The two continued talking, and what they said next was heard clearly by both Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie, revealing a great many secrets.
As it turned out, the Fox King and King Panshan really had known one another. Their acquaintance dated back to an incident several thousand years earlier.
At that time, King Panshan had been no more than a third-rank demon snake. Pursued by its natural enemy, it fled for its life all the way to Mount Lingtu. The future Fox King was not yet king, but as a rare species born of heaven and earth he already enjoyed exceptionally high standing within his clan.
The inexperienced Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox encountered the demon snake and drove away its pursuer, saving it. Afterward, he took the snake as a playmate, and the two slept, woke, and played together, delighting in each other’s company.
The fox and snake lived together for several hundred years, both advancing in rank. Later, when the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox left the mountain to temper himself through experience, he and the snake became separated along the way.
Many years passed without their meeting. The Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox became renowned and ruled as Fox King on Mount Lingtu. The demon snake, meanwhile, survived countless brushes with death and perils, encountered opportunities of its own, and eventually entered the service of the present Sovereign King. It became a seventh-rank demon beast on the Savage Beast Plains.
Once King Panshan had cultivated successfully, he went to visit the Fox King. Just then, however, the Sovereign King learned of some news.
The Tianlan Secret Trove had emerged.
Hearing this, Xu Ziqing could not help trembling with astonishment.
He looked toward Yun Lie and saw a faint ripple pass through the eyes of his senior brother, who normally remained unmoved by the seven emotions.
It was not that the two were inexperienced; the news was simply extraordinary.
Everyone knew that anything called a “secret trove” was a relic of antiquity, whether a secret realm, a tomb, or some other hidden location. Most contained magical treasures, cultivation techniques, extinct spiritual medicines, rare ores, and other precious resources left from ancient times. Such encounters were scarcely seen once in ten thousand years. They were almost unheard of in small worlds, and were rare even in ordinary great worlds.
The Qingyun Great World was only one of the Three Thousand Middle Worlds. Across all these years, fewer than five secret troves had emerged there.
Those fortunate enough to emerge safely from one invariably gained considerable benefits. Most eventually became outstanding figures in their worlds. Many had advanced through breakthrough after breakthrough, attaining heights of cultivation they had once been unable even to imagine. There had even been Mahayana cultivators who found rare treasures in secret troves and used them to withstand the heavenly lightning tribulation before ascension.
If these benefits alone attracted only some cultivators, the true temptation was that the troves might also contain the inheritances of ancient cultivators.
Although some cultivation methods of the present day had been passed down from antiquity, many more had been devised by later cultivators. Yet among arts of comparable grade, ancient techniques often possessed strange and subtle mysteries absent from their modern counterparts, granting greater power or unusual methods.
Many cultivators joined sects precisely to obtain excellent cultivation methods. What, then, would the inheritance of an ancient cultivator mean?
It meant the ancient cultivator could leave behind all the experience needed to practice the art and numerous treasures suited to it. There might even be methods akin to empowerment, allowing the heir to attain a measure of proficiency in very little time.
Those who had obtained such inheritances, acquired the power to overturn rivers and seas, and eventually founded their own sects were by no means few.
How could such a tremendous lure fail to draw cultivators in droves?
But ancient cultivators had possessed innumerable techniques, many now lost, and the spiritual qi of their era had been more abundant. They had often been far more powerful as a result.
Consequently, their secret troves also held many dangers.
Perhaps to prevent their inheritances and countless treasures from being buried forever, or perhaps for some other reason, whenever a secret trove emerged, a map would emerge with it.
The map would break into several pieces that fell into different hands without any discernible pattern.
Those recipients might be the most ordinary Qi Refinement cultivators or mighty Mahayana cultivators. Anyone who had set foot upon the path of cultivation might receive a fragment.
Besides depicting the trove’s passages, traps, and hidden locations in detail, the map also recorded information about special areas and precautions to observe.
Possessing a complete map would almost guarantee access to the greatest quantity of the trove’s most valuable treasures, providing many more opportunities than other intruders enjoyed. Even an incomplete map could guide its owner to a corresponding region and allow them to plunder that portion thoroughly. Thus, whenever someone learned who held a map fragment, rival forces would converge, attempting to seize it by force and unleashing bloody struggles.
Xu Ziqing began to understand. When he looked toward the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox again, comprehension showed in his eyes.
The Fox King happened to be fortunate enough to obtain an incomplete map when the trove emerged. Unfortunately, the eighth-rank demon beast revered as the “Sovereign King” by the Savage Beast Plains’ demon-beast clans learned of it somehow and seized the Fox King.
King Panshan went to visit the Fox King during that same period. When he learned the fox had been captured, he made inquiries until he discovered the reason. He realized there was absolutely no chance the Sovereign King would release the fox unless the fox surrendered the map fragment.
Unfortunately for the Sovereign King, the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox was far too cunning to carry the map openly. No one knew where he had hidden it.
The Sovereign King had intended to torture the Fox King into confessing and was even willing to kill him and search his soul. Yet the Fox King was no easy victim. Not only was he a seventh-rank demon king himself, but one of his innate divine abilities was self-destruction.
This was no ordinary self-detonation. Even if someone exploded their inner core, it might still be possible to use a surviving scrap of their beast soul. This particular self-destruction, however, erased its user completely from the world in an instant. Not even a trace of soul would remain, and everything within a hundred li would be reduced to ash. It was an extraordinarily powerful method of killing oneself while taking others along, one that would never be employed except as a last resort.
The Sovereign King dared not press him too far. After much negotiation, King Panshan was given the task of guarding the fox. The Sovereign King genuinely hoped Panshan could coax the map’s hiding place from him.
The Fox King wanted to escape and search for treasure himself. King Panshan, meanwhile, both loved the fox and wished to secure the map to win merit. Thus had arisen their present, strangely harmonious situation.
After clarifying all these secrets and their causes, Xu Ziqing breathed a sigh of relief, yet privately he could not suppress a suspicion.
With the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox’s cunning, he must have known they were listening. Everything he had revealed while talking with King Panshan had therefore been deliberately disclosed.
But why reveal it?
Could it be…
Xu Ziqing’s heart raced. He was undoubtedly interested in the secret trove, and a map would be better still. But if the fox wanted to cooperate, why choose human cultivators like them instead of working with the Sovereign King and his fellow demon beasts?
No matter how he considered it, something felt wrong. Xu Ziqing had already encountered many schemes. Faced with this fox, he would much rather think too carefully than stumble into an unknown trap.
King Panshan spent some time fondling and talking affectionately with the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox. The fox still refused to yield, and Panshan finally said helplessly, “If you insist on refusing, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stall much longer… We’re both of the demon race. Why must you oppose the Sovereign King? If you surrender the map fragment, I can speak to him again. Surely you could accompany us and receive a share. What good does this stalemate do you? Escaping is completely impossible…”
What he did not say was that even if the Fox King escaped, the restriction within his body could only be broken by brute force from a demon beast of ninth rank or higher. Furthermore, the Sovereign King’s aura was contained in it. No matter how far the fox fled, he would never escape the Sovereign King’s pursuit.
Why go to such lengths?
The Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox smiled mockingly and said nothing.
Finding the conversation fruitless, King Panshan finally left the stone prison at daybreak.
When the outer doors were locked again, the Ninefold Profound Alluring Fox lazily turned toward the direction of the two martial brothers and asked, “You heard everything Panshan and I said just now, didn’t you?”
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie gradually appeared. “Naturally… we heard it all.”
·
On the Savage Beast Plains, the demon-beast encampment contained a Sky-Piercing Cavern in the heart of the mountains deep within its territory. It was extraordinarily spacious, with countless stone chambers and sentry posts leading eventually to a great hall.
High stone platforms rose within the hall, while countless treasures embedded in the cave walls illuminated the whole stone chamber brilliantly.
Upon one of the high platforms sprawled a giant fierce beast. Its body was sturdy and entirely jet-black, its muscles brimming with incomparable strength. A supple tail whipped back and forth behind it, stirring the air with loud whistling sounds.
Its eyes were half closed, as though it were dozing, but its presence was immense. Even a casual turn of its body made the cavern tremble.
Suddenly, the beast opened its eyes, and green light flashed across its pupils.
“Who goes there?” it growled. Its low rumble was like a roar that shook the listener’s soul.
Two rapid swishing sounds rang out, and more than ten figures appeared before the stone platform.
Every one of them possessed a formidable aura. The weakest had reached early Nascent Soul, while the strongest stood at the peak of late Nascent Soul, with only a thin barrier separating him from Divinity Transformation.
They were unmistakably cultivators, but among their auras were those of both the immortal Dao and the demonic Dao.
The cultivator at their head was a young man dressed in silver with a golden belt. His black hair was neatly gathered beneath a crown. He was exceptionally handsome and possessed a noble bearing.
Oddly, although he stood at their head, his cultivation was the weakest of all.
He was merely a late Golden Core cultivator, yet carried himself with extraordinary dignity.
The giant beast’s imposing aura erupted, sending a terrifying current of air hurtling straight toward them.
The young man remained unhurried. He tossed out a golden alms bowl, which turned over until its opening faced the oncoming blast. Within a breath, it swallowed the entire current.
Only then did he smile calmly. “This junior greets the Sovereign King.”
The beast narrowed its eyes again and growled, “Which son of the Yan Emperor are you?”