Chapter 324 - Spells of Illusion and Confusion, the Terrifying Stone Sword
Chapter 324: Spells of Illusion and Confusion, the Terrifying Stone Sword
“People die for wealth, birds die for food.” This statement was indeed true. In their eager quest for treasures, Ximen Gang, Nangong Jian, and Shangguan Jue had succumbed to their impatience and made such a foolish attempt to open the stone door!
This was the epitome of stupidity! The stupidest thing was that even after the trio had heard the activation of the killing spell, an ecstatic smile had spread across their faces. They had assumed that their method of trial and error was successful in breaking the stone door apart!
Ling Yun was gnashing his teeth in fury; he regretted showing mercy to these fools. Had he killed them, he wouldn’t have landed in such great trouble!
However, it was too late to say anything. While the ear-piercing sound “Ko-la-la” was still ringing, he took the opportunity to bend over and pick up Little White with his left hand before calling out to Dugu Mo, “Quick, follow me!”
In the crucial moment between life and death, Ling Yun executed the Dragon Fish Phantom Ability to its fullest. He flew vigorously towards the place where he had landed just before entering the rocky cave!
There were a total of six smaller caves which led to the heart of the spell. However, Ling Yun knew that he wouldn’t be able to exit in time since the six caves were far away from the stone doors. Hence, he chose to move towards the spot where he had landed after he had entered the heart of the spell.
As a master of spell formations, Ling Yun didn’t land casually on any occasion. All of his landings were in safety zones that had been carefully calculated to ensure his temporary safety.
Apart from Ling Yun, Dugu Mo was considered to be accomplished in the area of spell formations. When Dugu Mo had heard the sound, he knew that things had taken a turn for the worse. After witnessing Ling Yun’s reaction, he flew after him without hesitation.
“F*ck, what sort of Qinggong do you have? How did you manage to move so quickly?” Dugu Mo asked Ling Yun in shock after moving to his side and soothing his rattled nerves somewhat.
Just a moment ago, Ling Yun had displayed a technique and speed that left Dugu Mo gawking in awe. Even though Ling Yun had quickly reminded him to leave the place while they were still in front of the stone door, the sound had barely reached Dugu Mo’s ears when Ling Yun landed on the other side.
As he recalled the trail of shadow that Ling Yun had left at the entrance of the stone door, Dugu Mo could only think of a term to describe the phenomenon — teleportation!
Ling Yun didn’t reply to him. His left hand was hugging Little White tightly while his right hand wielded the Devil’s Underworld Essence Blade. As the back of his body was plastered to the rocky wall, Ling Yun pressed his lips together and instructed Dugu Mo, “Stick close to the rocky wall, grab hold of my clothes and be prepared to defend us!”
Without any apparent reason, Dugu Mo subconsciously grabbed hold of Ling Yun’s clothes after seeing his nervous expression. At the same time, his battle sword was slung across his chest in preparation to defend them. However, his muttered, “Why do I have to cling on to you, I’m not… f*ck, what in the world is this?”
Dugu Mo hadn’t even finished speaking when he suddenly realized that there was a stone wall of unknown thickness appearing out of nowhere before him. The next moment, there was a dense, white fog coming out from the wall that seemed not to dissipate. Before he knew it, Dugu Mo was unable to see anything at all.
Although they were in absolute darkness a short while ago, Ling Yun and Dugu Mo were experts of Houtian Realm Level Eight and had superb vision. After spending several days in this cave, their eyes had already adjusted to the darkness.
Due to Ling Yun’s cultivation of the Stellar Condensation Technique, his vision was superior to Dugu Mo’s. In the absolute darkness, he could see farther and clearer than Dugu Mo could.
In his cultivation of the Stellar Condensation Technique, Ling Yun was unable to leave the presence of the sun, moon, and stars. Given the illuminating nature of those objects, Ling Yun’s vision was sharpened each time he progressed to the next level of the Stellar Condensation Technique. Dugu Mo and the other experts naturally couldn’t match up to him in this aspect.
The white fog enveloped them and was so thick that it seemed not to dissipate. In a blink of an eye, Dugu Mo couldn’t even see the stone wall which had just appeared before him. He felt as though he had developed cataracts and was virtually blind.
Given the circumstances, he would certainly cling onto Ling Yun’s clothes for dear life. Just as he was about to speak, Ling Yun sent him a telepathic signal. “Don’t say anything, concentrate on distinguishing the objects. Don’t think about the stone walls surrounding us. If anything flies in our direction, just settle it with a chop of your sword!”
Dugu Mo had never seen it before, but Ling Yun was very clear about it. The stone wall was an illusion spell, while the white fog was a confusion spell. The stone wall would virtually press against one’s body while the white fog obscured his vision completely. This would greatly restrict one’s usage of his senses as well as mobility.
Under such circumstances, only one’s sense of hearing would still be usable — coupled with a firm conviction!
Ling Yun had already shut his eyes earlier on. Regardless of whether it was the stone wall or white fog, he didn’t see either of them. With a high degree of focus, he merely concentrated on his sensory perception of the situation.
“What’s happening? There are so many stone walls appearing all around me!”
“Ah… such dense white fog, I can’t see anything…”
“Ximen Gang, Nangong Jian, where are you guys? How do these stone walls move? They’re going to crush me!”
The three culprits were now dumbfounded. The expression of excitement on their faces had turned into horror. As they stood together in front of the middle stone door, they could neither see nor touch each other!
All they could see was the dense white fog and the four surrounding stone walls, which were starting to press onto them.
“Cha… cha… cha…”
The rocky cave had a perimeter of about two hundred meters; its highest point was about seventy to eighty meters and resembled a huge, inverted pot covering everyone’s heads.
Now, when everyone was immobilized, countless stone swords shot out from the stone wall over their heads, and they were as dense as rain. In an instant, the swords pierced the stones beneath their feet and filled all the gaps!
Ling Yun had already taken precautions. After listening intently, he knew that the killing spell had finally been activated. Waving the Devil’s Underworld Essence Blade above his and Dugu Mo’s heads, he formed an impenetrable shelter for them while the stone debris targeted them with laser-like precision.
Dugu Mo had also heard the sounds, but just as he was thinking about waving his sword to protect himself, he realized that he had knocked into a stone wall in front of him and was immobilized!
“Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!”
A series of four agonizing shouts were heard, and Ximen Gang, Nangong Jian, and Shangguan Jue were killed by the swords that had been shot out from above. Lei Wenxing spared no effort in trying to block the projectiles with his raised spear, but he was still unable to escape from a tragic death!
However, Dongfang Ting from the Dongfang Clan — along with Tie Zhengping from the Divine Fist Sect — had actually managed to mimic Ling Yun’s moves and escaped unharmed!
Nonetheless, the giant “dragon” guarding the dragon’s saliva had met the most tragic end. Although its scales were tougher than metal and stones, the stone swords seemed extraordinarily effective in inflicting damage on them. With its colossal body, the “dragon” suffered countless piercings from the stone swords which had entered the rocky floor without leaving any trace!
Fresh blood spurted out of countless wounds on its body, and the giant “dragon” was howling in pain. However, nothing could be done for it as it had been pinned to that place and was unable to move at all.
It could be said that the giant “dragon” was taking the punishment on behalf of the real dragon in the heart of the Yin Yang Dragon Lock Spell. It was suffering an undeserved catastrophe!
Ling Yun was clear-headed and could hear the howls of the giant “dragon”. Although there was a shadow of pity for the creature in his heart, Ling Yun could only accept the inevitable as the howling continued. After all, his immediate priority was to protect Little White, who was in his arms and Dugu Mo, who was beside him.
After a wave of stone swords had passed them, Ling Yun immediately sent a telepathic signal to Dugu Mo who was beside him. “We can’t stay here any longer, let’s move to a different place!”
At this time, Dugu Mo was practically suffocated by the surrounding stone walls that were pressing onto him. He was struggling to sustain himself and couldn’t use his telepathy technique. As such, he shouted madly, “I can’t move at all!”
Now that Ling Yun was unable to explain much to him, he immediately replied, “You don’t need to concern yourself with anything else, just cling on desperately to my clothes!”
After he had spoken, Ling Yun used his Dragon Fish Phantom Ability once more. With a shake of his body, he was nine meters away from the stone walls. He then asked Dugu Mo, “Do you still sense the stone walls?”
Could he sense the stone walls? This was an unprecedented experience for Dugu Mo; he clung onto Ling Yun’s clothes in desperation and felt that his body was smashing through countless stone walls in an instant. Fresh blood was spurting wildly, and he had already sustained internal damage.
“That’s an illusion — there aren’t actually any stone walls, so don’t think about them!” Ling Yun elevated his power to its maximum and executed the Mystical Dragon Howl!
Dugu Mo could only feel a throb in his head, and his mental clarity was restored. Immediately, he felt that the pressure from his physical surroundings had vanished.
“What happened just now? Since there weren’t any stone walls, why did I sustain wounds and vomit blood?”
In fact, this sort of condition was similar to a person vomiting blood out of extreme anger, except that it was more complicated and mysterious. It was entirely attributable to psychological factors.
There were also other people who could scare themselves to death just by imagining a particular atmosphere or scene. This also belonged to the same principle.
Ling Yun didn’t explain and instead replied in a low voice, “This time around, remember to protect us both!”
Just after he had spoken, countless stone swords started shooting out from the rocky cave roof and walls. Coming from all directions, they aimed at their targets with laser-like precision and wove into a huge net of stone swords over them!
This time around, Ling Yun and Dugu Mo brandished their weapons simultaneously to form an impenetrable cover for their entire bodies as they fended off the dense rain of stone swords.
The giant “dragon” had sustained more serious injuries this time around. Although it was howling in the beginning, it soon didn’t even have the strength to howl and could only lie limply on the ground.
Tie Zhengping from the Divine Fist Sect didn’t manage to escape his doom this time; with much difficulty, he could only give a few punches to fend off the attack. However, his body was so riddled with wounds from the shooting swords that it resembled a sieve. He let out a cry of agony before dying.
Dongfang Ting didn’t know what sort of mental technique he had cultivated, for he had not been the least bit affected by the stone walls. Though he was still able to brandish his blade as a means of protecting his body, the stone swords were shooting too densely from all directions. As his back and legs had also been pierced by the swords, he was seriously injured!
The second wave of stone swords had passed, and Ling Yun heard Dongfang Ting groaning and collapsing onto the ground. He used the Mystical Dragon Howl to shout, “Brother Dongfang Ting, where are you? Are you still able to move?”
Although Dongfang Ting had identified Ling Yun’s weapon as an evil blade from the “bloody underworld”, he didn’t harbor the slightest intention of seizing it from him. On the contrary, he had even advised Ling Yun to discard the blade in good faith. Hence, Ling Yun had a favorable impression of him.
“My brother Ling Yun, I’m at the right stone door, and I’m unable to move…” Dongfang Ting shouted as he bore the pain.
Ling Yun listened intently, and based on his recollection of the surroundings, he used his Dragon Fish Phantom Ability and quickly arrived in Dongfang Ting’s vicinity with Dugu Mo.
Ling Yun traced the breathing sounds of Dongfang Ting and managed to locate him. He quickly asked, “Where are you hurt?”