Book 10: Chapter 27 – The First View of Crimson Rock Mountain
As Xue Ying continued to dive deeper…
The pressure from the unseen laws hindered him from moving forward, in spite of him being inside the spatial tunnel reflected in the Mirage.
Xue Ying pondered, At this depth of fifteen thousand kilometers, the unseen laws start influencing the Mirage, as well as the way I pierce the way forward. Even so, a hindrance on that level didn’t mean much to him. After all, even powerful Demigods, such as Chao Qing, could rely on their personal strength to reach Crimson Rock Mountain. Xue Ying was presently protected by the True Meaning of Star, leaving him able to easily withstand the binding force.
He kept moving without the slightest break. His Stellar Fire Cloud Spear passed through the Mirage and into the real world, sending attack after attack towards Lord You Lan as he attempted to flee with his life.
Lord You Lan fell into a state of despair, but he still tried his utmost to parry the incoming attacks.
All of a sudden, he left the void tunnel, entering once more into ordinary space.
He was now in what seemed like a world of magma—this whole space was filled to the brim with molten rock. Front, back, left, right, everywhere Xue Ying looked, there was magma, or at least that was what was reflected inside the Mirage from the real world—just thick, viscous, slow moving molten rock on all sides!
Upon entering the magma, Lord You Lan continued flying at top speed.
Shua!
Suddenly, he left disappeared, leaving the area of influence of Xue Ying’s Mirage.
My Mirage is indeed only effective inside a certain range, but even if he were to teleport, he couldn’t have disappeared so quickly. Inside his heart, Xue Ying understood what had happened. This should be Crimson Rock Mountain.
According to the map, the Crimson Rock Mountain was located right before him!
The unique properties of the Crimson Rock Mountain made it so that all forms of observation, outside of using the naked eye, were ineffective! It had been the same when he tried to find the sack left behind by Ancestor Black Wind, but the sack hadn’t been reflected in the Mirage. It seemed as if all Laws of Profound Mysteries simply lost their power.
Xiu.
Xue Ying immediately moved into the real world and then entered the magma-filled space.
“Mn?” Assisted by his True Meaning of Star, he was able to easily traverse the magma. Xue Ying didn’t react when an unseen feeling of oppression began to exert its influence on him. He had long since acquired detailed information on Crimson Rock Mountain from Ancestor Black Wind and knew this force was simply an effect of the Crimson Rock Mountain. He immediately approached the entrance.
“Whoa.”
As he closed in, he began to see an area of void before him. This dark void space was easily visible to the naked eye and small in size—about one meter in diameter. It was a truly bizarre sight!
At its center, there was an infinitely small point…so small, in fact, that even the most fundamental particle of a body was bigger than it! That single point was so clear and dazzling, and emitted such pressure on the surroundings, that it formed the void space bordering it.
It was no wonder that Ancestor Black Wind had warned that, should it suffer any change, it could easily destroy the entire Xia Clan World.
This is so bizarre.
As light fell on the surface of that centric point inside the void, it seemed to rapidly increase in size! It grew bigger and bigger, as if some enormous world existed right inside that single point in the center. Before long, that seemingly small point…had deluged Xue Ying’s whole field of vision. It was like a symbol of infinity—a mountain so high that its tip was not even visible to the naked eye. The rocks covering it were all colored a fiery-red, and they seemed to contain a boundless mystical strangeness.
Crimson Rock Mountain truly was unfathomably enormous and seemingly endless.
With a blink of his eyes, Xue Ying turned his vision. He no longer dared to stare in the point’s direction. The very next moment, that boundless mountain which had filled his whole field of view had turned once again into a single small point.
“Lord You Lan.” Xue Ying inspected the dark, one-meter-wide area of void, and inside, he saw a tiny person flying at a fast pace toward Crimson Rock Mountain.
This small person was actually only about the size of a single particle! As he neared Crimson Rock Mountain, he became smaller and smaller. Before long, the figure began scaling the mountain.
Following Lord You Lan’s path, Xue Ying’s vision once again reached the direction of Crimson Rock Mountain, which rose to fill his field of vision again—boundless and endless! With the mountain’s increase in size, Lord You Lan had also somehow regained his ordinary shape.
“Truly mysterious,” Xue Ying murmured.
Having climbed Crimson Rock Mountain, Lord You Lan turned around to give the outside a look. He seemed to be speaking, but no sound reached outside.
“He has already ascended the Crimson Rock Mountain?” One of the teams—that of the Meishan Clan Master—arrived quickly after, with the other three following behind. Soon, the huge Battleship D9 pushed apart the magma to join them beside the dark void.
“This Crimson Rock Mountain is the inheritance left behind by a powerful World Deity after his death.” Chen Jiu came over to Xue Ying’s side and laughed. “Our attacks wouldn’t even be able to pass through the void, much less actually reach the Crimson Rock Mountain. Let’s forget about Lord You Lan. He’ll most likely reach the inner parts of the Crimson Rock Mountain and then begin his adventure.”
“Haha, let’s go have a closer look.” Jian Huang, the gold-robed teenager, laughed.
“Right now?” Chen Jiu sent him a glance.
“Of course not! That would be way too rushed. We still need some time to finish preparing,” Jian Huang replied. They had brought along several treasures for this trip, but they were in parts, so they still needed some time to refine them. As for the reason they did so, it was to reduce the transportation fees.
The Temporal Temple truly was self-centered.
The price required to send over a Demigod sitting at the apex, who could match the might of a Deity like Chen Jiu and Jian Huang, was high enough to send even some of the titanic existences of the Deity world and the Dark Abyss into despair. They weren’t even slightly inclined to send two of such Demigods! Fortunately for that level of transaction, the Temporal Temple had been kind enough to allow them to bring over two comrades as well.
As for the Deity grade scrolls and other medicine pills, they were charged for every single item they wanted to bring, down to the smallest.
Smuggling them in?
Under the thorough investigation of the Temporal Temple, not even the items placed inside storage treasures could avoid detection! In this situation, they prefered to bring over raw materials! In the case of Xue Ying’s Hundred Bitter Restoration, it was simply too hard to brew, so the final product had to be sent over instead.
The red-haired Bo Bo at Wu Ma Hai’s side muttered, “We also need to prepare. We must first confirm the price asked by the Temporal Temple for sending us over. It truly is too high.”
This price was calculated through consideration of many aspects.
To send someone into the mortal world was already costly enough! But if one wanted to send someone over to compete for treasures inside the Crimson Rock Mountain…the price would be even higher!
The price would only be paid after various experts of the Temporal Temple agreed upon what would be an accurate assessment of cost!
……
The group of people were chatting amongst themselves as they made their way toward the dark void. Moving closer, Xue Ying found that instead of feeling his body shrink, he instead saw the dark void becoming bigger and bigger before him.
“Woah, this is truly mystical.”
“Crimson Rock Mountain is really huge.”
The four teams, Xue Ying, Palace Head Chen, and Si Kong Yang, as well as all of the others inside of Battleship D9 closed in. They dared do so only because they knew there were no dangers lurking inside the dark void. The dangers would only begin revealing themselves after they ascended Crimson Rock Mountain.
“It is indeed enormous.” They soon reached the boundary of Crimson Rock Mountain. There, Xue Ying took a look upwards.
Towering!
The mountain was so tall that its peak wasn’t even visible! It was just as large at the sides, as it was simply impossible to see where it ended. The oppressive aura it emitted was such that it left even Xue Ying short of breath. This Crimson Rock Mountain was, in one word, big!
“This should be the true size of Crimson Rock Mountain. To us, it might as well be endless,” Chen Jiu expounded. “Due to its unique properties, it can occupy a space smaller than a particle. A legend of our Deity world spoke of ‘a leaf being a world,’ and that should be what we’re witnessing here.”
“Lord You Lan is going to enter soon,” the Meishan Clan Master said.
Xue Ying looked into the distance.
There was a broad stone pathway atop which a fiery airflow occasionally formed, and red-hot flames flared from time to time. The airflow might not prove deadly to some, but if they were to be swept up by the flames, they would undoubtedly perish! No matter their strength, they would die! Even Xue Ying would most probably die from such a flare even when hiding in the Mirage.
The danger posed by Crimson Rock Mountain was simply beyond the realm of imagination. Xue Ying couldn’t just avoid it by hiding inside the Mirage.
Lord You Lan carefully walked along the stone path, using only ginger movements. With how deep and formidable his combat power was, extending his senses gave him the opportunity to evade the moment any red-hot flame came popping up.
About this stone path…
While it was true that one would die as soon as they came into contact with the red flames, the historical Demigods who came adventuring on the mountain would generally not die on this path, as long as they were careful.
Those who took this chance to enter the mountain would certainly receive enough information, so that they would know not to let their guard down.
Hong long~ The end of the stone path was marked by a huge black door, bordered at its edges by golden decorative motifs. As soon as Lord You Lan reached it, the door boomed open. With one final cold glance back at Xue Ying and a sneer, he entered the inner portion of the Crimson Rock Mountain.
Soon after, the huge door closed shut once more with another boom.
Chen Jiu spoke up, “He’s entered. His mission inside is likely to be quite similar to ours, so he should stay inside for at least three years. Dong Bo Xue Ying, for the duration of these three years, there’s no reason to worry about him. Once inside, you will most likely cross paths with him again.”
“When do we go in?” Xue Ying questioned.
“Gentlemen, what are your plans?” Chen Jiu asked around.
“I am fine with entering anytime,” the Meishan Clan Master answered.
“I need another half month,” Wu Ma Hai replied.
“A month for me,” said the gold-robed youth, Jiang Huang.
Chen Jiu declared, “Alright then. Let’s set the date at one month from now. In one month, we’ll gather here and enter together.”
They didn’t really mind Lord You Lan entering first. In fact, there wasn’t much point to comparing when any individual entered. After all, as long as one was able to brave the risky areas inside the mountain and reach the final destination, they would certainly attain that which they desired!
“Will Lord You Lan suddenly return?” Xue Ying frowned.
Palace Head Chen laughed. “Xue Ying, you can rest easy. For the duration of this one month, Battleship D9 will be stationed here. Our battleship might not necessarily be able to seal the space around the Crimson Rock Mountain, but it can still do so in an area of five thousand kilometers around the dark void surrounding it! The unseen pressure of the laws is very powerful over here, so Lord You Lan would have to spend a very long time to be able to leave here once space is sealed!”
Xue Ying nodded.
On the surface, Lord You Lan’s speed could indeed reach five hundred kilometers per second. But at a depth of fifty thousand kilometers, the oppressive force exerted by the unseen laws would make even flying at fifty kilometers per second an achievement. Traversing a distance of five thousand kilometers at that slow pace would leave Xue Ying with enough time to tear through space and rush over in time.
“Let’s go.”
Soon after having one last look at this towering and endless Crimson Rock Mountain, Xue Ying and the other four teams left.
Only Battleship D9 remained behind as sentry.
Palace Head Chen continued discussing with the other Transcendents. “During more ordinary eras, so few members of our Xia Clan would even be aware of Crimson Rock Mountain that you could count them all on your fingers. This era we live in, however, is rather special. Everyone has heard of it, and they’ve even experienced it for themselves. ”
……
Hu.
After exiting a tear in space, Xue Ying looked downward toward the White River Town below.
“Mn?” He received a sudden message from Palace Head Chen containing detailed information regarding Crimson Rock Mountain! He hadn’t found time before to send any of it over to Xue Ying, who had first been busy meeting up with Chen Jiu and his Bloodshed Tavern team, a meeting which was soon followed by the wanton slaughter of the Xia Clan perpetrated by the team from the Dark Abyss.
“Alright. At least this issue has been solved for the moment.”
He walked on the familiar street of White River Town, toward his Restaurant Dongyu situated in the distance. Watching people enter and leave his restaurant, looking at the hawkers shouting out to sell their goods on the streetsides, Xue Ying couldn’t help but reveal a grin.
Up until just previously, he had been stressed out with fear over whether he could handle the threat of Lord You Lan or not, and over how a catastrophe would befall the Xia Clan world if he couldn’t.
“Boss Dong Bo, come and have a taste! This steamed bun is fresh out the oven,” a woman shouted with a smile in an attempt to sell one of her buns. As a resident of many years, she naturally recognized the boss of Restaurant Dongyu.
Xue Ying casually threw over a few copper pieces and then took a bun to eat on the way. It had a truly fragrant aroma.
It was in this manner that Xue Ying enjoyed his walk back toward his Restaurant Dongyu.
Suddenly—
Weng!
The surrounding world turned still. Soon, a terrifying and mystical power descended, a power which Xue Ying was familiar with.
“The Temporal Temple?” Xue Ying had already experienced this sensation once before in the past.
