Martial Peak

Chapter 1338, Underground River

As the four of them were talking, Fei Zhi Tu’s brow slowly rose as he seemed to have gotten his bearings. After putting away the animal skin map, he beckoned to the rest of the group before setting out towards Fallen Emperor Mountain.

“Hoho, little friend, please go on ahead, this old man will bring up the rear. Right, you should try to not resist the Emperor Pressure in this Fallen Emperor Mountain right away and instead feel it silently,” Ning Xiang Chen once again kindly advised.

“Many thanks for your guidance, Senior!” Yang Kai gently nodded and, together with Cai He, Du Si Si and Lian Guang, rushed into Fallen Emperor Mountain.

After the four Saint King Realm Juniors entered, Ning Xiang Chen and the three Origin Returning Realm masters followed after them.

Inside Fallen Emperor Mountain, there was no such thing as dangerous beasts, but there were some mad cultivators that would suddenly launch indiscriminate attacks.

These cultivators all came to Fallen Emperor Mountain to cultivate, but for various reasons had stayed too long inside and been driven insane by the Emperor Pressure.

Every year, countless cultivators came here and accidents happened quite frequently. In addition, there were some wicked cultivators who regarded this place as a good hunting ground to kill others and steal their possessions.

However, with four Origin Realm cultivators accompanying them, Yang Kai and the other Juniors weren’t worried, especially with a master like Fei Zhi Tu leading the way.

As soon as they stepped into Fallen Emperor Mountain, Yang Kai felt an invisible force envelop his body. Under the influence of this invisible force, Yang Kai found Saint Qi circulation hindered slightly and when he released his Divine Sense, he could only detect the situation within a few thousand meters of himself.

Unexpectedly, under the influence of this Emperor Pressure, his Divine Sense had been suppressed to this extent.

Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit frightened. This omnipresent Emperor Pressure felt like there was a pair of eyes constantly staring at him, observing his every movement and giving him the impression that he was under constant surveillance.

And this was just a small leftover portion of Emperor Pressure! If the real Starry Sky Great Emperor were here, just how terrifying would he be?

Now, Yang Kai no longer doubted whether this person really existed. The two Star Emperor Tokens were relics left behind by the Starry Sky Great Emperor while Star Emperor Mountain was rumoured to have some kind of relationship with this legendary figure. The same was true of Fallen Emperor Mountain.

All of these things couldn’t have simply appeared out of nowhere. It was more than likely that the Starry Sky Great Emperor really existed.

Facing this Emperor Pressure. Yang Kai instinctually wanted to resist it, but remembering the kind advice of Ning Xiang Chen and noticing that Cai He and the others weren’t pushing their strength to protect themselves, Yang Kai also calmed down and began sensing this mysterious force.

This place was still considered the outer periphery of Fallen Emperor Mountain, so the Emperor Pressure wasn’t too strong and no harm would be done from not resisting it for a time.

Following Fei Zhi Tu, the group of eight didn’t encounter any other cultivators on the road. Fei Zhi Tu was able to perfectly lead everyone around any cultivators who had come here to cultivate.

Secrecy was vital to this expedition, so Fei Zhi Tu wanted to have as little contact with others as possible.

In a flash, two days passed by.

As the group proceeded deeper and deeper into Fallen Emperor Mountain, the power of the ambient Emperor Pressure also grew far stronger; however, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about this and instead felt quite happy about it because, after just two trivial days, he felt that his Spiritual Energy had become slightly stronger and, under the influence of this Emperor Pressure, his Knowledge Sea had become slightly purer.

This was really a good place for cultivating one’s Soul. Yang Kai didn’t need to do anything at all. Just by standing here he could continuously obtain benefits. If one were to really cultivate their Soul or Soul Skills here, they would certainly obtain twice the result with half the effort.

It was a pity that the Emperor Pressure of Fallen Emperor Mountain was only suitable for Soul cultivation though. Besides also helping one condense their own Shi, it had no other effects on one’s strength, otherwise this place would have become a cultivation paradise. The great forces on Shadowed Star would likely have even fought over the distribution of land in this place.

After proceeding another three days, Yang Kai began having some slight difficulty. The reason was simple; although the Emperor Pressure here could purify one’s Knowledge Sea and improve the strength of their Spiritual Energy, this constant pressure would also put a burden on a cultivator’s Soul. This kind of burden couldn’t be sustained indefinitely or it would begin damaging one’s mind.

Yang Kai’s performance so far had been quite good as he had not needed to circulate his strength to resist the Emperor Pressure so far. All this time, he had been silently comprehending the mysteries contained in this Emperor Pressure like Ning Xiang Chen had advised him to and had gained much in the process.

The other three Saint Kings, on the other hand, weren’t so fortunate. As early as yesterday, the three of them had been forced to use their Spiritual Energy to resist the invasion of the Emperor Pressure. This alone painted a clear picture of whose Soul was more powerful.

This scene not only surprised the three Saint Kings, but also the Origin Realm masters.

Although Cai He and the other Juniors were Third-Order Saint Kings like Yang Kai, two of them were proficient in Spirit Arrays and the other was proficient in refining and operating puppets.

Both of these professions were extremely demanding on one’s Soul, especially the puppeteering techniques Lian Guang used. In combat, he could manipulate hundreds of puppets at once, each of which required a thread of his Divine Sense. In fact, the requirements for Lian Guang’s Divine Sense were even more terrifying than studying Spirit Arrays.

It could be said that the Soul cultivation of these three youths already far exceeded the average cultivator in their own realm.

But now, compared with Yang Kai, they were obviously weaker.

How could this not surprise them? All of them began secretly guessing what kind of Secret Art Yang Kai cultivated to allow his Soul to become so strong.

Of course, Yang Kai was not paying any attention to such things, he simply felt that by resisting the Emperor Pressure, the benefits obtained would be diminished, so he freely opened his mind and body to it instead.

When Du Si Si noticed this, she immediately showed a look of unwillingness; after all, since she began cultivating and studying Spirit Arrays, she had always had a much stronger Soul than other cultivators in the same realm. Yang Kai showing off so blatantly in front of her wounded her pride.

Grinding her teeth, she steeled herself and let go of her Knowledge Sea’s defenses again.

Cai He didn’t notice anything wrong until he saw Du Si Si’s face go pale. Quickly stepping forward to ask if she was alright though, he was rebuffed by her once more and could only smile bitterly and withdraw.

Arriving at a large swamp, Fei Zhi Tu came to a halt and wore a dignified expression. Taking out the animal skin map again to verify their position, he soon whispered, “We’re almost there. All of you, follow closely.”

Hearing this, everyone felt their spirits lift and quickly kept up with his pace.

This swamp in Fallen Emperor Mountain was actually the basin of a huge mountain valley. No one knew why there was a swamp here, but because of the lingering miasma and clearly poisonous water, cultivators seldom came here.

After all, cultivators that came here did so to cultivate their Souls, so their first objective would be to find a comfortable place to cultivate. Who would come to this kind of place to suffer?

Following behind Fei Zhi Tu, the group traversed this swamp for some time before Fei Zhi Tu suddenly came to a stop in front of a particularly large puddle.

“Here?” Ning Xiang Chen stepped forward, stood side by side with Fei Zhi Tu and asked.

“Yes, according to the message from old Qian, it should be right here, but revealing the entrance requires a little trick!” Saying so, Fei Zhi Tu took out a kind of bead and tossed it towards the centre of the puddle.

In front of everyone’s eyes, when the beads fell into the puddle, it immediately became turbulent, as if something underneath it was stirring the water.

Moreover, a whiff of white mist suddenly emerged from this puddle and caused the temperature in the surrounding thousand meter range to plummet.

*Kacha...*

With a loud crackling noise, the huge puddle froze into a sheet of ice at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving behind only a dark, downward passage at its centre.

Yang Kai released his Divine Sense but was unable to explore what was at the bottom of this hole.

After waiting for a while, the crackling sounds ceased and the passage completely stabilized. Fei Zhi Tu then nodded, “Let’s go. Brother Ning, you bring up the rear, I’ll take these little guys down first.”

“Understood,” Ning Xiang Chen gently nodded.

Fei Zhi Tu glanced at Yang Kai and the others, but after seeing Du Si Si’s pale complexion and sweat drenched brow, a trace of displeasure appeared on his face. How could he not understand that Du Si Si had done this to herself by acting recklessly out of a petty sense of rivalry? This operation was very important, and if not for him being unable to find a true Array Master, he would not have invited this little girl to help in the first place.

Releasing a blue halo of light, Fei Zhi Tu wrapped Yang Kai and the other Saint Kings in his Saint Qi before immediately jumping into the passage.

Yang Kai estimated that their group fell several thousand meters before they reached the ground. The sound of a flowing stream entered his ear and with the help of the blue light around him, Yang Kai spotted an underground river nearby.

Moreover, the Emperor Pressure which had enveloped them all this time had suddenly disappeared.

“There’s actually such a place underground here?” Cai He also looked around strangely, apparently never having expected that such a cave existed under Fallen Emperor Mountain.

“Yeah, if the location of this Ancient Ruin was easy to find, it would have long been turned upside down while that old ghost wouldn’t have been able to obtain anything from it!” Fei Zhi Tu coldly snorted before shooting a sharp glare towards Du Si Si, “Rest here for a moment, if this happens again, you don’t need to continue following us.”

Du Si Si bit her red lips lightly and nodded. Although she was prideful and arrogant, she didn’t dare rebel against Fei Zhi Tu.

After waiting for a while, Ning Xiang Chen and the other Origin Realm masters came down and the group of eight decided to take a short rest.

Yang Kai stared in one direction silently, not knowing whether it was an illusion or not that he felt some kind of ancient and desolate aura. He was unable to describe this aura in words, but he found it quite fascinating.

When Fei Zhi Tu saw him staring in that direction, he couldn’t help raising his brow, because that was the direction they needed to head next, making him wonder whether Yang Kai had discovered something.