Chapter 23: Awakening Ao Yin

Within a few minutes, Dong Yanlin and the rest finally got a clear look at the green dot that was tracking them. Dong Yanlin was visibly surprised once he saw it was a green swallow made of wind. He had assumed it was a living creature based on the cries it made only for it to be the machinations of someone's cultivation spell. That came as a shock to him that bordered on fright.

He was deeply worried at the moment that even Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen were able to easily notice it. Peng Zhen had a thoughtful look at the moment as he stared at the green swallow and Dong Yanlin. He waved a sign at Gui Bingwen indicating that he wait for a moment, who nodded back in response.

"A sentient cultivation spell. No core formation realm expert can do this even those at the peak. This can only be done by someone who has broken through to the palace stage. Did the order send someone at the palace stage? It doesn't add up. The Green fog swamp sect is just a fourth-rate sect and thus doesn't warrant the attention of someone at the palace stage.

Luckily I brought the Ao Yin saber which is a monarch-rank weapon. I need to take care of this fast and meet up with senior brother Shiren, only then can my safety be guaranteed, especially if a Palace stage expert is involved." Dong Yanlin silently thought to himself as he firmly gripped his bone saber.

A thin dark red gale surrounded the saber with the shade getting richer and darker resembling Dong Yanlin's dark red hair color. The small vein-like tendrils on the bone saber had protruded and were rapidly pulsating.

THUD!

Gui Bingwen fell on his knees due to the pressure Dong Yanlin was currently radiating. The ground beneath Dong Yanlin's feet had even started to cave in and crack within a certain radius around him.

Peng Zhen quickly rushed beside him and tried to help him up. Even he was struggling just to walk. He quickly pulled Gui Bingwen up as they supported each other.

Gui Bingwen was about to say something before Peng Zhen shook his head sideways indicating he remain silent as he gestured ahead toward where Dong Yanlin was.

The green swallow was already less than a hundred meters away from Dong Yanlin when he drew his saber backward and made a curving upward slash toward it. A red thick scythe-like gale was produced aiming to slice the green swallow in half.

The green swallow screeched before it produced a conical gust of wind from its beak. It was the size of a palm when it was produced but within a second it mushroomed into a massive tornado that swallowed the red scythe whole and disintegrated it into tiny bits before it dissipated completely. The tornado wind showed no signs of stopping as it charged towards Dong Yanlin and the rest, more so Dong Yanlin who didn't look too good at the moment.

His skin had gotten paler with pools of sweat filling his palms and face. He could feel an overwhelming death threat coming from the tornado that was charging toward him.

He quickly slit one of his wrists as the blood spilled covering the bone saber. The vein-like tendrils that were on the saber embedded themselves into the wrist Dong Yanlin had just slit open. They started draining his blood as the bone saber which was black at the moment turned into a dark grey almost silver color.

The tendrils continued to greedily swallow Dong Yanlin's blood who at the moment had numerous strands of white hair with his skin rapidly drying and shriveling up. Some cracks had started appearing on his hands like dried-up clay.

"This still isn't enough. I'm still too weak to fully activate it. It needs more, those two will have to do."

Dong Yanlin grimaced when he removed the tendrils from his wrist which healed almost immediately. The tendrils didn't seem to have had their fill yet as they kept trying to poke holes into Dong Yanlin's wrist every now and then.

A purple-black talisman appeared in his hands which he then pasted over the blade which seemed to have soothed it as the tendrils calmed down and reattached themselves to the saber. Dong Yanlin continued to draw a few ancient-looking symbols on the talismans with the blood left over on his palms.

A red door soon appeared over the talisman before a thick tendril the size of a large snake appeared. Unlike the other tiny tendrils on the saber which were red, this one was pitch black.

"Drain the two to your satisfaction." Dong Yanlin weakly said. Forcing open one of the seals of the saber drained his vitality, qi, and spiritual essence. The tendril as if in response to his statement charged toward the passed-out Jia Tingfeng while a part of it split and charged toward Hao Ye whose eyes had already rolled over with thousands of scratch marks all over his body.

The tendrils pierced the bodies of the two elders. Immediately Peng Zhen saw something he would never forget. Elder Jia and Elder Hao were drained of their blood till they were only a bag of bones. Their skins cracked apart and disintegrated into sand particles that were blown away by the wind seconds later. Two late foundation stage experts had disappeared just like that.

Gui Bingwen's eyes almost pop out of their sockets with his mouth wide open stammering 'what' over and over.

Peng Zhen by his side had his whole body trembling with his fists clenched tight. A look that was filled with horror and despair overtook him with his gaze fixed on the bone saber that was now in an immaculate silver color. The tendril that had pierced Hao Ye and Jia Tingfeng disappeared along with the talisman that was pasted over the saber.

Dong Yanlin had a satisfied expression on his face as he muttered, "This should be enough."

"First awakening, Ao yin" Dong Yanlin roared as he swung the sword forward to meet the incoming tornado.

A faint silhouette of an Ao Yin appeared above the saber throwing a fist toward the tornado. Ao Yin was a fearsome bloodthirsty creature that liked devouring people. It had the appearance of a bull that stood on its two hind legs and had human-like hands. It had a massive build almost 20 meters in height and a body that seemed like 10 bulls had been stacked together. It had four horns with eyes that looked like a leech's sucker. Since it was faint, not much color could be seen it was light grey like smoke.

The Ao Yin silhouette roared and punched forward as Dong Yanlin slashed forwards. The tornado and the fist clashed creating a thunderous explosion that blew Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen a few meters away. Air was knocked out of their lungs from the impact of the clash. Their robes were in tatters with numerous wounds all over their body.

Gui Bingwen weakly struggled to get up and he ended up vomiting blood.

"Gui, are you okay?" Peng Zhen weakly said as he moved over to help Gui Bingwen. He too wasn't in the best of shape. He had a few deep cuts on his torso and he was bleeding from his ears.

"I feel like my internal organs have been shifted from that explosion. Peng, we may be in out of our heads here," Gui Bingwen pitifully said with trembling in his voice as he fearfully stared at the massive crater ahead of him that was filled with a cloud of dust and wind.

"Dong Yanlin hid his abilities well. I didn't think he'd have a trump card this powerful."

Peng Zhen sighed as he passed some pills over to Gui Bingwen while he swallowed some himself. Their wounds started closing up, albeit at a slow pace.

"I hope the person the Order sent is capable. They may be our only hope out of this in case our measures fail.." Peng Zhen added with Gui Bingwen remaining silent as he stared at the aftermath that was clearing up.

Dong Yanlin was heaving up and down as he looked ahead. His pupils shrank in horror as he saw the green swallow unharmed with a concave green windshield at the front of it that had a nondescript glowing faint mark on it.

It screeched again, however, this time it didn't attack Dong Yanlin but instead rapidly flew up. Soon two other similar screeching sounds were heard as two small green dots rapidly moved toward where the green swallow had flown.

"THERE ARE TWO MORE!!!!!? Just one has pushed the first seal to this state. No, I need to get out of here. I already got half of what I came for," Dong Yanlin madly yelled with trembling in his voice.

His earlier confident look was completely shattered. The silhouette of Ao Yin was a bit fainter than before. The energy used to summon it from sacrificing the two elders had been partially drained by the earlier attack. It had enough reserves for two more attacks.

Dong Yanlin couldn't risk using his blood as a source of energy again. The weapon would end up swallowing him. He did have some measures to prevent that from happening but it was not a complete guarantee they would fully work.

The Ao Yin saber was a spiritual weapon, and it was not his, thus he could not exert full control over it. It was his master's. Every time he continued to draw more of its power, the more he was at risk that the saber would turn on him. It was a bloodthirsty weapon that would easily turn on anyone except its master, making its handling very difficult for Dong Yanlin. The more he used it, the more risky it was for him.

Dong Yanlin quickly turned to run away when he saw Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen together. An unconcealed killing intent was produced by him. With how things were turning he couldn't afford to bring them both along, for the secrecy of everything that had happened especially revealing the saber, it was better to kill them both, even though Dong Yanlin felt it was a shame to kill them, especially Peng Zhen.

Peng Zhen may be old but Dong Yanlin admired his spirit. With sufficient support from his organization, he was sure they could help him break through to the core formation realm. He would be a sufficient addition of manpower to their organization and they wouldn't have to worry about his betrayal due to the curse poison embedded in his dantian.

It would take the skills of a palace stage expert to remove it but not just any cultivator but one skilled in cultivation techniques aligned with the wood, water, or lightning element. What were the odds Peng Zhen would gain the services of such an expert?

Dong Yanlin hesitated for only a second before he charged at them with his left free palm.

"Death fang." Dong Yanlin said as his hand curved into two fangs with a black ashy shadow enveloping his whole hand.

"Gui. NOW!!!!!" Peng Zhen yelled as he pulled what looked like a smooth green-white bark from his storage ring.