Chapter 1630: The Xuanming Dwelling
Chapter 1630: The Xuanming Dwelling
The black clouds tossed and turned like ink as the fierce winds whistled over the sea. The colossal waves reached for the skies. This stormy sea had basically never settled down before, constantly providing the coldness of the north to the Human realm.
Among the raging waves, a mountain jutted out from the surface of the ocean, standing above the sea like a giant, holding up the entire cloud cover with a single hand.
All four sides of the mountain were precipitous cliffs and jagged rocks, which produced strange howls as the wind blew by. It seemed as if thousands of vicious beasts were trying to come alive.
It was originally an extinct volcano. Having been pulled higher by its past masters, it had already become unbelievably imposing. Its shape was different from any regular mountainous island, and its name had been changed countless times too.
The Xuanming dwelling—that was its current name. Its past master was Lin Xuan, and its current master was Li Qingshan, both of who were first senior brothers of the Myriad sect, or more accurately, once were.
At this moment, a streak of light flew over, shining with blue within the green and absolutely blinding. It did not make any attempts to hide its tracks. When it approached the mountain, it immediately descended from above, stopping right above the surface of the ocean. He was the master of the Department of Heavenly Dwellings from the Myriad sect, Pi Yangqiu, having come under the first senior sister Dai Mengfan’s orders to take back the Xuanming dwelling.
Pi Yangqiu looked up at the mountain. His face was also overcast.
Since Li Qingshan has already fallen into the Demon domain, he shouldn’t be bold enough to return to the Human realm. He’s probably abandoned this dwelling. There should be no risk at all in the mission this time.
However, when he gazed at the huge, black mountain, he could not help but connect it to Li Qingshan.
Outside Black Cloud city, he led an army of hundreds of thousands against a Demon God.
No one who had experienced that war could ever forget those sights.
Back then, Li Qingshan was the same as him, only a Yang Soul cultivator. Now, he had already crossed the threshold of mortals and immortals, becoming a mighty Human Immortal, no, Heretic God. Just how terrifying was he now?
Damn you, Dai Mengfan! Pi Yangqiu cursed inside.
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That was his guess, but Li Qingshan always exceeded expectations. If he really was in the Xuanming dwelling right now, then breaching the formation was no different from asking to die.
However, if he did nothing at all, there would be nothing good awaiting him once he returned to the Myriad sect either.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Pi Yangqiu bowed all the way down to the ground towards the mountain and called out, “First senior brother, Pi Yangqiu has come to meet you!” His greeting was respectful and comprehensive, like a subject seeking an audience with his lord.
Pi Yangqiu had come up with a plan before he came here. If Li Qingshan really was inside, he would act like nothing had happened and catch up with him before immediately fleeing back to Myriad city and declaring the mission a failure. It was not like anyone could demand him to defeat a Heretic God.
However, if the demonic nature had taken over Li Qingshan and he no longer acknowledged their past friendship, refusing to let him go easily, then he could only fall into the Demon domain with him.
However, that was basically the worst-case scenario. Unless he had no other choice, he refused to mingle with demonfolk. It was not because of his moral integrity or that he believed that the wicked should never be forgotten, but because he had never thought the demonfolk could achieve anything. Who would want to join a force that was destined for failure?
That was unless there was something wrong with their heads! Yeah, there was something wrong with Li Qingshan’s head. He was strong, but there was something wrong with his head. Pi Yangqiu was incredibly certain about it.
His voice contained his powers, so it boomed through the surroundings, temporarily drowning out the whistling winds.
He buried his head behind his sleeves, but his ears pricked up, counting his breath and listening quietly.
However, by the time his voice vanished, after taking ten breaths, there was still only the whistling winds in the surroundings. The Xuanming dwelling was still as deathly silent as ever.
Pi Yangqiu beamed inside, Sure enough, that kid is no longer in the Human realm.
However, he still was not bold enough to be careless. He bowed again and said loudly, “First senior brother, I’ve come!”
The bow this time was no longer as deep as the last. He only bent his waist slightly. Li Qingshan had never really cared about etiquette anyway. Even if he was inside there, he probably would not blame him for this.
The Xuanming dwelling remained silent.
Pi Yangqiu let out a sigh of relief, basically relaxing completely. He could not help but sneer self-deprecatingly at his wariness, except he straightened himself out and yelled out again, basically making one last probing attempt, “Li Qingshan, I’m coming!”
After finally confirming that Li Qingshan was not around, Pi Yangqiu exhaled in relief and immediately took out a scroll of bamboo slips from his sleeve. He tossed it into the air, and the bamboo slips scattered as twenty-four streaks of green light, turning into twenty-four screens of light that surrounded the Xuanming dwelling. Their glow mixed together to form a single entity despite being scattered.
He had actually assembled another formation outside the formation, using a formation to breach the formation.
Dai Mengfan truly had reasons for sending him to breach the formation. As the master of the Department of Heavenly Dwellings, Pi Yangqiu was most skilled in the method of formations. The scroll of bamboo slips was his lifebound artifact, called the Bamboo Slips of Earth Perceiving. It was specially for studying and breaching formations.
Who knew how many formations he had breached and how many dwellings he had looted in the past through this artifact, which was the only reason why he possessed his current cultivation.
Pi Yangqiu was already as familiar as he could be with the protective formation of the Xuanming dwelling. In the past, when Li Qingshan tried to breach the formation, he had only succeeded with his assistance. Now, there was no one inside the dwelling to support the formation, so its power had greatly diminished. Coupled with the restraints from the Bamboo Slips of Earth Perceiving, it operated extremely slowly, almost losing all of its defensive powers completely.
In just half a day’s time, Pi Yangqiu breached the formation successfully. Just earlier, when he worked on getting through the formation, he was nervous, worried that Li Qingshan would rush out at any moment to hunt him down. Now, he had completely relaxed, letting out a delighted smile.
Retrieving the protective formation was equivalent to retrieving the dwelling. He had already completed his mission. Pi Yangqiu was about to fly off and report back to Dai Mengfan in Myriad city when a thought suddenly came to him, Since no one is in the dwelling, why don’t I go in and take a look? I can relive the old days. Everything is basically within arm’s reach anyway.
Dwellings were often the foundations of cultivators, storing all of their possessions. Li Qingshan’s origins were mysterious, and he had inherited all of the possessions of the previous first senior brother, Lin Xuan. Afterwards, from the battle of Black Cloud city, he had received a tremendous amount of resources too.
Pi Yangqiu had committed deeds like this far too many times. It had basically become a habit to him. However, when he raised his head and glanced at the black mountain again, a chill ran through his heart for some reason. The black giant seemed to be staring at him.
However, the greed in his heart blazed like fire. Hmph, no risk, no reward! Now that the crisis of the world is imminent, it’s time for gathering resources and breaking through the threshold between mortality and immortality. Li Qingshan might be terrifying, but how can I just be frightened by the mere thought of him?
He immediately made up his mind and flew towards the top of the mountain, entering the Xuanming dwelling from the crater.
However, looking down from above, the pitch-black, colossal crater seemed like a gaping mouth, swallowing a tiny insect.
As soon as Pi Yangqiu entered the volcanic crater, all of the sounds of wind and waves around him vanished. Only the pitter-patter of the night rain followed him into the abyss.
He could not help but slow his descent, but in the endless silence, some voices gradually appeared. It was as if various people were whispering away, both old and young, both male and female, merging all together. It was still as gentle as a mosquito’s buzz, but it was filled with pain and sorrow.
He suddenly jerked back to his senses. When he listened closely, all of the voices vanished again, returning back to silence as if it was merely an illusion.
However, when he split his focus, the sounds reappeared in the darkness, seeping into every pore of his body with a sense of coldness.
He could vaguely feel that something was amiss, but he was unable to pinpoint it. He wanted to back out of the Xuanming dwelling, but the greed in his heart had flared to a point beyond his control. He could only continue to descend down the abyss, like he was caught in a nightmare that he could not wake up from.
Everything lost control…
In a daze, he had forgotten how long he had fallen for. Pi Yangqiu suddenly heard a voice clearly from the bottom of the abyss.
“Student Xiaoming, your strength recovers pretty quickly!” One of the voices was both deep and sprightly, breaking the silence in the darkness. All of the whispers receded with it.
“Don’t call me ‘Xiaoming’. Call me Rāhu Ming. And what’s this ‘student’ thing all about?” Another voice was slightly gruff, filled with a sense of unruliness.
“I don’t know. That’s just the rule we have. You gotta add ‘student’ in front of ‘Xiaoming’.”
“Then why don’t you just stop calling me ‘Xiaoming’?”
“I’m the boss. Everything I say counts. You’re just a measly Asura Battle God, the Bird-shooting Heavenly King. How can you tell me what to do?”
“Xiaoming” fell silent for a moment. “I didn’t think you’d actually reach where you are today.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.”
Pi Yangqiu widened his eyes. The surrounding darkness receded. Only then did he see two men seated together and drinking away on a boulder at the bottom of the abyss.
He was extremely familiar with one of the figures. He recognised him. Li Qingshan.
“Xiaoming” fiddled around with the cup in his hand. After a moment of thought, he deliberated and said, “Let me give you a word of advice!”
“Go on.”
“If the heavenly emperor requests for your surrender, just surrender!”
“Hah! Is that something an asura will say?”
“This is something that a friend will say.”
“You don’t think I can win?”
“No one can win… but I believe you can, or at least, you have a chance.”
“Then why should I surrender?”
“With the path you walk, regardless of your final victory or defeat, you will be incinerated by the flames of karma. It’s useless even if you win.”
“……”
“...”
“……”
“...”
“It’s useless to me, but it’s useful to others. And being incinerated by the flames of karma is not necessarily a bad thing.”
“……”
“...”
“Xiaoming, let’s fight!”
“You're the boss. Everything you say counts.”
At this moment, Pi Yangqiu recognised Li Qingshan, which left him utterly frightened. He immediately woke up from the nightmare and regained control over his body. However, he saw how the two of them did not sense his existence, so he immediately rose up silently, wanting to back out of the Xuanming dwelling.
“Xiaoming” suddenly raised his head. His pair of eyes were even darker than the deepest darkness from the abyss. Pi Yangqiu felt like he had been thrown into a glacier. He could not even budge a single wisp of his powers, not even his little finger.
“Actually still bold enough to come in here? I’ll kill him.”
“Don’t. Keep him alive for now. If his life lamp goes out, the old turtle will become wary. My son is still in their hands after all!”
“Becoming wary is just becoming wary. I’ll go and save Fengyuan immediately and butcher the old turtle in the process. Who’s supposed to stop who?”
“No, I have some other business with the old turtle. Also, it’s inconvenient for you to reveal your identity right now. Go back to the Asura realm and continue with your expeditions. Lend me a hand once you completely recover your divine strength.”
“Alright. I’m off then!” Rāhu Ming nodded. The water in the abyss surged violently. Now, Pi Yangqiu finally realised that a huge, black dragon was actually curled up there. The boulder that they sat on was its head.
It revealed a hint of its aura now. It was clearly a Daemon Immortal. 21895
D- don’t tell me this is first senior brother’s golden-eyed black dragon!? Pi Yangqiu was absolutely shocked. Among the three of them, one of them was an Asura Battle God, one of them was a Daemon Immortal of the Dragon clan, and the last one was the unfathomable Li Qingshan. What is this place that I’ve broken into?
Li Qingshan sent Rāhu Ming away and waved his hand at Pi Yangqiu. “Junior brother Pi, why were you so polite in the beginning and then so cocky at the end, and why did you breach my formation and intrude on my dwelling?”