"How about it, Brother Lu? You're just about done with your setup too, right? With these formations covering this place thoroughly, even if we run into enormous trouble, we ought to be able to handle it. Besides, nine times out of ten, we're just wasting our time." Marquis Nanlong drove the last of his formation flags into a corner of the pool bottom, then clapped his hands together with a bitter smile.
"Heh heh! I'd rather waste a bit more time than have anything go wrong. If there really is an ancient cultivator's secret hoard behind this gate, then naturally that's the best outcome. But if there isn't, having made preparations is still better than none at all. This old man may have his eyes on treasure, but he values his own life even more." Lu Weiying smiled faintly, unconcerned.
Marquis Nanlong shook his head at these words and said nothing more.
By now, the old man had set down the last of his formation discs and activated the restrictions. A layer of white luminous light, faint and ethereal, shimmered into existence around them.
The old man nodded with satisfaction, then turned to face the stone gate once more, its surface still pulsing with blood-red light.
Marquis Nanlong had already grown quite impatient. Seeing that the old man had finished his preparations, he immediately unhooked a storage bag from his waist and flipped it into the air without ceremony.
A burst of white radiance swept outward, and the translucent skeletal remains of the ancient cultivator appeared on the ground.
"This blood-cursed gate is certainly wicked enough. To break its restrictions, one needs the vital essence or flesh and blood of the person who cast the curse. The flesh is obviously impossible to recover. But in the remains of this ancient cultivator who entered death meditation, there should still be some residual vital essence." Marquis Nanlong spoke in a deep voice, then opened his mouth and spat out his golden flying sword.
Reaching toward the skeleton with an empty hand, he grasped at the air, and the bones immediately rose off the ground, floating to a height of roughly five or six zhang.
Marquis Nanlong flicked his finger, and a streak of white magical light shot forward, striking the small sword that hovered motionless before his chest.
With a resonant hum, the small sword trembled, and from its tip suddenly erupted a blinding burst of sword light.
Brilliantly golden, dazzling beyond measure!
The sword light grew brighter and brighter, condensing into a sphere of golden radiance.
After a moment, the sphere detached from the sword and shot outward, slamming into the floating skeleton before detonating in a brilliant explosion.
Countless razor-sharp streaks of sword qi crisscrossed through the air, engulfing the entire skeleton in an instant. In the blink of an eye, bone powder of roughly uniform grain began drifting down from the fading light like grains of sand.
A sharp gleam flashed through Marquis Nanlong's eyes. He swept his sleeve, and a torrent of golden luminous light surged forth, gathering up every last grain of the translucent bone dust without leaving a single particle behind.
The golden sword light in the air gradually faded away.
Marquis Nanlong gazed at the translucent bone powder now gathered within the golden radiance and nodded to himself. Then he turned his head to glance at Lu Weiying beside him.
The old man naturally understood what Marquis Nanlong intended. Without hesitation, he rubbed his palms together, and a hazy white formation flag materialized between his hands.
With a light shake, a violent gale manifested out of thin air around the flag.
Marquis Nanlong then sat cross-legged, forming hand seals with both hands as a low chant escaped his lips. Streaks of multicolored magical seals flew from his hands one after another, all striking the golden radiance that enveloped the bone powder.
Propelled by these seals, the golden light began to slowly rotate and churn, carrying the powder within.
The translucent powder shimmered with various colors of spiritual light within the radiance, flickering and flashing in a dazzling display.
Meanwhile, the old man surnamed Lu made a probing attack on the stone gate.
He did not hastily deploy his formation flag. Instead, he casually raised one hand, and with a flash of red light, several fist-sized fireballs shot toward the stone gate in rapid succession.
Several muffled pops echoed through the air.
The moment the fireballs neared the gate, the blood-colored light on its surface flashed wildly before suddenly coming alive. Masses of crimson light converged toward the center, weaving and coalescing into an enormous ghostly face identical to the demon head carved on the gate — easily several meters across.
The ghostly face swallowed all the fireballs in one gulp, flickered several times, then immediately dissipated and vanished. The stone gate returned to its original state.
At this sight, the old man was inwardly alarmed. But after a moment's hesitation, he pointed the formation flag at the stone gate.
The gale that had already formed above the flag instantly transformed into a wind dragon, howling as it charged at the gate.
The ghostly face reappeared, opened its massive jaws, and sprayed out a torrent of red light that swept the wind dragon into its bloody radiance and devoured it whole. Then, even as the old man watched in mingled shock and fury, the ghostly face vanished once more.
Lu Weiying and Marquis Nanlong exchanged a glance and could only stare at each other in dismay.
"This blood-cursed gate is indeed rather peculiar. We had best follow Cangkun Shangren's method for breaking the seal and dispel it properly." Marquis Nanlong sighed and spoke slowly.
Lu Weiying stroked his chin at these words and could only nod.
Although he still possessed far more powerful means of attack, the ghostly face on this stone gate was simply too uncanny. He had no wish to try to be clever and end up botching the whole thing. Given Cangkun Shangren's immense reputation from years past, the method he had devised surely carried a considerable chance of success.
"Go!" Marquis Nanlong gave a sharp command, pointing a finger at the luminous light suspended in midair.