Elder Wei’s expression was solemn. He fished out an envelope but put it back after a moment of hesitation, only watching as Qianye swaggered off into the distance.
“Let’s go, the cost of lingering here is significant.” Elder Wei continued the climb after a few indifferent words.
“Why didn’t you attack just now?” Caroline was wracked by an intense stabbing pain when the envelope appeared. This was a divine champion’s intuition toward danger, a clear sign that the content of that ancient envelope was lethal to her. And judging from the old man’s stance, it looked like he was planning to attack on the mountain path. It would seem the power contained within the envelope could tear through the confines of s.p.a.ce.
Now that was terrifying. This meant that one could hardly escape the attack even by running into the void. A newly ascended divine champion would likely suffer grave injuries when faced with this kind of mortal talisman. Even Caroline didn’t dare to be careless since a careless move would result in perilous wounds. With her current injuries, she might even die on the spot.
Noticing the cautiousness in her speech, Elder Wei said with a smile, “Because this is my final ace and I’m not confident about hitting him. The person who bestowed me these powers isn’t certain about dealing with the Heartseeker Path even though Ji Wentian was just a young heavenly monarch when he established it. My chances of hitting Qianye are thirty percent at most, so I chose not to gamble. We’ll meet him at the top anyway.”
Caroline continued upward with a nod. However, the lightning arcs around her had increased noticeably. It would seem she was subconsciously guarded against the old man. The latter didn’t discuss this matter and only followed her from behind.
After two more circles, they were fast approaching the summit, and the wisps of grey rain had turned into a dense shower of large droplets. Each droplet falling onto the heavy crate caused Caroline’s hands to tremble. The paper on the container emitted a constant golden glow as it worked to keep the crate isolated, but it was also growing dimmer.
Qianye was inevitably slower now but was still in the lead. The grey shower had already turned into a downpour at this point. A good part of the pressure fell upon him despite the disruption of the venus dawn granules, pus.h.i.+ng him to the brink of collapse.
The rain was already so heavy here, so there was no doubt that the last few laps would be a torrential downpour. Even a divine champion wouldn’t be able to take that last step without special powers.
Elder Wei finally sighed. “This is the farthest he’ll get it seems. Although the grey-rain ordeal is easier for him than it is for us, the fact remains that he’s no divine champion and his origin power is limited. I guess he really has obtained the Pointer Monarch’s inheritance and might even inherit a bit of the legacy if he can survive. Unfortunately, he ran into me.”
Caroline didn’t stop to look at Qianye, who finally succ.u.mbed to the pressure of the grey rain and came to a grinding halt. On this Heartseeker Path, stopping meant a loss of all hope.
“I don’t think I can climb the last circle, either. What should I do?” Caroline asked. She had been injured earlier on and also had to carry this heavy crate all along—it was only natural that she would be strained at this point. She certainly could’ve reached the top if she were in her peak state.
Elder Wei said, “Don’t worry, I have a way to ensure you reach the summit.”
At this stage, Caroline had no choice but to trust the old man. She spoke no more and merely kept her eyes focused on the road, doing her best to minimize her origin power usage. Although Elder Wei had guaranteed that they would reach the top, she would be at someone else’s mercy if she had no more energy left. As experienced as she was, Caroline would never allow this to happen.
For some reason, she thought about Qianye once more. In truth, she knew very well that the conflict with Hu An was the latter’s fault. With a sister like Caroline and having received much of Mask’s favor, Hu An was always wanton and unrestrained. It could be said that he dared to s.n.a.t.c.h any woman or kill any man under the divine champion realm.
It was just that no amount of thought could help right now. If Qianye couldn’t ascend to the top, he would become a skeleton along the way. Even if she wanted to give him a proper burial, she wouldn’t be able to find his remains through the spatial separation.
It was at this moment that she sensed an anomaly from behind and Elder Wei gasped in shock!
Caroline turned back to see a pair of luminous wings unfurl behind Qianye as he flew toward the peak!
He was actually flying!
The Heartseeker Path was isolated by many spatial layers, and the sky above was no exception. Flying would intensify the pressure exponentially, and that was on the premise that one could break through the barrier to reach higher alt.i.tudes. How many people could even do that? That was why even people as strong as Caroline and as capable as Elder Wei had no choice but to climb up obediently.
But now, Qianye actually wanted to fly to the peak. Was this a desperate effort, or was he crazy?
Before Caroline and Elder Wei could recover from the shock, Qianye’s figure flickered several times and vanished toward the summit.
“What’s that!?” Caroline gasped in surprise.
Elder Wei’s expression was so gloomy that it could drip water. Despite knowing so much, he couldn’t recognize this divine ability. This secret art had disappeared along with the Black-Winged Monarch so many years ago. Moreover, those who were fortunate enough to have seen this art were mostly experts at his level—Elder Wei was simply too far below.
After a momentary daze, the old man said, “I don’t know, either, but what I’m sure of is that he’s already reached the peak alive and that we must hurry. I’ll use my final card, let us head to the peak quickly. As for the drain in origin power, there’s really no helping it.”
Elder Wei fished out an ancient scroll. Most of its pages, apart from the last few leaves, were dim. However, the old man didn’t open the tome and tossed it into the air instead. The scroll opened up in the wind and turned into a giant canopy above their heads, sheltering them from the corrosion of the grey rain. All the pressure bearing down on Caroline and Elder Wei vanished in an instant.
The droplets struck the ancient scroll in a pitter-patter, breaking into rainy mist above it. The layer of golden radiance on the scroll flickered and faded away from time to time. Whenever it did so, the rain would strike the scroll directly and erode its pages. Very soon, many parts of the tome were soaked, and the corrosion was spreading fast.
A beam of golden light shot out from Elder Wei’s hands and landed on the scroll, causing it to light up once more. However, the glow was fast fading under the rain and didn’t look like it would hold out long.
“Let’s hurry, my scroll won’t last long.” Elder Wei hastened his steps and jogged toward the peak.
Shaken, Caroline followed the old man closely. The scroll was limited in size, and it was following Elder Wei—she would be drenched again if she lagged too far behind.
The rain grew even denser along the way and the wear on the scroll had grown even faster. Hence, Elder Wei had no choice but to slow down and catch his breath. After climbing three levels in this manner, the last two pages of the scroll were completely broken through. Elder Wei’s face twitched as he threw out yet another ancient scroll. Apparently, he was feeling quite the heartache.
These scrolls were different from the sacred seals contained within the envelopes. They were worth more because they could be recharged with origin power and used repeatedly. Only that last envelope he had saved up, the one capable of injuring a divine champion, was equal in value to these two scrolls.
Now, in order to walk the last few laps of the Heartseeker Path, Elder Wei had no choice but to throw out these scrolls in succession. One damaged tome meant one less a.s.set in his a.r.s.enal. It could be said that the price he had to pay was disastrous. Moreover, he might have to bring out a third because the grey storm was growing at a terrifying rate and this second scroll might not be able to support them to the summit. They could force their way through the last lap, but heavy injuries were inevitable under this downpour. Qianye was still waiting for them at the top and his current condition was a complete mystery. Elder Wei would rather lose the scroll than to leave his life in fate’s hands.
Behind him, Caroline’s eyes s.h.i.+fted about. Seeing this old man using up his treasures one after the other, some of the notions she had kept suppressed emerged once more. Elder Wei’s personal strength wasn’t exactly outstanding and his origin power was much weaker than hers. His might was reliant on these ancient scrolls and sacred seals. With them, he was able to unleash many strange abilities. He could’ve wiped out the giant pegmat.i.te crocodile and the horde of creatures if he had gone all out. This was his power.
But after using up his ancient scrolls and seals, Elder Wei had become a toothless tiger. He looked scary but was actually quite weak. Caroline could kill him just by fighting normally.
Pa.s.sing thoughts floated into her head—if she were to ambush the old man at the peak, could she kill him? What treasures did he have on him? There had to be some Earth Dragon blood on him at the very least, right? What exactly was inside this heavy crate? Judging from how the man was willing to abandon his subordinates but not this box, the contents had to be critical to this excursion. Finally, what was it that had made someone like Elder Wei travel such a long distance and put himself in danger?
All these questions caused Caroline’s emotions, as well as her standpoint, to change. For instance, Elder Wei’s figure looked quite frail and his vitals looked open from the back. She could strike the old man to death even without using the power of lightning.
Seemingly sensing something, Elder Wei slowed down his steps and the opening behind him quickly disappeared. He said indifferently without looking back, “An imperial rank is a hundred-year foundation, not something comparable to a momentary profit.”
Caroline became sober all of a sudden. She retracted her gaze and no longer let her eyes wander. Nonetheless, Elder Wei never sped up again afterward.