Chapter 1490: Secret Passage! (I)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

All fell back into silence, the turbid waters and boulders blocking the way serving as evidence of what had happened.

A long time passed, and then, splash! A large bubble of air emerged from the bottom of the river, and then two figures emerged from the mud.

"They're gone!"

With a shake of his body, the Lone Silence Ancestor removed the mud covering him.

"We should actually be safe now!"

Any kind of Psychic Energy sensing might easily expose them, but the Lone Silence Ancestor's Gonggong Divine Art could sense what was going on in the river without being discovered.

"Mm, they've probably given up!"

Wang Chong nodded as he shook the mud off his body. His face was slightly pale, his breathing ragged. Although they had weathered the storm, they had both paid a price.

"Heh, Young Master Wang, it was your method that worked. Just a little longer and we might have been discovered," the Lone Silence Ancestor said, a look of relief on his face.

Only by actually experiencing it would one have realized just how much danger the two had been in.

Wang Chong's Psychic Seal was useless against Stellar Energy attacks. The pair had been on the verge of being exposed, with a fierce battle soon to follow.

Given the immense power of the three bamboo hat men and all their subordinates, Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor would have probably been finished.

But at the final moment, Wang Chong had used Psychic Energy to inform the Lone Silence Ancestor to pour Stellar Energy into the rocks they had placed in front to conceal their position.

They used the rocks as shields to resist the attack, successfully deceiving the bamboo hat leader.

The bamboo hat leader might have been powerful, but as his attacks had all landed on the rocks, he had naturally failed to notice anything.

Even so, they had still not been able to escape the impact of the Stellar Energy attacks.

Fortunately, the bamboo hat leader had spread his attacks over the entire one hundred meters of the river section, causing their killing power to plunge.

"We've only just survived this single disaster, but now that I think about it, who could have imagined that these men in black would have their own internal problems?" said Wang Chong with a wave of his hand, his mind going back to the quarrel between the two bamboo hat men.

If not for their internal strife, the third bamboo hat man would have used his Stellar Energy to search and already found them.

"But the danger isn't over. We still have to find a way to leave." And most importantly, we have to find the Origin Immortal Art!

Wang Chong did not voice the last part.

He gave off the appearance of a farsighted strategist, able to resolve the greatest of dangers, and he could sense that even the Lone Silence Ancestor was brimming with admiration toward him.

But only Wang Chong understood that his internal injuries were getting worse and worse.

While he had fooled the three bamboo hat men, he had worsened his condition to do so. His dantian and various parts of his body were throbbing in pain.

Wang Chong knew that he couldn't last for long. He needed to find the Origin Immortal Art soon.

"Leave this to me!"

The Lone Silence Ancestor smiled and lightly pushed with his left palm.

The river waters surged with immense strength, and the blockage created by the third bamboo hat man was instantly cleared away.

A massive pillar of water had pushed the boulders and the mud one hundred meters away.

Not only that, a white light emerged on the Lone Silence Ancestor's left hand, sending an invisible energy through the entire river. With a shake, all the mud and dirt floating in the water sank down, and the river waters became clear once more.

It was as if everything had been restored to the state before the battle.

Wang Chong was shaken by this sight, astonishment plainly written on his face.

The Lone Silence Ancestor's Gonggong Divine Art had already reached the summit of water control, a level that many martial artists couldn't even imagine.

Not even Wang Chong was capable of such a feat.

"Young Master, what should we do next?"

After clearing the river, the Lone Silence Ancestor turned to Wang Chong. He had come to place a great deal of trust in this youth.

Wang Chong's breaking of the Origin Immortal Formation, the gathering of the treasure maps and search for the real treasury, his way of addressing the danger of the sixth-generation successor, his method of hiding from the three bamboo hat men...

The abilities Wang Chong had displayed throughout could leave a deep impression on anyone's mind and make others believe in him. The Lone Silence Ancestor had also been influenced, and he had come to forget Wang Chong's age and treat him like an equal whose opinion should be sought.

Wang Chong turned contemplative. They had to either continue or retreat. The obstacle to the way back had already been cleared, and going back on their original route was also the safest choice.

A few moments later, Wang Chong firmly declared, "Let's continue up the river!

"Many martial artists have gathered up above: the men in black, the Origin Immortal Villagers, the Five Ancestor Alliance, the Righteous Alliance, and other martial artists who might have rushed over after hearing the ruckus, and there's also the successors of the Origin Immortal Art. Let alone the others, we definitely can't deal with those walking corpses.

"By going back, not only won't we be able to enter the core, we'll be swept up in the fighting. In contrast, the river is the safest place to be. We just need to find the places where the river intersects with the ore vein above, and then locate the place where the vein is the thinnest. In this way, we can get back to the top while avoiding some of the walking corpses and avoiding some dangerous battles.

"It's best if we avoid as many of these walking corpses as we can."

Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor both felt their hearts sink at the thought of those generations of walking corpse.

Rumble!

As the two fell silent, the surrounding earth suddenly quaked once more.

That ore vein that stretched for numerous kilometers once more shuddered.

The deafening clanking of gears resounded in their ears.

Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor raised their heads and listened.

"These Origin Immortal Villagers are truly frightening. In order to protect the Origin Immortal Lord's treasury, they've laid down numerous traps and mechanisms. Given the sound, they must have activated some other powerful mechanism. I suddenly understand why those mysterious men in black are so cautious despite being so powerful, and why they made so many fake treasures maps and baited us here to lead the way for them. The abilities of the Origin Immortal Lord can't be underestimated!"

A fearful look appeared on the Lone Silence Ancestor's face. Though he didn't know the exact situation up above, the powerful vibrations were enough evidence of the battle's intensity.

Wang Chong said nothing, but his eyes revealed a similar emotion.

At this moment, shaking came from nearby, accompanied by splashing water.

As the pair turned to look, their eyes gleamed.

Ten meters away, that massive boulder blocking the river had shifted due to the shaking from above, opening a crescent moon gap. The pair were elated to see this gap.

"Wonderful!" the Lone Silence Ancestor said excitedly. "We can easily leave now!"

That boulder had been the largest and sturdiest rock blocking the river.

The Lone Silence Ancestor had estimated that he would need more than thirty minutes to clear the passage, but now, the boulder had shifted to reveal a gap. Although this gap wasn't large, it was enough for the pair to go through.

Rumble! Under the Lone Silence Ancestor's control, water surged into the crescent moon gap.

The pushing of the water widened the gap, and it was soon large enough for a person to easily pass through.

"Let's go!"

The Lone Silence Ancestor waved a hand, and the two made their way through the impromptu passage.

"Leave the next task to me!"

Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor swam side by side like two fish through the pitch-black waters. As Wang Chong spoke, he sent out immense waves of Psychic Energy into the layer of rock above them, probing deep into the metal ore vein.

The deeper Wang Chong probed, the more he sensed how dense, tough, and unshakable this ore vein was. Each particle of metal was so thick that comparing it to ordinary steel would be like comparing steel to a bubble. In these circumstances, trying to get around the successors of the Origin Immortal Art to get at the core of the underground palace through the ore vein did not seem completely impossible. But the engineering effort would take decades, and one also needed to consider the mining tools and lack of oxygen.

Yet the dense metal could not stop the probing of Psychic Energy.

...I probably had the wrong idea before. The Origin Immortal Lord probably laid down this massive Psychic Seal to prevent anyone from digging through the vein into the Origin Immortal Cave. A normal person's Psychic Energy wouldn't be able to get very far into the vein, so they wouldn't be able to determine the actual situation of the ore vein, let alone choose the right place to dig.

If they chose the wrong place, they might spend centuries digging through the ore vein to little effect. This is probably why those men in black, despite all the resources at their command, have been incredibly cautious this entire time.

As Wang Chong swam through the cold and dark waters, he analyzed and pondered the situation.