He laughed heartily, his face wreathed in a joyous smile. Wrinkles crowded his forehead, and his wide mouth stretched from ear to ear, exposing even his back teeth. "Since you know this young brother, fellow Daoist, I won't disturb your reunion. The mountains are high and the road is long. Until fate brings us together again!"
Duan De set his short little legs in motion. Rather than ride a Divine Rainbow, he shot away with a whoosh, running hundreds of meters in an instant and disappearing from their sight.
"No need to see me off, fellow Daoist. Until we meet again!"
Su Yu simply watched him leave. The strange treasure in the other man's Bitter Sea was covered in layer upon layer of seals, but its Dao patterns could not be hidden. Su Yu had recognized the faint trace of its presence that leaked out.
An incomplete Quasi-Emperor Artifact? In his second life, Cao Yusheng was the Source Emperor and forged the Heaven-reaching Nether Treasure. Where was his Emperor Weapon from his first life as the Tribulation Crossing Heavenly Venerable? The original story never explained that...
Countless conjectures welled up in Su Yu's mind, but his expression did not change in the slightest. He turned to Ye Fan and revealed his original appearance.
"Ye Fan, long time no see!"
Chapter 69: One Yang and One Yin, Holding Fast to Taiji
Ye Fan was delighted. It really was Daoist Su Yu.
Su Yu smiled faintly and resumed his previous appearance.
Ye Fan looked anxious, as though he had finally found someone to rely on. "Daoist Su, Pang Bo was taken away by the Demon Clan. Could you please save him?"
After saying this, Ye Fan felt uneasy. Clever as he was, he knew he should not press his luck like this, for he might very well offend the senior who had treated him kindly.
But Pang Bo was his closest friend. The two had come to the Big Dipper from Earth together and had been inseparable. He could not abandon Pang Bo for his own sake.
Su Yu was somewhat surprised to hear the news. The Demon Emperor's nineteenth-generation descendant was now serving under him and contributing to the Chaos Palace, yet Pang Bo had still been taken away by the Demon Clan.
Since Heavenly Emperor Ye had pleaded with him, Su Yu decided to grant him this favor.
The next moment, he closed his eyes, and his incomparably powerful divine sense pierced straight through the void. He destroyed the spatial array patterns that the major powers had joined forces to seal in the void, then spread his divine sense like rain across the sky.
The disturbance struck fear into the people from the three supreme powers. Such strength of divine sense had pierced straight through their array's restrictions. They could scarcely imagine what manner of being the other party was.
High in the sky, a white-robed young man flew out of a Ji Family war chariot. He had rugged features and a powerful build. Standing in the air, he called out, "Might I ask which senior is here? This junior is Ji Kongyue! My father is Ji Tianzhong."
Su Yu glanced at him indifferently and paid him no heed. He was merely a junior in the Four Extremes Realm. It was no use whoever his father was. He was neither an emperor's son nor Ye Fan's brother-in-law. In this lifetime, aside from Ji Zi, the Ji Family was full of mediocre people.
He soon found Pang Bo's presence. A golden-haired girl with wings on her back was holding him in a princess carry. The two were very intimate-or, more precisely, Pang Bo was the passive party, having fallen unconscious. They were sitting together in a war chariot.
Su Yu withdrew his divine sense and looked at the tense Ye Fan. "There's no need to worry about Pang Bo," he said calmly. "He's doing much better than you are right now."
Then Su Yu touched Ye Fan's brow and sent him an image of Pang Bo.
Before long, Ye Fan opened his eyes with a strange expression. It seemed his brother was quite blessed with romantic fortune, but why was that young woman of the Demon Clan doing this?
As though he had seen the question in Ye Fan's heart, Su Yu explained, "Pang Bo has the bloodline of an ancient demon king in him, and its purity isn't low."
Ye Fan still found it hard to believe. His lips parted slightly, and he could not quite understand it.
Su Yu said no more and simply walked onward. Ye Fan put aside his questions and followed him.
"There's a cultivation world on Earth too. Several thousand years ago, it was in no way inferior to the Big Dipper's. But spiritual Qi later declined, and some truly powerful Qi refiners left Earth. Pang Bo's ancestor might have been a demon king."
Ye Fan nodded. Daoist Su had originally been from Earth himself, so Ye Fan had long guessed that Earth had a cultivation world. Still, he was somewhat worried.
"Daoist, will the Demon Clan harm Pang Bo?"
"What do you think?"
Ye Fan smiled sheepishly and said no more. He followed Su Yu without worry. In such a dangerous place, the man before him was his greatest support for staying alive.
The two soon crossed three mountain ridges. On the fourth was a dark, deep pool, still as stone and without a single ripple. Waves of chilling air rose from it, making their hearts tremble.
There was also a familiar figure here.
A round, fat Daoist was fiddling with an unusual bronze mirror, gesturing this way and that at the mountain while muttering to himself. A trace of joy appeared on his face.
"One yang and one yin, holding fast to taiji. The heart, the source of power, is buried in the Yang Tomb, while the true, cold corpse is buried in the Yin Tomb. Infinite Heavenly Venerable, I actually found it! Hahahaha!"
His voice was very faint, but Ye Fan's spirit body was different from ordinary people's, and he heard every word. His heart jolted. Was the Demon Emperor's true corpse actually buried in this cold pool?
Duan De also spotted Su Yu at that moment. The joy on his face vanished instantly, and he tried to ride a Divine Rainbow away. Before he could get onto it, however, a beam of divine light seized him. He traced a beautiful arc through the air and fell in front of Su Yu.
The moment the fat Daoist landed, his breath ceased. His body lay stiff on the ground, motionless.
Su Yu looked at Duan De with interest. He had not expected this trick: the man was actually trying to play dead and frame him.
Ye Fan leaned forward and gently placed a finger beneath Duan De's nose. Then, seized by the acting bug, he said regretfully, "Daoist Duan has stopped breathing. I suppose he's gone. Alas, heaven envies the talented! Let me see him off on his final journey."
Before he had finished speaking, two fair, tender hands reached into the fat Daoist's robes. Duan De sprang up at once and shoved Ye Fan's wandering hands away. His wide mouth opened, his face ashen, and he said desolately, "Why, you little brat! I was only keeping those three spirit weapons safe for you for a while. It was for your own good! It's bad enough that you don't repay my kindness, but you're actually trying to loot a burning house!"
Ye Fan looked no more than twelve or thirteen at the moment, and his features were indeed very young.
Su Yu fixed his eyes on Duan De, making him increasingly nervous and causing his voice to grow quieter and quieter.
He racked his brains, but could not understand how he had offended such a forefather.
Su Yu said, "There's no need to be alarmed, Daoist Duan. I am Cao Yusheng. I've admired you for a long time. I heard your great name in the Holy City of the Northern Region, and I hold you in great admiration."
Cao Yusheng, why does that name sound so familiar? I've never met him, have I? the Unscrupulous Daoist Priest pondered. His body had jolted at the name "Cao Yusheng," but no matter how he tried, he could not remember. He could only put on a fawning smile and say, "I don't deserve your praise, Senior."
Su Yu watched Duan De's changing expression closely. Only when he saw the blank look on his face did he feel somewhat relieved.
It seems he really did sever everything. Nine lifetimes of Reincarnation Seals-this path to longevity is terrifying too!
Ye Fan looked at the unscrupulous Daoist with hostility. The man had robbed him three times, and he had yet to take revenge.
A thought occurred to him, and he said to Duan De, "Daoist Duan, I remember now. I threw that scrap of copper away right here."
Duan De rushed over to Ye Fan in excitement and gripped his shoulders tightly with two greasy, plump hands. "Young brother, you really threw that piece of copper away here..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence. Duan De looked nervously at Su Yu, while Ye Fan also felt somewhat guilty.
Seeing how guilty the two of them looked, Su Yu smiled knowingly.
He transmitted his voice to Ye Fan. "That piece of Green Copper really is a supreme treasure."
Unexpectedly, hearing this made Ye Fan's skin crawl even more. He felt only that he was in danger.
Su Yu did not know that Ye Hei was secretly maligning him in his heart. He grabbed the Unscrupulous Daoist Priest and held him aloft, smiling as he said, "Please accompany me, Daoist Duan! I'm very curious about the Demon Emperor's Yin Tomb myself!"
There had been no divine treasures inside this Yin Tomb in the original story, so, to increase the chances of finding one, he had deliberately brought Ye Fan and Duan De along: a son of fortune and a Heavenly Venerable's reincarnation.
No one in this world had stronger fortune than those gathered here!
He was going to create a special opportunity himself!
Chapter 70: Secret Patterns at the Bottom of the Pool
Ripples spread across the surface of the deep, pitch-black pool. It was still as stone, without a single ripple, and waves of chilling air rose from it, making one's heart tremble. Deathly silence reigned all around.
The supreme powers in the sky not far away had also stopped, not daring to act rashly. At the very center of the Desolate Antiquity Ji Family's convoy was an incomparably luxurious Golden War Chariot hung with pendants like red agate. A magnificent azure flood dragon stood before the chariot. The flood dragon seemed to sense that something was amiss and did not even dare raise its head and roar.
A Ji Family elder with white hair and beard sat in the Golden War Chariot. He said gravely to Ji Kongyue, "Since a great cultivator of the Immortal Platform Secret Realm has appeared here, we must not act rashly. I've already sent word to the family. Reinforcements will be here soon."
Ji Kongyue said respectfully, "The Jade Lake Sacred Land and the Yaoguang Holy Land must have done the same. Third Granduncle should make preparations early!"
Hearing Ji Kongyue's concern, the elder lightly stroked his white beard and said with an easy look, "Don't worry. The Eighth Ancestor happens to be in the Southern Region, and he isn't far from here. He'll arrive soon. Our Ji Family is determined to obtain the Demon Emperor's Tomb Grave."
A trace of joy appeared on Ji Kongyue's face. The Eighth Ancestor of the Ji Family was a Half-Step Great Power. The person hiding in the shadows was most likely a rogue cultivator. How could he match a supreme family like theirs?
This was also the consensus among the supreme powers. They cultivated emperor scriptures and had extraordinary bloodlines, so their combat strength at the same level was far greater than that of most rogue cultivators...
"Ah..."
A series of screams like a pig being slaughtered rang out in front of the cold pool, shattering the quiet and making the place seem even more eerie.
"Senior, spare me! This Yin Tomb is far too dangerous!
"Don't go in! Senior, have mercy..." the Unscrupulous Daoist Priest shrieked.
Ye Fan watched the movements of the various groups in the air, all sorts of thoughts surging through his mind. In the end, though, he followed Su Yu.
His expression was quite calm. He had made up his mind to give the piece of Green Copper to Su Yu.
Although Daoist Su had said the Green Copper was of no use to him, those were just words. Ye Fan must never take them at face value.
Ye Fan had spent several years in society after graduating and had considerable insight into reading a superior's thoughts. After all, Su Yu was his greatest backer on the Big Dipper, so it could not hurt to be careful. He had witnessed Su Yu unleash his divine sense to cover heaven and earth, his might leaving every power silent as cicadas in winter. This was a truly peerless expert, and he bore Ye Fan goodwill.
A ripple even passed through his heart. Had he known this would happen, he should have given Su Yu all the Sacred Fruits in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land and had Su Yu take him as a disciple.
He had been cultivating in Spirit Ruins Paradise these days, but his cultivation with Hundred Herb Liquid had progressed very slowly. It had taken him nearly a full year just to open his Bitter Sea, and he did not know how far he could cultivate.
Su Yu walked toward the cold pool, and a passage opened of its own accord through the bone-chilling water. The two walked in.
With his worries set aside, Ye Fan looked at the fat Daoist's miserable state and even had the leisure to tease Duan De.
"Why the bitter face, Daoist? You were already at this pool, so you must have had designs on the Demon Emperor's Yin Tomb too. Now you've gotten your wish."
Duan De, still held in Su Yu's hand, glared at Ye Fan irritably. Then his eyes turned to the pitch-black water, sweeping all around.
The supreme treasure of the Human Clan in the Eastern Wasteland!
If the piece of copper really was here, he could simply risk it all. He was completely confident he could keep himself alive.
Unfortunately, the group found nothing. There was nothing in the water.
Duan De put on a fawning look, the flesh on his face squeezing his eyes into slits. Baring a set of large white teeth, he smiled at Su Yu. "Fellow Daoist Cao, I've thought it through. To be able to explore the Demon Emperor's Mausoleum is truly the good fortune of three lifetimes. Could you put me down, fellow Daoist?"
Su Yu glanced at him, an inscrutable smile on his lips, and set him down. The three walked together into the depths of the cold pool.
Boom!
A huge whirlpool suddenly appeared deep in the black, cold pool. A savage beast rose and sank within it, emerging in the depths of the black water.
Its entire body was pitch-black, as though cast from black gold. It was bizarrely shaped, with three heads: the central one resembled an ape's, while the heads on either side were those of a bird and a snake. Its body was that of a "nether horse" cast from black gold. It had no feathers or hair anywhere, and black scales covered its body, gleaming with a metallic sheen that made it look powerful and strong.
"Roar!"
The Black Gold Ape, more than ten meters long, roared in the water. Its deep bellow made Ye Fan feel as though his soul were drifting, on the verge of leaving his body.
"Seize!"
Su Yu raised his hand and unleashed a brilliant ray of purple light mixed with a trace of Chaos Qi. With a single strike, he suppressed and killed the Black Gold Ape's primordial spirit. The vicious beast sank quietly into the pool, its face still savage but without a trace of life.
Behind Su Yu, Ye Fan's eyes shone. He yearned for such divine might and held firm to the belief that one day he too could become such a powerful cultivator.
More water churned at the bottom of the pool, and a troop of Yin soldiers in black iron armor charged out. Each held a dark Yin saber, and all were steeped in death Qi.
Water surged in the black pool as battered ancient war chariots emerged one after another, each carrying a load of Yin soldiers. Their bodies were covered from head to toe in tungsten-iron armor, and they carried either black Yin sabers or black nether halberds.