Chapter 343: Darkness Descends
“Splash!” The sacred lake was as boundless as an ocean with rippling waves everywhere. The water’s reflection illuminated the sky and caused the nine heavens to tremble.
The six-legged tripod had turned into a small mountain that spun on top of the lake and quickly flew towards the tablet. The cultivators that dared to come close were blown away by its power and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The young master from the immortal sect was standing on top of the tripod. He looked majestic just like an immortal.
In a different direction, the Buddhist girl from the Beastmaster Camp was standing on her silver wolf’s head. Her aura was even more terrifying. She held a string of jade-white beads in her hand while chanting golden Buddhist words. A path was paved before her all the way to the tablet.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!” Feng Feiyun and Su Yun were as fast as meteors. The two rays crossed the lake, no one could stop them.
“Boom!” The six-legged tripod erupted from above. An energy came from the ancient formation to stop the two.
Feiyun chuckled and raised his hand. The Infinite Spirit Ring flew out and attacked the tripod, resulting in a deafening explosion that split lake’s water into two.
“Hehe, the demon’s son!” The young master channeled a green light on his palm and took out the tripod for the second time. He pushed it forward to stop Feiyun from getting close to the tablet.
“Su Yun, long time no see. I would rather fight you than leave my name on the tablet this time.” A voice that penetrated everyone’s eardrums came from the darkness.
A white spear broke through the cloudy layer like a pillar. It contained a boundless spirit energy that connected the sky with the lake. Many cultivators were sent flying from its impact.
Su Yun calmly replied: “Yan Ziyu.”
This was a genius from the same generation as Su Yun. After reaching the grand historical level, Yan Ziyu had been itching to fight the eight older geniuses. This was the only way for him to be viewed on the same level as them.
Ziyu was the current number one of the pagoda’s list so he naturally wasn’t all talk. In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged more than ten shocking moves. Many cultivators were wounded by the shockwaves that came from this bout.
The two of them flew away like two rainbows without bothering to debate. In just a split second, they were several hundred meters away.
After the two left, a second furor came. Even more cultivators rushed in, causing the scene to become more chaotic.
“Feng Feiyun, fight me! If you lose, accept your imprisonment and be subjected to the law.” Ling Donglai had returned to the lake. His black armor had a righteous energy coursing through it and soared to the nine heavens.
“I don’t have time to fight you right now.” Feiyun recalled the ring and used his Swift Samsara. His steps turned devilish, boosting his speed by countless times.
Suddenly, a golden buddhist word flew forward and shattered the space in front of him. It actually broke his Swift Samsara, so he had to stop for the second time.
He turned around and found that the attacker was the girl from the Beastmaster Camp. Her face was impeccable and her aura was peerlessly holy. She exuded a pure temperament, but her attack was definitely deadly. Fewer than few among the younger generation could match her.
She gave him a dismissive glance before riding her silver wolf forward in the moonlight. At this point, she was only a few hundred meters away from the tablet.
“No one should think about getting close!” The young master from the immortal sect spread out a pair of huge iron wings from his back and unleashed his tripod, causing the girl to retreat.
This was a free-for-all scuffle because anyone who got close to the tablet would become public enemy number one and everyone would attack them.
“Rumble!” Princess Luofu started her imperial dragon carriage that had a majestic aura. A draconic energy pulled the wheels as it soared down from the peak. It directly opened a path; anyone who dared to stop her would be blown away by the carriage without leaving behind a corpse.
Three top first-level Heaven’s Mandate experts were instantly crushed by her. Their blood spurted in the sky as they didn’t even have the chance to fight back.
“Princess, stop!” With her enchanting figure, Yao Ji floated down from the clouds. Her body was glittering and translucent, almost like a goddess descending to the mortal world.
Her simple words actually made the unstoppable carriage halt. The wheels were still spinning in the water, but the carriage wasn’t moving forward an inch.
The princess exclaimed: “A female corpse controller from the Yinvoid Cave!”
Yinvoid was one of the top ancient corpse caves in the Northern Frontier Prefecture. All of their members were women. Moreover, their refined corpses were also the prettiest women of their respective generations in the past.
The most beautiful women from each era would be dug out by them and carefully preserved before being refined into corpses with terrifying battle potential.
Yinvoid was also known as the “Beauty Killer”.
Gorgeous women in the past would be killed, and their corpses would mysteriously vanish. The majority of these murders were carried out by the senior experts from Yinvoid.
Even a few princesses and imperial consorts from the Jin Dynasty died mysterious and sudden deaths. Of course, their corpses were robbed as well.
“This girl’s name is Yao Ji, nice to meet you, Princess.” Yao Ji stepped on the imperial carriage with a carefree smile on her face.
“There are no girls in the Yinvoid Cave!” The princess’ voice carried a dignified and austere pride. Eight yellow dragon souls flew out of the carriage. Each of them was more than one hundred meters long; they all lifted their heads to roar. [1]
Two corpses latched onto the bottom of the carriage. At this moment, both were blown away and rendered to smithereens.
The carriage began to move for the second time at an even greater speed.
“Princess, stop!” Yao Ji shouted again with an amused expression.
The carriage halted. Not even the eight dragon souls could pull it forward.
Corpse energy was surging from the bottom of the lake below the carriage. Several hundred battle corpses were pulling on it at the same time, so the princess couldn’t move forward.
“You are quite bold for daring to provoke me.” The princess took out her Queen’s Order.
Yao Ji smiled in response: “How could a lowly girl like me dare to provoke you, Princess? I’m only here to talk to you about a matter, but since you didn’t let me speak, I had no choice but to act and stop you.”
The princess asked: “What is it?”
“Our Yinvoid Cave wishes to help you leave your name on the tablet, Princess.” Yao Ji replied in a serious manner.
Luofu stared at her carefully for a moment before putting away the Queen’s Order.
Despite the brief exchange, the clever princess immediately understood the underlying meaning behind Yao Ji’s words.
Yinvoid wanted to support her for the throne.
A woman in charge of the world carried great significance for the Yinvoid Cave. In order to help her become an empress, the first step was to help her leave her name on the holy tablet.
“Darkness is here!” The moon has completely disappeared. The world turned so dark that one couldn’t even see their hands in front of them.
A cold energy echoed in the lake below. Even the sacred tablet that had been emitting a soft glimmer began to lose its light. The names engraved on the surface were also losing their brilliance.
In the darkness, the power of the tablet would fall by half, but so would the power left behind by the wise sages. This was the best time to leave one’s name on it!
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
All the cultivators used their full power and turned into flying rays that shot towards the tablet. This resulted in the names, that were left behind on the tablet, exploding with their own bright power.
The empress, Long Jiangling, shot out a powerful wave. The figure of the empress emerged with a deterring and royal presence.
No one could withstand a single move from her. All died to this first strike without exception.
The words “Nalan Hongtao”, the first clanmaster of the Nalan, also emerged and formed a majestic figure. With a single palm strike, he repelled seven supreme grand achievement God Base cultivators. All were grievously wounded with blood gushing out from their injuries.
Fo Canzi, a mythical character of the Buddhist doctrine, showed up as well with an ethereal figure. He looked especially kind and solemn. His opponent was a mysterious person who was also extremely strong. After twelve moves, this opponent ultimately fled.
***
Each cultivation level had its own wise sage guardian. Only by defeating these wise sages would one be able to step into the light of the tablet.
The guardian for peak God Bases was Long Jiangling because that was when she left her name on the tablet.
Grand achievement God Base was Nalan Hongtao.
Fo Canzi was the guardian of third-level Heaven’s Mandates.
The guardians were all legendary characters who were invincible in their respective eras. It was virtually impossible to defeat them at the same realm.
Therefore, the only chance was to use the lunar eclipse. Their imprinted power would be reduced by half. By defeating them in their weakened state, one would have a chance to leave their mark.
Feng Feiyun remarked: “Even if their power has fallen by half, the number of people who can take even one move from them is pathetically low.”
He was at grand achievement God Base so his opponent was going to be Nalan Hongtao’s avatar.
Hongtao, the first of the Nalan... His name had been carved on this tablet for more than ten thousand years. Countless grand historical geniuses had come to challenge him, but not one could defeat him to replace his name.
Not even in his fifty percent state…
If Feng Feiyun could actually defeat him, he would shock the world and become the top genius in the last ten thousand years of the Jin Dynasty.
[1] This exchange had to be translated awkwardly. Yao Ji gave a humble introduction like a commoner greeting a noble, hence “this girl”. Normally, I would leave it out, but due to the princess’ response, I had to keep it in. The princess is saying that there are no “girls” in the Yinvoid Cave — this can be construed in two different ways. First, a proper and well-taught commoner would give this humble introduction to a noble, so the princess could be saying that Yao Ji is not an innocent “girl”. Another way to interpret this is that since Yao Ji’s from a corpse cave, she’s sneering at Yao Ji for being part of this sect and that she is more of a corpse than a “girl”.