Twilight Boundary-Chapter 646 - 637: Thousands of Arrows Aimed at the Heart

An Immortal descending to the mortal realm?

Hu Ma looked at Elder Longjing. Beneath his graying mane, his eyes seemed to hold a volcano, and his emotions surged with a multitude of tumultuous feelings. In that moment, words failed him, unable to capture the complexity within his heart. By logic, he ought to be full of wariness now, cautious about whether all this was a scheme, or whether this man had truly betrayed them and was merely using words to deceive him. Yet, as he gazed into Longjing's eyes, at the eerie flames burning quietly in their depths, doubt slowly evaporated from his heart. Who would completely trust a stranger they had never met after just a few sentences? Perhaps a Reincarnator could.

Moreover, Hu Ma believed that while everything could be a facade, some things couldn't be feigned. The faint smile on Longjing's face as he spoke of these past affairs, his complicated gaze, and the hatred repressed for twenty years—now waiting to erupt like a volcano—were surely genuine.

What he said was real.

This was not a traitor who had sold out the Reincarnators and must be killed.

This was a resentful soul that should have perished long ago but refused to die because of vengeance, waiting for revenge...

Thus, meeting Longjing's gaze, he slowly broke into a smile, nodding slightly as he said, "Brother, all of us wish to witness the demeanor of a senior Reincarnator!"

"No problem!"

Elder Longjing understood Hu Ma's situation at that moment. If any questions arose, he would be willing to explain.

But when Hu Ma, after a brief pause for thought, uttered such words, the smile on Longjing's face shifted from one steeped in despondency to one filled with genuine warmth.

"Then watch closely!"

He waved his large sleeves, turned, and walked towards the door, laughing as he went. "I have lost my cultivation, so I can't see clearly how great your skills are."

"But since you were sent by all the Reincarnators to kill me, I assume it's not just about courage. You must be one of the most outstanding among your generation of Reincarnators, right? How many steps have you taken on the Bridge?"

"This..."

Hu Ma, who had been full of anticipation to follow Elder Longjing outside, hesitated. A bit puzzled, he whispered, "I... pushed open the three mansion gates."

"Hmm?"

Elder Longjing clearly looked at Hu Ma with surprise before smiling and saying, "That's enough, I suppose."

"However, since you've been entrusted with such vital tasks, why do you only have the ability of Entering the Mansion?"

"I can tell you're a Shousui man. A Shousui man's close combat skills are fierce. However, here in the underworld, the Shousui's martial arts don't hold an advantage. And if relying on the dharma method for nourishing the Divine Soul, how could it compare to the Evil Ghosts in the underworld?"

"Moreover, if my guess is correct, there should be people from the Zhou Family in this City of the Dead now."

...

"It's just a fortunate coincidence."

Hu Ma could only let out a bitter laugh, saying, "Besides, while others haven't arrived, many eyes are watching here!"

"What do you need us to do, Senior?"

...

"I simply need someone trustworthy to stay by my side and lend a hand."

Elder Longjing didn't ask more, just smiled and said, "I have lost my cultivation, my Lifebound Spirit Temple is ruined, and, to be honest, I'm truly a ruined person. I always need someone to guard me as a protector."

"That's why I waited for a Reincarnator to come, confident that the Reincarnator who appears before me must be someone with both commendable character and sufficient skills."

"Talking to you earlier, I could tell you were always confident you could either kill or capture me."

"With such confidence, helping me shouldn't be a problem."

"Of course..."

Reaching this point, he couldn't resist pausing for a moment. "You haven't stepped on the Bridge, which I didn't expect..."

?

Hu Ma felt rather speechless. So what if he hadn't stepped on the Bridge? It wasn't a crime...

"Let's go!"

Elder Longjing didn't say more but went into the courtyard, lifted his head, and said, "First, pull down that lantern!"

"Lantern?"

Hu Ma followed suit, looking up to see a lantern floating above the small courtyard. A thin hemp rope was tied to a column in the center of the courtyard, holding down the lantern that seemed ready to soar away at any moment.

The lantern emitted a wan white glow. It appeared ordinary, merely for illumination, but amidst the chilling expanse of the City of the Dead, it exuded an eerie peculiarity.

"If this lantern is broken or released, the ambush around us will immediately close in."

Elder Longjing stated calmly, "They've already sealed off the City of the Dead. The only thing left is how to capture you. It was my suggestion to them to use the Fengshui Nightmare Technique to adjust this Haishou large courtyard into a four-column Soul Locking Formation."

"The lantern is the switch, or the suppression object. Once you pull it down, this place will instantly turn into a supremely malicious Evil Land, placing you in a situation akin to having a thousand arrows piercing your heart."

"Such an Evil Land is hard to come by in the mortal world. However, with the ten earth veins of the Noble Zhang Family as the foundation, supplemented by this Haishou house constructed with the Purple Tai Sui as its base, it's easy to actualize."

"Of course, it's not just my little courtyard. In this city, there are countless such once-in-a-century formidable formations that can easily kill without a trace."

"You can understand it as, in this place, you'll easily witness the mightiest skills of the Noble Zhang Family."

...

Hu Ma knew this was an opportunity to learn, so he listened intently. After Longjing finished speaking, Hu Ma approached the column, followed the hemp rope, and slowly pulled down the lantern hovering in mid-air. Holding it in his hand, he asked Longjing, "Then what?"

Elder Longjing thought slowly before saying, "I recall the Shousui man has a True Yang Arrow skill. You know it, right?"

Hu Ma felt a bit speechless again. "Senior, I am, at the very least, an Entering the Mansion Shousui..."

"As long as you know it."

Longjing said, "Blow out the lantern. The harder, the better."

Hu Ma nodded. He held the lantern and began silently practicing, then suddenly exhaled a True Yang Arrow.

Previously, he already possessed Sixty Years of Skill. Now, with four columns of cultivation, he had Half of Sixty Years of Skill and also an unspent yuan yang body. As this True Yang Arrow erupted.

In an instant, it was like spewing blazing flames. Within this eerie underworld, the City of the Dead, it was as glaringly bright as the sun. The lantern extinguished in a moment. The instant the light vanished, the surroundings immediately turned pitch dark and gloomy.

In a daze, Hu Ma felt his hair bristle all over his body. All around him, the walls and rooftops vanished. All that met his eyes was the small courtyard, now surrounded by countless paths and alleys leading towards it.

And the moment the lantern dimmed, all those roads and alleys transformed into a barrage of arrows.

All shooting straight for his heart.

Each additional road intensified the force, threatening to turn him into a pincushion in an instant.

A Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart Formation.

In the human world, anyone living in such a house for a long time would suffer endless misfortune. They would encounter various piercing and sorrowful events, live in difficulty, and find no success in anything.

In the underworld, these arrows became tangible, directly harming the Divine Soul.

"Alright, stand behind me."

Just as Hu Ma felt somewhat alarmed, Elder Longjing's voice sounded beside him.

Hu Ma immediately discarded the lantern and, in a swift and smooth movement, positioned himself behind Longjing, an action that slightly surprised even Longjing.

But Longjing merely smirked, lifted his large sleeve, gently bit his fingertip, and swiftly wrote a few words on the stone pillar to which the hemp rope was tied: "Arrows halted by the stele, bows snapped and strings shattered."

Then, he lifted his hand slightly and patted the stone stele.

BOOM!

Longjing's actions were calm, slow, and deliberate.

Yet, with his action, a sound—colossal and earth-shaking, the complete opposite of his gentle movement—abruptly echoed from all around.

From all directions, countless paths, like arrows, thrust fiercely forward. The murderous aura was overwhelming and terrifying. But arrows are shot because there is a bow.

The fiercer the arrows, the tighter the bowstring draws. These arrows, converging on the center, relied on the house's energy veins and layout. Yet, merely because of the words he wrote, this Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart Formation instantly transformed.

CHINK! CHINK! CHINK! CHINK!

Innumerable holes suddenly riddled the stone pillar, a sight that would make one's scalp tingle.

But Hu Ma and Mr. Longjing, standing next to the stone pillar, were unaffected. In the next moment, centered on this house, resounding crashes echoed—buildings toppled, and Evil Ghosts wailed.

Hu Ma looked around, his heart pounding. He could even see, in the distance of this vast estate, towering Divine Statues that had been intently focused on this direction, crumbling all at once.

Within the collapsing structures were undoubtedly countless unprepared Negative Spirit Disciples, Meng Family's Generals, and even some vividly lifelike paper man servants and resentful ghosts of the City of the Dead.

It was as if the world were ending. Endless lamentations sounded as the once grand, imposing, and impregnable inner city of the City of the Dead instantly crumbled into ruin.

"Whoa..."

Hu Ma, though not unacquainted with the extraordinary, was still startled by this upheaval.

Such a large place... Even if we Shousui men were to demolish it, it would take half a day!

"It's done."

Elder Longjing, however, seemed to have just completed a small task. He stated mildly, "This Haishou house has been destroyed."

"Our passage now will be much easier."

...

Hu Ma's heart trembled as he asked, "Senior, where are we going?"

Elder Longjing smiled. "To the Divine Descent Platform, of course."

Hu Ma was surprised. "Didn't you say that Divine Platform was for Demon Detection..."

"Naturally."

Elder Longjing chuckled. "It uses the ten earth veins of the Noble Zhang Family in the mortal world as its foundation. These connect the earth veins with the Netherworld yin veins. Combined with the power of the seventy-two Lords of the Meng Family, this strange treasure was constructed. It allows the underworld to shine on the mortal world and is capable of influencing the entire human world, isn't that so?"

"Then..."

He continued to smile, speaking slowly, "If the Noble Zhang Family hadn't spared precious treasures to personally craft such a fine item, how else could I have 'borrowed' it to employ the Nightmare Technique I've been preparing for twenty years?"