Chapter 164- Yan jian and Li Yue'er
Chapter 164
In the core area of the yin ghosts forest, a thousand meters around the very center of the Yin ghosts forest, there was a huge area completely devoid of trees, beasts and any other life form. This was due to the unbearably dense ghost energy which had condensed into thick fogs and liquid in this thousand meter space. Even ordinary yin ghosts would be unable to survive in this area for a long time.
At this moment, in this thousand meter area, at the very center of the forest where even the eye sight of an imperial master was limited to a few feet, twelve tall figures stood around a large coffin. The coffin was at least five tines larger than a grown human, and it was covered with mystic runes which seemed to contain an infinite number of insights.
The coffin was held down by nine divine chains which extended I the thick fog and vanished from sight. The chains were also covered in runes and gave off a time worn aura.
Moreover, it could be noticed that the endless ghost energy which pervaded the yin ghosts forest was actually surging out of the cracks in this coffin!
As for the twelve figures who stood there, they looked like normal humans, only that they had black eyes and gave off a suffocating ghost aura. Otherwise, they would be seen as ordinary humans.
But which ordinary human can stand here in the very center of the yin ghosts forest?
These eight were not humans. Rather, they were you ghosts. Among the myriad yin ghosts living in this forest, they held high and mighty positions and earned the respect of all. These twelve were the twelve ghost Monarchs of the yin ghosts forest!
They stood at the Apex of the forest and commanded all life forms living here.
Merely by standing here together, they gave off an infinitely majestic aura which overlooked this world.
The twelve monarchs looked at the coffin which was much larger than them with infinite respect in their eyes.
"The seal has weakened, but that is only by a tiny bit. If we keep using these weak humans, we would need a minimum of two hundred years to break the seal, considering the humans are foolish enough to keep entering the forest that is." One of the Monarchs spoke with a thick voice. In this area filled with ghost energy, his voice didn't even echo.
The other monarchs we're silent for a minute before another one spoke.
"It doesn't matter. The true plan was to draw those four dynasty's old monsters out here. The shockwaves from the battle should be the final push we needed to open up the coffin. Once we can enter the coffin, the seal will exist only in name. It would be easy to break the seal once we've freed the ancestor from the coffin"
The others nodded. "But we have to make sure they do not notice the ancestor's coffin. The battle will have to take place at the edge of the thousand meter zone. That way, we can hide the coffin and the shockwaves of the battle will still reach here" another monarch added.
"Those from the four dynasties only have a guess on the true secret of the forest, but they have no idea of what it is exactly. This time, we will catch them off guard and break the seal once and for all"
"Talk of those monsters, when are they going to arrive?" A robust monarch asked with a deep voice.
"Five days. They will definitely slaughter their way to the thousand meters zone within five days"
"Send out a summoning order. All yin ghosts, soldiers and the generals are to gather at the edge of the thousand meters zone in two days. They have two more days to finish replenishing their ghost cores…" A dark skinned monarch with the strongest aura of them all spoke. The others all nodded and began to vanish inexplicably, leaving this area.
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"Brother Long Feng, there are some energy fluctuations in this direction. It could be another yin ghosts territory." Hua Liuli leapt down from a tree branch, landing lithely on her feet as she spoke.
Underneath a tree, Long Feng opened his eyes from his cultivation and put aside the foundation sword art manual in his hand.
"It's been a whole day. Finally, there's another yin ghost territory. I hope Yan jian and Li Yue'er are here" he Rose to his feet and glanced at hua Liuli.
"Good work."
"It's your turn to scout next time!" Hua Liuli replied immediately.
Long Feng nodded. "Let's go"
He released his soul power and constructed a concealment formation again while Hua Liuli reinforced the formation with her soul power, strengthening it further.
After doing that, the two of them cautiously approached the direction where the energy fluctuations came from.
half an incense worth of time later, another Yin ghosts territory appeared in sight. But this one was a little different. I was not a clearing, but a single cave entrance. All the energy fluctuations came from the depths of this cave.
"This is it? A cave?" Hua Liuli frowned. Looking around, there was no single Yin ghost in sight and all the energy fluctuations within this cave seemed to be clustered together.
"Could this be a human group's hideout?" She thought aloud but immediately dispelled the thought. This cave was too obvious to be a human group's hideout.
"It's a yin ghosts territory. But they seen to be gathered together in one place…what for?" As Long Feng thought of this, he remembered what would make all the yin ghosts in a territory to gather together. There was only one he knew.
He glanced at Hua Liuli who also looked at him and they blurted out together, "The ceremony!"
Long Feng closed his eyes with a solemn expression. "The yin soldier is present, and is having his ceremony at this moment."
"This is very risky brother Long Feng. Are you sure we should do this?" Hua Liuli could already guess what was on his mind and she asked softly.
Long Feng opened his eyes. "One of them could be here. I have to go down there to check." He was naturally referring to Yan jian and Li Yue'er.
"Alright then. Let's go together" hua Liuli sighed.
Long Feng glanced at her, "you wouldn't happen to have another one of those protective token, would you?" He asked.
Hua Liuli rolled her eyes at him. "what do you take the token for? Even with the five imperial grand elders of the clan, only three of the token are produced every five years. How could I possibly have another one?"
"Five? I thought there were only two imperial level masters in the Yihua clan?" Long Feng asked again, feeling surprised. Yan jian had once told him that both the Yi and the Hua clan had one imperial level master each, making for two imperial grand elders in the Yihua clan.
"Of course not. The Yihua clan have existed for above five hundred years. No matter how useless our inheritance is, we are still able to produce an imperial level master every two or three hundred years."
"Oh yeah. That makes sense. Alright, forget that. We'll be as careful as we can, take a look and if Yan jian and Li Yue'er are not there, we return quietly." Long Feng planned. Of course, there was a serious flaw to this plan which he considered but had no solution for it.
"What if they are there? What would we do?" Hua Liuli pointed out this flaw.
Long Feng fell silent for a moment before he sighed. "we'll deal with that when the time comes. Let's go" he directly put this thought aside.
They both poured their entire soul power into the concealment formation as they carefully inched forward towards the cave entrance.
As expected, there was absolutely no yin ghosts in sight even after the duo successfully reached the cave entrance and walked in. The cave was surprisingly lit up with flame torches on the wall, revealing a path with led underground.
They walked down this path and went deeper into the cave for a few minutes, before the path finally ended. Right in front of them was a large land under the ground! The rough edges of the walls revealed that this land was forcefully excavated, probably by the Yin ghosts. Looking at this land before him and the buildings in sight, Long Feng gasped.
"An entire city sized area was cleared underground. This is an underground yin ghosts territory!"
"The energy fluctuations are coming from this direction." Hua Liuli cautiously spread out her soul power and deduced.
"Let's go" they continued cautiously in the direction she pointed. They passed by various roughly constructed buildings for a few minutes before they paused.
Right behind this large palace which seemed to be the palace of the yin soldier, they could both sense a very powerful aura radiating outwards.
Sensing this aura, a faint killing intent stirred up from the depths of their souls, but luckily, they had prepared for this and quickly suppressed this intent while also reinforcing the concealment formation around them.
"This…" Long Feng gasped. This aura was much more powerful than the other two yin soldiers he had run into before. They weren't even on equal terms at all.
"Is this really a low grade Yin soldier?" Long Feng asked. He already knew that low grade soldiers corresponded to the humans imperial realm, mid grade soldiers corresponded with the deity realm and high grade soldiers corresponded with the Dao realm!
If this was a mid grade soldier they were up against, then they had zero chance of survival. Their puny concealment formation would be unraveled with a single glance from the yin soldier! That was the disparity caused by absolute power.
Hua Liuli nodded gravely. "It is a low grade soldier, but at the peak of the realm. He should be equal to those peak imperial level masters of the humans."
Long Feng drew in a sharp breath. Peak imperial level master! This sort of existence could kill him with a single breath. Their formation was equally useless against such an opponent. It must be known that the previous two yin soldiers he met were only equal to rank two and three imperial level masters respectively!
"Should we go ahead?" Hua Liuli hesitated and asked.
Long Feng nodded. "We've come so far, we can't return now. Let's go on ahead. You can wait here for me. I will check the situation and return to tell you"
Hua Liuli immediately shook her head. "That won't happen. I'm going with you!".
"Suit yourself. Let's go"
They silently went around the palace before them without making any sounds. They also didn't dare to release their soul powers here. Against such a master, they would be caught immediately.
Behind the palace, hundreds of yin ghosts with different cultivations floated by the sides. In the center, a pale complexioned youth with a gentle feminine beauty stood before a large number of humans, at least two hundred of them. This was the highest number of humans Long Feng had ever seen in the same territory.
But that wasn't his concern at this moment. He didn't even pay attention to the yin soldier in question. That was because the moment he looked over the human prisoners from their hiding spot behind a pillar supporting the palace, he froze.
Right there, among the crowd of human prisoners, Yan jian sat with tattered clothes and a badly bruised face.
Looking again, he also spotted Li Yue'er with her spotless white veil and bright calm eyes which occasionally glanced at the bruised Yan jian.
Both of them were here!
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That's all for today. This chapter actually has almost two thousand words. This is my current highest record.
Spoiler; Long Feng's cultivation would regress back to the peak yin level in the upcoming chapter 🤷
Next Chapter title; hard choices.