The Heavenly Wandering Sword

Chapter 39

“Kon Kon.” He sent out his sword spirit out in his invisible form to look around and report what he saw. “Master, we’re in a basement of some kind. There’s a lot of different cages in here with people in them. No guards though.” Li Jian nodded and reached out to lightly touch the side of the cage. No wonder there’s no guards, the cage was made up of a material that suppressed spiritual force. He peeked out a bit more and noticed that some of the people were already waking up.

“Hey what the hell is this? What’s going on?” Some of the people in the cages began shouting, trying to summon their spiritual essence and break out of the cage. Fu Rong stirred beside him before waking up slowly, frowning as she saw the cage that they were in. “Master Li, what has happened? The last thing I remember…” Li Jian just nodded and sat up slowly, mimicking the effects of the poison wearing off. “The last thing I remember was drinking the wine from the restaurant.” With a sigh of annoyance, she held out a hand only to be surprised as she felt her spiritual force being oppressed. “The cages are made of Dao Steel.”

“What’s Dao Steel?” It wasn’t something that he had heard about before; he thought he knew every kind of Dao substance there was. “Dao Steel is a steel that had been mined too close to the Asura Mines, a place that was rumoured to be the opening to the underworld. There are a lot of negative essence from those places to suppress the ability of the asuras and other yokai to come out of the underworld.” Li Jian just frowned slightly. What.

“Asuras and yokai?” He thought to himself. Could they be the same as the true demons? He didn’t have time to ponder this as the dark room they were in suddenly was flooded with light. One of the walls had a hidden door and it opened to reveal two humanoid figures with two yokai masks. The two were quite powerful judging by the auras they released, a dark asura aura that was completely unlike the demon auras that the demon race had. “Dark practitioners.” She hissed as she saw this, while Li Jian just took the opportunity to relax. There wasn’t a lot of opportunities so far that let him just sit and relax since he was forcefully released from his rather comfortable prison. “Huh? Dark practitioners?” On the continent he had been from, dark practitioners were those who sacrificed human souls and their cultivation forces to improve their own.

“Yes, they will most likely sacrifice everyone here to gain more power for themselves. By the looks of it, the restaurant was a front for them to capture people. It does not make sense, are they not afraid of being discovered with so many people kidnapped at once?” She had a pensive look on her face that only accented her looks. “The dark gloom of the basement truly makes the brightness of Sister Fu’s beauty shine out brighter.” He commented casually, the principals head whipping around to face him as her cheeks burned bright purple with a deep blush. “What, this is not the time for your jokes Master Li.” Li Jian just laughed to himself as he leaned back against the cell to watch as the two of them began summoning. A circle of blood was painted on the ground with various talisman placed over varying points.

As they began to chant, the array began to glow. A bucket with blood was quickly poured onto the array, the formation absorbing every drop of blood that was poured down and began to glow an even brighter red.

“Honoured ancestor, release the bonds of the mortal world and transcend. Honoured ancestor, release the bonds of the mortal world and transcend.” They were repeating that one phrase over and over again. Li Jian knew a lot about arrays, for most swordsmen it was an important skill to have. This was not an array that he had seen before as he had never practiced dark cultivation. The only dark cultivation skills that he understood and knew were those that he had faced off against previously. The array began to burst with power until it erupted in a stream of bloody red light that covered the room with a murderous glow.

From the murderous red light stepped out a figure enclosed in blood red robes, a large black crow mask on the figures face. This was a figure that peaked Li Jian’s interest; his cultivation level had just stepped into the Godly Realm. Most actual Deities were in the Immortal God realm, two steps above the Godly realm. The Divine Emperor himself was in the Dao Soul realm which was one step up from the Immortal God Realm. It meant that this figure was two realms away from being rated the same as a Deity. However at the level of power in those realms, one level within the realms was a massive step that was not simply overcome just by absorbing spiritual essence.

“Master Li, we have to be very careful. That figure, he’s a yokai. I had thought that they had all been sealed away but I did not think to see any of them around anymore.” Fu Rong had a serious expression on her face. If the yokai were allowed to come back, it would mean the end of the continent. Li Jian nodded in understanding. The true demons, or the yokai as the people of this continent called them, were truly a force to be reckoned with for the cultivators of this world.

The two human figures bowed to the yokai who held up his hand. “It is an honour to greet you Lord Tengu.” The two men were on all fours in suppliance to the great being they had finally been able to unseal. The bucket of blood was harvested painstakingly, the blood of a virgin cultivator in the Ancient Immortal Realm who was at least one thousand years old. With that, the final seal had been broken and the Lord Tengu was finally able to be present again. “It has been over one hundred years since I have been sealed by the blood sacrifice of the three Divine Mystics.” His voice was grating and yet had a silky darkness to it. “I will give you your reward then.” With a single one of its claws, it cut its own palm and dribbled its blood over the two humans who immediately collapsed to the floor and convulsed. In a burst of blood, the two humans now stepped out from within themselves, reborn with the power of yokai blood in their bodies.

“Lord Tengu, you honour us with your gift. We will serve you for eternity.” The two bowed again, their bodies steadily much more powerful than just their cultivation realms would suggest. “Lord, we have prepared sacrifices for you. The blood of all of the ones here have been brought to you to replenish your strength.” The Tengu Lord nodded and looked around at the various people stuck in the cage. Whether human, demon or witch elf, the ones in the caged were frozen in fear. The oppressive aura of the dark yokai lord was more than many of them could bear. The Tengu walked to the first cage and held his hand out towards the four demons inside. With a single thought, the demons burst into four puddles of blood. The blood was pulled through the gaps between the cages and absorbed through the Tengu’s hand, the creature sighing with satisfaction. “You have done well, these are indeed powerful cultivators. Once I have absorbed everyone here, I will become more and more powerful.”

After seeing that, Li Jian had a better understanding of what the yokai was. It was not a lowly soldier that had been unsealed, it was rather a much more powerful yukai lord. The Divine Realms and the Underworld Realms had long ago come to an understanding. Their conflicts will be carried out by their followers on earth, and there will be no direct interference. The powers between the two realms were too closely matched. For Li Jian however, that was not something he adhered to nor did he truly believe in either. Each of the deities had gotten to their position through power. In the face of absolute power, there was nothing else that mattered.

“Master Li, we have to find a way to stop him.” Li Jian sighed for a moment as he thought bout it. He was restricted technically by the Pact of Realms. “Try to channel your spiritual force.” He placed a hand on her back while she sat across from one of the bars. He began to channel his own spiritual force into her body, sending the pure Dao force that he collected into her body. The Dao Steel seemed to suppress spiritual essence but anything higher than that, it was too weak. He wondered if there were perhaps substances that were capable of suppressing Dao force as well.

After a few moments, Fu Rong let out a deep breath as her hand began to glow slightly with spiritual force. “What is going on?” She asked curiously. Li Jian thought about how to answer her before coming up with what he hoped would be the right answer. “I have an amulet on me that lets me channel spiritual force into someone else, meant for healing. But since your spiritual essence is being suppressed right now, the combination of our spiritual energy is stronger than the suppression of the Dao Steel.” She nodded, accepting the answer before swiping her hand and cutting off part of the bars of the cage to provide an opening. “Hurry, get the others out.”

The Tengu Lord had absorbed the blood essence of four cages, and there were still three left. The two worked hurriedly, cutting open the cages quickly before there was a loud angry roar. “How did they escape?” Lang Mo one of the servants of the Tengu Lord summoned a large blood red aura of a demonic claw, launching his attack towards the two. Li Jian dodged it easily while Fu Rong summoned a spiritual shield that absorbed the blast. Even though the attack was blocked, she was thrown back onto the ground, rolling quickly to get back to a standing position. “Master Li, he is too powerful. I’m afraid I’m not his opponent.” Li Jian looked over at the man who was charging towards him, his fists encased in a ruby red flame as he attacked.

“Kon Kon.” He summoned his sword spirit who appeared suddenly out of thin air. Kon Wang had his own sword that he drew, giving his opponent a casual salute with a wave of his sword before charging in. The sudden appearance and attack of the sword spirit cause Lang Mo to jump back to dodge the attack but the sword spirit disappeared and simply appeared right behind him, his sword stabbed right through the back of his head. The body fell to the ground lifeless with a thud as the sword spirit gave his sword a swift flick and floated in the air. The other servant Tun Yao sensed a great danger from this sword spirit and activated a powerful shield in a dark purple glow around himself. “Lord Tengu, this Sword Spirit is too powerful.”

The crow masked face of the Tengu Lord turned to look over at the sword spirit who stared back at him. “A simple sword spirit? You humans truly are too weak.” With a single wave of his hand, the yokai lord sent Kon Wang flying through the air and into a wall. “Master, I am restricted by the Pact of the Realms. I cannot exert my full strength in a fight against this being.” Li Jian forgot that Kon Wang was a Divine Spirit at the end of the day and not just a meat bun obsessed curse.

The Tengu Lord looked at his hand and paused for a moment. He wasn’t able to release his full force in that attack. Perhaps the sword spirit came from a unique soul. He activated his own demonic force and created a ball of demonic force that was released in a bright streak towards the escaping prisoners. With a loud blast, the lives of more than a dozen high level cultivators were taken in a single attack. The blast itself also damaged the wall itself, revealing that they were in a deep cavern system of some kind. The other cultivators began to active their spiritual forces into a combined shield facing the yokai. “Everyone, contribute all at once. We can hold if we combine our power!” Li Jian however knew that it was hopeless for the ones there. There would be no way for them to actually stop the next attack.

The Tengu Lord held out a single hand and fired a blast of red lightning that ripped through the air and shattered the spiritual shield instantly, the blast itself killing another three cultivators. Taking the opportunity of the tremendous amount of dust raised in the room, he would grab Fu Rong quickly and escape through the opening the yokai had created.