857 Super Stellar Steel (1/2)
Yun Yang sucked in a breath of air. ”Now this feels right! All we have to do now is wait for the stars to shine — we shall be graced with the truth soon.”
The light from the sun and moon interlaced harmoniously in midair, rotating slowly with a giant, mysterious yolk-like entity between them. The yellow and white halves radiated a mysterious, obscured glow — it was truly a splendid sight.
After emitting the golden rays, the setting sun seemed to have lost all its luster and strength; the sky turned dark as usual, and there were no signs of anything out of the ordinary.
Here, in the skies above the Seven Star Lake, only a strange mass of white and yellow hovered in the air…
At this very moment, the sky above the Seven Star Lake was completely obscured.
After the essence of light from the sun and moon was left behind, starlight began to appear in bits and sprinkles. This time, however, they shot downwards as soon as they appeared. The glow of the stars spilled across the night sky and plunged downwards, merging as one with the luminescence from the sun and moon.
When the light of the sun, moon, and stars converged, a bright light filled the entire horizon.
A beam of silver appeared at the point where they converged, plunging straight down into the Seven Star Lake. The water in the lake looked as if it had transformed into part of the galaxy as it was adorned with starlight. Clouds of dense spiritual Qi began to rise gradually from the surface of the lake.
The spiritual Qi this time was very different from the night before. It contained a bright silver sheen; it was both pleasing to the eye and soothing to the mind.
Yun Yang gently heaved a breath and instantly felt waves of comfort easing through his body. Although he was well accustomed to exclusive minerals deemed precious treasures of the world, and his body was familiarly attuned to the Eastern Purple Qi he habitually consumed, he still felt an indescribable, pleasurable delight at this new sensation.
”This, most likely, is the real secret of the Seven Star Lake.”
”Seize this time to practice. I'll go down to have a look.”
At a loss, Ji Lingxi promptly protested. ”You're going down to have a look while I practice? Why do you have to have a look down there? Why can't you stay and practice with me?”
Ji Lingxi felt no different from Yun Yang — she could feel the foreign, tidal-like spiritual Qi surging within her body and its high, seamless compatibility when it entered her meridians; it was an incredible feeling of instantly-refined power that could almost go without the need of cultivating…
A way to enhance their cultivation like this felt wonderful — there was no other sensation that could top this!
Ji Lingxi could not comprehend why would Yun Yang choose to leave at a moment like this. He was focusing on the least important detail and missing out on the key point!
”Idiot!” cried Yun Yang. ”You're focusing on the wrong things. This foreign spiritual Qi is most certainly an absolute advantage at present, but it had originated from the converged lights of the sun, moon, and stars. The converging point of those three lights had shot into the Seven Star Lake, causing the spiritual Qi to spawn from it. Now therein lies the problem — why is this fresh spiritual Qi unlike the one yesterday that descended from the skies? What's with all the fuss?”
”Furthermore, the spiritual Qi today is even more outstanding than usual; it seems even more powerful than Eastern Purple Qi. This makes it even more precious than ever.”
”Well from this point to another, can you tell that there must be a one-of-a-kind treasure hidden beneath the Seven Star Lake? Perhaps this mysterious spiritual Qi was produced because the converged light of the sun, moon, and stars had shone precisely upon this treasure?”
Yun Yang continued. ”If you have inferred this far, you might as well have it in your hands to claim its benefits once and for all, right? Unless you're willing to leave this chance to those scoundrels—”
”—instead of severing their future?” A glint of iciness flashed across his eyes.
”A phenomenon like this must've occurred for quite some time already. Unlike us, the tyrants occupying this place must've noticed it already, but why haven't they retrieved this treasure? Could there be some sort of danger associated with it?” Ji Lingxi asked worriedly.
”Well, at least they aren't dead yet,” Yun Yang replied nonchalantly.
With those words, Ji Lingxi snapped out of her stupor as she instantly understood what he meant.
Yes, these men aren't dead yet!
This was Yun Yang's biggest guarantee — just because those people could not retrieve the treasure did not mean that they could not. After all, Yun Yang's cultivation base was the world's number one, surpassing these men by far. The difference between them was like heaven and earth.
They were in no real danger anyway, so why was it even a concern if Yun Yang decided to probe personally? In fact, since there were no questionable risks, Yun Yang would naturally want to try it out himself.
”Alright.”
”If you're in danger, please let me know. I'm not being deliberately sentimental, but we really do need to be cautious, just in case.”
Yun Yang nodded. He transformed into wind and took off instantly.
The sound of the wind blended into the night sky quietly. In no time at all, it soared towards the converging point of the three lights and dove headlong into the lake, along the path of the light.
Besides Ji Lingxi, no one else had the chance to notice this little commotion.
It was done in a truly top-secret manner!
…
Underwater, Yun Yang dived all the way down, but he did not shift into his water form immediately as the water in this lake was actually not very deep, looking as though it had a depth of only a few hundred feet. In just a little while, he found himself at the bottom which was filled with layers of silt.
The beam that plunged downwards from the converging point of the three lights was directed towards the silt, traveling beyond it.
With a quick resolution, he transformed into a drop of water and seeped through, following the path beyond the silt.
He dove, following the path, but ran into rocks no more than thirty to forty feet in. Even after transforming into a water droplet, he could not penetrate the obstacle; there wasn't even the slightest gap to enter.
However, that beam of light had clearly stopped at this point. There was no change of direction at all — the target clearly lied below this layer of rocks.
Yun Yang knew that this would be hard to overcome with his water form — he instantly shifted into an earth-based form. This cultivation method that was originally Supreme Earth's was promptly worked on by Yun Yang, and in no time, he had already merged as one with the rocks. He promptly went to the edges and made his way downwards through the gaps and crevices along the sides.
These so-called earth or rock forms could only be composed in chunks, or else, this entire continent would simply exist as one gigantic rock, wouldn't it? Since it wasn't a singular entity, gaps would surely exist, which served as a form of a divide in between the mass.
Yun Yang's various cultivation techniques and different transformative forms had provided him unlimited possibilities to dive through all the way.
He continued to dive downwards for almost five hundred feet and found himself in a place where there were no longer huge rocks. What was left were tiny stones and sand amidst layers of groundwater.
”It's not that they haven't tried looking, it's more like their hands were completely tied. I couldn't even do anything in my water form, let alone them…”
”There is a two-thousand feet difference between this point and the bottom of the Seven Star Lake. Whatever kind of expert that could reach this point would surely find this layer of rocks hard to get across…” Yun Yang pondered.
If it really had to be done, one must first siphon away the water in the Seven Star Lake, and then remove the layers of silt which were a few feet deep. Then, he must strip away a few hundred feet worth of rocks, penetrate through a few layers of groundwater hindered by stiffened earth, and make his way down even further…
Plus, there were layers of huge rocks up front…
Furthermore, there was still no certainty that the goal could be achieved even after clearing away all these obstructions. The chance to obtain the spiritual Qi produced by the triple lights will be gone forever as the landscape was destroyed — this method of obtaining the treasure was truly impractical!
”Judging by this, I suppose nobody else could reach this point besides me, at least not without destroying the landscape.” Yun Yang mused, satisfied with himself.
The next moment, however, he stopped grinning, for there was nothing to smile about.
For even after he had already descended for a few thousand feet, there was nothing to be found. If it was not for the presence of the energy from the convergence of the three lights, Yun Yang would have thought that he had been searching in the wrong direction.
”If this continues, will I drill straight through this continent?” Yun Yang mumbled as he continued downwards.
Finally, the next obstacle he came into contact with had an unimaginable toughness; it was simply terrifying…
Furthermore, it was ice cold, and felt somewhat familiar…
Is this…
”Stellar Steel?”