Chapter 1644: Mystical Ancient Mountain
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
The Taotie Mine could be entered anytime as long as you met the requirement of being an immortal emperor. The rules were more relaxed here, there was no fixed time for people inside to exit. You can exit whenever you want to and keep 10% of your harvest.
These are the eight most important mines in the Lifelong Realm, and naturally were far more attractive to powerful experts. Also, it contained many mysteries within and frequent bouts of good fortune. Despite so, its rules were much more relaxed compared to the other mines. But then again, this was a kind of strategy as well. So what if this place had many bouts of good fortune within? If the rules were too strict, no one would want to come here to risk their lives in adventuring or to temper themselves. Who then, would come here to excavate the resources?
In the vast mine, there was a large stretch of flat land. This place was the entrance grounds. At this moment, a group of people entered and Qin Wentian was among them. These were all immortal emperors who were in small groups of twos or threes. The sounds of them talking could be heard as well.
“Senior brother, given your talent and cultivation, you came here to temper yourself once again. This time, you might really succeed in breaking through the emperor realm to enter the empyrean realm .” At this moment, a voice rang out beside Qin Wentian. This voice was from a group of martial siblings. The weakest one was a mid-stage immortal emperor while the strongest one exuded a terrifying aura, at the peak of the immortal emperor realm and was here to search for opportunities to allow himself to breakthrough.
“As expected of one of the eight major mines of the Lifelong Realm. Most probably, the people here are all from the major powers.” Qin Wentian silently mused. These major powers are naturally of the entire Lifelong Realm in perspective. For example, the Sword Spirit Sect, the Jialan Clan, etc. They had to have an Empyrean within their sect or clan to be classified as a major power.
The Lifelong Realm was simply too vast. Just a single Lifelong City contains many major powers let alone the entirety of the Lifelong Realm. How many peak experts are there? Existences like the Realmlord might be as rare as kirin horns and phoenix feathers but for empyrean-level existences, there would surely be not too little of them.
“If everyone wants to enter, you all have to present all your interspatial rings for us to check via immortal sense. If there are sensitive objects in your rings, you can return and stow it away before coming back.” At the registration point, the guards here reminded the people who wanted to enter. The rules were as expected. If the guards didn’t check the rings, who knew if the excavators would embezzle their harvest or not.
The people here nodded in agreement. One of the guards then pointed ahead, “Continue ahead, the true entrance into the taotie mine is there. You guys can enter and exit anytime you want to.”
“Right.” The group of people nodded and continued ahead.
“Everyone, please hold on.” At this moment, a figure spoke out, causing everyone to halt. They turned their heads and glanced at the person who spoke, it was a young and handsome guy. He had an extraordinary demeanor and a beautiful maiden who bore a striking resemblance to him, also stood beside him.
“Us two siblings are disciples of the Greencloud Mountain. This time, I’m sure everyone knows how dangerous it would be in the taotie mine. Leaving aside the dangers presented by the mine itself, there’s still the threat from countless experts within. We might not win against the others if we have to fight for a treasure, hence, it’s very normal for people to form alliances before entering. Our group has a total of nine people, why don’t we form an alliance?” The young man slowly spoke. His words were the truth. Many who entered the major mines would always form an alliance.
Don’t assume that they would be safe just because their cultivation base is high. The dangers within were unknown and it was a definite thing that there would be many experts inside.
Everyone seemed intrigued. They glanced at the young man and the young man laughed, “This is one of the eight major mines, the taotie mine. With more friends, we would have more confidence. The four of you should be disciples from major powers, right?”
The person the young man spoke to, was none other than the small group of martial siblings which Qin Wentian heard earlier.
“You two are really disciples from the Greencloud Mountain?” The peak-stage immortal emperor who was the leader of the group of four, asked.
“My name is Yi Qing, a disciple of the Greencloud Mountain. This is my younger sister, Yi Leng.” That young man smiled and nodded.
“Descendents of the Yi Clan.” The peak-stage immortal emperor’s eyes flashed. After that, he nodded. “Since this is the case, let’s form an alliance. We came from the Desolate Ground.”
“Desolate Ground’s Four Palaces?” The eyes of Yi Qing gleamed sharply. The peak-stage immortal emperor nodded.
“To think that I would be acquainted with the disciples of the Greencloud Mountain who are descendants of the Yi Clan, as well as geniuses from the Desolate Ground’s Four Palaces. My name is Murong Xiaoxiao.” A female immortal emperor, who was alone, smiled. She had bright eyes and a beautiful smile. Her smile was like a crescent moon, exuding a simple innocence. However, seeing that she had managed to cultivate to her current level and is also an unaffiliated cultivator, the others here naturally wouldn’t just judge her from the surface.”
“Fairy Murong.” Yi Qing smiled and nodded at Murong Xiaoxiao. The people from the Desolate Ground also nodded to her.
“Unaffiliated cultivator, Tianwen.” Qin Wentian smiled, he didn’t reveal his true identity. The others here calmly glanced at Qin Wentian, their attitude towards him was naturally not as warmth when compared to their attitudes towards Murong Xiaoxiao. Beautiful women would always have an advantage.
“Skyair Palace, Shan Lengqiu.” The last person was clad in black and projected a cold aura. Even the fact that the Greencloud Mountain’s disciples and geniuses from the Desolate Ground’s Four Palaces are here, it was unable to make him act more politely.
“Shan Lengqiu? The senior disciple of the Skyair Empyrean? The grand disciple of the Realmlord?” Yi Qing’s countenance flashed with sharpness as he stared at Shan Lengqiu.
Shan Lengqiu nodded calmly. A moment later, the eyes of everyone around him brightened. Although they were from peak powers, their status couldn’t be compared to Shan Lengqiu, he was the senior disciple under the Skyair Empyrean, the palace lord of the Skyair World Palace.
“To think that we would be able to meet Brother Shan here. I still remember during the last grand banquet, Brother Shan represented the Skyair World Palace in the competition between the world palaces and obtained the top ranking in one of the rounds. After that, you resigned from your position as a monarch and went roaming to temper yourself. We are truly extremely lucky to meet you here today.” The leader of the group from the Desolate Ground politely clasped his hands as he spoke, he clearly knew of Shan Lengqiu’s fame.
“That’s right. In any case, why did someone of your talent and status come to the taotie mine to excavate?” Yi Qing asked.
“Why did I come here? Don’t you guys understand?” Shan Lengqiu glanced at them. After that, the eyes of everyone gleamed with sharpness. Seems like he came here to seek an opportunity for a breakthrough. He wanted to reach the same level as his master, the Skyair Empyrean.
“Brother Shan can even give up the position as a monarch in order to reach the next level. This is really impressive.” Murong Xiaoxiao gently spoke as she smiled at him.
“Before the empyrean realm, everything else has no meaning.” Shan Lengqiu replied in a low voice. “Let’s continue ahead.”
“Mhm.” The group of them then continued moving towards the mine’s entrance with Shan Lengqiu in the center. Unknowingly, Murong Xiaoxiao had somehow appeared beside him and was now walking together by his side.
Qin Wentian followed behind, his expression was extremely calm, his heart as still as water. He didn’t expect that in this taotie mine, he didn’t expect that he would be able to meet a grand-disciple of the Lifelong Realmlord here. This place was truly a place filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
The group of them continued and finally entered the teleportation array leading to the interior of the mine. In an instant, they crossed boundless distance and appeared in the airspace of the taotie mine. Stars sparkled around them and they seemed tiny and inconsequential. From their vision, they currently could only see a small portion of the mine.
“Taotie Mine.” Murong Xiaoxiao murmured before she smiled. She then spoke to Shan Lengqiu, “Brother Shan, my strength is considerably weaker. Given how dangerous this place is, you have to protect me if I follow you, okay?”
A powerful female immortal emperor was now like a little woman radiating charm. Her actions were extremely gentle. Shan Lengqiu glanced at her and smiled, “Sure. Let’s go down.”
“There’s no one guarding the airspace of this mine?” Qin Wentian asked.
Yi Qing and Yi Leng glanced at Qin Wentian. Yi Leng’s eyes flickered with disdain. Although they could see that Qin Wentian was a peak-stage immortal emperor, an unaffiliated cultivator was still an unaffiliated cultivator, to think that he didn’t even know about this. Yi Leng glanced at Shan Lengqiu and felt that the disparity between him and this Tianwen was exceedingly great. That Murong Xiaoxiao was truly shameless enough, directly sticking close to him. What a bitch.
“Brother Tianwen. You might not know this but there’s a fearsome taotie energy within this mine that can devour everything. A terrifying spatial storm will produce currents of destructive might frequently. Let alone peak-stage immortal emperors, even empyreans cannot exit through the airspace. The only way to leave is to use the teleportation array.” Yi Qing laughed as he explained.
“I’m ignorant and inexperienced. Thanks for your guidance.” Qin Wentian thanked Yi Qing.
“You are really ignorant.” Yi Leng coldly laughed as she glanced at Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian smiled and nodded his head, he wasn’t bothered at all.
The group of them continued and there would occasionally be flashes of emperor light below. However, they merely casually glanced in the direction and didn’t stop. Ordinary emperor-ranked stones wouldn’t be able to grab their attention.
“What is that?” At this moment, Murong Xiaoxiao glanced at a location extremely far away. Over there, a golden ancient mountain could be seen. Resplendent light cascaded down from the skies, landing on the mountain, giving it a saint-like and holy feeling.
“What strong spatial law energy.” Qin Wentian spoke in a low voice.
“Let’s go and take a look.” Shan Lengqiu’s silhouette flashed and sped out, moving like black lightning, directly rushing towards that direction.
“Wait for me.” Murong Xiaoxiao gently spoke. The rest of the group followed after. Yi Leng’s beautiful eyes glanced at Murong Xiaoxiao, she seemed to be extremely unhappy with her.
Not long after, they arrived. There was a resplendent golden mountain range before their eyes, exuding a sense of incomparable majesticness. There were many experts standing around here, each group of experts occupied a spot. They were either standing there with their eyes closed, or seated down cross-legged. All of them seemed to be trying to gain some insights.
“The energy here is spatial energy but it doesn’t seem to be pure spatial law energy.” Qin Wentian glanced ahead. The majestic golden giant mountain actually had a transparent peak. Inside there, a few figures scattered around could be seen. All of them had ashen expressions and appeared thin and dried up. It felt like they had been trapped within there for an extremely long time!