Chapter 1035: Cinque Sun Branch
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
"Crushed them?"
Shocked, Zhang Xuan hurriedly looked beneath the Golden Origin Cauldron, and there, he saw a pile of flattened Otherworldly Demons.
Most of them were at Saint 1-dan, but there was a slightly larger figure who had reached Saint 4-dan. Nevertheless, unable to stand being crushed by the Golden Origin Cauldron, he was still reduced into meat paste. His entire body was plastered strongly to the ground, unable to torn off it.
Seeing that the Golden Origin Cauldron was still lying comfortably on a pile of carcasses, Zhang Xuan commanded impatiently, "Hurry up and move away!"
"Yes!" The Golden Origin Cauldron hurriedly leaped away.
Zhang Xuan began tabulating the number of carcasses in the area, and it tallied with the number of Otherworldly Demons he had seen earlier in his soul form.
Those fellows probably couldn’t have imagined that the burst of energies would suddenly be rebounded on them, severely injuring them. After which, before they even attempted to escape, an enormous Golden Origin Cauldron fell upon them, crushing them to their deaths. In a sense, their deaths were quite tragic.
Well, at least they died quickly, so they didn’t suffer too much.
Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella in distress. I was intending to capture one of them to find out how they managed to enter the ancient domain, and what that door over there is, but this... How am I to interrogate them now?
Not only did the rebounded blast from the formation destroy the entire ancient domain, the Golden Origin Cauldron had even crushed all of the Otherworldly Demons to death. Without any intelligence to work with, how were they supposed to advance?
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan sent a telepathic message into the Myriad Anthive Nest. "Violetleaf King, do you recognize this fellow?"
The Violetleaf King swiftly swept the surroundings with his Spiritual Perception before responding. "Young Master, I am not too sure about those Saint 1-dan peons, but that Saint 4-dan Otherworldly Demon is one of the Upper Five Kings, the Fireleaf King!"
"Fireleaf King?" Zhang Xuan was stunned.
To think that the esteemed Fireleaf King of the Five Upper Kings would end up being crushed to death like cannon fodder, not even given the chance to speak a line at all. Wasn’t this a little too pitiful for him?
"Indeed. The Fireleaf King has the ability to control heat and flames. In an environment such as this, he would have been able to display prowess far beyond that of a Saint 4-dan pinnacle expert. How did you manage to kill him?" the Violetleaf King asked in surprise.
The Upper Kings were not only strong, each of them also possessed their own unique secret art. For the young master to have killed one of them and yet be unaware of his identity... the Fireleaf King sure was pitiful.
Thinking about it, it seemed like the young master had already defeated six of the Ten Great Kings of the Qingtian Lineage so far. He really was the nemesis of the Qingtian Emperor.
"Ah, it was an accident..." Zhang Xuan shook his head helplessly.
Since the other party was already dead, there was no point thinking too much into it. With a grasp, Zhang Xuan took the storage rings of the Otherworldly Demons and scanned through their contents carefully. However, there was no useful information to be found. Thus, he turned to the crowd and said, "The buildings might have collapsed, but there might still be useful items lying around. Let’s try combing the area and see if we can find anything."
While the place had been mostly reduced to rubble, there were still some parts of it that were intact and discernible. If the old principal and the others had been here before, they might be able to find clues on them.
"Un." The crowd nodded before scattering into the area.
Seeing that Luo Ruoxin was standing still on the spot, Zhang Xuan turned to her curiously and asked, "You aren’t going to look around?"
"If there is anything of use, the Otherworldly Demons will have long found and taken it!" Luo Ruoxin shook her head and said, "Since all of the Otherworldly Demons were gathered here when they were killed, there is no doubt that there is something amiss with the door. We might not have even entered the real ancient domain at all."
"This..." Zhang Xuan was taken aback before nodding in awe.
As expected of an expert from a Sage Clan, her eye of discernment was indeed extraordinary!
If they were already in the ancient domain, the Otherworldly Demons wouldn’t have been wasting their effort trying to destroy the seal on the door. Besides, even if there were some treasures of the ancient domain lying around the area, the Otherworldly Demons would have long swiped them clean and stored them in their storage rings.
They couldn’t possibly have left them behind for others to take.
As expected, it didn’t take long for the others to return empty-handed.
Wu shi walked up and said, "The ancient domain is constructed within a cavern, and it is only roughly several hundred meters wide. We have searched around the area, but there is nothing at all. Should we try searching once more?"
After four hours of recuperation, he had already recovered to his peak condition. He could easily get a clear picture of the entire ancient domain by scanning it with his Spiritual Perception, and if there was anything to be found, he would have surely found it regardless of whether it was hidden beneath the rubble or not.
Waving his hand, Zhang Xuan said, "I see. There should be no need to search any further. If I am not mistaken, the secret should lie in this door over here!"
Hearing those words, the crowd turned their attention toward the door.
The door wasn’t too large, roughly five meters tall and wide. It was covered by a seal, and from time to time, it would emanate a fearsome heat, making it difficult for anyone to approach it.
"Back when we charged through the lava, I noticed that the Otherworldly Demons had been attacking the seal, seemingly trying to open it," Zhang Xuan explained.
He couldn’t say that he had seen it with his soul, so he could only justify it by saying that in such a way.
"Attacking the seal?" Wu shi repeated with a frown. Raising his palm, he stepped forward and struck the seal.
"Don’t!" Noting Wu shi’s action, Zhang Xuan suddenly felt his hair stand on end. He hurriedly yelled for the other party to stop, but it was already too late. Thus, he could only quickly bellow, "Everyone, get back!"
After saying those words, he anxiously retreated from the door.
Noticing the peculiar state that Zhang Xuan was in, the crowd quickly backed away as well. Not long later, the seal emanated a brilliant light, and a powerful burst of energies blasted upward, tearing through the layer of lava above them.
However, not too long later, the powerful burst of energies abruptly returned, striking the area where they had been standing a moment before.
The flattened carcasses lying on the ground were knocked into the air forcefully like rubber balls, and under the ravaging might of the burst of energies, their bodies were torn to shreds, inducing a rain of flesh and blood in the area.
"This..." Upon seeing this sight, everyone couldn’t help but wipe the cold sweat off their forehead. This was especially so for Wu shi.
Had Principal Zhang not reacted swiftly and instructed the others to back away, the weaker members of their expedition could very well have suffered grievous wounds from the earlier shockwave.
He had thought that it was just an ordinary seal, but who would have thought that it would induce such a powerful burst of energies?
More importantly... there was still the Great Heaven Reversal Formation that Principal Zhang had set up previously. Any energy that they released from below would be returned back to them at full might. Just the thought of it was sufficient to send shudders down their spines.
"Not only is the seal sturdy, we will even have a rebound from the burst of energies each time we attempt to attack it. How are we supposed to break the seal like that?"
The crowd warily returned back to the door before staring at one another hesitantly, unsure of what they should do.
There was nothing else in the area, and the only thing they had was the door. If the place they were currently in wasn’t the ancient domain, it was very likely that the door was the entrance to the ancient domain! But... given that they weren’t able to shake the seal in the slightest, how should they proceed?
If they were to strike it, it would generate a burst of energies that would eventually rebound back onto them. In a sense, the current situation they were in was even harder to resolve than the one before.
"Those Otherworldly Demons were here for some time, but they were still unable to find an alternative solution to the problem. It won’t be easy for us to do so either."
"Considering the rate at which the seal dissipates with each strike, it will at least take several days of effort to break it open."
Just thinking how they would have to face a few days of rebounds from the burst of energies left the entire expedition team trembling in fear.
After a moment of discussion, the expedition team was still unable to find a solution to the problem. Thus, Guild Leader Han turned to Zhang Xuan and asked, "Principal Zhang, do you have an idea in mind?"
After everything that they had been through, everyone had deep respect and admiration for the young principal. Even Guild Leader Han had no choice but to admit that the other party was far more knowledgeable and wiser than him.
Zhang Xuan frowned. "Allow me to contemplate for a while."
Under normal circumstances, as long as he could approach the door and touch the seal, he could resolve the problem easily. However... the heat that was emanating from the door was simply too great, such that he couldn’t hope to get close to it with his current strength!
The seal was currently inactive, and Wu shi’s earlier strike hadn’t activated it either, only jolting it. As such, he was unable to compile a book on it.
At the same time, his Eye of Insight wasn’t strong enough to see through the door either.
Let me see if I can get close to the door. Clenching his jaws, Zhang Xuan tried to walk over.
As long as he could do it, he would surely be able to find the flaws of the seal through the Library of Heaven’s Path and resolve it.
Driving his Heaven’s Path zhenqi as he proceeded forward, Zhang Xuan still felt searing heat assaulting him relentlessly, causing sweat to rain down his forehead.
Hu!
Eventually, he came to a halt. Lifting his gaze, he found that he was still twenty meters away from reaching the door. There was no way he could touch it from that distance.
Even though he had refined his soul earlier, it had done nothing to enhance his zhenqi and the resilience of his physical body, so his body’s ability to fend off heat was still the same as ever.
My physical body is still a little too weak. If only I could cultivate it now and strengthen it. Zhang Xuan sighed.
It was indeed possible for his soul to touch the door, but putting aside the fact that he could not do so in front of so many people, he wouldn’t be able to compile a book through the touch of his soul either.
His zhenqi cultivation was already at Nascent Saint pinnacle, and he needed the Seven-colored Earth Jade Essence to achieve a breakthrough. Thus, the only way out was to find a way to enhance his physical body so that he could quickly touch the door and compile a book on the seal.
With such thought in mind, Zhang Xuan returned to the crowd and asked, "Does anyone here have a Cinque Sun Branch?"
"Cinque Sun Branch? Are you referring to a branch of the Cinque Sun Tree that only survives in extremely arid climates?" Wu shi frowned.
The Cinque Sun Tree was an exceedingly rare plant that only lived in areas rich in earth flames. It needed to be exposed to sunlight for long hours each day, and if it came into contact with the slightest bit of rainwater, it would immediately combust and turn to ash.
Due to this bizarre property, Cinque Sun Branches were even rarer than Saint artifacts.
"Indeed." Zhang Xuan nodded.
A Cinque Sun Branch was the final artifact required to cultivating the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body. As long as he could find one and absorb the aura of the sun sealed within it, he would be able to finally achieve Consummation 1 in this physical body cultivation technique!
It might only have been a single stage of difference between the Fourth Incandescence and the Fifth Incandescence, but it signified the difference between Major Accomplishment and Consummation. Upon reaching this stage, the five incandescences would finally form a complete system within the body, creating a cyclical relationship, thus enhancing the prowess that one’s physical body could exert manyfold.
Upon reaching this level, one would be able to crush Saint 2-dan experts such as the Byzantium Helios Beast with just the sheer prowess of one’s physical body.
"The Cinque Sun Branch is an extremely rare medicinal herb, but I have to say that you are really lucky. Just a few days ago, when I was looking through the market of Firesource City, I happened to find one and bought it. This should be it, right?" With a chuckle, Guild Leader Han flicked his wrist and passed over a wooden branch that was almost as thick as an arm.
The area around Firesource City happened to have the climate suited for Cinque Sun Trees to grow, so it would pop up in the market from time to time. Guild Leader Han happened to spot one while loitering around the market, and thinking that he could resell it elsewhere and earn a huge profit, he had decided to buy it.