Chapter 344: Above the Top
Li Qiye spoke to the girls in a very serious manner: “Wait a bit. Then, we will jump down from here. Remember, when I say ‘jump’, you guys must use all of your strength to jump. The higher the better! We will repeat this three times, got it!?”
Li Qiye showed a solemn expression that was never-before-seen, taking the three by surprise. They finally managed to climb to the top of the World Tree — this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! But now, they were asked to jump down... This was too hard to believe.
“Why do we have to jump down?” Chen Baojiao couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
“Jump!” However, Li Qiye didn’t answer her and immediately jumped down. The girls were also dragged along. In just a split second, a blinding darkness encompassed their vision.
“Whoooooosh!” There was only the sound of wind assaulting their ears as they rapidly fell down at an incredible speed.
“Ahhh!” The three girls couldn’t help but scream. Even though cultivators were not afraid of heights, they were jumping down from the top of the World Tree. This was a height even greater than descending from the nine heavens, so how could they refrain from screaming in fear?
They were falling down at an extremely fast pace, but there was only darkness in front of their eyes. There was no World Tree nor was there an endless horizon, only pure pitch-black nothingness was present.
They kept on falling as if there was no end. The girls’ hearts were high-strung from anxiety.
Theoretically, with their cultivations, there would be no fear of falling to death even if they were to fall from a very high point.
However, the World Tree was of an unimaginable height. No one could say for certain whether they could survive a jump from the top of the World Tree.
Their descent kept on going and going as if there was no final destination. The initial screaming eventually turned into surprise, then amazement, before turning into complete silence.
They fell for what seemed like an eternity before the group felt their feet meet something. At this moment, they didn’t even have the time to feel relieved. Just a second later, an amazing force from the ground below propelled them upward.
The sound of wind came again as the four of them bounced up at an extreme speed.
After an unknown amount of time, their surroundings suddenly became bright as the World Tree appeared before them.
“Jump!” Amidst all this chaos, Li Qiye loudly roared. In this moment, he didn’t hold back as his blood energy soared in the form of a jumping Kun Peng; he borrowed this momentum to leap upward.
The three girls also channeled all of their energy into their most powerful jump.
“Bang—bang—bang!!” At the time when they jumped, explosions continuously rang out. Strange images emerged as three thousand worlds appeared right on top of them. At this moment, these worlds created a suppressing force and rendered them breathless!
Nevertheless, their jumps propelled them to a height dozens of feet higher than the peak of the World Tree.
However, they were suppressed by the three thousand worlds above so they fell down at a rapid speed.
The group repeatedly jumped three times. Each successive jump would bring them a few dozen feet higher. On the third jump, Li Qiye shouted: “One last time. The opportunity is within your grasp!”
Having said this, his Yin Yang Sea of Blood erupted as a blood energy drowned out everything.
The girls also used their most heaven-defying means to jump higher. If they were outside, then these jumps would reach millions of feet high, but at this moment, they could only manage to leap dozens of feet up.
“Ommm—” Li Qiye jumped the highest and he suddenly disappeared. Chen Baojiao and Li Shuangyan also disappeared. Chi Xiaodie was the weakest in the group so her jump was ten feet lower than Li Shuangyan’s. At that time, Chen Baojiao couldn’t continue pulling her any further; the powerful suppression from above pulled on Chi Xiaodie so Chen Baojiao had to let go.
At that instant, Chi Xiaodie couldn’t advance any further as her body started to fall down. She was quite aghast because she knew she had let go of the greatest opportunity in this world.
“Up you go!” In this delicate moment, a big hand suddenly grabbed her and pulled her up to escape from the suppression of the three thousand worlds.
The moment their feet touched the ground, everyone, including Li Qiye, were weak in the knees. They all sat down with their butts on the ground. Chi Xiaodie was still in a panicked state when she also sat right down.
After a while, they managed to calm down and found themselves standing on a sparkly surface that looked like floating scintillating jade!
Before them, there was no World Tree, no space, and no galaxy; there was only an ancient temple made of bronze.
Its size was quite modest, but its magnificent aura was as high as the nine heavens. It was the ruler of all things, the tyrant of the nine worlds. It commanded respect and fear from all!
It was casted entirely from bronze of an unknown era and had an azure glow with a complex ancient architecture.
The three girls were frozen in place since they didn’t expect a bronze temple to be on top of the World Tree. Keep in mind that just a few moments earlier, they were already standing at the peak!
To the inhabitants of this world, climbing to the top of the World Tree was an extremely arduous and difficult matter. Even the descendants of Immortal Emperor lineages would not necessarily be able to complete this feat. The three of them wouldn’t even dare to dream about it without Li Qiye’s Tetra-War Bronze Chariot.
While standing on top of the World Tree, anyone would think that it was already the highest location, a place with no higher destination. The truth was that when they looked up, there was nothing but emptiness.
They didn’t expect to exceed the top of the World Tree after jumping several times with a temple appearing before their very eyes.
“What is this place?” Chi Xiaodie asked in astonishment. Reaching the peak of the World Tree was a dream to her. If it wasn’t for Li Qiye, then she wouldn’t have been able to even come close to the tree, let alone reach the top.
However, today, she not only reached the top, but she arrived at an even higher place as she stood before this unknown temple.
“This is what Mei Suyao mentioned before; the greatest fortune was not the World Tree itself.” Li Shuangyan emotionally said. Her meticulous and shrewd mind recalled Mei Suyao’s words.
While looking at the bronze temple, Li Qiye couldn’t help but emotionally say: “World Temple — just like what the legend stated. No one had seen it before since the start of time, but the World Temple truly exists.”
“Is this place an even greater fortune than the World Tree?” Chi Xiaodie looked at this bronze temple and asked in surprise.
“Well, not necessarily.” Li Qiye answered: “This is up to each person’s luck. In theory, those who climb the World Tree can meet different fortunes; how great these fortunes are depends on the person. However, some do come back empty-handed. The higher one climbs, the lower the chance of not meeting any fortune. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the fortunes still depends on one’s own fate!”
“And as for the World Temple...” Li Qiye looked at the temple before him and smiled: “As long as one reaches the World Temple, this would already be an opportunity — a complete blessing. Once again, the magnitude depends on the person. Maybe you will obtain the greatest fortune in this world, but it might also be a fortune not as great as one you could have gotten back at the World Tree. For example, the three young leaves at the top of the World Tree are one of its greatest fortunes!”
“How do you know so much? Mei Suyao wasn’t sure of the temple’s existence, so how do you know? Moreover, how did you know that such a method could take us to the World Temple?” Chen Baojiao couldn’t help but ask.
Chi Xiaodie also wanted to know the answer to this question. Mei Suyao came from the Eternal River School; very few people could match her vast knowledge.
“This is the consequence of not reading often enough.” Li Qiye tapped Chen Baojiao’s head and said: “A lazy reader will amount to nothing! One must read more to know more.”
Chen Baojiao, who was tapped on the head, indignantly retorted: “I have never seen you read before!”
On the other hand, Li Shuangyan simply smiled. She had heard these words too many times. Of course, she didn’t believe that reading would make one omniscient, but if Li Qiye didn’t want to reveal the truth, then she wouldn’t pry any further.
Li Qiye had studied and researched the World Tree for more than just one generation. He had missed an opportunity before, so he had spent even more time later on to understand the World Tree even further. It could be said that no one in the contemporary times has a better grasp on the World Tree than him.
Even back then, when Immortal Emperor Hao Hai was still in this world that year, he did not know more about the World Tree than Li Qiye. It was out of sheer luck that he was able to obtain such a supreme fortune!
To Li Qiye, as long as the World Tree appeared once more, he would absolutely not miss this opportunity again!