Chapter 481: Schemes and Plots

“It’s over.” Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian had thought they could smoothly cross the lake after using the Star and Moon Glyph, but they hadn’t thought that things would take a drastic turn in the next instant.

As their bodies were engulfed by the several hundred meter tall wave, even mobilizing every scrap of origin power in their bodies wasn’t enough to stop their downward momentum. The deeper they descended, the fiercer the heat became, as if it would swallow and melt them whole. They were well aware that heat of this intensity would melt their bodies even if their bodies were cast in bronze or iron.

However, the instant before they impacted the lava, a vine appeared before their eyes. The vine twisted into an intricate knot around them and flung them both over to the other shore.

Whoosh whoosh!

Their bodies sped through the air like loosed arrows.

This reversal in fortunes happened in the blink of an eye. Even as they landed, stumbling from the abrupt halt, their faces were ashen and their hearts still hammering fiercely from their near scrape with death.

Wham!

The wave in the lake once again reared to a height several meters taller than before. Inside the wave was the figure of a monster the size of ten ancient elephants. Eyes the size of lanterns glared furiously at the humans.“Despicable humans who dare interrupt this king’s slumber!”

Feng Wanjian and Lin Feng both subconsciously took a step back, seeming to find a sense of security the further away they drew from this immense monster.

“This is the Lord of Lava!” Feng Wanjian’s heart was still palpating with fear. The enormous wave that had suddenly exploded just now was obviously from the aura of the Lord of Lava blasting forth. But what was with the vine that’d just appeared?

Feng Wanjian and Lin Feng were completely befuddled when their bodies suddenly stiffened. they both looked to the side at the same time. They were stunned to see that the two figures next to them were the two from the Regal Pill Palace.

“You guys…” Feng Wanjian was flabbergasted. “When did you get over here?”

Mu Gaoqi snorted softly, “Feng Wanjian, if it wasn’t for my senior brother Chen, you’d be food for the Lord of Lava now. How dare you ask how we made it over here?”

Feng Wanjian and Lin Feng looked at each other, at a loss for words. They also knew that there was no one else here apart from the Regal Pill Palace disciples. Even though the two were jerks, they knew that they owed the Regal Pill Palace another favor.

“Many thanks for your noble act.” For all his faults, Lin Feng could read the situation well, walking over to give Jiang Chen a cupped fist salute.

Jiang Chen waved his hand, “I only saved you to sabotage the Great Cathedral’s plot, that’s all.”

“Great Cathedral?” Lin Feng started.

Feng Wanjian reacted swiftly and began to curse loudly, “That fecking Great Cathedral, they were the ones behind this alright! Or else, why would everything be calm and peaceful when they flew over, but so many disturbances pop up when our turn came around? They were definitely up to something!”

Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “Yue Pan thought himself smart and tossed in a spirit glyph, disturbing the lifeforms in the lake. He meant to leave us in the lurch!”

Lin Feng’s expression also changed greatly. “The Great Cathedral is a sect with vile, base bloodlines alright! Such vicious brutality! They are forever my enemy if I make it out alive!”

Feng Wanjian couldn’t help but include the Great Cathedral’s mothers in his greetings as well. [1] “Xu Gang that bastard, he had ulterior motives to begin with. We all kept our word and only brought minor origin realm helpers, but he and his earth origin realm! Hmph! We’ll see which sect has the last laugh!”

Jiang Chen glanced over at the lava region. The Lord of Lava was almost going berserk as it kept firing off streams of lava at the shore, ramming repeatedly against the shores. It looked like he wanted to swallow everyone whole.

However, the lava lifeforms could only rampage in lava. They could do nothing when their enemies left that environment. Everyone would be safe now that they were on dry land.

When Feng Wanjian and Lin Feng saw the crazed Lord of Lava, they realized that this creature wasn’t too intelligent, but was very obstinate. Even though they were safe now, their hearts once again began to beat faster with fear.

“Let’s go.” Jiang Chen waved his hand and took the lead with Mu Gaoqi.

Xu Gang and Yue Pan of the Great Cathedral had left quite a while ago, and those from the Walkabout Sect were further ahead. Jiang Chen was determined to obtain the spring, so he wasn’t willing to fall behind by too much.

Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian naturally didn’t dare compete with Jiang Chen anymore. After all, he’d saved their lives. In addition, they were all third level origin realm and had a clear idea of the prowess they possessed. The Lord of Lava’s aura in the lava region was at least at the peak of the earth origin realm, yet Jiang Chen had made it over to the other side without setting off anyone’s alarm bells. He even had the ability to save them from their predicament.

This level of strength was quite frightening. They were now well aware that the mysterious expert Mu Gaoqi had brought wasn’t someone who they could contend against. Feng Wanjian had even laughably drawn a line in the ground before entering the cavern, not letting them in. When he thought about that act now, he felt chills run down his back, truly viewing himself as a capering clown. The other could’ve killed him in a second if he wanted to.

“Brother Feng, just what kind of freak did Mu Gaoqi invite? He’s only in minor origin realm, but why do I feel like he’s stronger than Yue Pan?” Lin Feng was full of questions.

Feng Wanjian smiled ruefully, “You’re asking me, but who do I go ask? Brother Lin, we need to get things straight from now. First, the Great Cathedral is our mutual enemy. Second, we don’t have the strength to fight against this one from the Regal Pill Palace. No matter what conflict happens later, we must stand by the Regal Pill Palace, otherwise…”

Lin Feng was also in full agreement, “I too agree. Although the one from the Regal Pill Palace is strong and very mysterious, he’s not a murderous demon and is completely different from those two scum from the Great Cathedral. We just need to be polite to them and in return, they won’t make a move against us. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have saved us.”

Feng Wanjian nodded. “We should catch up. I hope the Walkabout Sect sets up another ambush and gets caught up in an enormous dogfight with the vile Great Cathedral.”

The current situation had fated that Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian wear the same pants, standing in the same boat. A pair from the Walkabout Sect, two from the Great Cathedral, another two from the Regal Pill Palace, and the pairing of Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian made for four pairs.

After the setback they’d just experienced, Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian were already leaning towards the Regal Pill Palace. Therefore, it was basically three sets of people competing for the spring.

The extreme cold came back with a vengeance not long after they left the lava region.

“Gaoqi, be careful. The two from the Cathedral are about 2.5 kilometers ahead of us.” The sensitivity of Jiang Chen’s Psychic’s Head was at its sharpest since his vision was obstructed. Mu Gaoqi completely trusted Jiang Chen by now, and didn’t doubt his words in the slightest.

“Don’t be in a rush to go in. Xu Gang and Yue Pan seem to be plotting something. They’ve stopped too.” Jiang Chen prevented Mu Gaoqi from walking forward. He could discover those from the Great Cathedral at this distance, but he didn’t have to worry about them detecting him.

He focused on his senses for a moment and confirmed his feelings. “It looks like the Great Cathedral is planning on fighting the Walkabout Sect. The Walkabout Sect was planning on ambushing us again, but the Great Cathedral discovered this and are prepared to counter ambush. There’ll be a good show soon enough.”

Since the two sects were going to face off, Jiang Chen had no reason at all to disturb them. The two forces that were about to run into each other were both like snakes and scorpions. It was best if both sides ended heavily wounded.

As Jiang Chen and Mu Gaoqi had stopped, Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian soon caught up to them. They were curious when they saw their benefactor halting on the path.

Mu Gaoqi said, “The Great Cathedral is facing off with the Walkabout Sect up ahead. Let’s stay back for now.”

Feng Wanjian was delighted. “And I was hoping just now that they would engage in a fracas, are they really about to bite each other? Haha! Fantastic! I hope both of them are heavily injured!”

The Walkabout Sect ambushed the group, and the Great Cathedral had schemed against them. Feng Wanjian wasn’t kindly disposed towards either sect at this point. But he hated the Great Cathedral to the depths of his bones.

Jiang Chen closed his eyes without a word, fully utilizing his Psychic’s Head. However, there was only so much he could sense, being this far away.

Roughly an hour passed.

Feng Wanjian grew a bit fidgety and couldn’t help but ask, “Are they still at a stand off? Did they fight yet?”

Everyone’s eyes flicked in unison over to Jiang Chen. He was also slightly surprised at this moment. He’d been paying attention to the conflict between the Great Cathedral and the Walkabout Sect, but all had returned to calm after a short while.

“Brother Chen, what’s the situation?” Lin Feng also asked.

Jiang Chen furrowed his brow, “It’s quiet again after a short conflict. Has the outcome already been determined?”

Lin Feng hastily responded, “Let’s go take a look. No matter who won, it’s good for all of us. It’s best if they’re all down and out.”

Jiang Chen felt that things were a bit odd, but waiting around wasn’t entirely the productive move. “Be careful, let’s go take a look.” Jiang Chen reminded Mu Gaoqi.

The four of them cautiously walked forward, and soon detected a faint light in the distance. There was a wide karst cave [2. Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. Wikipedia.], except that this cave was quite spacious. There was a large platform situated in the middle, surrounding by grotesquely shaped rocks. The entire scene looked quite sinister.

Xu Gang was actually the first to enter everyone’s vision. He was currently caught between two enormous boulders, spitting up blood and wheezing his last breaths. Someone from the Walkabout Sect lay in a puddle of blood not too far from Xu Gang, fresh blood splattered around them.

The other Walkabout Sect disciple had fallen in front of a rocky curtain, along with Yue Pan. An exotic and rare spirit herb was at the end of the curtain. There was a long wound in the disciple’s chest as he crawled arduously towards the spirit herb. Every time he moved forward, he left behind a widening trail of blood. On the other hand, Yue Pan’s face was gray. He seemed to have been hit with severe poison and had no more strength to move.

Feng Wanjian was delighted beyond belief to see this. He laughed heartily, “Haha! Look at you now! When a dog bites a dog, each ends up with a mouthful of fur. Good, good, good! How damn satisfying!”

Lin Feng also smiled happily. “These scum deserved what they got!”

The Walkabout Sect had ambushed them with hidden weapons, and whether it was the Tristar Sect or the Sacred Sword Palace, both had lost members to that ambush. Then the Great Cathedral had plotted against them in the lava region. This grudge went without saying. When they saw how the two sides were both gravely injured, how would Lin Feng and Feng Wanjian not be overjoyed? Jiang Chen hadn’t anticipated either that the situation would turn out this way.