“A dragon’s grave?”
Hearing Zhang Ruochen’s words, the gazes of the crowd, once again, looked towards that one hill, and upon closer inspection, it really did look more and more like a giant tomb from afar.
“Since it’s a dragon’s grave, perhaps that golden dragon from 800 years ago was buried underneath the hill.” Duanmu Xingling’s eyes lit up, her eyelashes blinking, and she didn’t know what was going through her mind.
Huang Yichen said, “Even if we know that the dragon relic is underneath the hill, what’s the point? We can’t even get one step closer to the hill.”
“That may not be the case.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at the dragon horn in his hand and said, “The reason why those humans and savage beasts died below the hill is because, they startled the dragon soul in the hill and had their souls shattered by the dragon soul’s aura.”
Although the golden dragon was dead, the dragon’s soul had not dissipated yet.
Just now, Zhang Ruochen had almost had his martial soul shattered by the loud roar of that one dragon soul.
Si Xingkong asked, “What can we do to avoid the dragon soul?”
“Avoid it?”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, “The Golden Dragon was once the mount of the Buddha Emperor, and later swallowed the Buddha Emperor’s relics, so its cultivation is terrifying. Even trying to avoid its dragon soul with our cultivation is simply impossible. If we want to enter that hill, we can only worship the dragon’s soul.”
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen immediately folded his hands together and bowed down to make a deep obeisance to that hill in front of him.
At the same time, he unleashed his powerful spiritual energy to communicate with the dragon soul within the hill, and recited a “Soul Quieting Incantation” from his mouth.
The Quiet Soul Incantation was a basic Buddhist scripture of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Dao, and was not a martial art, so it was extremely widely circulated, and was recited by almost every Buddhist monk.
The Ming Emperor Palace back then naturally also included the Quiet Soul Mantra, and Zhang Ruochen happened to look through it and memorised it.
The main function of the Quiet Soul Mantra was to purify the distracting, evil and murderous thoughts in a martial artist’s mind, transcend the dead, and calm the spirit.
If one heard a monk recite the “Soul Quieting Mantra” for a long period of time, it could also strengthen a martial artist’s martial soul.
Of course, the “Soul Quieting Incantation” also has a certain degree of aggressiveness, and if it is recited by a Buddhist monk, it is even able to immobilise the martial artist’s martial soul, causing the martial artist to fall into hypnosis.
It was said that when Empress Chi Yao led her army to attack the Western Region, Emperor Buddha had recited the “Soul Quieting Incantation”, causing the army led by Empress Chi Yao to sleep for seven days and seven nights, wanting to force Empress Chi Yao to retreat in such a way.
Unfortunately, the Buddha Emperor still misjudged Empress Chi Yao’s determination, and in the end, his army entered the Western Regions and broke the Ten Thousand Buddha Road.
The ancient temple that had been passed down for an unknown number of thousands of years was destroyed.
Later on, although the Ten Thousand Buddha Road was rebuilt, it was no longer as glorious as it was back then.
Zhang Ruochen was not an accomplished monk, so the recitation of the Soul Quieting Mantra was just a trial and error, with devotion in his heart, in the hope that it would have some effect on that one dragon soul.
Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Huang Yichen, Duanmu Xingling, Zixi, and Chen Xi’er, also put their hands together and knelt on the ground, worshipping the dragon soul.
Only if they showed enough goodwill would the dragon soul not be hostile to them.
Gradually, Zhang Ruochen sensed that the power of that Dragon Soul was weakening, so he slowly walked towards the direction of the hill.
The others, too, stood up and immediately followed behind Zhang Ruochen, cautiously approaching the past.
Only after the pressure of the dragon soul’s power had completely disappeared did Zhang Ruochen stop reciting the Soul Quieting Mantra and said in a low voice, “I’m going to look for the entrance into the dragon’s tomb, so you guys quickly go and pick the spiritual herbs on the hill, and remember, be sure to remain pious, so as not to anger the dragon soul.”
Hearing that he could pick spiritual herbs, Chang Qi Qi couldn’t wait any longer and immediately rushed towards the hill.
Pot was one step faster than Chang Qi Qi, and had already ascended the hill, and when he saw the spirit medicine, he gnawed on it vigorously, and ate and drank it indiscriminately.
Apart from Zhang Ruochen, the rest of the people, all of them, climbed up the hill and started picking the spiritual herbs.
The spirit medicines on the mountain, each one of them was a rare treasure, there were both healing medicines, miracle medicines to enhance cultivation, as well as tonic medicines to prolong one’s life.
Every plant picked was equal to one more bountiful fortune.
“Blood coral, blood coral, finally arrived …… haha ……”
Chang Qi Qi cupped a three-foot tall blood jade-like coral with both hands and kept stroking it, his heart was so excited that he hurriedly put the blood coral inside the spatial ring that Zhang Ruochen gave him.
Afterwards, Chang Qi Qi immediately went to pick other spirit medicines.
Zhang Ruochen also ascended the hill, but he did not pick those spirit medicines, instead, he was looking around for the entrance into the hill.
Not long after, Zhang Ruochen saw a stone wall halfway up the hill, the surface was very flat, but it was covered in moss and many parts were encased in mud and sand.
Throwing the mud and sand away, the outline of an ancient stone gate was finally gradually revealed, entering as high as seven metres and carved with a deep concave pattern.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen struck his palm on the surface of the stone door, and those ripple marks, immediately emitted a faint golden light, blocking Zhang Ruochen’s palm print.
This palm also shook off a layer of stone skin on the surface of the stone door, revealing a small, deeply concave pit, like a keyhole.
Zhang Ruochen revealed a joyful expression and immediately called out to the crowd, saying, “Everyone, come over here, I have found the stone door to enter the hill.”
Just as the crowd rushed towards the direction of the stone door, suddenly, below the hill, a piercing laughter resounded, “Zhang Ruochen, thank you for helping this Young Lord find the Dragon Relic.”
A man wearing a metal mask shifted his body horizontally, transforming into a series of residual shadows as he appeared below the hill. Afterwards, his feet stomped, stepping on the waves of water as he rushed up from underneath the hill, quickly rushing towards the direction of the stone gate.
“Not good, it’s the Black Market One Piece Hall’s Young Master, Di Yi.” Si Xingkong said.
Yellow Smoke Dust was the closest to Di Yi, and immediately executed the Wind-Resisting Flying Dragon Shadow, his body moved, transforming into a dragon shadow as he rushed in front of Di Yi, ready to block him.
“Swish!”
Huang Yichen drew out an eighth rank True Martial Treasure Artifact grade battle sword, and with a shake of his arm, he rolled up thirteen sword blossoms and stabbed at Di Yi’s heart.
Having broken through to the Heavenly Extremity Realm, Huang Yichen’s speed was unbelievably fast, and his stance was so unpredictable that he appeared in nine silhouettes, as if he had stabbed out nine swords at once.
“Unconscionable.”
Emperor Yi snorted coldly, his going momentum didn’t stop for a second as he struck out a palm, striking at Huang Yichen’s stabbing battle sword.
Before the palm imprint could collide with the battle sword, Huang Yichen was hit by a palm wind that caused him to spit out blood and flew backwards, his body slamming into that one stone door
With Huang Yichen’s current state of semi-sickness, it was impossible for her to activate the defensive inscription in the spatial pendant to protect herself. If she really crashed into the stone door, her entire body would definitely fall apart and die on the spot.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen was standing right next to the stone door, and when he saw Huang Yichen being knocked away by Emperor Yi’s slap, he immediately rushed forwards, releasing his entire body’s true qi and resting his hands on Huang Yichen’s back.
The two of them kept backing up, pushing all the way to the location of the stone door before Zhang Ruochen completely dissolved that impact force from Huang Yichen’s body and stopped.
“Zhang Ruochen, being my enemy, you still dare to be distracted from saving others?”
Suddenly, behind Zhang Ruochen, the cold laughter of Di Yi resounded.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruochen immediately injected his True Qi into the spatial ring, activating the defence inscription. A layer of white light rushed out from the spatial ring, forming an orb-shaped protective shield.
Just as the protective shield was formed, Emperor Yi pointed out a finger, striking at the main meridian on Zhang Ruochen’s back, the Heavenly Heart Meridian.
“Wow!”
Despite the defence of the protective shield, Emperor Yi’s fingertip still slowly pierced in, getting closer and closer to Zhang Ruochen’s back.
Emperor Yi’s pair of gloves was called the “Black Dragon Ghost Claws”, a set of 10th rank True Martial Artifacts. It was because of the pair of gloves that he was able to break down the defence of the spatial ring layer by layer.
If Emperor Yi really hit the Heavenly Heart Vein, Zhang Ruochen’s Martial Cultivation would have been nullified.
At the critical moment, a piercing light emerged from Zhang Ruochen’s brow, and the Heart of Sword Intent suspended in his Qi Sea emitted a bright white light.
Mobilised by the Heart of Sword Intent, the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword immediately left its sheath and flew out, leaving behind a beautiful arc, dragging out more than ten metres of sword light as it chopped towards Emperor Yi’s arm.
“Imperial sword kills, sword heart.”
Emperor Yi exclaimed in shock, immediately retracting his fingers and slapping his palm towards the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
That pair of Black Dragon Ghost Claw Gloves was a tenth rank True Martial Treasure. Under the urging of Di Yi’s true qi, the inscriptions within the gloves were activated, forming a huge black dragon claw mark over ten metres long and striking out.
The claw print coalesced and took shape like a black cloud, incredibly powerful and strong.
“Boom!”
The Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword was sent flying backwards, crashing into the mud and rocks of the hill, leaving only a deep sword hole.
Zhang Ruochen’s arm stretched out, and the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword flew back again, flying in a circle around Zhang Ruochen’s body as it once again chopped towards Emperor Yi.
“Haha! Cultivating to the Sword Mind at the Earth Extreme Realm, it seems that I had underestimated you earlier. In terms of attainments in the Dao of the Sword, you are stronger than Bu Qianfan.”
Although he knew that Zhang Ruochen had reached the Sword Mind Enlightenment Realm, Emperor Yi was not afraid and laughed loudly as he waved his arm once again, striking a huge black dragon claw seal.
A mountainous force pressed down on Zhang Ruochen’s head from above.
If it was in normal times, Zhang Ruochen would definitely not have chosen to fight hard with Emperor Yi, instead, he would have adopted the Imperial Sword Technique and fought with Emperor Yi from afar, searching for Emperor Yi’s breaks so that he could seek an opportunity to win through his subtle sword techniques.
But not now, he had to protect Huang Yichen who had fainted, and could only use his weak points to fend off Emperor Yi’s strong points.
Di Yi was born with a Saint Body, his physique was incredibly powerful, and close combat was naturally his strong point.
“Dragon Image Shadow.”
Zhang Ruochen’s body moved, his feet stomped, and he rushed out.
His body split into two, as if two Zhang Ruochen appeared, with one Zhang Ruochen having his body wrapped by a dragon shadow, and the other Zhang Ruochen having his body wrapped by a divine image shadow.
The two Zhang Ruochen attacked from both the left and right directions, striking the Dragon Claw and the Elephant Palm at the same time, striking at Emperor Yi.
“Boom!”
Sparring a hard blow, both of them exploded backwards at the same time.
Only Zhang Ruochen retreated thirteen steps backward, while Emperor Yi retreated three steps backward.
“Somewhat interesting, the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, worthy of being the top palm martial skill of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Dao.”
Emperor Yi’s heart was clear that Zhang Ruochen’s palm technique was very fierce, and if not for the fact that he was wearing the 10th rank True Martial Artifact “Black Dragon Ghost Claw Glove”, he might not have been able to gain the upper hand in the clash just now.
