Chapter 513 - Rules and Regulations
Brilliant light emitted from the Spiritual Treasure Mountain. It was as if a light screen that shrouded the entire mountain range.
The gaze of Mu Chen and his group fixed on the sky of the Spiritual Treasure Mountain. As the light gathered, there was w light figure that slowly appeared.
There’s still people living in the Spiritual Treasure Mountain?
Shock rose in the heart of Mu Chen and his group. Could it be that even after all these years, there is someone still alive from the Divine Wood Palace?
Under the nervous gaze of Mu Chen and his group, the light became clearer in the sky, before turning into figure of light. That light figure seemed to be an old man as he stood on the sky. He said nothing, which caused the originally bustling Spiritual Treasure Mountain to be quiet.
No one dared to speak a word. Those that were sent flying earlier on wiped the traces of blood from the corner of their lips as they looked at that light figure in astonishment. Although they did not know who the light figure was, with the Divine Wood Palace’s strength, what they left behind, even casually, was not something that they could deal with.
Spiritual Energy surged in the surroundings of Mu Chen, Luo Li, Wen Qingxuan and their group as their eyes beacme filled with alertness. The instant something went wrong, they would instantly retreat.
“No one is allowed to enter the important place of the Spiritual Mountain. Everything will go by the rules and regulations of the Divine Wood Palace.” Just when Mu Chen and his group raised their guards, the elderly light figure spoke. There wasn’t any emotions in his voice, which made it sound especially empty. But just that alone could make one’s hair stand on end.
“It doesn’t seem to be a living person.” Hearing that voice, Mu Chen’s expression slightly changed as he gazed towards the elderly man. He realised that the latter did not wear any expression on his face, his eyes were especially empty, without any human emotion.
“Perhaps this is a Spiritual Clone left behind by a certain formidable figure of the Divine Wood Palace.” Luo Li said softly.
Wen Qingxuan stealthy breathed out in ease. It was fine as long as that was not the original body of that old demon. Otherwise, they would only flee for their lives.
“However, with him obstructing our path, there’s no way for us to make our way past him.” Xu Hung said softly from the side. He clearly saw the scene of those unlucky fellows earlier. Furthermore, there was still some people being trapped. Who knows what awaits them?
“Didn’t he say that everything will follow the rules and regulations of the Spiritual Treasure Mountain?” Mu Chen said softly as his eyes flickered.
“What’s the rules and regulation?” Luo Li and Wen Qingxuan were a little blank and at a loss.
Mu Chen shook his head as his gaze fixed onto that light figure.
“There are a total of Nine Levels in the Spiritual Treasure Mountain. The higher the level, the treasure awaits would be more precious. Every single Spiritual Treasure has a puppet guarding it. Only by defeating the puppet, can one leave with the Spiritual Treasure. Those that fail the challenge will be trapped for half a year as punishment for not working hard in their cultivation and yet, biting off more than what he or she can chew.” Just when everyone was in doubt, that light figure spoke.
“So, those are the rules.”
Mu Chen and his group then understood. But then shortly after, they were startled by the punishment. Trapped for half a year? If that happens, then they would not be able to participate in the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament that would continue to occur.
“It seems like the rules are meant to encourage the disciples of the Divine Wood Palace to cultivate. Perhaps they have never imagined that the Divine Wood Palace would fall into such a situation. None of us here is a disciple of the Divine Wood Palace,” said Wen Qingxuan.
“That means that those fellows have to defeat the puppet guarding the Spiritual Treasures. If they win, they would be able to obtain a treasure from the stone platform, but if they lose…” Mu Chen grinned. Luckily, he did not rashly take action earlier. Otherwise, they might've been trapped to battle the puppet, since it was an extremely dangerous matter for them.
They, themselves, had no idea how powerful the puppets guarding the Spiritual Treasures were.
“Let’s take a look and see, then.” Mu Chen said solemnly. If the punishment was that heavy and the strength of those puppets were extremely fearsome, then he would have to give up on the Nine Suns Divine Lingzhi, no matter how unwilling he was, since he had no time to be trapped in this place for six months.
Wen Qingxuan and the rest nodded in agreement. Right now, they could only wait and see.
As Mu Chen and his group were discussing, light abruptly surged from the layers on the stone platform. Those that had charged onto the platform all experienced a light figure shooting from the ground. After a brief moment later, the light dissipated and there were puppets being clearly seen by everyone.
The puppets were black in colour, as if they were forged from black metal. There were also profound runes that covered their bodies, flickering with faint light. Vaguely, there were powerful ripples that were slowly being emitted from them.
The eyes of Mu Chen and his group were fixed on those black puppets. However, the ripples around those puppets were especially veiled. Henceforth, they could not gauge the strength of those puppets. Furthermore, those puppets were not identical. Those puppets that were located on the higher layers were emitting an even more powerful pressure from them.
Mu Chen gave a glance. The Spiritual Treasure Mountain had nine levels and no one intruded into the eighth and ninth level. Hence, no puppets appeared on them. Two people had charged onto the seventh layer and beneath the lower levels, there were more puppets, since there were more people that intruded those levels.
Within the Spiritual Treasure Mountain, those that were trapped on the stone platform were somewhat panicked when they heard the words of that light figure from before. If they failed their challenge, they would have to be trapped in this place for half a year? This kind of price was too heavy, since the Great Spiritual Academy Tournament would have ended by then!
“I refuse to believe that the puppets here are that powerful! After so many years have passed, I bet that their strength has diminished!”
Perhaps the consequences of failure were too serious. One of the intruders that entered the fifth level barked with his face paled as he took a step forward. A majestic amount of Spiritual Energy swept out. The thickness of the Spiritual Energy had already reached the level of Heavenly Completion Stage Late Phase and he was only a step away from Human Body Disaster.
The sole of his foot stepped forward as his figure swept out, throwing a palm at the same time. His scarlet-red Spiritual Energy was like a flame as he attacked the black and gold puppet.
Scarlet Spiritual Energy surged out and the light in the empty eyes of the puppet seemed to have condensed. In the next instant, it took a step forward. It did not try to dodge as it's black metal palm was thrown out similarly and the puppet’s attack clashed with that person’s.
Bang!
A huge collusion solemnly rang out as the light exploded. Thereafter, everyone could see the intruder’s body flew out with fresh blood spewing from his mouth as he heavily fell on the ground with his face paled.
Everyone was in silence.
Quite a number of people had astonishment in their eyes. Just one move was all it took to defeat the intruder. Clearly, the strength of that puppet had reached Human Body Disaster, but that was only just the fifth level!
“Challenge failed, imprisoned for half a year.”
The elder’s voice resounded in the sky and with a sweep of his hand, shackles of light shot out and tied themselves onto the intruder’s body. Thereafter, without caring for his miserable shrieks, the ground cracked open, bit by bit, as his body fell into the hole. In the next instant, the ground was restored to its original appearance and the shrieking was silenced.
Countless people had their faces paled, especially those that had already intruded.
“I don’t want to challenge anymore!”
Some people could not stand the punishment as they shouted with their faces paled. Shortly after, they turned around and ran.
“Escaping before the battle, judged as challenge failure. Six months added onto the imprisonment time.” The light figure lightly spoke. Shortly after, he made a wave with his hand as countless shackles of light swept out and tied onto those that tried to escape and were swallowed by the mountain.
With that, all those that were trembling from fear that were originally thinking of escaping all held their steps. Escaping before the battle added another six months to the imprisonment time, that would be an entire year of being imprisoned in this land with no living being. Wouldn’t that be harder to bear than dying?
“Let's risk it all!”
They could not retreat and only fight for their lives. All these people still had some unyielding spirit in them.
Boom! Boom!
Powerful Spiritual Energy exploded from them and on the stone platform, there were human figures that charged towards those cold puppets and huge battles broke out.
There were Spiritual Energy ripples that exploded on the stone platform, along with astonishing attacks that were released without any restraint.
In less then ten minutes, there was a continuous amount of people that failed their challenge. Those that failed would, without a doubt, be dragged into the mountain and imprisoned. The shrieks coming from them were extremely sharp. However, not everyone failed their challenge. There were those that were lucky and were spared from it, since they did not intrude onto the higher levels. Thus, the puppets that they encountered weren’t too powerful. After a round of bitter battles, they actually managed to win the battle.
When they obtained their victory, the light screen that shrouded them slowly disappeared.
As the light screen disappeared, there were people that cried from being too emotional. Under their panic, they had actually forgotten about their reward and escaped, no longer daring to approach any closer.
Mu Chen did not pay too much attention on the battles of those levels. His attention was focused on the seventh level, since there were two people that intruded onto that level. Out of those two, one had undergone his Human Body Disaster. However, his strength had only managed to exchange several moves with the puppet before being defeated.
The strength of the other person was slightly more powerful, since he had the strength of Spiritual Energy Disaster. With his strength, he could be considered as an elite that could become the Captain of a team.
However, his strength at Spiritual Energy Disaster did not get him too much advantage from the puppet. The puppet possessed plenty of fighting experience and also knew a powerful Deity Tier Spiritual Art. The puppet’s powerful attack had thoroughly suppressed that Spiritual Energy Disaster expert.
That person had undergone a miserable fight.
That fight lasted for half an hour, before he had exhausted all of his Spiritual Energy. Despite that, he still could not emerge victorious. Fortunately, when his Spiritual Energy was thoroughly exhausted and he could no longer move, that puppet had also suffered serious damage with cracks on its chest. As it walked, it was swaying left and right, as if it was about to shatter.
“A draw. As you are unable to win, you won’t be entitled to your reward. However, you have avoided your imprisonment.”
Up in the sky, that elder faintly said as he watched the scene.
Hearing the judgement, that person felt relieved. He dragged his body that was filled with wounds and exhausted Spiritual Energy as he swayingly flew in the air before he was helped by his teammates.
When the battle ended, nearly all of the battles on the Spiritual Treasure Mountain had also ended. More than half of those that had intruded were dragged into the mountain and imprisoned.
Outside the Spiritual Treasure Mountain, there was silence. All those teams whose eyes were filled with greed earlier on were drenched in cold sweat as they patted their chests. It was fortunate that they were a step slower. Otherwise, who knows whether they would end up being imprisoned as well.
Mu Chen also fell into silence. The puppet on the seventh level could cause a Spiritual Energy Disaster expert to be in such a state. If he wanted the Nine Suns Divine Lingzhi, he would have to challenge the ninth level.
Looking at this scene, should he give it a try or should he escape?
If he had succeeded the challenge, he would be able to obtain the Nine Suns Divine Lingzhi. However, if he failed, he would be imprisoned.
Just what should he do?