Chapter 1387: The Splendor of a Legend
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Other than the Sword of Severance that had made a brief appearance in the Immortal World once before disappearing, the strongest and sharpest divine weapon Tang Xiu had ever seen so far was the divine sword he had within his body. The Index of Divine Weapons contained entries of tens of thousands of the strongest divine weapons, and the top ten among them were all divine artifacts. However, these divine artifacts were all in the hands of the Supremes of the super sects, so they rarely appeared outside. His former weapon, the Heavenly Star Sword, was also a divine artifact. However, it was destroyed while he was crossing his divine tribulation.
“What is it called?”
Tang Xiu inquired calmly while raising his head to look at the middle-aged man.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Tang Xiu narrowed his eyes and asked, “How did you obtain it?”
“Demon King’s Abode,” said the middle-aged man.
Tang Xiu felt slightly shocked, and the way he viewed the middle-aged man standing before him changed. Demon King’s Abode was a hazardous and terrifying zone located in the 9th layer of Nefas Abyss. Even if it were a Supreme, the chances of them coming out from there unscathed were close to nil. He, too, had once attempted to enter the Demon King’s Abode after becoming a Supreme to obtain the inheritance treasure left behind by Demon King Regretless. However, he got seriously injured just after traversing half the distance and had to return empty-handed in the end.
Demon King Regretless was a terrifying expert of the Demon Realm a hundred thousand or so years ago and was the undisputed strongest expert in the Demon Realm back in that era. Moreover, his cultivation soared at a breakneck speed. It took him just eight thousand years to successfully cross his divine tribulation and ascend to the G.o.d Realm.
Tang Xiu gave the middle-aged man a profound look and asked, “You entered the Demon King’s Abode? If I haven’t guessed it wrong, you shouldn’t have even reached the Supremacy Stage yet, right?”
“I’m a Perfected Golden Immortal, but I have entered inside once,” the middle-aged man replied.
Tang Xiu expressed his admiration with a gesture and then said, “Such is immortal fate and the wonders of providence. Let me make a final guess, then. You shouldn’t have entered Demon King’s Abode for Demon King Regretless’ inheritance, but rather to kill yourself, right?”
“Yes!” the middle-aged man’s voice was still emotionless.
Tang Xiu shook his head with a sigh. “It’s better to live a bad life than meet a good death, there really is no need to fret over happenings in life! Let it be, I shall buy this broken sword, but you have to answer a question of mine before I do so. You should have run into many Immortals who entered Nefas Abyss and forced them to buy the sword, but did no one want to buy it?”
“There were many such people, but they were all too poor,” the middle-aged man replied.
Tang Xiu laughed out loud. 20 million Crystal Essences were a ma.s.sive amount for a Perfected Golden Immortal. Only Supremes could possess such an enormous amount of wealth as it was even possible to purchase a Perfected Golden Stage Immortal deathmatch fighter from the Convict Arena with such an amount.
Tang Xiu took out 20 million Crystal Essences from his interspatial ring in the next instant and handed it over to the middle-aged man with a smile. “Are you not afraid of us attacking you to s.n.a.t.c.h away this broken sword? I would definitely save 20 million Crystal Essences that way.”
“I do fear that, but death is also an eternal rest.”
Tang Xiu looked at him intensely before placing the broken sword inside his interspatial sword and said with a smile, “I have one last question. May I know what you are called?”
The middle-aged man raised his eyelids and spoke slowly after pausing for a good while, “I’ll answer you since you bought the sword. I’m called Eagle.”
“Eagle? Just Eagle?”
An unusual l.u.s.ter flashed through Tang Xiu’s eyes as he inquired about this.
“Yes!”
Saying so, the middle-aged man turned around and walked towards the entrance of the 2nd layer. In the next instant, he disappeared into the black and cloudy vortex.
Tang Xiu narrowed his eyes before looking towards Seaway Monarch and asked faintly, “Have you ever heard this name?”
A complicated expression floated up on Seaway Monarch’s face as he said with a nod, “I have heard of it before. The name has a well-known reputation too. A Golden Immortal expert named Eagle made his appearance 4000 years ago and killed tens of Golden Immortals as well as eight Perfected Golden Immortals within a short span of just eight years. He killed a Perfected Golden Immortal on average each year back then, and 3000 years ago, he slaughtered around 18,000 demons in the Phantasmagoria Ocean Immortal Domain that included more than ten Perfected Golden Immortal experts. He had already broken through to the Perfected Golden Immortal Stage by then. 1800 years ago, he charged into the Sea of Death alone for a beautiful woman and slaughtered thousands of subordinates of Great Emperor DeathG.o.d and fought with him for several months, then he disappeared without a trace after getting injured severely by him. All of his deeds are tales of legends, and except for one person, there’s no one else whose legend has such splendor.”
Tang Xiu’s expression changed as he inquired. “Who is that other person?”
“Star Cultivation Great Emperor,” Seaway Monarch stated.
Tang Xiu chuckled internally as he never expected Seaway Monarch to have such a high evaluation of him. However, to become a Supreme, he had indeed experienced several hards.h.i.+ps as well as countless battles, finally becoming a Supreme by standing on the corpses of millions of experts.
“Come, let’s follow after him to see what’s the fun. I’m really curious about why he needs so many Crystal Essences.”
The two of them entered the vortex soon after.
The 2nd layer of Nefas Abyss was a forest consisting of densely packed black stones, and each one of them varied in size, with the tallest being several thousand meters high and the shortest being just a few meters tall. Hence, this realm portrayed very unusual scenery.
Tang Xiu and Seaway Monarch tailed Eagle from behind boldly with no intentions to hide.
During the journey, Eagle had run into trouble several times. The inhabitants of Nefas Abyss attacked him to plunder his belongings, the demons from the Demon Realm besieged him, and even the experts of the Monster Realm attacked him. However, he resolved each of the attacks with much ease, and all the enemies who attacked him ended up peris.h.i.+ng.
Tang Xiu and Seaway Monarch didn’t help and looked at the scene as if they were watching a good show. During this time, Tang Xiu took out the broken sword he had received from Eagle and supplied it with a steady flow of Primal Chaos Force to restore the cracks in the broken sword and comprehend the secrets hidden inside it.
It had no sword soul, yet it possessed an unparalleled sharpness.
The Primal Chaos Force didn’t suffer any obstruction, and he could wield it with perfection. After attempting to control it with his divine intent, Tang Xiu discovered that he had a really fluid control over it and felt almost like he was controlling a needle that didn’t have any weight at all. After checking the interior of the sword with his divine intent, he even discovered that there was a minute point-sized light inside it that was releasing a powerful, esoteric aura.
“Although it’s a broken sword, it should be an artifact of a higher grade than the Heavenly Star Sword I possessed before. Its strength can perhaps even match up to the top ten divine weapons from the Index of Divine Weapons! If I can restore it to perfection and make it give birth to a divine soul, perhaps its grade might even reach a level out of my expectations!
“Although I’m quite proficient in refining artifacts, I don’t have any confidence in being able to perfectly restore this broken sword. I’m also clueless about the ingredients required to repair it, so restoring this broken sword to perfection might just be a pipe dream.”
After that, Tang Xiu and Seaway Monarch followed Eagle through the 3rd, 4th, and 5th layer of Nefas Abyss and finally reached the 6th layer. They then discovered that he wasn’t heading towards the entrance of the 7th layer, but rather towards the Lost Nefas Forest. Although the three of them had encountered several enemies who harbored evil intentions towards them, they held no fear at all.
“The standard entry fee to enter the Lost Nefas Forest is 10 crystals for each person. You can pay with Immortal Crystals, Demon Crystals, Monster Crystals, Spirit Crystals, or Dark Crystals. Only those who pay the fee are allowed to enter the Lost Nefas Forest, and those who dare to intrude without paying will all be killed without exception.”
There was only a single pathway leading inside the Lost Nefas Forest. A Supreme Demon, an Immortal Monster, as well as four Perfected Golden Immortals, a total of six cultivators had set up a roadblock to collect a toll fee from those who desired to enter.
Tang Xiu looked on as Eagle paid 10 Immoral Crystals and quietly entered. He immediately took out 20 Immortal Crystals and handed it over to those six cultivators before entering the forest along with Seaway Monarch.
The Lost Nefas Forest consisted of randomly ordered black pine trees that were thousands of meters tall. Yet, each black pine tree was exceptionally hard. Abode-type immortal artifacts could be seen in intervals of ten thousand meters, and there were even some people who had set up stalls outdoors. All kinds of beings who had left their homes for the Nefas Immortal Domain strolled here and showed no enmity toward each other. They examined all the stores and stalls to select a treasure that caught their eyes.
The number of stores and stalls reduced in number the farther someone forayed into the forest, and the distance between them also increased a lot. Tang Xiu and Seaway Monarch followed Eagle deep into the forest, and after two days, they saw him stop before a store.
“Old Demon Wicked,” Eagle’s voice seemed unusually cold as he called out this name.
A tall and st.u.r.dy expert from the Demon Realm with ugly looks walked out from the store slowly. He raised his eyelids, and after seeing Eagle, his brows arched up as he revealed a smile on his face and asked, “Did you bring the 24 million Crystal Essences?”
Eagle tossed an interspatial ring over to him and said, “Give me the Soul Consolidation Ambrosia.”
The Demon Realm expert checked the number of Crystal Essences present inside and exclaimed in admiration, “You barely had 3 million Crystal Essences a decade or so ago. I never expected you would actually ama.s.s a whole 24 million Crystal Essences in such a short duration of time. I really admire you for that. Here’s the Soul Consolidation Ambrosia.”
Eagle received it with lightning-quick movements, and after checking it, his face revealed an excited expression as he cupped towards the Demon Realm expert. “Since the deal has concluded, can you now tell me where I can purchase the secret Soul Consolidation Art?”
The Demon Realm expert pointed towards the depths of the forest and said with a beaming smile, “Go 5000 kilometers that way, and you’ll see a store called Demon Soul Palace. That store’s boss specializes in selling all kinds of immortal records and secret arts from the Demon, Monster, Immortal, and Spirits Realms… In short, it’s a place where you can obtain any and all kinds of secret arts.”
“Thank you.”
Eagle nodded and rushed towards the depths of Lost Nefas Forest without even giving Tang Xiu and Seaway Monarch a single glance, acting as if they didn’t exist at all. This journey of 5000 kilometers wasn’t that far for him, and since he hurried over with all his strength, it took him just ten breaths to arrive before the Demon Soul Palace.