Chapter 554 - Southern Meteor
The mountain was quite majestic, and it was entirely black in color. Over ten ancient tombs rested side by side at the top where ancient deities rested.
“Are they all dead?” Xiao Tian asked with a soft voice.
“Two of them lived up to the modern times, but they still couldn’t hold on any longer. They passed away in meditation several years ago and were buried here as well. If you all came here a few years ago, you might have been able to see them,” said the elder with a smile.
His hair was entirely white, and his skin was dry and starting to darken. Most of his teeth had fallen off, and the gray daoist clothes he wore were filled with an aura of antiquity, as if he had experienced the baptism of endless years.
Shi Hao didn’t dare to underestimate him and carefully took precautions. He knew that this elder wasn’t simple. If he acted carelessly, a slight mistake might result in his defeat.
“Are you one of the ancient deities?” He calmly asked.
“How can that be? So many years have passed, who could hold on for that long? If I was one of them, I would have been lying in these tombs a long time ago already.” The elder shook his head and denied.
Xia Youyu didn’t believe him. With her powerful spiritual senses, she could tell that this elder’s cultivation realm was extremely high and far above hers. Only his vitality was a bit scattered, so he currently didn’t release a terrifying pressure.
Meanwhile, Xiao Tian, Zhou Yuhao and the others were acting similarly. They felt somewhat fearful when they faced this elder.
“His lifespan is even longer than mine. He’s an old evil spirit.” The black tortoise spoke up at this moment. It stood up on two legs and stayed to the side, truly looking like it was carrying a black pot.
When everyone heard this, they all shivered inwardly. They felt more and more like this elder wasn’t simple.
While holding the wooden staff, the elder laughed involuntarily and said, “After the three calamities passed, there was also an undying existence that searched through the heavens, hunting down experts with their divine flames lit. If I was unordinary, would I still be alive?”
“You are too modest. It is precisely because of the fact that you are alive that proves you are powerful and terrifying.” Shi Hao spoke.
“What? Is he truly that formidable?” The black tortoise didn’t have any moral principle as expected. When it heard this, it moved behind Shi Hao with a sou sound and didn’t dare say anything else.
Everyone else felt their bodies become chilly and their minds heavy.
“Little friend, you divine eyes are like lightning. This old one just didn’t want to draw attention to himself. Since you have already noticed, I won’t hide it anymore. My cultivation is indeed unordinary and I ignited a divine flame.”
“Ignited a divine flame?” Yan Xin cried out in alarm. This elder was formidable as expected. It was so close to reaching the realm of deities. Was it truly a deity that had survived since the ancient times?
The elder chuckled and said, “There are so many deities in the world. Where would you find so many deities? Back then, I just got lucky and found some natural opportunity.”
He said things as they were. He was the descendent of one of Southern Meteor Divine Mountain’s experts and not an ancient individual. However, he wasn’t far from being one either. He had lived an extremely long time until this era. His body was already dried up and his divine flame had extinguished.
He didn’t show any hostility and appeared rather undisturbed.
“Will a divine flame even extinguish after becoming a deity?” Xiao Tian asked. This was a question that quite a few of them were wondering about.
“But of course. With the passage of time, one’s constitution will begin to decline and everything will head downhill. All will dry up, including the divine flame.” The elder sighed.
He gave another example, bringing up the Heaven Mending Pavilion’s old vine. Back then, it was extremely powerful and known for its matchless divine might. However, after experiencing the ancient times and living until the present age, what else could it do? It still lost its vitality, its body withering up and its cultivation steeply declining. As for the divine flame that burned vigorously in the past, it was even more like a candle facing the wind, even less powerful than the divine flame of someone who had just ignited it.
When one reached that state, there was not much difference when compared to a supreme expert.
“I truly am lacking in manners! I was able to meet a true deity who, after experiencing three great calamities and the sweeping of the undying existence, still ended up safe and sound. Admirable!” Shi Hao said.
“What true deity am I now? Even my divine flame has gone out.” The elder laughed bitterly and shook his head.
He didn’t cover things up at all. When the great calamity descended, for the sake of living, he took the initiative to scatter his divine flame and return to being ordinary. He even made his cultivation fall until he became a king level expert.
Everyone was shocked. They couldn’t help but feel moved. This elder was quite courageous. Without doing this, how could he pass through those disasters? If he wasn’t caught, he would have been killed.
There wasn’t a single cultivator who didn’t wish to reach for a higher level, yet he dared to do this, crippling his own cultivation.
“Senior, you should have already returned to the supreme expert level, right? I fear that there might still be a day when the divine flame will be lit again. At that time, you will be like a monarch towering above this world.” Shi Hao said.
“I ate a stalk of holy medicine, as a result barely avoided death and reached the supreme expert realm. However, if I want to light a divine flame, I fear that there is no hope left in this lifetime. To rekindle after it has extinguished will be ten times harder. Moreover, with my vitality withered and gradually aging, where will I find the energy to accomplish such a thing?” The elder shook his head.
“Dare I ask for senior’s great name?” Xia Youyu asked.
“Just call me Southern Meteor. I was born in this mountain, and I will die here, so just use this mountain’s name.” The elder sighed and said.
Everyone revealed a look of shock. Southern Meteor Divine Mountain; the elder used this name. Was he sighing of being past his prime, or was he recalling fondly of the past? Perhaps it is a type of pride?
“What is the purpose of senior waiting for me here?” Shi Hao asked.
“I know why you came, but that person has died already,” said the elder. He brought out a special sparkling stone that recorded a portion of the scenes from the great calamity that year.
Southern Meteor Divine Mountain’s experts had previously gone to fight a great battle against Heaven Mending Pavilion and returned wounded. When the great calamity descended, they couldn’t avoid the calamity and were captured.
“If the enmity of the Heaven Mending Pavilion is settled just like this, it would be a bit too easy.” Shi Hao said in a downcast voice.
“There are only a few old and weak individuals. The place where deities are hidden has long declined. Little friend, please see for yourself. Are you really going to cause trouble for them?” The elder asked. He reached out a large hand and scattered the mist. Several enormous mountains appeared in front of them, and there were creatures moving about them.
Shi Hao swept his eyes through this scenery and found that it truly was as the elder said. This place had declined. There weren’t any terrifying experts.
In addition, the experts that took action back then had already encountered disaster, so he couldn’t take his anger out on this place. Based on what the elder said, that wasn’t Sourthern Meteor Divine Mountain’s will and was instead that person’s individual actions.
“Let’s leave!” Shi Hao didn’t want to slaughter the innocent either.
Xiao Tian and the others released a light sigh. Their enemies had clearly already encountered disaster, so why did they feel so dejected? In the end, their sect’s deceased couldn’t be revived either.
“I see that little friend is wearing the imperishable battle clothes. I have a phoenix patterned rock, so I’ll just bestow it upon you. Perhaps you will find some use for it and merge it into the battle clothes.” The elder who called himself Southern Meteor suddenly spoke.
“En, this is…” Shi Hao was astonished. When he received it and took a look, he found that the entirely scarlet fist sized rock had many phoenix feather-like traces.
This type of rock was extremely rare and utterly priceless. If it was added to a precious artifact, it would undergo transformations and perhaps nirvana like the phoenix’s rebirth in flames. It was extremely miraculous.
It could be said that even if it was the higher realms, this type of wondrous stone would still be a priceless supreme treasure. One might not appear even after thousands of years.
“Many thanks to senior!”
Finally, they left just like that. The battle they had anticipated never happened, and what they experienced was only disappointment and frustration. Even though Shi Hao obtained a supreme treasure that wasn’t bad, he still sighed.
They then headed for Mount Yi. This was similarly a formidable restricted land. The expert here had once served as the guardian spirit of ‘Little Western Paradise’.
Unfortunately, with the descent of the great calamity, the vegetation here became sparse and scorched earth could be seen everywhere. An unexpectedly great battle had erupted here.
There were still creatures here, but there weren’t supreme experts, nor were there any experts with their divine flames lit. They had all been suppressed during the great disaster, unable to escape.
“Truly is a pity…” Shi Hao shook his head. He gazed into this mountain range and stared distractedly. In the past, how many people could enter this place? Not even supreme experts could do so.
However, now, there was no place under the heavens he couldn’t step foot in. He could experience everything completely.
“You should be sighing about life that is as lonely as snow… Don’t you feel that this lower realm is quite colorless without enemies?” The war goddess asked with a smile.
“It’s not funny at all.” Shi Hao shook his head.
He couldn’t even get revenge if he wanted to. The powerful Mount Yi was far from how it was in the past. Those creatures that had taken action had long vanished from this world.
Was the lower realm truly without experts? Shi Hao thought about this question. His pupils flickered and erupted with divine splendor. He gazed into the horizon and contemplated for an extremely long time.
“Since our enemies are all dead, it saves us the trouble of dealing with them ourselves. There’s nothing bad about that. This foretells the future glory of our Heaven Mending Pavilion. In the future, we will work hard to rebuild it!” Xiao Tian said.
“The little Stone overlooks the world and sweeps through all his enemies. We will rebuild Heaven Mending Pavilion. Isn’t this quite good?” Xia Youyu smiled as well.
After they spoke these words, everyone’s moods improved again and they threw aside their disappointment.
“I hope it is as such!” Shi Hao said to himself. If nothing unexpected happened, he was going to tread on heaven’s path and leave the lower realm.
The final stop, Western Tomb Beast Mountain.
If one were to be asked what place in the wasteland region was suffused with the most yin energy, then it would definitely be this place.
This was an enormous tomb with the name Western Tomb. The ones buried here weren’t mortals or ordinary cultivators, but instead archaic vicious beasts and divine birds.
After the endless passage of time, it was unknown just how many powerful vicious beasts and divine birds were buried here. This was an incredibly large cemetery.
If one were to trace back the history of this place, they would go back to the archaic era. The Kun Peng was still alive then and ruling the world, and the other members of the vicious ten had showed themselves as well.
Too many great battles had taken place in the past, both in the cage and in the higher realms. Countless powerful existences fell, and they were all buried here.
You have to understand that those vicious beasts were all deities. There were even more who were divine kings and heavenly deities, existences powerful enough to make people tremble. They were unimaginably powerful. Any one of them could devour the eight wastelands.
Apart from this, there were a few other vicious beasts and divine birds that fell. They also chose to be buried here.
Over time, the yin energy here became more and more heavy, just like a ghost world.
Meanwhile, the creatures guarding the cemetery, over time, became filled with a power that could not be ignored. They established the sect ‘Beast Mountain’.
This was precisely the origin of Western Tomb Beast Mountain!
They gradually approached this place. One could tell that this mountain range was special with just a look. They were like enormous tombs, and every single mountain was like this, vast and boundless.
“There isn’t much yin energy…” Zhou Yuhao frowned.
When they arrived, the world was bright with the sun suspended above. Sunlight was abundant, and not much deep chilliness could be felt.
“En, this place is quite strange. Rumor has it that sometimes, the yin energy would overflow into the heavens and be even greater than the yang energy of the outside world most of the time.” The war goddess said.
Inside the mountain range, the grass was abundant and ancient trees stretched into the sky. They had all lived for thousands of years, some close to reaching ten thousands years of history. They were astonishingly thick.
“These trees haven’t develop essence yet, but they are still quite rare.” Xia Youyu said.
“Is that Beast Mountain?” Xiao Tian pointed towards the side.
There was a mountain peak that was rich with spiritual essence to the side of Western Tomb. Purple energy rose and surged continuously like dragons. One could tell with a look that this was a cultivation pure land.
“Next to some key locations, there will oftentimes be divine pure lands with unexplainable profound natural luck.” Yan Xin said.
Shi Hao and the others paid Beast Mountain a visit and found that there were only a few ‘shrimps’ left. The experts on the mountain had all fled after hearing about Tuoba family’s disaster.
“They fled into Western Tomb!”
“We are going inside!”
In the end, they still advanced, proceeding into the endless mounds and entering this strange place.
Hong!
After advancing more than ten li, this world seemed to change. It made everyone’s minds shake. Everything became different.
“This is…” The were astonished.
The hills disappeared, and what appeared before them was a great wilderness. There were countless vicious beasts and divine birds moving about. It was an astonishing scene.
Hu...
Crazy winds stirred about. High above in the sky, a great Golden Winged Peng streaked across. Its wings seemed like clouds as they covered the heavens. Symbols were everywhere and terrifying to the extreme.
On the ground, a Pixiu surrounded by endless bloody radiance leapt from one mountaintop to another. It then pounced murderously towards the Golden Winged Peng!
In another direction, a black true Hou roared. It immediately caused two of the three moons in the sky to fall!
Even further out, the body of a thousand hand existence shone. It sat on the mountain cliff and used its body to tear apart a pure-blooded white tiger.
On the west side, a Zhuyan stabbed an iron rod towards the sky, crushing the heavens and striking down a few powerful deities!
“Illusions, they aren’t real!” Xiao Tian said.
A flame python slithered about on the ground. With a hong sound, its enormous body brushed past Xiao Tian and sent him flying into the sky and almost killing him on the spot.
Shi Hao was astonished. He immediately gathered everyone and displayed his divine might to protect them.
The black tortoise cried out in alarm and said, “This… might not necessarily be an illusion. The legends might be true. This place has already formed a real world!”
“What?” Even the war goddess couldn’t help but cry out in fear.
This place was too terrifying! It was like an archaic world where endless races lived side by side and powerful creatures were everywhere, engaging in intense competition.
“Yi?!” Shi Hao was astonished. He felt as if something on his body was slightly vibrating. He quickly reached out his divine senses, and he was immediately shaken.
It came from the two pieces of sparkling white damaged bones. They were glowing slightly, as if they were calling out to something.
“True Primordial Record?!” His body shook.