Chapter 46
The sky's scenery remained unchanged for a long time, as if time itself didn't exist in this place. The clear blue skies and clouds looked like a mural, beautiful at first, but after a long while, they became boring and stale. The island below, surrounded by the sea, seemed to be in a state of tranquility and peace. But behind its quiet surface and deep within its bowels, a boiling rage was slowly getting ready to blow up as time passed by.
At this time, Shin Jiao was observing his surroundings and looking at the two figures from afar. He could see that the two girls were not hurt and just looked anxious, especially Susu Ling. Qin Lou just sat there quietly, but her hands would always rub each other now and then, which showed that she, too, was a little anxious and worried about something.
"I need to find a way to rescue them," Shin Jiao thought.
"Shin Jiao, we need to go," Lemy suddenly said while looking out.
"Hey, I'm older than you. Why do you call me by my name? You should call me big brother or something," Shin Jiao said in a low voice with an annoyed tone.
"Haha… you seem to forget, you're either a mortal or a cultivator. If I think about it, you might have the power of a cultivator, but your main aura is that of a mortal. So your life is shorter; you should be the one calling me big brother," Lemy said with a teasing tone in Shin Jiao's head.
"Haha… A little kid like you wants me to call you his big brother?" Shin Jiao laughed, shaking his head.
"Let's go, BIG BROTHER! Haha…" Shin Jiao teased.
The two quietly sneaked out of the village, but unknown to them, someone was already keeping an eye on them.
"Shin Jiao, I know you want to rescue your friends. But remember that Mok Dong is very strong and is not an easy opponent. With your cultivator power gone because of the environment, you are no match for him. Wait for three days, and then you may have a chance to rescue them," Lemy said while they slowly sneaked out.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen in three days?" Shin Jiao asked.
"Um… in three days, the villagers will sacrifice your friends to the Mountain God. At that time, you can have a chance to rescue them, as Mok Dong would be weakened like a mortal," Lemy explained.
"What!... But… Okay, I understand. But you always say that Mok Dong is very powerful? How strong could he really be?" Shin Jiao asked with a tinge of worry and curiosity on his face.
No one but himself knew that he could still use his strength in this place. Although cultivation skills couldn't be used, for Shin Jiao, who didn't know any skills, he didn't mind. He could just use the things he crafted to fight against anyone in this place. So he wasn't worried about facing that Mok Dong person, but what worried him was that he didn't know if they would use his friends as a shield, and that was a risk he could not take.
"He is very strong, stronger than both of us. He is even stronger than this whole village fighting together. So you have to follow what I say, okay?" Lemy explained.
"Okay, I'll go with your suggestion…" Shin Jiao said, but then suddenly he became vigilant as he felt that someone was looking at them.
"Killing intent! Someone is watching us," Shin Jiao immediately realized the situation.
"Lemy, we need to escape quickly! Someone already found us," Shin Jiao said with panic in his voice.
"What? I don't see anyone," Lemy answered while he spread his spiritual sense all over, but still could not find any trace of a person who was near them.
"Trust me…" Shin Jiao said, but then suddenly looked at the distance on the far left of Lemy.
"Watch Out!" Shin Jiao shouted as he quickly jumped by reflex, wanting to protect the little boy.
A short spear was actually flying really fast towards Lemy, who was still unaware of his predicament. When he heard Shin Jiao's shout, he became a little cautious and spread his spiritual senses further, which was around 20 meters. In this place, this was the furthest distance that a cultivator's spiritual sense that lives here could reach. But when the spear entered his spiritual range, the boy's eyes went wide in fear and trepidation, as the speed the spear was traveling was too fast for him to react. Before he could move, he saw Shin Jiao's figure moving also at an impossible speed and went in between him and the spear.
Shin Jiao wanted to catch the spear, but judging from its speed and power, it would be nigh impossible, as the power from that throw may have been exerted by an Infant Soul realm cultivator, which was at least a realm higher than his current strength. If only he were at the 40th sphere, he might have had a chance to stop it, as his raw strength at that time could be compared to a peak Gold Core realm cultivator. This made Shin Jiao sigh in regret over his slow progress. If only he could quickly find a way to improve his cultivation and enhancement method, he could quickly have the strength to protect others. Well, cultivating was actually easy for him; what made it hard was the path he needed to take, which required a lot of research and an encounter with luck itself.
His train of thought was interrupted when Shin Jiao felt that something had inserted itself into his right shoulder. The sudden pain that came with it made Shin Jiao grimace, as he knew that the spear might not be as simple as he thought.
Shin Jiao's body was thrown towards a wall because of the power behind the throw. But luckily, the spear wasn't able to dig deep enough through his skin, nor was it even enough to penetrate through his back. This made Shin Jiao feel thankful for the bone density and structure of his body, which was enhanced by the orb in his dantian. He didn't expect his bones to have already been tampered with to such a degree that Shin Jiao felt they were tougher than metal. The big orb containing all the spheres inside his dantian had automatically refined his body every day, little by little, to such an extent already.
Shin Jiao's gaze suddenly focused on the top of the mountain. Although the distance between them was a little far, maybe around 30 or so kilometers, his eyes were able to see the small figure standing on a rock and also seeming to be looking at him.
Meanwhile, the man was also looking at them down below.
"The spear didn't hit that brat, but instead hit another. It seems the little boy found someone to help him. Anyway, I'll just hunt that brat Lemy again. But that person who helped him is a dead man already. He can't survive the poison that I, Mok Dong, made, hehe…"
Shin Jiao saw the figure retreat casually, so he stood up and wanted to start walking, but then felt his body become heavy. Still, he forced himself to walk so that they could get away from this place.
"We need to go! I think the villagers have found our location. I can now sense their presence... Wait a minute... This... this is bad. I think that is... that is Mok Dong's spear," Lemy said with worry and horror in his eyes as he looked at Shin Jiao and the spear embedded in his shoulder.
Lemy supported Shin Jiao with ease, even though he was shorter, as his cultivation level was enough to carry 50 or more of Shin Jiao's weight.
"By the way, thank you for saving my life. If not for you, Mok Dong would have killed me back there. I don't know why he is desperate to hunt me; it's been a couple of hundred years now," Lemy said as he and Shin Jiao escaped the village.
While Lemy was talking, Shin Jiao was actually not paying attention, as his consciousness was starting to get muddled. Then he could clearly feel that something was seeping into his veins, which slowly corroded his body on a cellular level. Without a choice, Shin Jiao could only exert his own spiritual Qi to try and fight against the foreign element trying to invade his body.
Upon reaching the cave, Lemy laid Shin Jiao down on the ground. His face was full of anxiousness as he knew that the poison on Mok Dong's spear had no cure. He had seen thousands of cultivators for the last hundreds of years being killed by that spear. Even those who took medicine were still unable to sustain and would eventually turn into a puddle of blood.
"I… I… sorry… I… can't… help…" Lemy said forcefully, as he could sense that Shin Jiao's mind was already closed.
The boy shook his head in dejection because he had finally found someone to be his friend, but then fate seemed to play a cruel game and would take his new friend away from him. Then, without a choice, Lemy slowly pulled out the spear from Shin Jiao's shoulder, which immediately spurted out some thick, green blood.
Then Lemy shook his head in sorrow and went outside with some tears in his eyes. He decided to just wait for the moment when his newfound friend would leave him. He couldn't bear to see Shin Jiao die, and so he just sadly sat near the suspicious tree that emitted the thick and chaotic energy.
Meanwhile, Susu Ling and Qin Lou were not feeling too happy, as the situation they were in was a little unusual and hopeless. They discovered that in this place, they were unable to use their spiritual Qi or any skills. No matter how hard they tried to absorb or use spiritual Qi, it would just disperse in the air. Plus, they could feel their bodies were as weak as a mortal in this place, making them desperate and worried. The only consolation was that they saw Shin Jiao before coming to this place, making them feel relieved as he was not actually dead but alive, and when they were about to be eaten by the worm, he was there to rescue them.
"Senior Qin Lou, what should we do now? You've heard what the man said; we are to be the sacrifice to the Mountain God of this place," Susu Ling said worriedly.
"Sigh, what can we do? It's hopeless. Without our cultivation, we are powerless against them," Qin Lou said as if resigned to her fate.
"But… I will not go down without a fight," Qin Lou added.
This made Susu Ling smile; she truly was her idol. In any situation, she would always display her gallantry and heroism, which could inspire people to fight and never give up.
"I think Shin Jiao is in this place too," Susu Ling said as she looked at Qin Lou in the other cage beside hers.
"I think so too," Qin Lou replied, looking down.
Then the two looked at each other and chuckled as if having a tacit understanding of Shin Jiao.
"Why do you put your trust in that mortal, Senior sister Qin? I mean, yeah, he might be a genius when it comes to formation arrays, but still, he's just a mere mortal," Susu Ling casually said while she calmly sat on the ground.
"Chuckle… I don't know if it's right for me to say this, but I guess if we are to die here, then it's no use in keeping this secret. At least you are also our friend," Qin Lou said as she calmly looked up at the clear blue sky.
"Secret? Don't tell me you two are… no way! You two?" Susu Ling had an incredulous thought, which showed in her reaction.
"What are you thinking about? I'm talking about Shin Jiao being a cultivator," Qin Lou said, trying to be defensive.
"What!? That's impossible, right? I mean, no matter how I look at it, he doesn't have an aura of a cultivator," Susu Ling asked, still unable to believe this information.
"I don't know how he did it either, but I know that his cultivation level is at the Core Forming realm," Qin Lou said while thinking of the first time she saw Shin Jiao's peculiar aura.
"Really, even Master Ju was not able to determine him as a cultivator either. This is really an eye-opener. If only Master Ju knew, he would gladly take him as his disciple. That old man is crazy when it comes to people who are talented with formation arrays," Susu Ling said.
While the two women casually talked, Shin Jiao, on the other hand, was fighting for his life at the moment. The poison was slowly spreading through his bloodstream. Most of the veins in his body were starting to turn green, and his skin was already pale. On the side of Shin Jiao's mouth, green blood was slowly coming out as he was trying to suppress the poison from spreading. But no matter how hard he tried, it was already futile, as it was already in his heart.
"Am I going to finally die here? After my painstaking cultivation and gain in strength, is this really the end?" Shin Jiao said to himself with a tinge of regret as he thought of the things that had happened so far.
"No, I can't accept this… I… I have to fight… this… but… but how? Arggh!" Shin Jiao said as he squirmed in pain.
Inside Shin Jiao's body, something actually happened. When the poison suddenly entered Shin Jiao's dantian, it stopped spreading as if frozen by time. Then the big orb inside his dantian suddenly trembled as if it became excited upon tasting something very delicious. Without any warning, Shin Jiao suddenly felt his dantian shivering, and the orb began to do a suction motion, which slowly sucked the poison into it. Although this was just a simple suction, it actually gave Shin Jiao a huge amount of pain, as his whole body had already been infected with the poison.
He didn't expect this to happen, so he just gritted his teeth and tried to bear the agony as it slowly tortured his whole body. At this time, Shin Jiao had experienced the most gruesome experience he had ever had in his whole life. It was like the pain of a thousand knives slowly cutting every single nerve and tissue in his body. He wanted to scream, but his voice was already muffled as his vocal cords had been ruined by the poison.
And right now, the only thing that was keeping him sane and conscious was his will to survive and live.