Chapter 616: Primordial Nexus

"Master, look," Gumiho pointed towards the distant horizon, her eyes brightening.

The sun was slowly ascending, its first ray falling upon the zenith of the mountain where they sat.

Neither of them exchanged any words, simply savouring the beautiful scenery.

"Let’s explore the mountains further," Maximilian suggested, rising to his feet.

"Unh," Gumiho nodded. She had only taken a few steps towards their chariot when Maximilian called, "No need for the chariot."

She turned, finding him standing on the sword, hovering about a metre above the ground.

Beside him was another empty sword, waiting for Gumiho.

"Master, will it be safe?" Gumiho asked, taking a nervous step back.

"Why fear when your master is here?"

She swallowed nervously as she moved towards the sword.

With slight hesitation, she climbed onto the sword. Her arms extended outward as she tried to maintain her balance.

"Calm down and channel your Soulforce into the sword," Maximilian guided. "It will shift itself to maintain your balance."

Gumiho followed his guidance, and to her surprise, it was easier than she had expected.

When she channeled her Soulforce into the sword, she felt as though the sword had become a part of her. No matter which direction her weight shifted, the sword tilted in the opposite direction, keeping her perfectly balanced upon it.

"No wonder this is a Divine Grade Artifact," she gasped in surprise.

"Now then, let’s go," Maximilian ordered, rising into the air, with Gumiho following closely behind.

Now that they were no longer using the chariot, the scenery was even clearer. The speed of the swords was several times faster than the chariot, allowing them to pass the gigantic mountains in just a few minutes, a journey that would otherwise have taken them days.

Despite their lightning-like speed, their hair and clothes remained completely still. An invisible barrier surrounded their bodies, shielding them from the intense air pressure.

"Incredible," Maximilian murmured, shock palpable on his face. "The Soulforce here is even purer than in the Upper Realm. What exactly is this place?"

After travelling a few hundred kilometres farther, the Soulforce had become dense enough to place even Maximilian under immense strain, forcing him to envelop himself in his own Soulforce.

"You don’t need to push yourself, Master," Gumiho suggested, completely fine beside him. "Maintaining the sword flight must be consuming a lot of your Soulforce. We can rest at a nearby mountain."

Maximilian looked at her in bewilderment. "Are you not feeling the pressure from the pure Soulforce here?"

By all means, if he was feeling this much pressure, she should have already been crushed beneath the Soulforce at her current realm. Yet she hadn’t complained even once and seemed completely fine.

"No," Gumiho shook her head. "On the contrary, I feel fresh and relaxed."

Maximilian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Strange. I can only think of one conclusion. Is Lingtian Mountain really..."

He shook his head, deciding not to jump to conclusions.

"Gumiho, we will continue," he said, turning to her. "But tell me instantly if you feel anything different."

"Unh," she nodded.

The presence of pure Soulforce increased rapidly the deeper they ventured. At one gigantic mountain, the Soulforce was so dense that it had taken physical form as spirit animals and plants, glowing with heavenly brilliance.

As they ventured deeper, the number of mountains slowly decreased. Instead, only soft white clouds covered the surface below them, with a few peaks jutting out from them at random locations.

"Master, something is truly strange here," Gumiho muttered, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

They came to a halt as she explained, "I have heard about Lingtian Mountains from my parents. According to them, the mountains of spirit animals and plants that we passed a while back should be the main peak of Lingtian Mountain. Nothing should exist beyond it. But we have already passed a few mountains after it."

Maximilian gave her words a brief thought. "Did your parents visit this place themselves?"

Gumiho shook her head. "The leaders of the four major beast clans once explored the Lingtian Mountains when they first appeared. They were the ones who collected this information."

’Beyond that mountain of spirit, there was no visible peak for over thirty kilometres,’ Maximilian thought inwardly. ’And the pressure of Pure Soulforce also increased significantly, trying to oppose me like similar poles of a magnet. The beasts that explored these mountains couldn’t move past the mountain of spirit and must have declared it as the main peak.’

"I think we are soon going to witness a surprise," Maximilian told her, his lips rising into a faint smile.

But he didn’t expect that the surprise would turn out to be more of a shock.

They stopped again after travelling a few more kilometres deeper, their eyes widening and jaws dropping.

The sky had turned upside down.

Inverted zeniths of mountains were visible, emerging from the clouds above them.

"M-master, am I dreaming?" she asked, swallowing nervously.

"I would like to ask the same question," Maximilian added, equally shocked.

They decided to keep going farther.

Maximilian now had to use nearly eighty percent of his Soulforce to protect himself from the crushing pressure of the Soulforce here. For some reason, Gumiho still seemed completely fine.

The white clouds above them slowly vanished, and more and more inverted mountains became visible.

Maximilian reached his limit as well. Any more, and he would certainly be crushed to death.

In the far distance, he could see a glowing pink star. Making sure that Gumiho couldn’t notice him, he activated his draconic eyes, their pupils turning vertical as he spread his Divine Sense to see the star clearly.

It was not a star but a regular-sized Plum Blossom flower suspended between two mountain peaks, one straight and the other inverted.

Just a glance at it threw his Divine Sense back at him. A piercing pain surged through his eyes, and tears of blood followed.

"Master!?" Gumiho gasped, moving towards him in worry.

"I’m fine," he replied, pressing his eyes with his thumb and index finger. Despite the pain in his eyes, he couldn’t stop smiling, making Gumiho worry if he was actually alright.

"My suspicion was correct. The Lingtian Mountains in truth is the Primordial Nexus of Vyoman."