Emperor of the North

Seeing a red light amidst the darkness, Li Mu became elated. Enduring the intense heat, he trotted forward.

After some time, the distance between him and the source of the light gradually became shorter and shorter. However, at that moment when Li Mu gazed at the scene in front of him, he was overcome with shock and stood motionless.

He was now in a s.p.a.cious cave chamber which spanned hundreds of meters wide. But in the middle of the chamber was a path surrounded by a magma pool around ten meters wide.

The magma roiled and bubbled. The blazing hot air was emitted from that pool of magma.

Flame-colored vines, as wide as an adult’s arm, ran through the entire chamber. These vines intertwine one another, covering the whole of the chamber. It seems these vines were resistant to the high temperature emitted out from the pool of magma.

“Eh, what’s that?”

Suddenly, Li Mu’s eyes glistened. He noticed a flame-colored lotus growing atop the pool of magma.

The flame-colored lotus exuded a dazzling, red light, brightening up the entire chamber.

“To be able to grow atop a pool of magma, this must be some kind of priceless treasure!”

Li Mu gave a light chuckle. Taking a sniff, he could smell a slight but distinct fragrance that was released from it. From that single sniff, Li Mu suddenly felt energized and the blood in him boiling up.

“Truly a priceless treasure. Such efficacy from a single whiff, has heaven seen how pitiful I am and granted me this priceless treasure?”

Li Mu was elated. Slowly, he approached the pool of magma.

“What a terrifying heat!!!” The closer Li Mu got to the pool of magma, the higher the temperature became.

At seven to eight meters away, Li Mu could endure no longer. It was not because his mind was not disciplined enough, but because it truly was too hot.

“Am I, Li Mu, truly destined to suffer such a bitter life? A treasure is just before my eyes, yet it is unreachable. Has heaven forsaken me?”

Eyeing the flame-colored lotus amongst the magma, Li Mu swallowed a lump in his throat. At this point, how he wished he could just activate his essence. Even though protecting his body against this terrifying heat using essence was not easy in itself, it would have been better than not being able to take another step forward to reach the side of the pool of magma.

“Eh, what’s that?”

In a moment of absentmindedness, Li Mu noticed a faint light reflected at him at a side of the chamber. It seems whatever that object was, it was difficult to be spotted due to the thick number of vines growing in the chamber. However, in the position Li Mu was in, the angle was just about right for him to catch the reflected ray of light.

Looking at the lotus that was not far away from him, yet was out of reach, Li Mu turned without a choice and walked towards the spot where the object was spotted.

At the spot where the object was, Li Mu clawed away the vines which were blocking the object. As he clawed, the item slowly revealed itself in front of his eyes. That item was actually a dagger half inserted into a block of stone.

Curious, Li Mu pulled the dagger out. It was a rule long Chilling Dagger. Although the time it spent in this cave was unknown, but from its appearance alone, it gave off a chill. The blade of the dagger was still sharp and there was a simple text engraved on it——Harvester of a Thousand Heads.

Juggling the dagger in his hand, Li Mu muttered softly, “What a big compliment for a dagger. To have given it a name such as the Harvester of a Thousand Heads. Where in the world could a blade behead a thousand divine soldiers?”

“Sou..” A crisp sound could be heard as Li Mu tested the dagger by slicing the flame-colored vines beneath him.

For a moment, Li Mu was impressed. The st.u.r.dy vines were easily sliced, and the cuts were extremely clean.

“This dagger… sure is unexpectedly sharp.”

The excitement in him could no longer be concealed on his face as he eyed the dagger in his hand. Again, he waved the dagger and sliced a number of the thick vines. And just like before, he was amazed at how the dagger sliced the vines as if they were mere beancurd.

“I’ve picked up a treasure. Even for a sword said in legend to be forged from Millennium iron extract, it wouldn’t even be as sharp as this ah!”

With a deep sense of curiosity, Li Mu aimed the dagger at the side of the rock wall before forcing it in. This time, a shocking thing happened. The dagger was able to easily slide into the rock wall.

Mixed with emotions, Li Mu gazed deeply at the dagger. “This truly is a treasure ah! Such an extraordinary weapon. Not sure what kind of material this dagger was forged from, but not only is it sharp, there isn’t even a single speck of rust formed on it after all the time it spent down here.”

“En? This is…” As Li Mu played with the dagger, his eyes seemed to have noticed something else that was buried beneath the ground.

Driven by curiosity once again, he sliced at the thick vines beneath him before clearing them away.

Once the vines were cleared away, what appeared were two corpse that had already decomposed for G.o.d knows how many years.

The two corpses were extremely clean. Other than a few pieces of rags, all that was left were two bare skeletons.

However, their deaths were definitely not normal as one of the skeleton was fully black whereas the other had its rib cage shattered.

“Huh?” Li Mu was able to quickly identify something exceptional about these bones. These two skeletons seemed to be releasing a faint glow; that in itself was definitely strange.

“Legend says for those martial artists who’ve attained the Shentong Realm, their essence are concentrated to an unimaginable extent and they would usually spend their time nourishing their physical body. The bones of these corpses are not only hard but they also emit a faint glow… don’t tell me these were once martial artists from the Shentong Realm!”

Li Mu racked his brain as he tried to recall what was in the ancient records which he had seen before. However, there was still a little uncertainty.

“But that shouldn’t be wrong. If they were not from the Shentong Realm, then they wouldn’t have been able to fly and enter this place. This place is located somewhere at the side of the lofty cliff; to come here without the ability to fly is impossible!”

After thinking for awhile in silence, Li Mu opened up to that conclusion. The possibility of the two corpses on the ground once being martial artists from the Shentong Realm were high. There was also the possibility that they were blown into the cave like him, but the chances were slim as what are the odds of two people getting blown in at the same time?

“To think that two martial artists of the Shentong Realm actually died here. This person must have received a blow directed at his heart, while the other died from poison. For the bones to have even turned black, it seems the poison wasn’t weak.”

After affirming their strength, Li Mu went on to guess the causes of their death.

“Eh? Now, what’s this?”

Under closer inspection, Li Mu noticed a piece of flat stone carved with words under the black skeleton. Unsure whether it was a coincidence, but the Harvester of a Thousand Heads was actually struck into this block of stone.

Li Mu carefully pulled the block of stone out. It was three meters long. To Li Mu, it seemed more appropriate to be a stone plank instead of just any block of stone as the surface was very smooth, which did not seem to be formed naturally.

Engraved on the plank were many tiny words. With the help of the strong light coming from the pool, Li Mu began to read the engraved words.

“My name is Yuan Jue, a vagrant. In pursuit of killing a martial artist – Xie Xiuxian – who follows the path of evil, the fight was engaged in this very ground. Risking my life, I sustained serious injuries with poison running through my body but managed to land a devastating blow on this devil.”

“For I am poisoned by the devil, I know my life will soon come to an end. Although it is truly regrettable, I could not bear to watch the teachings be halted and lost as time pa.s.ses. For the future generations to come, may these teachings continue to live in this world!”

As Li Mu read this, he could clearly identify the two bones. However, after the small introduction, what came after were the writings of a mysterious Sect"s – the Fu Sect"s technique – Divine Universe Technique.

In addition, there were three other mysterious Fu martial art skills – Palm of Compa.s.sion, Crossing River Step, and Dragon Clutch. These three arts were enough for Li Mu to tell that they belonged to the Fu Sect’s 72 Arts System.

Li Mu was no stranger to information regarding the Fu Sect. Rumor had it that there were 72 supreme arts handed down from the Fu Sect. These 72 supreme arts were known as the 72 Arts System.

It was also said that there were no other arts greater than these 72 arts system, and each art dominated their own field. With just one art can make those around tremble in fear; clearly, the might of the 72 arts system is extremely powerful.

Just like how techniques are divided into four different grades, martial art skills are the same. The higher the grade, the more mysterious and powerful it is. The 72 arts system belongs to the sky grade and is extremely mysterious. Having found three, Li Mu was shocked.

Since ancient times, there were many legends about the Fu Sect, and amongst them were Fu, Pusa, and Luohan that were respectful names of Shentong beings from the Fu Sect.

In the whole of this continent, there were many Fu Sect branches. For Li Mu who had never been away from Muyun City until now, he had seen a number of books holding records of the Fu Sect in his family household.

“A mysterious technique, better than my family’s Qiankun Technique by G.o.d knows how many times. And these three martial art skills that can even defy the heavens, especially this Crossing River Step. To be ranked among the top three movement skills!”

Looking at the writings on the plank, Li Mu could feel the excitement rushing throughout his body. But the thought of his current situation immediately made him dispirited.

Not mentioning his physical condition – poisoned and his remaining short lifespan now burning away very quickly – he was trapped in this place. Whether he would be able to leave was the biggest problem, and gaining these mysterious items were like a meal without nutrition, useless.

“According to Monk Yuan Jue, that must be Xie Xiuxian without a doubt. Not sure if he had left anything behind though…”

Li Mu walked to Xie Xiuxian’s corpse and felt around it.

After a while, Li Mu smiled bitterly and stopped. On Xie Xiuxian’s corpse, there was nothing other than a stained rag.

“It seems this Xie Xiuxian had received a blow on the chest given by Yuan Jue and died. For this person to engage in a battle between a martial artist who held onto three different sky grade martial art skills and die together with him, this person’s power shouldn’t have been weak either.”

Li Mu was a little disappointed and threw the blood stained rag onto the ground.

“Eh? Wait a minute… these two men died thousands of years ago. Their wear had already disintegrated, so how could this rag be preserved until now?”

Feeling that something was amiss, Li Mu immediately went to pick it back up, now looking at it more carefully this time around.