Chapter 490: Chapter 488: Land of the Fallen

The War King’s family token—how could he dare to stop him?

Such a young True Monarch Realm cultivator, with such an astonishing spiritual boat—it must be a direct descendant of the War King’s family, maybe even a supreme expert aboard the vessel.

Xu Yang, under the middle-aged man’s enthusiastic invitation, boarded the spiritual boat.

To be honest, he hadn’t expected this coincidence at all!

Rushing all the way toward the Fallen Land, he suddenly sensed a faint ripple from Chen Tianqiong’s soul.

What luck!

A clamor erupted on the merchant guild’s spiritual boat, as a crowd surged out, buzzing with discussion.

"What’s going on here? Where are the people in charge? Why did we just stop for no reason?"

"Did we run into some kind of trouble?"

"Damn it, jinx!"

...

Chen Tianqiong was also in the crowd, but he didn’t say a word, his face full of suspicion and unease.

The guards of the merchant guild were trying to calm folks down—they honestly had no idea what exactly was happening either.

Suddenly, the crowd fell silent.

Everyone stared in shock as the steward of the merchant guild, full of warmth and even deference, accompanied a young man onto the spiritual boat.

You had to know—the strongest cultivator on board was only at the True Monarch level.

The steward himself was a Peak True Monarch.

The rest were mostly Manifestation Realm, True Monarch Initial Realm, and Middle Realm cultivators.

So for the steward to act like this made everyone instinctively zip their lips.

For a mere True Monarch Initial Realm to make a Peak True Monarch-level steward behave this way—imagine it!

A big shot!

"Sorry everyone, this young master is searching for someone. We’ll be delayed just a moment." The steward cupped his hands apologetically to the crowd.

Everyone immediately smiled and chimed in with things like "No problem!"

Only a fool would say something reckless at a time like this!

Xu Yang swept his gaze over the crowd, a layer of dark gold spiritual light flashing deep in his eyes.

Buzz!!

"It’s this one!"

Xu Yang suddenly pointed to a spot in the crowd.

He was pointing at a middle-aged man.

True Monarch Initial Realm!

The middle-aged man stared blankly, confused, "What’s going on? I don’t know you."

Before his words even finished, the steward disappeared ghost-like from where he stood.

Bam!

The middle-aged man shuddered, instantly subdued by the steward and dragged right to Xu Yang’s side.

Standing next to him, Chen Tianqiong subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

Guess I was overthinking.

"Huh? Where’d he go?"

Chen Tianqiong came to his senses, suddenly realizing Xu Yang had vanished.

Out of the corner of his eye, his whole body tensed as he thought silently, "Crap—"

"You—"

Buzz!

The soul brand appeared, hovering in the air!

Chen Tianqiong didn’t even have time to react before he grunted, the force pressing him down on the deck like a mountain.

Spurt!

He spat a mouthful of blood, his eyes turning red.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Why are you arresting me?"

Everyone was dumbfounded, totally thrown for a loop.

The middle-aged man nabbed by the steward blurted out confusedly, "Wait, what, him? I don’t even know this guy."

The steward smiled mildly, "Sorry, this young master did it on purpose, it has nothing to do with you."

The middle-aged man immediately let out a long breath, automatically wiping a cold sweat from his brow.

Honestly, in that split second just now, he ran through every bad thing he’d ever done since childhood.

"You’re the one we’re looking for!"

"Chen Tianqiong, blame the heavens for your death!"

Xu Yang leaned in close and whispered to Chen Tianqiong. In the latter’s terrified gaze, a domineering surge of spiritual power crashed into his mind.

Chen Tianqiong rolled his eyes back and passed out cold.

Xu Yang casually hoisted him up, then smiled at the innocent middle-aged man and said, "Sorry to scare you—here, some spirit crystals to make up for it!"

With that, he casually tossed out a thousand top-grade spirit crystals!

The middle-aged man reflexively caught them, pupils contracting, then instantly beamed and cupped his hands, "Many thanks, young master, you’re too generous—hehe."

A thousand top-grade spirit crystals—not a huge sum, but not small either.

He almost wished Xu Yang would rough him up for a bigger payoff.

"Thanks, steward."

Xu Yang nodded lightly at the steward, then leaped off the spiritual boat.

The steward watched as the cyan spiritual boat vanished in a blink, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

To the martial artists on the merchant spiritual boat, this was just a minor episode.

In this vast spirit realm, powerful cultivators fell every day—this really wasn’t anything special.

On the Cyan Flame Boat.

Xu Yang couldn’t help but marvel; catching Chen Tianqiong’s actual body had truly caught him off guard.

This guy seemed to be trying to escape Star Dome Sea.

But somehow, by some freakish twist of fate, they ended up on the same path.

Heaven really doesn’t want you to survive!

Pa!

Xu Yang slapped Chen Tianqiong awake.

Chen Tianqiong grunted, staring at Xu Yang like he was facing a dire foe.

"You’re from Ten Thousand Swords Island?"

Xu Yang replied blandly, "Why not guess I’m from the Wuxiang Celestial Tomb?"

Chen Tianqiong shivered all over. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Spare my life, I’ll give you all my treasures!"

"I’ve got over a million top-grade spirit crystals on me! Plus dozens of spirit sources and some spirit elixirs!"

Clenching his jaw, Chen Tianqiong respectfully removed his storage ring, erased its imprint, and knelt, voice trembling.

A million top-grade spirit crystals?

Xu Yang’s pupils shrank almost imperceptibly—his divine sense swept over it, silently clicking his tongue.

No wonder they call him the top prodigy of Three Gods Island.

A mountain of top-grade spirit crystals!

And those spirit sources—even if not as refined as those on the Nine Stars Archipelago, they’d still be useful at his current cultivation.

Storing the storage ring, Xu Yang said calmly, "You think you have a chance to live?"

Chen Tianqiong’s head jerked up, fixing Xu Yang with a desperate look as he gritted his teeth, "I can be your slave!"

"I don’t need that!"

As the words fell, Xu Yang flicked his sleeve.

"You—"

Chen Tianqiong went frenzied, burning his soul brand.

But a massive black cauldron slammed down.

Boom!

With a deep, muffled echo, the cauldron trembled slightly, then fell still.

Xu Yang willed the divine cauldron into his body, shaking his head.

Then, he settled straight back into cultivation.

Seven days later.

Xu Yang slowly opened his eyes, exhaling a breath of turbid air.

"Finally broke through!"

True Monarch Middle Realm!

The soul brand before him—three feet, eight inches!

Even more impressive than most martial artists who just broke into True Monarch Middle Realm.

That was due to all the pure spirit sources he’d absorbed earlier.

The soul brand’s might wasn’t just above average—it was surging ahead at breathtaking speed!

At this rate, if Xiao Ming saw it, his eyeballs would pop right out!

Xu Yang glanced over at his avatar. After absorbing tons of top-grade spirit crystals and spirit sources, it had reached Peak True Monarch Initial Realm level too.

In a pinch, it could at least be put to use.

But honestly, in the spirit realm, there’s basically no limit for avatars condensed from Xuan Gold Beetles.

Improving it further would just waste resources!

"In a clutch, maybe it can just fool the enemy a bit."

And that’d be about it.

Xu Yang shook his head and sighed, merging the avatar away, then stood and walked out from the Cyan Flame Boat.

He was already at the edge of the Fallen Land.

The drop-off point was a high stretch of wilderness.

Looking up, he saw the end of the land ahead abruptly split!

Xu Yang’s eyes flashed with surprise as he flew closer, involuntarily sucking in a cold breath.

Hiss!

The ground in front of him had completely ruptured. No end in sight in any direction—the north, south, east, or west—as if two worlds stood divided here.

Bottomless, shrouded in dense spiritual mist, flickering with rainbow hues—utterly fantastical!

A fierce, indescribable aura surged toward him.

"This is the Fallen Land?"

Xu Yang murmured. The true appearance of the Fallen Land was simply beyond what he’d imagined.

"First time coming to the Fallen Land? Heheheh, I always love seeing you outsiders gawking at this place like a bunch of country bumpkins who’ve never seen the world!"

A sinister, slithering laugh suddenly echoed from below the cliff face.