Jiang Liu went closer to take a look and was immediately captivated. At the crystal-clear foundation of the ancient palace, there were many ancient characters engraved. The dragon-shaped characters were vigorous, the phoenix-shaped characters were soaring, the tortoise-shaped characters were solemn, and the qilin-shaped characters were majestic. They resembled dragons and phoenixes, tortoises and qilins, with iron hooks and silver strokes, powerful and vigorous. They were the imperial script of the demon race before the ancient times.
"Are these characters the power of Dao patterns?" Jiang Liu asked.
Duan De stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "This is the ancient demon race's imperial script. It's not wrong to call it a Dao pattern. You could say that each character is a pattern."
"How much have you grasped? Can you open the jade gate of the ancient palace?"
"Almost there!"
Jiang Liu tried it out, and as soon as his hand touched the ancient hall, five-colored divine light flowed from the five-colored jade stone, blasting Jiang Liu away. It was difficult for him to even get close, let alone push open the jade door of the ancient hall.
Unbeknownst to them, the two had spent over two months researching at the bottom of the volcano. Duan De had indeed made significant progress, and Jiang Liu was far from being a mere bystander. With Duan De's occasional explanations, and given Jiang Liu's innate Dao body and considerable comprehension, after two months of observation, research, and experimentation, Jiang Liu had also gained a deep understanding of the demon race's imperial script.
"boom"
Wisps of light emanated from Duan De's palms, transforming into a dragon and a phoenix, which he pushed towards the jade gate. Finally, he shook it, and with a rumbling sound, a crack opened.
Instantly, an ancient aura rushed towards them, and a powerful life force surged like a vast ocean, instantly creating towering waves in the surrounding magma.
The volcano, impacted by the Demon Emperor's tomb, began to erupt prematurely.
With the demon race's imperial inscription protecting them, the ancient aura did not attack the two of them. They were like reefs in the sea, naturally blocking the oncoming aura from their bodies.
Jiang Liu's expression changed, and he said in a deep voice, "The volcano has started to erupt, and this ancient palace is about to be washed out of the ground... Time is running out, we need to hurry."
"Alright, we'll rely on our own abilities to get the treasure. Let's leave before the ancient palace appears!" Duan De was decisive, knowing that his strength was definitely not enough to protect the Demon Emperor's tomb. If they were trapped inside the ancient palace, they would definitely lose more than they gained.
Despite the danger, the fat Taoist priest grinned and rushed into the ancient temple.
Chapter 313 Departure After the Deed Was Done
"Thump..."
"Thump...thump..."
A small crystal coffin, about a foot long, appeared in the ancient hall, and the sound of a rapid heartbeat could be heard from inside.
Upon hearing this voice, Jiang Liu and Duan De both turned pale. Only after covering their entire bodies with the Demon Clan Imperial Runes were they able to withstand the impact of the immense power.
"I've finally struck gold!" Duan De laughed heartily, his mouth almost splitting open to his ears.
"The Heart of the Demon Emperor...it is the Heart of the Demon Emperor!"
Duan De's face immediately contorted into a ferocious expression, as if he were unleashing all his power. In an instant, a dark, broken bowl appeared above the fat Taoist's head, ripples spreading out and instantly enveloping the crystal coffin.
"Thump" "Thump" "Thump"...
Enveloped in wisps of black mist, the crystal coffin was encased in a black cocoon, yet it continued to tremble violently. The heartbeat within was extremely rhythmic, brimming with a powerful life force, and its immense power swept in all directions, resisting the force of the broken bowl.
"Suppress them!"
Jiang Liu stared at the broken bowl with extreme envy. This was the ultimate imperial weapon of the Ruthless Great Emperor, and although it was only half of it, it was certain that it was on par with the acquired treasures of the Journey to the West world. It might even be comparable in power to a chaotic magic weapon.
Envy was useless. Jiang Liu gritted his teeth and, while Duan De was battling with the "Heart of the Demon Emperor," he had already passed through the jade gate and entered the ancient palace.
A quick glance revealed that the treasures inside resembled a starry sea, radiating various colors of light and constantly soaring and traversing.
Of course, it is also extremely dangerous. If struck by a supreme treasure, one would be utterly annihilated, both body and soul. Fortunately, these treasures are not controlled by anyone; they fly purely on instinct.
"That's..." Jiang Liu felt like his eyes were about to be blinded by the light.
Jiang Liu quickly looked away; if he continued looking, he felt he would die from greed. Right in the very center of the ancient hall, a dazzling radiance floated silently, containing a beam of light that eclipsed even the sun, moon, and stars.
It was so dazzling, like the sun had exploded!
That was the weapon wielded by the Demon Emperor during his lifetime, and it was no less formidable than the Devouring Demon Jar.
"Don't be greedy, don't be greedy... I only want the green copper ingot. When I return to the Journey to the West and integrate it into the Nine Provinces Cauldron, it will definitely become a supreme treasure with boundless power..."
Jiang Liu pushed his divine sense to its limit, and wisps of chaotic energy surged from the Sea of Bitterness, rising along his body and converging in his eyes, making his pupils as deep as the night sky. Scanning through the various lights, his gaze finally settled on a golden light.
"Hey! Is that the golden book? Whether it is or not, let's take it first!"
In an instant, Jiang Liu stretched out his palm toward the golden light. Chaos swirled continuously within the Sea of Bitterness, eventually appearing on his palm.
This "Transformation Technique," activated by the power within "Covering the Sky," combined with divine runes, is no less powerful.
In an instant, the golden book was drawn by the vortex and landed in Jiang Liu's palm.
Instantly, dazzling rays of light erupted from his palm, so bright that Jiang Liu could barely open his eyes. A golden sheet of paper, shimmering with endless divine light, was revealed, dazzling and radiant.
This page of golden paper was heavier than metal, and it was densely covered with countless ancient characters, some so small they were almost invisible. Each ancient character shone like a star, radiant and dazzling.
"The Sea of Wheels!"
These three ancient characters are like three bright moons fixed there, shining brightly.
Compared to the "green copper block," Jiang Liu wasn't too concerned about it. Getting it would be ideal, but not getting it wouldn't have much of an impact. After all, among the basic cultivation techniques, he possessed many extraordinary foundation-building methods. While the "White Yang True Explanation" from Mount Shu was somewhat lacking, the "Past, Present, and Future" scriptures from the Great Zen Temple within the Yang Shen realm were no simple matter.
Obtaining this scroll would be of the best possible outcome. After all, cultivating the techniques of the "Covering the Sky" world is more in line with this world and more likely to gain the approval of the Heavenly Dao.
Jiang Liu used his divine sense to envelop the golden book and pull it into the Sea of Bitterness, then suppressed it with chaotic energy before taking a good look at Duan De.
At this moment, the greedy fat Taoist priest was still locked in a struggle with the "Heart of the Demon Emperor." Although he had gained the upper hand, it seemed that it would take some time to completely suppress it.
"Green Copper Block... Green Copper Block... Where are you?"
His eyes scanned the light overhead, and Jiang Liu grew increasingly anxious. The Demon Emperor's Ancient Palace was rising with the lava, and time was running out...
"Not among the treasures of Tengfei?" Jiang Liu immediately lowered his head, his eyes sweeping across the ground, where the objects came into view.
"Wow! You really are utterly ordinary! Even divine things are prone to sulliance, so don't act so ordinary! In a place like this, you're so out of place, which only makes you more extraordinary..."
Jiang Liu picked up the palm-sized copper coin from the ground, weighed it in his hand, and felt that it was very heavy, like a piece that had broken off from some kind of vessel.
"I searched high and low without finding it, but then it came to me without any effort!"
With the "green copper block" fixed in the Sea of Bitterness, Jiang Liu felt that he had achieved his goal for this trip.
"Wow... I'm going to strike it rich today! This is the weapon that the Demon Emperor once wielded, comparable to the most precious treasure of the Eastern Wilderness human race!"
Jiang Liu immediately noticed that the fat Taoist priest was already beside him. His heart pounded, and he thought to himself, "He didn't see the green copper block, did he? He shouldn't... or maybe he didn't?"
The fat Taoist priest beside him didn't even glance at Jiang Liu. Instead, he rubbed his hands together, grinning widely, his eyes fixed on the radiant light that resembled the blazing sun: "I'm truly blessed! This demon emperor's weapon is no less powerful than the treasures of the Eastern Wilderness human race. If I were to obtain it..."
“You can’t get it… The ancient palace is about to burst out of the lava. If you don’t leave now, not only will you lose the ‘Heart of the Demon Emperor’ you’ve collected, but you won’t even be able to save your broken bowl!” Jiang Liu said.
"That's true. It seems that Daoist Master doesn't have the good fortune to let me collect another wave..."
As he spoke, he reached out to grab the light above his head.
Jiang Liu grabbed at the light around him haphazardly, and a small sword shimmering with purple light landed in his hand. He then rushed outside.
"Get out of here!"
Jiang Liu left earlier than Duan De, but this guy was faster than a rabbit, and with a whoosh, he sank into the volcanic veins.
Shortly after the two sank into the lava, the ancient palace made of jade finally burst out of the volcanic lava and appeared between heaven and earth.
The volcano erupted completely, turning half the sky red.
"What is that?" The giant lightning bird soaring in the sky finally saw the ancient temple through the volcanic lava.
Before long, several humanoid demons appeared at the crater, staring in shock at the ancient palace made of five-colored divine jade in the lava.
A girl with no arms but a pair of wings and a head of long golden hair; a giant man three meters tall with a pair of bull horns on his head; an old dragon with a single horn on its head and sharp claws on its belly... all of them possess unfathomable strength.
"Demon script! Look, it's the imperial script of the demon race, it must have been left behind by a demon emperor!"
"Wait, why is the door to the ancient temple open?" The girl with long golden hair immediately noticed the anomaly and exclaimed in shock.
The old dragon exclaimed in disbelief, "Impossible! This is an ancient barrier; who could possibly enter? No one should have gotten there first!"
But the facts were clear: Jiang Liu followed Duan De through the magma layer and appeared in another volcano dozens of miles away.
"Time to get out of here! See you at the Holy Stone Archway in a year." Jiang Liu waved to the unscrupulous Taoist priest and then transformed into a rainbow and disappeared.
The fat Taoist priest rubbed his nose: "I'm not going to steal your treasure, why are you running away! First, completely suppress the 'Heart of the Demon Emperor'... That Heavenly Venerable Wuliang, this time I've really struck gold... Hehe, a year later at the Holy Land Stone Archway..."
Before long, the elders and sect leader of Lingxu Cave Heaven also noticed the strange phenomenon here and came in rainbow form.
A conflict could erupt at any moment.
Meanwhile, the two who had obtained the treasure had already packed up and left, more than a hundred miles away from the Spirit Ruins Cave.
Chapter 314 Hiding One's Identity and Name
Jiang Liu has been living in seclusion in the capital of the Eastern Wilderness Yan Kingdom for a year.
"Covering the Sky" is a boundless world, no less than "Yang Shen" or "Journey to the West," and perhaps even more vast. In the mortal world, the country that rules the "Forbidden Land of the Ancient Wilderness" is called "Yan," which is two thousand miles long from north to south and three thousand miles long from east to west. However, such territory is just a drop in the ocean in the Eastern Wilderness, and there are countless countries like it.
"Yandu" was a large city, naturally inferior to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, but it was still a magnificent city and extremely prosperous.
The saying goes, "A minor hermit hides in the wilderness, a major hermit hides in the city." Jiang Liu's seclusion here serves two purposes: first, to digest what he has gained from the Demon Emperor's Tomb, cultivate, and refine the green copper block, raising his strength to a level he is satisfied with before heading to the sacred stone workshop in the northern region of the Primordial Ancient Mine; second, naturally, to see the Dao Fruit of the Ruthless Great Emperor, "Little Nannan."
Looking at the bustling crowds on the street, Jiang Liu was deeply moved.
"Was everything part of the Ruthless Great Emperor's scheme? Ye Fan, you are still the protagonist after all! Even if I, this loophole, know the plot perfectly well, I am no match for you, this similar soul flower... Never mind! Let's go! But since it was the Great Emperor's scheme, why didn't she kill me, the one who possessed her body, in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land? With Ruthless's strength, how could she not see that I came from another realm? Could it be that she wanted me to be Ye Fan's biggest whetstone? Or am I also part of her calculations!"
For a year, Jiang Liu did not sit in meditation and cultivate, but searched every corner of Yandu, but the little girl in tattered clothes who made people feel sorry for her did not appear.
"Similar flowers, but ultimately not the same flower! No one can step into the same river twice, Your Majesty, you will eventually be disappointed."
Jiang Liu stood amidst the bustling crowd, his face grave: "But who am I? Who sent me into the Journey to the West? Who orchestrated all of this behind the scenes? A sage? An emperor?"
Instantly, Jiang Liu felt an invisible hand manipulating everything behind him. From his rebirth in Journey to the West to his current entry into "Covering the Sky," the only thing Jiang Liu was certain of was that the "one that escaped" that granted him the ability to travel through countless worlds came from the world of "Journey to the West."
"It's time to go!"
Jiang Liu headed towards the city gate. When he arrived at the gate, he looked up at the sky. Everyone on the street, or most of the people in Yandu, did the same. However, after taking one look, most of them looked away and went about their business.
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!"
Five-colored light shone brightly in the sky, and from the distant horizon came the sound of air being torn apart. Dozens of divine rainbows flew towards Yandu.
Such strange phenomena had occurred more than a dozen times in the past year, and the common people of Yandu had become accustomed to them.
"Boom..."
Jiang Liu frowned, realizing that the powerful figure who had come this time was quite different. His aura was almost at the level of the Sea of Wheels, making his heart tremble.