Chapter 1: The Seven-Colored Dragon Boat, Azure Pearl...
The young man looked at the person in the coffin hesitantly: "What's going on?"
"Don't mention to anyone that you've met me, don't mention to anyone that you've eaten this pearl."
The tone of the person in the coffin suddenly became very cold, and the young man only felt a chill in his heart, unconsciously taking a step back. However, the person in the coffin raised their hand and tossed the pearl over to him. The young man subconsciously caught it, and the person in the coffin looked at him coldly: "Can you do it?"
The pearls in his hand shone with a soft, flowing light, illuminating the young man's face as it flickered on and off. But as soon as he thought of that dragon boat and the girl who was taken away, the young man didn't hesitate anymore, lifted his head, and nodded vigorously at the person in the coffin.
"It wasn't a waste of so many words after all, this treasure, let you have it first." As the young man put the pearl into his mouth, an imperceptible joyful color emerged in the grayish-white pupils of the person in the coffin.
In the pitch-black desolate tomb, the luminous pearl was only a foot away from the young man's face, and it had already illuminated his face to a deep blue. Moreover, with only a few feet separating him from the youth, the entire body wrapped in crimson red robes, even the eyeballs were grayish-white, the person in the coffin seemed unspeakably eerie. But the more so, the more determined the young man was to swallow this pearl, because he had never seen such a magical pearl before, and he only felt that the person in the coffin wanted to harm him, it would be easy as lifting his hand, no need to waste such a precious pearl.
"How ridiculous, how ridiculous! The great Dharma King of the magnificent temple has actually stooped to deceiving mountain children...". Suddenly, from amidst the chaotic peaks, a voice drifted over, long and distant, as if someone was chanting in a far-off place, but this voice was like having a layer of dry, cracked paper stuck in one's throat, with an unutterably dry and strange tone.
A dark shadow darted out from the faint glow of several ghostly fires, and with a rustling sound, landed on a broken stele not far away. That dry, strange voice was emitted by this dark shadow. The resolute and brave young man looked in the direction of the sound, but after one glance, he could no longer bear it, and a chill ran down his spine. He let out a startled cry.
The one who made that strange cry was actually an old raven with all black feathers!
Flickering ghostly flames, a mountain wilderness cemetery, an old crow spouting human speech. This was another utterly unbelievable thing for the young man. As he cried out in surprise, his palms were already covered in cold sweat, his mind a complete blank, unable to consider what the old crow had said. But the person in red robes inside the coffin remained expressionless, not looking at the old crow, merely slightly raising their head to gaze at the sky, calmly saying: "What a wonderful technique of attaching to the six senses, I didn't think you'd find this place so quickly."
"You've been hit by my senior brother's Soul-Devouring Spell, and this extremely yin place is most unfavorable to you. I didn't expect you'd be hiding here either." Old Crow said in his usual strange tone. In the western sky, a black air had risen at some unknown time, thick like ink, and in the night sky it was like a black dragon rolling about ceaselessly. The person in the coffin stared blankly at this black air, and in an instant, this black air rolled down, wild winds rose, and when the wild winds disappeared, the youth only saw that there was now a thin man standing in the scene, with a face that had a hint of complacency and mockery, his entire body hidden within a pitch-black Daoist robe. On his right hand, a white short staff covered in holes was wrapped with golden patterns, complex, obscure, ancient, and awe-inspiring.
"First, put him in a dead-end situation and then revive him. Use the secret method to seal the aura of the Qiong Qi pearl, and then let this mountain child take it. Even if this mountain child dies in front of us, we will never think that the Qiong Qi pearl is inside his belly." The black-robed man appeared, and the old crow had already flown away in fright. Compared to the old crow's voice, the black-robed man's voice was a hundred times more pleasant, but the young man only felt that things were getting stranger and more ominous. He saw the black-robed man's gaze suddenly cover him, and he shouted: "You ignorant child who doesn't know life from death, why haven't you thrown away what's in your hand? If you swallow it, this pearl will take root in your belly, and then absorb all the energy from your body. Later, when the old ghost is fully recovered, he'll cut open your belly and escape with the pearl."
The young man didn't know whether the black-robed person was telling the truth or not, and he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the person in the coffin. The pale face of the person in the coffin still had no expression, and said calmly: "Miro, you are simply talking nonsense, the cold pearl is just a cold-natured thing, eating it will only cause abdominal cramps and frostbite, how can there be any talk of absorbing all the qi and blood from one's body? Moreover, if I want to take the pearl, why would I need to use such a cruel method as cutting open the abdomen?"
In his belly, ice formed. How could he still be alive? The person in the coffin said that they didn't need to use cruel methods, but these words were actually extremely cruel and venomous. The young man's entire body stiffened, but the black-robed person did not argue with the person in the coffin. With a cold laugh, his left hand waved, and a black cloud of energy directly enveloped the young man.
"With a loud crash, the person in the coffin suddenly emitted a red glow from their hand, instantly shattering the black aura into pieces. The surging waves of energy sent the standing youth flying backward five or six steps, and he fell to the ground beside the tomb. The black-robed man, Miro, missed his first strike, but instead burst out laughing, 'So much nonsense, talking for half a day and still ending up fighting.'"
He and Miro fought fiercely, the person in the coffin turned even paler, but upon hearing Miro's laughter, the person in the coffin only smiled coldly. With a squeeze of his left hand, the red robe on his body suddenly flew out, splitting into six parts that fell to the left and right sides of the coffin, covering him and the young man within. It was only then that the young man discovered that the blood-red robe wrapped around the person in the coffin was actually a six-faced blood-colored banner. As soon as this banner appeared, the surrounding area was suddenly filled with a brilliant red glow. The young man felt the heat pressing down on him, while the black-robed man's short staff shot out over a dozen golden threads that resembled electric snakes, which shattered into fine golden sparks upon touching the red glow. In an instant, the red glow grew even more intense, and the blood-colored banner seemed to grow of its own accord, slowly rising to become a giant banner two or three feet tall. Amidst the dense red glow, a ghostly face with sharp teeth and horns materialized, floating above the person in the coffin as if it were real.
"Good old ghost, I didn't think the tattered red robe on your body was such a treasure." Miro laughed strangely and pointed his short staff at the sky. "Wait," just then, the person in the coffin suddenly shouted: "You'd better figure out where this is before you dare to fight me."
Mi Luo was taken aback and asked: "What place?"
"You don't even recognize Mount Shu, do you?" The person in the coffin nodded towards the distant, vaguely visible black mountain and sneered: "This place is only a hundred miles from the gate of Mount Shu. Are you not afraid that the people of Mount Shu will discover your plan to kill me? Besides, I suppose you also saw the Kunlun's Lidi Yan Guangzhou just now?"
"You old ghost, so you were planning something like this all along." Miro's eyes rolled around and he burst out laughing. "No wonder you didn't run in the direction of your sect, but instead hid here, making it impossible for my senior brother to catch up with you. However, after such a long time, you're still sitting in that coffin, I'm afraid you've reached the end of your rope, and your lower body is almost rotten, can't even get out of the coffin? Even if people from Shu Mountain or Kunlun find us, what's the difference? By the time they arrive, I'll have already killed you and left. How about this, as long as you can still stand up from that coffin, I won't make a move, but if you can't, then don't waste any more words." As soon as he finished speaking, his short staff swept across, and the fine holes on the staff emitted waves of ghostly howls. The sky suddenly darkened, and a massive black claw flashed by, followed by a thousand layers of black flames pouring down like a waterfall.
The person in the coffin suddenly changed color. The person in the coffin was originally the Fa Wang of Nanyue Rotten Temple, but under a coincidence, he obtained this bead, but was seen by Miro's senior brother He Tu. Miro and He Tu were disciples of the Northern Miao Scattered Practitioner Yin Xiaodao, not orthodox practitioners, and the small Rotten Temple was not in their eyes, let alone that He Tu knew that this bead involved a huge secret, which for them was more precious than a suitable treasure. Therefore, He Tu naturally took action to rob him, and after one battle, Fa Wang was defeated by He Tu and escaped with serious injuries. However, Fa Wang's mind was extremely cold and cautious, he thought that with his injuries, he would not be able to wait for the rescue of Rotten Temple and would be killed by He Tu, so he turned around and fled to this chaotic burial mound less than a hundred miles from Shu Mountain. He Tu's Soul Devouring Magic was an extremely poisonous technique, those who were affected could only slowly remove the poison in a place with extreme yang energy, but this ghostly and yin-heavy place would instead worsen his injuries. Thus, Fa Wang managed to avoid He Tu's interception, hiding here waiting for an old friend to come and rescue him. However, he did not expect that Kunlun also knew about the emergence of this bead and was searching everywhere for it. Just now, Fa Wang had hidden his aura with a secret technique and was not discovered, but he was still cold sweat all over, and when he heard the young man crying, he suddenly thought to trick him into eating the bead. At that time, even if someone found him, they would not be able to find the bead, and that person would definitely not harm his life for the time being, and could drag on until his old friend arrived. However, Fa Wang did not expect that when he tricked the young man into eating the bead, he was seen by Miro. Moreover, this Miro, although his cultivation was not as high as He Tu's, was equally cunning and ruthless, and was not deceived by his words at all, and actually took action immediately.
"Go!" The six-faced red banner was in full bloom, but the arrow-like black flames had already reached the end of their strength. Although they were extinguished as soon as they touched the red tassels, they still made a loud popping sound. However, the arrow-like black flames had already shocked the six-faced red banner, causing it to shake violently, and the ghostly face that had just formed seemed about to be scattered.
"You old ghost, if you hand over the Qiong Qi Zhu to me now, I might spare your life." Miro's magic was extremely sinister and he didn't act like many of the orthodox sects who were often hypocritical. As he laughed maniacally, his hands didn't stop moving. Before the black flames had even dissipated, a silver sphere spinning rapidly had already been thrown out from his hand, smashing towards the six-faced red banner that was about to fall.
This silver sphere is a unique treasure of the Yin Xiao Dao people, called the Imperial Thunder Silver Pearl. It was refined by the Yin Xiao Dao people using a large amount of white silver, lead, tin, platinum, and East Sea fine gold, among other precious materials, through symbolic methods in a dan furnace. After undergoing the Five Thunder Orthodox Method, it can unleash a powerful force exceeding 1,000 jin, and can also release the accumulated thunder and lightning. The Yin Xiao Dao people refined a total of four such pearls, one of which was possessed by Mi Luo's senior brother, He Tu. On the day that He Tu and Tong Lin dueled, they suffered greatly at the hands of this pearl. Now, seeing Mi Luo take out this pearl, Tong Lin, who was already on the verge of collapse, suddenly felt his heart and spirit shatter. With great effort, he managed to squeeze out a spell seal with his hands, and at the same time, bit open the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood mixed with his true yuan onto the red banner in front of him.
In an instant, the red flag burst into a loud explosion, and the ghostly object floating above the top of the Tongtong tree suddenly materialized and rushed out, carrying intense flames, striking Miro.
"A cornered beast will still fight!" Miro sneered, suddenly floating in mid-air. The ghostly object had just burst out when the constantly spinning silver beads emitted a startling crackling sound. Silver electrical lights swirled out, instantly transforming into dazzling electric pillars as thick as an arm. Within a radius of one mile, the electrical lights flashed and exploded, resembling an electrical net that densely intersected and struck the ghostly object and the red flag.
