Chapter 174 - 171: Secret Cave

Chapter 174: Chapter 171: Secret CaveYe Xuan, who was nearby, found the whole situation rather amusing. Although he didn’t say anything, he couldn’t help thinking that Ouyang Lie was truly shameless. The actions of the Wildfire Sect probably always reflected this attitude, but Ye Xuan couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of such a method. Despite Ling Qianxue wanting to retort to Ouyang Lie’s explanation, she couldn’t find a weak point to argue against, since Ouyang Lie claimed that he had become an external Elder and his arrival didn’t violate any rules. Even Song Ming from Xingyun Pavilion seemed a bit uncomfortable coming face to face with Ouyang Lie. He thought he had thick skin, but Ouyang Lie was even thicker. Originally, Xingyun Pavilion held the strongest influence in Wanxiang Mountain, but now with Ouyang Lie, an inner Elder from Wildfire Sect suddenly appearing, the situation had become unpredictable. Ouyang Lie was a Third Grade Martial Sect. Even the power of Xingyun Pavilion’s Great Elder was slightly inferior. "Since there’s nothing else," Ouyang Lie said, "let’s join forces early and break through the Prohibition of this secret cave. The simple Prohibition at the entrance of the cave has been broken, and only a final powerful Sealing is left. None of our forces can break it alone; only by combining our efforts do we stand a chance to open it. We should act immediately while it’s still early." Ouyang Lie’s expression didn’t change. If the Prohibition in the cave had not been so strong, they would have already broken in rather than waiting until now. The longer they delayed, the higher the chance it would be nighttime when the demons from the Black Demon Sect became active, potentially leading to trouble. It was best to find the Heavenly Origin Ancient Seed during the daytime. "Alright." Ling Qianxue understood Ouyang Lie’s point and aimed to break the Prohibition sooner rather than later. "We have no objections either." Song Ming and a black-clad young man next to him nodded. The young man was Liu Sha, a True Disciple of the Earth Evil Sect. "Then let’s skip the chat and get started!" Ouyang Lie took the lead. Beneath his feet, it seemed as though fierce fires ignited, and his figure shot forward like a meteor, rushing into the cave. "Let’s go!" Ling Qianxue waved her hand, then quickly swept out first, followed closely by Ye Xuan and Leng Ruofeng into the cave. Following them, Song Ming and Liu Sha, the Great Elder of Xingyun Pavilion, as well as Luo Cheng and Han Li from Wildfire Sect, all swept into the cave entrance in succession. Inside the cave. In everyone’s view, a stone wall stood blocking their path. On this stone wall, glimmers of strange runes flashed, linking together to form what seemed to be a sealing Array, emitting extremely concentrated fluctuations. In front of this stone wall gathered more than twenty Martial Sect Masters. Such a force could stir up massive upheaval if placed outside. "Strike!" Without waiting for further delay, Luo Cheng, Han Li, and others took the lead. Their vast True Qi, united by the two, transformed into two pillars of fire that ferociously shot towards the rune-filled stone wall. Boom, boom! The pillars of fire snaked forward, carrying deep booming sounds along the way, their momentum awe-inspiring. Whoosh, whoosh! As Luo Cheng and Han Li acted, Song Ming and the Great Elder of Xingyun Pavilion immediately made their move too. True Qi transformed into meteors, bursting out blinding silver light, then with a push of their palms, a sky full of meteors furiously bombarded toward the rune stone wall. Boom! From the Earth Evil Sect’s side, Liu Sha and two gray-robed elders struck almost at the same time. Astonishing gray evil energy, under their command, gathered above their heads into a gray blade beam. The dreadful sharpness emanated from the gray beam, which then flashed and tore through the sky with a howl. Bang, bang, bang! Each strike hit the rune stone wall, which responded by lighting up dramatically. These once dim runes now formed a defensive Light Array. Under the fierce bombardment, the Light Array tremored violently, its light flickering unstably. "We should act too." Seeing the trembling rune Light Wall, Ling Qianxue formed seals with her hands. A cold blue radiance condensed in front of her into a giant ice-blue sword. This sword, bolstered by the True Qi injected by Ye Xuan and Leng Ruofeng on either side, swelled to an enormous size of twenty to thirty feet, slashing towards the Light Wall. Crack! The fourth wave of attacks reached its target, and the already violently shaking rune Light Wall finally cracked open, spreading from the center. However, the appearance of this crack was not sufficient to collapse the rune Light Wall. The brilliant runes started operating again, seemingly about to mend the crack. Hmph! Seeing this, Ouyang Lie suddenly sneered coldly. He reached out with his palm as if igniting a roaring fire in an instant. In the center of his palm, a fiery red lotus bathed in flame rapidly grew and then he furiously hurled it out, blasting it onto the crack in the rune light barrier. "Explode!" Ouyang Lie opened his mouth, a shout echoing forth. Boom! As soon as Ouyang Lie’s voice fell, the red lotus that had just touched the rune light barrier burst forth with a loud bang, wildly sweeping out in an extremely violent manner, tearing open the cracks while the runes that were supposed to repair the cracks were also shattered completely. Crackling... Red light surged, bringing with it a series of fine, crisp sounds; then, everyone saw visible cracks forming on the rune light barrier like a densely spread spiderweb. "The prohibition is about to break." Seeing this scene, many people were overjoyed, some even looked at Ouyang Lie with a hint of shock. As the Inner Sect Elder of the Wildfire Sect, he indeed deserved his reputation, being a powerful existence second only to the Sect Leader and possessing the realm of a Third Grade Martial Sect Master. Ye Xuan’s face also revealed a thoughtful expression. Ouyang Lie’s strength was extraordinary; even Ling Qianxue might not be able to handle him. Once inside the secret cavern, they would definitely need to be wary of him. Bang! While Ye Xuan was pondering, the rune light barrier, already full of cracks, finally exploded with a bang. An incredibly powerful storm swept out from inside the cavern, like a fierce tempest. Everyone quickly mobilized their True Qi to block the impact, and after the storm, several very deep passages appeared in their field of vision, clearly leading to different directions. Seeing these seven or eight branching paths present before them, everyone hesitated for a moment. With so many passages, only one could be correct and choosing incorrectly could mean returning empty-handed and wasting a great deal of time. While everyone was still uncertain, Ouyang Lie suddenly stepped forward, then closed his eyes. An invisible fluctuation transmitted from his mind, seemingly spreading towards the branching paths in front of him. "It’s spiritual power detection!" Feeling that subtle fluctuation, others were also somewhat surprised. It seemed Ouyang Lie must have learned some method of spiritual power detection. This could be problematic; could he sense the correct path? "That’s bad, it seems Ouyang Lie came prepared." Ling Qianxue also inwardly expressed worry. In this unfathomably deep secret cavern, relying solely on the naked eye would not suffice. Spiritual detection techniques were only accessible to a few with strong souls and required a great deal of time to master. Among their group from the Heavenly Martial Hall, no one possessed such a technique. However, just then, a slightly lean figure walked out from behind her and stood beside Ouyang Lie—it was Ye Xuan. Under the somewhat puzzled gazes of the crowd, Ye Xuan also closed his eyes, pressing his hands against his temples and muttering under his breath like a charlatan. Seeing Ye Xuan’s strange behavior, the crowd immediately started discussing. "What is he doing? Does he also know a method of spiritual power detection?" "It’s impossible. Do you think the method of spiritual power detection is as common as cabbage, that everyone knows it? This kid is so young, how strong could his spiritual power be? He’s most likely pretending." "Right, almost got fooled by this kid." At first, some were skeptical, but soon, almost everyone believed that Ye Xuan was merely pretending to confuse them. At this moment, Ling Qianxue also had a few beads of sweat on her forehead, clearly not believing that Ye Xuan knew any method of spiritual detection. And judging by his charlatan-like methods, it was obviously not some spiritual power detection technique in use, especially in stark contrast to Ouyang Lie, making it quite embarrassing. While everyone watched, Ouyang Lie also slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling on Ye Xuan beside him, a mocking look emerging in his eyes. What was this kid up to? His spiritual power detection method had taken him two to three years to achieve minor success, and it was also for this reason he had been sent to Wanxiang Mountain. How could this young whelp possibly compare? However, just as Ouyang Lie had just opened his eyes, Ye Xuan also opened his eyes, seemingly concluding his exploration. "Young man, with all your pretense, did you actually find something?" Ouyang Lie stroked his beard, asking disdainfully. "This kind of secret, naturally, I cannot tell you. If anyone is to speak, it should be you first," Ye Xuan replied with a light smile. "Hmph, insolent brat, playing a good game, trying to trick me into speaking?" Ouyang Lie naturally didn’t believe Ye Xuan had discovered anything, because among these passages, only one was a dead end, and the rest were all deep and inscrutable; even he had not been able to determine which one was the correct path. However, he was mistaken. His failure to find the right path was because his method was too low-level, while Ye Xuan, although appearing to be causing trouble, was in fact using an advanced method of microscopic Divine Sense detection, and he had indeed discerned some clues about these passages.