novelraw Chapter 35 : Chapter 35
Chapter 35 : Chapter 35
Chapter 35: Night Visitors in Immortal Burial Town
The “Nine Fountains Diagram” was far clearer than the “Vein Guide Diagram,” detailing each fountain’s position and opening sequence.
The four limb fountains were the earliest and simplest to open.
It stated:
“Superior talents achieve it in ten years of hard training.”
“Average talents need ten to thirty years.”
…
The fifth fountain was at the back’s “Central Hub.” The sixth, at the chest’s “Tanzhong.” The seventh, at the head’s “Hundred Wisdom.”
Opening seven fountains connected the body, allowing attempts at higher realms.
“Superior talents, with twenty years of hard training, may reach seven fountains.”
Reading this, I marveled at the Golden Crow blood’s rarity. Even superior talents needed twenty years for seven fountains. How many years had I saved?
No!
Martial cultivators here might start at three. By my age, they’d trained fifteen or sixteen years.
And didn’t noble heirs here have rare blood medicines?
Golden Crow blood only offset my delayed start, far from catching up.
Moreover, this was for superior talents. It noted that exceptional ones could attempt the eighth fountain, “Wind Mansion” at the nape, and the ninth, “Ancestral Field” below the navel.
Mortals succeeding at “Wind Mansion” were prodigies, able to overpower mutants in the same realm, rivaling pure immortal bodies.
Mortals succeeding at “Ancestral Field” were ultimate beings, their brilliance outshining pure immortal bodies.
I was thrilled— the martial path offered ways to catch up. Though ordinary, I had a chance to challenge pure immortal bodies in the same realm. My fighting spirit blazed.
Mortals were suppressed by mutants in the same realm and outclassed by lower-realm pure immortal bodies.
I refused to live so stifled.
Wind Mansion, Ancestral Field…
But if mortals could attempt them, couldn’t mutants and pure immortal bodies?
Wouldn’t I still be outmatched?
Feeling uneasy, my ears twitched at a sound. I spread the ghost flag covering the evil camel bell over the fire, dousing it, leaving only smoke.
The room and Immortal Burial Town plunged into darkness.
“Tap tap!”
Footsteps entered the town.
Figures flitted across rooftops, light and swift.
I tossed The Essentials of the Nine Fountains into the bell, draped the flag over myself to mask my aura, and leaped over the mud wall, switching houses, finally hiding atop a beam.
“There was firelight— why’s it gone?”
“Search, house by house.”
…
Doors were kicked, objects slashed.
Over ten torches lit up.
Dozens of Earth Wolf King soldiers, all elite with at least two fountains, entered.
Half, led by Shi Jiuzhai’s tenth disciple, Xing Wanxing, hurried to the town’s northeast corner.
There, a millennium-old apricot tree, thick as eight men, stood with dense branches and roots.
Beneath was a well over three meters wide, circled by stone railings and dozens of giant statues, exuding an ancient, illusory aura in the misty water.
Torches ringed the well.
“Splash!”
With iron chains straining, water churned, and a silver coffin, large as a house, was hauled up.
It was heavy, taxing twenty-plus mutant cultivators.
Yesterday, the Beast Li tribe’s rescue forced the army’s retreat. Too massive to move, the coffin was hidden in the well.
Xing Wanxing’s eyes gleamed— he’d seen its value. Even the silver coffin itself was priceless.
Such alien coffins would intrigue great sects’ leaders.
Worth a hundred million silver coins easily.
A four-fountain cultivator beside him whispered, “Lord Xing, why not open it quietly, take the contents, and return it…”
“Shut up! An opened alien coffin loses value.”
Xing Wanxing wasn’t tempted?
Experts could tell if a coffin was opened.
Shi Jiuzhai wasn’t easily fooled— Xing lacked the nerve.
Opening blind coffins was risky.
The contents might be worthless or empty. Or unleash horrors, killing many.
Xing had heard of a great clan paying three hundred million for a rare coffin, only to release an incomprehensible entity, wiping out a city of millions, turning it into a forbidden zone.
Some coffins held revived corpses, killing openers before leaving.
Others had traps, poisons, or corpse bugs…
If opening blind coffins was risk-free, they wouldn’t circulate.
If retrieving, carrying, or opening coffins weren’t perilous, how could the Jiuli dominate the trade’s source?
Risk and reward were proportional.
“Thud!”
As the silver coffin emerged, its weight snapped the hemp ropes.
It crashed down.
With a clang, the lid slid open over a foot.
Everyone recoiled.
Xing Wanxing fumed, “Can’t you be careful… that’s…”
From the gap, silver radiance poured, releasing a rich fragrance.
The mist around the houses turned silver, like immortal clouds, sprouting silver flowers.
Xing Wanxing froze, eyes wide.
This wasn’t a sinister coffin— it held countless alien treasures.
“Lord Xing, it’s not our fault— the sealing nails were pried off. The Cangli likely opened it in the Blood Sea!” someone reported after checking.
The four-fountain cultivator whispered, “It’s already ajar— why not see what’s inside?”
Xing calculated. If it held rare treasures, why not take them and flee? With this mishap, returning it would still draw Shi Jiuzhai’s suspicion.
He ordered the heavy silver lid lifted by mutants.
The radiance grew, lighting half the town.
Silver flowers multiplied in the mist.
Inside lay an eleven-to-twelve-meter silver giant skeleton, star rivers flowing within, dazzling. Nothing else.
Xing sighed, disappointed.
The skeleton might interest great cultivators, but was worthless to him.
“Maybe the real treasure was taken by the Cangli,” he thought.
“Splash!”
Li Ling, like a night breeze, stepped on blue mist, her graceful figure landing on a three-story roof near the well.
She’d tracked me to the town, stumbling on this find.
Weren’t these the Buddha Ferry thieves?
Coldness surged in her eyes. She drew a gold-threaded bug bag, pouring out its contents.
“Buzz!”
Rice-sized bugs swarmed, like firefly specks, encircling the thieves.
Hearing the buzzing, Xing Wanxing turned, face paling: “Chihuo beetles— don’t let them touch you, scatter!”
Too late!
The first mutant touched screamed, his back burned through, becoming a fireball.
In three breaths, his two-meter frame was ash.
The second, third…
Soldiers burned, screams and wails filling the air, chaos erupting. Some fled, others jumped into the well.
Through a window crack, I saw the girl’s silhouette, recognizing her, stunned she was here.
Sensing my gaze, Li Ling glanced at my hiding spot.
“Such strong perception?”
I looked away, realizing she might be here for me.
Why?
My mind raced with possibilities.
Favor turned to enmity? Or my artifacts exposed?
Why else track me?
Something was wrong.