Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 368 - 105: 5-2

March 8, 2018

As Zhao Jincheng led his men into the vast southern mountains of Shen City, a grand drama involving three cities finally unfolded in full splendor.

Zhao Jincheng’s entourage comprised four people. Walking at the front were two large men dressed in black, known as "Guiding Dogs". They were pathfinding masters from Xiangzhou, personally selected by City Lord Zhao Chenlu. Not only were they well-versed in the continent’s geography, having memorized tens of thousands of maps, but they also possessed a miraculous ability to never get lost. Even if thrown into unfamiliar territory, they could instinctively find their way out. More remarkably, both had become disillusioned in youth due to romantic mishaps, like losing their first love to a wealthy scion, watching a cherished confidante suffer a forced marriage, or seeing an adopted daughter fall for a wandering knight... turning their hearts to ashes, with no faith left in love or life, merely wishing to wade through a bleak existence like living corpses.

Such human puppets were perfectly suited as Guiding Dogs, and with their help, Zhao Jincheng had lived many peaceful years. During this time, he never got lost in his own bedroom and could travel afar without needing rescue.

Additionally, two white-clad Sword Cultivators followed behind, their forms half-real, half-ethereal, like phantoms, yet exuding a powerful presence.

They were Zhao Jincheng’s death warrior bodyguards, tasked with protecting the heir of Golden Jade City, even at the cost of their lives.

These two white-clad Sword Cultivators were elites developed by Golden Jade City over many years. Their True Essence Realms were all in the Late Stage of the Rain Cover Realm, with full Primordial Spirits and piercing Sword Intent. More remarkably, the Flying Swords at their waists were genuine high-quality Magical Treasures, of Spiritual Treasure caliber, albeit lacking a corresponding Artifact Spirit to oversee everything. However, their combat power wasn’t necessarily inferior to Spiritual Treasures. Combined, they could hold their own even against practical Immortal Cultivators of the Mountain-Overturning Realm.

Given the current strength of Qingyun City’s group, even multiplying their number tenfold couldn’t defeat the two white-clad Sword Cultivators. Even if the Celestial Divine Sword unleashed its might, aided by favorable times and locations, it could at most kill one of them, but it couldn’t defeat both simultaneously, let alone harm Zhao Jincheng, protected by four people.

Thus, external assistance was required.

Assistance from far away in the Shen City Inner City.

——

Meanwhile, in the Shen City Inner City, at the Vice City Lord’s Mansion, Shen Yueying was intently studying the sand table before her.

The sand table depicted the endless southern thousand-mile mountain range. From north to south, the mountains grew barren and perilous. At the southernmost part of the sand table, the surface had turned gray and red, signifying extreme danger.

As a rule, the troops of Shen City did not venture more than five hundred miles deep into the Chaos Battlefield. Beyond five hundred miles southward neared the boundary of the Xiangzhou Continent. In this border area, not only did the Demon Essences become highly active, but even the familiar Laws of Heaven and Earth grew chaotically distorted, rendering many forms of Magic unusable. Historically, high-tier Cultivators from Shen City sacrificed on the Chaos Battlefield mostly perished in these hazardous regions.

To isolate such risks, the people of Shen City, through centuries of effort, drove several stakes into the thousand-mile southern mountains. Using these stakes as pivots, they constructed a super-large Earth Vein Formation. This harnessed the power of the earth veins to significantly suppress the spread of Chaos, tightly confining the activities of Demon Essences within the mountains and preventing their expansion beyond.

This Earth Vein Formation could target Demon Essences or any individuals entering the mountains, especially in the northern mountains near Shen City, where the interference from Chaos Power was minimal, allowing for precise monitoring of every inch of land.

Just as Shen Yueying was doing now.

The woman extended her hand, gently covering the sand table. The mountain model crafted from colorful sand deformed under her palm’s pressure. After several crisp cracking sounds, it finally crumbled, sand and dust cascading over the table, forming a hazy veil.

Shen Yueying’s face suddenly turned pale, bearing the look of exhaustion from excessive True Essence drain. Moments later, blood trickled from all seven orifices.

Supporting her trembling body on the sand table’s edge, she remained upright.

Acting against the City Lord’s will, recklessly using the Shen City’s Mountain Stabilization Map, forcibly altering the mountain terrain with brute force, Shen Yueying committed numerous taboos within moments and was overwhelmingly engulfed by a backlash as fierce as a landslide.

That gentle palm nearly destroyed years of her cultivation. Yet after a moment’s standstill, Shen Yueying persisted, lifting her left hand again, aiming to press a gleaming area on the sand table.

This time, before her palm landed, another hand intercepted her.

"Let me handle it."

The black-clad man appearing beside her, although his features were exquisite and handsome, flawless to even the most fastidious, Shen Yueying never found him pleasing to the eye. Especially now, amidst her predicament of severe backlash, she was even more unwilling for this rival to witness her in such a state.

Yet Shen Yueying, left with no room to struggle, watched as Shen Jinghai also took a deep breath, his eyes instantly bloodshot, his pale face flushing red, and smashed his clean hand onto the area she had just flattened on the sand table.

With a thunderous roar, the entire Mountain Stabilization Map quaked under this palm. The mountain peaks of colored sand crumbled into fine powders, with some cracking open to reveal deep splits piercing through.

Following this palm, Shen Jinghai spat out a mixture of blood and organ fragments.

This backlash was several times more severe than what Shen Yueying had faced.

"You!?" Shen Yueying was utterly unprepared for the resolute uprising of Shen Jinghai, who had served as Shen Ruoshi’s lackey for twenty years!

Then, not sure if it was a hallucination or not, it seemed that as he spit out blood, he squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "Beat you to death, you little bitch..."

But when Shen Yueying came to her senses, she saw that Shen Jinghai had already elegantly wiped away the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth, and the fountain of blood he had spat out was swept away by his black robe, leaving no trace. He still appeared to be the impeccably graceful number one Deputy City Lord.

"That should be enough. Leave the rest to the people from QingCyan Cloud yun City," Shen Jinghai said. "Their own people, after all, should be rescued by themselves."

Shen Yueying looked at Shen Jinghai, wanting very much to ask him why, but after a long silence, she ultimately did not speak. Because she had a feeling that the answer would definitely not be what she wanted to hear.

—

Meanwhile, in the Southern City Mountains.

Everything was as tranquil as ever, without any cataclysmic upheaval, nor swirling dust and fog filling the sky. The cool breeze of early spring blew through the forests, slowly melting the still-thick snow, urging the trees to sprout tender green branches. Accompanied by a few calls from birds and beasts, the forest was filled with peace and harmony.

Zhao Jincheng and his party were walking in the mountains, their steps seemingly slow yet swift, covering dozens of miles in no time. The rugged and steep rocky terrain posed no obstacle to the Immortal Cultivators. Among the five, even the Guiding Dog, with relatively the weakest cultivation, could use the Earth Technique to pass directly through the stones. The weak Demon Essence they occasionally encountered along the way didn’t even catch their attention.

Back at the Shen City Lord’s Mansion, the life-threatening efforts of the two Deputy City Lords on the battlefield, akin to a cataclysm, seemed to have no impact on the Southern City Mountains.

However, when Zhao Jincheng and his party advanced approximately a hundred miles into the mountain range, the leading Guiding Dog suddenly halted.

A surprised exclamation came from behind.

Another Guiding Dog companion covered its nose, a hint of embarrassed annoyance flashing in its dull eyes.

"Young Master, there is something unusual here." The first Guiding Dog, disregarding its companion’s embarrassed gaze, quickly turned around to report to Zhao Jincheng.

Not far behind, Zhao Jincheng also looked at the Guiding Dog with some surprise.

In his memory, these two Guiding Dogs rarely had such intense reactions. For people who have been emotionally hurt many times, their hearts have become more numb than those of politicians. Unless faced with an extremely serious situation, even getting them to raise an eyebrow was difficult.

"Young Master, this place... it might be an earth vein storm."

At the mention of an earth vein storm, Zhao Jincheng’s face changed.

While studying Xiangzhou geography at the Golden Jade City academy, the teacher once introduced several serious geographical disasters in a particular class, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and so on, each having accompanied the destruction of small civilizations and the decline of medium-sized civilizations. However, there is a disaster even beyond these, one that even large civilizations cannot withstand.

An earth vein storm.

The so-called earth vein storm refers to the violent outburst of Earth Vein Spiritual Power, giving rise to various unimaginable phenomena.

It may not sound as frightening as earthquakes or volcanoes, but those in the know understand the immense terror hidden behind the word "unimaginable."

The greatest fear of humanity is the unknown. Known disasters can always be prepared for or avoided, but when it comes to unknowns, there is no way to talk about responses or refuge. Once an earth vein storm occurs, the Laws of Heaven and Earth change in an instant, shattering all common sense—fire raging ahead can’t be extinguished with water or sand but instead is fueled by them. What seems like a flat path crushes you into powder with a sudden twist of weight.

An earth vein storm is this unreasonable, and each occurrence surely results in severe casualties. The largest earth vein storm in history supposedly destroyed the entire Primordial Era.

So, the moment the words "earth vein storm" were spoken by the Guiding Dog, Zhao Jincheng felt his entire body bristle with cold sweat seeping out.

The next moment, the adaptive quality befitting the Eldest Son of Golden Jade City manifested fully. He linked his Primordial Spirit to contact the Protective Talisman on his chest, ensuring a retreat, while sharply ordering, "Xiao Bai and Xiao Bai, gather around!"

Xiao Bai and Xiao Bai were his two bodyguards, usually sticking close unless requested otherwise, never leaving his side, even when lost.

However, after Zhao Jincheng spoke, there was no response.

Turning back, he saw nothing but a vast open plain, nowhere was the encircling image of the mountains.

And neither was there a trace of Xiao Bai and Xiao Bai.