"Something about this man feels strangely familiar!" Qin Tian was a little surprised.
Qin Tian concealed his aura and stealthily watched the fat Daoist.
Though the man looked bulky, his movements were light and nimble, and he drifted down as silently as a falling leaf.
"So it's him!" Understanding dawned on Qin Tian, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
Characters from novels would usually be unrecognizable in reality. After all, their appearances relied entirely on written descriptions. Reality differed from animation, let alone novels, with more than one layer separating the two.
But Qin Tian still recognized this fellow at a glance. His traits were simply too distinctive, especially that air about him. It would have been hard not to recognize him.
Qin Tian smiled. "Isn't this my master, whom I've never met?"
Qin Tian had studied the scriptures and texts Cao Yusheng left behind, gaining entry into the Formation Dao and thus escaping the Source field. There was nothing wrong with calling Duan De his master.
"Judging by my esteemed master's smile, he must have reaped quite a harvest." Recalling Ye Fan's outrageous antics in the original story, Qin Tian couldn't help smiling. "As his disciple, I ought to have a right to inherit my esteemed master's estate, shouldn't I?"
As for where an inheritance could come from when Duan De was still alive?
Hadn't Cao Yusheng, the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, already died?
He would reclaim his master, the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable's treasures from the clutches of the wicked Daoist Duan De.
As his disciple, Qin Tian was duty-bound!
Qin Tian crept closer, deeply curious. "Duan De never lands anywhere without treasure. What's he doing in the Fire Domain? Could he be planning to take the immortal flame?"
Watching Duan De pass effortlessly through layer after layer of the Fire Domain, Qin Tian recalled how he himself had been scorched back out after barely passing through three layers. He struggled to keep his composure.
"As expected of a Heavenly Venerable's body. Even after severing his own cultivation, his physique must still surpass a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body at the same realm." Qin Tian looked envious, his desire written all over his face.
He then activated Future Sight, a silver radiance filling his eyes and washing out every other color.
"Hmm, I can't see him?!" Qin Tian frowned slightly.
In the timeline he observed, Duan De did not exist in the future Fire Domain.
"Interesting!"
"Is it because Duan De's inherent standing is too high?!" Qin Tian pondered for a moment, then understood.
"Right. An existence approaching the Immortal Dao who has undergone Nirvana probably carries even more weight in fate and the world than an ordinary Great Emperor or Ancient Emperor."
"If I could lock onto the Netherworld Emperor, the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, so easily, this fellow would have been skinned and had his tendons ripped out long ago!" Qin Tian chuckled.
After all, the Netherworld Emperor had far too many enemies in the universe, all possessing Supreme Level combat power.
Without sufficient cultivation, they would have long since passed away amid the march of time. How could they have been worthy of opposing the Netherworld Emperor?
The Underworld's lineage dreaded his return. The Divine Organization and other lineages of the Ancient Heavenly Court hated and resented the Netherworld Emperor over the Ancient Heavenly Court's destruction. Even after tens of millions of years, they were still searching for traces of him.
Once they found him, they would surely fight him to the death. Given the temperament of Chuan Ying, the Ancient Heavenly Court's foremost enforcer, skinning him and ripping out his tendons would be getting off lightly.
One had to remember that in the Primordial Era, the Underworld had been the foremost forbidden zone. Riding the momentum of the Ancient Heavenly Court's destruction, it commanded the world, and who dared disobey? Even members of the mythical Nine Heavenly Venerables had chosen to enter the Underworld and rule there.
Despite the Heavenly Court and the Underworld searching openly and in secret, Duan De still lived quite comfortably and had attained the Dao several times in succession. How could that have been possible without some real ability?
"Since I can't spy on him through time, I'll take a look through space."
Qin Tian took a step back and merged into the void. His earlier battle with Ji Haiyue had given him a glimpse of some of the mysteries of the void, making his use of the spatial eye increasingly fluid.
"Now, let me see just what could make a reincarnated Heavenly Venerable like you so happy."
Qin Tian stealthily followed Duan De, keeping one layer of the Fire Domain between them and not daring to get too close.
This fellow was the founding patriarch of swindling and shameless scheming. To put it bluntly, all the tricks Qin Tian used now were things Duan De had played out long ago.
It was only because Duan De had undergone Nirvana recently and lacked much experience that he had failed to discover Qin Tian.
Still, he possessed a certain spiritual intuition and glanced back from time to time. Whenever he did, Qin Tian became especially cautious. Divine Source burned bit by bit in his Bitter Sea, converting divine substance into energy to power his Temporal-Spatial Eyes. He concealed himself in the void, then placed his own "existence" one second in the past.
It worked on the same principle as Qin Tian's Temporal-Spatial Realm. Unless his opponent grasped the laws of both time and space, detecting Qin Tian's existence would be extremely difficult.
Duan De stopped in the seven-colored Fire Domain. He cautiously looked left and right, then took out a compass and swept it in every direction.
Such vigilance made Qin Tian even more curious, but he still carefully placed his existence further into the past.
Duan De's expression turned solemn as he took something from his robes. It looked like a broken bowl.
He slowly poured Divine Power into it to activate it. Divine radiance shimmered hazily as an ancient, unadorned pottery lid floated and spun in the void. A ghost-face mark adorned it, tear tracks lingering at the corners of its eyes. It seemed to smile yet not smile, to weep yet not weep, lifelike and exceedingly strange.
"The lid of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar!" Qin Tian's pupils trembled violently. Though he had never seen it before, he recognized it at a glance, simply because it was so uncannily distinctive.
That mark, seeming to weep yet not weep, was the mark of an unsurpassed Great Emperor.
It represented an unsurpassed Great Emperor, the Ruthless Great Emperor!
She had started with nothing but a worthless physique, yet refused to be bound by fate. She fought heaven, fought earth, and fought herself. She had not been blessed with extraordinary talent, but through her own strength, she had slain all the kings and single-handedly brought a golden age to an end.
After becoming an emperor, she alone had opposed the Nine Heavenly Venerables, developing secret arts to counter theirs and even confronting those among them who were still alive.
With one hand, she had shattered the Central Province Ancestral Dragon Vein and destroyed an unsurpassed divine dynasty. She had ignored even Immortal Medicine that wished to follow her. She could be called the most legendary of humanity's Great Emperors.
"So at this point in time, Duan De has only just dug up the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid!"
The corners of Qin Tian's mouth rose slightly. An idea formed in his mind, itching to be put into action, and he stealthily sized up the back of Duan De's head.
Duan De drew on the flames of the Fire Domain, attempting to erase the imprints within the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid. Yet before the flames could even approach the demon lid, they were devoured completely.
"Just as I thought, it won't work." Duan De sighed.
"I'll try the tenth layer!"
Qin Tian carefully followed Duan De, keeping two or three layers behind to avoid being discovered. He waited quietly in the seventh layer.
Before long, he saw Duan De emerge from the tenth layer, disappointment written all over his face.
He returned to the seventh layer.
Duan De looked at the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid floating in midair, his expression conflicted. "To gain complete control of this Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, I have to erase the imprints left by the countless Sages and Worthies and Quasi-Emperors of the former Heaven-Swallowing Holy Land."
"Otherwise, if Ruthless Lineage discovers that this Daoist holds a piece of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, they'll activate their secret art for summoning the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, stir the imprints inside it, and reclaim the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar."
"Then they'll turn around and take control of this Daoist too."
"At that point, these two hundred-odd jin of flesh won't be nearly enough to feed Ruthless Lineage."
Duan De's face was filled with indecision and dread. If Ruthless Lineage learned that he had dug up the Ruthless Great Emperor's tomb, skinning him and ripping out his tendons would be letting him off easily.
He did have the ability to erase the imprints Ruthless Lineage had left on the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, but the price would be considerable. What it would cost him was something he relied on to preserve his life.
"With the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, this half of an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, I'll have enough to protect my life." In the end, Duan De made up his mind.
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