Chapter 947: The Long Winding Stone Staircase
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I agree. Skywolf Fort"s disciples are the unluckiest!"
"First, an unlucky Skywolf Fort"s disciple overestimated himself and decided to launch a sneak attack on Senior Brother Ling Tian which led to him slipping and falling into the Bottomless Abyss. I presume he"s dead by now. Then the remaining nineteen of the twenty Skywolf Fort"s disciples that came on this expedition were killed as well when they tried to attack Senior Brother Ling Tian unsuccessfully because they coveted senior brother Ling Tian"s treasure!"
"I guess the five Vice Fort Masters of Skywolf Fort would be furious if they knew what had happened during the expedition!"
"Naturally, if they knew that all twenty Skywolf Fort"s disciples that came on the expedition were killed before they even had a chance to venture deep into the Martial Emperor"s Treasure ... they would definitely be shaking with anger."
...
The Five Element Sect"s disciples were having an interesting discussion among themselves. Many of them were getting more and more excited as the discussion grew heated.
There was no exception, all of their eyes were filled with awe when they looked at the purple-clad Duan Ling Tian descending slowly from the Devilseal tablet.
"Senior Brother Ling Tian is so powerful!"
"Yes, I agree... Although I am confident about his abilities, I couldn"t help but feel nervous for him when I saw he was surrounded by 48 young powerhouses."
"Me too. I couldn"t believe my eyes when I saw senior brother Ling Tian kill most of the 48 young powerhouses and injuring and crippling the rest with only a swing of his sword."
"I have decided! I"ll follow Senior Brother Ling Tian"s lead in the Martial Emperor"s Treasure... Senior brother Ling Tian can have the lion"s share. I"ll follow him as long as I can scavenge from the sc.r.a.ps."
"You"re smarter than you look!"
...
Duan Ling Tian overhead the conversation when he landed next to Feng Tian Wu, Huang Daniu, Su Li, and Zhang Shou Yong. He kept his Devilseal tablet, and he could not help but smile wryly after hearing the conversations.
The Blade Sect"s disciples who were quietly standing at the side also turned to look at Duan Ling Tian with awe.
"Duan Ling Tian...Am I destined to be inferior to you in my entire life? Can I not surpa.s.s you?"
A Blade Sect"s disciple looked at the Duan Ling Tian"s silhouette with a complicated look in his eyes.
That disciple was none other than Long Yun!
Long Yun, the Blade Young Master, was one of the Five Young Masters in the Former Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom. Through a fortuitous opportunity, he was taken as a disciple by Saber 5, the Vice Sect Master of Blade Sect"s House of Saber. This had helped him to make great improvements in his cultivation.
Later, Long Yun stood out in the Genius Compet.i.tion at the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom. He competed with the young powerhouses from different empires and kingdom along the way to obtain the eligibility to partic.i.p.ate in the Martial Compet.i.tion of the Ten Dynasties.
He was currently the official disciple of Blade Sect"s House of Saber after he followed Saber 5 back to Blade Sect.
Long Yun was one of the twenty young Blade Sect"s disciples that were selected to enter the Martial Emperor"s Treasure this time.
"Who would have thought… The youth first heard of in the martial compet.i.tion among the Five Major Sects at Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom several years ago has now grown to such heights…" Long Yun sighed, he could not help but feel defeated.
"Let"s go."
Duan Ling Tian only smiled calmly when he noticed everyone"s attention was on him. He motioned for them to go down along the stone staircase by the side of the platform.
Feng Tian Wu followed Duan Ling Tian down, along with Huang Daniu, Su Li, and Zhang Shou Yong.
The rest of the disciples from Five Element Sect and Blade Sect went down the stone staircase with them as well.
Disciples from Five Element Sect were led by Duan Ling Tian while disciples from Blade Sect followed Feng Tian Wu.
Brothers Nangong Chen and Nangong Yi followed behind the group as they looked at the leading purple-clad youth with eyes filled with complicated feelings.
Both of them were once the most brilliant disciples of their generation in the Five Element Sect.
However, Duan Ling Tian had taken away all the honor and glory that was once theirs since the day he turned up at the sect.
"If we continue to be complacent... I"m afraid we"ll never be able to surpa.s.s him," Nangong Yi said with a bitter smile.
Although Duan Ling Tian took away his glory, he did not hate Duan Ling Tian for it.
This was because Duan Ling Tian achieved that with his strength and by honorable means, not by means of schemes and lies.
Maybe Nangong Yi had lost, but he was sincerely convinced that Duan Ling Tian was better than him.
In Nangong Yi"s opinion, if he wanted to regain his former glory he would need to surpa.s.s Duan Ling Tian. When the time came, all his former glory would then be restored naturally.
"I"ll definitely surpa.s.s him." Nangong Chen was a man of few words, but his determination echoed in his voice as his eyes gleamed resolutely.
It was apparent the Nangong twins were under severe pressure due to the dominating and sudden appearance of Duan Ling Tian.
It was a kind of pressure that they had never faced before in the past
At this moment, their Martial Dao"s hearts were being purified. They had a common goal and it was to surpa.s.s Duan Ling Tian!
"Between the two of us ... whoever is the first to surpa.s.s him shall be the elder brother! Do you agree?" Nangong Yi challenged Nangong Chen to a bet between brothers. He looked at Nangong Chen with a raised eyebrow.
"You better prepare to address me as elder brother then," Nangong Chen said coolly with a straight face.
"We shall see!" Nangong Yi murmured with a flash in his eyes.
Nangong Yi understood that his brother"s strength was better than his at the moment.
The reason he made such a pact with Nangong Chen was to motivate himself to surpa.s.s his brother and even Duan Ling Tian!
There was no motivation without some stress.
Naturally, Duan Ling Tian was unaware of what had happened between the Nangong Twins. He did not know that he had been set as a benchmark, a target for them to work hard and surpa.s.s.
"It"s getting darker."
Duan Ling Tian and Feng Tian Wu led the way down the stone staircase with a group of disciples from Five Element Sect and Blade Sect following behind.
The silhouettes of disciples from Empyrean Temple led by Xuan Bei along with the two Sun Moon Sect"s disciples who was slowly traveling ahead vanished before their eyes and left them in darkness.
After a while in the darkness, a flame burst out of Feng Tian Wu"s body and illuminated the surroundings. However, the area that was illuminated was limited.
Inspired by Feng Tian Wu, a flame rose up among the group of Empyrean Temple"s disciples not long after Feng Tian Wu"s flames appeared.
Moments later, a flame could be seen rising in front of the disciples of Empyrean Temple and the two Sun Moon Sect"s disciples
That was the place where Zhang Yan who was leading the group of Emotion Severing Sect"s disciples was situated.
With Emotion Severing Sect, Empyrean Temple, and Sun Moon Sect"s people leading the way, the disciples from Five Element Sect and Blade Sect heaved a sigh of relief and trailed behind them.
"How long is this stone staircase?"
After an hour of traveling, the end of the stone staircase was still not in sight. Duan Ling Tian could not help but narrow his eyes. He looked puzzled.
"The group from Emotion Severing Sect has turned," a disciple from Five Element Sect exclaimed and startled Duan Ling Tian.
Duan Ling Tian lifted his head after he heard the comment. He noticed the fire in the lead was moving toward the left side, but he could not make out the details as they were too far apart.
Moments later, the disciples from Emotion Severing Sect moved to the bottom left of Duan Ling Tian"s sight
A while later, the disciples of Empyrean Temple along with the two Sun Moon Sect"s disciples turned left as well and followed the Emotion Severing Sect down.
When they came closer, Duan Ling Tian noticed that they had reached the end of the stone staircase through the illumination from the flames rising from Feng Tian Wu"s body.
Naturally, this was only the end of the stone staircase in this direction.
The stone staircase in front turned and led to the bottom left, leading to a new undiscovered stairway.
"This stone stairs won"t be endless right?"
Duan Ling Tian, Huang Daniu, and the rest turned left and traveled down. Huang Daniu began to complain with an impatient look on his face, "We"ve already traveled for more than an hour... Yi, they"ve picked up the pace!"
Huang Daniu noticed the lights from the group of people from Emotion Severing Sect suddenly picked up the pace and flew ahead in a flash before he could even finish his sentence.
The lights from the Empyrean Temple also sped up immediately after that.
"Follow them!" Duan Ling Tian said to the others with a raised eyebrow before he flew ahead to catch up with the rest.
Shou! Shou! Shou! Shou! Shou! Shou!
…
One by one, the disciples from Five Element Sect and Blade Sect followed Duan Ling Tian"s lead.
At the entrance of Martial Emperor"s Treasure above the majestic door, outside of the layer of grey light s.h.i.+eld, the senior officials from the six major forces were standing there closely as they monitored the grey light s.h.i.+eld as though they could see through it and see what was happening inside.
The greyish white s.h.i.+eld had become darker since Duan Ling Tian had first pa.s.sed through to reach the platform. This clouded the visions of the people who wanted to find out about the situation inside.
That was why whatever that had happened inside after Duan Ling Tian went in was unknown to the people outside.
"Sword 13,Saber 5… I originally thought Duan Ling Tian would be admitted into Blade Sect, I didn"t expect that he would end up joining Five Element Sect instead."
Skywolf Fort"s Vice Fort Master Ning Can looked at the two middle-aged men nearby and laughed mockingly.
Saber 5"s face darkened after listening to Ning Can. He furiously replied, "Ning Can, if it was not for the intrusion from Skywolf Fort... Duan Ling Tian wouldn"t have disappeared suddenly."
Sword 1"s face looked annoyed as well
There was no doubt what Ning Can said was akin to rubbing salt on Blade Sect"s wound.
The events that led to Duan Ling Tian going missing would not have happened in the first place if it was not for Skywolf Fort"s intrusion and kidnap of Duan Ling Tian.
"Humph! Listen up the five of you... After the little ones are finished exploring the Martial Emperor"s secret treasure, the both of us will pay Skywolf Fort a visit and get an explanation from Qing Lang!" House of Saber"s Sect Master from Blade Sect exclaimed. His sharp gaze swept pa.s.s the five Vice Fort Masters" bodies.
"If Qing Lang can"t give us a satisfactory explanation... I might need to stretch this old body"s bones," the Sect Master of the House of Sword sternly added.
They knew about the incident that happened several months ago, but they did not care at that time.
At that time, in their opinion, they did not need to tear off the veneer of mutual respect for a quasi-disciple from the House of Sword that had not even pa.s.s the rudimentary stage.
However, they could not have guessed that the quasi-disciple from the House of Sword that they did not care about was innately talented and cunning.
Throughout the history of Blade sect, there had never been a monster that was so innately talented and cunning that he could kill a Ninth Level Void Interpretation martial artist, who used a grade two spirit weapon, with only a punch. Moreover, he was under the age of thirty.