Chapter 127: The Whereabouts of the Chicken Keeper, the Secret of Immortality
“What kind of cultivation is this, to possess such heaven-reaching power!”
“He merely glanced at this person within another’s memories, yet the true body could detect it and directly erase the peeper!”
You felt a lingering fear. Fortunately you had been cautious and only sent in a sliver of Primordial Spirit power. Otherwise, this run of yours would have ended in a restart!
You glanced at the already dead Huang, then began rummaging through its body. Soon you found a jade pendant.
You sent a sliver of your Primordial Spirit power into it and discovered two techniques inside.
“A pity. The words in these techniques don’t look like the script of the Heaven Mystery Continent.”
You said with some regret. You had never seen the Wilderness Clan’s writing before, and you did not know anyone who could recognize it. Helpless, you could only put the techniques away and see whether you might later encounter someone who knew these characters.
You released a flame, directly setting Huang’s corpse alight, watching with your own eyes as it turned to ash and scattered on the wind.
“I’ve ground you to dust and scattered your ashes. I refuse to believe you can come back to life!”
Having dealt with Huang, you searched the cave residence once more with Xiao Long, but found no dragon inheritance, nor any treasures.
“This Huang stayed in the cave residence for so long. If there really was anything good here, it would have taken it all.”
You left with Xiao Long, and at the cave residence’s exit you saw Lan Shang.
“Fellow Daoist, all done?”
“Mm, let’s go.”
The moment you left the cave residence, a transmission jade talisman in your storage ring began to glow. You took it out directly.
“Fellow Daoist, I’ve found traces of that woman. Come quickly!”
“Let’s move!”
Hearing this, you did not delay another moment. Stepping atop Xiao Long’s head, you brought Lan Shang with you and advanced at full speed toward the location stated in the jade slip!
In the deep south of the Dragon Fall Lands, as you ventured further, you saw a huge skull standing proudly above the nine heavens!
“A dragon, even in death, never lowers its noble head!”
Looking at that enormous skull, you spoke from the heart.
“I never imagined that a being like an immortal could also die.” Lan Shang was equally moved.
As you drew closer to that skull, you felt a pressure descend upon you. The nearer you came to the skull, the stronger this pressure became!
“Master, Xiao Long can’t hold on!”
Xiao Long was forced to take human form and plummeted straight downward.
“Fellow Daoist, flight is forbidden here!” Lan Shang suddenly recalled something and hurried to explain.
Sensing that incomparably powerful pressure, though you could still maintain flight, you also felt some strain.
To conserve your strength, you voluntarily landed and continued deeper with the two of them.
“Fellow Daoist, you’ve finally arrived!” A cultivator at Spirit Transformation Consummation appeared, welcoming your arrival.
“Mm, where is she?” You nodded, sweeping your gaze around as you asked.
“Uh, according to my people, she went inside!” Jiang Qing pointed at the great gate in the center.
“Where does this gate lead? And why are so many cultivators gathered here?” You frowned as you asked. There were as many as several thousand cultivators here, half of all those who had entered the Dragon Fall Lands!
“Within the gate are the steps leading to that skull above the nine heavens!”
“It’s said the secret of immortality lies within that skull! Whoever can climb up will receive recognition and have a chance to obtain the secret of immortality!”
“The secret of immortality, is it?” You murmured to yourself. Only something like this could attract a cultivator like Yang Ji.
“Brother Jiang, why haven’t you gone in?” Lan Shang asked with a puzzled expression.
Jiang Qing smiled awkwardly and explained, “This humble one has already gone in once. I could only climb to the five hundredth step.”
“Only five hundred? Then you really are quite untalented.” Lan Shang chuckled, mocking him.
“You!”
You paid no attention to their quarrel. You activated the Martial Dao Heavenly Eye, seeing straight through that gate to what lay within.
A golden stairway leading to the nine heavens appeared before you, and you saw a crowd of cultivators struggling to climb it.
Unfortunately, you did not see Yang Ji’s figure.
“Tell me everything about the situation on the steps,” you said, looking at Jiang Qing.
“Every step you climb, you must fight a phantom of a cultivator. The phantom’s strength is affected by the strength of the one climbing.”
“The stronger you are, the stronger the cultivator phantom you face!”
“But one thing to be careful of: you absolutely must not push yourself too hard! Because the cultivator phantoms have no emotions. They really will kill you!”
“Then how did you get out?” you asked.
“It’s like this. Every hundred steps you climb, there’s a chance to choose to leave.”
After hearing Jiang Qing’s explanation, you had some understanding of this place.
In order to find Yang Ji, and for that secret of immortality, you resolutely stepped forward and entered the gate!
You gazed at the many cultivators on the steps, then stepped inside.
Upon climbing the first step, you entered a void, and a human-shaped phantom appeared before you.
You pressed two fingers together, condensing a strand of true qi between them, and with a whoosh it pierced straight through the cultivator phantom.
You returned to the steps, and a wisp of incredibly faint, pure energy entered your body, absorbed and refined by you in an instant.
With every step you climbed, you fought a phantom. Using only your martial cultivation, you reached the hundredth step very smoothly.
Before you appeared two passages: one leading out, one leading onward.
Without any hesitation, you chose to continue.
From the hundred and first step onward, your martial cultivation could no longer support you. You could only employ your Spirit Transformation cultivation, piercing the phantom with a single sword strike.
Your pace was extremely fast. The cultivator phantoms here were not your match at all. After ninety-nine battles, you arrived at the two hundredth step.
You did not hesitate, once again choosing to continue.
After sensing that your spiritual power had almost no loss, you did not stop to rest and continued climbing.
By the two hundred and first step, the cultivators here had directly halved! You knew the difficulty had increased.
You took out a zither string, cultivating the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art while fighting.
The Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art, as an Earth-rank high-grade technique, could even contend with Heaven-Rank techniques. With just a single zither art, you smoothly passed all two hundred steps and arrived at the three hundredth step!