Chapter 1421: Wherever They Went, Not a Blade of Gra.s.s Grew
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
How could Yu Zhenghai’s saber attack not be ferocious when he managed to kill the beast king, a Drought Demon, with just a strike?
Yu Zhenghai was very satisfied. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he harvested the life heart from the Drought Demon’s carca.s.s.
The harvesting process was rather gruesome. Pan Zhong and Zhou Jifeng who could not adapt to this situation threw up immediately.
At this time, Yan Zhenluo asked, “Brother Kong, I remember reading somewhere that the Drought Demon was one of the zombie kings. How did it become a fierce beast?”
Kong Wen said with a smile, “The book must be wrong.”
“Then, what are the chances of us running into the zombie kings?” Yan Zhenluo asked.
Kong Wen replied, “The possibility is quite high. It’s rumored that a supreme being placed the ten zombie kings around the Pillars of Destruction to guard them. Ying Gou replaced Ya Yu as one of the ten zombie kings, but he was at the Great Qin’s Emperor Emeritus’ mausoleum instead. This means that something must have happened. Not many people can subdue a zombie king, after all.”
“Then we’re really lucky we didn’t encounter any zombie kings when we were at Yu Zhong,” Yan Zhenluo said with a nod.
“In any case, Ying Gou was a coward when faced with the Pavilion Master. Moreover, Tian Wu and Lord Zhennan whom we encountered at Yu Zhong aren’t any easier to deal with compared to the zombie kings,” Kong Wen said.
Everyone nodded.
Since the four elders and the guardians did not follow Lu Zhou to the Unknown Land, they were inwardly amazed by the stories of Lu Zhou’s feat. They were determined to seize this chance to see and listen more.
“As long as we don’t run into the first few zombie kings, there shouldn’t be any problem,” Kong Wen said.
“First few zombie kings?”
“The first few zombie kings were said to be true G.o.ds in ancient times. Otherwise, how could they have gained immortal bodies? For example, there’s Princess Mulberry whose name is Yao Ji. She was apparently the daughter of an emperor before she died and transformed into a zombie king. In any case, I’ve never met her before so I’m only speaking about what I’ve heard.”
When the conversation grew more ridiculous and irrelevant, Lu Zhou looked ahead and said, “Zombie kings don’t have a will of their own. Hence, there’s no need to worry so much.”
“Pavilion Master is wise.”
After killing the fierce beasts near the Cloud Peak Swamp, the group continued to move forward.
At this time, Pan Zhong hurried to Yu Zhenghai’s side and said, “Mr. First, let me do it, let me do it! You don’t have to do this!”
After that, Pan Zhong took the life heart from Yu Zhenghai and cleaned it before he put it away.
Zhou Jifeng could only drop his hands and muttered under his breath, “You f*cking beat me to it again.”
…
The people from the Evil Sky Pavilion continued to kill fierce beasts as they traveled. All the fierce beasts they encountered were killed, and their life hearts were harvested.
Lu Zhou did not make a move at all.
Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong’s strength had already pa.s.sed that of a Two Trial cultivator. There was also Qin Naihe whose strength was close to a Venerable Master, Lu Wu, and Cheng Huang.
With them around, the beast emperors they encountered were easily beaten up.
They maintained this rhythm for a full five days before they found a quiet place to rest at the foot of a mountain.
When night fell, Lu Zhou sent the Pillar of Impermanence into the ground before he said, “I’ll increase the speed of the Pillar of Impermanence by 100 times. Your cultivation speed will increase by 100 times, but your lifespan will also decrease 100 times faster. If you feel uncomfortable, you can leave the range of its effect, which is about a kilometer away.”
“Understood.”
Everyone bowed before they moved out to find a place to cultivate.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhou chose a beast king’s life heart to activate his 19th Birth Chart. Since he had just activated his 18th Birth Chart and pa.s.sed the third Birth Trial, he could use a more ordinary life heart to activate his 19th Birth Chart.
With the 100 times speed from the Pillar of Impermanence and the ease at which one could activate a Birth Chart after pa.s.sing a Birth Trial, Lu Zhou thought he would be able to easily activate his 19th Birth Chart. Hence, he decisively placed the life heart into his Birth Palace.
He decided to use the life heart of Fei. Fei was a fierce beast that resembled a bull. Its defenses were astonis.h.i.+ng, its attacks were strong, and its body was burly. Apart from not being able to fly, its abilities were quite well-rounded. Moreover, since it was a beast king, Lu Zhou thought it would be good to use its life heart to activate his 19th Birth Chart.
As expected, the process was very smooth. It quickly entered the second phase.
Since his disciples did not lack life hearts at the moment, he decided not to recycle the life heart.
At this time, Lu Zhou brought his blue avatar out to have a look. He muttered to himself before putting it away, “I still need some time before I can upgrade it.”
Sprouting a leaf would cost him 10,000 years. After pa.s.sing three Birth Trials, he indeed had quite a lot of years, but he could not be certain about the blue avatar’s lifespan consumption after it reached the Thousand Realms Whirling stage. Hence, he still had to be cautious.
…
At Cloud Peak Swamp in the Unknown Land.
A large number of people appeared in groups. They were tall and st.u.r.dy. All of them held a quarterstaff that was engraved with strange runes.
The leader of these people was taller than the others. He was the only person wearing a purple robe and a golden crown. The corners of his eyes were smudged with colors, and he wore a piece of silver nose jewelry on the bridge of his nose.
All of them, including the leader, had one thing in common: there was a hole in their chest.
These were the Void Chest tribesmen.
At this moment, several of the Void Chest tribesmen crawled around in the swamp, sniffing the ground and the air. Soon after, they left the swamp and came to their leader. Then, one of them said, “High Priest, I found them! It’s their smell!”
The high priest waved the scepter in his hand and said, “Chase after them!”
“B-but they’re very powerful…”
“We’re the kings of the Unknown Land! We have to get rid of these foreigners!” the high priest said.
With that, the other Void Chest tribesmen shouted in unison, “Get rid of the foreigners!”
The high priest waved his scepter, and the runes on the quarterstaffs in the tribesmen’s hands lit up immediately.
The runes connected and formed an inescapable net immediately.
Buzz!
The sound of energy resonating spread in all directions for 100 miles.
With this, all the Void Chest tribesmen within 100 miles received the signal from their high priest. They raised their heads to look at the sky and made a low humming noise.
The humming noise seemed to grow in intensity as Void Chest tribesmen gathered from all directions at an unimaginable speed.
…
Before dawn.
Lu Zhou, who was cultivating with his eyes closed, heard the humming noise and the sound of energy resonance.
“Hm?”
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had already successfully activated his 19th Birth Chart.
He could feel a powerful force coursing through his entire body at this moment, and the rich vitality energy in his body made him feel as though he had become younger.
He looked at the system interface.
Name: Lu Zhou
Race: Human
Merit points: 1,526,680
Remaining lifespan: 13,650,509 days (37,398 years)
Items: Critical Block Card x118(pa.s.sive), Golden Taixu Mirror, Deconstruction Card x2
Mount: Whitzard, Bi An, Ji Liang, Qiong Qi, Dang Kang, Di Jiang, Ying Zhao, Lu Wu
Weapon: Unnamed, Purple Glazed Ceramic(infinity grade), Confinement Seal(fusion grade), Pillar of Impermanence(infinity grade)
‘Not bad. I gained another 10,000 years of life,’ Lu Zhou thought to himself. His speed of improvement was not bad. Next, he would have to help his disciples and the others grow stronger.
Since he wanted to take the initiative to strike, it was imperative for him and everyone else to grow stronger.
Lu Zhou recited the mantra for the power of sight to observe his disciples.
…
Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong were meditating and cultivating, making steady progress.
Lu Zhou had always felt at ease with his eldest second disciples.
…
His third disciple was talking to Lu Wu at this moment.
“Lu Wu, you brag about how powerful Venerable Master Duanmu was every day. Is he really that powerful?” Duanmu Sheng asked.
“Of course!” An expression of nostalgia appeared on Lu Wu’s face as it said, “Among all the Venerable Masters, the only person who could defeat him was Lu Tiantong. Apart from that, he had never lost!”
“Then, how strong is my master compared to him?” Duanmu Sheng asked.
“This…” Lu Wu hesitated for a while before it lay down and closed its eyes after it said, “I’m tired.”
“Hey, you haven’t answered me yet! Isn’t it just a sentence? You can rest after answering me! Tell me, who’s more powerful?” Duanmu Sheng leaped to his feet.
The sound of snoring rang thunderously in the air.
Just as Duanmu Sheng was about to raise his Overlord Spear to poke Lu Wu, Lu Wu suddenly turned around and sent Duanmu Sheng flying with a swipe of its paw.
Bang!
“You!” Duanmu Sheng flipped in the air before he landed, sliding back for quite a distance.
Lu Wu opened one eye to have a look before it hurriedly closed it again.
…
When he tried to observe his fourth disciple, he discovered it was pitch black. It was likely that he was asleep.
…
His fifth disciple, Zhao Yue, was also improving tremendously.
Upon seeing this, he looked at the system interface. The effects of Eternal Paragon and Mentor were still effective on her. He sighed. It was still best to bring his disciples with him so they could improve faster.
…
His sixth disciple, Ye Tianxin, had benefited greatly from cultivating in the white tower’s training hall. Her speed was rather fast, and she was chasing up to Mings.h.i.+ Yin.
…
“Old Sev…” Lu Zhou paused.
As the saying went, ‘Old habits die hard’.
He sighed. He wanted to skip to Zhu Honggong but could not bear to do so. Instead, he chanted the mantra for the power of sight again.
“ For all living things in the universe, their lives, deaths, kindness, evil, merits, and sins can be clearly seen.”
“Ding! Ineffective target.”
Without hope, there would be no despair.
Lu Zhou sighed before he checked in on his eighth disciple.
Zhu Honggong was trying to sprout his twelfth leaf. However, since the process of sprouting the twelfth leaf was rather difficult, it seemed like it would take a while for him to do so.
…
The progress of his ninth disciple, Little Yuan’er, was exaggerated as usual. His worries were unfounded and unnecessary.
During their time here, she had already activated her ninth Birth Chart.
What made him feel the most speechless was that she did not feel even the slightest bit of discomfort when activating her Birth Chart.
In comparison, his tenth disciple, Conch, had fallen to the back among all his disciples. Fortunately, she had a good mentality and was very stable. She was not greedy for success nor was she overly compet.i.tive.
Lu Zhou was just about to cut off the power of sight when he heard Qiong Qi barking. He frowned slightly before he observed Mings.h.i.+ Yin immediately.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
Mings.h.i.+ Yin, who was startled awake, asked, “Why are you barking?”
Woof!
Qiong Qi stood on its hind legs and continued barking.
At this moment, Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong rushed over. The duo looked at Qiong Qi in confusion.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin rose to his feet and spread his arms as he said, “Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, I didn’t do anything. I don’t know why it’s going crazy. Ignore it.”
Qiong Qi growled at this moment, baring its fangs. Then, its fur stood on end.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin, who was the most familiar with Qiong Qi, had never seen it like this before. He crossed his arms and looked at it curiously as he asked, “What do you want? If you can’t give me a good explanation, I’ll stew you for dinner tomorrow!”
“…”
Mings.h.i.+ Yin leaned against the tree and observed Qiong Qi.
Yu Shangrong smiled slightly and said, “Fourth Junior Brother, it must be having a breakthrough of some kind.”
“A breakthrough?”
Yu Shangrong looked at Mings.h.i.+ Yin and said, “The Great Void energy. After following you for so long, it’s been nourished by the Great Void Seed. Its aura and strength have clearly grown stronger.”
Yu Zhenghai glanced at Yu Shangrong and said, “This is what it means to ride someone else’s success…”
Ming s.h.i.+yin: “…”
Yu Shangrong said with a hint of envy, “It’s a pity Ji Liang didn’t stay by my side for long. Otherwise, with its talent, it would be very strong now.”
Yu Zhenghai said, “Bi An has never stayed by my side before.”
“Eldest Brother, don’t you have Kui Niu? It’s a rare fierce beast as well,” Mings.h.i.+ Yin said.
“During the battle in the Divine Capital, when Eldest Senior Brother died for the third time, Kui Niu left after sensing his death,” Yu Shangrong explained.
“Oh…” Mings.h.i.+ Yin turned to Yu Zhenghai and said, “I’m sorry, Eldest Senior Brother. I didn’t mean to bring that up.”
“It’s not a big deal.” Yu Zhenghai shrugged.
At this moment, Qiong Qi began to grow bigger. Its fur began to brighten and grow longer as well.
Mings.h.i.+ Yin looked at it in surprise.
After an hour, Qiong Qi finally stopped growing.
Yu Zhenghai nodded and said, “It can still grow a lot. From the looks of it, it might not be any worse than Lu Wu in the future.”
Mings.h.i.+ Yin grinned. He was in a good mood. He patted Qiong Qi as he said, “Thank you for your praise, Eldest Senior Brother.”
With that, Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong left.
The others who were alarmed by Qiong Qi’s barking came over to have a look as well but quickly left once Mings.h.i.+ Yi briefly explained what had happened.
…
Lu Zhou cut off the power of sight.
“No wonder all these fierce beasts like my disciples so much.”
In the past, he had thought the fierce beasts only liked the Great Void energy. Later on, he learned that the Great Void energy could nourish them and help them to increase their strength greatly.
With this, he thought about Whitzard.
“Purchase beast essence.”
“Ding! Used 100,000 merit points. Obtained: one beast essence.”
Since Lu Zhou did not have the Great Void Seed or Great Void energy, he could only give Whitzard beast essences.
“Whitzard.”
Whitzard had been lying next to Lu Zhou. Who knew what it was chewing on, but it had been chewing for a long time. When it saw the beast essence in his hand, it stood up excitedly.
Lu Zhou threw the beast essence over.
Whitzard swallowed the beast essence whole into its stomach and bleated once.
“…”
“You’re Whitzard, after all. Your intelligence shouldn’t be low, right? You can’t be greedy.”
Whitzard retreated to the side, but it clearly looked dissatisfied as it digested the beast essence.
Lu Zhou nodded his head in satisfaction when sensed that Whitzard’s aura was changing.
…
When the sky brightened, Lu Zhou put away the Pillar of Impermanence and led the people from the Evil Sky Pavilion to Ji Ming.
During their journey, not a single blade of gra.s.s grew in the places they flew past.
…
Five days after the people from the Evil Sky Pavilion left.
A huge group of Void Chest tribesmen appeared at the foot of the mountain where the people from the Evil Sky Pavilion had rested previously.
“High Priest, it’s their scent!”
The high priest raised his head to look at the sky with a deep gaze as he said, “Their speed isn’t slow. Chasing after them like this isn’t a solution.”
Then, the high priest set his scepter down before he brought out a string of bamboo slips. Squiggly letters could be seen on the bamboo slips he held in his wizened hands. When he joined his palms together with the bamboo slips in between, the letters suddenly lit up. Following that, he dropped the bamboo slips to the ground.
After a short moment, the bamboo slips flew out one after another before they stabbed into the ground, and the light from the letters dimmed.
Upon seeing this, the high priest exclaimed in surprise, “Ji Ming?”
“Ji Ming? T-the Pillar of Destruction? There are zombie kings protecting that place. D-do we still have to chase after them?”
The high priest said, “Those foolish foreigners are seeking death. I will represent the Void Chest tribe and represent the superior race to fulfill their death wis.h.!.+ I will use those foreigners’ blood to pay tribute to our superior race!”
“Pay tribute to our superior race!”
Everyone cheered pa.s.sionately.
“Let’s go!”