The Sacred Ruins

It was a jade stone of exquisite quality albeit with indescribable cracks, spots, and scars which it gained throughout the vicissitudes.

Chu Feng was visibly moved—this was a piece of ancient jade which he immediately realized was somewhat similar to the one which recorded his Demon Flood Dragon Fist.

He found nothing special after setting his hand to it apart from the warmth. Placing it against the light would reveal some black veined patterns resembling vines.

After observing it in detail, Chu Feng was disappointed to find that the characteristics of this jade weren’t quite similar to the one containing the Flood Dragon Fist.

There were other techniques comparable to the Demon Ox and Demon Flood Dragon fists such as the Demon Roc Fist which Chu Feng yearned for and wanted to collect. However, after some thought, he realized it wasn’t too practical. How could it be so coincidental as to be found on Mount Longhu?

He asked the Hollow Jade Temple Master about the jade’s extraordinary points.

"Originally, it could hover in the air and release a faint glow, but later on, it lost all special characteristics as it dimmed down," the Temple Master informed truthfully.

Many people had witnessed this previously and were astonished but no one was able to obtain results after observation.

"Have you tried probing it with spiritual power?"

"I have. There are some odd energies but they can’t be drawn out. It’s quite strange." The Hollow Jade Temple Master frowned.

"Let me take a look then." Chu Feng was still expectant. After all, this was a treasure brought out from the ancestral court of Taoism.

A piece of jade that could float in the air couldn’t be ordinary at all.

"Be careful!" Lu Tong warned him not to be careless.

"What can happen with me around?" The Hollow Jade Temple Master shot the old man a glance.

Lu Tong was embarrassed and stopped talking.

Chu Feng naturally didn’t dare to be careless. It was hard to determine what kind of danger could be hidden within this kind of ancient jade.

However, it shouldn’t be very dangerous since the Hollow Jade and Eight Visions Temple Masters had both examined it before.

He grasped the jade stone in his palms and carefully injected his spiritual energy into it. He was immediately astonished.

Clusters upon clusters of black energy appeared in the shape of grass and flowers. There were even those shaped like a bodhi tree, fusang tree and laurel tree, etc. None of them were ordinary trees.

Unfortunately, they were all black in color and only the shapes were similar.

Chu Feng went inward with great caution. He also wanted to try drawing them out but the black substances were completely unresponsive.

After pouring in large amounts of spiritual energy and sensing attentively, he found a strand of vitality. It was as though a lifeform was within!

This astonished him greatly. How could a piece of ancient jade be like so?

Chu Feng’s divine instincts were much sharper than ordinary people and, as of now, it was extremely powerful. His physical and spiritual energies had merged with each other—this served to nurture his spirit.

He was quite certain that he had sensed this barely discernible entity.

He was just about to retreat and withdraw his spiritual energy, however, an alarming change occurred at this moment. The black plants within the jade stone began to move. They rattled sonorously and condensed into a black sword.

Within moments, the whole jade stone became extremely bizarre—it was obviously an object made of jade but now it seemed to have formed a vast open land. It allowed the spirit to reside within and was like a palace.

This was too bizarre and inconceivable!

Chu Feng wanted to retreat but his spirit felt pain as the black sword glowed brightly and aimed itself at him.

"Sigh..."

The sound of a sigh was transmitted towards Chu Feng, causing all his hair to stand on end. He still felt a chill run down his spine even though only his spirit was here.

"Who goes there?" Chu Feng had a bad premonition.

Chu Feng was immediately put on guard. His spirit took on his human form and similarly circulated his breathing technique. He was prepared to fight his way out of here.

"Ha, we meet again." At this time, the figure of a person appeared on the sword. His appearance was somewhat miserable—his body was pierced through by the sword and seemed to be unable to break free.

"It’s you!" Chu Feng was shocked. He had never expected to meet an enemy within this jade.

"Heh heh, how unexpected, right?" The black sword was pierced into his heart as if to nail him in place.

Strands of spiritual energy seeped out of the black sword and condensed onto the man’s body, making him appear increasingly real.

This was an old man who possessed the spirit a lion king. This man, with his curly hair and incisive gaze, glared fixedly at Chu Feng.

This was actually Schiller, who had died long ago!

Schiller, known as the last holy knight, had once set up a deathtrap at the Vatican to kill many king level entities and had also organized an eastern expedition later on.

His strength was absolutely unfathomable and his personality, merciless and cruel. He was an extremely difficult character to deal with and had almost caused Chu Feng to lose his life.

In the end, Schiller was killed on Mount Longhu and had died with a great grievance.

Who would’ve expected him to appear once again!

Chu Feng suddenly recalled a great many things. When he and Schiller fought on Mount Longhu, the latter had picked up an odd broken sword to clash head-on against the diamond chakram. As a result, the whole place was drowned in blindingly resplendent energy and the sword later disappeared.

At that time, Chu Feng and the others destroyed Schiller’s body but couldn’t find the sword even after searching for a long time.

"That sword protected your spirit?" Chu Feng asked. He wanted to stall for time.

"Don’t even try to escape." Schiller gazed at him calmly. He didn’t seem bothered at all by the sword piercing through his body.

"Can you make me stay?" Chu Feng retorted as he edged back.

"I advise you not to act recklessly and instead chat with me for a bit. Otherwise, I’ll self-destruct and the whole place will be annihilated amidst the surging black substance." Schiller said indifferently.

Chu Feng shivered at these words. He wasn’t afraid of Schiller now that he could fight against entities with six severed shackles, but he was apprehensive of that black sword.

He somehow felt uneasy as if he was in an ineffable realm.

"This black sword is made of a rare and invaluable material used by the divine knights to train themselves. Divine knights, by Eastern standards, should be equal to the Golden Arhat level," said Schiller.

"What are you trying to say?!" Chu Feng watched Schiller intently.

"In short, this black material is extremely rare. It was refined from the cosmos by demonic sages and passed down to later generations for tempering themselves. The prerequisite, however, was that they had to be qualified. It would be fatal if one didn’t reach the required level." Schiller sighed regretfully.

He gently caressed the black sword and glanced back at himself. He shook his head with a bitter smile—he had unexpectedly found a legendary material but wasn’t quite fated to enjoy it.

"So you were harmed by it and about to die?" Chu Feng gazed at the black sword. Just what kind of bizarre item could it be?

"Yes, I won’t last long," Schiller admitted calmly.

This black material was extremely odd—it seemed like energy but also resembled a spiritual entity. However, it was a material object that could be merged into a weapon.

The owner of that broken sword used to be a powerful knight. He was using this black material to temper himself when he fell at Mount Longhu during an eastern expedition ages ago.

Schiller’s spirit had rushed into the sword and escaped Chu Feng’s killing blow, but at the same time, he was consigned to eternal damnation.

Right now, he was far from being at the level of that divine knight. This black material was extremely lethal to him and threatened to melt him away. Apart from death, there was no way out.

He had tried hypnotizing an ordinary person to possess his physical body but to no avail.

The host’s ordinary physical body would soon be disintegrated under the effects of the black material. He later tried possessing a powerful evolved being and found that he could persist slightly longer.

But, unfortunately, it was also destroyed in the end. Furthermore, the condition of Schiller’s spirit was worsening and would disappear sooner or later.

"Ah yes, the one who had spread the news to the outside world that you knew a peerless technique and incited everyone in the Jiangxi region to hunt you down was me," Schiller told him calmly.

Chu Feng was enraged and wanted to kill the latter with one blow.

The chaos within the Jiangxi region had affected him too much. He had nearly died there. Unexpectedly, the mastermind behind all of this was actually Schiller. Previously, he was guessing who could have spread such news and incited everyone’s greed, causing them to encircle and kill him.

"You’re even worse than an evil spirit. You almost killed me in the West when you were alive and you refuse to stop even after death."

Schiller interrupted him with a correction, "I’m not dead yet."

"You’ll die very soon!" Chu Feng shouted.

"Wrong, I’m about to be relieved while you’ll be taking my place to be entangled by the black substance." Schiller smiled.

"I don’t understand why you didn’t harm the Hollow Jade Temple Master instead?" Chu Feng said with a deep voice. He was quite uneasy.

"Try guessing." Schiller laughed out loud.

Chu Feng’s expression was dark as he stared coldly. Although he was only a spiritual body, he didn’t look at all different from his real self.

"That’s because this item is relentless after it attaches to a person. It’s either you eliminate it or it extinguishes you. I have only one chance to harm someone, so I naturally have to drag you down with me."

"You’re really persistent!" Chu Feng noticed that he was in grave danger. He was about to tumble down quite badly and might even die here.

Schiller smiled and said, "Yes, it was an exhausting wait. I knew you would go to Mount Longhu so I hid within a piece of jade and waited patiently while counting down the remaining days of my existence. Later on, I saw the Hollow Jade Temple Master arrive and knew I could come into contact with you after landing in his hands."

"Do you hate me so much?" Chu Feng said as he edged backwards.

"Indeed I do. If not for you, my Myriad Spirit Blood Medicine would mature and I would already be an expert with seven severed shackles right now. I would become the continent’s number one expert. I would be able to take my pick of the divine fruits of the famed mountains and great rivers. Who would dare to contend with me at that time? You destroyed my path towards deification."

Schiller spoke calmly but his words were full of resentment.

"My spirit has been eroded badly and I’m about to die. I’m greatly delighted to be able to see you again."

"Does the Hollow Jade Temple Master know you’re in the jade stone?" Chu Feng inquired.

"With his strength and intelligence, he would surely have sensed something," Schiller said with a smile.

"You’re trying to sow dissension even before death!" Chu Feng said coldly.

"Heh, heh, I’m very happy to be able to see you before my death. I’m about to be free. Farewell! All the remaining hardship will be yours to experience."

Schiller laughed loudly and immolated himself. He intentionally destroyed his badly corroded spirit.

At the same time, Chu Feng let out an angry roar and retreated rapidly. He wanted to tear apart this bizarre space.

"It’s no use. The black substance will ensnare you as soon as I die," Schiller said with a laugh before exploding with a boom.

At the same time, the sword transformed into a black material which extended towards every direction and entangled Chu Feng as soon as it came into contact with him.

"Make sure you enjoy it well because only a Bodhisattva level entity can purify you. This priceless material is the handiwork of a demonic sage. No one else can refine such a material."

Schiller’s resentful intent finally vanished—his last voice was like a demon’s murmur.