Chapter 111
The place was full of ancient Chinese structure but all of them well arranged to form a ma.s.sive sect. At the foot of the mountain, lies the grand structure serves as the palace of the Burning Heaven Sect or the main base of operation. Similar to the Frozen Cloud Asgard, this is where the highest members of the sect reside and by all means, the sect master himself.
SMAs.h.!.+
Inside the sect master's room on the highest floor of the place, the sound of the table smashed itself on the floor and the one smas.h.i.+ng them was the Sect master himself. The sect master was a middle age man garments itself with the exclusive robes of the clan stood proudly on the highest platform symbolize power for the clan itself.
"That Yun Che again. Not only we lost our foothold at the New Moon City but now he killed most of our members and harm my son. This kid is nothing but trouble for us. Who and what is this kid?" The one spoke just now is a middle age man acting as the sect master or the clan master of the Burning Heaven Clan itself. The father of three children including Fen JueCheng, Fen Duanhan.
None of the people in the room dare to respond to the sect master's questions as none of them had any information. The information they gained was insufficient for them to established a final order. Since Yun Che's trouble back in New Moon City was known. The clan still doesn't have his whereabouts after that. They only knew he infiltrated the New Moon Profound Palace a month before the grand banquet. Has the power to conjure a ma.s.sive snake made up of bones but no further information was acquired the moment he disappeared from the arena. The last thing happened was he managed to annihilated the seven clan leaders as well as cause the appearance of two grand craters.
"I GOT THIRTY PLUS PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM. SOMEBODY TELL ME SOMETHING!!!" Fen Duanhan shouted to all the elders in the room.
Seeing n.o.body responded, the sect master turned his head towards his son, Fen JueCheng. From him, he heard about a rising brat from out of nowhere. This brat killed most of his men but spared his Sky Profound Realm attendants. Those attendants merely First and Second Level Sky Profound Realm but they are no means weak. For them unable to face the pressure of a single warrior.
"It's true father, this son wishes to get to know the lovely Princess Cang Yue but it seems that she has been seeing someone behind my back." Fen JueCheng fabricating a story to make himself look innocent.
"I am guessing this someone is also the same person destroying the sect master of our branch clan in New Moon City?"
Fen JueCheng replied "Yes, father. This so called Yun Che and the black clad woman named Retsu."
"Did you managed to get a glimpse of his cultivation?"
"No, its like their bodies were completely shrouded without any glimpse of energy as if they were ordinary mortal. Even a monarch's can be recognized by a glimpse."
Then, one of the elders spoke "From the rumors of our remnants from the New Moon City. This brat's strength has achieved Peak of Nascent Profound Realm but able to destroy our disciples at the middle and peak stage of True Profound Realm. He was even able to take down a first level Spirit Profound Realm disciple. That woman of his by no means stronger than any of them. She was able to defeat fourteen late stage True Profound Realm masters all by herself."
"I think they used some kind of treasure to suppress their cultivation. It's impossible for them to take down even the Earth Profound Realm sect masters." One of the elders suggested.
"Heavens!!! Both of them aren't even twenty years old and was able to defeat the Earth Profound Realm warriors?" The other elders shocked in whispers.
"Not even twenty years old?!? Are you absolutely sure?" Feng Duanhan expressed his shock as well.
"I was there when the woman knocked out all of the men including the third prince's. She even did it all by herself while that Yun boy is in the mysterious cave." One of the surviving attendants spoke. He also spoke that Retsu was able to fight with them toe to toe back then.
Hearing something about a cave, Feng Duanhan widen his eyes and said "You mean the cave from the rumors?"
All the survivors including Fen JueCheng nodded their heads.
"It seems not only this Yun Che and this woman are stronger. They also obtained the treasure from that mysterious cave. We spent countless years trying to get to that cave only to have our forces destroyed by the guardian dragons. It's only a miracle we heard that the guardians disappeared and I immediately dispatch my son. Turns out that boy arrived there sooner than we think."
Then, Fen Duanhan immediately issued and order "Inform all elders and all our contact to track down this Yun Che, Princess Cang Yue and this black clad woman named Retsu. Use all of our contacts and resources to find them. I want to know everything. Their cultivation, backings as well as their capabilities. I want to know what we're up against." With that, every elder from the room immediately disperse before started on their work tracking down Yun Che and his mischievous family.
Fen JueCheng let out a sinister smile as his father started to mobilize the higher ups of his clan to track down Yun Che. If this plan works, he'll have them soon as he couldn't wait to exact his revenge.
As he remembered their capabilities, he spoke with a heavy expression. "Father, what are we going to do if we found them? Even Sky Profound Realm isn't enough to deal with them."
"Looks like we have to resort of dispatching our elders of the later stages. For that brat even offending the Wu Clan. It means his backing is considered strong." Fen Duanhan wanted to prepare fro the worse. Finding Yun Che means risk offending his backing. He better ask those with capabilities to handle him if he has to.
"Is the Wu Clan really that strong?" Fen JueCheng asked him.
Feng Duanhan looked at his son as if he was looking an idiot. "Hmph, you ignorant son. The Wu Clan collaborate directly with one of the four sacred grounds of the Profound Sky Continent. Even the Frozen Cloud Asgard won't dare to offend them. However, for this brat to offend them directly. It means he is that strong or really stupid."
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After settling their matters at the cave, Yun Che and the others board Cang Yue's white eagle and finally depart from the Wasteland of Death. Their a.s.sumption was correct when they saw various cultivators are converging on the cave of the Dragon Trial but he won't be there to see their disappointment when they are going to find out that there's nothing in there. Well, it's not their matter so they're not going to bother with it.
They finally arrived at the mountain stone gateway marked as the entrance of the Wasteland of Death. On their way, they managed to catch several fighting zones between man and beast as well as hollows. Nowadays, hollow hunting is left with cultivators compared to Quincy and s.h.i.+nigami back from his era. Even contribution points and contracts involved hollows are popular nowadays but they didn't manage to find any Menos.
Compared to ordinary hollows, Menos is a bit smarter on focused on finding stronger cultivators to devour. They won't bother finding any cultivators weaker than Earth Profound Realm. They concluded that Menoses probably somewhere in the other Empire in the Profound Sky Continent rather than staying in Blue Wind Empire. That won't be a problem since they can travel between s.p.a.ces through the Garganta. If the cultivators can suppress them then they won't have to worry about encountering another Adjuchas type hollow. However, those type of hollows bound to roam the earth one day and they have to be prepared if something happens.
Looks like more and more cultivators shows up at the entrance into the Wasteland of Death. Well, the cave was tempting enough to attract them and probably here because
Yun Che had Cang Yue flew her white eagle somewhere closer to the stone gate. The wasteland is protected by several formations to prevent the beast or hollows below the Sky Profound Realm to breaking through it. That includes her white eagle. It means flying above the gate is asking to get killed and they didn't want to attract attention to themselves.
Retsu had Mio and Cang Yue veiled themselves to prevent any unwanted attention to themselves while Yun Che donned himself with a cloak while Kon hid somewhere under it.
While a lot of cultivators came in through the stone gateway, very few cultivators came out of it. It is unknown whether they died in there or still hunting in groups. Either way, they will not stay any longer to find out.
In the original story, Yun Che pa.s.sed through this gateway along with Little Fairy to begin their journey into the depths of the wasteland. But the current him pa.s.sed somewhere through a hidden entrance as the formation didn't actually covered the whole forest. He wanted to use it to get out with arousing too much attention. If the formation was here, then Fen JueCheng and his crooks pa.s.sed through here recently.
Despite veiled themselves, they couldn't help but arousing whispers and attention from cultivators nearby. Retsu, Cang Yue and Mio did have the ultimate beauty and no veil can hide their forms. Besides, even with their veil, they still wearing exquisite kimonos that attract men and women easily. The only one escape attention was Yun Che as he only used ordinary cloak compared to his usual modernized adventurer cloak.
When they went out of the stone gate, they could see a small town built by traders attempting to sell anything that can help the cultivators inside the Wasteland of Death. Despite having a reputation of increasing death toll, this wasteland was still able to gain some profit by the traders from various clan. As for Yun Che and the others, they were back to the civilization after spending months inside the inner lands of the empire.
The first thing they do was to find an Inn to get themselves a proper bed as well as something to eat. They found themselves an inn with a restaurant outside. So they took a seat somewhere quite far but still in the boundary of the restaurant. Still, Yun Che sighs as he gets a look and whispers of jealousy when they saw him sat with the veiled beauties. Even with all that low profile method, he still couldn't escape attention itself. They decided to sit somewhere far as VIP rooms tend to create more troubles based on his previous novel readings.
The waiter slowly came by and said "What will it be travelers?"
"We would like to order a meal for ten people. Will that be enough girls?" He said casually.
Cang Yue tilted her head sideways and said "Are you sure that'll be enough? Yun Che. I mean Sister Mio and Retsu have big appet.i.tes. Ten servings will not be enough."
"That's right. We also have Kon." Yun Che murmured softly. That guy also can eat a lot.
"Ten servings?!? Travelers, if this is a jest than this is not funny." The waiter hold his hands in the air.
"You know what, make it twenty. Take your time making them. We'll be here for a while." He spoke casually earning a small nod from the girls.
"But travelers…." Before the waiter could respond, Yun Che handed over a purple coin caused the waiter to widen his eyes. A purple coin is enough to keep the restaurant running for a few another six months. If these travelers could give a purple coin like that, it means their background is not simple.
"Keep the change. Anything else?"
"Yes!!!, we'll be right back with your order shortly." The waiter bowed to them before running back to the restaurant.
As the waiter ran away, Mio suddenly spoke "So this is the realm of the humans? I don't how long I missed the changes of this world." Mio divert her eyes all over and started seeing humans all over the place. Its been a while since she had seen humans.
Cang Yue looked at her with saddened expression as he continued "Sister Mio, it must painful for you to remain in that realm for thousands of years."
"Don't worry Yue'er. Even after thousands of years. I don't remember much from my old days. I wanted to spend more with Dannsama. Reverting into an 18-year-old girl makes me youthful once more."
"Yuu-kun can let you enjoy life more than you can imagine, Mio. We'll train you so you can experience the joy of cultivating with us." Retsu spoke while rubbing Mio's head affectionately like a little sister.
"Hnnn, I am looking forward to it. Retsu-chan." She nodded in agreement.
Hearing Mio using the cute term on her again, her face suddenly reddening again. "Muuu, there you go with –chan again, Mio. Its embarra.s.sing."
"But, Dannsama said that he liked it."
"Well, no arguments there. It makes you look cuter." Yun Che suddenly interjects.
"*Poof" Smoke suddenly burst out of Retsu's head hearing his complement. "Then…. I have no arguments there as well." She said while feeling red in the face radiating her beauty further.
"You know, seeing Retsu embarra.s.sed still brightens my day. Isn't that right, Yue'er?" Mio asked Cang Yue and simply earned a nod from her.
Seeing these girls getting along, Yun Che simply smiled. Its pretty rare for girls to care with one another. Even if all of them came from different background but seeing them like this makes their value as women even higher compared those haughty ojou-sama type out there.
Then his attention s.h.i.+fted to the group of cultivators behind him seems to be discussing something but their topic of discussion somehow attracts his attention.
"Oi..you lots… Haven't you heard about the tomb of the Moon Empress? It seems they managed to unearth it recently." The burly cultivator suddenly sounded his group while drinking. It seems that these cultivators wanted to explore the wasteland as well but decided to grab a drink.
"Tomb of the Moon Empress? d.a.m.n, every clan in the empire looking for that tomb for a thousand years but none of them managed to find it. To think that someone managed to unearth it." One of them answered.
"Moon Empress? This isn't the same as the real story." Yun Che suddenly pique his interest as he expanded his instinct towards them and listened to the conversation.
The burly man explained. "Yeah, by the imperial decree. It belongs to the clan who found it. So, the tomb belonged to the Xiao Clan as they found a way the tomb in one of their training zones in Gao Ling City."
One of them exclaimed "It's in Gao Ling City the entire time?!?"
"No, the tomb itself is unknown but they found a teleporting formation leads to it underneath Gao Ling City." The burly man explained to them.
"d.a.m.n, one of the four great clans in the Blue Wind Empire. Looks like normal cultivators like us won't stand a chance. Looks like the Legend of the Moon Empress will belong to the Xiao Clan after all." One of them sighs as he faced the current situation.
Hearing these so called legends, he decided to ask the system to satisfy his curiosity. "Legend of the Moon Empress? System, any information on this legend?"
[Ding… No information found in the novel based on host's memory.]
Well, the system gained information from the novel he read so its a dead end. So he decided to ask the closest and the person lived most in the empire. "Cang Yue, do you know anything about the Moon Empress?"
Cang Yue looked at Yun Che for a while before she said "Yun Che, the legend of the Moon Empress is a common knowledge in Blue Wind Empire. I thought you knew about this."
Yun Che fake coughing before looking sideways. "Well, uhhh… I didn't know much. It never interest me before. Maybe I spend too much time training." Hearing Yun Che talked about a legend seems to pique the interest of Retsu and Mio.
"Hooo, a new legend? Count us in. We're slightly interest in it." Mio sounded next to her and Retsu also nodded.
Cang Yue suddenly giggled looking at his antics and said "Don't worry. I'll explain it to you. The Moon Empress was the first empress of the Blue Wind Empire. Its detailed legend was recorded in the Blue Wind Palace archive which I spent most of my childhood reading about her. It was my dream to ended up like her. She was the first and last Monarch of the Blue Wind Empire. As you can see, Sovereign Profound Realm cultivators mostly dwell in the outer lands of the Empire and when I heard Sister Mio was one. You can say she's now a second Monarch that ever dwells in the empire."
When Yun Che heard about it, technically she's right about Mio being a Monarch. As for Retsu and Yun Che, both of them might have a monarch's strength but their cultivation still dwells in the later stages of Sky Profound Realm. So, Mio won this round for being acknowledge as a monarch.
Then she continued "Back to the story, she's basically became the most powerful monarch and her t.i.tle as the Moon Empress didn't came from it. It came from her unique cultivation art where she draws energy from the Moon itself to empower her cultivation. Thus, skyrocketing her cultivation to the later stages of Sovereign Profound Realm. Some say her cultivation almost touch the threshold of the pinnacle of the stage itself. However, death came for all mortals as her glory last when she was reaching the end of her lifespan. After two thousand years, her glory ended as a glorious Monarch after a thousand years of ruling. That was the pinnacle of the Blue Wind Empire back then."
"She left the world without an heir but her direct disciple which is also a female took the mantle of the empress of the empire and she was our ancestor. The one who bears the surname Cang. Now, look at us. Even if we're her descendants, the legend of the Moon Empress slowly faded away as she died before breaking through into the Tyrant Profound Realm. Since then, the Blue Wind Empire never had any Emperor Profound Realm and Tyrant Profound Realm cultivators bearing the Cang surname. Blame it on luck or fate. What's more, our Imperial Family seemed to pummeled into the ground once Frozen Cloud Asgard managed to produced a Throne cultivator. Now with sister YueChan a throne, it'll be a boost to its a.r.s.enal."
Yun Che and the others nodded to her as this is the reality facing the Blue Wind Empire. It might be a common knowledge but not all people actually knew the story behind it. The Imperial Family was slowly collapsing with the civil war going on. However, without Cang Shuo in the way, the first prince would soon find a way to ascend to the throne once the current emperor which is Cang Yue's father died. However, human greed isn't easily satisfied. The other princes would soon a.s.sume the mantle as the influence of Cang Shuo and beginning battling for the throne. Either way, killing Cang Shuo didn't solve anything.
"But, Yue Nee-san. You said that this Moon Empress used a special art that empowers her cultivation. What is it?" Kon suddenly sounded inside Yun Che's cloak. He hid himself to avoid unnecessary attention. Good thing Yun Che cast a kido barrier to prevent their conversation from leaking out. The barrier was invisible and people can pa.s.s through it but they had to get next to them just to listen what they are talking about.
Hearing Kon's question, she tilted her had and said "Ahh, as for that. According to the archive in the palace, she managed to pa.s.s it to our ancestor before she died but our ancestor failed to cultivate them which result to her death and the art was lost forever. However, rumors had it that the Empress herself managed to get it to a scripture to ensure the art would not lost forever in time but a scripture like that would be hidden somewhere only close to the Empress herself."
"Her tomb." Retsu suddenly spoke.
She nodded in agreement and said "Hnn, she was buried by our ancestor in an unknown location to prevent others finding her tomb and desecrated by greedy individuals. She probably hidden the scripture somewhere in it. After that time, countless clans tried to find the tomb even after thousands of years but no luck whatsoever. The art was tempting enough to cause the entire Profound Sky Continent into war but it had a slight disadvantage. It could only be cultivated by women."
"Only women?" Yun Che widen his eyes.
"Hnn, she made the art so the men unable to cultivate the energy of the moon. Besides, the energy of the moon is consisted of Yin energy compared to man's Yang energy. So, according to the archive, if men tried to cultivate it, the Yin energy would kill them instantly." Cang Yue explained. Yun Che nodded in agreement as countless novels also mentioned that Moon Energy was a pure Yin energy that can be only cultivated by women. It was common where men cultivated using the energy of the sun while women using the energy of the moon.
"Scary!!" Kon suddenly sounded under Yun Che's cloak.
"Does it have a name?" Retsu asked her.
Cang Yue give it thought before answering "No, it was not recorded in the archive. So, no one knows."
Mio sighs and said "And your ancestor died before she could pa.s.s it to others so we hit a dead end."
Cang Yue sighs as well as she nodded in agreement."Hnn. Too bad no one found the tomb." She did give it a thought to find the tomb of the Empress and reclaimed the honor of the Cang family once more. Her ancestor failed to successfully cultivate the mysterious art and she wanted to find it. But, it was only a fool's chance.
"Actually, someone found it." All eyes suddenly s.h.i.+fted towards Yun Che as he spoke.
"Really??" Cang Yue immediately asked him.
"Hnn, apparently those cultivators behind us seems to be discussing about it. That's why I asked you about the Moon Empress just now." Yun Che explained it to them.
Cang Yue gripped the corner of her kimono and she suggested "Then, let's ask.."
However, Retsu held her hand indicating her to not make any sudden movement as she said "No, let's keep it low profile. Extend your haki so you can hear them."
"She's right. Don't let them be suspicious of us." As Yun Che observed Cang Yue, he understood that she really wanted to go and find the tomb. Not for herself but for the glory of the Imperial Family. For too long she wanted to find an edge to boost her family's honor. Including finding experts to fight in the tournament and now finding the glory of her ancestor. She probably heard countless of times of her ancestor being mocked for becoming a failure. She really wanted to restore that honor of hers.
The rest of them nodded before extending their haki. All five of them could hear everything the disciples talking about. Most of them about the history, rumors as well as capabilities. Even though theirs wasn't as deep and detail as Cang Yue but it was still useful to hear until one particular information caught their attention.
One of them suddenly spoke "The tomb had a restriction?"