Translated by Team DHH.
Book 2: The Golden Lock of the Eight Gates
Chapter 33: Nine Colored Dragon Silkworms
Yinglan stayed with Zhong Shan the whole time to avoid the effects of the Hongluan Mist. After releasing the arrow, she quickly backed away.
Zhong Shan jumped out with his machete in hand. Miao Xianren was at his weakest right now; he had been struck by a palm strike, poisoned by a jiangshi, lost his left arm, and both his right arm and leg were disabled. Even his flying sword was trapped by the red silk.
Yet, Zhong Shan kept his guard up. He used the second level of Demonic Body Toning Method to increase his power three folds. With an aura of killing intent, he rushed towards Miao Xianren.
Miao Xianren widened his eyes, filled with deep regret. He regretted how easily he believed Zhong Shan that he didn't even bother to question why Zhong Shan could suddenly show up here.
Watching Zhong Shan come closer, Miao Xianren grit his teeth and widened eyes. A dozen or so Energy Swords suddenly rushed out from his pressure points, flying straight at Zhong Shan.
While releasing all the Energy Swords, the poison seemed to have spread further such that Miao Xianren's face turned a shade darker.
Three times as powerful, Zhong Shan did not fear the Energy Swords, besides they were much weaker than when he first met Miao Xianren.
Zhong Shan waved his machete in a frenzy. The energy from machete collided head on with the Energy Swords. In the meantime, Zhong Shan hurried moving forward with a fierce look on his face.
If Miao Xianren survived, then the nightmare would continue. He had to die!
"Peng, peng………………"
Zhong Shan successfully defended himself from the energy swords. Now his machete was right in front of Miao Xianren. Despite facing someone who had only reached Xiantian, he was terrified. Streaks of blood flowed from his eyes. He managed to use his disabled right leg to support his body, then kicked Zhong Shan with the left before falling to the ground. He couldn't release any more Energy Swords, otherwise, he would die from the poison before Zhong Shan reached him. The flying sword in the distance suddenly burst in a big flash and broke away from the red silk, making a beeline for Zhong Shan.
At this point, Zhong Shan had to take a gamble and trust that he was faster.
Zhong Shan, wide eyed, used his full force.
"Hou~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
Accompanied with a roar, his machete slashed upwards from Miao Xianren's left loin to his right shoulder.
"Peng~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
Miao Xianren was cut into half in disbelief. The pink flying sword suddenly lost all momentum and fell down, missing Zhong Shan and inserted itself into the ground.
"Hu, hu……………….." Zhong Shan took a few deep breaths. That had been too dangerous, too close. He almost lost his life from Miao Xianren's sword.
Was Miao Xianren really only at the Gold Core Stage? He was too hardy, too powerful.
Though Zhong Shan had planned everything that had happened today, too much of it had relied on luck to be successful.
He stored his machete and, with the turn of his hand, collected the surrounding red mist into his palm.
He looked again at Miao Xianren with mixed emotions. Yinglan and Tianling-er ran over after they stowing the Eight Ox Crossbow away. They both looked at Zhong Shan in admiration.
Zhong Shan had cut a person at the Gold Core Stage in half?
"Zhong Shan, you're amazing." Tianling-er couldn't stop marveling aloud. Miao Xianren was at the middle of the Gold Core Stage. He had been just fine before Zhong Shan tricked him and died in front of them. If she told her dad about it, he would never believe her.
"That's for sure. My granduncle is the best." Yinglan excitedly added.
"En." Zhong Shan nodded and started to search Miao Xianren's body.
There was a storage bracelet and that flying sword. Zhong Shan broke open his storage bracelet, put half of the Sumeru Stone into his own storage bracelet to increase its space. The other half, he planned to give to his shadow double.
"This sword is a third level magic item." Tinaling-er explained.
Third level? After the death of Miao Xianren, this sword would forever remain as a third level item? Regardless, Zhong Shan still took it.
"Let's go." Zhong Shan grabbed both pieces of Miao Xianren and led the way.
"Zhong Shan, where are you taking the body to?" Tianling-er immediately asked.
Zhong Shan gave no response. He led the girls back to the Xianren Abbey. He threw the body into the nearby pond. Schools of fish swarmed to the surface, gnawing at the body. In no time at all, only white bones remained.
Tianling-er took a deep breath, recalling what Miao Xianren had done to the other two girls. Someone as evil as him deserved it.
"Zhong Shan, how can there be such an evil person in the world?" Tianling-er asked in a small voice.
"Was he evil?" Zhong Shan asked back with a smile.
"How could he not be evil? He was the most evil person in the world." Tianling-er argued.
"He wasn't the most evil one." Zhong Shan shook his head.
Tianling-er, with mouth agape, couldn't imagine anyone worse than Miao Xianren?
"Never mind. Let's go in to see what kind of treasure's hiding at Xianren Abbey that he would risk his life to come back here." Zhong Shan said.
"En." Tianling-er nodded.
The three of them walked into Xianren Abbey.
As they entered, two people watched from atop of a mountain in the distance.
One of them looked middle aged and stood behind the other as if he was a servant. Both of them were dressed in all white, each with a long sword slung along their back.
The one in front looked young, like a mortal at the age of twenty. Yet, underneath the young face, there was a sense of maturity that went beyond his appearance.
The young man softly asked after Zhong Shan went into the Abbey, "Chujiu, you said that man is at the fourth level of Xiantian?"
"Yes, young master. Just like you, the fourth level of Xiantian. He probably used some secret method earlier to increase his power three folds. If he fights with young master, it should be a draw." The middle aged man behind respectfully answered.
"It's a rare chance to be able to test the waters. But, if he just used a secret method, it must weaken him afterwards. It wouldn't be honorable to defeat him now. I'll wait for another time." The young man frowned.
"There may not be another time. Who could match young master's talent in this world? All the other young masters couldn't compare with you. This man here, though strong, wouldn't be able to catch up with you in the future." Chujiu spoke earnestly.
"They? They're only imitating the forerunners. The strongest swordsmanship is the swordsmanship developed by oneself, not imitating people before us. I will walk all over the world, develop my own style, and use it to defeat all the strong men in the world." The young man spoke softly, but carried great weight.
"Young master was born with a sword in hand and will control the world with your sword in the future. I'm very lucky to be assigned to work for you." Chujiu sincerely said.
"En. Since I can't have a bout with him, there's no need to keep staring. Let's go to Eight Gates Mountain." The white clothed young man said.
"Yes." Chujiu answered with a low voice.
There were eight rooms at Xianren Abbey. Perhaps Miao Xianren had stored the most important items in his storage bracelet, there wasn't anything of particular importance in the other rooms.
In one of the rooms, Zhong Shan found two large black robes which could cover the entire body from head to toe. He gave one each to the two girls so others wouldn't discover their beauty so easily.
Little came up after searching the eight rooms. Yet, would Zhong Shan give up so easily? He was an expert in hiding things himself, and so he kept searching until he found a secret room.
When they opened the secret room, a mass of spirit energy surged at them. Zhong Shan and the two girls looked at each other in surprise.
The cautious Zhong Shan didn't rush into the room, rather, he waited outside patiently for a while. Then he threw in a pebble as a precaution; he carefully walked into the underground secret room only after he was sure there wasn't any danger.
Once inside the room, Zhong Shan widened his eyes, overwhelmed by his own luck.
It was hard to imagine that Miao Xianren could have so much treasure hidden here.
The walls were lined with numerous Spirit Stones, their number probably exceeded ten thousand. The spirit energy had come from all of these stones. They were arranged in a special way to ensure rich spirit energy flowed into the secret room.
At the western corner of the room, there were more than fifty Kong Ling Gems. More than fifty of them, how fortuitous.
However, what caught Zhong Shan's attention wasn't these special items. It was the two living creatures in the middle of the room.
Silkworms? No, not silkworms, but they looked just like silkworms. Two little multicolored creatures, about a foot long each, spun shining, multicolored silk. It was just like a silkworm spinning silk, yet, there were two horns on each of their heads.
The multicolored silk formed into a ball. The two creatures circled around this ball continuously spinning more silk, making the ball bigger and bigger.
"What are these?" Tianling-er watched the two creatures in amazement, bewildered.
What was this? Though Zhong Shan hadn't been practicing for very long, he knew about this. It was one of the critical items mentioned in the text
When the Dragon Silkworm finished spinning its silk, they would transform into dragons.