Book 02 Chapter 053: Petrified
There were many buildings on the mountain where Long Wanqing had stayed.
Encased in fog, Gu Hai’s group soon reached the mountain’s summit. The surrounding spirit-assimilated cultivators and Song Pingsheng all watched with sullen expressions.
Everyone felt fearful because of the foggy ritual array.
“Sect Master, it should be fine, right?” a spirit-assimilated cultivator said softly.
“Fu Xue’s guess is right. When Gu Hai went to the First Song Sect, he obtained some information. He knows how to bring back Venerable Liu Nian!” Song Pingsheng said with an unsightly expression.
“Milord, we are here!” Chen Tianshan called out.
“Shangguan Hen!” Gu Hai called out. Then, he said seriously, “Begin!”
“Yes!”
Ten-odd evil men separated from the group and used the remaining spirit stones to lay a ritual array quickly, according to the method Gu Hai imparted.
They laid the Twenty-Eight Line-Pair World Ritual Array again within the foggy area.
“It’s done!” Gu Hai shouted.
“Yes!”
All the evil men let go simultaneously, and the fog scattered.
The instant the fog scattered, it revealed everything inside. All the spirit-assimilated cultivators’ expressions changed.
“Ah?! It was not the Twenty-Eight Line-Pair World Ritual Array?”
“This was the infusion of energy, the simplified Heavenly Saber Death Match?”
Many people recognized this. After all, this was how the evil men captured Li Wei in the Great Feng Mafia Family.
“Gu Hai, how dare you trick me?!” Song Pingsheng glared and sent out a sword strike.
“It might not have been the Twenty-Eight Line-Pair World Ritual Array earlier, but it is now. Rise!” Gu Hai shouted.
Boom!
Suddenly, surging white fog arose, covering the entire peak in an instant.
“Break!” Xiang Yu’s voice came from the white fog.
Shing!
The halberd appeared once again.
Boom!
Song Pingsheng’s manifested sword shattered. His expression changed as he quickly retreated, dodging the attack.
“Gu Hai, I will not let you off!” Song Pingsheng roared angrily.
Fog covered the entire mountain. The evil men heaved sighs of relief and started guffawing. As they looked at Gu Hai, they became even more respectful. There was nothing their boss could not do.
“Search for that stone!” Gu Hai commanded.
“Yes!”
The three thousand evil men quickly started rushing around.
Gu Hai also rushed to the room Long Wanqing had stayed in. Although Gao Xianzhi had obtained information from the three servants, they could not describe what that stone looked like.
Everyone frantically searched the place.
“Ah?! It’s the sect master!” Chen Tianshan suddenly exclaimed in wild joy.
Not far away, Li Qinghe lay on a torture rack, appearing to have fainted from the torture.
Chen Tianshan was about to step forward when Gao Xianzhi called out, “Legate Chen, wait!”
“What?” Chen Tianshan asked while scowling.
“Milord’s orders are to search for the stone first. We can deal with Li Qinghe later. I sense something off!” Gao Xianzhi shouted.
“But… You all go search for the stone. I’ll—” Chen Tianshan shouted back.
“Have you forgotten what happened in the Innate Puzzle World?” Gao Xianzhi yelled.
Chen Tianshan’s expression changed, and he nodded.
The group moved around the torture rack and searched the various buildings.
Li Qinghe continued to pretend to be unconscious on the torture rack. However, his face twitched.
Li Qinghe had not expected that even though he appeared to be in such a sorry state, these people would still keep their guard up against him. Do these people not have compassion?
What are they searching for?
“I found it, Milord!” Scar suddenly shouted in joy.
“Oh?”
Everyone ran out from the buildings they entered.
Holding a stone, Scar arrived before Gu Hai.
“Milord, quickly summon Venerable Liu Nian back. Our spirit stones will be exhausted soon!” Shangguan Hen cried out anxiously from nearby.
The spirit stones are about to be exhausted?
Everyone’s expression changed.
“Smash it!” Gu Hai said.
Far away, Li Qinghe opened his eyes and suddenly moved.
Boom!
The torture rack exploded as he rushed over, swooping towards the stone in Scar’s hand.
The evil men’s expressions changed.
“Sect Master?” Chen Tianshan’s expression changed.
“I have the strength to pick up mountains, and my might conquers the world!” A roar rang out.
Gu Hai remained the most vigilant, suddenly forming that halberd.
Boom!
The halberd smashed into Li Qinghe with a loud report.
Bang!
“Argh!”
Li Qinghe dodged danger after danger. However, the halberd still chopped off his right arm. As he held the stump of his right arm, horror filled his eyes.
“Sect Master, what are you doing?” Chen Tianshan exclaimed.
“It’s over! Milord, the spirit stones are shattering!” said the evil man responsible for the ritual array anxiously at the other side.
Crunch! Scar suddenly crushed that stone.
Buzz!
Space trembled, but it quickly ended without any response.
“Where is he?” Gao Xianzhi’s expression changed.
“There’s no one? Venerable Liu Nian did not come out? Were we tricked?” Chen Tianshan exclaimed.
“No, it should not be a trick. It is merely that Venerable Liu Nian just received word and still needs some time to rush back!” Gu Hai said sullenly.
“Milord, there are insufficient spirit stones. What should we do?” the evil man responsible for the ritual array asked anxiously.
“Hahahaha! There are insufficient spirit stones. You can no longer maintain the ritual array, right?!” Li Qinghe guffawed.
“Sect Master, we are here to save you. Why are you…why are you…” Chen Tianshan stammered anxiously.
Li Qinghe’s expression fluctuated between grief and anger.
“Rescue me? You only came now! Now of all times?! What is the point of coming now? What’s the point?!” Li Qinghe yelled in anger and grief.
“But aren’t you still alive?” Chen Tianshan asked, feeling confused.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a sinister crimson aura appeared around Li Qinghe. Then, a storm seemed to envelop him.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”
Li Qinghe’s hair transformed into countless snakes. When the snakes appeared, they hissed at the evil men.
“A spirit-assimilated cultivator?” Everyone’s expression changed.
“Is there a point? Is there still a point?” Li Qinghe roared with grief and rage.
“Sect Master Li, we can take our time to think about this!” Gu Hai called out.
“Take our time to think about this? Humph! It is all too late. All of you, turn into stone!” Li Qinghe said coldly.
As Li Qinghe spoke, his eyes released a dazzling red light.
Turn into stone?
Everyone appeared confused. What does that mean?
However, Gu Hai’s expression changed dramatically as he shouted, “Don’t look at his eyes!”
As Gu Hai spoke, he waved his hand.
“I have the strength to pick up mountains, and my might conquers the world!”
A halberd suddenly appeared from nowhere and chopped down towards Li Qinghe.
“Argh!”
“Argh!”
The evil men screamed miserably, their bodies immediately stiffening. Their bodies hardened and slowly turned gray until they could no longer move, fixed where they stood.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
“Hah!” Li Qinghe punched at the halberd.
The halberd started turning fainter as it chopped down.
Boom!
A loud sound rang out as Li Qinghe crashed into the increasingly fainter halberd.
Bang!
The halberd sent Li Qinghe flying, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood in midair. The attack opened a large wound stretching from his right shoulder to his left waist, exposing his internal organs.
Bang!
Li Qinghe landed below the mountain, outside the ritual array.
At that instant, the halberd also thoroughly shattered. With almost all the spirit stones drained, Gu Hai could no longer manifest it.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Aside from Gu Hai, who avoided that gaze, all three thousand evil men on the peak had stiffened and slowly petrified.
As Gu Hai stood amid the stone statues, he inhaled sharply. “A medusa? A snake-headed person with petrification talent?”
“Chen Tianshan, Gao Xianzhi, Scar, Shangguan Hen!” Gu Hai called out.
However, everyone had already turned into a stone statue, unable to move.
Who knew how much longer Venerable Liu Nian would take to return? At this moment, most of the ritual array’s spirit stones were already drained; he could not manifest the halberd again. Only the white fog remained. Even so, who knew how long that could last?
——
When Li Qinghe landed outside, a large amount of blood burst out of him. All the spirit-assimilated cultivators immediately rushed over.
“Li Qinghe, are you alright?” Song Pingsheng quickly took out a medicinal pill and handed it to him.
“I am drained. It is all up to you all now. I have already petrified everyone, and his ritual array is now useless, out of spirit stones. There is no way for him to manifest that halberd again. Hurry in. They already crushed the stone to call Venerable Liu Nian back. Venerable Liu Nian will be returning soon!” Li Qinghe called out weakly.
Li Qinghe’s internal organs had practically spilled out. He could survive due to his great strength. However, he could no longer enter the ritual array.
“Venerable Liu Nian is coming back?” Song Pingsheng’s expression changed.
“Hurry! Go in! I petrified them already! The ritual array is also useless! Hurry!” Li Qinghe shouted.
“All of them petrified? The ritual array is useless?” Song Pingsheng’s eyes lit up.
“Everyone, listen up…” Song Pingsheng started shouting to gather all the spirit-assimilated cultivators.
——
Within the ritual array, Gu Hai suddenly heard Song Pingsheng shouting. Knowing that things were bad, he immediately stopped investigating the stone statues and shouted, “Song Pingsheng, are you still not going to come in and send yourselves to death?!”
——
Gu Hai’s shout caused Song Pingsheng to pause in mid-sentence.
“Didn’t you say that you petrified everyone?” Song Pingsheng stared at Li Qinghe.
“Only Gu Hai remains. He managed to avoid my gaze. Hurry! He is the only one left. You can easily crush him!” Li Qinghe shouted.
Hesitancy flashed across Song Pingsheng’s face.
“The ritual array no longer has spirit stones to support it. Hurry! Take down Gu Hai!” Li Qinghe urged anxiously.
Song Pingsheng looked at Li Qinghe. Then, he looked at the ritual array. However, he did not dare to take risks. When Li Qinghe was spirit-assimilated, his lifeforce had grown stronger, which allowed him to survive the halberd strike. If Song Pingsheng had to take an attack from the halberd, it might be over for him.
Did the ritual array really turn useless?
Song Pingsheng felt anxious, as Venerable Liu Nian would be returning soon. He had to prepare an ambush for Venerable Liu Nian, so he needed to break this ritual array.
“Everyone, listen up. The ritual array already lost all its might, and the evil men are petrified. Only Gu Hai remains. Take down Gu Hai. Hurry! Take down Gu Hai!” Song Pingsheng shouted.
The spirit-assimilated cultivators looked at each other but eventually nodded. They drew their weapons and cautiously headed for the fog.
Eight hundred spirit-assimilated cultivators carefully stepped into the ritual array.
——
At the center of the ritual array, Gu Hai looked at the three thousand petrified evil men, appearing grim.
Indeed, the ritual array was already useless, but Venerable Liu Nian had yet to return. Now, Gu Hai faced eight hundred spirit-assimilated cultivators and Song Pingsheng alone.
“The ritual array did not stop me; it really is useless now! Haha! Hurry! Follow me up the mountain!” A spirit-assimilated cultivator’s cheerful voice came from the fog.
More spirit-assimilated cultivators poured into the ritual array.
However, as Song Pingsheng supported Li Qinghe while waiting quietly, his eyelids twitched.
Eight hundred spirit-assimilated cultivators rushed up the mountain. Gu Hai was the only one left on the peak.
Gu Hai’s eyelids twitched wildly as he exhaled slowly. Then, he tore open his top.
Whoosh!
Black energy erupted from Gu Hai’s body. Then, a rib suddenly protruded from his skin at the chest, slowly revealing a handle.
“Life Ender, fight with me!” Gu Hai said with a cold glint in his eyes.
Shing!
Then, Gu Hai drew the Life Ender Saber from his chest as black energy spewed out.