Chapter 232 : Inheritance Stele
Chapter 232: Inheritance Stele
Who was this person?
To actually make Zhou Yuan feel wary with only a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation—this was something even Mirror Moon Sect’s second true heir Han Shengwu could not accomplish!
Zhao Qingluo’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, her thoughts spinning furiously.
Though Greenwood Sect and Mirror Moon Sect had always been on good terms, they still competed in secret. Neither side wished for the other to produce an overly formidable prodigy.
“I happened to see Junior Brother’s escape light fall.” Gu Yunsi smiled.
The battle between Greenwood Sect and Heavy Gold Sect had been too intense.
If not for Senior Brother Han’s appearance, he would still be buried honestly in the soil, using a Qingxi Flower to conceal his presence, so as not to be discovered by cultivators of other sects.
‘Something’s not right.’
Hearing this answer, Chen Beiwu instinctively raised his guard toward Gu Yunsi.
With his current divine sense strength, he could easily pierce through the concealment of Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Even though Gu Yunsi was a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, it should still have been nearly impossible for him to perceive Chen Beiwu’s presence silently.
This person must have secrets.
Meanwhile, Han Shengwu nodded at Chen Beiwu in acknowledgment.
“Cease fighting.” Zhou Yuan took a deep breath.
As the situation stood, if they continued fighting, more and more cultivators from the Five Great Sects would gather here. Better to stop while ahead and share the Inheritance Stele.
If the worst came to pass and another sect obtained the True Monarch’s inheritance, he could still strike then to seize it.
“Boom!”
At that moment, a bolt of lightning descended from the sky, revealing three colossal silhouettes.
One was a lion beast over three zhang tall, its body covered in pale violet scales.
A vertical eye on its forehead remained shut, and its appearance was somewhat similar to the Heavenly-Thunder Howling Hound Chen Beiwu had seen before entering the Tianyan True Realm.
However, compared to that extraordinary third-realm Beast General, the Thunder Hound before them had far thinner bloodlines. It could not even be considered a fourth-tier Mystic Beast—merely a Purple Kui Hound. But within third-tier Treasure Beasts, its bloodline was among the best.
In particular, its cultivation years had reached four hundred and ninety-nine, its strength comparable to a human pseudo-Core cultivator. Even if Chen Beiwu acted personally, it would be extremely difficult to kill.
Another was a bone-winged avian beast with a wingspan of three zhang. Its feathers were gray-violet, and three spiral bone horns grew atop its head, each sealing the remnant soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
This was the Three-Yin Soul-Eroding Dove, a top-grade third-tier Treasure Beast best at devouring cultivators’ yin souls and feeding upon resentment.
The last was a colossal turtle-like beast with the head of a dragon, as massive as a hill.
Six pairs of pincer-like limbs sprouted from its abdomen, its movements slow. On its back, a shell bore profound patterns of the stars, its defenses astonishing, able to ignore a full-powered strike from a cultivator of the same realm wielding a magical artifact.
This was the Pincer-Dragon Turtle, a top-grade third-tier Treasure Beast.
The Thunder Hound specialized in speed and killing. The Soul-Eroding Dove specialized in attacks on soul and divine sense. The Pincer-Dragon Turtle specialized in defense.
With these three noble-blooded beasts working together, even if they encountered a Golden Core True Person, they could escape unharmed.
“If Zhou has not mistaken, you should be one of the Heavenly-Thunder Howling Hound’s descendants—the Purple Kui Hound.” Zhou Yuan’s eyes narrowed.
The Tianyan True Realm had been left behind by a human Nascent Soul True Monarch. Its inheritance was a profound scripture of formations, nearly impossible for the Beast Race to comprehend or cultivate.
Even if all the human cultivators inside the secret realm perished, it was unlikely the beasts of the Dragon-Que Mountains would obtain the inheritance.
“Humans have a saying: a treasure belongs to the virtuous.” The Purple Kui Hound sneered. “If you all want to comprehend the Inheritance Stele, it’s simple—pass through us first.”
Zhou Yuan’s lips twitched.
Clearly, these beasts had not come to contend for the inheritance, but to disrupt the struggle so that the Five Great Sects’ cultivators could not obtain it.
“Hold, all three of you.” Zhao Qingluo laughed lightly. “Within this secret realm, besides the True Monarch’s inheritance, there are also profound medicines capable of transforming and elevating the bloodlines of third-tier beasts.”
As she spoke, Zhao Qingluo’s gaze turned toward the Inheritance Stele. “Why not join us in breaking the stele’s formation? When the harvest comes, we can share it together.”
At these words, both Zhou Yuan and Han Shengwu furrowed their brows.
What if they fought?
Even three peak Foundation Establishment beasts could not withstand the combined assault of Heavy Gold Sect, Mirror Moon Sect, and Greenwood Sect. Why should they share the secret realm’s profound medicines with the Beast Race?
Chen Beiwu, however, quietly scrutinized the Purple Kui Hound.
If such a top-grade third-tier Purple Kui Hound could be captured and sold to the Immortal Alliance, it would fetch an unimaginable price. It could be exchanged for a dozen or more priceless top-grade third-tier pills, perhaps even for a Nascent Soul profound medicine.
Unfortunately, he had no reasonable way to explain the beast’s origin.
The Purple Kui Hound’s eyes flickered as a thought arose in its mind.
Denying the Five Great Sects the True Monarch’s inheritance served the Beast Race of the Ten-Thousand Mountains.
But working with human cultivators to break the stele’s formation could grant it the chance for a bloodline transformation.
Between the two, even with its backside it could decide which to choose.
“If we cooperate, how will the medicines from the spirit fields be divided?” it probed.
“Of course, seventy-thirty.”
Chen Beiwu and Zhao Qingluo exchanged a glance, speaking in unison.
“Seventy for me, thirty for you?” The Purple Kui Hound’s eyes lit up.
“Impossible.” Zhou Yuan replied without hesitation. “We are more in number—naturally it’s seventy for us, thirty for you.”
“Very well. But I want the Violet-Thunder Mystic Bamboo.”
The Purple Kui Hound turned its gaze toward the towering black stele. Above the stele, a spatial rift writhed and twisted.
Through that rift, it faintly saw countless treasures of varying sizes drifting within the darkness.
Among them were both the Violet-Thunder Mystic Bamboo it desired, and the [Tianyan Starry Array Disk], a fourth-tier Mystic Treasure the Five Great Sects’ cultivators craved.
Following its gaze, Chen Beiwu also saw within the endless void an ancient, weighty formation disk, about a foot in diameter, its shape neither round nor square, yet dazzling.
It was dotted with countless radiant points of light moving of their own accord, simulating the cycles of the heavens. It emanated an intangible might that made Foundation Establishment cultivators shudder.
‘Why is there no Core-Forming Pill?’ Chen Beiwu’s eyes swept rapidly.
In contrast to Chen Beiwu’s reaction, the moment the others saw the Tianyan Starry Array Disk, all cultivators of the Five Great Sects present showed fiery eyes and slightly heavy breathing.
Such a treasure was something even a Nascent Soul True Monarch might not possess—a supreme Mystic Treasure.
Within the Five Great Sects, such an artifact would be a sect-suppressing treasure, touched only by the sect’s founding ancestor.
All the more since it also contained the inheritance of True Monarch Tianyan.
It was no exaggeration to say—whoever obtained it could step into the Golden Core realm and become the next Sect Master!
“Fine. But no matter how good the treasure, it must first be opened.”
Saying this, Zhao Qingluo channeled her mana and pressed it upon the black stele.
“Om!”
The stele emitted a soft hum. Countless shifting stardust condensed together, forming two lines of obscure ancient seal script infused with True Monarch Dao-rhyme.
These two lines were not written in the common Southern Wastes tongue of the Earth Proliferation Territory. Though Chen Beiwu and the others did not recognize them, they could comprehend their meaning through the Dao-rhyme.
“‘The heart-ape is hard to subdue, the Great Dao as unfathomable as an abyss; the stars have no fixed course, only the heart may discern them.’”
“‘Only by taming the heart-ape can one inherit my mantle and command the Tianyan Stars.’”
“‘Otherwise—death!’”