Chapter 662: Do You Know This?
Seeing the man about to attack, Ye Mo felt worried. He knew that even without magic or magical artifacts, he couldn't win. The difference in strength was too great. Thankfully, the man paused after one punch. Otherwise, Ye Mo would have been severely injured, if not killed. Ye Mo didn't realize the man couldn't attack repeatedly.
"Slow down, see if this is a treasure or not," Ye Mo said, handing the man his flying sword. He knew that if he threw it, the man could easily catch it before it caused any harm.
"Hmph," the man grunted, grabbing the sword. It felt strange. He'd seen several of China's top ten legendary swords, but nothing like this. He tried piercing the ground; the sword sliced through as if cutting tofu.
"Good sword!" he exclaimed, sensing its unique quality. He channeled his chi into the flying sword, and it hummed.
The man's face changed, his excitement growing. This seemed made for him!
"This is a top-grade magical artifact. Where did you get it?" he asked abruptly.
Giving the sword away, Ye Mo felt anxious. If the man realized it was his flying sword and wiped his spirit sense from it, Ye Mo would be helpless. It was a calculated risk, a bet that the man wouldn't recognize cultivation realm flying swords.
He seemed to have gambled correctly. The man hadn't erased his spirit sense mark, meaning he lacked knowledge of cultivation realm weapons.
Ye Mo relaxed, saying, "This treasure map points to that place. Unfortunately, I could only reach the outskirts, so I only got this sword."
The man's eyes gleamed; Ye Mo knew he was interested—there was no way he wouldn't be.
"Give me that treasure map, and I'll let you live," the man demanded coldly.
"Of course," Ye Mo replied, "but you should trade something. How about you tell me where you got your things?"
"Okay," the man said, "I got everything from Xing Jia Mountain. My martial brother and I, at the time—"
Before finishing, he lunged at Ye Mo with the sword. Assuming the treasure map was on Ye Mo, he thought killing him would be the easiest way to obtain it.
Ye Mo hadn't expected the attack, but luckily, he sensed it through his flying sword and evaded it. Before the man could react, the flying sword slipped from his grasp and sliced at his throat.
The man clutched his throat, staring at the sword as it flew back to Ye Mo, speechless. Ye Mo knew he was incredibly lucky. If the man had used his fists again, Ye Mo couldn't have dodged.
"This is a flying sword artifact from the cultivation realm. You dare claim to cultivate the Dao of Longevity with such limited knowledge?" Ye Mo sneered. A fireball formed in his hand. "Do you know about this?"
Shock, confusion, and realization filled the man's eyes, but he could only gurgle before dying.
Ye Mo wiped his sweat. He'd been incredibly lucky, but it was a pity the man hadn't revealed more about Xing Jia Mountain. Ye Mo was certain he and his martial brother had found a cultivation ruin.
Just as Ye Mo was about to burn the body, he discovered the platform was hollow. He ripped it open, revealing a card, two books, and several empty jade bottles. He opened one and smelled it; his face changed immediately—it was the scent of a Great Chi Increasing Pill.
No wonder the man reached the peak of chi gathering! He'd consumed many of these pills, usually used by foundation establishment cultivators. Ye Mo set the bottle down, then examined the books.
One was the Black Ice Chant, a dao cultivation method suited for those with a water spirit root. The man must have had one. It wasn't useful to Ye Mo, but it was the first real dao cultivation method he'd seen on Earth.
The second book, Taiyi True Understanding, was a peak-level ancient martial arts cultivation method, though Ye Mo wasn't interested initially. He wondered if it was related to the Taiyi Sect.
The card read "Taiyi" and was signed "Elder." The man was a Taiyi Sect Elder. Taiyi True Understanding was thus a Taiyi Sect cultivation method. Ye Mo's interest piqued. He planned revenge on the Taiyi Sect eventually, knowing they had many masters, even great heaven masters. He wouldn't neglect this cultivation method.
He started reading, memorizing moves and techniques. On the last page, he found a diagram.
"Seven Star Formation?" Ye Mo was continually surprised.
The diagram, though old, clearly showed how to enter and exit the formation. Besides mentioning the loosening of the gates every few decades, it detailed other methods.
The man had used this diagram. Xing Jia Mountain was in the inner world. Besides waiting decades, two entry methods existed. One required seven chi stones, which Ye Mo dismissed; he'd use spirit stones to reach the tertiary stage of stage five instead.
The second method required someone with a wisdom root; their blood had to be absorbed by the Tian Kou position of the formation.
Ye Mo finally understood. The wisdom root was the required spirit root. That nun, Jie Xun, had tried this method last time, using Wei Yongqian, but failed. Either his spirit root was inadequate, or something else went wrong.
Ye Mo couldn't use either method. He lacked spirit stones and wouldn't sacrifice innocents.
He burned the man's body to ashes and searched the remaining rooms, finding nothing else. As he was about to leave on his flying sword, he heard screams in the distance.