Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 180 - 173: Battle for the Spirit Core (4/5, Requesting Monthly Votes)

Chapter 180: Chapter 173: Battle for the Spirit Core (4/5, Requesting Monthly Votes)

Zhou Heng was digging merrily below, while those above found it especially difficult to stop him.

A distance of over a hundred zhang was too great for even someone at the Land Cleaving Realm to leap across, and since the tunnel wasn’t straight, it was impossible to launch a hidden weapon for a sneak attack. To stop Zhou Heng, one would have to go down personally.

But with the depth of the enemy unknown, who would dare to rashly descend?

The tunnel was so narrow, there wasn’t room to move about, and if one met an opponent stronger than oneself, there would be no way to retreat, leading straight to death!

Anyhow, they did not believe that Zhou Heng could so accurately locate the Spirit Core, and someone had already gone to summon the Big Shots of the Open Heaven Realm; it was entirely possible for an expert to deal with Zhou Heng, so there was no need to risk their own lives.

Zhou Heng knew that time was pressing, and he devoted all his strength, pushing his power to the limit while digging through the rock layers.

He soon discovered an awkward problem—the bottom floor of the Nine Mystic Trial Tower was full!

This wasn’t usually an issue; he could just run up and throw it out, but where was the time for that now? He immediately messaged the two women, asking them to help move the rubble and mud from the first floor to the second floor as much as possible.

Poor things, both women were delicate and accustomed to being waited on; now they had to do such heavy labor, which truly aggrieved them.

Since Zhou Heng was in a hurry, both women moved the mud and stones with all their might. Fortunately, the Spirit Stone layers Zhou Heng was excavating were extremely hard, and he wasn’t moving fast; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

It’s close! So close!

Zhou Heng could clearly feel the surrounding Spiritual Energy thickening immensely, as if it had solidified into a liquid, tightly enveloping him and making even the slightest movement difficult.

His vigor redoubled, and he worked faster—his right hand had completely turned into a Crimson Gold skeletal frame, yet its strength was incredibly formidable, crushing the Spirit Stone layers to dust with a single grab, exhibiting terrifying brutality.

"Person below, come out!"

At that moment, a domineering voice came from above, tinged with an air of superiority as if accustomed to high authority, revealing such a tone even in casual speech.

"Hm?"

The person above was taken aback and muttered, "Why does this person’s presence feel somewhat familiar? That’s right, a few days ago a mysterious individual broke in, but I never saw him—didn’t expect him to appear here!"

"Ha-ha, are you here for the Spirit Core as well? But what can you accomplish alone?"

"Why don’t you come up on your own, reveal your identity, and I might spare your life!"

That person was genuinely interested in Zhou Heng’s ability to vanish suddenly. If it was a secret technique, he had to force it out, as its value was simply too great.

Zhou Heng turned a deaf ear and kept on digging relentlessly.

"Bold!" The person above yelled in anger, suddenly leaping down. It was difficult to navigate from below, but descending was extremely easy—with a whoosh, he had dropped more than fifty zhang, reaching out his large hand toward Zhou Heng.

"Go!" Without looking back, Zhou Heng stretched out his left hand and released an Eight-Colored Lotus.

"Hm!" The man was a very strangely looking fellow with white hair that made him look like an old man in his seventies, yet his face was smooth and tender, without a whisker by his lips, appearing even more "lively" than many young women.

His eyes narrowed, instantly sensing the immense power contained within the lotus. Normally, he would not care, but in this almost enclosed space, the rebounding force had the potential for annihilative destruction!

But he had to face it, pushing out his right hand to envelope the lotus.

Boom!

The Eight-Colored Lotus instantly exploded, with all its force echoing in the man’s palm, and not a bit spilling out!

This man, what great strength and precise control!

Though Zhou Heng did not witness it, his Divine Sense clearly scanned the entire scene.

Open Heaven Realm!

Moreover, it was not just any Open Heaven Realm, but at least Second Layer Heaven or even Third Layer Heaven, to possess the power to completely annihilate the Eight-Colored Lotus.

Zhou Heng had planned to destroy the tunnel since he had the Nine Mystic Trial Tower to hide in, and the other party certainly didn’t have such an ability. Buried underground without support and no place to dispose of the excavated mud and stones, even an Open Heaven Realm would find it extremely difficult to dig an escape route.

Unfortunately, this strategy to buy time was forcefully negated by the adversary.

Absolute power indeed trumps everything!

Zhou Heng’s right hand moved even faster; with no possibility of utilizing his full figure here and facing a terrifying existence from the Second or even Third Layer Heaven, he had no choice but to hide in the Nine Mystic Trial Tower or submit.

Dig, dig, dig; he had to grab the Spirit Core first!

Zhou Heng would say, even if he destroyed the Spirit Core, he couldn’t let it fall into the hands of those who acted against his father.

"Oh, Middle Grade Spirit Stones!" The white-haired man’s gaze scanned the area, his eyes suddenly tightening, then instantly revealing elation—there was indeed a Middle Grade Spirit Stone Mine Vein here, meaning there was a chance for a Spirit Core to appear!

In that instant, an incredibly rich Spiritual Energy rushed toward him, and Zhou Heng had already broken through a rock layer; in the middle of the rocks was a white jade ball, slightly smaller than a chicken egg, round and smooth, radiating a soft glow.

"Spirit Core!" exclaimed the white-haired man in shock and delight. Spirit Cores were infinitely more precious than Upper Grade Spirit Stones, not only rich and easily absorbed Spiritual Energy but also the mysteries of the heavens and earth contained within from the moment of their formation.

For high-tier martial artists, the comprehension of the heavens and earth was paramount, as it could help them break through Great Realms!

In the Heaven-Opening Realm, the accumulation of Spiritual Power for each minor realm took at most fifty years; however, breaking through a minor realm would take no less than a hundred years. And from the Heaven-Opening Realm to the Mountains and Rivers Realm, it was even more difficult.

To Open Heaven and to Cleave Land, to form mountains—perfection of the Inner World was inseparable from the comprehension of the outer world. Without comprehension, how could one talk about breakthroughs?

Within the Spirit Core was the natural world’s memory of the formation of heavens and earth, as well as the emergence of mountains and oceans. Refining a Spirit Core allowed one to grasp this process, which naturally held immeasurable value for breaking through Great Realms.

Upon seeing the Spirit Core in Zhou Heng’s hands, the white-haired man’s eyes bulged.

"Boy, give me the Spirit Core!" Overwhelmed with excitement, he no longer referred to himself as ’this seat’ and reached out swiftly towards the Spirit Stone in Zhou Heng’s hand.

"Dream on!" Zhou Heng laughed heartily and, with a whoosh, entered the Nine Mystic Trial Tower.

Where is he?

The white-haired man was stunned; although he had experienced something like this before, it was not personally witnessed. Seeing a living person disappear so abruptly shocked him despite his composure and cultivation level.

He was aware of items like the Shadow Evasion Talisman, which of course, were not as potent and could only transport someone ten or a hundred miles at a time. Even such items were beyond his possession!

As for a Space Artifact capable of containing living creatures, he never even dared to imagine it; such artifacts were so rare they never appeared.

"No—", but he immediately let out an angry roar. That kid had stolen the Spirit Core!

The Spirit Core that over a hundred of them had sought for days had ended up in Zhou Heng’s hands, and he did not even have a clue how to retrieve it!

Cut off! Extinguished!

He didn’t even know the kid’s name or where he came from!

Search!

He must find him!

Teleportation talismans could not possibly have sent the kid too far in an instant. As long as he mobilized his men to form an encirclement, he was sure to find him!

The white-haired man let out a repressed long howl, his figure leaping up, bounding several times and emerging from the underground hole. To be played for a fool by a mere Land Cleaving youngster, to have something snatched from his very jaws, was truly an extraordinary shame.

Once he found this kid, he would certainly shred him into thousands of pieces!

He signaled with a gesture, leading the people above to quickly depart. He was going to set up an inescapable trap, determined to find Zhou Heng!

...

Inside the Nine Mystic Trial Tower, Zhou Heng sat atop a huge pile of mud and rocks. After his Divine Sense confirmed that the white-haired man had left, he exited the Treasure Pagoda and crawled out of the underground hole.

The first thing he did was to empty out all the mud and stones from the Treasure Pagoda; this was supposed to be a living space, after all.

The most dangerous place could be the safest, although this wasn’t always entirely true. Nevertheless, this place was definitely going to be a blind spot, at least for a while, where the Mao Family’s forces wouldn’t come.

It was easy to dump out the mud and rocks, but cleaning up the remaining filth was the hard part and would require bit by bit sweeping.

Xiao Huoshui and Orchid Concubine, who both liked cleanliness, couldn’t tolerate the filthiness of their dwelling and immediately began to clean it up, busy and joyful, whereas Zhou Heng prepared to refine the freshly acquired Spirit Core.

Huh?

He suddenly paused, noticing that the Black Sword in his Dantian was still pointing downward!

What was going on? Could there be another Spirit Core?

Zhou Heng pondered for a moment and had the two women pause their cleaning. He resumed digging through the rock layers, searching for a possible second Spirit Core.

Middle Grade Spirit Stones were formed with denser Spiritual Energy compared to Lower Grade Spirit Stones, making them much more solid. Zhou Heng’s digging pace wasn’t fast, and it took him three days just to penetrate this Middle Grade Spirit Stone Mine Vein.

The Black Sword was still pointing downwards, the response as vague as ever.

Zhou Heng dug another two hundred zhang downwards. By then, there were no longer solid Spirit Stone layers; it was merely ordinary rocks. He continued digging. After five hundred zhang, the temperature suddenly rose steeply, hot as a sauna.

Boom!

A scorching torrent of magma suddenly burst forth from the earth, surging toward Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng hurriedly leapt up, climbing quickly up the tunnel. Having experienced the magma without harm once didn’t mean much, as staying longer would be unbearable even for his physique, leaving him no choice but to leave quickly.

He had dug up Earth Fire, but the Black Sword’s reaction was still so vague. Zhou Heng was now certain that the treasure capable of stirring the Black Sword was still very far away, perhaps deep within the Earth’s Core.

His current physique couldn’t withstand that; it was said that the closer to the Earth’s Core, the higher the temperature, enough to instantly melt Hundred Refined Fine Iron.

How strange, the item causing the Black Sword’s reaction wasn’t a Spirit Core!

It was quite coincidental that the Spirit Core was also along this route; otherwise, Zhou Heng would have truly been occupied in vain. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to cast your recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)