Chapter 198 – Devil’s Rock
On the way, Chen Xi noticed to his shock that Tantai Hong was leading him out of the city, and Tantai Hong seemed to want to directly head towards the Oceanic Desert. Moreover, Tantai Zixuan had silently left as well.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Within the entire Oceanic City, numerous gorgeous flowing lights tore through the sky from all directions, and they sounded like a gushing tide as they flew out of the city.
When looked at from afar, the flowing lights of a variety of colors interweaved together into clouds that were a riot of colors, and they swarmed and whistled as they flew swiftly, causing them to be an extremely magnificent sight.
Behind Oceanic City was the boundlessly vast Oceanic Desert, the terrifying existence that was called the place of death.
Chen Xi had once entered into the Oceanic Desert, but he entered from the side of the Rowdy Grasslands on that day. At that time, gales howled and sandstorms raged in the Oceanic Desert, like a god with a violent temper that was wantonly venting the entirety of the rage and resentment in his chest, and it was filled with infinite destruction and was extremely terrifying.
However, at this moment, the Oceanic Desert had instead become much calmer. Although the wind and sand still fluttered in the entire sky, the strength of this fluttering had greatly weakened. Obviously, as the rumors said, the Oceanic Desert had really entered into a period of dormancy.
Although the Oceanic Desert was reputed as the place of death, there were countless treasures of heaven and earth contained within it, and there was no lack of ruins, secret realms, and even Immortal Abodes and treasure vaults that stored ancient precious treasures. But because it was too dangerous before, no one dared rashly step foot in it.
It was different now. Once the Oceanic Desert entered into a period of dormancy, it was like a wild beast that had put away its fangs and became unarmed, causing its dangerousness to greatly decrease. So long as one didn’t head deep into the Oceanic Desert, it was sufficient for one to rake in a big amount of treasures and make a staggering profit by searching for the innumerable priceless and rare treasures within it.
It was precisely because of this period of dormancy that this period of time had become the best time for the various young disciples to enter the Oceanic Desert and search for treasures while training, tempering themselves and gaining experience. There were even some merchants that had formed a group of experts to head to the Oceanic Desert and gather materials in an effort to make a great profit.
Chen Xi saw many merchants forming large groups of guards before dashing towards the Oceanic Desert, and every single one of their faces were filled with excitement and eagerness, as if they were about to enter a mountain of silver and gold to start panning for some.
Within the dense crowd of people, the Golden Core Realm cultivators that came from various places of the Darchu Dynasty were undoubtedly the most conspicuous. All of them were experts of the younger generation, the core force of the various sects, and as they flew in the sky, they were usually able to cause waves of shocked exclamations and sharp cries that contained praise, admiration, and of course, there was envy.
Chen Xi even saw many exceedingly formidable young experts that possessed auras that weren’t the slightest bit inferior to Xue Chen and Pei Zhong, and there were even some who surpassed them. Thus, it was difficult for them to not arouse shock in others.
A gathering of heroes with experts as numerous as the clouds. Pitiably, all these people are mostly cultivators from outside the southern territory, whereas, there are only a few cultivators from the southern territory itself. Truly ironic. Chen Xi sighed to himself. This also allowed him to clearly understand that the cultivation world of the southern territory was indeed too destitute, and it was utterly not on the same level as the northern barbaric lands, eastern sea, and central plains.
“Chen Ke, amongst those few Fellow Daoists, two of them are the disciples of the benefactor of my Tantai Clan, and their strengths are at the top of the Golden Core Realm, and the other few are the core Golden Core Realm disciples of the various great powers in the central plains. All of them are genius figures of the younger generation and are experts that possess the ability to participate in the Allstar Meeting. You must be careful when you meet them later, and you must not offend them.” On the way, Tantai Hong suddenly spoke in warning.
Chen Xi nodded, yet he lightly sighed in his heart. When one cooperated with disciples of another sect to carry out missions and search for treasures, it would normally be exceedingly dangerous. Because everyone wasn’t from the same sect, there were no rules restricting them, causing the act of stealing or murder for the sake of the wealth of others and plotting against one’s companions to occur easily.
“Are you worried they would forget honor at the prospect of wealth?” Tantai Hong smiled and then thought for some time before saying, “This is something that you can’t do anything about. Qian Yuan’s Treasure Vault was left behind by a peerless Heavenly Immortal, and it’s covered in layer upon layer of restrictions. Every step you take within is filled with killing intent. I must gain assistance from their strength in order to be able to guarantee safe passage into it. Of course, they’re moving with us for the sake of the aid of the treasure map in my possession. This is something I’ve distinguished extremely clearly, and it’s why I asked you to watch out and adjust yourself according to the situation so as to avoid any mishaps from happening.”
“Uncle Tantai possesses the profound wisdom to deal with all this, so there’s nothing for me to be worried about.” Chen Xi smiled.
“Don’t worry, if we enter Qian Yuan’s Treasure Vault this time, you’re bound to benefit.” Tantai Hong laughed loudly, and he increased his speed and flew towards the direction of the Oceanic Desert.
Even though the Oceanic Desert had entered into a state of dormancy, it was still extremely dangerous. Because the weather in the Oceanic Desert varied indefinitely, and not only did it possess terrifying restrictions and spatial tears that were sufficient to swallow up everything, there were even numerous formidable demon beasts raging within it. Some of these demon beasts were even comparable to Rebirth Realm cultivators and even exceedingly rare existences that surpassed the Rebirth Realm. Moreover, these demon beasts formed packs and groups and were unafraid of death.
Of course, in the eyes of experts, these demon beasts were an enormous piece of wealth, as hunting these demon beasts and seizing their blood essence, skin, and fur to refine Magic Treasures and to be sold were an enormous source of wealth. However, these experts didn’t dare be neglectful and careless, otherwise, going deep into the hordes of demon beasts would surely cause one to die a graveless death.
Swoosh!
Chen Xi and Tantai Hong tore through the sky and entered 500 km into the Oceanic Desert before arriving at a rocky hill that was formed from the corrosion of wind and sand.
“This is the Devil’s Rock, and further ahead are the truly dangerous places in the Oceanic Desert like the Five Element Ruins, Baleful Fiend Burial Ground, Thunderstorm Zone, and the other places of danger are all there, and the slightest carelessness could cost your life. Moreover, the spirit energy here is extremely scarce, so we have to prepare sufficient medicinal pills to replenish our bodies, otherwise, we would sooner or later be trapped to death within this place.” Tantai Hong stood on the rock hill and spoke with a deep voice. “We’ll wait here, they’ll be here very soon.”
Chen Xi nodded and looked at this Devil’s Rock. An area of rocks of around 5 km had formed a hill that was completely pitch black and glossy, and its surface possessed numerous holes of various peculiar shapes and sizes that were formed by the corrosion of wind and sand.
Rocks like this could be seen scattered about in every direction within the Oceanic Desert. Wind and sand raged deeper past the Devil’s Rock, and within the depths of the thick layer of sand, Chen Xi was even able to sense some ferocious aura lying in hibernation.
Moreover, this place was covered with numerous lofty hills and mountains of sand that towered into the clouds, and the sun in the sky was extremely strong. Numerous strands of intense rays of sunlight pierced down to cause one’s skin to have the feeling as if it was about to melt.
The temperature here was simply as if one was within a pill cauldron, scorching and scalding, and an ordinary person would probably have been roasted into a dry corpse since long ago.
Chen Xi instead felt extremely comfortable. Within the desert, it was so hot that even metal would melt, and the scorching airflow burnt the air to the point of distorting, yet the instant this scorching airflow approached Chen Xi, it would be absorbed by the Third-Fire Shaman Marking and Great Yang Shaman Marking on his back before starting to transform and temper the strength of his body.
Bang!
While they waited, Tantai Hong seemed to have noticed something, and he suddenly circulated his True Essence to fiercely grab towards a small hill of sand that was 3 km away. Suddenly, he grabbed a desert lizard that was enormous like an elephant. The aura of this desert lizard was comparable to a peak Violet Palace Realm cultivator and was only a step away from advancing to the Golden Hall Realm.
Chen Xi briefly sized it up before he said, “This desert lizard has actually cultivated to the perfection-realm of the Violet Palace Realm. Looks like it has consumed a lot of spirit veins and ores beneath the desert. Unfortunately, there was no one to guide it, otherwise, it wouldn’t be impossible for its cultivation to attain the Golden Hall Realm.”
“This place is a comparably safe area, and it belongs to the edge of the Oceanic Desert. Once we go deeper, the demon beasts there are outrageously strong. Especially the Five Element Ruins. A variety of demon beasts formed groups and packs and were all at the perfection-stage of the Golden Hall Realm. Once they move out, it would be in a group of a few thousand, and they’re extremely terrifying. There was once a Half-step Rebirth Realm cultivator like me that was directly trapped alive within there.” Tantai Hong sighed with emotion, and he killed the desert lizard as he spoke and placed it within his storage Magic Treasure.
The Half-step Rebirth Realm was a cultivation above the peak of the Golden Core Realm, and it possessed an absolute advantage to a perfection-stage Golden Core Realm demon beast. But if a few thousands of perfection-stage Golden Hall Realm demon beasts were to swarm over, they were similarly capable of killing a Golden Core Realm cultivator. This was an absolute advantage formed from numbers, and it was like a powerful torrent of an army that was impossible to stop.
“So there’s even something like this. Group after group of demon beasts indeed can’t be looked down upon.” Chen Xi imagined for a moment, and he was extremely fearful as well.
Swish!
Right at this moment, a sharp sound of the sky tearing apart sounded out from the extreme distance, and then a sword light descended down like a flowing light with fierce momentum, and it even caused Chen Xi’s clothes to flutter in the wind.
The Sword Intent was fierce and swift, yet the sword move was simple and rough, and it seemed like the earth that was exceedingly heavy. As soon as it descended onto the ground, the entire might of the sword restrained itself to reveal a young man wearing an apricot yellow Daoist robe.
This young man was tall and handsome, his bearing deep and condensed, and he looked majestic in appearance. He was like the boundlessly vast earth, deep and lofty, and he seemed like a great leader.
The instant this young man descended to the ground, he nodded to Tantai Hong. However, when he saw Chen Xi, his brows frowned instead, and a trace of displeasure flashed deep within his eyes.
Chen Xi acutely noticed this, yet his expression remained unchanged.
“Chen Ke, this is Lin Moxuan of the central plains Earthly Heaven Sect, a perfection-stage Golden Core Realm sword cultivator who’s well known all over the world. He’s a top figure amongst the experts of the younger generation.”
Tantai Hong grinned as he introduced. “Fellow Daoist Lin, this is Chen Ke, he’s the best friend of my daughter.”
Lin Moxuan didn’t even spare a glance at Chen Xi before frowning as he said, “Patriarch Tantai, we’re going to search for Qian Yuan’s Treasure Vault this time, and it’s filled with danger. How could you bring over a burden? Not to mention we’d agreed long ago that we can’t bring another along, it wouldn’t be good if someone harbored evil intentions or wanted to sit idly while enjoying the fruits of another’s labor.”
Lin Moxuan’s words directly took Chen Xi to be a burden that was beneath contempt. His words and actions showed superiority, and it even seemed as if he didn’t take Tantai Hong seriously. It was a mystery whether he was arrogant, possessed a proud and lofty character, or he possessed the strength to look down on everything.
“Don’t worry, this Junior of mine will absolutely not be a burden to everyone. This is something that I can guarantee with my honor.” Tantai Hong was slightly embarrassed a hurriedly explained. He never imagined that Lin Moxuan would be so blunt, and he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. I wonder what Zixuan was thinking by forcing me to bring this kid along. Now even I’ve lost face along with him.
Lin Moxuan’s frown grew even deeper, and he said coldly, “Fine, but if he impedes my footsteps and becomes a burden, then I’ll be the first to kill him!”
When he heard this, Chen Xi still maintained a composed and carefree expression, and it was unknown what he was thinking in his heart.
Rumble!
Right at this moment, a violent wave of explosions sounded out in the sky abruptly, and a wisp that seemed like a burning cloud of fire gushed over with an unbelievable speed, and it arrived at the Devil’s Rock in the blink of an eye. The cloud of fire restrained itself to reveal a woman in a fiery red luxurious robe that walked over gracefully. This woman that wore a fiery red luxurious robe had a hot figure and an enchanting appearance. She was actually a Golden Core Realm cultivator that possessed immeasurable strength as well!