Transcending the Nine Heavens

"Next, we'll start." Chu Yang smiled and said, "Is everyone ready? In this cave, we'll pass through all the way, until… we can't take it anymore!"

"We're ready!" Everyone chuckled.

As compared to the life-threatening danger outside, the discomfort in this cave was nothing at all.

"Listen," said Chu Yang. "I did not make this space very big for us to sleep inside but to use as a storage space. Next, there has to be a strict division of work. From this moment on, we have to work non-stop until we can't bear it anymore!"

"Just say what to do!" Interrogation Officer One said forthrightly.

"This is Jiuqu Ridge. You have moved the rocks underneath just now, and you can feel that they are ten times as heavy as the average rock! But we are going to make a path in such a place!"

"I'll open the way in the front, Wei Wuyan will be the second in line. I'll pass the rocks that are cut out to Wei Wuyan, who will pass them backward to the third person. The last person has to put the rocks inside this space."

Chu Yang said, "This space can store thirty big rocks like that. After that, we would be about seven hundred feet further down… Do you get it?"

"Yes," everyone replied in unison.

"The only requirement is that none of us should make any sound. Because of this, the last person in line will be the most tired. So we'll need to rotate." Chu Yang asked, "What do you think?"

Interrogation Officer One said straightforwardly, "We four brothers will take care of the rear. Now it seems like Brother Chu has deeper cultivation than us, but Brother Wei and others have only just reached the Supreme Martial Artist level and their status is not stable. We four have stayed at first-grade Supreme Martial Artist for decades… We are pretty confident about such kinds of things."

Chu Yang nodded. "Then, we'll start."

With regard to things like being able to flee after killing, Chu Yang kept all to himself.

Some things had to be made known to the whole world, or they were done in vain.

But other things only needed to be kept to oneself.

In the next moment, work began.

Interrogation Officer One had doubts at first. He tried doing it and realized that with all his strength he could only insert the longsword and then cut out a large rock by mobilizing his internal energy and pull it out… Then, he was pretty much out of strength.

The rocks of Jiuqu Ridge were no ordinary mountain rocks after all!

Yet Chu Yang could actually open up such a long pathway?

It seemed incredible, whichever way he looked at it.

But, in the next moment, he shut the mouth that was about to open.

He saw Chu Yang's longsword rise up, and with a flash, cut into the stone wall as effortlessly as cutting through tofu. A gap, the height of a person, was opened up. Then, more gaps were opened, one on the right, one on top, one below.

His palms held the center of the rock and shook it without a sound. And then, his five fingers grabbed the rock like claws and dragged it out.

It was fifty feet long!

Looking at such a huge rock of tens of thousands of pounds, the brows of the eight Supreme Martial Artists were twitching wildly.

This was no easy job indeed. Should this group of people be replaced by King-level warriors or the like, even if they could escape by finding such a way, they would die from sheer exhaustion.

Wei Wuyan took the rock with both hands, turned around and the rock was passed over smoothly. Wan Renjie took it and Cheng Duying sent it further… In the end, Interrogation Officer Two took it up, walked out to the outermost part of the cave and laid it down gently- he finally understood why this last position had to be rotated.

The people in the middle were the least tired, because it was not difficult to carry it and hand it over. The problem was with the "gently and quietly putting it down" in the end. It was such a killing ordeal…

This was actually a huge rock of more than 50,000 kilograms… To put it down like a feather without making a sound…

It would be possible if it was one or two pieces, but with at most three or four hundred pieces, he would be totally exhausted.

Chu Yang cut out another piece of the same size and passed it to the back.

And then he started increasing the speed.

Chu Yang was very fast.

As expected, when they reached the 300th piece, Interrogation Officer Two finally couldn't take it anymore; Interrogation Officer Three replaced him.

Chu Yang's sweat poured down like rain in front, but he just kept rushing forward, as though he didn't know the meaning of being tired. Soon, they were already seven to eight thousand feet forward.

Wei Wuyan and the others all felt a sense of fear.

"From now onward, start counting the time." Chu Yang said while handing out a large piece of rock, "All of us are Supreme Martial Artists and should be clear about how much time there is in a day. Starting from Wei Wuyan, each of you will count one day, calculate clearly how long we have been here."

"When Wei Wuyan starts to feel fuzzy, pass the calculation to Wan Renjie immediately. Be sure to remember it clearly…"

Everyone agreed.

Once Chu Yang finished saying all these, he felt a shock in his heart. Everyone else seemed to feel something as well, but they didn't discover anything. Seeing that Chu Yang was silent, they all kept their mouths shut.

The Sword Spirit was back.

In his consciousness, Chu Yang learned that the Sword Spirit led the people out for five to six hundred miles, before he found a random mountain stream and flew back as a soul body…

As for the people from the Li Clan, they were of course searching in that area, as clueless as headless flies…

But Chu Yang's group could absolutely not go out, because the checkpoint in front had not been revoked. Besides, the siege by the Li Clan was becoming more and more powerful!

To go out now was tantamount to offering themselves to the enemy.

All evidence said: just keep digging underneath here!

Thinking of this, Chu Yang wanted to cry: Am I going to make holes all across eight thousand miles? How long would that take?

In one morning, Chu Yang progressed fifty thousand feet!

This speed was pretty fast.

But with a distance of eight thousand miles, it was only a mere one percent…

Besides, such a speed could not last long. After all, they had to eat and rest.

The four at the rear were already sweating and panting.

Wei Wuyan and another three replaced them.

After an unknown period of time, Wei Wuyan reminded them: a day and a night had passed.

Only then did Chu Yang stop.

Everyone was already starving and thirsty.

Supreme Martial Artists could live without eating or even breathing. For example, to neither eat nor drink for three months was completely possible. But to do that, there was a condition: not to use a large amount of physical energy.

But with everyone tired to the bone right now, starving would be harmful!

"What are we gonna do to eat?" Interrogation Officer One, who was following behind Chu Yang, asked.

"There's dry food in the bags of all five of us but not much," said Chu Yang lightly. "Inside my spatial storage ring, there's also some fresh water and food. If we save it, there should be enough."

Bao Buhuan wanted to say: I don't have dry food in my bag. But once he opened his mouth, Wan Renjie pinched his thigh hard.

"That's good, then!" Interrogation Officer One felt reassured and said admiringly, "I didn't expect that you guys have made such proper preparations and even have prepared dry food in such a dire situation."

Chu Yang rolled his eyes.

He thought to himself, "If I didn't have the Nine Tribulations Space, the nine of us can only wait to become zombies here underground…"

"Since I have the spatial storage ring, I naturally have to use it. Besides, I also just got this thing when I set off this time." Chu Yang showed them the spatial storage ring that he casually took from the Li Clan's Purple Crystal mine and smiled lightly. "Out of curiosity, I put quite some things inside, especially food and drinks. Hmm, there are also several jugs of good wine inside…"

Wine!

Upon hearing these words, the eight people immediately started drooling.

My good god, this guy… actually also stored wine…

"What, would you like to drink some?" Chu Yang asked, smiling.

The eight nodded like chickens pecking at rice.

"Dig another two thousand feet forward! And then we'll start eating and drinking. A pot of wine for everyone," said Chu Yang with a smile.

Immediately, everyone felt full of energy!

"What are we waiting for then? Hurry and work…"

"Yes, yes, hurry up…"

"Stop idling! Or I'll beat you!"

…

It was undeniable that under such dark and hopeless circumstances, the temptation of wine was multiplied from what it was on ordinary days!

Under the temptation of wine, everyone was full of spirits and working very hard.

They worked all the way until midnight.

This time, they actually went out another six thousand feet! Three times more than the two thousand feet asked by Chu Yang!

Everyone was already extremely exhausted; Chu Yang finally opened his arms.

He found a large piece of rock, laid several pieces of dry food on it and then the highly-anticipated gift came: under the eager eyes of the Supreme Martial Artists, Chu Yang slowly got out… a jug of wine!

This was no small jug indeed.

And it was genuinely good wine. Of course, Chu Yang would definitely not bring out the fine wine given by Xue Leihan… It was only ordinary wine that he brought out.

There were several dozens more jars of such wine in the Nine Tribulations Space.

But one could neither overeat nor overdrink.

It was easy to get idle when one was full with food and wine… At such a moment, it would not do to be idle…

Chu Yang made nine wine cups from stone and said in advance: only three cups of wine for each person.

Interrogation Officer One and the others all wanted to cry: f*ck, you call this a cup?

How could they satiate their thirst like this? It would be gone when they just started to taste it…

"There's only this one jug of wine." Chu Yang casually put away the jug of wine. "So we have to save it… At this time tomorrow, we'll each drink three cups again."

Immediately, everyone had something to look forward to again.

The scene was very funny: each of the eight Supreme Martial Artists held a stone wine cup with extreme care, lest they spilled half a drop, and drank with indefinite cherish…

They took small sips, and with each sip, they turned it around in their mouths several times before they swallowed… And once they swallowed, they let out a long sigh of extreme satisfaction…