劍問蒼天 - 第204章 斷劍 - 翰墨軒

In the Central Plains, at an abandoned mortuary outside He Yin City.

This mysterious figure had shattered Zhou Yixuan's spell with a single move, cowing the entire scene with an absolutely overwhelming and unfathomable depth of cultivation; he had even seen through Zhou Yixuan's signature art of escape. In his manner of speech he had not denied in the least his mysterious connection to Canglan Mountain, and with his incredible mastery of the Taiji Profound Purity Way, the origins of this mysterious figure were simply beyond imagination.

Yet as the man's dark silhouette drew gradually closer and that eerie, ferocious aura came sweeping over them, Zhou Yixuan, Xiao Wan, and the Wild Wolf Daoist had no thoughts to spare for such matters. After breaking Zhou Yixuan's magic, the body the man kept hidden behind the shadows seemed suddenly to be provoked by something; he began to breathe slowly, and his breathing gradually grew heavy.

Zhou Yixuan's brows were tightly knit as he stared at that figure, and in his eyes—unexpectedly—there was not much dread, but rather more bewilderment. Given the heights of cultivation the mysterious man had just displayed, it was naturally impossible that he should be panting for breath after only a few moves. Plainly there was some hidden ailment in his body, or some strange condition, that even a figure of such profound cultivation could not control.

Even so, to all appearances the mysterious figure showed no sign of weakening; on the contrary, as the ferocious aura kept surging higher and the pure, gentle breath of the Taiji Profound Purity Way sank away, the killing intent and oppressive might that closed in on them were greater than before by far. At that moment, anyone facing that pair of eyes, which were gradually kindling with a savage dark-red gleam behind the black qi, would understand what this mysterious figure was about to do!

Zhou Yixuan clenched his jaw as if he had made up his mind, and with a sudden pull tried to drag the Wild Wolf Daoist and Xiao Wan behind him. His hand found the Wild Wolf Daoist and pulled him over, but where Xiao Wan was, his hand closed on empty air.

Zhou Yixuan was startled, and before he could turn to look, a figure flashed past—Xiao Wan was already standing in front of him, facing the mysterious man. Zhou Yixuan was stunned, and then he heard Xiao Wan say urgently:

"Grandpa, you go, quickly—I'll hold him off."

Zhou Yixuan said angrily, "What do you know? This man's cultivation is no trifling matter—quickly—"

Before the words "come back" could leave his mouth, Xiao Wan had already made her move. Facing the mysterious man, this maiden who looked so delicate and innocent suddenly flung up both hands, and a book with a black, wordless cover flickered faintly between her fingers. A moment later, the seven mysterious "blood-jade bone shards" that Ghost Gentleman had once given her appeared in her hand.

A dark aura, formless yet seemingly substantial, abruptly poured out of thin air and descended upon this abandoned courtyard. Zhou Yixuan halted in astonishment, and even the mysterious man who had been advancing gave a soft "Eh?" and stopped.

Utterly different from the ferocious aura of the mysterious man, yet likewise steeped in an eerie darkness, a dense, chilling ghost-qi came surging in from all sides. This place had been a mortuary to begin with, and its yin energy had always been heavy; now that Xiao Wan had cast her strange ghost-path art, the ghostly wails came thick and fast and the cold winds howled bleakly, like ten thousand ghosts shrieking at once, enough to make anyone's heart crawl with dread.

The seven blood-jade bone shards rose slowly from Xiao Wan's palm, as if guided by an unseen hand, and arranged themselves in a triangle in the air before her. Upon each shard, the places that looked like bloodstains slowly kindled with a dark-red glow, like seven eyes slowly opening, fixed upon the mysterious figure.