Chapter 1237: Lifespan
“I remember now!” Kong Wen smacked his thigh and said, “Pavilion Master’s words are similar to what I’ve read!”
Little Yuan’er rolled her eyes. “Can you lower your voice? You scared me!”
“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” In Kong Wen’s eyes, Lu Zhou was growing even more powerful.
“These fatal points are like the Birth Charts of cultivators. You have to destroy all the fatal points before you can kill them. Look there are patterns here. It’s as master has said; there are vague marks every three inches…” Mingshi Yin said as he used his Separation Hook to move the Void Chest tribesman’s arms up to reveal his armpit.
Everyone saw four small vague circles under the Void Chest tribesman’s armpit. The sizes were not regular, but they were all within three inches of each other.
“Amazing! Mr. Fourth, you’re really astute!” Kong Wen said as he cupped his fists together at Mingshi Yin.
“It’s nothing. I’m a knowledgeable person, after all,” Mingshi Yin said as he patted Kong Wen’s shoulder. Then, he pointed at Kong Wen and said, “I noticed that you’re rather interesting. I like honest people like you the most. Do you want to see my weapon? It’s called the Separation Hook. With the help of the Sky Martial Academy, it had been forged with three fire spirit stones for 15 days. It’s been purified with fire and forged with 300 kilograms of refined iron. What do you think? Don’t you think it’s beautiful?”
“Indeed, it’s beautiful!” Kong Wen exclaimed.
“Look at the patterns? Don’t they look cool? Look here. The hook’s blade is the essence of the hook! You can touch it…”
“…”
Everyone shook their heads speechlessly. Mingshi Yin was showing off again.
At this time, Gore, the last Void Tribesman, asked fearfully, “W-who are you?”
Lu Zhou looked down at Gore who was lying on the ground and said, “This isn’t where you should be…”
“Why?”
“The time flow in Transient City is much faster compared to the outside world. You don’t have Birth Charts so if you continue staying here, you won’t live long,” Lu Zhou said.
Gore’s words seemed to be stuck in his throat. After a while, he finally said, seemingly resigned to his fate, “Is that so…”
Lu Zhou asked, “How long have you been here?”
Gore did not respond to Lu Zhou’s question. He could feel his life draining out of him, and the speed was getting faster and faster as well. Green blood was flowing out of his fatal points.
“Aren’t you going to answer my questions?” Lu Zhou looked at Gore.
There were definitely more Void Chest tribesmen in Transient City.
“3… 300 years ago…” Gore replied.
“300 years ago… There’s no reason you’re unaware of this. It seems like in order to improve your cultivation, you’re willing to sacrifice your lifespans…” Lu Zhou said.
As the saying went, ‘Fortune favors the bold’.
There were many kinds of people in this world; some would spend money to buy lives while some would use their lives to earn money.
At this moment, Gore’s eyes widened suddenly as blood flowed out even more rapidly than before from his fatal points. Following that, he stiffened before he crumbled.
“Ding! Killed a Thousand Realms Whirling Void Chest Tribesman. Reward: 3, 500 merit points. Domain bonus: 1,500 merit points. Species bonus: 1,000 merit points.”
Lu Zhou checked his merit points.
Remaining merit points: 111,760
“He died just like that?” Little Yuan’er walked over timidly. Still feeling a bit disgusted, she ran to the back again.
“Continue moving forward,” Lu Zhou said.
Everyone followed Lu Zhou and made their way to the depths of Transient City.
As they ventured further into the city, they saw towering ancient trees with exaggerated branches and vines and skeletons scattered all over the place.
The fierce beasts that occasionally fled past them were much larger compared to the ones outside as well.
…
At the same time, four people arrived at the other side of Transient City. All of them were old men with white hair. Two of them were dressed in gray robes, and the other two were dressed in black robes.
“We’ve arrived at Transient City.”
The other three old men nodded and looked at Transient City.
“120,000 years ago, Transient City was the holy land of cultivation in the Unknown Land. Every year, many cultivators would come here to train and increase their strength. Every 30,000 years, before the Great Void Seed matured, Transient City would be even livelier. Now, there aren’t too many people who would come to Transient City…”
“Let’s be careful and avoid the powerful fierce beasts.”
“That’ll depend on how strong the fierce beasts are. If they’re weaker than beast emperors, we can take them down. During our journey here, we encountered so many beast kings that my hands have already begun to itch…”
The four elders chuckled. However, after a moment, they sighed.
“To think that someone managed to destroy Venerable Master Ye’s Birth Chart… If he didn’t manage to escape in time, I’m afraid the Ye clan would’ve lost its light. Our mission this time is of utmost importance…”
“Ye Zheng has always been stubborn and unwilling to listen to our advice. I hope that the deaths of the 36 disciples and the destruction of the 36 Big Dipper Flag Formation will teach him a lesson…”
“Let’s just focus on the Pillar of Impermanence for now.”
“I have a sacred object here that has 5,000 years of life. It should be enough to take out the Pillar of Impermanence.”
“Alright.”
The four elders nodded before they rushed into the darkness toward the Pillar of Impermanence.
…
Although Lu Zhou and the others did not move particularly past, it did not take long before they entered the depths of Transient City. During their journey, they did not meet any other Void Chest tribesmen.
As they moved deeper and deeper into the city, Lu Zhou suddenly raised his hand and said, “Stop.”
Everyone was puzzled.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
“The flow of time has increased,” Lu Zhou said. He looked at his lifespan on the system interface and discovered it would decrease by a day every once in a while.
The difference of one or two days was very difficult for most people to detect. After all, all of them had long lives.
“The time is flowing faster?” Ming Shiyin ran out before he smacked his hand on the ground.
Vines began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Then, Mingshi Yin retreated further back before he grew the vines again to check their growth rate. It was really a beat slower.
Mingshi Yin frowned. “Master, the flow of time…”
“Only Venerable Masters can control the flow of time. Slowing down and speeding up time are the power of the Dao. Transient City is absorbing our lifespans…”
“Absorbing our lifespan?”
Everyone was surprised.
Little Yuan’er hurriedly touched her cheek. Fortunately, everything felt normal. She patted her chest, trying to calm down. It would not be ideal if she had aged.
“This Transient City… It’s very aptly named…”
“In fact, this place didn’t have a name. Due to its characteristic, the human cultivators who came here named it as such…”
Mingshi Yin pointed up ahead and said, “If we go any further, the absorption rate would double. Master, what should we do now?”
‘This is like a dead end. Going in is no different from suicide…’ Lu Zhou stroked his beard as he fell deep into his thoughts. The loss of some years was not completely unacceptable; great opportunities would come with sacrifices.