Everything fell silent once more. Only the silt in the underground river and the turbid water could be seen as evidence of what had just happened.
A long, long time later. Whoosh! A large wave of bubbles rose from the bottom of the river, and a moment later, two figures emerged from the silt.
"They're gone!"
Jili Laozu's body trembled as he shook off the silt on his body.
"We should really be safe now!"
Any sort of Psychic Energy could easily be discovered. Only Jili Laozu's Gonggong Divine Art could allow him to grasp what was going on in the cave without being discovered.
"Mm, they've probably given up!"
Wang Chong nodded as he shook off the silt on his body. His face was slightly pale, and his breathing was a little ragged. It was clear that he and Jili Laozu had both paid a price in order to survive this wave of attacks.
"Heh, Young Master Wang, your method is still the most effective. We almost got discovered."
Jili Laozu said, a hint of relief on his face.
Only those who had experienced it personally would understand just how dangerous the two of them had been in that moment.
Wang Chong's Psychic Seal was completely useless before this indiscriminate attack of Stellar Energy. Wang Chong and Jili Laozu were almost instantly exposed, and a massive battle ensued.
The men in black and the three bamboo hat men had come with a ferocious momentum. Given the strength of Wang Chong and Jili Laozu, it would have been very difficult for them to block the attacks of so many people.
Fortunately, at the last moment, Wang Chong had used his Psychic Energy to inform Jili Laozu to pour his Stellar Energy into the rocks they had embedded in the silt in front of them as camouflage.
Then, he used the rock as a shield and pressed it against his body, forcefully taking the blow and deceiving the bamboo hat leader.
Although the bamboo hat leader was powerful, all his attacks had landed on the rocks in front of the two, so he naturally hadn't been able to discover anything.
But even so, he couldn't escape the terrifying Stellar Energy impact.
The only thing worth rejoicing over was that the bamboo hat man's attacks were spread over the entire hundred-meter-long river. Even the strongest of attacks would have their destructive power reduced by several levels.
"We were only lucky enough to escape this calamity. Speaking of which, who could have imagined that these black-clothed men would have internal strife?"
Wang Chong waved his hand as he thought back to the clash between the two bamboo hat men in the underground river.
If not for their infighting, the third bamboo hat man would have sent his Stellar Energy over, and he would have been discovered, no matter how capable he was.
"But the crisis is not over yet, we still have to find a way to leave. More importantly, I have to find the Origin Immortal Art! "
Wang Chong didn't say the last sentence.
On the surface, he seemed to have the entire situation under control, resolving this enormous crisis. He could even sense that even a titan of the martial arts world like the Lone Silence Ancestor was filled with admiration for him.
But only Wang Chong knew that beneath all this, his internal injuries were worsening.
Although he had tricked the three bamboo hat men into leaving, his internal injuries had worsened as a result. Waves of pain were coming from his dantian and other parts of his body.
Wang Chong knew that he couldn't hold on for long. He needed to find the Origin Immortal Art as quickly as possible.
"Leave this matter to me!"
To his surprise, Jili Laozu smiled, extended his left palm, and pushed forward.
The river surged. Boom! An enormous energy immediately began to unclog the underground river that had collapsed when the third bamboo hat man had escaped.
This massive pillar of water pushed aside the mud and rocks for a hundred meters.
Not only that, Jili Laozu's left hand glowed with white light, and an invisible energy began to flow through the underground river. The river shuddered, the mud and rocks sinking into it. In the blink of an eye, the turbid water became clear.
Everything had been restored to the state it had been in before the battle.
Even Wang Chong was stunned by this sight, a look of shock on his face.
Jili Laozu's Gonggong Divine Art had allowed him to control Water to an extremely high level, a level that many martial artists found unimaginable.
Not even Wang Chong was capable of such a feat.
"Young Master Wang, what should we do now?"
After unclogging the underground river, Jili Laozu turned to Wang Chong. Jili Laozu now had a great deal of trust in this young man.
Whether it was how Wang Chong had broken the Origin Immortal Formation, how he had gathered the treasure map to find the true location of the Origin Immortal Treasury, how he had dealt with the danger of the sixth-generation successor in the cave, how he had evaded the three bamboo hat men in the underground river …
The abilities that Wang Chong had displayed had left a deep impression on him and made him wholeheartedly submit to him. Even Jili Laozu had unwittingly overlooked his age, treating him as a martial artist of the same generation that he could discuss matters with.
Wang Chong said nothing, but a pensive look appeared in his eyes. The underground river only had two directions: forward or backward. Now that the passage had been cleared, going back the way they had come was the least dangerous option.
"Let's continue!"
A few moments later, Wang Chong spoke, his voice devoid of hesitation.
"Many martial artists have gathered on the surface: the men in black, the Origin Immortal Villagers, the Five Ancestor Alliance, the Zhengqi League, and other martial artists who rushed here upon hearing the news, as well as the successors of the Origin Immortal Art. Putting aside everything else, just the walking corpses on the surface are not something that we can deal with.
"If we return to the surface, not only will we not be able to enter the core, we'll also be caught up in the chaotic fighting. In comparison, the underground river is the safest. We just need to find a way to find the area where the underground river intersects with the metal ore veins above and find the weakest spot. Then, we can return to the surface. This way, we can at least avoid the living dead on the surface and avoid some dangerous battles. "
"If we can avoid one of these walking corpses, we'll be able to."
Wang Chong and Jili Laozu felt their hearts sink as they thought about the generations of walking corpses in the underground palace.
Rumble!
Just as the two of them were in silence, the earth suddenly shook and the sky shook. Another violent tremor came from above.
Above the underground river, the metal vein, several dozen kilometers long, once more began to shudder.
The familiar, deafening sound of gears rang in their ears once again.
Wang Chong and Jili Laozu said nothing, only silently listening.
"These Origin Immortal Villagers are truly frightening. To protect the Origin Immortal Lord's treasury, they must have laid down countless traps. Listening to this commotion, it was likely that they had activated some powerful mechanism. I suddenly understood why those mysterious men in black had to be so careful even though they were powerful. They had to create a lot of fake treasure maps to lure us here to explore the way for them. The tricks left behind by the Origin Immortal Lord cannot be underestimated! "
Jili Laozu raised his head, a look of lingering fear on his face. Although he didn't know what was happening on the surface, the powerful tremors above were enough to tell that the battle had been extremely intense.
Wang Chong said nothing, but his eyes showed that he was thinking the same thing.
Rumble! Just at this moment, there was a sudden violent tremor, accompanied by the sound of splashing water, coming from not far away.
The two of them looked in the direction of the voice, and in an instant, their eyes lit up.
Ten meters away from the two of them, the huge rock that blocked the underground river was affected by the vibration above and loosened, revealing a half-moon shaped gap. The two were overjoyed to see this gap.
"Wonderful!"
Jili Laozu's face was filled with excitement.
"We can smoothly get out now!"
The river was blocked, and the rocks were the hardest and largest of all.
According to Jili Laozu's calculations, it would have taken at least a few minutes to clear a path, but now that the rock had loosened, a gap had been revealed. Although the gap wasn't very large, it was enough for the two of them to pass through.
Rumble! Under Jili Laozu's control, the water of the underground river surged forward and washed through the crescent-shaped gap.
Over and over, the path between the rock and the river grew larger and larger. In just a few moments, it had become wide enough for one person to pass through.
"Let's go!"
Jili Laozu waved a hand at Wang Chong, and the two of them swiftly passed through the passage.
"Leave the rest to me!"
In the pitch-black underground, Wang Chong and Jili Laozu walked side by side, like two fish swimming through the river. As Wang Chong spoke, he spread out his enormous Psychic Energy, piercing through the river and the rock layer above to investigate the metal vein.
The more Wang Chong probed, the more he realized just how dense, tough, and immovable the metal vein was. Each and every metal particle was extremely dense. Compared to ordinary steel, it was like the difference between metal and foam. In these circumstances, it wasn't impossible to bypass the successors of the Origin Immortal Art, who were known to be the destroyers of the underground palace, and directly enter the core area to steal the Origin Immortal Art.
But the amount of work required would take several decades or even a century to complete. Moreover, one had to consider the digging tools, the lack of oxygen, and all sorts of other factors.
But even so, the dense metal vein could not stop the probing of Psychic Energy.
"… I'm afraid that I was wrong before. The Origin Immortal Lord probably laid down such a massive Psychic Seal for the sake of the Origin Immortal Cave, which was dug out of the ore vein. A normal person's Psychic Energy can't probe very far before it becomes tangible. For this reason, it's impossible to determine what's going on in the metal vein, much less choose the right place to dig.
"If you choose the wrong place, even spending several hundred years digging through the metal vein will be useless. Thinking about it this way, it's no wonder those men in black are so cautious despite their vast resources that they don't dare to recklessly attack. "
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