The Sacred Ruins
chapter-153

With a swoosh, the Ox King Palace became empty . Everyone had started running towards a certain direction, not one was left behind .

Even Chu Feng was also running alongside the two oxen . These beasts were absolutely frantic as they ran at full speed like a swarm of bees .

The sacred tree coming into being shook the whole Mount Kunlun .

There was no doubt that the Horse King ran the fastest; he instantly morphed into his true form, turning into a scarlet red Ferghana Horse, sparkling and radiant . He was surrounded by a faint red mist as if he was a peerless heavenly steed that had descended to the mortal world .

He spread his hooves and galloped, almost instantly breaking the sound barrier and leaving behind only the terrifying sound of exploding air .

Boom…

As if lightning had descended from the nine heavens, the thunderous explosions atop the mountain were ceaseless!

Within the blink of an eye, he was gone—traversing the skies like a heavenly steed .

The weaver king was also very powerful . Whilst in her human form, she spat out a silvery beam from her mouth which latched onto a tall mountain peak . This was her spider silk; with that, she leapt off the precipice .

She was in full court attire, graceful and lithe . Her green waist-length hair danced behind her, as if she was an immortal crossing the void .

Additionally, she did not even land on her feet . She propelled herself forward with the swinging momentum and attached her silk to the next precipice .

The Snow Leopard had also moved, his white hair spread out behind him . He was as fast as lightning, and even the atmosphere around him exploded due to the extreme speed, sending dust and stones flying everywhere . His explosive sprint was no slower than the Horse King, but naturally, he could not keep up that pace on the long run .

"Roar…" The Mastiff King roared, still in his human form . He immediately charged down the mountain at a terrifying speed, not the least afraid of the dangerous terrain .

The beast kings confident in their own speed directly ran out while the ones with inferior speed summoned their bird mounts .

The beast kings all descended the mountain, revealing their various abilities .

Chu Feng was with the two oxen, sitting on a huge raven . Its huge body was tens of meters long and entirely black .

"Caw!"

The giant raven opened its beaks and cried .

"Stop it! Your cries sound inauspicious," the great black yak scolded . He felt that all good luck would drain away traveling atop this raven .

"Yes, your majesty . Caw!" the raven cried as it charged towards the distant peak .

On the way, Yellow Ox briefly explained the situation to Chu Feng . Their destination was site of the underground palace that was recently discovered . At that time, the interior was deserted and completely empty .

But there was a message: "When spring falls upon the withered tree, the sacred root will be rejuvenated . "

At that time, they did not find anything . Not even a clue of said sacred root was found . No one thought that the situation would change not long after they had left .

Swoosh!

The wind whistled as a distant mountain peak came into view . Even though they were still quite far away from their destination, an eruption of resplendent prismatic lights could be seen covering the whole mountain .

Auspicious lights streamed down from the summit, like a brilliant waterfall of dense immortal mists . A tree was rooted at the peak of the mountain, overflowing with vibrant colors .

Chu Feng’s party was not the first to arrive at the scene nor were they last ones .

Comparatively, this mountain was not the tallest . However, it was here that the underground palace was discovered . It was also here that a sacred tree suddenly came into being .

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…

The group of vicious beast kings were all amiable back at the Ox King Palace, drinking and eating merrily . Presently, they were all solemn as they charged forth, all of them inwardly competitive .

The raven let out a long pained cry as it stumbled to the ground, unable to resist the lights pouring down from the peak . The trio had no other choice but to run up the mountain by themselves .

Boom!

The Chiru was less fortunate . It was unclear who had secretly attacked him; he fell down the mountain, his mouth full of blood . Apparently, his wounds were not light .

Chu Feng immediately tensed up . The beast kings who were all calling each other brethren just now were no longer recognizing family . Blood might easily be spilled .

After reaching the summit, he saw the underground palace under the earth and rocks . However, no one went in there again since they had already overturned it once .

The tree at the summit was as thick as a water tub and about 10 meters tall . Its bark was rough and ragged . The whole tree was a shade of red, and even its leaves and branches were of the same color . A scarlet mist surrounded this magnificent tree .

It was like a huge torch, burning resplendently . It was emitting an aura that caused the onlookers to palpitate .

However, soon afterwards, everything changed . The tree started glowing a light gold, and even the barks were changing color . Amidst the golden glow, a surge of golden mist flowed out to cover the entire mountain .

This sent the present beast kings into an uproar . The sacred tree was still changing—could it be that it was able to change into a myriad of auspicious colors?

"Everyone, look at the flowers on the trees . There is enough for everyone to evolve once the tree blooms . There is no need to fight each other," the Mastiff King said . He was extremely powerful and his position among the beast kings of Mount Kunlun was high . Since he had advised thus, naturally, no one objected .

All the beast kings were staring at the tree . There were indeed hundreds of flowers upon it, and should all of them bloom at the same time, the rain of pollen would fill the entire sky .

Thinking of the scene, all the beast kings were howling in excitement . This was a chance for them to further sever their shackles and become stronger .

"Everyone, please don’t be impatient . "

At this moment, the tree vague transmitted its will . Surprisingly, it was able to communicate, its life energy was extremely vigorous .

"Eh?" All the beast kings were alarmed . Was this a demonic tree? Everyone took a step back in apprehension .

All of them were clear of the existence of certain terrifying plant life . Once they came to possess a conscience, they would have powerful abilities beyond one’s imagination .

There were some among them who had personally witnessed such a mysterious plant in the desert . That plant was able to spit out black flames that could incinerate the mountains and rivers .

The temperature was truly terrifying, and even beast kings were unable to bear it . The whole desert became a molten inferno, and only the most agile of them escaped an otherwise horrible death .

Naturally, when this tree spoke, everyone stepped back in alarm, solemnly preparing for a battle .

Only the Yellow Ox was doubtful . For a moment, he became lost in thought before his expression revealed great delight as he shouted, "Are you the Refinement Sacred Tree?"

"It should be so," the tree replied . At this moment, he had begun to take on a silver hue, encircled by hazy lights .

"Little Yellow, what are its origins?" the Horse King asked .

Everyone looked at Yellow Ox; they had long since recognized Yellow Ox as the most knowledgeable among them .

"We’re definitely going to flourish! What great fortune! Who would've thought that we would chance upon a Refinement Sacred Tree!" Yellow Ox exclaimed with great excitement .

According to him, there were less than 10 trees of this kind throughout history . Any one of them could cause a major power to go to war for it, regardless of the costs .

With the passage of time, many of those trees had been destroyed . It was unclear as to how many are currently left .

"This incident has to be kept a secret . We definitely cannot reveal this to outsiders or else this place will flow with rivers of blood," Yellow Ox warned .

Many realms had never even heard of this type of tree . Even the greatly prosperous world from which he came only had one .

The others excitedly pressed him to explain more about the functions of this sacred tree .

"It is, of course, to refine weapons . The weapons refined by this tree are superior to those of grandmasters!" said Yellow Ox .

According to him, if only one had quality raw materials, a fully matured Refinement Sacred Tree could refine earthshaking giant weapons .

"Can it refine flying knives?" Chu Feng asked .

"As long as you have the materials, this is but a simple matter," Yellow Ox replied .

This caused everyone to gasp .

"Everyone, I hope to live in harmony with everyone . My dried roots had only recently been rejuvenated, and as such, my knowledge of your world is limited," said the Refinement Sacred Tree .

"Don’t worry, we will protect you!" The Mastiff King expressed his stance .

This was also representative of everyone’s thoughts . This kind of mysterious ancient tree had to be protected . At this level, everyone was focused on refining good weapons .

"Sacred Tree, can you demonstrate how you refine weapons?" the Snow Panther asked .

Yellow Ox dissuaded, "Don’t be wasteful . Within a certain period of time, only a set amount of flowers can bloom on the Refinement Sacred Tree, and every one of them counts . Wait till you get a truly good material before refining a weapon . "

Everyone was surprised to realize that the "so-called" refinement did not involve any fire at all . The tree would only use its pollen to bestow spirituality to the material, allowing it to transform into a weapon .

"Eh?!" The whole group was stunned .

Yellow Ox further explained that, after this bestowal, the raw material would expand and discharge all the impurities within it, leaving only the quintessence .

"Basically, it’s allowing the weapon to evolve," the old tree explained .

The spectators were all shaken .

Boom!

After understanding everything, the beast kings all dispersed chaotically . They had all gone hunting for materials .

Mount Kunlun was no ordinary place; it used to be called the home of myriad gods . There was a high possibility that some extraordinary items would be left buried beneath the earth . They had also collected some of these things previously .

Unfortunately, the depths of Mount Kunlun were inaccessible, sealed by a bewildering mist . Otherwise, they might be able to get their hands on even rarer items .

A couple of days afterward, the Yellow Ox sneaked back to the where Refinement Sacred Tree was located . He was searching the vicinity for something .

Chu Feng was the first to notice this . He followed the young calf all the way, pestering him until Yellow Ox explained what it was all about .

There should be a unique refinement material in the vicinity of the Refinement Sacred Tree; otherwise, it wouldn't have bloomed so easily .

Just like that, the duo started to search the area day after day . They did indeed unearthed quite a few extraordinary metallic refinement materials .

The other beast kings were also extremely intelligent . They had someone tailing Yellow Ox from the dark since only he knew about the origins of the Refinement Sacred Tree . The beast kings were all afraid that Yellow Ox might have hidden some important facts .

Finally, a horde of beast kings arrived clamorously and rummaged through the whole area . There was no way to hide this even if they wanted to .

"No infighting allowed . Whoever finds an item gets to keep it . Do not kill or rob!" The group of vicious beast kings all agreed on this rule beforehand .

In truth, they wanted to thoroughly interrogate the sacred tree what kind of treasure there was in the vicinity . However, the sacred tree itself was a dried up root that had only recently revived, and naturally, he knew nothing .

These beast kings were digging with great momentum . They plowed over three meters into the ground and had almost overturned the whole mountainous area . If they kept this up, this mountain would, no doubt, be dismantled .

They all unearthed quite a few rare materials . All of them were rare and high-quality materials .

Naturally, Chu Feng was also busy excavating . He used his scarlet flying knife to hack into the earth and anything he could not cut through, he would dig it out . His efficiency was much greater than the competition .

Finally, he found a piece of black metal the size of a man’s head . However, its weight was astonishing, weighing well over 5000 kilograms .

Afterwards, he immediately left the site, no longer continuing his excavation . He knew that this item was extraordinary .

Previously, he had also found some other materials . However, even if the scarlet knife could not cut through them, it had left some cuts . Only this piece of heavy black metal was completely unscratched .

Especially with its incredible weight, it was extremely mysterious .

Actually, almost everyone felt rather satisfied after finding some good materials and were already thinking about going to the Refinement Sacred Tree .

Chu Feng was the first to leave . Naturally, he would be the first to refine a weapon .

Yellow Ox followed him over; knowing Chu Feng, he had probably found some good stuff . Upon his request, Chu Feng took out the metal for him to observe .

"Over 5000 kg?!" Yellow Ox was stunned . Normal people would have no way to even lift such a heavy piece of metal . They might even be squashed by it .

It was, however, not a big deal for the powerful king level entities .

Yellow Ox used his most powerful abilities to bombard this piece of black metal with successive attacks but was ultimately unable to leave even a scratch .

"A mysterious material buried within Mount Kunlun . Could it be the item stated in the legends?" Yellow Ox cried out, greedily hugging the metal .

"You damned calf, give it back to me!" Chu Feng demanded .

In the end, Yellow Ox returned it to Chu Feng, afraid of alarming the other beast kings . He quickly urged the Refinement Sacred Tree to refine it, wanting to see if it was indeed that kind of material .

"What kind of weapon do you need?" the Refinement Sacred Tree asked . Even though it had only recently awakened, it was naturally familiar with its own abilities .

According to Yellow Ox, this tree was unfortunately destroyed in the past, only leaving a dried root . That was why it took so long to revive .

This thing was too heavy to refine into a flying knife . At the moment, he could not even control his own body through the air .

"After refining it into a weapon, can it be refined once more?" Chu Feng asked . If not, it would be a great pity as he had not decided on a suitable weapon .

"It can be done," said the old tree .

Chu Feng looked down at the bracelet on his wrist; it was a present from the Hollow Jade Temple and Lu Tong, the Diamond Chakram .

The sturdy material came from the mysterious silver mine outside of Shun Tian .

"Then help me refine it into a diamond chakram," said Chu Feng and indicated that it should be a weapon like the bracelet on his wrist .

The sacred tree extended a branch and collected the material before bringing it up to the treetop despite the incredible weight .

The next moment, a fist-sized flower bloomed on the tree with its pollen scattering down on the black metal .

"Eh?" After waiting for a while, the sacred tree discovered that there were no changes in the material .

Pop!

Following that, the second flower bloomed, repeating the process . However, the metal still refused to react .

Pop, pop, pop…

The tree successively caused 10 flowers to blossom . Yellow Ox was stunned; he recalled that only very rare materials would push the tree to this stage .

Even then, the black piece of metal was unchanged .

The Refinement Sacred Tree felt embarrassed . On its branches, the flowers bloomed one after another until there were a hundred flowers raining down pollen .

Finally at this point, the dark material started to change shape . With slight rustling sounds, dark powdery matter were being shed and a radiant white luster was revealed from within .

Yellow Ox was astonished; if even the black outer layer was so solid, how valuable would the material inside be?

"This is definitely the item of legends!" he mumbled, increasingly convinced of his theory .