The skeleton in the ninth palace shuddered, pulling at the chains and the spike, making them tremble as well. He also caused the mountain to start s.h.i.+vering faintly. He stared at Su Ming’s palm, stared at the strand of hair on his finger. A dim light gradually appeared on his dried up face. As that light spread through his body, life also seemed to have returned to his dried up body.
"Lie Shan Xiu…" Su Ming’s expression remained calm, but there was already a huge wave raging in his heart. This was the first time he heard that name, and based on this person’s words, this name belonged to the G.o.d of Berserkers… the first G.o.d of Berserkers!
"I could leave without bringing along the Earthen Aura dragon’s soul, but with this power of the G.o.d of Berserkers, not only can I just rain death upon you Spirits of Nine Yin, I can destroy this place sealing my crimson dragon. And judging by how it is acting as a seal, this place must also be a very important place to you Spirits of Nine Yin!
"It’d be to my best interests to destroy this place, but if I can’t, I can still leave unscathed if I coordinate the power of my cultivation with the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers... And from then onwards, I would search for every single one of you Spirits of Nine Yin who strayed off from your kind, and I will not stop until I kill every single one of you!
"You’ve already seen my divine ability just now. I can do what I just said!" Su Ming quelled the shock in his heart and declared languidly. He possessed the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers, and with it, he could even destroy Di Tian’s clone. This was also the reason why he was confident he could save the crimson dragon. It was also the reason why he chose to bear through so many difficulties and hards.h.i.+ps to arrive at the ninth palace!
If he had revealed the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers before he got close, then he would not be able to be as threatening as he was now. Only by showing off his abilities and bringing out this threat could he bring out the best result he desired!
As the skeleton in the palace recovered, the dim light in his eyes grew stronger. He stared at the strand of hair on Su Ming’s finger, and a complicated look mixed with nostalgia appeared on his face.
"Lie Shan Xiu was the first person who forced his way through the palaces… That was a very long time ago… This presence does indeed belong to him. I didn’t expect him to have taken that step…"
When he finished saying those words, the skeleton let out a long sigh and looked towards Su Ming. He did hear Su Ming’s threat clearly, and if he did not possess the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers, the skeleton would have just treated it as a joke. However, right at that very moment, what he said was not a joke!
"We can make a deal…" The skeleton had already completely recovered. He stood up from the ground slowly, and as he did, the chains on his body melted, and the spikes stuck to the ground loosened one by one before they disappeared without a trace.
When the skeleton stood up, Su Ming saw that he was not tall. He was just about the same height as him. As he stood there, a yellow robe gradually appeared on his body.
Su Ming did not speak. He only looked at the skeleton.
"I need the Earthen Aura dragon’s soul because the power of the Earthen Aura it contains is extremely useful for my people… But now, if you are willing to use the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers to help my people, then we will naturally no longer need this puny dragon soul!" The skeleton spoke slowly, and as he spoke, he lifted his right hand and pressed downwards.
Immediately, the crimson dragon’s picture on the ground distorted. As a low roar reverberated in the air, the picture melted, and as if a seal had been broken, the crimson dragon’s body manifested and flew up from the ground. It looked listless as it charged towards Su Ming.
At the same time, all the Spirits of Nine Yin within the eight palaces under the foot of the mountain stopped attacking, and instead, they started retreating before they returned to being statues. Immediately after, the Poison Corpse charged forth and returned to Su Ming’s side. The small snake also rushed towards him. Nascent Divinity returned last with Han Mountain Bell in tow.
During the entire process, the Spirits of Nine Yin did not try to stop them and simply allowed them to return to Su Ming’s side.
"This is a show of my sincerity," the skeleton said slowly as he looked towards Su Ming.
"If you agree to this, not only will I allow you to bring the Earthen Aura away, you will also receive our friends.h.i.+p. This friends.h.i.+p will last for eternity."
Without batting an eyelid, Su Ming put away Han Mountain Bell and his Nascent Divinity, then looked towards the skeleton, and spoke in a freezing voice.
"I heard the Shamans had the same friends.h.i.+p with your people in the past."
The skeleton now looked like an ancient old man. Towards Su Ming’s words, he only shook his head.
"There is no friends.h.i.+p between us and the Shamans. There is only a promise and a mutually beneficial relations.h.i.+p. They did not keep to the promise and brought this disaster on themselves. It has nothing to do with us Spirits of Nine Yin."
Su Ming frowned. He did not speak.
"Oh well, there’s no harm in me telling you this. The promise between my people and the Shamans was that we would help them open up an area of one million lis and allow them to build Shaman City. We would also willingly serve them if they give us what we want so that they can survive here.
"In return, they had to give us what we required once in a while. And every single time my people helped them, they had to give us what we needed! The Shamans couldn’t bring too many powerful warriors in a go either…
"But fifteen years ago, the Shamans broke their part of the promise first and caused the land to fall apart," the old man in yellow robes, who had transformed from the skeleton, explained with an ancient voice.
"Once I give you the power of the G.o.d of Berserkers, I will no longer have anything to threaten you with. If you go back on your word, I will be in danger," Su Ming’s stated slowly with a glint in his eyes.
The old man in yellow robes fell silent, then walked slowly forward until he moved out of the palace. As he stood outside, he looked towards the world outside.
Su Ming took a few steps back and maintained a certain amount of distance between them.
"Everyone… has their own home…" After a long while, the old man suddenly spoke in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"You have one, the Shamans have one, and Lie Shan Xiu also had one… Similarly, we Spirits of Nine Yin also have a home… Now, the World of Nine Yin is sealed, and no one from the world outside can enter, and neither can anyone from within leave. Do you want to leave this place?" The old man turned his head around and looked at Su Ming.
Su Ming’s heart shuddered. During the past few days, he had been unwilling to think about this. The things that had happened to Fated Kin had moved his heart greatly, but he had a vague hunch that it was going to be incredibly difficult for them to leave the World of Nine Yin.
However, he did not give up hope. Instead, he had decided that once everything had been settled, he would go and search for a chance to leave this place, no matter how slim that hope was.
"If you help us, you will also be helping yourself…" the old man said slowly.
Su Ming remained silent.
"When we worked with the Shamans, we thought about using them to gather the necessary materials we needed because they could go in and out with ease. Over the endless amount of years, we only had one wish… and that was to go back home!
"For this, we worked together with the Shamans. For this, we were willing to serve the Shamans. For this, my people brought that crimson dragon back. All of this was just so that we could go home…
"Our home is not here in the World of Nine Yin. Neither is it in this True Morning Dao World. It is instead a world located in a universe that is very, very far from here - the True Sacred Yin World of the four Great True Worlds!" The old man’s voice was low, but the words he said made Su Ming’s breathing quicken and a great wave that surged into the skies raged in his heart.
"For this, we could give up on everything… As the evil spirit of my people through the ages, I acted out a show for the Shamans so that they would believe that our people were divided. My head was cut off and placed as an offering in Shaman City. I was turned into the Shamans’ war achievement and into the emblem of their glory as they stayed within these one million lis…." the old man mumbled.
‘True Sacred Yin World… True Morning Dao World… The four Great True Worlds!’ Su Ming remembered the Candle Dragon’s words before it had truly died.
"The Shamans did not keep to their promise and set up a Rune in this place fifteen years ago. They wanted to transfer a large amount of Shamans here in one go, but the Shamans didn’t know that once they truly did so, then they would bring forth a disaster that would affect the entire World of Nine Yin!
"If too much Yin Death Aura [1] from outsiders came into this place, the World Spirit would definitely activate its defenses and begin destroying all the lives here, even if it was still deep asleep...
"That is why I attacked. Before the World Spirit activated its defenses and began its ma.s.sacre, I destroyed that threat!" The old man in yellow robes shook his head.
"World Spirit?" Su Ming was momentarily stunned.
"You are a member of Lie Shan Xiu’s race. With his power protecting you, you aren’t considered an outsider… This World of Nine Yin may seem like a world, but in truth, it is an Enchanted Vessel of the True World belonging to us Spirits of Nine Yin!
"This Enchanted Vessel is incredibly big, and it is used by the Cultivators in the True Sacred Yin World to move back and forth through universes, and only these sort of Enchanted Vessels can obtain the power to break the barrier between worlds so that we can travel between two True Worlds!
"But many years ago, when we Spirits of Nine Yin went out on a mission by the orders of the True Sacred Yin Spirit, we ran into a Celestial Storm of the True World while we were moving between worlds… Our Enchanted Vessel was damaged greatly, and we were forced to come to this place…
"And we stayed… till now." There was nostalgia on the yellow-robed old man’s face when he whispered softly.
Su Ming’s heart shuddered violently. He instinctively took a few steps backwards, and it was difficult for him to hide the disbelief on his face.
"If that is the case, then why did the Candle Dragon, why…" Su Ming immediately opened his mouth and asked.
"The Candle Dragon, its descendants, one of the nine Sacred beasts… Isn’t the creature you see already dead..? The mission we received all those years ago was an order given to us by our Paragon True Sacred Yin Spirit. He told us to go to the other three True Great Worlds and gather the corpses of all the powerful existences in those worlds… What you see now is not even close to the strength the ancestor of my race possessed…" The yellow-robed old man’s gaze fell on Su Ming.
‘Sacred Bats, Drifting Roamers, Spirits of Nine Yin, Candle Dragons, and these races are just the ones within the one million lis… If what the old man said is true… then no wonder there are so many diverse races here!’
Su Ming’s breathing quickened as he quickly processed all that he had heard. He had a vague hunch that this person was not lying.
Su Ming was just about to say something when his heart suddenly leaped in his chest. He suddenly remembered the old man talking about the World Spirit activating its defenses and killing everything, and he mentioned this so called… Yin Death Aura from the outside world!
"What is this Yin Death Aura?"
The old man in yellow robes remained silent for a moment before he cast Su Ming a complicated look. "Over the years, even if we are considered one of the top ten powerful races to the True Sacred Yin Spirit, but… do you really think that my people can remain forever and not die..? It is especially so when we had to suffer the impact of the Enchanted Vessel being damaged, did you think… we would have survived?"
Su Ming was momentarily stunned, then his expression suddenly changed drastically. He suddenly remembered the skeleton in the palace before this old man’s life force was restored!
"You… You’re already dead?" There were loud, booming noises going off in Su Ming’s head.
"You can put it that way." The old man sighed.
"If you’re dead, how could you still appear here?! Are you a soul? Or are you a fragment of your will?" Su Ming forced down the shock in his heart. When he remembered the Candle Dragon’s will, he found that he could still offer an explanation to this, even though that explanation was very forced.
The old man remained silent and lifted his head to look at the sky. After a long while, he turned towards Su Ming. The complicated look on his face became more prominent with each pa.s.sing moment.
"Then why are you here as well?"
Translator’s Note:
1. Yin Death Aura: A concept derived from another concept that comes in the next chapter. Could have just translated it as sinister death aura instead of giving it such a name, but perhaps you’ll understand why I did so in the next chapter.