Chapter 66: Ascend Mountain of Ancestors
Black, red, deep yellow … insects of all strange shapes and colors flowed past Shen Xuan’s feet like water, even hitting his shoes and the hem of his clothing. He had never seen such colorful insects before, and never so many.
These insects ignored him. Even the ones usually sensitive towards the scent of flesh and blood only moved around him as fast as possible when they hit his legs, and headed towards the place with the most spirit energy.
It was the same with the wild beasts of the gra.s.slands. Other than the most commonly seen wolf packs, dholes and other beasts, Shen Xuan even saw some beasts in the sprinting black shadows that were thought to be extinct and could be called yao beasts.
An enormous viper with fleshy wings and covered in stone-like scales. A black fire turtle burning with flame on its back. A rhinoceros seemingly made of green jade …
These powerful beasts had faced being hunted by cultivators for generations because most of their body parts were useful to cultivators. So they had great enmity towards cultivators. Yet right now, these enormous beasts ignored him and Ding Ning. They just tried to head towards the Mountain of Ancestors where the rain was heaviest as fast as possible.
“Great Shaman, what did they do?” At the edge of the valley, Wu LIanzi too saw the surrounding scene.
The man next to him looked at the various birds coming down from the sky like rain and said emotionlessly, “They destroyed the Fountain of Eternal Life.”
Wu Lianzi immediately paled.
The man next to him slowly shook his head. “No matter. The more they destroy the Mountain of Ancestors, the more they will feel the ancestral curse.”
After a pause, the man glanced at the Mountain of Ancestors and then at where Ding Ning and Shen Xuan were coming from. He smiled faintly with a strong confidence. “The timing is perfect.”
Shen Xuan and Ding Ning started to move quickly towards the Mountain of Ancestors. It was not due to their own will, but because the military horses they were riding were no longer under their control and were wildly sprinting towards the Mountain of Ancestors.
These military horses ran faster and faster, going through the curtain of rain, and seemed to not be tired at all, running like they were going to fly. Ding Ning’s body went up and down as the horses galloped and seemed to move through the clouds.
When the tide of insects and beasts formed, especially the tide of insects that flowed constantly around him, he unconsciously frowned. Then he became grave … then relieved, and then shocked and emotional … In just a few moments, myriad emotions crossed his face.
But because Shen Xuan himself was too stunned, he did not detect Ding Ning’s abnormality.
The opportunities of cultivators were odd things. For example, Ding Ning had schemed for a long time in Changling, waiting to enter the sword school that Xie Changsheng was in. But in the end, he entered White Goat Cave that originally did not qualify to attend the Min Mountain Sword Trials. He had also never expected White Goat Cave to have preserved a spirit vein.
Today, something odd was also happening on the plains. He feared the strongest spirit vein in the world was being destroyed. The terrifying spirit energy burst through the vent. Just the presence would be enough to crush Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing’s organs and meridians, killing them, but this spirit vein also had astounding medicinal power which quickly repaired their bodies. An ocean of spirit energy cleansed and filled their bodies, and affected their perception. All the undetectable primal energies of the universe entered their bodies. Like finding an answer after countless tests, primal energies that could merge with their vital energy finally united and managed to spare the breakthrough and directly bring them up a level.
This had never occurred before in the world of cultivators, and it may never happen again. There was no second spirit vein so powerful and wonderful, and no one would just swing their sword to destroy a spirit vein that could regrow bone and flesh.
Other than Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing, no one else knew that there was another wonderful and also unprecedented event happening to Ding Ning.
It was not a cultivation breakthrough.
Sensing the spirit energy released instantly by the spirit vein in the Mountain of Ancestors, and seeing all these beings furiously run over, Ding Ning suddenly realized something like he had an epiphany.
Above realm eight was realm nine. Yet all cultivators in history had never reached the true realm nine. Emperor Yuanwu had displayed his realm eight cultivation during the Deer Mountain Conference. He had flattened a mountain with one blow and been invincible.
No one could confirm if realm nine really existed. They knew not if realm eight was the highest peak in the world. Yet Ding Ning now knew that realm nine truly existed.
Existence meant it was achievable.
Hu Jingjing looked up at the wildly flying giant birds in the sky, especially those vicious and ugly monsters that she could not have even imagined before. She thought, if the rain stopped, when the powerfully healing spirit energy disappeared, just the insects and giant beasts coming from all directions would be enough to consume her and Li Xixing until nothing was left.
But there was no time to think. Li Xixing was continuing to go up deeper into the Mountain of Ancestors. Hu Jingjing did not hesitate and sped up to walk side by side with him.
From afar, this mountain looked like an ordinary small stone mountain, but when one entered, they would find there were countless natural gullies that formed ascending paths, or rather, mountain paths within canyons.
The most suitable mountain path was the one facing the spirit spring. The natural mountain paths had clear marks left behind by experts. There were deep footprints, holes created by powerful steps, and even all kinds of giant sword marks … there were also the marks of giant builds that the outside did not have.
Yet, when they entered the first mountain valley along this path, and saw the buildings, what attracted the pair’s attention was an enormous skeleton!
An enormous grey-white skeleton was pressed against the top of the building ruins. It was tens of feet tall. To their shock, the building seemed to have been crushed by this enormous skeleton.
This was just the skeleton. How large would it have been when it had blood and flesh?
Compared to the enormous skeleton, the giant birds in the sky were as minuscule as wild chickens outside of Changling.
“What kind of yao beast is this?”
Lizard? Winged snake? Bat? Serpent?
Seeing the enormous skeleton that seemed to have wing bones, Hu Jingjing could not help but ask Li Xixing. She could not connect this skeleton to any beast recorded.
Li Xixing shook his head. He also could not imagine what kind of beast the skeleton belonged to.
Since they did not know, they would keep going up. He moved his feet and continued to go up.