Chapter 110 – Evil Guest
“To explore a previously unknown secret realm, perhaps half a month is not enough time. After all, we still don’t know how big the area of the secret realm actually is and whether or not there are other exits in it.” After hearing what was said, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader became a little worried.
“Having too little time is a matter that we can do nothing about. We, the old geezers, can only ensure that the entrance is stable during this period of time. Listen well, the moment you go in, you must carefully keep track of the time and as soon as the time has come, no matter what has been discovered, you must all immediately come out through the entrance. If you come late, then you will be trapped inside forever.” Martial Ancestor Yan ordered the disciples.
The group, including Liu Ming, naturally all nodded their heads. They gave sounds of “yes” in agreement.
“Also, the rankings for this Life and Death Trial will be determined by the amount of resources you bring out from inside. When the time has come, no matter how many resources you find in the secret realm, I will decide that you can keep ten percent of the resources. That will be your reward for the life-threatening situations you go through.” Martial Ancestor Yan shrugged and spoke again.
This time, all the disciples became even more exalted.
“Also, Martial Nephew Sect Leader, do you have the items I told you to bring from the storage rooms?” The gray-robed elder thought of something and asked out loud.
“Since Martial Ancestor has specially ordered, how can I forget? All the items have been brought!” Hearing what was said, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader replied without hesitating.
“That’s good. Hand them out right now, and let them become familiar with them before we continue speaking.” Martial Ancestor Yan spoke while nodding his head.
“Yes.”
The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader gave a sound of agreement, and produced a faint folded up yellow, silk handkerchief and many thumb-sized, round, white beads. With the shake of his hand, he threw them at Liu Ming and the nine other people.
Liu Ming subconsciously moved his arm, catching the silk handkerchief as well as the round bead with his hand. He started examining them with a few curious glances.
He only felt that the handkerchief was thin like the wings of a cicada. It was also covered in layers of faint yellow inscriptions. If someone looked at it for a little too long, it would give them an abnormal dizzy feeling.
The round bead instead seemed crystal clear, like the average crystal.
“These Sumeru Handkerchieves can be considered a low level Totem. They do not have any other abilities and only have one restriction level but they can shrink what they wrap up by hundreds of times, making the shrunk item convenient to carry. The only fault is that even though the item’s size becomes quite small, the weight does not change. As for those Sensory Beads, they have been refined be a special Secret Technique and can detect the positions of other beads within a radius of five kilometers. All of you carry one on you. It will definitely provide great help after entering the secret realm.” Martial Ancestry Yan explained the items with a couple sentences.
Hearing this, all of the disciples naturally thanked their Martial Ancestor again.
“Anyway, you young disciples leave first and go familiarize yourselves with these two items. Once the disciples of the Firestorm Way arrive tomorrow, you will immediately enter the secret realm.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader ordered with a smile.
“Of course.”
“Yes.”
……
The group of disciples gave a sound of agreement before all leaving the stone hall; they began exploring the uses of the two new items that were in their hands.
After waiting for the group of disciples to leave the great hall, the smile on the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader’s face slowly disappeared. He turned around to face the gray-robed elder. He took a deep breath and asked.
“Martial Uncle, what do think about these disciples? Can they be compared with the disciples of the other sects?”
“This cannot be determined so easily. After all, I only glanced at the disciples of the other sects from far away and did not personally measure their strength. However, if it is just based off my own feeling, our sect perhaps is not looking as optimistic.” The expression of the gray-robed elder also became serious as he replied.
“Is it really so! The ten Core Disciples our sect has just brought over are much stronger than the ten Core Disciples of the previous Large Competition by a great margin.” Martial Uncle Zhang could not help but open his mouth again to speak.
“These brats from our sect indeed aren’t too bad. If I did not see wrong, the Fa Li in Yang Qian, that brat, seems to have been purified once. If he wanted to become a Spirit Master, perhaps he has at least thirty-percent chance. As for Feng Chan, looking from the black gas on his face and forehead, it seems his Metal Zombie Body has also been refined to a high level of control. The one full of lightning Fa Li is probably that Nine Lightning Spiritual Pulse brat. As for Gao Chong that child, his aura is quite close to a Spirit Master’s. It seems he has successfully refined that drop of Demon Dragon Essence Blood I gave him. Of course, the others do not seem weak as well. If we compare them with the average results of the Life and Death Trials, they indeed can achieve a decent ranking. However, if I have not seen wrong, genius disciples with frightening talent have also appeared within the other sects and their strengths maybe even greater than Yang Qian and the others, especially the female disciples from the Heavenly Moon Sect. When I used my Crystal Level strength to observe her in secret, she actually immediately felt it and looked at me. She can no longer be under the category as a genius disciple but rather an incarnation of a devil.” Martial Ancestor Yan spoke slowly with a gloomy light in his eyes.
“What, to be able to feel Martial Uncle’s presence, how is that possible!”
“If it really is so, it must be that female Heavenly Moon Sect disciple with the Sword Communication Spirit Body.”
Spirit Master Huang and the middle-aged Practitioner were stunned both stunned.
“Yes, I believe it is so too. Other than the Heavenly Moon Sect, the other sects also have many disciples with out of the ordinary auras. When Yang Qian and the others meet them, I cannot be certain that they will win.” Martial Ancestor Yan spoke coldly.
“If it really is like this, then won’t you say that our sect will come last in this Life and Death Trial again.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader’s expression became a little ugly.
“That cannot be determined so easily, after all, the competition this time is determined by the amount of resources collected. As long as the brats from our sect have a little better luck and are smart enough to avoid the strongest people of the other sects, who knows, they might bring us a pleasant surprise.” The expression of the gray-robed elder became tranquil again.
“We can only hope so.” The expression of the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader changed many times, before giving a long sigh as he replied.
……
At the same time, Liu Ming was playing around with the faint yellow silk handkerchief in his hand with extreme excitement.
From time to time, he would cover a big, grayish-white rock the size of a watermelon beneath his feet with the silk handkerchief. After it had shrunk to the size of a bean, he would pick it up and change it back to its original size.
As for the white round bead in his other hand, it was currently flashing faint white light. If one looked into it and focused, one could discover that there were ten black dots the size of a grain of rice, currently spread across the whole round bead. Some did not move, while others constantly moved without stopping.
After an unknown amount of time, Liu Ming seemed to get bored. He put the two items away, before casually finding a corner with no people. He started breathing in and out, regulating his breathing silently.
As he breathed in and out, the needle of the thickness of a hair hidden in his sleeve also moved a little. It was as if it was secretly breathing.
On his two arms, there were two additional bumps the size of soybeans sticking out. Inside each bump was one black and one white object the size of a rice grain. Similarly, they also constantly changed in shape slightly as Liu Ming breathed in and out. They looked like they were alive, making it seem extremely weird.
At this moment in time, the color of the sky was already darkening. The sunlight from the faraway setting sun shone on Liu Ming and the other Barbarian Ghost Sect disciples. It was as if they were covered in a layer of fresh blood, giving people an indescribably serious feeling.
…….
In the morning of the second day, Liu Ming, who was currently sitting cross-legged as he regulated his aura, suddenly felt the floating reef beneath his body shake. Although it was extremely weak, it still shook him awake from his meditation. Liu Ming immediately gazed out faraway. He seemed to be astonished.
He started seeing the surface of the nearby lake suddenly shake and form ripples of water. As the shaking beneath him grew stronger and stronger until the whole surface of the lake began forming waves, as if it were blown by the wind.
Only at this moment did Liu Ming hear the faint rumbling sound from far away in the sky. At the start, it was extremely weak, but after a while, it became extremely loud.
At this moment, the shaking of the entire lake surface became even more powerful.
Such a disturbance naturally caused the other disciples, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader and the other two, who were in the stone hall sleeping to walk out in surprise.
Their expressions were of doubt as they all looked up in the sky with their head tilted in the same fashion as Liu Ming.
As for that Martial Ancestor Yan, he could not be seen and had left the floating reed at an unknown time.
The Heavenly Moon Sect and the other sects on the other floating reefs also had a similar reaction. Many disciple stood up and looked toward the sky.
After waiting a little longer, they found a black dot suddenly appear in the sky faraway, slowly growing larger. After a short while, it became a blackish mountain peak of two thousand feet tall, that quickly flew toward the floating reefs.
At this moment, the booming sound in the sky had become deafening and the whole lake shook even more, forming huge waves of tens of feet tall.
“The Flying Peak! Why did the Firestorm Way pilot this sect treasure here? It seems to be a little odd.” After seeing the appearance of the black mountain peak clearly,Spirit Master Huang immediately asked the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader as his expression changed dramatically.
“This indeed is a little odd! However, don’t worry first, let’s see how the people of the Firestorm Way explain this. I believe that no matter how stupid the Firestorm Way can be, it will not challenge the other three sects all at the same time.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader knit his brows as he replied.
As for the other floating reefs nearby, a few Spirit Masters also began mumbling to themselves. Their expressions obviously carried a hint of seriousness.
A while later, the black mountain peak finally flew into the air space close to a few floating reefs, carrying a crazy gust of wind with it. It stopped in the air a few thousand feet above the lake with a “ga beng” sound.
As a wave of loud laughter came from the top of the black mountain peak, forty or fifty people flew out of the mountain peak together. The leading man was a middle-aged, golden-robed Daoist Practitioner. With an even louder voice, he spoke in the sky:
“Fellows, please do not blame us. The reason as to why I, the sect leader of Firestorm Way, have come a little slow is entirely due to the fact that there is currently an important guest in our sect. After hearing that the entrance to a new secret realm was discovered here, he came specially with a precious treasure to lend us a helping hand.”
As soon as the gold-robed daoist finished speaking, he immediately moved to one side. A hawk-nosed man in serpent robes walked out from behind him. His face was serious and both of his eyes flashed.
As the male showed himself, his gaze swept down quickly, before speaking impolitely:
“Is it all just you youngsters that are here, where is Master Spirit Jade and the rest!”