CH 58

Chapter 58: Too Quiet.

Edited by: Mochiusagi 

The mass grave had existed for many years.

Many people's bodies, if there was no suitable place to bury them, would eventually be buried here.

Over the countless years, who knew how many corpses were here?

Now, all of those corpses had turned into Corpse Puppets and crawled out from their graves, contaminated by the Demon's Essence Blood.

"Fortunately, not all of the corpses could turn into Corpse Puppets. Only corpses that's preserved and relatively intact would get transformed. Otherwise, the number of Corpse Puppets would have increased drastically."

Shen Changqing unsheathed his sword and killed a Corpse Puppet that had pounced on him.

The number of Corpse Puppets that climbed up right now was quite a lot, but it was not to the extent of despair.

Shen Changqing's guess was that the expert, who sealed the Demon's Essence Blood here, probably didn't expect that this place would become a mass grave.

"How dare evil run rampant with this Official here?!"

Shen Changqing coldly shouted. At the same time, he stepped forward and Astral Qi burst out, beheading a dozen Corpse Puppets.

"Releasing Astral Qi!"

The people who saw this scene couldn't help, but feel chills.

The Astral Qi was released outside Shen Changqing's body!

This was the standard for the Outer Astral Phase.

[T/N: Changed Outer Astral from Realm to Phase, since I was dumb to not consider it before]

Though, it was not definite as such, there were some Martial Arts that allowed one to release Qi without reaching the Outer Astral Phase.

But, in this case, who could be sure that Lord Shen was not at the Outer Astral Phase?

However, although shocked, they also felt more at ease.

The number of Corpse Puppets was somewhat high, which caused a lot of pressure on them.

Now that there was an expert at the Outer Astral Phase, then the Corpse Puppets were not a big problem.

Regarding their inner thoughts, Shen Changqing did not care.

Anyway, Shen Changqing's breakthrough to the Innate Realm could no longer be concealed. Also, with the Heavenly Martial Astral Qi in his body, he also had an explanation that he could give to the Demon Suppression Division if needed. 

As long as he did not deliberately expose himself, no one would know that he was already in the Innate Realm at the Outer Astral Phase.

The reason was that, one of the qualities of the [Heavenly Martial Astral Qi] were that when one breaks through the Innate Realm, they could let their Astral Qi out.

Shen Changqing making a move, could be said to be invigorating for the others. 

The speed at which the others eliminated the Corpse Puppets increased by a lot.

In less than half an hour, not a single Corpse Puppet managed to successfully climb out of the canyon.

The decapitated Corpse Puppets were also all thrown back to where they came from.

At this moment, the bloody light surged up again.

What sounded like a low roar of a giant beast then echoed in the canyon, causing everyone to pale.

It's coming out!

Shen Changqing hand unconsciously rested on the hilt of his sword, that was currently in it's sheath. His gaze was heavy and he did not dare to lower his guard.

A demon's power was not comparable to that of a monster’s.

As for how powerful a drop of the Demon's Essence Blood without any restrictions was, he was not sure.

From the earthquake and Corpse Puppets, the Demon's Essence Blood was certainly not normal.

Shen Changqing then gazed at Cui Cheng and the others.

Even with his Cultivation, he still felt a great amount of pressure.

Could these Cultivators at the Qi Circulation Realm, really have the means to subdue the Demon's Essence Blood?

On this point, Shen Changqing felt a great degree of doubt.

The scene was silent.

Only the roar echoed endlessly.

However, everyone did not need to wait too long, as a fist-sized green blood ball rose from the canyon. The people were immediately attracted to it.

Looking at it carefully, they could see that inside the blood ball was a red light.

The roar was also from the blood ball.

"Go!"

Who knows who was the first to say something, but immediately after that, someone rushed towards the blood ball.

This was their purpose for coming here after all.

After the first person took action, the second one soon followed, then the third.

Even Cui Cheng, Ming Zhengyang and others, couldn't keep their expressions calm at this moment.

"The Demon's Essence Blood belongs to the Returning Yuan Sword Sect, no one can steal it!"

Cui Cheng drew his sword and a cold sword light appeared, hitting the Cultivator that was closest to the Demon's Essence Blood.

At the same time, Ming Zhengyang took a step forward. His body seemed to shift like a shadow and he disappeared in an instant.

The next moment, he had already appeared near the Demon's Essence Blood. The folding fan in his hand was like a sword, making people go pale.

"The Seven Obsidian Sect will take the blood. If you can give face now, I and the Seven Obsidian Sect will greatly thank you later!

"Whatever the Seven Obsidian Sect pays, the Heavenly Sword Sect would pay double. Now, why don't you let me have the blood?"

Xiao Bo laughed loudly. He drew the sword from his back, harsh and unparalleled Sword Qi erupted.

Before the Demon's Essence Blood had appeared, these people from the Sects still had some restraint.

But now that the Demon's Essence Blood was out, they no longer need the facade.

A free-for-all!

Everyone wanted to get the Demon's Essence Blood. There was no possibility of a peaceful solution for the people present.

Shen Changqing took two steps back and silently watched the people fighting over the Demon's Essence Blood, not having any intention to intervene.

As he said at the beginning, although the Demon's Essence Blood was precious, it's value was relative. The Demon Suppression Division was not short of Demons, much less a Demon's Essence Blood.

Hence, the Demon's Essence Blood, although precious, was not to the point of necessity.

"The Seven Obsidian Sect's techniques seem to be more gentle, but it also has some Confucianism to it. I heard that the person who created the Seven Obsidian Sect was originally a great Confucian thinker in the dynasty. Now, it seems that the rumors are true!"

Shen Changqing's gaze fell on Ming Zhengyang.

Among all of the people present, the other party's strength was the strongest one.

In comparison, even the two people of the Heavenly Sword Sect were a step behind Ming Zhengyang.

Although the strength of the Sect did not completely represent the strength of the disciples.

But the stronger the Sect, the stronger their base.

Accordingly, the nurture they got there there was also much stronger than the average person.

If one was to divide everyone present into levels, Ming Zhengyang would be in the top/first echelon, while the two from the Heavenly Sword Sect was below that (second echelon), and the remaining disciples of the other sects were barely between the second and third echelon.

The rest of the Rogue Cultivators were categorized under the third echelon.

In a battle between Cultivators, it's between life and death.

Especially now that under the compulsion of the Demon's Essence Blood, everyone's killing intent was visibly magnified. 

It did not take long before someone died.

A cold aura began to permeate in the surroundings.

Shen Changqing face changed slightly. His feet tapped the ground and flew backward like a bird. He distanced himself away from the Demon's Essence Blood's range.

Just as he withdrew, he saw a mist suddenly rising in front of him.

The originally clear scene suddenly became blurred.

"Monster!"

Many monsters had died in his hands, naturally Shen Changqing had become sensitive to the aura of monsters.

Originally, when he first saw the Demon's Essence Blood, he had some suspicion.

So many people had come and were even fighting, yet demons' side had no movements whatsoever.

Later, Shen Changqing attributed it to the fact that the monsters sent by the Eternal Life Alliance was killed by him, so no monsters showed up.

He did not expect that they had left a backup plan!

Now, the chaotic burial site had been covered by the mist. Not to mention that the mist was spreading outwards.

With his keen perception, Shen Changqing could perceive a strong amount of danger from the mist.

So, after evacuating from the mist's range at the beginning, he continued to leave the mass grave.

"Since monster appeared in the mass grave, what about Lin'an City? With so many people, the demons would surely covet it!"

Shen Changqing’s feet did not stop, as he rushed towards Lin'an City.

A monster appeared in the mass grave, so there was no guarantee that the Lin'an City wouldn't also be attacked.

He did not forget his mission, which was to guard Lin'an City.

If Lin'an City was occupied by the demons' side, his mission would be a failure.

Even if it wasn't for the mission, Shen Changqing had no reason to simply let so many civilians be buried in the hands of the demons.

"The monster in the mass grave even made me feel threatened, there is definitely a Grudge Level monster there. There's maybe even more than one! The mass grave is a place where corpses are buried, so it is not appropriate to fight it for the time being."

"As for those Cultivators, it depends on their luck if they could survive."

Shen Changqing secretly thought.

To be honest, he did not think that Cui Cheng and the others would have any chance of surviving.

After all, even him, who was on the Outer Astral Phase, felt threatened, not to mention those below.

Since they dared to compete for the Demon's Essence Blood, naturally, they had to suffer the corresponding consequences.

Moreover, compared with the people of Lin'an City, these Cultivators could be abandoned.

So, Shen Changqing withdrew. 

The monster in the mass grave also had no intention of stopping him.

It didn't take too long before Shen Changqing returned to Lin'an City.

Now that the earthquake had ended, coupled with his original order, all of the people had returned to their homes to hide. The originally crowded streets became empty.

The whole city revealed a different kind of tranquility.

When the earthquake occurred, it was exactly noon. But because of the delay over at the mass grave, by the time Shen Changqing returned, although it was not nightfall, the sun had already gone down. The sky had a dark curtain that was begining to shroud it.

Walking in the quiet street, Shen Changqing's right hand tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. His eyes were calm, as he steadily walked towards the direction of the Government Office.

It's too quiet!

The surrounding environment was a little too quiet.

The street was not very long, but in his eyes, it seemed as if he could not see the end.