Jiang Zuo walked along a path that led to the edge of a cliff. A wooden bridge stretched out from the precipice.
Jiang Zuo glanced at the bridge and started toward it.
Countless monsters followed him, all of them trailing silently behind Jiang Zuo.
But the terrifying madness emanating from them had not disappeared. They could erupt at any moment.
As Jiang Zuo reached the bridge, a violent surge of Curse Power erupted from the Abyss below.
The Curse Power filling the entire space instantly intensified severalfold.
The monsters behind Jiang Zuo swelled from human-sized to three meters tall.
’Is it starting to awaken? No, someone provoked it.’
Jiang Zuo frowned. ’They’re just asking for death.’
Then, Jiang Zuo noticed other forces flowing within the curse.
These forces resembled threads or filaments, weaving through the Curse Power without any hindrance.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Zuo knew it was likely a contingency left behind by Qin Tian.
And if Qin Tian and his people were involved, then the Saintess and her party were almost certainly behind this.
Jiang Zuo just hoped Su Qi hadn’t been dragged into this suicidal mess.
With that thought, Jiang Zuo started to step onto the wooden bridge.
"Friend, please wait." Just as Jiang Zuo was about to step onto the wooden bridge, someone suddenly called out.
Jiang Zuo turned and saw two people hidden in the shadows.
They both had Tier Six Cultivation.
Jiang Zuo was quite surprised to see Tier Six Sword Cultivators here.
They were both men (judging by their chests), dressed all in black and wearing pitch-black masks.
When they saw Jiang Zuo turn to look at them, one of the two spoke again, "Friend, that bridge is no ordinary bridge.
It’s been steeped in Curse Power for countless years and has long since been corrupted. It’s basically solidified Curse Power."
Jiang Zuo watched the man expressionlessly. "You want me to take you across?"
’These two are no ordinary Tier Six cultivators. Having someone to test the bridge for me should be a welcome opportunity.’
’But they were hiding perfectly well, only to suddenly jump out and warn me.’
’I don’t believe they’re that kind-hearted.’
’None of us are naive Holy Mothers, fresh on the scene. They couldn’t possibly care whether others live or die.’
’The most likely explanation is that the monsters behind me have them rattled.’
’They want to cross the bridge, and my special circumstances have given them a glimmer of hope. That’s why testing the bridge is no longer important. Siding with me gives them a slim chance of crossing.’
’That’s reason enough for them to speak up. It’s no loss to them, anyway.’
’The wooden bridge is the material essence of the curse. Even as Tier Six Sword Cultivators, they wouldn’t dare tread on it lightly.’
And flying over is even more impossible—this place has a No-Fly Array. (For some reason, high-level places always love having No-Fly Arrays. But then, they can’t actually stop Entering Dao Level experts, and the people who set them up are above the Entering Dao Level themselves. Anyone who isn’t at the Entering Dao Level would be killed with a single glare, so what’s the point of a No-Fly Array anyway?).
The two of them didn’t deny it in the slightest.
The man said, "Do you have a way, friend? If so, we’re willing to pay a suitable price."
Jiang Zuo turned to walk away. "Not interested."
Then, Jiang Zuo stepped onto the wooden bridge.
The two of them watched Jiang Zuo, looking like they wanted to speak but holding back. In the end, they remained silent and didn’t make a move.
Everything about this person was strange, and they had a mission to complete. It wasn’t a good time to cause trouble.
"What do we do?" asked the person who had been silent until now. The voice was female.
The man said, "Let’s follow."
But as they moved to follow in Jiang Zuo’s footsteps, they were shocked to find that while he stepped on solid planks, the moment his foot lifted, the plank he had just been on would instantly vaporize.
The Curse Power had been activated. Getting entangled in it would be an unmitigated disaster.
The two stopped in their tracks. Forget the fact that there were no planks—even if there were, they wouldn’t dare step on them now.
They were now even more awestruck by Jiang Zuo, unable to comprehend who this man was or what his level of Cultivation might be.
Jiang Zuo continued step by step across the planks, walking all the way to the other side of the bridge.
The moment he successfully set foot on the opposite cliff, the bridge behind him vanished completely, and the Curse Power transformed into a swarm of monsters.
These monsters floated in the air, silently trailing after Jiang Zuo.
The two people on the other side of the cliff grew more alarmed the longer they watched. This person was definitely not someone they could afford to provoke; those monsters alone were enough to be their undoing.
Just then, they heard a voice call over from the opposite side. "I’m curious about something. This No-Fly Array, it just means you can’t fly too high, doesn’t it?
So a short jump shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Can’t you just jump across?"
The voice was Jiang Zuo’s.
It wasn’t that Jiang Zuo wanted to help them. He was simply curious if the so-called No-Fly Array also restricted jumping.
The No-Fly Array here restricted altitude and Aerial Ability.
’So jumping shouldn’t count as using an Aerial Ability, right?’
Hearing Jiang Zuo’s words, the two of them froze.
With their Tier Six physiques, making the jump was no problem at all.
But was it possible to jump across?
"Let’s try it," the man said. "We can’t delay any longer."
"You first, or me?" the woman asked.
"Ladies first," the man said.
"..." In the end, the woman said, "Equality of the sexes. Let’s go together."
The man agreed.
The two of them went to the edge of the cliff. The woman said, "I’ll count to three, then we jump together."
"One, two, three, jump."
And the man leaped out.
The woman just watched him coldly as he leaped.
The man landed on the other side. Seeing that the woman hadn’t jumped, he wasn’t angry.
Instead, he said softly, "You know, I have a feeling something is watching this place. A bug like this is likely to get patched.
The first time, it’s a bug. The second time, it might not be."
After speaking, he stared coldly at the woman, waiting for her to make the jump.
The woman: "..."
Jiang Zuo found this amusing. The man had been tricked, yet he was turning it around to put pressure on the woman.
Indeed, someone who didn’t understand the situation would find it impossible to be sure.
After that, Jiang Zuo left.
He felt he was getting close.
————
As the Curse Power erupted within, the outside world was affected as well.
The first place to be impacted was the palace on the mountaintop.
Xueyu had only just scrambled out of the palace when a great wave of Curse Power rushed up.
If someone outside hadn’t pulled her away at the last second, she might have been stuck struggling inside for who knows how much longer.
However, even Chen An and the others outside were forced to retreat a good distance. The Curse Power here had far exceeded their comprehension.
If not for Jiang Zuo being inside, they might have already fled.
He was a powerful senior; to run off blindly would be to lose a powerful patron.
With the eruption here, the Curse Power at the foot of the mountain also flared up. Su Qi was thrown back a great distance. Only after she grew accustomed to the miasma of misfortune could she press forward again, but if things continued like this, she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
But she still hadn’t found her senior and junior martial sisters, so she couldn’t retreat.