Once Bai Qi was dead, Zhou Qing stepped forward to loot his corpse, as usual.
After searching him, he was sorely disappointed.
Aside from the Xiantian high-grade Spirit-Treasure longsword he had used in their earlier fight, Bai Qi had only one Xiantian low-grade Spirit-Treasure, a great seal. The rest were all Pure Yang and immortal-rank treasures.
That was far too shabby.
Zhou Qing could hardly be blamed for thinking so.
In the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom, he was the disciple of a peak Ancestor God. In the Three Realms, he was also the disciple of the Daoist Sect's leader. Those identities meant he would never lack treasures.
But for ordinary Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Three Realms, having even one Xiantian Spirit-Treasure was good enough. Many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were still using Pure Yang treasures.
Zhou Qing continued examining the treasures Bai Qi had left behind.
Then he found a grotto-heaven treasure. The moment he opened it, he discovered mountains of red metal ore piled inside.
Annihilation Dark Gold?!
At the sight of the familiar red ore, Zhou Qing was filled with surprise and delight.
Annihilation dark gold was a primary material used to forge Pure Yang treasures. Just a few dozen jin were enough to forge a supreme-grade Pure Yang treasure.
But that was how the immortal cultivators of the Three Realms understood it.
For Zhou Qing, its greater use was cultivating the divine power burst ability, Great Extinction Divine Power.
One had to reach at least the Empyrean God realm before beginning to cultivate Great Extinction Divine Power.
The Empyrean God section required refining a hundred thousand jin of annihilation dark gold to master.
The True God section required refining a million jin.
The Ancestor God section required as much as ten million jin.
It was precisely because of this enormous cost that Zhou Qing had believed it was practically impossible to master the Ancestor God section of Great Extinction Divine Power in the Three Realms.
Ten million jin of annihilation dark gold...
Zhou Qing had previously consulted the records in the Daoist Sect's scripture repository. Even if all the annihilation dark gold obtained by the Three Realms' experts over countless years were added together, it would not amount to five million jin.
That was why he had believed the Empyrean God section of Great Extinction Divine Power would not be too difficult to master, while there was some hope for the True God section.
Even so, mastering the Empyrean God section of Great Extinction Divine Power was no simple matter. Zhou Qing estimated that it would cost even more than reaching major accomplishment in the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, enough to make a Dao Ancestor's heart ache.
But now that he had obtained the annihilation dark gold in Bai Qi's grotto-heaven treasure, Zhou Qing no longer had to worry at all about the annihilation dark gold he would need to cultivate the Empyrean God and True God sections of Great Extinction Divine Power in the future.
By his estimate, there were at least three million jin of annihilation dark gold in Bai Qi's grotto-heaven treasure.
But after obtaining so much annihilation dark gold, Zhou Qing also found himself pondering a question.
How had Bai Qi obtained so much annihilation dark gold?
Could it be...
A possibility occurred to him, and Zhou Qing used his Heartforce to probe the distant mountain range shrouded in mist.
What he discovered was astonishing. He immediately found mining tunnels riddling the mountain's interior, along with countless mining slaves laboring within them.
So that was it. Bai Qi actually controlled an annihilation dark gold mine!
The discovery filled Zhou Qing's heart with joy.
Now, setting aside the Empyrean God and True God sections of Great Extinction Divine Power, he might even be able to gather enough annihilation dark gold for the Ancestor God section.
After taking a rough look at the mine's reserves, however, Zhou Qing gradually calmed down.
Ten million jin... fifty million jin... ninety million jin...
At least ninety million jin.
It was a fortune that could drive the many True Gods and Dao Ancestors of the Three Realms mad.
Zhou Qing immediately realized that this was not something an Empyrean God or True Immortal like him could get involved in.
After some consideration, Zhou Qing decided to send word to Daoist Sanqing first, then told Lord Cui about the matter.
Lord Cui was greatly shocked to hear that there was an extinction dark gold mine here with reserves of at least ninety million jin.
He quickly came to his senses and passed the news on to the major powers of the Netherworld Bureau.
A few breaths after he had done so, the space and time around Zhou Qing suddenly froze.
Then Daoist Sanqing appeared out of thin air beside Zhou Qing and Lord Cui.
"Greetings, Dao Ancestor."
"Greetings, Master."
Lord Cui was startled by Daoist Sanqing's sudden appearance, but he quickly bowed alongside Zhou Qing.
"Taixu, Cui boy, dispense with the formalities."
"Thank you, Dao Ancestor (Master)."
Lord Cui's face twitched as he replied, having heard Daoist Sanqing address him as "Cui boy."
As a friend of his mistress Nüwa, Daoist Sanqing was naturally on good terms with him as well.
But every time he heard Daoist Sanqing call him "Cui boy," Lord Cui still felt uncomfortable all over.
After the greetings, Daoist Sanqing looked at Zhou Qing and said with a satisfied expression, "Taixu, you truly were silent until you chose to sing, and then your first cry astonished the world."
"This time, you killed Bai Qi and shook the Three Realms with your might. You've really let your master shine in front of your martial uncle Xiaoyao."
Daoist Sanqing's voice was full of delight as he spoke, without a trace of the airs of the Daoist Sect's leader.
"Not at all. It was all thanks to your excellent teaching, Master," Zhou Qing replied humbly.
"There's no need to flatter me." Daoist Sanqing shook his head.
"You've only been my disciple for a few years. Your achievements today are due to your own talent and background. I wouldn't dare take the credit."
Watching the two exchange words, Lord Cui was shocked.
It seems True Immortal Taixu holds a very high place in Daoist Sanqing's heart.
"All right. I doubt this place will remain peaceful much longer, so you two should return to Fengdu City first."
Daoist Sanqing spoke after finishing his chat with Zhou Qing.
"Master, an old acquaintance of mine is still in the mine. May I bring him out?"
Zhou Qing spoke up as soon as Daoist Sanqing finished.
Hearing this, Daoist Sanqing reached out his hand directly into the heart of the mountain range and gathered the countless mining slaves captured by the ghost kings under Bai Qi into his sleeve.
Then he kept Immortal Duohe behind and tossed all the remaining mining slaves into nearby Netherworld cities free of nether Qi.
Afterward, Daoist Sanqing released Immortal Duohe, who looked utterly bewildered. Before he could recover his senses, Zhou Qing took him into his own grotto-heaven treasure.
Having accomplished what he had come to do, Zhou Qing used Grand Teleportation with Lord Cui to return to Fengdu City.
Not long after they left, space and time here rippled again. A moment later, a youth and a monk dressed in magnificent robes appeared.
When they saw Daoist Sanqing, their expressions froze. They had not expected him to appear at all.
After returning to Fengdu, Zhou Qing entered the Fengdu Imperial Garden with Lord Cui.
Then he released Immortal Duohe from his grotto-heaven treasure.
Zhou Qing was startled to see how weathered Immortal Duohe looked.
A dignified immortal had actually been tortured into such a state.
Immortal Duohe had first been abducted by a ghost king under Bai Qi and spent more than four hundred years mining annihilation dark gold. Now he had been taken away again by some unknown person. Naturally, he was terrified, and for a moment he failed to recognize Zhou Qing.
Only after several breaths did he realize that the person before him, whose presence was as deep as an abyss, was Wu Xian, the young genius of the Wujiang Clan from back then.
In his excitement, the words "young friend" were about to burst from Duohe's lips, but he immediately realized that Zhou Qing was no longer the Primal Fiend King he had once been.
So he could only say, "Thank you, Senior, for saving me from this sea of suffering."
Seeing Immortal Duohe trembling with fear, Zhou Qing felt a trace of sorrow.
The once high-spirited Immortal Duohe, who had toyed with all the fiends in the Wujiang Immortal Mansion in the palm of his hand, was already dead.
"Now that I've rescued you, what are your plans for the future?"
After all, they had once been from the same hometown, and Zhou Qing still wanted to lend him a hand.
"In answer to Senior, I would like to return to the Wujiang Immortal Mansion and see my clansmen."
Duohe answered Zhou Qing's question hesitantly.
"That won't be necessary." Zhou Qing shook his head.
"I've already brought all the fiends out of the Wujiang Immortal Mansion. They're here in Fengdu City now."
After saying this, he thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Since you want to be with your clansmen, find a position in Fengdu City."
With that, Zhou Qing looked at Lord Cui.
Lord Cui immediately understood and volunteered, "Great Emperor, how about this? Let Duohe serve as a judge under me."
Zhou Qing nodded.
For a Loose Immortal like Duohe, this was indeed a good choice.
Loose Immortals had failed their Heavenly Tribulations and, though they had been lucky enough to preserve their lives, they would face the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations without end, each growing more powerful than the last.
By becoming a judge in the Netherworld Bureau of the Underworld, one could accumulate Heavenly Dao merit and weaken the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations.
And when the day came that one could no longer withstand them, one could use that accumulated merit to secure a good chance at reincarnation and walk the immortal path again in the next life.
Zhou Qing looked at Immortal Duohe and asked, "Duohe, are you willing to serve as a judge under Lord Cui?"
Having listened to Zhou Qing and Lord Cui's conversation, Immortal Duohe felt his mind go blank.
Great Emperor... judge... Lord Cui...
Immortal Duohe could make no sense of those words.
Though he knew Zhou Qing had become a wielder of divine abilities whom he could only look up to, judging by the conversation between the two before him, this wielder of divine abilities seemed a little too great.
Could it be that he hadn't spent four hundred-odd years mining, but four million?!