Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 384 - 370 Corpse Spirit Flower (2/3)

Chapter 384: Chapter 370 Corpse Spirit Flower (2/3)

Zhou Heng panted heavily, hastily taking out a Spirit Stone to refine and restore his Spiritual Power. Although the Black Sword had absorbed the essence of four and a half Half-Step Immortals, this was a better effect for increasing Spiritual Power accumulation. It was simply too wasteful to use it just for restoring strength.

When the Divine Intent combined with Spiritual Power, the power of the Sky-soaring Nine Forms became even more formidable!

Zhou Heng thought to himself, this was the first time he had used the Sky-soaring Nine Forms since entering the Nascent Soul Realm. Although it was still the same move, the one he used now even forced him to the ground, but its power had indeed greatly increased.

But correspondingly, not only was his Spiritual Power depleted, his Divine Infant was also dull and lackluster, and he felt just like an ordinary mortal. Fortunately, his physical condition had also reached the Nascent Soul Realm, and his Brutal Strength was still there, so he wasn’t so weak he couldn’t even stand after releasing a single sword strike.

The Black Donkey darted around discreetly, laughing like a thief as it collected the Space Artifacts from the four Old Ancestors, its saliva nearly dripping out.

"Donkey, we’ll split it fifty-fifty!" Zhou Heng extended his hand.

"What, I painstakingly picked them up, and you just demand half?" The Black Donkey jumped up as if it had suffered a huge grievance!

Listen to that! You’d be hard-pressed to find another creature so shameless and yet so bold anywhere else in the world but this despicable donkey!

"I’ll take the Space Artifact of the Divine Infant Realm, the other one I’ll leave up to chance," Zhou Heng said calmly, ignoring the Black Donkey’s indignant protests.

To summon that Divine Transformation Realm Demon Beast, he had spent a large amount of Spirit Stones. That was only possible because he had looted Murong Yuan and her companions earlier. Their Space Artifacts contained a large number of Upper Grade Spirit Stones; otherwise, he could not have summoned a Divine Transformation Realm Demon Beast at all, at most a Divine Infant Realm one, and even that wouldn’t last long.

After paying such a huge price, naturally, he wanted the larger share!

With a pained expression on its face, the Black Donkey handed over the two Space Artifacts. After all, Zhou Heng had slain them by himself. Though the donkey was shameless, it still had a smidgen of shame.

Zhou Heng swept over them with his Divine Intent and immediately showed a satisfied look on his face. Compared to what he had obtained, the Upper Grade Spirit Stones he had paid were worth it!

After restoring his Spiritual Power, he began to refine the Life Essence Qi absorbed by the Black Sword.

In the past few days, he had slain two Nascent Soul Realm Flying Fish and had also consumed that nourishing substance, which allowed his Spiritual Power accumulation to increase rapidly. Now, having refined the Life Essence Qi of four Half-Step Immortals, especially one at the pinnacle of the Divine Infant Realm, his Spiritual Power accumulation had suddenly reached the peak of the First Layer Heaven of the Nascent Soul Realm!

Without any hesitation, he began his breakthrough, and just half an hour later, with the rumbling sound within his body ceasing, he had entered the Second Layer Heaven of the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Little monster!" The Black Donkey looked listless, doodling circles on the ground with its hoof, "You’re cultivating too quickly, lad. Won’t Donkey Master have no chance to turn the tables in the future?"

"Don’t make yourself sound so pitiful. Ever suffered a loss, have you?"

"Haha, it seems I truly haven’t!" The Black Donkey’s spirits immediately lifted, "I’ve never been one to suffer a loss. Come on, let’s set off, and not let those ahead steal my Immortal Fate!"

One man and one donkey continued on their way, traversing the crimson earth that seemed to have been cast from fresh blood, always sensing a hint of bloodiness in the air, which seemed to drive one wild.

"Zhou, come over here!" The Black Donkey suddenly stopped.

Zhou Heng walked over, his gaze sweeping around, yet he didn’t notice anything unusual. "Donkey, what treasure are you playing with now?"

"It’s no game, look at this!" The Black Donkey extended a hoof, pointing to the ground.

Zhou Heng looked closely and saw that the Black Donkey was pointing to a blood-colored grain the size of a soybean. He sensed it, but there was no energy fluctuation within. He frowned and said, "Is it this thing?"

"This is a Blood Crystal!" The Black Donkey picked up the crystal.

"What use is it?"

"It’s useless!"

Sputter!

Zhou Heng twitched in annoyance, "Donkey, are you starting to act up again?"

"You’re the one acting up!" The Black Donkey, absolutely not conceding in a verbal exchange, shot back at Zhou Heng before explaining, "Blood Crystals can only form after a powerful martial artist has died. Although there isn’t much use for the crystal itself, where there’s a Blood Crystal, there’s bound to be a Corpse Spirit Flower!"

"Corpse Spirit Flower?"

"That’s a real treasure, absorbing the Spiritual Energy and blood energy of the deceased, seizing the essence of heaven and earth. The Spirit Flower that blooms is a rare treasure for martial artists!" the Black Donkey said, drooling, its eyes already gleaming red.

"That indeed is a good treasure!" Zhou Heng nodded.

"I am a donkey, a grass-eater, so don’t even think about that Corpse Spirit Flower!" the Black Donkey said shamelessly as it already sprinted forward, definitely not minding hogging the Corpse Spirit Flower if given the chance.

This shameless donkey, not only fond of biting like a dog, also had a nose like one, constantly sniffing the ground as it led Zhou Heng on. The way it held its head down and its rump up was utterly contemptible, inciting in Zhou Heng the impulse to give it a good kick.

Several hours later, Black Donkey came to a halt.

In front of them, a blood lake appeared!

The lake was not large, only about a hundred zhang in circumference, but above it swirled a blood-colored fog, constantly morphing into images of demon beasts and humanoids—which were not limited to humans, including such oddities as those from the Heavenly Demon Clan, with perhaps double wings or heads like ferocious tigers, only resembling human form but not human beings.

It wasn’t just Zhou Heng and Black Donkey who discovered this lake; around them were more than ten people, all of whom were at least of the Nascent Soul Realm, Old Ancestor level. There were a few presences that were so obscure and powerful they were completely inscrutable; those must be of the Divine Infant Realm!

All these people were staring at the blood lake, but not a single one stepped into it. Obviously, this blood lake was not simply as terrifying as it appeared, but truly fraught with danger, halting anyone in their tracks.

Seeing Zhou Heng and Black Donkey arrive, those people only glanced at Zhou Heng, immediately drew their gazes back, and refocused on the blood lake, as though an extremely beautiful woman was bathing nude inside it.

Of course, their target was definitely the Corpse Spirit Flower.

It wasn’t just Black Donkey who knew the goods; now that a large number of experts from ancient times have emerged, many are well-versed in both ancient and modern knowledge.

"Zhou, quickly take out the Ten Refinement Diagram and clear the field!" Black Donkey said, sticking out its tongue, drooling all over the ground.

"Damn, do you think I have so many spirit stones to burn?" Zhou Heng glared at this damned donkey. Although he had just plundered the collections of two Half-Step Immortals, upper-grade spirit stones were not ubiquitous even in ancient times, and their number was limited.

"Let’s see what happens first!" Zhou Heng shoved out a palm, and the surge of palm force surged towards the blood lake.

"Stop!" Everyone else yelled out, moving to intercept Zhou Heng’s palm force.

But once a Divine Infant was formed, they were beings capable of using domains, with thoughts that could bring about attacks. As soon as Zhou Heng moved to shove his palm, the palm force had already formed above the lake, creating a small-scale tornado that began to whirl.

Whoosh!

The fog above the blood lake immediately dispersed, revealing its true nature. The dark crimson surface of the lake seemed to boil, and floating in the center of the lake was a segment of a silver skeleton, indistinguishable whether it belonged to a demon beast or a human, or which part it was.

Atop this segment of broken bone grew a blood-red spirit grass sprouting a flower of the same color, a six-petal blossom, each petal plump and smooth like crystal, dazzling and beautiful.

As the palm wind fell, the spirit grass immediately swayed, and the petals seemed about to drift down from the parent plant, yet they possessed a strong life force, reluctant to part.

Whoosh!

The lake surface kicked up a wind, and a series of chilling ghostly wails ensued. The blood qi surged, forming into various demon beasts and humanoids, all stepping on air, rushing toward Zhou Heng and the others.

Divine Infant Realm!

"Damn it—" Black Donkey was slick as an eel, immediately scampering off with its hooves, while the others were not slow either, retreating quickly, not entangling with those blood qi monsters.

Zhou Heng summoned the Hundred Ghosts Sword, Sword Breaking the Heavens, releasing the last and most powerful of the Feiyu Seven Swords.

Amid the boundless sword qi, a ghost shadow also emerged.

Boom!

The blood qi assault quickly annihilated the ghost shadow; those were at least a dozen Divine Infant Realm monsters, whose combined power was truly formidable!

Zhou Heng’s strike being ineffective, immediately performed the Swift Cloud Radiant Step, his figure soaring, retreating hastily backward. These blood qi monsters were just like the ghost creatures formed by the condensation of spiritual energy in the Hundred Ghosts Sword, totally meaningless to entangle with.

Even if he won, what good would it do? No benefit whatsoever!

Moreover, more than a dozen Divine Infants, ah, that was far beyond his current ability to confront.

After Zhou Heng retreated a certain distance, these blood qi monsters did not continue their chase but stared at Zhou Heng for a while before returning to the blood lake, once again transforming into a mass of blood qi, blending back into the fog above the lake.

No wonder so many Old Ancestors were sitting still and not acting; it wasn’t that they were wary of each other, but that this blood lake was not easy to break through!

"Ignorant juniors!" Those people glared at Zhou Heng, rebuking in low voices, but immediately withdrew their stares and refocused on the blood lake—compared to the Corpse Spirit Flower, a junior’s rash action really wasn’t worth their extra attention.

"Zhou, we’ve struck it rich!" Black Donkey, seeing the danger had passed, trotted over excitedly, saying, "Normal Corpse Spirit Flowers only have four petals, but this one has six, its effect must be incredibly strong!"

"Do you have a way to get the spirit grass out of the blood lake?" Zhou Heng asked.

"No!" Black Donkey shook its head, "If I, your Donkey Master, could get the spirit grass out, would there even be a need to call you, lad?"

This was an honest statement; if it was possible to monopolize the benefit, this damned donkey definitely wouldn’t let anyone else take advantage.

"Then stop talking nonsense. Without the means to pluck it, it doesn’t matter if the flower has six petals or eighteen—none of it concerns us!" Zhou Heng kicked the donkey.

"Zhou, think of something fast, that’s a real treasure! You should know even experts of the Divinity Transformation Realm can only cultivate Corpse Spirit Flowers with three petals, this one is definitely an Immortal Herb!" Black Donkey’s drool flowed all over the place. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian [qidian.com]. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)