Chapter 181 – Emeraldcloud Gorge

A Snowshadow Butterfly that possessed such terrifying speed actually lived in groups! If a thousand or so Snowshadow Butterflies were to swarm out together... Chen Xi instantly didn’t know what to say.

“Moreover.” Ling Bai gulped down a mouthful of saliva with slight difficulty, and it seemed as if he found it difficult to speak out.

Chen Xi instantly had a bad premonition, and he asked. “Moreover what?”

Ling Bai gnashed his teeth and said, “Moreover, a place that had Snowshadow Butterflies would have Darksoul Beetles, and these loathsome insects possess boundless physical strength and shocking defenses. In the Top 100 Poisonous Insect Chart, it’s ranked at number 37, and it’s two ranks higher than the Snowshadow Butterfly.”

“In other words, if we continue moving deeper, it’s possible that we’ll encounter attacks from Snowshadow Butterflies and Darksoul Beetles?” Chen Xi’s expression was extremely unsightly.

Ling Bai nodded seriously.

Instantly, Chen Xi’s expression that was extremely unsightly had become even more unsightly. He who was usually calm and composed was almost unable to refrain giving vent to a torrent of curses.

“Do the Darksoul Beetles have any weakness?” Chen Xi took a deep breath and asked.

“Their defense is comparable to an earth-rank Magic Treasure, and their only weakness is their eyes. But, their eyes are exceedingly small, small to the point it’s similar to a mung bean. Moreover, the Darksoul Beetles are usually the guards of the Snowshadow Butterflies. One with extraordinary speed takes charge of the attack, the other with formidable defense takes charge of the defense.” Ling Bai sighed and said, “Aren’t they a sickening combination?”

One month later.

After Chen Xi killed the last Darksoul Beetle, he instantly fell to sit on the ground and started gasping for breath. His body was already covered in scars that crisscrossed both horizontally and vertically and flowed with fresh blood. His clothes were even torn apart into rags that were fully tainted with blood and dirt, causing him to look to be in a terribly sorry state.

But his expression was deep, concentrated, and calm to the extreme. During this month, he’d encountered over 10 waves of small and large attacks from the Snowshadow Butterflies and Darksoul Beetles. The small attacks consisted of a few tens of them, whereas, the large attacks consisted of thousands of them, and getting injured during these continuous bitter battles was a common occurrence.

At this moment, the entire ground before him was covered in the severed parts of Snowshadow Butterflies and Darksoul Beetles, and Ling Bai was gathering the useful materials.

The wings of the Snowshadow Butterflies and the shells of the Darksoul Beetles were precious and rare equipment refinement materials. Amongst them, the Snowshadow Butterflies wings were the main material to refine a type of heaven-rank flying Magic Treasure, Windsoul Flashwings, and its value was shocking. Even though Chen Xi was unable to use it, he could exchange it for spirit liquid.

Actually, all along the way in the crack, the two of them had gathered many materials that were extremely precious, and every single one of them were treasures of the heaven and earth that possessed a value equivalent to the Profound Balance Heavy Iron.

For example, Multicolored Starstreak Stone, White Bowvine, Whirling Driftroot, etc. They were either materials to refine heaven-rank Magic Treasures, or spirit materials to refine heaven-rank medicinal pills, and if they were to be taken to the market of the outside world, all of them would be able to be sold at an astronomical price.

After resting for three hours, Chen Xi stood up right away and set out once again.

Walking through the crack until now, he and Ling Bai already had no way of retreat, and they could only head forward and fight ceaselessly to fight their way out. Because he was already able to feel that the draught that came from within the crack had grown in number and strength. Obviously, he was already almost at the exit.

Another half a month passed by.

During this half a month of time, Chen Xi and Ling Bai didn’t encounter Snowshadow Butterflies and Darksoul Beetles again, and it seemed as if they’d been completely wiped out by the two of them. But they’d encountered other few tens of types of demon beasts, and all of these were existences of great reputation in the Top 100 Poisonous Insect Chart, like the Blackhell Wasp that was ranked number 23 and the Crimsonback Millipede that was ranked number 19. All of these demon beasts had died miserably under the forward footsteps of Chen Xi and Ling Bai.

A month and a half had already passed since Chen Xi entered this crack, it was neither long nor short, but to Chen Xi and Ling Bai who’d experienced countless bloody slaughters, it was as if ages had gone by, and their strengths advanced by leaps and bounds. Especially Chen Xi. The eight great sword moves of the Myriad Convergence Sword Scripture had even been tempered to the point of perfection and ease in utilization by him. A few of the Sword Daos amongst the eight great Sword Daos even faintly had a trace of merging.

Presently, his outward appearance was still extraordinary, yet as soon as battle occurred, he instantly become swift and ferocious, with condensed killing intent, and he would be like a sharp sword that had drunk countless amounts of fresh blood. Chen Xi’s imposing manner alone was sufficient to scare others to death, and when he was in battle, he was simply like a peerless villain!

This was the will, imposing manner, and experience that could only be tempered by continuous slaughter and blood.

Within the pitch black crack, Chen Xi and Ling Bai flashed forward neither swiftly nor slowly. But at this moment, Chen Xi’s mind wasn’t straight any longer, as all along the way, the demon beasts that they were able to encounter had gradually decreased, and they would sometimes be unable to encounter a single demon beast in a day.

He was thinking about a single thing. After experiencing the battles of these past days, his combat strength had risen steadily, yet had already arrived at the limit, and if he wanted to have a breakthrough, then he must advance in cultivation level. However, regretfully, after he advanced to the Golden Hall Realm and up until now, although the True Essence within his violet palace lake had become more and more vaster, it was unable to undergo a transformation until now.

This was caused by the lack of Yin and Yang qi.

Only by utilizing the qi of Yin and Yang to temper his True Essence would his strength be able to breakthrough, and only then would he have hope of charging into the Golden Core Realm. So, the matter of top priority at this moment was to hurry to the Oceanic Desert and find the Nine-Yang Profound Qi of top quality.

On the other hand, during the battles and tempering of these past days, his body refinement cultivation had already arrived at the verge of breakthrough, and he only needed a deciding factor to easily step into the Golden Hall Realm.

“Chen Xi! There seems to be a trace of True Essence fluctuation ahead...” In the darkness, Ling Bai spoke out abruptly, and his voice carried along a trace of excitement that was difficult to conceal. During this one and a half month of time, the continuous slaughter had caused Ling Bai to be greatly fatigued, and it was as if he’d entered into a hopeless situation where no sunlight could be seen through the darkness, causing him to be forever unaware of when it would end.

Chen Xi was lightly stunned, and he awoke from his deep thoughts. His Divine Perception swept out to instantly notice the trace of True Essence fluctuation, causing him instantaneously be overjoyed, and he flashed forward at an increased speed.

——

In an open space that was enveloped in spirit mist, over ten cultivators surrounded an enormous beast as they launched attacks. This enormous beast was the size of a small hill, its head like a tiger with a pair of crimson red eyes, its body covered with an armor of scales, and its sharp claws were like unsheathed swords that were an entire three meters long and suffused with a sharp metallic sheen. Its tail was similarly extremely terrifying, thick like a water bucket and covered with hooks, and it was covered with ghastly cold qi. If it were to sweep onto someone, the outcome would surely be a tragic end of having one’s flesh torn to shreds.

“Everyone, put your back into it! This Blackscale Armored Tiger is unable to hold on for much longer.” At the outer side of the group stood a young woman in violet clothes. This young woman had a tall hourglass figure that was graceful and well proportioned, and her appearance was extremely beautiful, yet the corners of her mouth that were lightly curled up revealed a trace of arrogance.

All these cultivators possessed a Golden Hall Realm cultivation, both old and young, and they commanded various profound-rank Magic Treasures to jointly attack the Blackscale Armored Tiger. Their numerous formidable attacks forced the primordial variant demon beast to the point of retreating constantly, and its scale armor that was hard like steel was completely damaged as blood flowed down like gushing fountains.

“Little Sister Zixuan, don’t worry, this beast will absolutely be unable to flee this time.” A white clothed young man grinned as he fiercely stabbed the folding fan in his hand at the Blackscale Armored Tiger, and it was actually like a sharp sword as it stabbed out numerous bloody holes and demonstrated his extremely formidable strength.

Reality was indeed so, these 10 plus Golden Hall Realm cultivators were led by the white clothed young man as they formed a dual circular siege towards the Blackscale Armored Tiger, and without the white clothed young man as their main force, they were far from being able to injure this demon beast with a strength at the Golden Core Realm.

The violet clothed young woman called Zixuan smiled as she nodded. This white clothed young man was called Han Wenjun, her best friend since childhood, and they could be said to have grown up together.

“Young Miss, during our visit to Emeraldcloud Gorge this time, we’ve gathered a total of 65 kgs of various spirit materials. Amongst them, there are 26 materials that have attained the grade of being a precious treasure of the heavens and the earth. The various other materials...” A short young woman at Zixuan’s side looked at her Hundred Treasure Bag as she spoke swiftly.

“26? Why is it so little? Xiao Jun, you didn’t see wrongly, right?” Zixuan’s attention moved away from the battlefield and frowned as she spoke.

The Emeraldcloud Gorge was a gorge that covered 5,000 kilometers. A layer of extremely formidable restriction had been placed around it by Zixuan’s ancestors, causing even Earthly Immortal Realm cultivators to be unable to enter without a command token.

But even if a command token was used, entrance was only allowed every 100 years, and for a duration of half a month. If one didn’t leave after the duration, then one could only wait 100 years to leave, as this was caused by the restriction, and no one was able to change it.

The spirit energy of heaven and earth was abundant to the extreme in Emeraldcloud Gorge, dense to the point of seeming like mist, and various spirit materials grew within. Amongst these spirit materials was no lack of rare and precious materials of the heaven and earth, and it was like a land of treasures that was bestowed by the heavens. But it wasn’t safe within Emeraldcloud Gorge, and there were many demon beasts with formidable strengths roaming about.

It was the first time Zixuan entered here as well, so she’d brought along an entire few tens of Golden Hall Realm guards and had even invited her best friend, Han Wenjun, and her preparation could be said to be ample to the extreme.

But during these past seven days, she’d only gathered 23 spirit materials that were precious treasures of the heaven and earth, and this had greatly exceeded her expectations. Because, according to her Father’s briefing, when they entered the Emeraldcloud Gorge 100 years ago, their clan had obtained an entire 100 plus spirit materials that were precious treasures of the heaven and earth!

“Young Miss, why don’t you take a look?” Xiao Jun replied.

Could it be that a change has occurred in Emeraldcloud Gorge? Zixuan waved her hand and spoke as she frowned while in deep thought. “There’s no need.” She’d completely not noticed that her little maidservant’s head was lowered and her maidservant’s eyes flickered indeterminately.

“Roar!” Right at this moment, that Blackscale Armored Tiger that was already about to die roared abruptly, its voice shaking the heaven and the earth, and its entire body that was like a small hill gushed out with boundless bloody lights. At the same time, the injuries on its entire body actually healed bit by bit before recovering completely, and not only that, the imposing aura on its body didn’t reduce but rose instead to skyrocket to an entire three times plus from before, causing it to be vicious and ferocious to the extreme!

The surrounding 10 plus Golden Hall Realm cultivators were instantly stunned. What’s going on? Could it be that this beast had been concealing its strength all along?

Seizing this gap in their attacks, the Blackscale Armored Tiger abruptly stomped on the ground, causing its 10m long tail that was thick like a bucket to sweep out like a long whip in the hands of the gods, and it contained a fierce and violent imposing aura as it slammed headfirst towards Zixuan!

Shit!

Never had Zixuan imagined that a scene like this would actually appear, and its suddenness had caught her off guard, causing it to already be too late for her to dodge, let alone resist.

Could it be that I’m going to die here this time? With calamity impending, Zixuan closed her eyes, as she was already drowned in the fear of death.

On the other side, when the white clothed young man, Han Wenjun, saw this scene, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl into a trace of a complacent cold smile, and he seemed as if he’d already expected this scene would occur!

Bang!

In the next moment, the cold smile on the corners of Han Wenjun’s mouth froze. Because right at the instant the Blackscale Armored Tiger’s tail was about to slam onto Zixuan, a figure had torn through the sky with a speed so swift it was like a bolt of lightning, and in only an instant, the figure had appeared by Zixuan’s side. After that, the figure slashed out with his sword, easily slashing the Blackscale Armored Tiger’s tail into two!