Chapter 717 – The Woman in The Purple Dress

Using the Soul Swallowing Gaze, Long Chen avoided everyone and directly headed for the center of the Iron City. The nearer he got, the clearer he could see the Martial God Tombstone.

He assumed he was headed in the right direction. Long Chen looked past layers and layers of iron buildings to see the Martial God Tombstone, which was like a huge, black, stone slab. It was covered in spots of rust and looked greatly weathered. Ripples of black light flowed on its surface. Since Long Chen was coming from the back, he could not see what was so special about it. The only thing that shocked him with the ancient feeling it gave him, as well as the martial aura it emitted. Even though this was not its front face, its mighty power was enough to give Long Chen a strong psychological impact!

Long Chen had a feeling that his cultivation would progress greatly if he could get the Martial God Tombstone. He was only at the Fourth Earthly Martial Stage, and that was too weak compared to the people around him.

However, there were Seven Earthly Martial Stage cultivators guarding the Martial God Tombstone. How would he be able to get it?

Seventh Earthly Martial Stage cultivators were no joke.

Long Chen approached quickly but could not progress any further when he was about three hundred meters away from the Martial God Tombstone. At least thirty Wind clan members were stationed there, and most of them were at the Seventh Earthly Martial Stage, or at least at the Sixth. He could see them all through his Soul Swallowing Gaze.

He guessed that the Nine Great Clans only allowed members at the Sixth Earthly Martial Stage or above to come to the Ancient Graveyard. Those at the Seventh Earthly Martial Stage were the stronger ones while those at the Eighth Earthly Martial Stage and above were considered masters. The gaps between cultivation levels increased with each level.

All of them were from the Wind clan. They had set a boundary three hundred meters away from the Martial God Tombstone. No non-Wind clan members were allowed to approach, or they would be killed instantly. This area was tightly surveilled, so even if Long Chen had not killed Feng Xuan, they would kill him if he approached!

He quietly hid in an obscure corner and observed them with the Soul Swallowing Gaze. Finally, he detected a familiar aura. It was the person who had killed Shao Yu. Long Chen memorized this person’s position. However, there were many people around him, so Long Chen did not have a way to kill him. The only thing he could do was wait for this person to come out on his one.

Long Chen did not know if he would have this chance.

He stealthily went around the Martial God Tombstone so that he could see its front face. He finally had the chance to look at it properly.

It was fully black and more than thirty meters tall, as well as over ten meters wide. The Wind clan members were tiny compared to it. It had likely fallen from the sky seeing as how it was standing on a broken building. It was firmly lodged in the iron ground!

Long Chen’s gaze was quickly attracted to the Martial God Tombstone now that he could see its front face.

There were over ten rows of characters on the tombstone, and each character was as large as a human head. They were directly carved on it and were written in magnificent calligraphy. Many of the characters were used during ancient times, so Long Chen did not recognize them, though that was not important. It only took a single glance for them to be deeply carved into his mind.

Based on the characters he knew, they seemed to merely be an essay describing the magnificent scenery of rivers and mountains, so he could not find anything special about it. However, for some unknown reason, his gaze was glued to it and he could not wake up for a brief moment.

Is there something special about the Martial God Tombstone? Something I need to comprehend, like the Desolate Divine Seal?

Long Chen thought to himself. He stared at it for more than two hours until his eyes tired. The ancient aura coming from the Martial God Tombstone gave him a feeling that made his blood boil.

Gradually, Long Chen discovered that the black text on the Martial God Tombstone started to twist. He knew that he was the only one seeing this happen. Other people probably saw it in its original form. From that, he understood that there was a block on the Martial God Tombstone so not everyone could understand it. One had to be at the Earthly Martial Realm or above to read it.

The faster a person could catch the strangeness of the Martial God Tombstone, the larger their potential was. Long Chen had spent two hours staring before he finally spotted changes in it. He did not know whether this was good or bad, but several other Wind clan cultivators were also secretly observing it, and based on their gazes, no one had achieved “selflessness” like Long Chen.

After the first time the characters changed, Long Chen took less time to enter this state on his next attempt.

In Long Chen’s world, the iron buildings and the Wind clansmen all disappeared. The only thing that remained was the ancient Martial God Tombstone. It was thirty meters tall, but to him, this was the only thing left in the world!

To him, the Martial God Tombstone was five hundred kilometers tall. It touched the sky! It blocked out the sun!

Standing before the Martial God Tombstone, Long Chen seemed as tiny as an ant. He looked up at it with great reverence.

Boom!

The text on the Martial God Tombstone started changing right before his eyes. It twisted until the individual lines rearranged and regrouped themselves. Long Chen watched as the characters slowly morphed into the silhouette of a person.

This person was like a shadow trapped on the Martial God Tombstone. In the beginning, it did not move. Long Chen waited anxiously until it finally did. To his surprise, the silhouette was doing a punching routine, and it was following the Earthly Martial Fist Manual!

However, the feeling it gave was different from when Long Chen did it. In fact, it was slightly different from everyone else. Although the routine was the same, the feeling it gave off was vastly different. Compared to Long Chen, its punches were much more powerful. Long Chen suddenly discovered just now much he was lacking.

As the silhouette gradually went through the motions of the Earthly Martial Fist Manual, Long Chen was completely immersed in the strange rhythm. It started from the First Earthly Martial Stage. As he watched its performance, he discovered various details he previously never noticed from almost every punch. He felt as if he had never reached the Earthly Martial Realm before and was learning from the beginning. Many of his gaps were filled as he re-learned the process.

The Martial Dao was a long and deep journey. Long Chen had only touched on a tiny sliver of it. As a result, he gained many insights from this silhouette’s demonstration.

When the silhouette’s demonstration reached the Fourth Earthly Martial Stage and Long Chen was about to welcome new learnings, a sense of mortal danger suddenly enveloped him, causing him to wake up in a panic!

He had been completely immersed in the Martial God Tombstone, forgetting about his surroundings. He was instantly drenched in cold sweat when he woke up. Being immersed in cultivation in such a dangerous place was too risky. If he was discovered, he would be in a sticky situation.

After he woke up, he sighed in relief when he realized he had not been discovered. He was only startled awake because new people had come to the Iron City.

And they were the masters of masters.

Long Chen immediately hid far away, moving from his spot close to the Martial God Tombstone until he mixed with the other regular cultivators. The regular cultivators had mainly come to this place in search of shelter and protection. However, due to the commotion with the Martial God Tombstone, they were also here to watch the drama. Although they were privately disgruntled and had to watch from afar, no one dared approach.

The reputation of the Wind clan was frightening enough.

Long Chen hid in a corner and watched two people fly in from the horizon. They quickly arrived above Black Gold City and slowly descended near the Martial God Tombstone.

They were two females. The leader looked very young. She was wearing a long, light-green dress and her face was covered with a white veil. Despite the veil, a solemn chill radiated from her expression.

Behind her was a woman in a long, purple dress. She looked calm with a faint, elegant smile. It was not clear how old she was, but she did not look over thirty. This lady did not wear a face veil. Her body was curvy, and she radiated a mature elegance, attracting many looks.

That lady in the purple dress is probably older than thirty, so it’s not surprising that she’s this strong. But that teenage girl. She’s so young, yet her cultivation is frightening. She’s probably on the same level as the Divine clan’s young master. She’s from the Wind clan; could she be the Wind clan’s prodigy of the younger generation?

Long Chen wondered to himself.

Right when this question popped into his mind, some people started to discuss next to him. “Isn’t that the legendary princess of the Wind clan? The girl named Feng Zhilin who has seventeen Heavenly Wind Veins?”

“It’s definitely her! The lady next to her is an honorary guest of the Wind clan named Lady Snow. Both of them have frightening cultivation levels. I hear that they’re both at least at the Eighth Earthly Martial Stage, especially Feng Zhilin. She receives countless resources, combat techniques, spiritual medicine, and much more from the clan, and they’re all of the best quality. She also has many secret divine techniques; she is basically peerless at the Eighth Earthly Martial Stage!”

“The Martial God Tombstone must be a very attractive treasure. I can’t believe both of them came here, and they surely have brought a storage ring with them too. It looks like the Martial God Tombstone will belong to the Wind clan.”