novelzi Chapter 96: Changes to the Bronze Pendant
Chapter 96: Changes to the Bronze Pendant
Chapter 96: Changes to the Bronze Pendant
Li Jie used an unknown method to talk to Pang Jian, causing his voice to echo within Pang Jian's mind.
He advised Pang Jian to return to the tunnel, use the darkness of the Fifth World to avoid Yuan Shishan, and escape the fallout.
Pang Jian was stunned. He met Li Jie's eyes, nodded slightly, and pulled Luo Hongyan back.
Luo Hongyan glanced at him in confusion.
“Follow me,” Pang Jian whispered.
“Oh.” Luo Hongyan did not ask any questions and wordlessly followed him.
Warmth bloomed in Pang Jian's chest.
After they had sensed something amiss about the pool, Li Jie and Luo Hongyan had urged him to leave.
However, he had returned to the darkness to look for Li Yuqing, causing a delay.
Despite this, Luo Hongyan stayed and waited for him.
Even after returning, his curiosity drove him to linger despite Luo Hongyan's urging.
The City Lord of Eight Trigrams City, Yuan Shishan, emerged from the ancient copper chest and temporarily sealed the Mirror Tunnel, leading to him and Luo Hongyan being trapped in this predicament.
From beginning to end, Luo Hongyan neither blamed nor resented him for putting them in this situation.
Pang Jian led her to the dark tunnel.
Luo Hongyan silently allowed Pang Jian to pull her along and followed him to the tunnel's entrance.
When he stopped, Luo Hongyan sighed, freed herself from his grasp, and smiled. “Pang Jian, I have to stay here. I cannot withstand the corrupt energy of the darkness.”
Pang Jian stared blankly at her.
Luo Hongyan shook her head, her beautiful eyes filled with resignation. “I have no other choice. You and I are different. Not everyone can adapt to the darkness of the Fifth World like you. If I enter the darkness, my soul will soon be tainted and dissipate.”
Pang Jian recalled Li Yuqing’s words.
She mentioned that Luo Hongyan had tried to follow him into the darkness but was forced to retreat due to the murky energy.
Pang Jian said with thoughtful deliberation, “The main target of Yuan Shishan is not us. Here, I can display my full strength.”
Luo Hongyan smiled. “That's why I came with you.”
Swish!
The water from the pool flew into the air and floated above Yuan Shishan’s head.
Smiling faintly, he and the ancient copper chest landed on the raised platform.
He stepped out of the copper chest and looked up. The pool water covered the sky above the courtyard like a celestial canopy.
“Back then, I accepted their tribute of spirit food because I was quite adept at the Dao of Souls," Yuan Shishan said, seemingly reminiscing.
A myriad of souls appeared in the celestial canopy above Yuan Shishan. Their figures gradually came into focus.
Lan Xi from the Demon Sect, Lin Beiye from the Black Valley Sect, Jian Yaoyang from the Star River Alliance ...
One after another, both familiar and unfamiliar souls appeared in the celestial canopy.
The celestial canopy emitted a sinister and eerie aura that filled every corner of the mansion.
Pang Jian felt like he had returned to the top floor of the Divine Spirit Pagoda and was standing before the skull-shaped array.
Luo Hongyan's expression changed.
"Those are real souls!" She gently pushed Pang Jian toward the darkness as she whispered, “The City Lord, Yuan Shishan, controls the souls of the deceased. I might be able to hold out.”
Pang Jian did not move. He looked up at the sky with knitted brows.
“This is my Eight Trigrams City!” Yuan Shishan roared. The scattered belongings and spirit artifacts of the dead cultivators rose in response.
Swords, treasure vases, feather fans, and shields.
The spirit artifacts radiated brilliant lights, absorbing the dense spiritual qi within the mansion, and surrounding Li Jie.
Boom!
The raised platform Li Jie was on exploded.
The pool water and the strange entities climbed up the raised platform and joined the spirit artifacts to surround the Tribulation Master from the Divine Treasure Sect's Li Family.
“Qilin Bell!” With a flick of his hand, a large greenish-gray bell floated above Li Jie’s head, giving off a greenish glow.
A vivid Qilin appeared on the bell's surface and roared at the attacking entities.
The bodies of the entities were made of pool water and burst like bubbles with each roar from the Qilin. The greenish glow from the bell enveloped Li Jie, protecting him from the bombardment of spirit artifacts.
“Get out of here, you two.”
Li Jie waved at Pang Jian, urging him to retreat into the dark tunnel.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Under the control of Yuan Shishan, several spirit swords and bone hammers suddenly shot toward Pang Jian and Luo Hongyan.
Pang Jian did not hesitate. He wielded his Startling Slaughter Spear and employed the Silver Crescent technique.
With a swing of his spear, a black halo filled with the murky energy of the Fifth World formed.
The spirit swords and bone hammers were blocked by the black halo.
However, these spiritual artifacts contained power far beyond that of someone like Yuan Lengshan and the black halo exploded with a resounding boom.
The terrifying power knocked Pang Jian into the darkness.
"Pang Jian!" Luo Hongyan cried. She wanted to rush into the tunnel to check on him but could not because of the tainted energy in the darkness.
Thus, she could only anxiously stare into the darkness.
“I’m fine!” Pang Jian yelled back, but his voice could not penetrate the barrier of the darkness, so Luo Hongyan could not hear him.
Meanwhile, Luo Hongyan asked anxiously, “Pang Jian, how are you?”
Blood trickled from Pang Jian's mouth. He stood up and casually wiped the blood from his lips as he prepared to return to fend off Yuan Shishan’s next attack.
Though Yuan Shishan was only a fragment of a soul, his power was far beyond that of Dong Tianze, Lan Xi, and the rest.
“Ugh!” Just as he was about to leave the darkness, he sensed something unusual within his body.
The tainted energy in his spiritual sea was being drawn toward his chest.
Within this murky energy were two highly distinctive energies: corrosion and destruction.
These were two of the three energies that had formed his Earth Demon Technique earlier.
The two dense, sinister energies rushed through his meridians toward his chest.
They were heading toward the ancient bronze pendant!
The bronze door on the pendant had previously seemed permanently closed. But now, it was in an unprecedented state of being half-open!
Pang Jian held it up to his eyes to get a closer look.
Astonishingly, a thick gray fog swirled behind the bronze door. It looked like the fearsome bizarre mist!
Four peculiar objects floated in the depths of the thick bizarre mist; a black serpent, a beehive, a sapling-like vine, and a palm-sized black turtle.
The black serpent was much larger than the other three objects and was greedily absorbing the corrosive and destructive energies of the Fifth World.