The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  In this battle, Wang Chong’s greatest harvest was his boost in Psychic Energy. Originally, whenever Wang Chong sent out his Psychic Energy, it would immediately be repulsed by the Psychic Seal in the caves, but now that his Psychic Energy had become tangible and gotten much stronger, he could finally use it to probe the cave.

  Although he couldn’t use it as freely as he did on the surface and the range was restricted to one thousand meters, this was immense progress for Wang Chong.

  Buzz!

  Wherever Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy went, the layout of the complicated cave network was reflected in his mind. Paired with the sound waves, Wang Chong rapidly increased his understanding of the cave network.

  A few moments later, Wang Chong had vanished into the caves.

  ……

  Meanwhile, more than sixteen thousand meters above, on the surface, Wang Chong’s killing of the Nightmare Beast had caused turmoil amongst the Origin Immortal Treasury guardians.

  “Milord, it’s bad! The Nightmare Beast has been killed!” one of the Origin Immortal Guardians said.

  “What?”

  Everyone was stunned by these words and immediately reacted with disbelief.

  “Impossible! The Nightmare Beast’s Psychic Energy was simply enormous. No martial artist could compare. And it’s skilled in constructing dreams. Not even we dare to recklessly go down there!”

  “That’s right! The Nightmare Beast was a powerful creature from the Yellow Emperor’s era. Not even the Yellow Emperor could kill it, much less anyone else. We used the Dragonbeasts and Stellar-Piercing Beetles to drive all of them to the Nightmare Beast’s nest precisely because we wanted to use its power to kill everyone in a single move. How is it that the Nightmare Beast was the one that ended up being killed? Absurd!”

  “You didn’t make some sort of mistake?”

  Everyone questioned the veracity of this news.

  There were many monsters and traps within the Origin Immortal Treasury, some of which not even they dared to approach. But of all the monsters and traps, the Nightmare Beast was the most terrifying.

  “It can’t be wrong! The life plate of the Nightmare Beast left behind by the Immortal Lord just shattered. The plate was made of metal and would never shatter unless the Nightmare Beast was dead!”

  As the Origin Immortal Guardian spoke, cold sweat trickled down from his forehead.

  Bang!

  The guardians felt like they had been struck by thunderbolts, and they were at a loss for words.

  The Nightmare Beast was dead!

  Not even had they been beaten to death would they have believed this to be true. All of them felt an unprecedented shock.

  Kaclack!

  At this moment, the sound of cracking joints drew everyone’s attention.

  “Milord!”

  Everyone turned to see what had made this noise, and when they saw that it was that familiar figure, they all shivered.

  “No one can kill the Nightmare Beast. It must be that disciple of the Demonic Emperor! He was the one who broke the Origin Immortal Formation, and he also must have played some sort of trick with the Nightmare Beast!”

  The leader of the guardians had a dour face, gnashing their teeth as their eyes erupted with intense killing intent.

  “Everyone, listen up! We must kill the Demonic Emperor’s disciple no matter what, as well as all the other martial artists who entered the caves!”

  With these words, the Origin Immortal Guardian leader descended into the pit, their cape billowing out behind them and making them seem like a giant bird. Behind them, the eyes of the other guardians became determined, and all of them began to descend into the pit.

  When entering the pit, even people like the Black Yin Ancestor and Song Yuanyi had to be extremely cautious, but the Origin Immortal Guardians had no fear whatsoever. They moved with proficiency and confidence, practically skipping across the walls. Soon, they had vanished into the darkness.

  ……

  “Haha, they’re finally all moving out?”

  Not long after the Origin Immortal Guardians had descended, in a flash of light, the man wearing the three-eyed deer mask, who had appeared for a brief moment at the Origin Immortal Formation, now appeared at the edge of the pit. Kacrack! The three bamboo hat men appeared, standing in a row behind the man with the deer mask, and the other men in black swiftly followed.

  “Milord, it seems like our two missions coincide,” the leading bamboo hat man said. He appeared to have great respect for the man with the three-eyed deer mask.

  “Heh, there is no longer ‘your mission’ or ‘my mission’. I just received an order that everyone is to follow my orders. No matter what price we must pay, we must obtain that object. As for the martial artists in the caves… it seems like we’ll have to repeat the events of one hundred years ago. We cannot allow mortals to know of the existence of God! They must all die!” the deer-masked man sternly said.

  “We obey Milord’s orders!”

  The three bamboo hat men did not seem surprised. It was apparent that they had been informed earlier.

  “But, Milord, we could have killed them all just now, so why did Milord stop us from doing so?” the leading bamboo hat man said.

  “Hmph! Everyone knows how to kill, and haven’t we killed enough? Without a person to lead the way, we’ll never find that object. Let’s go! Don’t waste time!”

  The terrifying deer-masked man vanished into the pit with a flash of light.

  After a moment’s hesitation, the rest of the men in black followed.

  ……

  This should be the place!

  As Wang Chong flew through the cave, the cave’s layout as formed by his Psychic Energy and the memories of the Nightmare Beast began to overlap.

  The Nightmare Beast had lived in this cave network for centuries and knew its layout like the back of its hand. Although the Origin Immortal Lord had not told it where the Origin Immortal Palace was hidden, for Wang Chong, the Nightmare Beast’s memories were of great assistance in giving the general direction.

  After traveling for several thousand meters, he noticed that there were fewer branching caves and the layout was no longer as complicated. This let Wang Chong know that he was on the right track. More importantly, he sensed with his Psychic Energy that at the end of this cave was a massive cavern that seemed to have no end.

  Go in!

  Wang Chong hastened his pace toward that enormous cavern. Soon, Wang Chong emerged from his current cave and into that vast space.

  Hiss!

  But before Wang Chong could probe his surroundings, he heard a hiss. Dark green poison gas began to billow toward him.

  And in this indistinct haze, Wang Chong could ‘see’ thin threads flying back and forth.

  These threads were as thin as hair and seemed soft and weak, as though the lightest touch would snap them. But Wang Chong sensed that though these threads seemed soft and supple, they were actually as tough as steel and sharp as swords. For a moment, Wang Chong felt his blood freeze and the thick stench of death assail his nostrils.

  Chapter 1467 - The Giant Tree in the Cavern!

  Chapter 1467: The Giant Tree in the Cavern!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Not good!”

  Wang Chong instantly felt an ill foreboding. At his level of cultivation, not even an ambush from an Imperial Great General would be able to produce this sort of ill foreboding in him. One could easily imagine how dangerous these threads were.

  Thump!

  Wang Chong arrived quickly and backed out just as quickly, his feet slamming against the ground before those threads could reach him.

  “Careful!”

  He heard a weak voice, and then a ‘ssst’ of ripping cloth.

  One of those slender threads had brushed past Wang Chong’s left shoulder, and he felt a tinge of pain as his clothes tore open, revealing a thin red wound.

  Blood instantly
gushed out, but this crimson blood soon turned green, imbuing it with an indescribable strangeness.

  Poison!

  Wang Chong’s heart thumped as he instantly understood. But at his current level of strength, even strong poisons should have been blocked or slowed down by his Stellar Energy.

  Yet mere moments after the poison thread had cut into his left shoulder, his blood had already begun to turn green from poison. There was clearly nothing simple about this poison.

  I’m already starting to feel numb! Just what is this poison? Not even Stellar Energy can stop it! Wang Chong remarked to himself in shock.

  This Origin Immortal Treasury was brimming with dangers. The Stellar-Piercing Beetles, the Dragonbeasts, the Nightmare Beast, this mysterious poison fog—any one of them could end someone’s life.

  Given the sharpness of that threat, if he had not noticed ahead of time using his Psychic Energy and dodged, he would have been sliced in two.

  The poison fog continued to roil through the massive cavern, but the poison threads had vanished.

  Wang Chong somewhat relaxed and used the time to treat his injuries. But with a sudden thought, he began to search in the direction where the call of ‘careful’ had come from.

  Wang Chong didn’t have to go far before finding that person.

  “It’s you?!”

  When he saw the man seated listlessly against the wall, his entire body a sickly green color, Wang Chong’s brow rose in shock. That azure-robed man was none other than the renowned Young Master Qingyang of the martial arts world.

  But while the Young Master Qingyang that had faced him was brimming with sharpness and confidence, the one before him was severely poisoned and not far from death’s door.

  “How could it be you?”

  Young Master Qingyang opened his drooping eyelids and gazed at Wang Chong. His entire body was lacking in energy and his vitality was very low. He was clearly in very poor shape, but even so, when he saw Wang Chong standing before him, there was still a faint ripple of emotion in his eyes.

  He and this ‘Young Master Qingyang’ seemed to share a connection with one another.

  But not even Young Master Qingyang had imagined that they would meet again in a situation like this.

  “Truly enemies meeting on a narrow road! If you’re going to do it, just do it!”

  As Young Master Qingyang spoke, he dropped his head. He clearly believed that Wang Chong wished to avenge the wrong that had been done to him.

  But what was waiting for him was a pill.

  Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Chong removed a pill of what seemed like white jade from his bosom and stuffed it into Young Master Qingyang’s mouth.

  “This is an antidote pill refined through secret methods in the palace. It costs three hundred thousand taels of gold for each one. It should be enough to temporarily suppress the poison in your body,” Wang Chong indifferently explained as he also took one of the pills.

  The toxicity of these poison threads was far greater than he had imagined. Wang Chong felt that already half of his body had gone slightly numb. If he didn’t think of a way to cure it, he truly might end up being rendered motionless.

  Gulp! As expected of pills refined in the palace, after swallowing just a few pills, he immediately felt a significant amount of the poison in his body being neutralized.

  “How are you here? Wasn’t the Nightmare Beast in front of this? With your strength, you shouldn’t have been able to get past there, right?” Wang Chong asked. As he spoke, he placed a palm on Young Master Qingyang’s body and sent Stellar Energy flooding into his body to assist him in neutralizing the poison.

  With Wang Chong’s assistance, Young Master Qingyang’s complexion truly did improve, and the green poison on his body began to rapidly recede. But he was still too weak and his energy reserves too shallow. It would take a few moments for the poison to be completely neutralized.

  “I didn’t think that I would run into you in a state like this! The Origin Immortal Art is known as the world’s number one art, and this is the only time in the last several hundred years that it has appeared. Since I happened to be around, I couldn’t miss out on such a grand occasion.

  “But I didn’t think that I would run into Darkshadow Spiders from ancient times down here. To protect me, Sword Dragon was captured by those spiders. If I didn’t run into Young Master, I probably would have died here.”

  Young Master Qingyang gave Wang Chong a complicated look. Some time ago, he and Wang Chong had been on the surface, competing to see which one got the right to live, but now, Wang Chong was saving his life.

  “Darkshadow Spiders?”

  Wang Chong creased his brow in confusion.

  He had never even heard of something like this. Moreover, based on what Young Master Qingyang had said, these spiders clearly belonged to the same era as the Dragonbeasts and Nightmare Beast.

  But Wang Chong was rather surprised to hear that Young Master Qingyang knew what they were.

  “How did you find out about these poisonous creatures?” Wang Chong said.

  “This one’s meridians were damaged, so as a child I studied many books regarding all sorts of topics. One of these books recorded strange beings from ancient times, and I read it like it was a book of myths. But I didn’t expect that the Darkshadow Spiders were actually real!”

  Young Master Qingyang found it hard to conceal the shock in his eyes as he spoke.

  “The poison threads ejected by these spiders are as thin as hairs but tougher than steel. The book also said that the spider threads were extremely sharp. Even many precious swords were cut in two after just slightly touching the threads. Besides that, the threads are also immune to fire and water, undamaged by even the fiercest flames. They’re simply impervious.

  “Besides that, these threads are extremely poisonous, and no matter what kind of martial artist you are or how deep your Stellar Energy reserves, you will still find it difficult to resist. Sword Dragon was poisoned by one of the threads, causing him to be captured.”

  A look of sorrow appeared on Young Master Qingyang’s face.

  Wang Chong turned pensive. For Young Master Qingyang to understand this poisonous creature so well was truly an unexpected harvest.

  “Did the book you read record a method to deal with these creatures?” Wang Chong asked.

  “How could it be that easy!?”

  Young Master Qingyang shook his head and bitterly smiled, and then he leaned back against the wall, apparently having used all his strength.

  Several hundred martial artists had already been captured by the spiders, and many of them had been top-class experts.

  As an ordinary martial artist with an innately flawed body, he had already accomplished quite the miracle in getting here through all the traps and mechanisms.

  “Young Master does not need to worry about me, as I cannot possibly leave here alive. Just hurry and leave this place. This spider does not usually leave its nest, but once someone attacks it, everything changes. It has a wary nature and will not attack until it knows the strength of its foe. However, once it comes to its senses, it will definitely leave its nest, and when the time comes, it will be too late.”

  Young Master Qingyang closed his eyes and mumbled.

  He’s an ordinary person. Without someone’s help, he can’t leave this place alive. And after exploring so many dangerous places, Young Master Qingyang probably accepted the possibility of death the moment he entered the Origin Immortal Treasury. In the end, after delaying that moment for so long, he’s finally reaching the end of the road.

  Wang Chong said nothing, but countless thoughts were running through his mind.

  Although he didn’t know Young Master Qingyang’s background, he could not give up on him so easily.

  Bang!

  As he thought of this, he immediately sent his Psychic Energy flying toward the nest of that Darkshadow Spider.

  But his Psychic Energy had just begun to spread out when i
t ran into an invisible barrier.

  Just as expected!

  Wang Chong subtly nodded as if already having predicted this outcome.

  The barrier preventing Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy from getting any farther was none other than the dark green poison mist. This was the first time Wang Chong had ever encountered such a situation.

  This shapeless poison gas actually possessed the ability to resist and disrupt Psychic Energy.

  This was also why Wang Chong had nearly ended up diving into the poison mist earlier.

  But as this mist was too scattered, its disruption of Psychic Energy was weak enough that a martial artist could overcome it. Wang Chong immediately sent a flood of Psychic Energy out, forcing his way through the poison mist.

  Wang Chong soon had a view of the entire cavern.

  Even though he had mentally prepared himself, he was still stunned by the true appearance of the cavern.

  This immense underground space was even larger than the Nightmare Beast’s cavern.

  And in the center of this cavern, Wang Chong saw a massive, ancient tree. This tree’s trunk was wide enough to require four or five people to completely encircle it, and it soared forty to fifty meters into the air. Many gnarled branches grew from its trunk.

  But unlike other trees, this tree had no leaves, only countless white spider webs, accumulated on the branches like piles of snow. Bunches of spider thread hung down from the branches like bizarre willow catkins.

  But most striking of all were the massive cocoons hanging from the branches.

  Just a glance told Wang Chong what was inside those cocoons.

  Martial artists!

  Chapter 1468 - Young Master Qingyang’s Advice!

  Chapter 1468: Young Master Qingyang’s Advice!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  From what Wang Chong could see, those massive cocoons contained various martial artists, all of their bodies rigid and straight. But one of these people had clearly been captured recently. Their body was still writhing and twitching from the poison, and clearly wouldn’t be able to last much longer.