Chapter 63 Core Area
In the days that followed, Lyu Liang would often recall the trials that he had experienced with Dongfang Xiaoyu. Besides the seven mortal days that were engraved in his mind, the offer the saber-tooth giant beast made in order to tempt him, made him wonder too.
Resurrecting his mother and finding his Master. He was not sure if that was merely a bait used as a temptation or was there really a method to it. However, he did not have time to ask and had been sent off before getting any answers.
Since he couldn’t figure it out, Lyu Liang stopped thinking about it. Together with the others, he should focus on searching for opportunities and gaining access to the core area.
Three years passed had passed since the two teams of Lyu Liang and the blue-eyed youth had merged and they had become very famous. After successively killing the three groups that set out to provoke them, they became very well-known in the Land of Origin.
The ten people team of Lyu Liang had a distinctive feature. They often separated out into groups of ‘three or seven’. That was, three people were in a group and the other seven stayed away from the three, sometimes at a very far distance.
The teams that picked on these people generally assumed that these three were arrogant, playful and seemingly unprepared. Thus, they treated them as if they were cash cows.
However, the end result was that even though the three people continued to chit chat, their hands were always ready for any action. One of the red-haired men drew out a seemingly ordinary long knife from the Void and waved it about casually. Although no sword light or Sword Qi could be seen, anyone who came close to him would certainly lose an arm and or a leg!
Another sloppy man was even more cruel. He would throw a long black needle that was as thin as a hair, at the opponent and continued to chat with the other two.
These dark flying needles seemed to have to able to track the enemy as they zoomed in on them. When they came within ten feet of the victim, the person could no longer move, and then basically waited for the needle to pierce through their Divine Soul.
There was also another man that made others feel helpless, as he would not fight or kill. Instead, he would raise a silver shield that shrouded everyone. No matter how you chased or slashed outside, they would continue to chat inside! The usual result was that before anyone broke through the shield, the other seven people who were not in the area, would usually turn up and join the battle.
Over time, all the teams in the Land of Origin deliberately started avoiding this strange team of ten people. Fortunately, the three people who were always laughing and joking never took any notice of anyone who passed by, as long as no one started provoking them.
Six months after entering the Land of Origin, Lyu Liang and others did not encounter any other opponent’s provocation and this allowed them to focus on finding the fortunes.
At the end of the first year, they found a powerful figure’s cave residence which came with a three-layer protection. The outermost layer could be taken down by forced entry and the puppets smashed it easily. The second layer was a spell consisting of the Space Law. Under the joint efforts of Zhu Yan and the blue-eyed youth, it was quickly broken. The third layer’s spell directly transformed into five human-shaped puppets in the Late-stage of Nascent Soul. Everyone laughed happily. There was no sense of oppression as they were at the same level. After a while, the five puppets were easily destroyed.
In this powerful figure’s cave residence, they found a large amount of middle, upper-grade and even some ultimate-grade Primordial Stones. Lyu Liang had a strange feeling. The cave residence in the Land of Origin of Demon Clan contained the Primordial Stones! Could it be that a powerful figure from the Human Clan had lived here?
Later, everyone found a lot of magic treasures, including two magic treasures at the immortal standard. Both were the defensive type. Naturally, each team took one piece each. Lyu Liang gave his to Li Wuyi. After all, he was the weakest and another magic treasure would do him good. Lyu Liang chose a cyan sword that was rumored to be a magic treasure at the Void Return stage. Although he did not know its name, it was inevitably the best choice for him, as he specialized in Sword Tao.
Within the remaining two years, they had challenged three cave residences of powerful figures. All of them participated together. For those residences that only allowed one person to enter, everyone agreed not to take risks. As for the harvest, everyone reaped something. Lyu Liang got a protective magic treasure that could isolate detection through Divine Sense.
Lyu Liang was not sure if Black could follow him, on a long term basis, for his whole life. Also, some Bounded Domain like the one he encountered during the seven mortal days would directly isolate Black. If he encountered similar situations in the future, he needed the means to hide his secrets.
Finally, at the end of the third year, they reached a huge cave covered by thick black fog. It was similar to the description of the core area that Lyu Liang knew. The sloppy man declared solemnly for the first time that this should be the core area.
As for using the Demon Emperor Horn to gain entry, it was the first time for everyone, and they planned to explore it first before making any decisions.
The thick black fog had a strong prohibition spell. All the attacks everyone tried on it did not work; it slid off easily like mud into the sea. Nothing worked.
A month later, Lyu Liang took the Demon Emperor Horn out. When the horn came into contact with the black fog, a strange four-cornered blue light formation appeared in front of Lyu Liang’s feet. His position was right above the center of the circle in the formation.
If the instructions were correct, there should be four people at the four corners of the formation and everyone would then be transported directly.
Nobody really knew what would happen once they gained entry; would they be separated again like the time when they entered the Land of Origin? Everyone was cautious.
At this point, the sloppy man took out five small palm-sized puppets and handed them to the five people on Lyu Liang’s team. He told them that this was a set of five “Mind-divine puppet”. When each person sent a piece of their Divine Soul into the puppet, they would be able to sense each other within a circumference of a million feet!
Lyu Liang and others were overjoyed. They followed the sloppy man’s instructions and had everything done. Then, the remaining four people stood at the four corners. At the same time after the last person stood on it, a light flashed and Lyu Liang’s team disappeared.
At this time, the team of the blue-eyed youth did not enter directly like Lyu Liang, but turned their eyes to the sloppy man, who was deep in thought.
After a while, the sloppy man sighed and turned to the blue-eyed youth and the beautiful woman, “Bi Huo, Chi Shui, combine the five elements puppets now! If Rosefinch is not wrong, there will be a lot of nasty stuff waiting for your grand master inside!”
“Yes!” The two answered together. Subsequently, each person was surrounded by four faceless human-shaped puppets with a height of twenty-two feet. Surprisingly, the stern-faced man and the pockmarked youth inserted themselves among the four puppets, with faces that showed no emotions at all.
“Merge!” With the sloppy man’s howl, the colorful lights flashed, showing two colorful 55 feet tall puppets! Their faces were that of the stern-faced man and pockmarked youth. Every puppet exuded an aura that was close to the cultivation of the Fairy Immortal, which was truly amazing!
A flash of approval showed in the eyes of the sloppy man and he whispered to the Chishui Fairy, “No wonder you are the pro-disciple of Xiao Rou, this True Spirit puppet feat was well done! The two masters in Lyu Liang’s team did not even notice them! When we go back, we should make you the chief of Wanxiang Sect. Bi Huo, do you agree?”
Bi Huo showed a rare smile. He also whispered, “I have no intention to become the chief in the first place. Master should understand that my only wish is to return to the Pangu Origin world to find Xiao Tao! After finding her, I will fulfil the promise that I made and live in seclusion with her in paradise and I hope Master can grant my wish!” After that, he made a deep bow.
“Hey, you! If you don’t use your mind to study the small feats like ‘Mind-Divine puppet’, your achievements in the Tao of the puppet will not be necessarily worse than your Junior Sister!” Although the sloppy man shook his head and sighed, his tone was full of praise. Then, heaving a long sigh, his eyes beamed and shouted, “Let’s go. It’s our turn!”
In the formation, the sloppy man was in the middle, the two puppets and two people were standing at the four corners of the formation Lights flashed and everyone disappeared.
…
After Lyu Liang was transmitted with others, he lost his sight for a moment and then regained it. Looking around, he saw the other four people who appeared. It seemed that this transmission did not separate them and everyone feltl relieved. At this time, the Demon Emperor Horn’s Demon Qi had dispersed and it looked like a normal beast horn. Lyu Liang shook his head slightly and put it away.
However, everyone immediately looked very concerned. If the outer territory of the Land of Origin was a paradise, then the core area looked like the ends of hell.
They saw a dark world where the ground cracked, thunder could be heard rumbling and dark clouds rolled by constantly! At the same time, the scattered ruins were a reminder that this place had experienced an earth-shattering battle!
Lyu Liang and the others were surprised at what they saw. Suddenly, an emotionless voice echoed in the air, “Founder discovered, protection Bounded Domain, open!”
As the voice rang out, five strange shaped puppets appeared in the void: tall, short, fat, thin and flat… but without exception, they all emitted an aura that showed cultivation at the Middle-stage of Nascent Soul.
Although everyone was curious about who was the “founder” that the voice was referring to, they did not have much time to think about it. Suddenly the five puppets rushed over to Lyu Liang and the others. Their killing intentions were obvious!
“Everyone, take on one puppet and guard yourself well. Destroy your own puppet and then help the others! Second brother, release the shield, but protect yourself first!” Lyu Liang made these plans in an instant; everyone did as told and each chose a puppet. The battle began.
Lyu Liang was in top form and even used the fifth art of Heart Swordsmanship that he had recently cultivated- the Mortal Heart Swordsmanship. After a while, Lyu Liang was clearly winning the battle. The tallest puppet opposite him was smashed into pieces and scattered all over the ground.
Zhu Yan and Xu Mubai were the next to slash their opponents into pieces.
Everyone was greatly relieved; the two remaining two puppets suddenly retreated and quickly rushed to the ground. The most astounding thing was that the shards on the ground started to tremble violently. At the same time when the two puppets landed on the ground, a colorful light flashed and a huge 44 feet tall puppet appeared in front of everyone. The most terrifying part about it was that it exuded an aura of cultivation at the Early-stage of Void Return!
Everyone was dumbfounded! Lyu Liang gritted his teeth and asked himself,“Do I have to use the last Soul-raising Pill here?
Just as he took out the Soul-raising Pill, a human-shaped 55 feet tall puppet appeared in the void, right in front of Lyu Liang and others. Then, with outstretched arms, he pressed on the shoulder of the Early-stage Void Return puppet that had rushed over.
Lyu Liang and others were shocked at first, but joyful once they realized that this huge puppet was obviously here to help. Its body exuded an aura at the Late-stage of Void Return, which gave everyone a sense of reassurance.
Sure enough, it didn’t require much effort and soon, the puppet at the Early-stage of Void Return was slashed into pieces. It was a pity that the good times did not last long. Before Lyu Liang and the others could pull themselves together, another 44-feet tall puppet at the Early-stage of Void Return appeared at the void again. This time, it had a huge sword in its hand!
The puppet that had been slashed into pieces managed to rise and regrouped itself and it rushed at them again. At the same time, a 55-feet tall puppet appeared in the void, just in time to stop it.
While Lyu Liang and others waited and watched, the voice of the sloppy man could be heard saying, “Now go to the place ahead, below the dilapidated walls where the blue lights are flashing!”
Although not really aware of what was happening, Lyu Liang and others instinctively chose to believe him and quickly flew over.
At the same time, the sloppy man and the other three emerged in the void and quickly flew over to the dilapidated walls as well.
Just as Lyu Liang and others reached their destination, the two strange puppets who were fighting with the puppets at Late-stage of Void Return suddenly disappeared.
Lyu Liang calmed himself and then bowed to the sloppy man and two others that flew over, “Thank you guys for your help!” At the same time, he was also wondering where the other two men were? But then, when he saw the two 55-feet tall puppets, he suddenly understood what was going on!
No wonder during the entire journey, these two men never smiled and their auras were weird too. They blended well into the background. It turned out these two were puppets!
While admiring their skills, at the same time, he had some doubts too. If the sloppy man could clearly point out where the safe haven was, then he must know the rules! Has he been here before?
The sloppy man seemed to be aware of Lyu Liang’s doubts and laughed, “Yes, not only I have been here, but I know who is the ‘founder’ mentioned by the voice!”