txolops Chapter 44 Paper Crane Message, Blood Shadow Stealth
Chapter 44 Paper Crane Message, Blood Shadow Stealth
The night was as dark as ink, and Gu Yan and his group found a relatively dry high ground to set up camp.
A simple warning formation was set up around the perimeter, and the campfire was deliberately kept low, illuminating only an area of about ten feet in radius.
Tie Niu was on night watch, while Li Chengjun and Liu Ruyan were meditating to recover their spiritual energy.
Gu Yan sat under a withered tree, fiddling with several sheets of yellow paper in his hand.
"The Netherworld Pool, a blood sacrifice for a thousand..."
Gu Yan silently recited those words in his mind, his eyes dark and unreadable.
If the Blood River Sect really intends to cause trouble at the Netherworld Pool, then that place is now absolutely a den of dragons and tigers.
If the real person were to go there rashly, even nine lives wouldn't be enough to save them.
But he couldn't bear to part with the Netherworld Grass and the potential opportunities there.
"In that case, let the clone go."
Gu Yan quietly took out the human-shaped talisman paper with blood-red patterns from his bosom.
The vessel that holds the clone "Blood Swordsman" is sealed there.
Under the guise of adjusting his robes, he silently slipped the talisman into the shadows behind him.
"go."
Gu Yan murmured to himself.
In the shadows, the thin sheet of paper instantly expanded, transforming into a cold, aloof figure dressed in black.
The Blood Swordsman emitted no aura whatsoever; he was like part of the darkness, instantly merging into the night and speeding toward the red dot marked on the map.
……
Thirty miles away, outside the Netherworld Pool.
The fog here is no longer grayish-white, but has a nauseating dark red hue.
Scattered bones were everywhere on the ground, sending chills down one's spine.
The Blood Swordsman's figure leaped among the withered trees like a ghost.
He had no breath, no heartbeat, and not even body temperature, which allowed him to avoid most of the demonic beasts and restrictions that relied on their senses to generate life.
Ahead, a valley shrouded in blood mist appeared and disappeared.
At the mouth of the valley stood two enormous stone pillars, wrapped with iron chains as thick as a child's arm, from which hung shriveled human heads, making a hollow clanging sound in the wind.
This is the entrance to the Netherworld Pool.
"Who goes there?!"
A sharp shout came from the shadows.
Two Blood River Sect sentries emerged from behind the stone pillar, their magical artifacts glowing with spiritual light as they warily watched the direction where the Blood Swordsman had appeared.
The Blood Swordsman stopped and slowly raised his head.
Those emotionless eyes reflected the astonished faces of the two people.
He didn't say anything, but simply took out the blood-red token he had previously seized from the bald giant and tossed it over casually.
The sentry on the left took the token, examined it, and his expression immediately changed, then he adopted a respectful demeanor:
"So you're one of Senior Brother Red Scorpion's men. May I ask, senior brother, why didn't Senior Brother Red Scorpion come?"
Red Scorpion should be the code name for that bald, burly man.
The Blood Swordsman remained silent, then extended his finger and drew a strange symbol in the air.
That was the code he found in the bald, burly man's storage bag, which meant "Mission changed, urgent report".
The two sentries exchanged a glance. Although they found the man in front of them rather strange, not only did he exude a frighteningly strong aura, but he was also mute, the token and the code could not be faked.
"In that case, please come in, senior brother. The young sect leader is presiding over the grand formation by the pool."
The two stepped aside to make way.
The Blood Swordsman retrieved his token and walked into the valley expressionlessly.
As soon as you enter the valley, an extremely strong smell of blood hits you.
Beside the enormous Netherworld Pool, hundreds of Blood River Sect disciples sat cross-legged in a huge circle, chanting incantations.
And in the middle of them was a huge altar.
The altar was piled high with the corpses of demonic beasts and rogue cultivators plundered from various places. Blood flowed into the pool along the altar's patterns, turning the originally dark water into an eerie purplish-red.
At the top of the altar stood a young man dressed in a blood-red python robe.
His face was handsome yet otherworldly, and he held a still-beating heart in his hand, staring with fervor at the black whirlpool that was gradually taking shape in the center of the pool.
"Just a little bit more... just a little bit more to open the Gates of Hell and welcome a wisp of the Demon Lord's spirit!"
The young man in the python robe muttered to himself.
The Blood Swordsman hid behind a boulder, coldly observing everything.
His mission was to conduct reconnaissance and sabotage, not to die.
This young man in the python robe was at least at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and with so many disciples around him, a direct confrontation was definitely not going to work.
"We need to think of a way to muddy the waters."
The Blood Swordsman scanned his surroundings and quickly locked onto a target.
On the other side of the valley, on the cliff face, grow several small grasses that are entirely black and have leaves like ghost claws.
The Nether Grass was one of the goals of this trip.
Beside the Nether Grass lurked a completely transparent lizard-like monster.
If Gu Yan hadn't possessed master-level observational skills, he wouldn't have noticed at all.
"Got it."
The Blood Swordsman took out a spirit-summoning talisman that he had prepared beforehand from his pocket.
This talisman has no offensive power; its only function is to simulate the spiritual energy fluctuations of a high-level cultivator during a breakthrough. The effect is extremely short-lived, but enough to attract hatred.
He stuck the talisman on a rock and threw it forcefully towards the invisible lizard.
"Smack."
The stone landed, and the talisman burned.
"boom!"
A surge of spiritual energy, equivalent to the full power of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, suddenly exploded out.
The invisible lizard, which had been dozing, was startled and instinctively revealed its true form, letting out a terrified scream before running wildly toward the altar.
"Who goes there?!"
The young man in the python robe on the altar suddenly turned around, his gaze sharp as lightning, instantly locking onto that direction.
"Someone has broken in! It's the aura of the Flowing Cloud Sect!"
He sensed the deliberately simulated pure spiritual energy, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent.
"Good! These hypocrites from the Flowing Cloud Sect have actually sneaked in here! Kill them!"
At his command, hundreds of Blood River Sect disciples unleashed their magical weapons and charged towards that direction.
Chaos erupted in the valley in an instant.
The instigator of all this, the Blood Swordsman, had already transformed into a blood shadow the moment the chaos erupted, taking advantage of the guards' weakness to silently sneak to the foot of the cliff.
With a swift motion, he dug up the several Netherworld Grasses by the roots and put them into his pocket.
After doing all this, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he took out a specially made recording bead from his pocket and recorded the bloody scene on the altar.
"This generous gift should be given to the Flowing Cloud Sect to give them a headache."
The Blood Swordsman smirked coldly, then vanished into the darkness of the night.
……
The camp was thirty miles away.
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes, a barely perceptible smile appearing on his lips.
"Brother Gou, what's wrong?" Tie Niu asked.
"It's nothing, I just had a nightmare."
Gu Yan rubbed his temples, stood up, and dusted himself off. "It's almost dawn, we should get going. I have a feeling... there's going to be a good show ahead."
He looked towards the direction of the Netherworld Pool, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.