Book 9: Nine Swords Immortal Mansion
B9C1: The Wilderness’s real power
There is a huge divine beast on either the left or right hand side of the luxurious vast hall. They are giving off their auras wantonly, but even so, the smiling black-robed man on the upper part of the hall makes everybody feel far more mentally oppressed than they do.
“Meow ~~” All of a sudden, the snowy cat on the thighs of the black-robed man meows gently.
Immediately, the Dragon Rocky lion and the Hong Luan suppress their auras completely. The Dragon Rocky lion now looks like a small mountain while the Hong Luan gradually absorbs the flames around it into its body. In contrast, the snowy cat glances at everybody with its golden eyes.
“Expert!”
Everyone’s face changes color greatly. Judging from this glance alone, they can tell that this snowy cat is absolutely an expert and, moreover, a super expert. The snowy cat swings its tail then shuts it eyes and lies quietly on the black-robed man’s thighs again.
“Yan Mo?” Azure Dragon looks at the black-robed man, his pupils contracting.
That black-robed man called Yan Mo says smilingly: “Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t stand on ceremony too much. I already knew about your recent movements in my Wilderness some time ago. Come, sit down first then we’ll slowly talk. There are many things I want to discuss with you about.”
At the moment, there is a line of stone chairs on both the left and right sides of the lower part of the hall.
With a cold humph, Old Freak Three-Eyed becomes the first to go the left line of chairs and take the first seat directly. Afterwards, Yi Da gently draws a breath and says smilingly: “Interesting, interesting, the whole thing is getting more and more interesting now.” As he is saying so, he sits down too.
The others also sit down one by one, except for Azure Dragon and Teng Shan, who keep standing.
Azure Dragon is staring at the black-robed man above him with a solemn expression. Teng Shan beside him is just following his lead. Suddenly, Azure Dragon says: “Yan Mo, why are you still using an illusion technique in front of us? Do you think it can fool us?”
A smile appears on the corners of the black-robed man’s mouth: “You’re right.”
He unexpectedly changes from a normal man into a dragon-headed man in an instant. This black-robed man turns out to be a dragon. He has not gone through the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation so naturally he cannot take a full human form.
In general, only those who are as strong as or stronger than the user of an illusion technique can see through it.
“I’m surprised you can see through my illusion technique.” Yan Mo looks at Azure Dragon curiously.
This Yan Mo’s head is that of a black dragon. His horns are even sharper and his air of lordliness is even stronger than Azure Dragon’s. He is none other than a black dragon. Even in the dragon clan, black dragons are a sub-species with extremely powerful offense.
Azure Dragon goes to the left line of chairs, takes a seat and says with an indifferent smile: “Your power level is very high so naturally I’m still unable to see through your illusions. But … I can recognize that snowy cat’s true form. It should be a divine beast Zhe Chu, right?”
Qin Yu is amazed. Having read so many Xiuzhen books, he is certainly aware of the Zhe Chu’s famous name too. This Zhe Chu also has dragon blood like that Dragon Rocky lion, which is born to a dragon and a Fiery Rocky lion.
“So what if it is? You could discover my illusion technique using this alone?” Yan Mo says with a smile.
However, Azure Dragon says: “Dragon Rocky lion, Hong Luan and Zhe Chu are all divine beasts. Moreover, the Wilderness is a world of demonic beasts. If you were not a divine beast, even though you’re powerful, it would still be impossible for you to make these 3 divine beasts submit to you.”
Yan Mo praises with a nod: “That’s true. Divine beasts are haughty, even if other demonic beasts are powerful, they generally won’t submit to them, unless the gaps in power are extremely great.”
Azure Dragon continues: “Therefore, I figured out that you’re a divine beast. Plus, you said that you’re only the outermost ruler of the Wilderness so I thought … you shouldn’t have overcome the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation. If even the outermost ruler had gone through this tribulation, I simply couldn’t imagine how powerful the experts of the inner parts are.”
“Smart. I haven’t undergone the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation indeed.”
“As a divine beast that hasn’t gone through the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation, you’re naturally a beast-headed man. So I concluded you’re using illusions.” Azure Dragon says firmly.
Pa! Pa!
Yan Mo claps smilingly. “Not bad, not bad. I never expected you to have such a good brain, Azure Dragon. All right, judging from your expressions and the looks in your eyes, all of you must have many questions. Feel free to ask me.”
After saying so, Yan Mo glances at everybody.
The black dragon head looks even more ferocious than Azure Dragon’s dragon head so even though Yan Mo’s mouth corners are curving up into a smile, everybody is still somewhat frightened by him. After all, a black dragon is a divine beast whose offense is even stronger than an azure dragon’s and this black dragon is at a higher power level than Azure Dragon …
“In fact, my power level is not high. I’m only at the middle Kongming stage and still some distance away from the Dujie stage.” Yan Mo gently strokes the snowy cat with a hand and says smilingly.
The middle Kongming stage is still not high?
Qin Yu and the others are speechless for a while. As a middle Kongming-stage divine beast, this Yan Mo is exactly one level above Azure Dragon, who has only reached the early Kongming stage. Even so, the gap in power between them is not too great. If everybody joins forces, they can still subdue him with some certainty.
“Brother Yan Mo, I want to ask you a question.” Yi Da says with a smile.
Yam Mo says smilingly with a nod: “Please ask, brother Yi Da, the Purple-Haired Dungeon King of the Purple Flame Devilish Dungeon.”
Hearing these words, everybody’s heart gets a shock because this outermost ruler of the Wilderness, this mysterious Yan Mo, knows very well about the overseas Xiuzhen world. Despite having never met them before, now he can differentiate one of them from another easily.
The enemy knows about them clearly, but they know almost nothing about him.
Yi Da continues: “Brother Yan Mo, just now you said you’re the holder of the 9th jade sword. Could it be the jade sword in your hands? But how did you know about the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion business?”
Yi Da does not understand how Yan Mo knew about the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion because even though Yan Mo can collect information about the overseas Xiuzhen world, this matter is a secret only known about by the top echelons of the overseas Xiuzhen world.
Yan Mo says smilingly: “Speaking of this, it was really very dangerous. Several tens thousand li from here, there is my Black Dragon City. In the past, when I knew that all of you had come into the Wilderness, as the outermost ruler, I had to treat you politely so I ordered all the Xiuyaoists at the Jindan stage and above to gather in the area around Black Dragon City — the Black Dragon domain.”
Only when everybody hears this do they suddenly understand.
It turns out they did not see any formidable demonic beasts because Yan Mo had already ordered these beasts to gather in the Black Dragon domain.
“Of course, there was a little misunderstanding later. Most recently, a group of troops entered the Black Dragon domain despite having been warned. Oh dear, my subordinate Dragon Rocky lion is a bit hot-tempered so he unexpectedly killed them all. Though they were wrong for not heeding the warning, ma.s.sacring them like that was too bloodthirsty, wasn’t it?” Yan Mo says while looking at Azure Dragon.
“Overlord, I was rash.”
A deep voice resounds through the main hall. Everybody looks towards the source of the voice. It is none other than that Dragon Rocky lion, which is like a small mountain.
Azure Dragon says with an indifferent smile: “No need to blame Dragon Rocky too much, brother Yan Mo. My subordinates were indeed wrong in this matter. Though they were already killed, I’ve got no complaints about this.” He said so, but n.o.body really believes his words.
“Don’t change the subject.” Yi Da says frowningly.
Yan Mo says with a nod: “A long time ago, my forces discovered the peculiarity of this place. The entrance which you all went through, that quiet deep cave, do you think it’s unique?”
Everybody is startled.
Could it be that quiet deep cave is not the only one of its kind?
“It’s not. There are 8 caves in total. The entire keeping place of the 9th jade sword is built according to a very profound formation. In the past, I went in with my subordinates through another quiet deep cave and eventually reached a large cave. Facing a choice between 9 pa.s.sages, I checked them out using my subordinates. Luckily one of the 9 subordinates I sent survived while the others died. After going through that pa.s.sage of life, I eventually came to this place and obtained the 9th jade sword.”
Yan Mo points to towards everybody’s back smilingly: “Look behind you, everybody, there are exactly 8 pa.s.sages of life.”
There are 8 quiet deep caves so naturally there are 8 large caves, 72 pa.s.sages and 8 pa.s.sages of life.
“Oh? Checking out the pa.s.sages with your subordinates? 8 died, 1 survived?” Di Long says. “Brother Yan Mo, you said one of the subordinates sent by you survived. We also used the same method, but … why did all of the people we sent into the 9 pa.s.sages die?”
Yan Mo gives a broad smile, looking very amused.
“In theory, anyone who goes into a pa.s.sage of life should survive, but that Xiuzhenist died because … I killed him.” He answers.
Everybody’s expression freezes. Now they finally understand why the Xiuzhenists who entered the 9 pa.s.sages all died — Yan Mo killed the last of them. However … Yan Mo was a bit excessive by doing so. Is this not the same as pus.h.i.+ng everyone into a pa.s.sage of death?
Had they not had a method of searching for the 9th jade sword, they would have had to randomly choose a pa.s.sage to enter, which would definitely have killed most of them.
Old Freak Three-Eyed says with several cold laughs: “Yan Mo, you went a little overboard. What you did is no different from trying to kill us with the pa.s.sages of death. Who could have thought you would dare to reveal it and even dare to meet us directly here? Could it be you aren’t afraid of us ganging up on you?”
Azure Dragon, Yi Da, Reverend Yan Xu and the others all look at Yan Mo, including a first-cla.s.s expert like Hou Fei and those who are somewhat weaker than him such as Qin Yu, Hei Yu, Di Long, Di Jian, Situ Xue, Jiao Jiu, Reverend Huo Tian and Reverend Di Feng, who all have a Kongming-stage offense.
At this moment, everybody from the overseas Xiuzhen world is undoubtedly standing on the same side.
“Ha-ha … you still want to fight?” Yan Mo turns his face upwards, laughing out loud with no fear. “That’s right. If you join forces, you really can be one up on me, but have you all gone bonkers? When I dare to sit here, how can I not have some methods of dealing with you?”
The pupils of everybody contract.
“Kaka, Yan Mo, I’m curious to know why you killed that man who had gone into the pa.s.sage of life. If we really hadn’t known which pa.s.sage it is and had died in a pa.s.sage of death, our jade swords would’ve fallen down in a pa.s.sage of death. As the holder of the 9th jade sword, could you have just watched the other swords in a pa.s.sage of death doing nothing? Could you have given up searching for that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion?”
Hou Fei asks rhetorically and everybody else understands his meaning.
Obviously this Yan Mo should have a method for entering the pa.s.sages of death safely.
Yan Mo’s eyes brighten and look at Hou Fei in admiration: “You’re really smart, monkey. Not bad … When I obtained the 9th jade sword, I became the controller of this great formation so naturally all pa.s.sages of life and of death are also under my control. No one else can go into a pa.s.sage of death, but I can.”
“Control this great formation?”
Azure Dragon and the others all exchange a look, having a bad feeling.
Who knows how powerful this great formation actually is? After all, this mysterious formation was left behind by an immortal so it may have some special attacks. If Yan Mo a.s.saults them with it, that will be bad for them.
“Humph.” Yan Mo utters a cold humph, his face suddenly changing color. “You all want to kill me to take my jade sword, right?”
Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Qin Yu and the others frown. Yan Mo, who was still laughing moments ago, has now had a great change of att.i.tude.
But he laughs again: “Ha-ha, I’m surprised you’re all scared stiff. To tell you the truth, this main hall is safe. Though I can control the formation, I can’t hurt you in this hall … but would I be afraid of you?”
“Though you can gain the upper hand and badly injure me if you join forces, it should be easy for me to kill some of you then run away, right?” Yan Mo asks rhetorically.
Indeed, if a middle Kongming-stage divine beast risks heavy injury to kill some of them then flees, he will very likely succeed. If Yan Mo goes all out, he can even perish together with everybody.
Yan Mo says smilingly: “Don’t forget my status. I’m just the ruler of the Wilderness’s outermost area. You should know that in the Wilderness, besides the outer ruler, there are also the inner ruler and the central ruler!”
Now everybody all restrains themselves.
“The inner ruler is a Dacheng-stage divine beast.” Yan Mo’s words cause everybody’s face to change color greatly. The Dacheng stage? And a divine beast at that? This is a Xiuyaoist who is even more formidable than a level-1 or level-2 immortal and surpa.s.ses a 4th level or 5th tribulation loose immortal in power.
Yan Mo continues: “The center of the Wilderness is controlled mostly by loose demons. The central ruler is also the king of the entire Wilderness. According to legend … he is a 12th tribulation loose demon. Too bad, that’s only a legend. Even with my status, I’ve only met the inner ruler once.”
Everybody’s eyes pop out of their head.
Qin Yu is also very frightened. There are loose immortals and loose devils in the Chaotic Astral Ocean, but who could have thought that the center of this Wilderness also had a large number of loose demons, and the most powerful of them, the central ruler, is even a 12th tribulation loose demon? This is a legend, but even if the center of the Wilderness does not have 12th tribulation or 11th tribulation loose demons, it must have 10th tribulation and 8th tribulation ones.
If the central Wilderness casually dispatches some loose demons, they will be able to kill everybody here like squas.h.i.+ng an ant.
Yan Mo continues: “So you all better discuss with me in peace. We’ll find that Nine Swords Immortal Mansion together. If you go overboard, then I’ll have no choice. I treat others very well so I won’t attack you. I’ll only give this 9th jade sword and the jade slip in that black jade case to the inner ruler. I believe that Dacheng divine beast will be very happy to get them.”
Everybody’s face changes color greatly.
If they open the immortal mansion with Yan Mo, they can still haggle. But if the 9th jade sword is given to that inner ruler, a Dacheng stage divine beast, perhaps that super expert will kill everybody right away to take the other 8 jade swords instead of bargaining with them. Yan Mo is obviously threatening them.
“It’s well-known that I’m very hearty and friendly. Am I right, Xiao Xue?” Yan Mo says while stroking the snowy cat.
“Meow ~~” That snowy cat cries gently. Its voice resounds in the main hall unceasingly.
NOTE:
Zhe Chu is an animal made up by the author. It is not real.
Xiao Xue is the cat’s informal name, meaning ‘little snow’.
End of b9c1.