novelraw Chapter 119 : Mutated Dark Spirit Root
Chapter 119 : Mutated Dark Spirit Root
Chu Sang waved her bracelet and sighed, "Several days have passed since the assessment began, and we haven't obtained a single key. We're currently at the bottom of the rankings, holding hands."
"If we get eliminated in the first round, it would be too embarrassing."
Chu Sang swore by her dignity that she would not allow herself to be eliminated in the first round.
When necessary, one must take necessary measures.
She had to lead her senior brothers and sisters to work hard, to the point of exhaustion, and make everyone else cry!
Big Senior Sister nodded upon hearing this and retracted her sword into its case, not completely destroying the thorny vines.
The reproduction speed of the thorny vines was extremely fast, almost terrifying.
Even though only a small portion of the thorny vines was left, they could reproduce into countless vines in just half an incense stick's time. Countless emerald green poisonous snakes intertwined, like waves of green sea rising several meters high, surging forward vigorously, almost blocking out the sky, threatening to bury everything on the ground.
"Run!"
Chu Sang seemed to think it wasn't exciting enough. While leading her senior brothers and sisters in their great escape, she also swung her sword to provoke nearby spirit beasts, causing a group of them to roar and chase after them.
Gradually, more and more vines trailed behind them, and more and more spirit beasts joined the chase. Their passage caused the ground to shake and mountains to tremble, scattering birds and beasts.
This absurd scene scared nearby cultivators into fleeing in panic, unable to help but curse, "Damn, have these people gone mad?"
They had seen people courting death before, but never to this extent!
Were they afraid of not dying fast enough?!
When Chu Sang estimated that the number of vines and spirit beasts behind them had reached her expected amount, she suddenly stopped running.
She took out the Golden Bell to cover everyone, and also applied Concealment Talismans and Invisibility Talismans. Then she threw out a bunch of Explosive Talismans and Illusion Talismans, causing the vines and spirit beasts to fight among themselves.
Let them fight it out, while she reaps the benefits.
In the chaos, the two sides fought fiercely for a full day and night before it ended.
The aftermath was devastating, the landscape completely changed.
After confirming there was no more danger, Chu Sang retracted the Golden Bell and picked up a few green seeds from the ground.
These seeds were extremely precious thorn seeds. It was hard to imagine that the vast number of thorns had grown from these few small seeds.
She also harvested more than a dozen Golden Core-stage spirit beast cores, all of which were eaten by Xiao Bai.
Perhaps due to indigestion, Xiao Bai fell asleep shortly after eating.
Chu Sang put it back into the spirit beast pouch.
After the remnants of the spirit beasts and vines disappeared, several golden keys appeared in their place.
After obtaining them, the keys transformed into wisps of energy and entered the recording bracelets issued by the Eight Great Sects.
Their rankings barely climbed to the middle level.
At least they had caught up a bit in progress.
In the following days, the spirit beasts in the secret realm suffered greatly. One by one, they were miserable, having their lairs raided by a group of bandits wearing red Daoist robes while they were eating and drinking comfortably at home.
These spirit beasts were mostly at the Golden Core stage or above and had developed intelligence, understanding how to seek benefits and avoid harm. In the later days, they unanimously reached a consensus: upon encountering that red-robed young woman, don't ask, just run!
By the seventh day, each of them had ten keys in hand, their rankings steadily rising, stabilizing in the upper-middle range, within the top hundred.
Chu Sang even rushed into the top thirty in one go.
It should be noted that the top thirty on the leaderboard were basically all disciples from the Eight Great Immortal Sects and various major families. They were all young geniuses who had already made a name for themselves before participating in the sect competition. Her name abruptly inserted among them was particularly eye-catching.
"Hey hey hey, what a coincidence, Daoist Friend Sang! I didn't expect to meet you all in the Hundred Beasts Forest!"
Not far away, several disciples from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect approached, among them the familiar figure of Lin Qi, walking towards them with a grin.
As he came closer, the smile on Chu Sang's face suddenly disappeared. The long sword in her hand transformed into a whip, tying up the young man completely. She casually snatched away a trapping spirit tool he had hidden behind his back and clicked her tongue, "You little guy have quite a dirty heart, and you're quite ruthless too."
Smiling and acting friendly on the surface, but preparing to strike in secret.
This kid wasn't as naive and simple as he appeared on the surface.
"Ah, you saw through it. I should have known not to act so proactively just now."
Lin Qi's mouth twitched as he tried to appeal to their emotions, "We've been through hardships together, listen to my explanation. If I get eliminated in the first round, the elders back home will pull my ears!"
"As they say, personal friendships should be set aside during competitions, using a few small tricks is not a big deal."
"You'll forgive me, right?"
"Haha, I think you're here asking for a beating!" Tantai Ming gritted his teeth in anger, wanting to punch this guy.
Chu Sang stopped him in time, her eyes curving into crescents as she looked at Lin Qi who was trying to muddle through, and nodded, "You're right."
The next second, a green light appeared at her fingertips, and countless vines sprang from the ground, hanging Lin Qi and the other Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples up in the trees, howling and begging for mercy.
"This is what you said yourself, don't blame us," Chu Sang skillfully pulled off their storage bags, weighing them in her palm. There were quite a few good things.
Seeing this, the elders of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect in the outside world were so angry their lungs hurt. These good-for-nothing brats not only failed to snatch keys, but even had their keys snatched away by others.
Disgraceful!
Truly disgraceful!
Just as they were about to leave, several sword lights slashed over. Lin Qi's eyes lit up, "Wuwu, Big Senior Sister, save me!"
"The keys were snatched by them, Big Senior Sister, quickly help us get them back!"
Shang Ziling hadn't expected to find her junior brothers and sisters alone, only to witness such a miserable scene. Her head started to ache again.
"Leave the keys behind."
She held her long sword, the sword light like snow.
"Clang—"
Several flying swords blocked the attack.
Shang Ziling's gaze sharpened slightly as she looked at Wu Wo who was blocking her way. She recognized the black sword case on her back and her voice became more cautious, "The Hundred Breaking Sword Case has reappeared in the world..."
After a moment, she laughed lightly and raised her eyes indifferently, "But it's a pity you're up against me."
Chu Sang belatedly remembered that as the Ten Thousand Swords Sect that revered swords, each generation's top disciple was destined to have an innate sword physique, and Shang Ziling was no exception.
Now Big Senior Sister's Hundred Breaking Sword Case had met its match.
Sword artifacts naturally revered innate sword physiques. If Shang Ziling's strength was higher, she could even control others' spirit swords, catching people off guard.
Big Senior Sister Wu Wo's face showed no particular expression, still maintaining that indifferent, expressionless look.
"If you want to fight, then fight. Don't waste words."
Before her words fell, she made a hand seal with her fingers, and ten flying swords shot towards Shang Ziling.
The smile on Shang Ziling's lips also disappeared. She simultaneously summoned a silver-gray, fierce long sword. The spiritual energy around her body surged, causing even the air to stagnate slightly, seeming to form a semicircular transparent barrier around her.
The ten flying swords that had shot out seemed to be forcibly repelled by some power, stagnating in mid-air, unable to advance even half a step closer.
Ten flying swords weren't enough?
Then twenty.
Another ten flying swords were sent out by Big Senior Sister.
The cold expression on Shang Ziling's face cracked slightly. She could actually summon twenty flying swords?
But according to legend, weren't the masters of the Hundred Breaking Sword Case throughout history only able to summon at most ten flying swords?
Her shock was just beginning.
Following that,
Thirty flying swords,
Forty flying swords,
Fifty flying swords poured out at the same time. The number was simply too great, even an innate sword physique found it difficult to control!
Shang Ziling almost couldn't hold back from cursing. This was simply too outrageous!
Seeing Big Senior Sister single-handedly holding back this group of Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples, they of course snatched away the storage bags and ran.
"Stop right there!!"
The angry shouts of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciples faded behind them.
The assessment secret realm differed from ordinary secret realms in one aspect: as the assessment time grew shorter, the safe areas where one could move about in the secret realm would shrink.
In other words, in the last few days, all the cultivators participating in the assessment would be gathered in a small encirclement.
At that time, the chances of cultivators meeting each other would greatly increase, with the purpose of having them snatch keys from each other.
Now, with less than a week left until the end of the assessment, the encirclement had already shrunk by more than half.
Just as Chu Sang's group had resolved the crisis with the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, they encountered another group of people face to face.
They wore unified family attire and had considerable strength, all at the Golden Core stage or above.
The lead figure, a gloomy-faced young man in blue robes, had strength at the Nascent Soul stage.
He looked like a disciple from a major sword cultivation family.
Unlike the fierce sword energy of ordinary sword cultivators that was open and aboveboard, this blue-robed cultivator's sword energy was somewhat peculiar, specializing in sneak attacks. Every move was lethal, striking vital points, difficult to guard against, and very troublesome to deal with.
"...It's people from the Xuanyuan family," Si Ku Qiu said softly. "Little Junior Sister, we need to be careful."
"This Xuanyuan family is one of the four great sword cultivation families in the cultivation world. The man in the lead, I reckon, should be the young master of their family for this generation, Xuanyuan Cheng. I've heard he has a mutated Dark Spirit Root, a Heaven Spirit Root like you."
Xuanyuan family?
Chu Sang's heart stirred slightly. This name was not unfamiliar to her.
In the original story, when narrating the male protagonist's background, this sword cultivation family was emphasized.
Originally, the Xuanyuan family was just a second-rate sword cultivation family, but after the Mo family was massacred by the demon race more than ten years ago, the Xuanyuan family leaped forward, becoming one of the current four great sword cultivation families, with unlimited prominence.
The current young master, Xuanyuan Cheng, was a mutated Dark Spirit Root that only appears once in a hundred years. Just a few years after coming of age, he was already at the Nascent Soul stage. His astonishing talent and fame rivaled that of Mo Qingchen.
Of course, this guy was just a cannon fodder male supporting character. From his first appearance, he had been courting death by challenging Mo Qingchen, and eventually became one of the stepping stones for the male protagonist.
Compared to the cannon fodder fate of this young master, Chu Sang was more interested in his mutated Dark Spirit Root.
Single-attribute spirit roots are all called Heaven Spirit Roots, such as metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Besides these five elemental spirit roots, there are also more common mutated spirit roots, such as light, dark, thunder, ice, and wind spirit roots.
Generally speaking, mutated Heaven Spirit Roots are even rarer than Heaven Spirit Roots. The male protagonist Mo Qingchen's Ice Spirit Root was mutated from a water and earth dual spirit root.
Dark Spirit Root cultivators are mostly cunning and treacherous, with ghost cultivators being more common, and rarely seen among human cultivators.
Xuanyuan Cheng waved his hand, ordering the other disciples to surround Chu Sang and her companions. He folded his arms and sneered, "Hand over the keys obediently, and you can avoid physical suffering."
These disciples of the Xuanyuan family were truly arrogant. They were able to rank at the top of the leaderboard because all their keys had been snatched from others along the way.
Tantai Ming put his hand on the hilt of his sword and clicked his tongue, "This is the first time I've seen robbers more arrogant than us."
Chu Sang felt a bit guilty about the fact that Seventh Senior Brother had instinctively classified himself as a robber. Ahem! It definitely wasn't taught by her.
She raised her eyebrows, looking at the arrogant cultivators before her, her smile deepening, "Are you sure you want to rob us?"
Seeing her expression, Xuanyuan Cheng inexplicably felt a sense of unease, but the people before him were just from small sects and schools, with only Golden Core stage strength, nothing to be feared.
Thinking of this, his expression turned fierce, and he made his move.
The Dark Spirit Root is different from other spirit roots, not excelling in direct attacks, but in sneak attacks.
In the blink of an eye, Xuanyuan Cheng's figure suddenly disappeared, as if merging into the shadows of all things, with not even a trace of spiritual energy detectable.
Hiding in the darkness, Xuanyuan Cheng sneered, about to strike the red-robed girl with his sword, when he saw that she, who had been motionless before, suddenly turned around. Then, the silver-white long sword in her hand burst forth with thousands of sword shadows, like sunlight scattering through a bamboo forest, instantly dispelling the shadows, and his figure was completely exposed.
The girl's movement technique was even faster than his. She kicked him flying tens of meters away with one foot.
"Young Master, are you alright?"
Seeing this, the others were all shocked and hurried over to help him up.
Xuanyuan Cheng shook them off with one hand, standing up shakily, his eyes full of disbelief and fear. This person was only at the late stage of the Golden Core, while he was already at the early stage of Nascent Soul... She wasn't even a body cultivator, how could her physical strength be so formidable?
And that sword light just now, how could it see through his shadow technique that had never failed before?
Could it be... a light attribute spirit sword??
The Dark Spirit Root could be said to be unbeatable, unless the opponent had a Light Spirit Root or a light attribute spirit tool, as light counters darkness.
These people were truly not to be underestimated.
Xuanyuan Cheng's eyes darkened. Just as he reached for the storage bag at his waist, he found it empty.
His heart skipped a beat, and he looked up as if sensing something. Only then did he see that his storage bag had somehow already been pickpocketed and was now in the girl's hand.
Damn, is this person a bandit?
For a moment, Xuanyuan Cheng almost couldn't tell who the real bandit was. He was furious and embarrassed, gritting his teeth, "You're courting death!"
He then reached for a jade ring on his right hand, which was also a storage space, containing the trump card he had specially prepared for this competition.
He put one hand behind his back, condensing nine thin needles with dark light flowing around them.
Seeing this, the cultivators outside started discussing,
"It's actually the Soul-Breaking Needles? It seems the Xuanyuan family is determined to succeed in this sect competition. They've even brought out a quasi-heaven artifact like the Soul-Breaking Needles. Cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage have no defense against it."
"Those few people are quite capable, to actually push the young master of the Xuanyuan family to this extent, even bringing out a family heirloom in the first round."
"The power of the Soul-Breaking Needles is not to be underestimated. Even Nascent Soul stage cultivators might not be able to resist it. Isn't this overkill?"
"If he really succeeds, the lives of these cultivators might..."
Someone sneered, "Everyone signed a life-and-death contract before participating in the sect competition. Which year's sect competition doesn't result in a few deaths? Moreover, they're just cultivators from small sects and schools. Even if they die, who would dare to seek compensation from the Xuanyuan family?"
Most cultivators were watching with an attitude of enjoying the show. Some even started placing bets. However, the next scene made everyone's eyes widen in disbelief—
A black shadow flashed by and swallowed the nine Soul-Breaking Needles.
...Swallowed them.
Swallowed them??
Are you kidding? Those were quasi-heaven artifacts.
What kind of creature has such strong teeth???