Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  “None survives?” Qin Yu’s eyes flash with fierceness. “This Immortal Emperor Ni Yang is toying with us.”

  This Road of Death appears to be certain death, but Immortal Emperor Ni Yang said in the beginning that one out of 10 would probably survive so everybody saw a glimmer of hope because they thought that he would let at least one individual live to obtain the treasure.

  However, judging from what he just said, there is probably no hope at all.

  “If all of you die and nobody obtains the real treasure of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, my 9 jade swords will fly out of the mansion again and scatter until others later use them to enter the mansion to get my treasure.” When Immortal Emperor Ni Yang says these words, there is a tinge of amusement in his voice.

  But Qin Yu, Dame Yan Ji, Yan Mo, Old Taoist Gan Xu, Huo Can and the others do not find them funny. Their hearts freeze instead.

  It is possible that all of those who set foot in the Road of Death will die.

  “The long and winding lanes are already gone. It’s useless to regret your decisions now. Ha-ha … as soon as you enter the Road of Death, your life and death will be under Heaven’s control. Take care of yourselves, juniors. Good luck!” Immortal Emperor Ni Yang laughs out loud complacently. It seems he is very excited because he has succeeded in tricking everybody.

  Qin Yu, Dame Yan Ji, Old Taoist Gan Xu and the others have an unsightly expression.

  They are all on the bank of the river and have not set foot in the Road of Death yet. After all, those heavenly flames and thunderbolts are a bit too dense.

  “As soon as I enter the Road of Death, my life and death will be under Heaven’s control.” Qin Yu shakes his head then immediately set foot in the Road of Death. “There’s already no way back!”

  However, right at the moment he steps on the Road of Death --

  He feels as if his whole body is pressed down by a great mountain. The gravity is so great that his strong body kneels down on the ground in the blink of an eye. All of his bones immediately give off cracking noises. He props his 2 hands on the ground right away, blue veins popping out of his forehead.

  “So heavy!” Now Qin Yu does not even dare to breathe, afraid that as soon as he breathes, his power will decrease, causing his whole body to be pressed flat to the ground.

  “That Immortal Emperor Ni Yang unexpectedly wasn’t kidding when saying so.” In his mind, Qin Yu recalls that sentence said by Immortal Emperor Ni Yang -- “Juniors, don’t think you can rely on high speeds to get through. When you set foot in the Road of Death, you’ll find it hard to step as if your bodies are being pressed down by a great mountain. Don’t think that you’re powerful. The more powerful you are, the more pressure you are under. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the Jindan stage or the 12th tribulation stage, your movements will be as slow as a black tortoise on these bridges.”

  “Moving as slow as a black tortoise? Now I even really want to be able to move like a black tortoise.” He forces a smile inwardly, but his golden stellar energy is immediately channeled into every part of his body. Blasts of energy spurt from all of his muscles. He then stands up with extreme difficulty.

  One step, two steps!

  Qin Yu’s speed is extremely slow. He begins to sweat all over, not only because the gravity is too strong, but also because the temperature of this place is too high. Down below him is the river of lava and heavenly flames, which occasionally leap up.

  Hu!

  A purple flame shoots past Qin Yu in the front. The heat generated by it makes he feel as if his whole body is melting.

  “Heavenly flames, such powerful heavenly flames? This is too much. That Immortal Emperor Ni Yang isn’t completely fair. With my power, perhaps I can’t even withstand a heavenly flame. A heavenly flame is enough to reduce me to ashes.” Qin Yu is flustered and exasperated.

  However, he is moving slowly like a black tortoise.

  Luckily, the rushing speed of those heavenly flames is not too fast so Qin Yu still has time to decide, but even so his speed is even slower. It is no use being able to detect the flames when they are coming at him if he is not fast enough to avoid them.

  Boom!

  A thunderbolt strikes down right in front of Qin Yu, almost hitting him. He feels his whole back break into a cold sweat in the blink of an eye. But the cold sweat is instantly evaporated by the terrifying temperature above the Road of Death.

  This thunderbolt reminds Qin Yu that, not only are the heavenly flames terrifying, even the thunderbolts can kill him with ease too.

  This river of heavenly flames and lava is not too wide, being less than 100 m. This means the Road of Death connecting the banks of the river is also less than 100 m long. This apparently sounds very short, but in fact the Road of Death looks both narrow and long.

  To someone who can only move as slowly as a black tortoise at the moment like Qin Yu, this distance of less than 100 m is really too long, especially long.

  “That’s Huo Can.” While paying attention to the heavenly flames and thunderbolts in his surroundings and moving strenuously and slowly, all of a sudden Qin Yu unexpectedly catches sight of a vague Road of Death in the distance with the corners of his eyes. Because this river of heavenly flames and lava is extremely hot, there is a thick red mist above it.

  That red mist is floating above the river at the same height as that of the Road of Death. At the moment, through thin areas of the red mist, Qin Yu sees a similar Road of Death in the distance with Huo Can on it.

  Despite being much more powerful than Qin Yu, Huo Can is still moving as slowly as a black tortoise.

  “Ah!” Qin Yu’s face changes color. He suddenly sees 3 heavenly flames leap into the sky, rushing towards Huo Can’s location. Even though Huo Can has noticed these 3 heavenly flames and their speed cannot be considered fast, at the moment he can only move like a black tortoise.

  The 3 heavenly flames occur simultaneously both in front of and behind Huo Can so he will die if he takes a step forwards. The same goes for taking a step backwards.

  A furious roar of unwillingness is heard.

  The heavenly flames blaze on Huo Can’s body. In just a while, Huo Can, who has always wanted to seek revenge for his big brother, has been completely reduced to ashes on the Road of Death by the heavenly flames.

  “Huo Can is already dead.” Qin Yu’s heart gets a shock.

  Despite being much more powerful than Qin Yu is, Huo Can was simply unable to avoid the heavenly flames, and especially so when 3 heavenly flames came at him simultaneously. After all, the gravitational pull on his body was too strong so it was nearly impossible for him to move.

  Therefore … he had no choice but to unwillingly watch himself get burnt to death just like that.

  When Qin Yu is in a state of shock because of Huo Can’s death and is paying attention to his death, dangers are already coming at him simultaneously.

  2 flames have spurted into the air obliquely from the river of heavenly flames and lava in an almost parallel fashion. They happen to be shooting at Qin Yu’s back. Judging from their paths of travel, it does not matter if Qin Yu takes a step forwards or backwards, he will be hit by the flames.

  “Even Huo Can is already dead. Be careful, be careful.” Qin Yu is even more nervous in his heart.

  Be careful.

  He must be careful. Whether when thunderbolts strike down or when heavenly flames attack, he must be careful and try his best to grab any chance. At the moment the heavenly flames are shooting up obliquely. Given Qin Yu’s tortoise-like speed, it is already too late for him to dodge them.

  Suddenly --

  Wind sounds are heard. Qin Yu’s face changes color. Almost like a conditioned reflex, he gives up on resisting that terrifying gravity. His whole body is immediately pressed flat to the ground by that extremely frightening gravity. The speed at which he is pressed down is shockingly fast, as if a huge hammer has been smashed down on his body.

  Hu!

  The 2 heavenly fla
mes fly past above Qin Yu’s body with just a clearance of 3 to 4 cun. As he looks at those flames which almost took his life with wide-open eyes, cold sweat comes out from the tip of his nose but is vaporized instantly by the high temperature.

  Qin Yu has escaped by a hair’s breadth. Luckily his reaction at the last moment was fast. Even though the terrifying gravity restrains his movements, it saved him at that one moment just now. Because the gravity is too strong, as soon as he stopped resisting it, his entire body was pressed flat to the ground frighteningly fast.

  “I’ve gone just 7 or 8 m so far.” On the Road of Death, Qin Yu neutralizes the terrifying gravitational pull on his head with difficulty and raises it. He looks at the remainder of the road in front of him, which always feels so long to him. Just when he clenches his teeth and agitates the energy inside his body again --

  The corners of his eyes discover that a thunderbolt is striking down at him terrifyingly fast from the sky!

  When he was standing, he could rely on the frightening gravity to lie down like a flash, but now that he is lying, can he still dodge extremely fast?

  Chapter 16: Who Dies? Who Survives?

  That thunderbolt strikes down straight like a sharp arrow but Qin Yu basically cannot move or dodge because he is subject to the terrifying gravity. Based on his visual estimation at that moment, this thunderbolt is roughly striking down at his head.

  Bang!

  Qin Yu feels a shock wave. He stares at a place just 3 cm away from his head.

  “So dangerous, I was nearly killed.” He is lying prone on the ground of the Road of Death and just now that thunderbolt unexpectedly hit a place between his head and his right arm. The Road of Death is made of some unknown material. Even though its surface has been hit by lightning, it does not seem to be damaged at all.

  “I almost forgot that the thunderbolts of this Road of Death aren’t heavenly tribulation thunderbolts. Heavenly tribulation thunderbolts strike down on the tribulation-taker and are unavoidable. But this Road of Death’s thunderbolts strike down aimlessly and don’t have large areas of effect either.” Qin Yu immediately sees where his chance of surviving lies.

  The material of the Road of Death is special. When a thunderbolt strikes down, it only leaves a small mark on the Road of Death like a knife. Moreover, the Road of Death is not conductive so when its surface is hit by lightning, the electricity does not flow in all directions and harm someone on the Road of Death.

  Besides, when a thunderbolt strikes down, its area of effect is only several cm in diameter.

  But … even though the area of affect is small, the thunderbolts complement the heavenly flames, one coming down from the sky and one leaping up from down below. Even worse, there are too many of them. An individual on the Road of Death is affected by a terrifying gravity so they can only advance slowly like a black tortoise and it takes them a very long time to go through the Road of Death. If they are hit by the lightning or burnt by the heavenly flame, they will undoubtedly die.

  Qin Yu cautiously unleashes his internal energy and physical strength to resist the frightening gravity. His attention is totally focused on the heavenly flames and thunderbolts around him. His ears are also listening carefully to decide if there are any heavenly flames attacking sneakily from behind.

  Step by step, Qin Yu slowly goes forwards like a black tortoise with caution on the brink of death under the joint attack of the heavenly flames and thunderbolts.

  ……

  Not only Qin Yu, even the others who have entered the Road of Death are also feeling very nervous at the moment. None of them dares to split their concentration at all. Among everybody, the one who is calmest while walking the Road of Death must be Yan Mo.

  His expression is ice-cold, his eyes glittering. He is paying attention to everything around him.

  “I must get through no matter what.” There is a tinge of a blood-red light at the bottoms of his eyes. As a member of the dragon clan, he naturally knew how powerful his clan was, but he still defected from it. Someone haughty like him was not willing to listen to anybody else’s orders.

  Even if he would not succeed, he would mature!

  “Because the heavenly flames are powerful and attack suddenly from down below, they are very dangerous, especially the ones coming from behind. But their shooting-up speed is not fast. If they come from behind, I can figure out their locations based on the sounds caused by them alone. The thunderbolts are fast and powerful but their areas of effect are extremely small. As long as I’m careful, I won’t be struck to death by them.”

  Yan Mo advances strangely at a totally constant speed.

  A thunderbolt strikes down. The face of Yan Mo, who has been moving slowly all along, suddenly reddens. The energy inside his body is instantly activated to the utmost. He concentrates all of his power in his right arm and flings it abruptly. Naturally his body shakes: “The distance should be about 1 cm, which is safe.”

  That thunderbolt almost grazes his waist. There is only a distance of around 1 cm between them.

  As Yan Mo has often fought life-or-death battles, his calculating ability has already reached a shocking level.

  Even though the gravity is strong, it only makes him move exceptionally slow and is not unsupportable. Not only can he resist it, he can even go all out at the most crucial moments to exert a bit more power. Those small amounts of power that he does his utmost to muster can save his life.

  It is slightly easy to avoid the heavenly flames but the thunderbolts are a little more difficult.

  With absolutely no wavering in his ice-cold eyes, Yan Mo keeps advancing at a constant speed. He is like a slowly moving poisonous snake. By slightly dodging at dangerous moments, he has unexpectedly covered 20 m very safely. If this continues, he will be the one with the best chance of success. However --

  “No good.”

  Yan Mo’s face changes color. There is a thick red mist above the river of heavenly flames and lava at the same height as that of the Road of Death. At this moment, a large mass of the red mist unexpectedly floats to his position and enfolds his body, which worsens his view of the sky right away.

  “This cloud is simply too thick for me to see the thunderbolts in the distance. Though I can see them when they have come close, it’ll be too late for me to avoid them by then.” Yan Mo is still exceedingly cool-headed. What can he do when there is mist floating above his head?

  Blame Heaven?

  It is better to accept everything and try to think of a good solution for the current situation.

  “I can only rely on my luck.” Yan Mo looks around carefully. The look in his eyes seems able to see through the red mist. He then goes forwards cautiously just like that. As time passes, he gradually walks towards the outside of the red mist.

  Various thunderbolts strike down, some of which strike in his vicinity and one of which even nearly scrapes a corner of his eye.

  “I’ve finally come out.”

  When Yan Mo gets out of the red mist, he becomes a bit more relaxed in his heart. But at this moment, he unexpectedly discovers another Road of Death 100 m away from him on his right hand side with the corners of his eyes. There is also someone on that Road of Death -- Azure Dragon Yan Lang.

  “It’s Yan Lang. He has also managed to go so far.” Yan Mo gives a faint smile then focuses his attention on the heavenly flames and thunderbolts in his surroundings. He has no spare energy to care about somebody else.

  “Ah!”

  An anguished cry is heard. Yan Mo’s face changes color. He slightly takes a look towards the right.

  Yan Lang, who just now was still on that Road of Death, has already disappeared. That Road of Death is now unexpectedly deserted with not a soul to be seen on it.

  “Yan Lang is already dead!” Yan Mo’s heart gets a shock.

  He has an indescribable feeling. At that time in the Hallucinatory Magic Land, even though he had become obsessed, he still got into action to help Yan Lang. It was because of his help
that Yan Lang survived. But who would have thought Yan Lang would die at this moment on a Road of Death?

  Yan Mo’s eyes flash with a cold light. His face seems to be covered in a layer of frost. He continues advancing.

  “Heavenly flame on the left.” Yan Mo’s ears slightly move. His body relaxes in the blink of an eye and gives up on resisting the gravity, which immediately presses his body flat to the ground. A heavenly flame then shoots over his body from the left.

  When he stands up, he unexpectedly discovers another Road of Death in the distance on his left hand side with a familiar person on it -- Old Taoist Gan Xu.

  It looks like Old Taoist Gan Xu has already gone half the distance and is slightly ahead of Yan Mo.

  Right at this moment, 6 or 7 thunderbolts unexpectedly strike down towards Yan Mo’s immediate vicinity. Some of them shoot down in front of him, some behind him and some even at his position …