The Sword Dynasty

"What happens when the rain stops?" Shen Xuan slowed down, and looked up at the milky white rain pouring from the sky.

"It will start before the rain stops," Ding Ning said seriously, "so you have to be faster."

"Is there any use in being faster? The problem is whether we can get on the mountain now."

"If you do not appear too weak, temporarily, there will not be any problems."

Both the question and the answer appeared profound, but the two were not ordinary people. Shen Xuan understood Ding Ning's meaning as he gazed at the beast herd that was starting to grow anxious and knew what he had worried about would not happen.

A ruler-straight, glass-like wall appeared in front of him and Ding Ning. This was a natural refraction created when the air and chaotic energies were split apart by his presence.

In the next breath, both their shadows became a moving shadow in this wall.

An anxious and violent presence spread within the beast herd. A giant dark green lizard, hide flashing with jewel-like light, reached the perimeter of the ancestral lands and started to descend.

This was a rare Green Meteorite Lizard. Its hide was extremely soft and could naturally dissipate primal energies of the universe. The famed general Li Nian of the You Dynasty possessed a famed suit of armor made from the Green Meteorite Lizard. Yet this kind of lizard had disappeared long ago. No one had expected such a reptile to appear here.

This lizard was so heavy that its belly was almost dragging on the ground. It really was not suitable for long-distance running. Even though it was driven mad by the spirit rain, it was far behind the beast herd.

Sensing the spirit rain about to dissipate, the Green Meteorite Lian grew violent. It roared, its long tail immediately whipped numerous beasts to its rear. At the same time, it spat a noxious yellow-green fluid that flew down the slope dozens of feet.

All the beasts within the range of the fluid gave miserable howls. Their bodies immediately rotted, full of holes like they had been sprayed with magma.

At the same time, a golden vulture in the sky sank into frenzied rage. Its golden feather had an unique energy and spread apart like golden swords. As it flew quickly, these blade-like feathers easily cut all the birds long its way into pieces.

This was just the beginning. The bloody scent caused the tide of beasts to start rioting. Those powerful beasts vented their anxiousness and anger on the relatively weaker beasts around them, as though it was because of their weaker fellows that they were unable to absorb more spirit energy and that the spirit rain would dissipate.

At this time, no matter if it was the ground or the air, blood bloomed. This was a scene multiple times worse than thousands of soldiers and horses fighting together. This was a hellish field of slaughter that only existed in stories.

Shen Xuan, who entered the Mountain of Ancestors, did not pay attention. In a certain sense, the Great Floating Water Prison was bloodier than this place. The presence he gave off now caused all the beasts along the way to distance themselves. Even the occasional giant beast that could pose a threat just glanced at him from afar.

This was a naked battle of the strong eating the weak. The powerful beasts started to kill the weaker beasts before the spirit rain disappeared. The spirit rain could replenish their energy and heal their wounds when they killed weaker beasts. The blood, falling pieces of meat and rain grew thicker, and fell like a waterfall on the giant beast skeleton on the mountain path.

When Shen Xuan saw the giant skeleton, his eyes narrowed slightly. He instinctively said in a cold voice, "What is this?"

"Taotie." Ding Ning answered simply. "A beast that can devour everything in the legends."

Shen Xuan glanced at him. "In reality?"

Ding Ning glanced at him and said, "In reality, they can devour almost everything unless you are a cultivator stronger than Gu Huai."

"Has such a sect ever existed here like that?" Shen Xuan turned his head and seemed to speak to himself as he passed by the giant skeleton covered in blood.

Ding Ning said without thinking, "Not ever such a sect, but there once was a Tianliang."

Shen Xuan's brows rose slightly and he said, "Never heard of it."

Ding Ning said, "You just have to know that this was an empire about the same as the You dynasty."

Shen Xuan grew silent.

A path covered in countless corpses appeared before the duo. The blood and pieces of meat flowed down these corpses. The grey-white skeletons were dyed red and appeared very bright.

Li Xixing and Hu Jingjing had already stood up. The latter held her sword like an umbrella and was standing by the former's side. Her sword gave off a light yellow light like that of a candle and blocked the blood coming down from above.

Shen Xuan moved quickly and took Ding Ning along with him. Almost at the same time the pair of duos saw each other.

"The friend of a madman is a madman." Shen Xuan saw the candlelight color of the yellow light and guessed Hu Jingjing's identity. Thinking of what this female disciple of Treasure Light Pavilion had done the night that Mo Shoucheng carried out his slaughter, he could not help but sneer and say softly.

"You really came." Li Xixing's gaze was just as cold as Shen Xuan yet when he saw Ding Ning appear in front of him, even Hu Jingjing sensed his gaze had softened greatly. He glanced at the other man and frowned slightly before talking to his friend.

"As expected, it is you," Ding Ning looked at him and said.

Hu Jingjing was inexplicably moved. She knew that this simple conversation contained true friendship.

Li Xixing had expected the enemy would use him to force Ding Ning to come, and the latter had expected the former to be in danger. Because on the plains, Li Xixing was Ding Ning's friend, and Ding Ning was Li Xixing's only good friend in the world.

Now, there was her as well. Hu Jingjing's eyes contained some joy and pride.

Ding Ning nodded at her in respect.

She was slightly frightened and her sword light scattered slightly. Fortunately, Shen Xuan's powerful presence covered all of them, and the falling bloody rain was forced aside and could not touch their surroundings.

"This is the ancestral lands of Tianliang. Have you heard of Tianliang?" Li Xixing faced Ding Ning's gaze and asked quietly, not wasting any words.

It was a fortunate thing to find one person to share life and death with in one's lifetime. What did he have to be discontent with after finding two? So while the blood rain poured down the surroundings, he felt calm within.

Ding Ning said, "I know a bit but not a lot."

Li Xixing looked at him and told Ding Ning in detail what he had told Hu Jingjing before about the Tianliang ancestral lands. He even described the strange insects Ding Ning did not come in time to see.

"Taotie and Chaos Insects are things the earliest cultivators slaughtered to extinction in prehistoric times because they were too strong. The former Tianliang dared to possess such things. They were as strong as the past You Dynasty."

Ding Ning looked up the mountain. "The key is, if the experts of Tianliang really committed suicide like the legend says, then why did they set up to seal the mountain? What did they want to seal?"

"It cannot be the plague." Before Li Xixing spoke, Ding Ning shook his head and continue., "Being unable to save and destroy in the end out of helplessness are not the same thing, especially when the Tianliang experts do not have to worry for their own safety. If they worry the plague would possibly spread, they would choose a way to destroy it, and destroy all the places and corpses that may have the plague. To be able to set up the things to seal this mountain and have the time to do so means that the last plague had disappeared over time as the infected died."

"Everyone in the world knows you are the best at comprehension," Li Xixing said after a short silence, "So they used me to force you here. They must know that there is something extremely valuable here that they can use to win the war."

"The key is, how does that person know what is in here?" Ding Ning looked at him and said.

The eyes of Shen Xuan, who had remained silent all this time like a bystander, suddenly lit up.

"This person is from Tianliang." Li Xixing said without hesitation, "Only someone who was left behind from Tianliang will know what is in the Mountain of Ancestors."

Hu Jingjing looked at Ding Ning and her body trembled uncontrollably. With a few words, he had sorted everything else. She looked at the man with great admiration. The contents of the conversation stunned her.

"Since they know what is inside but are still unable to obtain it … then we can try." Ding Ning looked at her and Li Xixing. He said softly without evasiveness, "Not just this Tianliang person, I also want to kill Gu Huai.

Translator Ramblings: Taotie are one of the four evil creatures in Chinese mythology. It usually represents greediness/gluttony and is famed for having a bottomless stomach.