Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 484: The Emergence of the Blood Ao

Each person’s cultivation was different, and each sect had its own specialized medicines.

What is honey to one could be poison to another.

For a Bashan swordsman, the powerful sword qi contained within the pill could be gradually absorbed to refine and enhance their own sword qi. But for others, the same sword qi entering their body could be like having a thousand swords piercing their heart, spreading throughout their limbs and bones, essentially tearing them apart from within.

If it could genuinely enhance one’s power, it might be worth enduring, but the problem was that it might lead to massive blood loss, resulting in more injury than enhancement. In that case, it would be a rather grim joke.

Unfortunately, the components of a fully formed pill like this can’t be extracted... Zhao Changhe had no idea how Huangfu Qing managed to isolate the Dragon Elephant Blood Ginseng from the sword pellet. He wondered if it was some kind of miracle that only fire-type practitioners could achieve.

In fact, even for someone as capable as Vermilion Bird, forcibly achieving this required immense effort, something well beyond Zhao Changhe’s abilities.

There were two such pills in the bottle. After a long pause, Zhao Changhe handed one to Yue Hongling and explained its effects. She quickly concluded it would not suit her and handed it back, saying, “Save it for Han Wubing. He might be able to use it.”

Zhao Changhe nodded and put away the pills, choosing to leave them untouched for now. “Let’s go. Time is of the essence. That entity probably wasn’t gravely wounded by the bone sword, and it will recover quickly. Once it does, it’ll be even harder to defeat.”

Yue Hongling followed him as they sped toward Ao Pool in silence. Suddenly, she asked, “Are you doing all this for the sake of justice or for Sisi?”

Zhao Changhe felt a bit awkward at the question. “Why are you bringing that up now?”

Yue Hongling was driven by a sense of justice. She could not bear to witness innocent boys and girls being sacrificed, so she willingly braved the danger. She would have acted the same way even if she had not known Sisi, without anyone needing to ask.

Zhao Changhe, too, felt that he would have done the same even if Sisi were not involved. No one would have needed to prompt him. But with Sisi in the picture, would anyone believe him if he said it had nothing to do with her?

Yue Hongling said, “Actually, I believe that even without Sisi, you would still do this. We share the same heart—I truly believe that.”

Zhao Changhe turned to look at her, his eyes shining.

“That’s why, for me, I’d rather not see this become something that ties you to Sisi, and I certainly don’t want her to take advantage of you.”

Zhao Changhe asked, “She hasn’t shown signs of doing that, has she?”

“Well, maybe it can’t really be considered taking advantage of you?” Yue Hongling said thoughtfully. “Maybe because I’m a woman, I’m able to understand her better than you do. She hopes you’ll become her subject, following under her banner, rather than someone she has to depend on. I guess that can’t really be considered taking advantage of you?

“Anyway, I can see why she’d feel that way. After all, her Spirit Tribe has been enslaved for so long. She definitely does not want to trade one master for another. But while I understand that, I’m biased. When it comes to you, I find it uncomfortable. You’re not the type to treat anyone as a slave, so it shouldn’t come to that.”

Zhao Changhe pondered her words, and many of his previous uncertainties about Sisi suddenly became clear. He laughed and said, “So that’s how it is.”

Yue Hongling asked, “Are you hesitant now? Are you still willing to risk it all?”

Zhao Changhe laughed heartily and replied, “I fight for the innocent boys and girls, not for her alone. Let’s go.”

Yue Hongling smiled. “Alright.”

As the sun set in the west, the two raced across the plains, their shadows stretching out long behind them, merging into one as it tilted behind them.

As they sprinted, their hands naturally intertwined.

Zhao Changhe’s voice came through softly, “How fortunate I am to have your favor.”

* * *

The Ao Pool was also on a mountain, though low and sprawling. This mountain had a pool at the summit. Ancient paths ran along the mountainside, once used for rearing various beasts.

When they arrived at the location marked in the Atlas of Mountains and Rivers, it was nothing but an empty plain. Strangely enough, they could walk across it as if the mountain itself had been lifted by divine hands, leaving only the ground below.

A smaller secret realm hidden within a secret realm.

It was unclear if the collapse of the era could create such nested spatial fragments or if it had been created intentionally, with arrays sealing off an isolated space.

Standing at the site of the Ao Pool, Zhao Changhe suddenly turned and gazed into the distance. He could see the peak of the Spirit Tribe’s sacred mountain, and from this angle, it looked as if a heavenly dog[1] had taken a bite out of it, leaving a chunk missing.

The setting sun shone through this gap, casting light onto the plain and giving it an eerie, misty aura that was strangely surreal.

Yue Hongling, with her stronger understanding of arrays, also looked at the setting sun and whispered, “This is a type of yin-yang resonance array. If something is hidden here, there must be a corresponding part hidden at the peak of the sacred mountain.”

Zhao Changhe immediately thought of the Heavenly Tome.

No wonder... the Heavenly Tome might have been on the sacred mountain all along, just hidden from everyone. Only by connecting both places could one probably hope to discover this.

That’s probably why the blind woman didn’t respond... She wouldn’t be interested in the forbidden land or Blood Ao. She only cares about the Heavenly Tome. If I’d asked her how to access the sacred mountain’s peak, she might have responded.

Frankly, she probably wouldn’t care if I died in some random battle... Xia Longyuan and I likely aren’t the only ones who have been transferred here from Earth. It’s just that everyone else may have already perished.

In many novels, authors write as though just about anyone could survive when suddenly thrown into a brutal world, but in reality, only a pitiful few truly could. Even Zhao Changhe himself did not know when his own luck would run out.

For now, it was best not to dwell on such distant thoughts. The immediate task was to figure out how to break this array.

The fact that there was an array raised another point: the god or demon that was in the forbidden land was likely not from the Spirit Tribe. The Spirit Tribe was not the type to use such arrays, nor do they follow the principles of yin, yang, and the five elements. This was distinctly the work of a Xia cultivator.

After studying the array for a long time, Yue Hongling suddenly took Shi Wuding’s abandoned sword and tossed it into the air.

As the last rays of the setting sun struck the blade, they created an unusual refraction, focusing a beam of light on a specific point ahead of them, faintly revealing a hidden blood-red hue within.

“Now!” Zhao Changhe drew the bone sword, becoming one with the sword in a flash, and struck precisely at that point.

This was a sword capable of breaking through space!

Crack!

With a crisp shattering sound, like glass breaking, the space before them split open, and suddenly, a mountain appeared, looming before them.

Shi Wuding had the bone sword absorb energy from the formation he and his sword slaves had set up for so long, yet half of it dissipated in just this single strike. It was as if the sword had been prepared just for this moment, a true dowry[2] divine sword.

Zhao Changhe had no time to marvel at such matters, quickly pulling Yue Hongling along as he swiftly slipped into the mountain.

Using the term “slip into” might not be entirely accurate; it was more like he was charging in under the other party’s gaze. Zhao Changhe had no doubt that whoever was inside knew someone had broken in. Concealing their movements was pointless. The best course of action was to move as fast as possible and take advantage of this time when the other party was still recuperating to launch a surprise attack.

Yue Hongling was surprised to find that Zhao Changhe seemed to know his way around. This ancient mountain had been inhabited and developed for raising various exotic beasts since the previous era. There must have been countless pathways and sections, but Zhao Changhe ignored all diversions, choosing a direct path upward.

Swish, swish, swish!

Several sword lights shot at them from the side.

The people in the forbidden land were clearly thrown into disarray by Zhao Changhe’s assault. No one had ever invaded this area before, and outsiders should not even know how to navigate the area, yet here someone was, heading straight for the Ao Pool. How had he done it?

They had no time to think. Unable to even organize a proper ambush, they attacked haphazardly.

Clang!

Yue Hongling’s Dragon Emperor drew a streak of light, and three of the forbidden land’s guards clutched their throats and fell to the ground.

Dragon Bird whistled through the air, slicing anyone who dared block their path in two.

The two of them charged upward, unmatched, leaving those attempting to intercept them frozen in shock, some even instinctively retreating.

The people here were not weak. In fact, they had been training with a god or demon who was on the verge of revival. Most of them were at the eighth or ninth layer of the Profound Gate, making them some of the most formidable fighters even in the Great Xia. But today, they were up against Yue Hongling and Zhao Changhe, the strongest man and woman of the younger generation in the entire world!

With a buzzing sound, it seemed as though an explosion had gone off in Yue Hongling’s mind. She staggered slightly, letting out a muffled groan.

A curse...

Zhao Changhe remained unaffected. He had taken preventive medicine from Sisi, while Yue Hongling had deliberately avoided taking it—this way, no matter if there were side effects, at least one of them would stay safe.

Now it was clear that, at least in this instance, Sisi had not lied.

Zhao Changhe held Yue Hongling’s hand and used his Rejuvenation Art to dispel the curse. With his right hand, he swept Dragon Bird in a powerful arc, slicing several attackers in half.

Yue Hongling wrinkled her nose, then pulled a crushed gu from her pocket and reluctantly ate it. Instantly, the curse was lifted.

She stood up straight and pointed her sword. “A Spirit Tribe curse... So, the boys and girls were sacrificed, but some were left behind to serve the god or demon...”

Watching their own kin be sacrificed, they not only survived but did not try to escape or seek revenge. Instead, they became envoys, returning to oppress their own people.

The young couple felt as if they had swallowed flies.

Are these the people we’re fighting to save?

Yue Hongling half expected one of them to say, “We have no choice. If we don’t serve, we’ll die,” but from their eagerness to block their path, that did not seem to be the case.

One person snarled, “It’s none of your business! Go on, boast, and preach! Following the Ancestral God, we achieve power far beyond that of our tribe, with everyone bowing before us, free to take what we want. Who wouldn’t choose this path? What would you choose if you were us?”

“Is that so?” Zhao Changhe sneered. “And what’s the price?”

As he spoke, a rumbling came from the not-so-tall summit of the Ao Pool. A massive Ao foot stepped down, scooping up the person who had just spoken.

There’s a wound on the Ao’s foot... Was it left by Sisi’s bone sword just now?

The person who had been picked up let out a bloodcurdling scream that was immediately cut off. It seemed that he had been eaten.

The wound on the Ao’s foot began to heal.

A faint, godlike voice echoed in everyone’s minds: “Since you’re so loyal, I trust you won’t hesitate to help the Ancestral God fully revive, right?”

Everyone turned pale.

Meanwhile, atop the sacred mountain, Sisi held a sword to an elder’s throat, and the Spirit Tribe’s internal strife had been seemingly quelled.

Yet the entire tribe was deathly silent, the sacred mountain still. All eyes were fixed on the low mountain peak that had appeared inexplicably in the distance.

A massive blood pool, vast like a lake, sent its stench wafting toward the sacred mountain, and the enormous Blood Ao raised its head and roared, blocking out the sun and the sky.

1. The tiangou, also known as the heavenly dog, is a mythological creature. It resembles a black dog or meteor, and is thought to eat the Sun or Moon during an eclipse. ☜

2. This is a reference to the Dowry Divine Art mentioned some chapters ago. ☜

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