Chapter 039 – Onyx Soul
Translated by: BerrryBunz.
Edited by: Robin, Leo and De Andre
“This sword followed the Spiritual Master for his whole life, and it has a gifted sensitivity towards Crane Sect’s martial techniques. It was because of this sword that I was able to sense that someone managed to cultivate the power of duplicating the Crane Body. If you bring it, it can help you in finding the other party. I don’t know who he is exactly, but I believe in your abilities. If you can’t save the Crane Sect, then it is fated to be destroyed.”
“Go, bid farewell to your mother.”
The Elder Crane’s eyes were deep and farsighted, smiles and warmth filled up his wrinkled face.
Crane tied the sword around his waist via the silver thread seriously, and smoothed out the creases on his clothes, which were stain free. Once again, he expression was calm. He turned to the Elder Crane and bowed respectfully, before he turned and left.
The young lad wore white clothes and carried his sword while travelling down the stairs to Heaven’s Road. His steps were graceful. As the mountain winds blew his silvered hair, his face remained soft and graceful like jade, and he looked determined and calm.
The disciples of the Crane Sect who passed by him looked into his eyes and felt a sense of indescribable complexity.
Facing this silhouette as firm as a rifle, all words seemed to be powerless and useless.
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In terms of scales, the library of Northern Yan was not far fetched from Crystal Sky’s library. The principals of Northern Yan were all hoarders. After generations of hoarding operations, they managed to build an astonishing scale of library.
The library had strictly divided regions, but Han Bing Ning had the highest clearance. She could browse through any ancient records as she wished.
But today, she did not do it to pass time.
She pulled out books and placed them back again continuously for the entire afternoon, repeating this action again and again.
All of a sudden, she stopped her footsteps and was attracted by the ancient record that was in her hands.
“Frenzied State, when one is under extreme negative emotions, one would be pushed into this special condition. The power of frenzied martial artists would increase greatly. It would take over the body’s ability to kill. All the ruthlessness and other negative emotions would take over.
The chances of an ordinary person to go into a frenzy was very slim.
There were two kinds of people who could easily enter the frenzied state. One was a person who had a special bloodline, or second, someone who was a martial artist of darkness. When a martial artist who had a special bloodline confronted an extreme situation, the energy hidden deep in his blood would be activated and force the person into a frenzy. While killers, assassins, and other martial artists of the darkness had accumulated too much negative emotion when killing, and so it’d be easy for them to go into a frenzy state…”
Han Bin Ning read word after word. The day Tang Tian fought with ink black iron rhino, he went into a state of frenzy and left a deep impression in her.
Tang Tian was a person full of mysteries that were all coincidences. But as time passed by, Han Bing Ning had a feeling that all these coincidences were not coincidences!
A dark martial artist? When Han Bing Ning thought of Tang Tian, she was reminded of how cheerful he was and she shook her head incessantly. How could this kind of rascal become a dark martial artist?
Then, it could only be because he had a special bloodline!
Could it be that Tang Tian had some sort of special bloodline?
Han Bing Ning was shocked. She stood right where she was.
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Jaded Swamp Sea of Bamboos.
When Tang Tian flew across the Sea of Bamboos, he made use of the elasticity of the bamboo branches and stepped lightly on them, consistently moving forward. His movements might not be considered graceful, but they were very fast. Each step was precise and accurate. If he met any Bamboo Leaf Bees along the way, he would use Broken Shadow Palm to destroy them.
When the Broken Shadow Palm and light body techniques are used under conditions like in the Sea of Bamboos, one would be able to improve rapidly.
A few days ago, Tang Tian had undergone torment to produce the second little crane. But he found out this second little crane did not heed his command at all, and no matter how Tang Tian tried to instigate it, it did not budge. The Spirit Card of [Crane-Style Manual Qi] had no relation to the comprehension at all. When he asked Old Fart Wei, Old Fart Wei only looked at him in daze.
Tang Tian simple threw it aside. But not long after, when he was cultivating light body techniques, he realised his endurance was remarkable.
As Tang Tian travelled back and forth in the Sea of Bamboos, he stopped all of a sudden, and looked at the time. Why did Nan Nan not come today?
Usually, Nan Nan would be here around this time. Why was she not here yet? Did she meet with an accident along the way?
Tang Tian was a tad worried. He moved his legs, bent his body, and went deeper in the Sea of Bamboos. He knew where Nan Nan stayed and so he decided to take a look over there.
Tang Tian’s posture was not impressive but his speed was fast, especially with his True Power’s endurance. It lasted for a really long time. As usual, if he took in a breath of qi, he could fly for long distances without exhaling a breath.
Suddenly, a sound rang from afar that sounded like the intersection of a blade and a sword.
Tang Tian opened his eyes wide. Without any hesitation he continued his light body techniques. In mid air, his silhouette formed a series of shadows.
Very quickly, a bamboo hut appeared in front of him.
That was Nan Nan’s house!
Tang Tian did not dash out right away. He squinted and bent over as he spread open the bamboo leaves quietly.
Nan Nan’s mother waved her metal sword and blocked a man in black clothes. The man in black clothes hid his face behind a mask, revealing only a pair of eyes. He used a double blade and his blade techniques were strange and queer. The icy cold light emitting from the blade was like snow. The man in black clothes was surrounded by an abundance of snow petals.
Nan Nan’s mother had used up all her force, she simply forced herself to be strong and not retreat. Nan Nan hid in a corner, her small face will filled with fear yet she dared not cry, as she was afraid her mother would be distracted.
Tang Tian’s eyes were awe-inspiring. Secretly, he took out the black metal gloves from the Aquarius Martial Cabinet. [Robin: Reminder, basically a bag of holding :P]
It was the first time Tang Tian had participated in such a fight, but he had no fear in his heart. Instead, he was unusually calm. Once he wore the black metal gloves, he got nearer to them secretly as though he were a fox, waiting for a chance to attack.
Nan Nan’s mother started to become powerless as the opponent shedded the snow petals heavier and thicker. The cold was bone chilling.
The man in black clothes eyes lit up and roared. The double blades conjoined and form a ray of crescent light, chopping its way down.
Nan Nan’s mother cried out!
Right at this moment, Tang Tian placed all his force in his leg and pounced forward as if he was an arrow being shot out from a bow.
The man in black was surprised. As the double blades conjoined in one was his killing technique, he did not preserve any strength at all, and his eyes showed the surprise he had.
When Nan Nan’s mother saw Tang Tian, her despaired face suddenly was beaming with colours. The metal sword in her hand went forward instead of retreating.
Clank!
As the blade and sword intersected, the metal sword exploded into a million pieces.
A ray of blinding lightning struck and tore the air apart, knocking against the waist of the man in black hardly.
[Slaying Lightning Bolt]!
The man in black clothes screamed and Tang Tian’s mind went black. He seemed to noticed subconsciously that he had yet to exhale. He shot out his fists like pouring rain, punching onto the man’s body.
The man in black was just like a sand bag. He flew out, and fell onto the floor motionless.
“Careful!” Almost at the same time, Nan Nan shouted and brought Tang Tian back to reality.
He took a wrong step and a ray of icy cold blade light scraped past his body, leaving a hole in his clothes.
“Di Han!”
Tang Tian roared, his face full of anger as he searched for Di Han’s shadows.
Tang Tian had just experienced such attack a few days ago. At such, when he confronted one today, he could recognised it immediately.
The surroundings were dead quiet, and the shadows of the bamboos hovered. There was not a single reaction.
Tang Tian dared not be careless. With such a situation, and with the fighting strategy that Di Han would use, it was obviously a ground for hunting.
Nan Nan’s mother struggled to climb up and pulled down a bamboo tube. A thumb sized green coloured bee flew out and buzzed around the surroundings. Nan Nan’s mother sighed: “He has left.”
“Sigh,” Tang Tian sighed in relief as well, and sat on the floor. He had no sensation when he was all tensed up, now that the battle was over, his arms and legs were aching all over the place. But he did not know why he had no fears when he went through a battle of life and death.
At this time, Nan Nan cried out loud.
Nan Nan’s mother held onto the sword and walked over the to the man in black whom Tang Tian had killed, and removed the mask to reveal an ordinary face. The man in black clothes had no remaining breath. The spot which Tang Tian had attacked seemed to have been chopped by a razor sharp blade or sword. Anxious, Tang Tian had not hesitated to use the Crane’s Body technique.
“What happened?” Tang Tian regained his energy, climbed up, and went over.
Nan Nan’s mother’s sword removed the outermost layer of the black clothes to expose a piece of copper plate. On top of the copper plate was a word ‘Cu’.
Nan Nan’s mother expression took a great change and said with her voice shaking: “Onyx Soul!”
“Onyx Soul?” it was the first time Tang Tian heard such a name.
Nan Nan’s mother face was pale. Her body dropped to the ground as she muttered: “The people of Onyx Soul…Onyx Soul…”
“Are they very powerful?” Tang Tian noticed something was off about Nan Nan’s mother’s expression and interrupted her.
Nan Nan’s mother gained back her consciousness, she laughed forcefully: “I have to thank you this time… but, you have dragged yourself into some sort of trouble.”
“I’m fine.” Tang Tian shook his head.
“You don’t understand the Onyx Souls.” Nan Nan’s mother’s voice was bitter: “The Onyx Souls are an extremely mysterious sect. They are cold and emotionless, and are Heaven’s Road’s most notorious dark martial artists. They are unusually stubborn when it comes to Star Treasures. Their strength is far beyond your imagination and there are so many experts with them. The Onyx Souls’ history goes back a long way. When Heaven’s Road was just discovered, the Onyx Souls were born, and up till date they are one of the oldest sects there are.”
“So powerful!” Tang Tian opened his eyes wide.
“You have killed an Onyx Soul member and they will not let this go. You have to be very careful.” Nan Nan’s mother looked at Tang Tian worryingly and said determined: “I will bring Nan Nan away from this place to my brother’s place.”
“Why do they have their eyes on you?” Tang Tian was curious.
Nan Nan’s mother looked confused: “Their target seemed to be Nan Nan.”
Nan Nan had already stopped crying and shifted over. She saw the face of the man in black and let out a gasp: “I know him. A few days ago, I saw him asking around about the marking of a cross. Nan Nan seemed to have seen it on Big Bro’s hand, but Nan Nan is smart. Nan Nan didn’t tell him. Unless he figured it out? But Nan Nan tried to act it out all…”
Tang Tian’s heart dropped, the marking of the cross!
Southern Cross Constellation!
These people, they were actually after the Southern Cross Constellation’s Hardship Plate!
Onyx Soul… Southern Cross Hardship Plate…