Chapter 121

Chapter 121: The Demonic Blade Acknowledges Its Master, Duobao Daoist

"What a treasure trove!"

Lian Jiuyou looked greedily at the divine weapons, demonic blades, strange stones, and Dao Gold…

Every treasure, if brought outside, could stir a bloody storm, but in the Deep Abyss of the Return to the Ruins, it appeared as worthless junk before everyone.

"This blade is mine. Dare anyone defy me, and blame not my ruthlessness."

Royal Prince Bao targeted the demonic blade, employing his old trick once more to grab it.

Though jealous, nobody dared offend Royal Prince Bao.

"It is mine."

Nangong Zhandao murmured.

Lian Jiuyou stared at Nangong Zhandao as if looking at a fool.

After all, the former was a Great Emperor, while Nangong Zhandao was merely at the saint level; how could he compete with Royal Prince Bao?

Lin Qianmo and Lan Youruo heard it, their expressions shifting subtly.

"Royal Prince Bao, it’s a sheer waste for this blade to fall to you. Hand it over to me instead." Suddenly, another wave of imperial might surged out. A streak of sword energy tore through the boundless divine light, with one slash severing Royal Prince Bao’s palm.

"The Heavenly Blade?"

Royal Prince Bao roared furiously, "Do you dare oppose me?"

"Another Great Emperor?"

The crowd panicked wildly. The first Return to the Ruins tidal surge had already brought out two Great Emperors. What about the second and third surges? Wouldn’t there be more?

"Hahaha…"

An old man in a raincoat, with snowy hair and vibrant spirit, appeared. His eyes were like blades, radiating fierce sword intent from his entire body, resembling a divine dagger rooted between heaven and earth.

Proven through the blade, the Great Emperor Heavenly Blade.

"Royal Prince Bao, this old man spared your head earlier by severing only one palm solely out of respect for the Holy Ancestor Dynasty. Otherwise, your head would already be gone."

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade stood with hands behind his back, sneering down at everyone.

"Then I must see how fast your blade is, and if it can cut off my head." Royal Prince Bao focused his will. Flesh regenerated as his palm grew back.

He opened his palm. A top-grade lotus platform slowly ascended.

Royal Prince Bao sat on the lotus platform, majestic and solemn like an arhat. He chanted Buddhist scriptures, with golden light illuminating all. Petals detached from the lotus platform, flying toward Great Emperor Heavenly Blade.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Propelled by magical power, thirty-six lotus petals instantly transformed into thirty-six levels of worlds descending from the Heavens, interlaced and trapping Great Emperor Heavenly Blade within.

Clang!

A blade hum sounded as the divine dagger unsheathed. Great Emperor Heavenly Blade slashed once, without flourish. Layer upon layer of the heavens shattered, destroying Royal Prince Bao’s divine technique.

The thirty-six lotus petals crumbled in succession.

"Old wretch, are you truly set on opposing me?" Royal Prince Bao hardened his gaze, his killing intent surging like a spring.

"This old man desires only the demonic blade," Great Emperor Heavenly Blade said lightly.

Buzz!

At that moment, the demonic blade that had been hovering motionless suddenly plummeted into the boundless divine light. All trace of its aura vanished, disappearing from everyone’s sight and perception.

"Hahaha…" Royal Prince Bao threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Old relic, the demonic blade has a spirit! You are not the master it seeks! It seems your path of the sword has failed to win its approval!"

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade frowned deeply.

This demonic blade was immensely valuable. If he could obtain it, his strength would undoubtedly ascend another level. Yet the blade had developed its own consciousness and clearly refused to acknowledge him as its master.

"Enough… enough…" Great Emperor Heavenly Blade shook his head with a sigh and plunged into the boundless divine light, beginning his search for treasures.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Simultaneously, numerous quasi-emperors flooded into the boundless divine light, scrambling for treasures.

Now that the first round of the Return to the Ruins tidal surge had ended and the second was imminent, this window was their prime opportunity to seize treasures.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Within the Deep Abyss of the Return to the Ruins, slaughter erupted instantly. Daoist friends who had just been chatting amiably moments before were now locked in deadly conflict as enemies.

Lin Qianmo, Lan Youruo, and Lian Jiuyou also charged into the boundless divine light.

The trio swiftly joined forces and secured a domain of their own.

Nangong Zhandao remained motionless.

He closed his eyes and activated the Xuan Du Forgetting Emotions Heaven Book. A wisp of sword intent radiated from his body.

Whimper!

After a few breaths, a strand of ghostly light silently slipped into Nangong Zhandao’s Purple Palace.

His thin lips pressed together lightly.

By his perception, the demonic blade had automatically acknowledged him as its master. At this very moment, the blade floated within his Purple Palace. Nangong Zhandao observed it meticulously.

"Tianque…" Nangong Zhandao saw the characters "天缺" (Tianque) etched into the blade—undoubtedly the weapon’s name. He sent his Divine Sense surging into the demonic blade, attempting to communicate with it, yet he found no trace of the spirit of the furnace.

Clearly, his cultivation was still too weak; though he could compel the blade’s acknowledgment as master, he could not yet gain the spirit of the furnace’s true allegiance.

"One day," Nangong Zhandao stated lightly, "I will make you submit wholeheartedly."

Clink!

The demonic blade trembled faintly, as if it understood his words.

Had Royal Prince Bao and Great Emperor Heavenly Blade witnessed this scene, their jaws would likely have dropped in disbelief.

A demonic blade that even two Great Emperors couldn’t subdue had actively chosen to serve a mere Saint as its master. Utterly absurd!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Within the boundless divine light, swarms of fiendish creatures materialized. They had lurked in hiding, waiting for the quasi-emperors to succumb to temptation and enter. Then they attacked.

In an instant, six peak quasi-emperors perished. Among the fallen was the white-robed man.

"Retreat!"

Lin Qianmo uttered a light admonition and signaled Lan Youruo to retreat simultaneously from the boundless divine light.

Seeing them withdraw, Lian Jiuyou reluctantly glanced back longingly at a golden disk within reach before swiftly exiting the contest himself.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Deep Abyss of the Return to the Ruins was thrown into utter chaos.

Yet no matter how fiercely they clashed or how much power they unleashed, the Deep Abyss remained impregnable. Even combat strength rivaling a Great Emperor could not destabilize the Abyss’s space.

"My gains are decent," Lan Youruo smiled, holding a piece of Extraordinary Yin Stone. Though it couldn’t measure up to an imperial weapon, its value was substantial.

Lian Jiuyou also had his share. He had seized a chunk of Nirvana divine gold, essential for forging imperial weapons. Additionally, he secured a damaged imperial sword.

Among the three, however, Lin Qianmo’s gains were the greatest.

She had obtained a green lamp, though it lacked a wick. Its origins were unclear, but the inscriptions on it clearly marked it as something far older than their present era.

Furthermore, Lin Qianmo had acquired a string of prayer beads. They were ancient, not divine weapons themselves, but they possessed a profound spiritual charm born from being saturated for years with the aura of eminent Buddhist monks.

"What a shame that demonic blade has vanished," Lian Jiuyou sighed. He considered that demonic blade the most valuable treasure of the first Return to the Ruins tidal surge.

Lin Qianmo and Lan Youruo shifted almost imperceptibly to glance at Nangong Zhandao.

Nangong Zhandao gave a slight nod.

Lan Youruo understood immediately.

"The second Return to the Ruins tidal surge is about to erupt," Lin Qianmo stated, watching the battling masses. "If we don’t extricate ourselves now, everyone caught within its eruption zone will be swept away, with no hope of escape."

Kabooooom!

No sooner had she spoken than the boundless divine light, churning for so long, burst forth like a geyser. This time its reach expanded dramatically. Quasi-emperors too slow to flee were engulfed; they vanished before a scream could escape their lips.

Their flesh, bones, and primordial spirits dissolved into nothingness in a single, chilling instant.

"What terrifying power is contained within that light?" Lian Jiuyou murmured, a chill running down his spine.

Had Lin Qianmo not warned him, he knew he would have been one of the countless souls shattered and scattered beyond retrieval.

Lin Qianmo shook her head.

"The origins of the Return to the Ruins are known to few. I only know this power is incredibly ancient, traceable back to the Primordial Era," Lin Qianmo said.

"The Primordial Era?" Lian Jiuyou was staggered.

That was the era of myth, the time of the very creation of the heavens and the earth.

If the boundless divine light truly originated in the Primordial Era, did that mean the Return to the Ruins itself had also been present since those primordial beginnings?

Lian Jiuyou dared not dwell on it. The secrets implicated here were too immense; for someone of his strength, knowing more would only spell disaster.

"It’s starting," he said instead.

"The second surge is here."

"I wonder how many treasures will appear this time?"

The crowd held its breath, anticipation thick in the air.

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade and Royal Prince Bao stood firm on separate grounds, both wearing expressions of intense gravity.

The first to fly out was a halberd, its imperial might heavy, as if a divine dragon, clutching the imperial weapon in its mouth, emerged from the depths of the Deep Abyss of the Return to the Ruins.

"Another imperial weapon!"

"How is this imperial weapon so similar to Great Emperor Moro’s magical weapon?"

Royal Prince Bao frowned deeply. Great Emperor Moro was a master of the demon clan in the Mysterious Realm, not belonging to the Holy Ancestor Dynasty, but with extremely powerful strength, an existence at the peak of the emperor realm.

How could his magical weapon appear in the Deep Abyss of the Return to the Ruins?

"Could he have perished?"

Royal Prince Bao thought of a possibility.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Streams of divine and demonic light burst forth from the great abyss.

When the crowd saw a brush, they started buzzing again.

That brush was very ancient and plain, three chi long, with birds, insects, fish, mountains, rivers, plants, and trees carved on its body, emitting an extremely dense Imperial Presence.

"This brush… could it be the legendary Human Emperor’s brush?"

said a quasi-emperor in shock.

"The Human Emperor’s brush?"

"Could it be the Ancient Human Emperor’s magical artifact?"

"It’s very likely."

The crowd was shaken.

In ancient times, a top-tier power emerged, who governed all realms of humans, established the Divine Court in the lower world, suppressed the demon clan and divine clans, and waged wars in all directions.

That era was a golden age for humans.

Also in ancient times, there emerged a large number of Great Emperors of humans; the current situation of peace in the four seas, where humans coexist harmoniously with all other races, is largely the Human Emperor’s credit.

However, after ruling for hundreds of thousands of years, the Divine Court disintegrated, the Human Emperor’s whereabouts became unknown, and the Human Emperor’s brush also vanished.

Later generations speculated about it.

"The Human Emperor’s brush condensed the fortune of humans from ancient times and can no longer be compared to an ordinary immortal artifact," Royal Prince Bao said with burning eyes, as his title was greatly related to his hobby.

Royal Prince Bao’s strength was not strong, but he dabbled in many fields and knew a great deal about ancient history.

"This thing probably is not the genuine Human Emperor’s brush."

Royal Prince Bao solemnly said.

"Even if it’s not the Human Emperor’s brush, it has a great connection to it," Great Emperor Heavenly Blade chuckled, stroking his beard. "Perhaps we could get a clue to the whereabouts of the Human Emperor’s brush from this item."

Clang!

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade raised his hand and struck with a blade, splitting the boundless divine light. He charged into the Return to the Ruins tidal surge, letting the boundless divine light batter him, still aiming to seize that brush.

"Amitabha Buddha, this brush has a connection with this poor Daoist."

Suddenly, the boundless divine light was torn apart, and a bald-headed man wearing faded Taoist robes and straw sandals walked into the Return to the Ruins tidal surge.

He put his palms together, chanting Buddhist chants, yet called himself a Daoist, extremely strange.

"Duobao Daoist has arrived," Lin Qianmo laughed.

"Is this person famous?" Lian Jiuyou asked in confusion.

"He certainly is famous."

Lan Youruo laughed. "Duobao Daoist cultivates both Buddhism and Daoism; on his lips are ‘Amitabha Buddha’ and ‘Boundless Celestial Lord,’ but he is a complete rascal."

"However, his strength is formidable; although he has the cultivation of a Great Emperor, he has repeatedly escaped from Emperor Venerable hands, so he should not be underestimated."

Whoosh!

Duobao Daoist took one step and surpassed Great Emperor Heavenly Blade. He turned his head sideways, grinning at the old man in a raincoat, and said, "Boundless Celestial Lord, this item belongs to this poor Daoist."

"Daoist friend, please retreat three thousand miles."

As soon as the words fell, Great Emperor Heavenly Blade seemed to concede a step, and the distance between him and Duobao Daoist continuously increased until he had retreated three thousand miles.

"Words control laws?"

Royal Prince Bao’s eyelid twitched. "That scoundrel really came!"

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade’s face turned dark as charcoal. The moment he retreated three thousand miles, he had lost the qualification to compete for the "Human Emperor’s brush," and could only watch helplessly as Duobao Daoist pocketed the brush.

"Fellow apprentice, what a fine method."

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade sneered coldly. "You’ve been hiding in the shadows all along, catching me off guard."

Great Emperor Heavenly Blade was quite resentful; if it were a direct confrontation, he still had hope of seizing the "Human Emperor’s brush."

"Daoist friend, this brush has a connection with this poor Daoist."

Duobao Daoist said with a serious face, pointing at that brush, and smiled, "Otherwise, why would I have obtained it?"