Translator: CinderTL
Gazing at the oppressive black clouds looming overhead, Song Wen felt an inexplicable unease creep into his heart.
The dark mass hung less than a hundred miles above the ground, its depth immeasurable, stretching as if it reached all the way to the Nine Heavens.
Beneath the clouds lay an endless mountain range, its peaks and valleys rising and falling in endless waves.
What kind of entity could be lurking within those clouds? Song Wen wondered inwardly. It inspires fear in the heart for no apparent reason.
Song Wen had no desire to investigate such unknown phenomena.
The mystic realm was vast and boundless, filled with countless unsolved mysteries.
For example, the resentment lingering in the Primordial Qi Death Zone, the miasma choking Rotting Miasma Ridge, or the foul stench that had continuously seeped from the ground beneath his temporary cultivation cave over a decade ago.
These phenomena had existed for countless years, and countless seekers of knowledge must have explored and pondered their origins. Yet clearly, no one had ever discovered their true nature; otherwise, the answers would have long since spread throughout the world.
Song Wen flew into Yuncang Ridge, navigating beneath the black clouds.
His gaze swept across the mountains below, searching for any trace left by the Myriad Swords Pavilion.
However, after venturing hundreds of thousands of miles deeper, he found not a single clue.
Yet the surrounding landscape had undergone a dramatic transformation.
First, the area was now pitch-black, so dark that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.
Second, the black clouds above had descended to within fifty miles of the ground, like a massive stone pressing down on the heart, inspiring involuntary awe.
Third, the vegetation in the mountains had changed. Gone were the towering trees and lush green grasses, replaced by gnarled, leafless shrubs that resembled demons lurking in the shadows, their branches twisted into claw-like shapes.
"Shadow Void, can you sense anything deeper within the black clouds?" Song Wen asked through his Sea of Consciousness as he flew low.
"No. These clouds carry an inexplicable oppressive force; my divine sense can only penetrate about ten miles," Shadow Void replied, his voice tinged with concern. "Master, it would be wise not to venture further. The black clouds above make me uneasy; I suspect powerful entities are concealed within them."
Song Wen halted his advance and turned back, flying in the direction he had come from.
Shadow Void's words held wisdom. It wasn't worth risking so much for a few relatively insignificant Spirit Herbs.
The oppressive aura from the dark clouds above not only blocked divine sense from penetrating them, but it also permeated the areas below, even where the clouds didn't reach. This drastically reduced Song Wen's divine sense range to a mere hundred miles, while Shadow Void could only sense two to three hundred miles.
They were still on the outskirts of Yuncang Ridge. If they ventured deeper into its core regions, who knew what dangers awaited?
"Master, be careful. There's a demon beast deep underground below us," Shadow Void suddenly warned.
As soon as the words left his lips, a nearby mountain peak exploded, and a creature resembling a rat but the size of a blue ox erupted from the earth.
The demon beast's eyes glowed crimson, and its fangs were like twin blades.
It transformed into a foul-smelling wind and lunged straight at Song Wen.
Song Wen's gaze sharpened. This was a Mountain-Devouring Rat in the early stages of the sixth-tier.
Mountain-Devouring Rats were renowned for their burrowing skills, agile speed, and razor-sharp fangs. Their fangs were considered excellent materials for forging flying swords and blades.
Unwilling to reveal his identity as a corpse cultivator, Song Wen simply summoned the sun-chasing spear. Gripping the spear, he charged toward the Mountain-Devouring Rat, the spear tip aimed directly at its crimson eyes.
Just as the spear tip was about to pierce the rat's eye, the creature's head twisted violently, its vulnerable eye narrowly avoiding the strike.
It opened its bloodstained maw, its pair of razor-sharp teeth clamping down on the spear tip with a grating screech.
Simultaneously, the Mountain-Devouring Rat swung its thick, muscular tail like a whip, lashing out at Song Wen.
"You're asking for death!" Song Wen roared. A black umbrella materialized beside him, blocking the incoming tail.
His spiritual power surged like a flood, pouring ceaselessly into the spear. The weapon erupted with a blinding light, its tip piercing the rat's mouth.
Song Wen's muscles bulged as he channeled every ounce of his strength, attempting to wrench the spear free from the rat's fangs and drive it deeper into the creature's throat.
The rat's teeth clamped down like two gates of black iron, locking the spear in place, preventing even the slightest movement.
Yet the spear's radiant energy, which should have ravaged the rat's mouth, vanished without a trace, like a mud ox sinking into the sea.
Seeing its tail blocked by the black umbrella, the Mountain-Devouring Rat's crimson eyes blazed with fury. Two jets of thick, inky black smoke erupted from its nostrils.
Song Wen was immediately assaulted by a nauseatingly pungent stench, and even before the black smoke reached him, he felt a searing heat.
"Trifling tricks!" he scoffed.
A vibrant green afterimage suddenly materialized around him.
The towering afterimage, several dozen feet tall, took the form of a monstrous nine-headed serpent, completely enveloping him.
When the black smoke crashed against the serpent's afterimage, it was like a river striking a mountain crag—utterly ineffective. Instead, the smoke dissipated harmlessly.
Realizing that none of its attacks posed any threat, the Mountain-Devouring Rat seemed to consider retreating. Its eyes darted about before it abruptly released the sun-chasing spear, leaped into the air, and attempted to flee into the sky.
"Trying to escape? Too late!" Song Wen's face twisted into a mocking grin.
A cold glint flashed between his brows as nine transparent blades materialized, instantly piercing the Mountain-Devouring Rat's skull.
The rat's strength was inferior to his own. Moreover, like most demon beasts, it hadn't cultivated its Demon Soul, leaving it significantly weaker than a human cultivator of the same realm.
When the nine Focused Spirit Stabs pierced its Sea of Consciousness, the Mountain-Devouring Rat convulsed as if struck by lightning. Its eyes lost their light, and its body plummeted to the ground.
With a flick of his wrist, Song Wen loosened his grip on the spear, instantly piercing the Mountain-Devouring Rat's neck and hoisting it onto the spearhead.
Though it sounds lengthy, the entire sequence—from the rat's emergence to Song Wen's kill—took no more than a breath or two.
After sealing the rat's soul within its corpse with a series of magic seals, Song Wen was about to store the body in his storage ring when another anomaly arose.
The mountain peak the rat had breached exploded again, and a human figure shot out.
The newcomer's divine sense swept brazenly over Song Wen and the rat's corpse before he spoke.
"Fellow Daoist, I discovered this Mountain-Devouring Rat first and have been tracking it all this way. Please return it to me!"
Song Wen glanced at the man and replied flatly, "No."
A mere late-stage Void Refinement cultivator wasn't enough to make Song Wen yield, especially in this desolate, rarely visited place.
A flash of murderous intent flickered in the newcomer's eyes as a three-foot flying sword materialized before him.
The sword shimmered with an eerie blue spiritual light, as if tearing a blue rift through the pitch-black sky.
Seeing the sword about to strike, Song Wen quickly spoke.
"Fellow Daoist, hold!"
At his words, the newcomer halted the sword's advance, his voice deep and resonant.
"If you're afraid, hand over the Mountain-Devouring Rat. I won't harm you."
Song Wen didn't answer directly but instead countered with a question.
"Are you from the Myriad Swords Pavilion?"
The sword's formidable power suggested the newcomer was no ordinary sword cultivator, hence Song Wen's inquiry.
"Indeed," the man replied.
A grin spread across Song Wen's face.
"So you're a fellow Daoist from the Myriad Swords Pavilion. My apologies for not recognizing Mount Tai before me. I'll gladly gift you this Mountain-Devouring Rat as compensation for my earlier disrespect."
(End of the Chapter)
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