Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 34: A Mixed Bag of People in Front of Eight Gates Mountain
Dragon Silkworm would evolve into a dragon?
Miao Xianren must be waiting for the dragons to emerge so he could tame them. The nine colored silk was also an extraordinarily good material for making magic items.
Dragon? Zhong Shan didn’t really need those two dragons. Zhong Shan even wanted to kill the dragons, he only needed their bodies. As for now, it wasn’t time to kill the dragon, there wasn’t enough silk yet.
“Yinglan, go look for a wood box. I want to bring them with us.” Zhong Shan said.
“En.” Yinglan nodded and ran out of the secret room right away.
Zhong Shan walked to the corner and collected all the Kong Ling Gems.
“Ling-er, do you know where Kong Ling Gems come from?” Zhong Shan turned to look at Tianling-er.
Tianling-er was staring at the Nine Colored Dragon Silkworms when Zhong Shan asked the question. She turned to answer, “I’m not exactly sure. But I heard from my dad that Kong Ling Gems are also called ‘Kilns of Heaven and Earth’. It’s a gift from the heaven given out every hundred years. When it happens, all the strong practitioners in the world can collect it.”
“Eh?” Zhong Shan frowned in surprise. A gift from heaven? Kilns of Heaven and Earth?
Yinglan quickly brought over a small wooden box that could house the two dragon silkworms. She also found a bed sheet to wrap around the box so that it could be carried slung over the shoulder.
The storage bracelet could store anything but living things. That was the reason that Miao Xianren couldn’t put them into his storage bracelet.
Zhong Shan couldn’t believe Miao Xianren’s luck to find such precious treasure. Zhong Shan had already given up hope on ever finding Nine Colored Dragon Silkworm only to find two here. Now by acquiring them, it would accelerate his plans to establish a dynasty of his own.
The dragon silkworms were as harmless as any ordinary silkworm. Zhong Shan carefully moved each into the box. He scooped out two Spirit Stones from the wall to put inside the box, too. Then, he sealed the box.
Zhong Shan suddenly said while looking at Yinglan, “Yinglan, put the box on your back. Then wrap yourself with the black robe.”
Yinglan was surprised by the abrupt order, but complied. She quickly tore the sheet into a smaller piece so that she could carry the box slung over her back. Then she wore black rob, covering her entire body. Now she looked like a hunchback wrapped in a black robe.
Zhong Shan smiled, satisfied with Yinglan’s new look. “Let’s clear out all these Spirit Stones. We’ll leave after we have them all.”
“En.” The two girls nodded and speedily dug out all the Spirit Stones to put into their pockets.
There were over ten thousand Spirit Stones. Zhong Shan made the decision to give Tianling-er 8,000 of them, 1,200 to Yinglan, and only a few hundred for himself. Since Zhong Shan took the Nine Colored Dragon Silkworms, he felt that Tianling-er deserved to have more Spirit Stones. Besides, she was going to break through to the Gold Core Stage soon, Zhong Shan wanted to give more to her. For Yinglan and himself, they didn’t have any immediate use for them.
“Zhong Shan, why did you take so few of them?” Tianling-er didn’t want to take advantage of Zhong Shan. She seemed unhappy for taking so many.
“You’re going to break through into Gold Core Stage soon. Keep them for now. If I need them later on, I’ll ask then.” Zhong Shan said.
“En.” Tianling-er happily nodded and dropped the subject.
Yinglan didn’t question Zhong Shan’s decision. For her, anything her granduncle did must have been made with purpose.
“Granduncle, are we still going east? What if there’s more danger ahead?” Yinglan asked.
“According to Miao Xianren, it's only a two-day journey to reach there. It’ll take three days to go back. Besides, won’t there also be danger on the return trip? There’re people from the Kaiyang School at Eight Gates Mountain, we’ll be safer there. There’re many different groups of people there. The more people there are, the safer we are.” Zhong Shan spoke.
“En.” Yinglan nodded.
They walked out of the hidden room. Zhong Shan destroyed the room with his machete. The two girls wrapped in the black robes together with Zhong Shan moved towards east again.
One day later, the aftereffects of the Demonic Body Toning Method had disappeared. The shadow double also caught up with the body Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan secretly transferred half of the Sumeru Stones to his shadow double and the two of them became one.
After another day, they finally reached Eight Gates Mountain. There were still tracks left by other practitioners earlier, but they no longer needed to follow the trail as they found a strange scene in front of them.
A huge sand storm enveloped an area of 100 meters in diameter. Endless amounts of sand danced in the sky, swirling in the center without any sign of moving away.
The sandstorm was like a powerful army. They were in awe simply by looking at it.
A sandstorm inside a forest? It could only be a huge magic formation.
“Eight Gates Mountain, the Golden Lock Formation?” Zhong Shan gazed at the scene before his eyes.
It was peaceful surrounding the sandstorm area.
Zhong Shan stood on top of a mound and could already see many practitioners in the surrounding area, gathering in various locations watching the unbelievable sandstorm. Some of them ventured into the storm, but most of them never returned. Occasionally, a couple of them found their way out, bloodied and bloodshot eyes. It seemed that they had encountered some unimaginable ordeal inside the storm.
“Granduncle, is this the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation?” Yinglan couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
This was a totally different formation from the ones she had set up before. Perhaps the formations she had used in past wars were only simplified versions of this formation.
Zhong Shan didn’t reply; he was carefully scanning their surroundings. Most people waited on the sidelines to see what would happen next. But there were areas where people were fighting with each other. Some of the groups had more than a hundred people. He still had to be extra careful around here.
“Zhong Shan, it’s third shijie, and da shixiong?” Tianling-er suddenly cried out in excitement.
Zhong Shan was happy to hear this. It would be much safer for them to be with people from the Kaiyang School.
What Tianling-er didn’t realize herself was that, when she saw people from her own school, she mentioned third shijie first instead of da shixiong. Maybe she didn’t even notice the change herself.
Zhong Shan looked over at the direction where Tianling-er was pointing. He saw two people standing on a remote mountain top. One of them was Tiansha. He had a black robe on, the back of his robe flapped in the wind. He had a serious look on his face; his left hand was holding the sheath at his waist while his right hand was holding his sword in a strange position. A strange position?
Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. He held that same position the last time he killed that old eunuch.
In front of Tiansha was a man with red hair and a bloody robe. The man held a bloody sword, drops of blood coming out of the sword. He glared icily at Tiansha as if he would slash Tiansha the next moment.
The two men stared at each other while gathering energy. They were waiting for the right moment to move.
Not too far away, the others from the Kaiyang School were anxiously waiting nearby. Beiqingsi led the other seven people. There were two less people from a few days ago.
Behind the red haired man, there were three bodies on the ground. They were all split in two, an instant death.
Zhong Shan was due west to the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. Tiansha and the red haired man were facing off at the northwest of the formation. There were others also looking at the direction of Tiansha’s fight from the north of the formation.
They were Princess Qianyou, Gulin, and Mr. Shuijing.
“Mr. Shuijing, who do you think will win?” Princess Qianyou asked with a faint smile. It was hard to guess what she was thinking.
“Kaiyang School, Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. Princess, who do think will win?” Mr. Shuijing answered with smile while waving his feather fan.
“Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. It has been a thousand years since anyone actually learned it.” Princess didn’t answer the question, instead, she gazed at Tiansha and spoke.
“They are from the Kaiyang School?” Gulin suddenly spoke in surprise.
“That’s right, they’re from the Kaiyang School. Mr. Shuijing, do you need these people to help you?” Princess Qianyou asked.
“If they can give us a hand, why not? But I’ll have to rely on the Princess to persuade them.” Mr. Shuijing nodded.
“Qianyou, you have the Elder’s Decree from the Kaiyang School?” Gulin asked immediately.
“I don’t have one from the Kaiyang School. But I have the Elder’s Decree from the Yuheng School which is sufficient for our purposes.” Princess Qianyou kept her eyes fixed into the distance.
“They’re all at the Gold Core Stage. They would be a big help when we’re ready to charge the formation.” Mr. Shuijing nodded.
On another mountain top between Zhong Shan and Tiansha, two people also watched the fight. It was those two white robed men with swords on their backs.
“Chujiu, how do these two compare with each other?” The younger man in the front stared at Tiansha and asked.
“The black robed man is using ‘Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style’. It’s a style in which the blade gathers an immense amount of energy the moment it is drawn. Usually, one slash is enough to kill. It can even slay someone more powerful than the swordsman. There hasn’t been a person from the Kaiyang School for a thousand years who could use it. This man who’s at the ninth level of the Gold Core Stage could threaten people who are at the beginning of the Nascent Soul Stage. The red robed man is using ‘Bloodthirster Sword Style’. The way to practice this style is to just keep killing, letting the sword soak in enough blood. It’s an evil sword style and famous for its ruthlessness. When the sword comes out of the sheath, it sometimes can confuse the opponent. Though it’s less powerful than ‘Heaven’s Wrath’, it’s still ferocious. This man is at the tenth level of the Gold Core Stage, only a step away from Nascent Soul Stage.” Chujiu explained as if he had learned all of these styles himself.
The young man nodded slightly while listening, “Chujiu, bringing you with me is like bringing a manual of all the sword styles of the world. There’s no sword style that you don’t know.”
“Young master, you flatter me too much. There are so many sword styles in the world, it’s impossible for me to know them all. It so happened that these two styles was recorded in the “Hall of Ten Thousand Swords.” And I’m fortunate enough to have had the chance to read it, so I at least know about them.” Chujiu quickly answered.
“En.” The young man nodded and became silent.
Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 34: A Mixed Bag of People in Front of Eight Gates Mountain
Dragon Silkworm would evolve into a dragon?
Miao Xianren must be waiting for the dragons to emerge so he could tame them. The nine colored silk was also an extraordinarily good material for making magic items.
Dragon? Zhong Shan didn’t really need those two dragons. Zhong Shan even wanted to kill the dragons, he only needed their bodies. As for now, it wasn’t time to kill the dragon, there wasn’t enough silk yet.
“Yinglan, go look for a wood box. I want to bring them with us.” Zhong Shan said.
“En.” Yinglan nodded and ran out of the secret room right away.
Zhong Shan walked to the corner and collected all the Kong Ling Gems.
“Ling-er, do you know where Kong Ling Gems come from?” Zhong Shan turned to look at Tianling-er.
Tianling-er was staring at the Nine Colored Dragon Silkworms when Zhong Shan asked the question. She turned to answer, “I’m not exactly sure. But I heard from my dad that Kong Ling Gems are also called ‘Kilns of Heaven and Earth’. It’s a gift from the heaven given out every hundred years. When it happens, all the strong practitioners in the world can collect it.”
“Eh?” Zhong Shan frowned in surprise. A gift from heaven? Kilns of Heaven and Earth?
Yinglan quickly brought over a small wooden box that could house the two dragon silkworms. She also found a bed sheet to wrap around the box so that it could be carried slung over the shoulder.
The storage bracelet could store anything but living things. That was the reason that Miao Xianren couldn’t put them into his storage bracelet.
Zhong Shan couldn’t believe Miao Xianren’s luck to find such precious treasure. Zhong Shan had already given up hope on ever finding Nine Colored Dragon Silkworm only to find two here. Now by acquiring them, it would accelerate his plans to establish a dynasty of his own.
The dragon silkworms were as harmless as any ordinary silkworm. Zhong Shan carefully moved each into the box. He scooped out two Spirit Stones from the wall to put inside the box, too. Then, he sealed the box.
Zhong Shan suddenly said while looking at Yinglan, “Yinglan, put the box on your back. Then wrap yourself with the black robe.”
Yinglan was surprised by the abrupt order, but complied. She quickly tore the sheet into a smaller piece so that she could carry the box slung over her back. Then she wore black rob, covering her entire body. Now she looked like a hunchback wrapped in a black robe.
Zhong Shan smiled, satisfied with Yinglan’s new look. “Let’s clear out all these Spirit Stones. We’ll leave after we have them all.”
“En.” The two girls nodded and speedily dug out all the Spirit Stones to put into their pockets.
There were over ten thousand Spirit Stones. Zhong Shan made the decision to give Tianling-er 8,000 of them, 1,200 to Yinglan, and only a few hundred for himself. Since Zhong Shan took the Nine Colored Dragon Silkworms, he felt that Tianling-er deserved to have more Spirit Stones. Besides, she was going to break through to the Gold Core Stage soon, Zhong Shan wanted to give more to her. For Yinglan and himself, they didn’t have any immediate use for them.
“Zhong Shan, why did you take so few of them?” Tianling-er didn’t want to take advantage of Zhong Shan. She seemed unhappy for taking so many.
“You’re going to break through into Gold Core Stage soon. Keep them for now. If I need them later on, I’ll ask then.” Zhong Shan said.
“En.” Tianling-er happily nodded and dropped the subject.
Yinglan didn’t question Zhong Shan’s decision. For her, anything her granduncle did must have been made with purpose.
“Granduncle, are we still going east? What if there’s more danger ahead?” Yinglan asked.
“According to Miao Xianren, it's only a two-day journey to reach there. It’ll take three days to go back. Besides, won’t there also be danger on the return trip? There’re people from the Kaiyang School at Eight Gates Mountain, we’ll be safer there. There’re many different groups of people there. The more people there are, the safer we are.” Zhong Shan spoke.
“En.” Yinglan nodded.
They walked out of the hidden room. Zhong Shan destroyed the room with his machete. The two girls wrapped in the black robes together with Zhong Shan moved towards east again.
One day later, the aftereffects of the Demonic Body Toning Method had disappeared. The shadow double also caught up with the body Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan secretly transferred half of the Sumeru Stones to his shadow double and the two of them became one.
After another day, they finally reached Eight Gates Mountain. There were still tracks left by other practitioners earlier, but they no longer needed to follow the trail as they found a strange scene in front of them.
A huge sand storm enveloped an area of 100 meters in diameter. Endless amounts of sand danced in the sky, swirling in the center without any sign of moving away.
The sandstorm was like a powerful army. They were in awe simply by looking at it.
A sandstorm inside a forest? It could only be a huge magic formation.
“Eight Gates Mountain, the Golden Lock Formation?” Zhong Shan gazed at the scene before his eyes.
It was peaceful surrounding the sandstorm area.
Zhong Shan stood on top of a mound and could already see many practitioners in the surrounding area, gathering in various locations watching the unbelievable sandstorm. Some of them ventured into the storm, but most of them never returned. Occasionally, a couple of them found their way out, bloodied and bloodshot eyes. It seemed that they had encountered some unimaginable ordeal inside the storm.
“Granduncle, is this the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation?” Yinglan couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
This was a totally different formation from the ones she had set up before. Perhaps the formations she had used in past wars were only simplified versions of this formation.
Zhong Shan didn’t reply; he was carefully scanning their surroundings. Most people waited on the sidelines to see what would happen next. But there were areas where people were fighting with each other. Some of the groups had more than a hundred people. He still had to be extra careful around here.
“Zhong Shan, it’s third shijie, and da shixiong?” Tianling-er suddenly cried out in excitement.
Zhong Shan was happy to hear this. It would be much safer for them to be with people from the Kaiyang School.
What Tianling-er didn’t realize herself was that, when she saw people from her own school, she mentioned third shijie first instead of da shixiong. Maybe she didn’t even notice the change herself.
Zhong Shan looked over at the direction where Tianling-er was pointing. He saw two people standing on a remote mountain top. One of them was Tiansha. He had a black robe on, the back of his robe flapped in the wind. He had a serious look on his face; his left hand was holding the sheath at his waist while his right hand was holding his sword in a strange position. A strange position?
Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. He held that same position the last time he killed that old eunuch.
In front of Tiansha was a man with red hair and a bloody robe. The man held a bloody sword, drops of blood coming out of the sword. He glared icily at Tiansha as if he would slash Tiansha the next moment.
The two men stared at each other while gathering energy. They were waiting for the right moment to move.
Not too far away, the others from the Kaiyang School were anxiously waiting nearby. Beiqingsi led the other seven people. There were two less people from a few days ago.
Behind the red haired man, there were three bodies on the ground. They were all split in two, an instant death.
Zhong Shan was due west to the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. Tiansha and the red haired man were facing off at the northwest of the formation. There were others also looking at the direction of Tiansha’s fight from the north of the formation.
They were Princess Qianyou, Gulin, and Mr. Shuijing.
“Mr. Shuijing, who do you think will win?” Princess Qianyou asked with a faint smile. It was hard to guess what she was thinking.
“Kaiyang School, Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. Princess, who do think will win?” Mr. Shuijing answered with smile while waving his feather fan.
“Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style. It has been a thousand years since anyone actually learned it.” Princess didn’t answer the question, instead, she gazed at Tiansha and spoke.
“They are from the Kaiyang School?” Gulin suddenly spoke in surprise.
“That’s right, they’re from the Kaiyang School. Mr. Shuijing, do you need these people to help you?” Princess Qianyou asked.
“If they can give us a hand, why not? But I’ll have to rely on the Princess to persuade them.” Mr. Shuijing nodded.
“Qianyou, you have the Elder’s Decree from the Kaiyang School?” Gulin asked immediately.
“I don’t have one from the Kaiyang School. But I have the Elder’s Decree from the Yuheng School which is sufficient for our purposes.” Princess Qianyou kept her eyes fixed into the distance.
“They’re all at the Gold Core Stage. They would be a big help when we’re ready to charge the formation.” Mr. Shuijing nodded.
On another mountain top between Zhong Shan and Tiansha, two people also watched the fight. It was those two white robed men with swords on their backs.
“Chujiu, how do these two compare with each other?” The younger man in the front stared at Tiansha and asked.
“The black robed man is using ‘Heaven’s Wrath Sword Style’. It’s a style in which the blade gathers an immense amount of energy the moment it is drawn. Usually, one slash is enough to kill. It can even slay someone more powerful than the swordsman. There hasn’t been a person from the Kaiyang School for a thousand years who could use it. This man who’s at the ninth level of the Gold Core Stage could threaten people who are at the beginning of the Nascent Soul Stage. The red robed man is using ‘Bloodthirster Sword Style’. The way to practice this style is to just keep killing, letting the sword soak in enough blood. It’s an evil sword style and famous for its ruthlessness. When the sword comes out of the sheath, it sometimes can confuse the opponent. Though it’s less powerful than ‘Heaven’s Wrath’, it’s still ferocious. This man is at the tenth level of the Gold Core Stage, only a step away from Nascent Soul Stage.” Chujiu explained as if he had learned all of these styles himself.
The young man nodded slightly while listening, “Chujiu, bringing you with me is like bringing a manual of all the sword styles of the world. There’s no sword style that you don’t know.”
“Young master, you flatter me too much. There are so many sword styles in the world, it’s impossible for me to know them all. It so happened that these two styles was recorded in the “Hall of Ten Thousand Swords.” And I’m fortunate enough to have had the chance to read it, so I at least know about them.” Chujiu quickly answered.
“En.” The young man nodded and became silent.
