Chapter 608: Ringleader
Translator: Sigma Editor: Hitesh
He didn’t tell Cao Qiu Dao’s team that he had gotten the location of Yang Zhuo and the others through the Immortal Blood. They were in the territory of the Martial Spirit Palace.
He had to pass the Spirit Treasure Sect to go to the Martial Spirit Palace. He wanted to visit the Spirit Treasure Sect first to check the situation, and then he would decide whether to go to the Martial Spirit Palace's area or not.
Cao Qiu Dao and Fan Xiang Yun had a relatively high cultivation base. However, they were taking almost a hundred warriors with different cultivation bases. When such a force went towards the Martial Spirit Palace, it would be hazardous.
He had locked the Teleportation Formation in the Northern Gem Mountain. Since he had built this formation himself, when he found Yang Zhuo's group, he could create a new one, then use the space nodes to break the lock of the formation in the Northern Gem Mountain. At that time, Cao Qiu Dao's team could get there from thousands of miles away.
With a careful calculation, he used the fastest speed to glide above the Spirit Treasure Sect.
Several days later, he arrived at the Wonderful Stone City. Hovering above the Wonderful Stone City, his face darkened as he let out a long sigh.
The Wonderful Stone City was devastated. The city walls were broken badly, and the city was like a young maid who was raped many times. This scene looked incomparably pathetic. He saw no shadows in the city. Places where the packed stores used to stand were all empty. All the materials were robbed.
Decaying bodies exuded a pungent smell in the whole city. Insects moved in schools, operating happily in every corner.
Shi Yan shook his head while his Soul Consciousness was moving. He understood that the pagan clans had attacked the city.
Fortunately, there weren’t many bodies in the city, just around several thousand. This number was much different from the number of human warriors staying in the Wonderful Stone City. This meant many people had escaped this calamity.
The body of a Spirit Realm warrior had an evident difference from the ordinary warriors; it wouldn’t decompose in a short time. Using his Soul Consciousness to sense for a while, he didn’t find any warriors at this realm. Thus, he was sure Zhu Yi’s group was still alive.
Gliding through the Wonderful Stone City, he flew towards the Shady Firmament Old Mound. Shi Yan concealed his aura and the anger in his heart.
Shady Firmament Old Mound was the gathering place of the Ghost Mark Clan. As the catastrophe had happened in the Divine Great Land, members of the Ghost Mark Clan should have their powers recovered. They wouldn’t hide anymore, and would operate everywhere.
With this assumption, he was ready to fight when he reached the Shady Firmament Old Mound.
Arriving at that bleak plain, looking at the burrows leading underground, Shi Yan squinted as he was sensing the cold aura diffusing from the holes. His eyes sparkled with cold light.
A flow of Soul Consciousness that he had disguised and concealed sneaked into a burrow, entering deeper into the Shady Firmament Old Mound.
Swoosh!
His Soul Consciousness had barged onto an invisible barrier, causing fire to spark.
Shi Yan was shaken as he thought the situation wasn’t good. He retreated his Soul Consciousness and ran away immediately.
Not long after he had left, a Second Sky of Spirit Realm warrior of the Ghost Mark Clan walked out from the burrow Shi Yan had sent his Soul Consciousness into. That man was wearing a new armor with strange patterns. He wasn't bony anymore. Quite the contrary, this man was sturdy as his body was releasing waves of a dangerous energy.
He stood at the entrance, snorted, then released his soul power to sense. After a while, he frowned, retrieving his Soul Consciousness and getting back to the cave with regret.
However, right at this moment, the three narrow, snow-white Bone Thorns appeared behind him like lightning and stabbed him in just a blink of an eye.
At the same time, under the dazzling sunlight above that warrior’s head, a red light spot enlarged. A man that looked like an angel holding a giant sword with a brutal aura rumblingly descended from the sky. The sword was full of the destructive negative energy, storming into the warrior’s Sea of Consciousness.
Puff!
The ghost scripture armor on his back was pierced through instantly, leaving three arm-sized holes in the middle of his back. Blood gushed out fiercely.
Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth as the Ghost Mark Clan’s warrior couldn't help but shout painfully. However, his scream was hindered as a torrential wave of air ruthlessly was pressing from the sky.
That warrior didn’t have time to use the superior attainment of the Ghost Mark Clan; he could only urge the ghost tattoo, creating a dead wood spirit armor to cover his body.
"Courting death!"
The man above his head smiled faintly. The giant sword in his hand was slashing down like a massive mountain on the warrior's head.
Bang Bang!
That man felt his brain was shaken, and his Sea of Consciousness was disordered. Blood was continually streaming from the wounds on his back, then he went unconscious shortly.
The young man holding the giant sword revealed himself at this moment. He grabbed the warrior by his neck and hurried to flee away from this area.
After half an hour, two members of the Ghost Mark Clan with Spirit Realm cultivation base appeared at the entrance of that cave.
"Someone had fought here!" One of the two discolored. He walked towards a blood puddle, touched it then said coldly, "It’s the blood of our clansmen!"
"Damn it! Someone has ambushed here!"
"Report it! We shall chase and kill that murderer!"
The two hotshots of the Ghost Mark Clan immediately released their Soul Consciousness, using their soul to contact some secret place in the subterranean Shady Firmament Old Mound to report their findings.
Not long afterward, many members of the Ghost Mark Clan appeared in this bleak plain, all having an excellent cultivation base. Cold Yin aura diffused from them as they scattered to every direction to search for the target…
…
The Northern Cold City was deadly silent. Just like the Wonderful Stone City, the Northern Cold City was one of the primary cities of the Spirit Treasure Sect. But today, it was just a desolate city, as if its prosperity was just something in the past.
Cold air exuded in a shabby store in the South of the city. A member of the Ghost Mark Clan was covered in thick ice, sparing only his head. Blood covered his face, which made him look fiercer.
Shi Yan was standing in front of him, increasing the power of the Ice Cold Flame to keep that man conscious.
"I want to know what has happened in the Divine Great Land during the past year." He asked coldly as a scarlet flame burst out from his fingertip. He put his finger on that man's chest.
As his body was sealed in the ice, the flame drilled through the whole block of ice. In the extremely cold ice, the scorching flame didn’t bring him any bit of warmth. Quite the contrary, it was a torture making him want to kill himself.
However, when his thought had just appeared, his Sea of Consciousness surged, and that thought was dispersed.
"As you have the Second Sky of Spirit Realm cultivation base, in the Ghost Mark Clan, you shouldn’t be someone that no one knows. However, if you want to use the treasure to report or make your soul collapse to exchange for sending the information here, it isn’t appropriate, you know." Shi Yan curled his lips and laughed. "I know your Ghost Mark Clan’s soul Upanishads, so don’t do your tricks in front of me."
"Shi Yan! You are Shi Yan!"
The Ghost Mark Clan’s expert suddenly shouted, his face indignant.
"Eh?" Shi Yan beamed a smile, "You know me?"
"Our Ghost Mark Clan had poured the calamity on the Spirit Treasure Sect. We got your profile from many experts of the Spirit Treasure Sect. Haha, it’s you. It’s you who broke into the place and let the Ghost Mark Clan see the sunlight again. Also, it’s you who has activated the universe barrier, leading to the great change of heaven and earth! Haha! The catastrophe of the Divine Great Land is because of you! We must remember your favor! Well, my benefactor, you are the benefactor of our clan, but you are the sinner of the entire humanity!"
The Ghost Mark Clan’s expert laughed until tears rolled down his face. He looked both insane and joyful.
With his words, Shi Yan was struck hard. He stood stupefied, not moving an inch.
Ringleader… He was the ringleader!
Previously, he could vaguely feel that the change of heaven and earth was somehow related to him. However, he didn’t want to accept it; he didn’t want to overthink. He just wanted to avoid the fact.
Today, through this Ghost Mark Clan’s warrior, he had finally known that he was the cause of the change in this world.
Thinking about the catastrophe of the Endless Sea, about numerous human beings in the Grace Mainland that were killed, Shi Yan was petrified. A massive painful and bitter shame overflowed from his soul, entering his brain and occupying all of his thoughts.
He stood there emotionlessly, as if he had lost his soul. He didn’t react to the provocation of that Ghost Mark Clan’s warrior. It seemed something hard in his heart was fractured abruptly, pushing him into a big devil inner barrier that he couldn’t restore his sound mind.
"It’s related to you, but it isn’t your responsibility. This is the trend of evolution. Without you, the space division would still happen. You just made it happen earlier. The other races have the right to live. Should they be expelled forever? Should their clans go extinct?"
The Ice Cold Flame’s thought sent to him from the Blood Vein Ring. It was using its own way to console Shi Yan.
Shi Yan was still absentminded as if he couldn’t hear anything.
"You shouldn’t let resentment nibble you. At this moment, you should use your best to save the situation. You have something you want to hold on. You have someone you want to protect. If you can’t awake, things will never overturn," the Ice Cold Flame continued to comfort him.
Shi Yan’s soul seemed to gather once again as he was restoring his consciousness. His dim eyes started to brighten.
"Well, just say I did it," He nodded to that member of the Ghost Mark Clan all of a sudden. "I’ve dragged you guys out. If it’s my mistake, I can put you back. Everything’s fine then."
"Hahaha!" The Ghost Mark Clan’s warrior laughed crazily. "What the heck are you? Only you, well, do you think you can seal us again? A human kid with his Spirit Realm cultivation base dares to have this idea. Haha... Funny... You’re funny."
"Well then, I don’t need to ask you for the information bit by bit like this. Nothing’s interesting anyways." Shi Yan pondered for a while and then said, "I remember your Ghost Mark Clan has a soul technique called the Great Soul Search Technique…"
The smile on that man’s face froze, turning into a great panic as he shouted in fear. "You dare!"
Shi Yan shook his head and didn’t answer him. He extended his arm, putting on that man’s forehead then closing his eyes. He sent his soul into that man’s head.
The Ghost Mark Clan's warrior was struggling hard, but he stopped right away. Like a clog, he didn't have any vitality anymore as his Sea of Consciousness was grabbed and squeezed.
Changes of the Divine Great Land during this year turned into the tide of memory and slowly emerged in Shi Yan’s brain fully.