Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 609 - 045: Seeing Yanyan Again

Chapter 609: Chapter 045: Seeing Yanyan Again

"Cultivation has no end, bones accumulate and turn to ash."

In the pitch-black ruins above the Cold Pond, Zhou Yan stood like a Lonely Crane, murmuring to himself.

This was a lament that emanated from the Golden Battle Armor figure, which was transformed from the Sword Qi of the Xuanyuan Sword Fragment.

His language was moreover the language of the Tai Chu Rune.

These few words, merely a dozen or so characters, yet they conveyed the rugged path and hardships of the cultivation journey.

Zhou Yan stood on this spot for a moment, then moved through the Void with the Netherworld Body Technique.

However, at the moment he traversed the Void, Zhou Yan was suddenly struck by a chilling sensation, sensing something watching him—those were eyes, cold and malevolent, with a bloodthirsty gaze.

This made Zhou Yan feel uneasy. If there was still a presence that could make his heart tremble, it must be a being on par with the Sword Ancestor or even the realm of the Sword Saint. If it was an attack from the Sword Ancestor or a Sword Saint again, his chances of survival would indeed be slim.

Zhou Yan quickly transformed into the shadow of a pitch-black Eight-carried Sedan Chair, moving ambiguously across the space, making no effort to reveal his presence, while simultaneously sensing his surroundings.

No matter how he sensed, Zhou Yan still came up empty, as though the sudden chilling feeling was but a momentary illusion.

Zhou Yan had his doubts but gradually lowered his guard and continued forward using the Netherworld Body Technique.

Half a day later, leveraging his understanding of Array Manipulation, Zhou Yan was about to leave the Baiyue Ancient Forbidden.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief and moved a distance toward the front planning to leave the Ancient Forbidden, crossing the Killing Stone Tablet ahead.

But just when he was about to reach the Stele, the environment in front of him inexplicably changed, and Zhou Yan found himself back above the ruins of the Cold Pond that had been destroyed by the attack of a Saint.

The four fields around were still scorched black, the earth cracked, and the Void still filled with the faint aura of Emperor’s might emanating from the Golden Battle Armor figure.

Everything was unchanged; Zhou Yan’s half day’s effort seemed like he was stepping in place within the Void.

A chill went through Zhou Yan’s heart, and his expression instantly turned grave.

Regarding Array Manipulation, he understood most of the Tai Chu Runes by now, surpassing the insights of most Saints. The Baiyue Ancient Forbidden seemed full of mistakes, simple, and unstressful to him but now, he was stuck in it.

This was utterly impossible!

Zhou Yan thought of those cold, evil eyes that had stared at him from behind. His body went cold, knowing there was definitely some formidable presence that had noticed him, yet that formidable being had not attacked.

If the opponent did attack, his chances of survival would certainly be slim.

Zhou Yan felt that within this scorched land, there was a terrifying presence, continuously watching him from all sides, its focus shadowing him like a sinister pair of eyes in the night, filled with bloodlust and chilliness, making his spine shiver.

"No, I can’t stay any longer! I must leave!"

Zhou Yan made up his mind. Recalling the records on the Killing Stone Tablet, he decided to disrupt the Ancient Array’s alterations using powerful Tai Chu Runes, directly using the Stele as a gate to teleport out.

To do so would require a great expenditure of mental effort to derive the Tai Chu Rune correspondences with the alterations of the Ancient Array, inversely deriving the Array of the Baiyue Ancient Forbidden from its base, fundamentally dissolving the Array.

This way, the Baiyue Ancient Forbidden would violently explode and be truly destroyed.

This was an extreme method Zhou Yan had not considered before, but now, having swiftly reached the Initial Realm of the Nine Changes of Sword Void by chance, and suddenly facing an ominous threat, his only choice was survival.

Unknown peril, those unknown cold, malevolent, and bloodthirsty eyes, unknown killing intent, unknown heart palpitations.

All of it caused Zhou Yan to break out in a cold sweat.

Zhou Yan poured his heart’s blood into it, continuously condensing Tai Chu Runes within the Eight-carried Sedan Chair, deriving alterations of the Array, then inversely deriving, calculating the foundational basis of the Baiyue Ancient Forbidden.

The longer this went on, the colder it felt, as Zhou Yan suppressed the chills in his heart upon completing the derivation, his body was already icy cold.

That cold, bloodthirsty chilling gaze seemed to be right behind him, about to descend upon him.

Zhou Yan felt as if he was carrying a mountain and river, his body trembling, and his clothing soaked with cold sweat. His scalp tingled, and every hair on his body stood on end as waves of chills continuously assaulted his brain and scalp.

Dead silence in the four fields, nothing to see, nothing to hear.

But within the Void, it seemed there was a harsh panting sound, ’huffing’ and ’puffing’ non-stop.

As if a fierce and dreadful ghost had bared its fangs towards him.

Zhou Yan felt the master of those eerie cold eyes had extended a blood-colored bony ghost hand and was reaching towards his back.

"Phew—"

Zhou Yan felt the hand penetrate his body in one move, reaching for his heart.

A pain that tore apart body and soul spread throughout his body, feeling as if his heart was being ripped out.

"Crunch—"

"Crunch—"

That was the sound of the monster gnawing and chewing on his own heart, very distinct.

...

"Break!"

Zhou Yan’s vision darkened, yet he shouted in anger, enduring a soul-shivering pain and suddenly released the Tai Chu Runes toward the main foundation of the Baiyue Ancient Forbidden.

There, it had already turned into ruins.

But that place was precisely the location where a mysterious cave dwelling had once appeared.

"Shhh..."

Tai Chu Rune-derived Array Patterns passed through that area of ruins and entered a particular space.

The Void trembled, and time seemed to pause for a moment.

A beam of light shot forth, the Void appeared to twist, and suddenly, a huge stele also flew over, colliding with Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan watched the scene unfold but did nothing.

"Boom, boom—"

Before long, the moment the stele collided with Zhou Yan, it suddenly entered his Soul Dantian, integrating into the Xuanyuan Sword Fragment within his Soul Dantian.

At that moment, Zhou Yan unexpectedly felt a sudden peace of mind, as if the cold, evil gaze had been shaken away by the power of the stele.

The Void was also torn apart at that moment, and boundless darkness enveloped Zhou Yan again, swallowing him into the broken Void.

...

"Plunk—"

Zhou Yan suddenly plunged into the water, and the bone-chilling coldness from the flowing water seeped into his body, dispelling the uneasiness brought by that cold, evil gaze.

"Where is this?"

Zhou Yan regained his senses and sensed his surroundings, only to find that this was not outside the Baiyue Canyon near the stele.

In all directions, there was nothing but bone-chilling river water, icy and cold.

Zhou Yan’s body flowed forward with the water, surrounded by darkness; despite being able to see in the dark, Zhou Yan could neither see the end of the darkness nor the end of the flowing water.

Far into the four fields, the flow of water reached hard, meteorite-like rock walls at its edge.

After drifting with the current for some time, a huge dragon-shaped whirlpool appeared ahead, swirling and flying in the stream like a dragon, with large bubbles surging upward, as if it were an exit or an entrance.

Zhou Yan rushed forward, wrapped his body with a top-level soul artifact, and continuously struck with Xingyi Dragon Swordsmanship, generating dragon-shaped Sword Qi to fit with the dragon-shaped whirlpool, creating a real air tunnel.

The power of the whirlpool could grind the Void, but the greatest ability of Xingyi Swordsmanship was to simulate energy. By imitating the whirlpool’s energy with Dragon Sword Dao, Zhou Yan merged into it, seeking a way out.

Everything went smoothly, and Zhou Yan broke through a channel more than nine thousand meters long, finally soaring into the atmosphere, feeling the flow of air once again.

Heaven and Earth were still dark, but Zhou Yan distinctly felt that he had broken out.

"Is this... in the starry sky? Have I broken out of the Heavenly Heart Secret Realm?"

Zhou Yan sensed his surroundings, and after gradually adapting to the darkness, the glimmers of light from the Star Domain appeared: azure, emerald, and blood-red planets were rotating and flying in the Void, occasionally flashing like ghostly flames.

Those were the planets in the Star Universe.

Zhou Yan felt a sense of familiarity and suddenly realized that by breaking the Baiyue Ancient Prohibition, he had directly burst into the star domain where Nirvana Ancestor Star was located.

"I’ve finally come out! That place was truly sinister. Previously, even a Saint might not have known its dangers."

Zhou Yan’s heart was pounding incessantly, then suddenly, he was horrified to discover that his heart and other organs were intact, and his body was uninjured, as if the previous scene had been an illusion!

But Zhou Yan was certain, it was not an illusion.

An ancient array that seemed so simple couldn’t have caused him to lose his way, wandering back and forth in the same place for half a day. Not to mention, the Netherworld Life and Death Bridge Cultivation Technique, which had the capability of traversing space, would not be limited by this breeding ground and certainly wouldn’t perform the ridiculous act of flying back and forth in place.

These were enough to prove that it was caused by the owner of those cold, evil, and bloodthirsty eyes.

Recalling that scene, Zhou Yan’s heart suddenly began to thump violently again, as if his heart was expanding, about to explode!

Not only that, but the cold, evil, and bloodthirsty gaze seemed to be suddenly cast upon him again, making his body and mind feel utterly chilled to the extreme.

"What is that?!"

Zhou Yan yelled angrily, his heart chilled, and the feeling of being watched and stared at was enough to drive one mad!

The feeling of unease continuously filled his mind, crowding out all the gaps.

But the surroundings remained silent and empty, still deathly still.

Behind him, it was as if a terrifying specter stood there, its blood-red eyes and ghastly white skeletal hands reaching out to seize Zhou Yan’s heart once more.

"Purple Flame! Gather the Purple Flame! Thunderflame, manifest the Thunder Flame Sword Body!"

Zhou Yan’s body was ice-cold, as if he had fallen into an ice pit. In that instant, a sense of complete despair washed over him, but immediately, he thought of the Purple Flame and the Thunder Control Divine Dao.

The formidable power of the Purple Flame could suppress all evil, and the Thunder Flame Sword Body’s Thunder Control Divine Dao was the nemesis of countless evils.

Almost instantly, Zhou Yan gathered a powerful purple flame around his body, and his original manifestation of the Emperor Qi Sword Body, a physical trait, immediately transformed into almost entirely a Thunderflame Sword Body bloodline.

The instantaneous transformation dispelled all feelings of cold, evil, and suffocation, as if a spring of clear water was splashed over him; Zhou Yan’s mind abruptly became clear, and fears and unease vanished all at once.

That very instant, Zhou Yan suddenly felt something, his intent moved, and he disappeared from that place, appearing in the Void Purple Flame.

Void Purple Flame, the space where the Void Purple Flame Lotus resided.

The lotus blossomed, and amid the purple flames, a little girl in a worn red cotton-padded jacket came out with a gentle smile.

Her eyes were bright, and her lovely face was tinged with a healthy blush.