The Geared Immortal

Chapter 1426

War of the Gods and Demons: Chapter 26

…

Xin Ja has just found himself inside an old-looking room with many chests filled with books and other priceless jewels around him.

In the middle of that room sat an old man with white hair and a long white goatee.

He carefully looks around the area as he approaches the old man in the middle of the room.

"Excuse me…" he called but the old man did not reply.

Suddenly, Xin Ja noticed that inside this room there are no air, so he quickly circulated his Ki and his body began breathing from inside using his dantian.

As someone who has profound knowledge of things and a craftsman at that, he is able to create oxygen for his physical body. Although this is not necessary anymore for him, he just did it by practice.

He began to look around the room as he approaches the old man's figure step by step.

Suddenly, he stopped because he could already sense undulating energy near the old man's body.

With this, Xin Ja squinted as a suspicious feeling rose in his heart.

He could strongly feel that the old man still has energy in his body and that his unmoving figure is just a state. It is like a status effect called petrification.

How the old man could escape from petrification, is something that he did not want to find out.

Plus, he could feel that in front of him there is actually a series of array formations that seems to be hiding something.

Upon seeing this, Xin Ja frowned and felt reluctant to continue. He could not rely on his luck to approach this thing. He needed to use his brains so that he would not need to sacrifice himself.

Arriving at this conjecture, Xin Ja first decided to take out a long spear from his inventory space. Using the spear, he lightly pokes towards where he could feel the array formation is at.

That is when he saw it clearly.

With wide eyes, he felt his back cold as he knew that the array is something a bit more complicated than he thought.

"Hehe… What a cautious young one…" suddenly an eerie voice enters his ears which startled him.

Without hesitation, Xin Ja is already holding his newly crafted sword while looking around him.

"Who… Who are you?!" Xin Ja asked while looking around with a serious expression.

The reason for this is that he could not detect any presence in his surroundings within 100 meters which is already the full length of the room.

"Who am I is not important. What's important is that you are able to enter this place… I have designed this place to be almost impenetrable and only those that have enough talent would be able to enter this room…" he said with a hint of snicker in his tone.

"Talent? Why? Are you looking for disciples?" Xin Ja asked.

By this time, his mind and hand are already racing on the things he needed to protect himself from this invisible fellow.

"A disciple? Hehe… What kind of thing is that? I have taken in three disciples in my entire life… and all three of them are failures. They reached the Shen level, but instead of pushing forward, they went with the flow and ascended. Now they are trapped on the other side… What fools…" the old man snorted.

"I would rather do things on my own than rely on some fool who acts like a wise person…" he added.

When Xin Ja heard this, his eyes went wide.

Suddenly, without hesitation, he strikes forward as the spear once again appears in his hand. Upon striking he was actually able to pierce through the eye of the formation in one go.

With the spear hitting the eye, the array slowly flickered and what Xin Ja saw made him stupefied.

The old man is actually not a statue but a thin man that almost looks like a skeleton with red glowing eyes.

He is currently sitting on a throne made of bone from dried corpses around him.

"This… You've sucked their life essence and Ki…!" he exclaimed while looking at the old man that looks like a moving skeleton.

"Hehe… Of course, how do you think I was able to maintain the formations in this place for thousands of years? Every one hundred years, I loosen the formation and let some inside. Every now and then I would encounter some geniuses just like you, as for the rest…" he pointed at the corpses around him.

Xin Ja wanted to ask where those so-called geniuses are, but he restrained himself.

The old man seems to know what he is thinking as his finger points at the wall. With his finger, pointing a mysterious scene occur… the wall suddenly moved.

Then Xin Ja could see about one hundred people frozen like stones. He knew that this is the real petrification effect.

Though they look like they are already dead, he knew that those 100 people are still alive.

"This is my collection of minds… I predict that after another thousand years, then this world will change and we can finally escape this unending Samsara prison…"

In Xin Ja's mind, he is nodding at this conjecture, actually, he knew that it would not take thousands of years before the war erupts and the whole planet will be engulfed in battles.

The demons and the shadow beings are already slowly forming their strength. He could already deduce that there are demons have already reached Shen's realm, so the final battle is nearing. However, he too has also made his preparations.

As he looks at the old man, he could not help but shake his head as he did not want to tell such a secret to this dangerous fellow.

"You one… today, you are here… and you are going to join my collection of minds…" the old man said as he suddenly swings his hand and several blades appear floating in the air.

Then without warning, the blade attacked Xin Ja.

He quickly dodges but still got scratched by one of the blades and what surprised Xin Ja is that the wound actually did not bleed but instead slowly turned into stones.

"Hehe… Surprised? I call this my… Petrification blade." the old smugly said while sitting calmly on his throne seat.

Xin Ja showed a serious expression as he suddenly dashes at the old man.

With a sneer, the bony old man waves his bony hand and the flying blades blocked Xin Ja's path.

But how could Xin Ja let this old guy defeat him like that?

He once again attacked, but this time, a strong powerful force sent him flying towards a wall.

Bang!

Xin Ja's figure hits the ball and a powerful rebounding force suddenly pushes him back as his figure directly flew towards the bony old man.

The old man suddenly lifted his head and then appears in front of Xin Ja who caught him by his neck.

"Hehe… A mere ant wanted to struggle against a Shen… Do you think you can still escape me?"

Clutched by the bony hands of the old man, Xin Ja helplessly was lifted in the air while the old man looks at him with his burning eyes with an ugly grin on his face.

Suddenly, he noticed that Xin Ja is actually grinning at him.

The old man felt a bit weird as he, a Shen, actually felt afraid of a mere ant. Then suddenly, he willed the blades to skewer Xin Ja in his hand.

But before he could react, he felt something hitting his stomach.

That was the time when he saw several light wounds coming from his body stomach.

The ant actually dares to stab him.

Who would have known that a mere small blade would be able to easily penetrate his Ki barrier and wound his dried flesh?

But the old man did not mind this and just sneered.

That was then that the blades attacked.

However, another thing happened and he discovered that he is now holding nothing but air. The figure he was grabbing which is supposed to have been skewered is now gone.

Then suddenly, his head began aching, and his vision slowly blurred.

He did not know what that guy did and frowned when he did not feel any poison from the blade used in his wounds.

But then he knew that something is really wrong.

As he looks up, he saw the young man grinning not too far from him.

Then he looks at that area and noticed that one of his spirit-connected blades is actually gone.

"You… What have you done?!" shouted the old man as he suddenly fell kneeling on the ground.

Xin Ja, on the other hand, looks at this scene with nervousness. Though he knew that the old man is a Shen, he still fought back because, in that one exchange, he felt that the energy in the old man's body is actually not stable.

He might be a Shen, but his energy is not pure anymore.

He then knew at that time, that this is the price he would need to pay for absorbing the life essence of others just to stay alive.

And so with that in mind, he did not want to wait for this guy to act and quickly walked towards the wall and once again touch it with his Ki-covered hand.