Chương 346: The strength of a mountain

The four youths felt their legs turning to jelly as their hearts turned bitter. The giant boulder was practically above their heads! If it smashed down, then even death was possible!

"Attack together! Let's not hold back! I don't believe that we can't destroy a mere boulder!" The first youth exclaimed in a single breath and exploded with even greater energy than before. Exchanging glances, the other three also unleashed their full power and stopped holding back. They were already in this. They couldn't step out now. Each of them were among the strongest peak Imperials in the sect.

When they stopped holding back and used their hidden trump cards, then even a weak deity like crimson Chen wouldn't be able to kill them. Four different coloured attacks rushed into the sky and smashed into the boulder, causing explosive sounds to ring in the air. Zhou Zheng watched them in amusement and actually didn't control the boulder to crash down. He left it levitating above them and watched their desperate attacks landing on the boulder.

The boulder began to crumble at the edges and wherever the attacks landed. Smiling, Zhou Zheng moved his wrist slightly and the boulder descended sharply, causing a loud whistling sound in the air. It's weight was simply frightening. If it fell from a sufficient height, then even the attacks of a weaker early stage deity would be blasted away and the deity themselves would be severely injured. The four youths turned even paler as the boulder crushed down.

At the same time, a strange gravitational force surrounded them, slowing them down and making it impossible for them to leave the range of the boulder. Gravity was naturally a branch of the earth and with his earth intent, Zhou Zheng could interfere with gravity in a limited range to some extent. Eyes turning red, the four youths ignited part of their life sources. Their attacks nearly doubled in power and the boulder crumbled at a much faster pace as it descended.

Just before it crashed into them, the boulder finally exploded into large rock pieces that smashed into the energy shields of the youths. While the impact was much lesser after the boulder shattered, the four youths still coughed up blood a few times and barely held their footings. Their life sources were impacted and they were quite severely injured, but the four of them couldn't help but feel their excitement growing. That was the second attack! There was just one more left!

Even if it was another boulder attack, they wouldn't hesitate to burn their life sources a second time. They would merely lose one or two years out of over a hundred years of life and gain three true essence pills in return. If they became deities, one or two years of life wouldn't matter at all when they would be able to live for up to five hundred years! Zhou Zheng grinned at their excitement and hopes. Rubbing his chin, he gave them a minute to regain their senses fully.

"Impressive I must say. You've survived the second move. One more attack and you'll have everything here. I personally promise that no one would dare to take them from you." The four youths almost lost control of their emotions again at that. Even their injuries were hardly of any significance compared to the bright future ahead of them.

"Let's end this. The third move…" Zhou Zheng finally moved from the head of the stone dragon. His feet rested in the air as he slowly took step after step in a descending motion, as though he was actually walking on an invisible staircase. He reached the ground and lightly landed, placing both feet on the earth. Instantly, his aura seemed to transform subtly but barely anyone could sense it. Zhou Zheng sighed and glanced at the four youths.

"Until now I've merely been playing around, probing your limits. This time, I really mean it… try your best to keep your lives." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Before the youths could express their confusion, Zhou Zheng lifted his right foot and stomped on the earth heavily. A tremor passed through the earth briefly and murky brown earth essence energy surged out of his body and gathered in the sky before him.

Everyone immediately held their breath nervously. Zhou Zheng had used his true essence! Normal peak Imperial would've died to the first attack. But these were the best peak Imperials the supreme heaven sect had; weak deities wouldn't even be able to kill them. Excluding his cultivation manual and Dao skills, Zhou Zheng was pretty much using his full strength without getting serious. The sheer pressure of the true essence was like a mountain, making even breathing to be hard for everyone within several dozen meters.

As more true essence converged, the pressure increased. The ground trembled slightly as a mountain appeared in the sky above Zhou Zheng! A true mountain, floating with all its majesty. The shadow it cast completely blocked the sun.

"T-this is…?!" Long Feng instinctively jumped backwards and grabbed his sword hilt tightly due to the powerful pressure he was sensing. And it wasn't even directed at him! The mountain was clearly formed from Zhou Zheng's true essence, but it was no different from a real mountain in terms of presence, aura and weight. If a difference must be pointed, it would be the appearance and the size of the mountain. The mountain looked slightly faint, which was probably due to Zhou Zheng's lack of mastery in this aspect.

If his earth intent was stronger, then there would be no difference at all in appearance. Also, the mountain was more than twenty meters tall, and its base was tens of meters in radius, but it was naturally far inferior to a real mountain. It was about five percent of a true mountain's size and grandeur, but even then, it was shocking. Being crushed under this small mountain would mean death even for another early stage deity!

The hearts of everyone leapt to their throats as their pupils dilated in shock and disbelief. The emotions of the four youths facing the mountain could be imagined. Their breathing had basically paused. Their souls might have already fled their bodies if they could do so. Their first instincts were to escape, but their feet wouldn't move. It was like they were buried in sand; the weight around them was crushing.

"How is it? Good right? It took me a long time to be able to form a phantom mountain without using my Earth Stabilizing technique." Zhou Zheng didn't immediately attack with the mountain, though even Long Feng was interested to see just how a mountain would be used to attack.

"If I use the earth stabilizing technique, then I should be able to capture up to ten percent of a true mountain. That power would be enough to defeat even Bai Zijun and Situ Hong if I successfully hit them." He raised his right arm and stared at the four youths. His smile had vanished and his expression was completely cold.

"You should be proud to die under my mountain." He brought down his arm and the ground shook as the small mountain descended upon the four youths. The four pale youths were terrified out of their minds. They could break a boulder, but could they break a mountain? Even if it was barely five percent the size of a true mountain, could they do it? The answer was no. Imperial energy simply couldn't achieve such a shocking feat. Even a peak deity wouldn't be able to shatter a true mountain. They could only dodge.

A mountain represented extreme power, weight and might. It was the epitome of earth and if mastered, could make a person almost invisible. The four youths desperately attacked the mountain but their attacks barely caused tiny rubbles to fall. Despair flooded their hearts as the mountain crashed into the ground. Everyone felt the ground tremble like a minor earthquake for almost a full minute. Even the spitting dragon fountain was slightly impacted and it shook.

A dense cloud of dust clouded everyone's view, but no one needed eyes to know the outcome of this fight.

"Sss… to be crushed under such a mountain… will even bones be left?" Someone gasped with a pale face. Long Feng's pupils shrank slightly as he stared at Zhou Zheng and muttered.

"Strong!" That was the only thing he could say. Even for him, if he faced that mountain, then he probably wouldn't be able to escape. Could his sword split a mountain in half? Perhaps a sword could split a mountain apart, but not at his current level. His only chance would be to flee as far away as he could to escape death if he found Zhou Zheng at his current strength. The dust slowly settled and the situation was revealed to everyone, and many faint gasps echoed. The mountain was gone.

It has returned into Zhou Zheng's body as true essence. As for the four youths… What was left of them was a puddle of pulverized blood, flesh and bones that was embedded into the ground till it appeared solid. This sort of death… everyone felt a shiver run through their spine. The feeling of being crushed under a mountain would certainly be anything but pleasant.

"It's said that Zhou Zheng's actual strength is among the top five of the outer peak. It's just that his earth stabilizing technique forms a special earth stabilizing mountain to attack and defend. As defense, it would be impenetrable but it would consume scary amount of energy. As an attack, it can crush almost anything, but it is slow. His gravity restriction isn't enough to restrict the other top ten geniuses so they can dodge easily and attack his main body to defeat him." Someone lightly muttered in a daze.

From this, they could all more or less confirm that fact. Then Long Feng recalled something.

"Back in the Dao Heaven Hall, he said that he had finally fixed the flaw in his manual. Does that mean…" He couldn't help but breath deeply as he imagined this. He didn't know exactly what flaw Zhou Zheng had fixed, but he sounded extremely confident that even Yang Qian wouldn't be his opponent. Closing his eyes briefly, Long Feng felt even more assured of one thing.

"I need to become stronger… fast!" The threat he was sensing from these deities was suffocating. Unless he gained the ability to face monsters like Bai Zijun, Situ Hong and Qiu Yushi, then he wouldn't be able to keep himself safe. But would even that be enough? There was still the inner peak. What sort of monsters would he find there? And what was to be said about the core disciples? Were they even humans? Could he ever catch up to them?

And the core disciples of the Supreme Heaven Sect weren't the peak of the Mainland's geniuses. The actual peak of the younger generation belonged to the geniuses of the Four Royal Clans! He opened his eyes again in time to find Zhou Zheng floating before the dagger. This time, no one dared to even think about stopping him. They could only watch in silence and keep their frustration to themselves. Zhou Zheng covered his arm with true essence and grabbed the dagger.

It tried to attack him but he merely snorted and blocked the attacks with his dense true essence before successfully grabbing the dagger. Without wasting time, he threw it into his void ring with a smile.

"A peak mortal grade armament… I'll fully subdue it and make it my life weapon after leaving this mystic realm before the inner peak test." He thought. He immediately moved over to the three true essence pills and swiped them into his void ring without a change in his expression, then grabbed the jade and sent his consciousness into it. Shock and surprise appeared in his eyes a few seconds later.

"Amazing. To think this jade was also a treasure! I've really lucked out. I'll purchase a few mid grade essence stones and directly push for the mid deity realm in a few months! My strength would be comparable to late stage deities with this dagger and this jade." A gleeful smile lit up his face. He faced the disciples who all had bitter expressions then he cleared his throat.

"When we leave, I'll organize an auction. I'll remember all of your faces and give you all a discount. In the meantime, go ahead and search for more opportunities. I'll be heading to the serene heaven inheritance ground to try my luck." No one reacted to his words… no one except Long Feng.

"Inheritance ground?" His mind automatically went to the Ancient Sword legacy remnant but he shook his head.

"This is an inheritance and that's an ancient legacy remnant. Besides, even a fool can tell that they aren't in any way comparable."