Chapter 50 The Desolate Wasteland

Yan the Red Knight, Bai Xiaoyue, Tu Xiaomeng, and Song Ta'er could not help but feel immensely excited upon hearing this. Instantly, their attention focused on Master Qingxu’s face, and they began listening with rapt concentration.

Seeing their eager expressions, Master Qingxu spoke:

“Danzi, before I left on this journey, I told you that I was going away for a while and might not return soon, asking you to stay at the temple and take good care of yourself. You were very worried, thinking I was facing trouble, and wanted to accompany me. To put your mind at ease, I told you I was going to fulfill a century-old promise with an old friend… Even though that meeting might involve some complications, I assured you there would be no danger. In truth, what I said was not accurate, merely meant to comfort you. The reality is that I was not going to keep any 'hundred-year appointment' with an old friend, but rather, I was heading to the ‘Desolation’ in search of the once-in-a-century meteorite called the ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’…”

Yan the Red Knight was astonished at this, and could not help but ask, “Master, where is this ‘Desolation’? What is the ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’? What purpose does it serve for you?”

“The ‘Desolation’ lies in the extreme south, tens of thousands of miles from here, a land devoid of people, frozen and bitterly cold, where daylight never ends and night never falls,” Master Qingxu patiently explained. “According to the ancient secret tome, ‘Records of the Strange Phenomena of Heaven and Earth’, the ‘Desolation’ is situated at the southernmost point. Directly overhead, there exists a ‘Heavenly Gate’, which naturally opens for a single day every hundred years. The precise time of its opening is the first day of the winter’s ‘Ninefold Cold’. When the ‘Heavenly Gate’ opens, thunder rolls across the sky, shaking the earth, and all manners of meteorites rain down in great numbers.

Meteorites are fragments of stone falling from the heavens—among them is the ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’.

The ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’ is a meteorite with an extremely high uranium content, capable of emitting invisible radiance that is hazardous to humans and living creatures. However, for cultivators, if used in moderation to refine the ‘Nine Suns Golden Elixir’ and consumed, it can multiply one’s powers, playing a crucial role in advancing their cultivation.

Danzi, to be frank, I have reached a bottleneck in my cultivation. Without the ‘Nine Suns Golden Elixir’, it would be very difficult for me to break through the current ‘Tribulation Crossing’ stage… Thus, after much deliberation, in order to step into the realm of ‘Loose Immortals’ as soon as possible, I resolved to risk everything and journey to the ‘Desolation’ to acquire the indispensable ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’ needed to refine the elixir…

Danzi, I said it was a perilous venture because, according to the ‘Records of the Strange Phenomena of Heaven and Earth’, when the ‘Heavenly Gate’ of the ‘Desolation’ opens, the ancient divine beast ‘Blazing Thunder’ appears—it is the guardian deity of the gate. ‘Blazing Thunder’ resembles a dragon yet is not a dragon, stretching dozens of yards, pitch black all over, soaring through clouds and mist, its roar shaking the heavens, and the fireballs it spews from its mouth are of unmatched power, exploding with greater force than lightning. Truly, the saying goes, ‘Blazing Thunder guards the gate, none may enter.’

Yet, to obtain the ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’, one must enter the ‘Heavenly Gate’ and seize it in midair—for within the gate, the crystal falls very slowly, restrained by the celestial forces, but once it passes through, it plummets rapidly to earth, vanishing without a trace. This presents a dilemma: if you do not enter the gate, you cannot obtain the crystal, and your journey will be in vain; if you do enter, you must face ‘Blazing Thunder’, and the danger is immense, with your fate hanging between life and death…

Danzi, I knew that this journey to the ‘Desolation’ would be fraught with peril, and so I dared not let you accompany me. The outcome proved my fears justified! When I finally traversed the vast distance to reach the ‘Desolation’, I found an endless expanse of ice and snow, the cold so intense that my breath froze. Even with my cultivation at the ‘Tribulation Crossing’ stage, I felt the chill penetrate my skin, the cold biting deep!

I had assumed my journey to the ‘Desolation’ would be solitary and lonesome. Yet, unexpectedly, after I used the compass and spent half a month accurately locating the very heart of the ‘Desolation’, I had barely stood upon that spot when many other cultivators arrived one after another. Though none of us knew each other, it was clear by our aura that we all possessed the ‘Tribulation Crossing’ cultivation. We exchanged greetings, speaking in roundabout ways, never discussing our true purpose, but all tacitly understanding one another…

At last, the day of the ‘Ninefold Cold’ arrived. All the cultivators present were prepared, standing at attention and gazing skyward, eager and ready…

When midnight came, a sudden thunderclap shook the heavens. A gigantic fissure cracked open in the sky—the ‘Heavenly Gate’ had appeared! Amidst deafening rolls of thunder, meteorites of all shapes and sizes began to cascade from the open gate, as if rain was pouring from the heavens, an awe-inspiring spectacle…

Everyone present became exhilarated, immediately displaying their unique abilities, summoning their protective artifacts, deftly dodging meteorites while flying toward the ‘Heavenly Gate’…

I did not delay, and promptly summoned my artifact, the ‘Heavenly Shield of the Unseen’, to protect my head, and joined the other cultivators in charging toward the gate. As I soared upward, I thought, ‘The gate has opened, but Blazing Thunder has not yet appeared—excellent! I must hurry and enter before Blazing Thunder arrives, seize a ‘Celestial Uranium Crystal’, and leave at once.’ With this resolve, I sped straight for the gate…

Danzi, though I recount it lightly now, the scene at the time was harrowing, a true test of nerve! The closer we drew to the gate, the more meteorites fell, faster and heavier, whizzing past with shrill howls. One false move could mean death—for instance, a cultivator nearest to me was struck on the head by a meteorite, his skull shattered, blood splattering everywhere—”

“Ah!” Yan the Red Knight exclaimed, “I understand now—the bloodstains on your face are from that cultivator!”

Master Qingxu nodded, “Exactly!”

“Master, didn’t that cultivator have a protective artifact?” Yan pressed.

“He did, but once the ‘Heavenly Gate’ opened, it seemed all our artifacts failed!” Master Qingxu recalled with lingering fear. “Danzi, the danger from the meteorites was not the worst—the true terror came when, as the cultivators were about to surge into the gate after dodging the meteorites, a deafening roar erupted, and a colossal creature suddenly appeared at the gate. It was dragon-like yet not a dragon, dozens of yards long, pitch black, its vast maw glaring fiercely at us—a divine beast, Blazing Thunder!”