Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 785 - 762 - The Outsider (1/3)

Chapter 785: 762 Chapter The Outsider (1/3)

The Li Family is a formidable clan, its number and quality of experts are sufficient to rank within the top three of the Immortal Domain, and the Old Ancestor of the Li Family is one of the mere five Creation Kings in the Immortal Domain.

Such a colossal entity is truly daunting!

A great family like this, after countless years of flourishing and branching out, has deeply infiltrated every corner of the Immortal Domain, yet the power center of the Li Family has never changed—it has always been the ancestral land.

The Li Family rose to prominence from a small town, but this town hasn’t undergone much change due to the Li Family’s rise to power, remaining off the beaten path. Additionally, due to the Li Family’s deliberate concealment, very few outsiders know that this is the core of the Li Family’s power.

After parting ways with Zhou Heng, Li Yuanxing immediately rushed back to the ancestral land to meet with several Supreme Elders of the family.

These Supreme Elders were not Creation Kings, but each one was a Sublimation Emperor. In a world where the Martial Path levels were relatively low, this was already an extremely fearsome lineup.

"Yuan Star, you have urgently summoned us, is there something important?" an Elder inquired.

"Six Elders, Yuan Star indeed has an urgent matter to report, and it may even necessitate the mobilization of the Old Ancestor," Li Yuanxing bowed first, then spoke respectfully.

What!

Although the six Supreme Elders of the Li Family did not verbalize these two words, each one’s eyebrows shot up. They didn’t need to control their emotions too much in front of their own people, but at their level, there were few things that could shake them.

But to actually stir up the Old Ancestor, wasn’t that a bit exaggerated?

"Yuan Star, what exactly happened?"

Li Yuanxing took a deep breath and said, "To report back to the six Elders, Yuan Star is completely confident that he has discovered a being not from this realm!"

"What!" The six Supreme Elders finally cried out in shock, their white eyebrows shooting up.

"How can you be certain?"

"Right, how can you have such confidence?"

They pressed him for answers, one after another.

Li Yuanxing first briefly described Zhou Heng’s situation, then said, "This individual’s true age is absolutely no more than five hundred years old, yet his Cultivation Level has already reached that of a Sublimation Sovereign. Moreover, it’s as if he has appeared out of thin air—there is absolutely no record of him from before!"

"But to conclude that he is a person from beyond this world based on this alone, isn’t that a bit rash?" murmured a Supreme Elder, already somewhat convinced.

"Yuan Star has tested him several times, and Zhou Heng’s actions and behavior are completely different from that of ordinary people, somewhat at odds with the entire environment—although he has already made some changes," Li Yuanxing paused, then continued, "Yuan Star even asked him a question—if there were another world beyond this place, what would it be like? Six Elders, guess how he replied?"

"Hmm?" The six elders looked towards Li Yuanxing one after another.

"He said, the heavens and earth outside must surely be even more vast!" Li Yuanxing enunciated each word.

"He, he really answered like that?" All six Elders were stunned.

"Indeed, Yuan Star dares not to fabricate anything!" said Li Yuanxing with a solemn face.

"People of this realm could never know of the outside world!"

"If not for our Old Ancestor having ventured into the Holy Mountain years ago and, by chance, realizing that we are but frogs at the bottom of a well, we all would still be in the dark!"

"If one cannot leave this world, Sublimation Emperor is the ultimate limit; only a rare few who obtain Holy Medicine can ascend to the Creation Realm!"

"Only by stepping into a much wider world can we break free from our fate, not only becoming Creation Emperors but even going a step further and becoming true deities!"

The six Supreme Elders, each chipping in one after another, became increasingly excited. Their faces glowed red as if their blood were about to spurt from their foreheads.

But for them, this truly was tremendous news.

Upon learning that the world they resided in was just a cage, anyone would develop the desire to escape, and even more so for such lofty beings as themselves. Regardless of their search, they had always been unable to find a way to leave, nearly driving them to despair.

Now, however, a living person from the outside world had appeared... What a surprise that was for them!

Since he could enter, then it was also possible to leave!

And Zhou Heng was merely a Sublimation Sovereign—since even he could come in, a Sublimation Emperor would definitely be able to go out!

Imagining the grandeur of the outside world, all six Elders had faces flushed with excitement.

In the outside world, one could cultivate and become a Sublimation Sovereign in less than five hundred years—what did this imply? The Spiritual Energy in the outside world must be incredibly abundant, with countless Holy Medicines!

It was easy to imagine—this place was a prison, and what good could be found in a prison?

—They were actually thinking too extremely, attributing Zhou Heng’s extraordinary nature to everyone in the outside world, but who would have suspected it was Zhou Heng who ventured in, the only one who could ensure his memories weren’t erased?

While the world may have many coincidences, there are also absolute certainties.

"Immediately capture this person and force him to reveal the way out!" one of the Supreme Elders exclaimed urgently. Although the Sublimation Sovereign was indeed extraordinary, the Li Family alone had six Sublimation Emperors!

"That’s not appropriate!" Li Yuanxing was about to speak but was promptly cut off by an Old Ancestor waving his hand, saying, "This child is already a Sublimation Sovereign, and though he is definitely not our match in a head-on battle, we cannot let him get far from the Holy Immortals Hall. He still has a great chance of escaping back there!"

"Once he enters the Holy Immortals Hall, we won’t be able to make a move!"

"Correct, we can’t afford to provoke the power that the Holy Immortals Hall represents for the time being, unless——"

"The Old Ancestor can successfully break through to the Eight Aspects and end his closed-door death meditation!"

The six Old Ancestors exchanged looks and nodded in agreement, all of them concurring that they must not act too hastily in dealing with Zhou Heng.

"Yuanxing, find a way to lure that young man out of the Holy Immortals City, and when the six of us act together, we’ll capture him in one fell swoop!"

"Yes!"

...

Zhou Heng’s attention was drawn to the high mountain where the Holy Immortals Hall was located, known as the Holy Mountain, where legend has it the Supreme Deity resides.

But he quickly discovered, to his dismay, that he was unable to ascend the mountain at all!

The path lay at his feet, yet no matter how he tried, he couldn’t step forward, bound by an invisible force that blocked his way.

Zhou Heng drew out his Black Sword and slashed; the black Sword Qi was filled with destructive power. Indeed, he managed to cut a rift, but it was really just a crack that closed up extremely quickly. If he tried to force his way through, he would be crushed to death!

What was he to do?

Zhou Heng circled around the mountain, slashing with his sword in every spot to test for any possible weak defense, but the results were disappointing.

He was ninety percent sure that the way off this place lay atop this Holy Mountain, along with the fragments of the Black Sword, but what could he do if he couldn’t ascend?

Greatly disappointed, Zhou Heng returned to his own dwelling, but soon he received some good news.

This news was brought by Lu Dongyun, who told Zhou Heng that in two months’ time, it would be the birth anniversary of the Supreme Deity, and this year was also a millennium celebration, to be shared by the entire world.

Every year on the birth anniversary of the Supreme Deity, the divine statue in the Holy Immortals Hall would be unveiled for worship, while every millennium, a grand celebration would be held with an additional ceremony—retrieving Holy Water from the Holy Mountain for worship.

Retrieving Holy Water was an extremely honourable task, not something just anyone could undertake, so the Holy Immortals Hall would hold a competition to decide the strongest to win this honor.

To ensure fairness, each person only had ten chances to compete in their lifetime—they could not abuse their longevity to overpower the younger generation. Relatively speaking, it was quite fair.

Zhou Heng cared not for the so-called honor; what he valued was the qualification to enter the Holy Mountain!

Therefore, when Lu Dongyun asked if he would participate in the competition for the role of Holy Water Envoy, he nodded without a second thought.

To become the sole person permitted to enter the Holy Mountain sounded simple—just defeat all other opponents—but it required powerful strength to back it up. Zhou Heng was not careless. He inquired from Lu Dongyun about the heavyweights participating in the competition.

Fortunately, the five Creation Kings were figures from who knows how many years ago, who had all competed for ten times when they were younger; some had even been honored with the opportunity to ascend the Holy Mountain five or six times.

There were three individuals who were most favored to win, all of them Sublimation Emperors a millennium ago, who later travelled far for their training and had not yet returned. These three—two men and one woman—were Yan Jinrui, Sun Zhuoli, and Qiao Qingqing.

Each had participated several times already in the competition for the Holy Water, each with wins and losses. Yan Jinrui was slightly stronger, having won the qualification twice, while Sun Zhuoli and Qiao Qingqing had each won it once.

Rumors had it that these three had advanced to the Sublimation Emperor level hundreds of years ago, and now had even broken the limit, achieving Eight Aspects or even higher within the Sublimation Emperor, their battle power incalculable.

With Zhou Heng’s current mastery of the Five Elements Rune, he was confident that he was invincible below the Creation King; as long as none of those three were Creation Kings, it would be manageable.

But to break through the Creation King?

In this world, it was exceedingly difficult, not only a matter of comprehending the realm, but also because the spiritual energy here was not abundant enough to support the breakthrough of a Sublimation Emperor! And Holy Medicine, where could one find so much of it?

The last time a Creation King made a breakthrough was eighty thousand years ago!

There was still just less than a month before the competition.

"Brother Zhou, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you!" Several days later, Li Yuanxing sought out Zhou Heng, stealthily pulling him into a secluded room, making Zhou Heng break out in a cold sweat, almost thinking the other man had some peculiar tastes.

"Oh? What’s up?" Zhou Heng asked casually.

"I’ve discovered a Holy Medicine, but unfortunately, it’s guarded by a Sublimation Emperor Demon Beast which I can’t collect by myself! So I’d like to ask for Brother Zhou’s cooperation. We can work together to steal the Holy Medicine and split the benefit evenly. How about it?" Li Yuanxing threw out a huge temptation.

Zhou Heng smiled faintly and said, "Brother Li, your family is filled with experts; why do you need me?"

"Brother Zhou might not know, but ah, in any major family, isn’t there always a struggle for power? If I were to reveal the news of the Holy Medicine to my family, I guarantee that there would be four or five groups vying for it!" Li Yuanxing shook his head repeatedly, "The line I come from isn’t the strongest in the family, so I would end up empty-handed for sure!"

This reasoning made sense, but why did he specifically seek him out—a newcomer—believing him so easily? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)