The radiant long dragon opened its enormous maw and devoured the deep-purple lightning. Purple arcs began to appear across its once-golden body.
Endless lightning engulfed Su Yu, turning the place into an ocean of thunder. The ceaseless divine lightning from the nine heavens surged like a tide, capable of shattering everything in its path. Its presence blazed with unimaginable intensity, until nothing remained between heaven and earth but a vast expanse of purple.
Rumble!
The world-shaking thunder was deafening, capable of pulverizing all filth and evil. It joined heaven and earth, as though an ancient god were meting out punishment. It poured down from the heavenly river of the nine heavens, as if countless great stars were crashing down.
The boundless void was blasted apart, and blinding lightning filled every inch of space.
The strand of Chaos Dragon Qi grew ever more extraordinary, like a living creature. Its three-foot body slowly grew, and intricate, mystical purple lightning runes were carved into every golden scale. At last, it became a thirteen-foot-long dragon and devoured the lightning tribulation in its entirety.
When the heavenly tribulation ended, Su Yu withdrew the Chaos Dragon Qi into his body. He could feel it coiled around his spine, stretching from his tailbone to his neck. Its head rested at his cervical spine, releasing rich Dragon Qi that nourished his spine.
His cultivation stabilized at the Third Heaven of the Four Extremes. He had finished cultivating both arms and his right leg, and his body grew ever more extraordinary. Nourished by the Dragon Qi, it shed divine radiance as brilliant as the sun, as luminous as the moon, and like a section cut from a sacred rainbow, sparkling and translucent.
He felt no joy, instead sinking into thought.
Under these circumstances, he would have to abandon this body in the future. Otherwise, even if he barely managed to survive a heavenly tribulation, facing a powerful enemy would be too dangerous. He could take shortcuts against a tribulation, but an enemy would give him no such opportunity.
He summoned the flying dragon of clouds and mist again. The moment the thirteen-foot strand of Dragon Qi appeared, an invisible imperial pressure burst from him, making him seem like an emperor.
This strand of Dragon Qi alone could overawe and subdue a Dragon Transformation cultivator.
"Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle. A special Dragon Qi divine ability..." Su Yu murmured to himself.
He had noticed that, during his earlier cultivation, golden mist had spilled from the Ghost-Face Jade Jue and gathered behind him into an imperial silhouette.
The golden Qi had then merged with the clouds and mist of his phenomenon, giving rise to the Chaos immortal spirit behind them.
The wind followed the tiger, and the clouds followed the dragon!
His unique phenomenon had transformed into its second stage, and could be said to have reached minor accomplishment.
Considering the special strand of Dragon Qi behind him, Su Yu took out the Ghost-Face Jade Jue and stared at it intently. Its surface still bore the same ghost-face design as the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, and its material was no different from ordinary divine jade.
Since transmigrating, he had examined this jade jue many times, hoping to discover how to use it to help himself. Yet he had found no way to use it.
Su Yu took out the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid, intending to use its smooth, mirrorlike surface to look at the Chaos dragon, but he saw nothing different.
When he examined the Ghost-Face Jade Jue again, the purple pendant remained like a piece of ordinary jade, giving no response at all...
Su Yu was currently in the Wei Kingdom, in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland. He would need time to travel to the Northern Region.
He could not advance his cultivation without Source, and he was determined to obtain the Source Heaven Book.
As for the Heavenbreak Mountains in the Central Region, they were too far away. Though spiritual Qi was abundant there, cultivating in seclusion alone was clearly not the fastest way to transform...
There were quite a few holy lands and major sects nearby. The closest to Su Yu was the Taixuan Sect, a major sect in eastern Wei Kingdom with 108 main immortal mountain peaks. It was also a stronghold of the Ruthless One's lineage.
Hua Yunfei, the inheritor of the Devouring Heaven Demon Art in this generation, was a disciple of the Taixuan Sect's Star Peak.
To Su Yu, he was also a tempting cultivation cauldron. Su Yu cultivated the Indestructible Heavenly Art as well.
Although he had greatly admired Hua Yunfei when he was a mortal, they were both of the Ruthless One's lineage now. If he could devour this cauldron of the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, he could save himself a great deal of cultivation time.
Having cultivated a Chaos dragon spirit, Su Yu was now quite confident. With "Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle" and a Saint Weapon, he could kill an Immortal Second Realm Mighty Figure.
Heading north, Su Yu soon found a teleportation array belonging to Yaoguang Holy Land. After paying a substantial fee for crossing regions, he closed his eyes and rested. The others sensed the dense Dragon Qi around him and dared not provoke him.
The golden age had only just begun, and those heaven's chosen were only at the Dao Palace or Four Extremes Realm. At this time, even cultivators of the Dragon Transformation Realm could serve as elders of holy lands and major sects.
The Dragon Qi around Su Yu was exceptionally pure and strong. At a glance, he was clearly an important figure at the Seventh Transformation of the Dragon Transformation Realm or above. They could hardly wait to curry favor with him, so how would they dare provoke him?
He took the cross-region array directly and arrived in the Northern Region.
"Source Heaven Book, and the jar's body, here I come."
Chapter 19: The Body of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar
There was absolute stillness. Within it, one could not feel time passing, and no light or shadow appeared in sight. In the dim void, the silence was profound.
It seemed to last only a fleeting instant, yet also ten lifetimes. At last, the strange journey ended, allowing them to feel the passage of time.
The void split open, and everyone appeared at another teleportation array.
A Half-Step Great Power stepped out, followed by several young disciples, who stood respectfully at his side. He was a rogue cultivator, and his cultivation was the highest among those present. Divine Rainbows streaked across the sky, and quite a few people were heading to the Holy City with him.
Unlike the Southern Region, the Northern Region of the Eastern Wilderness was rich in Source Stones. Many of the Eastern Wasteland's holy lands had strongholds in the Northern Region and occupied its fertile mining areas.
The Holy City, meanwhile, was a sacred place for cutting stones, home to a great many stone workshops belonging to the holy lands.
After leaving the teleportation array, Su Yu asked around for Purple Mountain's location and bought a map, then flew out of the city.
Although he knew which divine stones in the Holy City contained great treasures, he still planned to get the Source Heaven Book before cutting stones. However, he did not know where the village of that Source Heavenly Master's descendant was.
Su Yu rode a Divine Rainbow toward Purple Mountain.
When in doubt, charge straight in. He planned to start searching near Purple Mountain.
According to the original story, Fifth Master Zhang's village was near Purple Mountain. If he started with the villages around it, he would find it sooner or later.
Clouds flew across the sky, and the land beneath Su Yu was desolate and barren. As the years had passed, the once-vibrant earth had become bleak, and the races of old had vanished like smoke into history.
Now, only endless emptiness and desolation remained in the Northern Region. As far as the eye could see, the boundless land held nothing but a monotonous reddish brown. It was an exceedingly harsh land.
Yet countless Source Stones lay buried beneath it, drawing countless cultivators of the Big Dipper like ducks in a rush. Just like the gold rushes on Earth in his previous life, minor cultivators of low cultivation came here clutching dreams of digging up Divine Source.
As Su Yu flew toward Purple Mountain, a beam of divine light suddenly shot at him. He waved his wide sleeve, and boundless Chaos Divine Light surged forth, dispersing the attack. Then the void shattered. Standing on the void, Su Yu brought out the Silver Moon Jade Pagoda to stabilize the surrounding space, while fragments of space brushed past him.
If he were swept into turbulent space, even if he survived, there was no telling what godforsaken place he would end up in.
Su Yu's gaze turned cold. Being caught up in this for no reason infuriated him. An ordinary Four Extremes cultivator would surely have died in this calamity.
After seeing the situation clearly, Su Yu frowned.
"It's actually them! The body of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, Tu Tian. Is this enemies meeting on a narrow road?"
Another earthshaking crash came from below, and the surrounding void shattered with the impact.
This happened to be one of Yaoguang Holy Land's Source mining areas. Outside it, brilliant light soared into the sky, magical treasures flew, men shouted and horses neighed, and countless figures charged in to kill.
A great bandit in blue robes, with dragon horns growing from his head, stood beside another great bandit.
The bandits and robbers under the two great bandits had already charged inside and were battling the Yaoguang cultivators.
Su Yu narrowed his eyes. He had noticed a faint pull coming from the Devouring Heaven Demon Lid inside the Divine Spring.
He gazed covetously at the body of the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, but Tu Tian, the seventh great bandit of the Northern Region, and the Azure Flood Dragon King were both here. They were two Great Powers at the peak of the Immortal Platform Second Heaven, and they possessed half an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon. Their lineup was far too formidable; it would take a Saint to suppress them...
Tu Tian controlled an earthen-gray clay jar above his head, while the Azure Flood Dragon King supplied divine power from the side.
The clay jar was exceedingly plain, yet its divine might swept the world. Under a terrifying law of devouring, it transformed into a bottomless black hole, radiating dense black light. It seemed capable of devouring heaven and earth, taking in everything.
In the sky, where countless lights flashed, a bronze pagoda stood hundreds of meters tall, like a boundless mountain of bronze. Dragon patterns appeared across its ancient, unadorned surface, Chaos mist gathered around it, and its pressure soared to the heavens as it tried to block the clay jar's devouring power.
But it could not withstand the jar at all. Cracking sounds rang out, and with a final crash, the bronze pagoda shattered into pieces. An Immortal Two weapon could not contend with an Extreme Dao Weapon; it could only be smashed.
Its owner, a white-haired Yaoguang elder, suffered damage to his soul when his bonded divine weapon, cultivated with his very life, was destroyed. Spitting blood, he plunged headfirst from the sky to the ground.
"Ancestor!" Several Yaoguang disciples cried out mournfully and rushed over, hoping to carry the elder away.
The Devouring Heaven Demon Jar, which was devouring countless strands of Source Qi, fired another beam of divine light. The Yaoguang elder was killed outright, and the disciples were also reduced to a gruesome mass of blood and flesh.
The sole Immortal Second Realm Mighty Figure had been reduced to a bloody mist by the Extreme Dao's divine might. Soon, this Source mining area of Yaoguang Holy Land was overrun, and the remaining elders and disciples were slaughtered one by one by the great bandits.
Su Yu watched the battle unfold impassively, his heart hardening. Although he could not deal with Tu Tian and the Azure Flood Dragon King, they had caught him up in this for no reason...
A gentleman could wait ten years to take revenge!
Su Yu did not consider himself a gentleman. He had always been a petty man.
Having made up his mind, Su Yu brought out the Silver Moon Jade Pagoda and channeled all the magical power in his body. The great dragon coiled around his vertebrae also released boundless divine light. Three thousand strands of Chaos Qi enveloped him, and his divine power flowed into the Silver Moon Jade Pagoda like a surging tide.
With a roar from the great dragon on his spine, his magical power instantly reached Peak Dragon Transformation. He activated the incomplete Saint Weapon, unleashed an attack, and immediately used Passing of Fleeting Light to leave the area.
This was a Saint-level movement technique. The Passing of the Years he had given Ye Fan was its opening move.
Just as Tu Tian and the Azure Flood Dragon King were complacently counting the Source Stones in the mining area, a supreme Saint's pressure came from the void. Saintly light surged into the heavens, piercing the clouds and filling everything beneath the firmament with brilliance.
It instantly reduced several hundred bandits to bloody pulp, making Tu Tian and the Azure Flood Dragon King's eyes nearly split with rage.
"Who is it? You rat, get out here!"
"You only dare sneak around and attack the younger generation? If you have the ability, come out and fight!" Furious roars came from behind. They were the Azure Flood Dragon King's dragon roars, audible for hundreds of miles, shaking countless mountains and rivers as though they would bring the stars crashing from the sky.
Su Yu, already hundreds of miles away, heard them too. A mocking smile played on his lips as he flew toward Purple Mountain.
A few bandits and great bandits-without that Emperor Weapon, Tu Tian and the Azure Flood Dragon King were nothing but dry bones in a grave. They were Immortal Two cultivators who had not even cultivated a phenomenon. Sooner or later, he would capture and kill them.
To reunite the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar and make the Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon whole, Su Yu could only seize it from Tu Tian while Xiao Nannan had not appeared.
In this respect, he and Tu Tian were already mortal enemies. It was an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon; the other man would never give it up, even in death. Since he would not give it up even in death, Su Yu could only let him die.
Cultivation was not children playing house. It was a struggle to the death, the naked devouring of people.
In "Lord of the Mysteries," anyone who wanted to become a god had to kill the Sequence One of their pathway and gather all three Sequence One extraordinary characteristics and the Uniqueness before they could perform the ritual of godhood...
And was the Dark Turmoil of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths not also the devouring of people? Those Dark Supremes were among the most powerful beings in the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. They did not want to die, so countless mortals had to die instead.
Su Yu's killing of the Azure Flood Dragon King's and Tu Tian's subordinates this time counted as revenge for their having caught him up in the battle for no reason.
He had always repaid every grievance...
Traveling in this way, stopping and going, he finally reached Purple Mountain after half a month.
Streams, waterfalls, and springs beneath the nearby mountains joined into a river that wound through the beautiful peaks. Su Yu followed it, treading on the water as he studied Purple Mountain's terrain.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He had spotted a stone village, the fourth village he had found. Whenever he reached a village, he asked the mortals whether they knew a man called Fifth Master Zhang.
At the third village, someone had known the location of Fifth Master Zhang's village, and Su Yu had come straight here.
The village was small, its entrance built from stone and its houses numbering only a little over thirty. It was plain to see that these people did not have an easy life.
When they saw an immortal flying toward them, many people came out of their houses. Soon, a white-haired old man led dozens of young and middle-aged villagers out to greet the immortal.
Su Yu looked at the sharp knives and spears in their hands and landed with a gentle manner. Then he asked the old man, "You're Fifth Master Zhang, aren't you? The descendant of that Source Heavenly Master."
At Su Yu's words, the old man trembled and looked at him with some fear. The younger men also raised their broadswords and bows, their gazes fierce.
Chapter 20: Obtaining the Stone Garment, Slaughtering the Roaming Bandits