Chapter 169: Demonic Qilin’s Lair: Lifting Heaven Peak!
Although Yuejiao was covering his eyes, Shi Hao could still sense Xiang Gu’s movements.
She undressed, stepped into the water, and looked around, the mist swirling around her.
She glanced back at them, seemingly reassured by their presence by the fire, then submerged herself in the water and began to bathe.
Yuejiao, however, was not reassured.
She muttered, “That woman…” She waited until Xiang Gu was submerged before removing her hand from Shi Hao’s eyes.
They stayed by the fire while Xiang Gu bathed and hummed… Her singing was quite terrible.
After a while, she emerged from the water.
Shi Hao only caught a glimpse of her upper body before Yuejiao covered his eyes again.
Resigned, he used his Primordial Energy to sense her movements.
Du Yuejiao felt her dislike for this woman intensifying.
The lake water, high in the mountains at night, was cold.
Xiang Gu, however, didn’t seem to mind. She dressed, picked up her sack and bundle, and hopped around a bit to warm herself.
Then she joined them by the fire.
Du Yuejiao removed her hand from Shi Hao’s eyes, resisting the urge to kick her.
As dawn broke, they continued their ascent, the mist thick around them.
Although the sun had risen, obscured by the mist, it was just a pale disc in the eastern sky.
The world was a hazy white, and the sounds of fighting echoed from above.
They stopped. Hou Bomin, his back hunched, frowned, “Someone’s up there.”
Shi Hao and Du Yuejiao looked at Xiang Gu.
Xiang Gu’s eyes widened, and she shook her head, “I don’t know.”
Du Yuejiao whispered, “Could it be… ghosts?”
Xiang Gu said hesitantly, “They shouldn’t be out yet…”
Shi Hao said, “Let’s go and see.”
They cautiously approached the summit, hiding behind a large rock, and looked towards Lifting Heaven Peak.
Lifting Heaven Peak, according to legend, was where Jiang Taigong, the Grand Duke of Qi, had bestowed titles upon deities and appointed his generals.
Now, it was occupied by a large number of barbarian soldiers.
They stood in a circle, the sounds of fighting coming from within.
Shi Hao tried using his Primordial Energy to sense what they were doing.
But a strange aura blocked his senses, even his Primordial Energy unable to penetrate it.
He had never encountered anything like this before.
Suddenly, Hou Bomin slipped away, disappearing into the mist.
Shi Hao and Du Yuejiao, unsure of his intentions, watched him go.
After a while, he returned, whispering, “There’s another group up there, also watching the soldiers. They seem to have just arrived.”
Another group? Shi Hao and Du Yuejiao looked at Xiang Gu.
Xiang Gu whispered, “I don’t know anything about it.”
Du Yuejiao muttered, “What do you know?”
Shi Hao frowned, “Perhaps we should leave. This doesn’t concern us…”
Xiang Gu said, “It’s too late.”
A loud boom echoed, and a black light erupted from Lifting Heaven Peak.
They looked up and saw a white, serpentine creature rising into the air.
It circled above, then exploded.
The ground shook, and they felt themselves falling.
Xiang Gu murmured, “The White Moon Divine Qilin has appeared.”
“What is that thing?” Du Yuejiao exclaimed, “What’s going on?”
Suddenly, they found themselves in a strange place.
Lifting Heaven Peak was still there, but they weren’t on the summit of Changbai Mountain anymore.
The sky above was a swirling vortex of purple light, no sun or moon visible.
And the white qilin, which had exploded earlier, now soared through the purple clouds, its movements graceful and ethereal.
“We’re inside!” Xiang Gu jumped up and down, her eyes shining with excitement, “Let’s go!”
Shi Hao and Du Yuejiao asked, “Go where?”
Xiang Gu said, “We’re in the Immortal Qilin’s Blessed Land now. The Azure Sky Vermilion Fruit and Soul Severing Dew are both here. But be careful. Don’t let that old woman catch you.”
Du Yuejiao couldn’t help but ask, “What old woman?”
A voice boomed from the other side, “Who’s there?”
Just as they thought they had been discovered, a cold voice sneered, “Barbarians from the Chi Mu clan!”
The sounds of clashing weapons and explosions of energy echoed, the force of the impacts making their eardrums throb.
Shi Hao and the others, watching the swirling energies, realized these were clearly fifth-rank experts, or even higher.
Du Yuejiao murmured, “Chi Mu? The Chi Mu clan, one of the four great barbarian families?” Having grown up in the Chongxian Sect, she still wasn’t used to referring to the “royal families” as barbarians.
The four great barbarian families – Zong Hai, Chi Mu, Han He, and Yue Ke Tai – each had their own unique martial arts traditions, and all had received guidance from Lie Zunyi, the Supreme Emperor, pillars of the Jin clan’s power.
For one of these powerful families to be here… this wasn’t a force to be trifled with.
Shi Hao, although surprised by the Chi Mu clan’s presence, felt he had heard the other voice, the one who had sneered at the “barbarians,” before.
Although he couldn’t quite place it, it definitely wasn’t an ally.
“Let’s go!” Seizing the opportunity while the barbarians were occupied, he turned and ran, leading them down the mountain.
But strangely, they couldn’t find Heavenly White Pond.
They had ascended from the pond, but now, descending the same path, it was gone.
“You call this the Immortal Qilin’s Blessed Land?” Du Yuejiao complained, “This place? It’s more like a demonic lair.”
Xiang Gu huddled, shivering, “It’s also called… the Demonic Qilin’s Lair.”
Shi Hao, Du Yuejiao, and Hou Bomin: “…”
Which is it, a blessed land or a demonic lair? Make up your mind.
“Aaah!” Du Yuejiao suddenly screamed, her body stumbling forward as if pulled by an unseen force.
Shi Hao, Hou Bomin, and Xiang Gu turned around. She was dragging one leg, trying to pull it free.
“Yuejiao, what’s wrong?” Shi Hao asked.
“Something’s grabbing my foot!” she cried, her voice filled with fear.
Shi Hao rushed back to her side, his sword flashing.
He saw nothing, just slashed at the air around her foot.
Du Yuejiao pulled her foot free, took a few steps, and looked back, her face pale.
“What was that?” Hou Bomin frowned.
Shi Hao examined his sword. There was no blood, no trace of anything.
Just a faint, chilling aura emanating from the blade.
He felt like he had cut something, and yet… nothing.
“Let’s go,” he said, a chill running down his spine.
He was starting to regret this… Perhaps gathering a hundred jin of Vermilion Fruit would have been a better idea.
As they ran, Xiang Gu suddenly screamed.
They turned and saw her hair being pulled backwards, as if by an invisible hand, her head tilting unnaturally.
Shi Hao slashed with his sword, but he hit nothing.
Xiang Gu’s hair fell back down.
“Run!” Shi Hao shouted.
As they ran, they were constantly being pulled and tugged by unseen forces, relying on each other for support.
But they couldn’t see what was attacking them.
And they heard distant screams, the barbarian soldiers clearly experiencing the same thing.
“There’s a crevice here!” Du Yuejiao shouted.
“That’s it!” Xiang Gu exclaimed, “What we’re looking for is in there!”
They looked and saw a narrow opening in the rock face, a faint light emanating from within.
The light was strange, a blinding white that also seemed to be filled with a dark, sinister mist, a disorienting, dreamlike sensation.
A booming sound echoed, the ground shaking, a powerful shockwave throwing them backwards.
They couldn’t withstand the force and were sent sprawling.
Du Yuejiao sat up, rubbing her temples, “What was that?”
They listened intently. The sounds of collapsing rock and a beast’s roar came from within the crevice, a roar similar to the one they had heard last night.
It seemed some creature was battling something inside, the force of their conflict shaking the earth.
A figure suddenly leaped down from the cliff above, landing before them, his eyes wide, “Who are you?”
Shi Hao’s face paled. He recognized the man.
It was Li Ximing, the “Three Extremes Ghost Butcher.”
Shi Hao had encountered him twice before, once at Civilian Martial Ridge, pursuing the carriage with the God-Sealing Stones, and once at the Leopard Palace, where he and Xu Xiaoyan had overheard his conversation with Jiao Han.
He hadn’t expected to find him here, after the Ghost Extreme Sect’s defeat in Dàxīng City.
At Civilian Martial Ridge, they had been far apart, and Shi Hao had been disguised. And at the Leopard Palace, he had been hidden.
Li Ximing didn’t recognize him.
Clearly not expecting anyone else to be here, Li Ximing, his voice filled with menace, demanded, “Where is the Sui Marquis Pearl?!” He assumed they were locals.
Hou Bomin, however, repeated the name in surprise, “Sui Marquis Pearl?”
Even Shi Hao and Du Yuejiao were stunned… He was asking about the Sui Marquis Pearl?
The Sui Marquis Pearl and the He Clan Jade Disc were two of the most legendary treasures in Chinese history.
The Mozi said: “The He Clan Jade Disc and the Sui Marquis Pearl, these are the true treasures of lords!”
He was asking about the Sui Marquis Pearl, a treasure said to be worth a king’s ransom?
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