IS Chapter 66
by Volare“This mountain is called ‘Du.’ I’ve read about it in the sect’s records. However, the records didn’t mention any particularly dangerous places within the mountain,” said Lin Zhu. “Perhaps times have changed, and this virtual realm is different from what it was a thousand years ago.”
Ye Zhuo didn’t reply.
Feng Jiang’s records contained information about the virtual realm’s medicinal herbs, and Lin Zhu’s records contained information about the virtual realm’s mountains and rivers.
One thousand four hundred and thirty-three years ago, the human and ghost realms hadn’t been completely separated, so there must have been a virtual realm at their intersection.
Now that the human and ghost realms are intersecting again, there is naturally another virtual realm.
The landscapes and objects in the two virtual realms are completely identical, and the records can still be used, which shows that this virtual realm is the same as that virtual realm.
It also shows that a thousand years ago, the ghost realm and the human realm intersected at the same Scholar Tree of Life and Death in the Evergreen Valley, and then separated at the same place.
Only in this way can they overlap to create an almost identical intermediate zone.
The disciple leading the way had already brought them to the place where the strange spiritual herbs first appeared.
“Return! Return!” Little Daoist Shen Xinge chanted, casting out talismans to dispel the wandering lonely souls around them.
On the ground, hand-like vines spread and grew in a winding manner. If someone were to step on them, the hand-like claws would suddenly rise up and grab their legs, the barbs would sink into their skin and suck their blood, and at the same time drag them into the depths to be eaten by their companions.
The main body of the vine should have a cultivation base at the peak of the Fusion Realm. Walking on this kind of ground required a hundred times more caution.
Ye Zhuo drew his Reverse Scale Sword.
The sword energy whistled, and a large area of vines in front was twisted into pieces, turned into ashes, and completely cleared.
Shen Xinge opened his eyes wide and looked at his behavior: “Daoist Ye, you are especially decisive in saving demons and ghosts. This poor Daoist should follow your example.”
Ye Zhuo: “Then you should become a Sword Cultivator.”
Shen Xinge said seriously: “This poor Daoist will consider it.”
Lin Zhu was surveying the surrounding situation while inevitably hearing the conversation between the two, one big and one small, and felt an unusual sense of unease in his heart.
If this trip were to accidentally lead the direct disciple of the Hongmeng Sect’s Master astray to become a Sword Cultivator, how would he explain it to Shen Jingzhen?
If he had known this would happen, he might as well have let the Little Daoist Xinge continue to save the souls of the dead outside the mountain.
“Is this the right direction?” Lin Zhu asked the disciple leading the way.
“Yes, there are traces of our herb gathering here.”
Lin Zhu held a bright lantern to illuminate the ghostly mist in front, but still felt that he couldn’t see things clearly, as if his eyes were covered.
An icy sword energy slashed out, and a scream was heard in a certain direction. A ghost creature densely covered with many eyes rolled down from the mountain wall, lifeless.
The fog that was blocking their sight instantly receded, revealing a deep and narrow mountain path.
Lin Zhu turned his head to look at Ye Zhuo.
This time, the Second Palace Master Ye didn’t even draw his Reverse Scale Sword, as if he had just activated a simple sword energy.
“Thunder!” Shen Xinge pushed forward with his fingers, and the golden light of the talisman instantly materialized, a purple lightning strike hitting the monster’s corpse, causing its body and soul to completely disappear.
Next, they passed through a dark and muddy mountain swamp, where faint resentment flowed.
Lin Zhu was just about to approach and investigate when he saw several icy sword lights crashing down.
The ruthless Sword Intent, reaching the pinnacle of perfection, directly froze the huge swamp into a state covered with a layer of white frost, no longer flowing.
Ye Zhuo: “Go dig.”
The Second Palace Master Ye’s Life-Bound Sword was naturally not used for digging soil. The rest of the people consciously used various spells, and those who didn’t know how to dig soil also took out their portable medicinal shovels.
There were many kinds of ghost creatures in this swamp, but often, as soon as they were dug out, before they had time to hurt anyone, they were nailed to the spot by a sword energy, and then bombarded by lightning or burned by fire, their souls scattered and their bones reduced to nothing.
“Thunder!”
“Fire!”
“Return!”
With such divine help, the digging was naturally smooth. Moreover, they were people who often dug up spiritual herbs, so they were skilled at digging soil.
Before long, the swamp covered in frost was turned to the bottom. The elders of the Dan Ding Sect dug out their sect’s disciples one after another. Even the Little Daoist Shen Xinge, with his thin arms and legs barely reaching the waist of an adult, used earth escape spells to carry out two people.
Most of the disciples had fainted, all with injuries. Some had their bodies half-eaten, some had their blood completely drained, relying entirely on their cultivation and spiritual power to hold on, and were still breathing.
Some were originally fine, but were frozen blue and stiff by the sword energy. After being dug out, they shivered while crying and burrowed into Lin Zhu’s arms.
Lin Zhu patiently comforted them for a few words, but to no avail, so he sealed their dumb acupoints and handed them over to the elders.
After asking a little, he learned that these were the disciples who had gone out to report the news but lost contact. They hadn’t gone far when they were swept into this swamp, swarmed by ghost creatures who sucked their flesh and blood, and they could no longer escape.
If the Sect Master had brought people here later, they would have dug up their bones.
Why were there so many strange ghost creatures on this road?
At least, the road was right.
Leaving the disciples to be taken care of and brought back by an elder, the rest continued forward.
Looking ahead, Lin Zhu sensed several powerful presences exuding a faint malice.
Before he could say what he felt in his heart, several sword energies had already struck in an instant. The so-called dangerous aura extinguished one after another, the corpses rolled down, and were destroyed by lightning and fire.
When he first set out, Shen Xinge could only activate one lightning strike at a time. Now, after gaining some understanding from Daoist Ye’s simultaneous release of sword energies, he could activate seven lightning strikes at the same time, saving seven lonely souls and wild ghosts in an instant.
Moreover, he had also learned Daoist Ye’s calm demeanor as he walked, the mountains of corpses and seas of blood under his sword, but he was unwilling to give even a little bit of attention, the calm expression as if nothing had happened.
Unfortunately, his appearance was not as beautiful as Daoist Ye’s, so he felt a little pretentious when he used it, and the effect was greatly reduced.
If his master knew about this, he would definitely be very happy and ask him to worship Daoist Ye as his half-teacher.
In this way, they slayed demons and killed ghosts all the way, and before long, they saw a group of blue-clothed disciples shivering in their direction at the fork in the mountain.
After seeing clearly that this group of people who came with earth-shattering thunder and lightning were not any ghost kings or giant beasts, but their own Sect Master, several more disciples sobbed and threw themselves into Lin Zhu’s arms.
…One after another, Sect Master Lin’s arms had no room left.
However, he comforted the disciples in a soft voice, but one after another he sealed their dumb acupoints with his hands, and then peeled them off himself and threw them aside.
Shen Xinge shook his head when he saw this.
Was this the Sect Master Lin, gentle and approachable, that his master spoke of? It didn’t seem to be the case.
It was not as good as his Daoist Ye, who was consistent inside and out, and whose eyes directly revealed the idea of killing all these crying people. The actions of a gentleman, like the clear wind and bright moon, are unadorned – this was what he should emulate.
Ye Zhuo indeed didn’t want to hear people cry. Moreover, it was just waiting a while longer in a situation where ghost creatures were lurking around, fellow disciples were disappearing one after another, and they couldn’t advance or retreat. What was there to cry about?
Fortunately, although Sect Master Lin was comforting the disciples, he didn’t neglect the main business. Before long, he had asked clearly that these were the disciples who had been ordered by their senior sister to stay where they were and not move around. Because they really hadn’t moved around, there were no casualties.
“Which direction did your senior sister take people to?” Lin Zhu asked.
The disciples blinked, thought confusedly for a while, and all said, “East.”
“I know, Chan Tui and San Qi, stay and follow. You go back along the road,” Lin Zhu pointed out two of the disciples with the highest cultivation levels and walked towards the west.
The remaining disciples looked at the road back, thinking of the fellow disciples who had gone and never returned before, but were a little hesitant.
“Just go, it doesn’t matter,” Lin Zhu said.
Looking at the road that was a mess when they came, Lin Zhu sighed softly.
With Second Palace Master Ye killing all the way, this road was probably safer than the human realm now.
Listening to the disciples’ descriptions, this place must be strange. He had actually prepared himself for being in a dangerous situation when he entered the mountain, but he didn’t expect that it was the ghost creatures in the mountain who were really in a dangerous situation.
They were all cultivators, so why were his sect’s disciples all in such a state that they would fall at the first gust of wind and had no way to call for help, while Second Palace Master Ye could walk on the knife mountain and the sea of fire as if walking on flat ground?
If you counted it, their ages weren’t that far apart.
Could it be that the path of Dan Dao and medicine was really impossible to cultivate?
If all the hundreds of immortal sects switched to Sword Dao, they would definitely no longer be afraid of the ghost realm’s invasion.
Sect Master Lin didn’t know why he suddenly wandered off into the sky. Ye Zhuo ignored him and walked directly towards the western mountains.
After taking a few steps, he frowned slightly as he looked at the soil in the mountains.
This area was different, more obvious than before.
Shen Xinge and Lin Zhu had also brought people to follow.
“Brother Ye, can you see anything?” Lin Zhu asked.
“Nothing,” Ye Zhuo said, “Keep walking, don’t spread out.”
Continuing forward, the people behind them gathered together spontaneously, fearing that they would be left alone.
They didn’t encounter any ghost creatures along the way. The mountain was silent, like a dead human body.
After the mixed heavenly instrument walked for a quarter of an hour, they came to another place where the mountain Stability split.
This time, there was no one to lead the way, and they had to make a choice between the two directions.
Ye Zhuo’s eyes swept over both sides.
A sword energy slashed down a few weeds stained with patches of blood, revealing a mark made of blood on the western mountain stone.
The blood had dried up, and the mark had been drawn for a long time. There was also a piece of cyan silk left next to it, which was the color of the Dan Ding Sect’s disciples’ clothing, with one or two patterns on it. Lin Zhu bent down and picked it up.
“This is Senior Sister’s clothes!” a disciple said.
Unwilling to scold the disciple for mixing up his clothes and not being able to recognize them, but why he remembered the patterns on his senior sister’s clothes so clearly, Lin Zhu stood up, exchanged a look with Ye Zhuo, and walked towards the east, the direction without a mark.
Shen Xinge had no objection and followed.
After walking halfway, a disciple hesitantly asked, “Sect Master, why do you want to go this way?”
Lin Zhu said: “Don’t ask, just follow closely.”
Before long, the mountain Stability undulated continuously, and it was another fork in the road. Similarly, there were bloodstains and symbols. This time, Ye Zhuo also walked where there were no symbols.
There was a maze in this mountain.
The maze was set up according to the mountain Stability and had a very large range, and it was particularly clever.
It wasn’t an ordinary deception. In this maze, the direction that people believed in their hearts was opposite to the actual direction, and the things in their eyes also changed accordingly.
Actively going in the wrong direction was the way to go on the right path.
Such a formation could not be set up by the ghost creatures in the virtual realm, it must be a peerless master in the human realm.
Moreover, there was a formation under the maze. It was not known what it was for the time being.
Ye Zhuo didn’t know much about the formation. If he had to make a comparison, the person who set up the formation was more accomplished than Wei Shengxian.
——Unusual things appeared in the field of vision.
After getting closer, it was a skeletonized corpse.
The corpse’s bones were strong, its body was tall, and it was wearing tattered Martial Sect disciple’s clothing.
Looking at his death, the essence, qi, bone and blood of his whole body had been drained, and his cultivation had also completely withered, without a trace of immortal spiritual qi.
The only thing that was still relatively intact was his face.
On the face that had become almost transparent, the bones were clearly visible, and the eyeballs in the eye sockets were protruding, hanging a particularly joyful smile. As if he had encountered an extremely happy thing in his life, he died with a smile.
It made people feel particularly uncomfortable.
“Thunder!” Shen Xinge gave a clear shout, and purple lightning struck the corpse.
When the lightning dissipated, the corpse was as good as new, still facing the crowd with extreme joy.
“Fire!”
The fire burned loudly, and after it went out, the vegetation was scorched, but the corpse was still smiling.
“Let’s go,” Ye Zhuo said.
Continuing forward, after a few turns, the mountain Stability undulations gradually became gentle, as if walking on flat ground.
The trees gradually increased.
The trees were in various postures, not any kind that had been seen in the human world. The branches were twisted and curved, and the leaves were as black as needles.
Some of the trees were lush with branches and leaves, while others were sparse like death.
On the dead trees, the treetops hung fruits of various colors. The fruits were very small, like drops of water. Looking around, there were four colors: red, gold, white, and orange.
“What does this mean…?”
A disciple stretched out his hand and stroked the fruit on the branch: “It really is a fruit.”
As a Dan cultivator, familiar with medicinal herbs and spiritual trees, he was naturally very curious when he saw herbs and fruits that he had never seen before.
Ye Zhuo just quietly watched the disciple’s gaze sweep over the four colors of fruits, and finally chose the most numerous white fruits on the dead tree.
Picking it off and placing it in his hand, it was a small and exquisite one, like a flawless snow bead.
“Sect Master, look.” The disciple held it up for Sect Master Lin to see, “Do you think it’s poisonous?”
Sect Master Lin identified it for a long time and said, “It seems to be non-toxic.”
“I think so too, I’ll try it.” As the disciple said this, he raised his hand and planned to put it in his mouth.
“Wait!” Lin Zhu shouted loudly!
The disciple’s movement was stopped by his shout, but as soon as the snow-white fruit touched his lips, it instantly turned into an invisible and intangible object and flowed down his throat.
Seeing this scene, Ye Zhuo moved further away from this group of people without leaving a trace.
It was common for medical cultivators to taste hundreds of herbs, but did they even have to taste the things that grew in this kind of place?
It wasn’t like Long Liyuan, who wouldn’t die no matter what medicine he ate.
The path of Dan Dao and medicine was really impossible to cultivate.