12dz Chapter 23 The Spirit Gathering Jade appears
Chapter 23 The Spirit Gathering Jade appears
In the Western Hills on the outskirts of Beijing, the night was as dark as ink, the mountain wind howled, swirling up withered leaves and carrying a biting chill. Deep in the mountains, the entrance to an abandoned air-raid shelter, hidden by weeds and rocks, was eerily silent—this underground bunker, left over from the 1960s, extends more than a hundred meters underground, its internal passages intricate and labyrinthine. For years, it had been untouched, yet it harbored the most extreme evil and bloodshed.
Deep inside the air-raid shelter, in a huge natural cave, the stench of blood and corpses mingled together, thick and viscous, almost tangible, suffocatingly strong. On the ground, dark red bloodstains had congealed into clumps, turning black and hard, making a grating "crunch, crunch" sound when stepped on, each step feeling like stepping on the bones of wronged souls.
In the center of the cave, an extremely complex six-pointed star array was clearly visible. The lines of the array were drawn with fresh human blood, scarlet and glaring, faintly exuding a cold and evil aura. As the array operated, wisps of blood energy and yin energy constantly gathered and surged towards the center of the array.
At the six corners of the formation, hundreds and thousands of withered corpses were piled up, including bewildered children, elderly people, and men and women in their prime. Their skin was tightly stuck to their bones, their eyes were wide open, and their faces showed extreme fear and pain. These were the "blood food" that the Ye family had collected from all over the country over the years at the behest of the demonic cultivators, through kidnapping, plundering, and other despicable means, just to nourish this blood-devouring formation and help the demonic cultivators break through their cultivation levels.
In the very center of the formation, a crescent-shaped cyan jade pendant floated silently in mid-air. A soft cyan light surrounded the surface of the pendant, like warm moonlight, but it was constantly absorbing the blood energy and yin energy gathered by the formation. The originally pure spiritual energy was polluted by these filthy things, and a dark shadow was faintly visible in the cyan light.
Beneath the jade pendant, an old man in a tattered Taoist robe sat cross-legged. He was emaciated, his body hunched over, and his robe was stained with dark brown blood and grime, emitting a foul stench. His face was covered with dense black lividity, resembling a rotting corpse. His eyes were deeply sunken in their sockets, the pupils pitch black, exuding a nauseatingly sinister aura. A thick black mist surrounded him, his presence both sinister and violent.
The outer elder of the Yin Ghost Sect, the Styx Ancestor—the true mastermind hiding behind the scenes, treating the Ye family like pigs to be raised and sucking the lifeblood of mortals.
"Soon...almost there..." The Styx Ancestor raised his withered, claw-like hand, his gaze fixed on the Spirit Gathering Jade above his head. A ferocious, greedy smile twisted his lips, his voice hoarse and dry, like rusty iron scraping against each other. "Once I absorb all the spiritual energy from this jade pendant, I can reshape my physical body and break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage!"
He took a deep breath, greedily absorbing the blood energy gathered by the array. A faint tinge of color returned to the corpse spots on his face, and the fanaticism in his eyes intensified: "On this desolate planet, where spiritual energy is exhausted, a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator is invincible! At that time, the entire Earth will be my blood-feeding farm, and all mortals will be my nourishment. I will absorb all the blood and energy in the world, break through to the Golden Core stage, return to the cultivation world, and seize power over the demonic path!"
He was lost in his own grand dream, imagining himself ruling the earth and running rampant, completely unaware that a deadly pressure was slowly approaching through the air-raid shelter.
Just then—
"boom--!!"
A deafening roar, like a thunderclap, echoed throughout the air-raid shelter, causing even the underground rocks to tremble violently and sending debris raining down. At the entrance of the air-raid shelter, the one-meter-thick alloy door, designed to withstand missile attacks, shattered instantly, like a cookie struck by a high-speed train. The fragments, carrying violent shockwaves, hurtled into the cave, crashing against the skeletons on the ground with a crackling sound.
The violent shockwaves swept up the bones and dust on the ground, creating a bloody and eerie atmosphere in the cave.
The Styx Ancestor's beautiful dream was shattered in an instant. He abruptly opened his sunken eyes, a flash of extreme rage in them. The black aura around him surged instantly, and he roared fiercely, "Who goes there?! How dare you trespass into my cave and ruin my important plans! You're courting death!"
As the dust settled, a tall, imposing figure stepped over the scattered bones and corpses and slowly entered the cave. Clad in snow-white robes, his posture was as sturdy as a pine tree. He exuded no trace of malevolence, yet he emanated a suffocating pressure, as if he had complete control over the entire cave's atmosphere.
Lu Yuan's gaze immediately locked onto the cyan jade pendant floating in mid-air—it was his mother's keepsake, something he had searched for across a thousand years and across the stars to retrieve.
Seeing the bluish light on the jade pendant tainted by the foul blood and filth, Lu Yuan's eyes instantly turned cold. A chilling aura emanated from him, causing the temperature in the cave to plummet and the bloodstains on the ground to freeze. He could clearly feel that the originally pure and abundant spiritual energy within the jade pendant had been partially corrupted by this sinister formation. The thought of his mother's keepsake being so desecrated ignited a raging fire within him.
"So it's you." The Styx Ancestor, recognizing Lu Yuan, was first taken aback, then suddenly let out a cold laugh. His laughter was hoarse and grating, filled with disdain and greed. "I haven't even come to settle accounts with you yet, and you've delivered yourself to my doorstep. You've truly courted death!"
Although he had been in seclusion underground, focusing on absorbing blood energy to break through his cultivation barrier, he had already learned Lu Yuan's identity through the fragment of his soul left in the Ye family—the young man who had killed his fragment and wiped out the entire Ye family. In his view, a desolate planet like Earth, with its depleted spiritual energy, could not possibly give birth to true cultivators. Lu Yuan's ability to easily crush his fragment of soul was at most due to good luck; he had picked up the relics of some ancient powerful being, learned a little bit, and by sheer chance gained some strength.
The Styx Ancestor slowly stood up, his hunched figure slightly straightening, his bones creaking and grinding, a harsh and unpleasant sound. He stared greedily at Lu Yuan, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism: "You were able to easily crush my divided soul; you must possess the inheritance left by ancient cultivators! Hand it over obediently, and I might take pity on you and accept you as a disciple, teaching you the true path to immortality, freeing you from your mortal body and allowing you to embark on the path of cultivation. How about it?"
In his eyes, Lu Yuan was nothing more than a kid who got rich by picking up scraps, while he was a dignified Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivator, an invincible existence on this waste planet. Dealing with Lu Yuan was a piece of cake; he could crush him with a mere flick of his wrist.
Looking at the arrogant and reckless behavior of the Styx Ancestor, Lu Yuan couldn't help but shake his head, a hint of extreme mockery flashing in his eyes, as if he were looking at a clown jumping around, an idiot: "The Great Dao of Immortality?"
He took a step forward, his tone icy and chilling, each word like an ice pick striking the heart of the Styx Ancestor: "You, a piece of filthy trash who prolongs your life by sucking the essence of mortals, dare to utter the words 'Great Dao'? Do you even deserve to talk about immortality?"
"court death!!"
Styx Ancestor, struck at his most vulnerable spot by Lu Yuan, flew into a rage, roaring as the black aura around him surged wildly, intensifying the malevolent energy within the cave and distorting the very air. His hands moved rapidly, forming hand seals, his fingers flying across the surface as he chanted incantations in a cryptic, demonic voice: "Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul Devouring Array! Activate—!!"
With his roar, countless black mists suddenly surged from the stone walls surrounding the cave, churning and converging like a tide, instantly filling the entire cave. From within the mist, thousands upon thousands of twisted, grotesque faces emerged, each with a ferocious expression, bloodshot eyes, and emitting piercing screams. They opened their blood-red maws, revealing sharp fangs, and, accompanied by a chilling wind, pounced on Lu Yuan from all directions.
These are all the vengeful souls of mortals whose life essence he drained and whose vitality he stripped away. He used sinister secret methods to refine them into evil spirits, who suffer the torment of being devoured day and night, and can only obey his control, becoming his killing tools. This Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul Devouring Array is extremely sinister and powerful. Even the most powerful martial artists in the Divine Realm on Earth would be devoured by these evil spirits in an instant, leaving not even bone fragments, their souls scattered.
Faced with this overwhelming and ferocious array of ten thousand ghosts, Lu Yuan neither dodged nor defended, nor even showed the slightest fluctuation in his eyes, as if everything before him was just an insignificant farce.
He simply sighed softly, his tone carrying a mixture of pity and indifference, and slowly spoke to the distorted, ghostly faces: "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. You suffered humiliation in life and will be restless in death. Today, I will grant you liberation."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yuan slowly raised his right hand. A wisp of golden flame quietly leaped on his fingertip, warm and pure, yet carrying a chilling pressure—it was the pure Yang True Fire of the Mahayana stage, the absolute nemesis of all evil spirits, vengeful ghosts, and malevolent spirits. Once touched, they would be burned and their souls scattered.
He flicked his finger, and the tiny golden flame, no bigger than a soybean, floated lightly into the air.
The next second—
"boom--!!"
That faint flame instantly swelled in the wind, transforming into a raging golden sea of fire. The flames roared and filled the entire cave in an instant. The dazzling golden light dispelled all the black energy and evil spirits, and a warm aura swept through the entire area, creating a stark contrast with the bloody and malevolent atmosphere inside the cave.
Those ferocious, menacing demons, the moment they came into contact with the golden flames, didn't even have time to utter a shrill scream before instantly turning into wisps of smoke and dissipating into the air, completely freed from the control of the Styx Ancestor and achieving liberation. In just a few seconds, the countless demons were burned to ashes, leaving not a trace. The so-called Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul-Devouring Array was instantly and completely shattered, leaving them no room for resistance.
"What?! Pure Yang True Fire?! How is this possible?!"
The Styx Ancestor's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, his sunken eyes bloodshot, his face filled with disbelief, terror, and astonishment, his whole body trembling slightly. His prized Ten Thousand Ghosts Soul Devouring Array, a killing move he had spent a hundred years refining with countless vengeful spirits, had been completely destroyed by a tiny flame without even forcing his opponent to utter a single finger!
What the hell is this old monster with such cultivation level?! Pure Yang True Fire—that's a flame that only high-level cultivators in the cultivation world can control. This kid looks to be only in his early twenties, how could he possibly control such a terrifying flame?! His previous judgment was completely wrong! This isn't some kid who suddenly became rich by taking advantage of a loophole; this is someone he simply cannot contend with!
"Escape! We must escape!"
With only one thought in his mind, the instinct for survival overwhelmed all arrogance and greed. He bit his tongue hard, spitting out a mouthful of dark blood essence. The blood essence landed and instantly transformed into a scarlet light that enveloped his body. He turned and tried to escape towards the passage at the top of the cave, wanting only to flee this terrifying place and save his life.
Did I let you leave?
Lu Yuan's voice exploded in his ears like thunder, carrying an irresistible authority that instantly shattered his escape plan.
Before the Styx Ancestor could react, a fair, slender, and seemingly delicate hand had already gripped his neck without warning. The force was so great that he couldn't breathe instantly, and his neck was tightly held, as if it would be snapped in the next second.
"Bang!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Yuan pressed the Styx Ancestor directly onto the granite slab on the ground. The immense force instantly erupted, smashing a deep crater into the hard granite surface. Spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly in all directions, and fragments of stone flew everywhere.
The Styx Ancestor coughed up a mouthful of black blood, his bones snapping and cracking as he lay limp in the deep pit, too weak to even struggle. His eyes were filled with utter terror as he looked at Lu Yuan, who was so close, and his voice was hoarse with a desperate plea: "Senior...please spare my life! I am an outer elder of the Yin Ghost Sect! If you kill me, the Yin Ghost Sect will not let you go! The Yin Ghost Sect has a Golden Core Ancestor in charge; they will definitely come to Earth and tear you to pieces, grind your bones to dust! Please...please spare my life!"
"The Yin Ghost Sect?" Lu Yuan sneered, his tone full of disdain and mockery, his eyes icy cold. "When I return to the cultivation world, I will personally go to the Yin Ghost Sect, uproot your sect, kill all the demonic cultivators, and completely erase the Yin Ghost Sect from the cultivation world. You are nothing more than the first pawn in my purge of the Yin Ghost Sect."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yuan suddenly exerted force with his right hand.
"Click."
With a crisp cracking sound, the Styx Ancestor's neck was snapped in two. His head slumped limply to the side, his eyes wide open, his face still bearing the lingering fear and resentment, before he was completely lifeless.
But Lu Yuan did not stop there. He stretched out his hand, a faint light emanating from his fingertips, and forcibly extracted a black soul from the Styx Ancestor's brow. That was the Styx Ancestor's natal soul, and the root of his many evil deeds.
"Light the sky lantern, atone for your sins with your soul." Lu Yuan's tone was icy and devoid of any emotion. A wisp of pure yang true fire emerged from his fingertips once more, directly igniting the black divine soul.
"Aaaaaahh ...
The pain of having one's soul burned by the pure Yang true fire was a thousand times worse than physical torture. The Styx Ancestor's soul let out a scream a thousand times more agonizing than that of a pig being slaughtered, the sound piercing the cave and unbearably grating. His soul struggled and twisted wildly in the flames, but could not escape at all. He could only endure this extreme pain for forty-nine days until his soul was completely reduced to ashes, never to be reborn, in order to atone for the heinous sins he had committed over the years.
Having done all this, Lu Yuan didn't glance at the corpse on the ground or the burning soul again, as if he had merely dealt with an insignificant bug. He slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the Spirit Gathering Jade in mid-air, and reached out his hand, gently beckoning: "Come back."
The cyan jade pendant seemed to understand his call, transforming into a beam of cyan light and landing steadily in his palm.
Lu Yuan gripped the jade pendant tightly, his fingertips feeling the familiar scent emanating from it—the scent of his mother, the longing he had searched for across a thousand years. His heart, unchanging for millennia, finally stirred at this moment, a barely perceptible tenderness and bittersweetness flickering in his eyes.
"Mom," he murmured softly, his voice gentle yet filled with unwavering determination, "I've taken your things back. From now on, no one will dare to desecrate them, and no one will dare to hurt us."
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing his thoughts, and his gaze turned cold again. He looked at the array patterns on the jade pendant that had been corrupted by the demonic cultivators, as well as the remaining filthy blood energy. He snorted coldly, and his pure spiritual power from the Mahayana stage flowed continuously into the jade pendant through his palm.
"Snap!"
With a soft, crisp sound, the rough seal placed on the jade pendant by the Styx Ancestor, along with all the filth and bloodlust on it, was instantly washed away by spiritual power, disappearing without a trace. The jade pendant regained its original warm luster, and its azure light became even softer, yet it contained an extremely pure and vast amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.
With the seal completely broken, an indescribable surge of spiritual energy, like a flood bursting its banks, burst forth from the jade pendant, instantly engulfing the entire cave and rushing straight to the ground through the air-raid shelter's passage!
This spiritual energy was so vast and pure that it broke through the dome of the air-raid shelter in Xishan, transforming into a visible cyan pillar of light that shot straight into the sky, piercing the clouds above the capital and illuminating the entire night sky as if it were daytime.
Above the capital, the thick clouds were forcibly torn apart by this beam of light, and wisps of spiritual energy from heaven and earth poured into the earth along the beam. Within a radius of a hundred miles, whether it was the flowers, trees, and shrubs in the deep mountains or the green plants and potted plants in the city, under the nourishment of this pure spiritual energy, they seemed to have taken a powerful tonic, growing wildly, with lush branches and leaves, and the previously withered vegetation instantly bursting with vitality.
The Earth's spiritual energy, sealed for millennia, and the path of cultivation, suppressed for a thousand years, were at this moment torn open by Lu Yuan himself! The spiritual energy revived, the world changed, and a brand new era was about to begin!
......
Meanwhile, deep within the Kunlun Mountains, in a perpetually snow-covered, rarely visited ice cave, a gaunt old man who had sat cross-legged for over a hundred years suddenly opened his eyes. His previously cloudy eyes instantly became bright and piercing, a flash of shock and ecstasy in them. He abruptly stood up, sensing the suddenly dense spiritual energy in the air, his voice trembling: "Spiritual energy... the spiritual energy has revived?! For a thousand years, this day has finally come!"
In an underground laboratory on a secluded private island overseas, a mutant submerged in nutrient solution suddenly let out a deafening roar. His body swelled wildly, his skin cracked open, revealing scarlet muscles beneath. He sensed the spiritual energy in the air, his eyes filled with fanaticism and violence—the revival of spiritual energy gave him hope of breaking free from constraints and gaining control of his power.
In the headquarters of the Bureau of Extraordinary Immortals in the capital city, the monitoring hall, where the spiritual energy index monitor was originally stable, suddenly went off the charts, the pointer spun wildly, all the alarm lights flashed a blinding red, and the ear-piercing alarm sounded throughout the hall, making people's eardrums hurt.
Long Yuan sat in front of the monitor, his eyes fixed on the azure beam of light shooting into the sky. His palms were drenched in cold sweat, and his back was completely soaked. He trembled slightly, muttering to himself, his eyes filled with shock, awe, and bewilderment: "Spiritual energy... has recovered? This world, starting tonight, is completely different..."
He knew that Lu Yuan's actions not only reclaimed the Spirit Gathering Jade, but also completely changed the landscape of Earth. A new era full of opportunities and dangers had arrived, and Lu Yuan was the one who ushered in this new era, an existence he could never reach and could only look up to.