Treasure-Dividing Cliff

"Fine, then. Take your time waiting. I'll go check out the center first."

"Okay. I'll come find you as soon as I get it."

Bai Yixin said goodbye to Little One and continued onward, hoping to claim a few more spirit treasures.

Several days later, Bai Yixin arrived at the center of the mountains. Along the way, he had spotted more than ten treasures, but had only managed to claim six. Including the ones he'd found earlier, that made just thirteen in total, counting from Gray Horn onward.

Their quality varied. The strongest was Gray Horn: it could run fast and fight back.

The rest were manageable. They weren't especially fast, nor could they put up much of a fight, but catching them still took time. Sometimes he simply couldn't find them; other times, someone would interfere while he was chasing one. If he was lucky, he could deal with the interloper and still catch up. If they were troublesome or had a treasure of their own, he could only take out his frustration on them instead.

At the center stood a colossal mountain, so enormous it seemed like dozens of peaks had been joined together. It was exceptionally magnificent and imposing.

Divine light shimmered across the mountainside, and treasures occasionally soared into the air, bursting like fireworks. They were all powerful spirit treasures.

At the foot of the mountain, Bai Yixin saw Bifang, the Golden Divine Bird, the Chi Dragon, Pixiu, the Pumo Tree, Heaven-Splitting Demon Butterfly, and the rest of the most powerful geniuses.

This was the source of the ruins, known as Treasure-Dividing Cliff. Legend had it that the place was hung with treasures. People had already climbed the mountain, hoping to chance upon a heavenly opportunity—that is, to test their luck.

"My sword... my sword..." Suddenly, an old voice rang in Bai Yixin's ears, raising goosebumps across his skin.

"Holy crap! You scared me!"

"Why the hell are you in such a hurry? I said I'd help you find it, so I'll help you find your sword." Bai Yixin rubbed his brow. A string of black characters had appeared on his forehead, and the voice was connected to them.

It was a curse. The ancient supernatural being of the Heaven-Mending Pavilion had existed for ages. Anyone it chose would die beneath the Black Text's curse if they failed.

Bai Yixin glanced at the item in the shop that could completely dispel this curse. Even the cheapest one cost seven figures—that is, over a million.

"Forget it. I'll get your Broken Sword first." Bai Yixin shook his head. He'd expected this; now that it had happened, it was only a bit of a headache. As long as he fulfilled his promise, everything would be fine.

Treasure-Dividing Cliff was majestic and towering, its peak piercing the clouds. Bands of Black Mist coiled around its slopes, making it look like a magnificent ancient Demon Mountain. A pressure that weighed on the soul emanated from it!

An ancient path led up the mountain, paved with bluestone and steeped in the vicissitudes of time. Countless young heroes had walked it since antiquity, yet in the end, they had stained the Demon Mountain with their blood and never come back down.

Bifang, Pixiu, the Golden Divine Bird, the Pumo Tree, and the others stood apart, each wary of the rest. Their auras were all fearsome; they were the most dangerous and powerful of the geniuses.

But in Bai Yixin's eyes, they weren't much different from the other "geniuses." They could simply take a few more hits from him. The biggest difference—and what they all had in common—was that each of them had at least one top-tier treasure for protection, which was harder to deal with than they were.

Bai Yixin swept his gaze over them one by one, lingering a little longer on their particularly plump parts. But he didn't slow down at all. He strode up the bluestone steps, which were mostly gray-brown, with patches of dark red.

By the roadside, Bifang, Pixiu, the Pumo Tree, and the others looked on in surprise. This human had scanned them as if they were prey, then swaggered right past without so much as a pause, as though they were beneath his notice.

Which being that entered the ruins dared to let their guard down like this? The appearance of even one of them would inspire fear, and everyone had to be ready for anything.

"Brazen, aren't you?" a Violent Ape said, its eyes icy.

"Oh? Black gorilla, you want to have a go?" Bai Yixin shot the black Violent Ape a sidelong glance and sneered.

"Human, you're asking for death!"

With a roar, the black Violent Ape stomped down, radiating a domineering aura and wild savagery, its disdain unmistakable. Looking down from above, it meant to crush Bai Yixin to death beneath its foot.

It had a broad mouth and protruding fangs, its face ferocious. Its swagger was an expression of arrogant confidence, and an insult besides. Like a dragon crushing an insect, it struck without a care, bringing down its unstoppable might to kill him!

Who was Bai Yixin? He had never let anyone bully him. He responded with equal force, raising the vicious Feiyi Sword and launching it with deadly precision. It turned into a streak of crimson light and struck the Violent Ape squarely in the sole.

"Arrgh..." The Violent Ape howled in pain.

Rune light shimmered over its enormous black foot, as wide as a winnowing basket. But in its wild, arrogant stomp, it had left itself poorly protected. The attack pierced the light shield on its sole, leaving a bloody hole in its foot.

Bai Yixin had no intention of sparing the Violent Ape from the moment he attacked. After piercing through its sole, the crimson light lost none of its force. Its blood-red gleam blazed as it shot toward the Violent Ape's head, aiming to kill it in one blow!

"Pfft!"

Blood sprayed everywhere. The Violent Ape was wounded, but it reacted with lightning speed. Its protective aura flared, black light surging as it launched itself into the air, leaping dozens of meters high and dodging the terrifying blow.

The Violent Ape was furious. It hadn't expected one moment of carelessness at the start to leave it in such a passive position, losing the initiative and falling behind.

Though enormous, it was nimble. It flipped through the air, covering hundreds of meters before crashing to the ground with a boom and splitting the earth beneath it.

A huge black hand slammed down in a fit of anger, shattering a boulder weighing over a hundred thousand pounds in an instant.

Enraged, it finally put aside its contempt and retreated. Then its whole body glowed, and a vast cloud of Black Mist surged upward, forming a Tornado that coiled around it.

This was the Diamond Rune, imbued with astonishing divine power. Its entire body swelled, growing much taller in an instant until it stood an incredible thirty meters high, far larger than before. Its muscles bulged, like coiling dragons wrapped around its body.

"Boom!"

The Violent Ape charged again, its body enveloped in black light like a massive black bell covering it, humming as it rushed forward. The earth cracked beneath its feet, boulders sprang up, and soil and stone surged like a tide, threatening to swallow Bai Yixin.

A shock wave erupted from the giant ape. Black Runes transformed into dozens of layers of waves that crashed forward, slamming Bai Yixin down beneath them.

"These Rune changes are interesting." Profound light flickered in Bai Yixin's eyes. He couldn't see through them, but he could make out some of their secrets.

Bai Yixin stamped his right foot on the ground. Golden Runes spread out as violent golden thunder enveloped him, making him look like a Thunder God.

An identical shock wave formed beneath Bai Yixin's foot. Golden Runes surged like waves, canceling out the black tides without the slightest difference.

The Violent Ape's eyes were fierce. One huge hand, as broad as a winnowing basket, shot out and pressed down like five bolts of thunder, trying to crush Bai Yixin into a lump of meat.

Bai Yixin's strength was unmatched. Without even using Rune Secret Power, he relied on pure physical strength alone and punched forward, shaking the heavens and earth.

They collided. The huge hand seemed about to swallow Bai Yixin whole, but it began to convulse, then burst apart. The Violent Ape roared, pain shooting through it.

It was horrified.

This was a tiny body, and yet the power it unleashed was greater than its own. Their collision tore through its flesh and blew apart its palm, even its forearm. It was utterly aghast.

It realized it had kicked an iron plate—and a vicious one at that, powerful enough to threaten its life.

"Break!"

The Violent Ape roared, and the black light around its body blazed even brighter. In the end, it truly transformed into a massive black bell, humming as it tried to blast Bai Yixin away.

"Boom!"

Bai Yixin abruptly unleashed a lightning punch, striking the enormous black bell with a heaven-shaking boom that resounded for scores, even hundreds, of miles.

The black bell burst apart, shattering into an unknown number of pieces.

The lightning fist, enveloped in the Suanni Gauntlets, still carried its full force as it smashed into the black Violent Ape's chest, trailing a shrill peal of thunder.

Flesh and blood flew. The Violent Ape shot away like a black streak of light and smashed into a distant stone mountain. Dust billowed, boulders tumbled, and the giant ape was buried beneath the rubble.

"Do any of you have a problem with that, too?"

Bai Yixin calmly swept his gaze over the most powerful geniuses and asked in an even tone.

Bifang, Pixiu, the Golden Divine Bird, the Pumo Tree, and the others felt a chill in their hearts. This man wielded astonishing divine power. He was a formidable foe.

Seeing that the creatures said nothing, Bai Yixin ignored them and dug the Violent Ape's corpse out of the collapsed stone mountain. Half its chest had been blown apart, and its blood, internal organs, and even its heart had all been charred by the lightning.

"Emm, I might've hit it too hard." Bai Yixin shook his head, thinking that it might be worth a lot less in a trade with Huo Ling'er now. Still, he didn't hesitate to stow it in the Universe Bag.

(A replica of the Universe Bag, looted from the Rain Clan. It had a certain amount of storage space and counted as a rare treasure.)