Chapter 380 - Is It an Illusion or Reality?

Chapter 380: Chapter 379: Is It an Illusion or Reality?When Ye Tianchen discovered how to open the Big Stone Gate, just as he struck the fifth stone slab on the ground with his palm, the gate slowly began to rise. However, at that very moment, countless points of light shot towards him rapidly. Those were arrows, whizzing through the air with a piercing velocity. Ye Tianchen immediately clenched his fists, summoning the power of the King-level Superpower Realm. He did not retreat half a step and struck with all his might, scattering the flying arrows because Dongfang Meng, who was unconscious, was right behind him. If he had dodged, Dongfang Meng would have surely died.

Ye Tianchen preferred close combat; he was not one to use weapons or rely on grand Slaughter Skills unless absolutely necessary. He always felt that nothing was more exhilarating than a fight involving hands and feet. His "Handsome Punch," despite its somewhat nonsensical and frivolous-sounding name, was a remarkably valiant style of boxing that incorporated the power of thunder and lightning. Therefore, Ye Tianchen’s punches were more than most people could withstand.

"Handsome Punch" was actually a playful name Ye Tianchen coined after being reborn on Earth. Back during the apocalypse on Mars, he had already named his self-created boxing technique "Thunder Sky Fist."

As the name ’Thunder Sky Fist’ implies, it was a punch infused with the power of thunder and lightning. Ye Tianchen always placed great importance on the tempering of his physical body. He believed that a true expert should not only be capable of using grand Killing Skills that could pluck stars and bore through the earth, but should also possess an unmatched physical prowess. To put it plainly, a real Emperor-level expert could crush a swath of formidable foes with just a flick of a finger — and this was no exaggeration. Emperor-level experts were among the most powerful beings in the universe.

With two strikes of the Thunder Sky Fist, mixing it with the power of thunder and lightning, he shattered all the hidden arrows. Yet Ye Tianchen did not grow complacent. The founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect was an extraordinary woman who was incredibly formidable. Born into a family of martial artists, she ultimately created the Absolute Skill known as Jade Maiden Heart Scripture. Her creations, including the hidden weapon mechanisms, were certainly extraordinary. Ye Tianchen grew increasingly in awe of this remarkable woman. It was unfortunate that she spent her life without being with her beloved, which became her greatest regret. Ye Tianchen also felt pity for such a unique woman.

After shattering all the arrows shooting towards him at the corridor, Ye Tianchen had not yet walked back towards the Big Stone Gate when he suddenly felt unsteady on his feet. The entire stone chamber corridor trembled incessantly. Suddenly, Ye Tianchen was stunned because the stone paths on either side were closing in, moving closer and closer. If they completely closed up, wouldn’t he and Dongfang Meng be crushed alive?

"Ah!"

Ye Tianchen shouted loudly, his palms containing at least eight layers of King Realm superpower. He forcefully struck towards the converging stone walls, attempting to forcibly keep them apart. Yet when his hands hit the walls, he found them incredibly hard, not budging at all, and still closing in. What was most crucial was that the corridor, originally over a meter wide, had instantaneously narrowed to about a meter. Ye Tianchen found this extremely troublesome.

Misfortune never comes alone. It seemed this mechanism had been set up long ago, anticipating the arrival of skilled intruders. While Ye Tianchen was putting all his strength into pushing the stone walls on both sides, a thunderous noise resounded. The Big Stone Gate, which had initially risen, was now slowly descending again. Ye Tianchen was startled by this sight; if the Big Stone Gate fell and the stone walls kept closing in, he and Dongfang Meng were doomed, with no place to dodge.

As late as it was, Ye Tianchen clenched his teeth, instantly boosting his combat strength to its highest level, and like lightning, dashed in front of Dongfang Meng. He scooped up Dongfang Meng in his arms and rolled towards the side of the Big Stone Gate. By then, the gate had already descended to a certain position where entering was nearly impossible without rolling in. Without hesitation, gripping Dongfang Meng tightly, Ye Tianchen rolled into the gateway.

Thud!

With a loud sound, the Big Stone Gate firmly closed, and the noise of the stone walls closing could be heard outside, a true hair’s breadth escape. Ye Tianchen and Dongfang Meng were nearly crushed into a pulp. Even so, as he rolled in, Ye Tianchen’s right arm was grazed by a falling heavy stone, but luckily, it was only a superficial injury, causing a bit of bleeding and staining his sleeve red.

Ye Tianchen, holding Dongfang Meng, had rolled into the Big Stone Gate amidst a life-and-death crisis. This stone gate was at least five meters high and five meters wide, indicating a vast space inside. However, upon rolling in with Dongfang Meng, Ye Tianchen found it pitch black, with no source of light, which he found rather strange. In those smaller stone chambers, Luminous Pearls provided illumination; in such a large space, logically, it should be even more important than the other chambers, so why were there no Luminous Pearls lighting it?

With his eyes gathered with superpower, Ye Tianchen briefly glanced around and noticed that in the enormous stone chamber, resembling a palace, all corners had oil lamps, even though they were extinguished.

Pausing for a moment, Ye Tianchen held Dongfang Meng in his left arm, not daring to let go at this moment. Unsure of any dangers within, Ye Tianchen did not know if any peril was present, which could be troublesome. The founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect, a remarkable and formidable woman, was indeed too powerful to be underestimated.

Stretching out his right index finger, Ye Tianchen exerted a little force, and tiny sparks appeared on his fingertip, a manifestation of the Fire Element Superpower Skill. However, Ye Tianchen was still not very proficient. Up to now, he could only employ Earth Element, Gold Element, and Water Element superpower skills, and among these three major superpower techniques, he could only use the ones with less destructive power. Achieving mastery and effortlessly using major Superpower Killing Skills was extremely challenging and required prolonged cultivation.

His control over the Fire Element Superpower Skill was a weak point for Ye Tianchen. During his time on the apocalypse, he had made great efforts but had never been able to perfect his mastery of the Fire Element Superpower Skill; it remained a flaw. Because mastering the Fire Element Superpower Skill required extremely high standards, Ye Tianchen had encountered many obstacles during his cultivation and had been striving to overcome them. Nonetheless, this most basic application of the Fire Element Superpower Skill wasn’t a problem for him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

As Ye Tianchen continuously flicked his right index finger, several sparks flew in all directions, instantly igniting the previously extinguished oil lamps, which then illuminated the entire grand palace.

To call it a palace was no exaggeration; the enormous stone chamber had at least two to three hundred square meters of space. This was something Ye Tianchen had not expected. The tomb inside this mountain was remarkably built. It was hard to know which monarch or noble from the ancient times was buried here. Of course, any corpses or coffins had been long cleared by generation after generation of Ancient Tomb Sect disciples, and the palace itself did not have much furnishings. The stone walls on all sides were smooth and still bore paintings of women dancing gracefully. Inside the palace were four large stone pillars, and in the middle were two rows of stone chairs, with a chair at the very end of the center of the palace. But that chair was no ordinary stone chair, it was a jade chair, beautifully crafted entirely from jade, very beautiful, clear, and translucent.

Ye Tianchen placed Dongfang Meng on a stone chair nearby. He looked around the entire palace and did not find any other doors that could lead out. It was another dead-end room. Going back was definitely not an option anymore as the huge stone had already been dropped, and the stone walls on both sides had closed in, leaving no way out.

Slowly, Ye Tianchen walked towards the jade chair in the center of the palace. Behind the jade chair was a large painting of the woman Ye Tianchen recognized as the founder of the Ancient Tomb Sect, that remarkable woman. She held a longsword in her right hand, dancing towards the sky dome, looking so beautiful. And this skill looked somewhat familiar to Ye Tianchen; it was the "Jade Maiden Dance Sky" used by Dongfang Meng during her fight against Qingcheng Yue.

But now, seeing the founder using this skill, Ye Tianchen truly felt its power. Even though it was stationary, it radiated an untouchable, unapproachable aura, gentle yet with an indescribable majesty.

When Ye Tianchen walked close to the jade chair, he looked up unintentionally at the painting on the stone wall in front of him and was startled because the painting had changed. When he walked over, it had been the remarkable woman dancing with the sword towards the sky, but in the blink of an eye, the sword in the remarkable woman’s right hand was now pointing at him and seemed to burst forth from the stone wall, aiming to strike him down.

Suddenly, Ye Tianchen sensed something sinister. Just as he was about to step back, the maidens holding longswords on the surrounding stone walls all flew out, swinging their swords at Ye Tianchen together. Especially from the front stone wall, the Ancient Tomb Sect founder’s sword qi was tremendously fierce, forcing Ye Tianchen to retreat several steps, not daring to block it head-on.

This sudden occurrence shocked Ye Tianchen to the core, almost making him disbelieve his own eyes. He could feel that it was not an illusion, for the surroundings had not changed, and Dongfang Meng lying on the nearby stone chair was still unconscious. What on earth was happening? (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to head to qidian.com to vote and support the author. Your support is my greatest motivation.)