Urban Martial Saint

At around two in the afternoon, the sky suddenly darkened. Yet, atop a certain part of the mountain, a dazzling beam of golden light suddenly shot upwards.

This phenomenon left everyone stunned. The crowd all looked towards the spot where the golden light rose, each person wearing an expression of astonishment.

”This... doesn’t it seem a bit like the legend you once told?” Handsome Fatty Wang asked Ye Qing while gazing at the light.

Ye Qing furrowed his brows tightly. Indeed, this situation was quite similar to the legend of Xiliang Mountain. The golden light mentioned in the legend was somewhat akin to this one. However, the legend states that after such golden light appeared, people who approached it would turn into skeletons, attacking any living being. Could this golden light really possess such effects?

Thinking of this, Ye Qing’s heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t help but recall the skeletal figures they had just seen earlier. Could these skeletons indeed be people who were shone upon by that golden light?

As if responding to Ye Qing’s thoughts, a sound suddenly arose from below the mountain, accompanying the appearance of this golden light.

Everyone turned their heads to look, each face showing more alarm. During their ascent, they hadn’t seen even a small insect, indicating that there were virtually no animals on this mountain. Could any sound from below at this time be a good sign?

After a moment of hesitation, Ye Qing suddenly leaped up, urgently saying, ”Everyone, quickly up the mountain!”

”Why go up the mountain?” someone asked, surprised. But just then, from the forest behind them, a white skeleton suddenly burst out. The skeleton was obviously human, except it lacked a left hand, yet it still charged up wildly, looking terrifying.

”Damn, what the hell is that!” Handsome Fatty Wang exclaimed in shock, turning and running up the mountain without further thought.

At this moment, everyone else had no questions either, scrambling up the mountain without a backward glance. After all, with a white skeleton chasing after them, who wouldn’t run?

”What is this thing?” a man shouted as he ran, his voice almost tearful. They considered themselves experienced, having entered many tombs, but they had never encountered walking white bones that chased them. It was too eerie.

”Remember the legend I told you about?” Ye Qing glanced back, seeing dozens of skeletons charging up. It seemed that those skeletons had been awakened by the golden light and were now ready to attack them.

”A legend!?” everyone exclaimed in shock.

”Damn, I thought it was just a ghost story!” Handsome Fatty Wang urgently said, ”Who knew it turned out to be true? Damn it, even these skeletons run so fast, hasn’t this fat Lord grown all this flesh in vain?”

”How can skeletons run?”

”This is insane!”

The crowd kept shouting, chased by the skeletons as if they were stray dogs. No one knew how powerful these skeletons were, but who would dare battle them? So, no one had any intention to turn and face them, only eager to escape quickly.

Ye Qing’s heart was also filled with astonishment. He had always taken the Xiliang Mountain legend as a ghost story when he heard it. Yet, who could have believed this legend existed in reality? What strange situation was this on the mountain, and why could the skeletons attack people?

Though they ran swiftly, the skeletons behind them were slightly faster. After all, these skeletons lacked flesh, making them less burdened and more agile. In less than ten minutes, a skeleton caught up, leaping forward to tackle a man to the ground.

”Help me, save me...” the man immediately screamed in misery, feeling like a ghost had pounced on him, even crying. When they had been surrounded by long-toothed rats before, they hadn’t cried so miserably; the skeletons were truly terrifying.

Seeing the man tackled, who dared to go back and save him? Dozens of skeletons were chasing, and there was no time to run away.

Pinning down the man, the skeleton opened its skull-only mouth, lunging at the man’s neck. But at that moment, a scabbard swiftly slashed through, beheading the skeleton.

It was Ye Qing who acted, trying to test the skeletons’ resilience. He found that they had average resilience, which relieved him.

He kicked the skeleton off the man, but it still clung to the man’s leg, refusing to let go. Decisively, Ye Qing struck again, chopping the skeleton’s bones into pieces. Despite this, the skeleton crawled toward the man with its two leg bones, seemingly unfazed.

Ye Qing delivered a few more strikes, dismantling the skeleton until it lay motionless on the ground. Although still twitching, it wasn’t a threat to anyone anymore.

Seeing this, everyone realized these skeletons were merely empty frameworks without much combat ability, and not worth fearing.

”Damn, just empty frames almost scared the crap out of Fat Lord. I’ll take you on now!” Handsome Fatty Wang grabbed a Luoyang Shovel and prepared to fight those skeletons, but Ye Qing stopped him.

”Use this!” Ye Qing handed him a short dagger. In coming here, Ye Qing brought several famed instruments, now unexpectedly useful.

Distributing the instruments among them, everyone charged into the midst of the skeletons’ encirclement, hacking vertically and horizontally. In no time at all, those skeletons were scattered all over the ground, unable to rise and pursue them anymore.

”I thought it was some formidable entity, but it’s just a pile of empty frames!” Handsome Fatty Wang, wielding a short dagger, panted, ”You dare chase this Fat Lord? Begging for a beat down?”

Everyone else also breathed a sigh of relief. The skeletons had been intimidating at first, but their combat ability was very mediocre. Apart from being scary, they weren’t of much use.

Ye Qing sheathed the Miao Dao Ancestor’s scabbard, looking at the skeletons with less excitement than others, his mind on another matter.

According to the legend, these skeletons truly existed and could really attack people, making the legend true. The smugglers were indeed turned to skeletons by the golden light, then began attacking others. Most of those smugglers and people who followed later perished. But the critical problem is, where did the bodies of those killed by the skeletons go?

Initially thinking there were no long-toothed rats, seeing the skeletons made Ye Qing suspect his earlier guess. The absence of other bodies was problematic. Where had they gone? Could the long-toothed rats have devoured them? If so, why wouldn’t the rats eat these moving skeletons but eat the immobile ones? Could there be a connection between the rats and the golden light?

Burdened with doubt, Ye Qing didn’t dare voice his thoughts, only reminded everyone to be cautious and not let down their guard. The matter of the long-toothed rats was something Ye Qing didn’t dare to mention, fearing it might frighten the others.

That golden light didn’t last long, fading away after a short time. Having seen the light, everyone was even more certain of their direction, heading straight toward it.

The encounter with the skeletons had cost everyone a lot of time. By the time they continued up the mountain, dusk had fallen. When complete darkness set in, they had reached the summit area.

Standing atop, looking down, Handsome Fatty Wang suddenly exclaimed, ”Wow, it turns out to be a basin here!”

Upon reaching the summit, everyone saw clearly the situation where the golden light had appeared. It was a sunken valley, surrounded by mountains, resembling the bottom of a bowl, with everyone standing along the bowl’s rim. The golden light emanated from the bowl’s bottom.

”This terrain is truly interesting!” Big Beard couldn’t help but exclaim. Such terrain was rare indeed. They’d never seen a valley atop a mountain before. Moreover, the valley wasn’t small, resembling an untouched paradise with pleasant scenery. However, after hearing the legend, no one dared let their guard down when viewing this valley.

Ye Qing stood atop, comparing the map’s markings, and found the location marked was indeed within this valley. If Shijia was trapped here, it would surely be within this valley.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Qing glanced at everyone, solemnly saying, ”Let’s go, into the valley.”

Though everyone was strongly averse to the valley, having reached this point, retreating was impossible, so they followed Ye Qing down into the valley.

The temperature inside the valley was much higher than outside, warmer like spring, without the mountain’s chill. Surrounding them were many blooming flowers, making it quite beautiful, like a tourist spot. However, after witnessing the golden light, everyone understood the beauty could harbor unknown perils, so no one dared relax.