novelraw Chapter 447: This Mountain Is Not a Mountain
Chapter 447: This Mountain Is Not a Mountain
The Auspicious Beast ran without fatigue, charging ahead and crossing one death fissure after another.
Yu Zhao and Ancestor Sui Bian went from their initial delight to increasingly grave expressions.
Keeping his voice low, Ancestor Sui Bian said to Yu Zhao: “Something is off. There are more and more people.”
A dark mass of humanity stretched to the horizon, and in every eye burned greed and excitement. Ancestor Sui Bian did not dare imagine what madness these people might commit once the supreme treasure appeared.
Yu Zhao had no certainty either, so she murmured: “If things go wrong, please remember to take me far away.” Caught off guard by her words, Ancestor Sui Bian blinked, then nodded in relief and said: “Good child, the Ancestor will protect you when the time comes.”
Yu Zhao was about to say a few flattering words to coax the elder when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar figure. She swept her gaze over and saw Huo Shao Yan scowling and muttering under his breath, with Shui Qiu Bai and Jin Yuan at his side. Looking around them, she did not see Feng Jiu Si or Tu Xiao. Ancestor Sui Bian noticed the length of her stare and asked casually: “What are you looking at?” Yu Zhao answered without hiding anything: “I see the young clan heads of the Gold, Water, and Fire Clans.” Because Yu Zhao had never concealed her experiences, Ancestor Sui Bian knew at once who she meant; his eyes bulged and he growled: “Where?” After Yu Zhao pointed out the position, the Ancestor huffed and moved as if to storm over and thrash someone, but Yu Zhao hurried to stop him and, after much persuasion, finally dissuaded him. This was no time to vent anger. Finding the treasure came first.
Another ten or so days passed, and the number of Cultivators grew so vast it was impossible to see the end of them. At the same time, the Auspicious Beasts multiplied without cease. Coming from shattered lands all around, they converged after long runs into one spectacular tide. Far from ebbing, the crowd’s fervor burned hotter, a wildfire feeding on itself, shouts and chatter weaving through the air.
Yu Zhao finally spotted Feng Jiu Si and Tu Xiao, whom she had suspected had met misfortune. Not only were the two unscathed, they had rejoined Jin Yuan’s trio; Yu Zhao could only sigh inwardly at their luck. Besides them, she also saw the red-haired woman of the Nangong Clan who had struck people on the Divine Wood Star’s docks, as well as the sweet-faced female Cultivator who had killed her companion to seize a treasure. Almost everyone was gathering. A faint premonition rose in her heart: [The treasure should be about to emerge.]
Sure enough, after they crossed yet another death rift, they reached a place vastly different from every other land shard. As if forgotten by time, it was desolate to the extreme, not a blade of grass in sight. Deep and shallow furrows crisscrossed the ground; some looked carved by keen blades, some like the imprints of giant hands and feet. At the very center of this barren waste, a towering mountain thrust upward.
Upon reaching this land shard, the Auspicious Beasts knelt as if their mission had been fulfilled and went no farther. Seeing this, the Cultivators took it as a sign and charged madly toward the mountain. In an instant, wind-roars filled what had been a silent, lifeless space.Yu Zhao and Ancestor Sui Bian slipped into the rushing crowd as well, but both kept a hand on caution, refusing to get too close; they remained in the middle ranks.
Within a few breaths, the mountain’s blurred outline sharpened, and a bone-white massif stabbed into everyone’s vision. Several Cultivators at the very front abruptly reduced speed; those behind, reacting a beat late, nearly slammed into them, a brief wave of disorder rippling through the column. Voices erupted all at once: “What is this place? Why does it feel so eerie?” “This mountain is not like a mountain at all; it looks like a pile of white bones.” “Do you feel it? Our Spiritual Power is turning more slowly.” Cultivators were rarely genuine fools. However clouded by profit-lust, now that they stood in such a strange place, the wariness and dread they had buried began to sprout. Especially when, upon stepping onto this land shard, they discovered their Spiritual Power was moving more and more sluggishly through their meridians, as if some invisible force were secretly suppressing it; panic spread through their hearts like weeds.
No one dared take another step toward the bone mountain. Ancestor Sui Bian shot Yu Zhao a covert look, and Yu Zhao answered with a nod. The instant anything turned wrong, she would run without a shred of hesitation.
As if sensing the crowd’s mood, the long-silent bone mountain suddenly shook violently. In a blink, a long crack snaked up from the foot to the summit, then ramified like a spiderweb. At the same time, threadlike streams of red liquid seeped from the fissures, carrying a strange scent. A master of Incense Crafting, Yu Zhao knew the moment she saw the red vapor that something was wrong; while warning Ancestor Sui Bian to Seal the Five Senses, she quickly pulled from her Storage Space a detox sachet she herself had made and shoved it into the Ancestor’s hand.
Just as she finished, a startled cry rang out ahead. Like a chain reaction, the Cultivators standing closest to the bone mountain began to drop from the sky like dumplings into a pot. Those behind them started to wobble as well. More and more people sensed something amiss and tried to flee, but after flying only a short distance, their Spiritual Power suddenly slipped from their control, and they plummeted like kites with cut strings. “My Spiritual Power, my Spiritual Power is gone!” “What is happening, why is this happening!” “A trap, it has to be a trap! Those bastards, we were tricked!”
The crowd devolved into chaos. Yu Zhao had thought her reaction swift enough, that her preparation would keep her safe, but she too was affected. The only consolation was that her Spiritual Power had not been completely sealed; a paper-thin layer remained under her control. Ancestor Sui Bian was in the same state. The two shared a look, then, imitating those around them, pitched down in awkward spirals.
There were tens of thousands of Cultivators present, and not a few had made preparations like Yu Zhao. Some, like her, chose to lie low and hide among the masses; some, full of self-regard, remained hovering high above, lording it over all. Yu Zhao saw the red-haired Nangong Clan woman standing in midair as if born to rule. Nangong Jie tilted his head back to glare at Nangong Yin, who had overshadowed him since childhood, and his fists slowly clenched. With her around, no matter how hard he tried, no one would ever see him; even here in the Land of Divine Remains, she had to steal his thunder. [Why is she still not dead.]