Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 157: Death Trap!!

Chapter 157: Death Trap!!

Xu Disheng landed in front of the great hall of Cangming Peak in a beam of light, and the wayfaring token appeared in his hand. After showing it to the few disciples standing outside the hall, he walked right in.

The person who was previously ruling over the peak last time he came, Yu Jia, wasn’t present. Only Qin Gang and several other affairs disciples were here.

After seeing Xu Disheng enter, Qin Gang spoke first. “What business do you have?”

“Going to the Zhao Territory to carry out tasks,” Xu Disheng said, handing him the wayfaring token. The information regarding the tasks were recorded within.

After Qin Gang received the token, he briefly examined it. Then, he nodded and gave Xu Disheng a realm-cross token. “Outside the hall, you can choose a Realm-Crossing Wooden Boat as you wish. Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Senior Martial Brother.” Xu Disheng took the two tokens with him and left the great hall of Cangming Peak.

After randomly climbing on a Realm-Crossing Wooden Boat, Xu Disheng activated the realm-crossing token in his hand.

This was his first time going to the Zhao Mortal Secret Realm. He was alone in the enormous Realm-Crossing Wooden Boat, gazing up at the stormy vortex growing in size above his head. A light flashed in Xu Disheng’s eyes, and he ascended on the Realm-Crossing Wooden Boat into the gradually stabilizing stormy vortex.

The Zhao Territory was the 5th realm out of the 27 Mortal Secret Realms. The space in this badly damaged realm was extremely vast, over several times larger than the Chu Territory’s realm.

The Zhao Clan was currently ruling over this realm. It was said that they were a branch family of the Zhao Clan of the Fourth Mountain, the Mountain of Law, so they had a powerful background.

The stormy vortex slowly shrunk down. The Realm-Crossing Wooden Boat was above the platform, and Xu DIsheng was atop it, looking all around him with his eyebrows raised.

When he walked off of the boat, there wasn’t a single person in sight. The gigantic platform was completely empty, looking much less welcoming than the Sky Platform in the Chu Territory’s Imperial Court.

Only after Xu Disheng walked to the edge of the platform did he find that he was at the very top of a mountain peak, hundreds of meters above the ground. There was a haze of clouds and mist below, making him unable to see anything off in the distance.

He took out the affairs jade slip and the wayfaring token and checked the mission information. There was only one line, which said ‘to collect tribute on behalf of Wooden Construct Spirit Master’, and that there was a limit of two days. After that, there was some extremely small text underneath, indicating 3,000 of something.

But there was no clear indication what this item to be taken as tribute was. That being said, Xing Xing said before that these tasks were meant to be easy, and could even be considered as a mere formality.

As he was lost in his thoughts, a stream of sword light cut through the clouds and mist. A girl in a purple dress was standing on the sword light, and soon landed in front of Xu Disheng.

“Intermediary… Did you come to collect tribute on behalf of Wooden Construct Spirit Master?” the girl in the purple dress asked gently, carefully sizing up Xu Disheng with a respectful expression on her face. She was at the early Sea of Qi stage.

“That’s right,” Xu Disheng said, nodding his head.

“This tribute… I had no way of bringing it with me. You will have to come with me to the ancestral city of the Zhao Clan to pick it up,” the girl said with a cryptic tone as if she was trying to cover up something, her expression a bit stiff.

“Okay,” Xu Disheng said, picking up on the girl’s strange expression. But he didn’t ask more and quietly agreed.

The ancestral city of the Zhao Clan was at the very center of the Zhao Territory, and almost all of the direct descendents of the Zhao Clan were gathered here. Nearly everything in sight was extremely luxurious and extravagant. There was a sprawling complex of pavilions and kiosks as far as the eye could see.

The girl in the purple dress landed on her sword light in front of a large, imposing great hall. She gestured toward the hall and said, “Intermediary, the ancestor is cultivating inside. Whenever you are ready, you may enter.”

This time, Xu Disheng came alone without a Dao Foundation stage Secret Realms Envoy accompanying him, which was why he didn’t have the qualifications to be personally welcomed by a Realm Master, and only a descendant was sent out to meet him.

Upon entering the hall, Xu Disheng didn’t expect to find several dozen people within. Most of them were at the Sea of Qi stage, but there were three at the Dao Foundation stage, seated up high around the seat of honor.

“You are an intermediary disciple from the Secret Realms Office?” one of the people at the Dao Foundation said, speaking slowly. It was an old man, whose gaze was sharp and incisive as he looked straight at Xu Disheng.

“Yes. Which person here would be the Realm Master Martial Uncle of the Zhao Territory?” Xu Disheng said, cupping his hands. His expression was unchanged as he faced the gazes of everyone in the hall.

“That would be me,” the old man at the Dao Foundation stage said, his expression easing up a bit. As he spoke, his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Little intermediary disciple, you must be here to collect tribute on behalf of Wooden Construct Spirit Master. The tribute has already been prepared long ago. Zhao Mu, go and bring it here!”

“Yes, lord ancestor,” one of the Sea of Qi stage Zhao Clan members said, complying with the order.

Xu Disheng watched the old man pick up his teacup and take a sip of his tea. However, this action made him feel a slight hint of discomfort.

This sense of discomfort became more and more apparent. The expressions of the several dozen people in the hall turned somewhat strange, and there were some whose faces started to twist in discomfort.

“Lord ancestor, I have brought the tribute for Wooden Construct Spirit Master!” Zhao Mu announced as he entered the hall with his head lowered, a wooden box in his hands.

This wooden box was an interspatial storage Spirit Tool refined specifically for containing ghost type beings.

“Go ahead and hand it over to the little intermediary disciple then,” the Realm Master old man said. His face was hidden in the darkness of the great hall, and when his voice echoed out from within, he sounded completely unaffected.

Xu Disheng laid eyes on the wooden box in front of him. But just as he was about to reach out his hand to take it, he suddenly became aware that the lights in the great hall had become like flickering shadows, casting indistinct light and shadows throughout the hall and making him unable to clearly make out any of the figures in the hall.

This wooden box… It was giving off a sense of life-threatening danger. It seemed as if picking it up would cause him to immediately meet misfortune!

“Xu Disheng, why aren’t you taking the tribute? Are you not going to complete your task anymore?”

The voice of the Realm Master became even more gloomy and cold as it echoed out from the darkness in the great hall, which had become even more opaque and pervasive.

How does he know my name?

The sense of discomfort Xu Disheng was feeling had reached its limit. His scalp was tingling, and he felt a hint of gloomy, frigid cold intent pressing down on him.

Xu Disheng took back the hand he had stretched out to take the wooden box. A flash of black light shone in his eyes as he channeled Soul Force and looked into the darkness of the great hall.

What great hall of the Zhao Clan’s ancestral city? There were countless ghosts with pallid, sinister expressions surrounding him on all sides! The one closest to him had its maw open wide and was already right upon him!

This was clearly a domain where Evil Spirits gathered!

Endless screams filled with bitter resentment howled out as several Evil Spirit stage ghosts charged at him. Behind them, there were several hundred Malicious Spirit stage ghosts, which also swarmed crazily upon him.

The Smoky Cloud Screen appeared around him, blocking the attacks of many of the rushing ghosts. After being deadlocked for a moment, one of the Evil Spirit stage ghosts reached out a deathly pale claw and swiped it down with all of its might!

Siii!

Like a bubble popping, the defenses of a top-grade Magic Treasure like the Smoky Cloud Screen were broken by the swipe of its claw!

An Evil Spirit stage ghost was the equivalent of a Dao Foundation stage human race cultivator. These three Evil Spirits were also at their peak state, and had already reached the initial stage of being able to operate Ghost Force.

The top-grade Magic Treasure, the Smoky Cloud Screen, wasn’t able to block it!

Xu Disheng hurriedly used the Soul Suppressing Vestment to block for a little bit, then used the Yin Yang Diagram to retreat and try to rush out of this place.

Boom!

The attacks of the Malicious Spirit stage ghosts couldn’t be considered strong, but they were gathered in a large swarm. They were blown back dozens of meters by Xu Disheng, but the black barrier of light from the Soul Suppressing Vestment had become thin and practically transparent from just one attack.

Xu Disheng’s eyes widened. This was an extremely bad sign. He definitely hadn’t forgotten that the three Evil Spirit stage ghosts still hadn’t made their move!

Little Sky was still in deep hibernation, and while he could forcefully use the Soul Suppressing Vestment, its defensive strength was extremely weak at the moment. If those three Evil Spirit stage ghosts all attacked at once, the Soul Suppressing Vestment wouldn’t be able to hold up!

A maniacal laughter rang out and one of the Evil Spirit stage ghosts appeared right next to Xu DIsheng. A ghost claw filled with Ghost Force swiped at Xu Disheng, forming a miniature black hole.

The black hole made out of Ghost Force twisted the space around it, transforming into an extremely small, rapidly distorting sphere. It even caused small tears in space, causing crackling sounds as it spun towards Xu Disheng’s body.

Two of the Evil Spirit stage ghosts still hadn’t made their move. After all, using the full strength of one Evil Spirit stage ghost to deal with a Sea of Qi stage disciple was already like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The ghost had even used Ghost Force!

All of the ghosts suddenly came to a stop, as if they could already see Xu Disheng’s body being turned into mincemeat by the sphere of Ghost Force.

The Ghost Force sphere exploded with a large bang. Countless splinters seemed to engulf everything, and the badly damaged space in the region produced ear-shattering explosions.

Endless yellow profound light suddenly erupted forth, faintly illuminating the deep darkness. A small, exquisite pagoda appeared above Xu Disheng’s head, spilling down yellow profound qi to firmly protect him.

Xu Disheng wiped the fresh blood at the corner of his mouth. “The Zhao Clan of Ghost Controlling Peak?”

The expressions of the three Evil Spirit stage ghosts changed drastically. They didn’t expect the defensive ability of this pagoda-type Magic Treasure to be so powerful.

Although the previous information stated that Xu Disheng had a small pagoda that seemed like a Psychic Magic Treasure, he would still meet his end if three Evil Spirit stage ghosts attacked with all their might. Even if he had a real Psychic Magic Treasure, it shouldn’t matter.

“When did it start? When I entered the Zhao Territory?” Xu Disheng questioned, eyeing the silent, unspeaking ghosts. “In the first place, the problem was the task itself. When I went to Green Creek Peak, Secret Realms Envoy Wei Yuanwei just so happened to not be present. And when I went to Cangming Peak, the Peak Director Yu Jia just so happened to not be present either. Plus, the Zhao Territory just so happens to share a name with the Zhao Clan of Ghost Controlling Peak. Having to send out three Evil Spirit stage ghosts to get revenge for Zhao Yueban… I suppose you’ve given me enough face.”

“How clever of you. As expected of a newly risen genius of the Mingxin Mountain Range.”

The sound of slow clapping echoed out through the great hall. At that moment, an old man walked out of the darkness. When he appeared, all of the ghosts bowed respectfully. This person was none other than the Vice Peak Master of Ghost Controlling Peak.

What caused Xu Disheng’s heart to turn cold was that this Vice Peak Master was a genuine peak Dao Foundation stage cultivator who had endured the vicissitudes of time in the ranks of the Zhao Clan. He didn’t act often, but when he did, he would surely bring death! Xu Disheng didn’t know exactly where this was, but if this was the real Zhao Territory, then the Realm Master, who presumably also belonged to the Zhao Clan, would most likely also be a peak Dao Foundation stage existence!

Even though he had exerted as much strength as he did to get this point, there was now the peak Dao Foundation stage Vice Peak Master on top of the three Evil Spirit stage ghosts. There were also countless Malicious Spirit ghosts eyeing him maliciously from the sidelines! For them to move this much power to target a Sea of Qi stage disciple… It was no different from a death trap with no way out!

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