usenovelonline Chapter 171 Heavenly Book, Taotie
Chapter 171 Heavenly Book, Taotie
Chapter 171 Heavenly Book, Taotie
Faced with this desperate situation, Xia Yunyi couldn't think of any way out.
He could only run instinctively, running forward, his feet never stopping.
The whooshing sound of the wind was incessant, his vision went black, and his legs felt as heavy as lead. He could feel his speed noticeably slowing down.
"This can't go on."
He racked his brains, already close to the cliff ahead.
"I have no choice but to take this gamble. Even if it means death, I will never hand over the Jade Pendant!"
Feeling the warmth emanating from the jade pendant in his arms, Xia Yunyi steeled his resolve and mustered his last remaining strength to rush towards the cliff.
Behind him, Modi, strolling leisurely through the woods, smiled slightly.
So far, everything matches what he saw.
Next comes the final step.
Xia Yunyi fell downwards, landing at the ordinary bottom of the cliff.
Under his watchful eye, Xia Yunyi, just as he had expected, ran to the edge of the cliff, took a step, and uncontrollably plunged into the abyss.
Only one sentence remained, vanishing into the wind:
"Daoist Styx, if I survive, one day I will wipe out your entire family and make you pay the price you deserve!"
Xia Yunyi stared wide-eyed at the sky and saw the red-robed Taoist standing on the edge of the cliff, smiling at him.
Modi looked down into the abyss, and in the blink of an eye, the boy's figure disappeared into the clouds and mist, leaving no trace.
He chuckled and said, "A bottomless abyss, huh? Those remnants of the Xia family who fall into it will surely be reduced to ashes, saving us some trouble."
Following behind him, Su Youli had a strange expression, but still gave a cold smile in cooperation: "That's right, if anyone is to blame, it's the Xia family for touching things they shouldn't have, which led to their extermination."
Then came a few more eerie, grotesque laughs.
The laughter faded, and the two men's smiles disappeared as they stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down.
The cliffs are sheer and shrouded in clouds; it would be impossible for someone at the ordinary Blood Refinement level to survive a fall from the cliff.
"Did you find it?" Su Youli asked, extending her spiritual sense towards the bottom of the cliff, but ultimately only stopping halfway.
The cliff was too deep, and with the obstruction of the miasma and clouds in the mountains, all these obstacles made it impossible for her spiritual sense to detect that far.
"Still searching...: Hmm? There's an unusual energy fluctuation. Let's go down."
Having said that, Modi summoned the Abyssal Sword and swooped down on it.
Su Youli also summoned the Ice Soul Cold Light Sword and followed behind.
Two sword lights, one after the other, broke through the clouds and miasma, heading straight down.
Halfway there, Su Youli sent a message to Mo Di through her spiritual sense: "Something's not right. The miasma here is too thick, and it's too high up."
Modi responded, "A large portion of this miasma is toxic corpse gas, which may contain a large number of corpses buried beneath it."
According to his calculations, to generate such a large area of miasma, there must be at least tens of thousands of large animal carcasses below.
The corpses rotted at the bottom of the cliff, generating a large amount of toxic corpse gas, which accumulated in the canyon. Combined with the natural energy of the mountains and forests, it evolved into miasma covering the canyon.
"I see... Is there any chance that kid surnamed Xia will survive?"
Modi replied with a smile, "Yes, he's not only alive and well, but he's also encountered a great opportunity."
The sword light abruptly stopped, and the two figures reappeared.
We've arrived at the bottom of the cliff.
The two had barely set foot on solid ground when they stepped on something fragile and heard a crisp "crack" sound.
Su Youli looked down and found a piece of bone that she had crushed by stepping on it.
Looking up and around, she saw a scene that would take an ordinary person's breath away.
Corpses, corpses everywhere, densely packed, piled up like mountains.
They were piled up haphazardly, in a semi-rotten state, with white bones wrapped in rotting flesh exposed, resembling human skin.
Judging from their appearance, it can be determined that most of them are human corpses, and a few are animal corpses.
Just how many corpses are piled up here? Thousands, tens of thousands, or even more?
Su Youli couldn't speak. She hesitated for a moment, then cast a spell of Ice Soul Divine Qi around the two of them to filter the air.
Just as she made her move, she realized that Modi had also made his move, with a miniature Styx River encircling him, serving the same purpose.
"There are at least tens of thousands of skeletons here, and..." Modi glanced at the pile of corpses and casually said, "Moreover, they have generally been dead for a long time, at least a hundred years, but most of them have not completely decomposed."
"It seems that this canyon, this miasma, has the function of slowing down the rate of decay."
"What's the use of this information?" Su Youli asked.
"We'll find out soon enough what use it is. Let's go find our target first; he should have already gone deep inside."
Modi took a step and walked deeper into the canyon.
All around us was a ghastly green miasma, and the road was littered with mountains of corpses.
Neither of them were ordinary people, and they were not afraid of such a terrifying scene; at most, they felt a little nauseous.
Passing through piles of corpses on both sides, the deeper they went into the canyon, the fewer corpses appeared along the way, and they could even see a small path leading into the depths below.
As Su Youli walked, she asked, "There are signs of human activity here. Who brought those piles of corpses on the road here?"
"Good question," Mordy shrugged. "I don't know."
"However, considering the time of death of the body and the large-scale massacre and disposal of the body, we can make some guesses."
"Being active more than a hundred years ago and capable of doing such a thing, I guess it must be the Blood Refining Hall."
The Blood Refining Hall, whose leaders are all called Blood Demons, often requires a large amount of blood and corpses to aid their cultivation, so it's not surprising that so many corpses were discarded.
"Blood Refining Hall." Su Youli chewed on these three words.
This heretical sect was once a formidable force of evil, committing countless atrocities, including the massacre of entire cities.
If it is that kind of creature, it's not surprising that it could collect so many corpses.
Just like the Food Cult, this evil sect has long been eradicated.
A century ago, the imperial court joined forces with five sects to uproot the Blood Refining Hall, thus ending the once glorious heretical sect.
"There is a stone temple ahead."
Modi stopped and gazed at the ancient stone temple embedded in the rock wall at the end of the canyon.
"Xia Yunyi has already gone in, and the special energy fluctuations I sensed are also inside. Let's go."
The stone hall is about as old as those piles of corpses. Before today, no one had been here for a long time, and the floor and railings were covered with a thick layer of dust.
On the dusty floor, there was a series of footprints pointing towards the interior of the stone hall, most likely made by Xia Yunyi.
This boy who survived the ordeal must have ventured deep into the canyon, finally came across this stone hall, and, driven by curiosity, went inside.
The stone hall is embedded in the rock wall, and inside is a narrow, dark passage leading to an unknown destination.
After scanning the passage with his spiritual sense and confirming that there were no traps inside, Mo Di took the lead and stepped into the passage, one step ahead of Su Youli.
Unlike the man-made stone temples outside, the passage is actually a natural rock crevice.
On both sides were rough rock walls, not a breath of wind, filled with a heavy, deathly atmosphere.
It was initially extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
Mo Di and Su Youli had no choice but to walk slowly, sideways.
After walking for dozens of steps, he suddenly became enlightened.
A vast, open space appeared before Modi's eyes. It was a huge cave, with flickering candlelight inside, yet it was still somewhat dim.
A strange fragrance permeated the cave, which was captured by the Styx River surrounding them and submitted to the laws for identification, ultimately leading to a conclusion.
This strange fragrance comes from corpse oil.
Oil extracted from human skin.
The lamps and candles inside the cave were burning corpse oil.
As for the lamps that held these candles, they were even more terrifying.
Those were "human lamps" that were fixed to bronze bases, each with its head raised and kneeling.
A specially made wick extended from their open mouths into their abdomens, with a faint candle flame burning on it.
The so-called "human lamp" is a type of funeral appliance; behind each human lamp is a living person.
To make a human lamp, the human body must first be treated with drugs, then the internal organs must be removed to achieve a preservative effect, and finally, flammable materials such as animal fats must be poured into the chest cavity, and a special lamp wick must be installed in the oral cavity.
And so, a lamp shaped like a human figure was completed.
Every human-shaped lamp in the cave represents a young man or woman. After special treatment, they appear emaciated. "Shaped like a lamp wick" is not a metaphor, but a true description of them.
"Two rows of twelve human-shaped lamps, could this be someone's tomb?"
?
As for the human-shaped lamp, Modi knew it was a funeral item. Some powerful and wealthy people would place these things on both sides of the tomb passage, hoping that they would "guide the soul to burn forever" after their death.
Modi was not optimistic about this. This world was so unfriendly to souls. When a person died, their soul would scatter. Only those who could condense divine will could resist it to some extent, but ultimately it could not last long.
How can you expect these methods to guide a soul? It's better to go to his River Styx, where everything before and after death will be arranged clearly.
"We found him, he's right there," Su Youli whispered, tugging at his sleeve as she spoke.
In the center of the cave, surrounded by two rows of lanterns, lies a black coffin.
The coffin was dark red, like the color of congealed blood. There was a large pit around it, and several pipes extended out from the edge of the pit.
Both the large pit and the pipes were stained with blood, clearly showing the terrible things that had happened here.
On the coffin sat a young man covered in blood, who was none other than Xia Yunyi, whom he had chased off the cliff not long ago.
He didn't know what opportunity he had, but not only did his injuries heal, but his power also greatly increased, and he faintly emitted the aura of the Condensation Realm, which was even rising steadily.
"Falling off a cliff and surviving, even gaining an opportunity—is this the protagonist's privilege?"
Despite this, Modi paid no attention to the boy, his gaze passing over him and landing on the stone wall at the deepest part of the cave in front of him.
The stone wall is inscribed with many tadpole-like characters whose meaning is unclear. These characters are constantly twisting and changing, emitting a strange white light.
As you gaze at the stone wall, you can hear whispers like the fluttering of mosquitoes and flies, as if countless people are chanting scriptures in your ear.
The voices belong to the elderly and children, men and women, and contain a wide variety of emotions, such as anger, calm, and sadness.
After being filtered and extracted by the laws of the Styx, Modi discovered that what these voices were reciting should be the contents of scriptures and classics, like some incomplete cultivation techniques.
He even heard about the content of exercises such as "The Four Qi and Five Flavors for Nourishing the Body" and "The Theory of the Abundance of Qi and Blood".
"Is this the Heavenly Book?" Su Youli asked softly.
Modi replied, "To be precise, it is a projection of the celestial book manifesting in the material world."
On the coffin, facing the stone wall, Xia Yunyi suddenly convulsed. Underneath his tight-fitting clothes, something seemed to be wriggling, making a series of crackling sounds.
He didn't notice the two people behind him and laughed heartily:
"Haha, hahaha, I have mastered my divine skills and broken through to the Condensation Realm. I am just around the corner to become a Grandmaster."
He laughed wildly a few times, venting all his displeasure. A flash of hatred crossed his eyes. Recalling the two people who had driven him off the cliff not long ago, he gritted his teeth and said:
"You would never guess that there is a hidden world beneath this cliff. Once I reach the Divine Realm, with the Taotie Mask, one of the Ten Great Heavenly Weapons, I will make you suffer endless humiliation, especially you, Styx..."
"Oh, what do you want to do to me? Tell me."
Without a moment to think, Xia Yunyi's pupils constricted, and he shoved the so-called gluttonous mask onto his face.
The Gluttonous Mask was transformed from the Gluttonous Jade Pendant. It allows the wearer to transform into the form of a gluttonous beast and temporarily gain power comparable to a grandmaster. This is a function he discovered by chance when he was on the verge of death after falling off a cliff.
With the help of the Taotie mask and the large number of rotting corpses accumulated at the bottom of the cliff, he quickly recovered from his injuries. After entering the cave, he discovered the body of the first generation Blood Demon inside the coffin.
He also witnessed the legendary Heavenly Book and comprehended a top-level martial arts technique from it.
After that, he devoured the first Blood Demon in his gluttonous form, greatly increasing his power and breaking through to the Condensation Realm.
Now, activating the Gluttonous Mask, he possesses the power of a Grandmaster and is fearless in the face of a single puff.
The spearhead pierced Xia Yunyi's chest. He looked down in disbelief and saw the Dragon Hunter Spear emerging from the gaping maw of his chest. "Tiger, a beast with the body of an ox, a human face, and eyes under its armpits, that eats people."
Mo Di raised his spear and flicked it, lifting Xia Yunyi, who had transformed into a gluttonous beast, into the air.
"There's a saying that Taotie is one of the nine sons of the dragon. If you're a dragon, that's fine too."
This beast has the body of an ox, but the head of a dragon and two faces.
A face with only a mouth and nose was imprinted on the dragon's head, and Xia Yunyi's face was imprinted on the chest. Both were ferocious and drooling, perfectly matching his greedy nature.
"Two faces, are you perhaps two-faced Susan?"
The Dragon Slayer Gun reacted to the Dragon Slayer's attack, with arcs of electricity spreading from the handle upwards to the blade, creating a dazzling burst of lightning.
This fully demonstrates that Taotie fits the concept of "dragon," which excites this weapon named "Dragon Hunter."
"Then you're really unlucky." Mo Di chuckled and suddenly exerted his strength.
The immense force originated from the gun handle and was transmitted to the blade. With just a light stroke, the Taotie was cleaved in two from top to bottom.
"Hmm!"
Xia Yunyi let out a muffled groan, letting out a deafening roar that shook the cave and caused sand and stones to fall.
He opened his blood-red maw, and the enormous, black hole-like mouth unleashed a powerful suction force.
Facing him were not only the Dragon-Slaying Spear, but also the Yuan Tu and A Bi swords.
The sword light circled around his neck, twisting gently like a noose, and the dragon's head shot into the sky. Blood gushed from the wound on his neck. The Dragon-Hunting Spear followed, its broad and sharp blade cleaving the entire beast vertically in two.
Cancan's enormous body crashed to the ground. Modi stepped forward, picked up Cancan's mask, and commented:
"You, who try to force growth, will ultimately be no match for a veteran like Huangfu Chong."