"Kill me if you must, but don't humiliate me."
Shi Tian had been slapped across the face several times in succession by Ye Qianqian. The bones in his face cracked, and he roared furiously.
However, Ye Qianqian did not stop. She continued slapping him back and forth until his head buzzed and his mind grew hazy.
"Stop hitting me. I... submit."
At last, Shi Tian could no longer endure the torment and begged her to stop.
Ye Qianqian smiled. "Since you've submitted, shouldn't you tell me your secrets now?"
Shi Tian's expression dimmed, his spirits utterly crushed. "As long as you spare my life, I am willing to tell you everything."
Hearing that Shi Tian had softened, Ye Qianqian nodded in satisfaction. She turned to the badly wounded Yun Shan and She Qingqing and said, "You two should return to the Misty Cloud Sect first. I still have some matters to deal with."
Yun Shan and She Qingqing nodded. Without lingering, they piloted the Qing Luan Warship away from the Lion Underworld Sect.
The leaders of the other sects also came back to their senses from the battle just now. Unwilling to remain there, they respectfully bid Ye Qianqian farewell and hurried away.
After the tremendous upheaval today, the Lion Underworld Sect would presumably be forcefully taken over by the Misty Cloud Sect. From now on, the strongest sect on the Northwestern Continent would surely be the Misty Cloud Sect alone.
Controlling Shi Tian, Ye Qianqian, Kaguya-hime, and Saber once again began exploring the underground world from the previous day.
Soon, Shi Tian led them to that mysterious Years Stele.
"This is the place." Shi Tian staggered along, pointing weakly at the Years Stele. "I obtained my great opportunity from this stele."
"What opportunity?" Ye Qianqian grew curious.
What exactly could have allowed Shi Tian to leap from the Six-Star Dou Venerate realm to the Five-Revolutions Dou Venerate realm?
Shi Tian said, "You can touch the inscription with your hand. The moment you touch it, you'll naturally understand."
"Are you kidding me?"
Ye Qianqian clearly remembered what had happened last night. The moment she touched the inscription, the power of time on it had eroded her, continuously stripping away her soul and lifespan. Her body, which had originally been that of a five- or six-year-old, had rapidly grown into the form of a seven-year-old child.
Could such a strange inscription be touched casually?
Shi Tian said, "I wasn't lying. There truly is a supreme treasure hidden inside this inscription. I became like this because I wanted to obtain what was within. If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do."
Ye Qianqian pondered for a moment. She immediately released her Emperor Realm Soul, wrapping it around her right hand before gently touching the inscription.
"Buzz!"
The moment the Years Stele encountered Ye Qianqian's hand, it greedily sucked at her soul and lifespan like a famished glutton.
Ye Qianqian hurriedly used her powerful soul force to resist the erosion of time, but quite a bit of her lifespan was still drained. Her body underwent a startling change, growing from that of a seven-year-old into that of an eight-year-old.
Just as she was about to pull her arm back, a tiny crack opened in the inscription and swallowed her right hand.
Ye Qianqian's hand seemed to touch several round objects inside. She decisively grabbed them and quickly withdrew her hand.
Three white, marble-sized spheres appeared in her hand.
"What are these?" Ye Qianqian examined the spheres. Each one had two characters engraved on it, with the character "god" on one side and "venerate" on the other. She asked curiously.
Shi Tian said, "They're called Divine Venerate Beads. Once you absorb one, no matter how trashy your previous realm was, your cultivation will leap straight to the Dou Venerate realm. Back then, I obtained this thing and gave it to one of my subordinates, having him impersonate me so I could deceive everyone."
Only then did Ye Qianqian understand. So the fake Shi Tian had risen to the Dou Venerate realm by absorbing one of these beads. No wonder she had sensed something strange about Shi Tian before—the fake Shi Tian's personality had changed so drastically.
"Then how did you raise your strength to the Five-Revolutions Dou Venerate realm?" Ye Qianqian continued asking.
These beads had no effect at all above the Dou Venerate realm. Shi Tian must still be hiding another secret.
Shi Tian said, "Because I was lucky. After grabbing twice in succession, I obtained a Divine Sacred Bead. After absorbing and refining it, my cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. If not for..." At this point, he suddenly snorted coldly. "If you hadn't appeared, I would definitely have become a Saint in a few more days."
Ye Qianqian nodded. That explained everything. The Years Stele contained an enormous treasure. If all the things inside could be taken out, it could practically create an army of low-level Dou Venerates and Dou Saints.
Thinking of this, she eagerly reached into the Years Stele twice more. Her body miraculously changed from that of an eight-year-old into that of a ten-year-old, while she now had ten Divine Venerate Beads in her hand.
"No, this isn't a solution," Ye Qianqian said, still shaken.
All the soul force in her body had been exhausted. If she had not advanced to the Emperor Realm Soul and used her vast soul force to resist the erosion of the power of time, she would probably have become an aged, dried-up corpse like Shi Tian.
"I have to find a way to take this Years Stele back. Once it's in our possession, we'll have plenty of time to decipher it."
As she secretly pondered a solution, the entire underground world suddenly shook violently, as if a massive earthquake were about to occur. Everyone was jolted so badly that they could barely stand.
"It's going to collapse in here. Let's get out!" Ye Qianqian decisively abandoned the idea of taking the Years Stele and flew toward the passageway's exit with Kaguya-hime and Saber.
Shi Tian, however, had bloodshot eyes. He instantly broke free of Ye Qianqian's restraints and stared greedily at the Years Stele.
"Have you gone mad?" Ye Qianqian frowned.
Shi Tian seemed possessed by a heart demon. He completely ignored the underground space that was about to collapse and walked step by step toward the Years Stele.
"I'm not leaving. I won't leave even if I die! This is my opportunity, Shi Tian's opportunity! No one can take it away! This Years Stele is mine, mine, mine!"
He wrapped both arms around the Years Stele and rubbed his old face against it in bliss. The power of time on the stele instantly absorbed the little life force he had left, causing his hands, feet, and body to gradually turn into bones before scattering away in the wind, leaving behind only a talking head.
"This is my opportunity!"
After the head finished speaking, it too turned into a pile of powder and was blown away without a trace by a strong gust of wind.
"Obsessing too deeply only digs your own grave."
Ye Qianqian sighed. Without bothering about anything else, the three of them hurriedly flew out of the underground world.
At the same time, the vast, boundless underground world collapsed with a roar. A massive sinkhole formed inside the Lion Underworld Sect aboveground. Quite a few Lion Underworld Sect disciples were caught in the collapsing earth and fell inside, screaming in agony.
A sacred stele radiating golden light shot out of the ground and into the sky, hovering in midair as it continuously released an ancient, profound power of time.
The sight left everyone drenched in cold sweat. They all looked up at the Years Stele, not understanding what had happened.
Ye Qianqian was horrified. She sensed that something terrifying was about to happen.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
After the Years Stele saw daylight once more, web-like cracks slowly appeared across its surface. The cracks gradually widened, as if it were about to shatter.
"Boom!"
In the blink of an eye, enormous energy erupted from inside the inscription, shaking the space and producing a deafening shock wave.
Ye Qianqian was protected behind Kaguya-hime. She watched the earth-shaking scene unfold, and her pupils suddenly contracted.
After the Years Stele exploded, an old woman with a decayed body emerged from within.
The old woman was hideously ugly. She had very little white hair left on her head, and her skin was covered in corpse spots. When she opened her mouth in a smile, not a single tooth could be seen.
"Hahaha! More than a hundred Saints and over a thousand Venerates thought they could imprison me, Leng Bingyan? It's simply wishful thinking! I am a Time Demon from beyond the heavens!"
The old woman collected all the Divine Beads scattered through the sky, absorbing them into her body and slowly refining them.
Her strength began to rise rapidly as well. In an instant, she reached the peak of the Nine-Revolutions Dou Venerate realm and continued charging toward the Half-Saint realm.
"Hm? Why does it feel like twelve are missing?" The ugly old woman frowned, slightly puzzled.
Ye Qianqian immediately broke into a cold sweat. She had just happened to take ten Divine Venerate Beads.
So those Divine Venerate Beads and Divine Sacred Beads had been used to suppress this monster from beyond the heavens. This was bad—she had caused a huge disaster.
"You... who are you? Why have you appeared in our Lion Underworld Sect?" Some of the Lion Underworld Sect's experts mustered their courage and questioned her.
"Years Zither." The ugly old woman ignored them and merely called out softly. An ancient zither appeared before her. She grasped it with one hand and gently plucked the strings with her aged fingers.
"Zheng, zheng, zheng!"
As the strings were plucked, sound waves spread through heaven and earth.
Everyone inside the Lion Underworld Sect, including the residents of the entire Holy Lion City, was affected by the sound waves. It was as if their souls and lifespans were rapidly dwindling.
"Ahhh!"
In an instant, hundreds of thousands of people let out miserable howls. They were continuously eroded by the power of time. Children rapidly grew up, adults instantly aged, and the elderly directly turned into sinister skeletons before vanishing into ashes.
"Quick, get out of here!" Ye Qianqian felt her lifespan being affected by the sound waves as well. Her ten-year-old body had already grown into that of an eleven-year-old. If this continued, they would all be finished.
Kaguya-hime hurriedly tore open space and pulled Ye Qianqian and Saber inside, escaping into the void and rapidly fleeing the area.
"The laws of heaven and earth have become chaotic. A tremendous upheaval may have occurred in the northwest."
This strange power stirred the laws of heaven and earth, immediately drawing the attention of the rulers of the Ancient Families on the Northwestern Continent.
Two elders from the Stone Clan and the Spirit Clan, both possessing Half-Saint cultivation, walked out of their respective main halls. They opened Space Wormholes and headed toward the Lion Underworld Sect.
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