Transcending the Nine Heavens

The two shadows shouted in their hearts – Monster!

Tie Bu Tian sat leisurely far away from there. He stood up, and walked over to them; his clothes fluttered in the wind as he walked. There was a calm and tranquil look on his face. Even the cracks that had appeared in the ground due to the tremors didn’t seem to affect him.

"Is it over?" Tie Bu Tian asked with a smile.

"It’s over," Chu Yang smiled back and said.

"It can be estimated that Great Zhao Army has suffered some losses this time." Tie Bu Tian revealed a faint smile and spoke, "It may not be a heavy blow to them, but it should be good enough to put them under stress."

Chu Yang laughed and said, "10,000 to 20,000 people should’ve died according to my estimate."

"10,000-20,000?" Tie Bu Tian asked in a startled manner, "How can there be so many casualties?"

Chu Yang laughed mischievously and explained, "Your Majesty, a landslide of this scale occurs once in ten thousand years. It’s that rare! I’m confident about my estimate!"

They were unaware that their actual achievement was simply mind-boggling. This phenomenon couldn’t possibly be described as a mere ‘landslide’.

They couldn’t imagine the kind of victory they had obtained. Perhaps, they wouldn’t believe it even if someone were to come and tell them – that 600,000 troops had been destroyed by their actions!

Moreover, the casualties also included two tiger generals — two amongst the top-ranked generals on the continent! Jin Nankai and Wu Cheng Long!

"Let’s go." Tie Bu Tian smiled. She hadn’t had high hopes from the beginning. So, this much damage was enough to cause some commotion in her heart.

"Ok." Chu Yang laughed out loud, and then took a step forward.

Suddenly, the Nine Tribulations Sword Point burst into a rage within his Dantian. It then came out abruptly, and issued a telepathic thought to Chu Yang in order to prevent him from leaving.

Chu Yang uttered "Ah?", and his footsteps halted.

Chu Yang clearly knew what the Nine Tribulations Sword Point wanted. [This little guy thinks of nothing but personal gains. So, it wouldn’t have come out if it hadn’t seen the possibility of a gain.]

The Nine Tribulations Sword Point was quite bewildered in reality. It would’ve spoken out in a shocked tone if it could speak, [Going? Why are you going? You haven’t even obtained the treasure, and still you wish to leave?]

[Did you call me out to dig a Mountain? All that hard work wasn’t to dig out some treasure? Why were you digging so excitedly if it wasn’t to dig out treasure? Are we miners or something?]

Chu Yang could sense the dissatisfaction and grievances of the Nine Tribulations Sword Point. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly as he said, "Actually, I would like to search around here for a bit. It seems like there’s some treasure here..."

Chu Yang was somewhat embarrassed. He was touching his nose, and looked very uncomfortable from his facial expression. After all, he was the one who had proposed to head back. And now, the others were ready to head back in accordance with his proposition, but he had proposed to stay back... how could something like that not be embarrassing?

The shadows and Tie Bu Tian had seen Chu Yang’s elixir finding ability. They figured that there must be some treasure nearby if Chu Yang was having this feeling. So, they complied to follow him without complaining. They were basically very curious to see what this ever-mysterious King of Hell Chu was going to find on this barren mountain...

The Nine Tribulations Sword Point throbbed inside Chu Yang’s arm. It anxiously guided Chu Yang in the correct direction.

Chu Yang took a few steps, and realized that he was ‘actually’ walking in the direction of the ‘chopped-off’ Chun Yang Peak. Chu Yang couldn’t help but scratch his head. He thought to himself, [what is this strangely lucky coincidence? I inadvertently chopped down a mountain peak, and now I’m surprisingly going to find treasure under it?]

The terrain continued to get steeped and steeper as they got closer and closer to it. And, the Nine Tribulations Sword Point continued to pulsate more and more cheerfully.

Tie Bu Tian was walking behind Chu Yang. He looked around, and spoke with a gentle smile on his face, "This mountain peak is very strange to be honest. The other mountain peaks in the vicinity are covered with trees and vegetation. This Chun Yang Peak is the only one that’s barren in the surrounding radius of several dozen kilometers. There’s only stone as far as the eyes can see, but there’s no trace of trees or plants... Minister Chu, that contraption you made to lift the megalith was made-up of tree logs... You had to bring those tree logs from so far away from some other mountain, ha-ha. It wouldn’t have been possible to fetch such huge trees from other mountains if your martial power wasn’t this strong."

His words caught the listeners’ attention.

Chu Yang’s advancing footsteps halted as soon as he heard Tie Bu Tian’s remark. And, his entire body trembled as if he had stepped on a live electric wire!

[Indeed, indeed! No wonder I also felt that this place isn’t normal. So, that’s how it is. There are no trees or vegetation in this region. There’s not even a trace of any weed growing in the areas surrounding the Chun Yang Peak... that too in the radius of more than a dozen kilometers.]

[Moreover, we traveled twenty or so kilometers to arrive here, but we only found withered trees over that distance. Also, for some reason the growth of trees isn’t that luxuriant within the radius of a few hundred kilometers...]

[Why is that?]

[There’s only one possible explanation to all this – that there’s something here... something which can absorb the spirit energy from the surroundings for its own use. It has absorbed the spirit energy from the surroundings for its own existence. And, it has deprived all other living things of their opportunity to grow and prosper. This is the reason why the trees and plants have withered... or stopped growing altogether!]

[And, an elixir that can have such powerful ability is certain to be a heavenly treasure... perhaps even one of the nine great herbal medicines!]

[It has to be!]

Chu Yang thought this, and his heart could no longer be stopped from pounding loudly.

He looked all around in the surrounding areas. He spotted lush trees and dense vegetation beyond the large radius of several hundred kilometers.

The range of this elixir’s effect clearly exceeded the range of the Jade Snow Spirit Ginseng.

In fact, its range was more than double of the Jade Snow Spirit Ginseng’s!

[Does that mean this elixir is better than the Jade Snow Spirit Ginseng?]

Chu Yang’s heart throbbed.

Tie Bu Tian saw that Chu Yang had suddenly stopped. So, he curiously asked, "Why aren’t you walking? Did you find it?"

"No." Chu Yang calmed himself down, and began to walk forward. His target was obviously that bottom part of the Chun Yang Peak.

Chu Yang suddenly burst into laughter once he had approached it. He then spoke, "Just look at how precisely I’ve cut this d*ck from the middle... this bottom end is just... tut-tut, it would’ve been rendered unusable if it were a person’s d*ck. Those mother*king and pathetic eunuchs in the palace have no urge or impulse down there... But, at least their d*cks aren’t chopped-off from the middle. However, this one can’t perform any function, and is basically as good as dead..."

Tie Bu Tian suddenly flew into a rage. [You have come here to find an elixir or talk dirty like a hoodlum?]

The two shadows didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as they watched Minister Chu blatantly spout such utter nonsense; and that too in a haughty manner. They felt helpless and frustrated in their hearts; [he’s fearless because he doesn’t know the truth! This guy wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous if he knew that His Majesty is a woman in reality...]

[He is simply indecent.]

Minister Chu laughed heartily, and finally arrived before the Chun Yang Peak. It looked even more magnificent, imposing and lofty up-close. Chu Yang gently stroked and stroked that chopped-off section of the peak with a smile on his face. He then sighed with emotion and said, "I’m sorry I wasn’t caring enough and chopped you off."

Tie Bu Tian’s complexion turned dark. He immediately turned around. Then, he took a deep breath to calm his anger. He surprisingly realized that his mind had sobered up after he had taken a deep breath. He couldn’t help but point this out, "I’ve never climbed mountains before, but I’ve have heard that it is very difficult to breathe at high altitudes... especially at the summit of tall mountains. Shouldn’t it be difficult to breathe on this mountain too? But, I have yet to experience any breathing difficulty here. What’s going on? Is it because there’s an elixir here?"

The two shadows were baffled by this. Their faces immediately revealed a look of shock at this realization.

[Indeed, Tie Bu Tian’s comment makes logical sense. We haven’t faced any breathing difficulties yet. All of us have been neglecting this point since we have come up here.]

[It seems like there’s an extraordinary treasure hidden in this mountain peak...]

Sword Point began to tremble even more intensely. It was constantly pointing towards the middle spot of the chopped off Chun Yang Peak.

Chu Yang took a deep breath, and jumped up. A weary voice suddenly spoke in his consciousness, "Dig from either side... then, go obliquely down for 90 feet..."

Chu Yang was startled, "Sword Spirit? Where were you all this time? I called you several times, but you didn’t give the slightest of responses."

The Sword Spirit asked in a feeble voice, "First you tell me what happened back then... you went totally berserk. Those people were close to chopping you into pieces, and you had fallen unconscious. You would’ve died if I hadn’t used my powers to protect you. Unfortunately, the spiritual power I had been accumulating for such a long time got exhausted in saving you, and I ended up falling into a deep sleep..."

"Eh... so that’s what happened back then..." Chu Yang felt somewhat embarrassed. He recalled what all things happened that night. Even he himself felt strange as to why he had gone berserk, and then faced the mass attack head-on instead of dodging...

"I fortunately had a narrow escape. I have absorbed the power of the Mysterious Jade Ice Paste in the last few days. That has restored me a little bit; else, it would’ve been impossible for me to wake up." Sword Spirit said, "You make the best use of time, and get that elixir. I’m off to take rest now..."

"Wait. Slow down. What treasure is there inside this? You know that, right?" Chu Yang asked.

"What sort of treasure do you expect to find inside a peak that is named Chun Yang?" The Sword Spirit snapped and said, "You must know that there must be some reason why this naturally formed structure got this name of all the names that exist between the heaven and earth!"

He disappeared without a trace after he spoke that.

Chu Yang’s belly was full of queries, but the Sword Spirit had already vanished. He touched his nose, and jumped down from the chopped mountain peak. He stood to the side of Chun Yang Peak and slashed obliquely with the Nine Tribulations Sword.

Tie Bu Tian stared blankly as the bluish-green sword in Chu Yang’s hand cut through the stone as if it was cutting through butter. His sword would pierce into the stone to its hilt each time. Tie Bu Tian’s eyes were full of shock.

Chu Yang cut out a big square-shaped stone after a while, and placed it on the side. Then, another one and so on...

The two shadows stepped forward to lend him a hand like before. They were sure that Chu Yang had found the treasure’s location.

However, there wasn’t the slightest trace of greed in their hearts. Their minds had a pure thought instead; [we must help him in taking out this treasure intact.]

Chu Yang had given them Vitality Spring Water for free, and had done them a big favor in doing so. This kindness was enough to make these two his followers and supporters forever. They wouldn’t ask him for a share in this profit. How could they possibly ask for something like that? Besides, this was something that Chu Yang had discovered on his own merit. Moreover, he was doing all digging by himself. They couldn’t possibly demand a share for merely moving the stones, could they? They could never be so cheap.

Chu Yang had already dug down for 60 feet. A big tunnel had already appeared on the floor.

Chu Yang inserted the Sword Point once again into the stone. However, he felt a subtle heat travel-up the Sword Point this time. It travelled along the Sword Edge, and through the hilt, before it entered into his palm. His exhaustion subsided in an instant. It seemed as if he had soaked his body in hot springs. His entire body suddenly felt completely relaxed and comfortable. And, he didn’t even know how that happened...