Volume 2: Wind Rises, Sky Turns Cold Chapter 139: Leaving the Valley

  The sun rises and sets, white clouds without a trace, five months of time in an instant.

  In five months, this deep mountain has undergone several drastic changes. The ground shook from time to time, and countless birds and beasts scattered far away, as if this place had been transformed into a forbidden land.

  There were also a large number of trees, withered and dry, as if they had lost their vitality, becoming withered and dry. The scope was so vast that it almost enveloped dozens of miles around.

  Looking down from the sky, under the withered trees, the exposed ground, surprisingly appeared countless cracks, like drought. This strange phenomenon is rare in this southern land, where there are many rains and it will not appear to be cracked by drought.

  If that were all, what's even more terrifying is that on this vast land, every time the moonlit night falls, waves of mournful howls would echo through the air. The sound of these howls doesn't seem to be made by humans, and ordinary ears can barely hear them. However, as long as one has a certain level of cultivation, if they get close enough, they will sense something.

  Especially on the night of the full moon, this howling will be extremely strong, and even the moonlight in the sky will descend heavily here. Even in the gullies on the ground, there will be hot air rising, as if this vast deep mountain is being roasted by invisible flames.

  At dusk that day, outside the range of this forbidden land, four figures appeared. The four were very cautious and stopped in their tracks. The first person was an old man wearing a blue robe, his body thin and bony, exuding an eerie aura. Behind him were three people, two men and one woman, but not quite so, especially the woman, who was contrary to the old man's eeriness, with a beautiful face.

  "Father, is this the place you were talking about?" A man in his forties, standing behind the old man, spoke cautiously.

  "That's right, two months ago, I passed by this place with my father and saw that the terrain was mysterious, a large number of trees and grass withered and lost their vitality, even the earth itself was dry. Such a rare thing, if I'm not mistaken, should be a treasure appearing!" The old man's eyes were gloomy, he slowly opened his mouth, his cultivation was not ordinary, although he hadn't reached the stage of opening dust, but had already reached the later stage of condensing blood.

  As for the three people behind him, except for this middle-aged man who spoke up and was at the seventh layer of Blood Condensation, the other two were both at the fifth layer.

  "This place is extraordinary, Father didn't tell the others in the tribe, our family's status in the tribe is ordinary, and even on this day of Wan Gu's creation, we don't have the qualifications to enter the sacred land. This has something to do with Father's difficult cultivation. All his hopes are placed on you, if you can obtain this treasure, it may be useful for your future."

  "Especially now, as the day of Wan Gu's creation is near, the entire Nan Chen has started to rise with mist, and all the tribes are busy entering the sacred land, they won't notice our tracks." The old man glanced at the distant sky, it was dusk, and a faint mist could be seen in the distance. If one were to look down from a high place, they would see that this vast Nan Chen land had an endless range of mist slowly rising.

  The man took a deep breath and nodded.

  "As for Knife and Shan, you two young ones follow behind, this place doesn't have any dead energy emanating out, but those withered trees have lost their vitality, the dead energy is within, you can absorb it into your bodies, it will be beneficial." The old man looked at the sky and spoke in a low voice.

  "This place changes every night, I observed it for several days and went in once before, but only made it a thousand feet inside. This time, with the tribe's dead marrow bead, I should be able to go deeper." The old man's eyes held an expectant gaze.

  "Ah, Dad..." The middle-aged man next to him seemed a bit hesitant, looked at the old man and then spoke in a low voice: "Dad, what if this place isn't where treasures are born, but rather where some predecessor cultivated, and we misjudged it...?"

  "Heh heh, it's good that you have such concerns. As a father, I used to think the same way too. But when I first entered this place, no disaster occurred, and most importantly, although the plants and trees here lost their vitality, they didn't wither away completely. If there really were seniors cultivating here, causing such strange changes, wouldn't they have made use of these dead energies?"

  "Only when the treasure is born can this phenomenon be explained." As the old man spoke, dusk slipped away and the entire sky turned pitch black, with a crescent moon hanging in the air, casting down its silvery light.

  "Don't think too much, let's go in!" The old man took a deep breath and led the way into the withered forest, followed cautiously by the middle-aged man. As for the two young ones, they followed excitedly, constantly absorbing the dead air from the lifeless trees, their faces growing more expectant along the way.

  The four people walked slowly, and as they passed through the cracked earth, they saw the dry cracks on the ground and the withered grass. The old man's expression was still normal, but the middle-aged man was gradually sweating.

  "The withered grass and trees are nothing, but the earth is shattered like this... This land has lost its vitality and has become a good place for our Puqiang tribe to cultivate. If we can cultivate here... Unfortunately, the dead energy of this land is not active, which is inferior to the tribe..." The middle-aged man took a deep breath, dispelled this idea, and instead had higher expectations for that treasure.

  As for the young man and woman, they were now trembling with fear, no longer excited or expectant, but tense.

  At this moment, a shrill roar suddenly came from a mountain peak far away from the four people. The roar was sharp and others couldn't hear it, only those who had reached a certain level of cultivation could feel it.

  The old man's expression changed, and he obviously heard the loud shout. As for the middle-aged man, he also vaguely heard it, and the uncontrolled circulation of his internal energy made his heart beat faster.

  He was like that, let alone the two younger ones. The faces of these two turned pale in an instant. Although they couldn't hear the roar, they had a feeling as if their hearts were being torn apart.

  The old man let out a cold snort, his right hand reaching into his bosom to produce a black bead. As soon as the bead appeared, dark energy began to emerge from the grass and earth around them, flying towards the bead before being absorbed and transforming into a black light screen that enveloped the four of them.

  "I originally came here, now with this dead marrow bead, it should be fine, otherwise, this strange scream will become more and more intense, making people annoyed." The old man said as he walked forward.

  The three of them hastily followed behind, tracing the black light screen, and gradually walked into the depths of this land, where the mountain was. At this moment, under the moonlight, the top of the mountain was a blur, unable to be seen clearly, but the sound of wailing still faintly came through, even with the light screen blocking it off. Looking at the direction it was coming from, it was indeed from the top of the mountain.

  "The treasure is on the mountaintop!" The old man suppressed his inner excitement, quickened his pace, and led the three people behind him to rush up the mountain, rapidly approaching the summit.

  The mountain was bare and bald, the grass and trees had long withered into ash, countless cracks spread across the mountain body, making people walking on it feel a little frightening. But at this moment, the old man didn't mind these things, as he kept approaching, he soon came to the misty area of the mountain top.

  But at this moment, the old man's footsteps suddenly stopped, and the middle-aged man behind him turned pale in an instant, revealing a look of horror. Their eyes looked up to see that on the peak of the mountain ten zhang away, there was no treasure, but rather a person sitting cross-legged in meditation!

  He faced them, but couldn't see their faces clearly, a blur, yet despite this, there was an intense aura of pressure surrounding the area, causing the old man and the middle-aged man's hearts to beat rapidly, not from excitement, but from tension.

  Even around this figure, the sky and earth seem distorted, from which a loud roar echoes.

  The old man's pupils contracted, and after a moment of shock, he was about to retreat, but at this moment, the blurry figure sitting cross-legged in front of them slowly opened its eyes.

  That was a gaze filled with profound depth, cold and detached, yet exuding an aura of chilliness. At the moment it fell upon the old man, his mind went blank, his internal energy surged out of control, and he suddenly retreated, grabbing hold of the middle-aged man beside him who had turned pale as if struck by lightning. The two younger ones behind him, unable to withstand the oppressive power within that gaze, also hastily retreated.

  But they had just withdrawn less than fifty zhang, and the four of them suddenly felt a shock. A fierce aura appeared out of thin air, locking onto the four of them invisibly. Moreover, in their surroundings, a large amount of moonlight enveloped them, transforming into an intense sense of crisis that permeated the hearts of the four people.

  "Kai Chen, this person must be a Kai Chen strongman, otherwise it would be impossible to achieve this point, just with his gaze possessing such power..." The old man's footsteps stopped, and cold sweat broke out all over his body. He had a feeling that if he retreated any further, he would definitely die!

  "Elder, I am a Puqiang tribesman. I was rash earlier, please don't blame me..." The old man hastily bowed to the figure sitting cross-legged on the mountain peak, his expression tense and respectful.

  The surroundings were silent, and even the screams that had been audible before had disappeared. This silence made the four old men increasingly tense as time passed.

  "Put down the black pearl in your hand and leave!" The old man felt as if he had been silent for many years, and when he heard the other party's words, he didn't hesitate to put down the black pearl and quickly retreated with the three people behind him. His heart was racing, feeling like he had narrowly escaped death.

  The four of them retreated to the edge of the withered area and galloped for several hours before slowing down. The old man's face was pale, and he looked back with a frightened expression, feeling that they had just escaped death by a hair's breadth.

  The middle-aged man beside him was even more short of breath, looking at the old man and speaking in a low voice: "Father, is he... a Dust Emperor?"

  "Not an ordinary Qi Refiner, I think this person should be a mid-stage Qi Refiner!" The old man hesitated for a moment before speaking.

  "Opening Dust Middle Period? Isn't that on the same level as Man Gong? In the entire Handan City, there are only three Opening Dust Middle Period strongmen, he..." The middle-aged man sucked in a breath.

  The two young people beside him were also frightened out of their wits at this moment, and their fear was even more intense afterwards.

  "This matter must not be spread outside, such a strong person is not someone we can afford to provoke. Fortunately, this person does not deign to kill us, otherwise..." The old man's heart trembled and he hastily closed his mouth, leading the three of them to speed away once again.

  On the mountain peak, Su Ming sat silently, with a black bead in his hand, which was left by the old man. Holding the bead, after a long time, Su Ming put it into his storage bag and slowly stood up.

  "The Blood Fire burns in the fifth time, and it will make people fall asleep..." Su Ming murmured, looking up at the distant sky and earth. Although it was night, he could still see a thin layer of mist between the sky and earth, spreading and expanding.

  "Master, you have been asleep for more than five months... Now it is approaching the day of Wan Gu's creation, and the entire South Morning will be gradually shrouded in thick fog in the next few days..." In Su Ming's mind, He Feng cautiously opened his mouth. Although he was restricted from sensing the outside world during these five months, as Su Ming slept, he could feel Su Ming slowly becoming stronger. This strength made He Feng astonished and even more mysterious about Su Ming.