Chapter 2073 (Raw 2178): Xiao Yun
The atmosphere around the azure mountain felt strange in the first place. Now, someone suddenly appeared and patted Xiao Chen’s shoulder.
The antsy Xiao Chen immediately thought it was an ambush, so he spun around and threw a palm strike.
“Bang!”
Two palms clashed, and Xiao Chen sent the newcomer flying. When that person landed, he had a pale complexion. That person gritted his teeth, finding the pain extremely unbearable.
“Qin Zhuolin!”
Xiao Chen felt startled when he saw this person’s face. Why is he here?
Xiao Chen quickly flew over.
“Are you alright?”
Qin Zhuolin smiled bitterly. “I have not seen you for only half a year, and your strength soared so quickly. This is incredible.”
Half a year ago, Xiao Chen was still a Holy Venerate.
When Qin Zhuolin met Xiao Chen again, Xiao Chen was already a Sovereign Personage, going beyond Initial Perfection Sovereign Personage and reaching Small Perfection Sovereign Personage.
“This is all thanks to the Heart Burn you gave me. I’m not sure whether to thank you or reproach you. Heart Burn has a strong effect only once in my entire life, and I wasted it as a Holy Venerate.”
Without the accumulations that came from Heart Burn, it would have been very hard to reach Small Perfection Sovereign Personage in one go.
Qin Zhuolin smiled in embarrassment. “I did not expect Heart Burn to be so effective. Sorry, sorry. Take that earlier palm strike as evening things out, then.”
“Let’s not speak about that. Why are you here?”
“Haha! I have waited several days for you already. Let’s go back to the village first before speaking.”
“Alright.”
When Xiao Chen returned to the village, the villagers welcomed him back like a hero, receiving him with great hospitality.
Iron Egg, who had returned first, already told the story of Xiao Chen winning the Wine King Contest to everyone.
The Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor had declared that anyone who dared to touch the village within these one hundred years would become Peach Blossom City’s enemy.
With the Peach Blossom Sovereign Emperor’s strength and prestige, this generation of villagers no longer had to worry about roaming bandits or the harassment of Demonic Dao factions.
The villagers no longer had to worry about their greatest threat; how could they not be happy?
After the bustle, noise, and excitement, Xiao Chen, Sang, and Qin Zhuolin gathered together.
“What did the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter ask you for help with?” Xiao Chen asked.
Qin Zhuolin drank some wine before replying, “She wants my help in finding the remains of the Heavenly Fragrance’s previous Holy Daughter and bringing back a jade pendant.”
Xiao Chen thought very quickly and guessed, “The previous Holy Daughter’s remains should be in some underground tomb, right? Otherwise, they would not seek your help.”
“Very smart. Even the Heavenly Fragrance Holy Master does not dare to enter this place. The stronger one is, the greater the danger.”
Qin Zhuolin smiled faintly and looked at Xiao Chen. “Guess where her remains are.”
“Probably under that well outside the village. During the past few days, you have been going there when you have nothing to do,” Sang said before Xiao Chen could say anything.
“Really?”
Qin Zhuolin said awkwardly, “Indeed. The remains of the Heavenly Fragrance’s previous Holy Daughter are under that well. Fifty years ago, a Heavenly Dragon expert of your Dragon Race seemed to have discovered a startling secret in this place. This attracted the attention of many people and offended people he should not offend. When he fled into the well, many people who did not understand the situation followed to see. In the end, they were all trapped and died in there.
“The infamy of this well spread out in the Desolate Sea. From then on, it became the most horrifying forbidden land of the Desolate Sea.”
Xiao Chen remained silent. He had not expected that what the Heavenly Fragrance’s Holy Daughter wanted to do had something to do with this well.
After a long time, Xiao Chen said, “I have been in the well before.”
“You managed to come out?!”
Now, it was Qin Zhuolin’s turn to be shocked. He looked at Xiao Chen and said, “This is really startling. Previously, some reckless Geomasters entered to study the situation. However, no one managed to come out.”
Xiao Chen raised his wine cup and drained it in one go. An expression of lingering fear appeared in his eyes as he said after some thought, “There is a Heavenly Dao Killing Formation there. The killing formation perfectly merged with the environment; one will not sense any danger. Everyone who died in the well had an expression of shock and surprise. They did not know how they died. I did not go too deep inside. Adding that and a stroke of luck, I managed to leave.”
Xiao Chen told Qin Zhuolin everything he saw that day, not leaving anything out.
After Qin Zhuolin heard everything, he remained silent for a long time. He smiled bitterly and said, “To think that there is a Heavenly Dao Killing Formation… Had I known earlier, I would not have agreed. It looks like the Heavenly Fragrance Holy Land’s people had gone down before but were scared witless.”
“Brother Qin, will you honestly tell me what you know about this place?” Xiao Chen straightforwardly asked Qin Zhuolin, not wanting to beat about the bush.
Be it the azure mountain with the missing dragon head or the mysterious and unfathomable ancient well, Xiao Chen felt a pressing need to get answers about them.
Xiao Chen had a feeling that once he solved these two mysteries, he could figure out why the Azure Dragon Race got destroyed.
Qin Zhuolin felt stunned for a while. Then, he replied, “I do not know much, either. However, I have heard from my master that the Desolate Sea did not use to be like this. Previously, Desolate Slaves could be seen during the day, as well. Right now, the Desolate Sea looks like it has grown wild, right? The past Desolate Sea used to be even scarier and ruined. The corpses and blood left by the righteous factions and demonic factions turned this place into a living hell.
“However, it changed because of two people. The fight between two people changed the entire landscape of the whole Desolate Sea.”
Xiao Chen prompted, “Which two people?”
The Desolate Sea was very large, practically boundless. It was larger than the eastern and northern regions combined.
To think that a fight between two people completely changed the terrain. How strong were those two?
“One is the Dragon Race’s Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun. The other is a mysterious existence that did not leave any name behind.”
[TL Note: The Xiao in Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun is a different character from Xiao Chen’s Xiao.]
“Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun? There does not seem to be a Dragon Emperor by that name. I once went through the Dragon Race’s records of emperors, but I did not see this name.” Xiao Chen’s memory could not be wrong. If this person were really that strong, he should have a much deeper impression of it.
“There isn’t? Well, I don’t know much about it. This is what my master told me. My line of inheritance has only one heir per generation. My master would not lie to me. However, it does not matter. I can only tell you what I know.”
Xiao Chen nodded and said, “Go on.”
“For some reason, this Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun wanted to offer the entire Desolate Sea as a blood sacrifice. Hehe! Just think about it. At that time, a war between the righteous factions and the demonic factions had just ended. Who knows how many Faux Gods and Sovereign Emperors were buried here? Sovereign Personages’ corpses were as plentiful as stars. If the blood sacrifice really succeeded, how horrifying would it have been? Therefore, someone came to stop it, and the two started fighting.”
Qin Zhuolin continued, “No one knows who won. In any case, the Desolate Sea ended up in such a state.”
Xiao Chen entered deep thought. After a while, he asked, “What does that have to do with this place?”
“My master believes that this tall azure mountain might be the totem that Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun erected back then. He used the entire Desolate Sea as a formation to carry out the blood sacrifice, with the totem as its core.”
Qin Zhuolin laughed at this point. “Of course, that master of mine is not very reliable. These are just some things passed down from our ancestors. For example, you have not even heard of Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun, so don’t take it for real. I don’t believe that someone can use the entire Desolate Sea as a formation and lay a blood sacrifice formation. How strong would one have to be to do that? I’m just telling you what I know… Hey, Xiao Chen?”
As Qin Zhuolin spoke, he realized that Xiao Chen had fallen into a daze, not listening to him at all.
Sang already inferred some information and guessed something in his heart. Just because the records of emperors did not list Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun, it did not mean there was no such Dragon Emperor in the Divine Dragon Empire’s history.
If this Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun was a Dragon Emperor from the Azure Dragon bloodline, then it made sense.
Sang figured that Xiao Chen must have guessed this, as well. That was why Xiao Chen was in a daze.
“What are you thinking about?”
Xiao Chen recovered his wits and said, “Nothing. Go on, go on.”
Qin Zhuolin felt speechless. “I already finished. What else is there to go on about?”
Xiao Chen immediately felt somewhat embarrassed. He could only change the topic, saying, “What kind of person was the person who fought with Dragon Emperor Xiao Yun?”
Qin Zhuolin shrugged. “Who knows? There are always people who remain hidden in the Great Thousand Realms. You are one such example. Who would think that you were just a Holy Venerate half a year ago, when you are a Small Perfection Sovereign Personage now?”
The topic shifted back to Xiao Chen, so he stopped asking questions. Now, he felt rather curious about Qin Zhuolin’s identity.
To think that Qin Zhuolin knew such secrets in detail.
“Since you are here, I’ll not remain any longer. I’ll be going down after I finish this cup of wine. I hope I can return alive,” Qin Zhuolin said somewhat decisively before draining his wine cup in one go and setting it back on the table.
He is still going into the Cold Yin Spring ancient well?
