Chapter 88 – Lunar Monument
“Although these medicinal pills have quite a large effect on Fa Li amplification, the after-effects are just as severe. Moreover, if you wish for your strength to be close to the top of the Core Disciples, you can’t just use one or two pills. I really am worried, what if you…” When Mu Yun Xian heard this, she became even more worried about him.
“Don’t worry, if it really doesn’t work then I won’t force myself. Furthermore, this time, if I don’t strive my hardest, when Ou Yang Xin, that thief, becomes a Late Spirit Apostle, our problem will only grow larger. It’s much more beneficial to us if we fight now and finalize our official relation. If we can win, then we won’t have to worry about any consequences.” Du Hai shook his head as he spoke.
Listening to her lover talk like this, Mu Yun Xian could only close her mouth as the two of them silently cuddled.
……
“What, Master is giving the Bewitching Bell to me?” A delicate young girl was somewhat startled as she stared at the white-haired woman.
“That’s right. The Large Competition is about to commence and since Master has forced you to completely focus on uncovering the Ghost King’s Riddle, I have almost completely neglected your cultivation. This totem was your master’s famous totem back in the days. If you have it on your body, I believe that you won’t be any worse than my rankings in those years. We must let others know that aside from our Baleful Yin’s Yang Qian, we have other disciples who are not weaker than him.” The white-haired lady lightly laughed and placed the small bell in her hands into the young girl’s.
“Many thanks for Master’s conferment. I will definitely live up to Master’s expectations.” Jia Lan knelt on the ground and respectfully accepted the small black bell.
……
In the large hall on Dancing Ghost Faction’s mountain peak, Senior Qian and Zhang Cui Er were facing each other in a seated position. Their hands were intertwined with each others and traces of gray gas continued to spiral around their two bodies.
Beside them was a purple-robed female with a clear and cold expression who was watching them with rapt attention. This person was the Master Lin from before.
……
Over a hundred kilometers away from Barbarian Ghost Sect in a ravine full of vipers, a shadow completely surrounded by undulating green gas was walking toward the ravine entrance in the middle of a group of vipers. Wherever he walked, all the vipers in that area would fall back in retreat. There were a few that retreated slightly slower than the rest and the instant they made contact with the green gas, their bodies froze up and fell dead.
This green gas was astonishingly even more poisonous than the viper’s venom.
……
In Ghost Hell Region, deep within a black dense forest covered in a thick layer of Miasma, a male’s body, from his neck down, was sunk into the earth.
His face was covered in dirt and his facial features were not discernible; it was also unknown as to how long he had been here.
After a short while, the two eyes on his head suddenly opened, displaying a bewitching set of eyes that emitted a silver light.
“It really is too bad, my Iron Corpse Body is just a tiny bit away from Complete Mastery. However, it should be enough. Yang Qian, just you wait! Watch closely as I take your first position on the Lunar Monument.” The head muttered to himself.
When the voice faded, the surrounding earth instantly exploded and a black shadow flew out. It proceeded to stride toward the Barbarian Ghost Sect’s stronghold. Each time he took a step, the nearby earth would faintly tremble as if his body weight was incomparably heavy.
……
Two months passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Liu Ming was in his room with both his hands forming a certain hand sign as he silently cultivated. Suddenly, a ringing bell sound resonated from the Barbarian Ghost Sect’s main peak.
The sound was distant and quiet, but once it entered Liu Ming’s ear, it couldn’t help but make his blood boil and invigorate his fighting spirit.
Liu Ming’s eyes opened and silently counted the bell sounds. After thirty-six rings, he stood up and walked out of the room.
Simultaneously, the bell sounds came to a sudden stop.
At this time, countless gray clouds rose up into the air around the entire Barbarian Ghost Sect. Everyone was heading toward the main peak, and in the blink of an eye, over a thousand people had amassed on this peak.
Among the group were those under thirty years old who were here to participate in the Large Competition. Nevertheless, there were also myriad of older disciples above thirty who were here to watch the fighting.
Although these older disciples were unable to participate in the Large Competition, and further did not have the qualifications to leave their name on the Lunar Monument, they naturally would not be willing to miss an event that happened only once every few years.
As for the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader, Gui Ru Quan and another twenty something Spirit Masters, had already placed themselves in front of everyone else as they quietly waited for something.
After an unknown period of time, in the empty space in front of Barbarian Ghost Sects main peak, an incorporeal fluctuation suddenly appeared. Subsequently, a heavenly sound rang out and the scenery in front split open like a drawing being ripped apart. What came to view was an entirely different misty land.
“Please, Senior Yin Jiu!”
When the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader saw the situation occur, he immediately paid his respects to the nearby surging fog.
The other Spirit Masters behind him did the same thing.
“Hmm, the Large Competition held every four years has arrived again but why do I feel as if I’ve only slept for a short while? Could it be that you fellows are deliberately tricking me?” A rumbling sound like thunder rang out from within the fog.
“Please quell your anger Senior Yin Jiu. If it really wasn’t time for the Large Competition, why would I dare do such a thing? I request for Senior to perform the great method and once again open the Lunar Fantasy Lands!” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader hastily replied; his expression unexpectedly was extremely respectful.
“What a hassle! I understand that you wouldn’t dare trick me, so wait a second!” The rumbling voice was somewhat impatient.
Subsequently, the surrounding earth abruptly shook and all the mist dispersed in every direction. A thousand foot tall earthen yellow stone mountain that encompassed about a thousand acres suddenly came to view.
This mountain was somewhat strange, as there wasn’t even a blade of grass growing on the mountain. The mountain peak was abnormally flat and wide; moreover, there were a few dozen natural stone platforms, each a few tens of feet high, sparsely covering the entire area.
In the middle of the stone platforms was a towering three hundred feet tall black and white stone monument.
From a distance, Liu Ming watched with rapt attention before seeing that the monument was covered in densely packed silver words. It seemed like a countless number of names had been written on it.
“The Lunar Fantasy Land has been opened. All disciples may now enter.” Seeing the scene unfold in front of him, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader immediately passed on a message in a loud voice. He then led a group of Spirit Masters from all factions as they flew toward the yellow stone mountain.
When the thousands of disciples behind them saw this, they naturally followed them into the land.
As soon as all the disciples had entered the mountain, the hazy white mist once again appeared and the entire stone mountain was once again surrounded by an impenetrable layer of mist.
At this time, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader was standing on a stone platform observing his surroundings. His sleeve shook and a few centimeter large flat jade brick flew out.
After he muttered an incantation, the jade brick instantly flew toward the sky and quickly grew. In the blink of an eye it had transformed into a floating jade platform at least a few hundred feet long.
The group of Spirit Masters successively flew onto the jade platform that overlooked the thousands of disciples below.
“All disciples, listen carefully, the Large Competition held once every four years is about to commence. This time, the competition rules are the same as before wherein normal disciples can challenge the Core Disciples on the Lunar Monument. When the top hundred disciples have been decided there will be a round robin where the ninety-ninth ranked can challenge anyone, the ninety-eighth ranked can challenge anyone that has a ranking better than ninety-eight and so on. From there, this will decide the top ten, top three and ultimately the number one Core Disciple. As for the concrete challenging rules, everyone can go to the underside of the Lunar Monument to carefully have a look. During the Large Competition, you are responsible for your own life and all those that wish to participate in the Large Competition must first sign a Life and Death Writ. However, those who purposefully seriously injure the opponent or wantonly murder a fellow sect member will also face severe punishment. The lightest punishment will be a hundred whippings and the heaviest will be the abrogation of your Fa Li and then be thrown out of the sect. Right now, all disciples should first clearly look at the concrete challenging rules. When one stick of incense has finished burning, the Large Competition will formally commence.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader insipidly spoke from atop the stone platform. Although his voice wasn’t very loud, it was abnormally clear in everyone’s ears.
After he performed a single-handed technique, a joss stick and candle with the thickness of a thumb flew out. It shook once before quietly suspending itself in mid air.
He then pointed in the direction of the candle.
Instantly, a flame appeared on the tip of the candle and a sandalwood smell drifted out.
At this time, a Spirit Master already standing under the Lunar Monument lightly hit the monument in a certain area.
A droning sound rang out and a layer of black light on the monument began to swirl. The words on the exterior began to transform into enormous light words that floated in the air. Even disciples standing at the very edge of the mountain were suddenly able to clearly see the words written on the monument.
The new disciples who were competing for their first time at the Large Competition all tiptoed and raised their heads intently staring at the large bright words.
Liu Ming stood in an inconspicuous corner while identically staring at the words written upon the monument.
At the very top of all the silver engravings, astonishingly were the two words, “Yang Qian”.
Seeing this, Liu Ming’s eyes slightly narrowed.
Regarding Yang Qian, the winner of the last Large Competition that every internal disciple called Senior, Liu Ming had naturally heard of him many times.
Apparently this person’s body possessed a Nine Spiritual Pulse and a Phanero-Miasma Spirit Body. Furthermore, he was proficient in the Baleful Yin and Refining Corpse Faction’s secret techniques. Moreover, he had previously participated in the Life and Death Trials, and managed to return unharmed along with incredible accomplishments. Within the sect, many people believed that his chances of becoming a Spirit Master were extremely certain.
However, even after receiving enough resources, in the past few years, he chose not to break into the Spirit Master realm. Instead, he spent those years in cultivation, training some sort of unknown secret technique, since he wanted to make his foundations even more firm before breaking into the Spirit Master realm.
In this way, this Yang Qian was clearly all the more mysterious to new disciples as there were a plethora of other faction’s disciples, outside of Baleful Yin faction, that were extremely respectful toward him.
Liu Ming quickly went through the data regarding Yang Qian down in his heart and proceeded to shift his gaze down.
The names, “Feng Chan” “Min Shou “Qian Hui Niang”, successively appeared.
The first four names on the Lunar Monument all managed to return alive from the Life and Death Trials. Among the remaining six names from from the last Large Competition: two were now above thirty years of age and had their names automatically taken off the Lunar Monument, one had broken through the Spirit Apostle realm and had become a Spirit Master, and the remaining three ultimately perished in the Life and Death Trials.
As for those that replaced them on the top ten, it was naturally according to the Lunar Monument ranking order.
Liu Ming only knew a bit about the other top ten Core Disciples, so once he finished looking through each person, his eyes shifted toward the explanation of the challenging rules.