Chapter 1380: Abyss
When he saw Wu Liang standing still in a stupor, the Fiend Emperor asked with a sneer, “Don’t tell me you cannot find the entrance?”
“I can, I can,” Wu Liang quickly replied, seeming as if he had woken up from a dream.
In truth, even though he had his guesses, he wasn’t that certain. In this situation, though, even if he wasn’t confident, he had to pretend he was. As such, he took out a divining wheel and began to fiddle with it. He checked it while leading the way.
The Fiend Emperor gestured for the others to follow along. As for Yan Xuehen, Yun Jianyue, and Yu Yanluo, he didn’t place any restrictions on them. They were all injured, so to him, it didn’t make a difference whether there was a seal placed on them or not.
However, Zu An was the one he couldn"t see through. Even though Zu An had defeated the crown prince several times before, the crown prince was still the crown prince, after all.
Zu An’s cultivation clearly wasn’t high, but the Fiend Emperor got a vague sense of threat from him. He didn’t know how someone who had just reached the hero mortal form could give him, an earth immortal, a feeling of danger, but he wasn’t the negligent type. As such, he had planted the Puppet Curse in Zu An’s body to guard against him just in case.
The three women moved over to Zu An’s side, their faces full of worry as they asked, “What do we do?”
Zu An gave the Fiend Emperor’s back a look, saying, “We’ll just follow him into the Unknown Region.”
The women were shocked by his composure. They hadn’t seen any hope at all in their situation and had been about to lose their heads, but they were soon infected by his confidence. They also gradually calmed down.
Yun Jianyue even started to feel admiration for him. This kind of heroic temperament really was hard to find in this world! The man Honglei had chosen was quite excellent after all.
Yan Xuehen’s expression also became a bit absentminded when she looked at Zu An, her true thoughts indiscernible. Suddenly, a faint blush appeared on her face and she quickly looked away to hide it.
…
The Fiend Emperor said, “Sect Master Yun, I heard that you fought against Zhao Han not too long ago. Are your injuries from that exchange?”
Even though Yun Jianyue was normally incredibly arrogant and often boasted in front of Yan Xuehen, she felt her face heat up a bit in embarra.s.sment now that a true earth immortal had asked her that. She said, “Calling it an exchange would be overestimating myself. Zhao Han didn’t even show up in person, and injured me with a single move from far away…”
As for how she had been injured this time, she didn’t go into detail. It would be fine if the Fiend Emperor a.s.sumed it was an injury from Zhao Han.
The Golden Crow Crown Prince curled his lips. This Devil Sect Leader always struts around as if she’s hot stuff, but it turns out she wasn’t even all that.
Up ahead, Wu Liang clicked his tongue inwardly. He thought, No wonder I always felt that this woman was a bit too fierce. So she had this kind of experience! He felt even more admiration for Zu An.
Not only did the Fiend Emperor not show her disdain, however, his voice was full of praise as he said, “To be able to preserve your life against Zhao Han’s attack is something Sect Master Yun can take pride in.”
The Golden Crow Crown Prince didn’t agree with his father’s response. He just a.s.sumed his father was being courteous. You can’t even take on a single move! What’s so amazing about that?
He was known as the fiend races’ younger generation’s number one. His cultivation had always been in compet.i.tion with the generation before him. He was also the publicly acknowledged next Fiend Emperor, which was why his ambitions had always been extremely high. Apart from losing a few times to Zu An, he was confident he could win against anyone else.
The Fiend Emperor then asked Yun Jianyue about the details of the battle. Yun Jianyue frowned slightly. She knew that the Fiend Emperor wanted to take the chance to estimate Zhao Han’s current strength.
At first, she wanted to put together a story to avoid leaking intelligence, but after thinking about it, she realized that wouldn’t necessarily be enough to fool an earth immortal. Furthermore, why would she put in so much effort for that d.a.m.n human emperor? As such, she told the other party exactly what had happened.
The Fiend Emperor listened extremely carefully, even interrupting her a few times to ask her about some details along the way. After listening to the story, he remained quiet for a bit. Then, he finally said with a sigh, “Zhao Han’s cultivation has made quite a bit of progress since we last met so many years ago”
The Golden Crow Crown Prince was shocked. Why did it sound as if his father had lost confidence? Could it be that he was already admitting he couldn"t defeat the human emperor?
The Fiend Emperor released a long sigh, saying, “Unfortunately, no one can triumph over time. I might not have a chance of fighting against Zhao Han again in this life.”
His tone conveyed the sense of a hero past his prime. Even though they were enemies, Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue were both grandmasters. They could sense an air of loneliness in his voice.
“Father emperor is still in your prime; you will definitely be able to live a long time!” the Golden Crow Crown Prince quickly exclaimed in praise.
“Do you truly wish for me to live for a long time?” the Fiend Emperor asked, looking at him with an ambiguous smile.
The Golden Crow Crown Prince jumped in fright. He replied, “What is father emperor saying? Your respected self has treated me so well; of course I wish for your respected self to live longer. The longer the better!”
The Fiend Emperor remained silent for a while. Ever since ancient times, not only were the emperor and the crown prince father and son, ruler and minister; they also had a compet.i.tive relationship. The crown prince had to be competent enough to take over ruling the nation, but the emperor couldn’t have his position threatened ahead of time. That had always led to a huge question that needed to be heavily considered. As such, the relationship between the emperor and crown prince had never been particularly great in previous dynasties.
However, he and his son had been an exception. The first reason was that his own cultivation was too high, so the crown prince had always been deferential; the second reason was that he was too old, and had already experienced signs of heaven and earth deterioration. That was why there had been no need for them to compete against each other.
If he obtained the method of immortality from an Unknown Region, however, their relationship would definitely become different from before.
The Golden Crow Crown Prince was extremely nervous too. It wasn’t guaranteed that the Unknown Region would contain a method of immortality. If he ended up offending his father badly, and the imperial throne ended up being given to his younger brother, that would be terrible.
The atmosphere had turned strange. Fortunately, Wu Liang called out just then, “I… found the entrance.”
The party arrived at a large pool of water.
“It should be underwater!” Wu Liang quickly added when he saw the Fiend Emperor frown.
Zu An asked in confusion, “Are you sure it’s here? We looked around underwater earlier.”
“That was earlier. It’s different now,” Wu Liang said. “After the strange changes that took place, the layout of the Imperial Tomb has changed somewhat. It isn’t too surprising for the entrance of an Unknown Region to appear underwater. There have been many tombs that were built through similar mechanisms. It’s just that no one has been able to go to these lengths before.”
The Fiend Emperor gestured toward Zu An, saying, “Go down and take a look.” He was worried that Wu Liang would play some tricks, so he decided to throw the cannon fodder out first to test the waters.
Zu An didn’t refuse. He really wanted a look at the Unknown Region too. As he entered the water, he quickly descended.
Back on the sh.o.r.e, the Fiend Emperor voiced his surprise. “This brat is not from the Ocean races, but he is actually so proficient at controlling water.”
The three women all blushed at the same time. They had all been in the water bubble made from Zu An’s Blue Mallard skill before. Back then, they had been so close to each other that their bodies touched.
Soon afterward, Zu An burst through the surface of the water and said, “There seems to be a transport gate-like object at the bottom of the pool. It’s most likely the entrance to the Unknown Region. I’ll bring you all down. It might be because the Unknown Region appeared suddenly, but the water’s flow is chaotic, with all sorts of undercurrents. Everyone, be careful. You can’t let yourselves be washed away.”
“There is no need for all that trouble,” the Fiend Emperor said. He asked Zu An for the approximate direction, and with a wave of his hand, he cleaved the seemingly boundless pool in half directly. When he parted the water, it created a wide path.
The others’ expressions changed. Such a huge lake had been cut in half, and yet the Fiend Emperor had made it look so effortless! The strength of an earth immortal really was unfathomable.
At the very center of the lake, revealed by the separation of the waters, was a ring of light that resembled a whirlpool. Faint blue radiance continuously flickered around it, and its center was pitch-black.
The group soon arrived next to the ring of light. They had all been to their fair share of secret dungeons, so they were no strangers to such spatial pathways. However, the secret dungeons they had previously entered were all already open, thus guaranteeing their safety. Such an unfamiliar spatial pathway, on the other hand, could be full of destructive power. If they went in, they could end up experiencing a terrifying s.p.a.cetime storm that would instantly rip them to pieces.
The Fiend Emperor waved his hand, and a rope appeared from his sleeves, wrapping around Zu An. Then, before he could react, the Fiend Emperor threw him into the vortex.
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