Chapter 78 - Inheritance of the War Devil
Shi Yan suddenly entered a strange space.
Endless gray clouds were floating in the dimly lit sky like an empty ocean, vast and boundless.
It was a strange space, immeasurably vast.
In this space, a hideous looking giant was standing with his feet standing on the ground and his head reaching the sky. He was thousands of miles tall and seemed to have been standing there for thousands of billions of years.
An ancient aura suddenly exploded out from this extremely huge giant!
Immediately, countless bright flames exploded from the meridians all over his body!
His meridians were like numerous stars in the sky that moved in their own orbits. Every single meridian possessed the power to ruin the world, and every meridian was a small world itself, from which came the cries of all sorts of creatures.
In that boundless space, there were piles and piles of bones and the ground had turned crimson due to all the blood.
Some piles of bones were as high as a mountain; no one knew where they came from.
Looking at the piles of bones, many of them were of some-odd-looking creatures. Some looked to be having three heads and six arms, some looked like a divine dragon, some had three sockets for eyes, some looked like marine animals, and so forth...
They were all prostrated on the ground, as if bowing towards that giant, worshipping it as if it was the sole true God!
All of a sudden, a peculiar light flashed across the hideous ancient god’s pupils.
His right pupil was shining brightly as the sun, as if bringing every creature light and life, giving this world hope.
On the contrary, his left pupil was as dark as a black hole, containing endless darkness which symbolized negative actions like maiming, killing, death, insanity and hatred.
From his left pupil, one could see the darkest side of humanity.
One eye looked alive while the other looked deadly. Standing between the sky and the earth, that ancient god seemed to be waiting for something.
All of a sudden, that pair of eyes noticed Shi Yan.
A mysterious power immediately reached Shi Yan’s mind and connected the two of them together.
In that strange space, came the abrupt and terrifying howls of the ancient god.
Numerous odd light symbols flew out from his eyes, and invaded into Shi Yan’s spiritual body, making every one of his meridians shine as bright as a star.
Severe pain exploded in each of his meridians, and as Shi Yan’s head received a splitting pain, he suddenly woke up.
He was still on the third floor of the stone house, the Blood Vein Ring was on the ring finger of his left hand, and the odd red light was slowly becoming dimmer. He sat there with a numb head.
If someone came at that time, he would find that deep in his pupils, there were odd light spots which looked like small symbols dancing.
---
Xia Xin Yan, Chi Xiao and Zuo Xu were walking together in the backyard of the Shi family.
The three were astonished at the same time, as they looked at the stone building five hundred meters away with a shocked expression on their faces.
“There is some peculiar energy is rippling over there, which seems very old and coming from the times of great antiquity.” Xia Xin Yan said softly and her eyes behind her veil were full of surprise, “This ancient energy, should… should not exist here right now.”
Chi Xiao also looked weird as he stared at that stone building with extreme focus, “I don’t know why, but I feel that my Martial Spirit was slightly triggered by that energy. Weird, it’s really weird! What kind of energy is able to resonate with Martial Spirits?”
Xia Xin Yan shook her head, thought for a while and asked, “Zuo Family Head, Shi Jian lives in that stone building, right? Well, it seems I have underestimated him. He is unbelievable...”
“No, absolutely no!” Zuo Xu couldn’t help but shake his head, and said in a weird tone, “That stone building is now used by Shi Jian’s grandson, Shi Yan. He likes studying ancient relics. He is a… rather extraordinary kid.”
“Shi Yan...” Xia Xin Yan repeated that name in her mind secretly with some astonishment crossing her eyes, and she nodded, “Let’s visit the family head.”
“Okay.”
---
Inside the secret room, Shi Jian and Shi Tie, who were busy discussing how to deal with the Mo family, noticed the strange energy fluctuations.
Shi Jian’s face changed slightly, as he shouted in astonishment, “That strange energy came from Shi Yan’s building!”
The stir from Shi Yan’s stone building was sensed by all the warriors who were at high realms.
After a terrifying cry, Shi Jian pushed open the stone door of the secret room and rushed out.
Shi Tie chased behind him in a hurry.
They exited the secret room and dashed directly towards Shi Yan’s stone building.
However, before they got to Shi Yan’s stone building, they saw Zuo Xu, Chi Xiao and Xia Xin Yan.
Shi Jian was a little astonished as his expression was rather unusual. He paused for a bit and asked from afar, “Brother Zuo, why so early?”
He recognized Xia Xin Yan at once and was a little nervous. Like Zuo Xu, he had a guilty conscience, guessing Xia Xin Yan came to make a punitive expedition against him.
“Brother, let’s find a quiet place and have a talk.”
Zuo Xu smiled bitterly, and pointed at Xia Xin Yan to introduce, “This is the hidden master of the Misty Pavilion, Miss Xia Xin Yan. She has something important to discuss with you.”
Shi Jian was a little surprised. After a short hesitation, he gave up the idea of visiting Shi Yan in his stone house and nodded, “Follow me.”
Before long, Shi Jian and Shi Tie showed the three guests to the Rock Room.
Having seated himself in the Rock Room, Zuo Xu coughed, and spilled Xia Xin Yan’s intention.
“Cooperation?”
Shi Jian got relieved. After a short thought, he nodded with a smile, “That is most welcome. The position of the Gate of Heaven would only be shown by a complete map, and we, the Shi family, never intended to take everything. Miss Xia, you are so generous! A great woman!”
Xin Yan was straightforward as she took out the half map out and spread it on the stone ground, then said softly, “Shi Family Head, take out your half.”
Shi Jian looked to Zuo Xu. After Zuo Xu nodded, he took out the other half of the map and put it on the ground to match the first half.
A bunch of yellow lights suddenly blazed at the joining of the two halves.
That yellow light seemed to have some stickiness, as it connected the two halves into a perfectly complete map.
The bright yellow light glowed from the complete treasure map.
On that yellow map, lines were twisting and changing like living earthworms, the pattern on it shifting completely.
It slowly became clear. Soon, there formed a vivid image of a valley.
Strange Yin Qi covered that valley, out of which, there were numerous green swamps, even the bubbles in them could be seen clearly.
Shi Jian, Shi Tie, Zuo Xu and Chi Xiao were all taken by surprise.
Only Xia Xin Yan looked calm, as she said naturally, “Friends, I’m not familiar with this area. Although the map is clear, I don’t know which place is which. Do you have any idea?”
“The Dead Swamp! Yin Valley!”
Chi Xiao’s expression changed quickly. After a long while, he announced firmly, “That’s it! It is absolutely Yin Valley, which is the most mysterious part of the Dead Swamp, where the Yin Qi is most dense and many Yin treasures are produced.”
“Good, if you are sure about it.” Xia Xin Yan nodded, “If it’s certain, we can begin to prepare to travel to Yin Valley. It should not be delayed. I will arrange it back in the Misty Pavilion and set off soon.”
“Isn’t the Yin Valley home to Nine-headed Sky Snake?” Zuo Xu took a deep breath and asked Chi Xiao beside him.
Shi Jian’s expression changed.
Chi Xiao nodded slowly, “Yes. The Nine-headed Sky Snake lives in the Yin Valley. It seems that this journey won’t go peacefully.”
“Nine-headed Sky Snake?” Xia Xin Yan was quite calm, “By the sounds of it, is it a high realm demon beast?”
“A Level 7 demon beast!” Chi Xiao said.
Xia Xin Yan furrowed her brows and nodded, “Well it might be tough. But anyway, a Level 7 demon beast equals a Sky Realm warrior. We can beat it together.”
“The Nine-headed Sky Snake is a Level 7 demon beast. But it is the most powerful one among all Level 7 demon beasts. It has nine heads which can all think separately, and it is very aggressive. I’d rather fight with three normal Level 7 demon beasts than him. Hmm, I will go back to the Cloudy Mountain first and get some weapons in case something unusual happens.” Chi Xiao sighed.
“Keep the treasure map with you. Let’s meet at the entrance of the Dead Swamp in a month.”
Xia Xin Yan was quite decisive as she stood up and said calmly, “I hope you will be on time. I don’t have so much time to waste.” Then, Xia Xin Yan walked out with light steps.
Brother, what to do now?” Zuo Xu smiled bitterly, “Tianyun City is now in total chaos, plus the Shi and Mo families are going through a crucial phase. Will you still take some time to handle this?”
“Hardly.”
Shi Jian shook his head and thought for a while, “Since Chi Xiao is going there, my presence is not that important, I will send some other guy. Mmm, Shi Yan likes goofing around, would you like him to go with you?”
Shi Jian stared at Chi Xiao.
Chi Xiao nodded softly.
“I can’t leave Tianyun City right now, or Beiming Shang would suspect me. I will send Shi Yan with you and two other warriors. We have to keep it a secret. Don’t let too many people get involved.”
Zuo Xu deliberated for a while and agreed with Shi Jian.
“Shi Family Head, I need to go back to Cloudy Mountain first. I will get to the Dead Swamp in a month’s time. Your people don’t need to go with me for now. Let them go with Shi Yan to the Dead Swamp. I can go there faster alone.” Chi Xiao said.
“Ok, I will send Han Feng to follow that bastard Shi Yan and Zuo Shi when they leave Tianyun City secretly. One month, hmm, that would be fine.” Shi Jian nodded and handed that treasure map to Chi Xiao and said earnestly, “Chi Xiao, please do me a favor to take care of Shi Yan. I want him to be safe.”
“No worries.” Chi Xiao didn’t refuse, and put that treasure map away naturally.
---
On the third floor of that stone building.
The Blood Vein Ring on his ring finger had returned to normal, but Shi Yan was still sitting in a trance; a sudden glimmer flashed through his eyes.
A long time later, Shi Yan gradually came back to himself and his eyes sparkled. He lowered his head and mumbled, “Inheritance of the War Devil: [Seal of Life and Death]! The Martial Skill that operates my mysterious Martial Spirit! Too magical!”