
These terrifying energies nearly overwhelmed both Ye Fan and the unscrupulous Daoist. This kind of arrow feather was the embodiment of both ice and fire in one, extremely deadly — an ordinary cultivator who was the least bit careless could easily find their life in peril.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
The sound of arrows splitting the air rang out without cease. One by one, black arrow feathers pierced through the black mist and came shooting continuously — like a storm of black rain pelting down.
Ding ding clang clang!
The red agate-like shield was struck by several hundred arrows in succession. Netherworld fire surrounded everything on all sides, while endless black mist surged and tumbled.
Hiss hiss hiss!
Crimson red light overflowed from the shield like water ripples spreading outward, shattering the netherworld fire and dispersing the black mist — finally blocking this wave of assault.
However, at this moment a rumbling sound rang out. Those crumbling war chariots, carrying their Yin soldiers, came charging forward and had already come ashore, grinding their way to close range.
“I’ll see just what manner of things you are!” The unscrupulous Daoist ground his back teeth and spat out a beam of green light from his mouth — a small knife barely an inch long, vivid green. Unfurling in the wind, it quickly grew to over half a foot, like a pool of clear jade water, crystalline and translucent, emanating wisps of cold air.
Ye Fan saw this and gritted his teeth. It was precisely the dagger he had obtained — it had been seized by this unscrupulous Daoist, who was now using it against enemies.
Whoosh!
The blue-green dagger transformed into a green ribbon and shot forward, sending out streaks of brilliant divine radiance. In an instant, it halted one of the crumbling ancient war chariots.
Then the unscrupulous Daoist’s Bitter Sea blazed with radiance. A blood-red pearl rushed out, spilling scarlet light in all directions, surging forward with waves of powerful divine force, and on the spot pinned three ancient war chariots in place — unable to move so much as a hair.
At the same moment, a purple-gleaming archer’s thumb ring appeared on the unscrupulous Daoist’s thumb, casting his entire hand in a crystalline glow, with purple energy diffusing all around.
“Cut!”
The unscrupulous Daoist gave a soft shout, raising his finger. The purple thumb ring instantly shot out thousands of shimmering rays, releasing streaks of sharp, purple blade radiance.
Crack crack crack!
The blade radiance split apart two crumbling war chariots and held a group of Yin soldiers at bay.
Seeing all of this, Ye Fan silently cursed. All three of these spirit-awakened weapons had been found by him, yet they had been seized by the unscrupulous Daoist, who was now bringing them out to use against enemies.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Just then, the spirit-awakened green dagger pierced through five Yin soldiers and shattered one war chariot, while the blood-red pearl successfully locked down three war chariots completely.
“Excellent things indeed!” The unscrupulous Daoist exclaimed in admiration.
In the end, all the crumbling war chariots were cleaved apart, and nearly all the Yin soldiers were pierced through. The unscrupulous Daoist quickly surged forward, tearing open the black iron armor they wore to examine what was inside.
What left him utterly dumbfounded was this: when the first few Yin soldiers’ armor was torn open, fine sand poured out to the ground — they were not living beings at all. Then he finally found a few Yin soldiers that were not made of sand. Upon careful examination, he discovered they were merely animal carcasses that had been sealed in ice.
“What is going on…” The unscrupulous Daoist was greatly astonished. “Could it be Dao Runes sustaining them?” He quickly swept the sand aside, and sure enough, found a small wooden tablet on the ground beneath — carved with intricate “Dao Runes.”
“Truly so — sand transformed into soldiers, corpses assembled into generals. Quite the handiwork.” With that, the unscrupulous Daoist revealed an excited expression. “These are all Dao Runes from ten thousand years ago — perhaps there is something useful to be studied from them.”
He quickly blew away the sand on the ground, shattered the few bones, and collected all the wooden tablets, piling them up in a large heap on the ground.
Boom!
Just then, another sound came from the cold black pool. A demonic general emerged, clad head to toe in dark gold battle armor, with a wolf’s head, slowly walking ashore. It emanated a heavy aura of death, and was incomparably more powerful than those Yin soldiers.
“This is a demonic general who fell in battle in former days — also being made use of. It does not seem to be Dao Runes sustaining its corpse.” The unscrupulous Daoist revealed a thoughtful expression.
The demonic general slowly closed in. The ground trembled and shook, with black mist surging and churning all around.
“This is no simple matter.” In that moment, the unscrupulous Daoist’s Bitter Sea erupted with dazzling azure radiance. A great sweep of azure flame surged forward, engulfing the wolf-headed demonic general on all sides.
Bang!
However, this demonic general was far from ordinary. It emanated wave after wave of concentrated death aura, steadily forcing the azure flames back.
“It has undergone a corpse transformation and possesses a hazy semblance of intelligence. Its demonic body is indestructible, and has generated powerful death resentment energy.” The unscrupulous Daoist was startled, sensing this was no ordinary matter. He told Ye Fan to step back, then brought out all his spirit-awakened weapons, using the azure flames to supplement his assault.
“There is something strange here.” At this moment, a cold and indifferent voice came through. A young man in his mid-twenties arrived at this mountain ridge. “Very well — the two of you may withdraw now…” His gaze was fixed on the wooden tablets carved with Dao Runes on the ground, and then he looked intently at the demonic general.
The unscrupulous Daoist cast a cold sideways glance at him — but in an instant, an unusual expression crossed his face. The sleeves of the other man’s robes were embroidered with the insignia of the Yao Guang Sacred Ground.
“I am a disciple of Yao Guang. My master has ordered you to leave immediately.” The young man was exceedingly arrogant, appearing to possess an innate sense of superiority. He swept a glance at Ye Fan, and noticing no divine force fluctuations from him, said: “If you don’t want to die, get out of here immediately!”
Bang!
At this moment, the demonic general broke free of the unscrupulous Daoist’s restraints, leapt swiftly back into the black pool, and vanished.
The unscrupulous Daoist turned around, his voice ice-cold: “You fool who doesn’t know life from death — waving a tiger’s skin as your own banner. I despise frauds like you most. You dare to impersonate a disciple of the Yao Guang Sacred Ground? Even if you truly were one, this Daoist would still dare to slap you to death!”
Whoosh!
The young man, seeing his deception exposed, attacked directly. Hundreds and thousands of golden streaks, dense and packed, like a golden rain of light, surged toward the unscrupulous Daoist.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The unscrupulous Daoist swung his wide sleeve. Azure light scattered forth, and he swept up every single one of the golden streaks — revealing them to be nothing but gold needles, one by one.
Bang!
The unscrupulous Daoist swiftly charged forward, grabbed the young man by the throat, and dragged him to the edge of the cold pool. “Waving a tiger’s skin as your own banner, trying to deceive this Daoist — speak. Which family’s disciple are you really? If you don’t, I’ll throw you in.”
“I truly am a disciple of Yao Guang!” The young man revealed a look of fear.
“Daoist, why bother talking with him? Just throw him in directly and feed him to that demonic general.” Ye Fan suggested from a distance, deliberately trying to frighten the young man.
“That’s a point — no need to waste words.” The unscrupulous Daoist gave a light flick of his wrist, and the young man instantly plunged into the cold pool, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
From a distance, Ye Fan stood there completely stunned. He had not expected the unscrupulous Daoist to actually do it. In his heart, this despicable Daoist had just become somewhat dangerous. This was a man with absolutely no scruples.
Splash!
The black pool surged and churned. Over ten demonic generals emerged — all clad in dark gold battle armor with only their heads exposed. Their forms were bizarre and grotesque: some had dog heads, some had tiger heads. One glance was enough to tell they were demons, all of them emanating a heavy aura of death. In their hands they held the young man from moments before, and with a crash they tore him apart. Blood and water splattered everywhere at once.
Boom boom boom!
In that moment, the cold pool seemed to boil. From jet black as ink, it turned blood red — a lurid and sinister crimson.
“This is terrible — something has gone wrong. The Demon Emperor’s Yin Grave has been bloodied, triggering the killing formation!” The unscrupulous Daoist’s face turned very ugly.
Boom!
At this very moment, heaven and earth shook. From within the cold pool, boundless blood light surged skyward, dyeing the entire ancient ruins a desolate crimson, stirring every cultivator present.
“Could it be… we are all going to die here?!” Ye Fan revealed a look of shock.