Chapter 232: Chapter 232 Qingyun Jade, The Underground of Hardwood Plains
Whoosh!
Nine white bone swords suddenly cleaved down.
Qingyun Zhenren was shocked, clenching the Qingyun Sword in his hands as he condensed dozens of fiery blue sword shields around his body.
Clang!
The nine white bone swords surrounded him, like a school of fish preying on helpless food, nibbling away the blue sword shields on the surface.
“Ah!”
Accompanied by a scream, Qingyun Zhenren was struck down, sword and all, like a meteor crashing to the ground, his robe bursting open, leaving him without the strength to fight any longer.
“That’s a wrap!”
With a thought from Ye Feng, the nine white bone swords returned to his side, one carrying him while the rest circled protectively.
“You lost, hand over the Qingyun Jade,” Ye Feng said indifferently, extending his hand to Qingyun Zhenren on the ground.
Qingyun Zhenren lay on his back on the ground, the Qingyun Sword slanted in the earth, still trembling slightly. He pointed a quivering finger at Ye Feng, so enraged that he spat blood and fainted.
“Hey! Don’t die on me!”
Ye Feng quickly pinched his philtrum to keep Qingyun Zhenren from dying.
On the surrounding peaks.
The spectators had long been dumbfounded.
Ye Feng had won!
And it was an overwhelming victory!
How could this be?
Elder Hongmeng stared at the mighty White Bone Sword Array, murmuring with certainty, “There’s no mistake, this is definitely the sword formation bestowed by Alliance Leader Mo Tianlong of the Myriad Islands. No wonder it’s so powerful.”
Yunhua Zhenren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and sighed in relief.
Having just declared to be a permanent ally of Misty Sect, he truly hoped Ye Feng wouldn’t lose, but he could never have imagined that Ye Feng would win so effortlessly.
“Truly deserving of the title Sect Master Ye. Last time he defeated Qingyun Zhenren and this time he won again. His strength is like a bottomless pit.”
…
In the pit.
After measures like pinching his philtrum and splashing water on his face, Qingyun Zhenren finally came to, opening his eyes to see the concerned expression on Ye Feng’s face.
“You’re finally awake, now hand over the Qingyun Jade,” said Ye Feng.
Upon hearing this, Qingyun Zhenren’s legs kicked out in anger, and he fainted again, nearly dying on the spot.
“How did he faint again?”
Ye Feng, speechless, quickly pinched his philtrum again.
After much trouble, Qingyun Zhenren finally woke up.
“Here!” He said dejectedly, tossing the Qingyun Jade on the ground and flying off into the distance with his Qingyun Sword, soullessly.
The accompanying Qingyun Sect elders and disciples covered their faces in shame and scurried away.
And so, the great battle came to an end.
Ye Feng collected the Qingyun Jade and the White Bone Sword Array, beckoned to the cultivators from various sects, and returned to Yunhua Peak.
The banquet resumed.
Ye Feng mingled with the sect masters from all the major sects, chatting away merrily.
Before long, the banquet ended.
“Gentlemen, until next time!”
Ye Feng bowed to the crowd and, with the disciples from Misty Sect, soared into the sky, disappearing into the horizon under countless admiring gazes.
At that moment, a person came rushing, pointing in the direction where Ye Feng had vanished, stammering incomprehensibly, and had no choice but to deliver a letter to Yunhua Zhenren.
“What! Just a few days ago, the Dual-winged Giant Crocodile and the Fanged Mad Pig had an earth-shattering battle in Fuyun Gloomy Forest and both underwent a bloodline transformation, further increasing their strength. But in the end, these two peak Demon Generals were effortlessly slain by Sect Master Ye?”
Yunhua Zhenren, after reading the contents of the letter, exclaimed in shock.
The guests from various sects who hadn’t yet dispersed heard this and all gasped, turning to look in the direction Ye Feng had left, not sure what to say.
Elder Hongmeng’s gaze sharpened.
She hadn’t expected Ye Feng to be so terrifyingly strong, capable of killing two peak Demon Generals.
Could this really be the true power of the White Bone Sword Array?
Thinking this, she sent Qin Ping and Qin Wan back to County King City and flew at full speed to the Myriad Islands Alliance, planning to ask Mo Minxi about the White Bone Sword Array.
The guests gradually dispersed.
And two extremely shocking pieces of news spread with them.
The first was that Ye Feng had defeated Qingyun Zhenren in public!
The second was that Ye Feng had slain two peak Demon Generals!
As the news spread, it was like a storm sweeping through an area of thousands of miles, even reaching distant places such as Divine Wind City, Fengjian Sect, County King City, and more.
To kill peak Demon Generals?
This was inconceivable!
It was known that at the Element Gathering Realm, it was very difficult to kill someone of equal level; even if one was losing, they could desperately escape.
But Ye Feng could exterminate peak Demon Generals.
What did this imply? His strength was far greater than that of peak Demon Generals! Even if not comparable to the Spirit Sea Realm, it was close to a third of it.
Looking over the entire Southern River Basin, such strength was truly top-tier.
…
At Misty Peak.
Ye Feng sat cross-legged in front of the refining furnace, holding the Qingyun Jade he had won, communicating with the refining furnace to determine the Spiritual Artifact that could be crafted and the materials required.
After rummaging through the System Space, Ye Feng took out over a dozen precious materials, refined them all, and threw them into the refining furnace along with the Qingyun Jade.
Ten minutes later.
The lid of the furnace opened, and light emerged.
A palm-sized blue Compass landed in Ye Feng’s hand.
[Upgrade Energy: 26.8%]
“Another one percent energy gained, not bad. Let’s see what this compass is all about,” Ye Feng muttered to himself.
[Treasure-seeking Compass: Middle-Grade Spiritual Artifact]
[Remark: Forged from Qingyun Jade, Spirit Light Gemstones, and other materials. It can sense the aura of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and locate them. Before use, a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone must be embedded. The maximum search range is within a hundred miles.]
“A treasure-seeking spiritual artifact, not bad!”
Ye Feng received a pleasant surprise.
He inserted a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone into the treasure-seeking compass to activate it. Then, he saw the compass needle rotating continuously, eventually pointing towards the Spiritual Spring and the Purifying Green Lotus.
“Sect Master Uncle, what kind of spiritual artifact is this?” Shi Lei pointed at the treasure-seeking compass, noting that the direction of the needle was completely different from a compass, and he was very curious.
“This is a treasure-seeking compass. It can find treasures within a certain range. Its needle usually points to the most valuable Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure within range,” Ye Feng explained.
“How magical!” Shi Lei’s eyes widened.
At that moment, Ye Feng thought of the Hardwood Plains.
“Before the battle with Qingyun Zhenren, he actually offered Qingyun Jade, worth thirty Middle-Grade Spirit Stones, to wager on the Hardwood Plains. This indicates that the value of the Hardwood Plains is enormous, far exceeding that of Qingyun Jade…”
Ye Feng furrowed his brow, sensing something was amiss, and immediately stood up, “Come, follow me to the Hardwood Plains.”
…
Myriad Islands Alliance.
Elder Hongmeng finally arrived at the main island.
Looking at the massive pale blue shield with a diameter of tens of miles, she released her Spiritual Sense to scan and found the shield extremely sturdy. Not to mention her, in the Element Gathering Realm, even someone in the Spirit Sea Realm might not be able to break through.
“Min Xi, it’s me.”
Elder Hongmeng took out a Messenger Paper Crane, establishing contact with Mo Minxi.
In a large hall.
Upon hearing that the White Bone Sword Array was not a gift from the Alliance Leader of the Myriad Islands to Ye Feng, Elder Hongmeng felt a great shock, saying, “The White Bone Sword Array is extremely powerful. Even if it’s not an enemy of the Spirit Sea Realm, it can overpower anyone at the peak of the Element Gathering Realm. It’s very strong.”
On hearing this, Mo Minxi felt something was off, saying,
“I heard from Blue Bird Elder that Master Ye cut down two peak Demon Generals in a single day. Could it be that this is true, and that he relies on the very White Bone Sword Array you’re talking about?”
“Absolutely,” Elder Hongmeng nodded repeatedly.
Mo Minxi was shocked.
She originally thought that Ye Feng was just an outstanding Array Master with practically no combat ability. Yet, he possessed a terrifying White Bone Sword Array, capable of cutting down even peak Demon Generals, making him practically invincible below the Spirit Sea Realm.
“Array Masters are fairly wealthy. Crafting such a sword array isn’t considered particularly extraordinary.”
In the end, that was what Mo Minxi thought.
She and Elder Hongmeng sat down to enjoy tea as time ticked away.
…
Hardwood Plains.
Ye Feng and Shi Lei, along with a few other disciples, arrived at this place.
Guided by the treasure-seeking compass, Ye Feng found that the so-called treasure was actually buried deep underground, but pinpointing its exact location was not easy.
“This lousy spiritual artifact, such poor location accuracy.”
Ye Feng patted the treasure-seeking compass, finding its functionalities a bit lacking as it couldn’t determine the exact location of the real treasure within tens of miles.
He suddenly felt as if he’d been greatly shortchanged.
“Could the whole area underground be full of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures?” Yan Ruyu tilted her head and pondered for a moment before suggesting.
“Is that possible?”
The others felt that this notion was far-fetched.
“Let’s do this, we’ll spread out across the entire Hardwood Plains and hold our Identity Tokens. I’ll continue digging downward while you use ‘Earth Escape’ to go down and scout. Report immediately if you find anything,” Ye Feng formulated a new plan.
“Yes,” the disciples quickly dispersed.
Even Brother Flathead, Whitefloat Five Immortals, Little White Fox, Golden-furred Squirrel, and other Mountain Guardian Spirit Beasts began to dig.
Twenty meters underground.
Ye Feng looked around and noted that the surroundings were made of grey, tough soil. He extended one hand to control three white bone swords, digging away relentlessly.
Three hundred meters underground.
Mo Ying, who had used ‘Earth Escape’ to be the first to reach this area, found a gigantic, hard rock that she couldn’t penetrate further.
“I’ve found the bottom rock layer,” Mo Ying immediately transmitted a message to the others.
“Over here, I’ve hit rock as well, and it’s so hard that even a Lower-Grade Spiritual Artifact can’t break through. I’ve no idea what it’s made of,” Shi Lei replied.
“Same here.”
“It’s the same on this side too.”
Soon after, Ye Feng dug down to two hundred meters and also saw a flat rock wall, different from the depths reached by the others. It seemed like the several hundred meters below were covered by an irregularly shaped, colossal rock.
Clang!
Ye Feng struck the rock with a white bone sword, producing only a few sparks, clearly unable to break through.
“Everyone, come back out.”
Ye Feng returned to the surface, gathering all the people and spiritual beasts.
Then, he took out the Five Elements Spirit Sword and unleashed more than a dozen sword beams spanning hundreds of meters, creating a gorge that was dozens of meters wide, eight hundred meters long, and several hundred meters deep.
Looking down the gorge, they saw the entire rock bottom, deducing from earlier exploration, that this rock went on at least for tens of miles.
It was extremely hard, and its material was yet to be identified.
“What exactly is this?”
Everyone was deep in thought.
In the sky above.
Qingyun Zhenren, hiding in the clouds above, saw the rock at the bottom of the gorge and his eyes bulged, “How could this be! Weren’t there supposed to be precious treasures buried under the Hardwood Plains? Instead, it turned out to be just a massive rock without any borders?”
The next moment, he swept his sleeve and left, utterly dejected.
If he had known it was just a rock that even Ye Feng couldn’t break through, he wouldn’t have bet the Qingyun Jade on a battle.
He’d taken such a big loss!
The more Qingyun Zhenren thought about it, the more downcast he became, almost closing himself off.
On the ground.
Ye Feng looked at the giant rock in the gorge, stroked his chin, and said, “Since this giant rock has been identified by the treasure-seeking compass as a Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure, it must be useful somehow. Let’s continue to spread out and explore, to determine the rock’s precise boundaries.”
“Yes,” the disciples nodded and dispersed again.