Chapter 995 – Mountain of Bones
Buzz!
The [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] in Ye Qingyu's palm emitted a burst of dazzling blood-colored splendor.
The sword let out a series of joyous cries similar to the ones it let out earlier before it drank blood.
His fortieth battle on the Life and Death Platform was already over.
The [Blood Drinker Sword Pill] had just absorbed the blood essence and flesh of a Night Owl Race expert.
He had already killed someone else from the Night Owl Race earlier. This particular Race tended to make life difficult for the Human Race and was considered one of the mortal enemies of the Human Race within the myriad domains. The Night Owl Race expert earlier had a frighteningly high level of cultivation and was a half-step to Great Saint realm. His demon qi was extremely pure and as clear as jade since he was already halfway to Great Saint realm, he had been extremely powerful and was a pureblood Demon Race expert.
Due to his countless trump cards and physical strength that was comparable to a Great Saint, as well as his [Blood Drinker Sword Pill], Ye Qingyu was not at all afraid of fighting a prolonged and exhaustive battle. Anyone else would have found it difficult to deal with such a formidable opponent. Nonetheless, he still spent two whole hours before he finally killed his opponent and also sustained some rather serious injuries.
Then, he stood in the arena and used his qi to heal his wounds.
Fortunately, his qi and blood were abundant so it didn’t take him too much time to recuperate.
Ye Qingyu's aura was currently as abundant as the sea. His white robes were like jade, and his black hair fluttered in the breeze. There weren't any obvious signs of injuries on his body but several cuts that were about as long as a finger could be seen on his robes. His strength had increased after forty rounds of fierce Life and Death battles. In particular, his comprehension of martial arts techniques had improved and his Divine Emperor Sword Will technique had seen the greatest improvement.
The three great sword mantras of the [War God Sword Mantras] were the [Human King Sword Mantra], [Divine Emperor Sword Mantra], and the [Life Sword Mantra]. All these mantras drew on the cultivator's comprehension of martial arts technique as their foundation and the cultivator must hone his skills by going through all kinds of trials and tribulations. It placed emphasis on one's will and not one's technique. The cultivator must, after all his tough training, be able to condense and combine his understanding of all the martial arts techniques he has read together, then express these understanding through his actions. These mantras wouldn't be as effective if the cultivator merely practiced them continuously; so after many rounds of fierce battling, these battles were like a divine hammer that molded Ye Qingyu to become even better.
Ye Qingyu had gained some enlightenment and also a deeper insight into the wonders of the Divine Emperor Sword Will.
He suddenly understood many areas of this technique that he didn't comprehend in the past and felt as though another magical door had opened in front of him.
He slowly opened his eyes and concluded this round of recuperation and comprehension.
"Ha ha, the Divine Emperor Sword Will is the true Divine Emperor, I finally understand…" At his mental command, the surrounding area transformed into a sword domain. "If I were to battle this Night Owl Race expert once more, I am confident of killing him within ten breaths with my Divine Emperor Sword Will."
This was the first stage of a sword domain.
Ye Qingyu couldn’t hide his delight.
"You've done well and have gained enough experience through the forty battles of the Life and Death Platform. The Life and Death Platform ahead of you was the final battle for you. If you walk along the Sky-reaching Chains, you wouldn't see another Life and Death Platform. Instead, we would be able to walk out of this foggy area to arrive in front of the Gate to the Demon Domain," the million-year-old soul's voice sounded again.
Was this the end of the battles on the Life and Death Platform?
Ye Qingyu was elated.
He nodded and slowly recalled his [Blood Drinker Sword Pill]. Then, he gradually calmed his qi and blood down and retracted the sword domain.
The next moment, a string of Sky-reaching Chains softly descended from the fog.
He clung on to the chains and transformed into a silver radiance that charged upwards.
Thirty minutes later.
As expected, he had reached the end of the Sky-reaching Chains.
The chaos fog had gradually thinned out, his visibility was slowly restored and his surroundings grew clearer.
"Hm? Isn't this… the ruins of the ancient city square?"
He exclaimed in surprise when he saw what awaited him at the end of the Sky-reaching Chains.
He unleashed his divine sense to sweep around for danger and only jumped onto the black rock surface after he sensed that it was safe.
He took a cursory look and saw that the square was very large and had a radius of thousands of meters. It was built completely from black rocks and he could even vaguely make out some ancient mysteries and unintelligible formations carved on the surface of the black rock floor.
Ancient divine statues littered the square densely and these statues seemed to be from the Fiendgod Age. They were also carved from black rock, but their luster was softer and smoother and they glowed like jade. However, these statues had mostly collapsed or were broken from the middle, or had been smashed violently while their protective formation had long since been extinguished, as though it had automatically dissipated after being destroyed by some foreign force.
In addition, there was also huge divine temples that stood tall. They looked simple and unsophisticated but they were large and their lines were ancient, as though they were made with bold strokes from axes and hammers. These temples didn’t look alike but they all exuded a magnificent and majestic aura that was full of the ancient characters from the Fiendgod Age. However, the prohibitive power of these divine temples were extremely weak, and they had already become ruins.
Knife and sword slash marks could be seen on the square, on these statues, and on the ruins, and he could also see extremely large punch and palm prints imprinted on the same places.
It was clear that a fierce and terrifying battle had once taken place here.
Ye Qingyu entered the ruins.
He could see marks of battle everywhere as he walked through the ruins.
Obviously, the battle that had taken place here happened a long, long time ago.
He guessed that there could have been Quasi-emperors who fought in this ancient battle as well but everything had ended countless years ago.
Their marks still remained but the people were no longer there.
Their power and authority from the past were left here but these great men were already gone with the wind and rain.
He grew more alarmed as he walked along the ruins.
He felt as though these ruins seemed vaguely familiar and were very similar to the architectural style of the buildings he saw at the ancient Fiendgod city of the Black Demon Abyss' 18th district. However, the ancient Fiendgod city's buildings and divine statues were rather well-preserved while a large majority of these buildings and divine statues here had been destroyed.
"Are those… bones?"
He suddenly stopped. His eyes flashed and he was completely struck dumb.
He saw a large mountain of bones up ahead.
The mountain of bones was several thousand meters tall and it was piled high with the bones of all kinds of races, as though these were the remains of a peerless chaos battle. He closely examined the layers of bone and discovered that other than the bones of the Human Race, there were also golden or greenish bones. Some of these skeletons were as big as humans while there were some bones that were several dozen meters wide and clearly belonged to a giant demon foreign race. These were the bones of the deceased from many different races and they were all packed together and piled up high. This scene would cause anyone immediately to feel uneasy.
Right in the middle of this mountain of bones, there was a path made of bones that led all the way to the top of the mountain. The untidy and complicated white bone stairs were crooked, as though they were not formed naturally but that this path had been formed by countless others who had climbed up this mountain.
"Let's go, take the white bone path up the mountain," the million-year-old soul said telepathically.
Ye Qingyu nodded.
He slowly walked up the white bone path.
As he stepped on these white bones, he felt as though these bones were as hard as divine iron or steel.
He could see ghostly fire faintly appearing between the cracks of these layers of bones.
Fifteen minutes later, he stepped on the final step to arrive at the top of the mountain of bones.
His view suddenly broadened.
He was slightly alarmed when he looked around and immediately went on his guard. There was a platform that was about a thousand meters wide at the top of the mountain and there were already hundreds of experts from the various races standing on it. They either stood alone, in pairs, or in groups, and they were split into different camps that faced each other, and thus the atmosphere was extremely tense. He didn't even need to think to know that like him, these were the victors after many rounds of battling on the Life and Death Platform.
There were so many of them?
What were they waiting for?
Countless questions raced through his mind.
At the same time —
On the Life and Death Platform.
The Greater One Spiritual Master whose white hair fluttered in the wind, was at his final arena.
The corpse beneath his feet was devoid of blood and flesh and its limbs were twisted awkwardly, and it looked so shriveled that it was as though all that was left of him was his skin which was sticking to his skeleton.
This was a Ghost Race Heaven's Prideling and he had been killed by the Greater One Spiritual Master who then proceeded to absorb all his essence and blood qi.
"Ha ha, once again, I can feel the beauty of power. Ha ha, my strength has increased again. He he, he might have once been the Fourth Prince of the Ghost Race whose power had stunned the Ghostly Domain and was known as the pride of the Ghost Race, but now, this is all that remains of him."
The Greater One Spiritual Master exerted a dark mysterious technique and secretly muttered an incantation, then a small crack that was as big as a thumb appeared in the middle of his palm. This crack was full of extremely sharp teeth and dark yuan qi burst forth, moving like a giant dark serpent with its mouth wide open to swallow the corpse whole.
A strange change happened to his body.
Layers of dense black fog spun frantically around him like thousands of wisps of silk around a silkworm cocoon.
An extremely evil and mysterious aura surged forth and silvery-black scales appeared to cover his entire body from head to toe. This time, his evolution was even more terrifying and clearer than the first time.
"Ha ha ha ha, just as I thought, the blood from the imperial family of the Ghost Race would be extremely beneficial for my Dark Demon Body… Including the dozens of experts who I swallowed consecutively earlier, my power has skyrocketed wildly. The strength of the demon qi within me is now comparable to a Great Saint. No one throughout the entire Clear River Domain is my match and I will be the true and only invincible master of Clear River Domain! Ha ha ha ha!"
The Greater One Spiritual Master reveled in the surging and roaring dark force within his body and his confidence soared as he cackled madly.
His expression was evil and savage, like an extremely ugly and terrifying monster.
Approximately ten breaths later.
The dark force within him had already fully refined all the power he swallowed from the experts he killed earlier and transformed their power into his own.
His scales faded and he retracted the dark aura to revert to his ordinary human form. His white hair gleamed brightly and he looked otherworldly and sage-like.
"According to the map from that lord, he already knew that this would be the final Life and Death Platform. Next, I'd arrive at the Gate to the Demon Domain after I climb up the Sky-reaching Chains… I hope that Ye Qingyu managed to survive past this round and that he didn't die in the hands of others. I would love to kill him myself, ha ha, I wonder if you'd be very upset when you hear that I've killed Liu Shaji. Ha ha ha!"
His cold eyes flashed and his lips curved into an evil smile.
As soon as he spoke—
He transformed into a ray of black radiance that wrapped itself around the Sky-reaching Chains and climbed upwards.
His strength had soared after consuming the essence and blood qi of forty experts on this Life and Death Platform.
He was full of confidence now.
At the top of the mountain of bones.
Ye Qingyu's figure flashed slightly as he landed in one corner of the crowd. Then, he solemnly and calmly observed his surroundings.