Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 582 - 524
Ghost Shovel lay on its back, facing the sky. Its abdominal opening stretched to the limit, creating a horrific suction force, intending to devour both the Thunder Strike and Li Ang.
The Mo Si on Li Ang’s skin tore and peeled off inch by inch, swept away by the turbulent wind. He didn’t retreat but advanced, stepping forward. Sharp spikes erupted from beneath his feet, nailing into the soil and stabilizing his form. Vast numbers of silk threads surged from his arms. In an instant, they bound Ghost Shovel’s shoulders and neck, piercing its skin and muscles. He poured in Spiritual Energy, internally ravaging the Martial Artist’s naturally formed Gang Qi barrier.
With the Gang Qi barrier destroyed and the circulation of its blood and energy impeded, the crimson energy swirling around Ghost Shovel’s body was immediately cleared away. Li Ang gripped Ghost Shovel’s shoulders and pressed down forcefully.
The opening in Ghost Shovel’s abdomen tilted sharply, just missing the descending Thunder Strike.
BOOM!
Flashing lightning tore through Ghost Shovel’s skull. Half of its scalp-covered cranium flew away, followed by a spray of shattered bone fragments. The brilliance was fleeting. It staggered forward a step, its shattered half-skull revealing a mix of charred and whitish brain. Its eyes first flickered with disbelief and confusion, then swiftly grew vacant and unfocused. It stumbled and fell to the ground.
Li Ang also knelt. Immense electric currents, conducted through the Mo Si into his Body, felt like needles pricking a balloon, poking numerous holes in his Qi Sea. With his Qi Sea damaged and Spiritual Energy leaking, the remaining Mo Si on his body, as if hit by a Thunder Strike, hastily retracted back into his Body.
Before Li Ang could settle his Qi Sea, the prostrate corpse of Ghost Shovel began to convulse violently. The slit on the corpse’s abdomen opened on its own, madly sucking in soil and rocks, causing the ground to cave in instantly, forming a pit. A vast amount of rubble tumbled into the pit, with Ghost Shovel’s corpse rolling to the bottom, facing up. The slit on its abdomen continually expanded, surpassing the diameter of its belly and sucking in everything nearby like a black hole.
The terrifying suction force arrived in an instant. Soil, plants, air, insects—everything was swept into the gaping maw and disappeared, as if a black hole had emerged.
Lu Yunan, who was hovering in mid-air, was suddenly hit by the suction force and plummeted toward the ground. Li Ang took several steps back, Mo Si spreading out from under his feet like tree roots into the soil, anchoring him. Flinging two strands of silk from his hands, he grabbed Lu Yunan, pulling her into his embrace.
In just two seconds, Ghost Shovel’s opening had expanded to over ten meters. Thousands of tons of earth vanished into thin air, forming a new cliff. The steep incline of the cliff caused Ghost Shovel’s corpse to slide downwards. Li Ang and Lu Yunan were also dragged by the suction, falling towards the abyss.
Li Yuan, a forbidden place in this world.
Within the abyssal crevasse, a dense, chilly mist rushed towards them. Li Ang and Lu Yunan instantly felt their Qi Sea rapidly weaken, and all Cultivation techniques were rendered unworkable. The Bitter Realm Lotus withered and died. The Ten Thousand Spirit Book fell silent. The Arbitrary Gate could not be opened. Even the Mo Si grew sluggish and delayed, gradually failing.
Li Ang carried Lu Yunan on his back. He felt an intense sensation of weightlessness. With all his might, he whipped a cluster of Mo Si from his palm, weaving a parachute above them and grasping it firmly.
CRASH!
A deluge of rocks from the collapsing cliff rained down on the parachute, battering it, causing it to deform and sway erratically.
THUMP!
Li Ang and Lu Yunan slammed hard into the ageless grey cliff. Their world turned black, and their consciousness faded.
All of this happened far too quickly. Galuo only saw the rock layers in front of her shatter and disintegrate, forming a new cliff. Li Ang, Lu Yunan, and Ghost Shovel’s corpse all plunged down it.
She sprinted over, but the Wolf Head Armor abruptly stopped her just short of the grass line, halting her advance.
"I’ll come back."
Li Ang’s last message, left with Heart Thought, emerged within the Wolf Head Armor. "You go back to the Turkic Royal Court first and use the Nearby Worm to inform the Academic Palace of my situation. The Turkic Royal Court has likely already fallen into chaos. With some luck, no one will realize you ever left.
"Do not stay here. It is pointless—people from Taihao Mountain may pursue you to this place.
"If the Royal Court discovers your involvement with the Yu Country ’assassin,’ the Ashina Clan’s status will become even more unfavorable. You must consider your fellow clansmen.
"Moreover, Shen Tuyu and Qiu Feng might still be within Turkic territory and could still have a slim chance to complete the mission. They also need you as an inside contact."
This inscription emerged as a bas-relief inside the helmet. As the inscription ended, the Wolf Head Armor loosened its restrictions and returned to normal armor.
Galuo fell to the ground from the inertia. As she climbed up, she took off the helmet and fixed her gaze on the words "I will come back."
"..."
The girl silently put the helmet on again and quickly ran to the edge of the incredibly spectacular cliff—it was as if a piece of the earth had been gouged out. Li Ang and Lu Yunan were nowhere to be seen, nor was any sound heard.
In the Turkic language, Li Yuan is called Toktu, meaning a land abandoned by the gods. Even the radiance of Eternal Heaven cannot illuminate its depths. The shallowest parts at both ends of Li Yuan were also nearly a kilometer deep. Further in, one would see cliffs higher than mountains and chasms deeper than the sea.
Since ancient times, apart from those great figures in myths and legends, no one had ever returned alive from the depths of Li Yuan. Even the Cultivators from Taihao Mountain, the Turkic people, the Academic Palace, and Jing Country mostly operated in the shallower parts of Li Yuan, either investigating demons or mining for minerals.
The dense mist drifting out from Li Yuan slowly surged up, forcing Galuo to retreat. She looked around, committing the nearby terrain to memory, then headed in the direction of the Turkic Royal Court, guided by the stars in the night sky. Her immediate priority was to return to the Royal Court and use the Nearby Worm to inform the Academic Palace.
Falling, falling. An endless abyss. An impenetrable fog. Pain.
UGH!
Li Ang abruptly opened his eyes, coughing violently, and climbed up from the ground. His limbs and bones ached as if they were falling apart, throbbing with intense pain, but the solid ground beneath his feet finally dispelled the frightening sensation of weightlessness.
Was he still alive?
Li Ang touched his head and body in disbelief. A cut on his head was slowly dripping blood down his forehead. His body was covered in bruises and abrasions; even the slightest touch sent pain through him like an electric shock.
Were his eyes... blind?
He struggled to blink his sore eyes and found his vision drastically diminished. In the dim ambient light, he had to bring his hand very close to even see it.
Had he accidentally blinded himself when he collided head-on with the rock? The last image in his memory was hitting the rock wall.
Damn it. He couldn’t use his Spiritual Energy, nor could he summon Mo Si. He didn’t know if his eyes were completely blind or just temporarily damaged.
Forget it. Being alive was good enough; no point worrying about his eyes at the moment.
Li Ang smiled bitterly to himself and suddenly assessed his current situation. Had he fallen to the Bottom of Li Yuan Valley? What about Lu Yunan?
HISS...
A somewhat familiar sound of an indrawn breath came from nearby. Li Ang hesitated, stepping toward the sound. "Who’s there?" he asked tentatively.
"It’s me, your fellow countryman," Lu Yunan called out. "Come over and give me a hand; I think my leg is broken."
His vision impaired, Li Ang carefully felt his way along the rock wall toward Lu Yunan. As he reached her, he suddenly realized the problem.
Wait, fellow countryman?
In his fuzzy vision, Lu Yunan’s silhouette was sitting against the rock wall, looking up at him. "Only figured it out now?" she said, a half-smile playing on her lips. "Captain, don’t shoot. It’s me."
