Chapter 507: A Rain

Strong bows and sharp blades, blood and yellow sand.

When the battle ended, dunes were piled high within the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, and mummies littered the ground everywhere.

Lu Ran stood upon black clouds, his cold, horizontal pupils wide open as he watched one by one emaciated souls drift up from beneath the earth.

There were fully over forty of them!

The strength of this clan of demonic fiends seemed somewhat excessive.

Was this the true face of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain?

"Hum~"

Lu Ran lifted the constantly trembling Ba Huang Dao, noticing it showed signs of sinking back into silence, and couldn't help but smile helplessly.

Ba Huang, oh Ba Huang.

I'm starting to regret giving you this name.

If I had chosen a different path of cultivation, given all my experiences since entering the mountain, wouldn't my weapon have already reached perfection long ago?

Even the Eight Desolations Annihilation Blade is like this; as for the Cloud Sea Yunhai Chenqing Blade, don't even think about it.

The Cloud Sea Yunhai Chenqing does occasionally tremble, but it is obviously still far, far away from becoming a divine weapon.

"Yah!!" The shrieks grew closer, piercing Lu Ran's eardrums.

A few meters away, a thin, withered lost soul was screaming frantically in a fit of rage.

The Shahe dolls, resembling mummies, were already nauseating; now their faces were even more ferocious!

As the lost soul drew nearer, those small hands clawed wildly, its sharp, long nails seeming ready to gouge out Lu Ran's eyeballs.

These ugly little things are truly fierce!

"Puff~ Puff~"

Amidst the yellow sand, dozens of mummies successively shattered into mist and vanished without a trace.

Lu Ran descended from the clouds, simultaneously activating the Divine Power Bead to absorb energy and using his Death Realm Pupils to draw in lost souls: "Jing Hong."

"Sect Master?"

"Sound the horn and scout the situation."

"Yes!" Jing Hong held a Green Dragon Crescent Blade in one hand and grasped an illusory horn in the other.

"Woo~~~"

The low sound of the horn drifted far, far away.

Within Jing Hong's mind, a blurry terrain map rapidly took shape.

War Horn Divine Art · Echoing Horn!

"Sect Master!" Jing Hong put away the Echoing Horn and looked at Lu Ran, who was absorbing the mist, "In the northwest direction, there seems to be a large gathering of creatures."

"Oh?" Lu Ran squeezed the Ba Huang Dao.

It seems our battle can continue!

He immediately asked, "What kind of creatures?"

Jing Hong's face showed an apologetic expression: "I'm sorry, Sect Master, I..."

"Enough." Lu Ran cut off the other's words.

The Echoing Horn indeed had an extremely long detection range, but its drawback was significant; the intelligence the horn's sound waves fed back to Jing Hong was quite vague.

Even, if the enemy numbers were small, Jing Hong might not necessarily detect them at all.

Precisely because of this, when Jing Hong said there was a large gathering of creatures, the scale of the opposing force must be huge!

"Go!" Lu Ran gripped the hilt tightly, "We will head northwest and continue deeper into the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!" The members of the Ran Sect responded immediately.

In his heart, Lu Ran imagined that the large-scale legion Jing Hong sensed was the clan of Evil Dogs.

However, reality dealt him a hard slap in the face.

It was not the clan of Evil Dogs!

It was the even more terrifying and devastatingly lethal clan of Barbarian Female Drought Fiends!

This time, the Ran Sect had truly stirred up a massive disaster.

Even with three Vast Seas within the team, Lu Ran did not dare to lead them into a head-on clash; he could only fight while retreating.

During the battle, Lu Ran's brain began to buzz again.

Within the Sculpture Garden of Gods and Demons, that statue of the Barbarian Female Drought Fiend began to tremble, continuously expanding in scale.

Lu Ran felt both joy and sorrow as he led everyone advancing and retreating, weaving and circling.

In the end, after drawing in a large number of lost souls, he finally managed to escape the area of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain occupied by the clan of Barbarian Female Drought Fiends.

"Hoo..."

More than twenty kilometers outside the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, behind a dune, Lu Ran, having escaped with his life, let out a long sigh of relief.

The people beside him were similarly still shaken.

"It's only us who could manage this." Lu Ran sat down on the ground, his back leaning against the sloping dune.

"What?" Deng Deng Yuxiang poked half her head out from above the dune, observing the distant Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.

Behind everyone lay a vast expanse of desert.

Further away to the west and north, the terrain of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain could still be faintly seen.

"If it were anyone else, they would likely be buried here forever." Lu Ran raised his head, gazing at the profile of the woman beside him, "If the two of us had landed in this land when we first entered the mountain..."

"We would have survived," Deng Deng Yuxiang said softly.

She did not deny that the survival environment here was extremely harsh; the Ten Thousand Swords Mountains were fraught with danger and densely distributed, filling one with despair.

But she believed that she and he would definitely make it out.

And they would definitely find like-minded companions!

In this world, there exists a certain type of person whose spirit, will, and determination cannot be crushed by their environment.

As long as his will does not collapse, his physical body will surely not perish.

His rise is merely a matter of time.

"Rumble!!"

In the sky, the sea of clouds churned, emitting a muffled sound of thunder.

Lu Ran paused for a moment, lifting his gaze toward the sky.

Was this not the earth-shaking noise of a battle between gods and demons, but actual thunder?

Was it going to rain in the desert?

"Patter~"

The rain fell just like that, without any warning.

Within the Shi Zhu forest region of Ten Thousand Blades Mountain, a fairy in a fluttering white skirt lifted her slender jade hand, allowing raindrops to fall into her palm.

It's raining?

Jiangjiang Ruyi looked up at the firmament.

This was the first time since entering the mountain that she had felt the gift of thunder and rain.

Behind and to the side of Jiangjiang Ruyi, An Sister Xian's face showed joyful surprise; she opened her mouth wide, constantly drinking the rainwater.

Her state was just like the cracked earth beneath her feet: long drought meeting sweet rain.

"Jiang Gezhu!" Suddenly, a bald man ran over quickly, a trace of anxiety on his ugly face.

"Speak." Jiangjiang Ruyi lightly twisted a raindrop between her fingertips and spoke indifferently.

"We have detected signs of biological activity to the south; let us shift slightly northward!" Xiong Xiong suggested.

Jiangjiang Ruyi nodded lightly and continued advancing eastward, merely deviating slightly toward the north.

Centered on the Jiang Gezhu of Luo Sister Xian, a circle of Another Shanwei believers beyond a hundred-meter radius simultaneously shifted northward.

The two Western Wasteland disciples scouting ahead, and the three Master Yu Fu believers flying in the middle circle, all reacted accordingly.

Only An Sister Xian followed closely behind and to the side of the Jiang Gezhu of Luo Sister Xian.

In An Sister Xian's eyes, the tall and slender back of the Jiang Gezhu appeared so towering and majestic that she felt completely secure!

Since subduing the members of the Split Mountain Gang, Jiangjiang Ruyi had been leading the team in march for several days.

Under her command, believers from various sects performed their respective duties as everyone advanced eastward.

They always encountered some situations along the way, but whether the Luo Sister Xian Pavilion fought or retreated, they managed to navigate through danger safely.

Especially the twelve Another Shanwei believers within the pavilion; every time they set out, their hearts were filled with worry, yet also with extreme excitement.

If they could truly maintain the current situation, Jiangjiang Ruyi might really lead them out of Ten Thousand Blades Mountain, which had imprisoned them for several years, or even over a decade!

Not to mention the Another Shanwei believers who had suffered in Ten Thousand Blades Mountain for so long; even the two Western Wasteland disciples and the four Master Yu Fu disciples were secretly excited.

Their hearts were filled with immense hope!

The world beyond Ten Thousand Blades Mountain—

What did it actually look like?

There would surely be birdsong, fragrant flowers, mountains, forests, and streams.

There would likely also be powerful sects and cruel, vicious believers.

But these were matters for later!

First, they must escape this endless Ten Thousand Blades Mountain!

Just the day before yesterday, the Jiang Gezhu of Luo Sister Xian said she had touched the bottleneck of her cultivation.

She could advance from Dao Jiang Jing·Fourth Stage to the peak of Dao Jiang Jing.

Alas, the environment did not permit her to break through on the spot.

Get out!

Find a hidden place to settle, allowing the Jiang Gezhu to advance steadily.

Once such a figure, akin to a fairy descending to the mortal world, reaches Dao Jiang Jing·Fifth Stage, she would likely be able to advance to the Sea Realm at any moment!

By then, our Luo Sister Xian Pavilion would no longer be a small sect easily manipulated by others.

With Jiang Jiang Gezhu holding the fort, somewhere within this vast Spirit Holy Mountain, there would surely be a corner where we can settle and survive.

"Lady! La... Jiang Gezhu!" An excited voice came from afar.

Jiangjiang Ruyi's brows furrowed slightly as she looked straight ahead.

She saw the Another Shanwei disciple Wang Wang Xuyang running over with a face full of joy, reporting: "We are about to walk out of this Ten Thousand Blades Mountain!"

As the team continued forward, the scattered Another Shanwei disciples also perceived the change in terrain.

Excited voices drifted over faintly.

"Silence!" Jiangjiang Ruyi's cold words penetrated the layers of rain curtain, floating into everyone's ears.

Wang Wang Xuyang's face stiffened, and he awkwardly lowered his head.

"Contract the formation," Jiangjiang Ruyi commanded; a great array of Master Yu Fu manifested around her body as she slowly rose into the air.

The nineteen-person team rapidly contracted, everyone increasing their speed as they rushed to the edge of the Shi Zhu forest.

Ahead lay another vast desert, monotonous and uniform.

Yet it was enough to lift everyone's spirits!

After several investigations and preparations, the people of Luo Sister Xian Pavilion filed out one after another, hastening their journey through the drizzling rain.

Not until they stepped onto a high barren hill did Jiangjiang Ruyi involuntarily raise her eyebrows slightly.

The terrain in the distance had changed!

From parched, cracked earth, it had turned into a desert?

For a moment, Jiangjiang Ruyi's mind felt somewhat dazed.

Could everyone have gone the wrong way?

In her expectation, the further east they traveled, the more signs of life there should be.

Yet in the distant east, even the solid ground and stubborn withered grass were gone, leaving only endless yellow sand... Hm?

Jiangjiang Ruyi's eyes narrowed.

"Lady, look over there?" An Sister Xian spoke simultaneously, hurriedly pointing toward the northeast.

Amidst the curtain of rain, thick dust was actually drifting?

"Hall Master, that is no naturally formed sandstorm!" Xue Xue Fengchen observed carefully while reporting, "That must be Xi Huang Shen Fa · Drifting Sand!"

Gao Gao Yunyan's expression looked far from pleasant: "Judging by the scale of this Drifting Sand, it is likely a Hai Pin Shen Fa!"

Over there, a Yi Ming Hai Jing believer of the Western Wasteland is fighting... Ah??"

"Hiss"—a sound of sharp intakes of breath came from all directions.

"Th-that is?"

"Such a massive scale? Th-this?" Murmurs of discussion erupted everywhere.

Everyone indeed had reason to tremble with fear!

For within the thick dust, an immensely huge sand hand rose fiercely.

The reason everyone could see this hand was not only because it was large enough, but also because it rose high enough, as if intending to hurl its enemy into the sky...

Song Yu said in a deep voice: "A Drought Sea believer! With such a huge sand hand, the opponent is likely also a Hai Jing powerhouse!"

Jiangjiang Ruyi's face was grim.

Were two Zun Hai Jing powerhouses battling here?

One was a believer of the Second-Rank God, the Western Wasteland; the other, a believer of the Third-Rank God, the Drought Sea.

Of course, it could not be ruled out that two factions were clashing here.

"Hall Master, we should retreat to Wan Renshan first? We must not be discovered by them!"

"Yes, Lady! A Hai Jing expert could crush me to death with a single hand..."

These past two days, Yu has managed to recover a bit; tomorrow, he should be able to endure sitting for a whole day.

Tomorrow, third watch!

(End of Chapter)