The skeletons were now steadily drawing closer to Jiang Zuo, who was busy carving an array around the pit.
Jiang Zuo wasn’t carving quickly. He would add extra components from time to time.
By this point, the pit was already very deep. After all, these people were no ordinary individuals.
They were no good at fighting skeletons, but digging a pit was certainly no problem for them.
And it was a pit that went straight down.
At that moment, Swordsman Beitian flew out and said to Jiang Zuo, "Fellow Daoist, the pit is already very deep."
Without even looking up, Jiang Zuo said, "Keep digging."
Swordsman Beitian added, "I think it’s deep enough to bury those skeletons."
Jiang Zuo looked at Swordsman Beitian in surprise. "Who said this was for burying skeletons? If even you, someone I’ve already defeated, could get out of the pit, what makes you think they couldn’t?"
Jiang Zuo’s words were utterly merciless.
Swordsman Beitian stared blankly at Jiang Zuo. ’How many years has it been since someone lectured me like this?’
Not even his senior sister would dare to lecture him like that, and she certainly didn’t have his best interests at heart.
But this man, Po Xiao, was genuinely just lecturing him.
He found himself actually missing the feeling.
At that point, Jiang Zuo resumed carving the array and added, "Keep digging."
"Alright," Swordsman Beitian replied instinctively.
Even he found his own response baffling. For some reason, he could see the image of a great elder in Jiang Zuo.
Without another thought, Swordsman Beitian went straight back to digging the pit.
Meanwhile, Jiang Zuo glanced up at the skeletons. They were already very close. In less than two minutes, they would likely sense him and attack.
He still had a bit of the array left to finish, so things were getting tight.
However, Jiang Zuo wasn’t concerned and continued carving with a steady hand.
A little over a minute later, Swordsman Beitian emerged again. By now, the skeletons were practically on top of them. If the horde swarmed them, they would all surely die here, with absolutely no chance of survival.
For a split second, he actually felt the urge to flee.
Gazing at the army of skeletons, Swordsman Beitian was reminded of how he felt before he began his Cultivation, back when he looked upon his master.
Powerlessness. A profound sense of powerlessness.
He didn’t even dare to harbor the thought of resisting.
Just as fear began to take root in his heart, Jiang Zuo suddenly spoke up, "Pay them no mind. And to think that you, a Sword Cultivator, would actually feel fear.
A Sword Cultivator ought to be relentless, always pressing forward. The world may throw countless tribulations at you, but you need only cut them all down with your sword."
Swordsman Beitian gave a bitter smile. He lacked that kind of mettle. Perhaps that was why he had never been able to master the Northern Celestial Seven Swords.
At that, Swordsman Beitian looked at Jiang Zuo and asked, "Aren’t you afraid, Fellow Daoist Po Xiao?"
Jiang Zuo continued carving the array, replying casually, "Afraid of what?"
"Those skeletons are about to arrive. The moment they do, won’t we all be torn to shreds? Aren’t you worried, Fellow Daoist?" Swordsman Beitian asked.
Jiang Zuo turned to Swordsman Beitian and asked, "Will being afraid keep you safe?"
Swordsman Beitian shook his head. "No."
"Then why be afraid? I still have my blade, and my body can still move. On what grounds should I fear a bunch of dead things?" Jiang Zuo explained casually, lowering his head to continue carving the array.
Swordsman Beitian frowned. "But..."
"But you’re afraid to die. You don’t fear what’s in front of you; you fear the outcome. You fear death," Jiang Zuo stated.
Swordsman Beitian was stunned.
Yes, he feared death.
’Can a thing like that even be overcome?’
Jiang Zuo didn’t know if others could overcome it, but he himself had never given death a thought.
Nor had he ever feared it.
The one he feared was Su Qi.
’Compared to Su Qi, what did these things even matter?’
By now, the skeletons were close. They had even noticed Jiang Zuo. They began to move.
Swordsman Beitian said in a panic, "Fellow Daoist, I’ll go buy you some time."
Still carving the array, Jiang Zuo said, "No need."
"But..."
But just then, several Bone Sabers slashed toward Jiang Zuo. It was already too late for Swordsman Beitian to do anything.
Yet Jiang Zuo didn’t even raise his head. Just as the Bone Sabers were a hair’s breadth away from him, the array lit up, and Jiang Zuo pulled his hand back.
The array was complete.
And the Bone Sabers froze completely in that instant.
’Now *that* was what you call a close shave.’
Swordsman Beitian felt like he had just witnessed it firsthand.
He realized that on this one trip out, he had already seen so much.
And Po Xiao was the most shocking existence of all.
Without so much as lifting his head or glancing at the skeletons behind him, Jiang Zuo got up, walked over to Swordsman Beitian, and said, "Let’s go."
Only then did Swordsman Beitian snap back to his senses.
He was a little surprised. ’Was Po Xiao really not concerned in the slightest just now?’
If he had been a single step too slow, it would have meant his death.
’Is this man confident or just arrogant?’
But seeing Po Xiao’s perfectly calm expression, he knew: this man was supremely confident.
As a Tier Six cultivator, he lacked this kind of composure. This was the bearing of the truly strong.
"You really don’t know there’s always someone better out there until you leave home," Swordsman Beitian said with a self-deprecating laugh.
In his youth, he had been so full of vigor and high spirits.
Now, his Cultivation was higher, but his original passion was gone.
’Maybe that’s why I can never understand what the Dao is.’
That’s right. If he couldn’t comprehend the Northern Celestial Seven Swords, he had no hope of reaching Tier Seven, let alone Entering Dao.
It was all too distant.
In the end, he followed Jiang Zuo and jumped into the massive pit.
’In any case, I have to try. Maybe I really can master it?’
When Jiang Zuo reached the bottom of the pit, the others were still digging. There was just no end in sight.
As for the excavated earth, it was all being compressed into a ball and then smashed into the wall of the pit.
Seeing Jiang Zuo descend, Daoist Crazy Python immediately asked, "Fellow Daoist, have the skeletons been dealt with?"
Jiang Zuo nodded. "They’re not a problem for now. Keep digging."
Hearing Jiang Zuo’s words, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
When they found out the pit wasn’t for burying the skeletons, they had been worried for quite some time. If the skeletons were to swarm in, they wouldn’t have enough lives to spare.
Now, seeing that the skeletons weren’t coming down, their anxious hearts could finally rest.
Still, they looked up from time to time, afraid a stray skeleton might suddenly drop down.
Jiang Zuo believed that since this place was stuck in the middle of the Land of the Dead, there was definitely no way out to the sides. The only path was straight down—dig through this layer and enter the next pocket dimension.
******
「In the Holy Land」
Su Qi and the others’ marks began to flash. They had been trying for a long time and were on the verge of success.
At that moment, Su Qi’s mark began to flash rapidly, followed by Qing Lian’s mark, which started flashing at the same frequency.
Then, the marks of Xueyu, Yiruo, and Xiaoxiao—all of them—began to flicker in unison.
Then, in an instant, the marks of all five women achieved resonance, and a peculiar sensation enveloped them.
Then they understood. They had synchronized. The perception of their marks was synchronized at that very moment.
But not long after they synchronized, the grayed-out name of Ye Zi on their list also flickered for a moment.
But that single flicker instantly disrupted the resonance between Su Qi and the others.
The resonance failed.
Yet, at the very instant their resonance failed, Jiang Zuo suddenly whipped his head around.
In that instant, he had felt a Summoning.
’There’s something there. Something I need to go see.’
’Something incredibly important.’
’The kind of thing I absolutely must go to.’