Chapter 1395: Chapter 10: Gathering Shadows

Ruins.

Skeletal remains form mountains, wind and sand fill the sky.

A woman in red sits cross-legged, leaning against a small hill of piled sand and stones, slowly opening her eyes.

"I don’t know why... I always feel uneasy lately..."

Ao Ying furrowed her brows slightly.

She’s been here for three years.

Three years, both peaceful and not peaceful.

This [Ruins] lacks Primordial Energy, neither Demon Country nor Human Race’s cultivators ever set foot here...

Escaping here solved Ao Ying’s biggest worry about being "hunted".

However.

Every now and then, abnormal phenomena appear within the [Ruins].

After all, this place is a burial ground from the Great Tribulation a thousand years ago, filled with Evil Qi. It’s said that within the [Ruins] lie several Ancient Saint Relics, each more dangerous than Great Yue Kingdom’s Secret Realm.

"The talisman formation is fine, and [Feng Mou] still has enough Essence Blood to activate."

"Is this unease just my illusion?"

Ao Ying lowered her head silently to check.

All around this sand mountain, she placed numerous talismans. If a misguided "pilgrim" passes through here, within two miles, she can sense them. After all, during that event in Great Yue Kingdom, she offended two Great Divine Ability Users all at once, one was the Peacock Venerable from Five-Colored Ridge, and the other was the Great True Master Chong Kan from the Taoist sect...

If either of them decided to pursue her seriously, her days would be extremely difficult.

Yet.

Three years passed without incident.

The heavy burden in Ao Ying’s heart has largely dissipated.

Although she is hiding in the [Ruins], she is not just burying her head in cultivation.

This [Ruins] has no Primordial Energy, and staying here means her Blood Qi is constantly being drained by the [Ruins] over time.

Therefore.

About every six months, Ao Ying has to go outside, to hunt some demon spirits around the [Ruins] to replenish the Essence Blood within [Feng Mou]... Having gone out, she needs to understand the outside world’s situation. Chong Kan has perished, that trouble regarding Red Dragon Fortune should no longer be a concern, Chiling City has been relatively quiet these past two years, if she’s lucky, she should be able to live a peaceful life once she leaves the [Ruins].

Ao Ying does not entertain the idea of leaving the [Ruins] on a whim.

She chose to continue with hidden endurance, continuing her cultivation...

Hundreds of days.

To others, the [Ruins] is a forbidden zone.

But she has [Feng Mou].

This Ancient Saint Relic is quite extraordinary.

[Feng Mou] can store the Essence Blood it captures and convert it into Primordial Energy.

In other words.

[Feng Mou] is like an external Grotto Heaven...

As long as there’s enough Essence Blood provided, [Feng Mou] can supply a great amount of Primordial Energy.

Relying on this Secret Treasure, Ao Ying managed to break through the Cave Heaven Realm bottleneck within the [Ruins] with great difficulty and became a Yin God Venerable... Yet cultivating to Yin God is far from enough, Prince Jiu of Chiling City is a Yin God Great Perfection, although he lost an arm, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. If she wishes to live openly in Demon Country, she needs to at least reach Yin God Late Stage.

Fortunately.

She still has [Red Dragon Fortune].

Using [Feng Mou] and [Red Dragon Fortune], she continuously broke through realms and advanced during these three years of peaceful times.

"Eleventh Realm of Yin God..."

"This should be the limit of what I can achieve in the [Ruins]."

Ao Ying sighed deeply.

"It’s time to leave."

She has endured for three years.

Each time she leaves the [Ruins] to capture Essence Blood for [Feng Mou], she is astonished by the changes outside.

Three years is very short.

To cultivators, it’s just the blink of an eye.

Yet these three years seem to be a major turning point in the river of time, with significant events happening every so often.

The Da Chu Dynasty is in turmoil, Ren Shou Palace collapsed, the Holy Empress perished...

The Tribulation Lord failed in crossing the threshold to the south and fell...

Sun Eater Venerable successfully broke through, was poised to claim the strongest, but soon was slain by the sword...

Da Li Dynasty’s military coup, civil strife in the Nine Provinces...

These three years.

Outside, it could be said that there were major upheavals, dramatic changes.

"What a pity."

"The Venerable who died recently was not the Peacock, but the Sun Eater..."

Ao Ying felt a touch of regret in her heart.

If the Peacock Venerable had died, she wouldn’t have needed to continue hiding in the [Ruins].

Whoosh!

The red-robed woman stood up, suddenly sensing something flashing by beyond her view.

It seemed... to be a shadow?

"Hmm?"

Ao Ying frowned.

Her Divine Thought maintained control and maneuvered the talisman formation, ensuring no life aura within two miles.

Whoosh!

This time...

Ao Ying saw clearly, right at the other end of the sand mountain.

A wisp of ghostly shadow swayed across.

Like a flickering candle flame.

No.

To be precise, it wasn’t passing over, but standing still, that ghostly shadow seemed to never have "moved", just the wind and sand were too fierce, blowing it intermittently bright and dim, causing the illusion of something passing by.

"When did this person arrive?"

At this moment, Ao Ying’s heart was filled with a sense of dread.

This sand mountain happens to be located at the boundary of her talisman formation’s two-mile range...

She’s been in retreat for several days without noticing!

Could it be this person has been standing outside the talisman formation "watching" her all along?

Ao Ying’s expression turned grim as she sent out her Divine Thought, unexpectedly, the thought passed through the wind and sand effortlessly, also penetrating that standing ghostly figure.

This seems to be just a virtual image.

But there is another possibility...

The opponent’s Divine Thought realm is far above hers.

Given the unease rising in her Heart Lake, Ao Ying is more inclined to believe the latter.

"Who are you?"

She lowered her voice, transmitting it across.

"..."

Between heaven and earth.

Only the sound of wind and sand.

That figure did not respond, merely standing coldly and calmly while the wind and sand howled and struck, like a wooden stake.

Ao Ying took out [Feng Mou], ready to activate Essence Blood for escape.

That figure remained silent, without speaking.

The wind and sand in the sky intensified, gravel rolled, the Heavenly Peak seemed like a huge shadow was approaching...

"Huala-la."

The sky suddenly darkened.

Ao Ying stared intensely at that figure, her Divine Thought merged with the talisman formation, she could clearly perceive the anomalies in this side of heaven and earth, as the shadow enveloped, the entire sand mountain’s temperature dropped sharply, as if plunged into extreme night, the blown coarse gravel began to freeze into stone.

A mighty and grand sandstorm swept over—

That figure at the end of the sand and stones suddenly let out a very light laugh.

"...?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Ao Ying’s pupils contracted.

At this moment, the unease in her Heart Lake surged to its peak.

The sandstorm came fast, and disappeared just as quickly, in only two or three breaths, it was completely dissipated.

After this mighty storm passed.

On the distant sand mountain, countless dense figures appeared.

Like banners, like flags.