Chapter 290: Underground Stone Hall of Butterfly Valley

Chapter 290: Chapter 290: Underground Stone Hall of Butterfly Valley

When they saw Chu Fan finally reveal his true strength against those "Giants," they realized all their schemes and plots had been a complete joke.

Dozens of them had struggled just to handle a single "Giant," yet Chu Fan had obliterated the nearest one into pieces with a single slash of his Sword.

"What in the world is his Cultivation Realm?" someone cried out in shock.

"Could he be in the Void Realm? A twenty-seven-year-old at the Void Realm? Damn it, does this mean we’ve all been wasting our lives?"

This was true. Of the three hundred sixty people who had entered the Secret Realm, only three were younger than Chu Fan: Yan Ying, Long Yinwen, and Ye Xiaohan.

The vast majority of the others were over sixty years old.

Though they all appeared young, seemingly around Chu Fan’s age, that was only because a Cultivator’s lifespan was several times longer than an ordinary person’s. Their aging process was naturally much slower.

Crown Prince Long Jingyao was over ninety, but he looked to be around forty.

Leng Yingxue was nearly two hundred, yet her face and figure remained like those of a young girl.

"What a monster. He must have broken every record. Eleventh on the Talent List? With his power, he should absolutely be first on the Talent List!"

"No kidding. Leng Yingxin, who’s currently first on the Talent List, is fifty-three, and I think his Cultivation is only at Tier Seven of the Integration Realm, right?"

"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Chu Fan is willing to let bygones be bygones. Since he’s helping, he probably won’t take his anger out on us. This is all Du Xiuli’s fault."

Chu Fan appeared invincible as he fought the "Giants," but the battle wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Thunder Power was a type of energy Chu Fan had never encountered before. Even with the Celestial Dragon Armor for defense, the roaring thunder felt like it was rattling his very soul.

When the blue electrical arcs traveled down the blade of his Sword and into his hand, his entire arm went numb.

If his sword strikes merely scattered the butterflies instead of injuring them, they would instantly reform.

Of course, Chu Fan was a quick study. After a few exchanges, he figured out a solution.

After that, it was simple. One by one, the "Giants" collapsed, littering the ground with the corpses of butterflies.

Only one "Giant" remained. Du Xiuli was barely holding on against its sword, looking utterly wretched.

"Chu Fan, save me!"

"Save you? Weren’t you acting tough just a moment ago?" Chu Fan scoffed.

"Chu Fan, Hero Chu! You are a magnanimous man; please overlook my foolishness and save me! If you don’t, I’m really going to die! If you save me, I’ll spend the rest of my life as your loyal servant!"

Chu Fan let out a cold laugh, then flashed forward. With a single swing of his Sword, the "Giant" that had been battering Du Xiuli into a miserable state collapsed. The butterflies fluttered their wings and fell weakly to the earth.

"Thank you!" Du Xiuli said, bowing deeply to Chu Fan in gratitude.

Chu Fan waved his hand. "I only repaid malice with kindness because we all entered this Secret Realm together. You’d best be on your way."

"Hero Chu... what about the tree?" Du Xiuli asked hesitantly.

Chu Fan’s eyes narrowed. "What?" he said coldly. "You still want the Treasure Tree?"

"Hero Chu, there should be a share for everyone who saw it. You’re taking the lion’s share, so you should at least leave some scraps for the rest of us, shouldn’t you?"

Chu Fan was utterly astonished. ’Did the butterflies’ electrical arcs fry this guy’s brain? Has he gone stupid?’

"Get lost!" With a single roar from Chu Fan, Du Xiuli was sent flying, smashing into a distant tree trunk.

Chu Fan walked toward the hollow where the Seven-Colored Glazed Treasure Tree had been. More than the tree’s effect on the White Fox, he was curious as to how those butterflies could merge into a Giant and display such immense Combat Power.

Although each butterfly carried a faint trace of Thunder Power, its individual Combat Power was likely comparable to the Fusion Realm at best.

But when they gathered to form a Giant, their combined Combat Power multiplied by tens of thousands of times.

’If I could obtain this Secret Technique... I could gather enough Cultivators, even those at just the Heartbeat or Golden Core Realms, teach it to them, and have them merge into a Giant for battle...’

The mere thought made Chu Fan’s blood boil with excitement.

’If the Eastern Domain were to go to war with the Central Domain, we would have no hope of victory unless those two Earth Immortals stayed out of it. But what if I could master this Secret Technique?’

When Chu Fan reached the spot where the Seven-Colored Glazed Treasure Tree had stood, he examined the hollow for a moment and actually found some clues.

The hollow was riddled with countless inconspicuous holes leading straight underground.

’Did the butterflies that appeared later come out of these holes?’

With this thought in mind, Chu Fan clenched his fists and repeatedly struck the ground dozens of times.

BOOM! With a tremendous roar, he felt a sensation of weightlessness.

The entire ground had collapsed beneath him.

When his feet landed on solid ground again, the space before him opened up. He had discovered an underground cavern.

The first thing he saw were twelve stone pillars. Each one stood thirty-six feet tall and was covered in a dense layer of countless butterflies.

Even without a fear of clusters, Chu Fan couldn’t help but feel his scalp crawl at the sight.

There were just so many. The butterflies were a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors, but there were far, far too many of them.

Chu Fan’s arrival didn’t disturb the butterflies. They all seemed to be hibernating. A closer look revealed that the pillars were covered not only with countless colorful butterflies but also with innumerable cocoons.

The underground space was vast. Beyond the twelve stone pillars stood a stone hall.

If one could call it a hall. It wasn’t particularly large, about half the size of Xuanzheng Hall in Shuoyue City. It measured roughly ninety feet long, fifty feet wide, and sixty feet high.

Its most distinct feature was that everything, from the walls to the roof tiles, was carved from stone.

There were no carvings of dragons, phoenixes, or other Auspicious Beasts, but the engraved patterns were still exquisite in their simple, classical elegance.

Chu Fan passed between the pillars and walked directly toward the stone hall.

To Chu Fan’s surprise, despite being buried underground for who knew how many years, the hall’s decorations and furnishings looked as if it had always been inhabited.

Several folding screens partitioned the interior. There was a bed, a dressing table, and a platform for song and dance, surrounded by over a dozen different musical instruments.

’A woman used to live here?’

It wasn’t much of a guess. The dressing table next to the bed all but confirmed it. Besides that, two white Fox Furs were hanging on a wooden rack.

"This junior, Chu Fan, has stumbled upon this sacred place by accident. Please forgive my intrusion!"

Chu Fan’s voice echoed through the hall, but there was no reply. He called out several more times, and when he was still met with silence, he finally dared to look around.

He had to be cautious. The stone hall simply didn’t look like a place that had been uninhabited for a long time.

’Could an ordinary person live in a place like this?’

’A figure like an Immortal would surely have a strange temperament. If I offend them, it’ll be too late for regrets.’

Walking over to the dressing table, Chu Fan saw a half-finished letter.

"Father entered the Chaos Source and never returned. Mother went to find him, but there has been no word. The Four Celestial Emperors come to test me again and again. I fear I cannot hold on for much longer. Daoist Tianji says this is Middle Heaven’s great calamity, that it cannot be endured, only overcome through death and rebirth. But if that is so, how can the countless citizens of my Middle Heaven find peace? And how can I face the loyal officials who have given everything for Middle Heaven, for this entire world? I..."

The writing on the paper ended there, but those few short sentences left Chu Fan utterly shaken.

’What is the Chaos Source? And who are the Four Celestial Emperors? Is this letter talking about the Divine Realm? Is this woman the Princess of the Middle Celestial Divine Realm?’