Chapter 368: The Breakthrough Underground
Translator: 3heryl Editor: Hitesh_
At that critical moment when the three had finally almost made their way through the groups of powerful beasts but were forced to fall back as the beasts in the back were about to catch up, another wave of baby-cry-like roars spread out in this huge area. They brought back some traumatic memories for Grand elder Chen and Liu Mei from just before. On the contrary, Ye Chen was still the same, looking extremely serious.
The more dangerous the situation, the more he needed to stay calm.
Cutting out all of the negative emotions and staying sharp!
For a sword artist, it was the same for the attacking power as well as mental power to be powerful. It would take more than death threat for a warrior to break down completely.
"What should we do now?" Liu Mei asked anxiously.
Ye Chen looked around the surroundings, "If we run towards other directions, we might run into other beasts. Going up is not an option either, since there is no sky. Therefore, that leaves us with only one option: the ground."
"Under the ground?"
"Indeed. The beasts are huge, it would take them a long time to move around under the ground. As long as we could make it to somewhere deep enough, then we will be saved."
Traveling underground would not be as easy as being in the air. First, it would burn out the mentality and soul power with those endless rocks; secondly, running around without an aim under the ground would cost a lot of energy, which would obviously not be able to last long. However, despite all that, as long as the three were able to make it under the ground, the chance of surviving would be still rather high.
Without hesitation, the three dove down into the ground.
Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!
Naturally, the beast would not let the three leave its sight. Countless unbearably bright lights connected together and created a death net. Wherever it went, a huge hole appeared in the ground, more than hundred meters deep. As the light scratched through the zhen yuan layer, it started to twist immediately.
Boom!
Being hit by four light columns, Ye Chen started to bleed everywhere as his body rolled around, while Liu Mei and grand elder Chen almost died from the attack, looking extremely messy.
"Let's get down quickly."
Ye Chen was less than hundreds of meters from the ground when his shadows exploded and spread out in the area. With the disguise of the shadows, the three flashed their bodies once before disappearing into the ground.
Booooom!
The second round of attacks struck, causing the ground to be full of dents thick enough to almost cause it to lose a layer. The powerful, vibrating blast wave reached the deep end of the ground, which wounded the three again.
"Follow me."
The puncturing power of the green lotus zhen yuan was way more powerful than the other zhen yuan. It was like an extremely sharp sword, slicing through everything that came across its way and providing an unstoppable path. In comparison to Grand elder Chen and Liu Mei, Ye Chen was more than twice faster.
The two obviously noticed the advantage of the green lotus zhen yuan. Their eyes brightened as they decided to follow behind him.
Hundreds of meters!
Thousands of meters!
Ten thousand meters!
Although the three people were not traveling at their peak speeds, after dozens of breaths, they were already Ten thousand meters down into the ground.
Woo!
After waves of vibrations, the beasts rushed into the ground as well, including the five hundred beasts that were chasing after them from behind.
The vibrations were very scattered; obviously, the beasts were not chasing them together as a group but rather in smaller groups with three to five of them together.
The situation was not quite optimistic.
"The rocks are too compact, so we cannot go any deeper." When they reached twelve thousand meters deep in the ground, every dozens meter Ye Chen tried to get deeper, the zhen yuan usage was dozens times more than the normal. If they continued getting any deeper, then he could not imagine how much worse would it be, knowing that an Astral Reaching Realm warrior could only dive down hundred thousand meters under the water. Compared to pressure underwater, the pressure under the ground was a couple of times higher, and right then, it was already their limit.
"Let's find a safe place for now."
Liu Mei suggested.
Ye Chen nodded. Right now, that was all they could do.
Instead of going further down, the three changed to move horizontally. As for the marks that they had left, they had been covered by the heaviness of the ground, leaving no trace.
Suddenly, a soul power scanned past the three.
"Not good, we have been discovered!" Ye Chen frowned.
The beasts were just like human warriors. Once they reached certain level, they had the ability of using their soul power. However, compared to human beings, the beasts were a bit weaker at this area, which would be easier to detect.
Boom!
The rocks under the ground were shattered as five beasts appeared, their sharpest roar soon spreading out through every inch of the ground.
"Kill!"
The beasts in front of them were not scary. What was scary was to be surrounded by other beasts altogether. So, Ye Chen pushed his zhen yuan and waved out an extra tough sword attack.
Crack!
A sword shaped crack appeared under the ground, landing on the leading beast.
However, even with this powerful sword attack, the beast was only badly wounded, since the attacking power had been canceled out greatly under the ground. The further the distance, the weaker the power got. These five beasts were a couple hundred meters away from the three; therefore the power had been canceled out by more than thirty percent.
"Watch me!"
Grand elder Chen held his silver light cuff, and as he turned, the light shot out instantly, puncturing the body of the leading beast.
"Restrain!"
Because of the fact that Liu Mei used the whip art, her attacking power was nothing compared to Ye Chen and grand elder Chen. However, it was very useful as an enhancing power. She waved her whip, which moved like a snake as it traveled everywhere before restraining a beast.
Seizing the opportunity, Ye Chen performed his Green Lotus Accumulation, which had the greatest penetrating power> It went right through the restrained beast's forehead.
Amongst the five beasts, two of them were killed instantly.
Woo! Woo! Woo!
More vibration was felt, and the other beasts had received the news.
"Die now!"
Right at this critical moment, Ye Chen knew that he could no longer save his power anymore. He threw out a sword attack, as a sword light appeared, and cut down all of the cemented mud around. The blue sword light made a path out, pushing all of the remaining three beasts within.
Blood spilled everywhere; all three of them were killed.
"So impressive! What kind of sword movement is this?"
Grand elder Chen had noticed the power of the sword attack. The power of the sword light had changed from powerful to weakened, then from there, back to rich and powerful again. During the process, hundreds of meters were covered.
"Escape!"
Under the ground, Ye Chen's soul power covered about three to four miles. Since the beasts were not as powerful as him, and the fact that his soul power could be projected twenty to thirty miles into the distance, it was also his advantage and allowed them not to be noticed. If they did not make it out now, then it would be tricky when they were surrounded.
After about couple of miles, the second crisis appeared. Another wave of very powerful soul powers had scanned past the three. Almost at the same second, a purple beam of light came through bright white light column.
Pooh!
All three of them puked out blood as their protective zhen yuan layer was shattered by the touch of the attack.
"It is the leader of the beasts."
Grand elder Chen looked extremely grim.
Ye Chen said, "No hurries. He is still two miles away from us, and the light column is not that powerful. As long as we try our best to run, he should not be able to catch up with us."
Just as Ye Chen had expected, the beasts' bodies were too huge, so their speed had decreased drastically. Judging only on the speed, it was a few times slower than any of the three.
After a couple of hours, no more soul power scanned them.
"We are finally safe!"
Liu Mei let out an impure breath of air. All she could feel was the emptiness of her body, as her zhen yuan was not being produced at the rate of it being used. In a while, she did not know what could happen.
Ye Chen said, "We should all open a small space to repair our zhen yuan."
"Okay!"
The two nodded.
Opening a space ten thousand meters under the ground would not be that easy. The bigger the hole, the faster it would shatter, since the pressure above the hole would be so intense.
Eventually, Ye Chen managed to make a hole just big enough for his body, which was no more than one meter each way. He could just sit with his legs tugged under his body.
"I must reach the Late Astral Reaching Realm as soon as possible, then my power would reach to the level of Astral Reaching Realm paragons. I will no longer be this weak anymore."
Right then, he was at peak level Mid Astral Reaching Realm, and his battling power was one of the top amongst the Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warriors. No matter which area he managed to make a breakthrough in, it would be rather valuable. However, in comparison, it would be rather easier for him to make a breakthrough in his cultivation, since it would just be too hard for his sword intent and mentality right now, and martial arts would be even harder. He had no idea when he would be able to make it to the fourteenth level of his Green Lotus Sword Spell, but he knew that when he did, his battle power would be extremely strong.
Holding one mid rank soul stone in each of his hands, he sank into his training mode.
With time passing one second after another, the beasts were still searching for them. Rarely a group of them stumbled few miles near them. However, the underground are was just too huge, and with the high limitation, the error margin was high as well. That was the reason that the three had a chance to relax.
…
Wooo!
No one knew how long it had been, but a slight wave of vibration appeared and spread out.
"It is grand elder Ye! Did he make a breakthrough?" Grand elder Chen and Liu Mei were shocked. They knew that Ye Chen was already very powerful, and if he had made another breakthrough, he sure would become even more powerful.
Perhaps it was the intense pressure that had inspired the deepest potential of Ye Chen. Right then, he had indeed made a breakthrough, reaching the Late Astral Reaching Realm. His zhen yuan quantity and quality had increased by thirty percent. In other words, judging solely on his basic power, there would be no one amongst the Astral Reaching Realm would be able to compete with him now.
The vibration wave that had been brought up by his breakthrough spread out in a huge area, and was sensed by a group of the beasts nearby, who rushed towards them while roaring.
Ye Chen opened his eyes, "Great timing!"
Under the ground, the quantity advantage of the beasts had been limited greatly. If it were on the ground, all Ye Chen would dare to do was to escape, because there was no chance of him fighting back.
Boom!
A huge hole appeared as Ye Chen stood up and took out his Blue Wood Sword with his right hand, throwing a sword attack.
Swoosh!
The rocks had been shattered into sand within a second as the sword light appeared out of the blue, looking like a bendy moon. It sliced right through the group of beasts.
Blood spilled out everywhere; four beasts had been cut in halves.
"Killing four beasts with one sword! It is indeed the unbeatable Astral Reaching Realm power." Liu Mei's mouth widened; she was extremely shocked.
Grand elder Chen was also shocked. Ye Chen did not carry a top rank weapon, but he somehow had the unbeatable Astral Reaching Realm power; he was clear about what it all meant.
Wuuuaaaaaa!
Four out of five beasts had been killed, leaving one only slightly wounded. It was not a normal one; it was the head of the beasts.
It roared furiously, shooting out a bright white light beam with a hint of purple in it.
Chin!
Fire sparks spread everywhere, melting all of the rocks around it. Ye Chen held his sword as he backed up, easily blocking out the beast's full power attack.
"Die now!"
After regaining control, Ye Chen held his sword with both of his hands again, waving out another sword attack. It went all the way through few hundred meters into the ground. A beam of sword light shot out again, cutting down half of the beast's body.