Chapter 0210 – Blood River Mountains

Chapter 0210: Blood River Mountains

“Wait wait….” Ning Cheng quickly tightly grabbed onto Zhangsun Yan who was running in front of him, and in just a twinkling of an eye, both of them vanished without a trace.

Zhangsun Yan had not yet reacted, when several heavyweight auras fell on the place where they were originally rushing through which was also accompanied by an intense fishy smell a moment later.

“Class 6 monstrous beasts….” Zhangsun Yan finally called out in alarm with fear dripping in her voice. A moment ago, on the path they were rushing through, a small pack of monstrous beasts had passed through it, moreover these monstrous beasts were all Class 6 monstrous beasts without a doubt.

Although Class 6 monstrous beasts would not take the initiative to attack the local population that resided in a Spiritual Qi deficient areas, but once they ended up blocking each other’s path, then they would definitely end up being killed by those monstrous beasts within seconds.

“That was a narrow escape aah, I really had not caught sight of them.” Zhangsun Yan finally calmed down her heart which had almost jumped into her mouth.

Ning Cheng knew that the Spiritual Qi in this area was very thin as such it was not enough for a monstrous beast to set up their nest here, but that did not mean that monstrous beasts would not pass through this area. But fortunately because his Spiritual Consciousness was much more formidable than Zhangsun Yan’s and was using it to keep a watch on the surroundings the entire time, as such even though the speed with which those Class 6 monstrous beasts approached was incomparably fast, he was able to immediately bring himself and Zhangsun Yan away safely.

“I will stay behind you and be more careful, I got a bit too impatient a moment ago.” Zhangsun Yan spoke out hastily. She knew that if she was a bit more careful, then she really would have been able to avoid such things ahead of time.

“You don’t need to do that, if we wait for you to move carefully towards the Blood River Mountains, then there is a good chance that the Blood River high tide would have already passed. I will carry you all the way, you just concentrate on giving me directions as I move.” Ning Cheng who was still gripping Zhangsun Yan’s hand tightly, once again brought them back on the original path while carrying her in his arms in front of him.

Zhangsun Yan immediately understood Ning Cheng’s meaning, and quickly pointed to the path in front of them, and continuously called out the directions without stopping.

The path was really quirky and complex. If Zhangsun Yan was not the one leading the way, then it was quite possible that he might have already lost his sense of direction.

With Zhangsun Yan being carried forward by Ning Cheng, sure enough, they were able to move much more quickly.

Initially, Zhangsun Yan had not thought of anything, as she in her heart was very anxious about Jia Lingwei’s situation unlike Ning Cheng. But as Ning Cheng’s speed was getting faster and faster, she became more and more relaxed, and on the contrary started thinking about other things.

Ning Cheng’s arm was putting a light pressure on her chest because of the awkward manner he carried her, so she somehow remembered the incident of Nalan Ruxue’s chest being groped. That Nalan Ruxue was just making a mountain out of a molehill over such a trifling matter, Big Brother Ning although was pressing his hand against her, but she knew that it was only superficial and was completely because of the circumstances. It was just that that girl’s chest was somewhat more bloated than hers and nothing more. For Nalan Ruxue to try to harm him through the hands of others, just saying that she was ungrateful was really too light.

She had completely ignored the fact that she and Ning Cheng were only somewhat acquainted to each other, but still had already tacitly approved of this matter. As for the affair of that Nalan Ruxue, she was already prejudiced against her because of Yan Ji’s words.

Ning Cheng also really did not think much towards this matter. When he had initially seen Zhangsun Yan for the first time, Zhangsun Yan still had a babyish face, as such he was subconsciously treating Zhangsun Yan as just a little girl. But even if that was the case, he still paid a bit of attention to this matter this time. The clothes covering Zhangsun Yan’s abdomen were already all gone, as such when he grabbed Zhangsun Yan, he had no choice but to deliberately avoid her already exposed abdomen and had chosen a spot a point higher that was still covered with clothes to carry her.

“Big Brother Ning, they say you are a Devil Cultivator. But why do I feel that you’re not a Devil Cultivator?” After they ran for a while, Zhangsun Yan suddenly asked.

Ning Cheng spoke in a somewhat depressed tone, “I am not a Devil Cultivator, but my axe is crafted from a block of True Cosmic Devil Metal, as such it has a Devilish Nature’s aura in it.”

“Aaaah….” Zhangsun Yan exclaimed loudly, before she hurriedly spoke, “Big Brother Ning, True Cosmic Devil Metal is something priceless, you should never come out and openly speak about it aah, once someone powerful comes to know about it, they will definitely make a move to seize it.”

Ning Cheng gave a self-deprecating smile, “Even if I spoke it out loud it would be completely unimportant at this moment, I estimate that there are already a few people who are aware of it.”

He had used his axe to kill through so many people, moreover there were still a few people who had seen him in the act of using it, surely at least one of them must have realized that the magical weapon he was using was crafted from the True Cosmic Devil Metal.

“This….” Zhangsun Yan realized that she was a bit rough in speaking to Ning Cheng, but she was not able to find good words to comfort Ning Cheng. She wanted to say that Ning Cheng should not have saved the others, but then again among the people he had ended up saving at that time, she was also one of them.

For almost an hour, the two of them remained silent.

“Right here.” Although Zhangsun Yan had many thoughts going through her mind, but on the whole she had not forgotten her mission, as such when Ning Cheng arrived at a low stony mound, she hurriedly called out to stop Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng let down Zhangsun Yan and spoke, “It would be better if you lead the way in the front for the moment.”

This place was very familiar to Zhangsun Yan, as such making 7-8 turns while going forward she at last arrived at the front of a sleek stone mound, then making a few more turns around the front of it, she right away disappeared and could not be seen.

“So it is a natural Concealment Array Formation……” Ning Cheng immediately recognised it from the place at which Zhangsun Yan disappeared. But although it was a natural Array Formation it was not a very high level one, as such he was able to see though it with just a glance.

“Big Brother Ning, give me your hand, I’ll pull you in. There is an Array Formation here, if one is not able to understand it, then they would not be able to enter.” Zhangsun Yan apparently sensed that Ning Cheng was not able to keep up, and once again walked out and explained.

Ning Cheng waved his hand, “You can go in first, I know how to come in.”

Such a low level Array Formation, how could he not be able to go in?

When Zhangsun Yan heard Ning Cheng that she did not need to lead the way, she just gave an ‘En’ sound, and once again turned around and went inside.

Ning Cheng also followed behind Zhangsun Yan, and soon entered the Concealment Array Formation and arrived in front of an extremely long gravel path, this gravel path was just too long, and it extended all the way to as far as his eyes could see.

“There are no monstrous beasts here, we can hurry up.” Zhangsun Yan’s speed increased as she simultaneously spoke.

After the time it took for half a stick of incense to burn, Zhangsun Yan once again took a turn on this path, and entered a narrow entrance to a valley as she spoke, “Big Brother Ning, once we cross through this valley entrance we will arrive at the Blood River Mountains.”

The valley was very short, and Zhangsun Yan along with Ning Cheng quickly were able to rush past it. But when Ning Cheng saw the scene in front of him, he finally understood why this place was called ‘Blood River Mountains’.

There were deep blood red coloured mountain peaks stretching out as far as his eyes could see, even when using his Spiritual Consciousness, he was not able to sweep till the end. All of these mountain peaks had blood red rivers tumbling about, the cascading of these blood red rivers were creating a roaring like sounds all throughout, but at the same time it also brought up waves of fishy smell. This smell was not the smell of blood but rather it was a one of a kind unable to be identified somewhat fishy smell that washed over them.

Ning Cheng made sure that he was not mistaken, that these mountains were actually on top of the Blood Rivers.

This was completely contrary to the laws of gravity, as blood river tributaries were also spreading out from these blood coloured mountain peaks, which made it seem that the peaks were suspended over the river while at the same time also trapped inside it. Moreover, these rivers still were rolling and churning continuously without a break, and the area around it gave rise to a scene as if it was surrounded by a layer of ocean like spray.

“Descending from the Ninth Heaven, could this be the Milky Way?” This verse could definitely be used to describe the scene in front of him, although describing it as waterfall would not be accurate, but just changing it to Blood River would do the trick.

[TL Note – The verse above is the last line from the Chinese poem 望廬山瀑布 which in English is “Admiring the waterfall at Lu Mountain” and was written by Li Bai around the 7th century A.D. For more information on this just click the link embedded in the verse.]

Surrounding each of blood peaks, there were around 1-2 tributaries of the Blood River spreading out, some had more while some had less, and in between these Blood River tributaries there were small and narrow gravel paths. Ning Cheng also finally understood what Zhangsun Yan meant when she said that the path to the Blood River Peak was very narrow. It was because she was referring to this narrow path suspended between the Blood River tributaries.

These Blood River tributaries seemed to flow from the bottom to the peak making it look like it was a cage that held the mountains inside it. Moreover, apart from the river water being the colour of bright red like blood on the outside. The rest of it looked no different from an ordinary river in general, which made it look extremely strange, however Ning Cheng already had vaguely understood something.

He was used to things falling from high altitudes, the river water also always came down passing from high altitudes to lower altitudes, and this was entirely because of the effect of gravity, or at the very least it was due to a type of customary perceptional awareness. If the Blood River Peaks had a stronger gravity than the gravitational field from inside the ground, moreover it was distributed evenly throughout, then wouldn’t it also create the scene in front of him?

Of course Ning Cheng also knew that it was only him guessing. It was also possible that these tributaries of Blood Rivers were originally forming an Array Formation. In this place, there were already many strange things, as such he would not feel surprised for such a thing to happen.

“Big Brother Ning, Senior Apprentice Sister Ji and Elder Sister Lingwei are trapped inside. I’ll show you the way past……” Zhangsun Yan spoke, as she hurriedly made her way across onto the path under these Blood River Mountain Peaks.

Ning Cheng also hastily followed Zhangsun Yan. He found that his Spiritual Consciousness simply could not penetrate into these Blood River Peaks, moreover one’s Spiritual Consciousness seemed to be impeded by something as soon as one brought it out on this path.

Zhangsun Yan did not go much far, before Ning Cheng finally saw Yan Ji and Jia Lingwei. The two of them were back to back and were difficulty resisting a seemingly endless and inexhaustible red coloured monstrous beast tide. These red monstrous beasts were not large, but they had a coat of bright red fur. They had two sharp teeth in front, and had very sharp looking claws. Moreover, as they attacked from all sides they were simultaneously giving out a harsh and irritating but piercing screams. Even in such a situation, they did not seem to care a whit about their companions getting killed, and were just like an unending wave in general as they flocked towards Yan Ji and Jia Lingwei from all sides.

Ning Cheng saw that Yan Ji was still using her Blue Green Meteor Patterned Damask Silk that was constantly bringing out Meteor Lights, but it only had the ability to kill a very small number of those red monstrous beasts, while pushing back a few more monstrous beasts as these Meteor Lights bombed onto them. Even at its best it was only useful to push them back a bit, before they would once again get back up and rapidly charge towards them. It also showed that the red fur of these monstrous beasts was actually unexpectedly very strong and tough.

“Those are Blood River Otters, not only they are heavily toxic, but their skin and flesh is extremely sturdy, ordinary magic techniques are simply useless on them.” Zhangsun Yan pointed towards the horde of those red monstrous beasts and quickly explained to Ning Cheng.

Ning Cheng also nodded, he could also see that the Blood River was starting to rise and reach the edges of both sides of the path that Yan Ji and Jia Lingwei were in, the waters from the Blood River tributaries was already spilling onto the path.

“Big Brother Ning, please hurry up and help them, the rising tide from the Blood River is soon going to spill over. Once the Blood River High Tide spills over, the paths would be directly submerged, Elder Sister Lingwei and Senior Apprentice Sister Ji will also be taken away by the Blood River Tide, with their lacking physiology……we came in too late….” Zhangsun Yan was already on the verge of tears, once the Blood River Tide rose, then even Ning Cheng would not be able to save Jia Lingwei and Yan Ji.

Even if Zhangsun Yan had not spoken about it, Ning Cheng could already feel the danger around them. Even if the waters from the Blood River were not corrosive, once Yan Ji and Jia Lingwei were swept away by the Blood River, they would only end up as food for the endless Blood River Otters all around them.

Although it was the first time for Ning Cheng to come face to face with the Blood River Otters, but when he was very young he had heard a lot about the ghost stories relating to the water monkeys. Water monkeys were something that they were called in the countryside, they were more popularly called as water cats. He had heard that these things were especially adept in killing in water. Ning Cheng had devoted himself for a time to research them and after reading sufficiently about them, he concluded that this kind of water monkey was actually an otter, which had ended up being mystified by people over time.

Regardless of if the Blood River Otter and the water monkey were or were not the same thing, Ning Cheng had already rushed towards the path in between the Blood Rivers.

Jia Lingwei and Yan Ji were completely surrounded by the endless and inexhaustible Blood River Otters and their clothes were already torn to shreds revealing large holes in them. Looking at them with their dishevelled appearances, in comparison to how Zhangsun Yan looked from before, Ning Cheng immediately realized how much of a sorry figure they were cutting out to be.

Ning Cheng brought out his Profound Break Spear, and immediately swept out with his matchlessly ice cold Profound Ice Spear Shadows. With Ning Cheng’s cultivation at present, after the 36 Profound Ice Spears were completely stimulated, it instantly formed into a terrifying Ice Spear Network that instantly overawed these Blood River Otters. The Blood River Otter present here were mostly at the level of Class 3 beasts with a few Class 4 beasts mixed into the horde. If Ning Cheng had brought out his True Devil Axe, and fully displayed his Axe Line, then he would have been able to get rid of a majority of them with a single swing of his axe, this was because of the huge gap between their cultivations.

The Blood River tributaries on both sides of the path, as if in defiance to Ning Cheng’s Profound Ice Spear Shadows, was giving out roaring like sounds, the next moment large waves from the Blood River tributaries on both sides bulldozed onto the path, and in just a twinkling of an eye drowned the entire path in front of them.

Jia Lingwei and Yan Ji, the two people, who were continuously stimulating their True Essence to kill those Blood River Otters, were already running out of steam. So once the large wave from the Blood River tributaries arrived, they simply were not strong enough to stop or even obstruct it for a single moment. But what made them completely dumbfounded at this split second, was that their entire body felt extremely light.

“Bang….” The next moment the waves from the Blood River swept past their feet.