Chapter 40: Zao Ying Mountain Defies Common Sense

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Zao Ying Mountain Defies Common Sense

After the golden net fell, it was actually a good thing for Chu Fan.

Although he had not yet formed a Golden Core, thanks to his Chaos Body’s Dantian, the True Qi he had accumulated in the Lotus-Birth Realm was dozens of times greater than that of an ordinary Heartbeat Realm Cultivator, making it comparable to the Early Stage of the Golden Core Realm.

Coupled with the first two forms of the Dream-Breaking Meteor Sword and the External-Attached Lion Seal Divine Technique, he could even put up a fight against a Golden Core Realm Tier Five expert.

Of course, that was only if he played all his trump cards.

The Zou Tinggui he had slain in three moves was at Golden Core Realm Tier Three.

’What worries me most now is, what if I find the location of the secret hoard Master left behind? Without a Golden Core, will I be able to get past the trials?’

A single earthquake had attracted nearly all the most talented disciples from the Six Sects and Eight Gates of the Eastern Domain.

On this very mountaintop, Chu Fan stood in the crowd and recognized almost forty percent of the people there.

’The Pei Wenxiong they just mentioned was from the Mixed Element Sect. I met him once, two years ago at the Tengxing Grand Assembly. To think he’d just die like that.’

After the incident with the golden net, people stopped gathering together and began to search in small groups.

They focused their search on areas with landslides, cave-ins, or large fissures in the ground.

As for Chu Fan, he set off alone and began his own search.

However, his focus was different from the others.

He focused on caves, places that looked out of the ordinary, or locations where an Array might be hidden.

’What kind of place would be likely to have an Array?’

For example, rock formations that looked natural but seemed to follow a hidden pattern, or trees whose positions corresponded to concepts like the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, or the positions of the three hundred and sixty-five True Stars.

He searched for several hours straight, but found nothing.

He ran into a dozen or so groups of people; the smallest was a party of three, while the largest had seventeen or eighteen.

Some were people Chu Fan recognized, some he could identify by the attire of their Sect, and others were simply Independent Cultivators.

Whether they were acquaintances or strangers, no one recognized Chu Fan. They simply treated him as an ordinary person, merely surprised to encounter someone so plain in a place like this.

Fortunately, he hadn’t run into any disciples from the Lingyun Sect. Other people might not recognize him in his current state, but disciples from his own Sect, who knew him better, definitely would.

After thoroughly searching two peaks and finding nothing, he was climbing a third when he heard arguing from halfway up the mountainside.

Chu Fan hadn’t intended to get involved, but he happened to overhear someone say, "We found this place first, so of course we’re going in first..."

’They found it first? What did they find?’

’Could it be the location of the secret hoard?’

Chu Fan immediately rushed over.

He saw dozens of people in a standoff in front of a cave that had been exposed when the side of the mountain collapsed.

In the crowd, Chu Fan spotted the woman in the yellow dress who had been in the Flying Bird Flying Car. She was arm-in-arm with an exceptionally handsome young nobleman, and behind them stood eight stunning women in long white dresses.

The man wore a silver-white brocade robe and a Purple Gold Crown. His face was fair with delicate features. He was slightly shorter than Chu Fan, around 1.75 meters tall, with a rather slender build.

But his face was, without a doubt, the most beautiful Chu Fan had ever seen on a man.

Yes, beautiful.

"You Barbarians, do you have any idea who stands before you? If you incur our young master’s wrath, even the elders of every Sect in your entire Eastern Domain would have to come to our door and beg for forgiveness." It was the woman in the yellow dress who spoke.

The mouth behind her veil was not only bossy, but spoke as if she looked down her nose at everyone, perfectly conveying her utter disdain.

"We’re Barbarians? Then who are you?"

"Our young master is a Direct Disciple of the Palace Master of the Central Domain’s Celestial Dao Palace! You Barbarians had better back off!" the woman in yellow said smugly.

Hearing this, the crowd began to murmur among themselves.

Most people had never heard the name Celestial Dao Palace, but a few had.

And Chu Fan happened to be one of the few who knew of the Celestial Dao Palace.

The Six Sects and Eight Gates were the top-tier Sects in the Eastern Domain, but in the Central Domain, they would be considered second-tier at best.

The Martial Dao flourished in the Central Domain. Above the second-tier Sects were first-tier Sects, and above them were three supreme Sects that transcended the mundane world.

And the Celestial Dao Palace happened to be one of those three supreme Sects.

"So what if you’re from the Celestial Dao Palace? This is the Eastern Domain, not your Central Domain! If you think all of us in the Eastern Domain are Barbarians, then why did you bother coming here?" a man in his forties with a red, boozer’s nose said indignantly.

The man’s words struck a chord, and many people began to shout for them to go back to the Central Domain.

Throughout the exchange, the Direct Disciple of the Celestial Dao Palace’s Palace Master maintained an air of serene detachment. There wasn’t the slightest flicker of emotion in his eyes, only a faint hint of apathy.

"Are you looking for death?" the woman in yellow snapped.

"You think you can throw your weight around in the Eastern Domain with just a few women and this effeminate pretty boy?" the man with the red nose shot back, completely unafraid.

"You—" The woman in yellow drew her sword in a rage.

"Enough. Let’s go," the young nobleman finally said.

He was beautiful, and his voice was magnetic. Hearing it, Chu Fan thought, ’If I were a woman, I’d probably fall for a man like that, too.’

Since their young master had said to leave, the woman in yellow, no matter how furious, meekly obeyed. The group of ten turned and left without another word.

They hadn’t gone far before Chu Fan heard the woman in yellow whine, "Young Master, why didn’t you let your servant kill that scoundrel?"

"What we’re looking for isn’t in that cave. Why waste time getting angry with these Barbarians?"

After the ten from the Central Domain left, everyone else swarmed into the cave.

In truth, their presence had indeed intimidated everyone else.

’Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is just human nature, I suppose.’

Just as Chu Fan was hesitating about whether to go inside for a look, the sound of fighting suddenly erupted from the cave.

It was accompanied by shouts: "This is mine!"

"What do you mean, yours? I saw it first!"

"I’m the one who got my hands on it first! What, are you trying to rob me?"

"If you’ve got a problem, let’s fucking fight!"

’They actually found something?’ Chu Fan decided to go in and see for himself.

Just as he stepped into the cave, someone else shouted, "Quick, look! There’s another passage over here!"

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble, and rocks and dirt rained down from the ceiling.

A deep RUMBLE echoed throughout Zao Ying Mountain.

Chu Fan’s first instinct was to get out of the cave immediately.

The people inside scrambled madly for the entrance.

Ignoring the people now fighting to get out of the cave, Chu Fan could clearly feel the entire mountain sinking. He immediately shot into the air.

At that moment, he saw the Divine Statue of Ascendant Xingfeng in the valley, which had been half-submerged, rise another five to six zhang.

The water level now only reached the Divine Statue’s knees.

’Is there something strange about the Divine Statue?’

As Chu Fan pondered this, he saw dozens, even hundreds, of figures flying toward the Divine Statue.

Fifty or sixty people had entered that cave, but only forty-some made it out. The entrance was now completely sealed by boulders and mud.