Chapter Seventy-Two: Lord of the Ruins
The door slammed shut behind him with a heavy thud. Blood continued to gush from the deep sword wound on his wrist. Ya Feiyu exhaled a breath of stale air, put his two fingers together, gathered spiritual power at his fingertips, and skillfully used magic to heal his wound. Seeing that his sleeves were stained with blood, Ya Feiyu simply folded up the cuffs, which would make it easier to move around.
The building behind the door is a hidden gem.
This place was much larger than Ya Feiyu had imagined. The corridors were designed with high ceilings, and walking through them made one feel clearly small. Torches burned on the walls, and from the outside, it seemed no different from ordinary ruins. However, Ya Feiyu could sense the demonic energy surging from the depths of the ground. This feeling of something constantly following him was not good. For someone as vigilant as Ya Feiyu, it was even more torturous than actually facing danger.
He braced his hand against the wall, running his fingers over the seemingly unremarkable stone. A thick layer of dust had settled on it, and even the slightest breeze he stirred up stirred up the dust, indicating that no one had visited this place for a long time. Ya Feiyu brushed the dust from his fingertips, and a fork in the road appeared before him, each path leading in a different direction. Ya Feiyu first peered out from the fork to make sure no one was around before analyzing the two paths before him.
However, in terms of appearance, there is no obvious difference.
The intersection on the left is wider, but there are fewer torches, and it gets dimmer as you go further in, with almost no light coming through. The intersection on the right is relatively narrow, and although it is bright, it has an eerie feel to it.
Both sides look like normal corridors, but who knows what might be inside these ruins?
This is a "cursed" site.
Ya Feiyu didn't think that a place where demonic cultivators could move freely would be particularly friendly to normal cultivators like them.
It is likely that the current calm is merely an illusion.
Thinking this, Ya Feiyu's gaze swept across the ground. Finally, he picked up a pebble and threw it deeper into the left-hand intersection. He threw it with force, the pebble hurtling into the darkness, but there was no echo as it landed. Ya Feiyu mentally counted to three. Just as the time was up, he heard a roar like that of a giant beast. From the darkness, it seemed as if a pair of crimson eyes had opened, maliciously searching for the person who had thrown the pebble at it.
Ya Feiyu quickly hid. It seemed the intersection to the left wasn't safe.
But does that mean the intersection on the right is definitely safe?
That's not necessarily true.
Ya Feiyu picked up another stone and threw it towards the right-hand intersection. The moment the stone grazed the ground, the wall instantly flipped, revealing countless launchers and unleashing a barrage of arrows. Almost no fly could get through. The seemingly harmless ground also concealed a trap; with another flip, it revealed a pit filled with scalding lava. The tiny stone, unable to pass through, fell into the lava and vanished without a trace.
The right side is not safe either.
With both obvious paths to the left and right blocked, Ya Feiyu stood still, his eyes lowered in thought. He then noticed what appeared to be some kind of pattern on the ground, though it was obscured by thick dust and the erosion of time, making it barely visible over the years. Ya Feiyu immediately bent down and wiped away the dust, revealing a complex array beneath his feet. He wasn't familiar with this array, but the patterns were clearly the same as those on the stone gate he had just seen.
Thinking about this, Ya Feiyu seemed to have an idea.
He bit his fingertip, squeezing out a drop of blood. The blood slid down his fingertip to the ground, splashing a small, deep bloodstain that landed precisely in the center of the intricate array. Ya Feiyu waited a moment, and sure enough, the blood was instantly absorbed by the array, bursting forth with a dazzling crimson light that clearly reflected in Ya Feiyu's seemingly empty silver eyes, only to vanish in an instant, as if reminding him that this was the correct method. He lowered his long eyelashes, bent down slightly, and pulled a short dagger from his sleeve, slashing his wrist.
The wound, barely healed, was reopened, and blood gushed forth, pooling in the center of the formation. The blood was rapidly absorbed, leaving the ground pristine as if nothing had ever been there. Once the blood was completely drained, the formation suddenly flashed with an extremely bright light. The next second, a small, flat patch of ground collapsed, revealing a downward passage with dust-covered stone steps.
"It seems this is the right path," Ya Feiyu thought, but just to be on the safe side, he picked up a pebble that had fallen to his feet and threw it down. He heard only an empty echo, which reassured him somewhat. He summoned Danqing and wore it by his side, just in case.
He raised his hand and ran it along the rough, uneven wall, pressing gently with his fingertips as he went down. After confirming that there were no hidden traps, he slowly descended, bracing himself against the wall. Who knew what traps might lurk in the territory of a demonic cultivator? Although Ya Feiyu didn't think he would be harmed by these little tricks, it was always better to be cautious and avoid injury if possible.
If he goes back injured again, his worried little apprentice will nag him to death.
A slight movement flickered in Ya Feiyu's eyes, like a candle flame swaying in the night, light and elusive.
...
Despite the torches burning on the walls, Ya Feiyu felt that the surroundings were gradually becoming darker.
As you go deeper, the lighting provided by the torches diminishes. There is only a faint warm light in a small cluster of spots near the torches, but if you move even a little to the side, it is all dark and gloomy, making you wonder if this place is a monster that will devour you.
Along with it came a chilling cold.
The deeper Ya Feiyu ventured into the darkness, the more he felt like a foolish man who had willingly walked into the jaws of a tiger, lost and adrift in the vast darkness. The surroundings seemed to grow ever larger, a faint chill lingering on his fingertips, refusing to dissipate, like a shadow. Ya Feiyu pursed his lips. His perception of demonic energy was stronger than others, and the ever-flowing demonic energy beneath the earth was truly unsettling. He felt as if his heart was suspended in mid-air, unable to find a stable foothold. He couldn't help but look back; the path he had come from had also vanished into the darkness. Looking ahead, all the torches had been extinguished. The moment light completely disappeared from this space, a terrifyingly cold wind swept in; the faint breeze from before was nothing more than a minor disturbance.
Ya Feiyu's pupils contracted. There was some unknown magic mixed in with the wind, with faint fluctuations of demonic energy. He almost immediately shielded his five senses, held his breath, and focused his mind. The surroundings were quiet, but the wind grew stronger.
"A cultivator...?"
A hoarse voice rang out beside his ear. Ya Feiyu was startled that the other person could get so close without him noticing. He turned his head sharply, but there was no one beside him. The voice seemed to come from the wind, with a rather ethereal quality, and it should belong to a man.
“Something’s not right…” This time the voice came from behind. Ya Feiyu couldn’t help but look back, but there was still nothing but darkness. “You’re not a cultivator…you have demonic energy on you…?”
"But..." This time it came from above, "...there's a surge of spiritual energy coming from the demonic cultivator..."
Something was moving in the darkness. Even with a careful look, Ya Feiyu could only vaguely make out a faint outline.
The mysterious object finally appeared before his eyes—a thick, black gas with two faintly glowing dots on it, presumably representing eyes or other facial features. Aside from the eyes, it looked no different from ordinary demonic energy. As if possessed, Ya Feiyu reached out to touch it. Logically, the gas should have passed through easily, but Ya Feiyu's hand was stuck to it. He paused slightly, withdrew his hand, and wiped the dense demonic energy from his fingertips.
"Who are you?"
The gas cloud churned twice: "I... am the master of this place..."
The master of this place? Ya Feiyu's eyes flashed: "You are the master of this ruin? The cultivator who left behind the Lingshan Ancient Sword?"
"What Lingshan Ancient Sword... I know nothing about these..." the gas replied slowly. "I left behind countless swords during my lifetime... many of which were the number one swords in the world at the time. As for the Lingshan Ancient Sword, I've never heard of it..."
Never heard of it before? Ya Feiyu pondered, "The Lingshan Ancient Sword is an iron sword, it may look a bit worn out..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was leisurely interrupted by the gas: "Iron swords? I have no shortage of iron swords... The swords here, over the years, are mostly broken... The sword you're talking about... could it just be a fabricated legend...?"
If it were his past self, he might not have taken the existence of the Lingshan Ancient Sword seriously. Just as the owner of the ruins said, the Lingshan Ancient Sword looks no different from an ordinary iron sword. Its only feature is that it was extremely broken when it was obtained. But among the iron swords stored here, how many are still intact after all these years? Picking out the legendary Lingshan Ancient Sword from among these swords would be no easy task.
But Ya Feiyu knew that the sword was real, even though it didn't sound so real.
"May I have the honor of seeing the armory?" Ya Fei bowed respectfully. "I have only come to find the iron sword and have no ill intentions."
"If I were still alive, I definitely wouldn't let you in... but now that I'm dead... I can't stop you now..."
The gas swirled around him a few times: "However... I have a request..."
"What?" Ya Feiyu asked instinctively.
"Explain to me... why do you possess both spiritual energy and demonic energy at the same time?" The voice of the energy ball seemed to become much clearer and more articulate when it came to this. "I read in an ancient book before I died that spiritual energy and demonic energy cannot be cultivated together unless one has a special physique or method that allows them to cultivate them together without suffering a qi deviation... How did you manage to do that?"
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