Chapter 109: The Longevity Tribulation

The viscous, humid wind, like a great python, blew fiercely past his ears.

The howling wind struck the jagged rocks, producing a sound like countless beasts roaring wildly, sending a faint chill through people's hearts.

The dome above was no more than a hundred meters above the head, and at its lowest only a dozen meters.

Here there was no road to speak of, only countless jagged stones.

Wu Tie followed the Chief Steward through the rubble, while several Mist Blade assassins flickered in and out of sight around them, constantly vigilant, observing movements near and far.

Grasping the White Tiger Rend with both hands, he hoisted it horizontally onto his shoulder; the heavy White Tiger Rend made Wu Tie's steps heavy, each step sinking deep into the ground like an iron nail.

After walking a considerable distance, Wu Tie glanced back toward the direction they had come and softly exhaled.

Before setting out, Wu Tie earnestly asked the Chief Steward to send a trusted aide to warn Big Stone City: the Changsheng Sect had brought a terrifying expert, so formidable that even those giants could only rely on secret treasures to desperately escape.

Not knowing how the situation inside Big Stone City stood now, Wu Tie only hoped his warning would help Shi Meng survive the calamity.

Thinking of Zhu Zixi's fearsome power……

Wu Tie couldn't help but feel a shudder of creepiness.

Such overwhelming power, against which there was no resistance, was nothing short of terror.

"I hope you can come up with a countermeasure." Wu Tie sighed and quickened his pace.

Underfoot it was slick, water dripped on the rocks, and even more slippery moss grew.

In some places, streams of varying width wound through the rubble, their waters holding transparent little fish, crabs, and various other crustacean and arthropod tiny creatures.

Invisible to the naked eye, at times a 'hissing' sound could be heard from afar, not knowing whether it came from a poisonous snake or a lizard flicking its tongue.

Having broken through to the Ganxuan Realm, Wu Tie condensed his mana, and his innate divine ability 'Control Qiankun' grew much stronger; now his invisible force field emanated outward, easily enveloping a radius of five hundred meters.

This uneven, craggy, winding stretch of rubble looked barren, but in fact teemed with life; unseen to the eye, various ferocious, vicious tiny creatures frenziedly fought each other for living space and resources.

Every tiny creature here, even a thumb-sized pale blue jellyfish in the water, harbored dreadful poison.

These little things were far more vicious than the tiny spirits of other regions in the Cangyan Realm.

It seemed some invisible force was influencing the evolution of these tiny lives.

'Evolution' was not the wrong word……

Wu Tie reviewed the superficial knowledge Lao Tie had taught him, confirming he had not misused the word. He carefully stepped over a stream more than a meter wide, when a small octopus entirely covered in pale blue rings leapt from the water and spat a water arrow at him.

He easily dodged the attack of that blue-ring magic octopus; the tiny water arrow struck a nearby boulder, and with a 'hiss' the soil instantly turned into black poisonous water, corroding a large patch of the hard rock to a depth of half an inch.

Wu Tie pointed a finger, a fierce gust blasted out, and knocked the fist-sized blue-ring magic octopus flying.

The supple blue-ring magic octopus bounced dozens of meters away, hit a large stone, then, as if nothing had happened, hopped a few times and leapt back into the stream.

Seeming to understand that Wu Tie was not to be provoked, this dangerous creature, its whole body emitting an eerie blue glow, swiftly fled downstream.

"This place is very strange… it seems the closer we get to my Mist Blade Ancestral Ground, the more dangerous these little things become." The Chief Steward strode forward, speaking low: "Do you believe it? After escaping from those traitors, the first time I came here I almost died."

The Chief Steward said coldly: "A spider the size of a washbasin, leaping like flying, impervious to blades and spears, almost tore open my heart with a single claw. That spider was utterly poisonous… if not for two loyal retainers fighting to the death, I would already be dead."

Wu Tie was startled and deeply moved.

The Chief Steward is a Chonglou Realm expert; logically, those poisonous spiders, poisonous lizards and the like should pose no threat to him.

Wu Tie dared not be careless; he shrank his invisible force field to a hundred meters in size.

Although the controlled range had shrunk considerably, Wu Tie's mastery over that area was nearly to the point where every grain of sand and speck of dust could be clearly seen.

No tiny creature could even think of easily approaching Wu Tie and his companions.

The road was hard to travel, and the wind in his ears grew louder, aggravating and vexing.

At the speed of Wu Tie and company, they traversed the rubble for a full seven days, when the rubble ahead suddenly ended.

Both cliff walls rose high, below lay a bottomless abyss; countless night‑light plants grew on the walls, illuminating the cliff face. In the phosphorescent glow, one could see thick mist filling the abyss, with vague silhouettes of flying creatures circling.

"Only I, the true inheritor of Mist Blade, know how to enter and leave the ancestral ground." The Chief Steward stood at the cliff edge, gazing at the opposite cliff face several kilometers away, and sneered: "Others, even if they found this place, trying to cross this cliff would be certain death, no chance of survival."

Wu Tie was bold; he stood at the cliff's edge, head lowered, looking down.

The flying creatures in the mist had a strange appearance; after searching his mind, he finally realized they resembled the ancient pterosaurs exactly, only much smaller in size, with a wingspan of about one meter.

Although small in size, these creatures were covered head to toe in black scales; their occasional piercing cries shot straight into the mind, jarring the eardrums painfully, showing they were not to be provoked.

"What danger is there here?" Wu Tie stared for a long time, but found nothing special about this abyssal cliff.

These small pterosaurs, though fierce in appearance, seemed not to be difficult to deal with.

The Chief Steward smiled faintly, grabbed the ground with his right hand; a stone flew up and landed straight in his palm. He hurled it with force toward the opposite cliff, and with a 'whoosh' the stone shot out.

Having flown less than a hundred meters, in the air above the cliff a thread of extremely fine light flashed past, leaving a dazzling trace in Wu Tie's vision.

That stone, the size of a human head, vaporized instantly, vanishing without a trace.

Wu Tie widened his eyes; he could not see where that strong light came from, and had no idea how it appeared.

"Even if a hundred eighty thousand came, piling corpses to fill this cliff, without the correct method it would be impossible to get past." The Chief Steward gave Wu Tie a proud glance, then suddenly jumped downward.

Wu Tie hurriedly looked toward the Chief Steward.

He saw him drop a hundred or so meters, his body sway, and then drift into an extremely inconspicuous recessed crack in the rock wall.

Not knowing what the Chief Steward was tinkering with below, after a short while a faint 'buzzing' sound came from the cliff wall opposite.

The sound of metal grating, 'click-click', continued without cease.

Wu Tie stared wide‑eyed, astonished at seeing a metal bridge several meters wide, extending toward them segment by segment.

Below there were no pillars; across a chasm several kilometers wide, this metal bridge simply extended outward from nowhere, segment after segment. Finally, with a 'plop', the bridge reached exactly in front of Wu Tie, precisely fitting into a reserved stone seam.

This metal bridge showed no cracks whatsoever, a seamless whole, displaying extraordinarily high casting skill.

Time had left no trace on the bridge surface; the deck remained clean, and along its edges ran two extremely fine phosphorescent lines, marking the bridge's safe limits.

The Chief Steward leapt up from below, flipped, and landed on the bridge deck.

He nodded at Wu Tie and said solemnly: "Let's go; this is the only safe road. If one does not know the secret of this mechanism…… humph, no matter how many come, they will all die."

The Chief Steward laughed smugly and proudly: "Those traitors thought they had mastered all the secrets of Mist Blade? Hehe, they never dreamed that the true core secret of Mist Blade, the true inheritance secret, lay right here."

Lifting his head, the Chief Steward sighed wistfully: "Long ago, my Mist Blade ancestor walked out of the ancestral land, enduring hardship, cutting through thorns…… he founded a vast estate…… later descendants unworthy and inept…… the Changsheng Sect, hehe!"

Wu Tie cut off the Chief Steward's lament about the sad wind and autumn grief: "Chief Steward, are you sure there are benefits in your ancestral land?"

The Chief Steward nodded solemnly, then strode forward along the metal bridge: "Follow me, you'll see… but there are quite a few ambushes in the ancestral land; getting those benefits won't be easy, won't be easy!"

Wu Tie also stepped onto the metal bridge.

He turned back again, glanced behind— the confidant the Chief Steward had sent out should have already passed the news to Stone City, right?

On the fourth day that Wu Tie and the Chief Steward were weaving through the rubble, before they even reached this deep abyss cliff, the combined army of the Changsheng Sect and the Yan Family had already, following the secret passage Wu Tie and the others had used that day, suddenly appeared beneath Stone City.

Just over ten thousand elite troops of the Changsheng Sect.

More than thirty thousand warriors summoned by the Yan Family from War Blade City.

Four ten-thousand-strong formations surrounded Stone City from all directions; on four long metal flagpoles, the Changsheng Sect's black-lettered banner danced wildly in the wind.

Shi Meng stood on the city wall, his face grim, watching the army that suddenly surged out of the secret passage outside the city.

Wu Tie and his companions' party never returned.

Two days earlier, Shi Meng had received intelligence sent by someone claiming to be a loyal assassin of the Mist Blade Chief Steward.

From the direction of War Blade City, the Changsheng Sect showed movement; an extremely terrifying expert appeared, who, according to his own words, was the master of the Changsheng Sect's Third Vice Sect Master Jia Zhengfeng, and a Grand Elder of the Changsheng Sect.

In the intelligence, Wu Tie gave a detailed description of the entire process of their surprise attack this time.

Wu Tie sincerely apologized to Shi Meng— Zhu Zixi is too terrifying; Wu Tie doesn't think he could be of much use when facing Zhu Zixi.

So Wu Tie did not choose to return to Stone City to help Shi Meng deal with the strong enemy.

Wu Tie also had that Mist Blade assassin tell Shi Meng: the task Shi Meng had sent him to do has been perfectly completed. That vital point of the Yan Family has been completely destroyed, so Wu Tie's withdrawal is justified.

Shi Meng narrowed his eyes, recalling the intelligence Wu Tie had sent back.

Actually, before Wu Tie's warning, the giant who had escaped back using the Juling Lamp had already told Shi Meng everything.

Just…

After a long while, he let out a cold snort, suddenly raised a great hammer, and roared at the ten-thousand-strong formation of Changsheng Sect elites below the city wall: "If you want war, then war!"

"If you want war, then war!"

Although he had received Wu Tie's intelligence two days earlier, Shi Meng chose to rely on Stone City and measure himself against the Changsheng Sect and the Yan Family.

Shi Meng actually had no way to retreat.

He killed Shixi, seized Stone City, and raised the banner of rebellion against the Changsheng Sect.

So he could only stay here, only remain here, only choose to fight the Changsheng Sect to the death.

Otherwise, where could he go?

Shibao gripped the Juling Lamp, roaring as he leapt up from inside the city, his feet landing heavily on the city wall. He lowered his head, looked down at the Changsheng Sect army outside, bit his tongue without a word, and sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the Juling Lamp.

"Pop-pop"—the booming continued, great clouds of blue smoke and sparks spewed from the Juling Lamp; under Shibao's control, the Juling Lamp's power exceeded that in Shixi's hands by more than tenfold.

Countless sparks the size of fists swirled outward, howling as they fell upon the Changsheng Sect army.

The Changsheng Sect elites at the front repeatedly produced finely forged metal heavy shields, which, like turtle shells, were pieced together to form a thick shield wall.

Countless sparks fell, exploding in bursts; sheets of firelight swept in all directions, accompanied by the piercing 'pop-pop' blasts, shattering shield after shield; the Changsheng Sect soldiers cried out in pain, at least five or six hundred of them having their arms broken and bodies covered in blood from this strike.

A small section of the Changsheng Sect's battle formation was blown apart, the ground covered in blood, everywhere littered with broken shields and armor fragments.

Zhu Zixi's face darkened as he sat in the specially made large cart.

For no apparent reason he was trapped by a formation, a group of tyrannical ancient puppets surrounded him and beat him up; even with Zhu Zixi's strength, he had to expend considerable effort to break free.

But Wu Tie fled, taking the Flame Three Tribulations Fruit with him.

Zhu Zixi's mood turned extremely foul; even if he forcibly kept Yan Hanlu by his side as a maid… his mood remained extremely awful.

One strike from Shibao seriously wounded hundreds of Changsheng Sect soldiers; Zhu Zixi gave a sinister laugh, blood mist swirling around him, and he immediately stepped out of the cart frame.

"Hehe, giant's essence blood—nothing is richer and more mellow… let this seat taste your blood, see if it's any better than those few big fellows I killed a few days ago."

Zhu Zixi's words ignited Shibao's fury; recalling the giant juniors who had traveled with Wu Tie but were slain by Zhu Zixi, he couldn't help but roar and leap down from the city wall.

His left hand gripped the Juling Lamp, continuously spewing great clouds of blue smoke and sparks toward Zhu Zixi, while his right hand wielded a specially made giant wolf-tooth club, hurling at Zhu Zixi like a whirlwind.

Zhu Zixi's skull-button seal rose above his head; in the vast blood mist, a colossal blood-colored skull hundreds of meters high slowly appeared.

Zhu Zixi, enveloped in heavenly blood light and blood mist, flickered like a phantom and instantly appeared before Shibao, his right hand delivering a light punch that slammed into Shibao's chest.

With a tremendous boom, Shibao's chest caved in; he spat out mouthfuls of blood, flew backward a hundred meters, and crashed headfirst into the gate of Stone City, shattering it.

On the city wall, Shi Meng and several other soldiers were miserably buried under the collapsed wall.

Zhu Zixi waved his hand and pointed at Stone City.

"I'm in a bad mood… therefore, slaughter the city!"

The forty thousand warriors outside the city stood stunned, then, following a great shout from a few Changsheng Sect warrior leaders, the forty thousand troops surged like a tide toward Stone City.