Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 514
“No, you should all get up. I only kneel to my parents. As for heaven and earth… Haha, let’s not talk about that. Xiao Fei is fine, and I’m also very busy. To tell the truth, I urgently need a detailed map of the Immemorial Path and any areas with value,” laughed Long Chen.
He found that his face was becoming thicker by the day. He directly asked for the benefits without feeling the slightest embarrassment.
“Hahaha, how could just a map express our Xiao tribe’s gratitude? Long Chen, stay for a few days so we can properly thank you,” laughed the old tribe leader.
Chapter 799 Secrets of the Immemorial Path
Long Chen stayed behind. The gratitude the Xiao tribe felt toward him could no longer be expressed with words.
Even Xiao Gu had respectfully came up to Long Chen and apologized. Although he was a narrow-minded person and intolerant, as soon as someone suppressed him, he wouldn’t cause any waves.
Furthermore, he was still a member of the Xiao tribe. The tribe’s glory was his glory. Perhaps he would become a capable subordinate to Xiao Fei in the future.
Following this, the Xiao tribe entered a state of celebration. Long Chen found it curious that so many women and children suddenly appeared in the Xiao tribe.
Xiao Yu told Long Chen that each time the Immemorial Path was opened, they would send away some of their people, leaving behind only the stronger ones. They had only been called back now that Xiao Fei had awakened as a rank three Celestial so that they could all celebrate.
The next day, Xiao Fei woke up. He looked refreshed and radiant, no longer appearing like his previous weak and feeble self. Even his gaze had become sharper and contained a slight domineering aspect.
At the same time as Xiao Fei came out, a woman in her thirties also followed. She was the one Xiao Fei called aunt Qing, and the one he viewed as close as a mother.
She had already used the seven star red spider lily nectar to temporarily suppress the pain of her soul, and so she had awakened from her semi-conscious state. When she had learned of what had happened with Xiao Fei, she had come out with him to express her thanks.
“You’re too courteous, aunt Qing. This was all thanks to Xiao Fei. And don’t criticize him. He’s a man now, one capable of bearing the responsibility of his own actions.” Long Chen smiled.
“It’s true, aunt Qing. Big brother Long Chen said I’m a man, so you don’t need to scold me anymore.” Xiao Fei followed up.
When aunt Qing had first learned that Xiao Fei had risked his life to relieve her pain, she had been gratified and enraged. First, she had scolded Xiao Fei viciously, but then she had softened.
“Aunt Qing, you failed to attack Foundation Forging, but your immortal platform is still there. I’ll refine some pills for you that will allow you to directly reach Foundation Forging,” said Long Chen.
“Really? Do you know alchemy?” asked aunt Qing.
“A bit,” laughed Long Chen.
“That’s great! Our Xiao tribe will have another Ancestor-level expert!” said Xiao Fei excitedly.
“However, because you’ll be relying on medicinal energy to make up for your failure, your power will be a bit lacking compared to those who flawlessly advanced. Furthermore, the Foundation Forging realm is different from other realms. Once there’s a flaw, it can’t be fixed. It’s very likely you’ll never be able to advance to the King-level,” said Long Chen.
“You don’t need to worry about that. The Immemorial Path has its own laws. The people here cannot advance to become Kings,” said aunt Qing.
Long Chen was startled. How was it that the Immemorial Path was so strange? It was clearly its own world, so why were there such strange laws that didn’t allow people to progress?
“Long Chen, the old tribe leader is calling for you,” said a disciple from the Xiao tribe respectfully.
Long Chen was an honored guest of the Xiao tribe now. Even Elders would bow when they saw him and treat him respectfully. Long Chen still wasn’t used to it.
Following that disciple, he arrived at the old tribe leader’s residence. Within a large room, the old tribe leader and the white-eyed elder were sitting on a blanket.
“Please, sit.” The old tribe leader smiled.
“Hehe, one of my strong points is not standing on courtesy,” laughed Long Chen. Just like that, he sat.
“Please don’t be offended by my eyes. I have an illness and can’t open them,” explained the white-eyed elder.
“You’re too courteous. By closing your eyes, you’ll seem more amiable,” said Long Chen humbly. But as soon as he said it, he regretted it. He had become stupid again.
The white-eyed elder bitterly smiled. “Are you cursing us in a roundabout way, saying that we look sinister with our eyes open?”
Long Chen was about to explain when the old tribe leader said, “Don’t be nervous. We don’t treat you as an outsider. We just want to chat and learn about the outside world’s situation. Speaking of which, which world do you come from?”
Long Chen was startled. “Which world? I don’t really know.”
“Then what is the main landmass of your world called?
“I’ve heard that it’s called the Martial Heaven Continent,” said Long Chen, unsure.
“The Martial Heaven Continent should also have been affected by that battle. It should be broken, correct?” asked the old tribe leader.
“I’m not too sure. I’ve heard that it was originally one piece, but later it was broken into five pieces,” said Long Chen. He didn’t know much about this topic, as he hadn’t reached the level where he could come into access with that information.
“The Martial Heaven Continent gave birth to quite a few famous figures before the Immemorial Path crumbled. Those brilliant figures were peak existences in their realm. They left behind illustrious records. If you could continue to the end of the path, you would see a huge stele with their names carved into it. Only the strongest experts had that qualification. Regretfully, now that the path is broken, you can’t reach the stele. You can only look at its projection from afar,” sighed the old tribe leader.
“Can you tell me more about the Immemorial Path? In truth, I’m actually very curious about it,” said Long Chen.
“Of course. I called you here just to talk about that. But the story is a bit long…”
The old tribe leader began to tell Long Chen secrets, secrets that gave Long Chen an immense fright. He hadn’t expected the Immemorial Path to have such shocking origins.
The Immemorial Path was originally its own world. But during the immortal era, top experts changed it into a trial region. It was connected to eight surrounding worlds, and Long Chen’s Martial Heaven Continent was one of them.
That shocked Long Chen immensely. Eight worlds’ top disciples were actually sent here. Then just how shocking had the Immemorial Path been back then?
But according to the old tribe leader, the immortal era had been an extremely glorious age. It was said that the Immemorial Path was built by true gods, and the secret to becoming an immortal or god was within this world.
But later, an immense battle had been fought. The Immemorial Path had shattered. Because it had been too long, the details of that fight were unknown. It was rumored that it had been a battle of gods and devils.
The old tribe leader said that their Xiao tribe had just been one of the troops sent to guard the Immemorial Path back then during ordinary times. They were in charge of one of the trial regions and maintaining order.
But after that immense battle, everything had changed. Their connection to the outside world had been lost. And the thing that made them despair was that anyone at the King-level or above had their vitality rapidly stripped away, and they died in just a few years.
Then, the most alarming thing was that whenever the Immemorial Path was opened again, they found themselves under a curse, and their combat strength was greatly reduced.
Those people who came saw them and tried to force them to tell them
the secrets of the various trials. They also forced them to hand over the yuan spirit stones that were only available within the Immemorial Path.
Those yuan spirit stones were different from the outside world’s spirit stones. They contained the most primal energy from the very beginning of the birth of the world. In other words, the aura of primal chaos, which was sometimes called yuan spirit energy.
Yuan spirit stones were priceless treasures in the outside world. The spiritual qi within them could not only allow someone to rapidly cultivate, but it would also allow them to comprehend the world’s most core energy, allowing them to get closer to the Dao. They were treasures that Sea Expansion experts would long for in their dreams.
Long Chen actually hadn’t heard of yuan spirit stones before. That was enough to prove how exceedingly rare they were on the Martial Heaven Continent.
According to the old tribe leader, once the core of a world was damaged, it would be impossible for it to birth new yuan spirit stones.
The core of a world was actually the first portion formed during the birth of the world. It was like the embryo of a baby, and it was where the purest energy was hidden.
Once the core was damaged, the world would use all of its energy on repairing the core, which made the spiritual qi in the land sparser. As for yuan spiritual qi, it was absorbed by the world to the point that not the slightest wisp of it remained. Thus, there was no way to condense yuan spirit stones.
Hearing that, Long Chen was incredibly shocked. It was no wonder all the indigenous people of the Immemorial Path awakened as Celestials. It was because of that yuan spiritual qi.
In the immortal era, the spiritual qi of the world had been condensed to the peak. Any cultivator with the slightest talent had the ability to ascend. According to the old tribe leader, those weren’t rumors, but the truth.
Long Chen was extremely curious just what kind of battle could cause worlds to shatter and injure their cores. If they were capable of injuring the core, then wouldn’t that mean they were capable of destroying the entire world? Just what level of power was capable of that?
But the old tribe leader knew very little about that immense battle, as it had happened too long ago. Many things were unknown, and if they weren’t sure, they wouldn’t add in their guesses. After passing through countless mouths, facts could become rumors and rumors could become fact.
The true history had been completely submerged by those who only knew how to run their mouths. Those people truly were amazing. They stood at the front of the streets, crying out their truth with such passion and intensity that it was like they had personally witnessed all of it.
In the Phoenix Cry Empire, Long Chen had seen many such people. Thinking themselves erudite and wanting to stand in the spotlight, they threw out shocking facts that drew people’s attention.
The old tribe leader’s narrative was based only on absolute fact. From him, Long Chen learned the general origin of the Immemorial Path. As for some unclear aspects, it would be up to Long Chen to find the truth.
“Later, why did the aboriginals become mortal enemies with the disciples who came to take the trials?” asked Long Chen. This was the question he was more concerned with.
Chapter 800 Yuan Spirit Stones
When Long Chen raised this question, the old tribe leader sighed. “The cause of conflict is always due to profit. In pursuit of the greatest profit, people are capable of committing all kinds of crimes.”
When the Immemorial Path was shattered, the aboriginals of the path had essentially been abandoned.
They had been sent to guard this place since the beginning of the Immemorial Path. They had taken root, giving birth to generation after generation, and kept the order of this place. But their inheritance could only count as average.
Once the Immemorial Path crumbled, they immediately lost what they depended on the most. With no one to look after them, these aboriginals panicked.
After centuries of chaos, they finally came to accept that they were trapped, sealed within the Immemorial Path. They had lost all contact with the outside world.
But just as they had begun to gradually accustom themselves to this new life, trial takers from the outside suddenly appeared again. That delighted them originally. They had thought they would finally be able to communicate with the outside world again.
But they had never imagined that those trial takers would brandish their butcher knives against them. They slaughtered them to take the yuan spirit stones they possessed.
Because of the change in the world, they received a powerful restriction in the Immemorial Path. As a result, the invaders’ slaughter was disastrous. Some tribes were completely destroyed.
Back then, they had been furious. They hadn’t understood why those disciples would want to kill them.
They had tried to communicate with the trial takers. But the only response had been their icy and bloody blades. In that first encounter, the aboriginals suffered immense losses.
But that had just been the start. That battle had lasted for a year. Several years later, another batch of trial takers had entered. They came from a different continent, but they also brought slaughter. If they saw aboriginals, they killed them and crazily snatched their resources.
The aboriginals were finally completely infuriated. An immense war was fought, and both sides took heavy losses. This kind of situation repeated over and over.
Sometimes it would be a few years before a new group of people came, sometimes it would be decades. By this time, they no longer viewed them as trial takers, but as invaders.
At some unknown point, the aboriginals had noticed a kind of ore that could block the power of the restriction the world placed on them. They excavated that ore and built altars out of it. When the Immemorial Path opened, they would activate those altars and have their tribesmen hide within their range.
When the Immemorial Path closed, they would deactivate the altars and be free to roam around. This was why Xiao Gu and the others’ power was so heavily restricted outside but was restored to normal here.
“In all these years, you’ve never managed to properly communicate with anyone?” Long Chen frowned. This matter was extremely strange. Why would they want to kill these aboriginals? Was it really just for the yuan spirit stones? Or was there some other goal?
“We’ve tried, but regretfully, each time ends in disappointment. Furthermore, one time was extremely dangerous; an invader won our trust. As a result, he colluded with others to destroy the altars of several tribes. That caused… well, I don’t need to say it,” sighed the old tribe leader. He clearly felt gloomy about this topic. Even with his death imminent, he wasn’t able to accept this.
“No wonders the aboriginals would hate the invaders. Both sides are like fire and water with such a complicated relationship. But I’m curious. From the first time I heard of the Immemorial Path to when I entered, my seniors didn’t mention any enmities with you. They just told me I had to be careful of you, that you were the most terrifying enemies in the Immemorial Path,” said Long Chen.
“That’s because the invaders never care about the history of the victims. Furthermore, after so much time had passed, not even your seniors would necessarily know about this kind of matter. But there is one thing that’s for sure: each time the Immemorial Path is opened, a pack of red-robed people will deliberately come to slaughter us aboriginals. They are both merciless and vicious. Furthermore, they have special tools to break our altars. They’re the existence we abhor the most,” said the old tribe leader.
“Red robes? Didn’t that refer to the Corrupt path? Could it be that the Corrupt path knew something others didn’t?” Long Chen wondered to himself.
He faintly smelled the scent of a scheme. Everything had happened so abruptly and it simply didn’t make sense. There was no logic to it.
But those matters had happened so long ago that there was no proof to be found to reveal the truth. To solve this riddle was far too difficult.
The old tribe leader continued telling him about the past. After inventing the altars, the aboriginals had also constructed various transportation formations between them as well as secret lairs.
The women and children who had appeared had come from one of those hideouts. If the Xiao tribe was destroyed, those women and children would survive to continue their bloodline.
Once these hideouts and transportation formations were constructed, the tribes would be able to help each other as soon as they were attacked by invaders.
As for Xiao Fei’s father, he was the previous tribe leader, and he had fallen in battle against invaders.
Back then, Xiao Fei’s father had already reached Foundation Forging. But the altar had been destroyed during the battle, and so his power had been greatly restricted. After bringing down several powerful invaders, he ended up dying on the battlefield.
Long Chen nodded inside. Perhaps the only ones who could kill a rank three Celestial who had reached Foundation Forging, even with his power greatly restricted, would be experts on the level of Xue You, Yu Changhao, and Huang Junmo. Furthermore, they would have to first advance to Sea Expansion.
The fact that Xiao Fei’s father had been able to fight such experts with his power restricted showed how powerful he had been. He was worthy of being acclaimed as the Xiao tribe’s number one expert.
Furthermore, from the old tribe leader, he had heard that the Heavenly Daos here were extremely strong. The stronger the person, the more restricted their power would be without the protection of the altar.
It was no wonder the aboriginals would need to hide from the invaders despite having so many experts. The Heavenly Daos restricted them to the point that their lives were in constant danger.
“Following the battles, more and more people died, and so the hatred on both sides grew deeper. As a result, the invaders treat us as prey, while we also treat them as prey to be killed,” said the old tribe leader.