Chapter 197: Bizarre Encounter in the Underground River
Ye Wen laughed coldly. “The Law Enforcement Hall? What a joke! You know how the Law Enforcement Hall works. How old are you already, are you not embarrassed to say that?”
“Insolent!” When one of the Supreme Elders saw that Ye Chen did not care about them at all, his face could not help but twitch. He could not resist sending a palm strike at Ye Chen.
A Martial Monarch cultivator had started to comprehend the law of space. Although this palm strike was an ordinary palm strike, it became extraordinary after the laws of space were applied; it was very mysterious.
The palm was clearly headed for Ye Wen’s chest. However, just as Ye Wen was prepared to make a move to deal with it, the palm suddenly vanished and ended up as an attack to his side.
“Boom!”
The difference in cultivation realm was too big; even though Ye Wen was a Medial Grade Martial King, this ordinary palm strike sent him flying back. He vomited a large mouthful of blood and fell on the ground heavily.
“Hu!”
Finally, Shen Manjun leaped into the air after she eliminated all of the Corpse Monarchs from the Running Corpse Sect. Then she walked gently, as though she was taking a leisure stroll; she instantly arrived before the group.
Everyone was surprised to see her lily-white hands smash toward the two people that held up Song Que.
A formless palm struck Song Que’s body with a loud bang. Song Que’s body immediately flew away from the support of the two people.
“Huang Dang! Huang Dang!” Song Que rolled back continuously, until he reached the side of the underground river. He was in an extremely miserable state. He climbed up and asked, “Martial Aunt Shen, why?”
The two Supreme Elders who had berated Ye Wen earlier did not dare to say anything when Shen Manjun made a move.
In this place, Shen Manjun was the most senior and she was the strongest. If one looked at her, it was obvious she was very angry. No matter how good their relationship with Song Que was, they did not dare to give any advice. They could only lament Song Que for being unlucky.
Shen Manjun snorted coldly and she ignored him with an icy face. She slowly walked to the side of the underground river and frowned as she looked at the turbulent water.
Suddenly, Shen Manjun shouted. Essence surged out from her entire body and her clothes fluttered non-stop. Her aura kept rising continuously while the wind blew wildly and whistled incessantly. At this moment, she violently sent a palm strike at the riverside.
“Hua!”
The force ran through the entire river within the cave; hundreds of meters of water. The gushing river surged and was tossed up in the air. Not a single drop of water was left in the river and all of the fishes that used to be in the river rained down from the air continuously.
Shen Manjun’s gaze swept through the place where the river used to be. However, she did not see Xiao Chen at all. The turbulent water had already washed his body to an unknown place.
She sighed and waved her hands. The water in the air immediately fell back with a loud boom. This was the might of a peak Martial Monarch. With a casual wave, she could cause the river to surge and flow backward.
Shen Manjun stood at the riverside and mumbled to herself for a long time before she left.
“Pu!”
Just as the crowd was about to exhale in relief at the sight of Shen Manjun cooling off, the Heavenly Wolf King’s huge body gave off a loud sound that resounded through the cave.
The crowd shifted their gazes but they only saw Mu Xinya floating in the air quietly. Her eyes were closed and her silver hair and clothes fluttered in the wind. There was a silver crescent moon in the middle of her eyebrows that gave off a smooth mirror-like ripple.
“That’s bad, the Heavenly Wolf King passed on his strength to the lass,” Leng Tianzheng said loudly.
One of the Supreme Elder at the side said hoarsely, “We were all distracted by what happened here and did not pay any attention to the Heavenly Wolf King.”
Right after this Supreme Elder finished his words, the group looked somewhat hatefully at the one-armed Song Que. If he had not attacked and killed Xiao Chen, things would not have become this complicated.
Otherwise, how could the Heavenly Wolf King be able to pass on his strength to Mu Xinya under their watch? Once his strength was passed on, it would be impossible for them to extract it from Mu Xinya.
This was because of Mu Xinya’s current cultivation, she had not reached the stage of condensing a Sage Core. If they killed her, the Heavenly Wolf King’s strength she inherited would be scattered.
Furthermore, the more horrifying thing was that the instant this girl died, the thousand years of the Heavenly Wolf King’s cultivation would explode; the entire cave would collapse.
With the exception of a few people, who could survive the said explosion without problems, most of them would die and the other people would not be able to escape. Although they felt very angry, they could not do anything.
“How hateful!” Shen Manjun scolded as she sent a palm strike at Song Que. Her palm was very fast and she instantly struck Song Que into the underground river.
As of now, she had lived for close to 300 years. Although she currently did not show any signs of being at the end of her life, she could not guarantee when it could happen.
Only by entering realm of Sages, could they be assured. However, this matter had been spoiled by Song Que. Song Manjun hated that she could not smash him to death with that palm strike.
[TL note: Entering the realm of Sages likely meant becoming a Martial Sage. At the certain point in the story, the author started calling Martial Sages and Martial Emperors as Sages/holy man and Great Emperors.
The one-armed Song Que struggled in the water. The Essence of this pitiful Martial King had gone into chaos when he was struck by the palm. After he swallowed a few mouthfuls of water, he managed to climb back to shore with difficulty.
Mu Xinya suddenly opened her eyes and a bright light shot out from her silver eyes. She glared at the people present. “Heavenly Saber Pavilion, you best not mess around with my Sage Ancestor’s body. I will be back.”
After she spoke, she threw out a strip of jade. It turned into a ball of fire and flew to the bottom of her feet. Following that, she slowly burned up in a raging blaze and vanished from the underground cave.
“Divine Flame Talisman! Such a thing still exists?!” The expression on a Supreme Elder’s face turned even more despondent when he saw the jade strip that Mu Xinya had threw out.
The Divine Flame Talisman was a transportation type Secret Treasure. After it burned the owner up, it would send them thousands of kilometers away before it vanished into nothingness.
According to rumors, the refinement method of this kind of talisman was preserved in the Great Jin Nation. However, it was very expensive. Each one would require 2,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Furthermore, it could only be used once.
Each time it was used, it was equivalent to burning up 2,000 Inferior Grade Spirit Stones. Although it was expensive, it was not worth mentioning when compared to one’s life.
Originally, some of them planned to lock Mu Xinya up until she completely absorbed the strength of the Heavenly Wolf King. When she condensed a Sage Core, they would extract it out then.
Although it required more time, there was still hope. When Mu Xinya used the Divine Flame Talisman, all their hopes were completely extinguished.
A Supreme Elder sighed. “A hundred years of effort has gone down the drain. Although the old Fiend King is dead, a new Fiend King is born. I’m not even sure if the Heavenly Saber Pavilion can withstand the attacks of a Fiend King.”
The tributaries of the river were many and complex, the undercurrent surged violently. After Xiao Chen sank down to the bottom, he was quickly washed to an unknown place while he remained in an unconscious state.
The Azure Dragon was at home in water. Xiao Chen, who had the Azure Dragon Martial Spirit, would be able to hold his breath for very long in water. However, now that his Martial Spirit was destroyed, he was just like an ordinary person without any special abilities.
Logically, he should have drowned at the bottom of the river. His stomach should have been filled up with water, and his body would have swelled up after two hours had passed. After ten hours had passed, he would float up as corpses normally did.
However, his current situation was incredibly strange. His Azure Dragon Martial Spirit was already destroyed and he was completely crippled. Yet, he was able to breathe in water like before.
Xiao Chen flowed along the water in the dark deep river and was washed to an unknown place. Occasionally, aquatic weeds and duckweed would twine around him as he drifted along with the fishes.
Two days later, Xiao Chen woke up. He felt incredibly weak and had a splitting headache. His body was being washed down by the water and under the assault of the violent undercurrent, he found it difficult to even turn his body.
Feeling the situation of his body, Xiao Chen felt that it was strange. He could not understand why he was able to breathe underwater when his Azure Dragon Martial Spirit had been destroyed.
Calm down… Calm down… Xiao Chen thought to himself continuously in the torrential waters. Although he could breathe underwater, his situation was still full of dangers.
Song Que’s full-powered strike as a peak Martial King not only destroyed his Martial Spirit and scattered his inner strength, it also cause severe internal injuries. His internal organs had all suffered varying degrees of damage.
If Xiao Chen’s body was not much stronger than normal, tempered seven times by the Seven Leaf Flower, his heart would have been shattered immediately.
Xiao Chen drifted along the undercurrent for two days, he was not able to deal with his internal injuries and he could not eat either. Xiao Chen’s body was now extremely weak.
If Xiao Chen could not figure a way out of this turbulent water, his body would only get weaker and weaker. In the end, it was a problem of how long he could hold out before he finally gave out and he died.
In the moments that Xiao Chen spent in his thoughts, he was flushed another several hundred meters further. Xiao Chen could not help but feel more fearful of the ferocious undercurrent.
Xiao Chen welcomed the undercurrent as he did his best to turn his body over. A turbulent undercurrent suddenly assaulted him and caused his body to roll over continuously.
“Gu nong gu nong!”
The sudden change in situation forced Xiao Chen to swallow a few mouthful of water. In this moment of chaos, Xiao Chen grabbed onto some weeds and did his best to stabilize himself.
The weeds were quite resilient, although the undercurrent was strong, the weeds did not break when Xiao Chen grabbed onto it. The weeds were as thick as Xiao Chen’s arm and helped him to stabilize his body.
Xiao Chen finally caught a break. He turned his head to look up. Although the river water was somewhat cloudy and he could not see clearly, it was not dark. This proved that this river was not too deep.
Since it was like this, he had to think of a way to get up there. The thing that prevented him from doing so was the undercurrent at the bottom of the river. The moment he let go of the weeds, he would be immediately washed away by the undercurrents.
The depth of this undercurrent was about five meters; it was in the deepest part of the river. Once he passed these five meters, there would not be any undercurrent. By then, he would be able to float up naturally.
If Xiao Chen still had his Essence, he could easily leap out from this river in one breath. After he landed, he could even make all of the water on his body evaporate instantly.
However, not only was he was severely injured now, his Martial Spirit was destroyed and he could not use any Essence. Furthermore, he had not eaten for two days. The moment he released the weeds, he would be washed away by the ferocious undercurrent.
After he rested for half an hour, Xiao Chen carefully observed his surroundings. He slowly touched the sides of the river and discovered that they were made of silt.
After he stepped on it, he would immediately sink half a meter into it. Xiao Chen was filled with joy, he managed to think of a way to get back to shore. As long as he went along the silt and stuck his arm into it, he would be able to climb up slowly.