The Torn Page

Only after finally calming everyone down did Nie Li take some medicine and gauze from his Space Ring to dress the two girls' wounds.

Fortunately, although they had charged the fiercest, they had not gotten too close. They had suffered a few wounds, but they would recover in time.

"We can open this stone coffin now. There shouldn't be anything left that can attack us."

Du Ze and Lu Piao exchanged a glance and nodded, then worked together to lift the lid.

There were no bones inside the coffin, only a sheet of paper and a gemstone necklace.

Wei Nan said, "Huh? There's actually no decaying corpse in this coffin? Whose coffin is this, anyway?"

The others were equally puzzled. Instead of a corpse, the coffin contained these things.

Nie Li, however, paled in shock and immediately took out the sheet of paper.

It was as thin as a cicada's wing, made from some unknown material, and covered in densely packed, indecipherable runes.

"A torn page from the Book of Time and Space Spirit, here of all places?!"

Ye Ziyun said, "You mean the Book of Time and Space Spirit you told me about before, the one that brought you back?"

Nie Li nodded solemnly.

Du Ze said, "So this is a torn page from that supposed Book of Time and Space Spirit? I can't read it."

It wasn't just him. No one present, not even Nie Li, could decipher it.

"In my previous life, I carried the Book of Time and Space Spirit with me, but it was always missing eight pages. I searched everywhere without finding them. I never imagined one would be here."

As he spoke, Nie Li tucked the torn page against his chest.

Like the Book of Time and Space Spirit, this torn page could nourish soul force.

"Oh? A Deep Sapphire. This is a fine treasure, too."

Nie Li pulled out the gemstone necklace and looked at Ye Ziyun.

This Deep Sapphire necklace was blue.

Blue and purple had always suited Ye Ziyun well.

"Zi Yun, this is for you."

"Huh? Anything placed alongside a torn page from the Book of Time and Space Spirit must be a treasure, too. It's far too precious."

Ye Ziyun hurriedly waved her hands in refusal.

"This Deep Sapphire necklace is clearly meant for a girl. It can increase your cultivation speed at least threefold. Don't turn it down. Just put it on."

With that, Nie Li took matters into his own hands and fastened the necklace around Ye Ziyun's neck.

Nie Li clapped his hands and praised her. "It suits you perfectly."

Everyone around them watched with the look of people being force-fed a couple's lovey-dovey antics.

There was envy in Xiao Ning'er's eyes, too.

Looking at the coffin, Ye Xiu said, "But we still don't know who this coffin belonged to. Why leave only a coffin, with no remains?"

Nie Li said, "Perhaps we'll find out if we go a little farther."

Nie Li had anticipated from the very beginning that Ye Xiu and Chen Fei would come along with them.

With these two powerful figures protecting them along the way, they wouldn't be in any danger.

After they had continued onward for a while, Nie Li looked at the passage ahead, smiled, and tossed a short blade from his Space Ring into it.

Suddenly, hundreds of arrows shot from the stone walls on either side, designed to turn anyone who dared pass through into a hedgehog. The arrows were poisoned, too.

"Traps at this level really are child's play."

The young people listened to Nie Li, then looked at the ground ahead, riddled with arrows, and couldn't help swallowing hard.

Farther ahead, they finally discovered a line of writing on a rock wall.

"Resting place of Kongming's heroic spirit. So that's it. This is Emperor Kongming's tomb."

Everyone said, "Emperor Kongming?"

"Yes. Emperor Kongming was a particularly mysterious emperor in the Sacred Empire's history. He left the Sacred Empire in middle age. Legend has it that his cultivation had reached an astonishing realm and that he possessed an immortal body. Even later generations couldn't find his tomb. So it was here all along."

Xiao Ning'er asked, "Nie Li, can anyone in this world really cultivate an immortal body?"

"That's impossible. Even if he really reached a realm above Legend Rank, he could only live a few hundred extra years at most. In the end, he still couldn't escape the cycle of the Heavenly Dao."

Indeed, never mind escaping the cycle of the Heavenly Dao-the higher one's cultivation, the more likely one was to attract the Sacred Emperor's attention.

A realm Beyond Legendary?

Over the past few days together, they had repeatedly gotten the impression that Legend Rank was only the beginning. Now Nie Li had confirmed it: there really were new realms Beyond Legendary.

Ye Xiu and Chen Fei were truly filled with longing.

Though they were already advanced in years, their hearts as cultivators, eager to keep climbing higher, had never slackened.

"According to the Sacred Empire Compendium of Fate, Emperor Kongming's tomb sits in the north and faces south. We've been heading south all along, so this is the entrance. That other place was the exit."

There was no path ahead, only a passage leading upward above them.

Ye Xiu volunteered to fly up, then broke straight through the mechanism concealing the opening and rushed out.

After coming back down, he and Chen Fei each carried several people up to the surface.

Another building stood before them.

"Those who obey me shall attain honor; those who defy me shall perish. Quite a boast."

Nie Li reflected that anyone who could say such a thing was either supremely confident or a tyrant.

But whatever the case, no matter how lofty the boasts, hadn't this city still fallen beneath the claws of demonic beasts?

Forget it. Let's not dwell on that for now.

Let's count the days.

Two days preparing, three days getting here, and one day exploring the underground palace. Exactly six days. If my count is right, tomorrow will be the third time the sky shows scenes of the future.

"Lord Ye Xiu, Lord Chen Fei, sorry for the trouble, but please take us back."

Of course, if they returned on their own, it would take another three or four days. They would have no chance of getting the news firsthand.

And weren't there two Black Gold Rank Demon Spirit Masters right here? If they flew with them for a day, they could definitely get back to Glory City.

Ye Xiu smiled, then took five people with him.

Chen Fei took four.

Up in the sky.

Nie Li felt the wind brushing his cheeks. It really had been a long time since he had experienced the feeling of flight.

Suddenly, an eagle's cry rang out.

He looked up.

An eagle at least ten meters in size spread broad, powerful wings, as though it could blot out the entire sky. Every golden-white feather shimmered with dazzling light, giving him an extraordinarily magnificent appearance.

Stranger still, his eyes were golden.

As he beat his wings fiercely, the surrounding air churned in an instant, sending a great gale roaring past.

The giant eagle let out a piercing, resonant cry that rang through the clouds.

Watching the eagle fly past them, Nie Li's eyes lit up. "Is that a Spirit-Rank Demonic Beast, a Golden Feather Eagle?"