Chapter 86
Kong Yiyi could only regretfully continue guarding the transmission point at Dragon Belly's Twelfth Section, patiently waiting for Zhongli Shan and the others to arrive and rendezvous.
Xue Mushi's divination worked miracles all the way, bringing Yu Sui and Mei Liangyu directly to Dragon Throat Mountain on the morning of the sixth day.
Before them were green trees providing shade, lush and verdant. This was a transmission point Mei Liangyu had never visited. The surroundings were quiet, without even the sound of wind, as if no living things existed, only these flowers, grass, trees, and scattered stone paths silently gazing at each other in existence.
Mei Liangyu looked back at the cave entrance concealing the transmission array, then at the winding bluestone path ahead. Occasionally, a few rays of sunlight fell through gaps in the branches onto the ground, forming light columns that shone diagonally, creating an unexpectedly leisurely atmosphere at first glance.
Dense forests and high mountains were most common in Dragon Slaying Cave.
At this moment, their position was at the foot of Dragon Throat Mountain.
Xue Mushi stood in the center of the bluestone path, looking up at those light columns, squinting slightly.
Mei Liangyu looked at him and said, "No one has been to this place either."
Yu Sui picked up the conversation: "Divine Calculator Xue is really amazing!"
Xue Mushi remained silent, not daring to speak.
"Senior Brother, have we reached Dragon Throat?" Yu Sui asked curiously as she walked forward without turning back.
Mei Liangyu made a sound of acknowledgment, scanning their surroundings while maintaining vigilance: "Dragon Throat Mountain. Cross the peak and you reach Dragon Head."
"Can we just climb to the summit?" Yu Sui asked.
Mei Liangyu said: "While climbing the mountain, your Five Elements Energy will drain away. You won't be able to hold onto it. Everyone experiences this."
"Eh?"
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi, who were walking ahead, turned around simultaneously.
Mei Liangyu remained composed: "The effect is minimal at the mountain's base. The higher you climb, the greater the impact. So it's best to charge straight to the summit in one go, but by the halfway point, everyone's Five Elements Energy will be exhausted."
After hearing this, Xue Mushi looked at Yu Sui with some hesitation.
Dragon Throat had no transmission arrays to Dragon Head. Even though it was just the distance of crossing one mountain, Five Elements Energy would drain along the way. No wonder everyone was competing to arrive first.
Turns out they were racing to climb the mountain.
Yu Sui pretended ignorance and asked: "Are there other dangers in the mountains?"
"Yes," Mei Liangyu said. "This mountain could be called a Military Formation. There are puppets similar to Military Formation evil spirits roaming the mountain."
After speaking, he added: "At night."
Yu Sui: "What about during the day?"
"Insects, illusions, poison," Mei Liangyu summarized simply. "And trigram formations. There are also many rare treasures. Depends on whether you can encounter them."
Xue Mushi felt something was wrong with this statement and asked: "Aren't you coming with us?"
Mei Liangyu stood in place contemplating for a moment.
His original plan was to help Zhongli Shan block people. The best location for blocking would be at the transmission point entering Dragon Throat. At the mountain's base where Five Elements Energy drained slowly, he could indeed block quite a few people.
If he let Xue Mushi and Yu Sui proceed alone, Mei Liangyu was somewhat worried. Having come this far, it would be truly regrettable if they encountered insects, poison formations, or illusions and got eliminated.
Before being trapped at the shallow beach, he had searched everywhere for those three Ghost Way School disciples, eliminating them so that basically no one could break Nian Qiuyan's trigram formation.
Zhongli Shan's side had many people with strong abilities, so the danger was minimal.
These two newcomers were visiting Dragon Slaying Cave for the first time, their cultivation levels weren't high either. If they truly encountered group attacks from Military Formation evil spirits, it would genuinely cause concern and unease.
Moreover, he had already released transmission beasts. Both Cang Shu and Shi Yuezhen could know his route. Upon receiving news of his cliff fall, Nian Qiuyan would also divine his life or death.
According to Mei Liangyu's plan, he could bring Zhongli Shan to Dragon Head within ten days, then spend five days returning to find Yu Sui.
Who knew Yu Sui would arrive faster than he expected.
When Mei Liangyu first came to Dragon Slaying Cave, everything looked fresh and new, but after visiting many times, he found it rather uninteresting.
"Let's go," Mei Liangyu stepped forward, his expression unchanged: "We'll go up first."
Yu Sui asked: "Aren't we waiting for Sister Su and the others?"
"They'll catch up," Mei Liangyu's gaze lightly indicated her. "They're not first-time visitors to Dragon Slaying Cave, and they're all Class A Students. Walking together, it's almost impossible for them to get injured. But you two, if I let you two just walk off like this, I'm afraid I'd regret it so much my teeth would ache when I think about it in the middle of the night."
Yu Sui stepped aside, standing at the bluestone's edge, showing a sensible appearance of making way for Senior Brother.
Mei Liangyu hadn't walked more than two steps before saying: "Use Wind-Riding Techniques."
Three figures instantly departed with the wind.
……
Looking at mountains is easy, climbing mountains is difficult.
Only after entering the mountain did they realize how far the distance was. The three followed the winding bluestone path upward, with Five Elements Energy from their light cores draining uncontrollably.
Along the way, they could encounter poisonous insects hanging from trees. Yu Sui would look curiously for an extra moment, and Mei Liangyu would caution her not to get too close.
While traveling, Yu Sui was also viewing the Dragon Slaying Cave terrain materialized by Number Mountains. They were the fastest to reach Dragon Throat Mountain. Zhongli Shan and Sheng Hao's group had already passed Dragon Belly's Eleventh Section, and Gu Qian and the others had also passed the Tenth Section.
There were still several days before Gu Qian's planned entry into Inverted Moon Cave.
There should be time.
Looking at the map again, Yu Sui saw that the natural scenery here was too dense, completely unavoidable.
The moment Xue Mushi's Wind-Riding Techniques touched ground, his feet stepped on an unremarkable bluestone slab. Yu Sui's eye twitched slightly as she watched. She couldn't warn him in time. The bluestone cracked, the ground trembled, revealing the coiled form of a Frost White Python.
The surrounding temperature dropped sharply, cold mist rising everywhere.
Xue Mushi and Yu Sui simultaneously used Wind-Riding Techniques to rise and retreat.
The Frost White Python opened its bloody maw to bite at Xue Mushi, but was bitten at its vital point by a second Frost White Python summoned by Mei Liangyu. It was knocked flying across the air and crashed to the ground, creating a huge crater and toppling countless flowering trees.
Both Frost White Pythons simultaneously shattered and dispersed.
Xue Mushi had a false alarm. Just as he landed on flat ground, he felt his scalp tingle. Looking up, several black snakes were hanging upside down from trees, staring at him. Seeing Xue Mushi move, they hissed ferociously, the scales on both sides of their necks opening and vibrating, making bewitching sounds.
Venom splattered. Xue Mushi's body ignited with golden Five Elements Energy for protection, but he was immobilized by the sound of the vibrating snake scales, unable to move.
Yu Sui used Wind-Riding Techniques to grab him away. The venom splashed onto their protective energy, immediately causing the golden Five Elements Energy to disperse.
The black snakes moved very quickly, disappearing into the dense forest in the blink of an eye. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi each retreated to greater distances.
Just as Xue Mushi retreated beside Mei Liangyu, he felt his neck itch. Looking down sideways, spider silk invisible to the naked eye flickered in and out of sight at different light angles.
His fingertips trembled lightly. Celestial Fire instantly ignited, burning away the spider silk wrapped around his neck. Red dots of the departing spider silk reflected in his dark eyes.
Ghost Armor Sky Spiders released in the forest.
Mei Liangyu crushed the Ghost Armor Sky Spider trying to escape with Lightning Snake, then turned to look at Xue Mushi standing behind him, his expression inscrutable: "Have you used up all your good luck?"
Xue Mushi had no time to respond. Spider silk had already brushed past his cheek. If he turned back, he could see the green branches and leaves behind him covered with dense red dots, approximately hundreds or thousands of Ghost Armor Sky Spiders watching them.
Mei Liangyu made a decisive decision: "Go."
All three simultaneously used Wind-Riding Techniques to avoid the transparent spider silk, forcing them to continuously flash and change positions.
The spider silk pursued relentlessly, with crystalline poison attached to the transparent threads, making them impossible to guard against.
Mei Liangyu gestured with hand seals, dispersing his golden Five Elements Energy.
Yin-Yang School Curse Fire.
Scattered sparks landed on the spider silk, following the threads to reach the Ghost Armor Sky Spider bodies. In the blink of an eye, the sparks infected all Ghost Armor Sky Spiders, burning them.
There were too many poisonous creatures along this route. While illusions could be easily resolved when encountered, poisonous creatures were somewhat time-consuming and laborious.
Except for Agricultural School disciples, everyone else had natural fear toward many poisonous creatures, which also carried inherent oppressive pressure.
While traveling with Wind-Riding Techniques, Yu Sui glanced at Xue Mushi ahead. He didn't seem afraid at all. Though he was targeted by poisonous creatures several times, his reactions were quick.
For some reason, Yu Sui recalled the first time she met Xue Mushi on the Cloud Carriage Flying Dragon, when Wei Ren had silently left a scorpion on Xue Jiayue's body, but Xue Mushi had caught it.
At this moment, Xue Mushi seemed to have disturbed a poisonous insect nest. First snakes, then spiders, plus countless flying mosquitoes, scorpions, poisonous ants, and more. The three barely stopped for a moment, maintaining constant Wind-Riding Techniques in hovering and flashing states.
After finally burning away the spiders chasing them, it was already deep night. Stars filled the sky above, fireflies on the ground below.
Yu Sui stopped by the valley stream, looking up at the distant mountain peaks. They hadn't even walked halfway yet.
The scenery here was quite nice. Both sides of the valley were lined with flowering trees, pink-white and deep red interwoven. The stream babbled, exposed rocks took strange shapes, water cascaded from above the mountain stones, and countless fireflies danced around the water flow in the valley.
Xue Mushi removed his outer garment, brushing off the dead poisonous ants on his body. They covered him densely. One pat sent countless black poisonous ants falling.
Mei Liangyu stared at him with a strange expression: "How are you so unlucky? Not only do poisonous insects chase and bite you along this route, you're even the one triggering illusions."
"What about your divination to avoid misfortune and seek fortune?"
Xue Mushi also felt somewhat helpless, hanging his head and answering sullenly: "No time."
Indeed no time. The poisonous insect attacks came too fiercely.
Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly sensed something unusual again.
The reflection in the water was ignited by a wisp of starfire, transforming into the appearance of Military Formation evil spirit puppets, leaping from the water with swords drawn.
Xue Mushi reacted quickly too. While retreating, from the corner of his eye he saw a figure blocking in front.
Mei Liangyu's long sword clashed with the Military Formation evil spirit's long sword, creating sparks. Both sides each slashed out several sword energies.
School of Names Word Command combined with Military School Weapon Control could materialize any weapon you desired with Five Elements Energy. Ghost Way School could simultaneously use two types of Nine Schools Arts, but only Mei Liangyu of Ghost Way School could simultaneously use Nine Schools Arts from different schools.
However, Yu Sui and Xue Mushi's attention was on the Military Formation evil spirit.
This was exactly identical to the evil spirits in Special-Grade Military Formation: Asura Hell.
Mei Liangyu made a decisive decision. While engaging in sword combat, he simultaneously destroyed the evil spirit's Death Symbol. Without Five Elements Energy support, the materialized Military Formation evil spirit crumbled and dispersed.
Xue Mushi stood frozen in place.
Mei Liangyu by the stream turned back to look at him, his expressionless face clearly conveying "why are you so unlucky?"
Yu Sui walked over, changing the subject: "Senior Brother, that Military Formation evil spirit just now looked really powerful. What cultivation level was it?"
Only then did Mei Liangyu look away, gazing back at the stream with some contemplation: "Previously they were all Thirteenth Realm Military Formation puppets. Today's was more formidable than previous ones, and I haven't seen it before."
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi's hearts simultaneously sank.
Their deeply hidden power was too strong, inevitably causing special situations to appear in some trials.
Fortunately, Mei Liangyu didn't dwell on the Military Formation evil spirit matter, still asking Xue Mushi why he was so unlucky.
Because Yu Sui relied on the Dragon Slaying Cave map to avoid some dangers, Xue Mushi had no such option.
Regarding Mei Liangyu's persistent questioning, Xue Mushi was initially hesitant, but unable to think of any good explanation, he simply shut up. Silence was golden, less said, fewer mistakes made.
Fireflies in the valley and stars filling the sky illuminated the pitch-black night. None of the three used Celestial Fire for illumination, and they planned to continue forward. The longer time was delayed, the more Five Elements Energy would be lost.
Yu Sui followed the stream forward for only a short while before seeing a fan-shaped boulder standing in the middle of the stream.
The boulder connected the valley sides, raising a barrier. White flowing light flashed between heaven and earth, blocking the path forward.
On the black fan-shaped boulder were written the words "Life" and "Death." The stone surface had deep blue stellar light flickering, looking like Technical Arts School trigram formation power.
Yu Sui reached out and tapped the barrier, saying: "Can't get through."
"Is this a Technical Arts School formation?" Xue Mushi was also examining the barrier.
But Mei Liangyu stared at that black boulder inscribed with life and death.
The black color was glossy and translucent. At first glance, even before touching it, you could feel its cool texture.
Yu Sui also walked over, reaching out to tap the stone surface. The sound was dull and somewhat soft. She said: "This stone sounds rather strange."
"Because it's not stone," Mei Liangyu said. "It's Divine Wood commonly used by Technical Arts School for divination."
Upon hearing it was Technical Arts School divination Divine Wood, Yu Sui inconspicuously withdrew her hand and kept her distance from it.
Mei Liangyu also stepped forward, reaching out to tap the Divine Wood mass with some curiosity: "Technical Arts School's Divine Wood forest is endlessly self-renewing, dying and growing again. On Xuangu Continent, nearly 90% of Divine Wood originates from Taiyi Academy. I heard there's one immortal seed there. It seems this is that Divine Wood seed."
An immortal, indestructible seed.
It sounded very formidable. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi had no intention of interacting with this Divine Wood seed.
Technical Arts School divination, who knew what it might divine? Better not to play with it.
Yu Sui said: "Such a formidable Divine Wood seed blocking our path, we definitely can't get through. Senior Brother, how about we take a detour?"
"Why change routes? We'll just break through," Mei Liangyu showed no intention of retreating.
Detours would take too much time. This was the shortest route divined, so they'd take this one.
If everyone's Five Elements Energy was completely drained and they encountered poisonous creatures and Military Formation evil spirits stronger than previous years, the risk would be even greater than breaking through formations.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi stood together, looking at him hopefully.
The meaning was obvious: we two won't break through.
Mei Liangyu smiled: "I didn't say you two should break through. You two couldn't break through anyway."
"Senior Brother, does it divine?" Yu Sui asked hesitantly.
"It only divines for those breaking through," Mei Liangyu's gaze moved between life and death. "It should require someone to be divined by the Divine Wood before the barrier can be removed."
Yu Sui pressed her lips together. This Divine Wood even forced divination.
Xue Mushi suggested: "Choose life. Perhaps the divined result can resolve future crises."
But Mei Liangyu's gaze fell on the word "death," saying slowly: "I'd rather know what could kill me."
He hoped what would be divined was the past.
Why he had wandered between life and death in the past, or what people around him had died.
Mei Liangyu placed his palm on the word "death," gently passing over it. Golden Five Elements Energy danced and gathered at this location in the mountain valley, stirring up huge waves that made Yu Sui and Xue Mushi instinctively raise their hands to shield themselves.
The Five Elements Energy in the valley became imbalanced, triggering thunder and lightning. Poisonous creatures originally hiding in the darkness waiting for opportunities all fled this place.
Mei Liangyu's consciousness plunged into darkness, falling endlessly.
The Divine Wood seed only divined matters related to him personally.
The golden Five Elements Energy connecting his brain and Divine Soul Light Core formed threads, flickering bright and dim. The scenes glimpsed in the depths of consciousness also appeared and disappeared intermittently.
What the Divine Wood seed wanted him to see was the future, not the past.
Dark clouds pressed down on the sky like it was about to collapse.
On the flat ground of a high cliff, dense crowds stood everywhere. Armies surrounding in the distance, Thirteenth Realm masters guarding the center, and numerous continental Saints standing at the very front.
He could even recognize many people.
Whether from the armies, Thirteenth Realm Nine Schools Arts practitioners, or Saints.
The cliff plateau was vast, extending outward with a pointed edge stopping at the cliff's edge. Looking down from above, there was a precarious figure swaying as if about to fall.
Mei Liangyu saw Yu Sui forced into desperate straits.
She was already severely injured, her breathing barely detectable. Her usually bright eyes were filled with blood, wounds covering her body.
Yu Sui seemed to have just recovered from something, her expression slightly dazed.
She looked at the people ahead, her gaze unprecedentedly serious. Countless figures reflected in her eyes. After a moment, she said quietly: "Burn."
The instant these two words were spoken, no emotions needed to exist anymore.
Black flames emerging from between heaven and earth devoured everything.
Sparks also fell from the dark sky to the human world. People scattered and fled.
……
Mei Liangyu opened his eyes while simultaneously grabbing the wrist trying to reach toward him, his cold gaze meeting Yu Sui's surprised face.
Yu Sui was crouching beside Mei Liangyu, reaching out to help him remove flower petals that had blown onto his hair, but her hand was caught. So she gently called: "Senior Brother."