Chapter 182: The Mountain of the Profound Whale!

The temperature at the volcano's crater is extremely high, and the crimson dragon whale is a colossal beast, brimming with intimidation.

In ordinary times, Li Yuan would have deliberated carefully, probing cautiously before drawing near.

But at this moment, he hesitated not, heading straight for the Profound Whale.

For in his perception, this dragon whale seemed to be cheering, like a little dog waiting at the doorstep for its master's return, its tail wagging like a windmill.

How could one resist that?

"Touched it!"

Li Yuan felt only a heat in his palm as dazzling red light erupted from the Profound Whale, surging like a tide to engulf him.

This dragon whale was not a physical entity; it was more like Qi taking form...

Buzz!

In the next instant, Li Yuan felt the light and dark before his eyes flicker; when he opened them again, where were the crimson dragon whale and the volcano crater?

Before his eyes stood an inverted mountain, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, like a giant hammer driven into the earth, piercing straight to the clouds.

The clouds were like a sea; Li Yuan gazed into the distance, feeling that the mountain peak held layers of palaces, seeming illusory and unreal, hazy and ethereal.

"What place is this?"

Li Yuan was stunned.

He was now at the foot of the inverted mountain; mist shrouded the surroundings, with not a trace of earth-fire or cold-pond water in sight, only verdant vegetation and a gentle Xu Xu breeze.

Is this inside that volcano?

Or perhaps...

Li Yuan looked around, gazing toward the path he came from; through the hazy mist, he faintly saw the bottom of the cold pond, the volcano crater, churning dark currents, and those crimson dragon fish kings.

But all of this was completely cut off by the mist.

"This looks like the Qi barrier of a Flesh-Cultivation expert?"

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat; this was somewhat beyond his imagination.

This wondrous place appeared far larger than the cold pond; how could it possibly exist at the bottom of the cold pond?

Even if it did exist, what immense Qi could support a barrier so vast?

"This blade of grass and this tree..."

Li Yuan observed the surroundings; he bent down, pulled up a few blades of grass, and blew gently on them; those few blades of grass actually scattered into clouds of smoke.

And in the same spot, a few new blades of grass grew.

"Qi taking form?!"

Li Yuan was somewhat bewildered.

It looked exactly like Qi taking form, yet it far exceeded the records in books regarding Qi taking form.

Whose Qi could transform into an entire island, a great mountain?

"Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing!"

Li Yuan took a deep breath and walked toward that inverted mountain; the closer he drew, the more he felt his own insignificance.

This mountain stood ten thousand ren high, with green vegetation and jagged strange rocks; if all of this were formed by Qi, it was somewhat terrifying.

Arriving here, the black light within his line of sight became clearer and more powerful, no longer trembling, but seeming to carry expectation, waiting for him to climb the mountain.

"Can I lift this hammer?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat numb in his heart, yet he still walked toward the inverted mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, he saw a stone stele formed of Qi, covered in characters he could not understand.

"These are not the characters of the Great Yun Dynasty..."

As Li Yuan frowned slightly, he saw a layer of lustrous light rise on the stone stele; subsequently, the characters shifted, transforming into the characters of the Great Yun Dynasty.

"... Is the spiritual nature of this Profound Whale Hammer so abundant?"

Li Yuan knew the Profound Whale Hammer possessed spirit, but he had not expected its spiritual nature to be so abundant, even knowing he could not understand.

"The Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing has spirit; without affinity, it cannot be seen..."

"The creation of the Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing cannot be obtained without transcendent talent and an unyielding will..."

"Only by ascending to the absolute peak can one see the Profound Whale!"

Li Yuan read word by word; the stone stele detailed this Profound Whale Mountain, as well as the difficulty and danger of climbing it.

This mountain was formed by the Qi of the Profound Whale Hammer, seeming illusory and unreal; anyone climbing this mountain must endure the pressure of the Split-Sea Profound Whale Hammer.

Without supreme aptitude, there is absolutely no possibility of reaching the absolute peak.

Moreover

"Under the pressure of the Profound Whale Hammer, let alone Qi, even internal energy cannot be circulated; hmm, in that case, the best way to climb this mountain is Yi Xing, Yi Duo Xing."

Li Yuan murmured, suddenly recalling Han Han Chuijun; had Old Han perhaps seen this stone stele?

"Yi Xing..."

Li Yuan frowned slightly.

He had only recently achieved mastery in internal strengthening; even with the Spirit-Storage Minor Return Pill, Yi Xing would be difficult; setting aside the impurities in the pill, the sedimentation of blood and qi and internal force was insufficient.

Li Yuan walked to the mountain path and saw another stone stele.

The difference was that the characters on this stele were not uniform; they were names left by those who had attempted to conquer the mountain.

All who attempted the mountain would choose to leave their names.

"Cui Qingyan, Flesh-Cultivation achieved, climbed one hundred ren."

"Qi Wangsheng, Flesh-Cultivation mastered, climbed one hundred ren."

"Liu Liu Qingtian, Bone-Marrow Refinement perfected, climbed one thousand ren."

Li Yuan glanced over; these climbers had ascended at least a hundred ren, some over a thousand, or even several thousand.

"Ghost Mask, Yi Duo Xing, climbed six thousand ren..."

Yi Duo Xing, could that be Old Han?

Li Yuan felt some surprise and doubt, but then thought it didn't make sense; with Old Han's personality, how could he possibly leave a name that might lead people to suspect him?

Ghost Mask; he immediately thought of Han Han Chuijun. Wouldn't others suspect it too upon seeing it?

"Stay silent and make a fortune; leaving a name isn't a good habit. Hmm, that's not right either..."

Li Yuan thought for a moment, then left the name 'Li Li Yuanba' on the stone stele.

Hmm, that should be safe.

Glancing at names on the stele like 'Ghost Mask', 'Asura', 'Evil Ghost' and others that looked obviously fake, his own looked more like the real thing.

"Climb!"

Having not slept for at least a day and a night, Li Yuan's spirit was still highly excited; he looked back at the mist-shrouded exterior, seeing only churning dark currents and interwoven crimson hues; the Crimson Dragon Fish King seemed extremely furious.

"Daring to provoke more than a dozen Crimson Dragon Fish Kings? Is a Viscera-Refining expert that formidable?"

Li Yuan's eyelids twitched slightly; he tilted his head back, swallowed several pills, and stepped forward to climb.

Buzz!

The moment he took a step, Li Yuan shuddered as if struck by lightning; his bones and internal organs all felt numb and tingling.

He now understood the pressure of the Black Whale Hammer.

In a daze, he seemed to hear the sound of iron being forged; this sound was deafening, as if it were drilling into the cracks of his bones.

"So intense?"

Li Yuan's expression was solemn, and he felt somewhat astonished.

Because he discovered that the hammer sound vibrating his organs and bones was, invisibly, also tempering his blood and internal strength.

"This works? Let's try again."

Li Yuan stepped forward repeatedly; with every step, he could hear the sound of heavy hammers striking iron, and the further up he went, the stronger it became.

He had walked over eighty steps, and the hammer sound had rung out over eighty times; he closed his eyes slightly to sense, feeling his blood and internal strength circulating throughout his body become increasingly harmonious and fluid.

"It also aids in digesting the medicinal power?"

Li Yuan's eyes lit up; he lacked nothing in terms of pills on his person, and with this hammer sound assisting, perhaps he could transform his form at an extremely rapid speed!

Li Yuan felt a slight joy in his heart, swallowed a handful of various pills, and continued forward; the numbness vibrating his entire body from the hammer sound was far less than the pain of altering his bone structure.

However, after walking less than one hundred and thirty steps, he was already numb all over and could not move forward.

"Sigh, I truly am not a genius; if I relied solely on my own talent, I'm afraid I wouldn't even reach a hundred ren; a hundred ren is two hundred meters..."

Li Yuan tried again, but felt his steps heavy, as if an invisible barrier blocked him ahead, preventing him from taking a single step.

Daoist Li sighed inwardly, accepting the reality that he was not a peerless genius:

"Command the Military Talisman."

Without hesitation, once the interval for commanding and controlling had passed, he decisively commanded and controlled the several heavy hammers that had stacked the Hammer Technique talent.

And activated the enhancement.

Buzz!

In an instant, Li Yuan felt

the mountain-like pressure vanish instantly; as if wind sprang from beneath his feet, he broke through directly to a hundred ren.

At the hundred ren mark, there was still a stone stele, but the names on it were far fewer.

He did not stop, but continued forward.

Two hundred meters, four hundred meters, six hundred meters, one thousand meters...

Soon, Li Yuan had reached the thousand ren mark, saw the third stone stele, and at this place, the pressure of the Black Whale Hammer suddenly surged.

Or rather, the hammer sounds exploded fiercely at this spot.

In an instant, Li Yuan's vision went black; had he not immediately assumed the Soldier Body stance, he would have fallen to the ground.

Buzz!

Li Yuan shook violently as if struck by electricity, and every pore on his body opened up.

The hammer sound kept drilling into his body; wherever it passed, his tendons, bones, skin, flesh, organs, and even bone marrow began to tremble and vibrate.

"Purging the hair and washing the marrow?"

After a long while, Li Yuan panted heavily, covered in sweat, yet felt a sense of relief as if chronic ailments had been completely removed; his blood and internal strength had undergone another layer of baptism.

"The benefits of climbing this mountain alone are not small..."

Li Yuan lay sprawled on the steps, momentarily exhausted; gazing at the palace that seemed to appear and disappear amidst the clouds at the mountain peak, his mind was filled with endless thoughts:

"Does this hammer lure me to climb because of this? Or is this process required for the Black Whale Hammer to recognize me as its master?"

Li Yuan lay there for quite a while, swallowed a Yuan-Replenishing Pill, and closed his eyes to sense the circulation of his internal qi.

After the great circulation of blood was complete, he began to cover his entire body with internal strength; this step was not difficult, requiring only a month or two of grinding.

But this mountain had only been climbed a corner, and relying on the baptism of the hammer sound, he had actually almost finished it.

"Seven Spirit-Storage Minor Return Pills, two hundred jin of Crimson Dragon Fish meat, various blood-increasing and bone-strengthening pills..."

Li Yuan counted the pills on his person and felt that perhaps halfway up the climb, he could attempt to transform his form!

After resting for quite a while, Li Yuan finally began to climb.

Beyond a thousand ren, the pressure was even greater; every few dozen meters, he had to stop, stand in a stance, take pills, and digest.

Gradually, his speed slowed more and more, and upon reaching the three thousand ren mark and seeing the fourth stone stele, Li Yuan felt he could barely hold on.

"At least two days?"

Li Yuan came back to his senses, feeling utterly drained; only by forcing himself to stay alert did he manage not to fall asleep.

He looked around, gazing from the mountain into the mist beyond; perhaps because the distance was great, all he could make out was a vague, shadowy blur.

"Sleep for a bit."

He yawned, then closed his eyes; but before sleeping, he put on the human-skin mask and the Star-Plucking Tower's ghost-face mask.

Just in case someone broke in.

……

……

Hum!

Hmmm~!

The instant Li Yuan stepped into the Mi Jing, at the bottom of the cold pool the undercurrents churned, mud and sand surged, and a tremendous shockwave spread across ten li, even over a dozen li of water.

Countless schools of fish fled frantically to the surface.

The tremors spread to the inner and outer islands; even the cliffs on both banks began to shake, dirt and stone flying.

Such a huge commotion instantly drew everyone's gaze.

In a tunnel, Lord Master Gongyang Yu's heart jolted; he thrust out his palm and blasted apart the rock wall, and as the pool water poured in, he had already darted into the cold pool.

He released his true Qi outward to withstand the surrounding water pressure; in the pitch-dark waters of the cold pool, he saw another person's true Qi glow.

"Master Master Baili!"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu's eyes darkened, and he retreated with a hint of wariness.

A Viscera-Refining martial artist might qualify to be a branch-master of the Xieshen Sect, but Master Master Baili was suspected to have already achieved success in Marrow Refining, his Wu Gong surpassing Lord Master Gongyang Yu's.

Whooosh~

The waters of the cold pool churned.

Lord Master Gongyang Yu watched from afar as Master Master Baili strove desperately to throw off the Red Dragon Fish Kings clinging to him, wanting to dive.

"This tremor…"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu looked toward the bottom of the cold pool; in the gloom, firelight flickered, and in its glow…

…

"That is… the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing?!"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu's pupils contracted; he saw, at the bottom of the cold pool, that wondrous place radiating dazzling light, and his heart shook beyond words.

The Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing was something that existed only in legend.

Legend had it that the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing possessed extreme spirituality; whenever they emerged into the world, they were accompanied by a Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing, formed from condensed true Qi, containing unfathomable martial mysteries.

In legend, the Mi Jing held all manner of fortune; gaining even one could remold one's root-bone, enhance one's innate talent, achieve Tu Po Jing Fa Jie, purge the marrow and cleanse the meridians…

"No wonder Master Master Baili is so frenzied — this, this means someone actually gained the acknowledgment of the Yu Xuanjing Hammer?!"

For a man of Lord Master Gongyang Yu's composure, his face now turned ugly.

The reason he had withdrawn so decisively was that he did not believe the Xieshen Sect could find the Yu Xuanjing Hammer — after all, their ancestors had failed to locate it in fourteen hundred years.

But now, seeing the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing blaze with radiance, he felt as though a knife were twisting in his heart: the Yu Xuanjing Hammer not only existed, it was about to fall into another's hands.

Boom!

In the cold pool, waves exploded apart.

Master Master Baili exerted force with both hands and tore a Red Dragon Fish King in two, but his protective true Qi was also shattered by a tail-whip, and at last he coughed blood and fled, heading toward Lord Master Gongyang Yu.

The emergence of the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing filled his heart with fury.

"Dare to steal this hall-master's prize — whoever you are, you die!"

Master Master Baili came in wrathful pursuit; Lord Master Gongyang Yu of course turned and left, with no intention of engaging at all, even though Master Master Baili was wounded.

"Lord Master Gongyang Yu!"

In the tunnel, Master Master Baili spoke through a cough of blood:

"This hall-master only wants the Yu Xuanjing Hammer; the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing is yours!"

"Hm?"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu turned around in the distance.

"The Rift-Sea Yu Xuanjing Hammer is not something the Divine Weapon Valley can keep safe — you have only one path: cooperate with me!"

Master Master Baili's face was not pleasant.

His original plan had been: after martial artists from nearby commanderies and counties arrived, but before experts from other prefectures came, to blood-sacrifice these people as fast as possible, seize the Yu Xuanjing Hammer, and leave.

But the emergence of the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing had thrown his plan into disarray.

"Cooperate?"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu frowned slightly, then turned and left: "This old man will absolutely never cooperate with the Xieshen Sect, but those Red Dragon Fish Kings — this old man has a way to deal with them…"

"Lord Master Gongyang Yu."

Master Master Baili gave a cold laugh, unsurprised; between Lord Master Gongyang Yu — or rather, between all the sects under heaven — there was only interest, no enemies or friends.

Let alone talk of righteous and evil.

"If we cast the net early, will there be enough for the blood sacrifice?"

Master Master Baili muttered to himself; he felt it might not be enough, but he did not wish to wait any longer.

If he waited any longer, the people from Dragon-Tiger Temple and the One-Qi Mountain Manor might not necessarily come, but that beast who had opened the Shan Xuan Bing Mi Jing…

"Dare to steal this old man's things!"

Master Master Baili's face twitched; murderous aura billowing, he walked deeper into the tunnel, and before long, screams began to ring out one after another.