Chapter 999: Breaking into the Kunlun Immortal World
"Could she really be from a remarkable clan or something?
Zhang Han thought to himself, "It seems that I gotta let her do more practice in the future. If anyone really dares to show up and take her away, she will be able to swat them all to death.
"I gotta speed up my cultivation as well."
In the past five years, except for the time he spent with Zi Yan and Mengmeng and the time he spent with Zi Yan in bed, Zhang Han had been cultivating constantly. He had grasped the Taiyi Wood Thunder, the spiritual force, and the Star Map and Thunder Sea. He had also absorbed and refined all kinds of treasures, his tendons, bones, skin, muscles, and blood. The last part, which was to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Blood, even cost him a good two years.
Zhang Han knew that treasures below the seventh tier could hardly break his physical defense.
If Mengmeng were not with him that day, Zhang Han would have charged in and fought that Li Qingyan.
It just so happened that Li Qingyan was a strong cultivator. Thus, Zhang Han took the opportunity to teach Mengmeng that if she couldn't defeat the enemy, she should just run. The saying "where there is life there is hope" did make sense.
"Thank you, Brother Ye."
Zhang Guangyou cupped his hands to Ye Tianlang to show his gratitude.
After that, Ye Tianlang quickly made a phone call and arranged a flight in the nearest city. After that, he and his group took their leave.
Looking at the flat plain in the mountains, Ye Tianlang scratched his forehead.
"Alas.
"The passage is gone. Does peace descend in our Hua nation in advance?
"Gee, what kind of attack was it that crushed the passage?
"This world has changed. Could it be that some kind of spiritual aura has become abundant again? Has Zi Yan obtained some opportunity and become an incredible master overnight?"
"..."
No one could understand it. Naturally, there would be many speculations. But one could imagine that without the cultivators of the Kunlun Immortal World, the secular martial arts world would return to peace.
Ye Tianlang was happy to see that happen.
After musing for a while, he said with a chuckle, "Hahaha, An He, the King of Storms, Tang Qingshan of the Tang family, and Miao Fei of the Miao family, your era is coming soon. Your generation wouldn't put me under so much pressure again..."
At the same time—
In the Kunlun Immortal World, eventually, the 30 sects formed an alliance and sent their elders to lead the disciples to go down to the inferior world. Holding all kinds of treasures in their hands, they seemed unstoppable.
"This time, we just want to make Zhang Hanyang pay the price!"
"He despises our Kunlun Immortal World. It's time to tell him why we are called the Holy World!"
"There are so many of us. Our force is enough to wipe out a few countries in the inferior world. I bet that they can't stop us!"
"Yes, the people who went down there last time were not fully prepared. But this time, we've got the treasures. They have no odds against us."
"Set off!"
More than a thousand people were on the scene. The crowd marched in mighty contingents. Only the representatives of a few forces had not arrived yet. They decided to go to the inferior world and fight the next day. At this time, they had just finished the mobilization meeting, and everyone was passionate and hot-blooded.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Suddenly, more than a dozen people flew over from the side.
With a confused look on their faces, they announced, "Something weird has happened. The five passages in the Wood Mud Region have all disappeared."
"The three passages in the Orchid Wood Region have disappeared as well."
"All the passages in the Wide Sea Region are gone, too."
"..."
After the first group of people came, another five groups of people hurried there in succession.
After hearing the news of the passages disappearing one by one, those people were also bewildered in an instant.
"The firewood has been taken out from under the cauldron? The passages are all gone before our preparation is completed. How absurd!"
"Have the passages disappeared completely or just been blocked?" many people asked anxiously.
"They disappeared completely. People in the Kunlun Immortal World can no longer go down there. Now, many Sect Leaders have gathered together to discuss this matter."
At the end of their discussion, they came to a conclusion.
"We can't go down there tomorrow? Then how can we fight? We should go back!"
The alliance had just been formed. Yet, before the members of all the sects had assembled for the first time, it already disbanded.
At dusk...
The earth was bathed in soft sunlight. Above the valley, Li Qingyan was overlooking the brand-new location of his sect with a calm face.
"What a fantastic place! The location of the Deep Valley is excellent."
Li Qingyan sighed and looked at the man beside him.
"How is it going with the Heaven-earth Formation?"
"Sect Leader, the Heaven-earth Formation has been set up. Even if those Grand Masters in the Yuan Ying Realm come, the formation can keep them out for two hours."
"Good. I heard that all the passages to the inferior world have vanished, haven't they? Is there any more news?" Li Qingyan asked lightly.
"It's said that the passages in the South Domain are still there. And people can still go down. Only the passages in our East Domain have disappeared. Does this have something to do with the Kunlun Mountain Range in the inferior world? Is it Zhang Hanyang's doing?" The man's tone was full of doubts.
"Zhang Hanyang? Hahaha."
Li Qingyan laughed wildly before saying, "You've given him much more credit than he deserves. Although he is a mighty freak, no one can break the stable passages. Those passages are the will of the whole world. As for the disappearance of the passages, it's no big deal. We're cultivators. We don't belong to the inferior world anyway."
"Sect Leader, there's one more thing." The man cupped his hands before his chest. With a slightly hesitant look, he said slowly, "Recently, some disciples who have obtained part of the low-grade frosty crystal stones have told me that for some reason, the frosty crystal stones don't work as well as they imagined. The aura of the crystal stones they got is similar to that of the real ones. But that's all. It's rather weird."
"Haven't we already checked the frosty crystal stones?"
Li Qingyan randomly took out an upper-grade frosty crystal stone and looked at it carefully. The snowflakes inside were neat and its aura was profound.
Crack!
As he crushed it, waves of pure energy permeated the air.
"Hmm?"
Li Qingyan's countenance changed slightly. "Something is indeed wrong."
Then, he took out another top-grade crystal stone and crumbled it. The energy it released was still not up to standard. In fact, it was a far cry from the standard one.
"Have our crystal stones been swapped? Gao Chuan and his men were the first ones to lay hands on the crystal stone vein." Li Qingyan's face looked a little nasty now. After musing for three seconds, he leaped into the air and flew to the place where the crystal stone vein was.
Boom!
He punched the mountain but found nothing. Then, he drew out a long spear and stabbed it straight into the mountain.
"Clank!"
It sounded like the spear had collided with something. Li Qingyan's face altered.
He continued to examine the place. Eventually, he found out about the illusory formation.
After removing the illusory formation, the true color of the whole mountain was revealed.
"Hiss!"
"It's the real frosty crystal stone vein!"
Li Qingyan looked surprised and euphoric.
"Hahaha, the Deep Valley is really smart! They managed to fool everyone!
"They still plan to come back in a few days to take away the real frosty crystal stones? Who are they kidding?
"The whole crystal stone vein is mine now!
"Hahahaha..."
For a moment, Li Qingyan was rapturous.
"Congratulations, Sect Leader! Congratulations! Our Green Flame Sect will definitely rise to power! Just as you said, the sect will rise up in the Deep Valley!"
Several elders and protectors who just hurried over all scrambled to congratulate him.
"When the mantis stalks the cicada, it's often unaware of the oriole behind. The Deep Valley has played the wrong trick. No matter how shrewd they are, they aren't even one percent as smart as you."
"Now the sect has occupied the entire crystal stone vein, our strength will increase by times. Congratulations, Sect Leader."
"..."
Listening to their compliments, Li Qingyan felt very pleased.
"Let's mine the crystal stones!"
He waved his hand to send the signal, and the mining project was about to start.
Boom!
An elder raised a hoe, which was a spiritual treasure, and hacked the mountain. Everyone felt as if the whole world gave a shudder.
"Eh? Did I exert too much strength?" the elder muttered in bewilderment.
Buzz!
The Heaven-earth Formation emitted a warning signal.
Everyone's expression changed.
"Bad news, Sect Leader. Zhang Mu and his men have come to deal with us!"
In a distance, a disciple was flying speedily in their direction. He shouted at the top of his voice, "They are outside the main hall on the east side of the river."
"Hmm?"
Li Qingyan's face turned colder. He took the lead to fly to the main hall.
"He is really audacious! How dare he come to challenge our Green Flame Sect? Humph, surely Sect Leader will kill him this time!"
The elders laughed coldly. They were all vexed.
"Why didn't you go deal with Nan Feng first but came to the Deep Valley first? Do you really think that you can get the frosty crystal stone vein? No, it is ours!"
Right before they could lay hands on the real frosty crystal stones, Zhang Mu had come to them for trouble. Thus, they were all very exasperated.
"Zhang Mu!"
Seeing a group of more than 10 people in the distance, Li Qingyan made to say something. But the next second, he was slightly taken aback.
"Zhang Hanyang, how dare you come in again?"
"Swoosh!"
At once, on the peak within the Heaven-earth Formation, hundreds of disciples of the Green Flame Sect fixed their eyes on Zhang Han.
Many of them who had never met Zhang Han before were astounded.
"That man is Zhang Hanyang? Why coming to the Kunlun Immortal Word at this time? He is courting death!"
"I'm here to take back the Deep Valley," Zhang Mu replied calmly.
"Hahaha."
As if Zhang Mu just told a great joke, Li Qingyan threw back his head and gave three loud laughs. Then, his face darkened and he said sinisterly, "Everyone knows that the Deep Valley is my place now. Zhang Mu, you still have a long way to go to become my match. But you're telling me that you want to take back the Deep Valley? Well, try breaking the Heaven-earth Formation before you talk big. And I have good news for you. All the passages in the East Domain and in the secular world have disappeared. This time... you can't escape even if you had wings!"
"Okay."
Zhang Mu ignored his ridicule and replied indifferently, not looking flustered at all.
This made Li Qingyan extremely irked, as though his punch just landed on cotton.
"Haha."
Zhang Guangyou derided, "I, too, have good news for you. The passage in the Kunlun Mountain Range was smashed by none other than us."
"What did you say?" Li Qingyan frowned. "Who are you kidding?"
"You can see whether we're lying or not with your own eyes in a minute. But mind you, you may immediately turn into a ghost and be destroyed," Dong Chen said in a clear voice.
"You can't even break my sect's Heaven-earth Formation. But you still want to take away the real frosty crystal stones? Keep dreaming!" Li Qingyan smiled faintly and said, "I didn't expect that you would cast an illusory formation that deceived everyone. Unfortunately, I found out about the truth eventually. Thus, I should thank you, the Deep Valley, for helping me get the entire frosty crystal stone vein. But I'm not in the mood to deal with you now. I'm going to mine the crystal stone vein. Oh, by the way, my sect's Heaven-earth Formation has been strengthened several times. Feel free to try its defensive power out. Elder Du, I'll leave them to you then."
After saying that, Li Qingyan cast a detached glance at Zhang Hanyang and said, "I'm really surprised to see you dare to enter the Holy World. But you will die faster because of this."
"Is that so?"
Zhang Han shook his head slightly and sighed. "If you had run in the beginning, I wouldn't bother to chase after you. But you've let go of the chance to live."
"Ha..."
A disdainful smile emerged on Li Qingyan's face.
Just then, Zhang Han said serenely, "Honey, swat him."
"Well, shall I go all out?" Zi Yan asked in a low voice when she was about to make the move.
"Half of your strength will be enough. Don't damage our crystal stone vein," Zhang Han replied.
"What are you two whispering there?"
Li Qingyan was suddenly hot under the collar.
Just as he was ready to go out and fight them...
Buzz!
The gorgeous woman there raised her right hand slightly.
"Sizzle!"
The more than three-hundred-meter-long Sea Moon Fan appeared out of thin air and bore down upon him.
It looked like the fan could devour everything.
The Heaven-Earth Formation was running at full capacity. But in the face of this attack—
Crack!
It instantly vanished like smoke.
As the fan continued to fall, all the members of the Green Flame Sect turned ashen-faced.
"Run!"
"Sect, Sect Leader!" A cry came out. "I can't move!"
"I can't, either. Sect Leader, help me!"
"Quick! Defend! Defend with all your might!"
"Oh my, we can't escape!"
"..."
All kinds of voices were heard.
However, Li Qingyan's scalp went numb.
Having sensed the seal imposed on the surrounding space, he could not move at all. He consumed various treasures and used a lot of energy to trudge a little more than 10 meters. However, the huge fan that was hovering above his head was falling upon him head-on. He felt like an ant getting infinitely closer to the sun. He suddenly felt helpless in front of the awe-inspiring fan.
"You can't get away."
"There's no escape."
Li Qingyan's face was as pale as a dead person. "What kind of attack is this?"
"Zhang Hanyang!"
A second before the attack hit him, Li Qingyan turned around and roared, "Who on earth is your wife?"
His tone was full of deep resentment.
"F*ck! Zhang Hanyang, you're already incredulously mighty. Now it turns out that you have an even stronger wife! I can believe this!
"Life is so unfair!"
"Rumble..."
The hundreds of members of the Green Flame Sect, including the elders, protectors, and their Sect Leader at the peak of the Elixir Realm, were all crushed by the impact before the Sea Moon Fan even touched them. After killing these people, the fan continued to bear down. The entire Deep Valley was trembling. The mountains collapsed, and the river flowed backward.
Zi Yan's one strike annihilated more than half of the members of the Green Flame Sect.
Zi Yan's face was a little colorless. She also felt a little uncomfortable. However, for some reason, she found it normal and justified to be so decisive before her enemies.
"Is it because I've been influenced by Zhang Han without noticing?"
"Well, people say a woman follows her husband no matter what his lot is. That does make sense."
"Dear, disperse the attack."
Seeing this, Zhang Han hurriedly reminded her. Then, he cast various formations by himself to counteract the energy fluctuations.
The disciples of the Green Flame Sect who scurried there later were all petrified.
"Sect Leader is dead?"
"So are all the elders."
"Crap!"
"Run!"
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
They turned tails to flee.
Zhang Mu's sharp eyes flashed at them. He ignored most of the fleeing disciples. However, a few reckless disciples at the Elixir Realm Middle-Stage barged to the treasure vault. Zhang Mu instantly rushed over and killed them.
The Green Flame Sect had been obliterated.
Almost all the high-level members as well as the Sect Leader had been killed. Even though a small number of disciples had escaped, the Green Flame Sect could be considered destroyed.
"Han, it's looting time. We can take a three-hour break before we'll go to take on Nan Feng."
Therefore, they began to plunder the Deep Valley. Zhang Han was in charge of the frosty crystal stone vein in person. The 100,000 frosty crystal stones stored there were quite sizable. They also had an unexpected harvest at the treasure vault. The treasure vault was empty when they left last time. But now, it was filled with many spiritual weapons that belonged to the Green Flame Sect, as well as herb fields. Yet, the quantity and quality of the resources here were not as impressive as that of the Ancient Mine.
What a great harvest!
Taking properties from enemies in war was really a fast way to get rich.
While they were collecting the treasures—
In the hall of the branch on the Rosy Cloud Mountain Range, Nan Feng was a little on edge.
"Why did the passages disappear?
"Uncle Hei and Gao Chuan have just gone down there.
"With those powerful treasures, nothing could happen to them."
Nan Feng's handsome face was now displaying doubts and uneasiness.
"But I have a feeling that something big is gonna happen. I remember the last time I had this feeling was when I was six years old. That time, the Wind Snow Temple had a big fight against the Soul-captivating Palace."
"Nan Yi, do you have any news about my father?" Nan Feng spoke to someone standing in the doorway.
Nan Yi, who was about the same size and height as Nan Feng, marched in.
"Not yet. Regarding the disappearance of the passages...well... they seem to be as clueless as we are."
"This matter occurred too suddenly." Nan Feng suddenly sighed. "And it seems too coincidental."
In the Northernmost Sea in the center of the ring-shaped continent.
Waves were surging as if they were furious.
Four people were engaged in an unending battle near the sea in the East Domain.
"Deep Flame, you've fought against us four for a good 10 days. I'm really impressed."
"But your Deep Valley might have been destroyed by now."
Hearing that remark, the short-haired, older-looking Deep Flame answered in a low voice, "Everyone has their own fate, and the ways of Heaven have planned it all out for us. Whether my sect can survive or not is predestined. You can't dishearten me with this matter."
"We're not trying to dishearten you. That's just the fact."
"There's no need for us to continue fighting. Shall we go now?"
The four men looked at one another. They all understood that Deep Fire was too difficult to deal with. They had no way to kill him. Thus, they began to consider retreating.
After throwing in a few more attacks, the four of them quickly backed away and took off.
Deep Fire breathed a long breath. With a worried look in his eyes, he quickly flew in the direction of the Deep Valley.
"Is my sect really facing its demise?"
He sighed inwardly. That might be true. Although the Deep Valley was a fairly strong force, its foundation was too weak. The Deep Valley had never been involved in war before. Now that more than a dozen forces had gathered together to besiege the Deep Valley, how could the sect members withstand all those attacks?
In the north, at a place 1,500 kilometers away from him.
The East Sea Peak was located there. It was the highest peak in the East Domain and on the shore of the Northernmost Sea.
It was as high as 32,000 meters. On the towering mountain top, eight people were standing there.
"It's been many years since the world was this lively. Can't believe you guys are still alive!"
"Hu Fu, since you're still alive, how can I die?"
"Let's talk business. Nan Qinghai, I heard that your Wind Snow Temple has been very boisterous recently. Nan Feng has met his match. He is a junior called Zhang Hanyang, right? He's been in the limelight these days. It's certainly not easy to have such strength in the inferior world. Now, the passages in the East Domain have all disappeared. But it's not a big deal. What matters is whether the Kunlun Immortal World will be closed or not," said a man in white.
"Right. In the past, every time the passages were closed, the energy was still there. But this time, even the energy has gone. And it only occurred in the East Domain we live. It's still uncertain whether this phenomenon would extend to the other three domains. If it did, the Kunlun Immortal World would be completely closed."
"If it is closed, there would be a chance that the current rules of the world would vanish and our strength would improve further, right?"
"Maybe that's the case." Nan Qinghai said slowly, "We've got a lot of news from the ancient relics. We now know the depths of the universe, the Elixir Realm, the Yuan Ying Realm, the God Transformation Realm, the Cultivation World, the vast cosmos, the immense star areas, and so on. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. As we've discussed last time, there is no doubt that the Kunlun Immortal World is not unique. There are other Cultivation Worlds in the vast universe, only that we can't find the roads leading to them. For instance, there is the Bone Demon World behind the Light Gates. That world is dead silent and barren. Light Gate is a kind of space channel. Thus, we'll find a way to control the Light Gates and open up the passages leading to other Cultivation Worlds. I reckon that the disappearance of the passages to the inferior world is a manifestation of some kind of heaven's will."
"Some kind of heaven's will? You're talking about the rules of this world, aren't you?" One of them said in agreement, "I also have the same suspicion. The will of the world has created the passages and made them exist forever. Therefore, it can also make the passages disappear in a second. Perhaps some kind of will has noticed our painstaking efforts and finally wants us to go further."
"Yes. I found that I sort of start to love the will of this world. After so many years, it finally granted us a chance."
"Don't get too excited yet. Maybe the will of the world would let the passages reappear tomorrow," another man said skeptically. "And the appearance of the manifestation of this will may not necessarily be a good thing. After all, we can't figure out the meaning of the rules. Are the rules cut and dried or flexible? Or are they under the control of some figure? All that is unknown."
"Does any of you remember an immortal-like old man who appeared more than 30 years ago?" one of them abruptly asked.
As soon as he said this, he and the other seven people present all looked a little awkward.