Chapter 492: Stealing a Treasure right from their Mouths
The instant his body came into contact with the lava, Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi to the maximum. At the same time, he interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal to protect his whole body.
“Dong!”
The lava was sticky and heavy. When Yi Yun jumped in, there was not a single splash. Very quickly, his whole body sank into the deep depths of the lava.
The terrifying burning sensation overwhelmed him as Yi Yun felt his protective Yuan Qi being swallowed quickly.
The temperature of this lava was definitely not something that ordinary lava could match.
Besides, the lava was not only hot, it also contained chaotic pure Yang energy. Pure Yang energy was the energy of the Sun. Typically, when a warrior was struck by such an energy, their protective Yuan Qi will instantly shatter, causing their organs and meridians to burn, and finally, not leaving a tiny bit of bone residue.
However, Yi Yun had a pure Yang body. He was also circulating pure Yang Yuan Qi in his body. As he had the same type of energy and his understanding of pure Yang laws, he could prevent his body from burning up in the lava valley.
However, Yi Yun still found it very difficult.
Compared to the pure Yang energy in the lava, Yi Yun’s pure Yang Yuan Qi was like a small boat in the ocean. It could be capsized by a wave at any moment.
The deeper he went into the lava valley, the higher the temperature. Yi Yun chose a level of about three meters deep. This depth was sufficient enough to hide his body, and the pressure and temperature was relatively easier to handle.
His body’s Yuan Qi was being quickly depleted, so he had to hurry.
The lava was extremely heavy and highly resistive. It was also moving downstream, so with the tremendous energy surging at him, it was extremely tiring swimming upstream. Yi Yun ended up clinging to the rock walls of the valley and climbed up towards the lava lake like a gecko.
Yi Yun’s choice of location was about tens of meters away from the lava lake, so he very quickly reached the mouth of the lava lake by moving upstream.
Yi Yun held his breath as his heart raced. The three-legged strange bird was still battling the large turtle. Their every clash caused the earth to tremor.
Under this situation, not a single one of the strange birds could discover Yi Yun, who was hiding inside the lava.
Gu! Gu! Gu!
The lava was moving, with the subterranean flow turbulent.
Yi Yun had finally entered the lava lake!
The moment he entered the lava lake, Yi Yun could feel that the temperature here was much higher than the lava valley. His protective Yuan Qi was depleting even faster.
Yi Yun estimated that he could hold on for about 15 minutes at most.
Below the lava lake, even with Yuan Qi protecting him, all he could see as he opened his eyes was whiteness, it was too blinding!
Yi Yun opened his energy vision and using it, he sensed where the red lotus was.
In the energy vision, it was camouflaged with white pure Yang energy everywhere. However, right in the middle of the lava lake, where the red lotus was, the pure Yang energy was even more intense. It was like a gushing Sun. As usual, Yi Yun easily locked onto it.
Yi Yun was about hundreds of feet away from it.
“I need to hurry!”
At this moment, Yi Yun could no longer cling to the wall to proceed. He had to swim to the middle of the lava lake. He did not have any idea of backing off, so gathering a large amount of energy, he accelerated towards the middle.
Thankfully, the lava flow in the lava lake was relatively stable. It was not as fast as the valley.
As the distance to the red lotus shortened, the temperature of the lava lake increased.
When Yi Yun reached the center, he had less than 60% of his Yuan Qi left. And this amount of energy was needed to support his return.
Yi Yun did not dare to delay any further and began plucking the lotus!
Yi Yun looked down and saw that the red lotus’ roots were extremely long. It stretched deep down and at the bottom of the lava lake, there was a protruding boulder. The red lotus was growing on the top of this boulder, the lotus root had grown inside it, becoming one with it.
After a bit of hesitation, Yi Yun pulled out the Red Lotus Saber from his interspatial ring.
In terms of quality, Shen Tu Nantian’s sword was not inferior to the Red Lotus Saber. However, for cleaving, a saber was more suitable than a sword.
In the lava, the Red Lotus Saber emitted a strange blood-red glow. It seemed to contrast beautifully with the red lava. As a saber that was collected by the Thousand Hand Granny, it naturally would not be melted by the lava.
With the saber in hand, he thought of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words and slashed at the red lotus’ roots!
“Dang!”
The red lotus’ roots let out a clear resounding sound. Yi Yun felt like he had slashed a metal rod and he had not severed the root at all.
Yi Yun’s heart sank. It was really strong!
He had guessed that a treasure like the red lotus would not have roots that could be severed easily. If he had tried plucking the red lotus on the lava lake’s surface, he would not have succeeded immediately. And that would be courting death as he would be treated as a snack by the three-legged strange bird early on.
And even though he was beneath the lava lake’s surface, Yi Yun did not dare to make too much movements. Although he could still use more powerful saber moves, he could not guarantee that there would not be any motion on the lake’s surface, nor could he prevent the red lotus from not shaking.
With the three-legged strange bird’s alertness, it was bound to notice.
Since he could not do it forcefully, Yi Yun gritted his teeth and looked at the long root stem. He then dived deeper into the lava lake.
Success and failure was at stake!
When Yi Yun swam down, the temperature of the lava rose up like a straight line. The lava at this depth had already changed into a strange red-golden color. He could not tell that there was a high temperature, but Yi Yun could feel his skin cracking from the dryness and his meridians were feeling pain.
This was Yang toxins.
When pure Yang energy became too strong, to warriors whose realm was insufficient to handle it, it would become highly toxic.
Using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun changed the Yang toxins in the lava into traces of pure Yang energy. Those that he could not change, he diverted away. However, the Yang toxins were too intense, so they still slowly entered Yi Yun’s meridians.
His Yuan Qi was depleting faster and faster, and there was only about 50% left. By using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun’s mental energies were also depleting quickly. Once he could not take it, he would not be able to go back.
Yi Yun focused fully and he did not retreat. He steadily swam towards the boulder and finally, he reached the top of the boulder. Only then did Yi Yun see what this boulder was.
It was uniform and it looked like black glass. It had a bright luster that contained pure Yang energy. It was extremely hard. For it to be soaked in the lava lake for eons, and letting it burn day and night under the pure Yang fire, even if it was just a piece of muddy rock could be refined into real gold.
The boulder itself was already a treasure and it could be refined into a weapon.
If it was any other time, picking up such a boulder would be a great opportunity, but to the present Yi Yun, it only made him speechless.
He had to split apart such a hard boulder!
With the Red Lotus Saber in hand, Yi Yun could feel a cold frost Qi that seemed to lower the temperature of the surrounding lava by a tiny bit.
“What a good saber!” Yi Yun felt. That old hag’s treasured saber did not disappoint him.
Dang!
Yi Yun slashed his saber and hit the boulder with sparks appearing. The blade of the Red Lotus Saber was not damaged in any way, but only a white mark was left behind on the surface of the black boulder.
“This rock is too hard!” Yi Yun frowned. This had exceeded his expectations and at this moment, his Yuan Qi was becoming lesser.
Yi Yun injected pure Yang energy into his saber. Saber Truth’s 32 Words! Killing At Its Core!
The powerful saber move was slashed three times!
“Dang! Dang! Dang!”
Sparks flew but as Yi Yun was deep down inside the lava lake, be it noise or Yuan Qi fluctuations, they were all isolated by the extremely heavy, energetic lava.
The three-legged strange bird and the large turtle, who were in an intense battle, did not notice anything. Nor could they think that a weak human was in the lava lake stealing a treasure right from their mouths!
After the three saber strikes, a small notch was finally formed on the boulder. Some rubble fell off, but this notch was only a few inches wide. The red lotus’ roots were still buried deep in the boulder.
Yi Yun was in a hurry. He had only about 40% of his Yuan Qi left. He still wanted to return.
Considering his speed, if he wanted to completely slash the boulder apart and extract the red lotus, it was impossible to do so in 15 minutes. He could not last that long.
He could not extract the red lotus even if his Yuan Qi was completely exhausted.
Did he have to give up after reaching this stage?
At this moment, an idea flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. With a thought, he flipped his right hand and a rusty broken sword appeared in his hand.
This broken sword was the one that Yi Yun obtained in the Pure Yang Sword Palace. It looked like a piece of scrap metal that would decay at any moment.
However, when it appeared, very strangely, Yi Yun suddenly felt his body lighten. The depletion of his Yuan Qi was also instantaneously slowed down.
It seemed that a large amount of the pure Yang energy had been absorbed by the broken sword…
This is…
Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. After Yi Yun obtained this broken sword, other than using it to gain insight into sword Dao, he had nearly never used it before. As the broken sword contained an extremely mysterious profoundness, it made it very difficult for Yi Yun to power it. And the second reason was that Yi Yun did not want others to discover his broken sword, or it might put his life in peril.
However this time, with the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun could feel that he had a faint blood and Qi connection to the broken sword. This seemed to be a change ever since he gained some insight in the azure-clothed swordsman’s sword intent.
This made Yi Yun overjoyed. Now, he had to rely on the sword!
With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun did not have time to contemplate. With the sword, he slashed at the boulder.
Cha!
With a crisp sound, Yi Yun’s broken sword slashed through without any resistance!
Using more strength, Yi Yun slashed a deep cut through the extremely hard, glazed black boulder.
Yi Yun was overjoyed as he slashed with one sword attack after another. Big chunks of the black boulder was slashed apart!
At the same time, Yi Yun opened his energy vision and made sure to see the red lotus in its entirety, including the parts underneath the boulder, so he didn’t cut through its roots.
Finally, Yi Yun’s final slash removed a huge chunk of black rock and he saw a lotus rhizome hidden beneath the boulder. It was the red lotus’ root!
It’s done!
After all the effort, where he kited the large turtle and risked his life to enter the birds’ nest to extract the lotus seeds. And then making a desperate attempt to dive into the lava lake to pluck the red lotus, finally, all the treasures were now in his hands!
