Chapter 422: Senior Brother, Dragon’s Roar Play
Clang!
Dusk fell, the wind was urgent and the clouds were slanted, and the sound of eagle cries startled the sky and blocked the clouds.
On the vast wilderness, over fifty demonic cultivators surrounded a luxurious sedan chair, flying on their swords and breaking through the wind that whipped up sand and dust, making their way towards Seven Dragon Valley.
Gui Qinghe, clad in a deep blue brocade robe, sat within the curtains of the sedan chair, accompanied by several women in revealing dance skirts. They poured a thousand-year-old vintage wine, gathered from Donghuang Immortal City, into his wine goblet.
For him, the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, the worldly pursuits of “fame, fortune, beauty, and pleasure” were things he could grasp without risking his life.
Because of this, the thousand-year-old vintage wine, which ordinary cultivators would find hard to obtain even a drop of, tasted as common as well water on Gui Qinghe’s tongue.
After a single sip, Gui Qinghe disdainfully poured the wine onto the clothes of the woman beside him.
“Even immortal vintage wine is nothing special. This is for you.”
The demonic cultivator woman in front of him felt a cool sensation on her chest, her cheeks flushing. Like a dog, she knelt by his feet, licking the wine spilled on his boots.
“Thank you, Young Master… Slurp, slurp…”
“Heh…”
Gui Qinghe sneered, propped his fist against his cheek, and looked out of the sedan window. All he saw was endless yellow sand. His annoyance grew.
His father had already taken the elders of the Ghost Spirit Sect to pursue the Nascent Soul immortal cultivators led by Fu Xuan.
Yet, at this moment, he was tasked with leading fifty Core Formation Stage cultivators to chase a group of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.
The more Gui Qinghe thought about it, the angrier he became. A female demon cultivator, pouring wine beside him, softly asked,
“Young Master, why the long face?”
“That old man Kong Xiangmo ordered this young master to chase some insignificant shrimp and crab soldiers. It would be better to follow that Fu from the Tian Mo Sect and chase that group of Core Formation cultivators. What difference is there between this and asking me to sweep the floor?”
The female demon cultivator rolled her eyes and replied charmingly,
“Alas… Young Master, you are mistaken. Your disciple believes that Elder Kong asked you to chase not those Foundation Establishment cultivators, but the Xuan Xing Sect Young Master. Young Master should know that the Sect Master once…”
*Smack*
Gui Qinghe narrowed his eyes and, before she could finish, slapped her.
“Is this something you can discuss?”
“Ah… Disciple knows her mistake.”
“Heh…”
Seven thousand years ago, Gui Mu’s ghostly body was half-destroyed by Dan Yue Shang Xian, and it had not fully recovered until now. Because of this, Dan Yue Shang Xian had been on his father’s mind for a thousand years.
Although his father would be very pleased if he killed or captured the Xuan Xing Sect Young Master, that Xuan Xing Sect Young Master was merely a novice Core Formation cultivator.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator, capturing a Core Formation cultivator wouldn’t prove his ability.
What was the point?
It was a matter of one or two of his ghostly arts…
At this moment, a demonic cultivator with a black shadow hovering on his arm landed in front of the sedan curtain, kneeling on one knee.
“Reporting to the Young Master, according to scout information, the Xing Tian Division seems to have stopped within Seven Dragon Valley and set up camp. The Xuan Xing Sect Young Master and the Sword Sect Young Master are leading the Xing Tian Division disciples in setting up many formations and restrictions within Seven Dragon Valley.”
Gui Qinghe was dismissive and sneered,
“Heh, they know they can’t escape, so they want to fight to the death?”
“It seems so. Seven Dragon Valley was originally a barren valley, but because it was once a dragon’s lair, the caves within the valley are complex and intertwined, with many low-level demonic beasts inhabiting it…”
“They want to set up an ambush? Do they think only low-level disciples of the Ghost Spirit Sect are coming after them? A group of Foundation Establishment cultivators and two Core Formation cultivators, setting up an ambush, what can they do?
“When we reach Seven Dragon Valley, we’ll form our own formation and, at worst, level Seven Dragon Valley to the ground.”
“Yes!”
The demonic cultivator disciple who came to report retreated from the sedan. Gui Qinghe and his entourage sped up again, breaking through the wind.
A distance of a hundred li was only a few hours for a group of just fifty people.
The sun set and the moon rose. Gui Qinghe closed his eyes for a short rest. When he opened them again, it was already the rising sun. The several female disciples who had been serving him wine were already drunk and slumped at his feet.
He reached out and lifted the curtain in front of him, looking straight ahead.
The rising sun appeared from behind the horizon, and before it were weathered sandstone formations that looked like they had been gnawed by dogs.
Each sandstone formation resembled the remains of a dragon, hundreds of feet tall, packed closely together, making the entire Seven Dragon Valley resemble a massive labyrinth.
“It really is a suitable place for an ambush…”
Gui Qinghe commented with a cold smile, but his voice abruptly stopped.
He saw a tiny black spot at the center of the rising sun in the distance, like a mole on the sun’s face.
Gui Qinghe initially thought it was a speck of dust or that his vision was blurred by the sunlight. However, after squinting and observing with his far-seeing technique, he realized it was a young man in black, wearing a bamboo hat, standing on a flying sword.
He couldn’t discern the youth’s cultivation level, whether it was due to a powerful magical artifact or something else.
Gui Qinghe hesitated for a moment, then gestured.
Instantly, the fifty Core Formation Stage demonic cultivators surrounding the sedan slowed their flying swords and hovered about a hundred zhang away from the youth.
—
As the sun rose in the east, the Yang Ling Qi of the sand plain gradually emerged from underground.
Seven Dragon Valley was deathly silent, not even a whisper of wind, as if there were no living creatures within a hundred li.
Ye Anping stood on his flying sword, slowly raising his bamboo hat. He looked at the sedan chair surrounded by the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples, who were approaching and then stopping a hundred zhang away, his expression extremely serious…
Until—
A hand, as if skin and bones, emerged from the curtain in front of the sedan, revealing its true face to him.
Upon seeing Gui Qinghe’s face, Ye Anping seemed to sigh in relief. His stern expression turned into a faint sneer, and he amplified his voice with spiritual energy,
“I’ve been waiting for a long time. I presume you are Gui Qinghe, the Young Master Gui? I’ve heard much about you. I am Ye Anping, the Young Master of the same sect as you.”
Gui Qinghe narrowed his eyes at his words, then stood up and walked out of the curtain, hands behind his back.
“Heh, my reputation has actually reached the ears of the Xuan Xing Sect Young Master.”
“Young Master Gui misunderstands. I am not the Xuan Xing Sect Young Master, but the Hundred Lotus Sect Young Master.”
Hundred Lotus Sect?
Gui Qinghe paused, glancing at a demonic cultivator disciple beside him.
However, upon sensing his gaze, the disciple shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.
Because he couldn’t discern Ye Anping’s cultivation, he didn’t dare to act rashly. If this person was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, unlike the intelligence suggested, he might suffer if he didn’t probe first.
“I have never heard of it.”
Ye Anping smiled and slowly grasped a jade pendant hanging from his belt.
“Then Young Master Gui has heard of it now. The Hundred Lotus Sect is quite a good sect, with beautiful scenery. Especially the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect, who is beloved by all, so handsome that it is breathtaking.”
Gui Qinghe and the surrounding demonic cultivator disciples felt as if a cold wind had swept through them, and they froze.
Seeing their reaction, Ye Anping felt somewhat awkward.
“It’s just that, unfortunately, I, the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect, am not very famous, making it difficult to command respect.
“I, Ye, am leading three thousand Xing Tian Division disciples on this march. However, the Xing Tian Division disciples don’t listen to me too much; they only obey when Young Master Xiao and Eldest Miss Yun speak. This makes me somewhat troubled.”
Sensing the sharpness in Ye Anping’s words, Gui Qinghe narrowed his eyes and quickly released his spiritual energy to surround himself.
Instantly, a ghostly, dark cloud mass appeared in the sky, as if covering the entire valley with black sand. The shadows cast on the weathered sandstone formations disappeared.
Heaven and earth fell into a deathly silence—
“What do you want to say?”
“I just want Young Master Gui to die with understanding.”
Ye Anping slowly put the jade pendant from his waist into his storage bag, then reached behind him for the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword wrapped in bandages. He gripped the hilt and held the sword to his right, tilting his head.
“Young Master Gui, let’s hypothesize… what if the Hundred Lotus Sect Young Master, at the Core Formation Stage, destroyed you, the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect? Would my Hundred Lotus Sect Young Master be able to establish his authority in front of the Xing Tian Division disciples?”
…
Silence—
One breath.
Two breaths.
Gui Qinghe’s eyes suddenly widened in rage, and he roared,
“A mere Core Formation cultivator dares to use this young master as a stepping stone?!”
*Buzz*
Dark purple ghostly energy materialized behind Gui Qinghe, like the wailing of evil spirits, emitting a piercing shriek that could shatter eardrums.
However, almost simultaneously, Ye Anping raised his sword and pointed it directly at the dark, cloudy sky above. Twelve golden pillars of light rose from various points in Seven Dragon Valley, soaring towards the heavens.
Gui Qinghe had intended to devour the arrogant Core Formation youth before him with his ghostly spirits, but upon seeing the twelve pillars of light, he instantly felt a chill down his spine and instinctively surrounded himself with all his ghostly energy for protection.
He could hear his controlled ghostly spirits crying out…
As if something extremely threatening to him was lurking nearby…
And in the next moment, a hundred feet below everyone’s feet, the sand seemed to transform into a vortex, collapsing downwards.
ROAR—!!
The dragon’s roar shook the heavens and the earth, causing the hearts of all the demonic cultivators present to momentarily stop.
Gui Qinghe was the first to react and immediately shouted,
“Scatter!!”
However, only about half of the fifty Ghost Spirit Sect disciples at the Core Formation Stage reacted with aerial maneuver techniques and scattered in all directions.
The remaining half were instantly swallowed by a gaping maw.
A colossal being emerged from the center of the sand-covered Seven Dragon Valley.
Gui Qinghe, who had dodged the maw, turned back to look, his eyes widening in disbelief.
It was a dragon, over a hundred zhang long.
But its body was earthy yellow, lacking any draconic majesty. It looked like a decaying dragon corpse, with much of its body exposed, devoid of scales. The remaining scales were interspersed with loess and sand.
Gui Qinghe murmured uncertainly,
“Sandwyrm?!”
But he had never heard of a Sandwyrm being this large, and the spiritual energy emanating from this dragon gave him a sense of desolation and antiquity that a Sandwyrm could not possess.
“Not so!”
Ye Anping, wielding the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, flew on his sword above Gui Qinghe. Looking at the dilapidated dragon body, he replied with a smile,
“Seven Dragon Valley was once a dragon’s lair. Due to the shattered spiritual脉, the seven dragons moved away. However, one dragon actually stayed behind. Deprived of spiritual energy, it was forced to slumber here. This is an Ying Long; although its head is a bit clumsy and its strength is far from its peak, it is still capable of swallowing a Deity Transformation cultivator.”
Although, using gamer terms, this was just a world boss in the Central Domain.
However, seeing it in a game and standing before it personally were entirely different experiences in terms of the oppressive feeling.
ROAR—
The Ying Long soared into the sky, its eyes fixed on Gui Qinghe and Ye Anping hovering in the air below, looking at them as if they were mere ants.
Bat-like wings unfurled behind its body, as if announcing its identity to them.
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes, glanced towards two figures hiding behind a sandstone formation about a thousand zhang away. Xiao Yunluo, Yun Yiyi, and several Sword Sect disciples were also speechless.
“Young Master Gui, how about we let this dragon be the judge?”
“…Madman.”
Gui Qinghe cursed. He could no longer concern himself with Ye Anping, nor did he care how Ye Anping managed to awaken this broken dragon. But at this moment, he felt hostility and trepidation.
A draconic spiritual energy that made all his controlled ghostly spirits tremble.
Perhaps there was a distinction between immortal cultivators and demonic cultivators within the human race, but in the eyes of dragons, he and Ye Anping were no different, both mere lowly ants.
BOOM—
Gales erupted, scattering Gui Qinghe’s hair behind him like Sadako’s.
He immediately summoned all his spiritual energy and commanded,
“All disciples, heed my order!! Form a formation to slay the dragon!!”
Instantly, the remaining twenty-odd Ghost Spirit Sect disciples gathered around him. With sword fingers held to their chests, they channeled their spiritual power towards him.
Within a breath, an immensely large and complex formation diagram materialized in the air, suffused with evil spirit energy.
However, the moment the formation was complete,
*Swish*
Icy blue sword energy swept past two Core Formation Stage demonic cultivators, decapitating them. Their heads then fell into the shifting sand vortex below.
After dispatching two of them, Ye Anping rushed towards the others.
“You!”
Gui Qinghe couldn’t believe it. He felt this Ye Anping was abnormal.
In this situation, he could flee, but instead, he was helping this Ying Long attack them?
If he and all the demonic cultivator disciples were swallowed by this Ying Long, its next target would be him!
He didn’t believe that a mere Core Formation cultivator could handle such an ancient dragon on his own.
Even if his father came personally, he would at least lose a few teeth to this Ying Long.
“Stop!”
Ye Anping, after slaying another demonic cultivator with a single sword strike, flicked the blood from his shoulder and chuckled,
“Young Master Gui… have you heard of the Dragon Taming Pearl?”
“What dragon pearl?”
He raised his hand, took out a sachet from his belt, and dangled it.
“This contains the Ying Long’s favorite food. Dragons move towards dragon pearls. In other words, I am like a dragon pearl right now…”
ROAR—
The earth-shattering dragon roar echoed for a thousand li. The sand in the desert seemed to transform into waves, forming rolling swells hundreds of feet high.
The murky dragon eyes stared intently at Ye Anping, as if a bull seeing a red cloth. In its eyes, only Ye Anping possessed color.
ROAR—!!!
The dragon’s maw opened wide, its body coiled, and then it plunged downwards with immense force.
“Here it comes~ Catch it… Young Master Gui.”
After dealing with several key points of the formation, Ye Anping immediately flew his sword to the diagonal lower position of Gui Qinghe, placing him directly in the line of attack between himself and the dragon’s maw.
Seeing the gaping maw, which obscured everything in his vision, rushing towards him, Gui Qinghe couldn’t care anymore. He immediately abandoned the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples who had already formed their formation, flashed up a hundred meters alone, and dodged.
But the remaining dozen or so Ghost Spirit Sect disciples were swallowed whole by the massive dragon maw.
To the Ying Long, those Core Formation Stage Ghost Spirit Sect disciples were like grains of sand in the desert. Upon colliding with its fangs, they all exploded into blood mist, vanishing into nothingness without even a scream.
ROAR—
As the dragon’s head lunged, Ye Anping grit his teeth and swung his sword.
Two icy blue sword energies shot directly towards the dragon’s tongue, forming layers of profound ice at its tip.
“Hiss— this is still a bit…”
After failing to stop the dragon’s charge with the sword of Yun Jian Shang Xian, Ye Anping formed a sword finger and touched the profound ice sword body. He then kicked the flying sword beneath his feet towards the dragon’s maw, stepping onto the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword and leaping towards Gui Qinghe.
Boom boom—
Consecutive deafening explosions of spiritual energy erupted in mid-air.
Using the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword as his flying sword, Ye Anping channeled almost all his spiritual energy into its movement, instantly reaching a speed close to that of a late Nascent Soul cultivator. He arrived beside Gui Qinghe in an instant.
Seeing him approach, Gui Qinghe’s face had turned pale with terror.
“You!!!”
“Young Master Gui, I suggest you…”
“Don’t come here—!!”
The Ying Long seemed to sense that Ye Anping had escaped its maw and was about to crash to the ground. It coiled its body and turned 180 degrees, lunging towards him again with a roar.
Its massive body alone, with just that turn, caused the spiritual energy in the air to explode into countless rays of light.
Gui Qinghe froze for a moment, then instantly moved in front of Ye Anping, grabbed him by the collar, and forcefully threw him upwards, attempting to change the Ying Long’s direction. He then frantically searched his storage bag for escape artifacts to flee.
However…
“Cough— Thanks!”
After taking a punch from Gui Qinghe, Ye Anping coughed up a mouthful of blood, staggered, clasped his hands in a salute, and bowed.
?
Gui Qinghe heard the voice from above, then looked down and realized that the sachet-like item Ye Anping had taken from his storage bag was now hanging from his belt at some point.
“You!!”
He immediately yanked off the sachet, intending to throw it away, but as he raised his hand…
His eyes were met by the red, putrid upper jaw within the dragon’s maw…
*Crunch*
The dragon’s maw closed, its yellowish-brown fangs clashing together, sending out a ring of airwaves in mid-air.
Gui Qinghe directly transformed into a “dragon pearl” and was swallowed by the Ying Long.
Roar…
Seven Dragon Valley fell silent once more. However, after only two breaths, the Ying Long’s head slowly turned towards Ye Anping, who was now falling freely without a flying sword.
ROAR—
The dragon’s eyes narrowed into slits, and the spiritual pressure, which was comparable to a Deity Transformation cultivator, instantly bore down on Ye Anping.
“Is it not full yet…”
Ye Anping looked at the dragon’s furious eyes, which seemed to realize it had been tricked. He placed one hand behind his back, summoned the “Nine Dragon Celestial Seal” from his storage bag, and at the same time looked towards Xiao Yunluo, who was hiding behind a giant rock in the distance, protecting herself with spiritual energy.
He gritted his teeth, inhaled, and shouted,
“Yunluo!!!”
