The Sacred Ruins

Chapter 273: Raising the Party’s Strength

Translator: Alsey Editor: Chrissy

The black yak was extremely happy along the way as he held onto the Buddhist staff. The jingling of the copper rings as he shook them around was clear and crisp, overflowing with a Buddhist aura.

"Sigh, something’s wrong. It isn’t very powerful." The black yak was somewhat suspicious.

The Buddhist staff was as thick as an arm and extremely heavy. It certainly glowed brightly after injecting energy into it but that was all. No destructive power erupted from within.

"This was also why the Archaic Alliance had left it to gather dust. Normal people weren’t able to activate it because it required a Buddhist breathing technique to work," Yellow Ox informed.

The black yak’s eyes suddenly flashed and immediately circulated his Thunderous Breathing Technique. It was sufficient despite being incomplete!

With a boom, terrifying radiance flooded out from the staff. An area of 300 meters around the staff became a Buddhist kingdom suffused with golden light. The Donkey King, the Manchurian Tiger, and the others were shocked.

This was more evident after seeing the silhouette of a Golden Arhat appear behind the black yak. Its body was completely made of gold, appearing extremely solemn and dignified.

The Golden Condor who was focusing on the flight trembled inshock.

"Heh!"

The black yak breathed out and swung the staff violently and smashed towards a nearby mountain. Buddhist chants began to resound amidst the buzz of the explosion as the area was bathed in Buddhist lights. The mountain was completely decimated just as they were approaching it. Half of it had melted and was flowing down like molten lava.

Not to mention the black yak himself, even experts at the level of Chu Feng and the Manchurian Tiger were dumbstruck. The explosive power of this staff was simply too ferocious.

The Golden Condor King’s feathers all puffed up in fright and almost fell from the skies. The sheer magnitude of the energy surge in the vicinity was absolutely terrifying.

"I think I’ve been sucked dry. I’m exhausted."

The black yak suddenly fell on his butt like a deflated balloon. His whole body was so weak that even the hand holding the staff was trembling.

That attack just now had drained every ounce of energy in his body and now he was so tired that he could barely stand.

"This magical weapon is indeed extraordinary. We need to make good use of it. That attack just now is probably enough to kill an expert with six severed shackles!" Chu Feng’s expression was solemn.

The Manchurian Tiger nodded, literally drooling with envy. The black yak was someone he shared a friendly relationship with and even called brother. If it was some other person, this immoral tiger would’ve found a way to swindle or rob the item.

"This item is indeed extraordinary. Its level is extremely high and had thus drawn out all of the black yak’s energy," Yellow Ox explained.

It could even be said that the item was more powerful than Chu Feng’s flying knife, violet lightning hammer or the Yellow Ox’s silver spear. This was likely one of the highest grade magical weapons unearthed in this era.

Yellow Ox’s assessment was that the previous attack could definitely kill an expert with six severed shackles. The prerequisite was that the attack had to connect.

The attack required a colossal amount of energy. It would surely spell one’s doom if it didn’t hit the enemy as the attacker would be left completely exhausted.

"Let me try," Chu Feng said.

He and Yellow Ox also knew the Thunderous Breathing Technique. Even the black yak’s technique was taught by them. It was likely they would be able to better activate the staff’s power.

Boom!

Divine radiance flooded an area of 300 meters, turning it into a Buddhist Kingdom. The terrifying fluctuations were broad and powerful.

A golden arhat appeared behind Chu Feng. The blurry image was seemingly cast from gold and would emit Buddhist chants along with every swing of the staff.

Boom!

The remaining half of the mountain below crumbled, melted and soon evaporated into nothingness.

The overwhelming seen caused everyone to be dumbstruck.

The Golden Condor King couldn’t take those energy fluctuations any longer. He was afraid they would accidentally smash him with the weapon and almost unloaded the passengers.

Chu Feng’s body swayed and was forced to sit cross-legged. Even with his current strength, he could barely hang on and had used up all the energy in his body. The weapon’s level was simply too high for them to activate more than once.

He began to circulate the essence of the heaven and earth in large gulps in order to replenish his energy.

He recovered moments later. His solid foundation allowed him a swift recovery despite the exhaustion.

"This thing is truly a killer weapon. It’ll serve as protection for you two since you still can’t go up against peerless experts," Chu Feng said to the two oxen.

He himself was capable of fighting peerless experts and didn’t need this weapon.

In truth, the power of this staff had greatly exceeded Yellow Ox’s previous expectations. It truly wasn’t suitable for anyone to activate on his own because it would leave the caster exhausted and helpless.

Since the two oxen both knew the Thunderous Breathing Technique and were mostly together, it suited them greatly.

The Manchurian Tiger’s eyes turned red and he was almost drooling with envy after seeing this. Chu Feng smiled at him and said, "Brother Tiger, seeing as how you crossed thousands of kilometers to come and help me, I won’t treat you poorly."

"Ah, what are you going to give me?!" The old tiger’s eyes suddenly became spirited, grinning from ear to ear.

"I’m going to give you a big present but the condition is that you observe certain morals and never betray us." Chu Feng didn’t forget to stress on the fact that this chap had defected to them from the Western camp.

The Manchurian Tiger became flustered, "How is that possible? I’ve always been a Manchurian Tiger. I was simply tricked into the wrong camp by Schiller. I switched sides to attack them at the critical moment and set things right amidst the chaos. This is actually a sign of great wisdom, not being immoral!"

The black yak pulled the rug from under him. "Have you returned the monastic robe you stole from the old llama?"

Back when they were attacking Mount Longhu, the tiger had arrived with the old llama’s monastic robes in hand. He had planned to run from Mount Kunlun after stealing it. This caused everyone to be dumbstruck.

"Dammit old ox, stop picking on my faults. I’ve already returned it to him. That llama is truly savage—he still wanted to convert me to Buddhism to act as a dharma protector sage beast even though I had already returned the item. Fortunately, I was able to flee quickly."

Chu Feng had decided to extract the breathing technique from the Xingyi Twelve Forms and teach it to the Manchurian Tiger.

"What, breathing technique!?" The Manchurian Tiger was stunned after hearing this. He was incomparably excited and started jumping on the Golden Condor’s back out of excitement.

He was born a tiger and had always believed himself to have great potential. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t win against people like Schiller and the Peacock King and could only run. That was all because he lacked a breathing technique.

The fierce warriors and peerless experts of the era all possessed certain inheritances. That was the case for experts like the Elder Lion King, Schiller, and the Peacock King.

There was no need to mention the old llama because he practiced the Golden Arhat Breathing Technique!

Chu Feng wanted to teach the Manchurian Tiger a breathing technique in order to raise his strength. They did, after all, share a friendly relationship. The tiger had exerted quite a bit of effort during the battle against Schiller back at Mount Longhu. The battle would’ve been much more dangerous without him and many of them would surely die.

Chu Feng pointed towards the point between the tiger’s brows and transmitted the technique via a spiritual imprint. He inserted the extracted breathing technique directly into the tiger’s spiritual domain.

At the same time, he also added the Xingyi Tiger Form which perhaps be of some use to the Manchurian Tiger.

"Haha..." The Manchurian Tiger laughed wildly. "This king now has a breathing technique! Now there’s no place in the world I can’t go to. Soon, I’ll also become a peerless expert!"

"Moo, moo, woof, woof... Peerless Demon King Chu, I also want to learn!" the envious Donkey King begged Chu Feng. The spineless coward had suddenly become brave.

"I’ll think about it when after you render great service. I’ll give you a true form for now." Chu Feng pointed at his forehead and infused the stallion form.

"Alright, watch me perform hereafter!" The Donkey King was quite delighted.

After that, Chu Feng gifted the Golden Condor King the Xingyi Falcon Form but not the breathing technique.

The Golden Condor King was truly moved. He had always harbored a grudge because he was suppressed and forced to become a mount. However, his heart was now clear and filled with hope. He looked forward to the day he would obtain the breathing technique.

Yellow Ox had told Chu Feng never to pass on the technique he had taught Chu Feng because it was a truly peerless breathing technique that would only increase in might as he progressed. Its true profundities weren’t evident at this stage.

Yellow Ox told him that he wasn’t interested in the other breathing techniques as none of them, no matter how powerful, could beat his own. That was unless, perhaps, the completed version of the Thunderous Technique was found.

After that, Chu Feng secretly handed over the beast skin scroll which depicted the Twelve Xingyi True Forms to the two oxen for them to comprehend.

"Ah, it’s truly unexpected that a mysterious staff we obtained at the Archaic Alliance was a powerful magical weapon. Let’s hope we can gain even more astonishing loot at the Extraterrestrial Research Institute.

The group began to discuss how to pillage the Extraterrestrial Research Institute.

"I’m really looking forward to it. It’d be great if we can obtain some ancient treasures."

The were bold and confident because justice was on their side. They would soon knock on the doors to settle the scores, and not only would they make heads roll but also empty out their treasuries and take away their fortunes. This would surely shake the world.

"We should arm ourselves properly and take down a mountain before the beings from the outer regions arrive."

The Extraterrestrial Research Institute was located at Gusu City. Its distance from Hangcheng, after the upheavals, was about 2000 kilometers.

This was a long and arduous journey for normal people, but it was nothing for Chu Feng. He could arrive there in a shocking 20 minutes if he was traveling on his own.

The Golden Condor King wasn’t slow. either. but they were somewhat delayed because they had spent some time testing out the staff in addition to studying the breathing techniques and Xingyi True Forms.

Even so, they arrived at Gusu City in approximately 40 minutes.

"We’re here to settle some debts!"

They landed outside of Gusu City whereupon the Golden Condor changed to his human form. The group of people thus walked into the city.

The Extraterrestrial Research Institute was located in a scenic and beautiful garden.

Gusu City’s gardens were known as one of the best in the world since ancient times. Numerous pavilions, stone bridges, and rockery decorated the gardens. It was truly full of beauty and spirit.

There were quite a few such gardens within the city, but the Extraterrestrial Research Institute had occupied many of them and connected them together to form a scenic landscape painting.

Chu Feng paid a direct visit to the institute. The Donkey King wasn’t polite at all as he knocked down the vermilion gates with his hoof.

He bravely took the vanguard to gain merit and hopefully obtain the Xingyi Breathing Technique. This spineless donkey wasn’t this brave before and was famous among the beast kings for always escaping first.

The huge ruckus caused by the group of powerful people who had barged in immediately alarmed the experts of the Extraterrestrial Research Institute.

"Ha, isn’t that the Fleeing Donkey? When did you gain the courage to barge into the Extraterrestrial Research Institute?" A mutant appeared and began to mock the visitors.

He had his hands clasped behind his back as he obstructed the Donkey King’s path.

A group of mutants appeared behind him with a swoosh. They had locked down the area after being alerted by the commotion.

"How come you’ve submitted to the humans here?" The Donkey King was surprised.

"I’m now the dharma protector for the Extraterrestrial Research Institute," this mutant replied. In human form, he was tall, straight and soldierly, appearing much stronger than the buck-toothed donkey.

"A dharma protector in this day and age?!" The Donkey King with his perked ears and protruding incisors appeared rather disdainful.

"You don’t understand!" This king was extremely conceited but he was only able to maintain it for a few more seconds because he soon saw Chu Feng’s group catch up from behind.

"Is this a beast king a humanoid?" Chu Feng inquired.

"Nope, you can totally eat him. I assure you, this goose will be really tasty!" the cowardly donkey enthusiastically reported.

"F*ck!" The Goose King was so frightened that he almost turned tails and ran. He hated the Donkey King to the bone.

"Who dares cause trouble here?" The higher ups of the Extraterrestrial Research Institute immediately appeared from the depths of the garden, followed by many important characters.

Chu Feng was calm and unhurried. He walked over the small stone bridge and stood beside the pavilion, gazing at the scene in front.

A female king appeared. She wasn’t young at all in truth, but the mutation and meticulous self care made her appear only forty years or so.

It was obvious that she used to be a beautiful lady in her youth. Even now she was an elegant and attractive lady despite her age.

Her name was Huo Yan, one of the most powerful experts of the Extraterrestrial Research Institute.

"It’s you... Chu Feng. A truly rare guest visits our Gusu City." Huo Yan smiled faintly. She had immediately recognized Chu Feng but was calm and relatively unafraid.

"Brother Chu, what a pleasant surprise. Excuse me for not coming out to receive you after your arrival at the Extraterrestrial Research Institute," a young man from among the crowd spoke.

Huo Lin had taken after her mother’s surname as the family was an important member of the Extraterrestrial Research Institute.

Huo Lin approached with a calm smile and wasn’t the least anxious when he addressed Chu Feng as brother.

"Brother Chu, this little brother has long since heard of your name. It’s truly a delightful honor to meet you at last." He sounded polite but was actually quite casual.

With Chu Feng’s outstanding fame, it wasn’t normally appropriate for someone so young to receive him. It should’ve been the job of those important members from the older generation.

Huo Lin was very proactive and seemed to have no fear.

The black yak and the Manchurian Tiger inwardly sneered. They knew that the Extraterrestrial Research Institute possessed deep backgrounds and was very friendly with the Eight Visions Temple.

Lu Tong had already informed them that those from the institute had already contacted the Eight Visions Temple Master to speak for them.

"Do you lot plan to use the Archaic Alliance’s methods and have the Eight Visions Temple Master tell Chu Feng to withdraw?" The Donkey King was also laughing inwardly.

The Extraterrestrial Research Institute obviously didn’t know of the matter at Hangcheng.

Chu Feng had already beheaded Liu Ziheng and eradicated the Zhang family in addition to raiding the Archaic Alliance’s treasury. The news of it hadn’t yet spread because they had rushed over here immediately afterwards.

"I really look forward to seeing their expressions after the news arrives." The black yak laughed.