Volcanic Age

Ayaaaaa!

The two had no time to greet each other, as the roars echoing from all over the place forced them to raise their guards.

Zhou Xuchuan bent his knees and kicked off the ground.

"Stop him!" the High Priest shouted from the top of the temple.

Ten cannibalistic tribesmen responded to the order and rushed to block Zhou Xuchuan's path.

"Roaaar!" Zhou Xuchuan roared like a beast. It wasn't just a simple shout; he had imbued his voice with qi.

The ten cannibalistic tribesmen stopped at the same time. Their pupils dilated, and their muscles quivered; their bodies refused to listen to their instructions as if they had encountered something utterly terrifying.

"Two!" Zhou Xuchuan passed down a death sentence. He rushed to the tribesmen and swung his sword twice.

Swish!

A gust of wind was generated, and the cannibalistic tribesmen managed to come to their senses and raise their Jungle Blades to block.

Clang!

When Zhou Xuchuan's sword collided with their blades, however, they were cut cleanly like water, even though they were the thick and sturdy Jungle Blades of the Southern Jungles.

The cannibalistic tribesmen stared wide-eyed in shock, and their shrunken pupils reflected Zhou Xuchuan's sword aura.

"Ah!" a cannibalistic tribesman screamed and died. Immediately afterward, their weapons were cut cleanly into two as their bodies struck the ground.

It wasn't just a single cannibalistic tribesman; two of them had died at Zhou Xuchuan's hands. It happened so quickly that the others were too stunned to respond.

"A monster!"

The ten cannibalistic tribesmen had been reduced to eight, and the remaining eight cannibalistic tribesmen were in disbelief.

However, Zhou Xuchuan couldn't care less about their feelings.

He quietly moved forward and continued on his hunt.

"Surround him!" one of the cannibalistic tribesmen exclaimed. They had been making fun of their enemy just a few moments ago, but now, they were forced to change their tactics.

They were sweating from the palpable tension in the air.

Whoosh!

The eight cannibalistic tribesmen moved quickly. There was no such thing as a one-on-one duel here. They could feel an impending crisis, and it forced them to set out on their hunt.

"Kill him!"

The eight people divided into four groups of two and attacked Zhou Xuchuan.

Poison needles flew in from all directions, and they were followed by the cannibalistic tribesmen holding their own Jungle Blade with thick bloodlust radiating from their eyes.

"Ha!" Zhou Xuchuan shouted. His voice was so loud that it tore through the air, but Zhou Xuchuan hadn't changed the flow of the air nor created a gust of wind by shouting, as those were the domain of sonic arts.

Instead, he took to the air, avoiding the poison needles.

The poison needles collided with each other right where he had just been standing.

He fell for it!

Stupid bastard!

The cannibalistic tribesmen smiled in satisfaction.

The poison needles had been a trap; it was a trap to force Zhou Xuchuan into jumping.

Humans were incapable of flight, so their actions were bound to be restricted in midair. The cannibalistic tribesmen waited for the apex of Zhou Xuchuan's jump—just as he began falling—before swinging their Jungle Blades at him.

Shing!

The air was torn apart, and a screeching noise echoed as the Jungle Blades cut through the air itself. Their target was the man stuck in midair, Zhou Xuchuan.

They closed in from all directions, leaving Zhou Xuchuan with no room to escape.

They got as close as possible to ensure that Zhou Xuchuan wouldn't be able to make any maneuvers in midair.

To make matters worse, they filled the air with their saber qi. Even if they were to miss and create an opening, they believed that Zhou Xuchuan would still be cleaved open by the saber qi around their blades.

However, their expectations were shattered the next moment.

Sword Drill!

There weren't many techniques in the Ten-Thousand Jin Sword Art. The Ten-Thousand Jin Sword was a simple sword art that focused only on increasing the weight of one's sword.

The simpleness of the technique, however, didn't mean that the sword art had no sword techniques whatsoever. It had a few sword techniques, and one of them could only be used once one reached the fifth stage of the sword art.

Sword Drill.

One had to hold the sword with both hands and then point it at the ground. In addition to leveraging one's physical prowess to unleash the technique, one also had to imbue one's sword with qi to increase its weight drastically.

Falling down from up high, the sword would draw a straight line in the air. Its descent speed would increase rapidly as the sword became heavier and heavier in midair.

In the end, it would move so fast that rather than falling; it would seem like it was teleporting toward its destination.

Swish.

"Ah!" the cannibalistic tribesmen gasped in surprise. They received no feedback from the saber in their hands. Their Jungle Blade had cut nothing but empty space.

How could this be?!

Their attacks struck nothing but thin air; they didn't even graze Zhou Xuchuan's collar. Unfortunately, they had used all of their strength, so the consequences of missing their target were massive.

Before they could recover from their missed swing, an explosion occurred, leaving them reeling.

BOOOM!

The sword imbued with an incalculable amount of weight pierced the ground, and it embedded in the ground as if it were a drill[1].

Actually, it hadn't just pierced the ground. It shattered the ground completely.

Pebbles and rocks were gouged out of the earth as it seemed to have been flipped over by the devastating attack. Among the debris was a sharp rock. It took to the air and pierced the chest of a nearby cannibalistic tribesman.

"Argh!"

Red blood spurted out of his mouth. The cannibalistic tribesmen standing right next to him were at a loss for what to do next, and they panicked. Unable to see the debris flying toward them, the debris easily pierced them.

Shwik, shwik, shwik!

The dense muscles of the cannibalistic tribesmen proved useless against the debris propelled at unbelievable speeds. They dug into the cannibalistic tribesmen's muscles and punctured the organs underneath.

"Agk!"

"Agh!!"

The cannibalistic tribesmen screamed and dropped to the ground. The four who dared to approach Zhou Xuchuan were all killed by the debris from the shockwave.

"Six!" Zhou Xuchuan counted.[2] It was a call from the herald of death.

Thud!

Zhou Xuchuan's leg swelled as energy burst out of his Yongquan acupoint. The next moment, he disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a streak of light coming from his eyes.

No!

The cannibalistic tribesmen who were responsible for the poison needles earlier felt a deep sense of foreboding. They hurriedly attempted to grab the Jungle Blade at their waists, but Zhou Xuchuan had no plans of letting them make a move.

Zhou Xuchuan moving at high speeds drew a splendid sword line in the air.

"Agk!"

"Ugh!"

The cannibalistic tribesmen barely managed to hold onto their lives earlier, and they finally fell without being able to touch their sabers.

Zhou Xuchuan made quick work of eight cannibalistic tribesmen, taking their lives in less than a few moments. The battlefield was clear of any enemies in the proverbial blink of an eye.

"Cough, cough. Everything else is fine, but you're all too noisy."

Zhou Xuchuan casually emerged from the dust that had billowed out from his movements.

Duan Hecheng had no idea what to say. His jaw dropped wide open, and he let out a dumbfounded noise. "Hweh?"

"The Plum Blossom Order Sword!"

"He truly deserves his title…"

The disciples of the Diancang Sect were as shocked as Duan Hecheng. They were rendered speechless and left astonished by Zhou Xuchuan's god-like power.

The cannibalistic tribesmen who had been harassing them until recently weren't enemies that could be defeated so easily. As if he were mocking them, however, Zhou Xuchuan made quick work of those cannibalistic tribesmen.

I never thought I'd receive his help again.

Duan Hecheng recalled the time he spent in the Poisonblood Valley.

At the time, he had lost hope and had fallen into despair, but he had appeared like a hero and saved his life. Duan Hecheng would never forget Zhou Xuchuan's kindness on that fateful day.

"Are you okay?" Zhou Xuchuan asked, walking up to the Diancang Sect disciples. He swung his sword, and the iron bars were cut cleanly, falling to the ground with a loud noise.

Duan Hecheng emerged and greeted him with sincerity. "To think I'd end up owing you my life again. Thank you very much."

"It's been a while. I'd like to chat with you, but unfortunately, we don't have the time to do that. Can you help?"

"We'd like to help, but our qi is still being suppressed by the Qi Dispersion Poison. I'm sorry for the trouble."

"It should be fine. I brought poison masters with me," Zhou Xuchuan replied calmly. He then turned around nonchalantly to face the Tang Family members in the distance and called out, "Over here! We need detoxification over here!"

"Are you kidding me?" Tang Hui gnashed her teeth. Drenched in blood, she and the others barely managed to shatter the cannibalistic tribesmen's encirclement.

Zhou Xuchuan had drawn a big chunk of the attention through his rampage, but he hadn't contained all of the chaos. The Tang Family had to fight their way through the encirclement.

"It's the Tang Family!"

"Thank the heavens!"

"We're saved!"

The complexions of the Diancang Sect disciples brightened upon seeing the members of the Tang Family.

Meanwhile, at the top of the temple.

The High Priest standing in front of the marble altar trembled. He had witnessed Zhou Xuchuan's carnage from beginning to end.

He was trembling not because of fear but because of fury. He was so furious that his figure quivered at the rage that exceeded his limits. His blood pressure rose, and his eyes widened like saucers.

Crack!

His staff, made of human bones, fractured. His bone necklace also trembled along with his figure.

"How dare…" The High Priest's anger boiled like lava. Seemingly responding to his rage, a dark haze rose from beneath him and spread throughout the floor.

This is serious.

The High Priest is enraged.

The High Priest's guards swallowed mouthfuls of their own saliva as they trembled like frightened children.

"Useless things!" the High Priest shouted, and his majestic voice boomed throughout the vast Southern Jungles. The cannibalistic tribesmen reacted to his anger by flinching and dropping down to one knee with fearful faces.

"Was allowing them to interfere with the sacred ritual not enough? You actually let the prey escape as well? You useless buffoons!" the High Priest roared. The fury that pervaded his head was so intense that he couldn't calm down at all.

He cursed and pointed out his warriors' incompetence. However, none of the warriors of the cannibalistic tribe dared to raise their heads. Their pride had no substance here, and they were too terrified to say anything as well.

"Enough! I'll handle this myself!" A green light flickered in the High Priest's eyes. "Martial artists of the Central Plains! I will show you exactly what it means to set foot in the Southern Jungles!"

The High Priest lifted the bone staff in his right hand. His staff was six feet long and was made entirely out of human bones. The strange part was that it was pitch-black.

One wouldn't have to get close to it to find it unsettling; it wasn't just unsettling, as the sight of it alone was enough to stimulate a keen sense of disgust that would make just about anyone out there feel extremely uncomfortable.

Shing!

An ominous light emanated from the skull at the tip of the staff.

The ominous light spread and engulfed the temple.

"A-a-argh!!!"

"Howl!"

"Ow, ow, howl!"

The warriors of the Southern Jungle's cannibalistic tribe reacted to the light. To be exact, the patterns on their skin reacted to the ominous light.

As soon as the dark, ominous light touched them, the tattoos, which seemed to depict both letters and figures, squirmed like earthworms.

It was truly a bizarre phenomenon.

"Argh!"

"Urgh!"

They were no longer letting out peculiar roars. Instead, they howled agitatedly as if they had lost their minds.

Rumble!

There wasn't any earthquake, but both heaven and earth were trembling. To be more specific, the air, which was between heaven and earth, was trembling. Once about a hundred and fifty cannibalistic tribesmen were engulfed, the ominous light that had inundated the temple finally came to a halt.

The martial artists of the Central Plains were startled by the bizarre phenomenon.

"Ah! What a bizarre sight that was!"

They all wondered how a mere human managed to do something as bizarre as that sight just now.

Tang Lian couldn't keep his mouth shut, and he was as shocked as the rest.

As expected of the Southern Jungles' sorcery.[3]

Zhou Xuchuan was a bit surprised as well, but he had long gotten used to such sights, as the Dark Heavens Association had openly used such sorcery during the war.

Of course, it was his first time witnessing sorcery at such a scale.

It seemed that the High Priest's sorcery was truly beyond imagination.

"Be careful! They've lost all their emotions and are impervious to fear!" Zhou Xuchuan exclaimed. The books he had read about the Southern Jungles all had detailed explanations about the major tribes, including the cannibalistic tribe.

The effects of their sorcery were also written in the book.

"They most likely won't feel pain, either, so they're going to trade blow for blow, so be careful, and don't let your guard down!" Zhou Xuchuan added.

"Are you perhaps… secretly a part of the Southern Jungles?" Tang Hui asked, sounding dumbfounded. She had just detoxified the Qi Dispersion Poison coursing through the veins of the Diancang Sect disciples.

"This is why you should regularly read many different books," Zhou Xuchuan retorted and faced the hundred and fifty cannibalistic tribesmen.

There was a huge difference between their numbers.

"Thank you, Poison Phoenix," Duan Hecheng said, and his eyes sharpened.

The Diancang Sect's disciples had finally been detoxified of the poison within them, and they showed extraordinary grit at the sight of so many cannibalistic tribesmen.

I heard that the Diancang Sect possesses extraordinary strength, but this is just… Tang Lian remarked inwardly as he glanced at Duan Hecheng and the Diancang Sect's disciples in admiration.

The Qi Dispersion Poison had been plaguing them until now, so their senses ought to have been dull, but the sharp glimmer in their eyes made it seem as if they weren't affected by the Qi Dispersion Poison at all.

"Enemy. A hundred and fifty."

Duan Hecheng received an iron sword from a Tang Family warrior.

"Friendlies. Sixty."

Zhou Xuchuan adjusted his sword and smiled faintly. "There are a bit too few…"

There was a brief silence.

Then, as if they had planned it in advance, Zhou Xuchuan and Duan Hecheng opened their mouths at the same time.

"A bit too few enemies, that is…"

1. The other translation for 추 is awl. We used drill here because it's more common in daily life and is easier for most English readers to visualize. ☜

2. The raws say four, but he's already killed two in this advance. ☜

3. See TL/N. ☜

Cyncoco's Thoughts

I had some free time today so I wanted to explain this a little.

Cultivation systems in the murim.

There are four major cultivation systems.

Daoist Arts (Both Righteous and Evil)

Buddhist Arts

Demonic Arts

Heretical Arts

The first three cultivation systems differ in the sense of belief systems. Daoist Arts pursue the path, Buddhist Arts pursue nirvana, and Demonic Arts pursue extremity (this requires some explanation, but that's for another day, you can just consider it as pursuing one's own ideas without allowing for one to be limited.)

Now, the Heretical Arts technically isn't one big cultivation system like the other three. It's just any art that isn't part of the orthodox arts. But also, keep in mind that what defines an art as heretical is the beholder. If the murim orthodoxy doesn't accept an art/technique as one of the other three, it gets lumped into the heretical arts, regardless of what it does or how it works. This means that there is some overlap between Demonic Arts and Heretical Arts, but that's for another day.

All that to say, the Southern Jungles tribe's art is a heretical art, and more specifically, a 주술, or literally, an incantation. However, that's more often translated as sorcery, witchcraft, or barbarian shaman arts (which is different from shaman arts). So, you'll see it described as a heretical art in the broader sense AND sorcery in the more minute sense.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cyncoco

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