Why did they not go against the river’s flow and enter, heading towards the source of the underground river? That’s simple—they could not!
Once they dived into the underground river, they would soon encounter an invisible wall, which stopped them from continuing to advance—this was discovered by several powerful warriors of Spiritual Ocean Tier. Because the danger level was unknown, it was naturally impossible to allow martial artists of Gushing Spring Tier or weaker to take the risk.
In Rain Country, Gushing Spring Tier was the average standard while Spiritual Ocean Tier were the elites; there were really too few martial artists who have managed to break through to Spiritual Pedestal Tier. There were only such martial artists within the Imperial Family, the Eight Great Clans and Hu Yang Academy. As the Heaven’s Medicine Pavilion was considered a foreign party, it was not included.
There were pitifully few powerful warriors of Spiritual Pedestal Tier in the various great parties. They were all in seclusion, trying to break through to Flower Blossom Tier in order to surpass the limitations of age, and become the true elite of the elites. Thus, even if there were indeed Spiritual Tools discovered here, the few warriors of Spiritual Pedestal Tier were still not attracted over.
Unless there would appear a proof that there were also high-grade cultivation techniques, divine medicines, or something of the sort here. In that case, the powerful warriors of Spiritual Pedestal Tier would definitely be unable to still remain calm and nonchalant.
Once Ling Han understood the inner workings of the matter, he went with the two girls to the river bank. They were now also able to use the fishing net to fish for Spiritual Tools, but it was not allowed to directly use their hands—one could do it, but one would have to go to the spot furthest downstream first.
After all, once these Spirit Tools sensed the presence of humans, they would automatically activate and fly off. Thus, this could only be attempted as the last resort.
The situation here was a bit funny. One after another, elites of Gushing Spring Tier and above, as if they were fishermen, stretched out fishing nets, waiting for the Spiritual Tools to float past and enter into their nets, and trying to haul them in.
“Another one’s here!” Someone suddenly called out. From upstream, a saber floated on its way downstream.
Chapter 120
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
How could such a heavy saber float so easily on the water’s surface?
This was the mystical nature of Spiritual Tools. Some would be as heavy as a mountain, yet some would be lighter than a feather. It all depended on the kind of martial intent engraved in the Spiritual Tool.
At first, Ling Han did not pay too much attention to it. But when his gaze swept over the floating saber and he saw the symbol engraved on the saber’s hilt, his expression changed instantly, and his entire body began trembling.
“What is it?” Liu Yu Tong and Li Si Chan both asked at the same time, and when they saw that the other had said the exact same thing, they both gave a humph. Their eyes followed Ling Han’s gaze but when they discovered there was a picture of a naked girl carved onto the saber’s hilt, they both felt embarrassed, and could not hold themselves back from grumbling.
Men were all indeed lecherous. Even Ling Han was no exception to this.
Ling Han did not answer. He only kept staring at that saber, as if he had seen something incredible on it.
In his last life, he had in total taken four disciples. Two of them learnt the art of alchemy from him, while the other two studied martial arts from him. Of the two that studied martial arts from him, one was named Chen Rui Jing, while the other was named Jiang Yue Feng. Chen Rui Jing was a more serious and mature character, while Jiang Yue Feng was an extremely lively character, and a self-proclaimed romantic.
Jiang Yue Feng had a very weird habit. He liked to carve the picture of a naked girl on his weapons, and his expertise was in saber techniques.
Was this a weapon that had once been used by Jiang Yue Feng?
Though Ling Han had never seen this saber before, there definitely were not that many people who would carve a naked girl on their saber. Moreover, they’d have to at least be in Deity Transformation Tier, so the possibility of another person was even lower. Ling Han could practically confirm that the original owner of this saber must be his crazy disciple.
Most importantly, Ling Han recognized Jiang Yue Feng’s style of drawing, so there could definitely be no mistake.
After ten thousand years, he naturally knew that his four disciples had long died of old age. Thus, he did not think too much about them even after his rebirth. After all, life and death, and age and illness, were all natural ways of the world.
But a weapon that had once been used by his disciple actually floated out on the waters of an underground river, and that was even along with other Spiritual Tools. This caused innumerable suspicions and doubts to arise within Ling Han’s mind.
Why?
Why was Jiang Yue Feng’s weapon here?
Ling Han’s eyes focused on the saber. This saber was indeed very heavily damaged. There were nicks all over the saber’s hilt, and the saber’s blade was broken. However, because the materials used to forge the saber were indeed excellent, even after ten thousand years, the blade still remained as bright as water, without any signs of rust at all.
Based on what he saw, he could deduce that Jiang Yue Feng must have experienced a huge battle, and even his weapon was broken from it. As for Jiang Yue Feng, a person who loved his weapons as if they were his very life, even if his saber was heavily damaged, he would still retrieve it to be carefully buried. Yet it now actually appeared floating on the waters of this underground river….
A foreboding feeling suddenly arose in Ling Han’s heart.
Could it be that something unexpected had happened to Jiang Yue Feng?
But one has to understand, in his last life, not just him, even his four disciples who had followed him, the greatest alchemist in history, were all pill bottles, advancing through the ranks with the support of alchemical medicines. As a result, their power had risen extremely quickly.
At that time, though Jiang Yue Feng had yet to break through to Heaven Tier, he had already reached Deity Transformation Tier. If he was given another one or two hundred years, it was definitely no issue for him to break through to Heaven Tier.
Moreover, he had altogether four disciples!
If Jiang Yue Feng had encountered a life-and-death calamity, how could it be possible that the other three would just stand by and watch? Could it be that it was a problem that could not be solved even with the combined forces of all four of his disciples?
What had actually happened?
A powerful urge rose suddenly within Ling Han. He wanted to advance to the source of this underground river to see if he could find some clues about what had happened.
“It’s mine!”
“It’s mine!”
All of them acted immediately. After all, this saber was heavily damaged, so it was likely that the spirit within had already deteriorated. It no longer had visible might, and was easily captured by the fishing net. Thus, everyone began fighting over this saber.
That was a Spiritual Tool. Even if it was a damaged one, it had extremely high value for research. If they managed to decipher even only one of the martial intent engravings on it, it would definitely allow them to drastically strengthen themselves.
Ling Han’s gaze grew cold, and he declared, “This saber is mine!”
All of them were at first stunned, before breaking out into raucous laughter. Is this real? A little brat in Element Gathering Tier actually dared to fight over the saber with elites of Gushing Spring Tier like themselves! But though they laughed, they immediately came to blows. There were no rules in this place. The Spiritual Tool would belong to whoever managed to get their hands on it.
With a long whistle, Ling Han barged into the midst of the ongoing battle.
“How d
are you!” Those elites of Gushing Spring Tier raged. A mere martial artist in Element Gathering Tier also dared to fight over the saber with them?
The hierarchy of martial arts was extremely strict, just like the hierarchy of alchemists. When a Yellow Grade low level alchemist met with a Yellow Grade mid level alchemist, the former would have to pay his salutations politely, behaving like a junior. Similarly, Element Gathering Tier martial artists would have to behave like obedient grandsons in front of Gushing Spring Tier martial artists. They didn’t even have the right to stand together with the latter, what more to fight with them.
“Get lost!” One of them stretched out a hand in a palm strike towards Ling Han.
Gushing Spring Tier martial artists could give form to their Origin Power, which increased the power of their attacks by multiple folds. Thus, even if he had not used his full power in this attack, this blow was still an extremely terrifying thing for someone of Ling Han’s current level.
“Ling Han!” Liu Yu Tong gasped in shock, and quickly leaped forwards, wanting to save Ling Han from this blow. Yet she had just barely moved when Liu Bu Cheng intercepted her and held firm onto her shoulder, stopping her advance by force.
Ninth layer of Gushing Spring Tier against the first layer of Gushing Spring Tier, this would doubtlessly be a one-sided battle.
Yet Ling Han only focused on that saber, and with all his might, circulated the Indestructible Heaven Scroll. Using the Exiting Cloud Steps, he was as quick as lightning.
“Hu!”
That elite of Gushing Spring Tier did not think that Ling Han would have such a terrifying burst of speed, and carelessly did not use his full power, which allowed Ling Han to dodge the attack and break through.
The others were all embroiled in a fierce battle with each other, and similarly did not take a little junior of Element Gathering Tier seriously, which allowed Ling Han to take advantage of the gap and advance nearer and nearer to the saber.
“How dare you!” These people were at first stunned, before they all became furious, and all shot out palm strikes towards Ling Han.
This was incredible. They were all high layer Gushing Spring Tier elites, and the weakest among them was already in the seventh layer. Now that they had all attacked Ling Han at the same time, the momentum created was like a landslide and tsunami altogether, extremely terrifying in might.
“Peng,” Ling Han was unsurprisingly flung away, but what struck the others speechless was that this guy actually grabbed the saber in passing, and wrapped his arms around it.
“No matter, it’s just a little junior. Let us first decide who’s the victor among us, then decide who this saber belongs to!” One of the elites of Gushing Spring Tier declared.
“Nonsense, what do you mean by comparing might? How fair is that? Then let me invite an Elder of my Clan to compare might with you, how about that? First come first served, it belongs to whoever hauls it in, this was agreed by everyone! Why is it now that we have to fight over it and the strongest wins? We are all merely in Gushing Spring Tier, even if the ownership of the saber is decided by power, it should not be us fighting!”
“Why not we do it this way then? Let us all draw lots, and it will belong to whoever draws a good lot.”
All of them argued loudly, yet did not see Ling Han’s body quiver once, and slowly he had sat upright.
All of them had very important backgrounds, thus even though they were engaged in a fierce battle over Spiritual Tools, none of them dared to make a killing move. And it was exactly because of this that Ling Han managed to have a chance to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth. But even so, because of so many simultaneous attacks from these elites, quite a number of his bones were broken, and there was also severe damage done to his internal organs, so he was very heavily injured.
Ordinarily, the current him could only be carried off to heal his injuries, and there was no way for him to leave his bed within at least ten plus days.
But there was a drop of Indestructible True Fluid within his body!
Successfully cultivating the Body of Dead Tree allowed him to congeal a single drop of Indestructible True Fluid, and the main purpose of the Indestructible True Fluid was to heal injuries. No matter how severely injured he was, as long as there was a single breath left in him, he could be healed.
This was the true terror of the Indestructible Heaven Scroll.
Chapter 121
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
Ling Han sent a mental command, and this drop of Indestructible True Fluid instantly dispersed. Like dew, it moistened every single part of his body.
His damaged internal organs, as well as his fractured bones were healing at a terrifying pace.
One has to understand—even with Ling Han’s talent, he had still spent ten thousand years’ time to comprehend the first level of cultivation techniques of the Indestructible Heaven Scroll. How could this single drop of Indestructible True Fluid that he had managed to congeal not be awesome?
It could practically revive a dead person, and allow new flesh to be grown on bones; it definitely could be claimed as the ultimate treasured medicine.
“Yi?” Someone finally discovered that Ling Han had managed to sit upright, and a shocked expression flashed over his face.
They were all very clear that none of them had made a killing move in the barrage of blows just now, but so many of them had all struck at the same time. Even if none of them made an attempt to kill, it should have been more than enough to cause serious injury to Ling Han—there was nothing to be done about it. Who asked this brat not to know what’s good for him? In a way, this also allowed him to learn a valuable lesson.
Yet the brat actually managed to so quickly get up. This was a big enough shock that their eyes were about to pop out from the astonishment!
How could this be?
Could it be that this brat was wearing some kind of treasured armor that could disperse part of the power behind any attacks that hit him? That should be the case. How could there be any other possibility?
“Brat, hand over the treasured saber. That is not something that you should wield!” A middle-aged man shouted.
Ling Han’s eyes suddenly snapped open. The Indestructible True Fluid had completely exercised its effects, allowing him to mostly heal his injuries. He did not answer the speaker, but rather inserted his divine sense into the treasured saber in his hands to activate the Spiritual Tool concealed within the saber.
…He was no idiot. He could heal his injuries once with the help of the Indestructible True Fluid, but there was no way he could heal them a second time. Since he dared to grab food from the tiger’s mouth, he would have to resuscitate this treasured saber. That way, what could a few Gushing Spring Tier martial artists do against him?
He was Jiang Yue Feng’s master, and the former’s martial arts were all taught by him. They were both of the same line of martial arts, so there was a high possibility that he could use the treasured tool left behind by Jiang Yue Feng.
This was a risk, but he could not consider too much about it anymore.
“How dare you ignore me, little junior?” The middle-aged man who had spoken previously instantly grew furious. All of the people here were the heirs of the Imperial Family or the Eight Great Clans, so all of them had extremely high pride. How could they tolerate a junior putting on airs in front of them?
He immediately acted. His Origin Power was given form, becoming a colossal palm which headed towards Ling Han in a grabbing motion.
“Li Yuan, you wish!” Immediately, someone else made a move to stop him. He was of course not trying to help Ling Han, but it was rather that he feared this Li Yuan would take advantage of this opportunity to grab the treasured saber.
“Bastard!” Li Yuan indeed had that kind of idea, and was enraged by this man’s move to stop him. He could not help but immediately come to blows with the person who had attempted to stop him.
“Brat, hand over the treasured saber!�
� Another person rushed over with the intention to grab the saber.
“It’s mine!”
“Mine!”
The battle royale had once again begun. All of them were fighting with each other, trying to get close to Ling Han. Capturing this brat would mean they would be able to obtain the treasured saber. As for Ling Han’s own power, they had all automatically ignored any threat he could pose to them. He was after all only a brat in the fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier.
“You all, have you had enough!” Ling Han suddenly stood. His eyes cast over the group, holding a gaze that trembled with power.
All of them experienced a shock. It was as if the young man standing in front of them was not a little martial artist of Element Gathering Tier, but an ultimate warrior even stronger than the Elders of their respective Clans. They all felt indescribably weak and minuscule in front of Ling Han.
But they immediately came back to themselves. Just a little brat, and he actually gave them such a feeling?
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 72