Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was cloudless in the north of the Saint Spirit Kingdom tonight. The moon was bright and had lit up the ground. It was a shame that temperature was still low as spring just arrived, making the field appear bleak and deserted.
The gentle breeze brought a sliver of spring chill with it. Still, it was not like the cold wind of winter that went straight into one’s heart. Jiang Yi was powerful and obviously was not afraid of this chill. However, when he looked at the pitch-black Soul-Seizing Valley below him, an inexplicable cold feeling gave him goosebumps.
He had no idea how the deep the Soul-Seizing Valley was. The bottom was shrouded by black fog, and so going down in the daytime was no different from at night. Without further ado, Jiang Yi was ready to go down and explore.
He didn’t jump down impulsively. Instead, he probed the situation down there to get a rough idea first.
After refining two Sweet Flag Leaves, his soul spirit was magnified by several times. In the past, his divine senses could only explore three kilometers. At this moment, he could explore for tens of kilometers.
Gradually, his divine senses radiated towards the bottom. The landscape inside the valley automatically appeared in Jiang Yi’s mind. The valley was big and several kilometers in radius. It was surrounded by cliffs, without any road leading down. Around 1,600 meters below the ground, the black fog began to appear; and the image inside Jiang Yi’s head turned pitch-black as well.
His divine senses continued to extend downwards. After three kilometers, the black fog vanished. Jiang Yi discovered that below the black fog, it was still empty valley—there was nothing inside.
To Jiang Yi’s disappointment, his divine senses could only go down about 17 kilometers. In the 17-kilometer distance, there was only an empty valley. He didn’t know how deep the valley was, so basically he got nothing useful.
“How about using the Divine Perception sorcery?”
Withdrawing the divine senses, Jiang Yi was tempted; but he swiftly squashed that idea. He was still a beginner to the comprehension of the divine perception. It was extremely difficult for him to release the sorcery. Every time, it strained his spirit. Unless he was desperate, he wouldn’t use this sorcery skill.
In this case, going down the valley was the only option.
The fire spirit pearl glowed in Jiang Yi’s hand, a bunch of rope appeared. He took out several pieces and tied them together, making two long ropes that were at least 33 kilometers long. Securing the ends of the two on trees, he tossed them into the valley.
“Wu-Wu!”
The sound of the rope breaking the air echoed in the valley. Jiang Yi’s heart palpitated. Clenching his teeth, he jumped down.
Tsk-Tsk!
Grabbing the rope with one hand, he slid down. He stopped after going down for ten kilometers. Then, he released his divine senses to explore.
He could have moved down continuously by instant shift, but with the help of the ropes, he could slide down slowly and navigate his way using divine senses. This was much safer.
“All clear. Let’s go!”
After examining the situation for a while, Jiang Yi continued to slide down. To his amazement, he had gone down for 33 kilometers—and the rope had reached the end, but he wasn’t at the bottom of the valley. In addition to the 17-kilometer distance that his divine senses could extend, this valley was more than 47 kilometers in depth.
“Safety comes first!”
Jiang Yi had to take out a divine weapon and drilled a hole on the cliff. After that, he took out more ropes from the fire spirit pearl. This time, he lengthened the rope by another 33 kilometers before throwing it back to the valley.
He kept on sliding down. After another 33 kilometers, his divine senses were finally able to reach the valley floor. However, he was startled by what he saw.
The valley had a conical bottom. It was spacious down there. Jiang Yi couldn’t detect any living creatures. There was only a multitude of weathered skeletons all over the floor, which piled into mountains. In rough estimation, there were at least tens of thousands of them.
The skeletons were not the problem. The key was that white flames were moving up and down above those skeletons, as scary as the ghost fire. Jiang Yi could clearly “see” countless pale faces in the white flame. It was like evil spirits hiding inside the ghost flame.
“Ghost flame? Netherworld Ghost Flames?”
Jiang Yi’s heart trembled; it was an apt name. Was the flame transformed from the Netherworld ghosts? He felt a little panic. He would never be afraid if it was another kind of powerful flame, but this flame involved ghosts. What if he got possessed and devoured by the evil spirits, upon touching the flame?
“I should explore the situation first!”
As he was already here, Jiang Yi naturally wouldn’t give up. The Netherworld Ghost Flames at this place had been well-known on the continent since 100,000 years ago. Many Vajra Realm martial experts looked for it down here. Some died here, but many came back alive. The Netherworld Ghost Flames should just be a kind of unusual flame. If it was formed by devil spirits, the news should be spread long ago.
Sliding down slowly, his divine senses swept around. Soon, he found out a giant cave in the north of the valley floor. He didn’t know how far the cave was, or what was inside the cave. The ghost fires were also fluttering inside the cave.
Apart from that, there was nothing else down here—no breath of living things. Jiang Yi didn’t detect any danger as well.
After checking for three times and making sure there was no danger, Jiang Yi remained still. Looking at the ghost fire below him, he observed and waited quietly.
The best hunters must learn the art of waiting. Impatient hunters usually ended up to be the food of the beasts. Clutching the rope with one hand, Jiang Yi hung at a height of ten kilometers from the valley floor. His divine senses kept on looking around and monitoring.
After two hours, four hours… ten hours…
Jiang Yi waited for a day. His hands went numb, but he looked composed. After waiting for one whole day and making sure nothing was abnormal, he moved. Instead of jumping down right away, he took out a divine artifact from the fire spirit pearl and threw it towards the ghost fire.
Swish!
The divine artifact longsword flew in the air but was immediately bounced back by the cliffs around the valley. It was terrifying as the valley reverberated with the sound of the sword, but Jiang Yi didn’t pay much attention to it. Instead, his eyes sparkled with excitement.
Tsk-Tsk!
After the divine artifact longsword got close to the ghost fire, it melted at a speed noticeable to the naked eyes. Before the long sword entered the center of the ghost fire, it was already gone and turned into silvery molten iron, dripping onto the skeletons below it.
Tsk-Tsk!
The molten iron created a hole in the skeleton. Smoke was rising from the white bones, giving out a strong rotten smell. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Jiang Yi looked at the ghost flame, but he felt like he was watching a naked girl.
This was indeed flame, and it was ten times stronger than the Earth fire!
It would take at least one hour for the Earth fire to turn the divine artifact into molten iron. Jiang Yi inferred that the temperature of the Netherworld Ghost Flames should be higher than the Heaven Fire and just lower than that of the Nine Heavens’ Dragon Flames. Of course, it was far less than the flames produced by the Fire Spirit Rock.
“It’s only inferior to the Nine Heaven Stars. After refinement, its power should increase by several times. It will be several times stronger than the Nine Heavens Dragon Flames. With the increment by the forces of the Nine Heaven Stars, probably the power will be enhanced by a few times…”
Jiang Yi had no idea how powerful the ghost flame would be after he refined it, but he was certain about one thing. As long as he made a surprise attack from a short distance and released the Netherworld Ghost Flames after refinement, the Patriarch of the Ling Clan could be easily taken care of, without leaving him any chance to fight back!
“I’m risking it! I’m catching the flame!”
After shooting another divine artifact and making sure the ghost flame was only fire, he glowed with white light and shifted instantly. To his pleasant surprise, the fire spirit pearl lit up immediately once he approached the ghost flame. It not only protected him from being burnt by the ghost flames, but it also absorbed the ghost flames rapidly. In a blink of an eye, two balls of fire of the size of the head were taken in.
Plop! Plop!
At this very moment, a strange sound suddenly echoed in Jiang Yi’s mind. His heart pumped with the sound and seemed to leave his chest. He swiftly swept to the deep cave in the north. His body became stiff as if he was anticipating an intimidating enemy.
That terrible presence finally revealed itself!
