Chapter 380 - Ghosts Wailing Hill

Outside, the day was breaking; it was light already. The dew was still on the leaves. Rubbing his temples, Xiao Chen could still feel a chill in the morning wind. Last night, he went back to the cave in the early morning. Though he planned to wait until daybreak, he passed out soon because he was too tired. But unexpectedly, a terrible nightmare struck him.

The Miasma Mountain Range was still foggy and gloomy. Some places in the range were slightly drizzly. After a while, he walked out of the cave after putting on a straw raincoat. Next, he intended to go to Ghost-wailing Hill in the deep. In the past two days, he felt a little uneasy. During this time, the confrontation between good and evil was more and more intense. Only because of minimal conflicts, they would get into a free-for-all fight. After many fights, the dead bodies of them scattered over the wilderness. Hence, countless more spirits were added to the mountain range, which also brought this place much more grievances.

Somehow, the fight on the top of the cliff that night had got about. Three masters from the Devil’s Practice joined hands with a mysterious person wearing a straw raincoat, and they killed the elder Danyang Zi in the Order of the Divine Fire, who had a summit force of Nirvana Realm. The whole Miasma Mountain Range was buzzing with this news, which made people of the Orthodox Path disquieted.

Therefore, some small sects had already withdrawn from the Miasma Mountain Range. Then, they went outside to spread the news. By word of mouth, all the people outside knew that a man in straw raincoat appeared in the Miasma Mountain Range. He was alone. No one knew his background. They only heard that this person who could kill decisively seemed to have an ambiguous persona; he could either be good or evil. Beyond that, he killed people of both the Orthodox Path and the Devil’s Practice. Everywhere he passed, no one could survive. Of course, these were greatly exaggerated snowball rumors.

Anyway, lots of people now realized that another strong young man from Violet Manor stood out. There had been much speculation saying that this man’s aim must also be the extraordinary treasure. Because he didn’t associate with anyone, people deliberately named him—Straw-raincoat Solitary-man. After that, straw raincoats in the shops of some towns seemed to be sold much better.

…

In the depths of the Miasma Mountain Range, there was an endless mountain ridge. Many places were enveloped by the miasma. Before those ordinary cultivators entered these places, they should take some pills. Otherwise, the miasma would invade their bodies, and they would surely die.

There were still some places that looked like lawns. But in fact, there was a bottomless swamp below the surface. Once people accidentally stepped in, the swamp would instantly suck them in as if it had a weird strong attraction. It could even engulf those Core Forming Realm cultivators and make them one of the ghosts at the bottoms of the swamp.

Ghost-wailing Hill was the most dangerous place in the Miasma Mountain Range. At night, the howling wind, like the penetrating yelling of ghosts, swept passed the forests. In the past thousands of years, numerous cultivators, who intended to pass through the East Continent and South Continent, died in this shortcut.

In this place, the miasma sprang up to the sky. There were poisonous bugs ten times more than those on the outside. Besides, some inexplicable existences lived here. For example, the ghosts there could be transformed into loved ones or friends. Also, there were evil spirits with unpredictable tracks, the Walking Corpses with strong evil Qi, mirages that looked like majestic palaces but then immediately became skeleton piles after a closer look, and there were many more such things.

But it was just such a hazardous place that had attracted numerous cultivators rushing there wave upon wave. After all, the temptation of the extraordinary treasure was too great for them to resist. These cultivators wanted it so bad that they were even willing to get it at the cost of their lives. The reason for all the crazy moves was that the Ghost-wailing Hill would occasionally shake in these two days, and tens of thousands of meters long glorious rays would appear there from time to time. These abnormal phenomena indicated that the extraordinary treasure was soon going to appear. Well, at least there were lots of people who thought so.

“Swoosh!”

Outside the forest, a white radiance flashed across. “Sizzle!” The light penetrated the head of a manlike monster. Xiao Chen slightly frowned. He could not remember that including this one, how many Walking Corpses he had killed.

“Plop!” The Walking Corpse fell into the muddy water next to the road and made a few meters high splashes. Xiao Chen saw that the skin all over the Walking Corpse’s body was dark gray and full of fine black hairs. It must have been staying there for a hundred years, but it just had 20 or 30 years of Malicious Grudge. That was why Xiao Chen could kill him easily.

The existence time of the Walking Corpse or the Corpse Puppet could not decide the strength of their Malicious Grudge. Some Walking Corpses had existed for a hundred years, but they might still have only twenty more years of Malicious Grudge. Such cases were quite normal, actually. It was usually because this kind of Walking Corpses was usually not very strong when they were alive, or they didn’t hold much Malicious Grudge when they died, or because of many other reasons. They always had a slow absorption rate of Malicious Grudge and their upper limit of absorption was also not that much.

And there were other kinds of Walking Corpses, such as Danyang Zi, they could absorb a hundred years of grievances in only ten years. This kind of Corpse Puppets was very powerful. That was why the Corpse Refinery Sect would consider this difference when they refined the Corpse Puppets. They would, first of all, find a corpse that was the most suitable for refining the Corpse Puppet. It must be a powerful person’s corpse, plus the person much hold deep resentment before he or she died. Sometimes, Corpse Refinery Sect would refine a living person and directly make the person a Corpse Puppet. This kind of Corpse Puppets had the strongest Malicious Grudge. In the future, it could be very likely to accumulate more than 1000 years of Malicious Grudge and became the Heavy Grudge Corpse Puppet.

That night, Zhiluan had mentioned the so-called Heavy Grudge to him, so Xiao Chen now had more or less understood the concept. Any Malicious Grudge that had existed for more than 1,000 years could be called the Heavy Grudge. Once a corpse became a Heavy Grudge Walking Corpse or a Heavy Grudge Corpse Puppet, its 1,000 years of Heavy Grudge could instantly turn into a burst of extremely Negative Qi when it encountered a deadly strike. The Negative Qi could bring “the dead back to life.” Even if the dead body was smashed into pieces, it could still reorganize in a short time.

Therefore, in the eyes of some people, the thousand-year-old Walking Corpse could never be destroyed. It could always revive after being beaten to death, again and again. They thought that only by sealing, suppressing, or any other means to make its Malicious Grudge gradually dissipate could they lay restraints on the corpse. After that, its body and the spirit would naturally vanish.

Xiao Chen took two steps forward, and his Unsullied Sword also flew back. The sword body was covered with a layer of faint white light, swirling around him. It seemed that his sword was determined to keep any Demon or evil thing away from him.

Glancing from the corner of the eye, Xiao Chen saw the Walking Corpse in the muddy water, on which blisters still kept coming up. He suddenly felt extremely disgusted. Now only on the periphery of the Ghost-wailing Hill, he hadn’t yet entered the hill so that he didn’t know what kind of Walking Corpses would be in it.

After walking for a while, Xiao Chen saw range upon range of mountains in the distance. Near him were towering trees and entangled green vines in the forest. There were many exotic and strangely scented flowers which could not be seen outside under the trees. The space between those flowers was filled with various colorful mushrooms, and there were a few butterflies stopped on those mushrooms. If it weren’t for the Walking Corpses and poisonous bugs, this place could be regarded as a quiet and beautiful place.

A while later, the sky suddenly turned dark. Then after a dull boom, it seemed that even the ground began to tremble. Looking up at the sky that was covered with dark clouds, Xiao Chen could feel ice-cold raindrops hitting on his face. Only after a short while, the straw raincoat on him was wet with rain.

He looked toward the steamy mountains in the distance. Today, Xiao Chen made a circle around this place but still failed to find a way to enter the depths of the mountain range. Though he could fly on the sword for a short time, the tour around still made him dizzy. At this time, it was raining, and everything around him was drizzly. He thought that it would be much harder for him to find a path now.

Along with the thunders that were louder than the thunders in July and August, it was raining harder and harder. Feeling terribly upset, Xiao Chen put away the Unsullied Sword. Meanwhile, he walked on the muddy ground with great care and tried his best to avoid those towering trees because he didn’t want to be the first Cultivator who was killed by lightning on a rainy day.

Two hours passed, but it was still raining. With the rain, the night gradually fell. Xiao Chen found himself a cave. After hanging his straw raincoat and bamboo hat on the stones, he sat down six meters away from the entrance of the cave, cultivating in meditation.

Outside the cave, the violent wind kept howling, and the heavy rain continued. The thunder came one after another with the continuous lightning. It seemed that the ground was nearly torn apart. After a very long time, the rainstorm finally stopped. At this moment, the light of the flames shone in another cave. Six people were sitting around the fire with their cheeks glowing red.

It was Yu Yifeng and the group of people with him. Mu Shaoai had already rushed back to the Jade Qing Sect. So there were only four of them now. And the other two people were Qin Shaoyang and Liu Feiyan from the Xianyong Sect.

Surrounding the fire, all six people remained silent. After suffering from several days of bad weather, plus various poisonous insects and Walking Corpses hidden in this place, they were no longer in their previous high and vigorous spirits.

“Pa!”

A clear sound broke the long silence. Several people here turned their heads to check and found that it was Luo Shangyan. After breaking the dry branch in her hand, she threw it into the fire, and the branch soon started to burn. It gradually burned into ashes at last.

“You guys, did you really meet Junior Brother Xiao…” Eventually, Qin Shaoyang moved his lips and whispered his question.

But no one answered him. Zhiluan turned over in the corner and tightened the clothes that Yu Yifeng took off for it, continuing to sleep. Leaning tight against Qin Shaoyang, Liu Feiyan sat with her arms clasped around knees, gazing blankly at jumping flames. In her eyes, everything was now a blur. It seemed that she had taken those branches that were burnt to ashes as the young man who trespassed into Xianyong Sect in previous.

Qin Shaoyang sighed. “Junior Brother Xiao is straightforward and upright. But sometimes, with such a character, he is likely to be manipulated by others. If he has been bewitched by those evil members of the Devil’s Practice, then step by step…”

“Pa!”

Another clear sound came and interrupted Qin Shaoyang. Again, it was Luo Shangyan. Without uttering a single word, she flung two broken branches into the fire, which made a few sparks. Feeling a little embarrassed, Qin Shaoyang also said nothing more. Then, the rest of them also tilted their heads back, either sighing or remaining silent.

Yu Yifeng said, “Junior Sister Luo…”

“No!” Luo Shangyan’s face was expressionless, and she broke the three or four branches together in the hands and threw them into the fire. All of a sudden, the flames got much higher, jumping restlessly. The firelight flashed in her eyes, sparkling.

She recalled that night, before the Three Pure Sect’s entrance test, two strangers sat in front of the fire and disclosed their minds. No one had ever been willing to listen to those things on her heart.

…

The cold wind blew over, waves upon waves. Xiao Chen slowly opened his eyes and slightly moved his fingers. “Swoosh!” The Unsullied Sword flew out, penetrating the air. Like a ray of dazzling radiance in the dark, it went straight to the neck of the person at the entrance. The radiance stopped 3 centimeters away from the person’s neck. Neither longer nor shorter, the distance was precisely 3 centimeters.

“Do you truly think that I won’t kill you…”

Xiao Chen’s voice was icy. It sounded much colder than the cold wind at this moment. The white radiance on the Unsullied Sword increased sharply and shed light on the person at the cave entrance, which clearly showed the person’s appearance. The edge of the sword stayed near her throat, but the person was still smiling. With the voice that could enchant all living creatures, she said charmingly, “But on such a cold night, do you still want to kill me?”

Although she said only about ten words, her voice sounded sweet and charming, which could make many romantic thoughts flash through other people’s minds. Echoing on such a cold night, it seemed that her voice somehow helped to drive some coldness away.

“Then, you can try…” A hint of coldness flashed across Xiao Chen’s pupils, and his voice turned a little deeper.

The woman standing at the cave entrance was Su Lianyue from the Fort Raksasa. In the Devil’s sects, she was called the Ice Jade Fairy. Tonight, she was still in purple clothes, a few strands of her hair beside her ears fluttering gently with the cold wind at the cave entrance. It seemed that people could be mesmerized and took a fancy to her only after a glance at her.

Smiling sweetly, Su Lianyue said, “I guess that you must not be willing to, otherwise why do you leave the 3 centimeters…” But before she could finish speaking, Xiao Chen sent his Unsullied Sword forward and pressed it against her neck. A thin trace of her blood slowly dripped down along her snow-white neck.

Su Lianyue gave a grunt and then smiled. “Young Master Xiao, you really don’t know that you should show your tenderness toward women. This time, you flashed your sword across me. In the future, I will make you feel very regret and heartbreaking for what you have done to me today…” On her final words, it seemed that she even began to hold a little grudge against him.

“If you don’t leave, I’ll break your heart now.”