Chapter 168: Enter the Northern Land of Arctic! (2)
Luo Jianqing immediately drew a ward around himself to impair the power of the remaining astral wind. They continued to fly northwest from the exit of the Sand Buried Forest. They didn’t see many cultivators all the way, yet the ongoing astral wind blew towards them fiercely.
Xuan Lingzi, who was dressed in white, was calm and composed. The astral wind, which would be warded off ten meters away, couldn’t even get close to him, but he didn’t choose to help Luo Jianqing.
Slight winds were not a threat for Luo Jianqing. However, this time, a dozen of blustery winds blew towards him from different directions. Although he managed to block them with difficulty, his indigo sleeve was cut by the astral wind.
Xuan Lingzi looked at Luo Jianqing with seemingly cold eyes, through which a light of heartache flashed, but he still didn’t say anything.
They continued to fly ahead and finally saw a middle-age cultivator in black. That cultivator was terrified when he saw Luo Jianqing and Xuan Lingzi flying on the sky.
He was just a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, so he dared not act rashly against them, but he shouted, “My fellow cultivators, flying on the sky is very dangerous in the Northern Land of Arctic. How about we walk ahead together? It’s much safer!”
He was right, particularly in a sky full of forceful astral wind.
However, as he was saying that, Luo Jianqing and Xuan Lingzi had flown farther away, with no time to respond.
The middle-age cultivator twitched his mouth and said sulkily, “They are definitely pampered and spoiled disciples who have always turned a blind eye to hardships and sufferings. Maybe they are just attracted here by the legends about the Northern Land of Arctic, but they don’t know that the astral wind in the sky is the most fatal danger. Anyway, since they court death, no one can stop them. Just let me follow the direction they fly. Perhaps I can spot their bodies, and... make some fortune!”
With that in mind, the middle-age cultivator stepped up, running ahead.
Luo Jianqing didn’t know what that cultivator was thinking about. He just continued the journey with Xuan Lingzi. They saw nothing but barren hills and cracked land all the way, and they couldn’t get water at all. Those hills, which were not high, almost the same as plain, were bleak and desolate, while the depth of the gullies on the land varied-some were as shallow as below one meter, but some were as deep as over three hundred meters!
If some low-realm cultivators fell into those deep gullies, they probably couldn’t find a way out.
“Master, there are four extremely dangerous places in the Northern Land of Arctic, and we will encounter three of them.” Luo Jianqing had been well-prepared and said, “We will get to the Yin Ze Gully and Wu Di Cave soon. They are just ahead of us, and the relics we are looking for is around the Feng Shen Sea.”
Xuan Lingzi nodded, “I’ll follow you.”
Luo Jianqing curled up his lips and said, “Aren’t you afraid that I have some plots and take you to some parlous places?”
Xuan Lingzi looked up at him and smiled, “Well, are you going to deceive and murder your master?”
Luo Jianqing said, “I bet I could make a fortune if I sold you.”
Xuan Lingzi didn’t get angry to his disciple’s naughty jokes as he used to do easily anymore. He glimpsed at Luo Jianqing and pretended to hear nothing. Except that Xuan Lingzi’s ears turned red naturally, there were not many changes in him.
Luo Jianqing also understood that joking couldn’t go too far, so he casually changed his topic, “We can circumvent the Ku Mountain this time. It’s said to be very dangerous, where many Da Sheng Period cultivators cannot survive. Have you ever been there?”
Xuan Lingzi said, “I visited here just as a Gold Core cultivator, so I didn’t enter that mountain. You want to go there?”
Luo Jianqing shook his head, “I hope we’d better not.”
Compared with some places with horrible names, such as Yin Ze Gully (Gulley of the Hell), Wu Di Cave (Bottomless Cave) and Feng Shen Sea (Sea of the Wind God), the Ku Mountain sounded quite ordinary. However, every cultivator knew it was by no means ordinary, and none of them dared overlook its danger.
The Ku Mountain erected right in the center of the Northern Land of Arctic. Long time ago, although all the people knew that the astral wind originated from the Feng Shen Sea, no one saw anything unusual in the Ku Mountain. For them, it was just an ordinary hill a little higher than the plain.
However, five thousand years ago, a Da Sheng Period master of Shen Jian Sect entered the mountain and... never made it out.
Before he died, he sent a few words back to his Life Stone: “The Ku Mountain is a forbidden area!”
This short sentence made that ordinary mountain the most horrible place in the Northern Land of Arctic.
No one knew the exact danger in that mountain, but so far, each cultivator who entered that mountain with hope to unveil its secret had never come out. Therefore, even Da Sheng Period cultivators would not give it a shot there indiscriminately, and the horror of that mountain had become a myth, terrifying cultivators all over the world.
The steep and rugged Ku Mountain rose as the northeast end of a mountain range originating from a low mountain in the southwest of the Northern Land of Arctic. The Ku Mountain was a natural barrier in the center of the Northern Land of Arctic, splitting the land into two parts. The Ku Mountain was lofty and majestic, surrounded by thick miasma. Even the spiritual insight would be blocked by the miasma two hundred meter away, so it was impossible to see its true face.
This time, Luo Jianqing entered the Northern Land of Arctic from the south, so geographically, they were supposed to walk through the Ku Mountain. However, they could take a detour to keep distance with the Ku Mountain and even the whole range, and pass by Yin Ze Gully and Wu Di Cave, where had been in his last life.
They couldn’t wait, so they flied there at once.
After half a day, they could hear gurgling of water. As the sound got louder, it was more abrupt against the sound of the wind. Soon, the gloomy and cold vibe besieged them from all directions, and they could see more and more cultivators nearby. They sky was darker from three miles away, where the clouds were thick. And even the soils turned dark, cool and damp.
Luo Jianqing and Xuan Lingzi had a short eye contract, and Xuan Lingzi nodded slightly. After a thought, Luo Jianqing descended from the air and stepped on the fluffy soils. As Xuan Lingzi had said, he just followed Luo Jianqing and flew down after him.
Just as they landed, those cultivators who had started to move towards Yin Ze Gully earlier looked at them vigilantly. A dozen of high-ranking cultivators walked forward silently. They were gradually approaching the “safest” dangerous place in the Northern Land of Arctic, that is, Yin Ze Gulley. They were all coming here for bonds!