Chapter 1250: The Stone Slate Falls into the Pond
Chapter 1250: The Stone Slate Falls into the Pond
The Ancient Earth Vein Tree was also ensnared within the Faceless Saint Emperor's web of Source Power Essence.
Thus, when Ruomu pledged its allegiance, the Ancient Earth Vein Tree had felt a faint premonition. It couldn't be certain, but a sense of dread had been growing within it day by day.
"We are all subjects of the Saint Emperor now, under his protection," the ancient tree could only reassure itself. "Surely *it* wouldn't dare to harm me?"
The Ancient Earth Vein Tree knew with absolute clarity that perhaps only the Saint Emperor could guarantee its survival in this world.
The more useful it proved to be to the Sacred Dynasty, the safer it would be.
And so, the Ancient Earth Vein Tree was desperate to prove its worth to the Saint Emperor.
Unfortunately, since its arrival in the Great Qi Sacred Dynasty, it seemed to have been completely forgotten. No one had come to seek it out.
Even the task it had been assigned—to map and regulate the earth veins of the Great Qi's small world—had gone uninspected.
But one day, the opportunity the ancient tree had been waiting for finally arrived.
The visitor was none other than the Saint Emperor's fifth disciple, Ou Shangtian.
"Is this the diagram of the Xuanhuang Realm's earth vein currents?"
Ou Shangtian asked, pointing to the image before them.
It was a dense, sprawling image, like a vast subterranean web extending to every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Like the blood vessels of a living being, it constantly pulsed and throbbed, a strangely unsettling sight.
The Ancient Earth Vein Tree nodded. "Your insight is sharp, Young Venerable."
Ou Shangtian seemed to appreciate the tree's flattery, readily accepting the title of "Young Venerable."
"I heard from my senior sister, Lin Ling, that traveling within the earth vein currents provides a natural cover, shielded by the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm itself, making one undetectable to ordinary senses. Is that true?" Ou Shangtian asked.
"That is correct." The Ancient Earth Vein Tree offered him a withered branch. "Take a look, Young Venerable."
Ou Shangtian felt the power of the earth vein currents flowing through the branch and frowned. "This doesn't feel particularly powerful. How could it possibly shield someone from perception?"
The Ancient Earth Vein Tree smiled faintly. "Young Venerable must understand that mountains are built from grains of sand, and great rivers from single drops of water. A flicker of this power may seem insignificant, but when all the earth vein currents of the Xuanhuang Realm converge, the force is immense, as unstoppable as a thunderous tide."
"Ultimately, the flow of the earth veins is a vital component of the Xuanhuang Realm's natural order. I merely act as its steward. Compared to the boundless, rolling Dao of the entire realm, an ordinary cultivator is but an ant. It is only natural to be overlooked."
Ou Shangtian gazed at the diagram of the earth vein currents, lost in thought.
After a long moment, he returned to his senses and handed back the branch. "Perfect," he declared. "I am about to undertake a mission for my master, and I may require your assistance."
This was the moment the Ancient Earth Vein Tree had been waiting for. It was overjoyed. "Please, command me, Young Venerable. I will assist you with everything I have."
"There is a senior in the Xuanhuang Realm of unfathomable power... he carries a stone slate on his back. Do you know of him?" Ou Shangtian asked, watching the Ancient Tree's reaction.
The Ancient Earth Vein Tree's demeanor changed in a flash, its earlier enthusiasm evaporating.
It stared at Ou Shangtian in disbelief before finally asking in a hushed, tentative tone, "Young Venerable... does the Sacred Dynasty intend to move against Senior Stone Slate?"
"Forgive my bluntness, but Stone Slate is a genuine Longevity stage master, one who has walked the Dao for ages..."
Ou Shangtian waved a dismissive hand. "I'm well aware of this Stone Slate's power. The Longevity stage, is it?"
"Compared to my master, he is nothing!"
"Rest assured," he continued, "my only task is to lure him to a specific location."
Hearing this, the Ancient Earth Vein Tree finally relaxed.
If the mysterious and unfathomable Faceless Saint Emperor could subdue its own sire, then dealing with this Stone Slate should pose little trouble.
The ancient tree's spirits lifted. "Young Venerable, how may I be of service?"
Ou Shangtian laid out the details of the plan. The ancient tree considered them for a moment before nodding, indicating that it would not be a problem.
"There is no time to waste. I will depart as soon as I have seen my master."
The ancient tree replied, "My true form remains in the Xuanhuang Realm. I can manifest whenever you call, Young Venerable."
Ou Shangtian hurried into the Saint Emperor's presence.
When he emerged, all traces of anxiety had vanished from his face.
"I have the Heaven and Earth Bone Hand and the Seven-Colored Jade Void Gilded Light for protection. I've received another treasure from Master, and I've spent all this time studying formations..." he thought, building his confidence.
"All I have to do is lead him to the Fishing Pool. The mission will be complete. It shouldn't be difficult."
"But... isn't the Fishing Pool one of our Sacred Dynasty's most precious sites? Why would Master want me to lead a powerful enemy there? Isn't he worried something might go wrong?"
He couldn't make sense of it. In the end, he decided not to dwell on it, left the Great Qi's small world, and headed directly for the Nine Mountains Province of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Aided by the surging earth vein currents, he arrived within the province's borders in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Ou Shangtian tested the air and confirmed it: the laws of space here were indeed chaotic and fragile.
To teleport rashly would be to risk tearing a rift in space and being sucked into the turbulent void, lost forever.
"But simple flight is no problem," Ou Shangtian mused. "These nine mountains might deter an ordinary cultivator, but not me, not with my seven-colored divine light."
As he thought this, he willed the Seven-Colored Jade Void Gilded Light to form a protective aura around him, radiating its own rhythm like a star in the high heavens.
With another thought, a suit of armor shimmering with the same seven colors materialized over his body. His master's voice echoed in his mind: "This is the Flowing Light Armor, forged from nine-heavens lightning and the dawn's first rainbow. When you wear it, your speed will rival that of a thunderbolt, and you will be able to ignore the vast majority of attacks..."
Ou Shangtian put it to the test.
He looked at a distant mountain peak. In a blur, the next moment, he was standing on its summit.
"So fast!" Even he, the one moving, was stunned by the speed. With the combined power of the Flowing Light Armor and the Seven-Colored Jade Void Gilded Light, he had achieved a velocity that was simply unbelievable.
Despite being so conspicuous, a blazing trail of seven-colored light streaking across the sky, his speed was so immense that not a single cultivator in the entire Nine Mountains Province, not even the Dao Integration guardians of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, could perceive his passage.
At first, Ou Shangtian was cautious, but after confirming that he was truly invisible to all, he began to relax, a feeling of absolute freedom and power surging through him.
"Exhilarating! This is truly exhilarating!"
In the space of a few breaths, he had crisscrossed the vast province several times. The sensation of moving like lightning was intoxicating. At the same time, a sliver of doubt crept into his mind. "Can I really lure Stone Slate out just by flying around like this?"
"Is it that simple? At this speed, he'll never even find me, will he?"
"Maybe I should slow down a bit?"
Just as his thoughts began to wander, a sudden sense of profound crisis gripped him.
An image flooded his mind.
The world went dark.
An invisible restraint bound him, and no matter how fast he flew, he could not escape the encroaching darkness.
In despair, his body was slowly pulled toward the heart of the gloom.
...
"!"
Ou Shangtian's heart pounded in his chest.
He knew this was a warning from his other companion wonder, the Ten Thousand Death Book, which activated automatically to alert him to mortal danger.
"What is this? Stone Slate?"
The vision was so terrifying it made his hair stand on end. Without a moment's hesitation, he detonated an Array Crown he had long prepared.
In an instant, hundreds of thousands of formations materialized, layering themselves around him in a protective sphere.
Only then did the vision from the Ten Thousand Death Book slowly fade.
But the sense of crisis did not recede. As the creator of the formations, he could feel them—the hundreds of thousands of arrays he had just deployed—vanishing at an unbelievable rate.
Yet he saw no one, nothing attacking them. It was as if they were being silently consumed.
The dread intensified. While the protective arrays still held, Ou Shangtian tossed out several more Array Crowns.
As layers upon layers of new formations spread out, an illusory figure was slowly forced to reveal itself.
Ou Shangtian didn't dare to look too closely.
"Earth veins!"
He screamed inwardly, diving straight down from the sky and plunging into the ground below.
He vanished in an instant.
The thousands of formations he left behind were bizarrely compressed into solid, page-like sheets, which then floated gently toward the figure that had suddenly appeared.
The figure gradually came into focus, revealing a man with the appearance of a scholar, a massive stone slate strapped to his back.
He took one of the pages. As he finished reading it, the page dissolved from his hand in a flash of fluorescent light, its contents seemingly branded onto the slate.
The scholar wasn't in any hurry to pursue the fleeing Ou Shangtian. He calmly finished reading all the pages.
As he did, his placid expression slowly gave way to a frown.
"When did the art of formations in the Xuanhuang Realm reach such a level?"
"And that light... the light of another world..."
"Could he be an outsider?"
After all the pages had been absorbed, the scholar glanced in the direction he sensed Ou Shangtian had fled.
"Such speed. And an alliance with the Ancient Earth Vein Tree..."
The scholar consulted the recent records on his slate.
He found no relevant information.
"More and more domains from beyond are appearing. The slate, which once knew all, is slowly becoming obsolete."
"Wuyou, you were right. Nothing is eternal. Not immortals, and not the power we Longevity cultivators pride ourselves on."
Although the situation reeked of a conspiracy, a blatant attempt to lure him somewhere, Stone Slate felt no fear.
Only a burgeoning curiosity.
With a single step, he appeared at the very spot where Ou Shangtian had been moments before.
But it seemed Ou Shangtian was well-prepared, for he had already vanished back into the earth veins a step ahead of him.
The currents roared and churned, making it impossible for even Stone Slate to find a single ant within their flow.
Still, he was not concerned. He knew his quarry would have to reappear. So he simply waited.
"Interesting. It seems the one behind this knows me quite well."
And so, bit by bit, Stone Slate was drawn toward a tranquil Daoist temple nestled in the mountains.
Ou Shangtian was no longer fleeing. Instead, he stood respectfully behind a tall, imposing figure.
Stone Slate's gaze shifted from Ou Shangtian to this new arrival.
After observing him for a moment, the smile vanished from Stone Slate's lips, replaced by a look of puzzlement and gravity.
This person before him felt... both familiar and dangerous.
"I can't sense the aura of a unified body and Dao. He's not a Longevity stage cultivator? Or perhaps... like me, he follows an ancient path to longevity?" Stone Slate pondered.
"Aren't you tired of just standing there? Come in and sit for a while," Li Ping said, his voice breaking the tense silence.
With a single sentence, the charged atmosphere dissipated.
It was not the confrontation of enemies, but the casual greeting of long-lost friends.
A strange feeling stirred within Stone Slate.
Still, he replied softly, "Alright."
He followed Li Ping into the temple below.
They passed through the main hall without stopping, continuing until they reached a small pond behind the building.
"How long have you been carrying that slate on your back, friend?" Li Ping asked.
Stone Slate paused for a moment, then answered without hesitation, "Thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-two years."
"Thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-two years." Li Ping repeated the number.
"It sounds like a very long time. And yet, it is but a fleeting moment compared to the age of the Xuanhuang Realm, let alone the Star Sea beyond," he mused.
Stone Slate concurred. "Indeed. Thirty thousand years pass in the blink of an eye. For the heavens and the earth, it may be nothing. But for an ordinary person like me, it has been a very long time."
"An ordinary person..." Ou Shangtian couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
Li Ping smiled. "Shangtian, do not be rude. This senior is correct. He is, indeed, just an ordinary person."
Ou Shangtian, not daring to disobey the Saint Emperor, quickly bowed in apology to Stone Slate.
But Stone Slate paid him no mind, his gaze fixed on Li Ping. "You... seem to know a great deal about me?"
Li Ping didn't confirm it. "I merely feel a sense of empathy," he said.
"I, too, am just an ordinary person, burdened by a predetermined fate."
Hearing this, Ou Shangtian bowed his head even lower, terrified of letting even a hint of his true thoughts show.
Stone Slate, however, grew more thoughtful, his eyes scrutinizing Li Ping.
The man's tall frame was unlike that of any cultivator he knew.
The auras clinging to him were strange and powerful, and Stone Slate did not dare to underestimate them.
"Friend, why have you lured me here? Surely not just for a simple chat?" In the end, it was Stone Slate who broke the verbal dance and asked directly.
"I have come to help you find release," Li Ping stated gravely.
The bluntness of the words made Ou Shangtian look up, a flicker of excitement in his eyes.
Stone Slate's eyes narrowed, and his guard went up instantly.
"It seems you have misunderstood me, friend. I genuinely wish to help you find release." A trace of disappointment colored Li Ping's tone.
The Faceless Saint Emperor gestured to their surroundings.
"Have you not noticed that something is amiss here?"
At his words, Stone Slate's attention finally shifted from the Faceless Saint Emperor to his environment.
He scanned the area, and his gaze finally came to rest on the small, placid pond.
(End of Chapter)
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