Chapter 999 - The Barren Badge
Chapter 999: The Barren Badge
The sun was shining brightly. There were no clouds in the sky, and the winds were blowing gently.
He Jian’s eyes were bright, and his aura was majestic. It was obvious that after restoring his foundation, the benefits were unimaginable. He finally had the capital to strive to become a Venerable One.
Ou Yangming cupped his hands lightly and walked out of the small courtyard unhurriedly as he walked toward the courtyard where Lil’ Man was. Jiang Qingcheng followed behind him with a smile. Her fair fingers stroked the porcelain bottle, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. The bottle contained a Body-tempering Pill.
The interior of the room was decorated very warmly. Lil’ Man was refining his spiritual Qi and circulating the great circulatory cycle.
He was such a person. He was very dedicated to cultivation, and he was very persistent.
Ou Yangming looked gratified when he saw this. With a flash of thought, golden mental power surged out like a tidal wave, and he said in a soft voice, “Let go of your mind, conceal your spirit and Qi!”
Lil’ Man was very talented, and he did not hesitate at all. He instantly let go of his mind and concealed his spirit and Qi.
At once, Lil’ Man’s meridians, bones, and flesh appeared in Ou Yangming’s senses. The child was full of vitality and in a few days, he would be as strong as an ox.
After a careful inspection, Ou Yangming put away her mental power and said in a soft voice, “Tomorrow, start to carve wood and use wood to carve your heart. It’s okay to have evil in your heart, but you can’t let it control your mind and become a machine that only desires to kill.”
“I understand!” With that, Lil’ Man bowed slightly.
Jiang Qingcheng walked up gracefully and took out a crispy cucumber from her sleeve. She smiled brightly and said, “Here, eat it.”
Lil’ Man was slightly startled. He accepted it with his right hand and gave Jiang Qingcheng a deep look.
Ou Yangming looked at this scene and smiled. He lifted his feet slightly and returned to his small courtyard.
At night, a cool breeze blew. He leaped onto the roof and looked into the distance. He saw the endless fog surging in the sky and sweeping away. It was majestic. All of a sudden, as if being pulled by a mysterious force, the fog condensed toward the center and turned into a deep vortex. It burst out a strong suction force and rampaged in all directions.
The 10 statues flashed and interweaved into a net in the sky, turning into a huge light screen that blocked the storm outside.
“This world is too dangerous.” Ou Yangming sighed.
“The world is a furnace, to begin with. Which part of it isn’t dangerous? It’s just that the people of the Big Ruins suffer more.” A gentle voice with a faint charm was heard. As soon as the voice was heard, Jiang Yingrong flapped her sleeves, and her slender feet lightly tapped on the ground. She leaped up and landed beside Ou Yangming.
“Why are you here, Elder Sister Jiang?” Ou Yangming glanced at Jiang Yingrong and asked softly.
“I’m here to deliver good news to you, Brother Yu.” Jiang Yingrong looked around with her beautiful eyes. Her dimples appeared on the corners of her mouth, making her look even more alluring.
Ou Yangming’s interest was piqued. He turned his body and asked, “I wonder what the good news is.”
Jiang Yingrong flipped her wrist, then a black badge appeared in her hand. She did not know what it was made of. The word “Barren” was carved on it as if it was carved by the universe instead of a cultivator. With just a glance, even the spiritual Qi in one’s body would become somewhat hot. It was obviously not an ordinary item.
Ou Yangming’s eyes flashed, and he asked curiously, “Elder Sister Jiang, may I know what this is?”
The smile on Jiang Yingrong’s face did not diminish, and she answered in a low voice, “This is the Barren Badge.”
“The Barren Badge?” Ou Yangming’s pupils shrank indiscernibly. He thought of the Barren Desert.
“Yes, it’s the Barren Badge. As long as you hold this badge, you can enter the Barren Desert.” Her eyes seemed to be smiling but not really, and there was an inexplicable meaning behind her look.
Ou Yangming frowned, and the confusion on his face grew. “Isn’t the Barren Desert a dead land? How…”
He did not finish, but Jiang Yingrong understood what he meant. She explained, “Without the Barren Badge, it’s a dead land; if you have it, it’s a land of fortune, and you can go further into it. The further you go, the more fortune you’ll get. For example, Blood Coffins, the corpses of powerhouses, spiritual pills, and medicines… Once, someone obtained an ancient magic treasure, and another person obtained the bones of a dragon and a phoenix. The strangest thing is that the badges weren’t refined through human power. Instead, they flew out from the depths of the desert by themselves. They were raised by nature, and every piece is precious.”
When her voice echoed in Ou Yangming’s ears, even with his temperament, he was somewhat shocked.
After pondering for a moment, he asked, “What’s in the depths of the Barren Desert?”
Jiang Yingrong did not rush to answer. Instead, she said, “Generally speaking, the stronger one’s Bloodline Power, the further one goes into the desert. But up until now, even a Venerable One with an Atavistic Bloodline hasn’t reached the deepest part of the desert. No one knows what’s hidden inside. This is one of the biggest secrets in the Big Ruins.” As she said this, she looked confused.
Ou Yangming took a deep look at Jiang Yingrong. He accepted the badge and muttered, “When are we going?”
Jiang Yingrong laughed charmingly and said, “After 3 days, and there’ll be 4 people in total. You, me, Elder He, and a chosen one of the Jiang family.”
As soon as she finished, her body flashed and transformed into a light stream as she soared into the sky.
Looking at her receding figure, Ou Yangming chuckled. “The Jiang family’s really willing to put in so much effort. They even sent such a thing over.” Of course, he would not let the Jiang family suffer.
The deep vortex at the horizon had dispersed. With a single step, Ou Yangming leaped down from the roof.
He entered his room and began to cultivate the Solitary Though Skill. Instantly, rows of golden words appeared in his mind.
“With a single thought, stars will turn into fragments while rivers and seas will dry up. Whether all things in the universe live or die, everything will be controlled with a flash of thought.” Ou Yangming saw these words again, and a domineering aura that dominated all things emerged from his body. This was the cultivation of a domineering aura using a ruler’s aura.
Feeling the changes in his body, Ou Yangming let out a breath of turbid air. He thought to himself, ‘The cultivation of Qi is indeed domineering.’
He immersed himself with a single thought, gathered his Qi, and began to cultivate the first chapter of the Solitary Thought Skill, which was the Voices of Gods and Demons. He sat cross-legged, his middle finger put together with his thumb, forming a strange and ghostly gesture.
In an instant, sounds reverberated in the room.
It was like countless gods and demons were roaring, their voices were cold and shook the space.
If that was all, it would be fine, but there were many shadows of gods and demons appearing. The shadows were covered in blood as if they had come out of hell. The space around them shook non-stop as if a candle was placed on a burning flame and was about to melt.
This scene would probably shock even a Venerable One to the extreme.
It was the mastery level of the Voices of Gods and Demons, where one could turn the void into reality. After cultivating to this level, Ou Yangming had another terrifying trump card.
Of course, being able to cultivate to this level so quickly was also closely related to the Phoenixes’ spiritual world. The Dragons and the Phoenixes were originally mortal enemies. Who would have thought that a person who possessed the spiritual world of the Phoenixes could cultivate a secret technique of the Dragons?
Moreover, this secret technique used mental power as its origin. The stronger one’s mental power, the more powerful it would be.
No one could imagine how brilliant this secret technique would be in Ou Yangming’s hands.
Ou Yangming opened his eyes. It was as if 2 black dragons were reflected in his eyes. He gently exhaled, and the shadows in front of him slowly dissipated.
※※※※
The next day, the morning sun had just peeked out from the mountains. Golden sunlight sprinkled all over the ground.
He Jian carried the sword case on his back and walked slowly along the sandalwood path.
A purple light became brighter in Ou Yangming’s spiritual world. He slowly withdrew himself from his meditation. He opened his eyes, and his figure flashed. He took the initiative to welcome him and teased, “Old He, you haven’t stabilized your cultivation state so why are you here?”
He Jian took out a black badge and waved it in front of Ou Yangming. It was the Barren Badge.
He grinned and said, “I’ve been carving wood for so many years, so my spiritual power has long been polished to the extreme. I don’t need to stabilize my realm. It’s like a wooden bucket that’s already full of water. If I add in more water, it’ll overflow. As long as I break the shackles, I can then hold more water.” He pointed at his dantian. His meaning was clear. Only when his dantian turned into a lake would he have a substantial improvement.
Ou Yangming tapped on his sword case with his fingers and sighed. “This kind of thing can’t be rushed. The stronger one’s heart of gain and loss, the further one will go. The best way to break through the realm is to be content with your heart and go step by step.”
He Jian nodded and said, “That’s right!”
Ou Yangming did not respond. He looked back and said softly, “Come, come in and sit. I still have a few bottles of good liquor hidden in my interspatial bag.”
He Jian nodded gently and walked into the room. He sat in a similar manner and did not drink the liquor.
He went straight to the point and asked, “Brother Yu, how much do you know about the Barren Desert?”
“Hmm, Elder Sister Jiang has told me what I need to know,” Ou Yangming answered softly.
He Jian did not say anything. He took out a piece of rice paper from his pocket, which was filled with words written with strong handwriting. He said in a low voice, “The Barren Desert’s at the edge of the Blood Dragon Clan’s range of influence. It covers 500 kilometers. Even a top-grade Spiritualist will need 5 days to travel from the Jiang Residence.” He had treated Ou Yangming as a top-grade Spiritualist.
There was no interval in his voice as he continued, “Every 10 years, the desert will shoot out hundreds of Barren Badges from its core. The locations where they land are random. As of now, the reason is unknown. Almost 90% of the cultivators from the outside world will come here to seek good fortune but without the badges, more than 80% of them will die in the desert. The deeper you go, the higher the temperature, and the greater the probability of dying.”
Ou Yangming revealed a pleasantly surprised expression as he said with an embarrassed smile, “As expected of you, Old He. You’re so reliable.”
He Jian’s throat moved slightly as he stroked his beard with his palm. He said with a smile, “I’ve seen a lot over the years, so I think a little more.”
Ou Yangming smiled and did not say anything. He sighed inwardly. ‘There are actually so many secrets in the Barren Desert. I’ve indeed been careless. In the future, I’ll have to plan before I act.
He Jian reminded him this time. The undisciplined emotion in his mind was gone.
Ou Yangming thought of the dangers in the Big Ruins once again, and his eyes were filled with vigilance.