Chapter 269: Chapter 254: Competing for the Divine Artifact!
In order to enter the Wind Snow Mountain Range, Wang Xu concealed his aura and changed his appearance, blending into the crowd of cultivators heading to the Wind Snow Mountain Range.
Currently, Wang Xu had a burly figure, his muscles were explosive, and his bushy beard covered his mouth and nose, only exposing a pair of particularly clear eyes.
Changing appearance is a very common concealment technique among Cosmic Martial Artists.
However, this kind of change can easily be seen through by those of the same level, making it as useless as a chicken rib in the cosmos; it only works if one cultivates a secret technique to specifically change aura and appearance, or uses a similar treasure.
In the Mortal Realm, there are no more than a handful of individuals who rival Wang Xu’s strength; even someone at the Perfection of Divinity Transformation Stage may not be able to see through Wang Xu’s disguise. Thus, Wang Xu boldly blended into the crowd, following this group of loose cultivators to the Wind Snow Mountain Range.
"Friend Xu, you said you are from the Star Demon Continent? That place is billions of miles away from here, has the news of the divine artifact’s emergence really spread this wide?" The group of loose cultivators consisted of thirteen people, both men and women, all cultivators from various places on the Endless Continent. The strongest among them was at the Perfection of the Nascent Soul Stage, and he was the leader of these loose cultivators, named "Winter Time."
Among the thirteen, Wang Xu was the last to join the group. He was reticent and never spoke with others, but everyone noticed his cultivation was at the Perfection of the Nascent Soul Stage, so no one dared to underestimate him.
To hide his identity, Wang Xu fabricated a name; he was now called "Xu Yi," a loose cultivator from the Star Demon Continent.
Wang Xu always sat cross-legged in the corner of the wooden boat, and no one ever disturbed him. It was the first time Winter Time actively spoke to him today.
"I traveled from the Star Demon Continent all the way here, and happened to hear about the Wind Snow Mountain Range, so I got curious and came to see, it’s not that the news spread wide." Wang Xu said in a deep voice.
Winter Time nodded on his own accord, seeing that Wang Xu was not a completely silent person, opened up his chatterbox and started talking with Wang Xu.
Wang Xu cherished his words like gold, speaking every sentence very subtly. The Cosmic Law was constantly watching him, making Wang Xu dare not be careless at all.
"...Oh, from what you say, Friend Xu is also a pitiful person; the country is destroyed, the sect is no more, reduced to a loose cultivator." Hearing this, Winter Time couldn’t help but let out a long sigh and fell silent.
The destruction of the country and the disappearance of the sect was a background Wang Xu fabricated for himself.
But that was also the truth.
Although Earth was still there, he has no home to return to and can only reside in the Heaven-Reaching Sacred Cosmos.
"Brother Winter, look quickly, we’re at the Wind Snow Mountain Range!" Suddenly, an urgent voice came through, and the group looked over, seeing in the distance an endless stretch of snow-capped mountains, with huge snowflakes dancing between heaven and earth, covering the ground layer upon layer.
This was the Wind Snow Mountain Range.
Wang Xu’s gaze subtly fluctuated; with his perception, he could sense that within the Wind Snow Mountain Range were many life auras, all at the Nascent Soul Stage, with quite a few Divinity Transformation Stage cultivators mixed within. Clearly, many cultivation sects had already come, wanting to compete for this soon-to-emerge divine artifact.
"Let’s stop here," Winter Time ordered, and the wooden boat slowly descended, everyone disembarking, with one person putting away the wooden boat.
This was a flying magical treasure of the Mortal Realm, which could keep flying as long as there were spirit stones or spiritual qi for support, but in Wang Xu’s view, the speed of this flying magical treasure couldn’t even compare to the speed of the Bailan, it was too slow.
The group advanced not far when they were stopped by someone ahead.
"Halt! The Wind Snow Mountain Range is already closed, please go back!" Wang Xu glanced, seeing those stopping them were wearing uniform attire with uniform emblems, evidently from the same cultivation sect.
"Dear friend, we are cultivators from the Lin Country, having heard that a treasure has emerged in the Wind Snow Mountain Range, we wish to witness the divine artifact, we hope you could kindly allow us." Winter Time stepped forward and clasped his hands in salute, slipping a top-grade spirit stone into one of the disciple’s hands, whose eyes flickered upon seeing the top-grade spirit stone.
In the Wind Snow Mountain Range, cultivators were as numerous as cow’s hairs, and there were many powerful ones, even if they were to fight over the divine artifact, it wouldn’t be the turn of these cannon fodder.
Casually slipping the top-grade spirit stone into his sleeve, the disciple cleared his throat and waved his hand, "Go in."
The loose cultivators followed suit and entered.
Upon entering the Wind Snow Mountain Range, immediately several pairs of eyes looked towards them. Seeing that this group of loose cultivators was small in number and had no Divinity Transformation Stage cultivator, they were regarded as cannon fodder driven by greed, and the looks were quickly withdrawn.
Swish~
Spiritual consciousness quietly spread, all the cultivation sects that came to the Wind Snow Mountain Range were completely spied upon by Wang Xu.
The disciples of these cultivation sects were well-ordered, strictly trained, akin to an elite army.
Those responsible for leading these disciples were elders from various sects, with strengths ranging from the early stage to the late stage of the Divinity Transformation, yet none at Perfection.
All along the way, the range covered by spiritual consciousness became larger and larger, and Wang Xu grasped more and more information.
"The place where the divine artifact is emerging is over there," Wang Xu’s gaze steadied, looking up to see far in the distance at the peaks of the mountains, covered in snow, thrusting into the sky, it was the Wind Snow Main Peak, the place where the fluctuations of the divine artifact were transmitted.
From the Wind Snow Main Peak as the center, within a radius of ten thousand miles, had already been occupied by cultivators from various major sects, all looking towards that mountaintop with hopeful and longing eyes, waiting for the divine artifact to appear.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Wang Xu’s spiritual consciousness trembled, "I’ve been discovered!"
Wang Xu quickly withdrew his spiritual consciousness, at the same moment, a powerful spiritual sense swept towards him; Wang Xu immediately concealed his aura, appearing no different from ordinary people. Although that spiritual sense couldn’t compare to Wang Xu’s, it far exceeded any of the present cultivators, so no one noticed that a spiritual sense had swept over them.
Not detecting anything unusual, the spiritual sense reluctantly returned.
"It should be the old demon beast at the Perfection of Divinity Transformation they mentioned. No wonder these cultivation sects are all keeping a distance from the mountaintop, they are all wary of this old demon beast." Wang Xu thought to himself.
The old demon beast at the Perfection of Divinity Transformation was rumored to be nearing the end of its lifespan, either about to ascend to immortality and become an immortal beast or quietly guarding the Wind Snow Main Peak, awaiting death.
No matter which kind, it leaves these cultivator sects too afraid to act rashly. Angering such a powerful being, should they go berserk and open a killing spree, the cultivators would seek revenge, but the other party might already have perished. They would only be throwing away their lives needlessly... Clearly, this isn’t a deal worth making.
"We’ll camp here for a few days and wait for the Divine Artifact to appear," Dongshi commanded with a wave of his hand after walking a while.
Immediately, everyone stopped and took wooden tables, stone stools, pavilion sheds, and even a mortal house out from their Qiankun Bags, drawing low laughter from the surrounding cultivators.
Wang Xu did not take anything out; he leaned against a large tree and entered cultivation.
The loose cultivators chatted and laughed, exchanging cultivation methods and enthusiastically discussing the Divine Artifact.
"Hmph, a bunch of cannon fodder."
"Laughing and chatting even at death’s door, it’s hard to tell if they’re fearless or foolish."
"Utterly foolish."
In the shadows, someone snorted sarcastically, ridiculing them with contempt. In their eyes, these loose cultivators were destined only to be cannon fodder.
A night quickly passed.
"Screee—"
"Roar!"
"Howl..."
At dawn, as the sun broke the clouds, a deafening sound suddenly rang from the horizon.
The Demon Beast army had arrived!
At the same time, the wind and snow in the world intensified, becoming even more fierce than before.
Rumble~
The earth trembled, and a clear, deep buzzing sound came from the peak of the Wind Snow Main Peak.
All eyes were fixed on the mountain peak, burning and excited!
Dazzling, brilliant lights illuminated the mountain peak, as a gleaming light broke through the earth from the peak, lighting up everyone’s faces like the sun.
"The Divine Artifact has surfaced!"
"Grab it quickly!"
"To whoever obtains the Divine Artifact, Ascension to Immortality, the Immortal Position will be mine alone, get out of my way!"
The cultivators, upon seeing the Divine Artifact’s true form, shook with excitement, shouting as they soared into the sky, diving fiercely towards the Divine Artifact.
Yet with so many cultivators, numbering in the thousands here, how could they let others succeed? In an instant, countless Magical Treasures and countless rays of light blazed across the sky, not at all weaker than those illuminated by the Divine Artifact.
Rumble~
The Demon Beast army charged, the sky and land filled with countless Demon Beasts as far as the eye could see, their eyes burning with greed, all fixated on the Divine Artifact atop the mountain!
The cultivators and the Demon Beast army clashed, and immediately a fierce battle erupted. Numerous weak Demon Beasts quickly became cannon fodder, trampled ruthlessly by those behind them sprinting forward.
Everyone’s target was the Divine Artifact. As long as one could obtain it, they could completely escape this Mortal Realm, attain an Immortal Position, and achieve eternal life and immortality, truly becoming undying and indestructible!
Battles were about to erupt at the Wind Snow Mountain Range, fully plunging it into warfare.
Bloodshed, slaughter.
Endless and unceasing.
The loose cultivators banded together, not rashly charging forward, fighting with the weaker Demon Beasts at the back. Wang Xu mixed among them, occasionally striking, his seemingly light attacks sent Demon Beasts flying. Though they appeared unharmed externally, their internal organs were completely shattered by Wang Xu, swaying before reluctantly collapsing.
One of the Nascent Soul Perfection Demon Beasts attempted to assault Wang Xu and was similarly suppressed, its life force completely extinguished.
A Nascent Soul Perfection cultivator killing a Demon Beast of the same level with one strike—this seemed astonishing to cultivators. It’s known that Demon Beasts find cultivation extremely difficult, thus possessing powerful strength; the same level cultivators aren’t their match...
But in such a grand battle, no one noticed this detail.
"Haha... No one can take it, the Divine Artifact is mine!" An elder in a gray robe, seizing the moment while others were engrossed in battle, approached the Divine Artifact with ghostly body techniques. As he drew ever closer, he involuntarily laughed, seemingly envisioning his own Ascension to Immortality.
Oh...
However, just as he laughed, a snow-white beast claw descended from the sky. Despairing, the gray-robed elder watched the claw fall, unwillingly reduced to a mist of blood.
Wang Xu’s eyes flashed; a Divinity Transformation Perfection old Demon Beast had made its move! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for it on Qidian (), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on .)