Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword

The Black Donkey eventually coughed up the truth; it had no treasure-seeking abilities but rather a strong instinct for detecting powerful creatures.

In the Pingtian Mountain Range, it had managed to obtain so many Spirit Herbs because it first located the Demon Beasts guarding them and then swindled, deceived, and stole them away. In other words, Zhou Heng had been eating dirty things for three whole months!

The Demon Beasts were easy to fool, and humans were easy to trick; Zhu Zhihe and his group treated the Black Donkey as if it were a divine creature that had descended from heaven, almost losing their trousers to its deceit. It showed that the Black Donkey was indeed very capable. If Zhou Heng hadn’t seen through its true nature from the start, even he might have been duped.

After all, a talking donkey was truly shocking, and it was practically impossible not to be treated as a creature of heaven and earth.

"You worthless donkey, since you can’t seek treasures, just go stay wherever it’s cool!" Zhou Heng waved his hand, already immune to the Black Donkey’s scoundrel nature, while An Yumei and Lin Fuxiang were nearly infuriated to death.

"So you’re ditching me after crossing the river, huh? You ungrateful wretch, take this faceful of gold!" the Black Donkey exclaimed repeatedly.

"You can follow if you like, but keep your mouth shut; if I hear you utter a single word, I’ll throw you out immediately!" Zhou Heng looked at the Black Donkey with a playful smile.

"Get lost! If I stay silent, are you trying to murder me?" The Black Donkey snapped and lunged at Zhou Heng with its mouth open. In terms of sneaky strikes and ambushes, this degraded donkey was undoubtedly among the experts.

Zhou Heng activated the Swift Cloud Radiant Step just in time to dodge the sneak attack, but the Black Donkey, lured by the sight of treasures and knowing Zhou Heng had a Space Artifact that could carry living things, refused to leave his side.

"If you want me to leave, it’s simple; just hand over that Treasure Pagoda to me! Though it’s beneath my standards, I’ll reluctantly accept this show of filial piety from you!" The Black Donkey shamelessly demanded.

It trotted along persistently, clearly determined to scam and swindle its way into snagging the prized artifact. Given the Black Donkey’s mysterious ways, it might truly have the means to make the Nine Mystic Trial Tower recognize a new master once it slipped from Zhou Heng’s control!

Zhou Heng dared not let his guard down; the Black Donkey scammed the unfamiliar and deceived the familiar, necessitating extreme caution.

After wandering around the Spirit Herb Garden for five days, they had reaped quite a harvest, but nothing of inestimable value. This was typical of the Spirit Herb Garden; one could always find something, but encountering a Spirit Herb aged thousands or even tens of thousands of years was almost impossible.

Zhou Heng wasn’t dissatisfied; they had already obtained a piece of Bright Jade Bee Honey, allowing all four of them to make significant progress. The trip was well worth it!

Finally leaving the vast garden behind, they continued up the mountain. Although they encountered several groups of people along the way, Zhou Heng had no inclination towards needless killing; as long as the Black Donkey wasn’t mouthing off, conflicts were generally avoidable.

They passed through countless courtyards that were once the living spaces of the Dayan Sect’s disciples, all now ghostly empty residences.

It was almost impossible to find any treasures here; even if there were any, they would have been taken long ago. However, Zhou Heng still took a look inside, not in the hopes of picking up something missed by others, but out of interest in what had happened to the Dayan Sect in the past.

"No one knows what happened!" Gu Zi shook her head; she had more right to speak on this matter than An Yumei or Lin Fuxiang. "The Dayan Sect was indeed destroyed suddenly, by a power that vastly exceeded the Mountains and Rivers Realm!"

The incident occurred thousands of years ago, and even experts of the Heaven-Opening Realm could only live just over a thousand years. Those who had lived through that era were long gone. However, the cataclysmic downfall of the Dayan Sect was so peculiar that it had been continuously studied generation after generation, with almost every detail meticulously recorded.

But the sect members perished entirely, leaving few details that outsiders knew of, presenting an enduring mystery.

"Some say that the Dayan Sect offended an unrivaled expert in the Nascent Soul Realm, or even the Divine Infant Realm, to be wiped out so thoroughly. That’s why, even though some experts of the Mountains and Rivers Realm, and even the Spirit Sea Realm, are curious, they dare not come here for fear of accidentally provoking that powerful figure," An Yumei added.

"The reason my father chose to settle here was actually to try his luck, to see if he could encounter that elusive senior and receive guidance from him to break through to the Heaven-Opening Realm!"

Zhou Heng carefully examined several courtyards and even found in one room two skeletons lying on top of each other. Judging from their pelvic bones, it was clear they were male and female, and from the degree of their close embrace, they were most likely during their most intimate moment when alive.

"Caught completely off guard!" Zhou Heng frowned. "It indeed was a vastly superior power that killed everyone in an instant without them even noticing!"

"I wonder, compared to a Heavenly Venerate, how much stronger this person is? Psh, a Heavenly Venerate could suppress this person with just one hand!" the Black Donkey muttered to itself in a low voice.

"What nonsense are you muttering, you worthless donkey? Do you know something?" Zhou Heng didn’t catch what the Black Donkey mumbled but knew it was whispering something.

"I’m thinking about how to kick you!" The Black Donkey replied with a sly smile but changed the subject.

Zhou Heng obviously didn’t believe it, but since the devious Black Donkey wouldn’t reveal anything if it didn’t want to, he simply shook his head and asked, "Worthless donkey, what level of power is required to accomplish this?"

This time the Black Donkey didn’t spout nonsense but thought deeply for a moment before responding, "That ugly freak was correct; it would require at least the Nascent Soul Realm to do that!"

"You damn Black Donkey!" An Yumei shot a kick at it but the Black Donkey deftly dodged.

"What in the world did the Dayan Sect do to deserve such an atrocity!" Zhou Heng pondered, tapping his head. "Or is it possible that the Dayan Sect inadvertently possessed a treasure that attracted that expert’s wrath, leading to a murderous cover-up?"

Whether it was out of retaliation or a cover-up, the method that instantaneously erased the Dayan Sect, said to have had at least ten thousand members at its peak, was surely executed with extreme ruthlessness!

"Not necessarily!" Gu Zi expressed opposition, calmly stating, "In the eyes of the experts, all the weak are just ants, and wiping out the lives of numerous ants wouldn’t weigh on an expert’s heart!"

Everyone fell silent; as their strength increased, they actually felt a greater sense of crisis. If an expert who could destroy the Dayan Sect decided to embark on a slaughter due to a bad mood, it would result in rivers of blood, and no one would be spared.

How innocent the ants in the eyes of the experts are!

One must become stronger!

Zhou Heng clenched his fists and said in his heart, his fate must be in his own hands.

The four of them and one donkey continued forward and arrived at the Mystical Pill Pavilion.

Although the name of the Mystical Pill Pavilion was a pavilion, it was actually a very large stone palace, divided into three floors, each floor hosting many pill rooms and housing a large number of pills. However, after years of plundering, what was left was not much. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

The reason some pills remained was that each pill room’s pill shelf was protected by restrictions: some were easy to break and some difficult. Naturally, those that remained were the ones with the most terrifying restrictions.

As the source of power for the restriction diminished, the restriction would weaken and eventually disappear. Hence, the most foolish method was waiting, and the second-best was to continuously trigger the restriction. As long as one could withstand it, the disappearance of the restriction could be accelerated.

Of course, those who were proficient in formations could break the restrictions, and that was the best approach.

Although it was said that the pills on the third floor must be of a higher rank than those on the first floor, it did not mean there were no top-grade pills on the first floor. More importantly, it wasn’t about the quality of the pills, but whether one could get them because what was the point of seeing them if you couldn’t obtain them?

Zhou Heng and the others swept through the pill rooms one by one. After thousands of years, nearly all restrictions had lost their effectiveness. It was truly ten rooms with ten voids, only leaving rows of empty pill shelves on each wall, with the pill furnace in the center also kicked over and emptied.

It wasn’t until they were halfway through the pill rooms on the first floor that Zhou Heng and the others came across a room that hadn’t been completely emptied. Three walls of pill shelves were empty, and only the top shelf on the last wall was left with a lonely pill bottle.

There was a label stuck on the pill bottle, which read "Yellow Dragon Pill" in three characters.

"Zhou, Donkey Master’s mouth is awkwardly idle here. Fetch that pill bottle to whet this old donkey’s appetite!" Black Donkey couldn’t help but be annoying again.

"What’s the use of the Yellow Dragon Pill?" Zhou Heng turned his head and asked, aware that this Black Donkey had a discerning eye, and anything it took an interest in was likely a good item!

"What good can it do? It’s just for me to eat like sugar beans!" Black Donkey evaded the direct question, but saliva unconsciously flowed out of its mouth.

The Yellow Dragon Pill must be a good item; otherwise, the restriction’s power would not be so strong, and it still wouldn’t have dissipated by now. After thousands of years of trials, finding a pill here was increasingly difficult, but if one really did find something, it was bound to be a treasure.

Zhou Heng extended his right hand, which transformed into metal, and reached for the pill bottle.

Bang!

When his hand came to less than an inch away from the pill shelf, it was as if it touched a layer of ripples. The air immediately sent out ripples, and then a powerful force reverberated towards Zhou Heng, hurling him into the air and slamming him heavily against the opposite wall.

"Hahaha!" Black Donkey burst into laughter, almost rolling over.

"Are you alright?" An Yumei and Lin Fuxiang rushed over to help him up, their concern clearly visible.

Zhou Heng shook his head. Although the restriction’s power was not enough to threaten him, it was because he lightly touched it; the stronger the attack, the greater the rebounding force.

If he had attacked with all his might, it wouldn’t have been so simple.

He glanced at the Black Donkey, who was still snickering, and suddenly lashed out with a kick, striking the donkey’s buttocks. His kick was both swift and accurate. Not only had he used the Swift Cloud Radiant Step, but he had also integrated momentum into it. Black Donkey had been so successful in evading attacks for so long that it had finally let its guard down this once and been caught off guard by Zhou Heng.

"Stinking lad, this old donkey will never let this go! Ah, a donkey’s life is at stake—" Black Donkey slammed into the pill shelf, creating a ripple that spread across the entire pill room as if a large stone had been thrown into a pond.

Hum!

Golden light erupted from the four hooves of Black Donkey as it forcefully shattered through the ripple. Amidst the powerful shaking, the contemptible donkey fell to the ground without any grace, sprawled with limbs spread and foam dripping from its mouth.

It was not dead, as its hooves were still twitching. Obviously, forcefully breaking through the restriction had cost it greatly.

Zhou Heng let out a hearty laugh and deftly caught the flying pill bottle in his hand.

This time, Black Donkey was thoroughly tricked by Zhou Heng! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), with recommended tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)