Chapter 684 - 669: Mishap, Surging Undercurrent

Tang Yiyi’s feelings for Shen Lang were very complicated.

He was the only man who had ever seen her naked body, and also the first man to utterly defeat her, destroying her confidence and self-esteem.

Back at the hot springs of the Profound Dao Sect, Tang Yiyi hadn’t been overly flustered when she saw Shen Lang appear in the water.

Tang Yiyi’s state of mind was like perennial ice, rarely experiencing any major fluctuations.

Besides, from her perspective, there was no need to overthink it.

The reason was simple...

Any man who saw this scene was a dead man!

But in the end, Shen Lang had escaped with ease...

The second time they met, the Five Sect Leaders were all present, so it wasn’t the best time to kill Shen Lang.

However, the two of them ended up in a duel that shook the entire Profound Dao Sect.

In that duel, this man she’d considered a pervert, this man who always wore a faint smile and an air of nonchalance, had displayed unimaginable strength!

It was a power so immense that it could make even someone with Tang Yiyi’s extraordinary mental fortitude feel despair!

He had merely dipped a strip of cloth in water to create a Cloth Stick and had easily defeated her with it.

Even when she unleashed her most powerful ultimate move, she was utterly powerless to fight back!

Tang Yiyi, who had been treated as a heaven-gifted maiden in the Xiu Hua Sect since she was a child, felt the urge to cry for the first time in her life.

Even back when she was very young, when her master first threw her into the Ice Cave, starving and freezing, with no one to answer her cries, she hadn’t cried. She had endured it all.

But this time, Tang Yiyi’s pride and self-worth were completely shattered in an instant...

Not a single speck remained.

For a period after that, although Tang Yiyi said nothing, deep down, she was extremely resistant to Shen Lang.

Whenever she saw Shen Lang, the scene in the hot springs and the scene of her thorough defeat on the lake’s surface would flash through her mind.

The unventable grief and indignation tore at her, making her feel worse than death.

Tang Yiyi wanted revenge.

She wanted to surpass Shen Lang and then defeat him fair and square!

So, for a long time afterward, she remained silent, simply following the crowd and learning everything Shen Lang taught.

She worked harder than anyone else.

Aside from Mo Ge, almost no one among the Five Great Sects could match her progress in Cultivation.

Just when her Cultivation was advancing by leaps and bounds, filling her with ecstatic joy... Tang Yiyi suddenly realized the gap between her and Shen Lang was only growing wider.

Or perhaps, the gap between them had always been insurmountable; it was just that as time went on, Tang Yiyi came to understand Shen Lang more and more.

And the more she understood, the more Tang Yiyi realized he was invincible!

Nothing could shatter the prideful Tang Yiyi’s heart more than this feeling.

For a long time, Tang Yiyi’s mind was filled with nothing but Cultivation and the detestable figure of Shen Lang.

It was this very figure that accompanied her through so many sleepless nights.

After they reunited in the Imperial Capital, Tang Yiyi avoided Shen Lang as always, unwilling to look at the face that unsettled her heart.

But when Shen Lang was breaking through to the King Martial Realm, bombarding the Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation with nothing but the strength of his physical body, Tang Yiyi suddenly realized... the hatred in her heart seemed to have suddenly vanished.

When someone’s power reached an unimaginable level, and everyone considered them the undisputed strongest...

Being defeated by such a person no longer carried the shame it once did. Instead, it gave rise to a faint, inexplicable sense of pride.

From that moment on, the majority of Tang Yiyi’s hatred for Shen Lang finally dissipated.

And when the results of Shen Lang’s guidance were fully displayed during the Yumu Cave Blessed Land selection tournament, Tang Yiyi once again became a heaven-gifted maiden in the eyes of all...

But she understood that without Shen Lang’s guidance, her talent was insignificant compared to the numerous other geniuses.

Now, upon entering the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, the moment Tang Yiyi opened her eyes and saw Shen Lang, for some unknown reason, an indescribable feeling of joy welled up in her heart.

Before, she thought of him every day, wanting to defeat him, treating him as a target, as the object of her revenge.

Once that target disappeared, yet he still occupied her thoughts...

The emotions of this woman with a heart of ice finally began to change.

The crystal-clear ice seemed to be melting into a pool of pure, clear water...

Hearing Tang Yiyi’s question, Shen Lang slowed his pace and said, "There’s no rush to get to the Third Floor. Getting there early isn’t necessarily a good thing. This time, the Yumu Cave Blessed Land is different from before. It’s more than ten times as dangerous. Let them fight it out first. I’ll accompany you for a while."

"What do you mean by that?" Tang Yiyi was taken aback, her recently calmed heart tensing up again.

Shen Lang grinned. "It’s nothing. It’s just that before we entered, I sensed the undercurrents of several factions moving, hiding and waiting for an opportunity... And now, they have all entered this Yumu Cave Blessed Land."

The confusion on Tang Yiyi’s face deepened. "You mean... aside from the people who were supposed to enter the Yumu Cave Blessed Land this time, some powerhouses from hidden factions have also entered?"

"To be able to go unnoticed by the powerhouses of the Five Great Spirit Copper Level Sects, like the Imperial Dragon Sect and White Bone Hall... just how powerful are they? Does the Purple Chu Country even have factions like that?"

Shen Lang smiled faintly. "Very strong. Ridiculously strong... But they have little to do with the trials in the Yumu Cave Blessed Land. You all should just do what you need to do. They’re heading for the Secret Realm deep within the Blessed Land."

After saying this, Shen Lang leisurely raised his head to glance into the distance, a cold sneer playing on his lips.

When Ying Huo had overheard Xu Daolin talking about wanting to enter the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, Shen Lang knew that the Candle Dragon’s tendrils had already reached this place.

When a Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm powerhouse like Lan Mengling appeared near the Imperial Capital and was then hunted by the Eight Celestial Kings of the War God Hall, Shen Lang knew that undercurrents were already surging within the Purple Chu Country.

However, he really hadn’t expected things to have developed to this extent...

Even Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses had their sights set on the Yumu Cave Blessed Land!

The originally uncomplicated trip to the Yumu Cave Blessed Land had just become not so simple.

Outside the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, Shen Lang had sensed a slight abnormality between heaven and earth, so he had cautiously used his Silver Eyes of Truth to investigate.

The investigation didn’t seem like a big deal at first, but he ended up discovering the auras of multiple Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses outside the Divine Sealed Canyon!

He even detected the aura of an Emperor Martial Realm powerhouse deep within the Dragon Scale Forbidden Land!

This discovery immediately made Shen Lang’s heart pound with unease.

Having fused with the War Emperor’s memories, Shen Lang naturally didn’t react as intensely to Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses as others might.

But with his current Cultivation, he was still not strong enough to face such powerhouses.

’If there are Elemental Power Fragments deep within the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, with so many Quasi-Emperor and Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses fighting over them, a King Martial Realm cultivator like me wouldn’t just be unable to play the fisherman; I wouldn’t even qualify as cannon fodder.’

’I’d be lucky to get out alive, probably thanks to good karma from a past life.’

’Have they all determined that there are definitely Elemental Power Fragments in the Yumu Cave Blessed Land? Otherwise, why make such a big fuss, even attracting Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses?’

’That Emperor Martial Realm powerhouse’s aura is overflowing with Demon Qi. Is it related to the Candle Dragon, or the Demon Race? Damn it, I was afraid of attracting that powerhouse’s attention earlier, so I didn’t get a good look.’

Countless thoughts flashed through Shen Lang’s mind.

But the scant information he had discovered in a hurry with his Silver Eyes of Truth was extremely limited.

He couldn’t analyze much from it at all.

What Shen Lang would never have guessed was that of the auras he had detected, one side belonged to the Candle Dragon, while the other, the "oriole stalking from behind," belonged to the Taotie.

And these two factions were destined to turn the Yumu Cave Blessed Land into a battlefield for a fight to the death!

Shen Lang sighed and thought, ’It seems there’s only one path left now. Let them cause a ruckus, let them snatch, let them fight. The more intense the fight, the better. My chance will only come when they’ve turned everything upside down!’

’Even an Emperor Martial Realm expert probably can’t come and go as they please in a place like a Pocket World Blessed Land, right?’

’Even if all the inheritors within the Yumu Cave Blessed Land have disappeared, the various Restriction Arrays left behind could still be the death of them!’

’I’ll take it slow for a while and try to refine one or two Tribulation Thunders in the meantime. I also need to raise my physical strength by several levels... Otherwise, my chances of survival are just too slim.’

Just as Shen Lang was feeling a little heavy-hearted, a group of Martial Artists, about thirteen or fourteen of them, suddenly emerged with a RUSTLE about a hundred miles to his right.

The moment they burst out of the jungle, they immediately spotted Shen Lang and Tang Yiyi, who were traveling at an unhurried pace!

"HAHAHAHA!"

The men laughed maniacally, mounted their Flying Spiritual Artifacts, and closed the distance in a few flashes, surrounding Shen Lang and Tang Yiyi!

There were fourteen people: five from the White Bone Hall, and five from Black Heaven Castle!

Tang Yiyi’s expression changed slightly, and she immediately released her Ice Evil Python!

As a King Martial Realm cultivator, Shen Lang couldn’t do much in this area, nor could he act as everyone’s bodyguard.

Faced with such a situation, Tang Yiyi had no choice but to rely on her own strength and fight a bloody battle!

In the Yumu Cave Blessed Land, the law of the jungle was just that direct!

This was why so many people from the various sects paled at the mere mention of this place!

Even for a heaven-gifted maiden like Tang Yiyi, who could defeat a Spirit Martial Realm Ninth Heaven expert, the chances of survival against so many Demon Martial Artists... were not very high!

"Am I that funny looking? Is that why you can’t stop laughing?" Shen Lang said coldly, raising an eyebrow.

From the group of more than ten people surrounding them, one flew out and said with a strange laugh, "Well, if it isn’t our oh-so-mighty boy genius, Shen Lang? So-called boy genius, you’re nothing but an idiot... actually trying to be a Flower Guardian?"

"Don’t you fucking know that in this area, your King Martial Realm Cultivation is completely useless?"

"Get the hell out of the way! Right now, I’m going to make you watch as we first rape, then kill this heaven-gifted maiden right in front of you! HAHAHAHA!"

Following the leader’s arrogant and domineering words, the dozen or so people around them also burst into wild laughter.

They knew Shen Lang’s Cultivation was exceptional, but if he couldn’t use it in a place like this, he was nothing more than a spectator.

These people had already decided to target Shen Lang’s group from the start.

Now that they had such a good opportunity, and could even rape and kill this woman in front of Shen Lang, it was a perfect chance for them!

While Shen Lang sneered silently, the group on the other side laughed even more wildly.

Tang Yiyi glanced at Shen Lang’s back. With a thought, she brought out her most powerful Magic Shield.

She ran her fingers along the blade of her longsword, and her powerful aura began to climb steadily!

"You want to rape and kill me? With just the likes of you?"