荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“Look over there!”

“An altar! It’s an altar!”

There was an uproar as the agitated crowd watched an ancient altar rise from beneath the four stone pillars.

This altar was extremely old. Clouds and ancient beasts had been carved onto its exterior, but these were now mottled and damaged.

The altar immediately drew everyone’s attention.

“Let’s go and take a look!”

To the southwest, the Bone Devil Ancestor’s eyes flashed as he lunged toward the mysterious altar. He was closely followed by the Black Yin Ancestor, the Myriad Ghost Ancestor, the Lone Silence Ancestor, the Four Ends Martial Lord, and all the other martial artists. A great flood of people was converging on the center of the formation.

The altar’s surroundings were soon packed with martial artists.

Wang Chong and the Demonic Emperor Old Man, walking side by side, were the last to arrive.

At the center of the altar, between the four pillars, was a round pillar of bronze. The moment Wang Chong and the Demonic Emperor walked onto the altar, everyone looked toward them.

“Demonic Emperor, Young Master Wang, we’re just waiting on you.”

Wang Chong had just stepped onto the altar when the Black Yin Ancestor spoke, his voice as sinister as a venomous snake.

“Young Master, the six map pieces are all with you. The method for opening the treasury is definitely with you as well,” the Lone Silence Ancestor said.

Nearby, Song Yuanyi and Xie Guangting stood together and stared at Wang Chong.

The atmosphere gradually turned strange. Even the Four Ends Martial Lord was staring at Wang Chong, countless thoughts seemingly flitting through his eyes. The thousands of martial artists around the altar were also silently staring at Wang Chong.

“Wang Chong...”

The Formation Elder lightly pulled on Wang Chong’s sleeve, a nervous look on his face.

With the six map pieces found, the precise location of the Origin Immortal Treasury had been exposed, and that atmosphere of teamwork and cooperation had long ago ceased to exist, slowly supplanted by an air of conspiracy and scheming. Even the expression of the surrounding unaffiliated martial artists had begun to change.

And just who could resist the temptation of the Origin Immortal Art and the chance to be the world’s number one?

“Hmph, I’d like to see who is suicidal enough to try anything in front of this old man!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said in his domineering and imposing voice.

Everyone’s expressions instantly went stiff. Even the likes of Song Yuanyi and Xie Guangting couldn’t help but frown.

A deathly stillness reigned.

Even now, the might of the Demonic Emperor could still terrorize the people of the martial arts world.

“Hmph, Demonic Emperor, so many people are watching. You and your disciple don’t plan on playing some sort of trick to take everything for yourselves, right?”

The Black Yin Ancestor coldly laughed.

“Everyone, if the Demonic Emperor wants to take the Origin Immortal Art for himself, do we all say yes or no!?”

“NO!”

Everyone called out in unison.

The Lone Silence Ancestor suddenly spoke up. “Everyone, calm down a little. The Origin Immortal Treasury has not been opened. Now is not the time to fight amongst ourselves!”

He turned his head to Wang Chong and the Demonic Emperor.

“Gentlemen, we have managed with great difficulty to obtain all six map pieces. Only the last step is missing. Once the treasury is open, we can test our skills against each other. Demonic Emperor, what do you think?”

The Demonic Emperor said nothing, exchanging a glance with Wang Chong.

“Heh, everyone is overthinking it. Please stand aside and I will open the treasury.”

Wang Chong smiled as he walked forward.

Beneath the calm surface, an undercurrent was surging, but at least for now, they had not resorted to blows.

Everyone watched as Wang Chong slowly walked to the center of the altar and stood before the bronze pillar.

The bronze pillar was about one meter tall and was covered in wavy patterns and complicated inscriptions, even some characters that were older than Bird Seal Script.

There were no mechanisms on the surface of the pillar, so no one understood how this round pillar could be used to open up the Origin Immortal Lord’s treasury.

“We’ve already looked at it, but we couldn’t find anything important,” the Four Ends Martial Lord commented. “However, given the Origin Immortal Lord’s abilities, he wouldn’t have left behind even a single clue. Young Master Wang, you were the one who undid the Origin Immortal Formation and took its treasures. We can only depend on you to open this formation.”

These words had everyone focusing on Wang Chong.

All was quiet as Wang Chong silently examined the bronze pillar, but he also failed to notice any obvious mechanisms on its surface. Wang Chong had originally believed that the Energy Condensation Pearl was the key, but he could not see any slot that would fit it.

“Mm?”

Suddenly, his eyes spotted a shallow ‘design’ on the top of the pillar which caused an idea to emerge in his mind.

This was a shallow image of a beast that Wang Chong had taken little notice of at the start. But now, it exuded a sense of familiarity.

Wang Chong immediately took out that small black beast statue from his bosom.

He had possessed this statue for some time, but unlike the Energy Condensation Pearl, Wang Chong had never been able to find any use for it. Even his master and the Wushang Village Chief had failed to find anything special about the statue.

Clack! Wang Chong had just put down the black statue when a powerful pull erupted from the pillar, holding fast the statue.

The shallow beast carving immediately began to sink inward, firmly rooting the statue into the pillar.

Clackclack! Gears began to ceaselessly turn, and a few moments later, the bronze pillar submerged back into the altar.

But a moment later, with another rumble, a square bronze pillar rose from the earth. This time, the pillar had a clear indent on its surface.

“Young Master Wang, hurry and place the treasure map there!”

A voice came from behind Wang Chong, but even without this advice, Wang Chong could see what he needed to do. He quickly placed the six treasure map pieces in the square indent.

Whoosh!

Before anyone could look closely, violet flames erupted from the pillar and turned the map pieces into ash.

“Ah!”

“How could this be!?”

Cries of alarm came from all around. No one had expected this to be the result of placing the six map pieces.

Now that these six map pieces had been burned to ash, the treasure map to the Origin Immortal Art had ceased to exist.

But before they could immerse themselves too much in shock, the event that all of them had been awaiting with great anticipation finally took place.

After spitting out those violet flames, the square bronze pillar quickly receded into the ground, and the gears began to turn once more.

As the crowd shouted and hollered, the altar suddenly plunged back into the earth, triggering a rumbling that started underneath the ground at the center and rapidly spread into their surroundings.

All this happened under the creaking and clacking of gears, and the crowd was beginning to panic.

The unknown was always that most fearful of things. No one understood what all these changes really meant.

Suddenly, a martial artist in the crowd pointed at something. “Look over there!”

Wang Chong and the rest of the crowd turned to look.

When he managed to clearly make out that object, Wang Chong trembled all over in shock, a look of disbelief on his face. Meanwhile, his ears resounded with the cries of shock and disbelief from the crowd.

A massive mountain, several hundred meters in height, had appeared on the distant horizon.

There had been no mountain there before. It was like it had manifested out of thin air.

But what was most astonishing was that this massive mountain was exactly identical to the illusion of the Origin Immortal Mountain that everyone had seen before.

“A fake! It must be!”

“It’s already appeared once before! Does that mean that there’s another Origin Immortal Formation over there?”

“I don’t believe it! It must be an illusion!”

Everyone still vividly remembered all the people who had already died in the Origin Immortal Formation. The sight of an identical Origin Immortal Mountain was an immense mental blow.

Some of the martial artists who had been through the Origin Immortal Formation showed expressions of terror, their previous excitement evaporating.

“Alliance Lord, what’s going on here? Why did another Origin Immortal Mountain appear?”

The Righteous Alliance members were also inspecting this Origin Immortal Mountain.

Song Yuanyi looked into the distance and lightly said, “This one should be the real Origin Immortal Mountain.” His calm face made it impossible for anyone to read his thoughts.

“Formidable! Truly formidable! Reversing the heavens and earth, concealing the Yin and Yang—the Origin Immortal Lord’s understanding of formations has already reached an unfathomable level! I truly did not imagine that I would be able to witness the apex of formation arts in my lifetime!”

No one was more excited at this time than the Formation Elder. Everything that was taking place was a complete mystery for those who did not understand formations.

But for the Formation Elder, every event that had just taken place was bursting with information.

This was like an immense iceberg. Ordinary people could only see the tip, but the Formation Elder could see the vast edifice beneath the waters, and what he saw was akin to the world’s most resplendent show of fireworks.