Chapter 838: The Rune Curse of the Empress
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
The bottom of the pit was very dark. It felt eerie and cold.
Ghost King Bloodmoon stood, hovering in the air. Her long black hair hung down. Dozens of beams of ghost fog snaked in and out around her. Eyes dark, she said, “Zhang Ruochen, you’re really open-minded. You’ve already angered Ghost King Shenchu. If he wants you dead, you’ll be dead even if you escape to Kunlun’s Field.”
Zhang Ruochen stopped cutting the stone and looked over at Ghost King Bloodmoon. “Really?” he asked. “Then he should first think about how to escape from the Death Zen Sect elder before his cultivation recovers. He almost died by the Death Zen Sect elder’s hands. I don’t think Ghost King Shenchu will let him go.”
Zhang Ruochen was here digging for the god’s relics because he guessed that Ghost King Shenchu and the Death Zen Sect elder would be caught up with each other.
If nothing else, they would fight for the god’s corpse and in the end, only one could remain living.
Of course, the Death Zen Sect elder had the absolute advantage now. Ghost King Shenchu couldn’t come to Ghost God Valley before he recovered from his injuries.
Ghost King Bloodmoon didn’t know who the Death Zen Sect elder was, but she could guess. Earlier, the god’s corpse had created a dramatic uproar when it walked out of Ghost God Valley. Even many Ghost Kings in the netherworld were alerted.
She was obviously curious why someone as powerful as the Death Zen Sect elder would let Zhang Ruochen live.
“What exactly is the relationship between you and that Death Zen Sect elder?” Ghost King Bloodmoon asked.
“You don’t need to know that much,” Zhang Ruochen said. “You only need to know that if the Death Zen Sect elder wanted to kill you, Ghost King Shenchu can’t save you, but I can.”
Zhang Ruochen had gradually processed everything. The Death Zen Sect elder might have really wanted to repay him by helping him cultivate the Five Elements Chaotic Body, but there might be another layer.
After all, he and the Death Zen Sect elder had a mutual nemesis: Empress Chi Yao.
In the past century, the only person that Empress Chi Yao personally ordered to be caught was the Descendant of Time and Space, Zhang Ruochen. The Death Zen Sect elder would obviously suspect Empress Chi Yao’s purpose.
Did she really fear what would happen if the Descendant of Time and Space matured?
So he was helping Zhang Ruochen and also helping himself. The Death Zen Sect elder wasn’t able to fight against Empress Chi Yao now, so he needed another way to stop her.
If he hadn’t been forced to the extreme by Empress Chi Yao, why would the Death Zen Sect elder come to the netherworld alone to find the god’s corpse? So up to now, the Death Zen Sect elder wished to see Zhang Ruochen mature. The stronger he was, the more he could restrict Empress Chi Yao and, therefore, benefit himself.
A while later, Blackie, Han Xue, and the demon rat hurried over. They appeared at the heart of the lava sea. At the same time, they brought important news to Zhang Ruochen: the Monks of the Death Zen Sect hadn’t left. They were converting many powerful cultivators outside Ghost God Valley.
The Death Zen Sect elder’s actions were also within Zhang Ruochen’s expectations.
Half-Saint elders from all the top forces had come to Ghost God Valley to search for the Pill of Resurrection. Now, their fantasies were destroyed. If they wished to return to Kunlun’s Field, they had to follow the Death Zen Sect.
No one wanted to wait for death in the netherworld.
“That Death Zen Sect elder is really someone,” Blackie said. “He actually got control of the god’s corpse. When he returns to Kunlun’s Field, he’ll probably stir up a huge storm.”
Thinking for a moment, Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “The Death Zen Sect elder isn’t an average man. He cultivated 500 years to reach this level. He is absolutely talented.”
Blackie nodded. “Even in the middle ages, the Death Zen Sect elder was the cream of the crop and had the potential of being a god.”
“Master…look…the Void Sword…”
Han Xue held the Void Sword with both hands. Then rings of white light emerged from the sword. Like ripples on the water surface, they surged to the bottom of the rock.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The Void Sword quivered and suddenly, breaking out from Han Xue’s control, it flew into the pit at the heart of the lava sea and rushed to the bottom.
“Did it sense something?”
Zhang Ruochen immediately used a physical technique and rushed to the bottom of the pit. Next, Blackie, Han Xue, and Mu Lingxi also turned into streaks of light and pursued it.
With the tip pointed down, the Void Sword spun quickly. It crumbled the stone, leaving a hole and then disappeared into the depths.
“Follow the Void Sword’s marks and dig down,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blackie was really excited. Its claws kept trembling. “The Empress must have left something underground. Otherwise, the Void Sword’s senses wouldn’t be so strong.”
A gust of icy Qi abruptly appeared before Zhang Ruochen. He turned around and was met with Ghost King Bloodmoon’s cold features.
Whoosh!
Without saying a word, Ghost King Bloodmoon’s body dissolved into a plume of Ghost Qi. Following the hole, she flew down to the bottom. Zhang Ruochen also picked up his pace at digging. He continuously split up the stone. After around two hours, he finally passed through the stone layer and reached the bottom of the lava sea.
A strong gust of Evil Death Qi immediately rushed up at him. Zhang Ruochen quickly opened up the Universe Spiritual Map. He activated his Holy Qi and poured it into the scroll.
Various runes emerged on the scroll’s surface. They transformed into a golden tree, hundreds of feet tall, and purified all the Evil Death Qi.
Using the golden light shining from the tree, they could see that the bottom of the stone layer was blood-red dirt. Death Qi poured out of the dirt endlessly but was purified by the tree.
Blackie grabbed some blood-red dirt. Greed shone in its eyes. Smiling, he said, “This dirt has been soaked in divine blood. It’s already evolved into the legendary Divine Blood-red Earth.”
“Zhang Ruochen,” he said, “we have to dig up all the Divine Blood-red Earth and bring it into the scroll world. It can be turned into a divine medicine garden. Only that garden can cultivate top divine medicine. There can’t be more than ten divine medicine gardens in the entire Kunlun’s Field.”
Hearing Blackie’s words, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit immediately pounced and opened its mouth. It swallowed more than ten mouthfuls of the Divine Blood-red Earth. Since it was dirt soaked in divine blood, it must be something good.
As soon as it swallowed the Divine Blood-red Earth, extreme pain came from its stomach. It felt like it had just eaten 100,000 pounds of steel. Falling onto its butt, its eyes widened and its furry face inflated as if it had gone dumb.
Zhang Ruochen checked it and found that the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit was actually using a technique to refine the Divine Blood-red Earth inside it. And the dirt was actually melting slowly.
One must admit that the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit was strange. It seemed to be able to digest everything.
Following the Qi left behind by the Void Sword, Zhang Ruochen’s group quickly found Ghost King Bloodmoon who’d gotten to the bottom first.
“Did you find anything?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Ghost King Bloodmoon glanced coldly at him. Then her eyes moved to another direction. Zhang Ruochen followed her gaze and his eyes hardened. Under the Divine Blood-red Earth, there was actually a green stone tablet. It was 300 feet tall and seemed very rough. It didn’t look much different from regular boulders.
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t be able to discover it with his Spiritual Power from the top of the lava sea. However, it hadn’t melted after interacting with the lava for so long. How could it be a regular stone?
At the moment, the Void Sword was jutting from under the green stone tablet. The sword continued radiating with white light. Under it, the tablet turned into a jade-like color.
Zhang Ruochen walked over cautiously. When his foot stepped on the ground, he actually created rings of tiny energy ripples. He walked to the bottom of the tablet, reached out, and pressed the tablet lightly with one hand.
Crack.
A crack instantly appeared on the tablet’s surface. Then a second, a third…
The stone surface on the tablet shattered and fell down, revealing the tablet’s true appearance.
Various profound sword designs were actually on the green tablet. The lines wove together, covering the surface with ancient runes.
Eyes widening, Blackie rushed over. “The empress’ handwriting! This is a rune curse she left behind… Oh god! The empress really came here before.”
“You can’t read the empress’ words, but I can,” Blackie said. “It says clearly that this is a Talisman of Heaven and Earth. The empress used the power of her entire life to carve this rune. If you bring this to the Corpse River, you can seal the netherworld for countless more years.”