Chapter 170 - Arriving At The Mortal Caves
“An Earth-tier Divine Weapon?” Long Chen exhaled when he heard that. Above the Black-tier was the Earth-tier. To think that there were Earth-tier Divine Weapons in Yuanling County.
“Since there are experts beyond the Divine Core Realm here, it’s reasonable for them to have Earth-tier Divine Weapons. Each of the Five Divine Weapons are extremely powerful and contain their own unique techniques. These martial techniques enable the user to defeat opponents stronger than themselves. I’ve heard that each of the Divine Weapons contains a single Earth-tier martial technique.”
Long Chen knew that Divine Weapons usually contained martial techniques to complement them. He had experienced first-hand how even the Recovery Fruit contained the Life Combat technique Recovery.
“But it’s usually very difficult to obtain Divine Weapons, and even more so to obtain the martial techniques hidden within them. The most difficult criteria to achieve is to obtain the approval of the Divine Weapon itself, but Mo Xiaolang actually managed to do it!”
“And then?” Long Chen thought the problem would become clear on the next step. The Heavenly Wolf Dagger belonged to the Lingwu family, and yet Mo Xiaolang wanted to take it as his own. How could the Lingwu family allow that?
Yin Mengyao sighed. “After Mo Xiaolang was recognized by the Heavenly Wolf Dagger, the four patriarchs of the inner family tried to recruit him. While he agreed to stay in the Lingwu family on the surface, I know that he’s from the Cangyang Royal Capital. He has a deep grudge with someone there, and he was sure to leave this place one day to exact revenge with the Heavenly Wolf Dagger.”
Long Chen thought about it. “So you mean to say that the rumor about Mo Xiaolang getting imprisoned in the Star Devil Prison because he killed someone from the inner family was fake?”
“Yes!” Yin Mengyao nodded. “It’s all just an excuse to put him in the Star Devil Prison. They imprisoned him because they knew that Mo Xiaolang wanted to leave the Lingwu family. Xiaolang’s talent was too overwhelming, so they didn’t want to kill him. Also, he is actually quite smart. They believed him when he agreed to stay in the Lingwu family. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by the people he trusted. Myself, Xiaolang, Li Feng, and Wang Dan were close friends before. But none of us anticipated that Wang Dan would sell Mo Xiaolang out just for a pill that could make him advance to the mid Earthly Core Realm. If it wasn’t for him, Mo Xiaolang would’ve already left the Lingwu family rather than being imprisoned.”
Long Chen finally understood what had happened and why Yin Mengyao hated the couple. People who betrayed their friends for their own benefits were unforgivable!
Long Chen, however, was still too weak. He could never make it to the Star Devil Prison to rescue Mo Xiaolang.
Yin Mengyao suddenly asked when she saw Long Chen sighing, “Do you know why I want to enter the inner family?”
“Why?”
“Because the disciples of the inner family can train in the Star Devil Prison. As long as I make it into the inner family, I will be allowed to enter the Star Devil Prison and rescue Mo Xiaolang.”
She had only divulged her plans to Long Chen after knowing that he would not betray her.
“Rescue?” Long Chen saw a glimmer of hope. “That’s not a bad idea, but isn’t the Star Devil Prison where they keep prisoners? Why can we train there?”
“Looks like you don’t understand the place well.” Yin Mengyao crossed over a thick root and continued walking. “The Star Devil Prison is not a prison, but a place for cultivation.”
“Huh? It’s not a prison?” Long Chen was confused.
“Even though I haven’t been to it before, there are rumors about it. Apparently, there are numerous locations in the Star Devil Prison where the gravity is immensely strong. You can imprison someone by keeping them in an area where the gravity is so strong that they cannot escape. But if the gravity is just right, one can cultivate there instead.”
Gravity? Long Chen knew that his movements would be slowed down if gravity was increased, the same way he would be encumbered if he were wearing weights. It was indeed a good method to train his physical strength.
“The gravity of the Star Devil Prison is beneficial to train both your body and Qi. Increased gravity makes it much more difficult to circulate your Qi. If you train there for a long time, you can increase the strength of your Qi, especially for cultivators who advanced up the realms too fast and didn’t have the time to train their basics.”
Long Chen was considered such a person.
The Ling Xi Sword moved slightly too. Even though Ling Xi said nothing, Long Chen understood what she was hinting at. He would benefit if he went to the Star Devil Prison.
“Join the inner family, go to the Star Devil Prison, rescue Mo Xiaolang. These are my goals. Long Chen, you wouldn’t leak this information, right?” Yin Mengyao probed him.
“Those are my goals too.” Long Chen smiled.
“Really?” Yin Mengyao was surprised. “If that’s the case, then let’s make a promise here. As long as one of us enters the inner family, they will go to the Star Devil Prison and rescue Mo Xiaolang.”
“Of course.” Long Chen wanted to see what had happened to Mo Xiaolang too.
Mo Xiaolang was part of the reason why he had come to the Lingwu family in the first place.
***
The further up Mortal Devil Mountain they climbed, the heavier the eerie atmosphere became. The temperature had plummeted to a frightening degree, yet the water had not frozen over. It was very weird that the mountain was so high and yet it did not snow at the top.
“This chill ... It’s an eerie chill compared to a regular cold day.”
The air was already thin due to their altitude. Long Chen had climbed from the base of the mountain up to the top. When they crossed the layer of dark clouds, he felt the thunder and lightning going off just beside them.
Yin Mengyao raised her head and said excitedly, “We’ve arrived.”
After crossing the dense forest, they saw nothing but barren black earth in front of them. They had finished climbing up Heaven’s Path!
Both of them continued to travel up the barren landscape. Soon, they spotted the base of the Lingwu family.
While Long Chen was emerging from Heaven’s Path, he saw Chu Yunxi and the rest appearing from another side of the forest.
They locked eyes and sparks flew.
The nine Grand Elders were sitting in a large courtyard at the base. The rest of their family members were standing beside them, while Lord Xuanxiao was standing in the middle with his eyes closed.
On the other side of the courtyard stood twelve youths.
Most of the youths from the nine outer families had arrived quite a while ago. The exceptions were the elites of the Gold, Silver, and Turquoise families. They had either finished climbing Heaven’s Path, or surrendered by using their flares.
But everyone was confused by what they saw. Of the twelve youths, only the two from the Violet family still held on to their jade bracelets. The others had lost theirs.
The Grand Elders demanded an explanation from them and learned that Jin Sheng’en’s team had taken all the bracelets except for the ones from the Red family.
The Grand Elders glared at Jin Luan, the Grand Elder of the Gold family, and Chu Tianxiong.
“Not bad! Looks like the youths from your family are incorrigible! Lord Xuanxiao, they’ve utilized a loophole in the rules and made the qualifiers an unfair contest!”
“What are you insinuating? This is something the youths decided, it doesn’t concern us. Plus, this just means that the youths of the Indigo family are incompetent!”
Jin Luan and Chu Tianxiong chuckled and happily argued with them without any restraints.
“No need to bicker. There’s still the Mortal Caves.”
Dongfang Xuanxiao’s authoritative voice rang out.
The Grand Elders shut their mouths. They would never defy someone from the inner family.
Xuanxiao was right. What the inner family wanted was the two strongest people. A truly strong individual would not be easily defeated even if they were up against four people. Jin Sheng’en was indeed strong, but he still had to go through the Mortal Caves.
Jin Luan and Chu Tianxiong were naturally the happiest. The three youths from the Gold family would naturally be able to enter the second stage, and Chu Yunxi would benefit from it too.
There were eight people who had yet to appear.
The other two youths from the Silver family were roughly equal in strength to the rest of the participants. If their luck was good, they would be able to hold on to their bracelets. If not, they would just show up without them like the rest.
As for Long Chen and Yin Mengyao, they were at a disadvantage. Yin Mengyao would have to fight against four people if they met up with Jin Sheng’en. How could they hold on to their bracelets?
The lady from the Silver family was worried. “It seems that Yao’er’s luck isn’t too good. I think her jade bracelet is gone after having to team up with someone like Long Chen.”
The Grand Elder of the Silver family was worried too. “Jin Luan and Chu Tianxiong are despicable bastards!”
Liu Lan and Liu Yuan were standing behind Chu Tianxiong. They were worried too because Long Chen had yet to appear.
“Father, Chu Yunxi hates Long Chen more than anything. He might’ve killed Long Chen in Heaven’s Path without even letting him use the flare ...”
Liu Yuan smiled bitterly. “I don’t know what happened either. We can only hope for a miracle ...”
As they were waiting, two teams emerged from different sides of the forest.
“Long Chen!” Both Liu Lan and Liu Yuan sighed in relief when they saw that he had not died.
“He survived! Looks like everything is fine.” Liu Yuan was happy.
Liu Lan, however, was staring at the boy’s confident smile.
It was as if everything was within his expectations.
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