Chapter 329: Eighteen Years
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Within the vast, seemingly endless Great Canyon, Xue Ying, clothed in white robes, was currently examining the blade scar left behind on the cliff before him.
"I really wonder if I can attain this realm in my lifetime." Xue Ying continued analyzing the blade scar, mumbling to himself. Soon after, his body began trembling. Taking out the black wine flask, he gulped down the antidote within, reducing the pain as the concoction coursed through his body. "Previously, I had to take the antidote once every half an hour. Now, it’s twice the frequency."
"A year has passed outside, but within the Great Canyon, I’ve been here for eighteen years." Xue Ying sighed.
Eighteen years.
He had seen every single scar left behind in the Great Canyon, personally observing and imitating its creation. In the end, he kept returning to this specific blade scar, with more than half his time spent pondering over this and the Laws of Profound Mysteries hidden within.
"Time to leave." Xue Ying clearly understood the changes in his body. Eighteen years of cultivation in the Great Canyon had truly broadened his horizons. After all, this was a powerful existence in the Deity world…and his deliberate creation of the Great Canyon indicated that he wanted to dig out all the potentials of the countless Transcendents who came for the trials.
Hu.
Xue Ying turned into a stream of light, rapidly traversing the vast and winding Great Canyon. After flying for six hundred thousand kilometers, he finally caught sight of a towering Blood Creeping Flower approximately a kilometer tall. The Blood Creeping Flower had an enormous green vine and countless smaller vines enveloping the surrounding few thousand kilometers. Beautiful red flowers bloomed all over its body.
"Xue Man,"[1. Xue Man Hua = Blood Creeping Flower. If the flower was to be called Blood Creeping, it’ll truly be too weird.] Xue Ying called out.
"Master." A clear voice rang out. The enormous Blood Creeping Flower immediately minimized and flew toward Xue Ying. It soon wrapped around his wrist, morphing into a wrist protector.
"Master, I, I can feel that I will be breaking through." An undulation transmitted into Xue Ying’s mind.
Xue Ying revealed a grin. "No rush, no rush, don’t break through even if you can. Let’s wait until you enter the Xia Clan world before breaking through to the Deity realm."
"Mn." The Blood Creeping Flower was really obedient.
Previously when he was nurturing it, it was still tender. By now, it could converse with Xue Ying. He grew the organism within an area where time acceleration was at its fastest in the Great Canyon. This location had a time acceleration a hundredfold faster than the normal flow of time. Thus, it reached the threshold of the Deity realm relatively quick.
The Xia Clan world was a mortal world, however.
The ‘Will of the World’ would protect Xue Ying after he broke through to the Deity realm due to his status as a native Transcendent, only forcing him to leave after ten thousand years. If his comprehension of the realm grew profound enough within this timeframe, he could even refine the entire mortal world and become its Lord.
As for outsiders?
They could not possibly refine the Will of the World, as the Will of the World would not easily allow an outsider to refine it. Instead, it would resist.
The outsider…must have a combat power lower than the Deity realm!
Only by ascending to Deityhood within the Xia Clan world would this outside be permitted to stay for ten thousand years.
To the Will of the Xia Clan world, the Blood Creeping Flower was not a native and would naturally be expulsed. The moment it became a Deity, it would never be able to enter the Xia Clan world.
...
Xue Ying proceeded forward with the transformed Blood Creeping Flower and soon reached Chen Jiu in the middle of cultivating.
"Dong Bo, you are here." Chen Jiu stood up, though his gaze remained on the many figurines sculpted into the cliff. It had the Profound Mysteries of the True Meaning of Only Me hidden within. "I still do not wish to leave this place."
"If you are truly unwilling to leave, you can return to the second vine leaf world to cultivate once you determine you can no longer pass a later vine leaf world," Xue Ying teased.
"Don’t curse me. I’ll certainly get through the Sky-Reaching Vine smoothly," Chen Jiu remarked.
"Haha, mn, we can get through them together." Xue Ying laughed. "Let’s go; it’s time for us to enter the third vine leaf world. Jian Huang and the Meishan Clan Master are still stuck there, right?"
"Before my Qi Avatar had dissipated, the two of them have yet to pass through," Chen Jiu replied.
Their Qi Avatars in the outside world had completely dissipated.
Thereafter, the two turned into streams of light as they flew rapidly. After leaving the Great Canyon, they continued flying along the main branch of the Sky-Reaching Vine. Nine days passed before they finally reached the higher third vine leaf world.
******
The third vine leaf world was simple.
There were only two arenas!
One of them had three children, with rosy lips and white teeth, seated cross-legged. These three children all wore undergarments with two huge sledgehammers placed right beside each of them!
In other arena, a fat, armored hunk slept.
Standing before the two arenas, the golden-robed teenager Jian Huang and the Meishan Clan Master both turned to look at the sky simultaneously. They spotted Senior Xi Wei communicate briefly with Xue Ying and Chen Jiu before the duo descended.
"The two of you finally arrived." Jian Huang sighed. "It is truly awe-inspiring that you two could stay in the Great Canyon for a full year."
"You guys are still stuck here?" Chen Jiu looked toward the two arenas. "According to the intelligence, the first two vine leaf worlds are meant to have fortuitous encounters so as to dig out our potential. From the third vine leaf world onward, the difficulty starts increasing. What, is the third vine leaf world enough to stop the two of you? Is it that hard?"
"You can go try." The golden-robed teenager Jian Huang was too lazy to explain.
Xue Ying thoroughly examined the two arenas before him.
Passing the third vine leaf world was simple–defeat the opponents within the two arenas!
Afterwards, the challenger could move on to the fourth vine leaf world.
An arena battle…was truly simple, but since it tested one’s combat power, it required genuine ability.
"The arrays created the fat hunk and those three children." The Meishan Clan Master explained, "They are not true life forms, so their combat power is eternally constant. I used the True Meaning of Space to prevent those three children from jointly attacking me, yet I could barely defeat them by doing so. That fat hunk, however, could not tolerate my evasive maneuvers. I must defeat him head-on, yet I am lacking slightly."
"The two of us have tried already." Jian Huang shook his head. "Wu Huang could defeat one of the arenas, yet I can’t even manage doing so for a single one of them, causing my hair to turn white from anguish."
"Isn’t your hair black?" Chen Jiu teased.
"Take a look."
Jian Huang pointed at his own hair. Shua—it completely turned white a moment later before flashing back to black. "Ai, it is entirely white now. I had simply made it black."
"You still have the mood to joke despite not being able to get through these two arenas." Chen Jiu laughed.
Xue Ying felt that he was quite admirable. One must know that they were under an oath. If the mission failed, they would undoubtedly die. They therefore had no way to withdraw. He had failed both areas…yet Jian Huang could still joke about. His state of heart was truly admirable.
"What is this in comparison to the many Temporal Temple missions where I’ve stared death in the face?" Jian Huang chuckled. "I’ll die if the mission fails, so why die with bitterness? Isn’t dying with happiness significantly better?"
"Alright, alright, you are formidable." Chen Jiu jumped upward and rushed toward that fat hunk. "Let me try."
Eight arms appeared on Chen Jiu when he finished speaking. In an imposing manner, he brandished his eight arms like they were eight enormous dragon heads, all unique, and killed his way forward.
The Meishan Clan Master facepalmed.
"Poor guy." Jian Huang commented.
Peng!
All of a sudden, that fat hunk originally laying there waved out his palm. That palm slapped two of those eight incoming arms as if the palm was a fan.
Chen Jiu’s expression immediately changed. His eyes widened, akin to round balls.
Xiu!
He rushed forward lightning-quick; conversely, he descended even faster! He had immediately been slapped down by that fat hunk, slamming into the ground of the vine leaf. The vast and unfathomably big vine leaf vibrated slightly yet ultimately remained undamaged.
"I…" Chen Jiu’s eyes were widened still.
"You actually dare to face him head-on?" The Meishan Clan Master shook his head. "You only have yourself to blame."
"How would I know without having tried?" Chen Jiu retorted, though his expression became gloomy. He held a clear estimation of both the Meishan Clan Master and Jiang Huang’s combat power—a level quite similar to his—yet Jian Huang could not even win a single arena! The Meishan Clan Master had depended on his True Meaning of Space to prevent a joint attack from those three children, yet he barely won. As for the other arena? He was unable to defeat the fat hunk.
One must know that Meishan Clan master also grasped the True Meaning of Only Me.
Trouble was brewing.
This was only the third vine leaf world!
Xue Ying looked on from the side. The intelligence reports were not wrong. This was truly challenging.
Bang bang bang. Chen Jiu made another attempt only to once more be slammed back by that fat hunk. The fat hunk’s offense might seem simple, but it was truly formidable.
Chen Jiu attempted thrice before he shook his head in dismay.
"Dong Bo, who knows, you might be the only one capable of crossing the third vine leaf world out of us all" Chen Jiu looked toward Xue Ying.
Startled upon hearing this, the Meishan Clan Master and Jian Huang looked over.
Chen Jiu…was that confident of Xue Ying?