HSSB195: Gains one after another
Yan Zhaoge was calm, seemingly not flustered in the least.
Progressing forward in this darkness was undoubtedly yet another tempering of his mind and will.
If he showed any form of weakness or complacency, laziness or instability, the darkness would also make use of the chance to invade. As he resisted the bewitchment of the darkness, Yan Zhaoge’s will received another upgrade as the impurities within his mind were removed.
Finally, while located within the infinite, boundless darkness, Yan Zhaoge was leisurely and contented, relaxed and at ease. While the darkness might be able to pull others into the deep abyss, it no longer had any effect on him whatsoever.
At this moment, Yan Zhaoge had some thoughts within his heart. Smiling, he raised his head, a pair of jet-black eyes appearing in the darkness above him, watching him silently.
Within the silent darkness, Yan Zhaoge did not say anything, and those black pupils also did not emit any sound, but a strange communication was formed between them.
The black pupils knew no sorrow and knew no joy, yet seemed to have acknowledged Yan Zhaoge’s existence, now gradually closing and no longer appearing, as though they had never ever been there.
Yan Zhaoge smiled slightly. At this moment, he easily retreated from the world of darkness by his own will.
Seeing the light of day once more, Yan Zhaoge flipped his hand as he played with the black incense burner within it somewhat interestedly.
Flipping it over, he saw that at its bottom were inscribed two ancient characters.
Earth Devouring.
Yan Zhaoge remembered that during his clash with Zhao Hao earlier, the latter had also once yelled out these two words.
“Earth Devouring Burner, is it?” Yan Zhaoge pondered within his heart.
This was no ordinary treasure, not being a spirit artifact, yet seemingly possessing its own spirituality and will.
That pair of black eyes were not from a portion of will that had been left within by someone, instead having manifested of the Earth Devouring Burner itself after having developed spirituality.
Yan Zhaoge murmured to himself, “Interesting; If I want to truly grasp this treasure, and not use it clumsily like Zhao Hao did, it looks like I’ll have to spend quite some effort.”
Keeping the incense burner, Yan Zhaoge stood where he was, continuing to silently moderate his condition.
Earlier, the battle had taken an extremely huge toll about him. Not saying that he was like a lamp about to run out of oil, this battle had been the most taxing for his strength in his entire life here.
Clashing with Liu Shengfeng, Zhao Hao and the others would still be fine; the crux of the matter was that his essence, qi and mind had merged with that of Eye of the Thunder Emperor fragment to activate An Instant’s Thunder, blazing all the power of the Sacred Artifact fragment in an instantaneous, single use.
Although Yan Zhaoge himself had not been like at the point now as he kept the Eye of the Thunder Emperor fragment, his qi completely dried up, with the feeling of a thief going to steal from an empty building, it would not be hard for him to recover.
In the qi ocean within his dantian, the chaotic qi mass shuddered as it split into numerous flows of ice and fire, yin and yang coexisting as they rapidly nourished his nearly dried up vital qi.
In comparison, the Eye of the Thunder Emperor fragment was much more troublesome.
The Sacred Artifact fragment in the form of a purple orb was currently dim and lustreless, resembling a sooty stone orb as no lustre whatsoever could be seen on it at all.
Communicating with it with his mind, Yan Zhaoge could only feel a spirituality that was minute to the extreme, with it seemingly having fallen into a deep slumber reminiscent to a fake death.
It was temporarily impossible for it to transform into thunder light and merge within his right eye once more.
As he moderated his condition, Yan Zhaoge thought, “After all, it’s only a fragment, and not the true Sacred Artifact the Eye of the Thunder Emperor of legend.”
“It is rumoured that the Eye of the Thunder Emperor at its peak then, with An Instant’s Thunder, could split the sky and cleave the earth, and in the next instant, its power would have completely recovered to its original state.”
“Just like how we breathe, exhaling would be a barrage of divine thunder that shatters space itself, and inhaling would be the essence of the surrounding heaven and earth replenishing it completely.”
“And now, with its power having been depleted, wanting to accumulate it again, I fear that a long time will be needed, and the next time I use it, it’d be fine if I didn’t activate An Instant’s Thunder, but if I did, it would turn out like this, using up everything in a single go.”
Yan Zhaoge let out a long breath, his condition having recovered greatly, “Luckily, earlier, I had established a close connection with the Eye of the Thunder Emperor. Otherwise, this time would be much more troublesome ah.”
“Cough, after returning this time, I must definitely work harder in studying formations,” Yan Zhaoge shook his head, turning to look to the other side.
There, Ye Zhongzhou, Zhang Yao and the others were supporting one another, wrapping up their wounds and moderating their condition, soothing their injuries.
Seeing Yan Zhaoge look over, Ye Zhongzhou sighed emotionally, “Junior Brother Yan, it’s all thanks to you this time. Otherwise, the few of us would be dead.”
“Not only would we have died at Liu Shengfeng’s hands, more important would be the Great Nine Underworlds Door opening, the effects of which would be catastrophic beyond compare.”
Yan Zhaoge walked over, “Senior Brother Ye is too polite. At times like this, those with ability should naturally contribute a bit, naturally not standing by the side doing nothing.”
“It was only that in order to crack the formation earlier, I required some time for preparations, thus having let you suffer.”
Zhang Yao shook her head repeatedly, “Senior Brother Yan, quickly stop saying that, it’s you who saved us.”
Li Jingwan said, “If Senior Brother Yan had not stopped the Great Nine Underworlds Door from opening in time, we would ultimately still end up dying, still having the possibility of ending up in Liu Shengfeng’s hands, enduring more things, suffering more torture.”
As she said that, she turned to look to the other side. There, Liu Shengfeng lay limply and half-dead on the ground. The corpses of the other two fallen practitioners who had been slain by Yan Zhaoge had already vanished.
Currently, having wrapped up his wounds, his face pale and his expression weak, Ruan Ping stood by the collapsed Liu Shengfeng, looking down on him with a cold gaze.
Liu Shengfeng barely managed to force out a fawning smile that was filled with fear, “Senior Brother Ruan…be magnanimous and do not hold it on someone like me…ah!”
The latter part of his words was caught in his throat, replaced by a tragic cry.
With his foot, Ruan Ping stomped down on Liu Shengfeng.
His chest long since a hazy blur of flesh and blood, currently being stomped on by Ruan Ping at this moment, Liu Shengfeng instantly felt pain beyond this world.
Moving his foot with much effort, Ruan Ping then stomped on the wound at Liu Shengfeng’s severed wrist.
Liu Shengfeng shivered out a breath of cold air, not even having the breath to cry out now.
As Yan Zhaoge came beside Ruan Ping, looking at him, Ruan Ping was silent for a moment before he said, “Many thanks for saving my life.”
“You are too polite,” Yan Zhaoge nodded, with Ruan Ping hesitating slightly, “You want to stop me?”
Yan Zhaoge waved his hands, “Why do you say that; I left his life specifically to let you guys deal with him.”
While saying so, Yan Zhaoge made a grabbing motion with his palm, tiny streams of black light being sucked out from the wound of Liu Shengfeng’s severed arm, coming into Yan Zhaoge’s palm, “I’m just a little interested in the technique with which he reconstructed his severed arm on the spot; that’s all.”
Keeping the black light, Yan Zhaoge turned to leave, “Do as you like, don’t care about me.”
Ruan Ping nodded, once against gazing down on Liu Shengfeng below him, in whose eyes despair instantly flashed.
Looking at the tragically screaming Liu Shengfeng, Ye Zhongzhou frowned slightly, then sighed, not saying a word as Li Jingwan and Zhang Yao twisted their heads to look elsewhere.
Liu Shengfeng’s fellow disciple, Xiao Yu, currently seemed rather dazed, as though he was thinking about something.
Yan Zhaoge turned to look to where the golden tower had stood earlier.
It had already been wrecked beyond recognition, but within its ruins, it seemed as though there existed something.