Book 7, Chapter 78: Cloudstone Cave
Book 7, Chapter 78: Cloudstone Cave
Within Cloudstone Cave.
When Frost entered the cave, he discovered that the fog only grew thicker the further he went rather than thinning out.
The sound of dripping water could be heard off in the distance, repeating in an eerie, rhythmic pattern.
From time to time, a few Cloudbeasts would savagely rush towards Frost, attempting to attack him. However, they were all easily slain by the Titan-Class puppet.
With the protection of the Titan-Class puppet, Frost felt much more comfortable as he confidently strode into the cave’s depths.
The further he went, the denser the fog became, and the more Cloudbeasts there were.
These Cloudbeasts were actually composed entirely of fog, allowing them to withstand extremely powerful physical attacks. As such, the most effective attacks against them were Arcana Techniques.
Even though the Titan-Class puppet wasn’t very proficient in Arcana Techniques, it could still use Eighth-Ring Arcana Techniques, which was more than capable of handling these Cloudbeasts.
The further in they went, the more powerful the Cloudbeasts became. Eventually, even the Titan-Class puppet was forced to slow down.
Whoosh!
A wall of flames rushed forth, causing the Cloudbeast in front of them to howl in pain and retreat.
Frost frowned. This was the first time that the Titan-Class puppet had failed to kill a Cloudbeast in a single attack.
"Even though it’s only using a Sixth-Ring Arcana Technique, we’re only on the third level. This place is quite hard to breach it seems," Frost muttered to himself.
The Cloudstone Cave descended quite deep below. Based on the information given to him by the Human Ancestor, there were a total of seven floors, and the resistance increased with each floor. Apparently, it was one of the most dangerous locations in all of Kun’s territory. Even an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator would have a difficult time navigating through its treacherous corridors.
According to Frost’s original plan, this location was supposed to be one of the last places that he would try to tackle.
But the Titan-Class puppet that Su Chen had gifted him meant that his plans could be moved up ahead of schedule a little.
With its support, Frost could theoretically sweep through the caves without much resistance and easily reach the third floor.
Under normal circumstances, the Cloudbeasts shouldn’t be any more powerful than a Demonic Lord.
However, the Cloudbeasts on the sixth floor had already exceeded that limit and were close to being as strong as Demonic Kings. Clearly, something had changed.
Frost knew that this was almost definitely because of the item that was stored on the seventh floor.
"What an extraordinary item. All of the Cloudbeasts in Cloudstone Cave have become much more powerful. It seems that there might even be some Demonic Emperor-level Cloudbeasts here," Frost muttered to himself.
Whoosh!
A Cloudbeast shaped like a snake surged forwards, wrapping itself tightly around the Titan-Class puppet’s body.
These Cloudbeasts were now able to each assume a unique form and abilities, indicating that they had advanced beyond the Demonic Lord level. This giant snake, for example, had the ability to suffocate a target to death.
Unfortunately, its constriction power paled in comparison to the Titan-Class puppet’s strong physique. The Titan-Class puppet easily ripped the snake to shreds. While these physically manifested Cloudbeasts were stronger, their tangibility also meant that the Titan-Class puppet’s fists had a more solid target to strike.
Another Cloudbeast, this one shaped like a giant turtle, charged forwards. It attempted to smash its hard shell into the Titan-Class puppet. Unfortunately, even a real Demonic King wouldn’t dare to tackle a Titan-Class puppet like that. Its fate was decided the moment it tried to challenge the Titan-Class puppet in a head-on fight.
Bang!
The puppet’s iron-like fist mercilessly slammed down onto the turtle shell. Yet another Cloudbeast had been killed.
Boom!
The Titan-Class puppet strode forwards, exuding an unstoppable aura that covered the entire tunnel.
Even so, the Cloudbeasts showed no signs of retreating.
"They really have no fear of death. Is it because of that will fragment? Or is there some other reason?" Frost muttered to himself, "I can’t afford to waste any more time here. It’s time to use that."
After he made the decision, the Titan-Class puppet suddenly pulled out an item from its body and threw it into the horde of Cloudbeasts.
A powerful, violent explosion immediately reverberated through the cave.
This was a special kind of explosive medicine that Su Chen had developed. After countless trials and tests designed to its effectiveness, it had been refined into a very powerful offensive tool. It was also one of the few items that Frost could create
As Frost threw out large quantities of this explosive medicine, howls and shrieks of pain could be heard from the Cloudbeasts hiding in the fog ahead.
"Charge forwards and give them a little something to think about!" Frost loudly commanded.
The Titan-Class puppet charged into the fray, its body glowing with power as a wave of energy surged forwards from its fists.
"Hiss!"
In the blink of an eye, those strengthened Cloudbeasts were completely wiped out.
After repeating this sequence of actions a few times, a large wave of Cloudbeasts had been cleared out. Finally, they began to feel fear.
Yes, these Cloudbeasts, who were now as powerful as Demonic Kings, had also gained a sliver of intelligence.
And with intelligence came the fear of death.
They hurriedly retreated, charging towards the entrance leading to the seventh floor.
"That’s more like it," Frost chuckled.
He had only just spoken, however, when a blinding light filled his vision. By the time he regained his sight, Frost found that he was now standing amidst a vast starry sky.
A giant individual stared down at him, his body glowing with a brilliant golden color. It was impossible for Frost to clearly make out the giant’s face, but the aura that he exuded was boundless and majestic. Even a single glance at his body was enough to cause every nerve in Frost’s body to tingle, and a strong desire to worship the giant surfaced in his heart.
Even Frost couldn’t help but be affected by this aura.
"Who dares intrude upon my territory! Kneel before me!" the deity shrouded in golden light thundered. The powerful pressure emanating from his body threatened to crush Frost into a pulp.
At that precise moment, however, a figure appeared behind Frost.
Su Chen.
As the source of Frost’s bloodline, Su Chen and Frost were truly one and the same, and they even coexisted to some degree. As such, whenever Frost was in danger, an image of Su Chen would automatically appear.
The pressure bearing down on Frost diminished somewhat, allowing his mind to recover its clarity.
Frost chuckled coldly. "You sneaky bastard. Are you really trying to imitate a real god?"
"How arrogant!" the golden light deity roared angrily. "You dare to doubt my might?"
"Of course. Why wouldn’t I?" Frost chuckled. "I came here not to worship gods, but rather to deal with them."
As he spoke, he charged forwards, leaping into the seventh floor.
There were no tunnels on the seventh floor. It was a vast, open underground space.
Surprisingly, there were no Cloudbeasts in this space, and the only other thing in the room was an exceptionally large half-sheep, half-human figure in the very center.
Behind this half-sheep half-human creature was a giant corpse.
This corpse was nearly a thousand feet tall. Even though it was obvious that it had been dead for a long time, its body still glowed with a faint divine luster.
This was actually the corpse of a god.
Yes, this was precisely what was being kept on the seventh floor of Cloudstone Cave.
A god’s corpse!
Countless gods had perished in the Twilight of the Gods.
Some had died without leaving behind a corpse, but others had managed to leave behind an intact body.
These divine corpses still contained quite a bit of power, and it was enough to transform and strengthen certain lifeforms that got too close to them. Those lifeforms would then become the corpse’s guards after they were no longer affected by its divine aura.
The half-sheep, half-human creature had grown powerful precisely by absorbing the divine power contained within the god’s corpse. It was also the leader of all the Cloudbeasts within the cave.
It had been the one that had constructed the earlier illusion, hoping to use it to scare Frost away.
Frost had to admit that the creature’s illusion was quite powerful and believable. The unrelenting pressure was very similar to the pressure that a true deity would exude.
If it weren’t for Su Chen’s bloodline, then the creature may have actually succeeded.
"Human...... you should not have come here," the half-sheep, half-human creature intonated in a low voice.
"You can actually speak?" Frost was stunned by this development.
Even though it was quite normal for Demonic Beasts to be able to talk, Frost was quite surprised by this creature’s intelligence given the seeming brainlessness of the Cloudbeasts that he had faced earlier.
Then, Frost began to laugh. "Are you trying to scare me?"
"Leave now, and you might still have a chance at surviving!" the half-sheep, half-human creature roared.
"If you give me what is behind you, then I will leave immediately," Frost said as he pointed behind the creature.
"You greedy thief! No one is allowed to covet my treasure. Die!" Upon hearing Frost’s demand, the creature howled with anger before unleashing a wave of black-green energy at Frost’s direction.
Naturally, Frost would not face this attack by himself. The Titan-Class puppet strode forwards, and a halo of light appeared around him. This signified the activation of an Arcana Technique formation, which enveloped Frost within it.
"Why? How can it possess so much power without being alive?" The half-sheep, half-human creature had never seen a puppet before and couldn’t understand how such a creature could exist.
Of course, the Titan-Class puppet offered no explanation as it instead unleashed a flurry of punches towards its opponent.
It preferred to use its mighty physical attacks to overwhelm an opponent.
Its terrifying destructive power collided with the wave of black-green energy, causing the latter to contort strangely.
That was the result of two different sources of powerful energy colliding, and the fluctuations felt powerful enough to destroy the entire cavern.
Because of the corpse’s divine power, this half-sheep, half-human creature had already become as strong as an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. As such, the battle between it and the Titan-Class puppet was particularly fierce.
Any attacks from Frost, who was a Foundation Establishment and Light Shaking Realm cultivator, would be completely meaningless.
But that didn’t mean that there was absolutely nothing he could do.
From behind the Titan-Class puppet, Frost quietly formed some hand seals.
As expected......
This cavern was filled with divine power.
This divine power was slowly but surely flowing out from the corpse and into the air, and the increased ambient divine power further supplemented the creature’s cultivation after it had achieved some semblance of deification.
More importantly, however, that divine power could be absorbed and refined!
Frost made no attempt to be courteous.
Like a gluttonous child, he began to rapidly devour the divine power, converting it into immortal energy for his own use.
The half-sheep, half-human creature’s divine power was limited in strength as well. Due to that, Frost found it exceptionally easy to convert it into immortal energy.
"Let’s keep on fighting for a little longer. I’m not in a hurry," Frost said with a faint smile.
Even though Frost wasn’t in a hurry, the half-sheep, half-human creature soon realized that something was wrong.
Why was his power beginning to disappear?
"What have you done to me?" the creature cried out in anger.
"What I should have been doing anyways."
"Bastard!" The half-sheep, half human creature unleashed an incredibly powerful attack, directly penetrating through the Titan-Class puppet’s defensive barriers.
Even so, all Frost did was raise a single finger. A faint white light dispersed from it before enveloping his entire body.
The strength of a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not compare to the strength of an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. Even so, Frost did not need to fear the creature’s attacks as long as he was willing to expend a large enough quantity of immortal energy to nullify them.
Given the amount of available divine power in the air and the fact that the Titan-Class puppet was protecting Frost, it was extremely unlikely for the creature to burn through all of Frost’s immortal energy reserves. The creature, on the other hand, had consumed almost all of its energy, and it soon found itself in dire straits.