Chapter 578 - 574: A Crisis Descends

Chapter 578: Chapter 574: A Crisis Descends

RUMBLE!

The Essence River surged as violently as ever.

The City of Sorrow and the War Race had chosen eleven people in total, who ascended to their respective Essence Fetal Discs.

They were the ones with the highest potential from both factions, frantically devouring the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi through the Essence Fetal Discs to constantly improve their cultivation.

Although the experts from the Hong Alliance were anxious, they didn’t dare to cross over without Hong Yu’s permission.

Hong Yu gathered his people.

Laughing, he tossed out eight Storage Rings. He handed seven of them to the seven Hong Alliance experts and said with a smile, "Inside each is one hundred Fifth-Grade Spirit Pills, one Fifth-Grade Primordial Weapon, and one Fifth-Grade Martial Skill. I’ve already gone through them and selected these specifically for you. When you enter the Essence Fetal Discs to cultivate later, you can try refining the Primordial Weapons and comprehending the Martial Skills!"

"Brother Hong, we... we can’t accept these! You risked your life for them..."

Though the eyes of the Hong Alliance experts lit up with desire for these Treasures, they all decisively shook their heads.

Hong Yu smiled. "Don’t refuse. Hurry up, take them, and go cultivate!"

Seeing that they couldn’t refuse, the group accepted the rings. They looked at Hong Yu with immense reverence and fervor.

They then turned and headed for their own Essence Fetal Discs.

They were determined to increase their strength and support the fledgling Hong Alliance.

Little did Hong Yu know that this casual act of his was forging several pillar-level experts who would become the foundation of the Hong Alliance’s future prosperity.

Of course, that is a story for another time.

Hong Yu looked at Xuantian Du with a grin. "Tiandu, you must take good care of the items in this Storage Ring!"

"Hm?"

Xuantian Du was taken aback.

He had assumed his ring contained the same things as the others, but from Hong Yu’s expression, it seemed his was special.

He immediately bound the Storage Ring to himself and was instantly shocked. "Hong Yu, what... what is the meaning of this?" He was stunned to find that Hong Yu had given him almost all of the best items.

Hong Yu stopped Xuantian Du from speaking further and explained slowly, "Listen to me. I’m not destined to stay in the City of Dawn for long. Our Hong Alliance’s foundation is too weak. These resources will help make up for some of our shortcomings. Only by raising everyone’s strength can we truly make the Hong Alliance powerful! And all of this will depend on you all!"

"But, all these things are yours..."

Xuantian Du said with a frown.

Hong Yu shook his head, his tone carefree. "Don’t worry, I’ve already set aside what’s useful to me. I’m leaving the rest with you. Just take them back when we leave this place. Say no more. Hurry to your Essence Fetal Disc, or they’ll absorb all the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!"

With that, Hong Yu flew off and landed on an Essence Fetal Disc.

He sealed his five senses and attempted to connect with the Essence Fetal Disc.

Xuantian Du stared blankly at the Storage Ring in his hand, then clenched his fist. He took a deep look at Hong Yu and murmured, "The Hong Alliance, Hong Yu... Fine. Since you trust me this much, I, Xuantian Du, will absolutely not let you down. Heh, the Hong Alliance... I’m really starting to look forward to what this alliance will become in the future!"

With that, Xuantian Du also flew to an Essence Fetal Disc.

He didn’t know, however, that just as he left, Hong Yu slowly opened his eyes.

The relaxed and carefree expression was gone from his face, replaced by a trace of unease and gravity. ’This feeling is getting heavier and heavier. It seems a powerful force is approaching. No matter what, I must hurry up and cultivate. I have to increase my strength. Only then can I protect myself and the Hong Alliance!’

A wise light flickered in his eyes. Hong Yu had already started planning for after they left this place.

’I must find the Cyan Lotus Earth Heart Fruit and the Ten Thousand Year-old Polygonum multiflorum as soon as possible. Then I can refine the Nine Orifice Breaking God Pill and break through to the Primordial Spirit Realm.’

Hong Yu muttered to himself, his gaze firm and profound.

As his strength increased, Hong Yu would sometimes get inexplicable feelings in the dark, similar to a Sixth Sense.

Just after he had killed Long Qingfeng and Bai Luoxue, he’d felt a strong sense of unease, as if a terrifying threat was approaching.

Although it was just a feeling, Hong Yu had to take it seriously.

He trusted his intuition wouldn’t lead him astray. ℯ

Because of this...

...he had changed his mind about killing Xiahuang Wudi and the others. Instead, he extorted a huge fortune from them to provide a foundation for the Hong Alliance’s growth and to resist the terrifying power that could arrive at any moment.

’The most important thing right now is to absorb the Spiritual Qi from this Essence River.’

Even though he was already at the Peak of Primordial Embryo Realm, it was difficult to advance his cultivation further just by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, unless he could take that final step, shatter his Primordial Embryo, and enter the Primordial Spirit Realm.

But Hong Yu himself was not sufficiently prepared for that profound and mysterious realm.

It was a matter of life and death. Without successfully refining the Nine Orifice Breaking God Pill, Hong Yu would never rashly attempt to break through to the Primordial Spirit Realm.

This wasn’t to say that absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was useless for Hong Yu.

On the contrary, Hong Yu was currently in desperate need of a sufficient amount of it.

Both the Fourth Layer of the Cyan Celestial Transformation Dragon Technique and the Eighth Transformation of the Nine Transformation Dragon God Technique required a massive amount of Spiritual Qi as a foundation to infuse and temper his physical body, down to every cell and every drop of blood.

Only then could his physical body break through once more.

Once he broke through to the Fourth Layer of the Cyan Celestial Transformation Dragon Technique, the Nine Transformation Dragon God Technique could also advance to the Eighth Transformation. At that point, his physical body would be comparable to a Seventh Grade Junior Level Primordial Weapon. His body alone would be enough to contend with an Unparalleled Genius!

This would be a massive breakthrough!

’Hm? So this is an Essence Fetal Disc? How strange. It’s formed entirely from condensed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. The abilities of the Ancient Fire Cloud Divine Sect were truly incredible, to be able to create such a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land!’ Hong Yu marveled inwardly.

The Essence Fetal Disc was shaped like a heavenly pillar, pure white all over, resembling a stalactite stabbed straight into the Essence River.

The Essence Fetal Disc could filter the violent Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the Essence River, calming it down and allowing it to be absorbed into the body without any side effects.

Otherwise, if one were to directly absorb the Spiritual Qi from the Essence River, they would, nine times out of ten, be blown apart by its violent energy.

BUZZ!

Hong Yu began to absorb the energy.

His body craved the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. At the Seventh Layer Peak of the Nine Transformation Dragon God Technique, his physical body was in a state of extreme dehydration and starvation. Receiving a massive infusion of Spiritual Qi now, his craving was even greater than that of a traveler lost in the desert for days who finally stumbles upon an oasis.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged mightily.

Hong Yu was like a Kunpeng, his body a bottomless pit, devouring the energy with abandon.

This absorption lasted for a full day and night. He had devoured more than half of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi around his Essence Fetal Disc, and it could no longer replenish itself quickly enough.

Hong Yu craved the Spiritual Qi even more, his body like a bottomless pit, devouring it with ever-increasing ferocity.

He even began to forcibly plunder the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

RUMBLE!

A massive vortex formed around Hong Yu’s Essence Fetal Disc. A tremendous amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was continuously devoured, coursing through his body and tempering it as the Nine Transformation Dragon God Technique circulated.

His body began to emit a radiant, jewel-like glow.

His physique even became translucent and bright. One could faintly see the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi tempering his meridians and flesh, while tiny specks of golden light began to appear on his white bones.

This was a transformation, an ultimate sublimation.

Once complete, he would reach the state of Golden Bone and Silver Body, his physical form comparable to a Seventh-Grade Primordial Weapon in might.

Of course, one’s gain is another’s loss.

With Hong Yu plundering so frantically, the amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi around the Essence Fetal Discs of the experts from the War Race and the City of Sorrow naturally dwindled.

Poor Xiahuang Wudi and the others had no idea that not only had they been viciously scammed out of a huge fortune by Hong Yu, but even the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi they had painstakingly bought was now being scammed right back by that same swindler.

It was a good thing they were all in deep seclusion.

Otherwise, if they found out, they would probably wake from their cultivation crying.

「Meanwhile.」

Tens of thousands of kilometers away, there was a great rift valley that stretched across the land. It was ten thousand meters wide and of unknown depth.

The rift valley crisscrossed the landscape for an unknown distance, as if it were a Divine Punishment from the Deities that had torn the earth apart, separating it into two worlds.

This was the Prohibition isolation zone that separated the outer area of the True Dragon Battlefield from the Central Area.

Void storms howled all around.

Even an ordinary Unparalleled Genius would be torn to shreds by the void storms if they came here.

Therefore...

...this place was known as a Life Forbidden Zone, with almost no signs of life.

BUZZ!

The tranquil void suddenly rippled with spatial waves, like ripples spreading across the surface of a placid pond that had just been disturbed.

Only, it was the void itself that was wrinkling.

BOOM!

A large, pitch-black hole suddenly appeared in the calm void.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Ten swift figures shot out from the black hole one after another. Their speed was so astonishing that even Hong Yu at full flight would be no faster.

A total of ten figures clad in black robes appeared in the void.

These experts wore uniform clothing that enveloped their entire bodies, revealing only their eyes. Each person’s gaze burned like a torch, their divine light so brilliant it seemed to pierce the heavens.

Their vitality was like a rainbow, making them seem like peerless Desolate Beasts.

These ten people were all supreme masters.

Embroidered neatly on their chests was the word "East."

"Wang Qiong, the City Lord used great power to send us to this outer area. What was it he wanted us to find?" a burly figure asked, his voice booming like thunder.

Wang Qiong held a feather fan, fanning it gently as he said nonchalantly, "The City Lord excels in the art of observing the stars and making deductions. He predicted that a great Treasure would appear in the eastern part of the outer area, which is why he paid a great price to send us here. Our primary objective is naturally to find that Treasure. After that, we’ll hunt a few newcomer True Dragon juniors and earn ourselves tickets out of this damn place!"

"I wonder what kind of Treasure could make the City Lord spend so much to obtain it. I’m actually looking forward to it. Hmm, it would be best if some blind fool tried to compete with us. I haven’t killed anyone in a long time!"

The burly figure nodded, a bloodthirsty glint appearing in his eyes under the cloak. He then glanced at the small, silent figure at the back of the group and said with some dissatisfaction, "With our strength, can’t we just run rampant in the outer area? The City Lord is being too cautious, sending a freak like Hai Wen along with us."

"Heh heh..."

Wang Qiong gave a noncommittal laugh, but when his gaze swept over the youth named Hai Wen at the back, it held a deep sense of dread.

"The East should be this way. Let’s go!"

Wang Qiong said.

The ten of them nodded in unison and transformed into ten streaks of Flowing Light, speeding towards the East.

This was precisely the direction of the Blazing Flame Pure Gold Vein...