CHAPTER 111 (3): AMETHYST SOUL

With Mo Ganyun holding up the rocks above, the other three were able to swim out of the opening, following which Mo Ganyun swam out after them, and all of the giant rocks above came crashing down in his wake.

The four of them swam several hundred feet through the underground water while constantly striking away giant rocks that threatened to crush them or block their path, and after swimming forward blindly for some time, the pressure was finally gone.

Before they had a chance to regain their bearings, they felt the flow of water begin to change, and it seemed to have been flowing outward in all directions.

The four of them were powerless to resist as the strong currents pushed them along, and they were tumbling end over end like a bunch of rag dolls.

All of a sudden, the four of them crashed into a mountain face in unison, smashing open a huge hole that the four of them tumbled directly into.

With a resounding thump, they fell to the bottom of a cave, and they cried out involuntarily in pain upon impact.

In the next instant, they detected a source of light nearby, and upon opening their eyes, they were instantly stunned by the sight that they were greeted by.

The scene before them was unimaginably beautiful, far beyond anything they could ever imagine.

The entire cave, or the entire mountain, was lined with amethysts, and there was nothing else in sight all around them.

The entire belly of the mountain was formed by amethysts, and they were currently situated right in the very center of the cave.

"This... This is Amethyst Ore!" Yu Zhongge exclaimed in excitement and bewilderment.

"Look at all of this stuff! It's all of such a high quality!"

"We don't even have much of this stuff in my clan..." Jing Shuanggao said in a trembling voice.

"No shit! No clan has much of this stuff!"

"Hold on, where is the light coming from?" Mo Ganyun asked with a puzzled expression.

Everyone immediately began wondering the same thing.

No matter how transparent the amethysts were, light was still required to illuminate them, but how was there light this deep underground? They had been falling for close to two hours, so they had to have been incredibly deep within the earth.

With that in mind, the four of them turned around, and they were instantly rooted to the spot.

Situated behind them, surrounded by a ring of even purer amethysts, was a purple flame that was gently rippling as if it had a life of its own.

Qiu Yunshang was immediately able to guess what it was, but he didn't dare to believe it.

"This is an Amethyst Soul!" Yu Zhongge exclaimed, and he was trembling from excitement.

"What should we do?" Mo Ganyun asked with tightly furrowed brows. "Given our cultivation bases, we won't be able to take this thing away from here."

"We absorb it right here!" Yu Zhongge decided with gritted teeth.

"Are you insane?!" Mo Ganyun exclaimed. "If we try to absorb this thing, our bodies will explode!"

At their cultivation bases, the energy within a top-tier natural treasure like this would be far too much for them to bear.

"We set up a Four Signs Formation!" Yu Zhongge declared. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I don't know about all of you, but if all I get out of this are a few chunks of amethysts, then I'll think back to this moment and wonder 'what if' for the rest of my life! If all of you are with me, then I'm willing to take the risk.

“By setting up a Four Signs Formation, our cultivation bases will be connected, and that should allow us to safely absorb this Amethyst Soul! I'm at least 60% confident!"

Mo Ganyun's trio exchanged a glance with one another, then asked, "What do we need to take note of?"

"Do not allow any indecision to enter your mind!" Yu Zhongge replied. "That's the risk with this move. If any of you harbor any indecision and want to claim the Amethyst Soul for yourself, then all four of us will instantly die! Only if the four of us are strong in our resolve and single-minded in our focus can we hope to do this successfully."

"That's not a problem for me," Mo Ganyun said, and the other two quickly agreed.

"In that case, let's begin," Yu Zhongge said, then began picking up the purest amethysts nearby to use as materials for the Four Signs Formation.

From there, the four of them sat down with their legs, holding hands to form a connected circle.

The four of them then channeled their cultivation arts in unison, and their spirit qi began to slowly flow through their meridians.

Once it was time, Yu Zhongge reached out with his right hand, while Jing Shuanggao extended his left, and the two of them slowly grabbed onto the Amethyst Soul together.

The skin and flesh on their hands instantly disappeared, leaving only two skeletal hands locked together.

It was a rather harrowing sight to behold, but neither of them seemed to be in any pain.

"Shuanggao, don't forget about the Yin Yang Shock!" Yu Zhongge reminded.

"I'll follow your lead," Jing Shuanggao replied with a serious nod.

The four of them closed their eyes and continued to channel their cultivation arts, and the power within the Amethyst Soul began to slowly enter Yu Zhongge's body.

It then passed through Mo Ganyun, Qiu Yunshang, and Jing Shuanggao in that order before returning to Yu Zhongge, where it began a new cycle.

As time passed, their bodies began to emanate faint purple light that flickered incessantly.

Before long, the four of them had entered a completely immersive state and lost all sense of time.

At some point, the air temperature in the cave spiked drastically, then cooled back down again some time later, but the four of them remained completely oblivious to these changes in their environment.

***

High up above the clouds, there were eight people locked in a battle for the ages. Xue Fuxiao was facing his old rival, Duan Xiyang, while Bing Qianshan was clashing against the wielder of the vastly renowned Berserker Halberd.

Gu Changhan was facing off against a man whose entire body looked as if it were composed of red-hot coals, and there were two more people locked in battle as well.

"You came here last time to search for this Amethyst Soul, didn't you, Duan Xiyang? You made up that story about the One Strike Spear Demon to trick me!"

Xue Fuxiao was furious.

"If you think I made up that story, then you're free to think what you want," Duan Xiyang said in a nonchalant manner. "However, I'm taking the Amethyst Soul with me, and that's not up for negotiation!"

"May the better side come out on top then! We have no intention of handing over the Amethyst Soul to anyone!"

All of a sudden, Duan Xiyang turned to Gu Changhan as he threatened, "Gu Changhan, are you trying to lead the Frost Sword Sect to its demise?"

Gu Changhan was dominating Flame Demon in their battle, and he said in a calm manner, "In my eyes, it's utterly deplorable that all of you are willing to go so far just for an Amethyst Soul! Having said that, my sole objective is to kill Flame Demon. Once he's dead, I'll return to my sect right away."

"You think we don't know that your Frost Sword Sect has already entered a collaborative partnership with the Guardians?" Duan Xiyang sneered. "Close to twenty thousand disciples is quite a commitment! How many of them do you think will be able to return to your sect alive?"

"We have an obligation to protect this continent against demonic forces. Whether they live or die is up to fate to decide," Gu Changhan said in a tranquil voice.

"But you are the one deciding their fate, are you not?" Duan Xiyang chortled.

The battles were becoming more and more intense, and more and more people were entering the fray as time passed.

"Where's Xiao Tianshui?" Duan Xiyang asked.

"None of your business!" Xue Fuxiao sneered.

Duan Xiyang was furious, using his spear to block Xue Fuxiao's saber as he snarled, "All we want is the Amethyst Soul, while you get the entire ore vein! This is already a huge compromise on our end, yet that's still not enough for you? You insist on taking everything?"

"This ore vein is on our territory, so even if we gave it to you, it's not like you'd be able to take it away!" Xue Fuxiao sneered. "You come to our territory and try to make it seem like you're doing us a favor by proposing split ownership of our assets? Since when did you become so shameless?"

Duan Xiyang fell silent as he began focusing his full attention on the battle at hand.

Xue Fuxiao was quick to match his intensity, and all of a sudden, they had become sworn enemies when they had just shared a meal of wine and roast meat together not long ago.

***

At this point, all of the volcanic eruptions had already ceased.

The violent tremors from the eruptions had marred the mountain range with countless rifts and fissures, and that provided certain opportunities for some people.

A figure that resembled flowing water was rapidly moving through the bodies of underground water beneath the mountain range, and elsewhere, there were also two others searching for something.

The three of them were completely oblivious to each other's presence in the area, but all three of them chose to delve deeper in their search.

They didn't need to breathe, and it was as if they were more at home in water than on land. The larger the bodies of underground water that they entered, the more speed and freedom with which they were able to move.

As they flowed through the veins of water, all three of them were meticulously examining the spirit qi around them, trying to find its source.

Before long, the three of them had begun moving in the same direction...

***

Meanwhile, Yu Zhongge and the others were glowing radiantly with purple light, while the Amethyst Soul had almost completely faded away and barely even visible anymore.

Their meridians were all swollen to the extreme.

As the power of the Amethyst Soul entered their bodies, the first thing that they did was use it to strengthen their meridians, followed by their arteries and internal organs. From there, the energy flowed to all parts of their bodies, and only after that did they begin to bolster their dantians.

From there, they returned to strengthening their meridians, and the cycle repeated itself over and over again.

By doing this, they would be able to store the energy in their bodies and slowly use it in their future cultivation.

The power of the Amethyst Soul would be sufficient to support their cultivation for the next few centuries!

Finally, the energy that they weren't able to absorb was compressed into spirit power in their dantians.

Even so, they still felt as if their meridians were about to explode.

Their bodies had swelled significantly in size, and blood was slowly seeping out of all of their orifices and every single one of their pores.

"Shuanggao!" Yu Zhongge gurgled through a mouthful of blood.

Jing Shuanggao immediately snapped to attention, and the two of them exerted force through the palms of their hands in unison.

A resounding boom akin to an explosion rang out, and the four of them were sent flying in different directions before crashing into the surrounding cave walls, where they fell to the ground, unconscious.

All that remained was an almost completely spent Amethyst Soul, flickering feebly at the center of the cave.