Chapter 185: Evil Ruins
The sword cultivator clone was the Shu Mountain Fire Peak’s Burning Rainbow Sword Master, Tang Yan.
At this moment, he was hiding in the sky for the sake of tracking the rogue cultivator below. That rogue cultivator was none other than the black sword-wielding Wu Shi who had fought Jiang Li earlier.
This rogue cultivator was really unlucky. He held a great surprise weapon in his hand and could have gone against anyone, but he just had to face Jiang Li.
Not only had he lost, but the famous black sword and the metal bracelet with an unknown use had been snatched away.
He had no place to complain. Since he was in the ring, even if he was beaten to death, no one could find fault with the opponent.
Moreover, Jiang Li had only taken away two spoils of war. This was already an extremely benevolent display.
However, because he was missing the black sword that practically ignored spiritual qi, his strength could be said to have drastically decreased, and he performed extremely poorly in the competition later on.
Not to mention that he had suffered considerable injuries and was unable to enter the top hundred, in the end, not a single sect took a fancy to him!
He participated in this competition full of confidence, but in the end, he suffered a double loss.
“Damn it, Jiang Li! Damn the sects! You forced me! You forced me!”
“It won’t be long! When I obtain the power! I’ll definitely trample all of you under my feet!”
After gritting his teeth and cursing all the sect disciples he knew, Wu Shi quickened his footsteps.
Jiang Li’s main body and the Nine Nether clone had things to do and could not leave. Therefore, he could only control the sword cultivator clone to track him after his injuries recovered.
In the bazaar of the Misty Mountain Range, Wu Shi left alone after recovering from his injuries for a few days and headed in a certain direction.
By the time the clone arrived, although he had already flown hundreds of kilometers, it was not a problem.
During the process of the battle, Jiang Li had already planted a few special seeds on him. As long as the distance was not too far or there was no special spatial barrier, he would not lose the target.
Several days had already passed since Wu Shi started traveling, and his speed gradually slowed down for some reason.
In the beginning, he was not in a hurry to travel. Instead, he began to wander aimlessly in the surrounding area.
Could it be that he had discovered that the clone was following him?
He was a Qi Refinement rogue cultivator. It could not be.
Jiang Li did not act rashly. After observing for a period of time, he felt that the guy did not seem to have discovered him, but rather… was searching for something.
It was not until he found a human village and did something inside that he finally carried a black belt and left in a straight line.
That place was already not far. In the end, the figure of the rogue cultivator, Wu Shi, disappeared after entering a strange basin terrain.
“This is?”
The sword cultivator clone flying in the sky carefully observed the basin. Jiang Li, who had already returned to his small courtyard, was comparing the detailed map of the area.
He did find the terrain on the map, but the basin terrain was not labeled.
This was a little abnormal. This was an exquisite map produced by the Scripture Storage Valley. Even if it was not named, it should have an indication. However, the person who drew the map seemed to have forgotten about this place and did not write anything.
Wait, there was something wrong with the cracks near the basin.
Looking down from a high altitude, Jiang Li discovered that the basin looked a little too squarish.
Moreover, those small rift valleys that were spreading out looked like cracks that spread out when he punched the ground.
If he were to remove all the plants and trees, the shape and traces… seemed to be the traces of the Square Heaven Seal!
Jiang Li had seen Chu Yunxuan use the Square Heaven Seal twice, so he had a little understanding of this ultimate technique.
If this basin could be seen as the trace of the Square Heaven Seal, then could the two shallow and deep ravines at the side be the sword slash of a certain sword cultivator?
Compared to the sword cultivator clone, if the marks on the ground were magnified many times, it did not seem to be much different!
“If that’s true… this is too exaggerated.”
The more Jiang Li looked at it, the more it looked like it. He could not help but gasp.
Could it be that a huge battle had happened here a long time ago?
The participants included the Shu Mountain people and the upper echelons of the Scripture Storage Valley?
In this world, not to mention grabbing the stars and destroying the moon, just this ability to change the terrain alone was enough to shock Jiang Li for several weeks.
“How terrifying. I wonder when I can reach this level.”
After using two spirit talismans to conceal his figure, Jiang Li controlled his clone to descend and fall into the basin.
The height difference in the basin was huge, almost at a vertical angle.
Moreover, there were no special patterns that were produced by the geological change on the mountain wall.
It should be due to an external force forcefully breaking the ground.
The vegetation here was quite dense. Clearly, a considerable amount of time had passed since the battle. It seemed possible that the ruins from back then could contain certain treasures.
The rogue cultivator, Wu Shi, was no longer here. He made two hand seals, and a few seeds that were hidden in the other party’s body quietly emerged. They also emitted a pheromone that humans could not smell.
In the hand of the sword cultivator clone, there was a sapling that looked similar to a bean sprout.
Ever since he started cultivating, he had asked Yan Hong to help him collect all kinds of seeds. Later on, whenever he went to a place, he would deliberately collect them. For a long time, they had been very effective, and he had discovered many spiritual plants with miraculous effects.
This bean sprout seedling was extremely sensitive to the smell and fluctuation of its own kind. It could help Jiang Li locate its target accurately within a certain range.
Soon, the sapling reacted. It swayed its sprout and pointed in a direction.
With some caution, the clone carefully explored the area. Along the way, he did not discover any ambushes or traps.
Soon, he discovered a rock ahead. It was placed rather abruptly.
Looking at the marks on the ground, it was obvious that this stone had been moved by someone in a short period of time. A shallow friction belt appeared on the ground, and the sprout in his hand was pointing at the bottom of the stone.
Perhaps it was because this place was too remote and very few people passed by, so they let down their guard and did not deal with the traces properly.
He casually waved his spiritual qi and moved the rock away, revealing a deep crack in the rock.
This small crack was probably the coincidence of a natural geological change.
He gestured at the width, and it was probably only enough for the child to turn sideways and barely pass through. However, he could hear the wind inside, and the sapling in his hand was pointing down.
It seemed that he had to go in.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Fortunately, this was only a clone. Even if he really lost it, Jiang Li would at most feel heartache.
It was harmless to take a slight risk.
After adjusting his status, the sword cultivator clone’s body suddenly began to change shape. The joints between the bones separated, causing his body to change shape like a piece of mud. Even his head became even more flat.
This was the Bone Shrinking Transformation Technique that he had killed a rogue cultivator. It was not a powerful spell technique, but it was barely useful at certain times.
Jiang Li had never carefully practiced this spell technique before, but it was not difficult for him to squeeze a crack in the rock.
The clone stuffed his body into the crack and moved down bit by bit.
This crack was unexpectedly deep. Moreover, the surface was extremely rough. If one were to be stuck here, they would truly not be able to respond to anything.
The clone squeezed for more than 70 meters before finally landing.
What entered his sight was pitch-black. The sunlight could not touch this underground space at all. A series of crisp sounds could be heard. In two breaths, the displaced bones on his body had all returned to their original positions.
Immediately, the Burning Rainbow Sword was unsheathed, and a ball of flames immediately lit up the entire space.
There were no enemies, and this caused Jiang Li to relax slightly.
After crawling for dozens of meters in the narrow space, even he felt a little uncomfortable.
Looking around, there was no doubt that this was an artificial underground tunnel.
The rocks used to build this tunnel were quite huge. Judging from the size, they were at least three times the size of the pyramid’s rocks.
It was also because the path was built very firmly and buried deep underground that it was barely preserved in the battle back then.
However, at a glance, there were many collapsed and dislocated areas in the passageway. The place where they entered earlier was the dislocation point between two large rocks.
A crack that suddenly split due to geological reasons coincided with this displacement point. Under such a coincidence, it opened up this passageway and finally caused the ruin to be discovered again.
The clone touched a mark on the wall of the passageway. Although it was a little blurry due to the passage of time, it could still be vaguely seen that it was a black lotus.
He took out the sprout and placed it in his palm before continuing in the direction the sprout pointed.
The underground space was quite large. The corridor was long and quiet, giving people a sense of oppression. Because the clone was in a place that was too quiet, his ears actually began to ring slightly.
It was just like how in the darkness, the pupils of the eyes would enlarge to capture more light. In places that were too quiet, the hearing system would also tighten the eardrums in order to make the hearing sharper.
After walking for a distance, Jiang Li felt that he had gone deeper underground after several turns.
Along the way, he saw many patterns on the wall.
Apart from the sinister black lotus flowers, there were also a large number of damaged paintings on some of the walls.
Some of the patterns were twisted and abstract, even worse than primitive paintings. Some were neat and exquisite.
Several completely different styles gathered together, giving people an indescribable feeling of madness.
The sword cultivator clone only took a few more glances at the mural before feeling the world spin. He vomited.
Jiang Li, who had been watching the ‘live broadcast’, was also slightly uncomfortable. Even his Golden Core Dao Heart was unable to completely resist the influence of a mere mural.
Due to the fact that he had been eating Fasting Pills all this time, there was nothing in the stomach of the sword cultivator clone. After spitting out gastric fluids for a long time, he barely recovered.
However, he still had lingering fears about this mural. That chaotic feeling could only be said to be very terrible.
Although this ruin was ancient, it really had something. There was clearly no spiritual qi fluctuation, but it could purely use images to make a Foundation Establishment cultivator dizzy and vomit.
Such a thing was simply unheard of.
However, he was still curious about what was written in such a strange mural.
But what can be done to avoid that kind of visual confusion?
After some thought, the clone tried to block some of his vision and only looked at a single painting.
As expected, the chaotic dizziness did not appear again. He could barely see the pattern on it.
Regardless of the style, this mural displayed extremely bloody and cruel things.
On the broken limbs and bones, they danced and sang loudly, worshiping the deities in the land of blood!
There were also things like cutting open the abdomen and removing the heart, cooking the bones of humans, and all sorts of evil deeds that made one’s hair stand on end.
If one looked at these murals together, it seemed to be describing a massacre and a sacrificial ritual!
Now, Jiang Li still did not know which faction this ruin actually belonged to.
However, it was obvious that the owner of this place was not a good person.
He just did not know what they were doing.
That was probably why this place had been attacked and completely ruined, and in the end, he had been unable to find any traces on the map.
If the Scripture Storage Valley really participated in this matter, Jiang Li might be able to find some relevant clues.
However, it was precisely because of that battle that Jiang Li had the possibility of taking advantage of the situation now.
Otherwise, even if no one was guarding it, just the defensive array formation in the underground passageway would make Jiang Li helpless.
The immense power directly broke the rock layer, causing the underground space to collapse by more than a hundred meters.
That accident had destroyed most of the array formations in the ruin. The remaining traps had also exhausted their spirit stones reserves over a long period of time and finally lost their effect.
The person walking in front of him did not seem to know anything.
These traps had lost their effect only because they were out of energy.
As long as they were completely removed and given new spirit stones, they could still be used.
Jiang Li controlled his clone to dismantle a few sets in a row, then stopped and continued walking inside.
After descending another hundred meters underground, Jiang Li frowned. This was because he could smell the stench of blood through the nose of the sword cultivator clone.
When he contacted the mural in front, some unpleasant images flashed past Jiang Li’s mind.
He slowed down and walked forward for a while. He saw that at the corner ahead, there was finally a very subtle fire.
He decisively extinguished the flames on Burning Rainbow. The clone stepped on the flying sword and silently floated towards the direction of the light.
At the end of this path was a stone room illuminated by flickering flames.
The larger the space, the easier it was to collapse underground. However, the pathways ahead were broken in several places, but they were almost intact here.
He finally saw that rogue cultivator Wu Shi again.
However, at this moment, the other party’s image was almost not that of a human.
Wu Shi’s upper body was bare. As he danced stiffly, he took out a full hand of blood from a clay jar and smeared it on his body.
At his feet, more than ten human limbs were scattered, forming a strange pattern with the curved intestines.
Was this guy crazy?!
The clone’s hand was already on the Burning Rainbow Sword, ready to kill that lunatic at any moment.
However, under the flickering flames, a huge shadow was reflected on the stone wall.
Jiang Li hesitated for a moment but did not immediately attack.
Before the clone arrived, Wu Shi had clearly been doing it for a while. After stopping the strange dance, he looked a little absent-minded.
He took out a head from a cloth bag and placed it on the stone platform in front of him. It seemed that he was going to carry out the next step of the ceremony.
Under the illumination of the flames, Jiang Li could clearly see the head. However, even with his mental fortitude, his sanity could not help but plummet.
That head was not a human head.
To be precise, the head was made of eight completely different people, including men, women, elderly, children, and so on. They were all sewn together. At a glance, it was really disgusting!
Wu Shi, who was covered in blood, knelt before the head and kowtowed non-stop while muttering something.
“Asura ~ Asura ~ Asura ~ Asura ~ Asura, oh Great God, the last god in the world. Please wake up. I am your most loyal follower. Answer me, respond to me! Great God of Asura!”
Wu Shi’s head knocked on the ground while his voice grew louder and louder, causing Jiang Li who was hiding in the passageway to be able to hear him clearly.
Was he worshiping a god? There were still gods in this era?
Far away in the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, Jiang Li could not help but lick his lips. What in the world had he encountered?
Would there be any response? Would there really be a response from a god? Or was it something else?
The sword cultivator clone pressed down on the Burning Rainbow Sword. A vast amount of spiritual qi was flowing out rapidly, ready to unleash a fatal blow at any moment.
But wait, he still wanted to wait for the test. What could such a prayer awaken?
Soon, as if attracted by something, the blood flowing on the ground flowed in the opposite direction.
Then, the head on the stone platform actually moved!