King of Creation
Chapter 250 - 247: Floating Cloud Cave and the Great River Gang (Third Update)

Chapter 250: Chapter 247: Floating Cloud Cave and the Great River Gang (Third Update)

"This is really...."

Seeing Tian Feng and He Qingbing turn into a pile of bones in a flash, Ye Zhen was also shocked beyond belief.

These Blazing Flame Sand Ants were even more terrifying than Ye Zhen had imagined — not to mention the deadly Rattlesnake that had yet to strike from another direction. Judging from the situation, not even a Martial Artist from Spirit Transformation Realm, let alone the Soul Sea Realm, would be able to escape without suffering.

Once the Blazing Flame Sand Ants gradually calmed down, Ye Zhen’s figure dashed above the two sets of bones. With a focused Divine Sense, the storage rings that Tian Feng and He Qingbing had buried in the shallow sand slowly rose into the air and gently drifted into Ye Zhen’s hands.

This was one of the abilities granted by reaching the Capturing Object Realm in Divine Soul Cultivation. It was said that if Ye Zhen’s Divine Soul Cultivation could break through to the Second Stage, he could silently and instantaneously kill his enemies.

This movement startled quite a few Blazing Flame Sand Ants, but to no avail.

It couldn’t be helped – Ye Zhen was now penniless. Oh, but with the financial resources of the more than a hundred thousand Low Grade Spirit Crystals found on Yine Kainian and his disciples, one could no longer consider him destitute.

However, after participating in that auction, Ye Zhen realized that his wealth was inconsequential and thus, he started collecting the storage rings of Tian Feng and He Qingbing.

The assets of two Martial Artists from the Spirit Transformation Realm should not be too shabby.

After harvesting several tens of thousands of Low Grade Spirit Crystals and more than three million taels of gold, Ye Zhen’s gaze turned to the dark red Blood-sucking Vines.

Clearly, this Floating Cloud Cave must have been a place where a senior expert once cultivated in seclusion. Not to mention anything else, just the array of guard things at the entrance signals that, at the very least, this must have been the abode of a senior from the Soul Sea Realm.

Moreover, seeing that the guard formation in front of Floating Cloud Cave was still intact, it’s possible that the senior might have met with an accident outside, and surely, there must be something valuable inside the cave.

Tian Feng and He Qingbing must have discovered Floating Cloud Cave and wanted to enter but failed to pass through the guard of the Blood-sucking Vines blocking the entrance, hence never achieving their goal.

The warnings from the previous encounters were most likely set by these two, aiming for the intruders to successfully reach the Blood-sucking Vines and see if they could clear a path for them.

But now the problem arose – if two Martial Artists from the Spirit Transformation Realm couldn’t get past the Blood-sucking Vines, how would Ye Zhen do it?

If there were only one or two vines, Ye Zhen might be able to get past them by risking his life.

But with the entrance covered in Blood-sucking Vines for a range of five hundred meters, how would Ye Zhen get through?

Ye Zhen sat down at the cave entrance and started thinking deeply.

After less than half an hour, Ye Zhen suddenly got up. With a thought, the War Soul Blood Flag in his chest shone, and a ray of Blood Light seamlessly merged into Ye Zhen’s body. In the span of a breath, his Divine Soul Power surged by a factor of two.

Gathering momentum, the Sword Gang on his Profound Yang Sword flared up, and the Wind Cloud Sword Qi slashed out like lightning.

Ye Zhen wanted to see if he could force his way through the five hundred meters of Blood-sucking Vines after enhancing his combat power with the War Soul Blood Flag.

But the result was very disappointing to Ye Zhen.

Even with the boost from the War Soul Blood Flag, Ye Zhen managed to mow down the Blood-sucking Vines, yet he barely caused any damage at all, and within a few breaths, the vines had regenerated.

Almost simultaneously, the Blood-sucking Vines seemed to be enraged by Ye Zhen. Ten of them struck at once, seeking retribution against Ye Zhen.

The offensive move by the Blood-sucking Vines didn’t intimidate Ye Zhen – he directly met their attack with the edge of his Profound Yang Sword, promptly severing the attacking vines.

Ye Zhen originally wanted to infuriate the Blood-sucking Vines and, by wearing them down, slowly eliminate them over a period of ten days to half a month.

However, after being injured a second time, the Blood-sucking Vines seemed to learn from the experience. No matter how Ye Zhen slashed with his Sword Qi, they stopped retaliating.

Similarly, Ye Zhen didn’t dare to advance either.

Ye Zhen could handle a few Blood-sucking Vines, but when hundreds of them attacked forcefully, they could knock the Profound Yang Sword right out of his hands.

After an hour of fruitless contemplation, Ye Zhen suddenly stood up, and as the Sword Vein Divine Power within his body roared, a golden Origin Sword Vein struck like thunder at the Blood-sucking Vine.

Pu pu pu!

Wherever the golden light of the Origin Sword Vein reached, the Blood-sucking Vines were cut down; a single strike and he had cleared a path about the width of a palm and roughly twenty meters long.

Hiss!

At that moment, the Blood-sucking Vines seemed to emit an angry roar, which also resembled the frictional sound of the Blood-sucking Vine tendrils rubbing against each other.

Looking at the palm-width and twenty-meter-long cleared path, the smile that had just appeared on Ye Zhen’s face once again faded away.

The golden Origin Sword Vein was indeed powerful and capable of clearing away the Blood-sucking Vines, but there were simply too many of them here.

Given the Blood-sucking Vine’s attack range of several tens of meters, Ye Zhen would need to clear a space a hundred meters wide, and at its shortest, the area of Blood-sucking Vines was five hundred meters.

Based on the clearing range of the golden Origin Sword Vein, he would probably need to strike ten thousand times with the Origin Sword Vein to completely clear the area.

Not to mention that Ye Zhen’s current Divine Soul Cultivation only allowed him to strike five Origin Sword Veins at once; ten thousand strikes with the Origin Sword Vein, and his hard-recovered Sword Heart Enlightenment might just be shattered once again.

This method didn’t work!

Ye Zhen scratched his head and racked his brains once more.

This contemplation lasted for two days.

During these two days, Ye Zhen tried several other methods.

For instance, the flame that plants dread, but the fire Ye Zhen created did nothing against the Blood-sucking Vines; he needed Spiritual Power flames to possibly handle them.

Ye Zhen even asked Little Meng, the Cloud Winged Tiger, for help once, but that too ended in failure.

"How can I enter the Floating Cloud Cave?"

Ye Zhen, whose mind was a tumult of frustration, swung his sword randomly a few times, churning up the surrounding earth and mud.

The Blood-sucking Vines seemed to have some spirit nature, observing Ye Zhen’s helpless manner, the tendrils rubbing together, almost as if mocking Ye Zhen.

But Ye Zhen’s anger grew even more. Was he really unable to do anything about the Blood-sucking Vine?

"Is there really no way?"

"Eh, that’s not right, there’s still one power I haven’t tried!" In his moment of utmost dejection, it suddenly dawned on Ye Zhen that he had another power at his disposal—the Ice Fiend Qi!

The Ice Fiend Qi he had cultivated!

Driven by his Divine Sense, the Ice Fiend Qi stored in the corner of his Dantian instantly surged out from his fingertips, striking at the Blood-sucking Vine.

As soon as the Ice Fiend Qi was released, the humid valley instantly turned bitterly cold and oppressive.

Crack crack crack!

The sound of the Blood-sucking Vine freezing solid was incessant; within a few breaths, the area of the Blood-sucking Vine that was struck by the Ice Fiend Qi was encased in ice, forming a half-meter-long zone.

However, the Blood-sucking Vine clearly possessed spirit nature; the other vines rushed up en masse and with a few lashes, shattered the firm ice frozen by the Ice Fiend Qi.

This made Ye Zhen furrow his brows again. The effectiveness of the Ice Fiend Qi was stronger than that of the Origin Sword Vein, but it was still not enough to thoroughly break through the Blood-sucking Vine Forest.

Ye Zhen now had some understanding of why Tian Feng and Hee Qingbing went to such great lengths to lure people into breaking the Blood-sucking Vine Forest—it was indeed too troublesome to deal with, impervious to both fire and water.

Suddenly, Ye Zhen’s eyes lit up.

"If the Ice Fiend Qi can’t completely freeze them, there is something that can!"

The next moment, an Ice Spirit Crystal flew out from Ye Zhen’s storage ring and towards the Blood-sucking Vine Forest.

Given the terror of this Ice Spirit Crystal, Ye Zhen didn’t dare to hold it with his hands; instead, he propelled it slowly into the Blood-sucking Vine Forest with his Divine Sense.

Three Blood-sucking Vines shot out like lightning, entwining the Ice Spirit Crystal, intending to crush it.

But the moment they touched it, the vines were immediately covered in a grey, firm ice, instantly turning thoroughly frozen!

Bang!

The Ice Spirit Crystal, like an ownerless object, fell into the Blood-sucking Vine Forest.

Crackling!

As soon as the Ice Spirit Crystal fell, it was as if a dyeing vane had been opened—within moments, it completely encased the surrounding dozens of meters of Blood-sucking Vine Forest in ice.

Not only that, the range of the freeze was slowly extending outward. The outer vines attempted to shatter the firm ice, but with one lash, both the ice and the lashed vine turned to dust.

With a thought from Ye Zhen, more than ten Ice Spirit Crystals flew out from his storage ring.

Hisss!

Amidst faint screams, it seemed as if sounds of terror were emanating from the Blood-sucking Vine Forest.

"Humph, you have something you fear, too?"

Amid the cold laughter, Ye Zhen walked towards the frozen Blood-sucking Vine Forest. In the short span of time, the simultaneous effect of a dozen Ice Spirit Crystals cleared a frozen passageway that was two hundred meters wide and five hundred meters long.

"Alas, martial artists compete with nature for their lives. Since they have fallen here, let them rest in peace!"

Having cleared the passageway, Ye Zhen didn’t rush into the Floating Cloud Cave; instead, he first cleared out over ten skeletons from the Blood-sucking Vine Forest and buried them on the spot outside the forest, befitting a peaceful final resting place.

Of course, Ye Zhen conveniently took away the Low Grade Artifacts and storage rings that these people had left in the Blood-sucking Vine Forest.

Half a quarter-hour later, after clearing away the Blood-sucking Vines frozen into ice chunks at the entrance of the Floating Cloud Cave, Ye Zhen stepped in.

Just inside the cave was a set of stairs, seemingly carved with swords and knives, winding inward.

Descending dozens of steps, Ye Zhen entered the first chamber of the Floating Cloud Cave.

The moment he stepped in, Ye Zhen was stunned by the scene before him!

....

Inside the Great River Gang headquarters within the Three Elements City of the Sword Origin Empire.

The once high and mighty Gang Leader of the Great River Gang, Chen Yijiao, now resembled a dead dog, sprawled beneath the hall.

Undoubtedly, because of Chen Tai, the Sword Origin Sect had uprooted the entire Great River Gang, bringing all matters related to Chen Tai under scrutiny.

Ye Zhen’s foe ’Zheng Ye’ had also appeared in the intelligence reports of the Sword Origin Sect.

The people of Sword Origin Sect were not fools, Zheng Ye, Ye Zhen, they quickly made the connection, and the Stars Tower Master Hai Luoshuang was implicated as well.

However, Stars Tower’s background was too powerful for even Sword Origin Sect to provoke lightly. After several attempts by Elder Zou to meet with Hai Luoshuang, he could only get one answer.

Stars Tower’s interaction with Zheng Yee was merely an attempt to recruit him into the tower, and they claimed ignorance on all other matters.

The Sword Origin Sect used every method at their disposal to coerce information.

A foot belonging to the Sect Elder Zhii Sheng of Sword Origin Sect was stepping on the cheek of Chen Yijiao, leader of the Great River Gang, "Speak, how did that Zheng Yee and your son, Chen Tai, get mixed up with Yub Kainian?"

As soon as the foot pressed down, the mouth of the Great River Gang leader Chen Yijiao spurted out blood.

Standing beside them, Elder Zou Zhi of Sword Origin Sect sighed lightly, "Gang Leader Chen, just reveal everything you know! The Great River Gang has already been reduced to ashes. If you disclose some useful information, your youngest son, who just turned two and doesn’t remember anything yet, might be allowed to continue your family line!"

"Really?" A glimmer of hope flickered across the face of the Great River Gang Leader, Chen Yijiao.

"Of course. When the Sword Origin Sect makes a promise, we keep it!"

"Fine!"

"I have some uncertain news. The Henghai’s Sea Beast Ship from the Sea Suppression Trading Company stayed in the port of Three Elements City for half a day,

During unloading, I overheard the Steward of the Henghai talking and laughing about a young martial artist who disembarked halfway. He was unaware of the maids that were specially arranged for his enjoyment on the Henghai, what a waste. That young martial artist’s name was Zheng Yee!"

"That’s all I know. Will you keep my family’s bloodline alive..."

"We will!"

With a sinister laugh, the head of the Great River Gang leader Chen Yijiao burst like a crushed grape under Zhii Sheng’s foot.

"Elder Zou, our Sword Origin Sect still has connections with the Sea Suppression Trading Company, right? Send a Talisman Letter immediately to inquire about the destination reported by Zheng Yee when he boarded. Let’s follow this clue!"

"Okay!" Zou Zhi answered.

As Zhii Sheng and Zou Zhi, the two Elders, were leaving, a Deacon of the Sword Origin Sect came forward, holding an unconscious two-year-old boy, asking for instructions, "Elders, this is Chen Yijiao’s youngest son. What should..."

Thwack!

The fingertip of the Sect Elder Zhii Sheng of Sword Origin Sect pressed out, and instantly a bloody hole appeared in the forehead of the two-year-old boy, causing the Sword Origin Sect Deacon’s face to turn as pale as paper.

"A cursed spawn, what, you want to keep him alive to seek revenge on us when he grows up?" laughed the Sect Elder Zhii Sheng of Sword Origin Sect cruelly!

"What about the regular gang members?" asked the pale-faced Deacon.

"To think the Great River Gang dared to collude with Yine Kainian for so many years, all of these people deserve to die!"

"Kill them all!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to give recommendation votes and monthly votes at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)