Chapter 542

Tens of thousands of warships formed a neat square volley formation; bow armor plates slid aside, and one after another main cannons glowing with mysterious light extended, locking firmly onto the Five Finger Mountain ahead.

Linghu Qingqing wore heavy armor, hands behind her back, standing on the prow of a huge warship, calmly watching hundreds of turtle‑shell boats racing forward. Ahead of the turtle‑shell boats lined in a row, countless great peng birds surrounded by thunderbolts shot up into the sky, clamoring as they fled far away.

Not only were their own kin recently suffered heavy casualties, not only was the imposing battle formation of tens of thousands of warships intimidating, these great peng birds also sensed several terrifying auras within the fleet that felt like imminent catastrophe.

Even in this wild northern frontier, where the most savage and ferocious native tribes dwell, these great peng birds still possess animal instinct; they know how to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and when facing a natural enemy they flee at top speed.

The turtle‑shell boats proceeded very smoothly, without the slightest hindrance, straight to the front of Five Finger Peak.

The Five Finger Mountain rose straight up and down, resembling a genuine palm severed at the wrist and planted in the ground; the joint marks and palm lines on the hand were clearly visible, and even the fingerprints on each of the five fingers were distinct.

Tens of thousands of outlaws filed out of the turtle‑shell boats one by one, each carefully activating their own defensive secret treasures, stepping on flowing light and cloud masses, cautiously flying toward the Five Finger Mountain.

The Five Finger Mountain stands hundreds of li tall, its base spanning nearly a thousand li; dense forests flourish at its foot, filled with thousand‑zhang tall ancient trees. Countless great peng bird nests are neatly built in the forest, with outlaws dropping into the nests and then flying back up, smiling with delight.

In those nests lay many bird eggs the great peng birds could not carry away; each egg teemed with vigorous life force, indicating the chicks inside had developed well. Such innate spirit birds, if properly raised, make superb mounts and war beasts.

Many outlaws descended in droves; the nests held plenty of eggs, and numerous people laughed with delight.

According to the order of Old Master Hu, these unexpected gains are their spoils of war and need not be turned in.

These outlaws are the type who scrape three feet deep; they carefully searched outside the nests, picking up not only bird eggs but also considerable amounts of valuable spirit wood, spirit medicines, and various precious items, then, urged by their respective squad leaders, they took off again and swarmed into the Five Finger Mountain in groups.

The first batch of three thousand outlaws were the lowest‑ranked, at the initial stage of the Embryo Storage realm.

They moved in small groups, casually employing evasion techniques straight for the Five Finger Mountain. At first, over ten li there was nothing unusual, but once they activated their evasion light and truly set foot on the mountain, a muffled thunderclap sounded and a bolt of purple lightning flashed across the mountain.

The three thousand outlaws, together with their defensive secret treasures, instantly exploded into clouds of black dust; a fierce gale burst from the cleft between two fingers of the Five Finger Mountain, blowing the black ash everywhere.

The black ash drifted down onto the forest at the mountain's base; this ash was the transmuted bodies of Embryo Storage cultivators, containing immense energy and blood‑essence. As the ash settled, the forest below trembled slightly, and the thousand‑zhang tall ancient trees actually grew a few inches higher.

"Father, did you see clearly?" Old Master Hu's fatty flesh twitched all over as he turned and cautiously asked Linghu Qingqing.

Linghu Qingqing's eyes turned pure silver‑white, a chilling light like a sword slicing the void before him, producing faint ripples. He narrowed his gaze, staring fixedly at the Five Finger Mountain; after a moment he shook his head and said, "Keep sending them up… this mountain is very strange."

After a brief pause, Linghu Qingqing lowered his voice: "The gods ordered you to first collect these few treasures in the deep sea before coming to this northern frontier… Clearly, the danger here far exceeds that of the deep sea. Only with those supreme treasures as a backup can we possibly obtain the treasures here."

Linghu Qingqing's words made Old Master Hu shudder with a sudden chill.

Indeed, that is the reasoning; the gods' map marks the sequence, indeed instructing him to first go to the deep sea and then to the northern wilderness. However, in terms of distance, coming to the northern wilderness first would save the most time.

Since the gods arranged it this way, it is evident that the peril within the Five Finger Mountain far surpasses that of the Nine Dragon Coffin, the Jellyfish Vase, and similar places.

Wu Tie stood a hundred zhang away, likewise gazing into the distance at the Five Finger Mountain.

That mountain… gave him a feeling of oppression, a heavy weight pressing on his chest, making him want to vomit, as if his entire qi and blood were disrupted.

Wu Tie's spiritual sense is extremely keen, hence his strong reaction; but those outlaws are mostly body cultivators, they only train their physical flesh and pay no heed to comprehending the Dao and heavenly mechanics. Put bluntly, they are a group of brawny simpletons—humanoid beasts.

They did not feel how formidable this Five Finger Mountain is; the three thousand outlaws slain earlier were merely the weakest among them. Perhaps the mountain possesses only some natural restrictions, nothing more.

More than a dozen outlaws who had reached the peak of the Embryo Storage realm, immensely powerful, and additionally protected by the Heavenly Dao divine weapons granted by Old Master Hu, gathered several thousand outlaws, forming a proper battle array according to standard diagrams, stepping on a mass of dark clouds, and marched mightily toward the Five Finger Mountain.

Another flash of purple lightning appeared; this time everyone saw clearly—countless strands of dark purple lightning, as fine as hair, fell from the void and struck the formation heavily. Several pieces of defensive Heavenly Dao divine weapons roared, brilliant light flashed, and the thousands of outlaws working together managed to block this wave of lightning assault.

All the outlaws shouted in approval; Linghu Qingqing and Old Master Hu, among others, smiled and nodded, urging the fleet to slowly advance several li forward.

Several thousand outlaws landed on the Five Finger Mountain; the formation operated, they stepped on flowing clouds and marched in unison toward the central middle finger at a quick pace.

Five Finger Mountain, Five Finger Mountain—the middle finger pierces the clouds, indeed the most conspicuous; logically, if any treasure is hidden within the mountain, it should be in this central finger.

With a tremendous boom, torrents of purple lightning poured down; the formation slammed heavily into a pliable barrier, and a crystal‑clear blood-colored flowing light spread over the entire Five Finger Mountain. Though the central middle finger was still a hundred zhang away, the formation was halted outside the blood-colored light curtain.

"Attack!" several squad leaders among the outlaws shouted in unison.

"Boom!" Linghu Qingqing raised his right hand and pointed at the blood‑colored light curtain enveloping the whole Five Finger Mountain.

The outlaws' purpose is to scout the way and sacrifice themselves… Since they have already triggered the mountain's restriction, breaking this flowing light is the goal. As for whether the volley of tens of thousands of warship main cannons will cause the thousands of outlaws on the mountain to perish… Linghu Qingqing won't bother with such details.

The strong light emitted by the tens of thousands of warship main cannons illuminated a thousand‑li radius of void, turning it completely bright.

Tens of thousands of light beams almost simultaneously struck the central middle finger.

The blood-colored light curtain violently trembled; layer after layer shattered and evaporated, while fresh blood light continually sprayed from within the mountain. Purple lightning in the sky fell like a torrential rain, blanketing the outlaws' formation.

The outlaws screamed and howled, their formation desperately resisting the lightning strikes, yet continually being forced backward.

The tens of thousands of warship main cannons fired in unison; beams of light burst open, making it seem as if a gigantic sun had appeared before them. The fierce, intense heat almost baked their bodies into mummies—including over a dozen squad leaders—causing the outlaws to vomit blood, their five viscera and six bowels severely injured.

Wu Tie's warship shuddered violently; the three giant warships secretly built by Old Master Hu had astonishing calibers—barrels a dozen times thicker than ordinary warship main cannons—glowing faintly. After about the time to finish a cup of tea, three thick beams, each several li wide, tore through the air with a piercing screech and struck straight onto the central middle finger of the Five Finger Mountain.

The three giant warships trembled violently; their three main cannons continuously poured out strong light, the beams spanning hundreds of li, one end at the ship's muzzle, the other embedded in the mountain's body.

Cooperating with the furious barrage of the tens of thousands of warship main cannons, the blood-colored light curtain on the mountain's body finally burst with a 'pop' into scattered blood light, vanishing without a trace.

The artillery struck the central middle finger, blasting its stone into flying fragments; countless large and small rocks peeled from the mountain and were instantly turned into blue smoke by the intense light.

Several thousand outlaws lying on the mountainside of the Five Finger Mountain let out joyous roars, leapt up fearlessly, formed a formation, and sprinted wildly toward the middle finger.

Linghu Qingqing raised his right hand and clenched his fist.

The warships' volley ceased abruptly; in the fleet, countless eyes were still dazzling white, their eyeballs sore and painful, unable to see clearly for a moment. After a while, the outlaws had already charged onto the central middle finger, stepping on flowing clouds and slowly rising toward the summit, when only a few soldiers who had reached the Embryo Storage realm managed to regain a bit of sight.

Wu Tie was unaffected by the intense light from the warship volley; his eyes gleamed with sharp light as he fixedly stared at those outlaws racing like wind and lightning.

After a round of volley fire from the tens of thousands of warships, the surface stone of the Five Finger Mountain was shattered to rubble, and in many places the mountain's body had deformed.

However, Wu Tie's keen eyes spotted something unusual existing within the cracks of the collapsing mountain body.

"This seems…" Wu Tie had just muttered a few words when the entire Five Finger Mountain violently trembled; countless boulders exploded from the mountain at once, like a swarm of locusts, whistling as they shot out in all directions.

These boulders carried tremendous force; hundreds of them struck the outlaws' formation. The close‑range flying stone attack gave them no time to dodge or block; the impacts shook the formation violently, and over a thousand outlaws vomited blood.

Amid the flying debris, a hand entirely white as jade emerged from the rubble, its fingerprints faintly tinged with dark gold, spanning hundreds of li in size.

A suffocating aura surged forth—vast and endless like a great river, turbulent and boundless like an ocean, ancient and mighty as a primordial beast—humming from that palm. This quasi‑material aura instantly enveloped tens of thousands of li of surrounding mountains; the void solidified, winds and clouds stilled, and every living thing in the range, from Linghu Qingqing down to the tiniest insect, had its mind go blank.

Beneath the thick strata of the Five Finger Mountain, there truly lay a hand.

A hand of unknown origin, but whose true owner must be terrifying beyond measure, with power impossible to estimate.

With a bang, the formation of thousands of outlaws attempting to fly to the summit of the middle finger exploded bodily, their divine embryos crushed to powder. Only the divine embryos of the two strongest squad leaders, protected by secret treasures, managed to break out of the formation, shrieking as they fled back toward the fleet.

"Heavens… this is…"

But the two squad leaders' divine embryos had not fled far when the huge hand, hundreds of li tall and entirely white as jade, suddenly moved.

The enormous hand shrank in a swish to a size of a hundred zhang, then, swift as lightning, shot forward and grabbed; the two squad leaders' divine embryos, together with the roughly one hundred turtle‑shell boats behind them and the over twenty thousand outlaws nearby, were seized in its palm.

Dark golden light swirling in the lines on his palm, the divine fetuses, turtle-shell boats, and desperate fugitives he had grabbed suddenly shrank, and with a few 'crack' sounds they were kneaded into a golden pill about a zhang in size.

Five Finger Mountain disappeared; beneath the mountain's body appeared a huge pit a thousand zhang in diameter, continuously gurgling out dark golden mist.

Heavy breathing sounds continuously came from the pit—breath, breath, breath—and the void within tens of thousands of li seemed to constantly expand and contract, expand and contract…

A suffocating, more terrifying killing aura than that palm's breath erupted from the pit—'ge-ge', 'ge-ge'—and a strange sound came out of the pit.

That sound was like a zombie sealed in ice for tens of thousands of years; he had just awakened from the coffin, struggling to speak. But countless years of freezing had rusted his throat; he was struggling to regulate his breath, constantly impacting his throat and vocal cords, trying to produce a sound.

"Be on guard." Linghu Qingqing screamed hoarsely.

He finally awoke from the stagnant state caused by that terrifying aura; he bellowed with all his might, and with a 'boom' the stagnant void shattered like a glazed cup struck heavily, and countless soldiers on tens of thousands of warships awoke simultaneously.

A dark golden column of light silently erupted from the pit; strands of strange Dao-pattern light turned into clear flood dragons, shooting straight up within the dark golden light, then rapidly spiraling and dancing within it.

A figure with disheveled hair slowly flew out from the light column, naked; his left hand held an ancient-style silver lantern, the wick's point of silver fire emitting dazzling starlight; his right hand gripped a dark golden Seven Treasure Ruyi, and a vast, unfathomable terrifying aura turned into strands of flowing light, like a waterfall continuously falling from the ruyi's head.

This Seven Treasure Ruyi is marvelously extraordinary; the strands of flowing light dripping from its head, upon touching the ground, instantly grew into bunches of lotus leaves, from which pure white lotuses bloomed; the basin-sized white lotus flowers shimmered with light, exuding a rich fragrance carried on the mountain wind for miles.

"Supreme treasure!" Linghu Qingqing greedily gazed at that Seven Treasure Ruyi.

He had seen the state artifact of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, and he had personally experienced the terrifying power of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom's state artifact.

He could swear by his ancestors' spirit tablets that the few state artifacts openly possessed by the Great Jin Divine Kingdom—whether the Wind and Cloud Trembling Heaven Bell or the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace—were absolutely no match for this Dragon Tiger Ruyi before him.

As for that silver lantern… its aura was too inwardly restrained, and Linghu Qingqing could not make out his origin.