Ringing the Bell for a Hundred Years, I Became the Sect’s Ancestor – Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Riding an Eagle

Several miles outside Mangniu County City, on a mountaintop, over a dozen figures were watching from afar.

Leading them was Divine Sword Sect’s Celestial Being Xiao Wendao.

It was already noon, the sun blazing hot.

But the entire Mangniu County City was enveloped in an eerie white fog. Faint, strange wolf howls could be heard from within, sending chills down one’s spine.

Faced with such an eerie scene, Xiao Wendao didn’t even have the thought of directly entering to investigate.

This vast expanse of white fog reminded him of the Demonic Ruins from over two years ago. That place was also shrouded in mist and venomous miasma, very similar to this.

He suspected that the entire county city was within a grand formation. Otherwise, with such a strong sun, it wouldn’t be unable to even disperse the white fog.

Apart from the county city area, the surrounding areas were not covered by the white fog at all.

As for how the people in the county city were faring, that was unknown.

They were probably not all dead, but they wouldn’t be in good shape either.

A few days later.

Unity Peak Master Hou Shuwen arrived with the Martial Arts Legion.

“Grand Martial Uncle, there’s clearly a formation set up here too. Why don’t we ask Ancestor to come out?”

Hou Shuwen transmitted his voice secretly.

“No, we can’t trouble Ancestor for every little thing.”

Xiao Wendao responded through secret voice transmission. In his view, the previous excavation of the ruins was a private matter of the Divine Sword Sect, but this demonic trace was official business.

If Ancestor appeared, wouldn’t that expose the identity of that senior?

Moreover, he was worried that frequently asking that senior for help might annoy them, and they would no longer care about the Divine Sword Sect’s matters in the future. Then he would regret it to death.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, that senior must not be disturbed.

“But this Mangniu County City, shrouded in white fog, definitely has a formation. Our formation masters probably won’t be able to do anything.”

Hou Shuwen said.

“Then let’s wait for the people from Prince Qi’s Residence. They should bring formation masters with them.”

Xiao Wendao shook his head and said.

They had suffered too many losses during the previous excavation of the Demonic Ruins, so they had to be cautious this time.

They hadn’t even seen any demonic creatures this time, and no one knew what the situation was like inside Mangniu County City.

At this time, several formation masters from the Divine Sword Sect came up.

They had just been to the vicinity of Mangniu County City to check the situation.

“Celestial Being Xiao, the formation here feels somewhat similar to the formations in the Demonic Ruins. However, our formation skills are too poor to break it. But Fellow Daoist Li from Time Bell Pavilion is far more skilled in formations than us. Moreover, he seems to have some research on this system of formations, perhaps he can decipher something.”

The elderly Formation Master Wang said.

“Is that Li Qian really that skilled in formations?”

Xiao Wendao asked in surprise.

“He is indeed very skilled, at least far more skilled than us.”

Formation Master Wang nodded and said.

Over the past two years, they had often discussed formations together, and they had benefited greatly.

If it weren’t for the severely incomplete Mount Tai Formation Records, they would have long since entered the realm of formations.

“Grand Martial Uncle, then let Li Qian give it a try.”

Hou Shuwen said.

“No.”

Xiao Wendao shook his head. “The risk here is too great. If anything unexpected happens, even we might not be able to protect him. Let’s wait for the people from Prince Qi’s Residence.”

Not to mention Li Qian’s connection with that senior.

Even without that connection, Li Qian had talent in both formations and martial arts, with a bright future ahead of him. He definitely couldn’t let Li Qian take such a big risk.

Hou Shuwen also thought so. Judging from past demonic traces, eradicating them often came at a heavy price.

Moreover, this demonic trace appearing together with a formation was probably much more serious than any previous demonic trace.

Time Bell Pavilion.

Dong dong

The clear sound of the bell rang out.

Li Qian bathed in the sound of the bell, feeling his blood and Qi surge throughout his body, the True Qi within his Celestial Being True Elixir stirring restlessly.

Immediately, he drew Sword Eighteen and began to cultivate.

After completing a round of practice, Li Qian felt relaxed and refreshed all over.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he checked the latest information on the system panel.

Celestial Being Realm （ Middle Stage 42/100 ）.

Time Bell （ Law 8496/10000 ）.

Great River Sword Qi （ Second Level 22/100 ）.

Heartless Sword Intent （ Celestial Image 13/100 ）.

Blood and Qi Sanctuary （ 11/100 ）.

Lion Camel Ridge Formation Manual （ Mastery 97/100 ）.

Three years of cultivation, overall, there was progress.

But it was still a bit slow.

There was no helping it. The higher the cultivation realm, the slower the cultivation speed. Every little bit of improvement required a lot of time.

In fact, his cultivation speed was already fast enough.

Many Celestial Being Realm martial artists might be stuck at the early stage or middle stage of the Celestial Being Realm for their entire lives.

The fact that he could still steadily improve was already a great blessing.

“The Lion Camel Ridge Formation Manual is already at ninety-seven points of progress. Perhaps it will soon reach minor completion.”

Li Qian thought to himself.

In these three years, he had never stopped studying the Lion Camel Ridge Formation Manual.

Especially after he frequently visited Formation Valley and exchanged ideas with other formation masters, coupled with his research on the five Formation Stakes and attempts at setting them up, his progress had been very fast.

Thinking of this, he jumped down from the Bell Tower and fed a Nourishing Pill to Little Black, whose size was growing larger and larger.

Then he jumped onto Little Black’s back.

Now, Little Black’s size was large enough to carry a person for flight.

However, it couldn’t last too long.

Wasn’t the reason he invested so much in Little Black so that he could fly in the sky openly and honestly?

Screech!

Little Black screeched and spread its wings, taking flight.

It was flying with some effort.

However, it was still quite steady.

Li Qian stood on Little Black’s back, motionless, as if rooted there.

Because it was carrying a person, Little Black didn’t fly very high, gliding down the mountain.

Liu Ming, seeing this scene, was very envious. Flying!

Unfortunately, he didn’t dare to sit on it.

If he fell, he would be seriously injured, if not dead.

Of course, the main reason was that Little Black wouldn’t let him sit on it.

Li Qian rode Little Black, flying low all the way.

Because he took a detour and didn’t enter the inner sect, very few people saw him.

Arriving at Formation Valley, Li Qian patted Little Black’s back. Little Black screeched and swooped down.

Finally, it circled a few times and landed on the ground.

Li Qian jumped off Little Black’s back.

“Senior Brother Li.”

An odd-job disciple from Formation Valley hurriedly stepped forward and greeted him respectfully.

“Where are Formation Master Wang and the others?”

Li Qian asked.

“Formation Master Wang and the others left a few days ago, saying that a demonic trace appeared in Mangniu County, Taiping County.”

The odd-job disciple hurriedly said.

“A demonic trace appeared?”

Li Qian was very surprised.

He had occasionally heard about incidents of demonic traces appearing in the past two years.

But why would they need Formation Master Wang and the others for a demonic trace?

Wait, Mangniu County, Taiping County?

Why did this place name sound so familiar?

He couldn’t help but think of that Taiping Sacred Cave, wasn’t it located beneath Mangniu County City in Taiping County?

Could the demonic trace there be related to the Taiping Sacred Cave?

Under normal circumstances, this possibility was unlikely. That wolf demon had turned into a dried corpse, a pure corpse without any blood and Qi energy, and he had taken the demon stone.

It was just that the people from the Moon Worship Cult had entered later, who knew what crazy things those lunatics had done?

“That place was once the birthplace of the Taiping Cult, the probability of a demonic trace appearing there is indeed quite high.”

Li Qian stroked his chin.

However, he didn’t pay much attention to it. Since Celestial Being Xiao hadn’t come looking for his other identity, it meant that the problem wasn’t serious.

So he began to study the five Formation Stakes, adjusting the formation arrangement.

Outside Mangniu County City.

The people from Prince Qi’s Residence had also arrived.

Apart from the two Celestial Beings from Prince Qi’s Residence, there was also a Celestial Being from the He Family.

Five Celestial Beings had already gathered here.

Prince Qi’s Residence had brought a formation master with them.

The formation master from Prince Qi’s Residence was originally from the imperial clan, so his formation skills were naturally far beyond what the half-baked formation masters of the Divine Sword Sect could compare to.

However, after carefully studying the formation enveloping Mangniu County City, his expression became grave.

“This is the Taiping Cult’s Divine Roaming Armor Formation, said to be from the Lion Camel Ridge Ten Directions Formation Manual. This formation should involve six formation foundations, it’s not something we can break.”

The formation master from Prince Qi’s Residence said, “According to records, all the grand formations within Taiping County were cleared out at the beginning of the founding of the country. How could there still be any left?”

“Can the formation masters of the imperial clan break this formation?”

◈◈◈

Xiao Wendao asked curiously.

“It’s a bit difficult. Six formation foundations, at least a high-level formation master would be needed to have that kind of skill.”

The formation master from Prince Qi’s Residence shook his head and said.

“Then how was it broken in the past?”

Xiao Wendao asked in surprise.

“I don’t know about that.”

The formation master shook his head.

His formation skills could at most break ordinary formations with three to four formation foundations. Especially formations involving other formation systems, the difficulty of breaking them was even greater.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed.

“Look, the white fog in Mangniu County City seems to be dissipating?”

Everyone else looked over.

Sure enough, the dense fog that had been gathered together now seemed to have lost its constraints and began to spread out in all directions.

“I understand. This formation should have failed long ago, but it was forcibly reactivated by someone. However, it wasn’t completely repaired. This formation can’t last too long, it’s already starting to collapse.”

The formation master from Prince Qi’s Residence suddenly clapped his hands excitedly and said.

More than an hour later, the white fog had mostly dispersed, and Mangniu County City was once again exposed to the sunlight.

Several Celestial Beings tried to enter Mangniu County City.

As expected, there were no traces of the formation.

However, the entire Mangniu County City was deathly silent.

Under the senses of the Celestial Beings, there were dead people in every household, and these dead people had died in a particularly strange way, with satisfied smiles on their faces, eventually turning into dried corpses.

The entire city filled with dried corpses with eerie smiles was truly horrifying.

“Damn it, that demonic creature has already left.”

A Celestial Being from Prince Qi’s Residence said with a gloomy face.

The entire Mangniu County City had been completely surrounded by the Divine Sword Legion and the people who had rushed over from Prince Qi’s Residence.

But by the time the formation collapsed, the demonic creature had vanished without a trace.

A demonic creature lurking in the shadows was the most terrifying.

No one knew when this demonic creature would reappear?

By then, who knew how much stronger the demonic creature would have become?

“This demonic creature is very troublesome.”

Xiao Wendao let out a long sigh, his expression extremely grave.

Although Mangniu County City wasn’t particularly large, it was considered a small county city, but it still had a population of ten to twenty thousand. Yet, they had all turned into dried corpses.

This was probably the largest loss of life after a demonic trace appeared.

Moreover, this demonic creature had also escaped, it would definitely cause even greater terror in the future.

Just the thought of a powerful demonic creature possibly lurking within the Divine Sword Sect’s territory made Xiao Wendao feel uneasy.

Formation Valley.

When Li Qian came here again, Formation Master Wang and the others had already returned.

“The demonic creature escaped?”

He was a bit surprised.

“Yes, and over ten thousand people in the entire Mangniu County City have turned into dried corpses. It has completely become a dead city, it’s truly tragic.”

Formation Master Wang had a look of sorrow on his face.

Faced with that kind of terrifying demonic creature, ordinary people really didn’t have any power to resist, like lambs to the slaughter.

Li Qian felt a bit heavy-hearted.

An entire city turned into dried corpses, how tragic was that.

The harm and terror of demons could be seen from this.

Moreover, that demonic creature hadn’t been eliminated, it could continue to harm people at any time.

He thought of more, such demonic traces would definitely become more and more frequent in the future.

This was definitely a terrifying calamity that ordinary people could encounter at any time.

Nightfall.

Li Qian changed into his black cloak and quietly left the Divine Sword Sect.

He was going to Mangniu County City in Taiping County to take a look.

With his current flying speed, it wouldn’t take him long to get from the Divine Sword Sect to Mangniu County.

Although it was nighttime, it didn’t pose any obstacle to Li Qian.

In the open spaces within Mangniu County City, bonfires were burning, and some government personnel were still working through the night to clear the corpses and burn the dried corpses.

Over ten thousand corpses, it wasn’t something that could be cleared in a short amount of time.

After Li Qian walked around and didn’t find anything, he came to the foot of Ox Horn Cliff.

There were traces of people coming and going here.

It should have been left by the people from the Moon Worship Cult.

So he went deeper and finally arrived outside the Taiping Sacred Cave.

Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly, as he faintly sensed a strange aura lurking inside.

“Could it be that the demonic creature hasn’t left yet?”

Li Qian stopped, feeling a bit apprehensive.

Although he possessed Celestial Image Level Sword Intent, middle stage Celestial Being Realm cultivation, and even the Blood and Qi Sanctuary, he still had to be very cautious and careful when facing an unknown demonic creature.

Although he had been using the Time Bell to conceal his aura and had the black cloak.

When he first entered, it was inevitable that he would make some noise, and he should have already alerted the aura inside.

“Since Fellow Daoist has arrived, please come in and have a chat.”

A hoarse, low voice came from within the cave.

Li Qian frowned slightly, but in the end, he still walked into the cave. He also wanted to see what kind of demonic creature this was?

There was no change from when he first came, a giant, shriveled wolf demon corpse lay on a platform.

However, this time, on top of the wolf demon corpse, sat a middle-aged man in a white robe.

The aura of this middle-aged man wasn’t strong, but the moment Li Qian saw him, he still felt a sense of heart-pounding fear, just like the giant petrified ape demon he encountered in the Panyuan Cave Mansion before.

A demon.

It was definitely a demon.

But why did it have a human body?

Could it be a human who had transformed into a demon?

“Are you a demon?”

Li Qian asked in a deep voice, feeling wary in his heart.

“Hehe, that’s indeed what you humans call us.”

The middle-aged man said with a smile.

“So, the over ten thousand people outside in Mangniu County City, were they all killed by you?”

Li Qian said.

“Those were just two-legged sheep, how can they be called humans. However, it’s true that I haven’t tasted such fresh two-legged sheep in a long time.”

The middle-aged man smiled slightly, a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

Li Qian’s heart turned cold. Just from the demon’s tone, it was clear that it regarded humans as food.

No wonder in some ancient texts, the existence of demons was so taboo.

“You know, a long, long time ago, this Mortal Realm was just a hunting ground for our race. These two-legged sheep were our food to take at will, and your human martial artists were just servants who herded for our race. It’s a pity that everything changed later.”

The middle-aged man said casually, “Now our race is about to return, and we need dedicated herders. And you, you barely qualify.”

“I’m curious, where do you come from?”

Li Qian felt very annoyed, but in order to obtain more information, he still asked patiently.

“Naturally, we come from outside, a much vaster world. It’s a pity that talented human martial artists like you can only live in this Mortal Realm, which is like a cage. However, as long as you pledge your loyalty to me and herd two-legged sheep for me, I can bestow upon you power that surpasses the limits of this world, giving you the opportunity to witness the true world outside.”

The middle-aged man said with a smile.

There was an inexplicable sense of enticement in his voice.

He believed that this human definitely wouldn’t be able to resist such a temptation.

“Uh… I seem to have heard these words somewhere before?”

Li Qian looked surprised. “Let me think…”

“Oh, it seems to have been in some Panyuan Cave Mansion, from something that called itself the Ape God, but was actually hiding its head and showing its tail.”

He seemed to have remembered, saying thoughtfully.

“So it was you, the human who destroyed the body of the Red Ape God?”

The middle-aged man’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, becoming cold and stern.

In the next moment, silver light flickered in his eyes, and a terrifying will was released, quickly enveloping Li Qian.

Dong dong dong dong dong dong

Almost instantly, Li Qian felt countless illusions arise in his mind, as if trying to drag him into an endless hell.

But then, the sound of the Time Bell rang out intensely, allowing him to remain absolutely clear-headed.

After all, he had been prepared for this.

Previously in the Panyuan Cave Mansion, that terrifying will was too astonishing.

At this moment, the middle-aged man let out a low growl, his body transforming into a terrifying werewolf over seven meters tall. His face was ferocious, his long fangs bared, his giant claws sharp as knives, and he lunged straight towards Li Qian.

Just as the terrifying werewolf was about to pounce in front of Li Qian, Li Qian seemed to sense something and suddenly retreated. At the same time, a brilliant golden light, as intense as flames, burst forth from his body, transforming into a dazzling Blood and Qi Sanctuary that covered everything within the cave without any blind spots.

The terrifying werewolf, which had just rushed into the Blood and Qi Sanctuary, suddenly froze, as if it were in a raging fire. The demonic power within its body began to run wild, and its demonic body actually became a bit unstable.

“Aooo! Damn it, how could there be someone in this Mortal Realm who can cultivate the Blood and Qi Sanctuary?”

The terrifying werewolf roared in anger and alarm. Immediately after, it forcibly controlled its unstable demonic body and shot straight towards the cave entrance.

PS: First chapter, five thousand words, seeking monthly votes!!!!