Tai Sui is a Chinese term for the stars directly opposite the planet Jupiter during its roughly 12-year orbital cycle. Personified as deities, they are important features of Chinese astrology, feng shui, Taoism, and Buddhism to a lesser extent.
Ouyang Shengtian tumbled out of a hiding place with the blackwater snake king in tow.
“Master, this guy has draconic bloodline in him. If he doesn’t agree, let’s use his mind to refine a treasure and feed his body and nascent soul to Little Black!” Ouyang Shengtian smiled fawningly. He’d fully witnessed the depths of the ugly young man’s capabilities over the past several days and no longer entertained the slightest notion of resistance.
Bi Chen was renowned throughout Jade Ruins Realm for being one of the three major powerhouses, but he was as if a reptile in front of Mo Ran. He couldn’t even withstand one move!
With Ouyang Shengtian’s level of cultivation, he would’ve been devoured by a host of vicious spirits long ago if not for Mo Ran’s protection. What he focused his efforts on now was feeding suggestions in his master’s ears everyday, wanting him to look for Lu Yun.
He’d completely relinquished his dignity as the eldest young master of the Ouyang Clan and placed himself in the role of Mo Ran’s butler. Having refined the immortal soul of a Great Xia wandering immortal, he knew full well how terrifying Mo Ran’s background was.
Serving his master well would help him ascend to the skies with one leap and put revenge for his family within sight.
“Mmhmm, mmhmm, Ouyang’s right. If you’re not willing to be my master’s pet, I’ll use your mind to refine a treasure and feed the rest of you to Little Black.” Mo Ran brightened and smiled sinisterly.
“I… I am willing to be Ji Lin’s pet!” Bi Chen jumped with shock, he didn’t think the ugly young man was joking.
Divine beasts had their pride. Some would rather have their souls refined alive and suffer the daily torture of tribulation fires than be another’s pet. A lower level spirit beast devouring their body was something they tolerated even less.
While Bi Chen wasn’t a full divine beast yet, he still couldn’t stomach the notion of a lowly blackwater snake king eating him.
The blackwater snake king looked on with disappointment. Mo Ran cackled and took out a beast collar, snapping it around Bi Chen’s neck. Light flashed through it as it sank into the latter’s body and confined his nascent soul.
Immense sorrow assailed Bi Chen. He’d escaped from Lu Yun’s hand, why did he lust after the qilin inner core and follow Ji Lin here? He’d run into someone more perverse than Lu Yun and become Ji Lin’s pet!
……
Lu Yun had no idea what took place between Ji Lin and Bi Chen; he was exploring the place of burial.
“Is this area a destroyed treasury?” He kicked aside a rock and picked up a jade flask sealed by a restriction. There were three second rank immortal pills inside. “Second rank healing pills… not bad.”
They were useless to him since he bore the sapling of the Builder Tree. No matter how severe his injuries, they would heal swiftly so long as his soul wasn’t scattered. But while he didn’t have a use for the pills, his family certainly did.
Wielding the Eye of Nullification, Lu Yun could avoid danger and seek out fortune. Everything within fifty kilometers was laid out in front of him. All pills, medicines, treasures, and vicious spirits were within his full purview.
After a few days, his storage ring was piled high with numerous treasures that couldn’t be found in worlds of cultivation. It’d been roughly a month since he entered the place of burial.
“Oh? I’ve finally found it!” His eyes lit up to see an intact palace hall roughly forty-five kilometers ahead. All sorts of treasures and pills surrounded it—they were all once at least ninth rank, with some even king rank.
Something was absorbing their power and causing their ranks to decline to dao, spirit, and fine treasures. There seemed to be a massive entity sleeping inside the palace hall.
“That one should be the thing swallowing all of their core essences. The formation outside the palace… Damn it, the Eye of Nullification is too low level to see through the formation!” Lu Yun paused before throwing himself upward and rushing toward the palace in a streak of sword light.
Numerous cultivators were gathered outside of it. This was one of the few intact structures left in the place of burial, so it naturally drew a great deal of attention and curiosity.
“It’s an immortal rank formation!” The young man first to attack the vicious spirits in the valley and open the place of burial was among those assembled. He wore a clean white robe and a purple ribbon set with jade in his hair. Waving a folded fan, he frowned at the formation.
“I say, ninety-ninth prince, have you not gotten anything after a spin around this place?” Xia Houwan was irreverent as ever, but the treasures he bore had been swapped out for a full complement of sixth rank immortal treasures. Plainly, he’d reaped a tremendous harvest during the past couple of days.
“Do not call me a prince here!” The ninety-ninth prince glared impatiently at Xia Houwan.
“Then, alright, Brother Yu Hen, remember to share whatever you find with your brother! Look at me, all I have to show for these days is this pile of trash…” Xia Houwan swayed to and fro, showing off his glittering armor and baubles with a resigned look.
“Take this.” The ninety-ninth prince of Great Xia, Yu Hen, was at a loss when it came to Xia Houwan. He threw over a jade pendant.
“A ninth rank immortal defensive treasure? Nice!” Xia Houwan lit up and quickly caught the pendant. He bit through his finger to drip a drop of blood on it and gave it a cursory refinement before storing it within his body.
“I say, Brother Yu Hen, what kind of place is this place of burial to contain so many treasures?” Xia Houwan swallowed hard when he looked at the pills, medicines, and treasures circling over the hall. They looked to be in wondrous condition and the cultivators outside couldn’t determine their ranks through the curtain of light.
“If my guess is right, this was once the palace of a supreme heavyweight. It was ruined in a massive war.” Yu Hen and Xia Houwan seemed to be good friends as the prince was very tolerant of the irreverent young man.
“Hey, do you think it might be the palace of the immortal emperor from the world of immortals that the books in the Dao Academy talk about?” Xia Houwan licked his lips and cackled.
“Very possibly!” Yu Hen nodded emphatically.
Xia Houwan beamed brightly—the palace of the immortal emperor! The academy’s tomes painted it as a cornucopia of treasures and that legendary immortal crystals grew all over the ground.
“But it’s also possible that it’s not,” Yu Hen said when he saw Xia Houwan’s expression.
“Whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of treasures here!” Xia Houwan didn’t care, despite the long held suspicion from the academy’s cultivators that the place of burial was very similar to the palace of the immortal emperor in the records.
BAM!
A combination cultivator finally gave in to impulse and brought his sword down on the curtain of light.
Hummm!
The curtain began trembling.
“That idiot! Retreat!” Yu Hen swore and grabbed the dumbly staring Xia Houwan, backing away as fast as he could.
The void where they’d just stood was submerged by the curtain of light. Cultivators that’d drawn near didn’t have a chance to react before they were reduced to balls of bloody mist and absorbed into the radiance.
The combination cultivator who attacked the curtain suffered the worst fate. His physical body was destroyed and his nascent soul drawn into the palace.
A harrowing cry of anguish echoed from the palace, lasting a dozen breaths. Cultivators who’d managed to escape the curtain’s reaction looked at each other with horror.
“Kekeke, the heavens are kind to me and have sent me such wonderful nutrition less than ten years after I’ve awakened.” Hair-raising cackles sounded from the palace.
“Who is it!” A furious Yu Hen stood in the air and brandished his snowy immortal sword.
“You are an interesting child and your image of heaven and earth is even more interesting.” Savage bloodlust suffused the raspy voice. “This is an ideal body for me to take possession of. Looks like I’m luckier than that Terra Demon…”
All of the hairs on Yu Hen’s body stood on end—it was like an awful beast had him in its sights. An uncommonly frosty air rose from the bottom of his feet.
Whoosh!
Bloody light flashed out of the hall and beelined for the prince.
A grim look in his eyes, Yu Hen grit his teeth and summoned three hundred meters worth of sword light out of his sword, smashing it against the bloody light.
Pfft!
The bloody radiance vanished after being hewn apart, but Yu Hen remained coldly regarding a certain part of the air.
BAM!!
Another streak of bloody light appeared as a wave several hundred meters tall. It enveloped all of the cultivators around Yu Hen.
“Mommy, what is that?!” Xia Houwan nearly peed himself with fright. The jade pendant that the prince had gifted him sparkled furiously, raising a green barrier of light.
“Star of Celestial Rotating Jade, Kill!” Yu Hen remained unmoved as a massive star glittered over his head. It sent waves of sword qi toward the incoming radiance.
Snowy sword light formed a massive vortex that became the center of this part of the world for a moment. Sword light rampaged within, churning through the bloody illumination.
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