Chapter 96 - An Extra Rib

Chapter 96 - An Extra Rib (Part One)

Gu Hai, Scar, Shangguan Hen, and Gao Xianzhi jumped into the chasm and landed atop the turtle shell, gazing at the enormous weiqi board on it.

The turtle shell was set on the end of the dragon tail, and appeared to have been refined. It was as transparent as crystal.

"My Lord, perhaps we may not be able to take this dragon tail!" Shangguan Hen said, a wry smile pasted on his lips.

"Oh?" Gu Hai turned his gaze on Shangguan Hen, confused.

"Everyone knows that the dragon vein is beneficial, but do you know how strong a dragon vein is? Even if you can somehow unlock the seal, you must have the sufficient strength to capture it, and only then would you succeed. Furthermore, once this dragon tail is released, it will flee right away for sure. The dragon tail has a terrifying strength, you simply cannot succeed!" Shangguan Hen explained.

"What do you mean? Captain Shangguan, you mean to say that my Lord can't succeed even by relying on the cloud general, Xiang Yu?" Gao Xianzhi asked him, uncertain now.

"The dragon vein isn't formed by Nine-Five Island, but by the entire Thousand Islands Seas. It takes countless seas and islands to form a dragon vein. Do you know how strong you should be to capture this dragon vein?" Shangguan Hen rebuked, a wry smile on his face.

"How strong?" Gao Xianzhi asked, confused.

"At least you should be able to 'hold the island in your palm'!" Shangguan Hen answered solemnly.

"Hold...hold the island in the palm? Nine-Five Island?" Gao Xianzhi's eyes went wide in shock right away.

Shangguan Hen nodded his affirmation once again.

In contrast, Gu Hai's eyelids started twitching like crazy. The strength to hold Nine-Five Island in your palm? Nine-Five Island wasn't just a small piece of island, its sheer size was actually comparable to that of the planet Earth...

Shangguan Hen had quite mysterious origins. He seemed to know something about everything. Though Gu Hai had not made detailed inquiries, after analyzing his statement it was quite evident he was stating the truth.

Without paying any attention to the dragon vein any longer, Gu Hai stretched his hand out and grabbed the bone saber.

The seal on the turtle shell promptly blocked Gu Hai.

"Hmmm?" Gu Hai's face darkened immediately.

Everyone else made an attempt to grab the blade, but weren't able to. The seal of the turtle shell was simply too strong.

"This sealing turtle shell belongs to Bixi!" Shangguan Hen stated in a heavy voice.

"Bixi?" Gu Hai was taken aback.

"Yes! Moreover, it's from a dragon-transformed Bixi. A Bixi has the head of a dragon and body of a turtle. It has the blood of a dragon, allowing it to eventually transform into a dragon. However, it is extremely difficult. If a Bixi ate this dragon vein, it could then transform into a dragon. After it has transformed into a giant dragon, its turtle shell will fall off! This turtle shell is the very turtle shell fallen off after a Bixi has transformed into a dragon! Afterward, it was refined into this magical tool by Elder Guanqi," Shangguan Hen explained with absolute certainty.

Gu Hai sank into silence momentarily.

Did the Bixi I encountered during the shipwreck sense the dragon vein, and therefore, was moving towards the Nine-Five Island?

Gu Hai's gaze moved from the turtle shell to the dragon vein before finally landing on the bone saber that was exuding a slight black qi.

Gazing at the weiqi game on the shell, Gu Hai was slightly caught by surprise. "A 29x29 grid?"

Much to Gu Hai's astonishment, the weiqi board on the turtle shell had twenty-nine crisscrossed lines. Next to it were placed black pieces, as if waiting for someone to place the pieces.

"What a complex weiqi game!" A surprised look momentarily appeared on Gao Xianzhi's face.

Gu Hai, on the other hand, was lost in thought.

As far as the other people were concerned, this weiqi game was incomparably complex. However, for Gu Hai, it was still within the acceptable range. Gu Hai remained dignified and serene for the time it takes a joss stick to burn completely.

"What a terrific weiqi game! What a powerful array!" Gu Hai's eyes suddenly turned brighter.

Picking up a black piece, he slowly placed it on the weiqi board.

In response to Gu Hai, a white piece suddenly appeared on the weiqi board out of thin air.

It looked like someone was playing with Gu Hai...

---

Meanwhile, at the Dragon Turtle Palace...

A loud bang suddenly resounded as Chen Tianshan was sent flying towards another palace, which immediately collapsed.

"Captain, are you alright?" A group of his men promptly rushed over.

"Wei Yang, what are you doing?" Chen Tianshan roared furiously as he crawled out of the rubble.

At this moment, the blind Wei Yang, carrying a vegetative Li Wei, flew up into the sky.

"Thank Gu Hai for saving me. Tell him that whatever I told him is all true. It's just that he needs to be extremely cautious while dispelling the seal. You can only win, you can't lose. Losing a piece means losing a life!" Wei Yang shouted aloud.

Without further ado, Wei Yang, carrying Li Wei, flew out of the grand array.

"Losing a piece means death?" Chen Tianshan's face immediately distorted.

No wonder, Meng Tai didn't solve the game himself. It wasn't that his weiqi skills were inadequate. On the contrary, he simply didn't dare to!

"Captain, are you alright?" one of the subordinates rushed over.

"No, I am not alright! Step aside immediately, it's bad, it's extremely bad, my Lord is in danger!" Chen Tianshan's face changed for worse. Without chasing after Wei Yang, Chen Tianshan rushed straight back to the dragon vein valley.

------

At the dragon vein valley...

Gu Hai kept on the placing the pieces one after another. Both sides were well-matched in the contest. Neither had captured its opponent's piece, not a single one.

"What an awesome game!" A serious look flashed past Gu Hai's eyes.

Gu Hai placed another piece on the board.

"My Lord has captured a piece!" Gao Xianzhi's eyes lit up.

Suddenly, a white piece was taken out.

Soon after, the seal burst forth with loud rumbles, as if the seal had loosened up a bit.

After that, the dragon vein started to move slowly, creating tremors in the ground around it. Slowly, the ground started to quake.

"My Lord, don't play the game, it will kill you!" At this time, Chen Tianshan rushed over.

Only to see Gu Hai already standing below. Gu Hai wasn't playing the game anymore.

With the loosening of the seal, the dragon vein was able to move slightly. As a result of this, the bone saber came closer and closer to Gu Hai. Very soon, the bone saber was already within his reach.

Although such a game was hard to come by, Gu Hai won't lose sight of his target just because of this game.

As the game was etched in his mind already, he first decided to take the bone saber.

When the bone saber was close by, Gu Hai took a closer look and noticed spider web-like cracks on the bone saber. It seemed to be broken!

"So, what Wei Yang said was true? The bone saber was broken and was absorbing the dragon vein's energy to recover?" Gu Hai's eyes lit up.

Chen Tianshan suddenly jumped down to join them.

"My Lord! Wei Yang ran away with Li Wei...!" Chen Tianshan recounted everything to Gu Hai, gasping for breath.

"I know, I let them go!" Gu Hai answered calmly, without turning around.

"Ah?" Chen Tianshan was taken by surprise for a moment. How come I didn't know this?

"Do you think that Wei Yang would come to trust me at first meeting? Since he could survive until now at the hands of Meng Tai, he isn’t any ordinary character. However, I have no enmity with him. I let him go because he has enmity with Meng Tai, he can help me contain Meng Tai!" Gu Hai explained.

"Ah?" Chen Tianshan was slightly taken aback by Gu Hai's explanation.

"My lord, please be careful, this bone saber has close relations with dark arts!" Shangguan Hen spoke up, frowning grimly.

Gu Hai nodded his understanding as he stretched his hand out to grab the weapon.

Immediately, dense black qi emerged from the bone saber, strongly rejecting Gu Hai.

"Yield!"

BOOM!

The bone saber, which seemed to weigh a thousand jin, was slowly pulled out by Gu Hai.

Suddenly, a dragon’s roar rang out from the dragon vein below them. Without the bone saber feeding it, this maggot on the tarsal bone, the dragon vein became much more active instantly.

The dragon tail struggled intensely, trying to get rid of the seal and escape!

As a result, the lava all around it splashed everywhere, forcing everyone to promptly use their True Qi to protect their bodies.

"Ah~!" Gu Hai let out a painful scream.

"My Lord!" everyone cried out, alarmed.

But all they saw was Gu Hai enshrouded in the black qi from the bone saber. An intense diabolical aura was shrouding his body, preventing everyone from approaching him.

Suddenly, the bone saber pricked Gu Hai's palm before attempting to thrust itself into Gu Hai's body through the wound. A crushing wave of pain immediately spread through Gu Hai's body.

"Fuck!" Gu Hai promptly used his left hand to pull at the bone saber.

However, the bone saber was simply too powerful. In the blink of an eye, it sank into Gu Hai's body completely.

Gu Hai quickly sat down on the ground in the lotus position. There was a panic-stricken look on his face because Gu Hai sensed a consciousness wreaking havoc in his body.

"Hahaha, kid, you got a serious death wish! I have been absorbing the dragon vein to recover, and you still dared to bother me! You have to pay for bothering me! Oh? What a good foundation, what a terrific physique! Let me take over your consciousness, let me become you, hahaha!" a voice filled with nothing but malicious intentions rang out inside Gu Hai's mind.

That consciousness directly made a rush for Gu Hai's mind.

Gu Hai's face became distorted as he withdrew his consciousness, going all to resist the malicious spirit from the bone saber invading his mind.

"You got quite a will, mortal! You are pretty good! However, you have met me! Even if my strength is completely exhausted, even if my consciousness is weakened to the extreme, a mortal like you can't resist, no matter what you do! I am a god!! And in front of a god, you have to give in!" the malicious voice from the bone saber once again rang out in Gu Hai's mind.

Again and again, intense blows struck Gu Hai's mind with dizzying power, but he resisted desperately. This was the closest he had ever come to death!

If given another chance, Gu Hai would absolutely not pull out that bone saber!

The bone saber's will was extremely strong. Its high voice charged right through layers and layers of Gu Hai's mental blockades and into his glabella.

BOOM!

It appeared as if a huge skull had rushed into the space in Gu Hai's glabella abruptly, breaking through all the defenses laid by Gu Hai easily.

Immediately, the black weiqi piece floating in the Gu Hai's glabella burst forth with a dazzling black aura, crashing into the black qi spreading from the skull.

"What? How come you have a spiritual treasure? In my heyday, this spiritual treasure simply couldn’t hurt me. Noooo, how come a mortal like you has such a treasure? How come?!" the black skull cried out in shock.

With a loud crash, the black aura abruptly crushed the black qi skull into pieces. The remaining countless skeleton fragments floated around in the space of Gu Hai's glabella.

Gu Hai's heart was racing like crazy. As the saying goes, when good luck comes, one can see, know, and understand things unseen before. The same was true for Gu Hai. He branched out his consciousness, which rushed straight at the skull fragments.

The branched consciousness of Gu Hai quickly started to engulf the skull fragments.

"No, no, no, you can't eat me! My mind, my mind! I am the almighty bone ancestor, even the gods can't do anything to me! My consciousness can't be swallowed by a mortal, impossible, nooo...!" an extremely feeble voice came from the skull fragments.

Nonetheless, the skull was broken to pieces by the black weiqi piece already. It no longer had any strength to fight back. Simply put, all it could do was to get quickly eaten by that branched consciousness of Gu Hai.

That wisp of consciousness, after swallowing the skull fragments along with the black qi, suddenly leapt out of the space in Gu Hai's glabella and entered something strange.

The black qi was still lingering around Gu Hai's body, preventing everyone from approaching. In the middle of this swirling black qi, Gu Hai opened his eyes slowly.

Much to his surprise, the black qi originated from his own chest!

The clothes on his chest had been torn open, and the left side of his chest had turned pitch black. At the sight of this, Gu Hai's heart started to beat faster.

Slowly, Gu Hai touched the left side of his chest.

"Rib? I have an extra rib? And I can feel that it has become a part of my body! I can control this rib?" Gu Hai's eyes went wide with shock.

Gulping nervously, Gu Hai reached over to the dark area on his chest with his right hand.

Suddenly, a hole appeared on his chest, where the bone inside had pierced out through his flesh. Slowly but surely, a sharp handle carved out of bone emerged from his chest, right into the grasp of his hand.

Suppressing his panic, Gu Hai grabbed it, and slowly pulled the handle out, just like drawing a sword.

Bit by bit, a pitch black bone was pulled out from his own chest. As the bone was pulled out, it straightened automatically, and instantly started spewing fierce black qi.

"Ah!" Gao Xianzhi and the others cried out in shock repeatedly, as they were forced to retreat by this black qi again and again.

A four-foot long slender bone saber was now in Gu Hai’s hand. A swirling mass of evil-looking black qi was emanating from the bone saber, and there were also many cracks upon it. It was the very same bone saber which Gu Hai had pulled out from the dragon vein earlier, and had driven itself into his palm.

However, Gu Hai felt that this bone saber was now connected to him, as if it was a part of his body. No, that wasn't exactly true. To be precise, after leaving the space in Gu Hai's glabella, his branched consciousness had swallowed the original consciousness of the bone saber, which lead to a mutation. As such, a new consciousness was created. However, this new consciousness was under Gu Hai's control!

It was a marvelous feeling!

Grabbing the bone saber, Gu Hai felt that he could cut anything with this saber, and nothing could block its path. With it came a rising sense of fearlessness and vigor, coursing through his body.

Looking down at his own chest, Gu Hai slowly inserted the bone saber back into it.

The bone saber sank into Gu Hai's skin, slowly infiltrating his body before slowly transforming into an unnoticeable extra rib.

Under Gu Hai's control, the black qi lingering around him instantly receded, vanishing into thin air. The blackness on his chest also disappeared. Strangely, the wound caused by the saber’s entry and exit was also healed. Apart from his torn clothes, it appeared as if nothing had happened.

Gu Hai took a long, deep breath as he looked about.

The black qi all around had completely disappeared. The dragon vein was still struggling like crazy to get free, splashing lava high up into the air.

Everyone else had already left the chasm, and were waiting above.

"The black qi has disappeared? My Lord, my Lord, come quickly, the volcano is about to erupt!" Chen Tianshan shouted in happily.

"That black qi was truly terrifying! I felt as if I was staring at Hell, filled with nothing but bones! Luckily it was all an illusion, or else I would have escaped at first notice! I...!" A panic-stricken look was plastered all over Scar's face.

"My Lord, are you alright?" Gao Xianzhi gazed at Gu Hai, curious.

Making a fierce leap, Gu Hai instantly jumped out of the chasm.

"My Lord, are you alright? What about that bone saber?" Shangguan Hen also asked, curious.

Gu Hai gazed about at everyone. However, without giving an explanation, he lowered his head, gazing down into the chasm once more.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!...

Every time the dragon vein struggled, the seal loosened more and more. The peaks in the vicinity were also starting to shake.

Perhaps, the dragon vein would free itself from the seal soon.

Scar's face darkened as he said, "The dragon vein is about to break the seal!".

"Inform everyone, we are leaving immediately!" Gu Hai ordered in a heavy voice.

"Leaving? Where are we going?" Chen Tianshan was slightly taken aback.

"Don't you want to warn the Clear River Sect to be wary of the Song Jia Sect? Let's go back, back to the Clear River Sect, back to my Gu Mansion!" Gu Hai ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes, my Lord!" everyone acknowledged immediately.