247: Chapter 247 Moon Hidden in the Ghost Swamp

The night of the full moon.

At the third quarter of the Zi hour, the Great Yin hung high.

Deep within the Yunmeng Great Marsh, the Bewitching Ghost Swamp.

The gray-black toxic miasma that usually lingered year-round was actually illuminated somewhat transparently tonight by a round full moon.

Moonlight like water poured over the endless marsh, yet it only served to make those withered tree remains look like ghosts; as the yin wind brushed past, it sobbed like crying.

Gao De stood atop a withered tree a hundred miles outside the Ghost Marsh, his entire aura restrained to nearly nothing.

The purple lightning reverse dragon scale armor had transformed into a layer of dark patterns as thin as a cicada's wing, clinging beneath his robes, and the thunder calamity law-breaking halberd was also sealed within his Dantian for nourishment.

To follow Taiwan novels, go to Taiwan Novel Website, twkan.com for easy reading.

He raised his head to look at the moon, recalling the information obtained from soul-searching, ensuring nothing was missed.

“When the moonlight is at its peak, it is also when the yin souls are most frenzied.” Beside him, Mysterious Turtle held the water patrol token and transmitted his voice in a low tone, “The Heavenly Demon Cult uses moonlight to refine Demonic Weapons and nurture the holy fetus. At this moment, everyone must be gathered at the main hall. The northeast node was just raided, and the guards haven't fully recovered yet; it's the perfect opportunity to sneak in.”

Gao De nodded slightly.

Ten zhang behind him, Ao Xue sat cross-legged, suspended in mid-air, her entire body's blood light completely restrained, like a frozen blood-colored statue.

She had already refined that wisp of ancient Blood Dragon remnant soul to seventy percent, her Bloodline concentration approaching the threshold for a Breakthrough.

She didn't need to act tonight, only to hold the line here—if Gao De encountered danger, she would be the blade covering the retreat.

Further away, Dragon Peach had reverted to his original form, a three-zhang-tall Ancient Peach Tree rooted by the bank of an underground river, its root system reaching deep into the water veins, echoing the Leylines of Lesser Qingqiu a hundred miles away.

The formation patterns of the Myriad Wood Senluo Great Array quietly spread beneath her feet, ready to transform into a cage to trap enemies at any time.

“The time has come,” Gao De said softly.

With one step forward, his figure transformed into a faint thread of lightning, merging into the moonlight.

---

Bewitching Ghost Swamp, the Yunmeng Great Marsh branch of the Heavenly Demon Cult, Scripture Hall.

This hall was located deep in the northeast of the Ghost Marsh, no more than fifty miles from the Blood Dragon remnant soul altar that was raided seven days ago.

The hall was three zhang high, built entirely of black bones, with nine human-skin lanterns hanging from the eaves; the lantern flames were eerie green, making the surrounding hundred zhang feel ghostly.

Thirty-six black-robed cultists guarded the outside of the hall, their Cultivation all between the Early and Middle Stages of Tier 3.

The two leaders were even at the Tier 3 Peak, holding bone spears with blood-light flickering in their eyes.

But at this moment, their attention was not outside the hall.

Several hundred zhang away, in the direction of the main hall in the center of the Ghost Marsh, the faint sounds of shrill chanting and dragging chains could be heard.

That was the Heavenly Demon Cult's monthly “Holy Infant Moon Sacrifice”—using nine Dragon-blooded Yao Beast cubs as sacrifices, supplemented by the power of moonlight, to nurture that “holy fetus” whose true appearance had yet to be seen.

“Tonight is the thirteenth sacrifice,” a guard murmured softly. “Once the forty-nine sacrifices reach Perfection and the Holy Infant is born, the Cult Master can...”

“Silence!” the leader barked coldly. “The Holy Cult's secrets are not for the likes of us to discuss.”

The guard quickly lowered his head, not daring to speak further.

Just then, in the shadows behind the hall, a faint thread of lightning quietly slipped into a crack in the bone wall.

There were no lamps inside the Scripture Hall.

Only a statue of a three-headed snake demon enshrined deep within the hall had two clusters of eerie blue phosphorus fire burning in its snake eyes, illuminating the layers of bone racks in the hall.

Countless Jade Slips, animal skins, and stone carvings were displayed on the racks, all of which were Cultivation Techniques, secret arts, intelligence, and maps collected by the Heavenly Demon Cult over hundreds of years.

Gao De emerged from the shadows, his Divine Sense like a thread, quietly sweeping over the bone racks.

Although being inside the prison dragon talisman would be more concealed, his perception wouldn't be as convenient as experiencing it personally, so Gao De used a Divine Ability to escape inside.

In the memory fragments of Elder Blood Bat, the clues regarding the “guixu token” pointed here—not to any randomly placed classics, but hidden within a certain Restriction in the hall.

His gaze fell upon the three-headed snake demon statue in the center of the hall.

The statue was pitch black, with distinct snake scales; its three heads faced the main hall, side hall, and back hall respectively, and its six eyes were eerie blue, as if they were alive.

Gao De stared silently for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand, condensing a drop of Essence Blood on his fingertip.

The blood droplet suspended in the air, slowly floating toward the center of the middle snake head's forehead.

This was the “door-opening method” from Elder Blood Bat's memory—using dragon blood as a guide to evoke a resonance from the snake statue.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

Ten breaths.

The statue remained motionless.

Gao De's brow furrowed slightly.

Not right.

Blood Bat's memory wouldn't be wrong, yet the statue didn't react. Either there was another secret to the door-opening method, or—

His gaze sharpened, falling upon the base of the snake statue.

A circle of extremely fine runes was carved into the base, hidden in the shadows of the phosphorus fire; if one didn't look closely, they were almost imperceptible.

The runes were not Yao script, nor Dragon script, but a type of twisted script Gao De had never seen before, shaped like insects and snakes, seeming like living things as they wriggled.

“Ancient Witch Script...” Gao De's thoughts raced.

He had seen sporadic records of such runes in the Incomplete Manuals of the Hundred Beasts Sect's secret treasury—those were existences older than the Heavenly Demon Cult, a Witch Dao Legacy that used blood sacrifices, curse-killing, and soul-enslavement as techniques. The source of many of the Heavenly Demon Cult's bizarre methods probably lay here.

Blood Bat was a fourth-stage Elder, but he was not a descendant of the Witch Dao; the “door-opening method” in his memory might have just been a facade.

The true key was not dragon blood.

But—

Gao De flipped his hand and took out that black crystal—the ding xu stone.

As soon as the crystal appeared, the Ancient Witch Script on the base suddenly lit up!

The light was neither eerie blue nor blood red, but a nearly nihilistic grayish-white, as if space itself had been torn with a fine crack.

The snake statue's three heads and six eyes simultaneously turned toward Gao De!

No, not toward him—

It was toward the ding xu stone in his hand.

The next moment, the base of the snake statue split open silently, revealing a stone staircase extending downward.

The end of the stone staircase was dark and deep, leading to an unknown place.

Gao De did not hesitate; his figure flashed and he entered.

---

The stone staircase was not long.

After thirty-three steps, there was a secret room less than three zhang square.

The secret room had no windows or doors, its four walls built from solid blocks of black jade; within the jade were sealed countless twisted human faces, their mouths open in silent screams, looking extremely pained.

In the center of the secret room, an object was suspended.

It was a palm-sized broken turtle shell.

The turtle shell was dark yellow with charred edges, clearly having been burned by thunder and fire.

Half a map was carved on the shell surface, with ancient lines, sharing the same origin as the remnant map in the blood-colored crystal, but more detailed—

The location of the Gui Xu Eye, the entrance to the Nine Nether Dragon Tomb, and... the image of a token.

The token was shaped like a coiled dragon, its head held high, with a pearl in its mouth. On the pearl, a single word was carved—

Xu.

Gao De's pupils constricted slightly.

The guixu token.

No, this was not the guixu token itself, but a treasure map pointing to its whereabouts.

He suppressed the agitation in his heart and concentrated on examining the turtle shell.

The place where the token was hidden, as marked on the map, was not at the Gui Xu Eye, nor deep within the Yunmeng Great Marsh, but an unexpected place—

At the bottom of Lake Dongting, three thousand zhang directly beneath the original site of the Grotto-Heaven, at the entrance to the Ancient Chidao.

Countless thoughts flashed through Gao De's mind like sparks.

Lake Dongting, that was the place where he rose.

The original site of the Grotto-Heaven was where he obtained the dragon pearl fossil and the Dragon Palace Legacy.

The Ancient Chidao, the entrance to the underground palace he had discovered before his Dragon Transformation, but had never delved into due to insufficient Cultivation and the timing not being right.

So the guixu token was right there.

Right under his nose, sleeping for an unknown number of years.

He was just about to reach for the turtle shell—

“Fellow Daoist.”

A hoarse voice drifted faintly from the entrance of the secret room.

The hairs on Gao De's body stood on end, and the thunder calamity law-breaking halberd was already in his palm!

At the entrance, a figure stood there at some unknown point.

The man was dressed in grayish-white hemp robes, his face withered like a dried corpse, his eye sockets sunken and devoid of eyeballs, with only two clusters of eerie green phosphorus fire flickering within.

He was not tall, with a hunched back, leaning on a bone staff in his left hand, from which hung three human bone bells.

The bells were silent, yet they vibrated slightly.

“This humble Daoist is Bone Demon, the deacon of the Holy Cult's Scripture Hall.” The withered old man grinned, revealing uneven black teeth. “Fellow Daoist, you have come from afar as a guest, why be in such a hurry to leave?”

Late Fourth Stage.

And his aura was bizarre, different from Blood Bat's ruthlessness or Lord Mo Yuan's violence—the Death Qi entwined around this person didn't seem to come from Cultivation, but rather as if... he had already died once.

Gao De held his halberd across his chest, thunder flames flickering at the tip, but he did not strike rashly.

“You are not the ‘Elder Bone Demon’ in Blood Bat's memory,” he said deeply.

“Blood Bat?” Bone Demon chuckled lowly. “That junior has only been in the cult for eight hundred years; how many times has he seen this humble Daoist? What he remembers is my previous generation's successor—who was long ago refined into a corpse puppet and is now guarding the outside of the hall for me.”

Previous generation's successor... refined into a corpse puppet... Gao De's heart chilled.

Although this person's Cultivation was also Late Fourth Stage, he gave off a sense of pressure far more dangerous than Lord Mo Yuan and Blood Bat combined.

It wasn't the suppression of a Realm, but some kind of... abnormality that defied common sense.

“Fellow Daoist has obtained the ding xu stone and found this place, so you must have guessed what the Holy Cult is plotting.” Bone Demon was in no hurry to act, instead sizing up Gao De with interest.

“The Three Keys to Guixu: the reincarnation mirror is in the hands of our branch's Cult Master, the ding xu stone was obtained by you, and the guixu token is hidden in the Dongting Ancient Chidao—the Holy Cult has pursued them for hundreds of years, and we are only missing this last key.”

He shook his head as if sighing. “Pity, the Cult Master is in seclusion refining the Holy Infant and has no time to come personally. Shadowy Evil and Poison Dove were ordered to patrol the periphery and failed to stop Fellow Daoist. It seems this hall guardian must stretch his old bones.”

He paused, and a hint of sincere regret actually appeared on his withered face. “Fellow Daoist's Bloodline is pure, and your thunder flames are of the utmost Yang; if refined into a corpse puppet, you would be a top-grade existence among the fourth stage. Pity, pity.”

Before his words had even finished, Gao De moved!

He didn't strike often, but when he did, it was with the force of a thousand thunderbolts—

Lightning Evasion! Violet Extreme Thunder Strike!

The purple-gold thunder flames at the tip of the halberd condensed into a zhang-long lightning spear, carrying destructive power straight for Bone Demon's throat!

At the same instant, a hundred-zhang phantom of a thunder-flame flood dragon appeared behind him, its dragon prestige like a prison, suppressing all directions!

Bone Demon neither dodged nor avoided, only raising his bone staff and tapping it lightly.

“Ding-ling—”

The human bone bells rang.

That Violet Extreme Thunder Strike, which carried the momentum to destroy heaven and earth, actually came to a dead stop three feet in front of Bone Demon!

It wasn't blocked, it wasn't neutralized—it was fixed in the air, like an insect trapped in amber.

Gao De's pupils shrank suddenly!

"Spatial... imprisonment?"

"Insignificant tricks," the Bone Demon chuckled, tapping his bone staff again.

The bells rang a second time.

The Violet Extreme Thunder Strike shattered with a bang, sending thunderous flames splashing in all directions, blowing countless cracks into the black jade walls of the secret chamber! The human faces sealed within the jade all let out a silent wail!

Gao De let out a muffled groan and retreated three steps, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger on his halberd-holding hand splitting open!

Their Realms were equal, but his Divine Ability was countered; this person was extremely difficult to deal with!

But he did not retreat.

The clue to the guixu token was right before his eyes. If he couldn't take this tortoise shell tonight, he would have no more chances once the Heavenly Demon Cult Master of this branch arrived in person.

"Mysterious Turtle! Dragon Peach!" Gao De sent a rapid Divine Thought, "Enemy sighted, provide backup immediately!"

At the same time, the thunderous flames condensed in his palm again, and the phantom of the flood dragon behind him let out a long roar toward the sky, actually being driven by burning blood—

Dragon Blood Burning Essence!

The dragon blood in his body dropped by fifty percent in an instant, in exchange for a short-term explosion in combat power!

The Bone Demon finally looked moved: "A blood-burning secret technique? You junior, you are quite decisive..."

Before he could finish speaking, Gao De transformed into a streak of purple-gold lightning, advancing instead of retreating, pouncing straight toward the tortoise shell in the center of the secret chamber!

"Presumptuous!" the Bone Demon shouted sharply, tapping his bone staff a third time!

The bells rang a third time!

The space of the entire secret chamber seemed to freeze into an iron plate at this instant. Gao De's figure came to a dead halt three feet in front of the tortoise shell, as if stuck in a quagmire!

The Bone Demon's withered hand reached out, grabbing straight for Gao De's crown!

Right at this moment—

"BOOM—!!!"

Above the secret chamber, the black jade dome suddenly exploded!

A blood-colored dragon shadow descended from the sky, its dragon claws tearing through the Void Realm, aiming straight for the Bone Demon's back!

It was Ao Xue!

Sensing Gao De was in danger, she had actually abandoned the perimeter backup, forcibly tore through the Restriction of the Scripture Hall, and charged directly into the underground secret chamber!

The Bone Demon gave a cold snort and met the dragon claw with a backhand palm strike.

"BANG—!!!"

Late Fourth Stage versus Early Fourth Stage.

The Blood Dragon was knocked back thirty meters, and the Bone Demon was also shaken back a step.

It was just this one step of distance!

Gao De broke free from the spatial imprisonment, grabbed the broken tortoise shell with one hand, and without hesitation, put it into his storage ring!

"Go!"

With Lightning Evasion fully activated, he transformed into lightning, wrapped around Ao Xue, and soared into the sky!

Behind him, the Bone Demon's cold voice followed like maggots on a bone:

"You took something from my Holy Cult and still think you can leave?"

He raised his bone staff, and the three human bone bells at the head of the staff vibrated frantically—

"Ding-ling-ling-ling-ling—!!!"

The sound of the bells was like the collective crying of ten million ghosts!

The human faces sealed in the black jade of the secret chamber walls suddenly opened their eyes!

Countless twisted souls swarmed out from the jade, turning into a wave of vengeful spirits that blotted out the sun, howling as they pounced toward Gao De and Ao Xue!

In the same instant, outside the Scripture Hall, three powerful auras descended with a bang!

The leader was covered in a cold Death Qi; it was none other than the other Fourth Stage Elder stationed in the Ghost Marsh—Shadowy Evil!

To his left and right were two Tier 3 Peak Holy Infant Guard captains!

"The holy relic has been stolen! Surround and kill them!" Shadowy Evil shouted sharply.

The Bewitching Ghost Swamp was in a total frenzy.

---

Gao De rushed out of the Scripture Hall, and before him was already an inescapable net.

In front, Shadowy Evil held a profound ice skull staff, the cold tide like a sea, freezing the Void Realm.

Behind, the Bone Demon walked through the air, thousands of vengeful spirits like black clouds pressing down from above.

To the left and right, dozens of Holy Infant Guard members and over a hundred black-robed cultists had formed the Heavenly Demon Blood Sacrifice Grand Array, surrounding this patch of sky like an iron barrel.

Further away, in the direction of the main hall in the center of the Ghost Marsh, a blurry figure was slowly rising—it was the third Fourth Stage Elder who was presiding over the Moon Sacrifice and had sensed the disturbance: Poison Dove!

Gao De took a deep breath.

He held his halberd in his left hand and held up a copper token with his right—the prison dragon talisman.

Using the power of the prison dragon talisman to forcibly tear through space was his final trump card.

Ao Xue's Blood Dragon True Form coiled beside him, her blood-colored eyes resolute: "You go first. I'll cover the rear."

Gao De shook his head.

"We came together, we leave together."

He no longer hesitated, and his dragon origin flooded frantically into the prison dragon talisman!

The dragon talisman suddenly erupted with a blinding gray light!

That was spatial power, pure to the extreme and violent to the extreme. Wherever the light reached, the Void Realm distorted and fissures spread!

"Not good! He wants to tear through space!" Shadowy Evil was shocked and angry, "Stop him!"

The Bone Demon tapped his bone staff repeatedly, and thousands of vengeful spirits pounced like a tide!

Too late.

Gao De pointed the tip of his halberd, and the power of the prison dragon talisman erupted with a bang—

A gray-white pillar of light soared into the sky, tearing through the Heavenly Demon Blood Sacrifice Grand Array, tearing through the ten-thousand-year poisonous miasma of the Bewitching Ghost Swamp, and piercing straight into the clouds!

Within the pillar of light, Gao De and Ao Xue's figures gradually blurred.

The Bone Demon's face was ashen. He held his bone staff high, and the human bone bells rang a fourth time—

"STAY HERE—!!!"

An invisible giant force slammed into the pillar of light!

The pillar of light shook violently, its edges cracked, and Gao De groaned as a large mouthful of blood sprayed out!

But he gripped the prison dragon talisman tightly, gripped that tortoise shell tightly, and firmly protected Ao Xue by his side—

In the next instant, the gray light swallowed everything.

---

Qianjiao Cliff Water Mansion, quiet room.

A crack suddenly split open in the Void Realm, and two figures tumbled out of it.

Gao De knelt on one knee, using his halberd to prop himself up. Blood seeped from the corners of his lips, from the webbing of his hands, and from the gaps in his armor, dripping onto the floor and pooling into a small, shocking puddle of purple-gold.

Ao Xue barely stabilized her figure, her blood-colored eyes full of shock, anger, and... a very rare sense of frantic worry.

"Great King!"

She reached out to support him, but was stopped by Gao De raising his hand.

"It's nothing," Gao De's voice was raspy but remained steady. "Superficial wounds, no matter. My blood is depleted by fifty percent; I can recover after a month or so of rest."

He slowly stood up and took out the broken tortoise shell with a flip of his hand.

The scorch marks were still on the shell, and the bloodstains were not yet dry, but the engraved map was still clear.

The hiding place of the guixu token—the bottom of Lake Dongting, three thousand feet directly below the original site of the Grotto-Heaven, the entrance to the Ancient Chidao.

Gao De stared at the tortoise shell for a long time, then suddenly gave a soft chuckle.

"The Heavenly Demon Cult has been searching for hundreds of years, and they were only missing this one key," he said in a low voice. "But they don't know that the place where this key is hidden is a place I had already set foot in before my Dragon Transformation."

He put away the tortoise shell and looked out the window at the dark waters.

"Bone Demon... Shadowy Evil... Poison Dove... and that Cult Master who hasn't shown his face yet."

"Tonight's debt will surely be repaid in the future."

He paused, and the thunderous flames in his eyes reignited.

"But before that—"

"I need to return to Dongting once."

---

Meanwhile, the Bewitching Ghost Swamp, the ruins of the Scripture Hall.

The Bone Demon stood in the center of the collapsed secret chamber, his withered face showing neither joy nor sorrow.

Shadowy Evil's face was ashen: "He escaped. He took the clue to the guixu token, and the ding xu stone is also in his hands. If he finds the guixu token first, the Holy Cult's hundreds of years of planning..."

"He won't be that fast," the Bone Demon said indifferently. "The Ancient Chidao is heavily restricted, and no one knows where the entrance three thousand feet deep is. Although he is a local thunder flood dragon, without the Legacy, it won't be so easy for him to find the passage."

He paused, and the ghostly green phosphorus fire in his eye sockets flickered slightly.

"Besides... the Cult Master has already come out of seclusion."

Shadowy Evil was stunned, then showed wild joy: "The Cult Master broke through?!"

The Bone Demon did not answer.

He just turned and looked toward the main hall in the center of the Ghost Marsh.

There, a blurry figure had completely stood up.

Under the moonlight, black mist churned around that figure, but it could not hide a terrifying pressure that made heaven and earth change color and made ten thousand souls submit.

Half-step Stage Five.

That was an aura close to the Fifth Stage.

"Pass the order," a raspy voice came faintly from afar, showing no emotion. "The Holy Infant Sacrifice is suspended. All Elders, follow this seat... and go in person to Dongting."

"The Three Keys are about to gather; Guixu shall open."

"Once this seat retrieves 'that item', all the demons of the Central Continent shall be slaves to my Holy Cult."

In the black mist, the ghostly green eyes narrowed slightly.

"That little flood dragon... has actually given this seat a great gift."

"Without him, this seat wouldn't have known the ding xu stone had appeared, or that the guixu token was actually in Dongting."

He gave a low laugh.

"Good child. On the day you refine your dragon pearl and your Bloodline is purified, this seat will personally come looking for you."

"I will let you join my Holy Cult as well... and merge with my holy fetus."

"This is... supreme glory."

The night wind blew, and the black mist churned, completely swallowing that figure.

Only nine human bone lanterns swayed in the wind, their flames ghostly green, illuminating the ruins everywhere.

Illuminating the tortoise shell fragments, the thunder flame scorch marks, and that pool of purple-gold flood dragon blood that had not yet dried.

The moon was hidden over the Ghost Marsh.

The wind did not stop.

---

Qianjiao Cliff · The darkest hour before dawn.

Gao De sat alone in the quiet room, holding the first volume of the return void secret records he had obtained from Ghost Cry Gorge.

He turned to the last page.

There, a line of tiny characters was written in fresh ink—he had added it himself.

"The Three Keys of Guixu: The reincarnation mirror, held by the Heavenly Demon Cult Master; the ding xu stone, which I have now obtained; the guixu token, hidden three thousand feet beneath the Ancient Chidao in Dongting."

He stared for a long time, then picked up the brush and added another line below:

"The enemy has the Bone Demon, who is bizarre and difficult to deal with, suspected of rising from the dead, and cannot be faced with brute force."

"The Cult Master is close to the Fifth Stage, or may have already broken through. There must be no room for complacency."

"Must retrieve the guixu token quickly, without delay."

He set down the brush.

Outside the window, the first ray of morning light pierced through the clouds.

Gao De put away the tortoise shell, Jade Slip, and secret records, then stood up and pushed open the door.

Outside the door, Ao Xue, Mysterious Turtle, Dragon Peach, Turtle Three Thousand, Green Edge, Iron Pincer... all the core members of Qianjiao Cliff were present.

No one spoke; they just looked at him quietly.

Gao De looked around at everyone and spoke slowly:

"The affairs of Qianjiao Cliff will be temporarily managed by Mysterious Turtle, Dragon Peach, and Turtle Three Thousand."

"Ao Xue will follow me... back to Dongting."

He paused.

"We will take the guixu token and sever one of the Heavenly Demon Cult's arms."

"This trip is perilous, a life-and-death situation."

"But if we succeed—"

The thunderous flames in his eyes burned calmly.

"In this game of the Yunmeng Great Marsh, it will be our turn to make a move."

Ao Xue took a step forward, her blood-colored martial attire fluttering loudly.

No one hesitated.

No one showed fear.

Only Turtle Three Thousand's old eyes were cloudy as he gave a deep bow:

"This subordinate... wishes the Lord immediate success."

Gao De nodded slightly.

Then, he and Ao Xue transformed into two streaks of light, cutting through the last bit of darkness before dawn.