The Shame of an Ultimate Dao Lineage, Descendants of the Azure Emperor

"Go to hell." Duan De wore a look of humiliation as he cursed under his breath, then immediately began bargaining. "How about two pieces? Two plus one still makes three."

"Deal." Lin Xian agreed without hesitation.

Duan De froze for a moment, unable to tell whether he had lost out or come out ahead.

"There truly are countless heroes in this world, with prodigies emerging one after another. Even this poor Daoist has his moments of failure. This time, I shall curb my arrogance and impatience." Duan De's expression shifted unpredictably, turning pale one moment and red the next. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally let out a long sigh, handed over two Source Stones, and clasped his hands. "The mountains are high and the roads far. May we never meet again in this martial world."

Before his words had even faded, the fat Daoist hurriedly transformed into a divine rainbow and fled.

"Celestial Master." Watching Duan De's retreating figure, Ye Fan could not help muttering, "You just let him go that easily?"

"Of course not."

Lin Xian chuckled and said meaningfully, "Have you ever seen anyone harvesting leeks by cutting off the roots? As long as Duan De remains, there'll be no shortage of treasures. We must focus on sustainable development."

"Leeks..." Ye Fan pondered this, a peculiar smile appearing on his face.

"Besides, I'd wager he'll come back." Lin Xian stood with his hands behind his back and spoke with absolute confidence.

Ye Fan was stunned and asked in confusion, "Why?"

The fat Daoist Duan De had suffered three losses here in a row. Why would he come back?

Even a pig would learn its lesson after stumbling three times.

"Because he's Duan De." Lin Xian laughed heartily and teased, "His retreat and advance are swift as the wind, his flanking maneuvers are slow as the forest, his grave-robbing invasions are fierce as fire, and when his allies are in trouble, he is immovable as a mountain."

Thick-skinned and shameless, sinister and vile, he spent his years underground doing archaeological work. He excelled at swindling, cheating, and trickery, and would risk his life for treasure.

As long as the profit was great enough, Duan De would even sell the rope meant to hang himself.

If his life was gone, at worst he could be buried for another lifetime. But if the money was gone, then it was truly gone!

As they chatted and laughed, Qing Emperor's Ancient Tomb underwent another change. Ocean-like waves of energy swept across the heavens, and many cultivators were unable to control their divine rainbows, falling straight from the skies.

The immense power was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe, making souls tremble instinctively.

Rumble!

A deafening sound rang out. Ye Fan's expression changed drastically as he looked toward the five great figures in the distance and cried out, "Did they really open the Demon Emperor's Tomb?"

"Immortal Two mighty figures attacking an Emperor's tomb? What a joke."

Lin Xian sneered, then grabbed Ye Fan and leaped into the air, flying into the shadows and concealing themselves. As they silently observed, he murmured, "Even if an Emperor's tomb did not strike back on its own, mighty figures could attack it for ten thousand years without shaking it in the slightest."

"Then... what is that palace?" Ye Fan looked into the distance. The majestic ancient hall rumbled as it completely collapsed, endless rays of light shooting in every direction while the Emperor's burial objects emerged one after another.

The rarest and most precious spiritual treasures were all seized by supreme experts using great divine abilities. The remaining sentient treasures were merely bowls, chopsticks, pillows, beads, mirrors, and other such ornaments. They were beneath the notice of mighty figures and left for Sea of Bitterness and Dao Palace cultivators to scavenge.

"Ancient Great Emperors took the universe as their training ground and turned starfields into heavenly palaces, dwelling high above in the thirty-three heavens, with palace halls stretching endlessly and blotting out the sky."

"This is not Qing Emperor's Heavenly Palace. It is the Emperor's Lower Capital."

"It is like the ancestral home in a mortal's hometown. One struggles in the starry skies of the universe while young, then returns to one's roots in old age, returning to the place where it all began."

"That palace is not the Qing Emperor's Tomb. At most, it is a funerary hall before his mausoleum. The spiritual treasures here were not left behind by the Azure Emperor either; they should be everyday items left by the tomb keepers."

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes as he watched the streaks of light, muttering, "The Azure Emperor's true treasure has not yet emerged. That thing is not something mighty figures can handle—even Saint Realm would die!"

Suddenly, a brilliant beam that made the sun, moon, and stars lose their radiance burst from the dazzling light that had yet to disperse.

It was like a great sun exploding. Everyone, including the mighty figures and the hidden beings watching from the shadows, instinctively shut their eyes as the piercing light made them ache.

"What is that?" Ye Fan stood dumbfounded, for he discovered that the brilliant beam was charging toward the stone mountain.

If Lin Xian had not pulled him away, he would either have been killed by the beam or casually crushed by one of the great figures fighting over the treasure.

"The Azure Emperor's Weapon, the Eternal Green Lotus."

Lin Xian's eyes burned as he stared at the chaotic green lotus and muttered, "An Emperor Weapon is the continuation of a Great Emperor's life, the manifestation of his Dao Fruit. Only a tomb keeper holding an Emperor Weapon is truly a deterrent, true protection—something that puts one's mind at ease."

The weapon of the Demon Race's Great Emperor shot forth tens of thousands of divine rays. Its radiance was dazzling, making its form impossible to see. The blazing light made it impossible to open one's eyes, as though billions of stars were burning at once. The entire world shook violently as it crashed into the stone mountain with a boom.

Everything was pulverized. No matter how powerful the cultivators were, before an Emperor Weapon, they turned into clumps of bloody mist.

Before such a powerful weapon, mighty figures did not dare touch it, and even Saint Realm would die. Back then, the Azure Emperor's lineage had guarded the tomb with an Emperor Weapon in hand, suppressing an eternal foundation. They had been a great power ranked among the foremost in the universe.

"An Emperor Weapon is that powerful... then how did this place become the Primordial Ruins?" Ye Fan blurted out.

Yes, why? Why was this place nothing but the Primordial Ruins?

Who could have targeted an Ultimate Dao aristocratic family, a Great Emperor's power that had only just been established?

There was only one answer.

"The restricted zones..." Lin Xian suddenly recalled a legend. The Azure Emperor had entered the Divine Ruins, passed through the Southern Heavenly Gate, leaped into the heavenly palace, and slain two true Holy Spirits beneath that Undying Peach Tree.

Perhaps the Azure Emperor's lineage had been destroyed by the Supremes of the restricted zones to test whether the Azure Emperor was alive or dead. Or perhaps a Great Accomplishment Holy Spirit had come seeking revenge.

Throughout the ages, such tragedies had not occurred only once.

In the ancient era, the Primordial Emperor, an ancient emperor, had been unwilling to enter a life restricted zone and become a Dark Supreme, choosing instead to merge with the Dao and return to heaven and earth.

After the Primordial Emperor died, two terrifying Holy Spirits were born and sought to seize the weapon he had left behind. They descended upon his clan and nearly exterminated a great imperial clan that stood at the pinnacle of glory and overlooked the ancient era.

The eight great ancient royal clans were vassals of Primordial Lake. They answered the imperial clan's call and went to offer aid, only to be wiped out completely.

The Primordial Emperor had three sons. Each was so extraordinary that they astonished gods and made immortals weep, and every one of them could have taken half a step toward enlightenment. Yet they all died in that battle, along with their descendants. In the end, only a dozen or so bloodlines from the Primordial Emperor's youngest son's branch remained.

From the birth of one who attained enlightenment, to his passing, to the rise of his children, there would be at least tens of thousands of years of prosperity. Even if there were not Alternative Path to Enlightenment figures in every generation, with imperial blood empowering them, producing several Ninth-Heaven Quasi-Emperors would have been effortless.

Only a little over ten thousand years had passed since the Azure Emperor vanished, yet his descendants had declined so badly. Something must have gone terribly wrong.

Otherwise, the current layout of the universe would surely have been a Ninth-Heaven Quasi-Emperor of the Azure Emperor's lineage wielding the Green Lotus Emperor Weapon, dominating the Big Dipper and commanding the star rivers in all directions.

"The shame of an Ultimate Dao lineage." Thinking of the few cats and dogs left of the Azure Emperor's lineage, Lin Xian could not help muttering.

Even the Solar Divine Sect on the Ziwei Imperial Star, whose ancient scripture had been lost, whose Emperor Weapon had vanished, and which had nearly been exterminated, still had one or two mighty figures guarding its gates.