Chapter Eleven: Stele Shattered

  Nine giant steles towered, emitting an ancient aura. It was unknown how many years they had been sealed away. Xīnghé stood in the center, holding a purple long sword that hummed with energy. A terrifying blood aura slowly emanated from his body, its power causing Huǒ Lí Qiān's face to change color. This blood aura was characteristic of those who had reached the Tempering Bone realm, and compared to the Refining Blood realm, it was almost a world apart.

  "The sword's name is Purple Clouds, this third sword, was given by it."

  As soon as the sound of his voice fell, he suddenly disappeared from sight. Tens of meters away, the white bones that were originally standing in his place suddenly shattered and exploded, shooting out in all directions. Each piece of bone was like a sharp arrow, emitting a piercing whistling sound as it broke through the air.

  This sword, relying on its powerful physique, could only barely capture a glimpse of the purple sword shadow, and this sword far exceeded the previous two swords. Until now, he finally understood that if Qing Sheng had intentionally made a move, he would not be able to withstand even one sword, and his head would be separated from his body.

  Clang!

  There was a sound of metal clashing, in the empty space, only sparks were seen flying everywhere. Huo Li's eyes suddenly turned around and his pupils contracted violently.

  Between Xiao Yi's raised two fingers, a purple sword tip about an inch long was pressed against them. At the other end of the sword tip, Qing Sheng held his sword and stood still, his eyes slightly frozen, showing a few points of solemnity for the first time, in addition to a hint of astonishment.

  "You can see my sword."

  Jian Qing was born with a deep voice, although he was also sealed in this ancient battlefield, his cultivation and spiritual world were the same. The Jiuxiao shocking thunder sword, even if it was just an ordinary move, was as fast as a thunderbolt, and with his physical body and blood, even an ordinary hundred-man commander would have to drink hate under his sword. Even a thousand-man commander could stand undefeated.

  But now, his sword was caught, and it was in such a light and casual manner. Even if the opponent had not directly clashed with him, without a strong enough physical body, he could not withstand the sharpness of the Purple Cloud Sword that naturally emanated from his hand. Most importantly, the opponent had actually seen through his sword path, and the previous sword had even made Qing feel as though he had sent his own sword into the opponent's fingers.

  This is no trivial matter, Jian Qing has been cultivating until now, although the time is not long, but he has experienced killings that even surpass those of many strong masters. Between life and death, he never believes in coincidences. In his view, Xiao Yi has indeed broken through his sword trajectory.

  He didn't open his mouth, and Xiao Yi couldn't respond. He had already seen through the changes in the Zixuan Jing Lei sword style with the help of Suotian Fist earlier. It was just that there was a huge gap in their cultivation levels. If it were outside the ancient battlefield, he wouldn't be able to withstand Qing Sheng's sword at all. But now it was different. He could rely on his solid physical body to achieve this step. However, all of this, he couldn't say out loud.

  His gaze lingered on Xiao Yi for a moment, then Jian Qing suddenly sheathed his sword. He didn't say a word and turned to leave, nor did he show any sign of joy or anger. A moment later, he stopped in front of a hundred-foot stone stele, sat down cross-legged again, and ignored Xiao Yi and the other two. Huo Li Qianfu looked at Xiao Yi, his expression somewhat complex. Finally, he gritted his teeth and turned to leave, quickly disappearing into the vast forest of steles.

  Xiao Yi looked around, here were nine hundred-meter-high stone monuments, each one towering like a mountain. Even without any aura emanating from them, they still gave people an intangible sense of oppression. The surface of the monuments was mottled, with the marks of time intertwined. Xiao Yi didn't know what kind of existence was buried under these nine monuments, but he thought it couldn't be simple.

  The ancient battlefield is too mysterious, as if it does not exist in the human world. It appears only once every fifty years, and no one can see even half a person's shadow. Who erected these stone monuments to bury the ancestors of this alien tribe? Where did they go afterwards? There is no answer to be found in this desert city.

  However, for the hundred-meter stone stele here, Xiao Yi also has a hint of longing. In those years, Shi Gong and others found the remnants of the "Barbarian Elephant Great Power" and the "Inferno Python Dragon Fist" among many ten-meter steles. So, in these nine remaining hundred-meter stone steles, what did the ancestors of the human race leave behind? He understood why Jian Qing Sheng had been hesitating to make a move here, this young man was indeed ambitious, wanting to shatter one of the nine giant steles, but for the time being, he didn't have the confidence, and instead was constantly observing, trying to find the weaknesses left by these nine stone steles after being eroded by the endless years. Now it seems that a choice has already been made, Xiao Yi could see that Jian Qing Sheng was accumulating energy, waiting for the moment when his power reached its peak.

  Suddenly, Xiao Yi's heart moved and he looked into the distance. He also chose a hundred-meter-high stone monument, sat down in front of it with his legs crossed, calmed his mind, smoothed out every strand of his vital energy, and slowly reached his peak.

  Behind him, a hundred feet away, Xian Qing felt a sudden surge of energy in his heart. He furrowed his brow slightly and sneered inwardly, thinking that Xiao Yi was too arrogant. Even if he had parried the sword, the gap in their cultivation could not be bridged. The physical bodies of those in the Tempering Bone stage and Refining Blood stage were as different as heaven and earth. Even he did not have much confidence in dealing with the nine ancient stone steles before him.

  Time flies, and in the sand city, day and night are invisible, a day passes quickly.

  Boom!

  On this day, the Stele Forest shook with a loud noise. Some steles were shattered, and some people obtained great fortune from them. Two thousand-man commanders of the Black Wind Tribe were among them. At first, they didn't choose steles over ten zhang tall but instead used all their strength to shatter two five-zhang steles. One person obtained a Quan Yi Flowing Soldier's Manual from one of the steles, while another got a Blood Dan. This Blood Dan was surrounded by three-colored auspicious clouds and emitted a resplendent glow, indicating that it was a rare Heaven-stage Blood Dan. Compared to Earth-stage Blood Dans, Heaven-stage Blood Dans emitted more refined blood energy. The Black Wind Tribe's thousand-man commander was overjoyed, thinking that this Heaven-stage Blood Dan could increase his cultivation faster than the soldier's manual.

  Another three days passed, and during these three days, the sound of impact continued unabated in the desert city. However, no one was able to open the stone monument again. The stone monument, which was over 15 meters high, remained solid even after 50 years had passed.

  Only in the central stele forest, within four days, it was quiet and silent. The sword Qing Sheng did not move, Xiao Yi also did not move, the white bones around them slowly submerged their figures.

  The fifth day.

  In front of the stone monument where Jian Qing was located, a faint sword hum suddenly sounded. With this sword hum, the white bones that originally covered Jian Qing shot out with intangible sharp energy. In an instant, all the broken bones within a radius of ten zhang were completely pulverized. In the vast expanse of white bone ash, a bright purple sword light tore through the sky, like a thunderbolt splitting the air and emitting a deafening thunderclap.

  At this moment, beyond the numbers.

  In front of the two twenty-zhang-high Huahua stone steles, the two tribal leaders, Huohe and Gu Feng, were both shocked and pale. They clearly felt a shocking aura bursting out from the center of the stele forest, which was hard to imagine, as the ancient battlefield had sealed their cultivation and spiritual world, yet they could still wield such an earth-shaking sword.

  Deserted city center.

  A purple sword light broke through the air, almost like a hot knife through butter, piercing one of the hundred-zhang-high creation stone steles, leaving behind a sword hole that was several zhang long, thoroughly penetrating the stele.

  In front of the stone stele, Xing Qing's figure appeared, his brow furrowed in concentration as he gazed at the sword hole on the stele not far away. It was somewhat beyond his expectations. This one sword, although he had been accumulating power for a long time and his physical state was already at its peak, should have required at least ten swords or more to pierce through this hundred-meter giant stele. But now, it was done with just one sword. The fragility of the stele gave rise to some doubts in him. Was it because it had been sealed for too long, and the endless passage of time had worn it down to its limits? Or was there something unknown that had happened to this stele?

  Wait!

  Jian Qing's heart skipped a beat as he seemed to understand something, and a terrifying killing intent burst out from the depths of his pupils.

  "Bloodline!"

  He let out a cold snort, sensing a wisp of aura. His gaze fell on the distance, behind an eighty-zhang-tall creation stone stele, two black silhouettes emerged from behind the stele. As the two appeared, the white bones covering the ground trembled slightly, and a path was revealed before him, stretching all the way between the nine giant steles.

  "It's too late now."

  Two pairs of dark bat wings flapped, they were two blood clansmen, walking among the endless white bones, emitting an aura of evil all around them, subtly merging with this vast land, in these endless white bones, lay the remains of their ancestors.

  "You're not dead!"

  Looking at the two blood clans who had appeared, Jian Qing said coldly.

  "If we were really dead, you wouldn't be here, and the Sword God's army would have completely sealed off this lost ancient battlefield instead of letting you come to investigate. If we were really dead, who else could awaken my clan's ancestors' spirits that are being suppressed by this Soul-Sealing Monument?" A Blood Clan member sneered, "Sword Qingchen, do you really think that just because you killed many Celestial Clan members on the Heavenly Soldier Road, you can look down on our Hundred Realms Great Clan? Do you think our two great Blood Clans' Patriarchs are so vulnerable? This time, we wanted to use your hands, but unexpectedly, you really have a heart higher than the heavens. You directly chose this largest of the nine Soul-Sealing Monuments and, following my companion's dying words, shattered this killing device that buried my clan's ancestors."

  Two blood clansmen walked step by step, with a mocking color in their dark red eyes, and the evil aura around them grew stronger. At this time, behind Jian Qing's back, came the sound of stone tablets cracking.

  His complexion changed slightly, and Qing Sheng's voice turned cold: "It seems that for this day, you have been preparing for a long time. You even went to great lengths to let the Lei Jianbing Department know that in this ancient battlefield, there is a strange treasure that can suppress your blood clan."

  "The heterodox treasure indeed exists, but it has already been pierced by you. As for the object in this stele, you won't have the chance to enjoy it. Pitiful human tribe, even if you try to block my Hundred Realms Great Tribe's Blood-Stained Heaven Road, greed is your inherent nature."

  Taking a deep breath, Jian Qing Sheng suddenly calmed down. He gazed at the two approaching Blood Clan Grand Elders and said, "I don't believe it, this Hundred-Foot Town Soul Monument is so fragile."