419 - The test of the Spirit monkey
The fire tree was said to be one of the six strangest trees in the world. It could change the concentration of the five attributes around it. For martial experts who were of the fire attribute, they were an extremely rare resource. If they cultivated in a place filled with fire trees, the progress of their cultivation would definitely advance with less effort.
It was a pity that Ye Qingyu cultivated in the ice attribute. The fire trees did not have much effect on him.
The ground was filled with fire trees as well as their scattered leaves on the ground, creating an especially beautiful scene.
CheCheChe!
From within the trees, there was the sound of brushing.
Ye Qingyu took several steps amongst the trees, and walked several steps into the little stone path. He could see an old man with plain and ragged clothes was currently brandishing a broom made from branches and woven grass. He was brushing the ground that was made from branches as well as strands of grass into piles then setting them alight.
The burning leaves of the fire trees danced like spirits. It ultimately did not transform into ashes, but turned into little buds of green light that flew amongst the forest, disappearing amongst the branches of the fire trees.
The fallen red were not unrelated objects, they transformed into pure yuan qi that protected the flowers.
"This is old man Su. In the very early periods of the [Light Palace], it was said he was once a Soldier of Light. But he sustained injuries and damaged his cultivation, so he could only be assigned here to quiety tend to the fire trees and leaves. If the leaves of the fire trees accumulate too much, it will incite the fires of the earth and cause fires to burn the roots of the fire trees. This will cause the death of the trees..." The man with the goatee beard, Dai Youmeng rushed to explain.”
Ye Qingyu nodded his head.
The blood qi of this old man was a bit stronger than a normal person. But there was not any yuan qi within his body, he should be an old veteran whose cultivation was lost.
"That's right, old man Su has already been here for sixty or seventy years. These years, his legs have gotten worse and he's turned even more mute and death. The previous Lords took pity on him and always kept him on and fed him…” the middle-aged scholar Liu Jingyan explained.
Ye Qingyu and the others walked over.
As expected, only when they were near did Old man Su notice the others’ existence.
He looked on the others with surprise before once again sweeping and clearing out the fire leaves.
Wrinkles spread about like lines on a turtle shell on the dry old face of the old man, filled with the marks of a old man. His head was covered with thinning silver white hair, and his scalp was similiarly dried and withered. The aura he emitted made others feel he would fall over with a light gust of wine. He continued to steep with both his hands like the talons of a bird, his fingernails black and beautiful. He panted, his figure somewhat hunched.
Ye Qingyu stood and look beside him for a while, then said, "Send two or three people tomorrow, and help an old man out.”
"Your concern, Lord, is much appreciated. But the temperament Old Man Su has is strange, he's not compatible with other people. Previously, there were several young people from the soldiers camp who took pity on him. They came to help him everyday, but in the end he went mad, hitting and biting them and finally scaring them away." Dai Youmeng shook his head. "We only found out afterwards that he was afraid of others stealing his job away from him. If he does not have this job, he will starve to death after leaving the [Light Palace]. It doesn't matter how much we explain it to him, and in the end, there wasn't anyone else that dared to go and help him.”
"That's right, afterwards everyone grew to be aware of his temperament..." Liu Jingyan added.
Ye Qingyu did not say anything, continuing onwards.
The true palace of the [Light Palace] should be at the end of this forest of fire trees.
As they continued to walk, the fire attribute in the air grew stronger and stronger.
When they were near the end of the fire tree forest, the scorching energy within the air was enough to make a withered log instantly catch on fire. The surging heat wave that faced them, caused them to have a mistaken sensation that they were in a sea of fire.
This was absolutely not the power of the fire trees.
With inner yuan protecting around Ye Qingyu, he left the forest. A black stone building that could not be said to be large appeared in his sight.
This stone palace did not have any specialities. It was classical, like a large stone house. There was not any stuff like statues or decoration, without a dome and did not have formation light emitting from it. The only things it had was a massive entrance at the very front, but it did not have a door and there seemed to be another entrance at the side. It was not clear what there was inside the main palace because it was floating around twenty meters above the ground.
It was a floating stone palace.
There was approximately another hundred white steps similarly floating in the air that formed undulating stairs, extending from the ground into the entrance of the stone palace.
The humongous and terrifying surge of heat was namely emitted from the palace in front of them.
More precisely, it was emitted from the base of this palace.
There was a visible fire energy that constantly struck the base of the stone palace like a volcano.
Ye Qingyu closed the distance.
This time he could see it even more clearly.
"It was like this?"
Seeing this scene, Ye Qingyu was somewhat taken aback.
Because below the palace, it was not truly ground beneath it. It was a humongous pit that was around hundreds of meters wide.
The bottom of the pit could not be seen. When you stood at the edge and looked down, you could see a purple-coloured magma fire that was roaring and boiling like nether springs through layer after layer of scorching red energy waves. At the same time, there was an earth splitting crackling and explosion, as if there was some peerlessly terrifying vicious beast hidden within the fires of the earth, causing one to pale with fear.
How could this be possible?
The pit was really connected to the fires of the earth that existed in the limitless depths of the world.
Ye Qingyu had his mouth opened in shock.
Accoding to the legends, Snow Capital was constructed on a glacier that had existed for countlesss years. In such a bitterly cold place, why would there suddenly be an Earth Fire spring? If the earth fires had any activity and exploded, even the entire capital would instantly be enshrouded by fire and perish. How could there be such a little Earth Fire spring here?
This was somewhat hard to believe.
"It's your first time coming here, Lord?" The Dai Youmeng saw Ye Qingyu's expression, then smiled.
Ye Qingyu did not turn his head to regard them.
Dai Youmeng clasped his hands, "Lord, you may not know this, but this underground fire nether spring in front of us was said to be created by the existence that founded the [Light Palace]. HIs sword pierced the ground, stabbing through countless layers, and incited the fires of the earth. His peerless sword will and power created such a pit. After even a hundred years, there will still be a small portion of earth fire that is emitted..."
A sword strike that pierced through the countless shells and layers?
This... what was that kind of power?
A Bitter Sea stage expert could not do this. Even legendary Heaven Ascension stage experts, may not be able to do such thing?
The shock on Ye Qingyu's expression deepened further.
So it had such a history.
It was the work of that truly legendary peerless War God.
Until today, Ye Qingyu had heard far too many people describing the actions of that person. Every single one of these stories were like the actions of a deity. Every time someone mentioned him, their tone would be filled with admiration and worship, like they were speaking about a heavenly person. It caused there to be a near irrepressible curiosity towards this War God in Ye Qingyu's heart.
It was a pity that this miracle person had already disappeared.
It was rumoured that he had perished.
But for an existence that was so near being a god, just how could he perish?
Perhaps there was some sort of secret hidden in the history of Snow Empire’s founding?
Looking at the Earth Fire spring in front of him and listening to it's roars, it seemed as if they were the howls of a Fiendgod that belonged to another world. According to the legends, the passageways that led to the other domains could potentially be hidden within the fires of the earth. There was a thought that occurred to Ye Qingyu, if he jumped into this Earth Fire spring, would it be possible for him to find the Domain Gates?
"Within this Earth Fire spring, there exists flame demonic beasts from the Upper Ancient Age. There had once been people who had seen them appear, they are a breed that is terrifyingly destructive and likes killing. They are all slumbering and rarely appears..." Liu Jingyan stood beside the sword pit, seeming somewhat apprehensive and did not dare near it at all like Ye Qingyu.
Dai Youmeng was also like such.
The broad faced Yan Hengshui was somewhat nearer than the other two.
Ye Qingyu stood and looked by the edge of the sword pit for a while, sensing the dense fire attribute energy in the air, making him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Because what he cultivated in was the ice attribute inner yuan, he was being subconsciously rejected in such an environment with such a heavy concentration of fire attribute. His strength was even somewhat a little suppressed.
He turned and slowly walked towards those floating steps.
At the beginning of the stone steps, there was a statue.
The statue was not any taller than one meter. It was not human shaped, but in the shape of a monkey.
It was a very martial monkey.
This monkey wore armour around him, letting out a glorious aura. Every detail from top to bottom was increasingly intricate, even the fur on his body was extremely clear. HIs expression had a semblance of authority with anger, and was extremely life-like, as if he would awaken at any moment. There was a pale golden war staff in his hands, and the shape of this war staff was also intricate and beautiful. There was a dragon soaring and climbing on it's two sides. Looking at it, it caused people to not help but extend their hands and grab the war staff into their hands.
"This was once the battle companion of that existence. It's said to be a Spirit monkey with unfathomable strength. He had once ran rampant in the age of sects. According to the rumours, the Soaring Golden Dragon staff had even defeated experts at the Heaven Ascension stage. Afterwards, he disappeared along with that existence. This statue is something the divine craftsman created for the Spirit monkey to protect the [Light Palace] because that existence was once in closed isolation within the palace..."
Liu Jingyan quickly rushed over and respectfully explained.
Ye Qingyu nodded his head.
This was the battle companion of that existence?
For a battle companion to be able to defeat experts at the Heaven Ascension stage, then just what cultivation would his master be at?
But after hearing so many legends and rumours about that person, Ye Qingyu slowly adjusted to it and did not find it so strange anymore.
He closely examined this Spirit monkey statue, then headed towards the floating stone steps.
Liu Jingan and Dai Youmeng looked like they saw a ghost as they stood behind, paling as they cried out, "Lord, wait..."
Ye Qingyu turned to give them a glance.
"Lord, are you wanting to ascend the stone steps?" Liu Jingyan enquired.
"Of course," Ye Qingyu nodded matter of factly. "As the Lord of the Light Palace, do you think I should not enter into the true [Light Palace] to have a look? It is said that this stone palace is the true location where the Lord of the Light Palace rules from."
"This is right, but..." Liu Jingyan seemed like he wanted to say something, somewhat hesitant.
Dai Youmeng also seemed conflicted, as if there were some words that were hard to utter.
Ye Qingyu was curious.
"Just what is this?" Ye Qingyu asked with a frown.
The two stuttered and stammered.
Yan Hengshui by the side directly open his mouth. saying, "Lord you may not know, but these floating stone steps towards the [Light Palace] have already not been passed in over a hundred years. No one can walk though it all. The Spirit monkey statue is protecting it by testing everyone who comes here. Apart from that existence, the Lords of the Light Palace in the past have no way of entering into the stone palace. There were people who once forcefully attempted to bypass the stone steps, but ultimately ended up in an utterly sorry state..."
"Test?" Ye Qingyu asked strangely. "What kind of test?"