World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 509: The Steps to Destroy the Blood Mine

Wang Sheng's mood had dropped mainly because of Yaoyun's influence. When he saw the corpse within the golden light, he himself didn't really feel anything. The two corpses' overwhelming pressure made his Dao Heart tremble, leaving him no time at all to grieve.

At that moment, threads of immortal light flew out of his chest. Ignoring the erosion of the dense fiend-blood energy around him, Yaoyun took on her human form, stood still, and stared blankly at the skeletons. A wave of sorrow welled up from the depths of Wang Sheng's heart, making him realize that he and Yaoyun could even influence each other's emotions.

Within that sorrow, he felt a faint trace of doubt.

"Yaoyun, do you know them?"

"Mm."

Noticing the spiritual power around her flickering, Wang Sheng instructed, "Come back for now."

Staying manifested here for even just three seconds would burn a large amount of her spiritual power. He could continuously feed immortal power into her to replenish her energy, but unlike cultivators, her recovery took more than just casually drawing in energy.

Yaoyun sighed faintly, transformed back into immortal light, and returned to Flying Haze's core. She remained silent for some time.

Wang Sheng tried to step into the golden sphere of light, but the moment he reached out, the radiance pushed him back. Right after, on the inner side of the golden barrier, a mass of black-red aura twisted and swelled, making his heart jump. It turned into a savage fiend spirit, silently roaring at Wang Sheng repeatedly and ramming against the golden light as if it could break out at any moment.

Wang Sheng immediately stepped back. The fiend spirit roared twice more, then collapsed back into a mass of swirling aura.

"A remnant spirit with immense killing intent," Yaoyun explained. "It seems General Li chose to perish with a powerful enemy. In his final moments, he still managed to use the divine ability of his immortal armor in hopes of completing the deed.

"Both he and his foe exuded nothing but killing intent in their final moments. Hence, when they died, their flesh and blood turned into fiend-blood energy, the filth feared by cultivators."

Wang Sheng couldn't help but ask, "Who was this general?"

With a hint of sorrow, Yaoyun replied, "A Star Deity, a true god of the Heavenly Court, and one of the wind gods. He was a peak Golden Immortal who resided in the metal-aligned Kang[1] in the eastern heavens. I once received his guidance on the art of controlling wind."

Wang Sheng didn't press further. Instead, he observed the area for some time before returning to find Lan Huilin. From his investigation, he concluded that the Celestial Wind Sect experts who had entered this place ten thousand years ago had opened the outer golden barrier.

He also noticed that the storage artifacts of the two Golden Immortals had disappeared, likely taken by the Celestial Wind Sect. Those could certainly be considered true hidden treasures.

The remains of such powerful beings should have been collected. However, considering the golden barrier still maintained considerable strength even after over a hundred thousand years, it had to have been nearly impossible to approach when it was first formed.

Yaoyun had originally speculated that this was the site where a Taiyi Golden Immortal had fallen, and their resentment at their moment of death had created this blood mine and produced such vast fiend-blood energy. Now, they had finally learned of the truth behind the mine.

"Wang Sheng! Daoist Friend Wang! Daoist Friend!"

Wang Sheng snapped back from his daze and looked at the slightly worried Lan Huilin before him. "Mm? What is it?"

Lan Huilin asked, "Do you need my help with anything?"

"Not really..." He pondered for a moment, working through the process of collecting the Star Deity's remains. "Now that you mention it, I might have a task for you."

"Oh? It's all thanks to you that I can recover my immortal power. Whatever it is, please don't hesitate to tell me."

His expression turned serious. "Mm, later, I need you to stay away from the area."

Lan Huilin's aura wavered. She frowned. "If I'm only a burden to you, I'll just return to where I was before!"

Wang Sheng smiled helplessly. "You misunderstand me, Daoist Friend. I actually have an idea, although not a very refined one. It could be our last chance to escape this place alive. It will definitely stir the fiend-blood energy, and it will almost certainly trigger an unprecedented eruption. I just want you farther away so you wouldn't be injured."

Lan Huilin raised an eyebrow slightly. Her expression finally eased. Soon after, she headed toward the exit of the bottom passage, intending to wait at the farthest point she could reach and prepare to support him.

Wang Sheng fell deep in thought as he watched her walk away. He considered how much he had revealed to Lan Huilin. After reviewing everything, he found that he had acted with proper caution.

Yaoyun asked, "Do you have a way to break through that golden light?"

Wang Sheng nodded slowly. "I do, but it will take time, maybe even three to five months or several years."

"How?"

Wang Sheng smiled and deliberately kept her guessing. With Yaoyun guiding him along, he took out several dozen pieces of Immortal Stones and arranged a layer of isolation array behind him. A barrier of array light sealed off the bottom passage.

He then extended both hands. A milky-white vortex appeared in his left palm, immediately drawing the fiend-blood energy forward. In his right palm, threads of gray heavenly tribulation cloud surged forth.

Yaoyun immediately caught on to Wang Sheng's plan: he intended to use heavenly tribulation to consume the fiend-blood energy in this place.

"You've got a feasible plan, but it'll take far longer than three to five months."

Wang Sheng challenged, "How about we make a bet?"

"Oh? What do you have in mind?"

"If I break that golden light barrier within a year, then you... Actually, there is nothing worth betting. Just watch. I already spent quite a bit of effort contemplating the power of heavenly tribulation."

"Be careful not to draw heavenly might again!"

Wang Sheng instinctively glanced upward. Smiling bitterly, he then shook his head and focused on arranging the heavenly tribulation.

While speaking with Yaoyun, he had formed a one-meter-wide tribulation cloud before his eyes. He slowly pushed it into the blood mist ahead, making finger-thick bolts of lightning flash and strike wildly. The blood mist boiled, and traces of extremely pure primal qi formed wherever the lightning cleaved through. However, because the surrounding blood mist was too dense, the primal qi was immediately contaminated.

Heavenly tribulation didn't seem particularly effective. Nevertheless, Wang Sheng remained calm. He absorbed fiend-blood energy, struck it with lightning internally, and converted it into primal qi for his own use. Moreover, he continuously produced more tribulation clouds. Soon, another cloud was sent forward.

The clouds swiftly piled up like layers of cotton, forming a wall. Wisps of primal qi appeared behind it and drifted toward Wang Sheng, while bolts of lightning continued hacking forward. Standing still, he absorbed the primal qi while steadily pushing the wall of tribulation cloud onward.

It didn't take long for him to consume a third of his immortal power. He opened one of his storage artifacts and found a few alchemical pills to replenish his immortal power. Although these pills could not compare to the Heavenly Court's specially supplied celestial pills, True Immortals or Heavenly Immortals had still refined them. They worked well enough, and they allowed him to avoid exposing the Qiankun Ring.

On the far side of the cloud wall, dense lightning continued to slice forward. The fiend-blood energy, which could corrode even an immortal's flesh, was constantly evaporated, and the blood mist gradually thinned. However, the golden barrier continued releasing more of it, spreading it evenly in all directions.

Fiend-blood energy had no "awareness." It only reacted to living beings, and it certainly wouldn't deliberately flow toward places where it was thinning. Without an external force, it only drifted slowly.

Fresh fiend-blood energy drifted in, and Wang Sheng produced more tribulation clouds.

***

It took Wang Sheng more than a month and over sixty celestial pills to push a thirty-meter-thick mass of tribulation cloud to the outer edge of the golden light wall.

From there, he used his Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent to lessen the frequency of the cloud's eruptions and carve an upward tunnel along the outer perimeter of the golden wall. He then stuffed the tribulation cloud into it and created an opening right above the enormous golden sphere, making the structure resemble the exhaust duct of a tall building.

His idea was simple: He would use the power of heavenly tribulation to open a gap in the golden sphere, allowing the black-red aura inside to spill out and flood into the blood mine. It would, in turn, trigger a full-scale, ground-shattering eruption that could even destroy the entire mine.

Heavenly tribulation protected him, preventing anything corrupted from harming him. Hence, he could simply rush in and collect the remains of the Star Deity on Yaoyun's behalf. Unfortunately, he couldn't take the unaffiliated practitioners above into consideration.

Everything proceeded smoothly. The tribulation cloud that he had accumulated over the past month had entered the "exhaust duct" that he had dug. It soon appeared above the golden sphere and slowly pressed down, spreading across the golden barrier.

Tribulation clouds always dissipated and dissolved into primal qi. Hence, he couldn't collect unlimited amounts of it.

The golden sphere was nearly a kilometer in diameter. Even spread out, the tribulation cloud covered only a small patch of it.

Wang Sheng raised his right hand and grasped at the air, forming a sword out of Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent. He then lightly slashed at the golden sphere. The tribulation cloud raged, striking the golden light with lightning bolts.

Even if heavenly lightning could not break the barrier, he thought it would at least make the golden light tremble or ripple. However, it didn't have the slightest effect on the golden light, which dumbfounded him. It couldn't even cause the faintest ripple. The lightning simply passed straight into the golden barrier.

This makes no sense. Does the barrier... conduct electricity?

Wang Sheng thought for a moment. He then noticed that whenever strands of black-red aura drifted near the golden light, some of the fiend-blood energy would condense slightly.

That was an issue. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

After pondering briefly, he pressed the tribulation cloud right against the golden barrier, making it slowly pass through the golden light as though it were a giant net with tiny holes. The sight made his eyes light up.

Once all of the tribulation cloud had slipped inside, Wang Sheng immediately lost all sensory contact with it. Nevertheless, it reacted as if it had discovered an unforgivable criminal. It swirled along the edges and surged toward the nearby black-red aura.

Heavenly tribulation power surged, and lightning flashed throughout the golden sphere. The aura turned into skulls and counterattacked, engaging the tribulation in a violent clash.

In the end, the tribulation cloud could only destroy a small portion of the aura. It was practically negligible compared to the total amount of aura within the sphere. Still, Wang Sheng, who had briefly felt at a loss earlier, began coming up with even more ideas.

1. Kang is one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions based on the Chinese constellation system. ☜