Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 93
The two men regained their consciousness, they were indeed from two separate factions and one even mentioned that his clan brother had been slain by some other monsters not long ago. This brought the number of core formation elders up to seven, three had passed away in the jungle filled with game monsters.
The first man had a full beard and black hair, his stature was average the same as his height. His hair was all over the place, the days in the jungle weren't kind to this man as he looked a bit sickly probably some side effects from the spider venom. The second gentleman looked like a Shaolin monk. He had six dots on his forehead and a long white beard that went to about his navel, he was even wearing large round beads around his neck.
The first man's name was from a clan called the Kwok clan, and the baldy wasn't from a clan at all but instead from some kind of small Buddhist sect. It was quite a low-level sect, core formation cultivators were the strongest warriors that they possessed. The name of the sect was Tranquil Lotus Sect and it was also participating in this expedition to earn some resources and favor with the dark palm sect.
Matt's attention moved to the dark-haired elder though, he was grasping his hair tightly, eyes bulging out and red, his brows furrowed.
"Blasted Dark Palm Sect, they lied to us... we are doomed..."
He kept holding onto his head and trembling, he was seemingly in shock as he kept mumbling to himself and not really paying attention to the group that had rescued him. He was firmly slapped into shape by the Huo clan young master, that was getting annoyed by how he didn't even thank them for the rescue.
"What are you mumbling about you old fart, get a hold of yourself, what is this about the dark palm sect?"
The man looked up at the crimson-haired man, then at the other people that were staring at him as he let out an uncomfortable sounding laugh.
"Ah ha ha, don't you understand... they played us all... there will be no reward... there is no treasure, we will all die here..."
Everyone looked at him suspiciously, the man knew something that they didn't.
"Oh, why would you say such a thing?"
Matt chimed in moving closer, as he was afraid that his new brother would do something drastic to the man that lost his marbles. The man just looked at him and took out some kind of jade, it looked like some kind of more advanced communication jade but it was a bit cracked. He threw it on the ground and started talking, even without the other people having to ask.
"The Sect contacted us a couple of months ago, they mentioned this forsaken place and promised treasures and riches if we took this communication jade with us and reported what was in the secret ground to them."
"We didn't think much of it, we only thought that we would go in and leave. They must have blocked most of the information about this place, we just assumed the previous people were incompetent..."
The man slumped onto his knees, clearly not thinking that he could get out of this alive.
"But there hasn't been any word from outside and these monsters just keep coming, they never stop."
Matt placed his hand on the man's shoulder thanks to his tranquil will he was able to somewhat calm other people down. The calming feeling washed over the nervous cultivator, that slowly started to calm himself down.
"Calm down, Everyone knows that we were probably sent here as some kind of experiment, but if we stay together we still stand a chance."
Kwok Xun looked up at the man that had a strange positive outlook on things, he could feel that the cultivator was quite powerful, probably being in the great circle of core formation but he wasn't quite sure. He wanted to believe him, but after having spend weeks running away and battling strange monsters he was just tired.
"You should listen to brother Dong, but we can also just leave you here if you are going to be a hindrance."
Huo Qiang chimed in, Matt's brows furrowing as he started threatening the dude that had PTSD. Though it showed some effects as after calming down, the man went red in the face with rage and jumped up.
"Me? a hindrance?"
He glared at the younger crimson-haired man, who was just grinning back not really caring one way or the other. In his opinion it would probably be better to just leave this guy here, why would they need someone that was a coward? Though when he looked at Zhang Dong, looking for approval he found the man staring daggers at him which made his smile turn upsidedown.
'What are you doing you meat for brains, I even managed to calm him down and you riled him up again.'
"I'm sure you were through a lot, but so were all of us, before brother Dong came and rescued us all."
Feng Liena moved in, she was carrying herself a bit differently than usual. Matt expected her to threaten the guy, or even try to give him a couple of smacks. Instead, she was quite calm, she was talking softly while keeping eye contact and with a gentle smile on her face. Was this her normal character when she dropped the female lead act? She also called him brother without the little part, which was a sign of progress.
While the tanned beauty was talking, he glanced to the baldy on the side. The man was remaining silent while sitting down, he was clearly in a cultivation position and by the Qi signature, he was trying to heal his wounds. When he noticed Matt's gaze on him, he just nodded while clasping his hands, probably just his way of saying thank you.
Kwok Xun looked at the lady, then back to Huo Qiang who turned his face to the side, seemingly embarrassed when the woman mentioned that he was rescued by Zhang Dong as well. The man let out a long sight before nodding and turning to Matt, he made a decision.
"Well, if you are willing I will accompany you."
The man proclaimed while thinking that he didn't have any other choice if he wanted to survive.
The group got reorganized, they had seven members now which meant that the overall battle strength had increased. Matt wasn't sure how to arrange the group this time around, but he decided to put the girls in the middle, the two new arrivals were in the back with mutton chops elder and he and Qiang were in the front.
They tracked along and finally, they spotted a change of scenery. There were two massive mountain ranges to the side, going straight up into the clouds. This mountain range formed a path of some sort as the path to the sides was blocked by them and the path forward was getting narrower with each step. It looked like the secret ground wanted them to move between these two mountains soon enough they figured out why.
There was a clearing, in that clearing stood a massive monster. It looked somewhat like a snake but it had two large legs protruding from the front part and the middle body part was a lot thicker than the rear tail part, it also had two serpent heads. They were a bit away from the thing that looked like the guardian of this area, behind it was a large gate embedded into bedrock.
"I bet the next area is past that gate... we either have to beat this monster of sneak past it?"
The group looked at the monster while thinking about possible ways of getting through. Matt didn't think sneaking was an option, the gate would probably only open after the monster was slain and busting through it would probably be more difficult than killing the boss that was guarding it.
Netherserpent [ Core formation late stage ]
'Hm, only in the late stage?'
Matt thought that a final boss would be stronger than the minibosses like the goblin chieftain he came upon in the jungle.
'Maybe the jungle part is harder than the actual boss?'
The thing was just standing there, probably waiting for trespassers to get into its domain. The party of cultivators was eager to move on, they spent many weeks in that godforsaken jungle and just wanted to get out of here. Matt couldn't really see any problems in attacking this monster as it didn't pose much of a threat so he decided to move forward along with the strongest members of his party to back him up.
Firing of range attacks was still not working out so the warriors had to get close and personal. The moment they got into what the monster deemed as its territory, it gave off a loud roar. It thumped with it two huge legs making the ground shake, but instead of running towards them it opened up that large snake-like mouth.
Everyone was a seasoned fighter so they knew what the monster was doing, part of them dodged to the left while some to the right as the breath attack was fired off by the green beast. One snakehead was breathing regular crimson fire, while the other was blue in hue turning the ground to ice the moment it connected.
"Can you get its attention?" Matt shouted out.
"Leave it to us, brother Dong!" Huo Qiang replied as he moved in closer towards one of the heads along with his retainer.
Feng Liena moved over to the other head with the other cultivators, pelting it with weakened ranged attacks the serpent head snapping angrily at them as they came closer.
It didn't take long for Zhang Dong to move closer, he waited for the monster to fire off its breath attack at his party members. Soon the time came, sword Qi formed around his longsword that gave out a humming noise as if it was resonating with his energies. Just as the left head closed its mouth, moving slightly upwards to charge its attack up he moved in. He stacked his condensation and avatar form onto each other for a speed an power boost, vanishing from everyone's sight for a fraction of a second and appearing behind the monster head that he was aiming at, the sword already having drawn blood.
The monster's head flew up into the air and flopped onto the ground, green blood gushing like a geyser from the stump. The monster's remaining head quickly looked at the giant wound, eyes all read as it looked at the person that delivered the blow. The man in question only looked at it, a smile on his face.
"Shouldn't you really be looking at me?"
The monster, of course, didn't reply as it was getting ready to burn the puny human with its fire breath but before it could do that if felt something coming from behind. When it turned around, it saw a fist clad in fire coming right for it the creature couldn't react and got sucker-punched right on the chin. It fell backward, its lower jaw popping out if the joint and just flopping against its elongated neck in a gruesome fashion.
Matt didn't really need to do much now, the other cultivators overwhelmed the monster with sheer numbers. It couldn't use its mouth anymore or use its breathing skill either. The serpent quickly turned into a punching bag, the ending came after Liena managed to decapitate the remaining head with the help of her battle fans.
The heads remained on the ground, the monster was slain and unmoving.
"Haha, there still might be hope."
Kwok Xun declared while giving one of the giant heads a kick. But Matt was still remaining vigilant, the large gate wasn't opening and he couldn't really tell if the monster was really dead. He should have delivered the last hit, then he would know when the system gave him a prompt but now he could only wait and see.
Suddenly he felt something and quickly shouted.
"No... get back!"
Kwok Xun turned to Zhang Dong who was charging towards him, not knowing why. But when he turned to the head that he just kicked he saw something bursting out from it. He didn't have enough time to react, only being able to watch as a metallic glint was swiping towards his neck. He then heard a sound of metal colliding with metal as Matt intercepted the attack that came for the cultivator's neck.
What was standing there was a human-sized snake man, holding two large sabers and locked in a battle of strength with Zhang Dong. The smaller monster somehow jumped out from the cut of head of the previous slain beast. The same happened with the other severed head, the two snake men were both giving of different auras, one of fire while the second of ice.
"I'll handle this one, go help the others with the other one..."
Matt managed to push the creature back, he already noticed that it was a lot faster and more diverse with its attacks than the regular Netherserpent. Luckily the remaining body didn't seem like it would be turning into more monsters. These two were just slightly stronger than the larger beast and the surprise tactic would only work once, the peculiar thing about these two creatures was that no matter how much they stabbed and maimed them they just wouldn't die.
If they chopped off its head again, it would just grow back instantly. The wounds on its body regenerated at an astonishing pace, the cultivators were slowly losing their stamina and Qi during the prolonged fight.
'Are these creatures immortal? How do we beat them?'
Then an idea popped into Matt's head as he moved. He sliced off both of his hands and legs, slamming it down to the ground, his foot placed on the monster's chest as he held it down on the ground.
"Hey, quickly cut off the head of the one you are fighting!"
Matt shouted at the other cultivators, that didn't think cutting its head would do anything but the team leader was saying it so they had to try. The moment the decapitation happened, Matt sprung into action. He cleaved downwards on the thrashing monster that was regenerating its limbs, being sure to decapitate it at the same time as the others did the other beast.
Just as planned the moment the two heads rolled onto the ground, the monster's bodies started shaking. There was no regeneration anymore, the fight was over as the bodies dissolved into nothingness leaving only the sabers behind.
"Finally..."
The large gates started creaking open and the cultivators could finally see what awaited them behind them. What it was, was a world filled with lava and a giant castle in the distance.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 94
The large gate-like door slammed itself open, the moment that happened you could feel the change in heat as the warm air started surging from the created opening. Matt didn't receive any points for slaying one of the snake-men, maybe it was the system acting up or maybe the thing they were fighting wasn't considered a normal beast.
"Hoh..."
Everyone's mouths opened wide as they saw a narrow path in front of them, there was lava coming out from the sides and dropping down into what looked to be a giant lake below. The path in front of them went on for a while, bending a couple of times before you could see a giant castle-like structure in the distance. This time around, there was a clear path towards the next destination the lava was everywhere so they couldn't really go anywhere besides forward.
Before they moved onwards Matt looked at the large sabers that the creatures dropped, they were quite high quality and there were four of them. Though he picked up the two that the monster he was fighting had on it, the other two were picked up by his companions. He was about half done into the great circle with his body refining technique by now, these two weapons would probably add quite a bit. Even more, if he got four of them, but the items were already gaining new owners.
The mutton chop elder took one, while the other one got snatched by the new guy. He was thinking about getting them to cough those items up, but on second thought the new guy lost his weapon on the way and the Huo clan member earned his keep already. He would probably have a hard time beating the previous boss if he was alone, you have to share the loot some times, he thought to himself. He wanted to propose a short break so he could absorb the weapons, but the door started slowly closing itself.
"Damn... will those monsters revive or will this entrance be blocked for now..."
They had to make a decision, there could be other places like this that they could enter or they could be lost in the jungle for eternity. Matt didn't feel like he wanted to gamble on that so everyone rushed inside the lava chamber.
"I---it's' hot..."
Feng Liana aired her robe a bit, sweat running down her neck and making her cleavage glisten in the red light. Everyone felt that this place was really stuffy, the two Huo clan members weren't as uncomfortable as the rest though.
"Hah, this heat is nothing!"
Huo Qiang proclaimed as he strode inside with large strides. Matt's body refining skill was keeping him safe from the heat, but he wasn't sure about the rest.
"I think we shouldn't linger here, that castle over there isn't that far, let's go there just stay vigilant, we have no idea if more beasts are going to show up while we are crossing."
They were in a disadvantageous position, the path was about ten meters wide but the drop-down was close to one kilometer. Even if they survived the drop, the burning hot lava would probably burn them to a crisp.
This was closed off space, the door slammed itself shut behind them soon after they entered. There was clearly a ceiling with many sharp stalactites coming out of it. The walls around them had openings throughout which lava was rushing down, filling up the flaming hot river below them that run on both sides of the bridge they were walking on.
They were about halfway through without anything coming out to bother them. The large castle started getting closer and they could now clearly see what it was. It was situated on an island surrounded by a lava lake, the path they were on was leading towards the gate. It was quite sharp looking with many pointy towers coming out from the structure with the middle one being the largest of them.
They weren't able to digest its looks as the moment they passed the halfway mark something started rumbling. They could feel the rocky bridge shaking below them, something was clearly wrong.
"Oh no, the bridge is collapsing"
Feng Maling shouted as she pointed behind them, in the distance from where they came from the bridge was collapsing. Sections of it just started crumbling and falling into the lava river below them. Everyone started running with all their might, quickly going towards the ominous-looking structure on the island.
Matt looked back and could see one of the cultivators falling behind the others, it was the baked potato of a lady that was huffing and puffing, clearly running wasn't her strong suit. Being the gentleman that he was he stopped and backtracked, he grabbed the woman like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder and bolted for the fort in the distance now having to catch up to the rest of the cultivators.
"Ahh... Zhang Patriarch, you have my gratitude!"
"Don't talk or you might bite your tongue, I'm going to increase my speed..."
Matt replied while gathering spiritual energy in his legs, his feet made deep indents in the rocky ground as he pushed off with long strides quickly catching up to the remaining running cultivators with granny in tow. The whole place was shaking and crumbling, but everyone managed to make it the last one being the monk-like character whose sweaty head looked like a shiny marble.
"Sabbe satta dukkha pamuccantu..."
He took off his beads and started doing some chants, a holy aura surrounded his being as it washed away his anxiety. The people had unwillingly charged into the large castle-like structure, the gate was open but the bridge leading up to it had crumbled as the rest.
"At least this place isn't crumbling..."
Matt noted while he placed the granny that he was carrying back on the ground. The woman was blushing a little bit, but he couldn't really tell due to her dark complexion.
Feng Liena run-up to the two, her finger pointing up as if she wanted to say something but stopping mid-sentence.
"Ah... uh ... thank you for your help brother Dong, granny isn't the youngest anymore..."
He wasn't sure why the woman was having a hard time talking now, guess the previous conversation was showing some effects as she wasn't acting all hyperactive anymore. Matt just smiled at the woman and nodded.
"No problem, you can count on me!"
He replied while looking at the girl, she, in turn, covered her mouth and giggled a little bit.
"He he, brother Dong is really reliable."
The reply came with a cute smile, which made Matt stare slightly.
'What's with this comfortable atmosphere all of a sudden?'
He just nodded and tried steering the conversation away from himself and to the lair of potential monsters they were in. He couldn't feel any life signals for now, but a monster could just be summoned out of thin air here so they have to be warry of their surrounding.
"How about we check this place out, don't stray too far away from the group though we don't know if there are any more beasts here."
Huo Qiang's retainer chimed in while holding onto his new saber weapon. He looked like he was eager to chop someone up with that thing. There wasn't much inside the structure, the area looked deserted. The structures around here looked old and shabby, there was dust everywhere and no sign of life anywhere. In the middle of the castle-fort stood a giant spire-like tower, there was a large door there with a peculiar familiar writing.
'Those who enter here abandon all hope."
The door had a palm drawn on it, probably something used to activate the opening mechanism so, for now, he told everyone to not go near it. This was also a tower structure, so there would probably be some levels with increasing difficulty.
"I think the next part is behind that door in the middle, I propose we rest and recover our Qi for now and then try opening it. We might not have time to do that later."
Matt proposed, wanting to absorb those two weapons that he got and it was also good to take a breather for the other people. No one had anything against that, the cultivators already gave up the motion of working separately here there were just too many strange things around for one or two people to handle.
Everyone scattered to their own corner to prepare for the next battle, but before Matt could start absorbing those weapons the more friendly version of the Feng Matriarch came over to chat with him again.
"Could I have a moment~?"
She said in a cheery voice, Matt just stood up from his lotus position not really having a place to sit down comfortably for a chat so the two just stood there opposite each other.
"Sure, how can I help sister Liena"
Guess he could drop the big sis part and just go with how peers talked to each other in this world. They were both in a Patriarchal position in similar clans.
"Could we talk about the ancestral scriptures?"
Matt gulped a bit, not really wanting to talk about those as he wasn't really sure how those people interpreted those manga panels like that.
"You see, the texts were incomplete but they were supposed to guide us on the path of Dao..."
Leliana asked while sitting on a more well-kept piece of the castle wall.
"Um, well the texts that I saw were similar to yours. It's not like everything that's in the secret scriptures is false, you just need to look into them on your own... and pick out the truths."
Matt replied while trying not to show his sweaty palms, arms behind his back as he stood straight up hoping the woman would buy his response.
"Oh, truths..."
Liena looked to the distance, appearing like she was thinking about something for a moment, uncomfortable silence filling the surrounding which prompted Matt to speak up.
"F-for instance... your lovely darkened complexion, It's a lot better than the pale one most female cultivators stand by... like you get a lot more vitamin D3 ... it's good for your health and will progress your Dao further..."
Matt kind of trailed off at the end, his voice getting fainter as he wasn't sure what he was even talking about.
'Why are you talking about vitamin D3, you dumbass!'
"Vitah-min Dee Tree?"
'Does he mean that I need to be steadfast as an unmoving tree... or bend like a slim tree that survives even great cyclones. Is that the name of some kind of secret technique... D-did he say I had a lovely complexion?'
Feng Liena thought to herself, while Zhang Dong wanted to hit his head on the nearby wall.
"Tee hee~, you sure have a way with words brother Dong. Maybe the texts weren't all that wrong, I'll have to examine them once more when we return."
She looked at him while covering her mouth with her sleeve, she then walked away after excusing herself with a proper bow. Matt wasn't sure what the cultivator woman took out from his nonsense response, but at least she looked happy when she was going away. After the coast was clear, he gave out a sigh and went back to cultivating managing to absorb the two weapons within the hour. His body refining progress jumped up by ten percent, these last boss weapons were a lot better than the ones he found along the way in the jungle.
'Guess it's time to check that tower out... will it be that hell motive... think limbo came first...'
Everyone gathered up in front of the large locked door. Matt nodded as they decided that one of the weaker members would try to place their palm on the door. They didn't want their strongest members to activate any traps as they needed them for fighting. The monk volunteered for this and after placing his palm on the door they heard gears moving as it opened up.
The moment the door opened a peculiar sweet fragrance hit their noses, Matt covered his mouth and churned his cultivations to stop the fragrance from going further into his body, not knowing if it was poisonous or not. Then they entered inside, the inside looked quite high class. It was only a short hall at first and another door inside, they tried opening it but it wouldn't budge probably because not everyone from the group had entered through the door just yet.
"Okay let's go then..."
The door shut itself behind them, the red carpet on the wooden floor guided them forward as the previously shut door finally opened. Inside it looked like a ballroom, many crystal chandeliers lit it up and there were some people dancing inside. Matt narrowed his eyes, the people were wearing fancy dresses but there was something peculiar about them, they had horns and thin black tails
Incubus [Core formation middle level] Succubus [Core formation middle level]
They were dancing in pairs around a certain woman. The woman had larger horns and a larger tail, her eyes were glowing in a red hue. She was wearing something that looked like a Victorian-era dress, with a lot of space to see her ample cleavage, that corset was doing wonders for it.
The Sin of Lust [ Core formation Late Stage+(Half Step Great Circle) ]
'Wait, never saw that plus sign before... Sin of Lust? did they mix up the genres?'
Matt was expecting the nine levels of hell, but it looked like he would be getting the seven deadly sins instead.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 95
Matt eyed the lady standing in the middle, she had a demonic air around her. She was looking straight at them, there was an alluring smile on her face. The other people in the room were dancing to the old fashioned music in the rather large hall, Matt wasn't sure what this was about but before he could think about it more, one of his party members moved forward.
"Hoho... what a beauty!"
It was Huo Qiang, he had a strange look in his eyes while staring at the alluring woman in the victorian ere dress. Matt took the time to look at his horny brother's status, he was even starting to drool while staring at the busty succubus.
Huo Qiang [ Core formation late stage ] ( Charmed )
He thought that he had managed to pass the will or fortitude check, he wasn't sure himself as he didn't really play those kinds of games back in his day. Besides the hornball that had close to a hundred concubines, the member from the Kwok clan was starting to pant the monk was chanting as some kind of energy shield formed around him giving off a golden light. Qiang's retainer was somehow holding up, but he was shaking a bit as well the women in the group seemed unaffected.
"We shall not fall under your demonic plot, foul demon!"
The monk proclaimed as the golden light surrounding his body burst forward encompassing the whole group. Matt could see the charmed status vanish after the shield formed around them, Qiang staggered forward while rubbing his head not really sure what was going on.
"Huh? What was I doing?"
"Well, I think you almost went and proclaimed your undying love to that demon lady over there"
Matt replied to Qiang's question while pointing at the Sin of lust, after the monk formed the protective shield the woman's seductive gaze turned to one of rage. The music stopped and every succubus and incubus in the room looked at them.
"Insolent creatures!"
The horned lady shouted out as her body got surrounded in a shadowy aura, covering her whole body and only leaving the face out in the open. The aura looked like gray liquid and it moved around her limbs quickly switching to a darker and sinister coloring. The reason for it was soon revealed as the clothing that the demonic woman was wearing switched from a classy lady dress to something out of a bondage dungeon.
Matt gulped as he heard the loud whip cracking, the woman's high heels clicked on the floor as she moved slightly forward. She was wearing a skin-tight black latex suit, with a window to display her tightly squeezed bosom.
"Watch out, they have some kind of ability that deludes your mind, you might attack others around you if you aren't careful."
Zhang Dong shouted it out while pulling out his longsword, he moved forward he wasn't affected by the charm debuff so he could go out of the shield and fight it out with the demonic woman. Though there were quite a lot of those lower monsters to clean up too, would be difficult if he had to face them on his own. But luckily he wasn't alone and one of his party members had just the thing for this occasion.
"Everyone, take a talisman it will protect you from the demonic influence!"
The monk was coming in handy, he had carved out some talismans from some leaves that he plucked from the forest area. Thank's to his foresight everyone in the group was able to attach an evil repealing talisman that would temporarily shield them. How much those would hold out was unknown, but it was probably better than having them remain in that small golden shield while he got whipped around by the angry-looking horned lady.
The first stage of the tower was turning out to just be a boss area, there were around fifty of those dancing demons. Their clothes were also transforming to look more latexy getups. What was different about their apparel was that they had their faces covered, looking like gimps with spikes attached in various places. The men of the group were quite shocking, having a large metal spike right between their legs which made Feng Liena look away in disgust.
When the battle started the Sin of lust gave out a shrill scream, shattering all of the crystal chandeliers in the area. She gave her own followers a couple of good whips with her weapon, the creatures screaming out in ecstasy as the pain washed over their backs.
"Kill them all my lovelies, make your Mistress proud and you might get rewarded~"
The gimp army charged out, everyone looked invigorated at the mention of a reward from their Mistress. Matt wasn't sure who designed this place, but he wanted to give him a couple of smacks. They were outnumbered by quite a bit, but luckily the boss of the area decided to use her minions first while sitting back in a throne. Her legs were crossed over one another and resting on the back of one of her minions, the high heels were digging into the incubus' back and drawing blood, but the person in question looked quite ecstatic.
'Should I engage the boss alone or should I help the others and whittle them down with them...'
He wasn't sure if the people behind him could handle the assault of the gimp troop. He wanted to believe in them though, during the jungle part they showed to be capable and there was even the monk with good anti demonic abilities.
"Can I trust you with those creatures' minions?"
He asked the other cultivators, the boss wasn't all that strong judging by the system message but if they truly thought that they needed his help he would play it safe.
"Fear not brother Dong, we will handle these trash demons, go and give that bitch a good thrashing!"
Huo Qiang spat on the floor as he got to the bitch part, he looked quite angry due to the fact that he got charmed before.
"Leave it to us, young Patriarch."
Replied the old lady, while already gathering wind energy into her staff.
"That's reassuring."
He gave the people a smile then turned around, looking at the charging monsters. Some of them were running on their hands and feet, some were clawing their way onto the walls and ceiling as they tried to surround the group from all sides. Matt ignored them as he pushed his Qi into his legs again, he used his body as a battering ram and with a thumping sound took off running.
The wooden floor burst open the moment he charged forward, the monsters tried to block his advanced but they just lost their limbs in the process. He burst through the small wall of latex-clad people and aimed his sword at the sitting seductress, but just as he was about to strike her down, his sword encountered a hidden barrier.
"Ufufu~ What's the rush little piggy? Why don't you play with my lovelies first~?"
He smashed his fist into the barrier but to no avail and then jumped back as one of the incubus men tried swiping at him with a clawed hand. The monsters around here looked like beings from a fetish video, they had hooks going into their flesh that was getting pulled apart. Some of those hooks were in their eyes or in their mouth as well, they truly looked grotesque.
'Guess I have to clear out those guys first...'
While Matt was battling the hellish guards his cultivator friends were doing their best as well. The monsters were quite strong all things considered, but luckily they were attacking without any tactics just rushing in blindly. They were still at a disadvantage though, they were outnumbered and there wasn't really any place to run. The hall was quite large, about the size of a football field but even though there were windows to the sides they were indestructible.
They found that out the moment they tried flinging one of the monsters outside. They expected the glass to shatter but instead, the gimp's head burst like a tomato after it made contact with the transparent material. This was clearly a sealed-off space, either they would kill the monster or they would die instead.
Matt looked back while smacking a monster to the side with a well-placed kick, shattering its body in half while electrocuting it at the same time. The others were holding out, the Feng clan members were good at blasting the gimp rush back while the Huo clan members were quite adept at setting them ablaze. The new sabers were showing promise already, as many heads were rolling around on the hall floor.
"Enough!"
The woman on the throne shouted just as Matt managed to slay the last one of her guards, the barrier vanished and she strode forward. Her hips swayed side to side, but that wasn't all that was swaying with them. At this point, Matt was mostly immune to womanly charms as those so he just gripped his longsword and defended himself as the woman's fingernails extended and she tried to tear his face apart.
"Who are you... you're the first one that can actually talk..."
Matt asked while evading a couple of high heel kicks to the face and groin area, the latter attack made him sway backward while sweating.
"Silence pig, you could have had a pleasurable demise, but now you will only suffer!"
She clearly didn't want to talk, or couldn't if she was actually a real person with a mind was still up to debate. Matt wanted to pry some answers from her, maybe she would be more willing to talk if he cut off an arm or two...
His eyes started glowing in bright blue light, electricity forming around him as he got more serious. He activated his body refining skill, perceiving the surroundings in slow motion. Soon the attacks rained down, the monster woman was quite fast and the whipping attacks were quite hard to read, but soon enough she found herself with her weapon arm missing after Zhang Dong got a good shot in.
"YOU INSIGNIFICANT PIG!"
She looked quite mad, her body started executing a terrifying aura as it glowed in purple light. The next attack was a lot harder to receive as Zhang Dong found himself getting pushed back, instead of the whip the Sin of lust used her remaining arm and legs raining down a barrage close-ranged blows.
'She suddenly powered up... similar to when a boss monster loses half of its HP and goes into a second form or changes its attacking pattern.'
She was quite fast and strong, but still, she wasn't in the great circle stage while Matt was content on fighting experts at that level without a problem at this point. Soon enough the monster's head was flying through the air, the only injury he suffered was a rip to his clothes and some cut hair while he was dodging, maybe a shorter haircut was due.
The moment the monster was slain the remaining mobs disintegrated into colorful lights. The cultivators behind him gave off a sigh of relief as they also managed to survive the predicament with minor injuries.
Congratulations on passing the first floor, you may now proceed to the library, the next floor will open in exactly 24 hours.
The voice sounded quite robotic, like something a text to speech app would sound like. A new door appeared out of nowhere with a sign ' Library first level' the cultivators that he was with were bewildered by the strange voice, but Matt kind of knew what it was about.
'This is probably some kind of resting area between the levels, might also be a safe zone.'
"I think we should go inside not like there is anything left in this room for us."
The monsters had vanished and there were no weapons left for him to take with him, after some deliberation everyone headed through the door to the so-called library. What greeted them were books, scrolls, and manuscripts, quite a load of them.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 96
The door behind them vanished after everyone passed through it. The group found themselves in a corridor at first, torches on the sides as the only thing they could do was walk forward. Soon enough they could see some light at the end of that corridor and they were greeted to rows upon rows of books. A peculiar feeling washed through the people here, their stamina and wounds were recovered almost instantly after going through the library entrance.
'This is an actual safe zone... would be nice if it also had a save point'
The so-called library was quite circular, the long shelves of books formed rings around each other as the collection expanded outwards. In the middle of the large library hall, there was a large circular tube. The tube went upwards and into the ceiling, in the middle there looked to be something akin to sliding doors and a number '1' above it.
'Is that an elevator...?'
It looked like a normal elevator, it had all the required buttons like the ones that opened and closed the doors. While the other cultivators were glancing at the books, Matt walked up to the elevator and pressed the button that should open it but nothing happened.
'The doors aren't opening... maybe it's locked until we clear the other levels?'
There were seven buttons on that elevator, which correlated to the seven deadly sins theme of this test. He left the elevator for now, as after poking every button nothing was happening. He then heard some of his companions speaking out.
"These books are all for Qi condensation practitioners... but the quality is astonishing!"
He looked at them going through some scriptures, their eyes focused as they were going through the old knowledge. Matt didn't wait much before he picked up one book and used the help of his system to scan its worth.
Crimson Phoenix Immolation Palm (First Scripture) [ Mortal High Grade ]
'Oh, it is indeed a high grade technique for a Qi condensation manual... and only the first part of it...'
He glanced over it, his system gave him more statics than just the grade of the technique. He also had the option to save it to his system library without having to actually absorb the knowledge outright and get a migraine while doing it.
Name : Star Phoenix Immolation Palm(First scripture)Meant for :Qi Condensation Cultivators ( 6+)Grade :Mortal High Grade Requirements : Fire Affinity C+ grade and upQi usage: Moderate-High Description :This art has been designed with close combat in mind, the practitioners gather their Qi into their palm transferring it into their opponent's body during a clash. The inserted Qi wrecks havoc inside the enemy's body burning them from the inside. The correct use of this art will produce a Phoenix tattoo on the practitioner's palm. Further scriptures allow the summoning of an actual Phoenix that aids in the attack.
'This doesn't look bad... quite deadly as it's an internal attack, it might even go through someone's body refining defenses.'
He started going through the manuscripts closest to him, they were all for practitioners in the Qi condensation and they were all above the mortal low grade. He looked up at the bookcase, it had the symbol of fire above it this was probably why everything in this section was for fire-based cultivators.
"Think this section of the library would be fit for the Huo clan."
Matt brought this to attention as Huo Qiang came over. He and his retainer's jaw opened up wide as they read the previously picked up Crimson Phoenix Immolation Palm, but this wasn't even the best one amongst the techniques that were lined up there. There were various ones, punching arts, kicking arts, ones for using weapons even regular cultivation manuals that were probably above anything that the Huo clan had in their own library back home.
"This is a treasure trove of knowledge if we could bring those books back with us..."
The two men had sparkles in their eyes as they went through some of the displayed cultivation manuals. Matt was a bit less optimistic than the two as he didn't think that the person that made this place would just let them clean the library out. He was more inclined in thinking that they might be able to take a couple of them later, or even worse as they would get none. With the second option, they would probably have to focus on learning the desired art in the limited time period they had in this library.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up, I bet they immortal senior that gathered all these books here wouldn't just let us take them with us."
Well, this was just something that the others had to contend with, Matt, on the other hand, could just copy everything into his library with a couple of clicks. Thus he did that, while his party members were going through some scriptures and old texts he started poking them while they were still on the shelves.
Fist of the Supreme General [Mortal High Grade ] Do you wish to copy this text to the system library?
He clicked yes and moved over to the next book repeating the motion over and over again. The people in the large room were a bit bewildered as they saw Zhang Dong move his finger up in the air while tracing his other finger through the lined-up books. Was this some kind of technique to find the best secret text or something? They didn't want to ask as the man looked quite focused, his fingers were moving at an amazing speed while he was squinting.
'Damn... is there no faster way to do this... there are thousands of books here... this is going to take a while.'
He was familiar with this procedure already, as he did the same thing back at the Zhang Clan library. Though the clan's library wasn't as huge as this one and didn't have all these varying cultivation arts. He even found some lightning-related techniques here, focusing on copying them down as he frantically went through the entire place, he had to get everything down in those 24 hours, he might not have a second try.
He was soon like a blur, hands kicking up winds as he copied everything down without even reading what the skill was for. Everything was going to be shoved into his database, he dreaded the day when he would have to write everything down or use jade slips instead. Thanks to this library being so orderly and circular, he was sure that he wouldn't miss anything if he just went in order. Time soon passed and the next stage was upon them.
Zhang Dong managed to finish the 'plagiarising' procedure an hour early, so he had some time to think about the new stage and rest up. As the 24th hour ticked down the scenery became a blur. There was no voice or message the scenery just switched to a small room with another door in front. Everyone looked surprised, they were just reading some scriptures contemplating the basics and foundation of their techniques as they got teleported here, the books that they were studying just evaporating into nothingness as they found themselves in a sterile room.
"I guess they won't let us take those books out of there, guess that was expected."
Matt mentioned his theory to the others while going towards the door in front.
"Hope everyone is ready, there are probably be more monsters inside and I bet they will be stronger than the previous ones."
Everyone got ready while Zhang Dong grabbed the handle and swung the door open, soon enough everyone stepped through the door. They were greeted with a flash of bright light and a scenery change. The first thing that Matt noticed after taking a step in that the ground was strangely squishy.
'Ugh... what is this?'
He grimaced as he looked at the scenery, the ground and walls looked like they were made from pink flesh. They were in some kind of corridor once again but it looked to be alive.
"Are we in some kind of beast's belly?"
One of the cultivators asked while poking the flesh wall, it was warm to the touch and when you sliced it blood would gush out. There were no spasming or trembling that would accompany attacks to someone's insides, so maybe they weren't inside some creature just some badly created scenery.
'The person that made these trials sure has some strange fetishes...'
Matt thought to himself, but as he wanted to move on Kwok Xun started grasping his stomach.
"What is this feeling ...s-so hungry... "
He was looking at the fleshy walls in the surroundings with reddish eyes and drool coming out of his mouth, this prompted Matt to look at his status screen.
Kwok Xun [Core Formation middle stage] ( Starvation )
'Yeah... figures, seven deadly sins...'
Luckily they had the monk with them, he was surprisingly good against curses and debuffing effects like they were encountering in this place. Soon a golden shield surrounded them once more, letting Xun sigh out after the horrid longing to eat the fleshy walls subsided.
"I think these trials are going to amplify the humanly desires... how many of those talismans do you have on you...?... you never told us your name..."
Matt asked while looking at the monk that was chanting.
"You may call me Bankei. Forgive me, but I only have a handful left and I don't have any more materials to make more."
He said respectfully while holding the barrier up, Matt rubbed his chin he seemed to be unaffected by the mental game like debuffs probably due to his previously acquired skill that protected his mind.
"Brother Bankei, how long can you keep this golden barrier up?"
"I can sustain it for twelve hours, longer if I have something to replenish my spiritual energies."
Zhang Dong nodded while looking to the side at the other cultivators.
'Think that should be enough... it's not a very hard skill to learn and I already upgraded my Impartation of Knowledge to a high degree.'
The answer to the problems was quite easy, he had the skill and he could easily pass it on to others. So he didn't wait much, before moving over to his first 'victim'.
"I'm going to pass on a secret art to you now, it will protect you from the strange afflictions that these trials are putting us under."
He was a bit ashamed that he didn't think about it sooner if they were placed in a boss room from the get-go it could have turned out quite badly. Kwok Xun was the first person that was left with a migraine, grasping his forehead after Zhang Dong poked it with his finger.
"T-this is... truly astonishing... my gratitude!"
He bowed to Zhang Dong before going down into the lotus position to cultivate this skill. Soon everyone besides the Bankei was down on the ground, trying to cultivate the Tranquil Mind technique, there should be no problems with the debuffs later on after they were done.
'I sure hope that this place doesn't have a timer on it or something...'
Time passed and the cultivators finished at a varying degree, the youngsters like Huo Qiang and Feng Liena were the fastest, showing that their high cultivation stage at their current age wasn't just for show. The slowest was Feng Maling which caused the tanned Feng Matriarch to blush a bit in shame.
The effects of 'starvation' was now gone even though Bankei pulled back his barrier, they could move. The monk didn't need Zhang Dong's cultivation technique as his sect had a lot of skills that shielded them from demonic influences. Matt passed it on to him anyway, he would feel bad if the guy was the only one not profiting while having to hold that barrier up for so long.
The team moved forward, going through the fleshy corridors as the second trial 'officially' begun.