Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Mountain-Embracing Seal

The ten men roared and pressed their strongest hidden arts into another furious assault against the fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“If you seek death, I shall grant it!”

The fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator bellowed. At this point, he had no choice but to gamble everything. With swift hand signs, he conjured within his bosom the phantom of a colossal mountain. His eyes bulged so fiercely they seemed about to burst, proof of the immense price he was paying. The shadow slowly solidified. He then coughed up a mouthful of his own vital blood, merging it into the mountain within his chest. The entire peak turned blood-red, murderous aura surging forth. Spiritual energy from heaven and earth rushed madly into the mountain. Such a method of drawing upon the world’s power was meant only for nascent divinity cultivators, yet this fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator had forcibly unleashed it. By then, however, all the black hair on his head had turned white. His face was drained of color as he fixed a cold gaze upon the crowd.

Before the mountain even fell, everyone felt a fierce killing intent lock onto them, making even breathing difficult. The ten were shaken and staggered, yet they still attacked without pause.

Zhou Qi’s expression changed. This mountain’s power was far too great.

“Retreat, quickly!”

He shouted at the ten, then stepped onto his Thunder-God Escape Art and led Jiu’er and Xiao Bai away from the battlefield. Yet he could still feel the mountain’s murderous pressure fixed upon him, so he hurriedly employed the Divine Travel Step and vanished with the two of them.

At that very moment, the mountain seemed to have gathered enough force. It shot skyward, then crashed down with thunderous might. The ten cultivators felt as though they had been buried beneath it, staring in despair as the peak descended upon them.

When the mountain was still a hundred meters above their heads, several third-level Foundation Establishment cultivators could no longer withstand the crushing pressure and coughed up blood.

At that moment, their feet could not move, their mouths could not speak. Before their eyes was only that mountain, growing ever larger and ever more terrible as it pressed down on them. Zhou Qi could clearly feel their emotions; strangely enough, their guilt over failing to complete their boss’s orders outweighed even their fear of death. He fell silent. It was already too late to save them. If he entered now, he likely would not be able to get out either.

“Boss, why are they like this?” Xiao Bai asked.

“Ah, after my careful guidance, they decided to turn from evil and return to righteousness. Alas, though the righteous path rises one cun, the devil rises one chi higher. The forces of darkness are too powerful, and I am unable to save them.”

“As the saying goes, if one hears the Way in the morning, one may die in the evening without regret. Look at their eyes; there is no fear, only remorse. I suppose they have truly awakened at last!”

Zhou Qi let out a long sigh, his heart heavy beyond words. Such was the life of cultivators: ever facing death.

“Brother... I...” Jiu’er felt Zhou Qi’s sorrow and did not know how to comfort him. Seeing the white fox about to be killed by the others had already been hard enough; these were his fellow clansmen, and they had only just been successfully reformed by him, yet now they were about to die.

Zhou Qi shook his head, signaling that he was fine.

The mountain was now fifty meters above them. Several people’s legs shattered inch by inch, and they were crushed flat to the ground. The seven third-level Foundation Establishment cultivators all vomited blood, their bodies bent and twisted. Only the three fourth-level Foundation Establishment cultivators were still barely holding on.

At ten meters, every one of the third-level cultivators had been pressed fully to the ground, their bones shattered throughout their bodies. One of the fourth-level cultivators had already had both legs broken, and could only stand half-upright, staring up at the peak above. The other two fourth-level cultivators were also bent low; one of them was the body-refinement cultivator.

Around them, the earth had sunk deeply, forming a colossal pit as large as the mountain itself.

With a deafening boom, the mountain fell. Dust and dirt exploded in all directions, and even the ground where Zhou Qi and the others stood shook violently.

When the dust finally settled, the mountain was gone as well, leaving behind a pit some twenty meters deep. The fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator had already collapsed after unleashing that strike; whether he lived or died was unknown.

Zhou Qi swiftly leaped into the pit. The scene was a horrific mass of flesh and blood. The seven third-level Foundation Establishment cultivators had all been reduced to a single heap of pulp, impossible to distinguish from one another. Of the three fourth-level cultivators, two could still faintly retain the shape of their bodies, though their life force was already gone.

Only the body-refinement cultivator at the fourth level still had a faint breath left. Yet he had also lost consciousness. Since he was not dead, there was still hope. Zhou Qi quickly took out a Rejuvenation Pill, fed it into his mouth, and then placed him into the Medicine Immortal Sacred Manor to recover slowly. The pill worked well, but his injuries were too severe; recovery would likely take time.

Zhou Qi flew out of the pit on his sword and did not hurry to inspect the fifth-level cultivator. Instead, he sent the Immortal-Slaying Sword out, transforming it into more than twenty small blades that shaved away the soil around the pit. Earth kept collapsing downward, burying the nine cultivators together. Once the ground was leveled, Zhou Qi fetched a huge boulder from afar and set it upright in the earth.

With fingers together like a sword, he carved continuously upon the stone. Xiao Bai and Jiu’er watched in silence as Zhou Qi busied himself to and fro, neither of them asking a word.

“Miss, what is he doing?” the white fox asked curiously.

“Shh. Don’t make a sound. Brother is paying tribute to them,” Jiu’er whispered.

On the stone appeared several large characters: Tomb of the Heroic. On either side were two lines of smaller words. On the left: Born to uphold justice and aid the righteous. On the right: Died to subdue demons and slay evils. At the bottom of the stone, four words were carved: Erected by Boss Zhou.

After finishing all this, Zhou Qi felt a little better. These people had only just become employees of the Zhou family, and now he had brought them to their deaths. He felt that, as a boss, he had done a terribly poor job.

“Boss, if one day I die too, will you bury me?” Xiao Bai asked.

Zhou Qi turned and glanced at him. “What nonsense are you saying? Don’t keep death on your lips. It’s inauspicious. Hurry up and spit three times.”

Zhou Qi walked over to the fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator. His eyes were vacant, his body shriveled. Though a faint breath of life remained, he gave no response at all. Even when Zhou Qi prodded him twice with the Immortal-Slaying Sword, there was still no movement.

“He is dead. In that final strike, he had already fused his spirit, energy, and will completely into that art. His soul has dispersed, his spiritual power exhausted, and his flesh will soon wither away,” said Heavenly Profound True Monarch in a distant, airy voice.

So he was basically a vegetable? This technique was indeed terrifyingly powerful, but its price was just as terrible. Zhou Qi could not help feeling regretful. He had even wanted to search the man’s soul and obtain the art, but if there was no soul, how could there be soul-searching?

Right, there was still his storage ring.

Zhou Qi sent his spiritual sense into the ring and could not help sighing. For a fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had thought this man would be better off than he was, yet he was shockingly poor. There were only several thousand low-grade spirit stones, a little over fifty second-grade Spirit-Replenishing Pills, and some medicinal herbs that did not appear to be of much value. These cultivators truly lived miserably. Independent cultivators were even worse.

It seemed that upholding justice alone was not exactly a proper way to obtain resources. Zhou Qi even felt embarrassed on the man’s behalf. Fortunately, he found a turtle shell inside the ring. It was ancient and covered densely with tiny inscriptions.

Mountain Embrace Seal. The cultivation grade was unclear. One must contemplate a mountain day and night without cease, until one can manifest its phantom, merge it with spiritual power, and use the technique to solidify the peak. The more spiritual power one pours into it, the stronger the mountain becomes. One may also use essence blood or sacrifice lifespan to increase its might. However, this method must be used with caution. If the mountain becomes too powerful, the essence blood or lifespan consumed may no longer be under the cultivator’s control, and one may be drained dry by the mountain.

Most likely, this fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator died because he ignored this warning. Zhou Qi quietly memorized the technique. It required long-term practice and could not be mastered in a single step.

After memorizing it, Zhou Qi noticed that the cultivator’s flesh had completely withered away, steadily turning to ash and scattering into the air. That solved it—there was no need to bury him again.