Transcending the Nine Heavens

The night passed extremely bizarrely just like that!

The two Supreme Martial Artists in charge of keeping watch over him could be said to have been under tremendous torture that night! If they had been keeping watch over someone else, they would have had been able to rest their eyes for a while no matter what. However, when keeping watch over this successor to the Purple Crystal Clan, their eyes were practically open the entire night!

In fact, they didn't even blink a single time!

Throughout the night, this fellow laid sprawled out on his back in the pool, absorbing Purple Crystals without any rest. The few pretty maids also went to and fro constantly transporting Purple Crystals.

Just like mice moving house!

The Purple Crystals brought in decreased at a rate visible to the naked eye before they turned into dust in the end.

At last, day had broken.

Chu Yang jumped out of the water with a splash. The two Supreme Martial Artists above then realized — The body of this successor to the Purple Crystal Clan was actually covered in purple. Even his muscles had turned purple.

Especially his right hand; the purple glow was exceptionally brilliant!

It seemed like his entire self had already metamorphosed into a piece of Purple Crystal.

He muttered to himself, "Absorbing 10,000 Purple Crystals has finally allowed my Purple Crystal Prospection Hand to improve to a level where it can prospect with full force. Looks like I should be able to make good progress today."

A jolt went through the two above immediately.

Purple Crystal Prospection Hand? It needs to be accumulated via Purple Crystal energy?

So that's how it is.

"As expected, this hot spring has a kind of boosting effect on the reinforcement of the Purple Crystal Prospection Hand!" The Purple Crystal successor muttered to himself, "What a pity… The water temperature is still not hot enough… The mining speed will inevitably be very slow because of this. However, for this kind of pure hot spring of the heavens and earth to provide such an effect is already not bad, so I won't make any more excessive demands… Even though the mining speed will be slow as a result, what we have is time after all. It's safer too…"

The Purple Crystal successor muttered to himself as he put on his clothes. Then, he left like a hurricane in the next moment. "I have to go and test its strength first… And see how much I can mine…"

The next instant, he had already disappeared.

…

"The Purple Crystals are used to cultivate the Purple Crystal Prospection Hand? While the Purple Crystal Prospection Hand is used to mine the Purple Crystal mine?" A frowning Li Wubo looked at the two Supreme Martial Artists in front of him.

"That's what he said. Also, judging from his behavior, it shouldn't be false," answered the two Supreme Martial Artists seriously after thinking about it for a while.

"Hmm… he said that the hot spring is very useful for the Purple Crystal Prospection Hand? But the temperature is not high enough?" Light flashed in Li Wubo's eyes.

"Yes. However, he also said that even though the speed will be slower this way, he will not make any more excessive demands. He also said that all he had was time. Based on this, it's likely that he has decided to stay at the Li Clan on a long-term basis," said the two Supreme Martial Artists cautiously.

"That won't do." Li Wubo's eyes flickered. "All he has is time but we don't have much time left. The Nine Tribulations Sword Master has already appeared in the Upper Three Heavens and may come to the Li Clan anytime. The war with the eight Super Clans may break out any moment as well. How can we drag on like this?"

Li Wubo mused over this for a while. Then, he made a quick decision. "I'll get people to widen the mouth of the earth core hot spring a little right away."

"How wise of the clan leader!"

Li Wubo nodded with a smile, though there was also a hint of anguish on his face. "Sigh… 10,000 Purple Crystals within a night… This rate… is truly…"

He didn't speak any further but merely sighed.

But everyone understood — Only a day and a night had passed and 10,000 Purple Crystals had all been reduced to dust!

What kind of enormous depletion was this?

Although the daily output from the Purple Crystal mine could satisfy this demand without any problem… What about the rest of the clansmen? At present, the daily output from the clan's Purple Crystal mine only totaled 12,000 pieces.

In the past, the Li Clan had been extremely proud of this number. But now, they could only chuckle wryly.

It looked like so long as that gigantic Purple Crystal mine remained untouchable… For every day that the successor to the Purple Crystal Clan stayed here, the whole of the enormous Li Clan would end up laboring for him for a day!

And… almost without any salary to speak of.

"It all depends on the Purple Crystal mine now!" Li Wubo's eyes narrowed slightly.

A Purple Crystal Core was equivalent to 1,000 regular Purple Crystals! A Purple Crystal Jade Essence was equivalent to 1,000 Purple Crystal Cores. As for Souls of the Purple Crystal, Holy Crystals and Divine Crystals… They definitely couldn't be judged based on the so-called 'value'!

As long as this gigantic Purple Crystal mine could be mined… What did their current losses matter?

…

On the other side, Chu Yang had already entered the gigantic Purple Crystal mine.

When he went through the checkpoint, he merely waved the identity token haughtily and sauntered in. Who dared to stop him?

When he finally reached the huge mountain body in the core grounds, Chu Yang took a deep breath and placed his right palm against the needle tip-sized mark that he had made the day before!

…

"Sword Spirit, when can you take action?" In the world of his subconsciousness, Chu Yang was rather anxious.

"No hurry. When you have created a slight gap, I'll be able to go in." The Sword Spirit was very calm.

"It's so big and sealed off so tightly. Once there's a small gap, will it crack and break apart from the inside out? If that happens, we'll really end up becoming laborers for the Li Clan." Chu Yang was rather worried.

"Definitely not." The Sword Spirit was very confident. "I've done too much of such sneaky things. Once I go in, I'll seal off the gap from the inside. After that, you can just put on a show and meticulously and tediously widen the hole on the outside."

Chu Yang nodded, reassured. "That's great. Remember, you must start the looting from the top… By the way, is the Nine Tribulations Space big enough to store everything?"

This lord was actually starting to worry about the Nine Tribulations Space's storage capacity…

"No problem at all!" The Sword Spirit promised without hesitation.

"Okay, great! I'm going to begin!"

…

After a long while, Lord Zi became as tired as a dog once more. He sprawled flat on the ground with not even an ounce of strength left in him. He opened his mouth and called out, "Someone…"

A Supreme Martial Artist expert who had been watching him from afar leaped over. "Lord Zi?"

"Get a brush and make a mark at the area that I've broken apart… I have to spend so much time trying to locate it every time I come. What's up with that?" Lord Zi censured him unceremoniously.

"Understood."

"Hurry and get me some Purple Crystals and Heavenly Treasures to recover… My god, is the Li Clan really this dense? Every time I do some mining, I'll be completely drained. Yet no one has made any preparations in advance?"

"Yes, I'll get it done immediately."

…

A huge pile of Purple Crystals was placed in front of Lord Zi. He activated his technique and absorbed the Purple Crystal energy while he had tea and munched on Heavenly Treasures — Exquisite Snow Lotus Seeds, a kind of spirit herb unique to the north-west.

He munched on the seeds as though he was popping candies into his mouth, producing loud crunching sounds.

With much difficulty, after six hours, Lord Zi had absorbed another 7,000 Purple Crystals. In the afternoon, he activated his extraction technique again…

Thereafter, he turned into a puddle of goo for real. "C-carry me back… to rest…"

Chu Yang's eyes were dull and lifeless and he looked exhausted. He muttered weakly, "I, uhh, I… I can't hang on anymore… Don't forget to prepare and send 10,000 Purple Crystals to my residence… I don't mind having a little more too… Today's progress is seriously… too much…"

Right away, a Supreme Martial Artist carefully hoisted him onto his back and sent him back steadily.

He sighed inwardly. "To be honest, this Lord Zi is actually also an unpretentious and straightforward man… He's so exhausted that he's pretty much a puddle of goo. I can really tell that he doesn't even have an ounce of strength left in his body…"

…

After Chu Yang left, Li Wubo, the clan leader of the Li Clan, immediately led a bunch of old men over to check on the progress.

When they took a look, all of them were overjoyed. After becoming all worn out the day before, he had only made a minuscule hole the size of a needle tip. But today, the hole had become the size of a peanut!

Compared to the results from the day before, it had become faster by at least a hundred times! And more!

It looked like these 17,000 Purple Crystals didn't go to waste. The effect was too apparent.

A needle tip the day before and a peanut today…

Even though this peanut-sized hole was still miles away from being opened up completely, and even further away from becoming a passageway that could allow people to go in and out…

Li Wubo was still rather satisfied!

No one had been able to leave even a mark the width of a hair's breadth on the surface the last ten thousand years but now, there was actually such a significant development! How could he not be pleased about it?

"Go back, everyone! This matter must be strictly kept a secret!" Facing everyone who had followed him in, Clan Leader Li issued the highest level of gag order!

"From now on, we will put in full effort for this matter! Other matters are to be put aside completely!"

"Yes, Clan Leader." An elderly man at the side said, "However… Regarding the matter about the Super Clans going after Chu Yang the Extraterrestrial Demon, your instructions are…"

"What Extraterrestrial Demon!" Li Wubo scoffed. "I've never heard of such a thing! Besides, they can go after him if they want to. The Li Clan will just pretend to do the same for show… We'll become enemies sooner or later anyway; the more they are worn down, the better. And the more our strength is maintained, the better!"

"Understood."

"As for this Zi Xiaoyan, you must keep a good watch over him!" Li Wubo's eyes gleamed in the light. "Make full use of the time we have to start on the plans that we have decided on! If those plans haven't come into fruition by the time this Purple Crystal mine reaches a point where it's possible to mine, then quickly kill him off!"

"Understood!"

…

When Chu Yang returned to his residence, he jumped into the pool immediately and began to absorb Purple Crystals again…

It went without saying that the sole of his foot was pressed against the little hole where the Earth Core Fire was again. At once, his whole body felt extremely comfortable. He muttered to himself, "Am I imagining things? Why does this Earth Core Fire feel like it has become much stronger?"

In the shadows, the two Supreme Martial Artists exchanged a smile…

In this enemy territory where dangers lurked everywhere, Chu Yang embarked on the most diligent phase of cultivation in his life. In addition, it was a cultivation process where he made a silent killing under layers and layers of surveillance!

Rich earth energy from the Earth Core Fire entered his body and streamed into his meridians. When it accumulated to a certain point, Chu Yang finally discovered the biggest problem of cultivation!

All this time, everyone had always absorbed the spiritual energy of the universe for cultivation. But it was only today that Chu Yang discovered something — The spiritual energy of the universe which they had used for cultivation in the past was simply too monotonous.

Besides, it was stagnant and lifeless.

Only when earth energy and spiritual energy of the heavens merged as one was there the true feeling of 'cultivation'.