"According to the soul jade, Yaoguai often gathered near areas of inheritances. Wait," Yan Zaizen inspected the mountain. It had a faint law from the heavens infused within. "This aura attracts them, and yet…" Yan Zaizen grew skeptical, turning towards Eshe who was cultivating in silence.
It's possible Eshe had lied to him, but that would be ridiculous. Firstly, the Yaoguai's absence would've punctured a hole immediately threw her soul jade and trust. What purpose would it have?
Unless she intended to assault Yan Zaizen and attract him away from the city, but that seemed unlikely as the information was a pointless lie. It would've been obvious truths and hard to see lies if she wished for it to work. After all, how could she not know Yan Zaizen had no basic information about the Fortune Cemetery?
It simply didn't add up.
"That leaves the possibility that the Yaoguai was cleared recently by either Eshe or the other party." Yan Zaizen glanced at the foreign skyship. The life auras there weren't greater in numbers in comparison to their group. In fact, there were seven on both sides. The only issue was his inability to measure their auras. They weren't hidden, but it was hard to know what's concealed without a superior sense.
The three days passed quickly.
Eshe stopped cultivating and stood up. The others followed. Yan Zaizen also rose, his eyes indifferently glancing about. In truth, he was curious about this treasure trove. Was it hidden within the mountains or?
Before he could make wild guesses, a quaking sensation reverberated in the air. It felt like the skyship was the ground and it was experiencing a scale ten earthquake. Yan Zaizen didn't have trouble maintaining his footing, neither did the others.
Lifting his hand in the air, he felt a wave of nostalgia surge into his heart. The Xiao City Lord from the Xiantu Realm cultivated in the Law of Mountains. In fact, he merged the Mortal Laws of Waves and Mountains together to display extraordinary prowess.
When he recalled that, he remembered his words from before: "This mountain is no longer yours." It was like an experienced thief was recalling his earlier days. A smile couldn't help but appear.
"Thousands of years have already passed since." Yan Zaizen found it hard to believe this. It felt like yesterday.
The quaking continued until the mountain started to emit a faint glow. This glowing light's aura felt heavy and felt like it was vibrating endlessly. This endless feeling felt like a truth of the world, as if it didn't define endlessness but the motion of mountains.
"A concept around the motion of a mountain?" Yan Zaizen pondered. As he did, the situation kept progressing. The mountain's quaking continued to increase until a nearly mechanical droning sound started. When it did, a small hole formed at the base of the mountain.
Eshe's eyes lit up, but she didn't move. Neither did the others on the ship, but their eyes each had a hint of greed within. Yan Zaizen observed silently, curious about the wait, but didn't ask. Instead, he kept an even closer watch on the mountain.
The other skyship didn't act either. They seemed to be waiting as well.
"Ready yourselves," Eshe reminded. The others had their auras on the brink of eruption, ready to make a move at a moment's notice.
"We must watch out for ourselves. As long as it doesn't put your life in danger, please lend a hand if possible." Eshe slowly said, her eyes sweeping the others and stopping on Yan Zaizen.
He replied with a nod and didn't say anything else. He knew that something dangerous was about to happen. Whatever it was, his heartbeat started to quicken. He was currently weaker than he has been for thousands of years.
His heavenly cultivation was non-existent, his soul cultivation base had been reduced considerably, and this unique grounds sealed his herculean laws. Besides his outstanding comprehension in laws, he only had his rank two Fiendgod cultivation.
This felt exciting to him. It was a sense of danger and unknown. The only times in his life that he truly felt in danger was very few and each time was far too profound. From Ezekiel's invasion attempt to the sub-realm collapse, they were all far beyond his ability to handle it without the black hole.
Now, he only had his own hard-earned cultivation to rely on.
Skreeee!!
"!" Yan Zaizen's eyes widened and looked at the small door. The small hole had suddenly expanded by a hundred times, establishing a sizable entry point. However, the quaking had stopped, but shrieks of a demonic nature sounded.
Feeling his heart quicken, he looked at the hole with rapt interest.
Skreeee!!!
Boom! Boom! Bam!!
Sounds of explosions sounded inside the hole alongside the shrieks.
"Everyone! Remember! Stay together if you can, help if you can. Besides that," Eshe heroically shouted, exuding solemn charisma that felt inspiring, but her last words left one's heart cold, "Don't die!"
Just as those words sounded, those sounds of explosions became louder, and a black figure shot out of the hole. It was normal sized, about two meters in height, humanoid in nature but it had no arms and only legs. Its legs weren't normal ones, but sharp like blades.
When it stepped out onto the ground, no sound was emitted, but the ground would suffer slicing damage. Yan Zaizen eyes widened as he saw the features of this figure. It had no eyes, but it had ears, a mouth with shark-like teeth, and a long, pointed nose.
"The hell is that?" Yan Zaizen was taken aback. He had seen figures similar to this one. It was in the spiritual layer of the Border Expanse. However, this one emitted dense sword energy from the heavens, unlike the others.
If the being before could be considered spiritual, then this one was based on physicality and essence intermixed together.
However, the explosions didn't decrease in volume, only increased until a huge hand clasped the side of the hole and a head the size of a house appeared. When it did, Yan Zaizen felt a little calmer as the head looked normal.
Then, it revealed its entire figure.
It was a head, but at the back of its head was hind legs of an ox, below its chin was a single human leg, a right foot, supporting itself. The sides that should've been its ears were arms. Two arms! It was like the head was a torso.
Yan Zaizen's eyes turned into a needlepoint. This figure emanated dense mountain energy and a forceful pressure. Both of their auras were greater than everyone present, being at the third-floor regarding intensity.
Everyone's eyes turned serious at the arrival of these two Yaoguai.
Boom! Boom!
The other skyship didn't hesitate. Their members shot out at a fearsome speed. Eshe also took action, flying towards the hole. The others did too. Yan Zaizen's eyes lit up. He urged his vital energy and shot off to follow.
Yan Zaizen could see Iceborn on the other side shrouded by faint traces of snowflakes. They were light-blue and dazzling. However, the aura she gave off wasn't cold, but more so...continuous and together. This feeling was hard to describe, but it was as if she was a snowflake and the world around her was snow.
Suddenly, she vanished from his sights. "What?!" Yan Zaizen then turned to Eshe and noticed she was slowly disappearing as well. It wasn't just them, they all used some method to camouflage themselves. Esi had stayed on the skyship, already flying away at top speed.
Noticing this, Yan Zaizen's expression darkened considerably. With the soul jade in his possession, he realized the situation nearly immediately.
The other five had vanished using their arts. As for Iceborn's side, the other side disappeared as well with their skyship flying off. Yan Zaizen could see a young man that was close to Iceborn looking confused as he glanced around.
"Haha!" Yan Zaizen could only laugh at himself. By the time they arrived near the two Yaoguai, only Yan Zaizen and the young man on the other side remained. The Yaoguai grew furious; they somehow released a demonic shriek that caused Yan Zaizen's ears to hurt.
The young man turned to see Yan Zaizen while covering his ears. His eyes revealed a hint of understanding, and then his expression darkened even more than Yan Zaizen's earlier. He turned tail and dashed away. The sword-for-legs Yaoguai shrieked and rapidly gave chase.
Yan Zaizen saw that the mountain Yaoguai release a dense intent of murder and hunger. Yan Zaizen had a smirk on his face. "Truly devious, haha." Yan Zaizen, unlike the young man, continued his rush.
He didn't tap out or even give a signal. He only kept going. The Mountain Yaoguai clapped its two arm-for-ears and easily smashed Yan Zaizen into meat paste. When it did, it roared with happiness. Its eyes were greedy as it turned towards the sword-for-legs Yaoguai and followed with a demonic shriek.
It disappeared quickly.
A shadow appeared at the mouth of the hole. "Law of Illusions truly is extraordinary." Smiling, he swiftly entered the hole.