Chapter 570: The Ancient Cave Mansion
At the entrance of a broken tomb deep underground stood around ten warriors of the Martial Spirit Palace and Heaven Temple. They looked dispirited.
It was an area of blended light above their heads. Countless energy light columns, which were really sharp and vicious, were slaughtering everywhere.
All flows of energy around were dragged into these light columns. Willpower that wanted to destroy people’s souls was circling this group of warriors, moving without ceasing.
This group of warriors of the Martial Spirit Palace and the Heaven Temple was surrounding a young maid. This girl had an average appearance, but her eyes were filled with starlight.
White and gray spots sparkled from deep inside the girl’s pupils. She narrowed her eyes while sensing every change happening around them. She seemed to be able to feel the directions of each energy beam.
Long afterward, the girl paled. She had consumed much of her Soul Consciousness, due to which the light in her eyes dimmed.
"I have the direction," The young maid slowly got up, speaking solemnly. "Stay close to me. Never let yourself separate!"
Some Third Sky of Spirit Realm experts were shaken on listening to her, their faces both surprised and happy.
"We’ve stirred up the barriers and it cost much of our effort. Anyway, it helps obstruct the others." A Third Sky of Spirit Realm warrior sneered. "I saw Ye Xiong and his people. But they have no hope to reach the target now. The barriers we’ve crossed are enough to kill all of them."
"Yeah, without Little Ling, even if we have a profound cultivation base, we don’t know how to solve the barriers. We would die soon," exclaimed another person.
This group included warriors from the Martial Spirit Palace and Heaven Temple. They had accidentally activated the barriers. Along the way to get here, they had encountered many traps and dangers.
If that girl didn’t have a miraculous martial spirit and a profound knowledge of the ancient formations, they would have been killed earlier.
Thinking about the perils they had met along the way, they all still felt scared.
"We won’t meet the people of the Spirit Treasure Sect," The girl beamed a faint smile. "If they don’t know how to solve the barriers we’ve crossed, they will be killed soon. If they’re persistent, their souls will perish. Perhaps, they will become a part of the magical formation, turning into the Yin Ghosts."
Everybody was frightened.
"We should go. Be careful and listen to my direction," The young maid was tense. She took a deep breath and then took the lead.
Everyone else followed her closely.
...
Ye Xiong halted. He was terrified, looking at the ruins while screaming, "Not good!"
Shi Yan, Zhu Yi, Yue Ying, and Yun Xiu strode to him.
In front of Ye Xiong was a dark area. In the dark, the wind was strong and sharp, just like numerous sabers and swords flying and dancing in the void.
In that dark area, a big peril seemed to be hiding. The Soul Consciousness they released sank like a stone in the sea. As a result, they couldn’t sense anything.
From that cold wind area, thick murderous aura slapped their faces, as if it were hiding an ancient beast that was waiting for its prey.
"It’s the Dreadful Formation!" Ye Xiong took a deep breath. "Someone has activated all the Dreadful Formations on this route. It’s tough now. If we want to go there, we can only jump in."
The Dreadful Formation was the magical formations that contained a lot of dangers, along with many hidden terrible changes, which could burn the warriors into ashes instantly.
"Which degree are these Dreadful Formations?" Zhu Yi darkened his face, frowning.
"Enough to kill warriors at our level," Ye Xiong turned his head to see the other, his face desperate. "From this situation, I think we should end our trip earlier."
Yue Ying and Yun Xiu arched their exquisite eyebrows, looking at the dark area ahead of them, their hearts bitter.
These two women had come to the Shady Firmament Old Mound understanding the dangerous features of this area well. Once the Dreadful Formations were activated, perils would appear instantly. If they stepped in there rashly, it meant they were prepared to die.
As they could predict there were many layers of Dreadful Formations ahead, Yue Ying and Yun Xiu decided to retreat. They would stop here.
"Is there any other way around?" Bai Hui Quan asked with fear.
Yun Xiu threw her a glance and answered softly, "Unless we have a formation master who understands the Dreadful Formations, or we have enough power to clean up the area... However, I can see that even the old monsters in their peak realm in the Divine Great Land can’t use forcibly crush those Dreadful Formations."
Saying so, she meant their hope had basically vanished.
"I don’t want it!" Ye Xiong screamed with a hoarse voice, his eyes red. "Who? Who has activated the Dreadful Formation! I want him to live in misery!"
"Mo Ling’er of the Martial Spirit Palace. I heard that she knows how to break the formations. Her attainment in this aspect’s really profound. The whole Martial Spirit Palace has to admire her..." Yue Ying twittered with her soft voice.
Ye Xiong’s eyes brightened as he shouted all of a sudden. "It’s them. They have absolutely tricked us! They must have taken Mo Ling Er with them. That’s why they dare to activate the Dreadful Formations. They want to block our road!"
"For just a Heaven Thunder Beast, is it worth such a big arrangement?" Yun Xiu was stunned.
Ye Xiong just snorted and didn’t comment on that.
Zhu Yi assessed the situation quietly. He could confirm that what Ye Xiong wanted wasn’t only the Heaven Thunder Beast. This Shady Firmament Old Mound should have something that all these people desired.
What it could be?
Shi Yan rubbed his chin while thinking.
Ye Xiong was the Elder of the Spirit Treasure Sect, so he should have many secret treasures. He was filthy rich! Ordinary items couldn’t get into his vision.
It should be a very precious treasure.
"Precursor Ye, did you find something in this Shady Firmament Old Mound?" Shi Yan smiled, "Now that we aren’t going there, would you mind telling us about that? Just consider it our payment."
Yue Ying and Yun Xiu gazed at him without blinking.
Everybody was curious. They thought that it should be something special in this Shady Firmament Old Mound that drew the attention of many hotshots risking their lives.
"Ancient Cave Mansion," Ye Xiong mused for a while then slowly spit out three words.
Everybody was frightened.
The Ancient Cave Mansion was the cultivating mansion of warriors in the Antiquity time. It should have ancient cultivating materials and books, including martial techniques and rare treasures. Perhaps, it still kept the Divine Weapons!
The seven ancient factions had been established a long time ago. Through countless generations, many cultivating techniques had been lost, and so had the tremendous secret treasures. The inheritance the seven ancient factions had today was incomplete.
However, even if it were incomplete, the seven ancient factions were still the ones who took the wheel of the Divine Great Land.
An Ancient Cave Mansion could be a sect in the old times. And, perhaps it could preserve secret cultivating techniques and treasures. If it were explored, it would change the whole structure of the Divine Great Land.
Shi Yan was stunned as he started to think more about it.
Was that the ancestor’s land of the Demonic Sound Clan?
According to the Demonic Sound Clan, their ancestor’s land was in the Shady Firmament Old Mound, where the canon "Yin Symbol Scripture "and the treasures from the antiquity time were kept. One of the reasons why Yi Tian Mo wanted to follow Shi Yan was the hope that one day, they could return to their ancestor’s land and find their inheritance.
"You found it?" Shi Yan was stirred up.
"The Heaven Thunder Beast did. It seemed to have run away from the Cave Mansion. In that Cave Mansion, I’m not sure about the other things, but the World Extinguishing Thunder Flame is surely there!" answered Ye Xiong.
"World Extinguishing Thunder Flame?" even Zhu Yi couldn’t hold on, shouting, "Old Ye, you lied to me. Are you saying that this cave mansion has the World Extinguishing Thunder Flame? The second rank among the nine types of heaven flames?"
Yue Ying and Yun Xiu had their eyes brightened.
Shi Yan put on a terrified countenance.
Among the nine types of heaven flames, the World Extinguishing Thunder Flame ranked the second, one grade higher than the Nine Serenities Soul Devouring Flame. According to the rumors, the World Extinguishing Thunder Flame was born in the Immemorial Epoch.
The Immemorial Epoch was even older than the Antiquity Time. In that era, mankind hadn’t even come into existence yet.
According to the legend, during the Immemorial Epoch, many strong living beings had been fighting against each other, leading to the great change of the earth and firmament. From the Nine Heavens, trillions of thunder and lightning had been struck out. Among that countless number of lightning, there was one beam that had a life consciousness. It then absorbed the other lightning strikes, and eventually became the World Distinguishing Thunder Flame, which could general trillions of lightning beams to destroy the whole world.
The second-ranked heaven flame from the Immemorial Epoch with the world-destroying power...
Shi Yan couldn’t control his breathing from becoming short and quick.
"Too bad... It’s too bad. Why do we have such bad luck...?" Zhu Yi wore a displeased countenance as his eyes reddened. He clenched his jaw. "Ye Xiong, why didn’t you tell us earlier? If you told me early, even if I had to lose my face, I would try my best to invite an expert to deal with the dangerous formations. Now, we can’t do anything."
Ye Xiong didn’t even have the mood to feel shame. He just shook his head continually.
He wanted to conceal this secret to enjoy it for himself. But now, someone else had got involved and arranged the traps, and they couldn’t even get in there.
Yue Ying and Yun Xiu couldn’t press down their hurry. Looking at the dark area ahead of them, they were thinking quickly to choose whether they wanted to risk their lives and storm in there or not.
Of course, the enticement of the World Extinguishing Thunder Flame and the Ancient Cave Mansion was much bigger than the Heaven Thunder Beast!
"First, give me the Ethereal Crystal." However, Shi Yan suddenly spoke up at this moment. He calmly looked at Ye Xiong.
Ye Xiong gawked. He got enraged. "You haven’t contributed anything. How dare you ask for the Ethereal Crystal?!? Don’t mess with me now. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not having manners!"
Zhu Yi, Yue Ying, Yun Xiu all looked at Shi Yan with odd complexions.
"Give me the Ethereal Crystal first, I’ll take you guys through these ancient barriers. Do you think it’s a good deal?" Shi Yan cracked a smile.
Ye Xiong and the others were struck, their faces disbelieving.
They all knew about the perils of these barriers. Let alone Shi Yan’s First Sky of Spirit Realm cultivation base, even if he had reached the True God Realm, if he didn’t know how to break a formation, he had no possible solution.
What did he depend on?
"Little friend, are you serious?" Zhu Yi’s eyes were sparkling like lightning. He took a deep breath then asked.
"I’m serious," Shi Yan grinned. "Don’t worry. When I get the Ethereal Crystal, I’ll demonstrate. So, do you want to consider this deal?"
Ye Xiong was bewildered. He kept silent for a long time and then asked, "How can I believe you?"
"Haha, I’m staying here, right? If I can’t do that, you can take the crystals back." Shi Yan was calm, looking at Zhu Yi and Yue Ying. "You have witnesses. I won’t mess up. You can ease your mind."
"Old Ye, never mind true or false, it’s not bad. Just let him try," Zhu Yi was hurried.
He knew Shi Yan had many strange things. If he had the confidence to say so, of course, he had something he could rely on. Although he didn’t know what Shi Yan had, he thought they should give it a try.
"Give him the Ethereal Cyrstal!" Yue Ying and Yun Xiu urged.
Lin Zhi, Luo Xiao, Luo Meng, and Bai Hui Quan were gazing at Shi Yan with sparkling eyes.