Chapter 314: Victims’ Delusional Stone
After these people died, their souls were sealed within their physical bodies and could not escape, and their bodies were then refined into puppets by someone, this was what her master meant. The person controlling them was using the energy of their own souls to cast the mystic arts they had in their former lives. The more they used arts, the more their souls would be consumed.
Zhu Yao felt a chill as she heard this. Just what kind of venomous mystic art was this? This was clearly an act of scattering people’s souls. It was no wonder the soul she saw earlier was but a thin wisp of smoke.
“Then what Peapea did earlier was to…?”
“It’s Bai Yuan’s Dantian.” Yu Yan replied with a sunken voice. “The purest water of River of Forgetfulness found at its very source. That was why it was able to separate the deceased souls from their bodies.”
As he spoke, Peapea consecutively burped out seven times. With every burp, white smoke with the shape of a human being would emit out from its mouth, and every single one of them was incredibly thin. They were several times weaker than the ghosts she saw in the Netherworld. It was as if they could be scattered with just a light breeze of the wind.
Zhu Yao cast an Afterlife Art, sending those souls into the Netherworld. Pondering about this, the appearance of these few heretic practitioners were truly extremely ominous. Just who in the world could refine such human-shaped puppets?
Back then, no matter how much of a bastard Cheng Qingdiao was to use demonic beasts for experiments, his goal was to ascend. The level of this experiment had however jumped to experimentation on primates, right into human experimentation. This development was too quick, she couldn’t process it at all! Just what kind of world did she find herself in? Why was every single person here a technological genius!?
Zhu Yao had Peapea revert back to the size of a pearl and then kept it. With a chest filled with suspicions, she flew back to Tranquil Valley. The appearance of Skybond Peak earlier had torn through a hole in Tranquil Valley’s barrier. Strangely, the barrier seemed to possess a self-regeneration ability, as it was already beginning to close the tear.
A self-regenerating barrier was very rarely seen! At the very least, based on her knowledge, there hadn’t been a single one. She wondered just who built it?
Wait a minute!
Earlier, those Nascent Soul practitioners wanted to use this barrier to hide Skybond Peak. In other words, they knew from the very beginning that it could regenerate itself?
“Master, have you ever seen such a barrier?” Zhu Yao asked a little anxiously.
“No.”
Even her master did not know about it, yet those puppets were aware of it. Could it be that the person controlling those puppets was related to the barrier of Tranquil Valley? Zhu Yao felt a chilli n her heart. Just who was that person? What did that person want to do to Tranquil Valley? The ones living there were just indigenous people with IQ that had stepped into the borders of idiocy!
“Master, are you able to find out who placed down this barrier?”
Yu Yan was silent for a moment, before replying. “There should be three thousand minor formations within this formation, and all of their properties are different. It had circulated on its own for a very long time, and does not require to draw spiritual energy from practitioners. If we wish to find the practitioner who constructed this formation, I’m afraid it might not be easy. However, as long as it’s a formation, there should be a formation core and a mantra to activate it.”
Zhu Yao’s eyes shone. “You’re saying it’s possible to find the formation core in this valley?”
“Mn.”
If the formation core could be found, then at the very least, she could find out some useful information.
Little tyrant and Ye Qingcang came right at this moment. Zhu Yao immediately took the strong men in by force, and then headed to look for the formation core. Taking the opportunity when the barrier was still regenerating, there should be ripples of spiritual energy emitting out from the formation core.
She immediately expanded her divine sense to the maximum, and in an instant, the entire Tranquil Valley was within her eyes. She had at first thought it would be easy, but because spiritual energy was pouring in from outside the barrier due to the tear, there were several places emitting out ripples of spiritual energy. She remembered every single one of these locations, and then headed to each one to have a look.
In the end, she found an anomaly in front of a stone wall. That stone wall which looked regular at first glance, did not look any different from the rest of the stone walls all around Tranquil Valley, however, one could faintly sense spiritual energy seeping out of it, though not really evident. Strangely, when she swept her divine sense across it, she did not feel the slightest bit of obstruction, but an endless stretch of an empty, void world.
“Grandma, what is that?” Little tyrant suddenly pointed at a small shattered rock beneath the wall.
That rock did not look all that unique, however, after careful observation, she realized a hint of golden light would occasionally flash from it, as though it was emitting out flowing light when sunlight refracted from its surface. However, this refraction was occurring a little more frequently.
It seemed like this was the formation core.
Zhu Yao immediately descended onto the ground with her flying sword, and then walked there at a quick pace. Squatting down, she carefully looked at that rock. Suddenly, that rock seemed to have its power turned off, as it stopped shining. Was it just her imagination?
“Little tyrant, the rock that we were looking at earlier was this one, right?”
“Mn.” He nodded. “It’s this exact piece.”
“Then why isn’t it shining anymore?” The barrier in the sky was still not yet completely restored either. “It can’t have run out of battery, right?”
Zhu Yao repeatedly sized up the piece of rock, and had even used her divine sense to inspect it. There was not the slightest bit of irregularity to it at all, let alone any flowing of spiritual energy.
Could it be that she was wrong? Zhu Yao looked around her surroundings, stood up, and then looked at the large stone wall in front. She knocked on it forcefully as a test, and it was a stone wall alright. It was rather hard too, and it did not look like a formation core either. Why did she not sense anything when she tried inspecting it with her divine sense then!?
“Granny!” Ye Qingcang suddenly cried out, as he pointed beneath her feet with a shocked look.
“What is it?”
“The… rock, I saw it moving a little earlier.”
Zhu Yao was startled. She carefully looked at that piece of rock from earlier. It was still quietly staying put on the ground, without any noticeable difference to be seen. “Are you certain?”
“Mn.” He heavily nodded.
Zhu Yao then inspected it carefully again.
It was a formation that not a single person had discovered for many years, and even the demons were unaware of it as well. Could it be that this formation core was able to move on its own? This was simply too intelligent, right?
However, even after looking at it for such a long time, she didn’t notice anything at all. She had no choice but to give up.
In the end, when she took two steps back, Ye Qingcang once again sounded out. “It… It moved again.”
She had no choice but to inspect it again, but she found nothing off about it again.
The moment she stood up, Ye Qingcang called out for the third time. “Granny, believe me. It moved again just now.”
The hell! You’re making me out as a fool here!
This time, Zhu Yao had kept an eye on it, and then carefully compared it from before. Indeed, several centimeters of the soul around the rock had loosened a little. The rock had truly moved.
“This can’t possibly be a rock spirit, right?” Zhu Yao nudged the rock and rolled it about. It was completely impossible to discern that it had turned into a spirit. “Little Cang, if you have an eye disease, you have to cure it!”
“Granny…” Ye Qingcang felt like crying.
“Alright, alright. I believe you.” Zhu Yao was irritated as well. With a flip of her hand, a ball of flames appeared above her palm. “Whether it can move or not, we will know once we test it out, right?”
She intentionally leaned the flames towards the rock. In the end, before she had even gotten close, that rock immediately rolled far away.
The rock once again emitted out the golden glow they saw earlier. Two large words flashing with golden light, like captions, appeared above the rock – You beast!
Zhu Yao: “…”
Little tyrant: “…”
Ye Qingcang: “…”
Was it cussing at her? It definitely was, right!?
Those two words slowly floated up. Like a projection, it floated up a meter high. Not only did the words grow larger, they became bolder as well. And then, a golden light flashed as the words changed – You’re not even letting off a rock!
Yo, it sure has a huge temper. It seemed like it was truly the formation core, and an intelligent type at that.
“Be obedient and stay put!” Zhu Yao immediately stepped forward to grab it. “Let me look at you.”
That rock however was extremely defiant, flying right up. The row of words above it changed once more – What are you trying to do to my body?
“…” Why did she feel like she was an evil tyrant trying to tease a young girl? She just wanted to inspect the heart of the formation core and deduce the shape of the formation.
The rock nudged and then flew five meters away – Don’t come over here, I rather die!
Everyone present: “…”
Just how much did it hate people touching it? You’re a freaking formation core, do you have to be that concerned about your chastity!?
The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. She immediately cast an art to form a net of spiritual energy in the air, blocking the formation core rock’s escape route. Then, as she retracted her hand, the rock came flying towards her.
The formation core rock began to forcefully smash against the spiritual energy net, but its effort was in vain as it continued to fly towards her.
The words above the rock began to change like a flooding message board.
– You greedy beast who covets my body, don’t touch me!
– You all will regret this!
– Don’t, don’t touch me!
– Please let me go?
– Ah! Don’t!
– It hurts~
Zhu Yao: “…”
Little tyrant: “…”
Ye Qingcang: “…”
The hell, just what version of intelligence does this rock have? Just what kind of things are inside its head? I clearly haven’t done anything yet!
Zhu Yao held onto the rock with a darkened expression, and she could not help but add. “Don’t be afraid, I will be gentle.”
The two little ones: “…”
Eh? This seems to be developing in a strange direction?
Just as Zhu Yao was about to insert a strand of divine sense into the rock in her hand, it suddenly began to heat up. As Zhu Yao was not prepared for this, her hand fumbled and loosened. The rock immediately flew out and emitted out a light dozen times more blinding than before. Even Zhu Yao could not help but narrow her eyes.
A row of words once again floated above the rock – You guys will pay for violating me.
The hell am I violating!? -Faints!-
This old lady did not do anything at all. Also, just who in the world has the fetish of violating a piece of rock!?
Just as Zhu Yao was about to retort, she shockingly realized she could not move any part of her body at all. What was going on?
“Grandma!” Little tyrant suddenly cried out.
Zhu Yao looked forward. The stone wall that did not have the slightest of movement earlier, suddenly revealed an enormous golden formation, as foreign symbols filled the entire wall. Before she could even clearly see what the formation looked like, she was assaulted by a powerful pulling force.
Even little tyrant and Ye Qingcang was sucked into the formation. Right before she entered the formation, she could faintly see a new row of words appearing above the rock.
– Other than my owner, no one else is allowed to touch me.
In the next second, light flashed in the surroundings. The place was filled with golden flowing lights, and they flowed towards the back, as though her entire being was speeding forward.
In less than ten minutes, she once again fell downwards. Right at the moment she was about to land face flat on the ground, the restriction on her body was released. She hurriedly cast a wind-type art, preventing the three of them from meeting the fate of being crippled in time. However, her head was still stuck into a pile of mud.
Pueeh…
It had been a long time since she crawled on the ground. Just as she was about to check on the other two, she heard a female voice behind her.
“You did pretty well, rock spirit.”