"Where's that damned fatso Duan De?"
Luo asked again.
"He ran off ages ago. That fatso's slipperier than a loach. He slipped away the instant he sensed danger. He'd prepared more than a dozen escape passages down below as backups," Luo Yue said honestly.
Everyone was left rather speechless.
The battle overhead was already raging, yet the man who had started it all had fled the moment things looked bad! That really was...
"Third Uncle, tell Uncle Wei and the others to stop fighting. They have to seal the entrance immediately and stop more people from going in to die. Otherwise, every death is 'feeding' whatever's down there. Once they awaken, Luo City and Qingyun Province will be the first to suffer."
Luo Yue spoke.
Hearing this, Luo Qingying dared not delay.
Jiang Wei was still locked in fierce combat with Ji Wuque, radiating divine might, but Luo Qingying's transmitted message reached his ears clearly.
He glanced down at the mine entrance, which resembled a meat grinder, and the endlessly gushing black mist that seemed to be growing thicker and more sinister. A fierce glint flashed through his eyes.
"Ji Wuque, stop for now! We can fight another day!" Jiang Wei barked, his voice shaking the skies.
"Something's changed down below! Do you want to see primordial horrors emerge and wreak havoc across the Northern Region? If you want a fight, I'll oblige you to the bitter end once we've dealt with the trouble below!"
At those words, the Void Mirror in Ji Wuque's hand faltered slightly. His fathomless gaze swept over the hellish scene below and the increasingly terrifying mine. A trace of gravity crossed his handsome face.
He, too, had sensed that terrifying aura stirring deep underground, provoked into awakening.
"Jiang Wei, what do you propose?"
Ji Wuque's voice was cold, but his attacks visibly slowed.
"You and I will join forces and temporarily seal the mine entrance with our Emperor Weapons, preventing the curse from spreading and those horrors from feeding on blood and vitality. All holy lands and great sects, restrain your disciples at once and clear the entrance. Anyone who dares enter without permission will be killed without mercy!"
Jiang Wei's thunderous voice, bearing the supreme imperial might of the Hengyu Furnace, resounded across the entire wasteland.
The Hengyu Furnace's crimson radiance surged. A scarlet divine flame, condensed to its utmost limit, crashed down upon the mine entrance like a pillar of heavenly punishment. Its fiercely masculine, supreme yang aura briefly drove back the roiling black mist, turning the area around the entrance into a sea of molten fire and forcibly cutting off the influx of cultivators.
Ji Wuque's eyes flickered, and he made his decision in an instant.
An eerie gleam flashed across the Void Mirror. An invisible spatial barrier instantly formed outside the Hengyu divine flames, distorting space and completely isolating the area around the entrance to create a double seal.
At the same time, his icy voice rang throughout the Ji Family's ranks. "Disciples of the Ji Family, heed my command. Clear the entrance and kill anyone who attacks the barrier."
The two princes wielding Emperor Weapons joined forces to seal the entrance, and their terrifying pressure instantly stilled the chaos.
Seeing this, the leaders of Yaoguang, Wanchu, Dao Yi, and the other holy lands paled. Realizing that the situation might be far beyond their expectations, they immediately ordered their disciples to stop charging in and instead clear away the lingering black curse mist and the maddened unaffiliated cultivators near the entrance.
Under Jiang Wei and Ji Wuque's joint suppression, the Hengyu divine flames and spatial barrier interwove into a seemingly solid defensive line, temporarily stemming the eruption of black curse mist and the frenzied influx of cultivators.
The chaos on the wasteland eased for a moment. Yaoguang, Dao Yi, and the other holy lands also began restraining their disciples and clearing up the chaotic aftermath near the entrance.
Yet...
The trembling in Luo Yue's heart, born of the Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu's warning, did not weaken. Instead, it hammered against her divine soul like a pounding drum.
She could clearly see that beneath the forcible suppression of the Emperor Weapons' might, the terrifying will provoked into awakening deep underground had not fallen silent. Instead, like a wounded prehistoric beast, it erupted with towering fury.
"No, this isn't a Primordial Royal Clan!"
"Third Uncle! Run!"
Luo Yue's ice-blue pupils abruptly contracted, and she cried out involuntarily.
The instant her words fell-
BOOOOM!!!
An explosion far more terrifying than any previous disturbance erupted from deep within the earth.
The entire Luoshui Wasteland shook violently, as though the earth's plates were about to be torn up. The mine entrance sealed by the Hengyu divine flames and spatial barrier burst apart like a balloon inflated beyond its limits.
An indescribable imperial might, bearing the weight of endless ages and monstrous ferocity, surged forth like a demonic god opening its eyes after an eternity of slumber. It brazenly shattered the seal jointly laid by the two Emperor Weapons and shot into the heavens.
Golden light!
Two blinding, incomparably domineering beams of golden light tore through the sky woven from crimson radiance and darkness, carrying the power to pulverize the void. They radiated a terrifying aura capable of suppressing the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands and annihilating all myriad arts!
It was as though an ancient god had opened its eyes.
"An Emperor Weapon? That's the aura of another Emperor Weapon!"
"How is that possible? How many Emperor Weapons can there be in the entire Eastern Wasteland? Have Yaochi and Yaoguang made their move?"
"The Dragon-Patterned Cauldron? Or the Western Emperor Pagoda?"
"No, neither! This is an unfamiliar Emperor Weapon!"
"Heavens! Retreat!"
Across the wasteland, everyone-from holy land elders and venerable masters of great sects to unaffiliated cultivators who had survived by sheer luck-felt their souls scatter and their hearts split with terror!
Sadly, it was already too late!
The pressure of the Primordial Ancient Emperor Weapon carried a savage, murderous aura utterly unlike that of the present-day Emperor Weapons, filling everyone with fear that arose from their very life origin.
Those nearest to it had already been crushed into dust by the Emperor Weapon!
Jiang Wei and Ji Wuque's expressions changed drastically.
They drove the Hengyu Furnace and Void Mirror with all their might. Dazzling imperial light surged as they desperately resisted the supreme pressure erupting from the ground. They were shaken backward again and again through the void, the space beneath their feet shattering inch by inch.
"It's a Primordial Ancient Emperor Weapon..."
Even Luo Yue, who knew how events had unfolded in the original timeline, found it hard to believe.
For all her calculations, she had only considered the possibility of a Primordial Royal Clan. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined they had dug into the grave of a [Primordial Imperial Clan].
Royal and imperial!
A single word separated them, yet the gulf spanned more than a billion miles!
"This isn't [Fire Qilin Cave] or [Divine Silkworm Ridge]. How could a Primordial Imperial Clan be here?"
Luo Yue was utterly dumbstruck.
She had never imagined that she had spent so many years living next door to a Primordial Imperial Clan's lair.
She frantically eliminated possibilities in her mind:
Primordial Lake? No!
Purple Mountain, Myriad Dragon Nest, Blood Phoenix Mountain? Even less likely!
Could it be an imperial clan never mentioned in the original story? Luo Yue wondered.
Watching the golden light surging skyward from the ground, she suddenly seemed
to remember something.
Damn!
She had nearly forgotten this imperial clan-the very one whose lair had never been assigned a location in the original story: the Golden Clan!
Luo Yue was beyond speechless.
Everyone else had distinctive place names, like Divine Silkworm Ridge, Myriad Dragon Nest, or Blood Phoenix Mountain. If Luo Yue had encountered terrain like that, she would certainly have kept far away. But the Golden Clan alone had nothing of the sort!
Still, watching the distant Hengyu Furnace and Void Mirror confronting that unknown Ancient Emperor Weapon,
Luo Yue inexplicably felt a measure of relief.
Thank goodness I had Jiang Wei and the others set up a teleportation formation beforehand. Otherwise, we couldn't have escaped even if we'd wanted to.
Fortunately, Third Uncle had remained vigilant. The instant Luo Yue voiced her warning, he activated the teleportation platform and transported everyone hundreds of miles away.
Had they been even a little slower, they would never have escaped.
Those who had been closest just now had already died without so much as a scrap remaining.
"By the motherless Heavenly Venerable! A Primordial Ancient Emperor Weapon-and a fully intact one at that! We've really stirred up a hornet's nest this time!" In the distance, a dust-covered fat Daoist emerged from the ground.
He had burrowed underground and nearly escaped its range, only to be forcibly squeezed back out by the Emperor Weapons overhead.
"Damned fatso, you've still got the nerve to show your face?"
Though Luo Qingluan was still badly shaken, the sight of the fat Daoist poking his head out of the ground made her unable to resist demanding:
"Was this your damned doing? How did an unfamiliar Emperor Weapon suddenly pop out of nowhere?"
"I'm innocent!"
"How was this humble Daoist supposed to know those two princes would be so outrageously reckless? Two Emperor Weapons brawling right on top of someone's grave-of course the primordial beings below would be shocked and furious!" the fat Daoist protested bitterly.
And this really could not be blamed on him.
If two Emperor Weapons appeared on anyone's doorstep, they would surely prepare for battle...
Come to think of it, could the one inside that nine-zhang mass of divine source have been the Golden Heavenly Maiden? Luo Yue speculated.
But that guess was soon overturned.
"ROAR!"
A great roar erupted from underground, shaking the mountains and rivers, as though the entire world were trembling violently.
Even Luo Yue and the others, hundreds of miles away, turned deathly pale.