The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  In this dangerous environment, Wang Chong did not dare to be careless.

  Whoooah!

  As Wang Chong was backing away, the sound of a falling rock could be heard, and then a muscular figure rushed out of the mist-filled passage and stopped next to Wang Chong.

  “Lone Silence Ancestor, what’s going on here?” Wang Chong said.

  Although the two were technically rivals, the Lone Silence Ancestor had warned him just now, so he didn’t seem to harbor any hostility. Moreover, they had worked together before, even if it had been an insincere alliance.

  “Shh! Not so loud!”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor put a finger to his lips. He appeared to have just experienced a major fright.

  Wang Chong recalled what had happened and nodded, understanding that he was worried about that walking corpse.

  “Ancestor, what happened just now? Why did the Four Ends Martial Lord die here? And what’s in that cave?” Wang Chong said. He simply had too many questions on his mind.

  “It’s a long story, and the Four Ends Martial Lord had it coming to him. No one would have expected a successor of the Origin Immortal Art to appear in this underground palace. The Four Ends Martial Lord got careless and exchanged a few palms with him, resulting in all his meridians being snapped and causing his death. The Origin Immortal Art, the Origin Immortal Art… it truly deserves it reputation as the world’s number one art.”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor began to mutter to himself in shock and praise.

  While he had been rather frightened, Wang Chong could also sense that he was bursting with praise for the invincible might of the Origin Immortal Art.

  “Several hundred years ago, when the Origin Immortal Art had yet to be lost, there were a few secretive rumors going around the martial arts world. It was said that each successor of the Origin Immortal Art would at the very end return to the Origin Immortal Cave and become a guardian for the Origin Immortal Art. When I was in Youzhou, I came upon some ancient records noting this rumor. I didn’t understand it back then, but now I do!

  “The rumor was completely true. Even after their deaths, the successors of the Origin Immortal Art have continued to move around in this underground world, protecting the treasury. If my guess is right, this is the final barrier to the Origin Immortal Art. As long as we can get through it, we can truly enter the Origin Immortal Treasury and obtain that supreme art.”

  As the Lone Silence Ancestor spoke, a hint of yearning mixed with unease appeared in his eyes.

  “The people only know that the Origin Immortal Art has been lost for several hundred years, but very few people know that the Origin Immortal Art has actually always been passed on after skipping a generation. A new successor will only appear every several hundred years, and there have already been six such generations of successors. In other words, there are still five more of those incredibly powerful Origin Immortal Art successors running around this underground space.

  “By making them the last barrier, the Origin Immortal Lord has essentially created a vast chasm for us to cross, which will not be easy.”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor found it hard to suppress the tension and excitement in his voice.

  The first successor of the Origin Immortal Art had been able to kill the Four Ends Martial Lord with just a few palms, and the remaining successors might be so powerful that not even the Lone Silence Ancestor could guess. But the more dangerous it was, the closer they were to success.

  But passing through this final barrier with his strength alone would probably be excruciatingly difficult.

  Wang Chong said nothing. Even he couldn’t help but be stunned by the information the Lone Silence Ancestor had divulged.

  Six successors? It’s usually more dangerous the deeper one goes in, so if we follow this rule, doesn’t it mean that the other five successors are even more powerful? The weakest was able to shatter the Four Ends Martial Lord from the inside, so just how strong is the last one? If these six successors are that powerful, is there anyone in the world that could force their way through?

  Wang Chong muttered to himself, his straight brows beginning to furrow.

  Even before actually entering the passage, Wang Chong could already feel an immense pressure. And this was not his only worry. The collapsed passage couldn’t hold off his pursuers for long, and they would probably be here soon.

  Wang Chong had already noticed that there was only one passage in front of him leaving this place.

  And by spreading out his Psychic Energy, he knew that none of the other caves behind him had a way out.

  If he went even farther back, he would essentially be throwing himself into the embrace of the Yellow Scarf Warrior.

  For a moment, Wang Chong was caught up in a dilemma.

  What do I do? What do I do? I have two minutes at most. I have to think of a way!

  Wang Chong’s face was calm, but his mind was slowly getting more and more worried. The dripping away of seconds was loudly ringing in his ears.

  That interaction just now had let Wang Chong understand that he was no match for the Origin Immortal Art successor.

  And the strength of the man with the three-eyed deer mask was even more unfathomable.

  Buzz!

  But as his eyes passed over the Lone Silence Ancestor, Wang Chong suddenly had an idea.

  “Right, Ancestor, how did you and the Four Ends Martial Lord get here? Did you not run into the Nightmare Beast or the Darkshadow Spider?”

  Wang Chong had been confused about this the entire time. He had considered himself very fast, countering all the obstacles in his way. After expending great effort, he had finally arrived at this place.

  But it seemed like the Four Ends Martial Lord and the Lone Silence Ancestor had never encountered the Darkshadow Spider or the Nightmare Beast and had arrived just the same, even faster.

  This was simply unbelievable!

  “……”

  “This…”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor hesitated, a look of surprise in his eyes as he raised his head. He clearly hadn’t expected Wang Chong to ask this question. Finally, he explained.

  “If I had met with you in any other place, I would have never told you, but since we’re at the final barrier, there’s no harm in explaining.

  “The caves here are all connected, and there’s naturally not just one entrance. And as titans of the martial arts world, we all have our special tricks. For example, Song Yuanyi with his sublime cultivation of the Eternal Spring Mantra can very easily notice any traps beforehand or use his control of vines or plants to draw those beasts away. He can even grow vines out of their bodies and root them to the ground. I don’t have as many tricks as Song Yuanyi, but it’s no problem for me to find one or two underground rivers.”

  “Underground rivers?”

  Wang Chong raised an eyebrow in surprise.

  “Heh, no matter how deep you are, there will still be some water. It might be hard for you to sense it, but I was already able to sense the underground river’s location from the surface. I just jumped in, and using this method, I was naturally able to avoid most of the traps left by the Origin Immortal Lord.”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor smiled. He stroked his beard, appearing quite satisfied with himself.

  After all, this was his own unique trick.

  “So that’s what was going on…”

  Wang Chong shook his head and sighed.

  He finally understood just how astonishing the techniques of the martial arts titans were. He had heard before that the Lone Silence Ancestor could control water, and if he could use an underground river to reach this place, the others undoubtedly had their own special skills.

  “The Origin Immortal Lord is a mythical figure from one thousand years ago. The traps left behind by this kind of person can’t be that easy to deal with. Forcing one’s way through each one is nearly impossible and no one would ever… do… such… a thing…”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor began t
o trail off, and as if realizing something, he looked up at Wang Chong.

  “It can’t be, right?”

  Wang Chong clearly wasn’t one to ask questions without reason. The Lone Silence Ancestor had believed that Wang Chong, just like him, had avoided the traps to finally reach this place, but from Wang Chong’s reaction, this clearly was not the case.

  “It seems that my luck was a little lacking.”

  Wang Chong bitterly smiled.

  Each person would have their own spells of good and bad fortune, and it seemed as if Wang Chong’s luck in this case had been particularly poor, as he had probably chosen the most difficult path.

  “!!!”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor was so stunned that he could hardly speak.

  Wang Chong nodded, indicating that he truly had forced his way through. In other words, Wang Chong had broken through all the vicious traps and savage beasts. Not even the Lone Silence Ancestor was capable of such a feat.

  Chapter 1478 - Wolf in Front and Tiger Behind, the Parties Gather!

  Chapter 1478: Wolf in Front and Tiger Behind, the Parties Gather!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “The lineage of the Demonic Emperor truly is different…” the Lone Silence Ancestor muttered to himself.

  Wang Chong’s conduct made the Lone Silence Ancestor think of Zhang Wenfu, Wang Chong’s master. As the supreme of the martial arts world, Zhang Wenfu had basically singlehandedly fought back against both the righteous and evil path. In the eyes of ordinary people, this was an impossible feat.

  Boom!

  At this moment, there was an explosion from the other side of the cave, and a shower of rocks and dust gushed out from the back.

  “Hmph, kid, I’ve caught you now! You’ve got nowhere to run this time!” A cold and bloodthirsty voice erupted through the cave of green fire.

  The Lone Silence Ancestor still didn’t know what was going on, but Wang Chong instantly grimaced.

  The bamboo hat leader!

  Wang Chong had collapsed the passage he had taken here, but he had still not been able to halt these three powerful bamboo hat men. It had taken them only a few moments to catch up.

  If these three were here, it meant the man wearing the three-eyed deer mask wasn’t far behind.

  Buzz!

  As Wang Chong was preparing to turn and flee, another voice resounded.

  “Don’t move!” the Lone Silence Ancestor nervously said.

  Whoosh!

  Before Wang Chong could speak, he felt a rush of air behind him, a wisp of green mist drifting out from the cave. Wang Chong once more felt that familiar energy, one that was brimming with death.

  “The walking corpse!”

  Wang Chong’s mind trembled in understanding.

  “Don’t move! I’ve already tested it out. These successors of the Origin Immortal Art have a set attack range. As long as we don’t try to force our way through the passage, we won’t incur his attack. In addition, this cave is also in his range, but his awareness for it isn’t as high. We shouldn’t provoke it as long as we don’t move recklessly,” the Lone Silence Ancestor said.

  The atmosphere instantly turned strange.

  The Origin Immortal Art successor had killed the peak-condition Four Ends Martial Lord, so he would naturally dispose of them with ease. Carelessly moving around would only cause them to be attacked. But in front of them, the men in black were already here.

  Bang!

  With a great boom and a flash of light, the three bamboo hat men emerged.

  They had somber auras, and the moment they appeared, they locked onto Wang Chong. Behind them, more and more men in black appeared to take up position behind the trio.

  “Hurry; I heard a sound from over there!” At this moment, another voice could be heard, but it came from a different direction. A rush of footsteps could soon be heard.

  Not even the bamboo hat men were prepared for this, and they turned to the source of the sound.

  This person was moving with incredible speed, and soon, with a mighty dragon roar that shook the earth, a massive, writhing black dragon shot out of a cave wall. This dragon left dust and rubble in its wake, but a moment later, the dragon was dispelled, and a figure dropped down to land near the other two groups.

  “The Black Yin Ancestor!”

  The sight of that familiar figure with his naturally sinister voice caused Wang Chong to raise an eyebrow. He had never imagined that one of the leaders of the Five Ancestor Alliance would arrive at a time like this.

  And this was not the only surprising development.

  “Alliance Lord, it’s just up ahead!”

  Yet another clamor could be heard. Thirty to forty meters to Wang Chong’s left, he sensed a powerful vitality.

  Swish!

  Even before its owner appeared, the fresh and clear scent of a forest wafted in on a pure breeze. And as everyone stared, countless green vines manifested from nothing and began to creep through the cave.

  A few moments later, several figures shot into the cave like cannonballs.

  All of these people were wearing uniforms bearing the emblem of the crane and Yin Yang symbol, and they were led by a pair of cold and aloof men with bright eyes.

  What garnered the most attention was the sheer density of the Stellar Energy within this pair’s bodies. They surpassed even the likes of the Black Yin Ancestor and Lone Silence Ancestor in some aspects.

  The moment these people appeared, they scanned the cave. They quickly spotted Wang Chong, and their eyes turned ice-cold.

  “Song Yuanyi!”

  Wang Chong’s mind was shaken once more as he spotted the familiar figure. The Black Yin Ancestor was surprising enough, but now Song Yuanyi had arrived as well.

  The two strongest factions of the martial arts world had both appeared in Wang Chong’s vicinity.

  The mood in the cave became even more bizarre.

  “Ancestor, we’re here!”

  “Eh? Alliance Lord, why have you stopped?”

  “Let’s go and take a look!”

  More footsteps could be heard, along with a mess of cries and shouts, as the disciples of the Five Ancestor Alliance and Righteous Alliance filtered in through the respective sides of the cave.

  The noisy crowd was instantly struck dumb upon seeing the stalemate of four parties. It was like someone had suddenly seized their necks, forcing their mouths to clam shut.

  This is quite the problem!

  Wang Chong narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the large crowd, his heart instantly sinking.

  Of these four groups, only he and the Lone Silence Ancestor understood that there was still another immense and terrifying power in this cave, lurking in the darkness behind him. He was now tightly surrounded with nowhere to run.

  “It’s him again!”

  Everyone was caught off guard by this new development, and Wang Chong was far from the only one caught up in a complicated situation. The moment Song Yuanyi and Xie Guangting appeared, the three bamboo hat men instantly recognized them, their hearts leaping to their throats.

  Song Yuanyi in particular was a great concern. In that night of fierce battle, not only had the bamboo hat leader failed to kill him, his Stellar Energy had been repulsed and inflicted internal injuries on himself. Although Wang Chong was close by, the appearance of Song Yuanyi and Xie Guangting forced him to act cautiously.

  Sikong Yuanjia suddenly stepped forward and whispered, “Alliance Lord, it’s those men in black who attacked us that night.”

  He had almost instantly recognized these mysterious men in black upon entering the cave.

  The Righteous Alliance had appeared in the northwest to take down the Demonic Emperor, and later his disciple. However, these mysterious men in black had killed hundreds of Righteous Alliance experts in their raid. This had been the greatest wound the Righteous Alliance had suffered since its founding, and even Sikong Yuanjia had been heavily injured in that battle.
>
  They had not found any trace of the men in black before, so they had let the matter go, but since they had run into them now, they were in no mood to just drop the matter.

  Song Yuanyi said nothing. He stood next to Xie Guangting, their eyes cold and sharp.

  The men in black, the Five Ancestor Alliance, the Demonic Emperor’s disciple—all of these groups had quarrels with the Righteous Alliance. Even if Song Yuanyi wanted to fight, he needed to first clarify his target.

  Once they began to fight, not even Song Yuanyi could guarantee that the other two factions would not just sit on the sidelines.

  When the sandpiper and clam fought, the fisherman could catch both. In the current situation, the first to strike would be the first to fall into a disadvantageous situation.

  The Five Ancestor Alliance was in essentially the same situation.

  One was their constant rival, the Righteous Alliance, the other was the Wang Chong who had previously wronged them, and then there were the mysterious men in black. This cave had suddenly become a trouble spot that could erupt into an explosive conflict at any moment.

  The Five Ancestor Alliance might be dragged in at any time.

  “Lone Silence Ancestor, when did you start colluding with Demonic Emperor Zhang Wenfu?” An indifferent voice broke the silence. It was not the Black Yin Ancestor, but the Lord of the Righteous Alliance, Song Yuanyi.

  And to everyone’s surprise, his first target was not Wang Chong or the Black Yin Ancestor, but the Lone Silence Ancestor standing next to Wang Chong.

  The Lone Silence Ancestor was startled at first, but he quickly began to laugh.

  “Haha, Alliance Lord Song has truly taken a liking to me. I’ve never become friends with anyone, nor have I quarreled with anyone. I have only one goal in entering the Origin Immortal Treasury this time. Anything else has nothing to do with me.”

  If he dared to nod his head, both the righteous and evil path would probably begin to regard him as an enemy. This was a disadvantage of being an unaffiliated martial artist.

  Unlike Song Yuanyi and the Black Yin Ancestor, the Lone Silence Ancestor did not belong to any vast sect or faction. He could not contend against immense beasts like the Righteous Alliance or Five Ancestor Alliance.