Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
chapter-4475

A hundred miles from the source of light, the powerful pressure became solid, blocking Long Chen and Xia Chen from advancing any further.

Long Chen extended his hand, feeling like he was pushing through something extremely elastic. As long as he did it lightly, he could slowly pull back his hand. But with every extra inch he attempted, the pressure increased exponentially.

If he were to force it and the elastic nature vanished, it would be like facing a heavy star, and he would have no chance of advancing at all.

Long Chen pushed a bit harder, and in response, a formidable backlash resonated through his abdomen, causing a sharp ache. The intensity of the resistance left him genuinely astonished; this barrier possessed unprecedented strength.

Meanwhile, Xia Chen was busy studying the barrier. Yet, the more he studied it, the graver his expression became.

“How is it? Do you think you can break it?” asked Long Chen.

“No. It’s impossible. This is an unsolvable barrier, and our power definitely cannot break it,” answered Xia Chen eventually. He had never encountered such a tricky barrier before. Xia Chen felt like his hands were tied, unable to find any leverage point.

This barrier was the result of the friction between two worlds, so breaking it would require a complete understanding of the laws of both worlds. Even with a million years at one’s disposal, grasping the laws of the Esoteric Spirit World would be an immensely challenging feat, let alone the laws of the mysterious world on the other side.

That was because the laws of the world were in constant flux, evolving and adapting. Constant changes happened as they were affected by other worlds.

That was why Xia Chen described it as impossible. In other words, no formation master could possibly do anything about it.

Perhaps if a person’s power could surpass both worlds, they could break the barrier through brute force. But did such a person really exist in this world?

Long Chen’s heart sank. He knew Xia Chen’s ability all too well. If Xia Chen said it was impossible, then they would have come here for nothing. They had to go back up.

“However, I do have a way for us to get closer to the exit. Boss, just wait a moment. I’m going to try something,” said Xia Chen.

Xia Chen started to take out formation discs and set them up around him. Sometimes, he would take out several hundred at once or even tens of thousands. As more and more formation discs were embedded in the surroundings, Long Chen felt the pressure in front of them shrink.

An hour later, millions of formation discs were floating in the air. Xia Chen was sweating.

“When did you get this rich?”

Seeing all these formation discs, Long Chen was stupefied. Just how much time and effort had been spent on these formation discs?

“Hehe, with Big Sister Qingxuan’s medicinal pills, I can save time on cultivating. Now, all my time goes into inscribing formation discs and talismans. This is my full stock. Boss, let’s go slow. Once we reach the limit, we won’t be able to go any further. Otherwise, if we trigger an expulsion from the other world, all of this money will evaporate,” said Xia Chen.

He couldn’t break the barrier, but he was able to let them move within the range that the barrier allowed so that they could get closer. However, they should not trigger the world’s expulsion.

Long Chen nodded, and the two carefully crept forward. Long Chen couldn’t help admiring Xia Chen’s formation arts, as the two got closer and closer to the exit.

The exit was a few dozen meters wide, resembling a giant mirror. Both Long Chen and Xia Chen simultaneously halted at a specific distance from this mirror—this marked the limit. One step forward, and the world would reject them. If that were to happen, the formation discs that Xia Chen had set up would be obliterated, while Long Chen and Xia Chen would be in danger of dying.

Yet, having arrived here, they could see through the mirror. At first, the barrier was in flux due to their movements, so the image was not clear. However, once they stopped moving, the image grew clear.

When they saw the scene on the other side, Long Chen and Xia Chen’s eyes widened. Moreover, Xia Chen’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“That’s… that’s…”

There was an unending barren mountain range on the other side. However, while there were no trees growing, specks of metallic light could be found all over the place. Xia Chen pointed at them, feeling too emotional to speak.

Although Long Chen didn’t know much about immortal metals, looking at those metallic marks, he knew that they couldn’t be ordinary.

“Boss, those should be Saint-level materials! Furthermore, they’re the most primitive kind of divine materials, possessing innate divinity! If you use them to make arrowheads, they can even slay Saints!” exclaimed Xia Chen.

“Well, does just recognizing them mean anything? We can’t get them, right?” Long Chen couldn’t help but sigh, feeling vexed. Although he did his best to remain calm and repeatedly told himself not to get greedy, it was harder with Xia Chen shouting excitedly.

At the summit of the mountain lay fist-sized golden lumps, appearing deceptively close as if Long Chen could reach out and touch them. Despite that, they were, in fact, worlds apart.

“There’s more over there!”

Xia Chen suddenly pointed at the next mountain peak with black specks on it. Long Chen didn’t recognize them, but Xia Chen did. They were another kind of Saint-level divine material.

Long Chen felt like he couldn’t endure it. Seeing treasures but not being able to touch them was worse than torture.

Long Chen then looked into the distance and saw a lush forest beyond the mountain range. The blue of the sky was out of the ordinary, and the stars in the sky felt so close to them. This world gave off a primal feeling, as if it was still in its most primitive state.

The world was silent, devoid of any signs of life. Yet, unexcavated treasures lay scattered all around, inspiring awe in both Long Chen and Xia Chen.

“That’s definitely the legendary Divine Wind Iron! If added to regular Wind Iron, it will add flexibility. If you then add Blooddrinker runes, it will possess explosive power. Fuck, I had never imagined I would see these things… And that silver metal, although it’s not clear, I can’t be wrong about those marks! That’s Heavenly Star Bright Silver! Guo Ran dreams of obtaining such a multipurpose Saint-level divine material! If he saw this scene, he’d be crying right now…!” Xia Chen was normally calm, but he couldn't contain himself now. Since Long Chen ignored him, he started to talk to himself.

It would be fine for him to talk to himself, but now, every word seemed to ignite a fervor in Long Chen’s heart. If Xia Chen hadn’t explained, Long Chen could have feigned ignorance and treated the items as insignificant. However, Xia Chen just had to explicitly state what every treasure was, as if afraid Long Chen might not know just how valuable they were.

Just as the two of them were examining this world, a rock on the mountainside moved. Long Chen cried out in excitement when he saw that.