Chapter 1491: Secret Passage! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
After absorbing the power of the Nightmare Beast, Wang Chong's Psychic Energy was now seven to eight times stronger than before. This kind of Psychic Energy was enough for the vast majority of martial artists, including the titans of the martial arts world, to shiver in fear. This Psychic Energy was also how he was able to gather so much information in this underground world.
Wang Chong's Psychic Energy was able to probe one thousand meters. This distance wasn't that far, but it was more than enough to gather information in this underground river.
As Wang Chong swam through the underground river, all kinds of information flowed into his mind.
"How is it?" the Lone Silence Ancestor asked, an expectant look in his eyes. Wang Chong's immense Psychic Energy was no longer a secret to him.
"The ore vein twists and turns through the earth. While the underground river doesn't change very much, the ore vein greatly varies in thickness. Those parts of the ore vein thicker than one hundred meters aren't worth mentioning," Wang Chong thoughtfully said, his expression extremely calm.
The Lone Silence Ancestor nodded. He trusted in Wang Chong's ability and judgment.
"...In addition, boring through the ore vein to get past the barriers and into the back of the palace is normally impossible. However, nothing is absolute. Given that the ore vein varies in thickness and considering how the palace is arranged, as long as the course of the vein isn't completely steady, we should have some opportunities.
"Besides that, while the underground river is very far from the palace within the ore vein, above us is a layer of rock, and only above the rock layer is the ore vein. There are some places where the rock layer is thin and the ore vein is thick, but also places where the rock layer is thick but the ore vein is thin. We can only determine the actual situation through further inspection, and if we find that it's the latter, then we have a chance."
Wang Chong looked up, and even amidst the dark and cold river, his eyes seemed to glimmer with a profound light.
As the Lone Silence Ancestor looked at Wang Chong, he couldn't help but nod in agreement.
He hadn't completely followed Wang Chong's train of thought, but the demeanor Wang Chong exuded was rather infectious. In Wang Chong, he saw an extremely precious vigor, the vigor of a youth that would never give up no matter what danger he faced.
He was like a burning candle, never giving up until the last ray of light had been unleashed. He firmly believed in that last sliver of hope.
Such a sight left the Lone Silence Ancestor feeling rather sentimental.
It was very difficult to find this kind of intensity and sharpness amongst those who had been ground down for too long in the martial arts world.
Whoosh!
The two continued to delve deeper into the darkness.
In this period, the ore vein above them shook three more times, each time to the resounding turning of gears and switches. They didn't know for sure what was happening above, but they were certain that the battle was only getting more intense, more and more people dying with each quake.
Every person was advancing to the core of the Origin Immortal Treasury in their own fashion, and Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor were no different.
As time passed, their stockpile of leaves began to dwindle.
They had been swimming in the river for a long time now, and the farther they traveled, the more dangerous it became. They needed to ensure that they still had enough air to return to the surface in case the plan didn't work out.
After some time, just when the river was about to break away from the ore vein, Wang Chong raised his head and trembled in shock, his eyes shining.
"Found it!"
"What's wrong?" the Lone Silence Ancestor hastily asked. His Gonggong Divine Art was of no use here, so he could only rely on Wang Chong.
"I don't have a way to be sure, but this is the thickest part of the rock layer I've seen. In other words, the ore vein here should be the thinnest, which means we have the highest chance of boring through here and accessing the core of the Origin Immortal Treasury.
"But this is all theory. We have to first confirm the position of the palace within the ore vein. If the palace isn't here, it means that my method is no good and we should go back."
Wang Chong looked up and stared at the ceiling.
The thickness of the rock layer had generally been around six hundred meters, but here, the thickness of the rock layer was seven to eight hundred meters. The course of the ore vein had also suddenly smoothed out at this point.
The Lone Silence Ancestor instantly became tense upon hearing Wang Chong's words.
The Lone Silence Ancestor looked up and worriedly said, "Whether it's good or not, we'll just try our best. I hope it won't turn out as bad as we think!"
Wang Chong merely nodded in reply.
Bang!
A moment later, tangible Psychic Energy burst out of his mind, passing through the hundreds of meters of rock. As it rushed forward, it began to constrict itself into a single point, gathering into a silver needle. Boom! It slammed into the dense metal of the ore vein.
As the two clashed, an invisible sound wave swept into the ore vein.
Buzz!
Wang Chong focused his mind and began to listen. A nervous expression appeared on the Lone Silence Ancestor's face. His Psychic Energy was not as powerful as Wang Chong's, but it was still formidable. He wasn't able to see as deeply and in as much detail as Wang Chong, but he could still determine what was being done through Wang Chong's actions.
It was obvious that Wang Chong was using sound to verify the palace's position within the ore vein.
Time slowly passed, the only sound that of the flowing river.
Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor stood in the cold river, and while their bodies may have been motionless, their hearts were madly thumping.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... Wang Chong continued to carefully listen to the sounds coming from the ore vein.
"Is it still no good?" Wang Chong muttered to himself, disappointment in his eyes.
The Lone Silence Ancestor had been observing Wang Chong's face this entire time, and when he saw Wang Chong's reaction, he also became rather dejected. He could already see what the result was.
But just when the two were at their lowest, humm! A soft echo reached Wang Chong's ears.
It was an extremely weak echo, and if Wang Chong hadn't been entirely focused on listening, he would have never picked it up.
"Wait... This sound!"
Wang Chong trembled in shock, his eyes flying open.
Echoes would only occur when encountering a different substance. In other words, the density of the metal had changed in the area the echo had come from.
The metal ore vein was extremely dense, and he and the Lone Silence Ancestor were located at the bottom of the ore vein, where it should have been the thickest. It was normally impossible for such a situation to have occurred, unless...
The echo had originated from the underground palace.
Boom!
Suddenly energized, Wang Chong thrust out with a palm.
A vast wave of Stellar Energy slammed into the ceiling of the underground river, thirty meters above Wang Chong.
There was a thunderous explosion, and amidst a shower of debris, a hole half a meter wide appeared above the river.
Wang Chong turned to the Lone Silence Ancestor and said, "Senior, I'll need your help for this. Break through the rock layer along this hole. The passage we're looking for is probably within."
"What?! Young Master Wang, you mean...!?"
The Lone Silence Ancestor trembled in excitement.
Wang Chong smiled and nodded.
"How... how could this be!?"
The Lone Silence Ancestor was struck dumb.
Although he had also hoped to find a secret passage into the Origin Immortal Treasury through the underground river, the chances were minuscule. Thus, when Wang Chong told him that this passage really existed, the Lone Silence Ancestor found it rather hard to believe.
"Although I don't know the specifics, I really did hear an echo from the ore vein. Based on the time and place of the echo, this ore vein is ten-some meters thick. If we're lucky, we might be able to enter the heart of the treasury through this spot," Wang Chong said.
Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor stopped talking and began to dig upward through the hole.
The rock layer here was seven to eight hundred meters thick, and the rock was exceptionally tough. But Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor were not ordinary experts.
This was particularly the case for the Lone Silence Ancestor. While he might have been lacking compared to Wang Chong in other aspects, when it came to water, particularly when it came to digging a hole through the rock layer using the underground river, he was far superior to Wang Chong.
Rumble! The Lone Silence Ancestor stood in the river like a god, summoning raging torrents of water to slam into the hole.
A passage was quickly bored through the rock layer.
Around ten minutes later, Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor had finally bored a passage through the rock layer to the ore vein.
"We finally hit it!"
The pair appeared rather pale as they gazed at the ore vein. While excavating this passage, they had consumed a significant amount of Stellar Energy and yet another green leaf.
"This is our last leaf. We probably have about ten minutes. After ten minutes, whether or not we can break through, we have to leave. Otherwise, we won't have enough air to return."
Wang Chong passed over one of the last two leaves, placing the other in his mouth.
With this, all the leaves had been used up.
"Mm!"
The Lone Silence Ancestor solemnly nodded.
After placing the leaf in his mouth, the Lone Silence Ancestor looked up at the ore vein.
Bang!
He flicked a finger, sending a bolt of Stellar Energy blasting into the vein.
A few moments later, there was a loud echo.
"Yes, this is the place!"
The Lone Silence Ancestor had initially been rather dubious about Wang Chong's conclusion, but his suspicions were gone now. There truly was a secret passage here.
"I truly didn't think that there would be a secret passage left in the middle of this thick ore vein. It's said that the Origin Immortal Lord could predict the future, but did he make a mistake in his predictions?" the Lone Silence Ancestor muttered to himself.