181: Silver-winged Yaksha and the Invisible Sword Formation

Kunwu Mountain, the dense forest at the northern foot.

Each tree here was dozens of zhang tall, with ancient iron-gray bark and branches that blotted out the sun. A faint white mist permeated the forest; this was not ordinary water vapor, but the manifestation of Spiritual Qi so dense it had liquefied.

Whoosh.

Two figures streaked across the ground at extreme speed.

“Husband, the gravity Restriction here is too strong. Even with a flying sword, I can only stay three feet off the ground,” Purple Spirit panted, a fine layer of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“That's normal.”

Zhou Wannian (Han Li) leaped through the trees like a ghost, his Divine Sense constantly alert to his surroundings.

“Kunwu Mountain was the headquarters for ancient Cultivators. To prevent foreign invasions, the air-Restriction array was set to the ‘Soul Transformation Stage’ standard. Unless you are a Soul Transformation Cultivator, you have to walk properly.”

“However, this also makes things easier for us.”

Zhou Wannian pointed toward a massive black building obscured by the mist.

“Ahead is the ‘Spirit Forging Hall’.”

“It's in a remote location, and its Restrictions are relatively independent. The Ye Family people should be busy trying to break the ‘Vajra Cover’ on the main peak right now, so they won't be able to spare any attention for this place.”

...A moment later, the two arrived before a massive hall.

The hall was built entirely of massive black stones in a rugged and wild style. The gates had long since collapsed, revealing a pitch-black, deep space within.

Despite enduring ten thousand years of wind and rain, the scorching heat (residual Earth Fire) and the murderous aura of clashing metal still made one's heart tremble.

“Be careful when we go in.”

Zhou Wannian waved his hand.

Buzz!

Wearing black meteoric iron armor, Iron Pillar appeared out of thin air. Like a mobile iron tower, he stood in front of the two.

“Enable ‘Heat Source Scan’.”

“Scanning... High-energy reaction detected... Quantity: 1. Distance: three hundred zhang. Target: Extremely dangerous.”

Just as Iron Pillar's electronic voice fell.

Screech—!!!

From the darkness deep within the hall, a shrill cry like tearing silk suddenly rang out.

Immediately following that.

A silver afterimage, moving at a speed difficult even for Divine Sense to track, instantly crossed the three-hundred-zhang distance and lunged straight for Iron Pillar's face!

It was too fast!

So fast that Purple Spirit hadn't even clearly seen what it was before the afterimage slammed into Iron Pillar.

Clang!!!

A deafening metallic collision rang out.

Sparks flew everywhere.

Weighing tens of thousands of catties and having “Gravity Anchoring” enabled, Iron Pillar was actually sent flying over a dozen zhang by the force of the impact, his feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground.

In the spot where Iron Pillar had originally stood.

A humanoid monster appeared.

It was two zhang tall, its skin a withered, gray-blue. A pair of massive silver wings grew from its back, green ghost-fires burned in its eyes, fangs protruded from its mouth, and its nails were as long as blades.

Silver-Winged Yaksha.

A corpse king mutated from an ancient refined corpse, its Physical Body was as hard as a heaven-reaching spirit treasure, and its speed was unrivaled among those of the same rank. It was a ferocious creature that would give even a Late Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator a headache!

“Roar—”

The Silver-Winged Yaksha stared at the flying Iron Pillar, a hint of human-like confusion flashing in its eyes.

Its strike just now was enough to tear apart an ordinary Middle Stage Nascent Soul Cultivator, yet that black iron lump only had a small dent in its chest, without even breaking the skin?

“As expected of the Spirit Forging Hall's watchdog.”

Standing not far away, Zhou Wannian looked at the ferocious creature. Not only was there no fear in his eyes, but a sharp glint also lit up.

“Those silver wings... if I take them off and refine them into upgrade Materials for my ‘wind thunder wings’, my escape speed will increase by at least thirty percent!”

“Purple Spirit, step back.”

Zhou Wannian took a step forward.

“Since you want to play with speed, let's see if your wings are faster or my swords.”

“Great Geng Sword Formation, rise.”

Buzz!

Zhou Wannian gave a wide wave of his sleeve.

There was no sword light.

There was no Sword Qi.

There wasn't even a ripple in the air.

The Silver-Winged Yaksha seemed to sense something. Its silver wings flapped violently as it prepared to teleport away.

However.

“Too late.”

Zhou Wannian lightly hooked his finger.

“Bind.”

Just as the Silver-Winged Yaksha's form began to blur, it suddenly seemed to crash into an invisible net.

“Sizzle sizzle sizzle—”

Dozens of fine blood scars suddenly appeared on its indestructible gray-blue skin. As soon as the green corpse blood seeped out, it was instantly evaporated by the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder attached to the sword threads.

“Roar!!!”

The Silver-Winged Yaksha roared in pain. It frantically swung its claws, trying to tear through the obstruction before it.

But the obstruction was invisible.

Seventy-two star thunder bee cloud swords, infused with geng essence, had become completely invisible, turning into an unseen cage that trapped it firmly within a ten-zhang radius.

No matter which direction it charged, it was met by the indestructible Geng Metal sword threads.

“Is this the power of an invisible sword formation?”

Purple Spirit watched from a distance, dumbfounded.

In her vision, she only saw the incredibly fierce Yaksha going mad against the air, and then mysteriously gaining wound after wound, as if being flayed by an invisible ghost.

“However, this thing's skin is really thick.”

Zhou Wannian's brow furrowed slightly.

Although the Geng Metal sword threads were sharp, they could only cut through its skin and could not injure its bones or tendons. The Yaksha's recovery power was also extremely strong, and its wounds healed in the blink of an eye.

“Since physical attacks are just chip damage, let's switch to Spell attacks.”

“Iron Pillar, come back. Tag out.”

Zhou Wannian patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

“Come out and eat!”

“Roar—!!!”

A yellow light shot out.

The big-nosed Ti Hun Beast made its appearance again.

This time, as soon as the little monkey appeared, the previously arrogant Silver-Winged Yaksha, which had been rampaging through the sword formation, suddenly stiffened.

That was fear from the depths of its Bloodline.

A natural enemy!

“Whine whine whine—”

The Silver-Winged Yaksha actually let out a whimpering sound similar to a plea for mercy. Its silver wings flapped frantically, and it was even willing to have several bones cut by the sword threads just to escape this terrifying little monkey.

“Want to run?”

Zhou Wannian sneered.

“Yuan Ci Divine Light, double gravity!”

Buzz!

Gray light instantly enveloped the area.

The Yaksha, already suppressed by Kunwu Mountain's Restrictions, felt its body grow heavy, and its speed was instantly halved.

“Inhale!”

The Ti Hun Beast's massive nose pointed at the Yaksha and took a sharp breath.

Whoosh—!!!

A visible stream of dark green corpse qi Origin was forcibly extracted from the Yaksha's seven orifices, continuously disappearing into the Ti Hun Beast's nostrils.

“Aaaah—”

The Silver-Winged Yaksha shrieked in pain. Its body shriveled at a visible rate, and the luster of its copper-and-iron-like bones quickly dimmed.

In just ten breaths.

The once incredibly formidable corpse king went limp on the ground, lacking even the strength to move a finger.

“ Done.”

Zhou Wannian stepped forward and slapped a golden thunder Talisman onto the Yaksha's forehead, sealing it completely.

“This thing will be useful. Its corpse core can be used to refine a ‘Heavenly Corpse Pearl’, and that pair of wings is top-grade.”

Zhou Wannian unceremoniously stuffed the Yaksha into a spirit beast pouch (specifically for holding captives).

Then.

He turned to look deep into the hall.

Without the watchdog, the Treasure Trove within was laid bare... the Spirit Forging Hall's Inner Treasury.

It wasn't as magnificent as one might imagine; instead, it looked like a cluttered warehouse.

Refining Materials were scattered everywhere on the ground.

“Is this... a ‘Crystallized Monster Core’? And it's level ten?!” Purple Spirit picked up something that looked like a glass marble and cried out in surprise.

“Is that ‘Taiyi Essence Gold’?! Such a large piece?!”

Zhou Wannian also couldn't help but feel his heart race.

The black stones on the ground were actually top-grade refining Materials that were hard to find in the outside world. Here, they were piled in corners like trash.

“We've struck it rich.”

Zhou Wannian activated “vacuum cleaner mode.”

With a wide wave of his sleeve, he left nothing behind wherever he went. Whether it was useful or not, as long as there was a ripple of Spiritual Qi, he took it all.

Until they reached the deepest part of the inner treasury.

There was an independent altar here.

On the altar, there were no Magic Treasures or Medicinal Pills.

There was only a half-person-high stone tablet that was crystal clear and seemed to be condensed from countless points of starlight.

Heavenly Crystal Tablet (also known as the Reverse Spirit Tablet).

Surrounding the stone tablet, faint wisps of pale golden gas drifted about.

The Nascent Soul inside Zhou Wannian's body, upon sensing this gas, actually trembled uncontrollably, sending out an extremely longing signal.

“This is...”

Zhou Wannian took a deep breath. As the gas entered his body, he felt the Bottleneck of his cultivation loosen slightly in an instant!

“reverse spirit qi!”

“This is Immortal Realm Essence Qi (diluted version) that leaked down from the Spirit Realm!”

An unprecedented wild joy erupted in Zhou Wannian's eyes.

“With this, I can completely cultivate the ‘Yuan Ci Divine Light’ to Major Achievement, and even... lay the Foundation for the Soul Transformation Stage!”

“Purple Spirit, protect me!”

“I'm going to suck all this gas dry right here!”

...Just as Zhou Wannian was frantically devouring the reverse spirit qi.

Outside the Vajra Cover at Kunwu Mountain's main peak.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Ye Family members were frantically attacking the main peak's defensive array.

“Quick! Faster!”

Grand Elder Ye Rui was drenched in sweat. “Old Devil Qian and the others have already broken the outer Seal and entered! If we let them catch up, we'll just be doing the hard work for others!”

“Grand Elder! What about that Elder Han? He disappeared right after being teleported in!” Ye Seven said anxiously.

“Forget about him!”

Ye Rui gritted his teeth. “That slippery fellow must have gone elsewhere to grab some benefits! As long as he doesn't mess up our business, it's fine!”

“The key now is... we must get those two heaven-reaching spirit treasures before the Taiyi Sect does!”

However.

Ye Rui did not know.

Just as they were desperately breaking the array.

A much more terrifying existence—Consort Ling Long (a fusion of the sealed Silver Moon Wolf Clan powerhouse's divided soul and a demon soul)—was slowly awakening deep underground in Kunwu Mountain.

And the key to waking her... was precisely the reverse spirit qi that Zhou Wannian was frantically extracting in the Spirit Forging Hall.

(Because the reverse spirit qi was part of the energy source suppressing the Seal).

Crack.

Deep underground, the sound of a broken chain rang out.

A terrifying Demonic Qi that made all of Kunwu Mountain tremble began to recover.

“Who is it...”

“Moved my... Qi?”

A lazy, seductive, yet murderous female voice abruptly rang out in Zhou Wannian's mind.

Zhou Wannian, who was inhaling the gas, suddenly opened his eyes.

“Not good!”

“I got too carried away... it seems I've woken up some powerful lady!”