Chapter 464: Illusion Array (Three)

Traveling in accordance to the directions given to him by Tian Xuzi of the Pure Heart Pavilion, Jian Chen finally arrived at a great valley with a deep bottom.

Jian Chen slowly descended toward the bottom of the valley. Tian Xuzi had said that the cave would be at the bottom of the valley with its exact position hidden in a way that would be hard to detect.

Quickly, Jian Chen arrived at the bottom of the valley. There was a giant pool that exuded a chilling frost that permeated his entire body and bones like daggers.

Jian Chen looked around the dark place he was in. The visibility here was quite poor, but it was not significant enough to hamper Jian Chen, who could still see around himself. But the valley was so expansive that even his eyes could not see the entirety of the area it covered. Even more so, a chilling frost covered the area, making finding a foothold extremely difficult.

“This is already the deepest part of the valley, where might the Saint Ruler’s cave be?” Jian Chen muttered to himself. When it came to the cave, he only knew the name—everything else was unknown to him. Even what the cave look like was a mystery to him; combined with the fact that it was hidden, finding the cave would be an extremely difficult challenge.

Jian Chen began to spread his omnipresence about himself to cover a fifteen kilometer area. Even the places beneath the water were not hidden from him as he searched the valley for any hidden places or things.

Jian Chen followed the walls of the valley as he floated in the air. Wherever he traveled, his omnipresence covered the entire area in an attempt to continue searching. Within this area of Jian Chen’s presence, even the smallest ripple of energy would not go unnoticed.

“Hua!”

Right underneath the pool of water, a single water snake came leaping out of the water. Opening its jaws, the water snake came flying at Jian Chen in an attempt to bite him at a lightning fast speed.

Jian Chen’s eyebrows knit together; he had noticed the water snake before, but for the sake of searching for the Saint Ruler’s cave, he had ignored it. Thus, he was now annoyed by the snake’s interruption.

A frosty glow appeared in Jian Chen’s eyes as he clutched at the sky. Suddenly, a large amount of the fire element began to gather around his hand before condensing to instantly form a giant sword made of flames. With a brilliant flash of red light, it flew toward the snake.

The fire sword shot straight into the open jaws of the snake causing it to explode from the reaction that followed. Parts of its body blew off and dispelled the nearby frost vapor from the heat of the explosion. In an instant, the previously cold area grew nice and warm.

With a single thought, Jian Chen forced a single fist-sized crystal stone to fly through the mist and right into his hand. This was a Class 5 Monster Core. Although it was not as important to him as before, it was still worth a considerable amount.

Jian Chen continued to trek through the valley while growing closer and closer to the pool of water until he was just a mere twenty meters above it. The distance was so small that the mist that was rising up from it began to dampen Jian Chen’s previously dry clothing.

Although the valley was extremely vast, Jian Chen had only taken two hours to search the entire valley. What disappointed him was the fact that he had not yet discovered the cave of the Saint Ruler.

Jian Chen hovered in midair with a contemplative look. Suddenly, he looked to the water beneath him, “Could it be underwater?” At that thought, he immediately plunged into the water.

Just as Jian Chen’s body approached the water, the surface of the water suddenly split apart in two. Without a sound, it formed a giant crack. Jian Chen continued to descend into the body of water without any of the water spilling a drop onto his body. Instead, the water formed a ring around Jian Chen.

The water was about 500 meters at its deepest, so Jian Chen quickly reached the bottom of the water. The temperature of this area was even colder than the surface, forcing Jian Chen to give a sigh of annoyance. An Earth Saint Master would have absolutely no chance of surviving down here—the frosty air was that big of a danger.

It was so dark that any regular person wouldn’t even be able to see their own fingers, but thanks to Jian Chen’s omnipresence, it bore no effect on him. As he moved, Jian Chen continued to scour every single inch of the area.

Although Jian Chen had already used his omnipresence to search the area above and below the water, the areas at the bottom most parts of the water were incredibly strange. Not only was it cold beyond belief, but it could even dampen Jian Chen’s omnipresence. Because of that, Jian Chen didn’t dare think that his search above the water was accurate.

There were all sorts of monsters living within the abyss of the waters. However, even the strongest of these creatures was only Class 5 at the most; therefore, they posed no threat to Jian Chen.

Another two hours passed when Jian Chen had finished searching the entire area. However, like last time, there were no new discoveries or any clues to be seen.

Flying out from the water, Jian Chen hovered over the surface of the chilly water with his eyebrows narrowed in concentration. He had originally thought that with his omnipresence, nothing would be able to escape his grasp and he would be able to pinpoint the Saint Ruler’s cave without fail. But now that he had searched the entire place, Jian Chen had finally realized that the level of concealment the cave had was far stronger than he initially thought.

“Tian Xuzi said that the cave would be at the bottom of the valley. But why is it that after I’ve searched the entire place, I cannot find it?” Jian Chen muttered in heavy concentration.

“Perhaps Tian Xuzi lied to me and the cave isn’t located here. Perhaps this isn’t the right valley he spoke of—meaning I am in the wrong place?”

All of a sudden, Jian Chen shot high into the air like an arrow, and floated overhead the valley. When he circled around the general area, he could not find a second valley.

After some time, Jian Chen returned to his original position after looking ten kilometers in the general area. There was only one valley.

Returning to the bottom of the valley, Jian Chen looked at the chilly water deep in thought. The Saint Ruler’s cave was truly too hidden for him to find. Now, Jian Chen was beginning to doubt whether or not if the cave was truly here.

“Master, Ziying knows where the cave you wish to find is.” Suddenly, a single voice popped in Jian Chen’s mind. The Sword Spirit Ziying had noticed the vexation Jian Chen was in and offered to help.

Hearing this, Jian Chen revealed an overjoyed look on his face and immediately thought, “Ziying, would you be able to tell me where the Saint Ruler’s cave is?”

“Yes, master. The cave is protected by an array that separates it from the world. Master’s omnipresence is far too weak to be able to detect the location.” Ziying spoke.

“Ziying, please tell me just where the cave is located.” Jian Chen could barely restrain the emotions flowing through to his face as he moved about impatiently.