‘It’s hard to explain’ signified that there was going to be a long story inbound.
Song Shuhang immediately made a listening gesture to show that he was getting ready for the Great Northern Emperor to tell the story from the ancient era.
In fact, Song Shuhang really loved listening to gossip about the ancient era.
The Great Northern Emperor said, “Well, I guess I can summarize it in two to three sentences.”
Song Shuhang: “…” Senior Beifang, can’t you follow the script?
The Great Northern Emperor explained, “To sum it all up, there was a problem with the path of the ancient Heavenly City’s ‘Heavenly Emperor’, and so I had no choice but to take advantage of death to get out of that situation. After that, it was only when little friend Song Shuhang activated the resurrection formation that I had prepared that I was finally able to return to life, but even after getting resurrected, I kept on getting the feeling that there was still something that I had left in the Heavenly City.”
It really did take only two, three sentences to summarize all of it.
So, was the thing that the Great Northern Emperor had left in the ‘Heavenly City’… the other ‘Great Northern Emperor’ from Slow-Witted Song’s red-golden space?
Song Shuhang asked, “In that case, is the Great Northern Emperor in the red-golden space Beifang One? While you are Beifang Two?”
The Great Northern Emperor was baffled. “Huh?”
The sea turtle said, “Which one of you is the genuine one?”
“Nonsense, of course I’m the real one.” After the Great Northern Emperor on the screen said that, he picked up a small bowl and took a spoonful.
Song Shuhang glanced at it, and curiously asked, “Is that jellied bean curd?”
The Great Northern Emperor said, “Oh? This is called jellied bean curd? I call it ┞●▲.”
The sea turtle curiously asked, “Then, Master, do you think it’s better sweet or salty?”
“Sweet or salty? I don’t mind either. However, I like the hot and sour kind which is more fragrant.” The Great Northern Emperor showed a face of satisfaction.
Song Shuhang said, “Heavens, there’s even a hot and sour kind.”
The sea turtle said, “Heresy.”
The Great Northern Emperor said, “Huh? What do you mean?”
The sea turtle calmly said, “I’m just saying little friend Song’s thoughts aloud. For him, all other kinds of jellied bean curd besides the sweet kind are wrong.”
Recently, the sea turtle delved into ‘psychology’ quite a bit, and it liked to think about other people’s thoughts.
The Great Northern Emperor: “…”
After a while.
The Great Emperor said, “I feel that yours and little friend Song’s brains will taste great with some sugar.”
Song Shuhang: ?
The sea turtle: ?
Great Emperor, we were wrong!
The Great Northern Emperor took another bite of the hot and spicy jellied bean curd, and said, “How did you and little friend Song end up in the Beast Realm?”
Song Shuhang sighed. “It’s hard to explain in a few words.”
The Great Northern Emperor then pointed the spoon toward Song Shuhang, and said, “Then just sum it up in two, three sentences.”
Song Shuhang: “…”
The sea turtle said, “To sum it up, Pavilion Master Chu’s Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion had been raided, and was pulled into the Beast Realm by some Tribulation Transcenders of the Beast Realm. After that, little friend Song and I started adventuring in the Beast Realm.”
“Tribulation Transcenders of the Beast Realm moved the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion away? They made such a huge commotion, do they not want to live?” The Great Northern Emperor frowned slightly.
The Wielder of the Heaven’s Will was soon going to change, yet they had actually made such a commotion. Were they not afraid of being targeted?
Song Shuhang added, “In addition, the Beast Realm Tribulation Transcenders also said that the ‘Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion’ was the Original Heavenly City.”
“The Original Heavenly City… I see.” The Great Northern Emperor put down the spoon, and said, “Tell me what happened more specifically. What ended up happening to the Beast Realm Tribulation Transcenders? Is the Original Heavenly City okay? Also, when did Slow-Witted Song make his reappearance?”
The sea turtle said, “All of the Beast Realm’s Tribulation Transcenders were captured by Slow-Witted Song. He opened the red-golden space and trapped the Beast Realm’s Tribulation Transcenders inside it. Also, the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion is currently pretty much completely ruined.”
Song Shuhang said, “What happened at the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion was actually quite complicated. Pavilion Master Chu stepped onto a weird ‘path’ and voluntarily caused the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion to break down. After that, her ‘path’ condensed a new Pavilion Master Chu. ”
“Sure enough, it was just as I had guessed,” the Great Northern Emperor said. “When it comes to the Crystal-Clear Water Pavilion and Pavilion Master Chu, although I don’t know much, the news about it being the Original Heavenly City was something that I came into contact with a number of times. Pavilion Master Chu’s path should be very similar to the path of the ‘Heavenly Emperor’.”
Song Shuhang nodded. “So that’s the case. Slow-Witted Song had also implicitly mentioned this.”
The Great Northern Emperor said, “If I were to make a hypothesis… The reason for the creation of the second Pavilion Master Chu is similar to why I had to leave part of me in the ancient Heavenly City. Pavilion Master Chu’s path may be a bit different, but overall, it should still be the same path as the Heavenly Emperor. Whether it is the Heavenly Emperor’s path or Pavilion Master Chu’s path, the [Second Self] is a critical factor. Unfortunately, how to have this second self come out is something that I am not clear on.”
The sea turtle said, “But Master, don’t you also have a second version of yourself?”
The Great Northern Emperor replied, “I was able to be reborn through a ‘resurrection technique’, and I had to die once in the past. Moreover, when preparing the ‘resurrection technique’, I and several of my friends had to put in great effort. There are some principles in the technique that are related to the path to immortality of a friend, and I can’t elaborate on the details. Therefore, even I don’t understand the process of how the second self ends up coming out of the Heavenly Emperor’s path… Also, I’m sure that my clone is completely different from Pavilion Master Chu’s clone.”
Song Shuhang thought about it, and remembered what Immortal Master Copper Trigram had said.
Immortal Master had said that when he was on the mysterious island, he saw the tombs of an ‘old’ and ‘new’ Heavenly Emperor. “The second self is the critical factor. Were there also two Heavenly Emperors in the ancient Heavenly City?”
The Great Northern Emperor nodded his head before shaking it, and saying, “I’m not sure myself, but I’m getting a faint feeling that that is the case.”
❄️❄️❄️
Song Shuhang squeezed his chin and fell into contemplation.
He remembered the ‘puppet maiden’ in his spatial bracelet.
The Great Northern Emperor confirmed that this puppet girl was his junior and that she was the genius who invented the crouching while holding one’s head posture to transcend the tribulation.
At that time, Song Shuhang had asked the puppet maiden and the Great Northern Emperor if they recognized each other. However, the puppet maiden said that the Great Northern Emperor was a fake posing as the original one.
The bitter expression on the Great Emperor’s face was still vivid in his memory.
The Great Northern Emperor’s resurrection technique was unlikely to be an ordinary resurrection technique.
After all, an ordinary resurrection technique would not have been able to get him out of the ‘ancient Heavenly City’.
In addition, Song Shuhang recalled the entrance to the forbidden area, with the golden disc on the locked door.
The secret to enter the forbidden area could be found within the ‘mysterious sword technique’ that Daoist Priest Li Tiansu had left in the Chu Family. It was from that scroll that Song Shuhang was able to acquire the method to open the door to the forbidden area.
When he found the method to open the door, Song Shuhang had also seen a picture of a man with two horns that was covered with mysterious runes, causing it to look like an ancient devil.
He had not really paid much heed to it at that time, and simply thought that the picture was related to the method to opening the door.
But now, he could not help but consider the matter a bit more.
This Great Emperor… Is he really not ‘Great Northern Emperor Two’?
This thought appeared in Song Shuhang’s mind, and it did not go away for a long time.
However, it did not matter whether this person was the Great Emperor One or Two.
Anyway, the Great Northern Emperor he knew was the one in front of him, and he only recognized this one. Whether he was One or Two, it did not really affect him.
❄️❄️❄️
The Great Northern Emperor asked, “By the way, since you came into contact with Slow-Witted Song, did you obtain the full version of the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Technique❯, little friend Song?”
He remembered that Song Shuhang had wanted to forge the ‘Combined Magical Treasure’, and this required the full version of the cultivation technique.
“I almost forgot about it.” Song Shuhang brought out the animal skin scroll.
The poison on the scroll had already been purified by Pavilion Master Chu Two.
Song Shuhang unfurled the scroll, and said, “This scroll is probably the code left by Slow-Witted Song, but I can’t read the ancient text here.”
The Great Northern Emperor said, “I see, let me take a look at it. Just let me finish my meal first. Afterwards, I’ll translate it for you. However, little friend Song, the script of the ancient era is very important. If you have the time, master it as soon as possible.”
Song Shuhang clenched his fists, and said, “Thank you, Senior. Also, I know. When I get back, I’m going to work hard on learning the language of the ancient era. I want to be able to speak it fluently before New Year’s Eve. At the very least, I want to have no problems when it comes to daily communication, reading, and writing.”
With the memory of a cultivator and the aid of the enlightenment stone, this goal was quite achievable.
After saying that, Song Shuhang spread open the animal hide scroll.
The Great Northern Emperor glanced at the scroll in Song Shuhang’s hand and the content on it through the screen. “That thing really is written in Slow-Witted Song’s style.”
Song Shuhang asked, “Is it the secret text?”
The sea turtle replied, “It looks like it should be.”
The Great Northern Emperor reached out and pulled out another scroll, and then took out a pen and began quickly writing on it.
The Great Emperor wrote in modern simplified Chinese characters.
After writing, he said to the sea turtle, “Prepare to receive it.”
“Heavens~ Master, is it really alright for you to use spatial magical techniques right now?” the sea turtle said worriedly. After all, its master was in hiding.
The Great Northern Emperor replied, “I have several spatial magical treasures on hand. It is very easy to transfer some small items without making a commotion.”
After a moment, spatial energy flashed in front of the sea turtle. The scroll that the Great Northern Emperor had written on appeared in the turtle’s forelimb.
The sea turtle handed the scroll over to Song Shuhang.
Song Shuhang said, “Thank you, Senior Beifang.”
Fortunately, many of his seniors knew the script of the ancient era. Otherwise, he would have gone mad from not having any way to decode the text nor even read it.
And so, he opened the translated scroll made by the Great Emperor.
[This is an idiot-proof secret text for decoding. As long as one can read the script of the ancient era, they can use it.]
The content really was in Slow-Witted Song’s style.
[Decoding Step 1: Poems stored in the chest, ink stored in the belly. Please shred the secret book hidden in the ‘All the Monsters of the World Should Unite and Become a Family’ and eat it. After that, go and buy a bottle of ink (remark: ordinary ink is good enough), and then drink it all. In this way, while one’s chest contains hundreds of secret techniques and the bottle of ink flows down, the decoding mode is activated.]
[Decoding Step 2: After completing Step 1, start to practice the skills in the secret book of the ‘monster alliance’, and practice it 4 times repeatedly.]
[Decoding Step 3: After successfully completing the steps above, please skip to Step 9.]
[Decoding step 9: The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd steps are steps that I made just to fool around.]
