Chapter 499: Stone Gate

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

There were countless treemen gathering below the altar. Their roots were planted into the earth and spread everywhere, creating a lushly vast forest.

The treeman Zhang Ruochen had created with his Genuine Qi of Wood Spirit walked pass the Millennial Treemen. It did not cause any uproar.

Zhang Ruochen was relieved. Practicing into the Treasured Body of Wood Spirit allowed him to hide.

He executed his Spiritual Power. Carefully it reached out and began to search.

When he retrieved his Spiritual Power, he was surprised. The number of superiors in the treeman tribe surpassed his expectations. There were at least 35 Treeman Kings.

Among them, there were also a few treemen who let out a terrifying aura, an aura that could put a warrior at unease. Zhang Ruochen’s speculated that they were likely 4,000-year-old treemen. Their strength was comparable to a Monk at the Fourth Change of the Fish-dragon Realm.

One could imagine that if they were exposed, they would fall under siege. Even though Zhang Ruochen had extraordinary power, he could still be crushed.

One had to be very careful.

SWOOSH!

Blackie shrank to the size of a mosquito. Flapping its wings, it flew out of the hole in the tree trunk and landed below the altar to study the Lines on the altar.

“Looks like Blackie really does have some trick up his sleeve that enables him to shrink to such a degree.” Zhang Ruochen was thinking.

Even a Monk at the Ninth Change of the Fish-dragon Realm with a Glazed Treasured Body, could only shrink and expand up to ten times his regular size. That was the limit.

Blackie definitely shrank more than that.

Zhang Ruochen controlled his treeman body and continued moving forward. He stopped below the altar and said to himself, “The altar area is full of treemen. If I step up to the altar, the superiors will definitely be suspicious. I need to create a commotion to distract them.”

Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and secretly circulated his Spiritual Power to connect with the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.

WHOOSH!

Under the influence of Spiritual Power, a thick cloud gradually formed above the altar.

The cloud grew thicker and more vast. It covered the scorching sun until no sunlight could pass through it. The world suddenly became extremely dark.

Claps of thunder could be heard from within the dark clouds. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi gathered and struck out a few streaks of lightning. They turned into an electric serpent that pierced through the sky.

“What’s happening? Why did the dawn suddenly turn into dusk?”

“I felt some kind of powerful energy condensing in the clouds. If the energy erupts, surely a great disaster will come upon us.

“That is… It’s a trick of the Extraterritorial Death! The Extraterritorial Death is coming! The Extraterritorial Death is coming!”

The treemen who had witnessed Zhang Ruochen’s power of thunderbolt were haunted with fear and began to panic.

Only the Millennial Treemen and Treeman Kings stayed calm. But they started to become more serious, as if a huge rival was coming. They began to look everywhere for the Extraterritorial Death.

None of them realized that just below the altar, a treeman’s trunk was slowly making a breach in the earth.

Zhang Ruochen seized the opportunity and came out from the treeman’s trunk. He executed Space Moving and disappeared. Then he moved through space and reappeared at the top of the altar.

Zhang Ruochen could feel a energetic heavy presence working on his body as he ascended to the top of the altar.

The heavy energy forced him to bend his legs slightly. His bones cracked. However, he quickly got used to it and regained his posture.

“So there is 20 times the energy on top of the altar. Now that’s meaningful. Seems like Blackie is right, this altar is indeed different.”

Soon, Zhang Ruochen was at the top of the altar. He discovered a stone gate leading to the underground.

On the surface of the stone gate, there were some mysterious carved Lines and odd little dots.

At a first glance, the Lines and dots were like a starry sky.

Zhang Ruochen did not go through the carvings on the stone gate thoroughly. Circulating his Genuine Qi, he reached out a palm and struck the stone gate.

The stone gate vibrated with a bang but did not shatter.

Instead, the Lines began to glow.

Zhang Ruochen was curious. He looked at his palm; it felt strange.

With his current power, he could normally break a metal gate, let alone one made of stone.

And yet his palm had not even left a dent.

“I will use Space Moving.”

The power of space was the most mysterious. It could penetrate through any tough object even a stone gate. After all any substance was a part of space.

POW!

A loud noise could be heard.

Zhang Ruochen applied Space Moving but crashed into the gate. Hard.

He did not pass through the stone gate. He felt pain and dizziness.

“My cultivation is too weak. I can’t exert the true power of space. The Lines on the stone gate even resist my power.” Zhang Ruochen rubbed his aching shoulder and could not help observing the Lines on the stone gate again.

The power of space could indeed pass through any object in this world. However, some strong inscriptions could affect space. If Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation reached a higher realm and he gained a deeper understanding of space, he would be able to pass through inscriptions.

“Could it be… Perhaps it is necessary to provide offerings to open the stone gate?”

Zhang Ruochen thought so.

He took the Auspicious Vase out from his storage ring. He took the blood of the Millennial Treemen from the vase and poured it on the stone gate.

The blood dripped onto the gate with a squeak and immersed into it.

The stone gate absorbed the blood of the Millennial Treemen.

Zhang Ruochen showed a look of satisfaction. He poured more blood onto the stone gate.

The Lines of the stone gate absorbed the blood. Slowly they turned red and spread out towards the door.

BANG!

The cylindrical altar spun slowly and let out a deafening sound.

The Treeman King closest to the altar was the first to feel strange movement on the altar. It looked towards the altar and saw Zhang Ruochen. It shouted loudly, “No! The Extraterritorial Death is on the altar! He must stop him! He cannot enter the altar.”

The Treeman King rushed towards the altar. It swept a meter-thick branch at Zhang Ruochen.

WHOO!

A strong wind could be felt.

The surface of the branch was flowing with a metallic beam. Every leaf was like a sharp blade. The Treeman King had very commendable power. Its branch was like striking out a thousand knives at once.

There was already a gap in the stone gate. Zhang Ruochen could not afford to escape; he could only fight the Treeman King with full force. He only hoped that he could resist until the stone gate was opened.

Zhang Ruochen stood next to the stone gate. With one hand holding the Auspicious Vase, he continued to pour the blood while his other hand held the Abyss Ancient Sword. He began to fight the Treeman King.

BANG! BANG!

Zhang Ruochen’s sword technique was admirable. Every sword Qi exuded was closely followed by another.

The altar was filled with sword shadows.

The sword Qi cut down leaves and gutted a few branches, which flew everywhere. Some of the branches fell on the altar while others were crushed into powder under the sword Qi.

The Treeman King stopped attacking when it realized that it had become a naked trunk with no leaves or branches.

“Extraterritorial Death… you bully…” The Treeman King growled.

Zhang Ruochen held his sword and stood up. He said bluntly, “If you don’t back off, you will have to die.”

“How arrogant, Extraterritorial Death! We will kill you!” Another Treeman King shouted.

Nine Treeman Kings rushed to the altar. They surrounded Zhang Ruochen and attacked him.

Although Zhang Ruochen had practiced into the Treasured Bodies of Double Spirits, he did not dare be so presumptuous as to battle with nine Treeman Kings. Moreover, in additions to the nine kings, there were still more below, rushing towards the altar.

Zhang Ruochen was in a sticky situation. He was being besieged by treeman tribe.

“Execute the Holy Wood Array for God Destruction. We must not let the Extraterritorial Death escape.”

Below the altar, one of the Treeman Kings was ordering the others. It gathered the other treemen to execute the array.

Zhang Ruochen resisted the incoming attacks with his Celestial Bodyshield and performed his sword movement, fighting with nine Treemen at once. However, he would only be able to hold on for a short time before his sword and Celestial Bodyshield were broken.

A branch crashed down heavily on Zhang Ruochen’s left shoulder, causing him to fly back.

“Die!”

Three Treeman Kings launched an attack towards Zhang Ruochen together.

Suddenly, the stone gate at the top of the altar opened.

SWOOSH!

There was a beam of glaring red light coming out from the stone gate. It turned into a light column that pierced through the dark clouds and flew into the vast universe.

Zhang Ruochen demonstrated Space Moving and disappeared into thin air. The next moment, he was beside the stone gate. With a flash movement, he entered the stone gate.

The three treeman Kings’ attacks were to no avail. They had been unable to stop him.

“How does the Extraterritorial Death disappear so suddenly?” One of the Treeman Kings asked, shaking.

“He… He entered the stone gate…” One of the Treeman Kings said.

“What?”

“What should we do now?”

The stone gate had closed again.

The Treemen Kings stared at each other in disbelief. They did not know what to do next.

A Treeman King who had been around for 4,000 years said in an ancient voice, “Don’t worry everybody. The Treant Ancestor is cultivating deep inside the altar. The Extraterritorial Death entering the stone gate only means death for him.”

“True. The power of the Treant Ancestor is incomparably superb.”

The 4,000-year-old Treeman King added, “However, we should still execute the array, just in case.”

The Treeman Kings retreated from the altar and performed the Holy Wood Array for God Destruction.

Even if the Extraterritorial Death was lucky enough to escape from the altar, they could still deal with him. Perhaps even annihilate him.