Without the Imperial Insignia, Princess Yin was at least 20% weaker, while Wu Yu"s strength had increased greatly. Therefore, Wu Yu had already left her in the dust, and Princess Yin was no longer a threat to him.
He knew that Princess Yin had been frantically searching for him all this time, dreaming of killing him. Unfortunately for her, Wu Yu and the others had hidden well. Besides, it was innately difficult to search for others in the Ancient Soul Tower.
Especially when you could only search from the ground, and not in the air.
Wu Yu had already mastered the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat Transformation of the Imperial Insignia. Ignoring the four pursuers, it zoomed into the golden vortex and was met by a dense web of frenzied lightning.
Princess Yin, Xiong Zhan, Jiang Wenyu, and Jiang Wuzhou all looked murderous.
They did not think that they were weaker than Wu Yu"s lot.
But they had been played, and the seraphic dao treasure Imperial Insignia had been s.n.a.t.c.hed. They felt thoroughly humiliated.
Truthfully, Princess Yin had been on the verge of reducing Wu Yu to dust in that battle. She had been blindsided by Wu Yu"s ability to survive under such circ.u.mstances.
Even his Infernal Sky Pillar of Nine Fetters had been destroyed by her, but still he had held on. Thinking back, all she had needed to do was take some effort to deal with Wu Yu"s clone, and she would not have been so seriously injured. Although she might not have been able to kill Wu Yu in one hit, his death would have been inevitable after a few attacks.
If she could do it again, she naturally knew that she would not have suffered such a devastating loss if she had not underestimated him.
She was not satisfied!
"Return my Imperial Insignia, or I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and see you dead without a grave! Don"t think that you can stay in the Ancient Soul Tower forever! You stole my seraphic dao treasure! Wherever you go, I will see your corpse in a thousand pieces! Wu Yu!"
Her furious screams echoed behind him.
"Chase me to the ends of the earth? Don"t be like that. Don"t you have three pretty boys by your side? They might not be as handsome as me, but I"m not interested in you. Don"t you be crus.h.i.+ng on me. I don"t like old hags of your age. I"m not Wu Yu!" The Full Moon of Nanshan"s voice came floating back out of the golden vortex and angered Princess Yin half to death.
The four of them did not hesitate to also use various methods to charge into the golden vortex. They had been through this before, and were experienced. As long as you had reached the fifth tier of the Dao Querying Realm, it was not especially difficult to pa.s.s through to the fifth level.
Wu Yu had even been made fun of by the Full Moon of Nanshan. Because Luo Pin was older too....
However, Prince Le and the others were ignorant of this, and therefore did not understand.
Of course, five-colored lightning was crackling all around the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat currently. In every instant, the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat was rocked by violent shocks. It was as though they were inside a tortoise, separated from the horrifying perils outside.
But Prince Le and the others understood the dangers outside from the sounds alone.
Without the Imperial Insignia, they might be able to force their way upwards, but survival would not be guaranteed.
Thinking of this, Prince Le looked at Wu Yu with grat.i.tude. He knew that his own powers were dismal in the Ancient Soul Tower, and so he handed the authority completely over to Wu Yu.
The Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat only rocked to a certain degree and continued pressing on stably. It was much more relaxed than before, and Prince Le saw a glimmer of hope for his possession of the Yan Huang Golden Bead.
This made him secretly happy. He was excited and optimistic, but still quite composed, and he did not show it.
Wu Yu"s expression was stern, resolution in his eyes. Steering the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat, they broke through the clouds and fog, continuing to barrage upwards.
From behind, the pursuing Princess Yin and the others were already long out of sight. After losing the Imperial Insignia, it was fairly difficult for them to reach the fifth level. And with the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat in Wu Yu"s possession, even Prince Le and the others did not take Princess Yin seriously.
"If only I had Wu Yu"s power. What is my father emperor thinking? If I can really obtain the position, can I improve so astronomically as well? Like Wu Yu?"
He felt that there was no one like Wu Yu by the Ancient Emperor"s side for now. His might was definitely a good thing for Prince Le, or he would not even be qualified to be here. But he still felt uneasy. He could not put it into words. Perhaps Wu Yu and he had not yet reached the stage where they were bonded in life and death.
"Forget it. All is within the control of my father emperor. All that he wishes to happen will happen."
Prince Le thought.
In less than 15 minutes, Wu Yu had already charged out of the sea of lightning. The Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat had been hit numerous times, but a seraphic dao treasure was a seraphic dao treasure. As powerful as the lightning was, it had only drained some part of Wu Yu"s strength. The Imperial Insignia was a treasure of both offense and defense. Its defensive abilities were not really tested severely on the journey to the fifth level of the Ancient Soul Tower.
Wu Yu knew that the fifth level of the Ancient Soul Tower was where the experts of the Jambu Realm were gathered. Those that had come here by their own strength were all fifth tier Dao Querying cultivators and above.
And if they had not come here themselves, that meant that they had fifth tier Dao Querying cultivators or stronger in their group.
For example, Princess You Xue"s group had King You Ying. Nangong Wei"s group had many elite demon kings.
After arriving here, Wu Yu first had them abide in the Tortoise s.h.i.+eld Dragon Boat, while he conducted reconnaissance alone. When he stepped onto the ground, he found it blackened, as though it had been through a blaze many times. Treading on it, he could feel the incredible temperatures in the black grit.
Although he did not see fire in this world, the heat was incredible. Looking out ahead, the whole world was unevenly covered in a criss-cross of mountains and valleys, all baking in the harsh heat.
The harshness of this heat would have immediately melted those not at the Dao Querying Realm. Perhaps Prince Le and the others would still need the Seven Stars Iron Winged Bug"s Seven Stars Fortifying Design to protect them, or they would be hard-pressed to move an inch.
The higher one went in the Ancient Soul Tower, the more difficult it was to progress. Even this fifth level was hard enough, let alone even higher levels. Of course, because Wu Yu had the Invincible Vajra Body, he might be the strongest in enduring heat in the entire Ancient Soul Tower. Therefore, it was tolerable for him, while others might need to constantly expend Violet Kingdom Primordial Energy.
Very quickly, he h found the source of heat in this world!
He lifted his head and was almost blinded.
Because above his head, in the center of the azure sky, was a sun-like ent.i.ty. It resembled the sun outside but was significantly bigger, looking like the size of a washbowl. It seemed very close to them, and the craters and tracks on its surface could be seen.
More significantly, there were nine of them!
The biggest sun was in the center position, and it was slightly larger than the other eight that flanked it. The other eight were dispersed in eight directions: north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. The nine suns were neatly arranged in the sky, and that was why their glaring rays bathed the land in harsh heat.
The Imperial Insignia was not the Seven Stars Fortifying Design. If permanently used to protect Prince Le and the others, that would be a waste of resources, and also call too much attention.
Therefore, Wu Yu had them come out. Of course, he still let Prince Le and the other three into the Seven Stars Fortifying Design so that the nine suns above would not burn them to a crisp.
"Don"t look up directly. There are nine suns," Wu Yu explained to them.
Prince Le and the others squinted and looked from within the Seven Stars Fortifying Design, exclaiming in wonder, "Amazing."
And then all of them looked around. They were finally at the fifth level of the Ancient Soul Tower. At such a central location, they felt closer to the Yan Huang Golden Bead.
"Dragging them along always compromises our fighting power. How about leaving them at the first level, along with two puppets for protection, while we roam this place independently? Seems more likely to get the Yan Huang Golden Bead that way."
Seeing that Wu Yu had to again call the Seven Stars Fortifying Design to protect them, the Full Moon of Nanshan secretly conversed with Wu Yu a little impatiently.
"I think so too. They"re too burdensome." Ye Xixi nodded.
Wu Yu said, "Your thinking is too shallow. The waters are deep here at the Ancient Soul Tower. The difficulty in obtaining the Yan Huang Golden Bead is huge. Besides, there are other reasons. Firstly, Prince Le himself will not consent to remain at the first level. He is someone who wishes to compete. If I take the Yan Huang Golden Bead, but he is far away at the first level, how could he not be worried? He must remain at a place where I can hand the Yan Huang Golden Bead over to him swiftly.
"Secondly, who knows what the Ancient Emperor is thinking. There are many people watching from outside. We are only qualified to remain in the Jambu Realm because of Prince Le"s status. In such circ.u.mstances, we cannot abandon them.
"Thirdly, we have this strength because of the Ancient Emperor"s dao musings. That was connected to him. Otherwise, we could not even have reached the third level.
"Fourthly, Prince Le told me that he cares most about the royal throne. If we get the Yan Huang Golden Bead, he is willing to give the three of us at least half of what’s in it."
The Yan Huang Golden Bead contained all the treasures from the 10,000 Kingdoms Pilgrimage. Even half was an incredible amount. Prince Le had spoken about this in private to Wu Yu after seeing his huge improvements.
Qu Haoyan and the other three had not done much, and Prince Le could just give them some reward for their loyal following.