The Fat Daoist Duan De?

"Thirty thousand jin of source stone!"

"What a spendthrift!"

"Why not just give me the source stone?"

"How could he be so stupid?"

"No... isn't he usually pretty shrewd?"

"It's all that Tianquan Saint's fault!"

With a bellyful of words and nowhere to vent them, Li Qingyue walked out of the Exquisite Pavilion with an icy expression.

It wasn't that the Treasured Garments were bad. They could absorb the vital essence of heaven and earth on their own and withstand a strike from a Four Extremes Realm cultivator. They were indeed a lifesaving treasure.

But she needed source stone more.

With enough source stone, she could inscribe the Dao Patterns of Five Elements Mountain into the vortex in her dantian, allowing her true qi to undergo its initial evolution.

And increase her strength.

Without strength, she couldn't feel even a shred of security.

Yet she couldn't simply ask them for it.

If they were willing to give, that was kindness, affection, and friendship.

If they weren't, that was their right.

After all, they owed her nothing. On the contrary, she owed them a great deal.

It's just... these two men really are hopelessly stupid.

Li Qingyue let out a long sigh inwardly.

Hmm... why is it so quiet?

Standing on the broad street, Li Qingyue's expression sharpened. The street that had been bustling with noise just moments ago was now utterly silent.

She raised her eyes slightly and saw at once that the street, more than a dozen zhang wide, was packed with people.

Even in the air, streaks of light flickered as countless people halted.

Yet not a single sound could be heard.

Every gaze was fixed on her.

It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire world.

Suddenly-

Thud...

A figure fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, limbs splayed, sending up clouds of dust with a series of dull thumps.

As though a box of calamities had been opened, more figures began dropping from the air.

Thudding impacts rose one after another.

The next moment, those who had fallen seemed to wake from a dream. They hurriedly covered their faces with their hands, looking at her in utter embarrassment.

What...?

Li Qingyue's heart skipped a beat. Those people were all cultivators. To walk through the air, they had to be at least in the Life Spring Realm.

Yet now they were falling from the sky like dumplings dropped into a pot.

Other beauties make fish sink and geese fall. I... make fish sink and people fall?

The thought flashed through Li Qingyue's mind, and a sense of foreboding instantly rose within her.

This wasn't the mortal world. These were powerful cultivators. Where there were good people, there would naturally be bad ones too.

She was a mere mortal with looks like these. Without anyone to protect her, it was all too easy to imagine how she would end up.

Seeing the cultivators forcibly steady themselves and start toward her, Li Qingyue instinctively turned around.

In Ancient Source City, the only people she could rely on were Yan Wushuang and Yang Wuzheng.

Once she spotted Yang Wuzheng at the entrance to the Exquisite Pavilion, she slowly breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to his side, standing very close.

She was utterly quiet, like a little bird nestling against someone for shelter.

There was no helping it. As someone weak, she had nothing to be ashamed of in seeking protection.

That gesture instantly stopped the men who had been trying to approach her, leaving them watching from afar.

"Hm?"

Yang Wuzheng paused as well. Looking at the young woman standing obediently and silently beside him, he felt another ripple stir in his heart.

Could she... be...?

A mistaken impression flashed through Yang Wuzheng's mind.

Just as he was about to speak, Yan Wushuang hurried over too.

The two stood on either side of Li Qingyue, both studying her expression.

Yang Wuzheng wanted to find an answer on her face.

Yan Wushuang, however, kept hesitating, as though he desperately wanted to speak but had no idea how to begin.

Fighting was fine, but when it came to feelings, he truly had no idea where to start.

"I'm not angry!"

Seeing this, Li Qingyue hurriedly spoke, afraid this idiot might do something foolish again.

But the moment her words fell, Yang Wuzheng's and Yan Wushuang's expressions changed slightly, and they studied her even more cautiously.

"I..."

Seeing their expressions, Li Qingyue wanted to cry but had no tears. She hurriedly spoke again, showing a faint smile. "I really am not angry. Really."

At the sight of that strained smile, Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang both grew tense.

"You two..."

Li Qingyue was speechless. What was wrong with this world?

So now no one believed her when she told the truth?

It's all that Tianquan Saint's fault!

Li Qingyue gritted her teeth and cursed inwardly, but her voice was exceptionally gentle as she changed the subject outright. "Where are we going next? The Primordial Ancient Mine?"

Hearing her question, Yan Wushuang hurriedly answered with great caution, "The Tianquan Saint is holding a banquet in three days. We'll first go and meet the outstanding talents of the Eastern Wasteland."

"After that, we'll head to the Primordial Ancient Mine together and join forces to explore the ancient tomb."

Then Yang Wuzheng spoke softly, a trace of solemnity in his voice. "That ancient tomb looks unremarkable at first glance, but almost everyone who enters disappears for no apparent reason. There seems to be an unusual domain field there."

"The only person who came out went white-haired overnight, lost all his vitality, and died in a state of madness."

"We don't know the details of what's inside, and we have no further intelligence. Exploring it on our own would be too dangerous!"

Listening to them, Li Qingyue nodded slightly to show she understood.

Naturally, she knew what a domain field was: a peculiar region formed from Dao Patterns and formation patterns, distinct from the surrounding heaven and earth.

Dao Patterns were the most fundamental traces of the Great Dao between heaven and earth.

Next came formations composed of Dao Patterns, which formed patterns that connected with heaven, earth, and the stars, possessing boundless power.

And when countless formation patterns were combined, they would form a domain field that altered the laws of heaven and earth, and could even become a world unto itself.

The imperial patterns of the legendary Great Emperors, in particular, were terrifying beyond measure.

Compared with ordinary heaven and earth, the seven great Life Forbidden Zones were also peculiar domain fields-worlds of their own.

Of course, those forbidden zones were far from ordinary.

"Who discovered such a strange place?"

Li Qingyue's brows furrowed slightly as she asked softly.

All of this sounded like some sort of conspiracy.

As though someone had deliberately spread the news.

It was hard not to read more into it.

"I heard it was discovered by a fat Daoist who was always spouting strange nonsense. That was how the world learned of it."

Yang Wuzheng answered calmly.

Beside him, Yan Wushuang hurriedly added, "Yes. Apparently, that rambling fat Daoist said something about having dug up his own tomb, so people took him for a madman."

"Still, we ought to thank that madman for bringing such a great tomb back into the world."

The two answered every question. Although their voices had returned to normal, their eyes still flicked toward her from time to time, retaining a certain caution.

Clearly, they still thought she was angry.

Li Qingyue felt utterly helpless, but she didn't want to say any more and simply followed silently beside them.

The figures who had stopped to watch all around them had now fallen still as well.

Yan Wushuang's blood energy surged like a dragon, while Yang Wuzheng seemed at one with nature, his depths impossible to fathom.

Naturally, that made people shrink back.

Seeing this, Li Qingyue breathed a slight sigh of relief, her mind instinctively turning over what Yang Wuzheng and Yan Wushuang had said.

A fat Daoist... could that be Duan De in this lifetime?

He dug up his own tomb?

Li Qingyue was inwardly startled.

Duan De was far from simple. In his first lifetime, he had been the Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Venerable of the Mythological Era.

The Tribulation-Transcending Heavenly Art he had created remained the subject of endless legends even in later ages.

In his second lifetime, he had achieved Dao-Proving through both the corpse path and the source path, founded the Underworld, and called himself the Netherworld Venerable.

In his third lifetime, he had once again achieved Dao-Proving through the corpse path, deceiving all living beings and calling himself the Netherworld Emperor. In his later years, he had vanished without a trace; even the supremes of the Underworld could not locate him.

And this lifetime should be Duan De's fourth. He would once again achieve Dao-Proving through the source path, deceiving all living beings and heaven and earth themselves.

At that thought, a strange notion suddenly sprang into her mind.

Duan De has spent his whole life digging up tombs, and this time he's dug up his own.

I wonder how that feels?

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