HSSB943: A golden crow amidst the sea
After leaving the Consecutive Drum Mountain Range, Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu sat on Pan-Pan’s back and headed east, finally arriving in the region of the Wilderness Sea after a long journey.
Ahead of them was a vast, dense sea. The seawater had an unusual colour as it was like snowy plains that bobbed up and down.
Seeing that snowy white seawater, Yan Zhaoge knew for sure that he was already within the domain of the Wilderness Sea.
The situation here was similar to that of the Wind Domain’s Great Western Desert, the endless ocean and the Lake Domain’s Marsh of Illusory Sea of the Eight Extremities World previously.
Due to the unique environment there, even powerful martial practitioners would be hard pressed to venture deep within. Few people could be found there as the environment was very terrible indeed.
Therefore, some lawless criminals who were unable to settle down elsewhere had fled over there.
These people all lived each day as they came, being happy as they just wilfully lived their days.
Facing these ruthless people, the disciples of renowned lineages could only rely on their own skills as whatever background they had was not of much use.
If they offended these lawless criminals, they would probably be killed straight away no matter what their background was.
If some experts were dispatched to exact vengeance and claim their lives, they would hide inside the Wilderness Sea.
If they managed to escape, all would be good. If they did not, all would simply depend on what fate had in store for them.
In the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory, everyone else aside from the disciples of Golden Court Mountain whom those people would still be wary of somewhat needed to be very careful indeed.
Yan Zhaoge did not find it all that dangerous, though. It was just that things might become more complicated with all those people there if news of the cave manor had previously been leaked.
“Whisk,” Yan Zhaoge shaded his eyes with his hand, gazing towards the vast sea in the distance.
Ah Hu passed him that half-broken whisk. As Yan Zhaoge took it, a white line instantly appeared before his eyes which extended into the depths of the Wilderness Sea from the top of the whisk.
Yan Zhaoge lightly stroked the whisk, infusing his true essence within.
The whisk trembled slightly before the lustre of that white line actually gradually began to change.
It turned from white to green, next turning a faint gold.
Yan Zhaoge drew some strokes with a finger in mid-air, forming a simple, rustic rune.
Pan-Pan shrunk before he was next picked up by Ah Hu.
The rune enlarged in mid-air, forming a bright clump of light that enveloped Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu.
Then, this clump of light was guided by that faint golden line as it rapidly sped towards the depths of the Wilderness Sea, resembling the line of a fishing rod being retracted after the bait was bitten.
The clump of light that enveloped them turned into a speck of light which flew through the Wilderness Sea as it was far away in an instant.
Still, there were still people in the Wilderness Sea who noticed this speck of light.
Even if the people in the vicinity were not lawless criminals but disciples of major sects who had come adventuring, they too were people whose audacity rivalled the heavens.
Seeing that speck of light, they were all tempted as they attempted to follow.
Still, their flying speed was too high such that most of these people were left in the dust soon after, unable to keep up with them.
As for those few who were able to keep up, seeing the speck of light venturing deeper and deeper into its midst, they involuntarily slowed down gradually as they hesitated.
The deeper one ventured into the Wilderness Sea, the greater the perils.
Within that clump of light, Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu could similarly feel the pressure getting greater and greater.
Amidst the dense white sea, there were jade green pillars of flame that suddenly shot up into the skies from time to time.
With the Heaven Earth Reversing Axe in hand, Yan Zhaoge hacked apart those ferocious pillars of green flame, unceasingly opening the way.
He recognised this to be Heavenly Wilderness Dim Flame, being extremely powerful yin fire which was not blazing hot but was instead icy cold to the extreme, surpassing the cold of endless winter.
As soon as one was touched by the fire, not only would their fleshly body be damaged, even their souls would be burned by that incinerating fire as well, being like worms that had burrowed into one’s flesh as they were difficult to get rid of.
Just the slightest contact with it would cause one to be inflicted.
Only those who had entered the Immortal realm would be able to completely overlook the threat it posed. Even Human Exalts would have to circulate their profound arts to mitigate this, acting to clear their path of obstacles.
For martial practitioners of the Immortal Bridge stage and below, their safety would not be assured even if they possessed a high-grade Sacred Artifact.
Yan Zhaoge did not fear this. Still, the Heavenly Wilderness Dim Fire was merely one of the many threats that existed within the Wilderness Sea.
There were many other sinister tribulations no inferior to the Heavenly Wilderness Dim Fire at all.
Yan Zhaoge felt as if as he travelled, he had to be prepared to face an encirclement and assault by more than a single Immortal Bridge Martial Saint at any moment.
The Wilderness Sea was extremely vast as it occupied nearly a third of the entire southeastern Yang Heaven Territory’s surface area.
With so many tribulations there blocking his path, even Yan Zhaoge would have to traverse the area extremely slowly if he were travelling normally.
Fortunately, he was guided by this mechanism which allowed them to proceed at a high speed. Yet, this led to them travelling in a straight line as Yan Zhaoge could only resist these incoming dangers head-on, not being able to evade them.
This was still fine initially for the sake of speed and efficiency.
Anyway, with his foundation of supreme martial arts such as the Peerless Heavenly Scripture, Cyclic Heavenly Scripture, Yin Yang Heavenly Scripture and the Taiji Yin Yang Palm, Yan Zhaoge possessed an extremely abundant accumulation of true essence as his recuperative abilities were mighty too.
Still, the further they ventured into the depths of the Wilderness Sea, the more intense these dangers became.
In the later stages, Heavenly Wilderness Dim Fire had become rare. Instead, another tribulation known as the Baleful Black Devil had become much more common.
This did not surge out from within the white sea. Instead, it existed in the form of a black fog which wreathed the air above the surface of the sea.
This black fog that resembled black ink was even more terrifying than Heavenly Wilderness Dim Fire.
The destructive power it possessed was virtually equivalent to that of a late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint.
The black fog resembled sticky black ink as it was hard to dispel. Even if it was temporarily broken through, it would definitely condense again very quickly before continuing to attack unrelentingly.
It was omnipresent, existing in all directions.
As a result, it was like numerous ninth level Martial Saint experts were simultaneously attacking from multiple directions.
Yan Zhaoge would not foolishly face such attacks head-on.
He halted the earlier mechanism, switching to a direction and speed that he controlled as he advanced amidst those strands of black fog.
“It is no wonder that people often say that amongst the martial practitioners of the southeastern Yang Heaven Territory, only the Southeastern Exalt can freely enter and leave this place,” Ah Hu looked earnestly at the Baleful Black Devils in the vicinity, “This is much more terrifying than the Great Western Desert’s Black Nightmare Storms which we saw in the Eight Extremities World.”
Yan Zhaoge said, “This is only natural. Any random one of these descends in the Eight Extremities World and the entire world will probably be destroyed.”
“Young Master…” Ah Hu suddenly turned to look at Yan Zhaoge, “Do you think that it might be possible for martial practitioners to refine and convert these Baleful Black Devils into their own power?”
At this moment, Ah Hu did not look as laid-back as he was usually as he appeared extremely solemn.
“Why not?” Yan Zhaoge laughed, “There was once a supreme martial art in pre-Great Calamity times known as the Wind Devil Swift Sabre. It relied on refining various sinister winds and assimilating such into their sabre-qi. The Baleful Black Devil is one possible choice, and also the most difficult with the greatest power that can be unleashed.”
“Still, one would have to be at least an Immortal Bridge Martial Saint before they can begin trying to refine the Baleful Black Devil.”
Hearing this, Ah Hu did not continue asking about it. Still, from his expression, Yan Zhaoge knew that the big fella had taken notice of this.
Regardless of how unseemly he might usually appear in front of Yan Zhaoge, Ah Hu had always been very diligent when it came to his cultivation.
Even as they talked, they continued heading further into the depths of the Wilderness Sea.
After who knew how long, Yan Zhaoge suddenly saw a ray of sunlight lighting up amidst the black fog ahead of him, as if the floating clouds were obscuring the sun.
The gigantic silhouette of a bird was indistinctly visible amidst that sunlight.
It was a three-legged crow.