Why was he so pessimistic? That did not sound like his usual self!
Watching Lord Dog stick out his tongue and lick the corners of his mouth, Bu Fang felt that the fat dog just wanted to eat Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs, and what he said just now was just an excuse.
“That realm is really dangerous, so you have to be careful,” said Yellow Spring Great Sage. “Also, once you start to break through, those Nether Prison guys will definitely find out. If Di Ting and Nether Puppeteer break through before you do, we cannot stop them.” Since he knew more things than others, he thought he’d better warn Lord Dog first.
That realm was abstruse and unfathomable. Di Ting and Lord Dog both touched it, but it was extremely difficult for them to break through. In fact, it was much more difficult than breaking through from a Little Saint to a Great Saint.
There were many obstacles to overcome, but Yellow Spring Great Sage didn’t really know about those obstacles. After all, he was still a little far from that level, even after he ate the Fortune Flatbread and became bald. That was why he could only warn Lord Dog. As for what should be done, he did not know.
“Don’t worry…” Lord Dog yawned. “I found an array here. It should be a relic of the previous age. Black Demon was going to use it to break through, but he died too suddenly,” he said, sniffling. “The power of this array is incredible as it contains the power of time. When I found it, I rashly stepped into it. I then realized that a thousand years inside is just one day outside.”
A thousand years inside was just one day outside?
Bu Fang and Yellow Spring Great Sage both gasped.
How could there be such an incredible array in the world?
“So you have cultivated in that array for a thousand years, mangy dog?” Yellow Spring Great Sage took a deep breath. He had lived only tens of thousands of years since he was born, and half of that time, he was playing with grass. Had he not, his cultivation base would be even more terrifying now. If he could go back in time, however, he would still play with grass because it brought him spiritual pleasure.
Still, he was taken aback by what Lord Dog said.
‘No wonder this mangy dog touched that realm so quickly. In fact, with his previous cultivation base, he may be able to break through after some time. Now that he has cultivated for one thousand years, it certainly made it easier for him to get to that level…’
Bu Fang, on the other hand, was lost in thought.
‘A thousand years in that array is just one day outside… Is this an array that can control the flow of time? Is it an array that contains the Time Gourmet Array? Could it be left by the previous host?’
What he knew now was that the previous host was probably a figure from the previous age. This could be inferred from what the Patriarchs of the nine Nether Prison clans and Black Demon had said.
Something major must have happened in the previous age, which caused the Patriarchs of the nine Nether Prison clans to kill the previous host.
What he couldn’t figure out was whether these Patriarchs were experts of the Netherworld or the followers of the previous host? The answer might be known only to the previous host and the nine Patriarchs.
But that was not what he had to think about right now. It was the Time Gourmet Array that concerned him.
‘Can the Time Gourmet Array be used like this? No…’
Bu Fang frowned and felt that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
He had experimented with the Time Gourmet Array in the Heaven and Earth Farmland. It could indeed control the flow of time, but once someone stepped into the flow of time, everything about that person, both physical and mental, would gradually age with the passing of time.
However, he did not observe such side effects in Lord Dog. Although Lord Dog was giving off an air of someone who had lived a thousand years, his body was exactly the same as a thousand years ago, and his mental strength had not declined.
After living thousands of years, even a Great Saint’s body and mind would show the side effects of aging.
Judging from this, there was no doubt that this array must contain more than the Time Gourmet Array.
The atmosphere in the Black Temple became somewhat frozen. After a long time, Lord Dog broke the silence.
“Bu Fang boy, do you still have… Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs?” he asked, sticking out his tongue and looking at Bu Fang. “I can only have the strength to fight when I’m full…”
Looking at Lord Dog’s trembling fat, Bu Fang couldn’t help twitching the corner of his mouth.
He took out some dragon ribs and began cooking. Soon, a delicious aroma permeated the air in the Black Temple, and a plate of glittering and steaming Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs was placed in front of Lord Dog.
Lord Dog’s fat trembled as he bent over the plate and began attacking the ribs once again.
Yellow Spring Great Sage sighed. He asked Bu Fang for three blue-and-white porcelain cups, then took out his precious jade wine jar and filled all three cups with wine. A refreshing bouquet filled the air instantly, making their mouths water.
“Come, since you have chosen to take that path, then I will use my treasured wine to wish you success!” Yellow Spring Great Sage said with a smile as he set a cup of wine in front of Lord Dog, who was eating the ribs. After that, he gave Bu Fang the other cup.
Colorful liquor sloshed in the cups. The bouquet of the supreme-grade Yellow Spring Helplessness Wine seemed to drift tens of thousands of miles away. It was an extremely rich wine.
Lord Dog looked up. His nose and the hair around his mouth were all stained with the ribs’ sauce. He opened his mouth and inhaled, and immediately, the wine in the cup went into his mouth.
“Excellent wine!” He grinned, licked his lips, then bowed his head and continued to eat his Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs.
When he finally finished eating, he belched and lay motionlessly on the ground. After a short rest, he rose to his feet and said, “You two, come with me…”
Lord Dog led the way, strutting his enchanting cat-like steps. After turning left and right again and again for a while, they came to a secret room. The location of this room was well hidden, and it was likely that only a few people in the Black Temple knew about its existence.
Bu Fang and Yellow Spring Great Sage followed the fat dog into the secret room. Inside was a completely different world. There were mountains and rivers, while the wind was gusting and a light rain was falling from the sky. But that was all. There was no life here.
In the middle of this world was a complicated and intricate array.
“See, that’s the array I told you. I’ve been lying there for thousands of years, and that’s how long I have not tasted Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs. How I miss them…” Lord Dog said.
His heart was still filled with lingering fear. He was worried that if he stayed in the array for tens of thousands of years and didn’t eat Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs, he would go crazy.
Bu Fang looked intently at the huge array. He was shocked.
It was rotating, giving off a mysterious aura. It looked completely detached from this world and did not seem to belong to this world at all.
Even Yellow Spring Great Sage was stunned. Such an array was completely beyond his imagination. It was like a miracle left by some god. “An array that can manipulate time… It is indeed a wonder!” As he said that, he couldn’t help reaching out his hand to touch it.
Bu Fang was sensing the array. He could clearly feel the aura of the Time Gourmet Array contained in it. It was the same aura as the array that was carved on the food container he was given some time ago. The difference was that the array in front of him consisted of more than just a Time Gourmet Array. It also included many different arrays, which were not even known to him. He felt that they should be other Gourmet Arrays that he had not yet acquired.
He couldn’t believe that by combining the different Gourmet Arrays, they could create such a marvelous effect.
Bu Fang’s eyes lit up as he looked through the whole array. He saw several rotating dishes inside, which were located in different corners.
Yellow Spring Great Sage and Lord Dog couldn’t see them, but he could. There were four dishes located in the four corners of the array, and the light they emitted formed into four mythical beasts: a dragon, a phoenix, a turtle, and a tiger.
The four mythical beasts were seated in the four corners of the array, maintaining its operation.
This was a Four Quadrants Array.
Bu Fang withdrew his gaze, shocked. He was becoming more and more curious about the origin of the previous host.
Previously, when he was cooking a dish in the God of Cooking’s Menu, his spirit sea turned into a Yin-Yang-Four-Quadrants spirit sea. Bu Fang thought he was the first one in this world who had formed this array, but it turned out that the previous host had also created a similar array.
He sighed softly and shook his head as if he wanted to shake some thoughts out of his mind. He told himself that it was no use thinking so much—all he needed to do was to take measures according to what the situation called for. After all, he was only a chef, and his main job was to cook delicious food. All this fighting and protecting were just to make him better at cooking.
“Well, I’m going in. Bu Fang boy, don’t let anyone disturb me, or I could never taste your Sweet ‘n’ Sour Ribs again,” Lord Dog said half-jokingly, his gentle and magnetic voice resounding through the air. After that, he walked toward the array with his enchanting cat-like steps.
The array was activated the moment he stepped into it. The light of the Time Gourmet Array was flashing, while the four dishes representing the Four Quadrants were rotating.
Standing outside the array, Bu Fang looked at the scene solemnly with his hands behind his back, while Yellow Spring Great Sage held his jade wine jar and took a deep breath.
A few moments later, the array began to rumble and burst into light, and then Lord Dog’s aura was gone completely.
Bu Fang and Yellow Spring Great Sage exchanged a glance, said nothing, and turned and walked slowly out of the secret room. The door was shut with a crash behind them.
The two of them came to the center of the palace and sat down on the ground. Since Lord Dog asked them to protect him from being disturbed, he must have his reason.
…
At the Di Ting Clan’s homeland…
A fearful black vortex was spinning rapidly with vast energy gathering into it. Two figures stood beside it. One of them was a thin old man with sharp eyes. He was none other than Nether Puppeteer Patriarch, and beside him was Sword Demon Patriarch.
They both gasped as they watched the vortex and felt the terrible energy inside.
“That realm is indeed supreme… How I envy him,” Nether Puppeteer Patriarch said.
Sword Demon Patriarch carried a sword on his back. He didn’t speak because he didn’t know what to say. That realm was too far from him, and he only knew that it was a supreme realm. Even so, he was well aware of the horror of that realm.
He still remembered the devilish figure that had fought alone against the supreme existence of the great world at the end of the last age, as well as that mighty power that could destroy heaven and earth.
Unfortunately, that man died after all.
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch tapped Sword Demon Patriarch’s forehead with a finger, bringing the latter to his senses.
“Don’t just stand there gaping… After fighting with that Earth Prison Dog in the battlefield of the stars, I found that he had also touched this realm. He should have used some means of the forbidden lands in Earth Prison,” Nether Puppeteer Patriarch said.
“Just as we used the means of the forbidden lands in Nether Prison,” Sword Demon Patriarch said, nodding.
“We can’t let him succeed. The Netherworld only needs Di Ting to step into that realm.”
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s eyes were full of enthusiasm as he looked at the black vortex. Then, he glanced at Sword Demon Patriarch and took out an old gourd.
“Take this gourd to Earth Prison. You must sabotage that dog’s breakthrough. Don’t worry, there’s enough wine in the gourd to make you even stronger than Tyrant. But remember not to drink too much. I’ll send you another helper. This helper… will surprise them.” A sneer brushed Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s lips.
Sword Demon Patriarch took the gourd with intense excitement in his eyes. He knew what the wine in it was capable of.
“You can go now,” Nether Puppeteer Patriarch waved.
Sword Demon Patriarch nodded. The next moment, a silver ray appeared under his feet. Stepping on the sword, he sped away and disappeared into the distance in a flash.
With his hands clasped behind him, Nether Puppeteer Patriarch looked at the bottomless black vortex and sighed softly. “It’s almost there…”
Suddenly, the void behind him tore apart, and a burly figure enveloped in black smoke emerged.
“I’ve worked hard to put you together. You are my proudest masterpiece. It’s time to let the world know your existence… Go now,” Nether Puppeteer Patriarch said, without looking back.
The eyes of the figure in the black smoke turned scarlet in an instant. The next moment, the void healed, and the figure sped away with a rumbling sound.
