444: Chapter 444 Infiltrating the Taiyi Immortal Tomb, Nine-Leaf Sword Immortal Grass

Forty Tribulation Transcendence Stage Cultivators and Demon Sovereigns stood above the Silent Sea Abyss; not a single person spoke.

Silence weighed on everyone's chest like a giant boulder.

They were all old monsters who had lived for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.

Within their respective territories, a mere stomp of their feet would turn the world upside down.

They had lived in days where they could summon clouds and rain with a flip of their hands for too long—so long that they had almost forgotten what fear felt like.

Yet at this very moment, the complexions of these forty Tribulation Transcendence Stage old monsters were darker than the bottom of a pot.

Because the ancient golden light seeping out from the crack in the bronze mausoleum was directly beneath them.

That ancient golden light was very quiet, so quiet it seemed to be breathing, flickering in and out.

But the invisible pressure emitted between every flicker made their Divine Souls turn cold.

"Open the Immortal Tomb, retrieve the Treasure, and for those who return alive, there will be rewards of Immortal Materials and Immortal Pills."

The words of the True Immortal in the black robe still echoed in their ears; every word felt as if it were carved into their bones with a knife.

None of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage old monsters retorted, nor did they dare to.

When the gazes of the eight True Immortals swept over them.

An old man of the Human Race at the Middle Stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage felt his knees go weak, nearly kneeling down.

He gritted his teeth to steady himself, but the clothes on his back were already soaked with cold sweat.

"What are you still waiting for?" The voice of the old man in the Bagua Taoist robe carried no emotion.

The forty Tribulation Transcendence Stage old monsters looked at each other, but not one took the initiative to take the first step.

A moment later, a gaunt Sword Cultivator at the Late Stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, carrying a three-foot green blade on his back, took a deep breath.

Chen Daoping did not know what his name was.

But he remembered this person.

Because this Late Stage Sword Cultivator was the first to stand out.

He did not speak, only taking a jade protective talisman that was emerald green all over from his Storage Ring and sticking it to his chest.

He then summoned a ninth-grade peak grade sword box glowing with faint golden light to hover beside him.

After finishing all this, he stepped forward and flew toward the crack in the Immortal Tomb.

Seeing someone take the lead, the remaining thirty-nine Tribulation Transcendence Stage old monsters also began to summon their life-saving measures.

For a time, spiritual lights and Treasures of various colors lit up the sky above the Silent Sea Abyss.

But they were not in a hurry to follow.

They were all waiting.

Waiting for that Late Stage Sword Cultivator to enter first and determine the danger level of that spatial crack in the Immortal Tomb.

...

Inside the Dongxu Divine Mansion, Chen Daoping's heart was beating rapidly.

His gaze was locked onto that Late Stage Sword Cultivator.

The opportunity had come.

But how to seize it required careful planning.

He could not directly control the Dongxu Divine Mansion to fly into the crack.

The reason was simple: the spatial tearing force at the edge of that Immortal path crack was too terrifying.

He had witnessed with his own eyes that when the ancient golden light surged out from the crack, the surrounding Void Realm was torn apart like paper.

The Dongxu Divine Mansion had an eighty-nine percent repair rate and could withstand a single blow from a True Immortal, but that was taking a hit head-on.

The spatial turbulence at the edge of the crack was not a single blow that would dissipate.

It was a continuous, uninterrupted shredding.

He had to find a shield.

Chen Daoping's gaze swept over the forty Tribulation Transcendence Stage Cultivators one by one, finally locking onto the Late Stage Sword Cultivator who had acted first.

There were three reasons.

First, he was at the Late Stage of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and his strength was strong enough.

His protective True Essence was thick enough to counteract the spatial tearing at the edge of the Immortal Tomb crack to the greatest extent.

Second, the protective True Essence of a Sword Cultivator was extremely condensed and introverted.

It was not as violent and outward-bursting as the Demonic Qi of those Demon Cultivators or the Demon Essence of the Devil Cultivators.

The probability of the Dongxu Divine Mansion, transformed into a speck of dust, being shaken off by True Essence fluctuations was the lowest.

Third, he was the first to leave.

The person who left first had his attention entirely focused on the crack ahead and would not be distracted by investigating anomalies behind him or on his person.

Moreover, the thirty-nine pairs of eyes behind were all staring at his front, watching to see if he would die immediately upon entering.

No one would notice a speck of dust.

Chen Daoping made his decision.

He took a deep breath and slowly suppressed the True Essence fluctuations within his body.

The ninth layer of the Turtle Breath Concealment Technique operated at full power.

His aura, vitality, and Divine Soul fluctuations disappeared completely at this moment.

Even the ancient runes of the Dongxu Divine Mansion dimmed to the extreme, perfectly blending with the aura of the surrounding seabed rocks.

Chen Daoping controlled the Dongxu Divine Mansion and drifted out from the rock crevice silently.

He did not move in a straight line; that would be too stupid.

The eight True Immortals were hovering above, and although the Dongxu Divine Mansion could block the Divine Sense of True Immortals.

He would not bet his life on the probability of not being discovered.

Because there was no such thing as a one-hundred-percent certainty in this world.

He followed the direction of the deep-sea undercurrent, using the cover of the turbid bloody water.

With an extremely slow curved trajectory, he drifted toward the Late Stage Sword Cultivator.

The speed was slow to the extreme.

It couldn't be fast.

Any movement not following natural laws could attract the attention of the True Immortals.

He had to make his movement trajectory perfectly consistent with the surrounding seawater, debris, and silt.

Like an ordinary speck of dust carried by the water current, drifting with the flow.

The distance shortened inch by inch.

A fine layer of sweat seeped from Chen Daoping's forehead.

He had entered the close-range perimeter of the eight True Immortals.

Although those True Immortals had not discovered him.

But the instinctive fear of being locked onto by an ancient Vicious Beast made every nerve in his body stretch to the limit.

Five thousand zhang, three thousand zhang, one thousand zhang...

Chen Daoping saw the hem of the Late Stage Sword Cultivator's robe clearly.

This was it.

Chen Daoping secretly locked onto the most inconspicuous fold on the hem of that robe in his heart, then stopped.

He did not stick onto it immediately.

Because that Late Stage Sword Cultivator had not set off yet.

He was still hovering three hundred zhang in front of the Immortal Tomb crack, seemingly making final preparations.

He could not rush.

He had to wait for the moment he charged toward the Immortal Tomb crack.

In that single breath when all his attention was focused on the front, he would stick onto him.

Wait.

What Chen Daoping was best at was waiting.

The Dongxu Divine Mansion turned into a speck of dust, quietly floating in the turbid bloody water less than a hundred zhang away from the Late Stage Sword Cultivator, motionless.

Time passed breath by breath.

One stick of incense, two sticks of incense, three sticks of incense...

The increasingly impatient voice of the black-robed True Immortal came from above.

"If you don't move again, this seat will personally send you in."

This sentence was like a thunderclap, exploding over the heads of the forty Tribulation Transcendence Stage Cultivators.

The body of the Late Stage Sword Cultivator trembled slightly, and then he gritted his teeth.

He moved.

His protective True Essence surged, and the ninth-grade peak grade sword box emitted a clear sword chime.

His entire person transformed into a grayish-white sword gleam, charging straight toward the golden crack as thin as a hair.

Now!

Chen Daoping's pupils constricted sharply, and at the very same instant the Sword Cultivator started moving.

He controlled the dust-like Dongxu Divine Mansion to follow the airflow trail left by the Late Stage Sword Cultivator.

It accurately stuck to the outside of the fold on the hem of his robe.

The moment it stuck, Chen Daoping held his breath, his heart in his throat.

The Sword Cultivator's protective True Essence was too strong.

That layer of condensed-to-the-extreme Sword Qi light curtain was right on the surface of the fabric.

The dust-like Dongxu Divine Mansion was fiercely pushed away by a repulsive force the moment it made contact.

Chen Daoping gritted his teeth, maintaining the adhesion of the Dongxu Divine Mansion with the weakest possible True Essence.

Three breaths later, the Late Stage Sword Cultivator had already rushed to the front of the Immortal Tomb crack.

Chen Daoping observed the full view of the Immortal Tomb crack at close range through the central token.

That was not an ordinary crack.

At its edges, space itself was boiling.

On both sides, visible fragments of the Void Realm were crazily rolling, shredding, annihilating, and regenerating.

Just by getting close, the emerald green protective jade talisman on the Late Stage Sword Cultivator shattered.

Without any warning, it exploded directly into powder.

The figure of the Late Stage Sword Cultivator paused for an instant.

But he did not retreat.

Retreating would only make him die faster; those eight True Immortals behind him were not to be trifled with.

He gritted his teeth, his Sword Intent surged throughout his body, and he slammed into the Immortal Tomb crack.

The moment he entered the Immortal Tomb crack, a terrifying spatial tearing force crushed in from all directions.

Chen Daoping felt it.

Even separated by the three space barriers of the Dongxu Divine Mansion, that force still made the ancient runes on the surface of the divine mansion light up simultaneously.

But the Sword Cultivator's protective True Essence withstood the first wave of tearing.

That layer of condensed-to-the-extreme Sword Qi light curtain acted like an invisible suit of armor, blocking the spatial turbulence outside.

Chen Daoping's dust-like divine mansion was hidden within this layer of armor.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

The Immortal Tomb crack was very narrow, so narrow that it would take less than a single breath of time to pass through.

But for Chen Daoping, these three breaths were incredibly long.

He clearly perceived that the Sword Cultivator's protective true qi was dissolving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Boom—

A completely different aura rushed toward him.

Chen Daoping saw the scene on the other side of the crack through the observation array.

An endless expanse of black scorched earth.

There was no sky, no seawater, no light. There was only a vast space that had reached the extreme of dead silence.

The air was permeated with an ancient, suffocating scent of decay.

That was the flavor of billions of years of accumulated time.

The Late Stage Tribulation Transcendence Stage Sword Cultivator also saw all of this.

His figure stopped steadily three zhang above the scorched earth, with about fifty percent of his protective true qi remaining.

He subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he died.

A gust of wind.

A silent, soundless gust of wind.

It blew from the depths of the scorched earth, without color, without temperature, and without any perceptible aura of danger.

But the moment this wind swept across the Late Stage Tribulation Transcendence Stage Sword Cultivator's body.

His proud peak grade tier-nine sword case shattered.

The spirit patterns on the surface of the sword case peeled off layer by layer, the metal weathered away layer by layer, and in less than half a breath, it turned into powder.

Then came his protective true qi.

Then his dharma robe.

Then his Physical Body.

The Late Stage Tribulation Transcendence Stage Sword Cultivator didn't even have time to let out a scream, nor did he have time to circulate any Divine Ability.

His entire person disintegrated inch by inch in that silent wind.

Finally, he turned into a puff of grayish-white powder, silently sprinkling onto the black scorched earth.

From entering the Immortal Tomb to complete annihilation.

It took no more than three breaths in total.

And at this moment, a speck of dust hidden within that scattering ash was falling rapidly.

Chen Daoping's face was deathly pale.

His hand pressed tightly against the central command token, frantically driving the ancient runes on the surface of the Dongxu Divine Mansion.

When that gust of wind swept across the surface of the divine mansion.

He clearly saw that the deepest ancient runes on the outer wall of the Dongxu Divine Mansion, which had never lit up before, lit up at that moment.

A barely audible dry swallow came from Chen Daoping's throat.

Then he heard the second, third, and fourth extremely miserable screams coming from the other side of the Immortal Tomb crack.

On the scorched earth in the distance, more old monsters of the Tribulation Transcendence Stage were passing through the Immortal Tomb crack.

Some landed very far from him, some closer.

But without exception, the screams stopped abruptly in a very short time.

Chen Daoping lay in front of the central command token, watching the life light points that were constantly flickering and extinguishing in the observation array, and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid qi.

He did not move.

Not even an inch.

The dust-like Dongxu Divine Mansion, along with the Sword Cultivator's ashes, landed lightly on the black scorched earth.

It mixed with the ashes of countless powerhouses who had fallen billions of years ago.

There was no difference.

Another silent wind blew from the distance.

Chen Daoping held his breath, feeling that power sweep across the surface of the Dongxu Divine Mansion again.

The ancient runes on the surface of the Dongxu Divine Mansion lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.

Safe.

But he still didn't move.

Because he didn't know when this wind would come again.

Nor did he know if the power of every gust of wind was the same.

He needed to observe; he needed to find the pattern.

The Dongxu Divine Mansion was quietly embedded in the crevices of the scorched earth, blending in with the surrounding gravel and dust.

Inside the Dongxu Divine Mansion, Treasure was so scared that it buried its head firmly under its front paws, its whole body's dark golden toad skin trembling.

Chen Daoping sat cross-legged in front of the central command token, concentrating all his Divine Sense on the observation array.

He began to time it.

The first gust of wind passed, about half a stick of incense time.

The second gust of wind came.

This time the wind was much weaker than the first, only making the runes on the surface of the Dongxu Divine Mansion light up slightly before disappearing.

Chen Daoping's breathing steadied a little.

He continued to wait.

The third gust of wind arrived after a stick of incense time.

The fourth gust of wind, with an interval of less than thirty breaths.

No pattern.

Varying strength, uncertain intervals.

But one thing was certain: those winds only moved in the space three zhang above the surface of the scorched earth.

At the position close to the ground, the wind force was the weakest.

In Chen Daoping's Sea of Consciousness, a clear plan of action began to take shape.

Cannot fly, cannot stand, cannot walk.

Must crawl.

Crawl close to the ground.

He took a deep breath and scanned further away through the array.

On that vast black scorched earth, some broken building remains were scattered sporadically.

Broken stone pillars, collapsed hall walls, metal frames twisted into strange shapes.

Between those remains, one could occasionally see some faint spiritual light flickering.

Those were lost items that had been nourished by the Immortal Qi of a Taiyi Golden Immortal for billions of years.

Chen Daoping's eyes lit up, then quickly dimmed again.

Don't rush, observe first and then decide.

He compressed the range of the observation array to the extreme and began to scan the spatial structure within a hundred zhang of the surroundings inch by inch.

Cracks, faults, hidden currents, wind channels...

Every potentially fatal location was precisely marked in his Sea of Consciousness.

This wait lasted another full day and night.

He recorded the strength and direction of three hundred and forty-seven gusts of wind.

He marked thirteen hidden spatial cracks within a hundred zhang of the surroundings.

He confirmed the safe zone within half a zhang of the scorched earth surface.

The next morning, Chen Daoping finally moved.

The dust-like Dongxu Divine Mansion slowly moved out of the scorched earth crevice, hugging the ground.

Moving at a speed slower than a snail, it edged toward the east-southeast direction.

In that direction, three hundred zhang away, there was a dilapidated stone statue.

On the base of the stone statue, his array scanned an extremely weak fluctuation of spiritual light.

Chen Daoping's breathing was slow and shallow, his entire mental focus highly concentrated.

Every time he advanced a zhang, he had to stop and re-scan the spatial structure ahead.

Every time a gust of wind blew, he would bring the Dongxu Divine Mansion to a complete stop, waiting for the wind to pass before continuing to move.

Treasure had recovered a little from its initial fear, but still dared not make a sound.

It just stared fixedly at Chen Daoping's back with its two dark golden eyes.

Changshou, on the other hand, had fallen asleep again.

Chen Daoping couldn't be bothered with it.

A distance of three hundred zhang.

He crawled for six hours.

When the dust-like Dongxu Divine Mansion finally arrived in the shadow of the stone statue's base.

Chen Daoping's back had been soaked through with cold sweat three times.

He carefully extended his Divine Sense out of the divine mansion, scanning the surface of the stone statue.

The stone statue was about a hundred zhang tall, already dilapidated and broken, with its original appearance unrecognizable.

But the material was extremely special, a kind of dark golden rock that Chen Daoping had never seen before.

Even after billions of years of erosion and the constant weathering of the ancient gale, it had not completely disintegrated.

Just based on the material itself, it was already a rare Treasure material.

But Chen Daoping's attention was not on the stone statue.

His Divine Sense bypassed the base of the stone statue and crossed a patch of gravel.

Then it stopped.

Behind the stone statue, there was a muddy pool.

The muddy pool was not large, no more than ten zhang in circumference.

The turbid black muddy water bubbled with fine bubbles, emitting a strange, fishy-sweet scent.

In the center of the muddy pool, a half-human tall stalk of grass stood straight.

The grass stalk was crystal clear throughout, as if cast from glazed glass.

The leaves were long and slender like swords, and every leaf flowed with spiritual light of different colors.

One color, two colors, three colors...

Nine colors of rosy light intertwined and flowed between the leaves, illuminating the surrounding turbid black muddy water with colorful splendor.

Chen Daoping's breathing hitched.

He recognized it.

"Illustrated Record of Ten Thousand Worlds' Spiritual Materials," Volume 3, Ancient Immortal Medicine Chapter, Nine-Leaf Sword Immortal Plant.

Ninth-grade Immortal Plant.

A supreme Treasure that legends say can only be naturally nurtured after being soaked in the Concept of the Dao of the Sword for billions of years.

It can allow any Spirit Treasure to directly break through its grade limit.

It might even allow a peak grade tier-nine Spirit Treasure to transform into a ninth-grade Immortal Artifact.

At the very same moment he confirmed it.

Deep in his Dantian, the long-silent Azure Origin Sword Seed suddenly emitted a sword hum.

The sound was not loud, but extremely fanatical, extremely longing.

Like a beast that had been hungry for billions of years, finally smelling the scent of blood.

Chen Daoping's expression changed abruptly; he slapped his Dantian, forcibly suppressing the restlessness of the Azure Origin Sword Seed.

He stared fixedly at that Nine-Leaf Sword Immortal Plant with its flowing nine-colored rosy light.

His lips felt slightly dry.

Then his gaze slowly shifted to the space around the muddy pool.

The fluctuation of the Void Realm there was not quite right.