Strange

Su Ye looked around, his expression filled with confusion.

The spiritual energy within the Mist Mountains was incredibly dense, yet the area was deathly silent, save for the sound of their footsteps crunching against the soil.

"Strange. With spiritual energy this rich, even if there are no fierce beasts, why is there absolutely no vegetation?"

Black Emperor was equally puzzled, scanning the surroundings. Everything was barren, giving off a sense of lifelessness, as if they had stepped into a forbidden zone or a cursed land.

Su Ye bent down to scoop up a handful of soil, sensing the power contained within. There was no vitality in the earth; instead, it held a chaotic energy. Though faint, this energy was remarkably potent.

"Faint" meant the power was nearly dissipated, while "potent" meant the quality of the energy was extremely high—much like finding gold dust in dirt; the quantity was small, but that did not mean it lacked value.

"Ah..."

A shrill, miserable scream suddenly echoed from the distance, only to vanish as quickly as it had begun.

"That sounded agonizing."

Black Emperor felt a tremor of unease. Despite its earlier display of fearlessness, being here in person made its skin crawl. Its instincts as a beast were screaming that this place was treacherous and that they should leave immediately.

"Let's go."

Su Ye said, heading toward the source of the scream. He did not fear danger; he now possessed a supreme weapon, and even if Ancient God Emperors were to be resurrected, he could still hold his own against them.

Soon, the pair arrived at a clearing where a single corpse lay. It was shriveled, appearing to have been dead for a long time, but upon seeing it, both Su Ye and Black Emperor's expressions shifted.

The corpse was that of the youth in the ornate robes who had offered them advice not long ago. The youth had possessed considerable strength, yet he had died here in such a bizarre fashion.

"His life essence has been completely devoured. There are no signs of a major struggle nearby, which means the battle ended in an instant."

Black Emperor circled the desiccated body and remarked, "However, it's strange. This guy wasn't struck from behind; he was hit from the front. Could he really be that weak?"

"Too weak?"

Su Ye frowned, feeling it couldn't be that simple. The youth's cultivation should have been around the fifth Heavenly Passage, and to dare enter this place alone, he must have had great confidence in his own strength.

"Awoo..."

Suddenly, a howl erupted. Black Emperor's body surged with terrifying power as it roared, "Damn it! This master knew you weren't a good thing! You finally decided to make a move on me!"

Black Emperor was enveloped in fearsome runes. The surrounding mist dissipated as the runes constructed profound patterns in the air, manifesting the phantom of a Five-Colored Qilin with monstrous, heaven-shaking might.

BOOM.

Black Emperor lunged directly at Su Ye. As one claw descended, the heavens and earth seemed to shatter, as if the world itself could not withstand the weight of that single strike.

"What madness has possessed you, you dead dog?"

Su Ye's expression turned grave. Ever since he had suppressed this mutt, it had been hiding its true strength. Now, it was unleashing it without restraint.

Hm?

Su Ye's eyes flickered. Runes swirled within his pupils, radiating a faint glow as he spotted traces of strange mental energy surrounding Black Emperor.

"Clang."

Su Ye pulled the Adamantine Staff from his back and slammed it into the ground. An invisible ripple instantly spread outward, and under the force of this shockwave, the strange energy dissipated.

Black Emperor, whose eyes had been blood-red and lost in a berserk state, suddenly felt a cooling sensation wash over its soul. Its eyes cleared, and seeing Su Ye's livid face, it hurriedly retracted its power and said sheepishly, "Uh, you ambushed me just now, so I..."

It had been observing the strangely deceased youth when it felt Su Ye strike, leading it to believe the man was attempting a lethal blow.

"What about the corpse?"

Black Emperor looked at the ground. The body that had been lying there was gone. For a moment, its mind went blank. Had there been a corpse there just now? Or perhaps... maybe not?

Su Ye was also looking on with a puzzled expression, as he himself was no longer certain. "Let's leave this place first."

It was a disastrous start. Barely into the Mist Mountains, they had already encountered such bizarre phenomena, filling him with a sense of gravity—especially since this strange power had managed to evade his Heavenly Eye.

"Don't leave. This is a good thing."

Suddenly, a voice echoed in Su Ye's mind. It was the Ancient God Emperor, who said, "To possess such strange power, if this Emperor is not mistaken, it must be the power of the Little Dream God Lotus."

"Little Dream God Lotus?"

"A divine herb."

The God Emperor continued, "In the ancient era, although these Eight Lower Realms could not compare to the Three Thousand Provinces of the Upper Realm, the laws were complete. One could ignite the divine fire and step onto the divine path, so naturally, there were divine herbs. This Little Dream God Lotus is one such herb, the supreme treasure of the Great Dream God Sect."

A divine herb was more than just medicine; consuming it could drastically increase one's cultivation, but its true value lay in the insights it provided—the comprehension of the Dao and the enlightenment of the Great Path.

Therefore, divine herbs were rarely eaten directly. Instead, they were kept as a foundation for meditation or had a single leaf plucked every so often to refine pills.

"Of course, what is here is likely only a remnant root. Otherwise, even this Emperor would not have been able to easily break through the Dream Illusion Space it created."

The God Emperor explained.

Su Ye held the Adamantine Staff and smashed it toward the ground. Golden patterns emerged on the staff as its sealed power erupted. It struck the earth with a thunderous roar, causing the ground to tremble violently, leaving behind a small crater.

"This..."

Su Ye's expression was dazed. He had already unsealed the Adamantine Staff, and it now weighed one hundred thousand catties. With such terrifying weight combined with his own strength, he should have been able to pierce through a mountain, yet he had only managed to create a crater the size of a millstone.

"I... what are you doing?"

Black Emperor was startled by the sudden turn of events, eyeing Su Ye with suspicion. That strike had been terrifying, leaving it with a suffocating sense of impending death.

Su Ye ignored the Black Emperor, his gaze fixed upon the deep pit before him. Runes surfaced within his eyes, blooming with radiance; although he could not pierce through the illusions, he could still discern a thing or two about the Dao Rhymes present. The ground itself contained powerful Dao Rhymes that had successfully resisted his attack.

"Is, is this precious liquid?"

The Black Emperor looked toward the deep pit. At this moment, auspicious clouds were gushing forth from within, and amidst that glow, a pale golden luster emerged as crystalline water mist slowly condensed upon the rocks.

As the rosy light continued to surge, the area was soon wreathed in auspicious vapors and steaming, iridescent brilliance. Within the millstone-sized pit lay a fair amount of golden liquid; while not enough for a bath, it was certainly enough to wash one's face.

Su Ye paid no mind to the precious liquid, focusing instead on searching for the Little Dream God Lotus. Even if it were only a small root segment, its value was staggering. One had to realize that the laws of the lower realm were incomplete; never mind divine herbs, even semi-divine herbs were virtually non-existent.

Boom.

Boom.

Su Ye continuously channeled the Adamantine Staff, striking the ground repeatedly in an attempt to locate that root segment. Although he could not sense it himself, the God Emperor could; the Little Dream God Lotus was right in this vicinity.

The Black Emperor watched Su Ye laboriously smashing pits all by himself, then looked at the precious liquid that had already pooled to fill a small portion of the pit. Without hesitation, it began to gulp it down in large mouthfuls.

Washing one's face? Taking a bath?

How incredibly wasteful would one have to be to do such a thing?

While this precious liquid could not be ranked among the supreme treasures of heaven and earth, it was still extremely rare. A single drop could fetch an astronomical price; let alone a creature like itself, even a god would not be so extravagant as to use it for a bath.