1266 - Revisiting Old Fish
Chapter 1266 Revisiting Old Fish
After returning to [Heroes’ Castle] and holding some discussions, Song Xiaojun returned to the Unmoving City of Darkness in advance to take charge of it.
After all, the Dark Realm was currently in an era of great transformation. Under Ye Qingyu’s leadership, tremendous changes were happening at all times throughout the Dark Realm, and many policies directly overturned the deep-rooted traditions of this land. In particular, the benefits of the aristocracy were largely infringed upon. Although Ye Qingyu’s imperial might had already shocked the world, he still had to guard against the desperate actions of some large forces.
At present, the Unmoving City of Darkness was the place where military force was most concentrated throughout the Dark Realm, and thus required a sufficiently heavyweight Emperor to be in authority. Song Xiaojun was clearly such a character.
Despite her reluctance to part, she eventually left.
For three days, Ye Qingyu inspected the martial cultivations and techniques of the youths and gave pointers to every one of them.
Aside from the Human Race, the youths also comprised of the young talents of the Heaven Wasteland Domain’s Brute Race and Demon Race, albeit their numbers were not large. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that every youth was a talent who was staunchly loyal to the Heaven Wasteland Empireand, in particular, Ye Qingyu. Hence, the latter also poured in considerable efforts for them. In his eyes, these two hundred-plus talented heroes constituted the nucleus that would govern the world in the future, and were the top candidates he had assembled into a team on his own.
Having heard more past stories about the Divine Light Emperor and the Sky Emperor, Ye Qingyu realized that the strength of one’s person was ultimately insufficient to confront the final evil. As strong as the Divine Light Emperor was, he also had the battle division of the Divine Light Court under his command. In the pursuit of infinity, it was impossible to single-handedly stem the raging tides every time. In particular, it would definitely be impossible to act alone in confronting the calamity of civilization reincarnation.
In reality, Ye Qingyu had long vaguely realized that carrying forward the ancient civilization was one of the trains of thought in this respect.
However, the promotion of the ancient civilization could maximally increase the battle strength of ordinary beings. Even those beings that did not have martial cultivation could develop tremendous battle strength within a short period of time as long as they mastered the operational techniques of those weapons. Nevertheless, the developmental direction of the ancient civilization would ultimately not be able to produce true top-level experts. In terms of the absolute apex of battle strength, they would be comparable to formation weapons.
As for the two hundred-plus people before his eyes, they clearly met Ye Qingyu’s requirements to develop high-end battle strength.
Loyal, sufficiently-seasoned, well-grounded, and limitless in potential; given enough time, these two hundred-plus boys and girls would definitely grow up and, in due course, hold up a safe and warm sky for all beings of the Heavenland Wasteland Empire, if not the Vast Thousand Domains.
Currently, Ye Qingyu’s cultivation could be said to be standing at the peak height of a contemporary Emperor.
With his effortful advice, these young talents with superb comprehension abilities benefited greatly.
In truth, even he was somewhat jealous that they had such opportunities.
Within the three days, Ye Qingyu had originally thought about attempting to open the last three hundred mysterious rooms in the [Heroes’ Castle], but did not take action after more consideration. He decided that these opportunities were better left to the youths, and were the riches that belonged to them. Moreover, it was with such an incentivizing target that they would double their efforts so as to open more rooms and obtain more treasures.
Three days went by in a flash.
Traveling alone, he entered the time-space vortex again and arrived in the Yellow Springs sea tens of thousands of kilometers away.
As soon as he appeared, a figure who was bellowing in an awful voice jumped out of the water and said, “Rascal, you truly are a wastrel. How could you actually give an entire jade bottle of chaotic thunder liquid to this old moneygrubber, and even let him use it to anger me...”
Hearing this voice, Ye Qingyu’s figure shook violently, becoming overjoyed at once.
He saw a giant carp of several kilometers long jump out of the Yellow Springs water and splash up a huge wave on the surface. With its tail propped on the surface, it stood up and instantly began to shrink, eventually becoming about two meters long. Its eyes stared at Ye Qingyu, looking terribly angry.
It was Old Fish.
Ye Qingyu knew just by hearing the voice.
Back then, he had also seen Old Fish’s true form, which was none other than a giant carp.
Never thought Old Fish would appear here.
Besides, compared to back then, Old Fish’s true form had changed greatly. The dreadful Great Dao injuries that once covered its body had completely healed, such that its pure-golden scales seemed like they were cast from Immortal gold, and its fins were as sharp as divine weapons. Its entire body gave off a penetrating and powerful aura.
Perhaps, only this was the true face of the Inspiration King who dominated the world’s seas and reigned over the seven oceanic races.
“Ahahaha… are you frightened by my perfect Emperor true form?” Old Fish looked up at the sky and laughed. With his fins akimbo, he did not have the demeanor of an elder master at all. Instead, he looked like a rogue carp that had gained Dao, his posture pompous to the extreme.
Ye Qingyu could tell that his injuries had mostly healed.
However, on second thought, Ye Qingyu felt something was not right.
Didn’t this geezer say that he hadn’t become Emperor?
Why is he now calling this his Emperor true form?
As if discerning Ye Qingyu’s doubts, Old Fish laughed and said in a rightful manner, “Heh heh, at that time, I was at your mercy and naturally had to be slightly low-key, and that’s why I absolutely couldn’t tell you the truth. Otherwise, if you ever found out that I’m an Emperor, who knows if you’d then find a large pot and stew me into soup? You should know that an Emperor’s body is full of supreme treasures all over. If you ate a piece of me, perhaps you might even have become a Great Saint instantly.”
Ye Qingyu was speechless.
This Old Fish is too narcissistic.
Seeing his expression, Old Fish chortled. “So, what do you think? Nothing to say, eh? Even if you could restrain your greed, that dog beside you, as far as my unparalleled vision tells me, is an ass that eats anything...”
Hearing this, Ye Qingyu suddenly felt that Old Fish’s words were quite right, and thus he had nothing to say in reply.
“Why are you here?” He decided to change the topic at once, so as to prevent this geezer from blabbering on about these insignificant topics.
“Didn’t I get someone to send word to you? I’m gonna do a few things.” Old Fish looked at Ye Qingyu as if looking at a fool. “When doing things, there’s naturally a high chance that I would appear in many different places… There’s something here that can treat my injuries, and that’s why I appear here. Can’t you understand such a simple reason?”
With that, he shook his tail before gradually transforming into human form. It was a familiar, shabby-looking old man’s figure, albeit completely naked. Smiling smugly, he actually did not realize this at first, and only sensed that his crotch was a little cold when a gust of wind suddenly blew by. Giving a squeal, he used both hands to cover his vital parts, saying, “Dammit, I’ve grown too used to being in this uninhabited place, and forgot… Rascal, turn around and don’t peek. Let me put on a set of clothes first.”
Ye Qingyu helplessly covered his eyes.
As the saying went, the same recipe produces the same taste. Old Fish was indeed still as lowly as ever and still such an eyesore.
A moment later, he guffawed and said, “Done...”
He had put on a set of long linen robes and tied his long flaming hair in a golden band. His face was lean and dignified, and his figure slender. On careful examination, it would be discovered that there were a few points of similarity with that dreadful old geezer image of back then. In particular, his facial features had not changed much, albeit his entire temperament was the complete opposite of what it used to be. If it could be said that the impression he gave others in the past was that of an indecent huckster who would even try to cheat little children by the roadside of their candies, the present him truly had the Emperor demeanor of an Inspiration King who dominated the seven seas like he had boasted about.
Back then, when he opened his mouth and spoke, his expression would remain dreadful and his voice would contain a natural and hard-to-conceal filth.
In the distance, the battered black boat was drifting near.
“Teacher!” Bai Yuanxing excitedly shouted from afar, throwing caution to the wind as he stepped across the waves.
He had evidently ended his isolation and made great gains. Unexpectedly, his cultivation had attained the extreme depths of the Quasi-emperor realm, such that he could walk on the waves of this Yellow Springs sea. This clearly meant that he was much, much more powerful than Jin Ling’er and the Li siblings.
At present, he was dressed in white robes, with his black hair resembling a waterfall and his figure tall and slender. He was actually becoming increasingly similar to Ye Qingyu in appearance. A figure like that of Ye Qingyu when he dominated the Vast Thousand Domains invincibly could be vaguely seen, possessing similar temperament and resembling a blood brother.
Seeing Ye Qingyu once again, Bai Yuanxing was excited and agitated like never before.
“Teacher, I’ve brought everyone out, leaving no one behind, and thus I’ve succeeded in my mission. The only thing is that, Liu Shaji, Swordsman Liu Shaji, he...” He reported everything from that day to Ye Qingyu, his expressions becoming animated when mentioning Liu Shaji. It was highly evident that Liu Shaji’s sacrifice was a knot in his heart that he could never unravel.
“I know about it. Don’t worry, White Lotus Sword Sect’s heritage won’t end just like that.” Ye Qingyu patted Bai Yuanxing on the shoulder.
“Huh? I sense a strange aura on your body...” Old Fish, who had been standing by one side all this time, suddenly seemed to detect something. “This aura… did you see a tree?”
“I’ve seen many,” Ye Qingyu replied grumpily. “Which one are you referring to?”
“No, I’m referring to a very big tree...” Old Fish did not argue with Ye Qingyu for once, saying with a serious countenance, “You must’ve seen it before, otherwise, why would your body have the World Tree’s aura? Tell me where is it now. This is very important.”
In truth, Ye Qingyu already knew which tree this old geezer was talking about.
He inwardly weighed whether to tell Old Fish that the World Tree was within his own body.
Just then, Old Fish’s eyes sparkled. “Believe me, if I find that tree, we’d be rich even if we pluck just a single leaf… Hahaha, this is an opportunity as big as the sky.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingyu suddenly did not want to tell him.