The insect fog drifted toward Yang Kai in utter silence, enveloping him completely. The Golden Crow True Fire blazed to life, roaring as it ignited the insect cloud. In an instant, a ceaseless barrage of crackling pops filled the air as the insect cloud transformed into a fire cloud, every single creature within reduced to ash.
The path ahead was fraught with peril — not only the thunderbolts conjured from the void and the harassment of the insect clouds, but countless other dangers beyond imagination.
The ground would suddenly split open to reveal a chasm that swallowed warriors whole before sealing itself again, claiming lives without a sound. Some people didn't even notice when the companions beside them vanished. One glance back and they found themselves utterly alone, their blood running cold.
Several thousand warriors had poured into the mountain, yet in less time than it took an incense stick to burn, twenty to thirty percent had already fallen. And the higher they climbed, the greater the dangers became, the more frequently catastrophe struck.
Yang Kai had stumbled into several traps himself, saved only by his solid foundation.
But the other warriors weren't as fortunate. Whether it was the thunderbolts or the insect clouds, neither was easy to fend off.
By the time they reached the mountainside, their numbers had thinned dramatically. Those who still had the courage to press on were either supremely confident in their own strength or driven by the mentality that one could not enter a mountain of treasures empty-handed, and were willing to risk everything.
Xiang Ying and the young man who had obtained A Ku led the way by a considerable margin. Xu Zhen trailed somewhat behind — not because his strength was inferior, but because every person had their strengths and their shortcomings. The purple bamboo in Xiang Ying's hand shattered all techniques; a single point aimed at the sky was enough to annihilate thunderbolts and scatter insect clouds.
The young man who had obtained A Ku was no less formidable. Yang Kai strongly suspected he was a Bearer chosen by some Sacred Spirit, but the man kept his cards close, making it impossible to gauge his true depths.
And these were only the Bearers out in the open. How many more lurked beneath the surface?
After all, Yang Kai had seen over fifty Sacred Spirits before. Each Sacred Spirit had its own Bearer, meaning there were at least fifty-plus Bearers in total.
The short man was still nowhere to be seen. Yang Kai had no idea where he had gone.
He advanced while scanning both sides, searching for any sign of him.
A point of light suddenly blazed to life not far ahead. When it first appeared, it was faint, but in the blink of an eye it had become as bright as broad daylight. A terrifying aura radiated from within, and amid a tearing crackle, lightning serpents surged outward from its center in a frenzied dance.
Pu Baixiong cried out: "Watch out!"
Yang Kai had already thrust his hand forward. The laws of space churned as his massive palm swept upward with tremendous force.
Boom! High above, a thunderstorm detonated, engulfing an area a hundred zhang across. Within that hundred-zhang radius, even the void itself collapsed entirely, forming a colossal black hole.
Yang Kai drew a sharp breath, secretly congratulating himself. Had he not sensed the danger in time and relocated the thunderstorm to midair, having it detonate right in front of his face would have been more than even his half-dragon body could endure.
He exhaled softly and looked up toward the mountain's summit, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
He had sensed it since the base of the mountain — a subtle, ethereal trace of World Power permeating the slopes. As he had ventured deeper and climbed higher, that sensation had only grown clearer.
It left him bewildered.
Within the Void Great Ruins, even the Sacred Spirits' power was drastically suppressed. The Minor Universes within the bodies of Open Heaven realm cultivators were completely sealed away. By all logic, something like World Power should not have existed here.
And yet it did.
Where was this World Power coming from?
Yang Kai could tell that its source was none other than the old tree at the summit. What surprised him even more was that this World Power was remarkably diverse — it didn't appear to be a single type, but rather countless varieties fused together.
"Pu Baixiong, are you certain that's the Primordial Spirit Fruit Tree?" Yang Kai asked as he continued climbing.
Pu Baixiong sat on his shoulder, the two legs formed from his roots swinging idly. "Primordial, not primordial — what do I know about that? You're looking for a fruit tree, and I know there's one here. That's all there is to it."
Yang Kai was speechless.
The distance from the base to the summit was barely a thousand zhang. Under normal circumstances, any warrior could cover that distance in an instant. But within this mountain, it had taken well over an hour.
The first to reach the summit was Xiang Ying. Upon arriving at the peak, he didn't rush to seize any spirit fruit. Instead, he stood beneath the tree, gazing upward, his expression dazed.
The second was the young man who had obtained A Ku. The moment he appeared, Xiang Ying subtly widened the distance between them.
After all, every warrior who had ascended the mountain alongside this fellow had met a violent end — hardly an auspicious omen.
The third was Xu Zhen.
Yang Kai was fourth to charge up, followed closely by Ding Yi and his Emperor Heaven forces. Behind them, scattered warriors hacked through obstacles and endured unimaginable hardships before finally arriving at the summit.
The short man was nowhere to be seen, but Yang Kai could feel that the fellow was hiding somewhere nearby. The suppression on divine sense here was simply too severe for him to search easily.
Every person stood transfixed, staring at the fruit tree. Its canopy was immense, blotting out sky and earth alike. Hanging from each of its sprawling branches were spirit fruits — small, no larger than a fist, translucent and luminous, radiating prismatic light. They were breathtakingly beautiful.
"This is..." Xu Zhen examined the tree and its fruit in a daze, as though something had stirred in his memory. A thoughtful gleam flickered in his eyes.