Chapter 613
She stood in a sea of fire, and another "self" stood in front of her, with an evil smile on her face: "You are afraid of losing control, so you have been suppressing the sky fire... But do you know? The real power is never control, but release!"
Nangong Wan responded coldly: "Release? And then be swallowed by darkness like you?"
"Heh... How long can you hold on?" The phantom sneered, "Will you be able to stay awake during the next nirvana?"
Nangong Wan stopped talking nonsense, condensed golden flames in his palm, and blasted directly at the phantom!
“I don’t need answers – I just need to be me!”
boom!
The phantom dissipated in the flames, and the black shadow was completely expelled!
After the black shadow dissipated, the observatory returned to peace.
Fu Shaoping stood up panting and looked at Nangong Wan: "Are you okay?"
Nangong Wan shook his head, the flame mark on his forehead brighter than before: "It wants to seduce me, but I won't let it succeed."
Fu Shaoping nodded, his eyes falling on the star map of the observatory: "The black shadow just now should be a part of 'Him'."
"Yes, and his seal has indeed loosened." Nangong Wan pointed to the star map, "Look here - the seven main stars represent the seven seals, three of which have dimmed."
Fu Shaoping's eyes darkened: "That is to say, there are still four seals intact, but time is running out."
"We must find the remaining sealed areas before the seal completely collapses." Nangong Wan said.
Fu Shaoping pondered for a moment, and suddenly remembered something: "My father said before he died, 'He is about to wake up', and the records of the Observatory show that among the seven strongest people, one is the master of the 'Tianji Pavilion'."
"Tianji Pavilion?" Nangong Wan was stunned. "Hasn't it been destroyed long ago?"
"But their heritage may still be there." Fu Shaoping's eyes were firm, "We have to go to 'Tianji City'."
Nangong Wan nodded: "Okay, let's go to Tianji City."
After leaving the land of eternal night, the two headed eastward and finally at dusk on the seventh day, they saw the legendary ancient city - Tianji City.
The city wall was tall but in tatters, with dark red vines crawling through the cracks between the bricks and stones, like dried blood. The city gate was half collapsed, with the plaque hanging at an angle, and the two characters "Tianji" on it were already blurred and difficult to distinguish.
"Is this the old site of Tianji Pavilion?" Nangong Wan frowned slightly, "It's even more dilapidated than I imagined."
Fu Shaoping clenched the broken sword and whispered, "The Tianji Pavilion is proficient in deducing the secrets of heaven, but it can't predict its own destruction. How ironic."
The two entered the city. The streets were empty except for the sound of the wind. Most of the houses on both sides had collapsed. Occasionally, a few withered bones could be seen, with twisted postures, as if they had experienced great pain before death.
"What killed these people?" Nangong Wan squatted down and touched the head of a skeleton with his fingertips. "There are no external injuries, but the bones are all broken inside."
Fu Shaoping's eyes were solemn: "It seems to have been shattered from the inside by some force."
As he was speaking, a soft "click" sound suddenly came from the distance.
The two of them became alert at the same time and looked in the direction of the sound - they saw a headless skeleton slowly standing up at the end of the street, with a rusty long knife in its bony hands, and staggering towards them!
"Puppet?" Fu Shaoping drew his sword.
Nangong Wan shook his head: "No, it's the resentment that possesses me."
Before he finished speaking, more and more skeletons began to tremble in the ruins around them. One after another, they climbed up, and ghostly green ghost fires burned in their empty eye sockets!
The skeletons came like a tide. Fu Shaoping's sword flashed like lightning, breaking several skeletons into pieces. However, their remains quickly reassembled as if they were immortal.
Nangong Wan's palm exploded with golden flames, and the phantom of the fire phoenix swept across, burning a large number of skeletons to ashes. However, countless distorted human faces emerged from the ashes, emitting shrill screams!
"These evil spirits have been trapped here for too long," Nangong Wan gritted his teeth, "ordinary means cannot destroy them!"
Fu Shaoping's eyes flashed, and he suddenly remembered something. He took out the jade pendant left by his father from his arms and said, "Try this!"
The jade pendant emitted a clear light in the resentment, and the skeletons' movements suddenly stagnated. Nangong Wan seized the opportunity, and the sky fire turned into chains to bind all the resentful spirits!
"Let's go!" Fu Shaoping grabbed her and rushed towards the tallest building in the center of the city - it was a half-collapsed tower with the words "Tianji Pavilion" vaguely visible on the plaque.
The two rushed into the tower, but the group of skeletons behind them were blocked by an invisible barrier and could not enter.
The tower was covered with dust, and in the center stood a bronze star plate with an intricate star map engraved on it, but it was already incomplete.
"Is this the Tianji Pavilion's deduction star map?" Nangong Wan reached out to brush away the dust, and the star map suddenly rotated on its own, projecting an illusory starry sky!
In the starry sky, seven main stars are twinkling, three of which are dim, and the other four are shrouded in black fog, as if they will go out at any time.
"Sure enough, there are seven seals..." Fu Shaoping stared at the star plate, "But where are the remaining four?"
Nangong Wan tapped the star disk with his fingertips, and the picture changed, revealing four blurry scenes.
"Is this the remaining sealed place?" Fu Shaoping frowned, "But the specific location..."
Suddenly, the star disk cracked with a "crack" sound, and an old voice echoed in the tower:
"If the latecomers want to stop him, they need to find all four instruments... Otherwise, everything will end..."
The sound dissipated, and the star disk completely shattered into a pile of scrap copper.
"Four Symbols Instruments?" Nangong Wan pondered, "Could it be the four instruments corresponding to Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, and Black Tortoise?"
Fu Shaoping nodded: "It's very likely. The Endless Sea corresponds to the Black Tortoise, the Burial God Abyss corresponds to the White Tiger, the Burning Sky Valley corresponds to the Vermillion Bird, and the Fantasy Moon Forest corresponds to the Azure Dragon."
“But what kind of magic weapon is it exactly?” Nangong Wan wondered.
Fu Shaoping looked at the broken sword in his hand: "Maybe... this is one of them."
After the star disk shattered, the broken sword actually trembled slightly, and the rust on the sword peeled off a little, revealing the hidden pattern underneath - it was a hovering green dragon!
"Qinglong Sword?" Nangong Wan was surprised. "Could it be that the Four Symbols Weapons are four swords?"
Fu Shaoping shook his head: "Not necessarily, but at least we have a clue."
The two were about to leave when there was a sudden violent vibration outside the tower!
"Oh no, those skeletons are attacking the barrier!" Nangong Wan's face changed.
Fu Shaoping said in a deep voice: "Go from the top of the tower!"
The two quickly climbed to the top of the tower, only to find that the entire Tianji City was collapsing, with countless cracks appearing on the ground. A huge bony hand stretched out from the ground and grabbed the tower!
"It's a more powerful vengeful spirit!" Nangong Wan urged the sky fire and turned it into flaming wings. "Let's go!" The two men soared into the air, and their bony hands smashed the tower to pieces, sending smoke and dust billowing into the sky.
After leaving Tianji City, the two decided to go to the Endless Sea first.
Three days later, they arrived at the seaside.
The sea was strangely calm, with no wind or waves, not even a tide, as if it were a dead body of water. In the distance, thick fog covered the horizon, and the outline of an island could be vaguely seen.
“Is that where the sunken ancient city is?” Nangong Wan narrowed his eyes.
Fu Shaoping nodded: "Legend has it that there is a black tortoise suppressing the Endless Sea, and the ancient city may be a sealed place."
The two men sailed towards the thick fog. The deeper they went, the heavier the fog became, and eventually even the sunlight was blocked out.
Suddenly, the ship shook, as if it hit something.
Nangong Wan looked down, his pupils suddenly shrinking——
Under the sea, densely packed corpses were floating up and down, each with empty eyes open, staring at them!
There was a "creaking" sound coming from the bottom of the boat, the nails of the floating corpses were scratching the boat planks. Fu Shaoping's sword cut across the sea, and the blue dragon pattern glowed slightly, but it quickly dimmed as if suppressed by some force.
"Something's wrong." He held down the trembling hilt of the sword. "The Black Tortoise belongs to water, and it's repelling the Azure Dragon's power."
Nangong Wan suddenly grabbed his arm and said, "Look ahead!"
The outline of the city wall emerged from the thick fog, and the entire underwater ancient city was floating up! Chains were entangled between the moss-covered bricks and stones, and a bronze coffin was tied to the end of each chain. The huge coffin in the center suddenly exploded, and an old man wearing scales appeared in the gushing black water, with two strange fish swimming in his eye sockets.
"It's been three hundred years." The old man made a drowning sound in his throat, "I finally waited for the holder of the Four Symbols Vessel."
Fu Shaoping held his sword in front of him: "Are you the gravekeeper?"
"He used to be the commander of the Black Tortoise Guards." The old man's rotten fingers stroked the chains, and all the coffins opened at the same time, "Now he is just his watchdog." Hundreds of dead soldiers covered with seaweed crawled out of the coffins, bone spears in their hands glowing with phosphorescence.
The blood flame in Nangong Wan's palm turned into a longbow, and the moment three rockets were released, the sea surface suddenly bulged. A giant tortoise shell broke out of the water, and the arrows hit the shell, creating dazzling sparks. The zombies took the opportunity to pounce, and Fu Shaoping leaped on the tortoise shell, and the broken sword accurately pierced the old man's forehead - but there was a sound of metal clashing.
"It's useless." The old man grabbed the sword with a grin, "In the Xuanwu barrier, we..." His voice stopped abruptly, he looked down in surprise and found half of a bronze key sticking out of his chest.
A dull sound of turning mechanisms came from the bottom of the sea, and the ancient city began to sink. Nangong Wan emerged from the shadow of the turtle's back, blood dripping from his fingertips: "You deliberately let it slip, didn't you? The gravekeeper is also the keeper of the key."
Before the old man turned into foam and dissipated, his last voice was filled with relief: "Go to the Burial Abyss. Be careful of the white tiger."
Passing through a rift covered by blizzard, the two found a giant tiger bone pierced by iron chains under the ice. When Fu Shaoping touched the skull, the entire skeleton suddenly reorganized and turned into a silver-armored female general.
"Fragments of the Azure Dragon Sword?" The female general's soul fire swept across the broken sword, "It seems that the old turtle Xuanwu has let her go." She suddenly swung her claws and attacked, and Nangong Wan's right arm, which was blocking, instantly formed ice crystals.
"Want the White Tiger Blade?" The female general's attack became more and more fierce, "Prove first that you are not his puppets!" Every time the weapons collided, the illusion of an ancient battlefield flashed in the air.
Fu Shaoping suddenly changed his tactics and blocked with the back of his sword without any patterns. While the female general was stunned, he took out the bronze key and asked, "Is the certification given by Xuanwu enough?"
The ice crystal world suddenly stopped. The female general knelt on one knee and pulled out a transparent short knife from her spine: "Take it and run quickly. My suppression time limit is coming." Black mist was seeping out of her armor.
When Nangong Wan took the dagger, a shocking scene appeared on the blade - deep in the Fentian Valley, a woman with the same appearance as her was gnawing on the Vermillion Bird statue!
After crossing the lava waterfall, they saw the Suzaku altar in ruins. That "Nangong Wan" was sitting in the middle of the blood pool, with black wings spread out behind him.
"It's finally here." The fake licked the magma on his fingertips, "I ate the guardian and found out that the so-called Suzaku weapon was actually..." She suddenly curled up in pain, with raised and moving fire patterns under her skin.
The real body took the opportunity to throw the White Tiger Blade, and the collision of ice and fire caused an explosion. A crazy laugh came from the smoke and dust: "It's useless! You don't understand at all. The Four Symbols Instrument is actually..."
Fu Shaoping suddenly rushed into the fire curtain, and the broken sword pierced his palm. The blood of the blue dragon dripped into the cracks of the altar, and the sound of a phoenix came from underground. The fake screamed and tried to escape, but was entangled by the red gold chain that broke out of the ground - it turned out to be half a burning phoenix tail feather!
“So that’s how it is.” Nangong Wan held the Phoenix Feather, and the Skyfire pattern began to spread all over his body. “The four instruments were originally one, but they were forcibly separated by the strongest people back then.”
At this moment, a thunderous roar came from the direction of Huanyue Forest, and the moon in the night sky was oozing blood. The last Azure Dragon Seal was obviously in danger.
The ancient trees in the Fantasy Moon Forest twisted and deformed under the light of the blood moon, and dark red sap oozed from the peeling bark, wriggling like living things. The air was filled with the sweet scent of decay, and every step was like stepping on the breath of some giant creature.
Fu Shaoping clenched the broken sword, and the blue dragon pattern glowed with a strange red light under the blood moon, as if resonating. The phoenix feathers on Nangong Wan's fingertips trembled slightly, pointing to the depths of the dense forest - there, an altar entangled by vines loomed.
"The Azure Dragon Seal... is right there," she whispered.
But just as they approached, the ground suddenly collapsed! Countless tree roots wrapped around them like giant pythons, dragging the two into the underground abyss!
The underground was not dark, but shrouded in a faint green fluorescence. A huge dragon bone was coiled in the center of the cave, and each vertebra was engraved with runes, but the most critical seventh vertebra, where the dragon's heart was, was pierced with a rusty spear.
"Is that... the Dragon Slayer Spear?" Fu Shaoping's pupils suddenly shrank. "How could the legendary weapon that can kill real dragons be here?"
"Because it's not a seal at all." Nangong Wan said in a cold voice, "It's 'Him''s weapon."
The dragon's bones suddenly trembled, and green flames ignited in the empty eye sockets. A hoarse voice echoed in the cave:
"Finally... I've waited for you guys."
The dragon head slowly lifted up, and the rotten scales peeled off, revealing the wriggling black substance underneath. That was not the dragon soul, but the regret that was eroded by "Him"!
"Run!" Fu Shaoping grabbed Nangong Wan, but the ground cracked and countless bone spurs pierced out from the ground, blocking the retreat!
Nangong Wan gritted his teeth, and the Phoenix Feather, White Tiger Blade, and Black Tortoise Key floated into the air at the same time, resonating with Fu Shaoping's broken sword. The four rays of light intertwined and condensed into a complete ancient sword phantom in mid-air - the Four Symbols Tianshu!
"So that's how it is..." Fu Shaoping suddenly realized, "The Four Symbols Instrument is actually one and the same. It was the key that the seven strongest men used to suppress 'Him' back then!"
But just as they were about to touch the ancient sword, the dragon bone suddenly jumped up, and the black mist turned into a giant claw, heading straight for Nangong Wan's throat!
"You can't escape... Heir of Skyfire..."
The golden flames in Nangong Wan's eyes surged, and the mark between her eyebrows burned completely. She no longer suppressed her strength, her whole body turned into a blazing white flame, and she punched at the dragon head!
"I don't need to run away - I want to burn this filth of yours!"
The skyfire collided with the black fog, and the entire Fantasy Moon Forest shook violently! Fu Shaoping took the opportunity to jump up, grabbed the phantom of the Four Symbols Tianshu, and slashed at the Dragon Slayer Spear with a sword——
"Zheng——!"
The moment the gun body shattered, the dragon bone let out a shrill wail, and the black fog receded like a tide. The blood moon faded, and the night sky became clear again. (End of this chapter)