Thus, An Lin added Sun Yuluo to his party.
“Sword Immortal An Lin, this is the map of the Dead Spirit Demonic Land.” Sun Yuluo offered the map to An Lin like an obedient servant.
An Lin appraised the map to discover that there were indeed many areas on it that had been explored and labeled. There were even annotations for dangerous locations, but there was still no information regarding the blood-erupting mountain.
“Let’s go have a look in that direction,” An Lin said.
“Yes, Sword Immortal An Lin!” Sun Yuluo nodded obediently.
An Lin nodded with contentment. There were two reasons that contributed to his decision to allow Sun Yuluo into his party. Firstly, he had the map, and secondly, his calls of “Sword Immortal An Lin” were extremely fervent and genuine, making An Lin feel quite good about himself…
omHowever, he was soon beginning to get a little disgruntled.
This Sun Yuluo simply wouldn’t shut up!
“Sword Immortal An Lin, Sword Immortal An Lin, how old were you when you first began training in the way of the sword?”
“Nineteen…”
“Oh my God! You didn’t train from a young age? You only trained in the way of the sword for a few years and have achieved so much? That’s extraordinary!!”
“… I haven’t even cultivated for that long.”
“Gasp… As expected of the number one sword immortal on the Tai Chu Continent! Your aptitude is simply unheard of!”
“You’re too kind.”
“Sword Immortal An Lin, Sword Immortal An Lin, who is your sword instructor?”
“You sure talk a lot. My master’s name is Ichigo Kurosaki[1]
“Ichigo Kurosaki? What a unique name. He must be an exceptional sword immortal as well, right?”
“That’s right, he’s very mysterious and very powerful… Anyhow, can you please shut up?”
“Of course.” Sun Yuluo nodded before speaking again, “Sword Immortal An Lin, how do you train in the way of the sword?”
An Lin: “I usually train by using my sword as a kitchen knife to process ingredients. After a while, I became more and more adept with it…”
Sun Yuluo was astonished. “Using a sword as a kitchen knife for training? How terrifying! Is this what it means to go back to the basics? Perhaps engaging in the most mundane activity allows one to better resonate and communicate with heaven and earth, thereby observing the paramount dao through daily activities!”
An Lin: “… Little Sun, your comprehension skills are extraordinary.”
“Sword Immortal An Lin, Sword Immortal An Lin, what is your sword called? And why are you carrying it on your back? Is it to better communicate with it through physical contact?” Sun Yuluo asked three questions in one go.
An Lin’s expression darkened. “Didn’t I tell you to shut the f*ck up?!”
Sun Yuluo recoiled slightly. “Oh…”
Moments later.
“Sword Immortal An Lin, Sword Immortal An Lin…”
“F*ck off!”
Thus, the three of them continued onward for a while before finally arriving in a world completely devoid of vitality.
The ground was black and desolate, the sky was dull and lifeless. There would occasionally be a few wisps of strange blue shadows passing through overhead, giving one a bone-chilling sensation at the very sight of them.
“The Dead Spirit Demonic Land is just up ahead, so be on your guard, everyone,” An Lin cautioned.
The Dead Spirit Demonic Land was one of the most perilous places in the Ancient Void State, so they had to be careful even though they were only situated on its outskirts.
Sun Yuluo swallowed nervously as he followed closely behind An Lin.
As soon as they entered the Dead Spirit Demonic Land, they were struck by a chilling sensation, as if there was something that was trying to freeze them solid.
Soon, a massive blue skull exuding yin energy flew toward them with its eerie, cavernous mouth wide open, as if it was trying to swallow An Lin and his party in one bite.
“Ah…!” Sun Yuluo screamed and almost fell off his flying sword.
“You want to eat me? F*ck off, woof!” Da Bai exhaled violently toward the huge, blue skeleton, and a silvery-white wind blade swept through the air before instantly shattering the skull.
“So… so powerful!” Sun Yuluo exclaimed with praise and amazement. “Not only was that an extremely powerful physical attack, but it was also imbued with the power to destroy the enemy’s consciousness!”
Da Bai wagged his snowy-white tail with a smug expression. “My domain is a dual-attack domain, which can act on both physical and spiritual levels, so beating up ghosts like these is a piece of cake for me!”
A faint smile appeared on An Lin’s face. This was actually the reason why An Lin had brought Da Bai along with him on this trip. Not only would he be a natural predator to all of the ghosts here, but he was also quite sensitive to ghosts, so perhaps he could find some unexpected leads.
“Big Brother Dog is bad*ss!” Sun Yuluo offered genuine words of praise.
As they continued deeper and deeper into the Dead Spirit Demonic Land, the sky overhead also became darker and darker.
After passing over a certain hill, everyone suddenly heard the sound of a woman’s laughter.
“Hehehe…”
“Hehehe…”
It seemed to be the laughter of a woman having fun and enjoying herself, but the laughter had an eerie, chilling quality to it.
Sun Yuluo’s face paled as goosebumps appeared all over his entire body. “Big… Big Brother Dog, did you hear that?”
A confident smile appeared on Da Bai’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back!”
He suddenly swiped his claws toward two rotten rocks on the hill as he spoke, upon which two silver blades of wind descended to pulverize the rocks amid a woman’s heart-wrenching scream.
The eerie laughter subsided.
“Big Brother Dog is awesome!” Sun Yuluo exclaimed in admiration, “You can see invisible ghosts?”
Da Bai replied with a smug expression, “My domain can!”
Profound admiration welled up in Sun Yuluo’s heart.
An Lin turned toward Sun Yuluo with a speechless expression. “Oi! Can you do something other than scream and be scared? You’re a Soul Formation Final Stage sword immortal, for God’s sake!”
“B… but I really am scared. I’ve been scared of ghosts ever since I was a child…” Sun Yuluo stammered with embarrassment.
“It’s ok, everything will be fine, your Big Brother Dog will protect you.” Da Bai patted Sun Yuluo’s head with his paw as he offered words of comfort.
Sun Yuluo turned to Da Bai with a grateful expression.
An Lin: “…”
Sun Yuluo was a young man wearing a blue robe and possessed a set of fine and delicate features. His eyes were extremely bright, and his disposition was ethereal and refined. Furthermore, he was only a young man, but he was already a Soul Formation Final Stage powerful being.
How could a young prodigy like him be so petrified of ghosts?
Thus, everyone continued onward. In the meantime, they saw over a hundred tall mountains, but there was no sign of the blood-erupting mountain, nor any signs of the ancient sword. They did, however, encounter quite a few ghosts, which often sent Sun Yuluo into hysterics, but they were all easily taken care of.
“Look, there’s a large city up ahead!” Sun Yuluo exclaimed.
An Lin took a look at the map. “This city is not labeled on the map.”
“It’s an unexplored area with unknown hazards! Woof!” Da Bai’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“This city is already very close to the central region of the Dead Spirit Demonic Land. Let’s go have a look.” An Lin smiled.
“Are… are we really going there? It feels very scary!” Sun Yuluo was petrified.
The sky had completely fallen dark here.
It was clearly still daytime, but the sky here was even darker than nighttime.
Gusts of dark wind blew by, and it appeared as if there were ghostly shadows flashing across the ground.
An Lin couldn’t be bothered to deal with Sun Yuluo’s concerns, and he rode Da Bai through the city gate.
Within the city, all of the buildings were in ruins with the occasional wooden door creaking eerily from the dark winds.
Da Bai looked around with wide eyes before his pupils suddenly contracted.
A black figure had appeared in front of them.
This was a fatso with bloodstains all over his naked upper body. His flesh had been torn apart in many places, revealing his gruesome internal organs as his intestines trailed along behind him. He had a butcher knife in one hand, and a fat, bloodstained, smiling head in the other.
The head spoke in an eerie voice, “Have you… seen… where my head is…”
[1] Ichigo Kurosaki is the main character of the popular manga/anime series “Bleach”, who specializes in wielding swords.