Chapter 1173 — The Primordial Chaos Ore Belt

Shen Mu hesitated for a moment. Judging by the divine stones in this primordial mine vein, the vein had already been drained empty, and the ancient god egg within it had already come into the world, cracking out of its shell.

All that was left of any use in this primordial mine vein was the chaos qi pervading the place.

There was absolutely little to be gained from occupying this spot!

And if he pressed deeper, he might well encounter that ancient god which had broken out of its shell - the best choice was to retreat at once! The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was not an ancient god born from an ancient god egg by fully absorbing the Taichu Mine Vein; he had been dug out of the vein by the clansmen of the Grand Emperor.

The Creators of that age had worshipped this egg, and as a result, Heavenly Emperor Taichu had never fully absorbed the vein's power, and so he had come into the world ahead of time. He was but a malformed child, a premature one. Yet even so, Heavenly Emperor Taichu was the most powerful being there was! His physical body - no one had surpassed it to this day!

His Great Dao and his dharma power still stood at the absolute peak; some even believed that only one who cultivated to the complete Heavenly Court realm could contend with him!

If the ancient god in this vein had emerged, did that not mean he was even more formidable than the Grand Emperor?

Shen Mu stood there, still hesitating, and said in a low voice, "Maybe this ancient god has already gone, no longer in the vein.

Maybe he has not yet been born. And maybe he did not fully absorb the vein's power.

.

. Going in for a look - it won't kill me, will it? Heh heh, with the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, the foremost treasure under heaven, in my hands, what do I have to fear. .

.

" He plucked up his courage and walked toward the depths of the vein. Yan'er and Long Qilin followed behind, trembling without cease, glancing around in panic.

The two had taken human form and huddled together, shivering.

Little Tu Bo was shivering too, wedged between them. In the ancient mine cavern, the round divine stones, though they no longer held any strange energy, still radiated a tranquil light, but the slightest touch would make them crumble.

Shen Mu moved with the greatest care, trying not to make any sound at all, and contacted Long Qilin and Yan'er with his divine consciousness: "Do not make the least noise. The divine stones here are embedded in the vein; they may break at any moment, and the vein may easily collapse. " Long Qilin stirred his divine consciousness and transmitted: "Even a collapse of the vein could not crush us to death.

" "Mind the mine walls!

" Shen Mu said crossly.

Long Qilin hastily looked at the mine walls and saw strands of chaos qi seeping out from them!

"This vein is a vein within the chaos mountain, and it contains vast amounts of chaos qi.

" Shen Mu grew more cautious, his divine consciousness rippling gently: "With my strength, even if I unleash my entire cultivation, I can only push the chaos qi back five or six zhang. If the chaos mountain on either side of this vein collapsed, we would surely be crushed to dust! Not even our primordial spirits could escape! " Long Qilin was startled, became even more cautious, and looked around trembling with fear.

Suddenly, a faint tremor sounded in the vein; a small stone fell from the top of the vein and struck Long Qilin's foot.

Long Qilin's face turned ghastly at once. Small as the stone was, its weight was staggeringly immense, as if a Mount Sumeru had crushed his foot to pieces!

He was about to open his mouth to howl in pain when Yan'er hastily covered his mouth and transmitted: "Don't shout, my dear! If you shout, this vein will cave in!

Lift up your foot and put it in your mouth and lick it - then it will be fine. " Little Tu Bo nodded eagerly, opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue, and made a licking gesture. Tears streaming down his face, Long Qilin tremblingly raised his leg and foot; he wanted to lick it but could not swallow his pride.

Fortunately, Shen Mu noticed that he had been injured, took out a jade bottle, and pressed it into his hand.

"It's the Sect Leader who treats me best!

What wife?

What godson? None of them can compare to the Sect Leader!

" Long Qilin said, moved to tears of gratitude.

The vein was exceedingly deep and very spacious; walking through it was like walking in an underground world. Enormous skeletons lay everywhere along the way.

They were all Creators, but of low rank - most likely slaves.

Creator miners were usually slaves captured by large tribes when they attacked other tribes, used solely for mining. Yet even as slaves, their strength was by no means ordinary; nevertheless, when the sudden calamity struck, these Creators had not the slightest power to resist and died in this vein!

The vein grew ever deeper, and the chaos qi, heavy as it was, all sank toward the depths. At the very bottom of the vein, the chaos qi seemed to condense into a solid, forming a calm and unruffled sea of chaos.

Even with the twenty-eight heavens of the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner thrusting the surrounding chaos qi apart, Shen Mu felt every step was a struggle. The terrain gradually leveled out.

Massive pillars, thick at the top and bottom and slender in the middle, supported a vast underground world. This should be the center of the vein.

The chaos stretched away, boundless and dim.

Shen Mu strained his eyes to the utmost, even opening the vertical eye at his brow, yet he could not see very far, could not see very clearly.

"Stay close to me.

Don't get lost.

" He transmitted through his divine consciousness: "Step beyond the protection of the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, and death is certain!

" Long Qilin's leg had not yet recovered, and he limped to keep up with him. All at once, the vein trembled again.

Even Shen Mu could not help but shudder with dread and hurriedly came to a stop.

Fortunately, the trembling did not last long; only loose rocks rained down, yet it was quite hair-raising. With the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner driving back the chaos qi around them, they searched this underground world for a long time but found nothing. Shen Mu was just about to leave when he suddenly saw a massive chaos stone towering in the chaos qi ahead.

That chaos stone appeared to have been carved into the shape of an altar, extremely tall and imposing.

Around the altar there were also shattered bones. The chaos qi was so heavy that the Creators who had mined this far had been crushed to powder.

With axe and chisel they had quarried chaos stone and gathered divine stone, coming all the way here, and then they encountered something they had never seen before. They hacked and chiseled along the thing with the utmost care, and in the end they carved out an altar.

By the time they had fully chiseled the thing free, a calamitous change erupted - chaos qi gushed out, and every Creator in the vein died to the last one; not a single soul escaped!

Shen Mu composed himself, shifted the ever-heavier Lapis Azure-Sky Banner, and carefully mounted the altar. The chaos qi was far too heavy; even shifting the banner was incredibly strenuous.

He had no choice but to activate the Mystic Body Three-Core Art, drive the vertical eye in his brow, and erupt with his full power before he could lift the banner.

After a long while, they finally mounted the altar. Shen Mu heaved a sigh of relief. What met his eyes was the smooth platform of the altar.

Clearly, the Creators who had excavated this place had chiseled with great care, meticulous in every particular.

They had taken the thing at the center of the altar as their focus, leveling the surroundings as much as they could and carefully splitting away the chaos stone around it, for fear of harming what lay within. Shen Mu looked toward the center of the altar - there lay a giant egg, split open!