The reliefs on the murals leaped into life as blood washed over them. Each sculpture was semi-translucent and looked like a ghost. Collectively they looked like a bunch of extremely powerful spirits.
"Is this the resurrection of devils?"
Everyone began retreating from the vicinity of the murals and stood at a relatively safe distance away. The huge sects of the Cultivation World began to gather, as did the warriors of the Demon Race.
"Don"t panic, everyone. These relief sculptures that have come to life are not devils. I believe they are dark souls used to suppress the Divine Tool," said Wuming, the monk from the Temple of Six Buddhas, in a low voice.
In the blink of an eye, more than 10 sculptures had come into life after being splashed with blood. Half of them dashed toward the pract.i.tioners from the Cultivation World. Ye Que was following behind Red Bean and did not stand with the other pract.i.tioners. Both of them were rogue cultivators who belonged to no sect and they were afraid that the other pract.i.tioners would not be happy if they went over to them. Furthermore, Red Bean had been in an argument with Li Jianqi not long ago.
The Deputy Night Timekeeper of the Judicature had addressed Li Jianqi as "Your Highness". It was proof that her status was incredibly important.
The relief sculptures of the dark souls looked exactly the same when they were alive. They looked like swordsmen and demonic warriors, but there was no life in their eyes, and their bodies seemed to be ethereal and stone-like at the same time.
The sculptures had lost their sense of pain and ability of thought, but not how to fight. Perhaps it was because it was already ingrained in them.
A swordsman dark soul relief unleashed the Qingfeng sword skill of Mount Shu. Its sword was made of stone but incredibly sharp, and each blow was aimed at the vital organs of its opponent; they were incredibly vicious. At the same time, a demonic warrior followed behind him, and the emblem on its chest showed that it used to be a wolf cub of the Wind Tribe. It moved its fingers swiftly, and a Lethal Wind Curse came crashing onto its opponents behind the sword of Mount Shu.
Users of the Qingfeng sword technique defeated their opponents with chains of attacks, but they lacked offensive power. With the Lethal Wind Curse, however, its characteristics were completely changed.
Even Jiang Liuyun, who was head and shoulders above anyone else from his generation in Mount Shu, was a little stunned. He had never imagined that the Qingfeng sword skill could be combined with the curse of the Wind Tribe; it was simply amazing.
"Set up the formation."
"Seven Wonders Trapping the Clouds."
Jiang Liuyun looked at the onrushing dark soul reliefs and shouted before taking a step forward.
Instantly, six more disciples of Mount Shu followed his orders and walked up to his back, taking up their positions with their swords ready. Among them were Chen Qing and Zhuo Bufan.
The spot where Ye Que and Red Bean were standing at was also attacked by a dark soul.
"Stand behind me," whispered Red Bean softly before closing her oil paper umbrella. The paper wrapped tightly around the umbrella"s shaft, forming an object like a short staff.
Red Bean did not shout in anger or give out a dainty cry. Instead, she tapped the tip of her feet and stabbed with her umbrella, piercing the dark soul"s wrist. The semi-transparent creature looked as though it was touched by lighting the instant the umbrella hit it, as if there was some sort of energy on the oil paper umbrella that had triggered the reaction.
A hoa.r.s.e groan was emitted by the dark soul, and it followed up with more concentrated attacks on Red Bean.
This time, however, it began to dodge, trying as much as possible to not allow the oil paper umbrella to hit its body.
Ye Que observed Red Bean while stealing occasional glances in Jiang Liuyun"s direction. Mount Shu was truly a leader of pract.i.tioners. Under Jiang Liuyun"s control, the Seven Wonders Cloud Trapping Formation was dealing with four dark souls without many problems. The disciples of Mount Shu looked as though they could defeat the dark souls soon.
As for the warriors of the Demon Race, there was no way they would be defeated by a few dark souls with Nan Xiufeng to lead them.
The dark souls seemed to be made up of a combination of Yin energy and soul power. Ordinary weapons would definitely be unable to harm them, but they could totally be killed by True Energy or True Force of higher power.
Within the time taken for five breaths, Red Bean had pierced through the skull of a dark soul with her umbrella.
A clear cracking sound followed. The dark soul instantly turned into a smatter of fairy light that dispersed into the air. The Seven Wonders Cloud Trapping Formation of Mount Shu also killed the dark souls attacking the pract.i.tioners as well.
Wuming, along with a few pract.i.tioners from the other sects who had survived, had basically not made many moves.
"The dark souls are merely as powerful as this!"
A disciple of the Sword Tomb on the Peak of Blight said softly. Before he could finish speaking, however, another group of relief dark souls had emerged from the murals. This time, there were 30 percents more of them.
Everyone focused their gazes on the reliefs.
"Let"s face our enemies together. Spread out a little and don"t commit fratricide," Jiang Liuyun said as he looked at the onrushing dark souls. He stole a glance at Chen Qing, who was standing beside him, and gave him a signal, as if wanting him to exit the Seven Wonders Cloud Trapping Formation.
Jiang Liuyun swept his gaze across the eight figures in black who had been following behind him as well. He did not communicate with them, nor did he instruct them to attack and destroy the dark souls.
Chen Qing immediately understood Jiang Liuyun"s intent and switched places with another disciple of Mount Shu. He ran off in the opposite direction as the dark souls swooped down, and he began to sneak into the main hall for a look.
They had to defend against the attacks of the dark souls to survive, but their goal of entering the mausoleum was obtaining the River Soldiers Divine Tool.
Very quickly, everyone else noticed Chen Qing"s actions. The Demon Race sent out a thin warrior to roam about the hall as well.
There was not much reaction from the people of the Cultivation World. It was not hard to understand why. They would allow Mount Shu to discover the location of the artifact before moving on it as well.
It was most important to conserve their strength for now!
The real battle for the artifact would only begin later on.
The strength of the dark souls was at most equivalent to that of pract.i.tioners at the Psychic Realm, and aside from the absence of the feeling of pain in them, they were not a big threat.
Time ticked on by slowly.
By now, more than 100 relief sculpture dark souls had been slain in the main hall. Red Bean herself had killed about seven to eight of them, and this caused the others to be secretly alarmed. The white-robed maiden seemed to be young, but her level of cultivation was extremely high. The umbrella in her hand was also definitely a high-level magical artifact and was most probably Level Three King Cla.s.s magic treasure. Otherwise, it could not have killed the dark souls so easily.
Chen Qing had already searched the entire main hall once by now, including the platform at the middle. He had not managed to discover anything out of the ordinary, however, nor had he triggered any mechanism. Throughout the entire process, he was ambushed by a dark soul who had been left behind by the others, and there was a wound about an inch deep on his back now.
The demon warrior tasked to search for any secret mechanism in the hall met with a more tragic conclusion. His pelvic bone was shattered by a dark soul who was about three meters tall. The demon did not die, but he had basically lost all ability to walk. It was akin to being sentenced to death within the dangerous Imperial Mausoleum.
The demonic warrior was savage. He found a suitable opportunity to ignite the Spiritual Sea of his Snow Mountain and perished along with the dark soul who had shattered his pelvic bone.
Ye Que followed closely behind Red Bean during this period of time and began focusing on replenishing the Divine Energy that was drained from his body. At the same time, he observed his surroundings with both eyes to look for any secret mechanism as well.
He could vaguely spot something odd about the platform used for religious rites. However, Chen Qing and the demon warrior had pondered over it for a long while without making any findings.
"Strange."
"This should not be the case."
"Since the gold python formed by my Divine Energy was stimulated so greatly by the platform, there"s no doubt that something is wrong with it."
Ye Que blanked out for a while. The relief sculptures on the murals began to change again, and a red glow flashed across the domed roof as another group of dark souls emerged. This time, however, their leader was evidently more tangible than his comrades from the previous waves; its body no longer looked as transparent as theirs.