Transcending the Nine Heavens

Chu Yang’s robe was as black as ink. The flames rolled with a flapping sound as he dashed out from the middle of the soaring fire with the whistling sound of the wind.

He appeared like an overwhelming wild dragon rolling about in the sea of fire. Surprisingly, the flames around him started to whirl and disperse. It seemed as if the fire had the intelligence to avoid making contact with his body.

Jing Meng Hun would’ve been extremely surprised to see this.

Chu Yang was radiating a strong cold energy since he had consumed the Seven Shades of cold energy derived from the Mysterious Ice Jade Paste. In fact, Chu Yang had even consumed the source of the Mysterious Ice Jade Paste.

It was so cold that it could freeze a stone... and frost-break it into tiny fragments. Then, how could a little fire affect it?

Chu Yang pranced and leapt towards the place where Jing Meng Hun’s voice had come from. He rushed ahead like a hurricane.

The flames had turned blazing white; they were issuing hissing sounds.

Something unusual was happening — the color of the smoke arising from ahead was different.

The smoke soaring-up from the mountain was black and dense-yellow in color. However, the smoke ahead was greenish-blue; it was pale in color.

Chu Yang raised his eyebrows; his eyes revealed a grim look. Then, he advanced forward without any hesitation.

Suddenly, a burst of smoke assailed his nose .This smoke had a mysterious ability to captivate one’s soul. However, Chu Yang kept strutting forward without holding his breath.

The enchanting smoke didn’t have any effect on him even though it had entered his nostrils.

In fact, Chu Yang had no fear of this mysterious smoke. It had entered his body, and had become a tonic for the Nine Tribulations Sword Point.

Chu Yang rushed down the main peak within a second. He burst into the sea of fire, and rushed to the Purple Bamboo Garden. Then, he started to advance towards the north. He jumped across the three canyons, which had been left to blaze like three seas of fire. After that, he leapt onto the road to the Iron Cloud – like a meteor.

There were mountains on either side of the road. The flames from these mountains were soaring high into the sky. Intense crackling sounds could be heard originating from the jungle.

Chu Yang came across a canyon as he advanced forward. It seemed to be an extremely dangerous place. However, its terrain had made it a strategic location. So, Chu Yang had no choice... except to dash across this place with all his might.

[Jing Meng Hun must be waiting for me there.]

[I don’t know how many people I’m going to face... Is it a thousand? Two-thousand? Three-thousand? Or even more?]

Chu Yang’s eyes were cold as ice. He didn’t seem even faintly shaken. He tried and harmonized his breathing. Then, the Nine Tribulations Sword moved to-and-fro inside his arm, and released a cold murderous aura. It was waiting for the right moment to break out.

The closer he got... the calmer he became. Over a dozen scenarios of how the enemy would try to besiege him came-up in his mind. He pondered and chose an escape route for every scenario.

[Even if ten million people are standing in my way... then I must rush against them.]

Jing Meng Hun was in a terrible shape.

He didn’t feel any pressure in his mind since he had set fire to the mountain with Diwu Qing Rou’s permission. He was going with the flow, and lighting the fire repeatedly. The mountain-forest that spread over the distance of twelve-hundred-and-fifty kilometres had been burnt down. The clear sky appeared to be leaning on the tip of a burning candle.

[King of Hell Chu, let’s see where you hide now...]

Jing Meng Hun had arrived at a safe spot. He felt proud of himself as he waited for King of Hell Chu to appear. A cruel smile was spread across his face. An unbearable anger rose up in his heart as he looked at his severed right arm...

[There are thousands of overhanging steep cliffs on both the sides. King of Hell Chu, if you want pass... you’ll have to pass over my dead body... that is... if you’ve the ability to pull that off.]

However, it was almost dawn and King of Hell Chu hadn’t made the slightest sound. Moreover, the fire was spreading. It was gradually advancing towards the place of ambush.

Jing Meng Hun commanded his three-thousand experts to push-back the fire. They did that with great difficulty. Then, they moved several hundred feet away from their original spot. It didn’t make any difference whether they advanced several hundred feet or went back as long they kept guard there. So, Jing Meng Hun didn’t care much about that.

However, an accident occurred since he got reckless.

The mountain-forest located to the side was precipitous. It appeared red because it was burning. Suddenly, a sharp and shrill roar was heard from that direction. It was followed by an intense rumbling sound. Hundreds of house-sized rocks collapsed from the steep cliff, and smashed onto the ground; they were bathed in sporadic flames.

Suddenly, there was an explosion in the middle of the cliff. The cliff crumbled from the middle, and the broken pieces started to rain down like a meteorite shower. Then, they started to pound towards Jing Meng Hun and the others.

"This is King of Hell Chu’s doing for sure. Everyone be very careful. We mustn’t let him escape. Withdraw for now..." the people retreated as Jing Meng Hun yelled out.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The rocks dropped with loud crashing sounds, and raised a hill of rocks.

Jing Meng Hun heaved a sigh of relief, [This was a narrow escape. It wasn’t a landslide. The cliff collapsed from the middle. This hasn’t happened on any other spot. But, this spot is a natural stronghold. And, a natural stronghold is a natural stronghold. ...It looks like King of Hell Chu isn’t skilled to fly past here...]

[But... how did the cliff collapse from the middle? Isn’t that unreasonable?]

Suddenly, Jing Meng Hun’s face turned pale with fear as he heard a heart-curdling scream. [What was that?] A fishy stench proliferated with the wind. Jing Meng Hun started to feel dizzy as he inhaled this stench. He felt as if his stomach was on fire...

He opened his eyes to look closely. Suddenly, he was frightened to death. He felt a tingling sensation in his scalp; his back was covered in cold sweat.

[My mother... what in the world is that?]

He saw that around four to five experts of the Golden Horse Riders Department were suspended mid-air near his position.

However, they hadn’t leapt-up on their own.

Jing Meng Hun saw two huge monsters opposite to them. They were gigantic snakes; they were as thick as a small house, and were around three-hundred feet long. There was a shiny horn on their heads. Their eyes were the size of watermelons, and were reflecting the flames in the dark night. They gave a spooky feeling as they flashed from time-to-time.

Suddenly, one of them uncoiled its body. Its blood-red tongue extended from ten-to-twenty feet; it was issuing bizarre hissing sounds from its mouth.

The body of the other snake was coiled-up. It was rolled-up in four coils; one person was trapped in each one of them. The trapped people screamed and struggled to break free as the snake directed them towards its mouth.

The people trapped within the coils tried everything to break free. But, nothing worked. They used their swords to stab and cut the huge serpent’s body. But, sparks flew as their weapon collided with its solid body. It was like a collision between metals. The snake’s skin wasn’t damaged; not even a little.

Everyone cried out in alarm as they saw this.

[Where have these two monsters dug their way out from?] Everyone stared blankly. They shivered from head-to-toe as they looked at the two huge monsters. They trembled and turned deathly pale as they saw one of their companions being swallowed by the snake. No one even dared to move.

Then, the huge snake started to swallow the second person. It rolled-up the person, and brought him towards its mouth. This person was holding a sharp sword. But, he got swallowed along with his weapon. A slight bulge became visible in the raised neck of the snake as the man went down its throat with a gulping sound. One could see the bulge travelling all the way down as the man slid down for more than a hundred feet... until he finally went into its stomach. Then, the bulge disappeared...

The same happened to the third and the fourth man...

Everyone looked with lifeless eyes. They were scared out of their wits.

These people were experts of the Jiang Hu, but they had never seen such a frightening phenomenon. Where could they find such frightening monsters?

[Is this... really a mother*king snake?]

"Attention everyone... these are spirit beasts!" Jing Meng Hun realized that it was too late for regrets. He understood that these two monster-snakes had come out because he had set the mountain on fire.

[It seems that their home was in the middle of the steep cliff. They don’t come out often. But as their bodies gets bigger... they need bigger space for their caves. This large fire not only killed countless birds and animals... but it also made these two huge creatures suffer a lot of pain and discomfort in their caves.]

He realized that their cave must’ve had passages for ventilation. So, a large amount of the rising smoke must’ve gone into them. These two snakes had been living in comfort for several thousand years. So, how could they tolerate something like this?

[How did it catch fire?]

These ancient snakes had started to choke because their caves had been filled with smoke. Their skins had started to burn as the walls of the cave became hotter. They would’ve been burnt alive if they hadn’t gone out; in fact, they would’ve been scorched to death by now.

So, the two snakes had dashed out in desperation. They couldn’t rush to the side of the fire since they would’ve broken into the raging inferno. So, they came from the side of the steep cliff.

They had rushed out, and landed onto the ground with a loud rumbling sound. Their scales were extremely sturdy. However, they felt dizzy as they fell down. After all, the cliff was extremely high. They had fallen down from several thousand feet with a great force. But, they hadn’t turned into a ball of mud. It was a ‘feat’ to survive such a fall.

One of the snakes had unconsciously coiled itself around four people. [This food will work as a good supplement... ah.] It hadn’t been willing to let go even though it was feeling a little dizzy. Then, it started to gorge the men once it had composed itself.

Jing Meng Hun felt like crying out loud, [How can this be?]

"Spirit beasts? What’s the level of these spirit beasts?" someone asked anxiously, "This one’s too big. Look at its appetite... it can eat all three-thousand people... and still won’t feel half-full..."

"We have to take care of it before it eats us all. I can’t let it eat me," someone else spoke-up while holding a steel saber in his hand; he was sweating profusely.

"At least the sixth level..." Jing Meng Hun conjectured as he stepped back. He appeared calm on the surface. But, he wanted to turn around and run away. [One won’t come across such terrible beasts in the Middle Three Heavens... or even in the Upper Three Heavens.]

[These beasts exist at the top of the food chain. How did I run into them in the Lower Three Heavens?] Jing Meng Hun didn’t know that the Middle Three Heavens and the Upper Three Heavens were in chaos because such beasts had become a common occurrence over there these days...

Everyone was shocked and scared to see one of the snakes straightening-up its body — it rose-up to more than a hundred feet. Then, it lowered its body to the ground with a squishing sound, and advanced towards them. Meanwhile, the other snake spread out on the ground. It then used its strength to slither towards them... with his head raised.

The snakes looked at Jing Meng Hun and the others with a desire to devour them.

Then, they began to move their seemingly clumsy bodies. However, it turned out that they were ‘gliding’ forward rapidly. Jing Meng Hun and the others were scared out of their wits. They hastily began to retreat.