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Chapter 525: Worthy of Death
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 13:00:11 +0000 UTCAlthough the location of the Bodhi Tree would change every time it appeared in the Impermanence Realm, there were certain clues that allowed the forces to see the general area before it appeared. Decades ago, before the Bodhi Tree even leaked any signs, they had already started scouring the continent in preparation. And now, all signs pointed toward Mount Underflame of the southern region.
According to legend, Mount Underflame was once an active volcano that erupted once every few years. Only after the decline of the spiritual qi did it become dormant. Even so, Underflame Mountain stood nearly a hundred kilometers in height, and emitted a heat that turned the surrounding land arid.
Even warriors suffered under the heat. Quasi warriors would die of dehydration in less than an hour, if they weren’t cooked by the sheer heat first. Warriors could only stay for a few hours to a day, and only master warriors could stay without harm, but they still needed to drink water.
It was for this reason that despite the abundant ores near Mount Underflame that no forces laid claim to it. Quasi warriors and warriors were too weak, but it was too wasteful for master warriors to become miners. So every year, there would be many warriors venturing into Mount Underflame to mine, hoping to strike the jackpot and sell their prize.
“When I was a warrior, I managed to hide from my enemies thanks to the Frost Flame Art here,” Chou Nu said as she gazed at the familiar mountain with a sigh. Although it was called the Frost Flame Art, it was actually closer to a heat technique. By converting extreme heat to extreme cold, the user could inject cold qi into their foe with each contact.
It was not the complete truth that she managed to survive thanks to the Frost Flame Art. Had she not met the recruiter from the Emperor Hall, she would have been discovered by White Bone Valley eventually.
At this thought, she couldn’t help but glance at Mo Ling with guilt hidden in her eyes. After destroying White Bone Valley and achieving her revenge, Chou Nu began to think about her future. Frost Flame Valley was hers all but in name. She also realized that Mo Ling contributed a lot to her revenge, so she couldn’t help but feel closer to him, but she also knew of his enmity with Emperor Hall.
Strictly speaking, Emperor Hall helped a lot. It was just that their contribution was in the dark and couldn’t be revealed. And now, she was wavering between confessing everything to Mo Ling or leaving him.
“I wonder what Miss Chou is thinking about?”
Chou Nu glanced toward the voice to see a man in yellow scholarly robes. He had a tranquil air to him. It was different from the aura that most warriors possess, or that of the medicinal scent of alchemists. Just one look was enough to calm her nerves.
His name was Kai Yanwu, and he was the rising genius of the Thunderclap Academy. No, that wasn’t quite right. Although he was only two decades older than Mo Ling, he had already crossed through the biggest hurdle and became a venerable.
“It’s nothing,” Chou Nu said.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing,” Kai Yanwu said. “As a member of the Thunderclap Temple, we placed emphasis on severing fetters. By the looks of it, you are chained by something. How about sharing? Maybe I can help.”
Chou Nu frowned. She was still only a peak master warrior, but she really couldn’t bring herself to like Kai Yanwu. Although he brought a lot of aid, he was also very nosy. “I told you, it’s nothing.”
“Okay, but just remember, we are comrades. You can share anything with us,” Kai Yanwu said.
Chou Nu wanted to roll her eyes. Even husbands and wives had their own secrets, much less allies like themselves. She left, looking for Mo Ling.
Mo Ling was standing next to Xuan Queling and observing his competitors. Practically every force had arrived in order to grab a piece of the pie, so to say. The force that received the greatest attention was naturally Pill Palace. However, his focus wasn’t on them, but on four different forces.
Three of the four were the immortal families. Although many of them switched to the warrior path, many still cultivated the spiritual or martial path. One advantage was the spiritual senses they gained after reaching the master level. Among warriors, only a few venerables could awaken their spiritual senses. Most of those venerables were alchemists who relied heavily on their willpower to concoct pills.
Since they appeared, they’ve already sent out several scans with their spiritual senses. Although they were in decline, the many members of the immortal families had a bone-deep arrogance toward the warriors. Mo Ling pretended not to notice. To the outside world, he was only a grandmaster warrior and not a soul nourishing grandmaster.
He intended to keep it that way for as long as possible.
The other force was Emperor Hall. Many forces on the central continent have not heard of this force, and it was extremely mysterious. No one knew of its origin. It was as if it had appeared out of nowhere. However, those in the know would not look down on it.
He was not the only one that was observing them. This was perhaps the first time they appeared openly. Their entrance method was also stunning.
No one had sensed them. The only reason anyone noticed was because of the ripples. It was as if someone had thrown a rock into the lake, reflecting the sky. From the ripples walked out thirty-three figures. Most of them were clad in noble and elegant robes, but no one knew how they looked because a haze shrouded their faces.
Warriors could not be differentiated until they showed their strength, but through their years of experience, they could still have an intuitive sense of the strength of other warriors. They didn’t know what method the Emperor Hall used to conceal their movement, but it still made them worry.
The most shocked were the members of the immortal families. Even with their spiritual sense, they could not detect how the members of Emperor Hall appeared. They tried to find out information by probing with their spiritual senses, but instead of finding anything, the one that sent out their spiritual sense had their consciousness shocked, causing them to faint.
The other forces also noticed what happened to the members of the immortal families. Although they didn’t know what exactly happened, it had to have something to do with the appearance of Emperor Hall. There was no way there would be such a coincidence.
Mo Ling had a feeling that his greatest rival for the Bodhi Seed would be Emperor Hall. So, he was observing them, hoping to glean something before they clashed. Were they like him, someone who had luckily obtained a lost inheritance, or a hidden branch formed by another force? Or maybe something entirely different?
Luckily, the world never lacked stupid people, even among cultivators.
“Hey, who do you think you are? Just because you’re acting mysterious doesn’t mean you really have the strength to stand on the front with us,” a loose cultivator at the venerable level said. He wore a coarse tunic that laid his muscular arms bare. With the face of a thug, he didn’t look like a noble warrior but a bandit.
All eyes focused on the people of Emperor Hall.
The people in the back seemed to want to take action, but a raised hand from the one in front stopped them. The one in front was obviously extraordinary. He wore a purple robe with golden dragons embroidered on it, and he exuded an otherworldly aura. Still, the way he moved made them think he was a mortal or a weak warrior, not someone close to the venerable level.
They expected him to rebuke the thug-faced venerable or retort at the very least, but his next words stunned everything. And not for the right reasons, either. “Bojing, I’m tired.”
“At once, Young Master.”
A man wearing blue robes with wave patterns snapped his fingers and the four people behind him immediately went to work. They took out a couch, table, and a parasol from out of nowhere and set up a rest station. That wasn’t the end. They even placed four artifacts at the four corners. The artifacts exuded a chilly air that made the harsh heat resemble a spring breeze. To finish it off, they placed a cup filled with an unknown liquid and a plate of snacks.
“Enjoy, Young Master,” the man, Bojing, said.
The identified young master nodded his head in appreciation before doing just that. He sat on the couch in a lazy posture and picked up a snack.
At this time, the thug-faced venerable finally reacted. “You bastard! Are you looking down on me?!”
The young master stopped. Although his face was still shrouded behind a mist, he got the distinct impression that there was an expression of disdain. “Isn’t that obvious?”
“You!” the thug-faced venerable pointed his fingers at the young master, shaking from anger.
In his anger, he attacked. He punched upward, a classic uppercut. When he performed his move, a wave of qi exploded from his movements and shot toward the members of Emperor Hall.
Without even waiting, the four people that served the young master each performed their techniques. They also shot out qi from their hands and struck the incoming qi wave, neutralizing it.
When Mo Ling saw the attack, he subconsciously frowned. He was not surprised by the fact that the four people from the Emperor Hall neutralized the venerable’s attack, but the process. Each one shot out a qi attack that did not leak any excess and perfectly countered the qi wave from the venerable. Considering that the venerable’s qi wave wasted a large portion of its qi as it traveled on the ground, it showed amazing control and calculation.
In his estimation, only those absolute geniuses and ancient venerables could display such control.
“Dong Qiang, Chun Dao, Xia Gun, Qiu Jian, put down that rabid dog,” the young master said.
“At once,” the four replied. They didn’t shirk or delay, they simply obeyed.
Mo Ling narrowed his eyes when he saw the four of them shoot toward the thug-faced venerable. Although he couldn’t discern their cultivation base, they should be at least at the peak grandmaster level.
If this fight had occurred a hundred years ago, it would have stirred waves. None of the forces on the central continent would dare to take this lightly, but in this current situation, it could only be a sideshow. The weakest people present were at least peak masters, while the strongest were at the venerable level.
Normally, it would take ten peak grandmasters to defeat a single venerable, but the four grandmasters from Emperor Hall were actually suppressing the thug-faced venerable. If anything, they could kill him as long as they had enough time.
Most people only saw this truth, but a few, like Mo Ling, couldn’t help but show grim expressions. It was amazing that four grandmasters could suppress a venerable, but what truly gave them the edge was the exquisiteness and profundity of the techniques the grandmasters used.
Although it only revealed a hint, it also showed that the origin of Emperor Hall was not simple. If anything, it was far greater than any of them imagined. It might even be able to rival Pill Palace in the future.
None felt this more than Mo Ling. He already inferred some secrets from his clash against the imperial protector. ‘No matter your identity, I will raze your hall down once I reach the peak.’
Soon, the thug-faced venerable spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto one knee. He glared at his four foes with hatred. If looks could kill, the four of them would have already fallen dead. The four grandmasters didn’t care for the venerable’s hatred and just slowly walked toward him. “Pay the price for your insolence.”
Just as they were about to kill the thug-faced venerable, a sudden gust halted them in their tracks. When the gust ended, a scholarly man in white robes appeared in front of the kneeling venerable. He was known as the Elegant Palm Venerable.
“Friend, how about giving me face and ending this matter here? For a venerable to perish before the Bodhi Tree is not a good sign,” the Elegant Palm Venerable said, not to the four grandmasters but to the young master. “My friend here won’t pursue the matter after this, either. Let bygones be bygones.”
The thug-faced venerable had an ugly expression, but he knew that the Elegant Palm Venerable was saving his life. So he snorted and looked away, implicitly agreeing.
The four grandmasters wanted to scold the Elegant Palm Venerable. Why did he only come out now? What face did he have? Still, they did not dare to make their own decisions and looked at the young master.
The young master was still sitting indolently on his couch. Everyone could see he was barely paying attention, and a sense of shame erupted in the thug-faced venerable’s heart. He swore this humiliation would not end here, he would get his revenge.
“Bojing,” came the young master’s voice.
The man Bojing pointed a finger at the Elegant Palm Venerable, who tensed up and prepared for a confrontation. To his surprise, nothing happened. At least, until he felt the thug-faced venerable fall onto the ground. He turned around in surprise and, after checking, he realized that the thug-faced venerable had silently perished.
A bead of sweat formed on his forehead as he focused his eyes back on Emperor Hall. In truth, he was the one who instigated the thug-faced venerable, and judging from everything, Emperor Hall was even more terrifying than Pill Palace. At least, no one from Pill Palace could kill a venerable just by pointing their finger.
Bojing snorted. “Anyone who dares to offend the young master must die.”
The Elegant Palm Venerable said no more. He didn’t apologize and just retreated. He did not return to his original location but far away, as if he was afraid that the Emperor Hall would seek revenge. After this incident, the original tense air became even more suffocating. All forces would periodically observe Emperor Hall.
Thankfully, Emperor Hall did not take any more action and seemed content to wait.
Thirteen days later, the ground rumbles. Earthquakes would happen every time before the Bodhi Tree would appear because it would emerge from the ground. However, they miscalculated this time because smoke billowed from the peak of the mountain.
Mount Underflame, which had lay dormant for ages, erupted.
