Martial God Asura Chapters 111-115: Ghost Horn Forest and the Ancient Tomb's Secret

The world through the lens of a World Spiritist was a different one. After establishing the Spirit Connection with Eggy, Chu Feng found his perception subtly altered. He could now sense the faint, swirling energies of the world, the invisible threads that could be woven into Spirit Formations. Under the guidance of the captivating but demanding World Spirit in his mind, he progressed rapidly. He was no longer a novice grasping at power; he was becoming a practitioner, capable of laying down simple formations and employing basic techniques. He was, as Eggy put it with a mix of pride and impatience, half a World Spiritist.

This newfound skill was a private companion as he traveled to the Golden-purple City. The day of the New Excellence Assembly approached, and it was time to meet City Lord Chen Hui’s summons. The city itself was a testament to prosperity under the Jiang Dynasty’s protection. Wide avenues teemed with life, shops glittered with wealth, a stark contrast to the modest Ancient City he had left behind. Walking its streets in the distinctive blue robes of an Azure Dragon School core disciple, Chu Feng drew admiring glances from common folk. His youth and achievement were notable. Yet, he knew such admiration was fleeting and shallow, born from ignorance of the true hierarchies of the world.

This truth was hammered home the moment he arrived at the grand gates of the city lord’s residence. A luxurious carriage deposited two young men clad in the prestigious grey and white of the Lingyun School, the undisputed number one school in the Azure Province. Their eyes, sharp and dismissive, found Chu Feng immediately.

“Oh? Look, isn’t that a disciple from the second-rate Azure Dragon School?” one sneered, his voice carrying deliberate volume.

The other chuckled, a cold, mocking sound. “Quite funny. A core disciple at the 8th level of the Spirit realm. We two brothers are at the 9th level, yet we are only inner court disciples in the Lingyun School.”

“Ah, but they’re only a second-rate school. How can they compare? Their core disciples are even inferior to our inner court disciples.”

Chu Feng ignored them, a practiced calm settling over him. He walked towards the gate, only to be blocked by a wall of stern guards. “I was invited by Chen Hui to represent the Golden-purple City in the New Excellence Assembly,” he stated plainly.

The guards frowned at his casual use of the city lord’s name. “Show your invitation letter,” one demanded, his tone unkind.

Invitation letter? Chen Hui had given him none. Behind him, the two Lingyun disciples sauntered over, their smiles widening. “A pretense? You don’t even have an invitation letter!” With theatrical flourish, they produced their own ornate letters, handing them to the guard who immediately became obsequious.

“Young masters, please follow me.”

They didn’t move, instead turning their scorn back to Chu Feng. “This little bro, did you not know that those who participate are the elite of the Golden-purple City? Purely based on your status as an Azure Dragon School disciple, you are not qualified.”

“Idiotic thoughts!” the other chimed in.

The guard, emboldened, tried to shoo Chu Feng away. “If you did not get the invitation letter, you are not qualified. Leave now, or you’ll have it coming.”

A cold smile touched Chu Feng’s lips. “You think I’m feigning?” Without another word, he reached into his robe and pulled out the Golden-purple Commanding Badge, flinging it directly at the guard’s face.

The man caught it, anger flashing in his eyes, but it died instantly as he recognized the symbol of authority equal to the city lord himself. His face drained of color. “I should die ten thousand times for my crimes!” He dropped to his knees with a poof, trembling violently. All surrounding guards followed suit, kneeling in the presence of the badge.

The Lingyun disciples’ smug expressions shattered, replaced by pallid shock. They stood stiffly, caught between protocol and their own towering pride. Chu Feng didn’t grant them another glance, following the now-terrified guard into the residence.

He was led to a spacious hall where five other young people waited. All were under eighteen, bearing the confident, polished air of first-rate school disciples. Their gazes flickered over Chu Feng when he entered, but their real interest—and respect—was reserved for the two Lingyun disciples behind him. The looks they gave Chu Feng were tinged with that familiar, subtle disdain. Chu Feng merely found a quiet corner. To him, these 9th level Spirit realm geniuses were nothing but arrogant children; in a real fight, he could end them with ease.

A stir rippled through the hall. “Look, it’s Wan Wenpeng!” someone exclaimed.

Chu Feng looked up. A handsome young man approached, escorted by guards. His bearing was different, his aura more substantial. A core disciple of a first-rate school, the Wind Listener School. And his cultivation was in the Origin realm. Finally, someone slightly interesting, Chu Feng thought.

Wan Wenpeng was immediately swarmed by the others, a chorus of flattery rising around him. “Wan bro, you are the strongest in the young generation of our Golden-purple City!” “To enter the Origin realm at eighteen! With you, we will certainly get first place!”

Wan Wenpeng waved a humble hand, though his smile betrayed his pleasure. “Everyone, you glorify me too much. I do not dare to call myself the strongest, even within the Golden-purple City. Have you forgotten City Lord Chen’s eldest daughter, Chen Wanxi? She entered the Origin realm a year ago and became a core disciple of the Lingyun School.”

A murmur of surprise and awe ran through the group. The Lingyun School’s core disciples were legends. “But,” one person sighed, “I heard she left in a rage after her mother died and hasn’t returned in years. She probably won’t come for the assembly.”

“Who said I wouldn’t return?”

The voice, cold and sharp as a winter blade, cut through the hall. Everyone turned. A young woman stood at the entrance, her gaze icy. She possessed a cold, elegant beauty, and behind her stood City Lord Chen Hui and several officers. This was Chen Wanxi.

The young man who had spoken paled and fell silent. Wan Wenpeng, ever the social climber, quickly straightened his robes and stepped forward with a practiced smile. “Sister Wanxi, is it you? Do you recognize me, Wan Wenpeng?”

Chen Wanxi’s eyes swept over him without a flicker of recognition. She turned to her father. “Chen Hui, the distance to the Vermilion Bird City is quite far. Let’s leave early.”

The dismissal was absolute. Wan Wenpeng’s smile froze, his face flushing with humiliation as he stood stupefied. Chu Feng, watching from the sidelines, felt a flicker of amusement. Quite prideful, he mused, sensing the potent aura of the 2nd level of the Origin realm radiating from her. But she has the right to be.

Soon, a convoy of ten luxurious carriages, each stocked with delicacies and attended by servants, rolled out of the Golden-purple City, escorted by the city guard. Chen Hui’s attentive treatment was a clear investment; these young talents were future powers, and he dared not offend any. After five days of travel, the ancient, imposing silhouette of the Vermilion Bird City appeared, built into the side of a mountain. It lacked opulence but exuded an aura of ancient mystery and formidable authority, backed by the might of the Jiang Dynasty.

Within the city’s vast central plaza, carriages from twenty second-rate cities were assembled. A sea of young geniuses in various school uniforms milled about. The atmosphere was thick with competitive tension and youthful arrogance.

Chen Hui’s group had barely disembarked when a familiar, unwelcome voice called out. “Oh? Isn’t it Chen Hui?”

A big-eared, portly city lord swaggered over, a group of proud-looking young disciples in Lingyun School attire trailing him. The history of enmity between the two city lords was palpable. The fatty’s eyes swept over Chen Hui’s team, pausing with displeasure on Chen Wanxi. But when his gaze landed on Chu Feng’s Azure Dragon School robes, his face lit up with malicious glee.

“Chen Hui, do you have no one else in your Golden-purple City? Why are disciples from the Azure Dragon School even here?” he boomed, ensuring the surrounding crowds heard. “If you can’t find decent people, you can ask me! I can lend you two! Hahaha!”

Laughter and contemptuous looks rippled through the nearby groups. Chen Hui’s face tightened, but he was at a loss for words. Inviting a second-rate school disciple was indeed a blow to his prestige.

“Are you looking down on the people from the Azure Dragon School?”

A new voice, clear and commanding, cut through the mockery. Two young women walked into the plaza, and the world seemed to brighten. The elder was devastatingly beautiful, with a mature, captivating charm. The younger was sweetly lovely, her eyes bright and lively. Both wore the blue robes of the Azure Dragon School. Behind them followed a contingent of powerful experts from the Vermilion Bird City, all showing them utmost respect.

“Those are the daughters of the Vermilion Bird City’s lord, Su Rou and Su Mei!” someone whispered, and the revelation sent a shockwave through the plaza.

Su Rou walked directly up to the fatty city lord, a light smile on her lips that didn’t reach her eyes, which were sharp as daggers. “You just said that the disciples of the Azure Dragon School are just here to fill in as inferiors? Are you not putting the Azure Dragon School in your eyes?”

The fatty trembled, his face turning ashen. “I… I…”

“I’m asking you!” Su Rou’s voice turned fierce, and a terrifying pressure erupted from her—the pressure of the Profound realm! The fatty was forced back several steps before collapsing onto the stone floor.

A collective gasp went up. The 1st level of the Profound realm, at such a young age! Even the aloof Chen Wanxi looked at Su Rou with newfound focus.

Su Rou’s gaze swept the silent plaza. “Listen up, everyone. Don’t look down on people from second-rate schools. When the Azure Dragon School was in its glorious times, no one dared to look down on it in the entire Nine Provinces!”

Her words hung in the air, a potent reminder of a legendary past. The silence was broken by a thunderous voice. “Rou’er, what are you doing?”

Lord Su Hen, the master of the Vermilion Bird City, arrived. He was a giant of a man, over two meters tall, clad in golden armor like a war god. Instantly, all twenty city lords knelt. “We pay our respects to Lord Su Hen!”

Su Hen waved them up, his expression amiable but his presence overwhelming. He chided Su Rou lightly, a paternal act that did nothing to undermine her earlier display. It was a masterful play—allowing his daughter to assert the Azure Dragon School’s dignity before he stepped in to smooth things over with the chastised fatty.

As the crowd mingled, Su Mei quickly pulled Chu Feng aside. “Chu Feng, the assembly is in the Ghost Horn Forest,” she whispered urgently, her sweet scent close. She described the mission: hunt mature Ghost Horn Beasts, identifiable by their purple horns, within one day. The top ten hunters would compete, with the winner earning 5000 Spiritual Beads and tax exemption for their city.

Then, she slipped a small, rolled scroll into his hand. “Put this away.”

It was a map of the Ghost Horn Forest, but unlike any other. Black sections marked concentrations of mature Ghost Horn Beasts. And there were red sections, marked with a dire warning. “Do not go into the red-coloured sections. Strange red fog appears there. It’s as deadly as the Thousand Bone Graveyard.”

Chu Feng stored the map, a grin spreading on his face. He leaned close to her ear. “Does this count as cheating?”

Su Mei’s cheeks flushed slightly. “Of course not! This… this is just me giving you a little help because of friendship.” She quickly changed the subject, urging him to be careful of the first-rate school disciples. “But I believe in you. When you’re their age, you’ll be stronger than all of them.” With a sweet smile and a wave, she skipped back to her sister’s side.

Chu Feng’s heart was a tumult of emotions. Their status was far beyond what he had imagined. What goal do they have with me? he wondered, a thread of wariness weaving through his gratitude.

“The little girl probably likes you,” Eggy’s voice chimed in his mind, playful. “A woman’s intuition.”

“Oh? And what’s your intuition about the red zones on this map?” Chu Feng retorted mentally.

“That,” Eggy said, her tone shifting to one of excitement, “is where we might get extremely lucky. There’s likely an Ancient Tomb under that fog.”

The official announcement from Su Hen confirmed Su Mei’s information. He distributed maps to all two hundred participants, marking the red zones as forbidden and lethally dangerous. The maps, however, showed only the red, not the lucrative black zones Chu Feng now possessed.

The Ghost Horn Forest was a place of grim silence. The trees were like iron spikes, the leaves like needles. Not a bird sang, not an insect chirped. The Golden-purple City group shot Chu Feng threatening looks before darting into the depths. “Don’t pull us back,” one hissed.

Chu Feng merely smiled. Unhurried, he took out both maps, compared them, and charted a course that would take him through several dense black zones, with his final destination being one of the forbidden red areas.

The Imperial Sky Technique propelled him like the wind. He soon encountered the Ghost Horn Beasts—massive, horse-like creatures clad in black, armor-like skin, with violent purple eyes. They were strong for Spirit realm beasts, but against Chu Feng, they fell like wheat before a scythe. He hunted efficiently, collecting horns and, through his connection with Eggy, allowing her to consume their weak but plentiful Source energy.

After harvesting over two hundred horns, he arrived at the edge of a red zone. The forest was quieter, if that was possible, but there was no sign of the infamous red fog.

“Are you sure there’s anything here?” Chu Feng asked Eggy, probing with his Spirit power and finding nothing.

“Your Spirit power is too weak to detect an Ancient Tomb’s concealment,” she scoffed. “Use the World Spirit Compass.”

Following Eggy’s intricate instructions, Chu Feng began the painstaking process of laying a Spirit Formation. His movements were still unrefined, his Spirit power limited. Hours bled away as he worked under the darkening canopy, finishing only as full night descended.

With a final pulse of energy, the formation activated and vanished. In its place was a perfectly circular hole in the ground, plunging into absolute darkness. And from that abyss, a sound drifted up—a faint, mournful, unmistakably female weeping that raised the hairs on Chu Feng’s neck.

The night was moonless, the world a study in black and grey. The eerie weeping from the hole made Chu Feng’s heart pound. “Damn. Are you sure I need to go down there? Is that a ghost?”

“What is there to be afraid of? You’re a World Spiritist!” Eggy reprimanded. “We are fated to deal with such things. The path of martial cultivation is hard. Tombs are shortcuts, and only idiots ignore shortcuts.”

“So World Spiritists are just tomb robbers?” “What did you think? Now, the thing howling down there is likely just a wandering consciousness. The old man you saw in the Thousand Bone Graveyard was one.”

Chu Feng was stunned. “That old man was a ghost? But he was so strong!”

Eggy explained the nature of powerful consciousnesses persisting after death, how Spirit power could merge with them to create a new form of existence. She revealed the old man had been the one to awaken Chu Feng’s innate, sealed Spirit power. Then, she launched into a crucial lesson.

“Remember. Normal tombs are just Tombs. The Imperial Sky Sage’s was one. Tombs containing an independent consciousness are Ancient Tombs. They’re filled with traps only World Spiritists can detect and decipher. That’s where we prove our worth.”

Her voice grew graver. “Then there are Evil Tombs. What’s buried inside isn’t just an expert. It’s something vicious, so powerful it can plague the world even in death, or something that wasn’t killed, only sealed. The Thousand Bone Graveyard is very likely an Evil Tomb. Immensely dangerous, but with unimaginable treasures. That old man left a map on you because he needs your help someday. But you are nowhere near strong enough to touch it yet.”

She brought him back to the present. “So, stop dreaming of Evil Tombs. This here is an Ancient Tomb. There will be remains, and Source energy. Now, go down.”

Fortified by her knowledge but still uneasy, Chu Feng nodded. He summoned the Bow of Hundred Transformations, willing it into two sharp daggers. He leapt into the black hole, stabbing the blades into the earthen wall to control his descent. The deeper he went, the clearer and more chilling the weeping became, seeming to wrap around him in the cold, stagnant air.

“Don’t fear. It’s probably just a roaming soul. Your Spirit Formation techniques can restrain it,” Eggy encouraged, her own excitement palpable.

Finally, his feet found solid ground. The space felt vast. Heart thudding, Chu Feng took out the World Spirit Compass and channeled a strand of Spirit power into it. Soft light emanated from the compass, illuminating the cavern.

The light revealed the chamber, and Chu Feng’s breath caught in his throat. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

He was not in a simple cave. The illuminated space was a grand, subterranean hall, its architecture ancient and ornate, though decayed by time. Stone pillars, carved with faded, unrecognizable runes, stretched up into darkness. But it was not the architecture that froze his blood.

Scattered across the floor, in haphazard, gruesome piles, were bones. Dozens upon dozens of skeletal remains, some still clad in fragments of ancient armor or rotted cloth. They lay not in rest, but in poses of clear agony and sudden violence. And at the far end of the hall, on a raised stone dais, sat a simple stone sarcophagus. From within its seams, a faint, ethereal, red-tinged mist seemed to seep, pulsing gently in time with the haunting, feminine weeping that now filled the chamber. The source of the sound was here. The Ancient Tomb was not just a hiding place for treasures; it was a graveyard, and he was not its first visitor. The fate of those who came before him was laid bare at his feet. The real trial was just beginning.