I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 272 Bandits Passing Through (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

As the blinding dark golden light dissipated, Jiang Yi's nostrils were suddenly filled with a stench like rotting flesh.

With the tortoise shell still in his hand, Jiang Yi threaded it back onto the sword-nurturing gourd, held his breath, and looked around.

She and Luo Qingsi were standing on the ground floor of a tower, where twelve stone statues, each over ten feet tall, stood in a circle, all in twisted, half-human, half-beast forms.

The bird-headed stone statues on both sides were peeling away debris, revealing the crimson flesh writhing inside, and seven or eight compound eyes on the crests were looking at them.

The giant statue in the center with three heads and six arms should have had the kind and benevolent face of a Bodhisattva, but now its left face is covered with honeycomb-like fleshy buds, and its right face is melting into wax. Only the evil face with blue face and fangs in the middle is grinning wickedly.

Jiang Yi sighed inwardly, as expected, the situation here was similar to that of the Azure Emperor Palace, both having been corroded and undergoing abnormal changes.

Luo Qingsi was not surprised; she had seen far more disgusting and terrifying sights when she fought against the demons on the shores of the North Sea.

"Senior Sister, where is that wicked woman? Where is the treasure?" Luo Qingsi searched everywhere.

"Get out first."

Jiang Yi pulled Luo Qingsi around the black nematodes on the ground. As the two walked out of the doorway, the entire tower suddenly resounded with the ethereal sound of chimes.

A strange, sweet, and fishy smell filled the air. Jiang Yi spread her divine sense to investigate, and the scene there shocked her.

They were standing on the palm of a colossal statue, as majestic as a mountain. The statue was entirely black, its surface covered with cracked patterns. It was the image of a wrathful Vajra with three heads and six arms, four of which twisted and stretched towards the sky, forcefully supporting the low-hanging sky.

Their other two arms held a chisel in one hand and a pagoda in the other, the pagoda they were in. The pagoda was leaning and about to collapse, its surface covered with dark red, vein-like patterns that pulsated rhythmically, as if they were alive.

"Senior Sister, why is the desert here blood-red?" Luo Qingsi asked.

Jiang Yi looked into the distance and saw that the entire land was a boundless blood-red desert, with sand grains that were an eerie dark red color, swirling in the wind like flowing blood.

Thick, blood-red cumulus clouds hung low in the sky, with twisted lightning flashing intermittently within them. These lightning bolts also had a sickly purplish-red hue, and each flash left a brief, eye-shaped afterimage in the clouds.

There are three more statues like this, with three heads, six arms, and fierce eyes. In the center of the four statues, a huge, irregular hole is torn open in the blood-red clouds, and a dark golden giant ruler that reaches the sky and the earth plunges straight down from it, its upper end disappearing into the depths of the clouds and its lower end sinking into the vortex of quicksand.

The ruler is engraved with three ancient seal characters, 'Zhang Tian Chi'. Crimson lightning is continuously striking the ruler, and a shocking crack has appeared on its body. Each time lightning strikes the ruler, it causes a tremor that distorts space.

"Senior Sister, look! Is that the spirit of a Fire Phoenix? And is that the blue one the spirit of a Azure Luan?"

Luo Qingsi's eyes shone as she pointed into the distance. Jiang Yi also saw several crimson fire phoenix spirits and cyan azure luan spirits circling around the Zhangtian Ruler, their cries filled with pain and madness.

The fire phoenix's tail feathers transformed into countless wriggling tentacles, and the blue luan's wings were covered with tiny mouths that kept opening and closing.

The essence of a spirit is more solid and contains greater power than a remnant spirit. Although the essence of this spirit resembles a fire phoenix and a blue luan, it is not a true divine bird.

Jiang Yi had only managed to capture a remnant soul of a fire phoenix in order to nurture the sword spirit of the Yaoling Sword. He never expected to find so many better souls here.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning struck the Zhangtian Ruler, and Jiang Yi vaguely heard a low murmur. The voice did not enter through her ears, but resounded directly in her mind.

The voice contained an ancient language that was difficult to understand; just hearing it made her temples throb and she experienced a brief hallucination.

She 'saw' countless twisted human figures crawling in the blood-red desert, their limbs bent at impossible angles, like pilgrims moving towards the Zhangtianchi.

When she closed her eyes and opened them again, she found that there were no twisted people in the blood-red desert. What was buried under the sand were stone figures of various shapes and broken pieces.

Jiang Yi turned to look at Luo Qingsi, who seemed unaffected, her eyes still clear.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yiqiang suppressed the discomfort rising in his heart. "The real Kundao Palace must be below the Zhangtian Chi. We entered through the main gate, but Ancestor Tianxin may have entered through the back gate and might already be inside the Kundao Palace. Let's hurry on our way."

Upon hearing this, Luo Qingsi drew her sword incantation, and the long sword behind her was drawn with a clang.

"Senior Sister, you're walking too slowly. Let me fly on my sword!"

Before Jiang Yi could react, Luo Qingsi grabbed her and pulled her onto the flying sword. The sword sank slightly and then transformed into a bolt of lightning, cutting through the bloody wind and whistling past.

A fierce wind blew in their faces, and blood-red sand grains rained down on them, but they were instantly annihilated when they touched the lightning surrounding Luo Qingsi. Jiang Yi supported her shoulders and looked down.

The desert receded rapidly beneath their feet, startling countless dormant blood sand worms. Their ferocious mouthparts emerged from the sand, only to be instantly charred by lightning.

Just as the stone figures in the distance raised their decaying arms, a flash of sword light arrived, cleaving them in two.

Before the mangled body even hit the ground, Luo Qingsi grabbed at the scattered fragments in mid-air, and they flew into her storage bag as if attracted by a magnet. Her movements were fluid and graceful, as if she had practiced them a thousand times.

The monsters here look strange, but their strength is about the same as those in the Azure Emperor Palace. Foundation Establishment cultivators would have a hard time dealing with them, but for Luo Qingsi, a Golden Core sword cultivator with abnormal combat power, it's like cutting melons and vegetables.

"Senior Sister, please pack some for me first."

Without turning her head, Luo Qingsi tossed a storage bag to Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi instinctively caught it and found it crammed full of stone terracotta warrior fragments, mechanical gears, and even several pieces of mutated sandworm shells, charred black from being struck by lightning. Jiang Yi sighed silently and, as usual, helped her transfer the contents to herself, emptying the storage bag for her so she could continue filling it.

This girl was clearly in a great hurry, yet she managed to 'scaveng and loot simultaneously', her skill in plundering every passing goose was simply unparalleled.

A fierce wind howled, and the Heavenly Ruler was almost upon them, but Luo Qingsi suddenly braked, her flying sword carving a ten-zhang-long furrow in the sand.

Luo Qingsi jumped off her sword in a hurry, dug out a stone slab covered with writing from the sand like a dog, and handed it to Jiang Yi. Then she continued to speed away.

Jiang Yi was stunned, holding the stone slab that had been shoved into her arms. How did they discover that?
Is this guy equipped with some kind of treasure-hunting radar?

Jiang Yi recognized each of the ancient characters on the stone slab, but when they were put together, his vision went black, as if they were describing some kind of mechanical puppetry technique.

There was no time to examine it closely at the moment. Jiang Yi threw the stone slab and all the things that Luo Qingsi had collected into Youxian Ferry and let Zhenshan and Duanjin sort them out.

"Qingsi, fly up and let me collect a few bird souls."

"There's no time, Senior Sister. You stay here, I'll go catch one for you!"

Jiang Yi sensed disdain in Luo Qingsi's tone, disdain for her being an old woman and disdain for her low cultivation level, which she considered a burden.

Jiang Yi was both amused and exasperated when Luo Qingsi's flying sword suddenly accelerated, propelling her into the sky like an arrow. Lightning and sword energy exploded around her, weaving into an impenetrable net of swords in mid-air.

She was too fast; before the circling fire phoenixes and azure luan spirits could react, they were all caught in the net of sword energy.

"Senior Sister, catch!"

Luo Qingsi yanked the net shut, and Jiang Yi quickly took out the Green Wood Cauldron to collect the messy bird souls in the net.

Bang!
Jiang Yi closed the lid of the cauldron, and there was a moment of silence inside before the sounds of thumping and the mournful cry of a bird's soul could be heard.

She slapped a few talismans drawn by Pu Ning on the back of her hand, and the green wood cauldron instantly became as quiet as a chicken.

Although these bird souls have been corrupted and mutated, they can be refined by the Green Wood Cauldron for a period of time to remove the mutated aura and restore them to their original state. That is what the Green Wood Cauldron is for.

The two worked together seamlessly, completing their attack in just three breaths. The other bird spirits in the distance hadn't even realized their companion was missing.

"Is that enough, Senior Sister?"

Luo Qingsi frowned and asked, "If that's not enough, I'll go get some more."

Jiang Yi was very satisfied. In the past, she only thought that this girl was troublesome and liked to cause trouble. Now that she was a little lazy and ordered her to do the work, the efficiency was surprisingly high and it saved her trouble.

She was ungrateful before.

"And the spirit of that Azure Phoenix!"

Jiang Yi suddenly pointed to the crack in the Zhangtianchi, where an exceptionally magnificent azure phoenix spirit was stretching its neck and crying out, its tail feathers pulsating with a heart-stopping azure light.

Without saying a word, Luo Qingsi's sword flashed again. This time, she became one with her sword, swooping down like a predating eagle.

The azure phoenix spirit was alert and tried to escape, but its claws were entangled by the sword energy and lightning bursting from Luo Qingsi's fingertips. It stretched its neck and screamed in agony, flapping its wings and creating countless wind blades as it struggled violently.

"Come here you go!"

With a violent tug, the spirit of the Azure Phoenix cried out as it was swung around and smashed into the Azure Wood Cauldron.

Jiang Yi, with her mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation, almost couldn't catch the 'meteor hammer'. The cauldron vibrated violently from the impact, and her old bones cracked.

She gasped and sealed the cauldron, hearing Luo Qingsi mutter, "How can we move this Heavenly Ruler?"

"No, no, no," Jiang Yi quickly advised the child, "This thing is clearly a sealed artifact, we'd better not touch it. If anyone tries to destroy the Heavenly Ruler, you kill them, understand?"

The reason why landslides used to happen wherever Luo Qingsi went was because she would take anything with even a little bit of spiritual energy, even if she could only sell it for a low-grade spirit stone.

"I understand, Senior Sister."

Luo Qingsi obediently agreed that she couldn't take it, so she stopped thinking about it. However, she felt empty inside and had lost a lot, so she set her sights on the other bird spirits around her, preparing to catch them all to make up for the loss.

Under the blood-red sky, the two bandits worked together with increasing skill.

Luo Qingsi was in charge of the all-out pursuit and capture operation, while Jiang Yi was responsible for the stakeout and support.

With each opening and closing of the lid of the cauldron, a bird's soul loses its freedom.

……

the other side,
As soon as Zhao Cangyun and the others entered, they saw Ancestor Tianxin beating the masked girl.

(End of this chapter)