Returning Immortal

Chapter 14 : Absolute Forbidden Zone

Escaping the Phantom Beast Forest did not mean the end of their hardships.

The real danger was just beginning.

The Phantom Beast Forest was a border area deployed by the Luminous Cult to protect the absolute forbidden zone, and it was relatively safe.

With just a few supreme masters like now, they could pass through without much trouble.

In contrast, the absolute forbidden zone was truly a place of death.

Formations and barriers were spread out everywhere, and even ancient prohibitions were hidden.

The level of the monsters and fiends inside was also incomparable.

Some monsters were so strong that even supreme masters couldn't face them.

"Is this the absolute forbidden zone?"

"That's right. The cliff you see in the distance is the Black Dragon Cliff."

"Black Dragon Cliff? You mean the very cliff where the words 'Northern Darkness Divine Art' are said to be reflected in the moonlight?"

"That is merely a legend."

"Hahaha! That legend might be true, who knows? Anyway, we've safely arrived in front of the absolute forbidden zone. Let's go inside right away without hesitation."

"I understand. From here on, I will take the lead."

"Do so."

Whereas the Phantom Beast Forest had many monsters, this place was littered with formations everywhere.

Perhaps because of that, no one objected to Ne Jinja taking the lead.

"You, stand next to me."

"I understand."

What was unexpected was that Ne Jinja had pulled Gwi Seongjin to his side.

Not long after the group entered the forbidden zone, a bizarre-looking rocky mountain was revealed in front of them.

It wasn't a very high mountain.

But large and small rocks were growing densely like trees, forming a forest.

But as they climbed the mountain, their steps suddenly became difficult.

Under a tremendous pressure, their feet became as heavy as a thousand catties, and even the atmosphere and the gray clouds in the sky felt as heavy as rocks.

They had entered a formation.

"Vice Director! Is there no other way to go around?"

Feeling the unusual momentum, the Grand Prince asked Ne Jinja.

"This is the entrance to the forbidden zone, so there is no proper way to avoid it. But this is strange?"

"What is it?"

"In the past, there was no such formation at the entrance. It was a formation I had seen much further back, but it seems some mishap has occurred in this forbidden zone."

At Ne Jinja's words, the group's expressions darkened.

They had followed Ne Jinja here, trusting him, but to hear that the formation had changed, they felt a sense of fear.

"Seongjin! Do you know what kind of formation it is?"

Ne Jinja asked Gwi Seongjin, who was staring intently at the inside of the formation.

Looking at Gwi Seongjin's face, his expression was not very bright.

"I don't know the name of the formation, but it seems the laws of heaven and earth inside are different from the outside."

"Why do you think so?"

"Looking into the interior of the formation, I see that among the three powers of heaven, earth, and man, man is missing. Moreover, the Qian Yang is overlapping, heavily pressing down between the sky and the ground... It seems to be a formation that contains the mystery of 'Pulling the Heavens to Create Stone'."

At Gwi Seongjin's answer, Ne Jinja made a surprised expression.

Ne Jinja had a memory of experiencing a similar formation in the past.

It was inside the forbidden zone.

If his memory served him right, the situation at that time was almost similar to Gwi Seongjin's explanation now.

However, the expression 'creating stone' was a bit ambiguous in meaning.

"The method to break it?"

"It's still blurry so I can't tell, but if we go inside the formation, its identity will be revealed."

"Are you confident you can find it?"

"If you wish, I will take the lead."

Although Gwi Seongjin spoke in a provocative voice, Ne Jinja shook his head.

"No. I have experienced this formation before, so I will break it from the front. You, assist from the back so that others don't make mistakes."

"I will do so."

Since he was insisting on breaking it himself, there was no reason to take the lead.

When Gwi Seongjin moved back behind the Raging Fire Divine Lord, Ne Jinja stepped into the formation.

The inside of the formation was a little dark.

It was because the gray clouds were blocking the sunlight.

And it was very difficult to walk, as if they had entered water hundreds of zhang deep.

Moreover, even their internal energy was restricted, and they couldn't use even one-tenth of their possessed internal energy.

As if being considerate of the Grand Prince, Ne Jinja, who was in front, explained the characteristics of the formation.

"This formation has the characteristic of restraining a person's physical body and consuming their will to the extreme. Inside here, the movement of the body slows down as time passes, and if you don't find and destroy the central pivot in time, you will suffer great harm. Fortunately, I know the center of the pivot, so breaking it will not be very difficult."

"Vice Director! Where is the central pivot of the formation?"

The Grand Prince asked Ne Jinja.

"If we cross that hill, there is a high stone platform below. If we destroy that, the formation will stop working."

"What happens if we can't destroy the stone platform?"

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master suddenly cut into Ne Jinja and the Grand Prince's conversation.

The Ghost Medicine Hall Master was at the late stage of the supreme realm, and his martial arts were somewhat lacking compared to the Raging Fire Divine Lord, Ne Jinja, and the Grand Prince.

However, he was deployed in the operation because his medical skills were excellent and his ability to handle poison was outstanding, but perhaps because of his age, his steps were already shaking.

"If we can't destroy the central pivot, the formation will continue endlessly. In the end, we will die of exhaustion or starvation."

"If we don't want to die, we have no choice but to find and destroy the central pivot."

"That's right."

Ne Jinja, who was nodding his head, slowly stopped walking.

It was to wait for Gwi Seongjin, who had fallen behind.

Then, he happened to look at Gwi Seongjin's feet.

It was strange.

When Gwi Seongjin was first captured by the Luminous Cult, his martial arts were clearly at the early stage of the first-rate.

He had heard that his internal energy had increased a little after taking the Ink Soul Pill, but Physician Zhang had still diagnosed Gwi Seongjin's internal energy as being at the early first-rate level.

However, according to his own observation before entering the Phantom Beast Forest, it seemed that although Gwi Seongjin's internal energy was low, his movement technique could be said to be at the mid-stage of the first-rate.

Watching him fight the swarm of bats, he had even momentarily mistaken it for the late stage, not the mid-stage.

But now it was different again.

Even the Ghost Medicine Hall Master, a master of the late supreme realm, was staggering, but Gwi Seongjin's steps were very stable.

'With just his internal energy, he's only at the early first-rate...'

Ne Jinja's brow furrowed with an unreadable expression.

Ne Jinja had no idea that Gwi Seongjin was practicing spirit energy.

Moreover, the fact that the formation here couldn't control spirit energy at all...

* * *

As they went a little further forward, numerous giant stone statues appeared before their eyes.

They were stone statues with their lower bodies buried in the ground and only their upper bodies revealed.

The giant stones had square bodies with human-shaped heads and arms, and their intimidating presence was no ordinary thing.

"Strange. There were no such things before..."

Ne Jinja muttered as he looked at the giant stones.

"Vice Director! What are you saying?"

"It's nothing. It's just that I don't think there were such hideous statues in the past."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please wait a moment."

Ne Jinja, who had asked for the Grand Prince's understanding, chose a place with soil, then found a sharp stone and drew a lot of things on the ground.

And he wrote numbers next to it, then erased and wrote them repeatedly.

Gwi Seongjin carefully approached Ne Jinja, who was contemplating like that.

"The principles of this formation cannot be fully grasped with just the Nine Palaces Harmony Calculation. The core of this formation is the addition of the Heaven-Defying Art."

Ne Jinja, who was looking at Gwi Seongjin as if he was absurd, made an expression as if he had been struck by lightning, then lowered his head and corrected the numbers again.

And after combining them for a long time, he slowly nodded his head.

"Heaven-Defying Art! I see. So that's why the formation has changed like this."

Hearing him speak, it seemed Ne Jinja also knew well about the Heaven-Defying Art.

Well, the Maoshan Sect, which had completed the Heaven-Defying Art, had been invaded and destroyed by the Demonic Cult some three hundred years ago.

After that, its essence flowed into the Demonic Cult...

It would have been more strange if Ne Jinja didn't know.

"That's right. It's clear that the formation has evolved on its own due to the influence of the Heaven-Defying Art."

"Then those stone statues..."

"You are probably right in what you are thinking. They were created by the formation to protect itself, and in a little while, the stone statues will rush here and attack us. Judging by the location where they are spread out, it seems there is no particular way to avoid them."

"Are you saying there's no way to stop them?"

"Why would there not be?"

After finishing his words, Gwi Seongjin slowly stood up.

And after looking around in all directions, his eyes sparkled as he saw a large tree located about twenty zhang away.

"According to the principle of the five elements' generation and overcoming, Wood generates Fire, so wood nurtures fire, and Fire overcomes Metal, so fire can overcome metal (stone). Then we must kill the stone and nurture the flame, and that place seems to be that tree where the Open Gate is located in Qi Men Dun Jia."

"Are you saying that if we cut down that tree, the stone statues won't be able to move?"

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was behind, asked.

"That's right. But you must cut it down with a weapon that contains fire qi. We should hurry. The formation has been activated."

Rumble, rumble.

As soon as Gwi Seongjin's words ended, some of the stone statues wriggled, then placed their two hands on the ground and began to pull their bodies out of the ground.

Crack, snap.

The stone statues, with their two feet revealed, all had human forms.

However, their appearances and sizes varied.

The small ones were two zhang in size, and a few seemed to be over five zhang.

Thump. Thump.

A few menacing-looking stone statues in front started walking in the direction of the group.

What was fortunate was that their movements seemed slow.

But they couldn't be complacent.

Even though they seemed slow, their bodies were large, so their movement speed was much faster than the group's.

In the end, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was in the lead, had to face the stone statues.

Boom!

When the stone statue took a step, the rock under its foot shattered, and large stone fragments flew in all directions.

It was a truly threatening advance.

Paat!

The Raging Fire Divine Lord, who jumped up about half a zhang, swung his Sky-Piercing Halberd and strongly struck the stone statue's leg.

In a normal situation, it was an offense that would have cut off the stone statue's leg.

But it was only enough to make the stone statue kneel.

Boom!

The kneeling stone statue swung its stone club.

At that, the Raging Fire Divine Lord's Sky-Piercing Halberd, carrying the power of a thousand catties, wrapped around the club, sent it flying into the sky, and then, using the momentum, even cut off the stone statue's neck.

After that, the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who rushed at the stone statues behind, began to fight a fierce battle with five stone statues.

"Ilgeom! Go and help the Divine Lord!"

"As you command."

The Grand Prince gave an order to his personal guard.

Ilgeom's martial arts level was at the late stage of the supreme realm.

It was much lower than the Raging Fire Divine Lord, who was at the late stage of the supreme realm.

Even so, the reason the Grand Prince sent Ilgeom was because he had something he believed in.

Heaven and Earth Great Shift.

It was the divine art that Ilgeom had learned.

Indeed, the Heaven and Earth Great Shift was marvelous.

Even though he just lightly touched it with the tip of his sword, the stone statue's attack changed direction.

And then it attacked its own side.

While a few stone statues were entangled and collapsing, the Raging Fire Divine Lord was barely able to escape from the midst of the stone statues.

However, he couldn't go a few steps before the Raging Fire Divine Lord faced danger again.

Boom! Rip.

This time, what blocked the Raging Fire Divine Lord was a huge giant stone statue.

The size of its sole alone was over seven chi, and every time it took a step, the ground rumbled and the stone floor cracked.

(End of Chapter)