Chapter 857: Super Stellar Steel

Translator:

EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor:

EndlessFantasy Translation

Yun Yang sucked in a breath of air. “Now this feels right! All we have to do now is wait for the stars to s.h.i.+ne — we shall be graced with the truth soon.”

The light from the sun and moon interlaced harmoniously in midair, rotating slowly with a giant, mysterious yolk-like ent.i.ty between them. The yellow and white halves radiated a mysterious, obscured glow — it was truly a splendid sight.

After emitting the golden rays, the setting sun seemed to have lost all its l.u.s.ter and strength; the sky turned dark as usual, and there were no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

Here, in the skies above the Seven Star Lake, only a strange ma.s.s of white and yellow hovered in the air…

At this very moment, the sky above the Seven Star Lake was completely obscured.

After the essence of light from the sun and moon was left behind, starlight began to appear in bits and sprinkles. This time, however, they shot downwards as soon as they appeared. The glow of the stars spilled across the night sky and plunged downwards, merging as one with the luminescence from the sun and moon.

When the light of the sun, moon, and stars converged, a bright light filled the entire horizon.

A beam of silver appeared at the point where they converged, plunging straight down into the Seven Star Lake. The water in the lake looked as if it had transformed into part of the galaxy as it was adorned with starlight. Clouds of dense spiritual Qi began to rise gradually from the surface of the lake.

The spiritual Qi this time was very different from the night before. It contained a bright silver sheen; it was both pleasing to the eye and soothing to the mind.

Yun Yang gently heaved a breath and instantly felt waves of comfort easing through his body. Although he was well accustomed to exclusive minerals deemed precious treasures of the world, and his body was familiarly attuned to the Eastern Purple Qi he habitually consumed, he still felt an indescribable, pleasurable delight at this new sensation.

“This, most likely, is the real secret of the Seven Star Lake.”

“Seize this time to practice. I’ll go down to have a look.”

At a loss, Ji Lingxi promptly protested. “You’re going down to have a look while I practice? Why do you have to have a look down there? Why can’t you stay and practice with me?”

Ji Lingxi felt no different from Yun Yang — she could feel the foreign, tidal-like spiritual Qi surging within her body and its high, seamless compatibility when it entered her meridians; it was an incredible feeling of instantly-refined power that could almost go without the need of cultivating…

A way to enhance their cultivation like this felt wonderful — there was no other sensation that could top this!

Ji Lingxi could not comprehend why would Yun Yang choose to leave at a moment like this. He was focusing on the least important detail and missing out on the key point!

“Idiot!” cried Yun Yang. “You’re focusing on the wrong things. This foreign spiritual Qi is most certainly an absolute advantage at present, but it had originated from the converged lights of the sun, moon, and stars. The converging point of those three lights had shot into the Seven Star Lake, causing the spiritual Qi to sp.a.w.n from it. Now therein lies the problem — why is this fresh spiritual Qi unlike the one yesterday that descended from the skies? What’s with all the fuss?”

“Furthermore, the spiritual Qi today is even more outstanding than usual; it seems even more powerful than Eastern Purple Qi. This makes it even more precious than ever.”

“Well from this point to another, can you tell that there must be a one-of-a-kind treasure hidden beneath the Seven Star Lake? Perhaps this mysterious spiritual Qi was produced because the converged light of the sun, moon, and stars had shone precisely upon this treasure?”

Yun Yang continued. “If you have inferred this far, you might as well have it in your hands to claim its benefits once and for all, right? Unless you’re willing to leave this chance to those scoundrels—”

“—instead of severing their future?” A glint of iciness flashed across his eyes.

“A phenomenon like this must’ve occurred for quite some time already. Unlike us, the tyrants occupying this place must’ve noticed it already, but why haven’t they retrieved this treasure? Could there be some sort of danger a.s.sociated with it?” Ji Lingxi asked worriedly.

“Well, at least they aren’t dead yet,” Yun Yang replied nonchalantly.

With those words, Ji Lingxi snapped out of her stupor as she instantly understood what he meant.

Yes, these men aren’t dead yet!

This was Yun Yang’s biggest guarantee — just because those people could not retrieve the treasure did not mean that they could not. After all, Yun Yang’s cultivation base was the world’s number one, surpa.s.sing these men by far. The difference between them was like heaven and earth.

They were in no real danger anyway, so why was it even a concern if Yun Yang decided to probe personally? In fact, since there were no questionable risks, Yun Yang would naturally want to try it out himself.

“Alright.”

“If you’re in danger, please let me know. I’m not being deliberately sentimental, but we really do need to be cautious, just in case.”

Yun Yang nodded. He transformed into wind and took off instantly.

The sound of the wind blended into the night sky quietly. In no time at all, it soared towards the converging point of the three lights and dove headlong into the lake, along the path of the light.

Besides Ji Lingxi, no one else had the chance to notice this little commotion.

It was done in a truly top-secret manner!

…

Underwater, Yun Yang dived all the way down, but he did not s.h.i.+ft into his water form immediately as the water in this lake was actually not very deep, looking as though it had a depth of only a few hundred feet. In just a little while, he found himself at the bottom which was filled with layers of silt.

The beam that plunged downwards from the converging point of the three lights was directed towards the silt, traveling beyond it.

With a quick resolution, he transformed into a drop of water and seeped through, following the path beyond the silt.

He dove, following the path, but ran into rocks no more than thirty to forty feet in. Even after transforming into a water droplet, he could not penetrate the obstacle; there wasn’t even the slightest gap to enter.

However, that beam of light had clearly stopped at this point. There was no change of direction at all — the target clearly lied below this layer of rocks.

Yun Yang knew that this would be hard to overcome with his water form — he instantly s.h.i.+fted into an earth-based form. This cultivation method that was originally Supreme Earth’s was promptly worked on by Yun Yang, and in no time, he had already merged as one with the rocks. He promptly went to the edges and made his way downwards through the gaps and crevices along the sides.

These so-called earth or rock forms could only be composed in chunks, or else, this entire continent would simply exist as one gigantic rock, wouldn’t it? Since it wasn’t a singular ent.i.ty, gaps would surely exist, which served as a form of a divide in between the ma.s.s.

Yun Yang’s various cultivation techniques and different transformative forms had provided him unlimited possibilities to dive through all the way.

He continued to dive downwards for almost five hundred feet and found himself in a place where there were no longer huge rocks. What was left were tiny stones and sand amidst layers of groundwater.

“It’s not that they haven’t tried looking, it’s more like their hands were completely tied. I couldn’t even do anything in my water form, let alone them…”

“There is a two-thousand feet difference between this point and the bottom of the Seven Star Lake. Whatever kind of expert that could reach this point would surely find this layer of rocks hard to get across…” Yun Yang pondered.

If it really had to be done, one must first siphon away the water in the Seven Star Lake, and then remove the layers of silt which were a few feet deep. Then, he must strip away a few hundred feet worth of rocks, penetrate through a few layers of groundwater hindered by stiffened earth, and make his way down even further…

Plus, there were layers of huge rocks up front…

Furthermore, there was still no certainty that the goal could be achieved even after clearing away all these obstructions. The chance to obtain the spiritual Qi produced by the triple lights will be gone forever as the landscape was destroyed — this method of obtaining the treasure was truly impractical!

“Judging by this, I suppose n.o.body else could reach this point besides me, at least not without destroying the landscape.” Yun Yang mused, satisfied with himself.

The next moment, however, he stopped grinning, for there was nothing to smile about.

For even after he had already descended for a few thousand feet, there was nothing to be found. If it was not for the presence of the energy from the convergence of the three lights, Yun Yang would have thought that he had been searching in the wrong direction.

“If this continues, will I drill straight through this continent?” Yun Yang mumbled as he continued downwards.

Finally, the next obstacle he came into contact with had an unimaginable toughness; it was simply terrifying…

Furthermore, it was ice cold, and felt somewhat familiar…

Is this…

“Stellar Steel?”

Yun Yang was astounded when he deduced the true ident.i.ty of that obstacle. The final obstruction that he had encountered thus far was made out of Stellar Steel — a material with an unimaginable toughness. A complete piece, by the looks of it!

Scrutinizing it further, he noticed that the Stellar Steel was emitting dense Purple Qi.

Without a doubt, the treasure that was emitting spiritual Qi as a result of the beam from the three converging lights must be lying in this piece of Stellar Steel!

His hard work had truly paid off. Finally, he had arrived at his destination.

Yun Yang was absolutely ecstatic. He quickly searched for gaps across the surface, but after a few attempts he came to a frustrating conclusion — there was none! That whole piece of Stellar Steel, put simply, was a gigantic metal ball with a hundred-feet circ.u.mference — it was totally spherical.

Not the slightest crevice was found — it was a perfect sphere!

Yun Yang was dismayed beyond belief upon confirming this.

He was still rubbing his hands in glee just a second ago, thinking that he could retrieve the treasure as long as there was a gap he could slip into. Brilliant — his plans had backfired almost immediately, like a giant slap to his face.

Naturally, Yun Yang did not give up. He tried transforming into his gold form to merge with the piece of Stellar Steel. As long as he could merge into it, he could enter its innermost core, retrieve the treasure and leave…

That was all Yun Yang’s wishful thinking, but the outcome was not at all lovely. Yun Yang’s gold form could not blend into the Stellar Steel at all…

After half a day, Yun Yang had exhausted all his abilities. The Stellar Steel could not be dealt with at all regardless of the techniques he employed, and he was left completely helpless.

“Unless… Does it have to be opened with brute force? Should I use the sharpness and toughness of Divine Edge to pry it open?”

Yun Yang gloomily surveyed his surroundings. It seemed that s.p.a.ce here was a little too tight for him to perform that act…

I came down here through the form of a tiny water droplet; there isn’t much s.p.a.ce for me to swing my saber!

Yun Yang straightened up. “Emmie.”

“Aayaya…”

“Come have a look at this Stellar Steel — see if there’s any way to pry it open.”

Emmie’s consciousness popped out in curiosity but indicated disappointment seconds later. “Aayaya… ya…”

“You can’t pry it open?”

Yun Yang grew increasingly dismayed. Emmie was the final resort he could think of, but even Emmie could not make it happen!

“Aayayaya…”

Emmie expressed its frustration, attempting to explain via a myriad of expressions.

“This little toy here is indestructible, and it can only be slowly sliced open over time through the friction of water?”

Yun Yang’s frustration grew even more intense.

Wasn’t Emmie simply saying, even if he chose to open it with brute force via the sharpness of Divine Edge, he could only slowly cut it open?

Just how thick was this Stellar Steel? How long would it take to slice it open, bit by bit?

I really don’t have much time left to do such a thing!

“Aayayaya…”

“Are you saying… that this isn’t common Stellar Steel? This is the essence of Stellar Steel? It’s core?”

Yun Yang questioned, feeling gloomy, “Can’t I just save it into my deific consciousness?”

Yun Yang was just churning his thoughts away with the most whimsical ideas — storing it in that s.p.a.ce to slowly slice it open was truly the fastest and most convenient method!

The question here, however, was the probability of making this work was close to none. At least, that was what Yun Yang thought.

After all, he had attempted it just now. Although this piece of Stellar Steel had a circ.u.mference of not more than a hundred feet, its weight and density were unimaginably high — Yun Yang could not budge it in the slightest.

After pondering for a bit, Emmie called out unexpectedly, a little hesitant, “Aa… yaya…”

We can try?

Keep it directly into the s.p.a.ce of your consciousness!

Yun Yang was stunned for a moment before feeling overjoyed.

“Let’s try, then!”

For the first time, Yun Yang unleashed the entire reserve of his deific consciousness while Emmie did all it could, throwing out all the power it could muster and focusing it on Yun Yang.

After that, both Emmie and Yun Yang felt pathetic to the core.

There was a loud boom, and the piece of Stellar Steel swayed a little.

However, it was just a slight quiver — it was not really lifted away from where it originally was.

Meanwhile, the strength of Yun Yang’s deific consciousness had been thoroughly exhausted.

He floated in the water, aimless, distracted and reeling with panic. He flitted in and out of consciousness, unable to restore his senses to its proper state while Emmie teetered, its leaves losing its usual rich and luscious color.

At the same moment, the beam produced by the convergence of three lights disappeared.

Yun Yang surmised that it must be dawn already. This must be the moment of daybreak…

Yun Yang slowly came to his senses.

“How terrifying.” This extent of pain that could tear his mind apart left Yun Yang in a fearful state.

This thing couldn’t be opened and taken away — what should I do?

Will I really leave the treasure cave empty-handed this time?

Yun Yang churned his brains for options. Finally, an idea struck home.

“Something doesn’t seem right — the strength I need to move this steel ball is so much more than the weight of it. It seemed as though it was connected to the entire mountain range, stuck into the earth. If I detach it by cutting away the connecting parts, what’s left will be the actual steel ball consisting of only Stellar Steel!”

“I believe that that would be much easier, right? Compared to the situation now where it’s completely stuck, how different is it from dragging these mountains into my deific consciousness? If that was the case, it would make sense that I was unable to move it!”

Yun Yang was done contemplating. He concentrated on his recovery.

Moments later, the Divine Edge materialized and he sliced at the edges with unusual fervor.