Chapter 449 - Bet All on a Single Venture
Chapter 449 Bet All on a Single Venture
The news that the city of Lin’an, the capital of Northern Song, abruptly caved in and was engulfed by the demonic light that poured out from under the ground wildly spread throughout the Divine Land, attracting the attention of the three great empires, major factions, and renowned clans.
Several days later, someone released another news saying that secret treasures under Lin’an were revealed, and the secret of entering the Void-breaking Realm was buried right beneath that city. Immediately, the various forces from all places started to converge in Li Mu like sharks that had smelled blood.
The royal family of the Northern Song stationed armies on the outskirts of Lin’an. They were open-minded toward the gathering and did not take any measures to stop the forces coming to the city. But they did warn them that their entry could be highly dangerous.
Many martial arts forces ignored the warning of the Northern Song and went directly into Lin’an, which had already become a ruin. They also found the entrances to the Tomb of the God of Sin in the large pits, and countless martial art experts scrambled to get in.
“Senior Fellow Apprentice Dao Lan, are you sure the precious opportunities are in there?” Dao Zhen asked. He looked rather weather-beaten in his already tattered Taoist robes. Having the ancient sword with wood grains strapped on his back, he stood before an entrance at the bottom of a pit of the Tomb of the God of Sin, hesitating.
Dao Lan looked sluggish as he always did. He answered, “Well… Maybe probably there is some.”
Dao Zhen and the rest of his followers from Mount Qingcheng all went speechless at that reply.
“So you don’t know it for sure at all! Then why did you drag all of us here? Although the previous attacks on Mount Xuankong failed, and the losses were heavy, that was at least more meaningful than wasting time here.”
Dao Qin hurriedly explained, “I have received a tip-off that Dao Ling and Xuan Chengzi have taken their men into this maze. If they find the treasure before us, then, it will even more difficult to recover Mount Xuankong. This time, they finally stepped out of Mount Xuankong. So, our chance is here.”
After learning about the existence of treasures from reliable sources, Dao Ling and dozens of his men from Mount Xuankong entered the underground maze beneath Lin’an. That was why Dao Ling did not mobilize his subordinates to wipe out Dao Zhen’s force after he came out of his closed-door training.
“Go.” Dao Zhen, who was not hesitant anymore, took the lead and went directly into the entrance emitting black demonic light.
Having been instructed by Li Mu and gone through several fierce battles, Dao Zhen had changed a lot. He had abandoned some untimely naive fantasies and become more decisive and balanced.
The others followed after him and got into the tomb.
At the same time, a special guest arrived at the temporary palace of the Northern Song built against a mountain. Even the emperor of the Northern Song had to come to the field to welcome him.
“Senior Demon.” The young emperor of the Northern Song greeted apprehensively.
That day, the master of the Temple of Devils, the most mysterious one of the Nine Superbs whom even the royal family did not know about, suddenly came to the temporary palace of the Northern Song. The emperor wondered what had brought him to the palace. After all, the world was quite eventful recently. Devil races were powerful enough to confront the human race, only that they were too scattered and a majority of them were hiding in the mountains and deep valleys. Although no government or country was established, the devil races had daunting resources and strength. Once they were mobilized, their united power would not be less than that of the human race.
The Temple of Devils had protected the devil races, disseminated Cultivation Methods, and educated millions of devils for ages. It was the holy place in the eyes of the devils. Its status was way higher than the status that the royals of the three great empires enjoyed in the eyes of men.
“I’m here this time to pick up an old acquaintance. Your Majesty, please allow me.” The devil of the Temple of Devils said with a smile.
No one knew how old that legendary figure of the demon races really was. He already took the lead in the demon races 1,000 years ago. He was the number one practitioner in demon races who was also quite mysterious. But that day, he appeared to be a middle-aged gentleman in long cloth robes, like a private teacher in a small village. He emanated not even the slightest pressure and majesty, making the others feel as if bathed in a spring breeze.
“An old acquaintance?”
The emperor of the Northern Song exchanged mystified looks with his subordinates.
“Within the royal family, there is an old acquaintance of the legendary figure of the devil races?”
The devil pointed at Daji, the little fox spirit that was sitting meekly in Lord Virtuous the Eighth’s arms, and said, “The one I’m looking for is that little girl.”
“You chose to run away?”
In the petrified woods, a black-clothed old man with his hair worn in a bun on top of his head and sharp facial features as if sculpted by a graver was flabbergasted, as though he had seen a ghost during the day.
“Can’t win.” The boy in black answered with only two words, his typical style.
“You little lunatic, you’ve always rushed into fights whether it is possible to win or not, haven’t you? You have no fear for any disciples of the major factions in the Brilliance Immortal Galaxy that have landed here, do you?” The old man in black asked teasingly after being astounded by the boy’s answer.
There were shame and indignance in the face of the boy in black. He then remarked, “An aboriginal, nasty piece, very shameless, very cunning… she died.”
His words were incoherent and confusing, but the old man in black immediately understood that the boy was scared away by a native of the planet, and the old woman with the black cane was also killed by him.
“Let’s go. I want to see what kind of person that aboriginal is to make you, the Black Maniac, beat a retreat.” The old man was really quite curious.
“Ouch, it hurts… I finally recovered half of my magic power. Li Mu, you are dead!” In the petrified forest, the kid from the witch tribe wailed under his breath.
Like the pupa in the stage of molting, he cast off the outer skin and flesh and materialized from a mist of blood as a gook-looking teenage boy. His body proportions were perfect, only his legs from below the knee were slightly deformed.
That was because he had been forced out of the body of his biological mother by Li Mu before his Dastardly Witchcraft could mature. That deformed legs were the after-effect of the “premature delivery”.
“I’ve gained another 15 years. Now, I’ve recovered half of my strength. If I run into Li Mu again, I will beat the shit out of him!”
He cursed furiously and headed back for the Five Villages Temple.
A stream of black light was zooming ten meters above the ground within 100 kilometers of Five Villages Temple without a stop.
After half an hour—
“Found it.”
That streamer of black light swooped down and landed in front of a cave, then, turned into a middle-aged man clad in a black-and-red armor, carrying a blood-colored broadsword, who strode straight into the cave.
Going down 100 meters along the winding tunnel in the cave, he saw that a cluster of black demonic light was revolving on its spot, and constantly outlining a tall figure.
The middle-aged man frowned, conjured up a cluster of demonic auras in his palm, and injected it into the black demonic light.
With the assistance, the black demonic light started flying around and quickly turned into a tall and burly man. That was exactly Celestial Demon Emperor, or say, Emperor Qin Ming.
“Master.” Emperor Qin Ming looked at the middle-aged man in awe and saluted in a haste.
“I’ve taught you the authentic method, made you live for over 1,000 years, and helped you become the emperor of the Western Qin. After so many years of training, you still can’t get such simple work done?” The middle-aged person said harshly with a disappointed look.
“Master, pardon me. His name is Li Mu. My plans have been frustrated by him multiple times. I suspect that he is the future leader of a powerful alien sect. He came to this world with a divine method and restrained our Heavenly Devil Sect’s Cultivation Method.” Emperor Qin Ming quickly told his master everything about Li Mu.
“Oh? Broadsword-using methods? Broadsword-commanding Skill? Never heard of such arts. Could he be the future leader of a faction outside the Brilliance Immortal Galaxy? It’s unbelievable that he can land on this planet at an early time. According to your statement, he is likely to be the one.” The middle-aged knitted his eyebrows and began to muse, apparently having quitted blaming Emperor Qin Ming.
Emperor Qin Ming hastily added, “Master, if that man is really the future leader of a great faction outside the Brilliance Immortal Galaxy, what should we do to handle the situation?”
The middle-aged person looked up, scarlet light flowing in his eyes. He gave a sneer and hissed, “Whoever gets in my way shall be killed… Come with me. If we meet Li Mu again, just kill him with your sword.”
The two walked out of the cave and made their way towards the Five Villages Temple.
Li Mu marched towards the four disciples of Hun Yuan Sect with a rather malicious look.
Flop!
The four dropped to their knees at once.
“Master, we really haven’t lied. We don’t have the map. And we’ve told you all we know,” uttered the four men in panic.
The last time Li Mu put on such an expression was after giving them a good beat to make them confess the truth about the immortal and the demon. So, once Devil Li advanced on them with a dark face, it meant that they were going to be beaten.
“The four of us, and that Junior Fellow Apprentice Xu who you’ve beaten into a pulp, are just the vanguard. The real map is in the hands of an elder of our sect. We have no way to look for the immortal in question until that elder arrives.” The knitted eyebrows explained in a hurry.
It had been more than 20 hours since Li Mu and others took off from the Five Villages Temple. But they were not in luck, because up to that time they still had not found a trace of the immortal in the legend. They were now completely clueless.
Time flew by.
There was not much time left for Li Mu and his companies.
The map of Tomb of the God of Sin sent out by that immortal was the highest secret of all the major factions in the Brilliance Immortal Galaxy. Only the top 20 major factions had copies of it. Without the help of the map, Li Mu found nothing in the tomb even though he scanned everywhere he went with his Third Eye.
“Who is that elder of your sect? When will he land on this planet? How can he get in touch with you?” Li Mu withdrew his fists and asked menacingly.
The hawk-nose said, “The elder our sect selected for this landing is Elder Zhao Jing, the Limitless Mixed Spirit. When he comes to this world, he will contact us with our Hun Yuan Sect’s special contact device…”
Before his words died away—
A round jade pendant hanging from the waist of the hawk-nose glittered a light gold.
“This is an inquiry from Elder Zhao Jing!” The hawk-nose shuddered, his face written with dismay, his eyes fixed upon Li Mu.
The round jade was exactly the Hun Yuan Sect’s contact device.
When It flashed red, it meant Zhao Jing, the Limitless Mixed Spirit, had landed in that world.
“How strong is Zhao Jing?” Li Mu inquired.
The hawk-nose quickly answered, “Elder Zhao is at the first level of the Soldier Realm. His strength ranks sixth in our Hun Yuan Sect. His mastery of the Primordial Spirit cultivation is the strongest, which ranks first in the sect, Given that, he has been selected for this landing.”
“Soldier Realm?” Li Mu frowned.
The knitted eyebrow said, “Master, here is the thing. The cultivation realms in our galaxy are slightly different from this world. There are several major realms. The lower three realms are Void-breaking Realm, Life and Death Bridge, and Soldier Realm, which are also called Worms Realm, Mortal Realm, and Soldier Realm respectively.”
Li Mu quickly grasped the gist.
The Soldier Realm was one of the many cultivation realms in that galaxy, which was above the realm of Life and Death Bridge.
“When those in the Soldier Realm come to the Tomb of the God of Sin, will they be subject to repression of the Grand Demon-subduing Formation as well?” Qing Feng, who had understood what Li Mu was thinking, added the question.
“Yes, that’s positive,” answered the hawk-nose.
After that, Qing Feng asked the four more questions in succession, which were all about the strength of those at the first level of the Soldier Realm, their magical power, combat ability, and the like. After drawing a relatively clear definition of that realm, the attendant lowered his head and deliberated for a while and then nodded to Li Mu.
Li Mu took a deep breath and commanded, “You pick up the contact device, tell Zhao Jing where we are and ask him to come here.”
He was going to bet all on a single venture!
Guo Yuqing, who had been next to Li Mu, also figured out what he was going to do.