AGM 465 – Grand Xia Has Already Fallen
Outside the Royal Tomb, a sea of experts gathered, yet no one dared to step within.
How vastly powerful was ancient Grand Xia? The Royal Tomb was the burial place for powerhouses like the past emperors of Grand Xia, How could this sacred place allow others to blaspheme it? There were no doubts that this place was littered with dangerous traps.
The Ouyang Aristocrat Clan, Shi Clan as well as the other transcendent powers all gathered their members and prepared to be the vanguard, being the first to step into the Royal Tomb.
Right now, the gaze of the Ouyang Clan Lord shifted onto Yun Mengyi and the rest. His countenance flickered with as an unknown light flashed in his eyes. The Royal Tomb was opened by these people? Also, they obtained the Seven Slaughters Puppets from here. In that case, are they aware of the locations of the dangerous traps?
“Let’s go in.” At this moment, Yun Mengyi spoke in a low voice as she stepped forwards in the direction of the Royal Tomb’s entrance.
Qin Wentian and the rest didn’t hesitate, they followed Yun Mengyi and moved forward. When controlling the puppets, the hearts of the seven were as one, hence there was no reason to doubt her. As for Bai Qing, although her relationship with the others wasn’t that deep, they knew that her relationship with Qin Wentian was like that of siblings. Hence, there was no need to worry about her character.
Qin Wentian himself also really wanted to tell them the truth, yet although they would keep the secret for him, there was no guarantee that they would not call his name out during moments of danger due to agitation. In that case, the secret of the Great Nirvana Art would be leaked, which would mean that he failed in his promise to Qing`er.
Even now, there were many whose eyes were filled with the heat of enmity and greed when they looked at him. It was because he knew the Immortal Vanquishing Swordplay. The power of his sword strike was witnessed by many, how could others not covet it? If it wasn’t for the fact that they feared there might be a powerful force behind his back, as well as the threat which manifested because of the annihilation of the Great Solar Chen Clan, these people would have long since acted against him.
On the martial path, the hearts of humans were treacherous. This was something he had learnt long ago. Not everyone was like Ouyang Kuangsheng and Fan Le, who were buddies who could face death without flinching together with him.
Qin Wentian and the rest had arrived at the large beak of the vermilion bird. Yun Mengyi didn’t hesitate and directly walked in. Very swiftly, the others stepped in after her, disappearing from the crowd’s field of vision.
“Go.”
Seeing someone taking the lead, the rest of the experts felt emboldened. They too, rushed forward, stepping through the entrance into the Royal Tomb.
A moment later, they felt as though they entered a different space. When they turned back, the entrance no longer existed.
They could only enter, they couldn’t exit.
The hearts of the experts all pounded. Some of their hands were clenched into fists, indicating their nervousness.
However as they saw Yun Mengyi and her group, sharpness once again flashed through their eyes. These people seemed to be familiar with the layout of the Royal Tomb. In that case, following them should be the best way to bypass all dangers.
Inclining their heads, they started to survey the interior of the Royal Tomb..
The atmosphere in the Royal Tomb projected a sense of majesticness and imposingness, yet there were also a gloomy and somewhat sinister streak mixed within.
After all this place was the Royal Tomb of ancient Grand Xia.
In front of them, a wide pathway leading forwards could be seen. On both sides of the path, gigantic statues layered there. These statues all seemed to be warriors clad in armor, they were riding on demonic beast mounts with long spears in their hands, and their countenance was solemn but vividly-lifelike. Although they wasn’t alive, they still emanated a sense of intense danger to all who saw them.
“How can the Royal Tomb be a place where all can enter?” Yun Mengyi stared at the path ahead, smiling coldly in her heart. After which, she transmitted her voice to her companions, “Execute the ultimate arts on the path and you will be able to pass through here with no danger.”
As the sound of her voice faded, her sword unsheathed as Yun Mengyi began an intricate dance, advancing forwards, stepping onto that ancient path.
The expressions of the others froze as looks of bewilderment flashed on their faces. Yun Mengyi was doing a sword dance on the ancient path? And she was using the Heavenly Swordplay?
After Yun Mengyi, Fan Le stepped out. The blood in his body seethed and surged while a terrifying power – the Great Solar Illumination, radiated out of him. He initially had the bloodline of the Empyrean Flames, and after he cultivated the Great Solar Universe Technique, the energy of his bloodline got even thicker, complementing each other perfectly.
Ouyang Kuangsheng, Chu Mang and the others displayed the ultimate arts they cultivated and advanced forwards.
From Bai Qing, roiling devil might could be felt. She stepped out, and walked towards the front.
Qin Wentian as the last. Right now, he stepped out as well. The will of the Bloodcurse Imprint coated his entire palms, turning them crimson while a strange energy bubbled in his blood.
The eight of them had already set foot on the path. Those behind them could only watched on in stupefaction.
These eight all cultivated the ultimate arts of Grand Xia? What would happen to those who didn’t know any of the nine ultimate arts?
The experts from the Shi Clan rushed forwards, circulating their Golden Dragon Battleform and entered the pathway. They too, didn’t meet any obstruction.
Those who cultivated the nine ultimate arts were originally only a minority. Very swiftly, all of them had already stepped onto the pathway and passed through it. The countenances of those remaining were contorted by a mixture of negative emotions. Following which, one among them decided to try his luck and rushed out in the direction of the ancient path.
However, the moment his foot landed on the path, the statues on both side suddenly shone with an intense, brilliant white.
“Bzzzz!” Abruptly, the stone spears in their hands were shot out with terrifying force, sealing his path forward, as well as his path of retreat. His countenance turned ashen as he glanced about, only to see the stone statues retrieving their bows, locking down on him. An instant later, a cold and fearsome light bursted forth.
The fired arrows joined like a string of pearls, as a golden streak of light penetrated through the void. That person let out a blood-curdling scream before the force shattered him, turning him into a pool of blood, his original body in pieces around the impact.
Silence descended, nobody even dared to breath. Yet the pounding of the hearts of those who remained got increasingly greater in intensity.
This path, was a path of death. Only those who knew the nine ultimate arts would be allow to proceed forward.
Glancing back, they only saw an icy stretch of stone wall. There was no exit but even then, there were still people rushing into the Royal Tomb to send themselves to their death.
“If this is a path of death, why weren’t there any dried up skeletons or corpses who came by those years ago?” Someone questioned in suspicious. If they were trapped in this place of death, there should be others like them in the past. But why were there no traces at all?
“This place is the Royal Tomb of ancient Grand Xia. Those who entered before must definitely have the bloodline of the ancient emperor. How could they not know this secret? Evidently, they must have also cultivated the nine ultimate arts. How could they be like us? Trapped here right after entering the entrance?” Another person replied, causing the person who asked the question to shut his mouth. A sickening expression of comprehension dawned on his face, as his countenance paled.
These people here all felt their hearts turning to ice.
Yes, this was the Royal Tomb of Grand Xia. How can it be a place where others are allowed to enter so easily?
Those that were buried here, were all ancestors of the ancient Grand Xia. How could others be allowed to disrupt their resting places even after they were gone?
“That woman is truly venomous.” At this moment, an icy voice rang out. Obviously, the person was cursing at Yun Mengyi. She didn’t told anyone that one needed the ultimate arts of Grand Xia to pass through this place. In that case, all of them were already doomed the moment they decided to enter.
Yun Mengyi continued her intricate dance, advancing along the path. She naturally didn’t know what the others were thinking. Even if she knew, their curses wouldn’t affect the state of her heart.
The martial path was unfathomable, the hearts of people treacherous. Upon encountering the Royal Tomb, who wouldn’t want to enter?
If she really did tell them that they shouldn’t enter, would they even heed her advice? No. On the contrary, they would even have suspected her motives, and that she was lying to them. They would still have chosen to enter in the end.
This ancient pathway was extremely long. And after some moments, a gate finally appeared in front of Yun Mengyi. She swiftly stepped through the gate while the others followed behind her, as they appeared in an entirely different place.
This new location wasn’t as narrow as the ancient path, they were now within a grand hall. Within the grand hall, there were several runic inscriptions engraved, and numerous stone pillars acting as support within. And right in the centre, there was a platform used to give offerings to the gods. Right now on that platform, there seemed to be a gigantic coffin that were carved out from a gargantuan block of astral stone. And below it, mysterious lights could be seen flashing, as though they were pulling the coffin along.
There were four huge pillars around the platform, each with pictures of the vermilion bird totem engraved upon it, incredibly vivid and lifelike. In front of the ancient coffin, there was a praying mat placed on that sacrificial platform. Both the pillars and the mat emanated an extremely, and incomparably thick astral energy and seemed to have been created from Yuan Meteor Stones purely..
“These natural Yuan Meteor Stone are so pure, they should have originated from the 5th Heavenly Layer or above. Not only that, the terrifying amount of astral energy within them indicated that they might even originate from the 6th of 7th layer.” The hearts of those that arrived all speculated, pounding wildly. How large a block of Yuan Meteor Stone must be to create these pillars?”
“How luxurious. Such an astronomical amount of high-graded Yuan Meteor Stones, I don’t even know how long can it sustain a peerless transcendent power for.” Some sighed in envy.
The higher the heavenly layer a Yuan Meteor Stone originate from, the more terrifying and pure the energy in them would be. However, top graded Yuan Meteor Stones were extremely limited in number.
Yun Mengyi walked up, and knelt on the astral praying mat in front of that ancient coffin while kowtowing nine times. Every time her forehead slammed onto the ground, she would placed her palm correspondingly in a seemingly random pattern on the vermilion bird totems engraved on the four pillars.
An instant later, astral energy gushed out as the entire platform lit up. Above the four pillars, the radiance emitted illuminated the entire grand hall.
Above the air, in the centre of the four astral pillars, on top of the ancient kingdom, a radiant screen of light in the form of a vermilion bird appeared. Fiery flames birthed, cloaking the bird, as its eyes snapped open, containing an extremely baleful aura within. Despite so, the majesty and terrible beauty it exuded couldn’t be denied.
“The legendary totem beast of Grand Xia, Vermilion Bird.”
“But there shouldn’t be any lifeforms in this place. What is that thing exactly?”
Gradually, a soul-shaking screech echoed in the air as the manifested Vermilion Bird soared into the skies. Gradually, the radiance that shone from it enveloped everyone who arrived here. A dark grim light of rage flashed in the eyes of the bird while a gut wrenching fearsome aura emanated forth from it.
“Why are you the only one that has the bloodline of my clan?” A voice of extreme chill resounded out from the Vermilion Bird, causing the hearts of everyone to shudder involuntarily.
“Replying to ancestor, the Xia Clan has already fallen. After several thousand years, i’m the only descendant remaining.” Yun Mengyi’s eyes shone with reverence and respect. She kowtowed again, but the atmosphere in the air got heavier and heavier. The dark look on the vermilion bird’s countenance deepened as its eyes blazed with the fury of hellfire.
Grand Xia has already fallen?