“I promise.” Xu Yangyi was devoid of hesitation, fully aware this was an open conspiracy. What was most important for him currently was still cultivation advancement.

“Splendid!” Jadewave laughed heartily, the demon’s laughter uninterrupted for a full minute. It then said, “There is indeed a clue left behind on the surface… Although it is not complete, do you know why there are five holes on this box? Yet there is only a single person?” Perhaps because it was in a great mood, Jadewave didn’t wait for Xu Yangyi to respond, and then laughed, “Do you know of the Five Phases Deities?”

Xu Yangyi shook his head. As a pragmatist, he only cared if something was useful, regardless of its origin.

“Junior…” Jadewave laughed, “All of China’s theories are founded upon the Five Phases. This is the root of China’s cultivation world. As for this root, it originates from the Book of Changes.”

“The Book of Changes is the joint origin of China’s two schools of Daoism and Confucianism… The Five Celestial Deities are Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury… The five ruler deities is the truth of these five holes! They have another name by which they are called… The Five Primordial Celestials.” 

“The person carved on this chest… No, god, his name is known as Tai Sui!” [1]

“A leopard-headed man mounted on top of a boar-headed horse, this is undoubtedly the god of Jupiter!”

“Next, you must find a human relic specialist. Mankind’s evaluation of dynasties is far more superb than mine. Discover which dynasty this item hails from… Afterwards… search history, for a time where Daoism or perhaps Confucianism was revered, of an emperor who received the greatest injustice in death. I wager the lower half of this ruined Emperor Armament is there!”

“Where is that place?” Xu Yangyi immediately questioned.

Jadewave began to laugh. “Do you think… after the emperor’s death, you’re able to take away the item from where it is located?”

“Only when both halves are united as one will you be able to bring about the true information pried from the Animus Armament. Perhaps you have presently obtained a benefit from within, but… hehe, is the only Animus Armament produced in 5,000 years merely this?”

“The true information hidden within it is only truly complete when it is opened.”

Silent, Xu Yangyi digested this gained information. This long discussion in the night had finally unraveled the final knot within his heart. Else not, he would’ve always had a hole in his heart as he used the Eternal Alchemy Canon to cultivate. This hole couldn’t be seen in the beginning, but the farther ahead into the future, the more tangled it would be, until finally, once it became a paranoia, it would form a heart devil. Perhaps it would then be difficult to forge ahead. 

Today, he felt everything dissipate like vanishing smoke and scattering clouds. So it turned out he was being hunted… because of this. This little box actually held such a great history. An injustice spanning a millennium, a blood-dyed Emperor Armament. It was no wonder that it was carrying an arcane effort such as the Eternal Alchemy Canon.

What do you want me to accomplish? What’s the pursuit of your thousand years of hatred? In any case… these things aren’t important. As long as you help me ascend the apex, I shall fulfill your desire of that year!

“Many thanks.” Xu Yangyi cupped his hands. While this evening may have seemed to lack tangible gains, it strengthened his heart and spirit, far better than cultivating for several decades.

He looked at his watch. Twenty-four minutes.

“Remember our agreement.” A tremendous green radiance flickered. But just as Jadewave was planning on descending, Xu Yangyi suddenly turned around. 

“There’s another matter that I wish Senior could guide the way for.”

“What matter?” Jadewave was aloof; a minor matter was without trouble, not necessarily out of reach. Its mood was quite well, fabulously great. Was it truly believed that there was someone with the ease of mind to decrypt problems for people at the Four Great Joint Pools?

Granted that there was a reward, the price to have Jadewave decrypt was rather high… Jadewave only determined the reward that a majority of clans were able to pay with clenched teeth. Its own cultivation had already reached a bottleneck. Without great opportunity, it couldn’t advance, so it had thought up of this method to bait fish. 

A century… two centuries… three centuries had passed. It had ultimately waited for this day! This ticket was enough to make up for three centuries of time! Enough to make up for stifling its nauseating intolerance towards these insects! This… was a once-in-5,000-years… Animus Armament condensed from one of China’s hundred-plus emperors! 

Jadewave chuckled in the heavy mist, not knowing which emperor it could be… who could harbor such a fierce hatred. Even above all men, a Lord of the Nine Quiniums still bore such an execution of intent. This emperor had actually congealed this item of legend. As for the Millennium Grudge of that emperor, it was evident that he held a titanic relation with the cultivation world… to be able to incur the attack of the Xuan-Yuan Sword’s wielder. Jadewave dared not shoulder this karma. However, the greater the karma, the greater the destiny!

Life or death was merely between a thought. This folly was enough to make that foolish human boy undertake it.

“With Senior’s cultivation, it should be no issue to forcibly use Innersight. After Junior obtained the Emperor Armament, a bit of a mishap appeared in my body. I’d still like to request Senior to dispel my confusions.”

Jadewave’s expression finally turned a shade solemn. At least… until Xu Yangyi obtained the hidden secret of the Emperor Armament, the boy couldn’t be allowed to die. 

“Yes,” Jadewave answered insipidly. Xu Yangyi only felt an icy coldness. It like a pair of eyes had sprouted inside his body, looking at all of his secrets. He made another guess at Jadewave’s cultivation, elevating it by a single level.

“There are no problems… hold on.” Jadewave carefully swept over every part of Xu Yangyi. It hadn’t found anything odd until it arrived at the qi sea. But after Jadewave had originally done a round of inspection, it suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something bobbing up and down in Xu Yangyi’s billowing qi sea. 

“Let me take a careful look.” Jadewave narrowed its eyes. In the next second… the demon saw the object clearly! It was a stone-like seed. However… Jadewave recognized this seed! A name that even caused a demon to tremble!

“God… God… God… Godseal Spark!” The inside of Jadewave’s heart surged wildly like a mad tide flooding the heavens. “Impossible! It cannot be! H-How could this be! Such a thing… Such a thing…” 

“I understand… I understand! So it was like this! The origin was as such!!!”

CRASH! From the violently surging lake surface, a giant wave that was tens of meters high soared up! Jadewave’s two enormous eyes glimmered indistinctly. Anyone could see and realize that the demon had suffered a tremendous shock!

Xu Yangyi was on a hair-trigger lookout. Indeed, he didn’t know what this object, which had appeared once he finished cultivating the first part of the Eternal Alchemy Canon.

“This is…” Both of God Ming’s eyes shook with apprehension. As he looked to the great, heavy mist in shock, he unexpectedly discovered that it showed signs of dissipating!

“This… Could it be that Senior Jadewave has suffered a shock? But how? Isn’t that ape nothing but a mere Qi Condensation cultivator?”

At this instant, in the vast sky dotted with stars, the first star of the Big Dipper, Tian Shu, suddenly erupted with a burst of eye-piercing radiance!

The shocked Jadewave shivered all over and snapped its head up to look at the sky, bellowing with a hoarse voice, “I REFUSE!!!”

“This Dao Master took no more than a glance! A mere glimpse of the eye! Why?! On what basis must you execute me?!?!”

“Could it be that you are the Will of Heaven?! Bullshit! Who gave you the right to slay me?!?!” 

A Dao Master!

Xu Yangyi and God Ming both stepped back. This change had come too quickly, too abruptly! Senior Jadewave… No, Daomaster Jadewave suddenly frenzied, and moreover snarled its realm for the first time since the beginning of history!!

A Dao Master! A Core Formation Dao Master! Unless one was at Core Formation, they weren’t allowed to title themselves as a Dao Master! Nonetheless, this wasn’t what put Xu Yangyi on immediate guard. The actual reason stemmed from the fact… 

That someone… was slaying Jadewave? Beheading a demon? Executing a Dao Master Greater Demon? Who dared?!

In the sky… there was no response whatsoever. Subsequently, under brilliant illumination akin to snowy muslin, the Tian Xuan, Tian Ji, Tian Quan, Yu Heng, Kai Yang, and Yao Guang, these six stars, deafeningly erupted with gentle moonlight! [2]

“Heavenly Demon Art… Tortoise Unto Xuanwu!” [3]

A mortal crisis unexpectedly pervaded Jadewave’s entire body! In this twinkling, it simply didn’t dare to care for anyone else. In the wake of a furious roar that crossed the sky, a fierce tide of peerless qi exploded! 

BOOM… With the sound of tremendous quake, the whole dead volcano of Old Black Mountain trembled!

Rumble! All at once, the total sum of the Four Great Joint Pools’ water flew into the air. At this moment… the bottom of the thousand-meter pool was shockingly visible! Xu Yangyi’s gaze focused. He seemed to have caught sight of a fin.

“You wish to slay me?! How could it be so easy?!?!?!” Jadewave raved madly, the demon’s furious shout carrying an even crazier laughter. “Heavenly Demon Art! Demon Refines The Savage River!!!” [4]

Swoosh! In this second, all the water in the air seemed to transform into imitation scales of light-blue armor! The armor defended Jadewave! In this instant, the several-thousand-meter volcanic lake had all come into this armor!

Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed, and he backpedaled at lightning speed. Likewise, God Ming no longer cared for image and frantically burst into retreat! Someone… There really was someone acting against this Core Formation Greater Demon who had lived for over a thousand years! However, the eyes of Xu Yangyi and God Ming both contained a scorching blaze!

This… was a Core Formation master’s divine ability! It easily flipped over rivers and turned over seas! It shrouded the heavens and blotted out the sun!

And below Jadewave, the thousand meters of water was boiling in the air! Yet as Xu Yangyi watched a thousand-year-old greater demon’s move, countless tons of lakewater took shape, needless of foundation! 

And by looking at the sky… one saw that the seven stars of the Big Dipper sparkled in harmony! There was someone… who was traversing an immeasurable distance and crossing through infinite space to bring these seven stars to execute this demon!

“This is a true cultivator!”

“This is how we cultivators should be!”

Xu Yangyi looked at his watch; the minute hand hovered over the number fifty-two.

Since he’d entered the place… an hour and fifty-two minutes had passed.