Chapter 198: The Mummy-like Old Man
Chapter 198: The Mummy-like Old Man
Inside the plaza Qin Lie’s body shook as his eyes opened wide in an instant.
He stared at Tang Siqi in shock before crying out, “There’s someone inside the spirit pattern pillar!”
“W-what?” Tang Siqi could not react for a moment.
“There’s someone sealed inside the last spirit pattern pillar! I just saw him!” Qin Lie sucked in a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He asked, “Did the sect’s secret scriptures have any records about this?”
“No, not at all.” Tang Siqi shook her head continuously with fear written all over her beautiful face. “Qin Bing, who exactly did you see? What is going on?”
“I’ll explain to you later.” Qin Lie thought for a moment before saying, “My wisp of mind consciousness had collapsed instantly after he had glanced at me just once. I’m regathering my consciousness again and going in!”
After he said this, he closed his eyes again, and under Tang Siqi’s slightly fearful gaze, he entered inside the spirit pattern pillar once more.
Beneath the twelve spirit pattern pillars at the dark red plaza under the bloody sky.
The emaciated old man stared at Qin Lie’s wisp of mind consciousness with a frigid look and scarlet eyes, shining with terrible blood light. He hmphed coldly, “Where is You Hongzhi? Why has he sent you here?”
“Who is You Hongzhi?” Qin Lie expressed out his thoughts.
The bloody light inside his pupils was thick as the ghoul-like old man hesitated for a moment before asking again, “You Hongzhi did not send you here?”
“No,” Qin Lie answered with his mind.
“Then how did you get in?!” the old man yelled loudly once more.
“Bang!”
Qin Lie mind was inflicted with great pain. The wisp of consciousness he slipped in was destroyed a second time.
Outside, he scratched his head subconsciously while a look that he was obviously in pain appeared on his face.
When Tang Siqi had looked at him, he shook his head with a bitter smile and regathered his mind consciousness once more.
This time he expressed his intentions first the moment he entered this wondrous space, “Don’t yell. The moment you yell my head will hurt, and you will directly shatter my consciousness.”
The mummy-like old man gradually calmed down as he stared at Qin Lie’s wisp of consciousness with a pair of bloody red eyes. “If You Hongzhi did not let you in, then how did you manage to come here?”
After he said those words, the old man’s expression changed as he suddenly looked towards the many spirit pattern pillars beside him.
He suddenly recalled a certain possibility as his thin, mummy-like body began to shudder visibly. “You, you’ve activated all of the spirit pattern pillars…”
The bloody light in his eyes grew more and more shocking. “Not long ago the spirit pattern pillars in here had reacted intensely. Are you the one who caused them? It’s you! Are you the one who activated the spirit pattern pillars from the outside and entered into the rest of the eleven pillars?!”
“Yes, I did cause all twelve spirit pattern pillars to brighten more than half a year ago at the plaza outside,” Qin Lie answered.
“That’s right, that’s right, I should’ve known!” he whispered to himself as his expression grew more and more excited. Rays of terrifying, bloody light burst out of his eyes as he exclaimed suddenly, “Kid, let me out and I will give you a huge fortune!”
“Let you out?” Qin Lie observed him with his mind and answered with his thoughts, “Who trapped you here? How many years have you stayed in this place? Who is You Hongzhi? Also, why have they trapped you? How can I release you? What can you give me?”
Qin Lie asked all of the questions on his mind.
“You don’t need to know about me.” The man quickly calmed down. “Kid, you only need to know that I can give you everything you want!”
“I will not let you go.” Qin Lie expressed, “You are too dangerous. There’s no telling what you will do in the outside world, and I cannot guarantee that you will not casually kill me once you come out, so before I have a way to resist you, you’ll stay right here.”
Once he was finished, Qin Lie immediately withdrew his mind consciousness.
The second his wisp of consciousness had slipped away, the old man suddenly roared madly inside this space. It was like a demon from hell howling.
A bloody aura so terrible which seemed it could destroy the world filled the entire space suddenly. It caused the bloody sky to look as if it would start to drip blood and the dark red ground to shake with destructive waves.
It was as if this aura alone could kill Qin Lie countless times over and vanquish his soul in its entirety.
But it lasted for only a moment. The old man calmed down as his face grew paler. Even the bloody light in his eyes had gradually darkened.
“More than a thousand years have passed, more than a thousand years…” He grit his teeth and exclaimed with a raspy voice, “You Hongzhi could not take me away from here, but perhaps this kid can. Only a person who can learn everything about the eleven spirit pattern pillars can truly release the sealing art exerted here!”
His eyes burned with the light of hope.
Starting at the bloody sky, his expression had already calmed down completely. He then exclaimed in a low tone, “I will get out of here no matter the cost!”
Qin Lie opened his eyes.
His expression was incredibly serious as he stared at the spirit pattern pillar in front of him. He had withdrawn all of his consciousness.
The man sealed inside the spirit pattern pillar reeked with the thick and terrifying smell of fresh blood. It was obviously of the same kind the Blood Spear martial practitioners had, the same that Lang Xie and Feng Rong possessed.
What was this man’s connection with Blood Spear?
While thinking, Qin lie suddenly asked Tang Siqi, “Senior Sister Tang, have you ever heard of someone named You Hongzhi before?”
Tang Siqi’s expression abruptly changed. “Why did you suddenly bring him up?”
Qin Lie’s mind caught on as he questioned closely, “The person inside the spirit pattern pillar mentioned You Hongzhi. He thought that I was sent in by him, so he definitely saw You Hongzhi before. Just who is this You Hongzhi?”
“You really should read the sect’s secret scriptures carefully.” Tang Siqi frowned, “The man was recorded inside the sect’s secret scripture. This You Hongzhi is the founder of Blood Spear and also Lang Xie and Feng Rong’s master.”
“Lang Xie’s master?” Qin Lie was quietly shocked.
“Yeah, Blood Spear wasn’t called Blood Spear in the past. They were called Fire Spear. Fire Spear was also Armament Sect’s combat squad. They were responsible for protecting Armament Sect’s artificers and martial practitioners. It was always at the bottom when compared to all the other surrounding great forces. Their powers were incredibly weak.”
Tang Siqi explained slowly.
“It wasn’t until You Hongzhi joined Fire Spear that a huge change occurred. Tens of years ago he was also recruited as an Armament sect outer sect disciple. His cultivation talent was amazing, and he was quickly picked up by Fire Spear and absorbed as a combat personnel. While he was in Fire Spear, his combat style was a little extreme, and his behavior was also cruel and ruthless.
“I heard that he had never left a single enemy alive during his time in Fire Spear!
“There was a time when a small city’s martial practitioners had robbed the spirit materials the sect was transporting, and Fire Spear had sent him and a small team to handle the matter. What happened was that You Hongzhi slaughtered the entire city and killed everyone. Due to this matter, the sect’s reverends became afflicted with violent rage and sentenced him to punishment. They had chained him to a spirit pattern pillar, and they seemed to have wanted to burn away the violence in his heart with scorching fire.”
Tang Siqi pointed at the spirit pattern pillar before Qin Lie, “According to the records of the secret scriptures, it should be this one.”
Qin Lie’s expression was moved.
“After that the records weren’t very clear, and I do not know if the sect had actually burned him with the fire.” Tang Siqi recalled and continued, “But You Hongzhi had survived and was even kept at Fire Spear. Before long he had actually become the master of Fire Spear. Since then, Fire Spear changed its name and began to call themselves Blood Spear.
“It was because of him that Fire Spear had turned into Blood Spear. The old Fire Spear was the bottom of all other great forces in terms of combat power, but now Blood Spear is publicly known as one of the most terrifying divisions. Their existence frightened everyone, and not even Eight Extreme Temple and Profound Heaven Alliance dared looked down up their bloody name.
“The situation today is all because of You Hongzhi’s appearance.”
“Where is he now?” Qin Lie asked again.
He was beginning to clear up some of the information…
That You Hongzhi had probably entered into the spirit pattern pillar when he was chained to it.
Next, he had probably obtained some benefits from the mummy-like old man and became the master of Blood Spear later on.
Therefore, all current Blood Spear martial practitioners, including Lang Xie and Feng Rong, had been taught by him. Their bloody aura was also the same as the old man inside the spirit pattern pillar.
The spirit art these people were cultivating was obviously the same as the ghoul-like old man.
You Hongzhi must have been the one who had brought this bloody spirit art into the open from inside the spirit pattern pillar.
“You Hongzhi died a long time ago. There was no record on exactly how he died, so I’m not sure about this either,” Tang Siqi said.
Qin Lie grew quiet.
He frowned deeply and thought of the connections between the spirit pattern pillar and the ghoul-like old man’s words.
After a long while, he said, “Senior Sister Tang, please don’t tell anyone about the man trapped inside the spirit pattern pillar for the moment. I want to investigate this slowly.”
“There really is a man?” Tang Siqi still asked a little disbelievingly.
“There really is, and an incredibly terrifying one as well! It was possible that this man has been sealed for a thousand years and has a longer history than even Armament Sect!” Qin Lie said solemnly.
“A thousand years. H-he’s still alive? He’s really alive?” Tang Siqi shuddered.
“He’s perfectly living,” Qin Lie nodded.
Tang Siqi’s face turned pale, and she pondered for a moment before finally saying, “Alright, I’ll keep it a secret for you. I won’t say anything.”
After a pause she said again, “But you must not act recklessly either. It’s best… it’s best if you don’t go inside any more. I don’t know why, but I feel that something is incredibly wrong just listening to you.”
“I know. Let’s go up the mountain first.” Qin Lie was also worried.
The duo started again and headed towards the peak of Flame Volcano with increased speed.
Along the way, Blood Spear martial practitioners would appear from time to time. Their eyes were all glittering with a bloody light. It was only after they saw that it was Tang Siqi and him that they nodded and let them go.
An hour later they arrived at the mountain peak and finally saw Ying Xingran and the three great reverends.
The sky had already brightened completely at this time.
“Instructor Feng!” When Qin Lie arrived at the Procedural Hall, he saw Feng Rong sitting beside Mo Hai’s legs with an ashen white face as if she had lost too much blood while explaining something to the crowd.
“Blood Shadow is Yan Chi!” Feng Rong exclaimed softly with a trace of blood flowing down the corner of her lips, “Yan Chi was Master’s adopted son. Originally, he was supposed to be the master of Blood Spear and was supposed to take over Lang Xie’s position. We thought that he was had already died some time ago, but we didn’t expect that he was at Dark Shadow Tower and had even become their Blood Shadow.”