Xiao Qingyun's figure had completely dissipated as his voice reverberated into silence. Only the Meteorfall Alchemy pills suspended in the air surrounding the two proved his existence.
The Chief Disciple of the Fourth Hall Master of the Primordial Celestial Palace had completely vanished from the face of the earth, leaving no trace behind.
Mu Chen sighed as he looked at the place where Xiao Qingyun had disappeared. From some information revealed by the latter's words, he could vaguely see how important a mammoth the Primordial Celestial Palace was in those ancient times. The seven Hall Masters were probably at the rank of Earthly Sovereign, and the Master of the Celestial Palace was most likely a true Heavenly Sovereign.
However, even such horrifyingly powerful characters had eventually fallen, proving that the invasion from the Extraterritorial Clan had been a terrible calamity.
Mu Chen could not imagine the magnitude of a war that could impact an entire plane of existence.
Seeing the atmosphere become increasingly somber, Nine Nether smiled and said, "Don't dwell on it. Although the Extraterritorial Clan is formidable, we of the Great Thousand World are no pushovers, either. Our top elites and powerful Sovereigns have always been alert and have kept their guard up against them."
Mu Chen nodded. With his current strength, thinking of them would cause undue worry.
"Let's go. There are no longer any traces of Meteorfall gas in this Grade Three Relic."
With a wave of her hand, Nine Nether gathered the Meteorfall Alchemy pills surrounding her as a gleeful smile appeared on her cold and beautiful face. "Together, we have obtained more than 300 Meteorfall Alchemy pills. This is far more than what is available in an ordinary Grade Three Relic."
Mu Chen nodded. Generally speaking, the number of Meteorfall Alchemy pills that could be extracted from a Grade Three Relic should be around a hundred, but they were lucky enough this time to actually meet Xiao Qingyun, who had been invaded by evil energy. Thus, Xiao Qingyun's body, which had not been destroyed, had been a Ninth Grade Sovereign before his death. Although the years passed, and his strength had also declined, the Meteorfall gas contained in him was obviously more complete than that of the other fallen powerful figures in this ruin.
Of course, compared to the Spirit Seeking Compass they had obtained, the few hundred Meteorfall Alchemy pills were not considered much of a surprise.
Mu Chen smiled as he tossed the dark compass in his hand. As long as they had this Spirit Seeking Compass, they would be able to seize the first chance in the next search amid the ruins, hence this was an artifact that would aid them greatly in the fight for Meteorfall Alchemy pills.
"Let's go."
The two surveyed the completely ruined relic and then no longer lingered. They moved out immediately, transforming into two streams of light that flashed out of the swamp.
Outside the swamp, the Nine Nether Troop was spread out like a black tide. Their eyes watched the surroundings vigilantly and guardedly, and their hands always firmly grasped their long spears. Their bodies were tense like cheetahs.
On a far off mountain, there were also soldiers from the Nine Nether Troop, apparently monitoring the area to prevent anyone from disturbing Mu Chen and Nine Nether from their extraction of the Meteorfall Alchemy pills.
Whoosh!
Two streams of light suddenly swept out of the swamp and appeared in mid-air above the Nine Nether Troop. The alert Nine Nether soldiers saw them, and their faces suddenly burst out with joy as they hurriedly bowed.
"Have there been any other forces approaching?" Mu Chen looked at Qiu Shan, who was originally the most powerful person in Nine Nether Troop. This year, with the help of a large number of resources provided by Nine Nether Palace, his strength had also been rapidly enhanced and had already reached the level of a Second Grade Sovereign. Now, he and three other powerful people had been promoted by Mu Chen to the four Captains of the Nine Nether Troop in order to train the soldiers.
Hearing his question, the massive Qiu Shan hurriedly clasped his fist and replied, "Commander, some forces have approached before, but we have blocked them all."
Mu Chen nodded in satisfaction. Although he and Nine Nether were not present, the Nine Nether Troop now compared to when he first came to Nine Nether Palace was much stronger, and ordinary forces would not dare to trifle with them.
"Palace Master, Commander, which direction shall we go next?" Qiu Shan and the others looked towards Mu Chen, their eyes full of fighting spirit. This year, they had received a large number of training resources given to them by the Nine Nether Palace, so their strength increased very rapidly. They also understood the reason for training an army for thousands of days; it was so they could shine in one battle. Now, the time had come for them to reveal their power in the Great Hunting War.
They wanted to let Mu Chen and Nine Nether know that the massive cultivation resources were not wasted on them.
Mu Chen smiled, as the map Mandela gave them would have reached its limit here. If they had followed their original plan, they would have wandered around like headless flies and relied on luck to locate the other relics. Fortunately, they were now able to change that.
"It's time to try this." Mu Chen smiled as he took out the dark Spirit Seeking Compass and then channelled his spiritual energy into it. Immediately, complex spiritual symbols emerged on the surface of the compass. Light bloomed, an intricate spiritual energy light screen appeared on the surface of the compass, and beams of spiritual energy light in the form of rings of light emanated from it.
Mu Chen and Nine Nether stared at it nervously. This object had been hidden by Xiao Qingyun for thousands of years. Who knew whether it would still have any effect? If it had been damaged, then they would have rejoiced too soon.
Beside them, Qiu Shan and the others looked at each other as they were bewildered regarding what Mu Chen and Nine Nether were up to.
Time passed slowly, but above the compass, the rings of light still spread out. There were no other signs occurring, which made Mu Chen and Nine Nether look increasingly somber.
However, just as they were about to be disappointed, the black compass shook, and the light screen suddenly revealed a small red dot that was flickering continuously.
"There's some movement!" Mu Chen's eyes lit up.
Just when Mu Chen spoke up, another light spot emerged in a location further away from the red dot, and the intensity of this spot was obviously even greater.
In a few short seconds, the Spirit Seeking Compass had located two relics that hid Meteorfall gas!
With the speed of this search, other forces would be green with jealousy if they caught wind of it. With such an artifact, the task of finding the Meteorfall Alchemy pills would be effortless!
"Let's go!"
Mu Chen and Nine Nether's expressions were full of surprise, and without any hesitation they gathered the Nine Nether Troop. The group turned into a vast stream of light and swept out of the swamp heading straight towards the direction indicated on the Spirit Seeking Compass.
The Nine Nether Troop swept forward at full force as they encountered other forces along the way. The other forces retreated guardedly, clearly overwhelmed by the intense fighting spirit emanating from the Nine Nether Troop.
Some of the other powerful forces were not willing to go to war with the Nine Nether Palace, so they also chose to retreat. After all, although the Nine Nether Palace was not terrifying, it had the backing of the powerful Daluo Territory, a genuine top-notch force, thus many other forces were fearful and wary of them.
For all these reasons, this time they were unexpectedly successful. There were occasional obstructions, but ultimately they were not much hindrance to their pace of march.
Hence, just four hours later, they arrived at the first relic marked on the Spirit Seeking Compass.
To their slight disappointment, the relic was not as strong as the one they had encountered before, as it was not even a Grade Three Relic.
Although disappointed, it was better than nothing, and it was more than some forces had who couldn't even locate relics after looking everywhere. So with this thought, Mu Chen and the others swept through the ruins of the relic and gathered approximately 50 Meteorfall Alchemy pills.
After scavenging the ruins, Mu Chen and the group rushed straight to the direction where the second red spot was located. This relic did not disappoint Mu Chen, as the Meteorfall gas had also reached that of a Grade Three Relic.
It was only when fighting over this Grade Three Relic that Mu Chen finally met with an obstacle again. It was a force called the Iron Blood War Clan. This was also a very famous top-notch force in the North Territory. This clan was extremely war-loving, therefore, they were extremely fond of conquest, which caused them to be the most feared among the many forces in the North Territory.
Thus, when they saw the Iron Blood Army, they already knew that war could not be avoided. However, Mu Chen did not hesitate to condense the fighting spirit of the Nine Nether Troop, and they were ready to battle. The leader of the Iron Blood Army retreated immediately and as they retreated, distant curses and swearing could be heard.
"D*mn it, it's a crazy fellow who can condense fighting spirit…"
When Mu Chen heard the distant cursing and then saw the orderly retreat of the Iron Blood Army, he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, but he was glad to avoid a direct confrontation with the Iron Blood War Clan. From the behavior of this Iron Blood War Clan, it seemed that they were not the intense war-loving warmongers they were rumored to be. Thus, they retreated wisely knowing they would pay a heavy price if they didn't.
With the withdrawal of the Iron Blood War Clan, the relic once again landed in Mu Chen's hands.
This Grade Three Relic also added 200 Meteorfall Alchemy pills to their collection. In total, they had about 600 Meteorfall Alchemy pills.
This kind of achievement, according to Nine Nether, was absolutely outstanding. After all, it was quite rare to be able to find three relics in such a short period of time, unless there were other forces who also had the same means to detect Meteorfall gas.
Whoosh!
After scraping the site clean, Mu Chen and Nine Nether let the Nine Nether Troop take a break while the two took out the Spirit Seeking Compass again and prepared to continue their exploration.
However, just as they were about to explore the direction of the other relics, Mu Chen and Nine Nether's expressions suddenly changed. With a clench of their fists, a green bronze mirror appeared in their hands, a token given to Lord Nine Nether by Mandela before the beginning of the Great Hunting War.
At this time, in this green bronze mirror, a blood-red spot of light flickered wildly, an extremely critical distress signal!
Mu Chen and Nine Nether glanced at the blood-red spot of light reflected on the green bronze mirror, and their expressions turned grave.
A lord-ranked troop of Daluo Territory had been forced into a desperate situation and had to use the bronze mirrors to seek help!
This Great Hunting War was perilous, indeed!