Chapter 23: Wu Kui City

Hah!

Chen Jie looked ahead, taking a deep breath.

At this moment, he became increasingly careful.

Outside the ruined city wall, gray mist shrouded everything, and quite a few patrolling 'Corpse Stiffs' wandered about.

These 'Corpse Stiffs' were very similar to the 'Soldier Corpse Stiffs' Chen Jie had encountered and killed before.

However,

There were a great many!

From the aura emanating from these 'Corpse Stiffs'.

One could sense their strength was a level higher than those Chen Jie had killed before.

When Chen Jie approached one of the outermost 'Corpse Stiffs', he actually felt a lethal threat.

Chen Jie saw two huge characters on the city wall, which were strangely clear within the gray mist.

Ten-odd minutes later,

Chen Jie dodged left and right, maintaining distance from the patrolling 'Corpse Stiffs' the whole time.

He saw two massive stone lions at the city gate, majestic and imposing.

Who knows!

Gray mist shrouded everything; Chen Jie's visibility was only fifty-odd meters.

Just how big is it really?

Right at this moment,

Unless one approached within ten meters of them, it would not trigger their alert zone.

This ancient city, in the thick fog, appeared faintly, its full scope impossible to make out.

Upon nearing the city wall, that oppressive aura made it increasingly impossible to breathe.

As long as one kept a bit farther away, it was very safe.

These 'Corpse Stiffs' wandering at the city wall had alert zones that were not large in range.

Chen Jie carefully hid beneath the stone lion's body, raising his head to carefully examine the city wall and city gate.

Immediately after,

There was one point worth celebrating.

Therefore,

To approach the city wall, one must be extremely careful, absolutely must not touch these 'Corpse Stiffs'' alert zones.

"No way? Wu Kui City! Could the two characters 'Wu Kui' on the 'Blood Jade Pendant' represent this city?"

Wu Kui!

Hum—!

At this moment,

In Chen Jie's mind, it was as if a storm whipped up, emitting a booming roar.

He arrived at the city gate.

However, observing the city wall's scale, this ancient city should be not small.

Finally,

The two characters 'Wu Kui' on the city wall were like the finishing touch that brings a painted dragon to life.

The surrounding thick fog actually began to gradually disperse at this moment.

Hah!

After seeing this scene, Chen Jie couldn't help but take a deep breath, climbed atop the stone lion, raised his head to look at this city before him.

Hiss—!

When he saw the city wall stretching into the distance, like a giant dragon crouching on the ground.

Chen Jie's inner heart was shocked beyond measure.

This scene reminded Chen Jie of those costume dramas broadcast on television.

Only an imperial palace would have such towering city walls, solid as a rock.

Compared to the imperial palaces on television, the city before him was many times larger in area!

Just what dynasty's city is this?

Chen Jie lowered his head, lost in thought, his inner heart filled with shock.

During this period, he had crammed some history knowledge.

However,

Any dynasty seemed to differ somewhat from the dream.

He really found it hard to imagine how such solid city walls could be completely burned down by a great fire.

Just what happened?

Chen Jie saw the top of the city wall was pitch black, covered in charred traces everywhere.

One could even imagine.

The entire city, on a pitch-black night, was set ablaze.

The thick fog in the sky seemed to be the wails of countless wronged souls, emitting mournful crying sounds.

Chen Jie stood atop the stone lion's head at the city gate, suddenly feeling how tiny he was.

Boom—!

Right at this moment, the memories in his mind seemed to be stimulated.

Those heartbreaking scenes, that raging fire that filled one with despair, made Chen Jie's mood grow heavier and heavier.

Perhaps...

In Lu Danian's memories, the Xingyi Sect being wiped out was merely an insignificant part of the great events occurring in Wu Kui City.

What was destroyed now was not just a martial arts school, but an entire majestic city.

What exactly happened?

A whole city, actually slaughtered?

Burning Liancheng, countless wronged souls!

"Wu Kui! It is the title given to the champion of the ancient military examination, also called a military graduate, even including the top military scholar!"

"This Wu Kui City, besides the Xingyi Sect, should also include other martial arts schools."

"Why did the Imperial Court burn this city? What happened to the remaining other schools?"

"Damn! What kind of world is this exactly? Are there any living people at all?"

"Is this a dream, or is it real?"

"Why can the memories I obtained gain the Wu Xue Li Fa inheritance...?"

Chen Jie's mind was once again in chaos, his inner heart filled with doubt,

What is the origin of the Blood Jade Pendant?

Why can I enter this Dream?

What exactly is the truth behind the entire Wu Kui City being destroyed?

Sigh...

Chen Jie took a deep breath and climbed down from the stone lion head above the city wall gate.

Next,

he bent his waist and walked toward the city wall's Great Door.

To learn the truth of the matter, he had to enter Wu Kui City...

But soon, Chen Jie gave up entering through the main gate.

Because,

At the city wall's main gate, two squads of Official Soldiers stood, Majestic, making it completely impossible to approach.

Even separated by a distance of twenty meters,

the aura emitted by the city guards made Chen Jie feel Qi Xi.

A moment later,

Chen Jie avoided the patrolling guards around the surroundings, went to the edge of the city wall, and found a small hole only over half a meter high, barely able to crawl and squeeze through.

If nothing unexpected happened, this small hole should be a Dog Hole!

Chen Jie didn't mind crawling through the Dog Hole too much.

But when he entered inside the city wall from inside the Dog Hole, his inner heart suddenly startled.

Only to see not far ahead thirty meters away, many Corpse Stiff wandering, emitting extremely terrifying auras.

Even separated by such a distance, without triggering their Alert Zone, Chen Jie felt a kind of terrifying Oppression.

"Entering inside Wu Kui City, the Corpse Stiff inside here are obviously much more powerful!"

"When they were alive, what kind of Experts were they exactly?"

"Lu Danian is a Sixth Generation True Transmission Disciple of the Xingyi Sect, his strength definitely isn't bad!"

"Looking at it now, the reason I could kill Lu Danian, besides ambush, the most important reason is that Lu Danian was injured too heavily at the moment before his death, he lost his Combat Awareness."

"Otherwise, I absolutely couldn't easily succeed!"

Sigh...

Chen Jie secretly sighed.

Every Corpse Stiff retains part of their Combat Awareness.

But how much is retained depends on their state when alive.

The most important reason Chen Jie could easily ambush and kill Lu Danian was that the other party lost perception, and was seriously injured while alive, that Combat Awareness almost disappeared.

And at this time facing these Corpse Stiff, their retained Combat Awareness is obviously much more than what Lu Danian retained.

So,

After Chen Jie approached them, he could feel an extremely strong Crisis Sense.

Next,

Chen Jie maintained distance from these Corpse Stiff.

Every Corpse Stiff's Alert Zone range is different.

The stronger the Corpse Stiff's strength, the wider the Alert Zone range, the longer the distance.

After Chen Jie constantly approached and tested, no matter how powerful these Corpse Stiff's strength was,

As long as avoiding them by over twenty meters, they wouldn't trigger their Alert Zone.

Chen Jie entered the city from the city wall's Dog Hole, along the city wall, constantly avoiding the surrounding Corpse Stiff.

He was very careful, always controlling the distance between himself and the Corpse Stiff, not triggering their Alert Zone.

Half an hour later,

Chen Jie successfully came to the main street inside the city.

"The main street is all marble pavement, the surrounding houses have unique construction."

"It seems Wu Kui City was very prosperous back then!"

Chen Jie raised his head looking at the street ahead, his inner heart feeling moved.

(Chapter End)