Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Chapter 143 Journey South (4K)

Xu Hao stood up and hung the Devouring Sea Blade back on his waist.

Four hundred li.

In the desolate and treacherous Wandu Forest, with its broken terrain, miasma, and poisonous creatures, even an ordinary Yi Jin Realm martial artist could not travel more than thirty miles in a day and was always at risk of sudden death.

But Xu Hao is different.

He is the master of this forest.

He started walking and headed due south.

The Surging Waves Step requires no deliberate burst of inner energy; each powerful pump of blood from the Dark Gold Heart provides a continuous and sustained source of power for the legs.

He walked very fast.

His figure transformed into a dark golden afterimage, darting through the dense forest.

The poisonous vines and thorns blocking his path retreated on their own, and the swamp beneath the decaying leaves hardened like iron the moment he stepped on it.

The pale yellow miasma swirled around him for about three zhang, but could not cross the line.

Two hours later, he advanced 150 li to the south.

The scroll in his mind trembled slightly.

[A high-level fallen warrior's lair has been discovered.]

Clearing out nests will increase the progress of refining in the blessed land.

Xu Hao stopped in his tracks.

Ahead lay a massive sinkhole.

The bottom of the pit was littered with stark white skeletons, mostly those of strange beasts, but also some human remains. The pit walls were riddled with countless caves, emitting a nauseating stench.

A dozen or so large Fallen Warriors were feeding at the bottom of the pit.

They retain the outline of humans, but their bodies are covered with grayish-brown bone spurs, and their hands and feet have been transformed into sharp claws.

The fluctuations of Qi and blood in the inner realm.

The leader was twice the size of an average person, with the bone spurs on its back faintly glowing purple, and its blood and qi fluctuations were approaching the Tongqiao realm.

They noticed Xu Hao's arrival.

A dozen pairs of scarlet eyes stared intently at the cliff top of the pit.

roar-

The lead Bone Spike Fallen Warrior roared and charged up the pit wall as if walking on flat ground, using all four limbs. The rest of the Fallen Warriors followed closely behind.

Xu Hao did not draw his sword.

He watched the monster rushing towards him, and slowly spread the five fingers of his right hand.

The newly forged dark gold internal organs roared within his body.

The heart is like an iron cauldron, and the lungs are like bellows.

He took a deep breath, and his blood and qi were compressed wildly within the dark gold circulation.

Then, he threw a punch.

No martial arts techniques were used; it was simply a combination of pure physical strength and the energy of the earth's veins.

boom!

The air was violently shattered by this punch, producing a deafening sonic boom.

A visible dark golden wave of energy erupted from his fist, transforming into a tangible gale that swept down into the sinkhole in a fan shape.

The leader at the forefront was hit head-on by the blast wave.

Its hard bone spikes shattered inch by inch the moment they came into contact with the air blast. Then, its flesh and bones disintegrated under the terrifying pressure, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

The shockwave continued unabated, engulfing the remaining dozen or so fallen warriors.

The pit walls trembled violently, and large chunks of rock broke off.

One punch.

There are no living things left in the sinkhole.

Xu Hao withdrew his fist and glanced at the back of his hand.

The dark gold veins were hidden beneath the skin.

His physical strength, honed to the level of the Forging Realm, combined with the power of the earth's veins, imbued his every move with devastating force.

Ordinary internal strength cultivators are no different from paper in his eyes.

[Nest clearing complete.]

[The refining progress in the blessed land has increased. Current progress: 12%.]

[The detection range of the Myriad Poisons Forest has expanded.]

A small section of the mist on the scroll was dispelled, revealing more details of the underground river and terrain.

Xu Hao did not stop and continued south.

As they ventured deeper, the environment of the Wan Du Forest began to change.

The trees grew thicker, and their bark took on an eerie iron-black color.

The decaying leaves on the ground had disappeared, replaced by hard, black rocks. The miasma in the air had thinned, but it had been replaced by a heavy, oppressive feeling.

Four hours later.

Xu Hao stopped in front of a stone forest composed of black rocks.

The distance from here to that shielded area is less than ten miles.

The scroll of blessed land in the sea of ​​consciousness was covered by a black cloth when it arrived here, and nothing could be detected.

The instinctive retreat of the Myriad Poisons Forest Sea failed here; the authority of the blessed land seemed to be isolated by some higher power.

The Devouring Sea Blade at Xu Hao's waist began to tremble violently.

The dark gold patterns on the blade shone with a dazzling light, and the extreme cold and yin energy intertwined with the power of the earth veins within the blade, emitting a rapid hum.

It is yearning.

An extreme longing.

Xu Hao reached out and pressed down on the hilt of the knife, his bone resonance suppressing the restlessness of the blade.

He slowed his pace, concealed his breathing, and silently slipped into the stone forest.

The terrain inside the Stone Forest is exceptionally complex, resembling a natural maze. Black rock pillars soar into the clouds, blocking out all light.

After passing through a narrow crevice in the rocks, Xu Hao's view suddenly opened up.

In the center of the stone forest is a huge circular open space.

In the center of the open space stood an ancient altar.

The altar was built of an unidentified blue boulder, its surface covered with intricate patterns.

These patterns share the same origin as those on the Devouring Sea Blade, but are more ancient and rugged.

A fist-sized fragment floats atop the altar.

The fragment was entirely black, irregularly shaped, and had sharp edges.

It floated there silently, emitting visible black ripples.

Wherever the ripples swept, the space itself underwent extremely subtle distortions.

Fragments of the Maw.

It was a larger and more complete fragment than the Sea-Devouring Blade in Xu Hao's hand.

But Xu Hao's gaze did not immediately lock onto the fragments.

There were people around the altar.

They are not fallen warriors, but living, breathing human beings.

There were about thirty people, all dressed in uniform greyish-white robes, with hoods covering most of their faces.

They sat cross-legged around the altar, their hands forming strange hand gestures, and chanting incantations.

A low, eerie chanting sound echoed across the open space.

"Heaven is dead, the Eternal Mother is gone, and my homeland is empty—"

The Wusheng Sect.

Xu Hao's eyes turned cold.

This cult, which incited refugees to rebel in Ningzhou and whose core members were proficient in sorcery, actually traveled all the way to the heart of the Wandu Forest in Zezhou.

Standing directly in front of the altar was a tall, thin man.

He wasn't wearing a gray robe, but rather a black garment embroidered with blood-red lotus flowers.

He held a bronze bell in his hand, and with each shake, a wisp of gray mist would drift out of the bell and merge into the black fragments at the top of the altar.

The blood and qi fluctuations were at the mid-stage of the Tongqiao Realm, but the aura was extremely cold and gloomy, mixed with an unsettling and sinister feeling.

"Soon—" The man in black stared at the floating fragment, his eyes burning with fervor. "With the protection of the Eternal Mother, as long as we bring this ancient sacred artifact back to the sect, the great cause in Ningzhou will surely advance with unstoppable momentum!"

He increased the frequency of shaking the bell.

The blue patterns on the altar began to glow faintly, attempting to establish a connection with the black fragment.

They are trying to collect this piece of debris.

Xu Hao stood in the shadow of the crevice in the rock, slowly drawing the Sea-Devouring Blade with his right hand.

The moment the Devouring Sea Blade was drawn, the black fragments at the top of the altar suddenly stopped emitting ripples.

It trembled violently in mid-air, then suddenly changed direction, its tip pointing directly at the crevice where Xu Hao was.

A call from the same source is more direct than any sorcery.

The man in black froze. He turned his head sharply, staring intently at the crevice in the rock, the bronze bell in his hand emitting a piercing shriek.

"Who's there?!"

More than thirty members of the Wusheng Cult simultaneously stopped chanting, stood up in unison, and their eyes under their hoods gleamed with an eerie green light.

Xu Hao had no intention of hiding anything.

He emerged from the shadows, knife in hand.

The dark golden internal organs circulated smoothly within the body. With each step, the heavy fluctuations of qi and blood created a ring of fine cracks on the black rocky ground.

"You can't take this with you."

Xu Hao's voice wasn't loud, but it could be clearly heard in the empty stone forest.

The man in black narrowed his eyes, sizing up the suddenly appearing figure in black. When his gaze fell on the Devouring Sea Blade in Xu Hao's hand, his pupils suddenly contracted.

"A sacred relic of the same origin—" The man in black's breathing became rapid, his face contorted with fanatical greed. "The Mother herself has appeared! She actually delivered herself to our doorstep! Kill him! Take the knife from his hand!"

More than thirty gray-robed cult members, like puppets devoid of pain, let out inhuman roars and pounced on Xu Hao.

They were incredibly fast, their movements were unpredictable, and their palms were covered in a layer of grayish-green poison gas.

Xu Hao's eyes were indifferent.

He gripped the knife handle with both hands.

Dark golden earth vein power surged from the five internal organs and poured into the Devouring Sea Blade.

The ancient patterns on the blade instantly burst forth with dazzling light.

"Nine Slashes Without Delusion," Xu Hao sweeps across with a single blade.

There was no probing, no holding back.

A five-zhang-long dark gold blade aura slashed out in a crescent shape, carrying an overbearing power that could tear everything apart and an extremely cold, yin energy.

The dozen or so members of the Wusheng Cult who were at the forefront were cut in half at the waist by the blade's energy before they could even scream.

The moment their bodies came into contact with the power of the dark gold ley lines, they were instantly carbonized into ashes, and even the poisonous gas was burned away completely.

The blade's momentum did not diminish, carving a three-foot-deep trench in the hard, black rocky ground.

One strike clears the field.

The remaining dozen or so followers stopped abruptly, a flicker of instinctive fear flashing in their eerie green eyes.

The man in black's expression changed.

He could see the fluctuations in Xu Hao's blood and qi at the early stage of the Tongqiao Realm, but the power of this strike had far exceeded the scope of the Tongqiao Realm.

"Form the array! Invoke the image of the Mother!" The man in black roared fiercely, biting his tongue and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the bronze bell.

The bell rang, producing a mournful, ghostly wail.

The remaining followers immediately bit their fingers and quickly drew blood symbols on the ground.

Gray mist surged from their bodies, gathering in mid-air to form a blurry, enormous Dharma image with six arms.

The Dharma image exuded a suffocatingly evil pressure, and six arms formed from gray mist simultaneously reached out to grab Xu Hao.

Xu Hao stood still, without retreating.

He looked at the so-called "Old Mother's Image" and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Playing tricks."

His internal organs resonated, and his dark golden blood surged like a mighty river.

He took a step forward, his steps surging like waves.

Xu Hao's figure vanished from his spot in an instant, soaring into the sky in front of six enormous gray mist arms.

Hold the knife with both hands and raise it high above your head.

The bone resonance was superimposed to the extreme, and the devouring power of the Marrow Transformation Realm and the sharpness of the Sea Devouring Blade were perfectly integrated.

One cut.

A dark golden blade of light, reaching to the heavens and earth, like a divine punishment that cleaved the heavens and earth, slashed down from above, striking the head of the six-armed dharma image fiercely.

Completely destroying everything in its path.

The emanating form of the gray mist was as fragile as a phantom before the dark gold blade light.

The blade flashed from head to toe, cleaving the Dharma image in two.

The pure power of the earth's veins instantly purified and burned away all the evil gray mist.

The moment the Dharma image shattered, more than a dozen followers who were forming an array coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground, dying instantly.

The fanaticism in the man in black's eyes turned completely into fear.

He finally realized that the man in front of him was someone he could not contend with.

escape!

Without hesitation, he turned around, transformed into a black shadow, and fled madly into the depths of the stone forest.

Xu Hao landed but did not give chase.

He held the knife in one hand, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground.

He raised his left hand, aiming it at the retreating figure of the man in black.

The dark golden lungs suddenly contracted, and a highly compressed force from the earth's veins surged into the left hand through the meridians.

A punch is thrown.

The moment the five fingers clenched, the compressed earth vein power between the metacarpal bones was pushed to the critical point by the blood pumped out by the dark gold heart, and a line burst out from the front of the fist.

laugh-

A line was torn through the air.

It's not the kind of wide-area damage like a blade aura; it's more like a needle.

A thin, dark gold line less than half an inch in diameter, formed from the power of the earth's veins.

The speed is faster than the sound.

A hundred paces away, the man in black suddenly stiffened.

A coin-sized hole appeared on the back of his head.

The dark golden power of the earth veins erupted within his skull, completely extinguishing his life force.

The body fell forward instinctively and then fell silent.

The open space returned to its deathly silence.

Xu Hao, carrying the knife in one hand, slowly walked towards the central altar.

As he approached, the black fragments atop the altar trembled more and more violently.

As Xu Hao reached the edge of the altar, the fragment suddenly emitted a clear buzzing sound, transformed into a black light, and flew towards Xu Hao on its own.

Xu Hao did not dodge.

The black light struck the hilt of the Devouring Sea Blade directly, silently merging into it.

The Devouring Sea Blade erupted with unprecedentedly violent vibrations.

A long, dark gold sword flew out of his hand and hovered in front of Xu Hao.

The originally damaged blade automatically extended and was repaired after the black fragments were incorporated.

The blade has become longer and the curve is more perfect.

Two ancient seal characters emerged on the spine of the knife.

【The Abyss】.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, the scroll shone with golden light.

The restoration progress of the ancient weapon remnant "The Abyss" has increased. Current restoration progress: 35%.

[Unlock weapon trait: Abyss.]

[Description: This technique draws upon the earth's primordial energy to power the blade. Wherever the blade points, it carries the immense pressure of "domain suppression." Within a ten-zhang radius, all movement techniques are forbidden, and the circulation of one's own qi and blood is sealed. When used, the weight of the blade multiplies exponentially with the target's cultivation level.]

Xu Hao reached out and grasped the Devouring Abyss, which was suspended in mid-air.

The moment he grasped the hilt of the knife, his entire body sank downwards.

The black rock beneath their feet cracked open, and spiderweb-like fissures spread all the way to the edge of the altar.

weight.

too heavy.

"The higher the target's cultivation level, the heavier the blade. If I were to use this to cut down a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator, I'd have to think twice about whether I could withstand the blade," he muttered to himself.

He looked up and gazed into the depths of the stone forest.

The heart of the 400-mile-long Poisonous Forest is now devoid of any secrets.