Chapter 97 Fighting

With the hard facts spelled out to him, Jue Shuo did not hesitate any further. Upon his orders, all of the Black Armored Warriors of the Judicature charged forth to attack the relief river on the murals. Even though Li Jianqi had spoken viciously, she actually knew that Jue Shuo had her well-being on his mind. How could she not have realized that all of the people from the Judicature had begun to side with her after she started to attack the murals?

Jue Shuo's task was to protect Li Jianqi and accomplish his secret mission. Nothing else was more important than her safety, and he was not really concerned if he had angered her in the process of protecting her or not.

As a young girl, Li Jianqi could act as she wished, but as the Deputy Night Timekeeper of the Judicature, he had to keep calm.

Rashness was even scarier than demons.

The situation now was different, however. Obviously, it was highly probable that Ye Que's guess was correct; the key to disarming the murals had to be the relief river. That removed any reason for him to try to talk Li Jianqi out of her plan. He had to attack the river, even if it was for his own survival.

In an instant, all of the practitioners who still had some energy left in them, including the demon warriors, began to close in on the murals quickly. They then started to hack at the relief river with all their might.

With a clear goal, everyone began to feel motivated to take the initiative. Since the dark souls were so concerned about the murals, they were sure that they could take advantage of this weakness of the creatures.

Under Jiang Liuyun's orders, the practitioners were divided into two groups and took up positions diagonal to each other. One group would focus all of its energy on damaging the reliefs to draw the attention of the dark souls. Once all of the creatures were drawn over, the other group would immediately attack the reliefs in the opposite direction.

The dark souls were incapable of autonomous thought and were driven by their instinct to fight and their obsession with protecting the relief river. If the practitioners and demons could find out their lethal weakness, everything else would be simple.

As all of them destroyed more of the river, the amount of energy generated by the blood in it diminished, resulting in lesser numbers of relief sculptures being tainted by it. Without being touched by blood from the river, the sculptures were unable to come to life.

The source of their vitality had been cut off.

It took two whole hours to destroy the river covering the murals. Marks left behind by swords and sabers had completely defaced the river. During the entire process, however, a few disciples had been unable to withstand the energy that rebounded back from the relief river, and their Spiritual Seas were severely damaged.

The dark souls in the Great Hall gave out a terrifying shout as the last mural was destroyed. They ceased to concern themselves with the reliefs and began to attack anyone around them in a frenzy, even resorting to kamikaze type attacks.

"They are making their last stand," Ye Que said softly as he looked at the dark souls in the hall.

All of the dark souls were slain over the next hour.

Faint fairy fires had dispersed in mid-air. At the same time, Ye Que, who was standing close to the altar, heard a gentle click. He could see a groove shaped like a water droplet appear northward of the platform, right in the middle of numerous magical enchantments.

The flames of all the oil lamps in the Great Hall were extinguished instantly. There were close to a thousand of them.

The spots of glittering starlight on the reliefs of the murals also dimmed down gradually, leaving only the center of the altar as the sole source of light. It glowed gorgeously, and all of the magical enchantments surrounding the platform, along with the Sanskrit words on the roof, seemed to have come alive. They floated slowly into mid-air.

"It has appeared!"

Less than 50 survivors were remaining in the Great Hall, and only about a dozen of demon warriors were left standing behind Nan Fengxiu. Less than 10 of the Judicature remained, while slightly more of the Mount Shu disciples were alive. The other survivors were made up of Red Bean, Ye Que, and Wu Ming from the Temple of Six Buddhas, and the Eldest Senior Brother of the Sword Tomb from the Peak of Blight, along with a few rogue cultivators.

Everyone held their breath at this moment.

Close to 1000 practitioners had entered the Imperial Mausoleum at the ley lines of sovereignty. Less than one-tenth of them remained now.

Even a super genius like Jiang Liuyun was also staring fixedly at the altar not far away from him.

After a long while, he strode up toward the altar. Everyone else began to tense up.

"Amitabha. Senior Jiang, we shouldn't act rashly before the Divine Tool emerges. Why can't we wait to see what happens?" Wu Ming of the Temple of Six Buddhas said casually as he clasped his palms together. His tone sounded a little like a warning, however. He was the only surviving monk left from his temple, out of the 17 that had entered the Imperial Mausoleum. Now that the Divine Tool was about to show itself, how could he let Mount Shu make the first step?

Even though the strength of Mount Shu was the greatest among all our factions officially, it just meant that the sect has poured in the most manpower and sent the most number of its disciples into the Imperial Mausoleum. This did not mean anything, however. Which sect would not have prepared a trump card for something as important as this?

Wu Ming was certain that everyone who was still standing in the Great Hall had some secret weapon up their sleeve. It was no exaggeration to say that they could take on the disciples of Mount Shu.

"Reverend Wu Ming is right. We should all calm down first," the Eldest Senior Brother of the Peak of Blight's Sword Tomb said coldly.

"Let's see what the Divine Tool looks like. We can fight over it after making sure that it's the River Soldiers."

"I don't wish to die before seeing how it looks like."

Nan Fengxiu did not speak, but all of the demon warriors suddenly drew their weapons out in a flourish, making themselves clear that anyone who acted without their permission was declaring war against them. The warriors of the Demon Race were never afraid of engaging in battle.

Jiang Liuyun stopped; he had just taken a few steps forward. He turned back to look at the others, saying, "Do any of you know how to activate this mechanism?"

He pointed to the notch-shaped like a water droplet on the altar.

Everyone else paused for a while as they looked at the mysterious mechanism not far away from them. Just at this moment, they recalled a rumor that they heard before. The secret key to the River Soldiers Divine Tool had long been seized by Mount Shu, and most likely it was supposed to be inserted into this very notch.

"If you people don't wish for me to open it, do it yourselves," Jiang Liuyun said as he moved slightly to the side of the altar, leaving a path open to it.

No one replied. Everyone else remained silent.

Even so, Jiang Liuyun stood at the same spot without moving.

After a long while, Wu Ming from the Temple of Six Buddhas began to laugh awkwardly. "Senior Jiang, please step forward and activate the mechanism. All of us wish to witness the glory of the River Soldiers Divine Tool. What we said just now was a little uncalled for."

The Eldest Senior Brother of the Peak of Blight's Sword Tomb also looked equally awkward. He opened his mouth to speak but ended up making a symbolic sign of greeting by cupping one fist with the other hand.

Jiang Liuyun turned his head to look at Nan Fengxiu. The dozen demon warriors had kept their weapons as fast as they drew them without even waiting for him to speak. She did not look awkward in the least bit and even smiled at Jiang.

After realizing that no one else was going to oppose him again, Jiang Liuyun finally began to walk slowly to the altar.

He stood in front of the notch-shaped like a drop of water and drew out a transparent crystal ball from his shirt. It looked like something one would keep in a Yin-and-Yang Pouch.

He tapped the crystal ball lightly with his fingertip, causing it to split apart. A water droplet that kept changing form rose out of the breakage.

It drifted slowly into the air and began traveling toward the notch on the altar without Jiang Liuyun's control.

Ye Que, who was not far away, observed the drop of water and suddenly realized that it looked like it was made of the same material as the pool of crystalline substance he had seen in the cage.

The droplet slotted perfectly into the notch.

A faint blue glow emanated from the notch, then the Sanskrit words on the altar, the surrounding magical enchantments, and finally even the two statues on the platform began to look life-like.

The blue glow grew brighter, and the entire platform turned transparent.

Via the enchantments surrounding the altar, everyone could vaguely spot a crystalline substance that kept changing form at the center of it. A faint mysterious aura emanated from the platform.

"That should be the River Soldiers, right?" someone asked instinctively.

"It really is the Divine Tool!" another person said.

"It must be the Divine Tool. What else could keep shifting form and have grains on it that vaguely resemble a ferocious beast from ancient historical times?"

By this time, Jiang Liuyun was standing closest to the altar. He secretly prepared himself after noticing the crystalline substance. In fact, he had begun to hold his power after taking out the Secret Key to the River Soldiers. No one knew how it would emerge.

Six rays of sword energy tunneled their way toward the center of the altar.

Nearly at the same time, everyone else in the Great Hall began dashing toward the platform, all of them looking as though they were fighting for their lives. Only Li Jianqi, the Judicature, Ye Que and Red Bean stood still.

Ye Que was helpless. He counted himself lucky to be able to protect himself from fratricide and did not even think about trying to seize the Divine Tool for himself. At the very least, he was helpless now.

As for Li Jianqi and the Judicature, it was evident that their focus was never on the River Soldiers Divine Tool. Red Bean herself had never even looked at the artifact once.

How could someone not have entered the Imperial Mausoleum for the Divine Tool?

In the blink of an eye, more than 20 magical artifacts which had not appeared before were summoned. All of them were Level 2 divine artifacts and above, and even Nan Fengxiu herself drew out a Level 3 Monarch-class magic treasure that was no weaker than Cyan Luan.

"Buzz!"

"Thump!"

The sound of a bell accompanied that of drums. Two magical artifacts drifted beside Wu Ming at the same time. The Chronometer of Dawn was on his left, and the Evening Drum on his right.

"When did the Temple of Six Buddhas work together with Tzu Chi Palace? It's true that the chronometer belongs to the Temple, but the drum was enshrined in the Palace all this while. It hasn't been shifted from its spot for the past century."

The Chronometer of Dawn itself was a Level 2 magic treasure, and combined together with the Evening Drum, they were as powerful as Level 3 artifacts.

After releasing the six rays of sword qi, Jiang Liuyun let Cyan Luan fly as well.

At this moment, no one cared about the difference between the Humans and Demons, or whatever sect they came from. They only had eyes for the Divine Tool now.

Jiang Liuyun's attacks reached their target first. Unexpectedly, nothing shattered. There was merely a gentle ripple of energy across the magical enchantments on the altar, followed by the same effect happening on Cyan Luan's attack. The effect on the sword was even greater than that of the enchantments, however.

In the blink of an eye, the second wave of attacks came, including that of the Chronometer of Dawn and Evening Drum. 35 rays of divine energy shot toward the enchantments surrounding the altar in total.

The enchantments began to tremble violently and looked as though they were about to break apart.

At this moment, three attacks were suddenly made on the people who had charged toward the platform.

One came from the warrior in gold armor, the second from the huge dragon soaring into the skies, while the last came from Jiang Liuyun's Cyan Luan. It turned out that the prodigy from Mount Shu had not even used his full strength earlier on and was launching a sneak attack on the others right now!