Chapter 883 - 318: City Lord Mu, After You! (First Update)
Young... emperor?
Be careful of the young emperor...
Walking out of that graveyard, Mu Qingge was still puzzled.
The Divine Status of the Sang Clan’s progenitor had already been stowed away within her Spiritual Sense. Yet in the end, that voice still hadn’t answered her who that young... emperor was, what ties he had with the Sang Clan, and why their progenitor had left a message for later generations to beware of him.
Leaving the graveyard of that blazing crimson world, Mu Qingge returned once more to the ethereal Immortal Realm-like land.
Green mountains and clear waters, thin mist coiling, strange flowers vying in splendor, lush green grass.
The Mysterious Coffins here were all exposed on the ground, vines twining around them, covering the patterns carved on their surfaces.
Mu Qingge reined in her mind and carefully examined the place she was in.
Suddenly, her eyes shrank sharply. "Another Dragon Blood?!"
At the distant end of her line of sight, a Giant Dragon’s remains lay on the earth like a mountain range. Where the dragon head had fallen, there was also a pool of blood, the blood within thick and viscous, filled with resentment.
This place was originally lush with fragrant grass, yet where that Giant Dragon’s remains lay, it was deathly still and utterly desolate; at a single glance, anyone would only dare retreat.
"How can there be two Dragon Blood formations?" Mu Qingge exclaimed inwardly.
A Big Array like Dragon Blood—being able to set up just one was already remarkable. Yet within the Divine Tomb, she had actually stumbled upon two. If there was more than one, then was there a third, a fourth? Or even more...
Just who had such heaven-defying means, able to capture members of the Dragon Clan and imprison them here, torment them to death, and use them to refine arrays?
Most importantly, for what purpose had he set up such Dragon Blood formations? What was his goal?
Mu Qingge’s mood sank slightly. When she had seen the first Dragon Blood, she’d speculated that it was meant to protect some tomb nearby. But now that she’d encountered another one, she was no longer so sure.
Thinking for a moment, Mu Qingge leaped up, hovering in midair, hands clasped behind her back.
She gazed at the lines of mountains and rivers, sketching the terrain of this Divine Tomb in her mind.
Yet after looking for a long time, she only shook her head in disappointment and slowly descended.
The Divine Tomb was too vast, and there was no way to distinguish directions within; she could not determine in which directions the Dragon Blood she had seen earlier and the Dragon Blood she saw now were distributed.
Unable to tell their positions, naturally it was difficult to deduce the purpose of the person who had arranged the formation.
"What a pity there isn’t a map of the Divine Tomb... Looks like I can only take it one step at a time." Mu Qingge murmured softly.
According to their prior agreement, if they got separated, they would head toward the center and regroup at the heart of the Divine Tomb. Based on the density of Spiritual Energy, Mu Qingge roughly distinguished a direction and headed toward the center of the Divine Tomb.
Seven days later, Mu Qingge no longer knew how far she had walked.
Over those seven days, she had also encountered quite a few young people who had entered the Divine Tomb to search for Divine Statuses. However, she had not seen Ji Yaohua, Xi Qianxue, or the others.
And those people, after seeing Mu Qingge, all behaved extraordinarily respectful and courteous.
"Mu... Mu City Lord, please, you first." A disciple from some family, who had been about to pluck a Divine Status, saw Mu Qingge strolling over at an unhurried pace, hurriedly pulled back his hand, stood to the side, and bowed obsequiously.
Mu Qingge was speechless inwardly. She inclined her head slightly and continued forward.
After she left, that person quietly let out a breath of relief, and, treading carefully, quickly plucked the Divine Status he had set his eyes on and placed it within his own Spiritual Sense.
Mu Qingge hadn’t gone far when she heard sounds of fighting. She stopped and looked; the two people who had been fighting, faces twisted and arguing to the point of red necks and ears, stopped immediately when they noticed her gaze, forcing smiles as they looked her way.
Mu Qingge frowned slightly, speechlessly lifted her feet, and continued walking forward.
Seeing she had no intention of intervening, the two who had stopped resumed their fierce battle.
"Mu... Mu City Lord... If you fancy this Divine Status, we wouldn’t dare fight you for it. If you don’t like it, how about letting us have it?"
"City Lord Mu, after you."
"City Lord Mu, about this Divine Status..."
Along the way, Mu Qingge had heard more of these lines than she could count, to the point that she started to doubt herself. Did she really look like some kind of tyrant? Or was it that her very aura screamed ’take what I want by force’?
In front of those old monsters, she was just a little kid.
But in front of this younger generation, she had somehow become a Great Demon King?
This contrast...
Mu Qingge clicked her tongue twice and felt terribly wronged. Clearly she was so pure, so harmless, so...
Ahem!
Mu Qingge faked a cough and muttered, "I wonder if those few will think of a way to keep Elder Long Sheng behind. I went jumping into pit traps and diving into seas of fire again to help him get his granddaughter back; he had better not just vanish on me!"
In Mu Qingge’s heart, Elder Long Sheng had now practically been elevated to the key to finding the Chaos Divine Status!
Suddenly, the tip of Mu Qingge’s nose twitched slightly.
A faint medicinal fragrance drifted into her nostrils.
"How can there be the scent of medicine in the Divine Tomb? Could there be some precious Medicinal Materials growing somewhere?" Mu Qingge muttered.
Without thinking too much, Mu Qingge followed the direction from which the medicinal scent was drifting.
She was quite pleased with the little abacus in her heart. This place had been sealed for many years; if any precious Medicinal Materials or Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had appeared, they would surely be exceedingly rare. If she followed the scent and took them into her bag, that would be a gain in itself!
The medicinal fragrance did not cease.
However, if one’s five senses and six perceptions aren’t keen, or if one doesn’t understand medicinal materials, it’s simply impossible to distinguish the medicinal fragrance in this air.
Following this scent, she had chased it for five days and five nights.
Mu Qingge relied entirely on the smell to differentiate directions, and gradually had already deviated from the main tomb area and no longer ran into other people.
On this day, Mu Qingge pushed through a patch of overgrown weeds and stepped into a medicinal garden.
The moment she entered, she was shaken.
It was a kind of shock that belonged to an Alchemist!
Because, in front of her was an enormous medicinal garden, and it was filled with all kinds of Spiritual Medicine; there were even rare medicinal materials appearing.
"Vermilion Fruit! Heavenly South Star! Moonlight! Cold Silver Vermilion! Immortal Vine Grass..." Mu Qingge’s gaze swept across, and she recited the names of those medicinal materials one by one.
Medicinal materials are judged precious by how many years they’ve grown; these before her eyes had probably been growing for several thousand years! Their value could well be imagined.
This medicinal garden was like a peerless handsome man, baring every inch of himself before Mu Qingge’s eyes, igniting the flames at the bottom of her gaze.
Unconsciously swallowing, Mu Qingge lifted her hand and waved, directly putting this entire medicinal garden into her space.
Yet when she had taken in twice in a row, she froze.
"Cemetery!" Mu Qingge murmured.
After she took those herbs away, one burial mound after another actually appeared.
Suddenly, a sharp light burst from her eyes as she said excitedly, "This is an Alchemist’s cemetery!" She had found it!
She wanted to find suitable Divine Statuses for Mei Zizhong, Zhao Nanxing, Shang Zisu, and Zhu Ling; this place was the best possible site!
In a flash, she somewhat understood why such a vast patch of medicinal materials was growing here, and thriving so well. It must be that after these Divine Clan Pill Masters died, they turned into essence that continuously nourished these medicinal materials; as for the seeds of the herbs, they were likely brought in when they were buried.
On the green mounds, faint lights flickered.
Those were all Alchemists’ Divine Statuses, numbering at least in the thousands!
Mu Qingge was overjoyed and walked toward those Divine Statuses.
...
On the other side of the Divine Tomb, Ji Yaohua’s group of five traveled together with Long Sheng and his grandson.
On the way, they encountered quite a few others; the young ones, they had no need to fear. And those old monsters, upon seeing Long Sheng, all quietly detoured around them and did not start conflicts.
After all, things had not yet reached the point of fighting over a particular Divine Status; there was no need for everyone to tear their faces.
Yao Xinghai took out a Jade Pendant and held it in his hand, seeming somewhat heavy-hearted.
He walked to Long Sheng’s side and moved in step with him. When Long Sheng glanced at him, he finally said, "Senior, you said before that if a Divine Clan corpse is left uncollected and buried here, then his Divine Status will also bring back a wisp of Divine Sense to this place, correct?"
Long Sheng nodded.
"Then how can one know whether this Divine Status is here or not?" Yao Xinghai asked again.
Long Sheng’s eyes narrowed, and he said meaningfully, "It seems your purpose in coming in isn’t just to seek a Divine Status suitable for yourself. If you have something related to him, once you get close, it will naturally give you a response."
He did not press further, and Yao Xinghai’s expression showed gratitude.
Leaving Long Sheng’s side, Yao Xinghai said to the other four, "I have some personal matters to attend to. I’ll be back soon. You all keep going forward, I’ll catch up to you."
They were only a temporary team to begin with, with no strict rules binding them.
Moreover, with Mu Qingge absent now, the team seemed to lack a certain cohesive force. No one refuted Yao Xinghai’s words; they only nodded slightly.
Yao Xinghai left alone, and the Jade Pendant in his hand grew hotter and hotter.
This was given to him by his master when he left the East Continent for the Central Continent. It was said to be his grandmaster’s personal belonging; through it, he could find his grandmaster. If, within the Divine Tomb, the Jade Pendant showed no reaction, it would mean his grandmaster might still be alive. If it did react, it would mean his grandmaster had already fallen.
One of his purposes in entering the Divine Tomb this time was to determine whether his grandmaster was still alive!
Guided by the Jade Pendant, Yao Xinghai gradually went farther away.
A few days later, he caught a faint medicinal fragrance drifting over, which involuntarily made him quicken his pace.
...
In the Alchemist’s cemetery, Mu Qingge had already collected four Divine Statuses. She had chosen these four according to Mei Zizhong and the others, believing their compatibility would certainly be very high.
Once the collection was done, she ought to have left.
But in the unseen workings of fate, it seemed as if a force were pulling her, leading her deeper and deeper into the cemetery.
She reached the innermost depths, where only rare medicinal materials grew. Every single one of them was something that, outside, existed only in name and not in market!
"Saint Fruit!" Mu Qingge’s eyes widened as she exclaimed at the string of fruits hanging to her right.
On her left were Seven Star Vine, White Orchid, Crimson Mole and other medicinal materials.
The value of these medicinal materials was far higher than those she had seen before!
This time, Mu Qingge did not rush to collect these medicinal materials, but shifted her gaze away from them and onto the center they encircled and guarded.
There, a Divine Status hung suspended in midair, emitting a soft glow, crystal-clear and exceedingly beautiful.
The most crucial thing was that beneath this Divine Status, there was no burial mound at all, and no tombstone...