Chapter 660: Reward
Chapter 660: Reward
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Xue Ying was in no rush to visit the Black Rain Eden. Instead, he descended onto a plain and sat down cross-legged. Nevertheless, his figure remained illusory and real at the same time as Xue Ying used the Mirage world to maintain a vigilant watch over his surroundings. He was, after all, still within the Lower Three Edens of the Six Heavenly Wheel, which meant he could not be careless.
'Let's see if these two protectors were carrying any good stuff.' Xue Ying had yet to thoroughly look through the treasures left behind by the protectors he killed.
With a flip of his hand, a dark gray stone rod appeared before him.
'So heavy.' Xue Ying felt apprehensive. Considering his strength, he could easily annihilate planets within the starry sky with a flick of his finger. However, even someone like him thought the stone rod to be very heavy.
'The manufacturing of this stone rod is too crude, so crude, in fact, that it can't even compare to a World Deity weapon.' Xue Ying was dumbstruck. This was ultimately a weapon used by a protector of the Ancestor Mother Religion, but it had no more than a single ordinary function that could be considered either strong or weak. In any case, the reason why it was incomparably heavy was purely because of the material it was crafted from. This was precisely Protector Cheng Yun's weapon of choice.
'Protector Cheng Yun was still at the stage four World Deity realm regarding his usage of the laws of profound mysteries, so why would his weapon be so crude?' Xue Ying thought.
What he did not know was that, before the Ancestor Mother Religion entering their cultivation cosmos, they had no mention of the laws of profound mysteries in their cultivation techniques! Their laws and profound mysteries were much cruder, and it was only after coming here that they gained some knowledge from the cultivation system of the cultivators. It was at that point that they started improving rapidly since their fundamentals were ultimately very high—most protectors could easily become stage four World Deities.
However, reaching a realm any higher than that would prove much more difficult.
'What material did they even use to make it so heavy? Furthermore, it is so tough that it might as well be unbreakable,' Xue Ying inwardly murmured. 'I'll just ask teacher once I get back. The value of this material alone should place it at a considerably high price.'
He brought out treasure after treasure.
Even though some of them were rather queer—he could not even recognize what they did—the majority were useless.
'Poor… truly poor. He basically brought no valuable treasure along with him. His belongings are most likely on Protector Huo Zhu's person,' Xue Ying thought. Back when Protector Huo Zhu brought out the dried yellow leaf, Xue Ying could sense the aura inherent within the item despite him being more than fifty billion kilometers away. It was far beyond even the Ancient Demon's aura.
Protector Cheng Yun was far too poor by comparison. He was likely at most comparable to ordinary Cultivators, and judging by his treasures alone, he was in no qualified to possess the identity of a protector.
'Let's check the other protector.' Xue Ying next brought out the treasures left behind by Protector Zhong She.
"Hua."
An entirely black blade appeared in his hand, its body thin and covered in sculpted patterns.
'This weapon's refinement is much more exquisite than that of the stone rod. What, a True God weapon?! And it even has a Dao that reached eternity?' Xue Ying revealed a cheerful expression. This True God weapon was bound to be worth a fortune. Since the actual bodies of the dead protectors were located back in their home cosmos, any True God weapon would no longer be able to sense the existence living in another cosmos upon their death. As a result, they would instantly become ownerless, a fact he could easily confirm.
'The Dao inherent to this weapon is quite unique.' Xue Ying sensed a void world within, as well as an unseen blade light emitting a sharp, bloody aura.
'The Dao of Blade, is it?' Xue Ying guessed.
Such terminology was granted by cultivators.
This True God blade's Dao had a crazed and frenzied aura embedded with slaughter. The blade sought to kill everything standing before it—kill, kill, kill—nothing could stand in its way. The killing intent was truly heavy, reaching the boundary of a mad devil's. It was faintly similar to the Dao of the demons within the Dark Abyss.
'I'll call it Devil Blade, then.' Xue Ying casually named the weapon. This might be a True God weapon containing an eternity-level Dao of Slaughter, placing its value extremely close to the Blood Serpent Spear, but he had to be very careful when comprehending it, since even a slight investigation of this weapon allowed him to realize that the crazed aura being transmitted from within was trying to influence him.
...
Having briefly investigated the items, Xue Ying was left with a sensation of both joy and shock. The treasures left behind by Protector Zhong She were much more valuable than Protector Cheng Yun's. From the types of treasures they were, he could deduce that they were likely obtained by killing paragons, or through miraculous encounters within the Six Heavenly Wheel. As such, most of these treasures actually belonged to the cultivation cosmos, with the most precious being the Devil Blade with its eternity-level Dao.
"Sou." Xue Ying stored everything back. Soon afterward, he shot up into the sky, flying towards the vast maelstrom formed by clouds.
The space within the maelstrom was distorted.
"Hu."
After entering, he proceeded without any wasted time to the new Eden.
As he moved further inwards, everything in front of Xue Ying turned illusory. As he appeared in mid-air, he noticed that everything in front of him was marked by endless rain. The rainwater here was black in color, and it seemed to fall without pause nor end.
'The Black Rain Eden…' Xue Ying flipped his hand, bringing out his Three Devil Command Token. At the same time he grabbed it, he employed its ability to get a sense of the location it was pointing towards.
'Over there.'
Xue Ying immediately understood that the Eroding Bone Palace was to his left.
But…
He was in no rush to get there! Having arrived at the Black Rain Eden, he would naturally first visit Monarch Hex Cricket who was stationed here permanently.
"Sou, sou, sou!"
Teleporting through the Mirage world allowed him to cover long distances in a short time. Even though he wasn't deliberately rushing, he still managed to include a few hundred billion kilometers within a breath's worth of time. He arrived by a black lake, where he found a dark-green middle-aged man wearing luxurious robes seated on top of a stone which jutted out of the lake. This man had two soft antennae on his head, and his eyes glowed green.
A pillar of dim green light covered a region of more than a trillion kilometers with him as the center. The pillar shot up into the sky, piercing through the blue dome of the heavens.
This person was precisely Monarch Hex Cricket, and he was tasked to remain stationed here, guarding the place all by himself. He was the sort of existence that left the Ancestor Mother Religion feeling helpless! After all, while he was indeed lacking in terms of frontal combat power when compared with someone like the Ancient Demon, the laws of profound mysteries used by Monarch Hex Cricket were at an extremely high level. His specialized in two Daos, both geared towards survivability, and he had already cultivated both to an extremely high degree; he lacked a single, final step before he could reach the ruler realm.
Most Paragons would be considered capable even if they specialized in a single survival Dao.
But Monarch Hex Cricket specialized in two different types! Since he was able to utilize them in concert, even rulers found themselves unable to deal with him. In fact, his survival capabilities were much stronger even than those of most Rulers! Even the Ancestor Mother Religion, with their clan protection treasures, could not deal with him; the two Daos Monarch Hex Cricket cultivated were heaven-shattering. One of them was called 'Undying', and the other one 'Life'. As a result of his cultivation, he was virtually unkillable under normal circumstances. Furthermore, according to the intelligence reports, the Ancestor Mother Religion had once paid a colossal price to kill him, and had seemingly succeeded—his soul had dispersed without leaving a single strand of his existence behind.
However, before they realized it, Monarch Hex Cricket had revived and was already back within the Black Rain Eden.
While someone like Water Devil King could at least be trapped by the Primal Master…
Monarch Hex Cricket… was someone whom even the Primal Master might not be able to imprison. Besides, with how kind and benevolent he was and how good of a temper he had, none of the rulers had ever even thought of moving against him. Even the Temporal Island Lord, who was known for his cunningness and selfishness, had never acted against him.
He was ranked behind Monarch Green and the Heavenly Emperor of Great Destruction, but that was only because his offensive power was weaker than theirs.
"Hua." Monarch Hex Cricket opened his eyes, putting on a cheerful expression as he looked at Xue Ying. "Monarch Dong Bo."
His smile was filled with endless life. Despite being seated here, within this despondent Black Rain Eden, he was so full of life energy that he could even influence the surrounding region of a trillion kilometers.
"Monarch Hex Cricket." Xue Ying descended to stand atop of the Black Rain Lake.
"I heard you've killed another protector from the Ancestor Mother Religion. That makes two dead, one after the other," Monarch Hex Cricket exclaimed in admiration.
"It was just luck. I've only broken through recently, so nobody knew in the entire cosmos was aware of my true combat power. They also underestimated me, giving me the chance to succeed with a single move." Xue Ying laughed. "It would be much more difficult to kill another protector from now on."
The Ancestor Mother Religion now had a deeper understanding of Xue Ying, and would naturally raise their vigilance in his presence. They would not give him another chance.
"It's precisely because you opened a Dao within a million years—and the Dao of Mirage no less—that made them lose their heads and allowed you to succeed," Monarch Hex Cricket replied. "Not everybody can hope to accomplish such feats within a million years.
"By now, it's not just the rulers, but most of the apex paragons already know about your achievement." Monarch Hex Cricket chuckled. "The Ancestor Mother Religion is no secret amongst apex Paragons. Your killing two protectors actually managed to attract the astonishment of many old friends of mine. Even Great Destruction, with that cold temper of his, took the initiative to ask me about you as if he couldn't quite believe it. As of now, most of those old friends of mine are talking about you."