Nine Astra Skies

Ye Chen had collected all kinds of treasures at the bottom of the river. He swam for miles and found many Heaven-Earth Pouches as well. In theory, Heaven-Earth Pouches would corrode in five to six hundred years after remaining in the river so it seemed that these Heaven-Earth Pouches were left behind by people who had explored the river in the recent hundreds of years. They should also have joined the bones at the bottom of the river.

There were some medicinal pills left behind in these Heaven-Earth Pouches - some with hundreds of thousands of pills and some with at least a couple dozen. Most of them were Chi-Amassing Pills and Chi Deposition Pills, and there were even a few books on martial arts techniques. They were not very high quality but as the items were kept in the Heaven-Earth Pouch where space and time were still, they did not suffer any damage.

After searching the river for around seven to eight hours, Ye Chen counted his harvest of sixteen Heaven-Earth Pouches in which there were more than six hundred Chi Deposition Pills as well as seventy to eighty other nameless medicinal pills. In addition, there were ten or so martial arts technique books and he had collected more than fifty armor pieces and a total of five strange and unknown objects such as the bead.

Although Ye Chen could not see the quality of these weapons and armor, he was sure that they were spirit artifacts. If he took them outside, many people would go crazy over them.

There was a huge waterfall ahead where the river ran directly down and into the abyss. Ye Chen did not dare to jump down and could only swim out of the river to reach the bank. Sweeping his Astral Body around, he found that Qiu Ying and the others were walking along the riverbank in the distance and searching the river with their eyes from time to time.

Although Ye Chen's injury was mostly healed, he would still most likely lose miserably against Qiu Ying. However, he had his Astral Body so he could avoid Qiu Ying and the others in advance. They could not catch him.

Ye Chen leaped toward the stone in the distance and disappeared.

After a while, Qiu Ying and the others reached the waterfall and saw the water plunged directly down. They guessed that Ye Chen would not have jumped off the waterfall.

"Prime Minister, we've been tracking him for so long but that Ye Chen boy hasn't left the river yet. He wouldn't have been able to breathe. I think he already suffocated to death in the river," Liu Kan said. He did not believe that Ye Chen could stay at the bottom of the river for such a long time.

Qiu Ying sensed the surroundings but did not detect Ye Chen's aura. He also speculated that Ye Chen might have died at the bottom of the river.

"The river flows directly down to a bottomless abyss. That boy got hit by my palm and suffered some injuries. Even if he didn't die, he might have been washed into the abyss by the river. A drop from such a high point would be fatal." Qiu Ying pondered. As he did not see Ye Chen's corpse, his heart was uneasy. However, he felt relieved after having these thoughts.

Underneath was a bottomless abyss. They had no way of advancing and could only search the sides, leaving marks along the way as they walked.

Ye Chen wondered. He should be able to go back after harvesting so much treasure. His trip to the Sunken Jade Tower this time could be said to be fruitful. Originally, he wanted to wait for Qiu Ying and the others to leave before following the river back to the entrance of the Sunken Jade Tower and leave immediately after the entrance reopened. He had never thought that Qiu Ying and the others would follow him here too.

A top Tenth Level combatant's perception was exceptionally sharp. If he ended up too close to Qiu Ying and the others, he would be found. He could only continue deeper inside the Sunken Jade Tower.

First, he had to stay away from Qiu Ying and the others. As Ye Chen dashed along, he saw that there were many evil spirits and demons around him. Furthermore, they were at a much higher level than the ones at the entrance. They were at least Fifth or Sixth Level and there were even some who were Seventh or Eighth Level. Fortunately, after releasing his Astral Body, all the evil spirits and demons avoided him.

"Little Tanuki, where should we go now?" Ye Chen asked. Although the Sunken Jade Tower was incredibly vast, the inside was full of all kinds of restrictions. Some places could not be reached by walking and had to be circled around at the edge of the boundary. When Ye Chen swept his Astral Body over them, he immediately felt a huge power that made others tremble in fear. Tian Yuan, who arranged these spells, was truly amazing!

Little Tanuki shook its head slowly.

Ye Chen sighed inwardly. The map in his hands recorded how to enter the Sunken Jade Tower but there was no map for the inside of the Sunken Jade Tower. He was just like a headless fly bumping into things. When his Astral Body had sensed a strange energy, Ye Chen immediately hid far away.

Another advantage of the Astral Body was that it could leave behind a trace. Even if he got lost, he could still find it by using the energy left behind by the Astral Body.

Along the way, Ye Chen would occasionally find some dead human combatants or mystical beast corpses. The Celestial Chi of these corpses were all sucked dry. There seemed to be some traces left behind by struggles between combatants and mystical beasts. The humans and mystical beasts fought each other but their Celestial Chi and Psyche ended up being food for the evil spirits and demons.

After an unknown amount of time, around two to three days later, Ye Chen finally got away from Qiu Ying and the others. They had most likely gone down a different road but for now, Ye Chen still did not dare to walk back yet. The Sunken Jade Tower's mysteries also incited Ye Chen's curiosity. Although he did not dare to venture too deep, there was no harm in familiarizing himself with the first floor of the Sunken Jade Tower. The evil spirits of the first floor were not too strong and with Tian Yuan's gift, he might come to the Sunken Jade Tower often in the future.

Twisting and turning around countless restrictions, Ye Chen also did not know which part of the first floor he was in. He carefully explored around. There would be groups of demons from time to time but Ye Chen was already used to that. He would be fine as long as he maintained his Astral Body.

In the distance, a long and shrill whistle sounded, followed by the booms and bangs of a battle. It sounded especially fierce as if there were hundreds of thousands of people locked in a fight.

It was human combatants who were at least Ninth Level and above! Along the way, Ye Chen found that the spell around him had the effect of amplifying noise. The sound of battle should be from a few dozen miles away.

Perhaps the human combatants or mystical beasts had discovered something which resulted in a fight.

Ye Chen was after all, still a youngster. After thinking for a moment, he was unable to hold back and ran in that direction.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh, the sound of the wind whistled in his ears.

About two hours later, a vast plain appeared in Ye Chen's sight. He gasped when he saw the scene in front of him. A huge array appeared on the distant ground. The array was made of boulders, covering hundreds of acres of land. Several boulders were connected with long chains, at least thousands of meters long. In the sky, six huge evil spirits hovered. Their feet were locked by the long chains and they floated in the air like giant kites.

The evil spirits were ferocious and occasionally dropped to the ground. Their terrifying mouths blew out bursts of icy cold wind from time to time.

Ye Chen hid on a slope and watched.

The eastern side of the formation had thousands of mystical beasts, Celestial Beasts, and evil spirits grouped together while the western side had five to six hundred humans huddled together. They were Ninth Level combatants. With such a group of people, it would undoubtedly cause a magnitude nine earthquake if they were placed in the outside world.