Swoosh!
Two streamers shot past the vast horizon. They were traveling at a great speed, but not a sound was made as they soared through the sky. They had intended to keep their movements inconspicuous.
They traversed thousands of feet in the mere twinkling of an eye. When they reached the peak of a mountain, they suddenly stopped, then went into hiding. After they had hidden themselves, the space between the heavens and the earth shook. Then, about 100 huge, strange beasts flew past, roaring, as if they were hunting for blood.
Mu Chen looked at the strange beasts, then shook his head. The strange beasts in the Dragon-Phoenix Rift were extremely large. Although they had low spiritual intelligences, they were extremely powerful, due to the Blood Essence of the real dragon and real phoenix.
If a person were to be surrounded by the strange beasts, even if he could escape from their attacks, he would have been exhausted. Throughout the journey, Mu Chen and Cai Xiao had been trying to avoid the big groups of beasts.
"We are not far from the Dragon-Phoenix Pool," Cai Xiao looked around and said.
Mu Chen nodded. He could feel an extremely strange fluctuation from afar, which was extremely oppressive. Even though Mu Chen was far away from it, he could still sense that his spiritual energy had been obscured by it.
"I wonder which influential person has eyed this pool as well."
Mu Chen's eyes glittered. There were only five Dragon-Phoenix Pools in the Rift. However, there was a large number of top powers all vying for them. Hence, there would be fierce battles to come.
Those, who had managed to break through the layers of defense and reach the pools, would be the elites among the top powers. Their battles would be even more aggressive.
Mu Chen and Cai Xiao continued their journey, after the strange beasts had flown past them. In less than an hour, they had come across dozens of groups of strange beasts. Although they had tried their bests to avoid the strange beasts, there were still some strange beasts that they could not detect, resulting in the both of them having to fight them off. This factor had inevitably hindered the pair's speed and progress.
However, this abnormality made Mu Chen feel more certain that they were moving toward the right direction. If this was not the case, there would not be so many strange beasts working to block their way.
He had heard that the strange beasts that were protecting the Dragon-Phoenix Pools were more powerful than the rest. Hence, he had to be more vigilant.
The rest of the journey was smooth. After flying past a mountain, Mu Chen and Cai Xiao landed on a peak. Squinting their eyes, they looked out upon the scene before them.
The land was in ruins. There were deep marks on the ground, and it looked as though a great battle, one that had shaken the heavens and the earth, had taken place.
A mountain was towering over the ruins at the very center. Clouds covered the peak of the mountain, and the mountain appeared to be white in color. As Mu Chen looked more carefully, he realized that it was a skeleton hill!
The name came from the fact that there was a large amount of skeletons, which had been gathered together to form a large "skeleton hill"! There were light patterns on top of the skeleton hill, which were flickering gently, and seemed to possess life. One could feel a terrifying oppression exuding from the skeleton hill. It made one shiver.
"The Dragon-Phoenix Pool should be on the skeleton hill," Mu Chen looked at the top of the skeleton hill and said. Clouds were floating around it, and Mu Chen could feel an extremely strong oppression emanating from it.
Cai Xiao looked at the ruins and the skeleton hill, then said, "Many people have been here."
Mu Chen gently nodded. He could feel many spiritual energy fluctuations on the piece of land. Quite a number of powerful people had indeed entered into the Rift.
"Let's wait for a while. Although the Dragon-Phoenix Pool is just before our eyes, it will not be easy to go near it," Mu Chen said. He did not lose his head over the Dragon-Phoenix Pool, as he knew that grave danger would always be around the places where treasures had been hidden.
Hence, the Dragon-Phoenix Rift was filled with danger. It had not been easy to reach thus far. And more than likely, there would be greater danger the nearer they got to the Dragon-Phoenix Pool.
Cai Xiao was not surprised at Mu Chen's attitude. After being with him for the past few days, she knew that he was extremely wise, and had very strong willpower.
However, not everyone could remain unmoved by the allure of the treasures. After a while, some other participants appeared in the sky, accompanied by very strong spiritual energy fluctuations swirling around them. They were not ordinary people, since they were able to pass through those strange beasts to arrive at the Dragon-Phoenix Pool.
There were about 100 people, and they knew that the skeleton hill was filled with danger. Hence, they did not head straight in, but instead, started to befriend one another. They could then join forces, if they faced danger at the hill.
Whoosh!
About 100 streamers flew past, then spread out. They were heading toward the skeleton hill.
Mu Chen watched the scene quietly. Suddenly, his gaze froze. He had heard a sharp cry, and then saw that heat was coming out of the peak of the skeleton hill.
Ouch!
At this moment, the skeleton hill started to shake violently. Its peak shook and started to crack. White figures started to fly out in between the cracks.
More than 10 young top powers, who were at the forefront, had been surrounded by about 100 white figures. The white figures pierced through the space with their sharp claws.
The top powers were quick to activate their spiritual energies to protect themselves.
Slash!
Alas, the spiritual energy had not protected the top powers. Claws with dark scales tore the layers of spiritual energy protection apart, then slashed down hard on the top powers. Fresh blood splashed out from their bodies, and before they could even cry out, they had been split in half.
Ah!
Cries were heard from another direction. All of the young top powers retreated in fear. Within a few breaths, almost half of the people had been torn apart.
"What a horrifyingly strange beast!"
Mu Chen looked gravely at the scene before him. The Spiritual Light in his eyes glittered, as he stopped to take a good look at the white figures. They were ape-like, strange beasts, each a few feet tall, with big dark claws. The dark portion of the beasts was formed by dark scales. Under the refraction of the sun, the look made one shiver.
There were pairs of wings behind their backs, which allowed them to travel at great speeds.
"The Blood Essence of the real dragon and real phoenix have created a big mess in this space," Cai Xiao curled her lip and said. There was nothing special about the space in the beginning. However, with the fall of the real dragon and real phoenix, coupled with some special conditions, the strange creatures with special powers started to breed.
Mu Chen nodded. The individual power of the white apes was either at Grade One Sovereign or Grade Two. There was a large number of them, and as they jumped out together, they made one shiver.
Moreover, Mu Chen could see that, in the deepest part of the skeleton hill, there was a more violent fluctuation. It was not easy to get into the skeleton hill. The smell of blood filled the air with its stench. After the white apes had killed the intruders, they lingered around the skeleton hill. There were so many of them, in fact, that they almost covered the hill.
The top powers, that had managed to escape from the attacks, turned pale. They could not calm themselves down, as they were filled with fear. The earlier encounter had indeed been a great blow to them.
The facial expressions of the top powers, who had been taking on a bystander approach, changed. No one dared make any move, and all of them were filled with great fear.
However, the silence did not last for long. Everyone knew that, as time passed by, more people would get to this place. Then, the chances of getting to the Dragon-Phoenix Pool would then be much slimmer.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we should not continue to wait and do nothing. Although the white apes are powerful, if we join forces, they will not be able to stop us." Someone finally spoke up, after giving it much thought. His powerful voice sounded throughout the sky.
"All right, let's join forces!"
Many participants echoed this suggestion. They should be able to get past the white apes, if they joined forces. After all, they should not delay any longer.
Boom! Boom!
Many powerful spiritual energies shot up. Many lights also started to rise up to the sky above the faraway hill. The number was so large, that it was alarming.
"Let's go."
Upon seeing this, Mu Chen smiled. He had been waiting for the top powers to strike. With their help in breaking through the formation of the white apes, he would catch hold of the opportunity to get up the skeleton hill.
"You are not the only one trying to benefit from this," Cai Xiao said with a smile.
There were many top powers around, and some of them had concealed their strengths. Obviously, they had shared the same thoughts as Mu Chen.
"Let's see who is better."
Mu Chen smiled, and looked ready to fight. He was determined to get his hands on the Dragon-Phoenix Pool.