The Undying Immortal System

Chapter 464 – Life 119, Age 27, Martial Grandmaster 5

The base of Pale Mist Mountain was a barren scrubland, with only thorny bushes and weary trees to break the monotony. The mist that gave the mountain its name clung low to the ground, sliding through the brush and lingering in every depression. It blurred outlines and concealed motion, providing cover for any hunters that lurked among its thickets.

The lower slopes were covered in dense clusters of makeshift tents and blood-soaked training yards, giving the impression that the mountain was half war camp and half abattoir. Higher still, the mist thickened until the land disappeared entirely. Only the occasional flash of sunlight off polished steel hinted at what lay beyond.

As we approached, no one came down to challenge us. Our foes remained high atop their mountain, waiting.

We could have immediately rushed forward in the hope of catching the Hall unprepared. However, they had been aware of our impending attack for over a year. It would have been foolish to assume that they weren’t ready for our arrival. Therefore, YuLong ordered our army to establish a fortified staging ground at the base of the mountain, giving us a secure fallback position should things turn sour.

Our Masters spread out to encircle one of the taller foothills, retrieved a set of formation stones from their storage bags, and carefully positioned them in accordance with the principles that I had drilled into them over the past several months. I had to make a couple of minor adjustments to account for variations in the local terrain, but within minutes, everything was in place.

I sent a thread of qi into the control nodes, and three layers of defensive formations flared to life. The combined power of these overlapping, focus-enhanced formations was more than enough to stop anything that a mere Seven-Star Sect could possibly throw at us. With these formations keyed to the identity jades we wore at our waists, our sect members would be able to pass through freely, while our enemies would die on contact.

If everything went smoothly, none of this would be necessary. We would simply take down Blackblade Hall in a single strike. However, considering the size of the temporary encampment that sprawled across the lower slopes, such a swift victory seemed unlikely. With this base camp, we were prepared for any eventuality.

Once everything was in position, we took a short rest, then reformed our ranks and started up the mountain.

Suba LengMu and his troop of twenty Martial Disciples took their place in the vanguard. This time, he was accompanied by two of our crafters, who used their qi vision to scan for any signs of traps or formations.

LengMu had clearly learned from his previous mistakes. Still, considering the potential danger that we were walking into, no one was comfortable leaving the responsibility of looking for traps to two young Disciples. So, the elders and I remained vigilant, carefully studying our surroundings for anything that our Disciples might have missed.

Step after step, my unease grew.

There were no signs of any formations, and neither Meng LuYao nor I detected even the faintest trace of an illusion. There were no ominous ripples of energy, and there were no cultivators hidden beneath the mists.

That had to be a trap, but where was it?

Pulling on my earth qi, I activated a technique and drilled into the mountain, scanning it in far more detail than was possible with sight alone.

At first, I didn’t sense anything but solid rock. However, as I extended my senses outward, I discovered several large voids buried several meters beneath the mountain’s surface. The nearest was directly in front of us, with LengMu’s troops set to pass over it in only a couple of minutes.

I sent a signal to YuLong, who passed my orders down the chain of command in practiced, silent motions.

LengMu shifted his heading at once, angling left to avoid whatever the Hall had prepared for us. Kan, meanwhile, ordered a detachment of Masters to take up a position between us and the voids, ensuring that we were well-prepared for any surprise attacks.

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Someone must have noticed this, because only a few breaths later, the mountain erupted, tearing open wide paths to the surface for whatever waited below.

What was coming for us? How should we respond?

Our masks were only effective against qi-based poisons, so if the voids released poison gases, we would need to quickly set up a formation to block them. If the voids released teams of Masters and Grandmasters, though, hastily erected formations wouldn’t do any good. We would need to reposition our higher-level cultivators to protect our Disciples.

My mind ran through several different possibilities, but none of them prepared me for what actually emerged.

The figures that shambled out of the mountain looked like reanimated corpses. They limped forward on unsteady legs, shoulders hunched, heads tilted at odd angles. Their skin was a horror of calcified flesh, tumorous growths, burn scars, and shiny metallic lesions. Their faces were twisted into a rictus of anger, but all I sensed from them was a desire for death.

YuLong reacted instantly, ordering our forces to form up and confront these new foes. Qi vision confirmed they were Martial Disciples, so he assigned our Disciples to the front and signaled for our Masters and elders to secure the flanks.

“Are they infected?” asked Kan, voice low. “Those growths can’t be natural. Do you think they’ll explode? Do we need to take these guys down from range?”

I should have known what we were facing the moment I saw them, but the passing of millennia had dulled my memories. By the time I realized the truth, it was already too late.

Still more than two dozen meters away from our front lines, the first wave of attackers bent their knees and launched themselves at us.

They didn’t use any qi, and they didn’t activate any techniques. Just raw physical force.

Their legs drove into the earth with enough power to crack stone. Then, they were airborne, flying toward us like bolts shot from a ballista. Yet as they flew, their broken legs flailed behind them like torn banners, revealing the cost of this maneuver.

Our Disciples raised their guandaos into the guard position, but the incoming bodies didn’t seem to care. As they neared, they simply swung their arms downward with all the force they could muster.

The Rank 2 guandaos of our Disciples held, showing no signs of strain, while the arms of our attackers burst apart on impact, pelting our Disciples with a hail of bone and sinew. Their refined robes kept them alive, but the collision drove them into the earth with enough force to break bones.

Our attackers, meanwhile, were no longer a threat. Most were dead. Those that weren’t couldn’t do anything but twitch helplessly on the ground.

As the last of the first wave stopped moving, another group emerged from the tunnels. This time, they weren’t corpses. They were monsters.

These beings had once been human, but I wasn’t entirely sure that label still applied. Their feet had been replaced by hooves, and their hands had been turned into claws. Antlers jutted from foreheads, fangs protruded from mouths, and thick buffalo hide covered every torso.

When I studied these abominations in energy vision, my stomach tightened.

They had clearly once been cultivators, but their energy bodies were so choked with toxins and impurities that there was no way they could still access their qi. Their physical bodies, meanwhile, were brimming with several different forms of wu, each one concentrated into a distinct part of the body. As best I could tell, these creatures were experiments in using grafted body parts as crude wu filters.

“What… are those?” asked Kan, shaken.

“Body cultivators,” I murmured. Then, I snapped my gaze forward and barked at our Disciples. “Form up! Don’t try to match them strength for strength. Avoid their attacks and cut them down! If you try to block, you’ll only end up on the ground.”

They tried to obey, but revulsion and fear disrupted their rhythm, causing them to fight far below their usual standard. They hesitated where they would usually react on instinct, and they flinched away from openings they would normally exploit.

When the fight finally ended, it wasn’t due to any clever ploy from our Disciples. The attackers simply destroyed themselves, their bodies tearing apart under the strain of wu-enhanced muscles.

As the last of the abominations fell, I turned to the jagged breach in the mountainside. Then, to the mist-shrouded peak. We weren’t ready for this kind of fight. We could still win, but how many of our people would die in the process?

I felt YuLong’s gaze, hard and questioning. Kan, too, waited for my call.

Before going farther up the mountain, we needed to discuss what we had already seen, and we needed to prepare our Disciples for the fight ahead.

I exhaled slowly, then spoke in a calm, low voice, my words meant only for our commanders. “Retreat.”