Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725

by Heaven's White Crane

  When Ou Yangming heard the whistles of the wind, as well as a dog’s pants that were always around him, he said to himself, ‘A dog is a dog, it runs so much faster than a human.’

  After an hour, all of them slowed down.

  Ou Yangming found himself inside a cave when the blindfold was finally removed.

  When he looked around, he noticed jagged and peculiar rocks, as well as the cave whose depth was unfathomable.

  “Is this the Chaos Cave?” Ou Yangming twitched his mouth.

  “That’s right.”

  “Is your ancestor’s legacy here?” “It should be…”

  “How am I supposed to find it?”

  Ni Xuetian was in a daze when he replied to Ou Yangming, “I don’t know.”

  Ou Yangming. “…” Ni Xuetian. “…”

  They looked at each other speechlessly.

  Chapter 122 - Searching Hard

  “Cough, cough… Lil’ Ou, we’ve brought you to the Chaos Cave, so it’s up to you on how you’re going to seek the Land of Inheritance.” Ni Jingtong let out a few dry coughs to break the silence and awkwardness. He looked regretfully at the deep, dark, and weird cave as he expressed, “It’s such a pity. When an Extreme Grade martial artist enters the cave, he or she will attract the Black Magic Crawlers. The crawlers are extremely detestable; they’ll cling to you endlessly. Ah, our powers aren’t inexhaustible, after all, so we can’t go too deep…”

  Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows and asked, “What are Black Magic Crawlers?”

  “They’re unique creatures in the Chaos Cave,” Ni Xuetian explained, “The most powerful thing about those creatures is their quantity and teeth. Even if we’re surrounded by them, we’ll only end up dying if we don’t charge away as fast as we can.”

  Ou Yangming was shocked as he understood the weight of those words.

  It only made sense to attach importance to creatures that could even take a Supreme Great Ancestor’s life away. Ni Xuetian added, “The Chaos Cave is chaotic. Unless you find the Land of Inheritance and use the power there, you won’t be able to survive inside even if you leave marks.”

  “Does that mean that I won’t be able to come out after I go in?” Ou Yangming’s face changed.

  “That’s not the case. You won’t lose your way if you only roam near the cave’s entrance, but the deeper you go, the lower your possibility of connecting with the outside world. You’ll eventually get lost, and will be trapped so deep that you can’t get out.” Ni Xuetian could not help but laugh, then assured Ou Yangming, “But you don’t have to worry.”

  Ou Yangming blurted, “The integration of Heaven and man?”

  “Yes, martial artists who fathomed the integration of Heaven and man can naturally sense the exit while being inside the cafe. As long as you don’t encounter a huge amount of Black Magic Crawlers on your way out, you’ll be able to leave easily,” Ni Xuetian responded slowly.

  “How do you know?” Ou Yangming asked with a deep voice.

  “I’ve experienced it myself.” Ni Xuetian sighed as if he recalled his past experience. “Unfortunately, I had advanced to Extreme Grade back then and I attracted a huge bunch of Black Magic Crawlers not long after I entered the Chaos Cave. Seeing as things were getting out of hand, I immediately turned to escape. Hehe, if I was slightly slower, I would’ve turned into a skeleton already.”

  Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows deeply. He remembered the Black Magic Crawlers well.

  Ni Xuetian comforted as though he noticed Ou Yangming’s worry, “You don’t have to be too worried. Since you’re not even in Yang Grade, the Black Magic Crawlers won’t notice you. As for Big Yellow, it is being protected by the Blood Meridian Power, so it won’t be a burden to you. As long as you’re both careful enough to avoid the crawlers, you’ll be fine.” “Okay, if that’s the case, I’ll be entering now.” Ou Yangming smiled.

  Although he knew that the Chaos Cave was exceptionally dangerous, he did not have a choice at that moment.

  Ou Yangming flashed to one of the entrances and stared ahead for a while. Just as he was about to enter, he noticed through the corner of his eyes that a yellow figure—the big yellow dog-was already making its way in.

  He was stunned because he could somehow sense the big yellow dog’s thoughts.

  The half-spirit beast had actually entered first because it was worried about his safety. Ou Yangming quickly caught up to it. When he was going to call out to it, he was struck with an idea, hence he said it in his head, ‘Stop.’

  He looked in front of him with bright eyes and the big yellow dog that was scouting ahead really stopped. It even turned around to look at Ou Yangming strangely.

  Ou Yangming felt his heart shake. He immediately realized that something had indeed happened between him and the big yellow dog because their spiritual worlds were connected.

  Nonetheless, though the big yellow dog could understand him, he could only roughly guess what the dog wanted to express, but could not converse with it like it was a human.

  Ou Yangming suddenly caught his breath to recollect himself.

  He did not know if the mysterious spiritual connection he shared with the big yellow dog was temporary or permanent, but if it was a latter, it would probably be unacceptable for a normal person.

  Nevertheless, they had a common target at the moment, thus the connection was beneficial as they would live or die together.

  Ou Yangming shook his body a little before putting down the bag he had carried.

  He was well-prepared since he knew what he had come for. The bag contained the pieces of High Grade equipment that he had smithed for himself, and the effects of wearing and not wearing them were as apart as Heaven and Earth.

  After putting down the pieces of equipment, Ou Yangming checked them carefully and put them on.

  Following that, he used his Military Fire to burn his military saber, where he attached it with the 2 Points of Devouring attribute stored in his mind.

  The big yellow dog immediately took a few steps back while staring fearfully at the military saber.

  Ou Yangming was stunned. He clearly remembered that the dog had only glanced at the military saber indifferently earlier as if the treasure sword, which was at the peak of High Grade and was attached with 4 points of attributes, was nothing worth mentioning. However, once the 2 Points of Devouring attributes were bound to it, the big yellow dog’s face took on a completely different expression. It was evident that not only did the big yellow dog sense the change of attributes in the military saber, but it was also wary of the Devouring attributes. Ou Yangming frowned because it was his first time meeting a creature that could sense the Devouring attribute. He wondered if the big yellow dog was gifted with the ability or if all half-spirit beasts could notice it.

  He smiled and curbed his thought, then sent messages through his mind to let the dog know that they would help each other, lov… Oh, fight together, and that they were as close as brothers.

  The big yellow dog slowly let its guard down as it finally understood what Ou Yangming meant.

  While the saber made it extremely alert, it did not need to worry about being threatened by the strange item for now.

  During yesterday’s cultivation under the moonlight, the big yellow dog had activated the Blood Meridian Power that it was gifted with, and a mysterious connection appeared between them as a result. Under this state, if one of them harbored evil thoughts against the other, it definitely would not be kept as a secret.

  The big yellow dog had initially treated Ou Yangming lightly, but it was deeply moved by him that night, which was why it did this.

  Seeing as the dog had become normal again, Ou Yangming sighed a breath of relief.

  ‘This fella is definitely not an ordinary half-spirit beast. If I fall out with it, this journey will become an incredibly difficult one.’

  As Ou Yangming channeled his essential Qi, they resonated with his armor and the other pieces of equipment, allowing his strength to incre
ase by a huge margin. If Ou Yangming did not consider his essential Qi’s explosive force, based on the mere 11 Points of Power he gained, even a powerhouse at the peak of Yang Grade could not lay a finger on him. Furthermore, he gained 4 Points of Agility and possessed different mysterious abilities because of his waist sash. The maximum insurance was what gave Ou Yangming the courage to enter the cave.

  He approached the big yellow dog with brisk steps.

  When he turned to look, he realized that the cave’s entrance was not far away. Judging from the distance, Ou Yangming could instantly exit the cave if he charged out.

  After a moment of hesitation, he walked inside with the big yellow dog.

  Before long, the light behind him became smaller and unnoticeable.

  In actual fact, the cave was not pitch-dark. Strange moss grew on the rock walls around them, and the plants actually emitted obscure lights. Even though the lights were not bright, they were enough for Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog to see.

  By going deeper into the cave, they soon arrived at crossroads.

  The big yellow dog immediately stopped and turned to look at Ou Yangming. Ou Yangming did not make a rash decision; he stood on the spot to sense for a while.

  Next, his face changed because he finally understood what Ni Xuetian meant. ‘Why does the state of the integration of Heaven and man allow me to sense the exit? This is what it means.’

  Ou Yangming sensed something familiar when he was nearer to the exit, whereas he had a particularly unfamiliar feeling when he was further away from the exit.

  That said, when he went deeper into the Chaos Cave, the feeling of being one with Heaven and Earth became weaker. Ou Yangming actually had a misconception that the cave seemed to be in a different world from where he came from. If that was not the case, the fact that his feeling about the integration of Heaven and man was slowly fading away could not be explained.

  “Woof!” The big yellow dog urged him.

  Ou Yangming smiled bitterly and looked around him, but was not sure where their target was, so he simply pointed in a direction. In any case, he could deduce the cave exit’s location through the integration of Heaven and man, hence he was not too worried about getting lost. At most, they could retrace their steps later.

  Despite that, Ou Yangming was actually worried that he did not have much time to waste.

  A human and a dog walked in the endless cave. They knew what they were searching for, but the place was truly too huge, so much so that it was beyond their imagination. After walking for an hour, even the big yellow dog had lost its way. It kept twitching its nose but could not pick up anything useful. In fact, the smell of the different areas they had passed dissipated so quickly that they could not be preserved.

  “Hey?” Ou Yangming, who was scouting ahead, stopped all of a sudden. He was surprised and delighted when he looked at the stone walls around them.

  Chapter 123 - Black Magic Crawlers

  The big yellow dog glanced at Ou Yangming suspiciously, then turned its head to look around, but no matter how hard it looked, it could not see any pattern from the stone walls.

  Although it could not communicate with Ou Yangming through human language, its wisdom was already opened. Moreover, the big yellow dog knew more things than Ou Yangming did because it had the Blood Meridian Legacy and had lived long enough. Nonetheless, there were some aspects where even spirit beasts in real legends could not be mentioned on equal terms with humans, let alone a half-spirit beast like the dog.

  Ou Yangming reached out his hand to touch the stone walls nearby and clicked his tongue in wonder.

  “Big Yellow, the stones here aren’t ordinary at all, they’re steel. No, they’re better than steel; they’re featured steel,” Ou Yangming mumbled, “This is my first time seeing naturally formed featured steel!”

  Ou Yangming could come into contact with a considerable amount of featured iron ingots in the military camp and could retrieve an appropriate amount of steel from the depot, but it was difficult to get featured steel.

  It was neither because the military camp did not have it nor because he was not qualified enough, but because featured steel was so small in quantity that almost all Military Fire Blacksmiths treated it as precious treasure. At the beginning of each month, featured steel of a certain quota received by the depot would be distributed among the Military Fire Blacksmiths such that none was left.

  Even though Ou Yangming became popular during the smithing challenge, he gained his reputation too late. Kang Weibo had already adjusted next month’s featured steel quota and distribution ratio, but it was for the next month, after all.

  Therefore, apart from Old Craftsman’s smithing workshop, Ou Yangming had not seen the precious material elsewhere.

  It was said that featured steel was refined through a certain mysterious method, and it was extremely yearned by every trade and industry around the world, thus a limited amount was distributed to the Immense Forest Military Camp.

  On a certain level, featured steel’s rarity could be considered roughly the same as normal Power Ores and Agility Ores.

  Ou Yangming’s eyes wandered about as he thought, ‘If this stone wall has a huge range and is considerably thick, the natural featured steel alone in the Chaos Cave is enough to make up a massive wealth that could shake the whole country.’ If the information was leaked, even the three Supreme Great Ancestors from the Ni family would not necessarily withstand the greedy eyes from all around the nation.

  Nevertheless, this was not Ou Yangming’s concern and he would definitely not leak the information on purpose.

  The big yellow dog cast a bewildered look at Ou Yangming as it could not understand what exactly was going on with him.

  Featured steel or not, nothing was more attractive for the dog than a roast duck.

  Ou Yangming was reluctant to leave such that he turned to look repeatedly at every step he took when he left the stone wall with the big yellow dog. If it was not because Ou Yangming was concerned about Old Craftsman’s safety, he would definitely not leave the place. At the very least, he had to get to the bottom of it and find out the wall’s rough range. However, Old Craftsman’s life was Ou Yangming’s priority at the moment, hence he sighed and left with the big yellow dog.

  After leaving the stone wall, they advanced forward without an aim.

  All of a sudden, the big yellow dog stopped. It twitched its nose and seemed to be alert.

  Though it would stop at every fork in their path to let Ou Yangming make the choice, once Ou Yangming chose the next path, it would always lead the way.

  While the big yellow dog could not say it, Ou Yangming was grateful for what it did.

  Regardless of the reason, having an easy-going partner, who would take care and assist him wholeheartedly, was indeed something that made Ou Yangming happy, so he naturally put his trust in the dog. As such, Ou Yangming waited with full focus when the big yellow dog was alarmed.

  When he scanned the area around them, the Vision +1 attribute on his helmet played a great role.

  Ou Yangming suddenly fixed his gaze somewhere because he noticed an exceptionally strange living creature on the left of their path ahead.

  It was a scorpion-like monster the size of a human baby, and its body was pitch-black. Without the Vision attribute, Ou Yangming could not have noticed it so easily.

  He immediately realized what it was as a thought struck him.

  The creature was probably a Black Magic Crawler that Ni Xuetian described.

  Since the three Supreme Great Ancestors were all afraid of the creature, it must be unordinary. After exchanging glances with the big yellow dog, Ou Yangming sent the image in his vision to it. He initially wanted to just give it a go but did not expect the big yellow dog to really receive the image.

  The big yellow dog nodded at Ou Yangming, then moved forward without a sound.

  Soon enough, they were near the weird crawler, which was still staying where it was as it did not notice their
presence at all.

  They looked at each other again and nodded.

  Following that, Ou Yangming flashed to pounce on the crawler, and the saber-light from his saber slashed down like thunder.

  His military saber turned into a luster that split the weird crawler into two with ease. When the saber touched the creature’s flesh and blood, the Devouring attribute was unleashed to absorb part of them that was near the creature’s wound.

  Familiar energy gushed into Ou Yangming’s body right away, which felt so good that he wanted to moan.

  Ou Yangming had activated the Blood Flight Power from his waist sash once when he was on the Testimony Path’s third level yesterday. He did not consume much Qi and blood because the process was short, but it was still a consumption after all, so his mental state could not be maintained at its peak. After slashing the crawler, Ou Yangming more or less compensated for some of the loss, and he quickly became spirited again. The halves of the crawler’s body fell to the ground respectively, which twitched for a while before they stiffened.

  Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog were both stunned, and they could tell by looking at each other’s eyes that they were in disbelief.

  They were already mentally prepared before the attack, where they would not be surprised no matter how difficult it would be to deal with the Black Magic Crawlers. It was worth mentioning that even the Supreme Great Ancestors dared not resist the mighty creatures because they treated the great ancestors as food.

  Even if the crawler had suddenly jumped to evade Ou Yangming’s attack and injured Ou Yangming, he and the big yellow dog would not be taken aback.

  However, the reality was that Ou Yangming killed the crawler in one slash. Yes, he killed it…

  They were confused about how weak the crawler was.

  Ou Yangming pondered for a while. He certainly did not think that Ni Xuetian and the other elders had exaggerated things on purpose because it was not necessary.

  “Big Yellow, do you think what we encountered was a larva?”