Chapter 4014 – Black Sword Cave?

Miracle Mountain had visibility slimmed down as its golden portion was stripped away, leaving only the black portion. Miracle Mountain was no longer sword-shaped, but instead a twisted structure full of craters.

From afar, it looked more like an artificial rock formation than a sword.

Faced with the transformation, the fifty thousand geniuses of the Eightpart Pantheons could do nothing but stand there in a daze.

“What’d that masked man do to Miracle Mountain?”

“I just got a message that he used his sword to enter the sword cave! It’s likely that the super cosmic relic, Miracle Mountain, reacted to his sword!”

“It has to be a priceless treasure! Are we just going to stand around and watch?”

“Well, what else can we do?”

They were thrown into chaos, their hearts filled with endless resentment.

Meanwhile, the Ten Desolate Starforges had a prime view of things. Hundreds of billions of Eightpart Pantheons’ citizens felt utterly humiliated and howled in fury, unable to conceal the raging jealousy in their hearts.

“That thing belongs to us!”

In their minds, they had already laid claim to Miracle Mountain. They would see whoever tried taking it as a thief.

“Stop staring like idiots! Go find that masked man and kill him to seize the treasure!”

While they could see from the outside, the Eightpart Pantheons' geniuses inside the mountain were still surrounded by a dense golden fog, blind to everything. All they could do was wait for the mountain's transformation to finish!

At last, Miracle Mountain had completely thinned by half, leaving behind only a twisted, black husk.

“What’s that?” Many people noticed that countless vines, roots, and leaves were now exposed.

“That must be the Ninelives Ancestral Tree!”

“It really is!”

They had previously seen parts of the Ninelives Ancestral Tree inside the Ninelives Cave, but never had so much of it been visible.

“Everyone, look!”

“So many ninelives fruit...!”

For a moment, their eyes were all shining as fruit after fruit appeared—there were even golden ninelives fruits! Although most of them were protected by formations, the fact that they were exposed meant they could eventually be seized with enough time.

“If we can’t find that masked man, let’s take all the ninelives fruit first.”

“Harvesting these fruits could boost the number of cosmic gods in the Ten Desolate Starforges by several times. So many people have been stuck at the pseudo cosmic god level for too long.”

Most of the Eightpart Pantheons geniuses were focused on the fruits, while a few top-ranked talents on the Ten Desolate Cosmic Genii Ranking continued the hunt for Tianming.

As for Zi Zhen and Moran, they had already escaped amidst the chaos.

“A new transmission came from outside! They say the upper half of the mountain has more ninelives fruits. There’s at least a hundred million! The elders insist we gather and carry them away first!”

The declaration made their hearts burn with excitement. A hundred million!?

“Those three masked people won’t be able to take many fruits, they’re no real threat. But we need to guard against the thirty thousand Primordial Sands fools. They might come out and steal everything.”

The crowd grew noisy and chaotic. Even though they’d temporarily lost the super cosmic artifact, the sheer abundance of ninelives fruits had brought them an unexpected delight.

Only a small group of top-ranked Ten Desolate Cosmic Genii Ranking geniuses continued waiting for word on the masked man’s whereabouts, while the others had already begun breaking through the fruit formations.

Not long after, a new message arrived from the elders outside.

“The structure of the Ninelives Cave has also significantly deteriorated. It’ll be much easier to conquer now!”

“Most importantly, a huge portion of the Ninelives Ancestral Tree is still inside the cave, which means even more ninelives fruits have appeared! The elders are conducting a rough count now!”

“How many!?” The expressions of the Eightpart Pantheons geniuses grew even colder. They had originally been worried about people coming out of the cave to steal from them. But now they had more fruits inside?

That didn’t sit well with them at all.

Soon, the elders gave an estimate.

“At least three hundred million....”

The moment those words were heard, all fifty thousand geniuses fell silent. A hundred million outside to collect, but three hundred million for the rats hiding inside? The math didn’t seem very fair!

“What’s Skyfiend Hall saying about this?” They gathered together, awaiting the next message.

“They say we should harvest all the fruits outside first, then transport them out before beginning a full-scale attack on the Ninelives Cave! Its structure is full of weak points to breach now. But before we attack, we have to surround the cave to prevent them from escaping with any fruits. Also, they emphasized that we have to investigate the three masked individuals. Soon, imperial-class geniuses will arrive to deal with them!”

“Understood!”

With their elders remotely issuing commands from outside, the young geniuses only needed to follow orders. It was their greatest advantage.

“The Heavenly Dao Arena still hasn’t located those three people?”

“There’s still dust and fog. Once things clear up, they won’t be able to escape anymore!”

***

Meanwhile, inside a black cave deep within Miracle Mountain, the last of the golden torrent finally surged into the Grand-Orient Sword. Aside from the golden sword in his hand, everything around Tianming, from the cave’s walls to its ceiling, had become entirely black.

“The Grand-Orient Sword is completely gold now....” Tianming stared at the sword’s hilt, where a tiny black dot remained, with wry amusement.

“There’s still half of Miracle Mountain left?” Ying Huo, perched on Tianming’s shoulder, looked around.

“That means there must be a black sword cave somewhere with a corresponding black statue. If I use the Grand-Orient Sword to absorb that, too, I’ll be able to devour the remaining half of Miracle Mountain,” Tianming solemnly said. He had assumed that it would all be done in one step, but apparently it required two.

“Still, that’s a good thing.” Tianming gripped the Grand-Orient Sword tight. He could already feel its terrifying transformation. “If it’s already this incredible now, absorbing the black half will only make it even stronger. I just wonder where the black sword cave is. Maybe it isn’t even a cave, but in another form,” he guessed.

“What the heck is this sword’s true power anyway? It’s so strange...” Ying Huo muttered, not quite seeing it yet. It struck the blade with its sharpest feather and—

The Aeternal Infernal Phoenix’s feather was cleanly sliced through.

“Okay, being sharp is nice, but not very exciting. Any other tricks it can do?” Ying Huo pouted.

“Well, it’s insanely sharp....” Tianming had used even imperial-class artifacts before, but they were utter trash compared to the golden Grand-Orient Sword. They would snap in half in one exchange!

“It’s probably a true cosmic relic. Even in terms of hardness and sharpness, nothing else comes close,” Tianming said with confidence. The sword had already escaped the categories of cosmic artifacts.

How could half a mountain compressed into a sword

not

be insanely durable?

Now, the Grand-Orient Sword was a danger to wherever it was placed. Tianming could only let it lie on the flat of the blade, or it would pierce through and sink right into Miracle Mountain!