Translator: CinderTL
Xi Ling stared coldly at Song Wen as he approached, no longer pressing him about Tai He. Perhaps in her eyes, Song Wen posed no threat to Tai He.
"How did you get here?" Xi Ling asked, her tone laced with suspicion.
"I climbed all the way up from the foot of the mountain," Song Wen replied.
"You passed through the Mist? Didn't you encounter any monsters?" Xi Ling was surprised. From her words, it was clear she had tried to enter the path but had been driven back by the monsters within.
"Monsters? What monsters?" Song Wen looked genuinely bewildered, as if he had never seen such creatures before.
The distance between him and Xi Ling was closing rapidly. He was now only a dozen yards away. Yet Song Wen didn't stop, continuing to advance as if he intended to brush past her and fly toward the Great Hall's entrance.
"Just now, I clearly heard faint sounds of fighting from below. Weren't you battling the monsters in the Mist?" Xi Ling asked.
Song Wen's body stiffened slightly, and he slowly halted his advance.
Xi Ling had actually heard the fighting!
And now, the sounds had ceased.
That meant the battle had ended, and Gou Jun and the others would be arriving any moment.
It was unlikely Song Wen could eliminate Xi Ling.
After all, if Gou Jun and the others encountered her, they would surely question her. They wouldn't let Song Wen kill her so easily.
Song Wen silently stopped channeling the Focused Spirit Stab and abandoned the idea of drawing his Soul Cleaving Blade.
He smiled faintly. "It wasn't me who fought the monsters in the Mist, but Fellow Daoist Gou Jun and the others. I was fortunate enough to arrive first and happened to miss them. But why do you call the creatures in the Mist 'monsters'?"
Xi Ling, seeing that Song Wen genuinely seemed to have avoided the monsters, didn't suspect him further.
Her attention was entirely focused on the mention of 'Gou Jun and the others' in Song Wen's words.
"Gou Jun is here too! Who else?" Xi Ling asked.
"Yang Yu, Lan Chen, Mo Yexue, Mi Hai..." Song Wen listed them one by one.
When he mentioned 'Mi Hai,' Xi Ling suddenly glared at him, interrupting him.
"Mi Hai is here too!"
"Yes, Master Mi Hai..."
Before Song Wen could finish speaking, shadowy figures flickered faintly along the misty path.
Xi Ling's killing intent surged.
With a wave of her hand, she summoned her Paired Blades.
A two-foot-long mother blade, accompanied by nine two-inch-long child blades.
Ten blades, their edges shimmering and their Corpse Qi overflowing, emitted a low, buzzing hum.
Song Wen, who had been planning to seize the opportunity to pry information about the Corpse King Hall from Xi Ling, was forced to remain silent.
Gazing at the tightly shut doors of the Corpse King Hall, Song Wen thought to himself, "It seems the ancient texts were right. This hall is protected by a restriction, and Xi Ling hasn't been able to enter yet."
Just then, several sharp whistling sounds echoed behind Song Wen.
Gou Jun and his companions had arrived.
Gou Jun scanned Xi Ling and Song Wen in the square, then turned his gaze to the Corpse King Hall. His expression turned grim.
"Xi Ling, what are you doing here?"
Gou Jun's interrogation of Xi Ling mirrored her earlier questioning of Song Wen.
Xi Ling's gaze lingered on Xue Mei for a moment before she replied, "I teleported here directly through a Teleportation Array."
"How long have you been here?" Gou Jun asked.
"Ten days," Xi Ling replied.
"Have you entered the Corpse King Hall?" Gou Jun pressed.
"No. The hall is protected by a restriction I can't break," Xi Ling said.
Gou Jun raised his hand and flicked his finger.
A surge of Corpse Qi, like a raging dragon, slammed directly into the doors of the Corpse King Hall.
Suddenly, dense, pitch-black energy erupted from every corner of the Great Hall.
The black energy swirled rapidly around the hall, gradually coalescing into a terrifying black tornado.
The Tornado shot straight into the sky, churning the thick mist above the plaza into a turbulent vortex.
An overwhelming sense of pressure instantly enveloped the entire square.
The Corpse Qi Gou Jun had unleashed was effortlessly shredded by the black Tornado, dissolving into nothingness.
"This black Tornado appears whenever someone approaches within ten meters of the Corpse King Hall or when the hall is attacked," Xi Ling explained, quickly retreating to the edge of the plaza to avoid being caught in the vortex.
The others followed suit.
As they watched the Tornado, a look of surprise spread across their faces. They sensed a unique power within it—a blend of life's rhythm and death's lament, eerily similar to Mystic Qi.
Song Wen and Xue Mei exchanged a glance. The power they sensed within the black mist was different from the others'. It didn't resemble Mystic Qi at all, but rather the Spiritual Power cultivated through the Corpse King's Rebirth Art.
"It seems you truly haven't entered the Corpse King Hall," Gou Jun said to Xi Ling. "You've been here for ten days. Have you visited the Demon Spirit Hall?"
"Demon Spirit Hall?" Xi Ling asked, puzzled. "There's only this Great Hall here. Where could there be a Demon Spirit Hall?"
Gou Jun smiled faintly.
They weren't at the summit of Divine Blood Peak. The Demon Spirit Hall lay further up the mountain.
The path from the Corpse King Hall to the Demon Spirit Hall was a stone path carved into the mountain. It was located behind the Corpse King Hall, shrouded in thick Mist, making it invisible. This was why Xi Ling only knew of a small path leading down the mountain, unaware of the stone path leading up.
With the attacks ceasing, the black Qi began to gradually recede back into the Corpse King Hall.
Lan Chen, watching the black tornado's power wane, asked, "Fellow Daoist Xi Ling, with such a powerful tornado, won't it attract monsters from the Mist?"
Xi Ling replied, "No. The monsters seem to fear this Great Hall and dare not step onto the plaza. I once tried to descend the mountain along the small path, but I encountered a monster halfway down. I was no match for it and had to retreat. But once I returned to the plaza, the monster retreated on its own."
"Thank you for clarifying, Fellow Daoist Xi Ling," Lan Chen said, bowing.
Xi Ling clasped her hands in a respectful gesture. "Fellow Daoists, has anyone seen my Junior Brother Tai He?"
After a moment of silence, Xi Ling turned to Mi Hai, her gaze growing cold.
"Mi Hai, isn't it time we settled our grievances? On Corpse Blood Mountain, you betrayed me to escape safely, preventing me from reaching the Teleportation Array and forcing me to remain trapped there. Had I not possessed a Minor Teleportation Talisman, I would likely have perished under the relentless assault of the zombie horde."
Mi Hai clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to Xi Ling.
"Xi Ling, this was indeed my fault. However, the situation was dire, and I had no choice but to resort to such a desperate measure to save my own life. I implore you to show magnanimity and not hold this against me."
"Hmph!" Xi Ling snorted coldly. "Not hold it against you? Mi Hai, you speak so easily."
Mi Hai replied, "Xi Ling, you are now safe and unharmed. Why dwell on the past? Moreover, your arrival at the Corpse King Hall by chance is a stroke of immense fortune. We, on the other hand, endured countless hardships and faced death at every turn to reach this place."
"So, am I supposed to thank you?" Xi Ling retorted sharply.
(End of the Chapter)
---
📖Read (RDC) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c1002. 💥 [+2]
🔑Early Access at $5.
✍Translated (6) Series, (3.6K+) Chapters, (5.1M+) Words.