No matter how shaken they felt, the problem Jiao Hai and his companions faced now wasn’t Ye Zichen or his background.
Kneel and apologize to a condor? A mere beast?
They’d be lying if they said their hearts didn’t recoil at the prospect. Just how lofty were their positions? Lowering themselves before a mere animal? If word of this incident spread, how could they face their subordinates?
But they were already kneeling. Adding an apology to a beast on top of that wouldn’t really change much.
And if they refused, would that little tyrant, Gu Luolin, really let them go?
“Big White!”
The great condor walked over, dragging its wing. Although Ye Zichen had already given it medicine, a beast’s physique was ultimately different from a person’s, and the pills hadn’t had a particularly noticeable effect.
Its wounds had knit together somewhat, but it was far from a full recovery.
When she saw the bloody gashes on the bird’s wings, Gu Luolin clenched her little fists.
Her loathing for Kui Lin went up, too!
Since arriving in the Transcendent Mausoleum, the condor had already saved her life twice. When its clansmen wanted to divide her up and eat her, it stopped them. When she was on the verge of dying of lotus poison, it found her an antidote.
Whether it was to repay a debt or simply because they felt like old friends the moment they laid eyes on each other.
Kui Lin had hurt the bird so badly. There was no way Gu Luolin would just let this go so easily.
If she’d known this would happen, back when she was still within the clan, she definitely would have listened to her parents and cultivated properly. If only she’d listened, Kui Lin couldn’t have left so easily.
She’d just have to start by collecting interest from Kui Lin’s dogs. As for her grudge with the Demon Emperor herself, she’d take her time making him pay later.
She buried this resentment deep within her heart, then looked at Jiao Hai, Qiu Guang, and Tai Tan. “Apologize!”
It was the tender voice of a young girl, but the sound made their hearts tremble. They couldn’t escape; they had to apologize to the condor, like it or not. To live on, to convince Gu Luolin to spare them, to avoid her seeking trouble with them later, all they could do was lower their proud heads.
“We’re sorry.”
“Is that how you apologize? Kowtow!”
“We’re sorry!” They really did lower their heads until they hit the ground.
The condor blinked, much like a human might. It waved its uninjured wing, drawing Gu Luolin’s attention.
“Should I let them off?”
“Scree.” The condor nodded, but Gu Luolin still gave them each several vicious kicks.
“Scram! The further away, the better. Don’t show yourselves in front of me again!”
The offending trio fled, scampering off as if they’d received an imperial pardon. They didn’t dare retrieve the “apology gifts” scattered across the ground; all they could think of was fleeing this forsaken place.
Gu Luolin still had yet to fully vent her anger. She stared in the direction they’d fled in and snorted, “They sure got off easy this time! I even let the Demon Emperor escape! Hmph! He’d better not think this is over just because he ran away. You can escape the monk, but you can’t escape the temple. I’ll find him sooner or later!”
“Don’t be so angry,” laughed Ye Zichen. “If Kui Lin ran, he ran, but I know a way to ensure he’ll never be able to raise his head again.”
“You do?” Gu Luolin’s eyebrows shot up.
Ye Zichen chuckled. Once Jiao Hai and the others were completely out of sight, he finally pressed the button on his screen and stopped the recording.
Then, he admired the video he’d just taken with relish. Only then did Ye Zichen put his phone away.
“Once we get out of here, I’ll be sure to give the Demon Emperor a ‘generous’ present.
…..
…..
…..
After Kui Lin’s group left, no one else invaded the giant condor’s territory.
But even after just one group of invaders, the condor’s clan had suffered enormous losses. Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin joined forces to dig several pits at the base of the cliff, in which they buried the birds’ corpses, letting them rest in peace within the earth.
The condor was despondent. The fallen birds had been its followers for far, far too long.
It had known many of them their whole lives; it watched them grow up. But now, its once lively clansmen were nothing but rigid corpses buried in the dirt of the valley. The rims of the bird’s eyes shimmered with moisture.
It was indeed as Kui Lin said; the condor and its followers really were guarding an ultimate treasure.
Ye Zichen wasn’t sure whether it was because of gratitude or simply for Gu Luolin’s sake, but the condor personally carried the treasure over in its mouth.
It was a solid gold crown with five protuberances, each containing a glittering, transparent gem.
Unless Ye Zichen’s senses were mistaken, the five gems corresponded to the five elements.
Wind, Fire, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning.
Why did Ye Zichen think that? Because when he put the crown on his head, he could sense that his affinity for the five elements shot up, and his enlightenment deepened.
He even felt that he was nearing a breakthrough in thunder and fire now.
Gu Luolin didn’t like the crown’s style; she said it was too pompous. But she did like the five gemstones.
The moment she laid eyes on them, she wanted them. She even tried removing them from the crown.
But no matter what she did, the imperial crown was a single unit. Gu Luolin could only stare at the gems longingly as she gave up. In the end, she decided that the crown really was too grandiose for her tastes. She spurned it, so it fell to Ye Zichen.
Getting an ultimate treasure like this out of nowhere naturally filled him with delight, but he also felt a bit guilty.
When they faced the Demon Emperor, they’d survived entirely due to Gu Luolin’s performance. She was the one who’d scared them off. Ye Zichen was just a spectator; he hadn’t really done anything at all.
When the condor took out the crown, it seemed it wanted to give it to Gu Luolin.
But Gu Luolin was generous. When she saw Ye Zichen’s hesitation, she patted his shoulder knowingly, as an elder might. “Just take it as a greeting gift. It’s my first time meeting my nephew.”
The bird didn’t object. Ye Zichen’s brow shot up, but he didn’t argue, either.
All he had to do was play junior to obtain such an ultimate treasure? That was no loss. Besides, the crown was intimately connected to his cultivation path. If he kept wearing it, he might very well condense the Dao Heart of the Five Elements in the near future.
If he succeeded before the end of the era arrived, it would just help him keep himself safe. It would be good news for the entire era as they fought for survival!
Ye Zichen spent the next few days in the condor’s territory, the crown on his head, contemplating the Dao of the Five Elements. He was in no rush to head to the palace; he was well aware that with his current strength, never mind the likes of the Demon Emperor, he couldn’t even fight off an imperial king. But fortunately, with the crown on his head, he was already showing signs of imminent breakthroughs in thunder and fire. As such, he decided to break through first, then keep moving.
There was neither night nor day within the mausoleum. The snow fell over the mountains in perpetuity.
“Why is it suddenly dark out?” Ink-dark clouds had appeared out of nowhere, blotting out the skies over the perpetually snowy mountains and obscuring the sun. The entire mountain range was shrouded in darkness. The dark clouds were heavy and oppressive. Many of the mountains’ bestial inhabitants crawled back into their lairs; they dared not even poke their heads out to look.
As for those experts rushing through the ice and snow in search of transcendent fortune, they stared up at the sky, their expressions solemn.
They called upon their spiritual power, placing barriers around themselves in advance of what was to come.
Who knew how the ink-dark clouds had appeared, or why? But for something so eerie to happen, they naturally had to proceed with caution.
The birds within the condor’s territory all flew back to their nests. The ink-dark clouds darkened, and just an hour later, the mountains were so dark, you couldn’t see your hand when it was right in front of your face.
A stream of blood-red lightning flashed through the sky, its brief light increasing both the cultivators and the beasts’ alertness until they were completley on edge.
The darker it was, the more danger lurked on every corner. Furthermore, the situation on the mountain was exceptioal.
Even imperial lords couldn’t spread their divine awarenesses more than a thousand meters.
The way these experts saw it, this might very well be an obstacle the Transcendent Mausoleum had prepared for them. Opportunity and danger always went wide by side; the mausoleum wouldn’t let them take its treasures so easily. Seizing treasures….
It was entirely possible that this sudden darkness was the Transcendent Mausoleum’s first wave of attacks.
Yet another lightning bolt streaked by, looking endlessly sinister and eerie against the inky darkness of its surroundings.
No one dared act recklessly. Those traveling in groups huddled together…
Crack! Boom!
Heavenly thunder rumbled, then streaked down in a bolt several meters across. Then, the entire mountain range became a pool of lightning as several streaks of electricity came crashing down from above.
The entire snowy mountain range shook without end, the lightning lighting up the darkness.
Where it landed, the ground broke and rocks scattered. In the pitch-darkness, no one dared act recklessly. All they could do was pour their power into their barriers.
But it seemed thunder and lightning were nothing but an appetizer…
Whoosh!
Firelight.
Dazzling, brilliant, firelight!
When they looked up, the cultivators saw one ball of flames after another, falling down to earth like shooting stars. When they landed, they burst into flames, patches of light illuminating the endless darkness.
One patch of flames after another blazed, the searing heat melting the snow and ice.
Even the boulders baked and shattered!
“Those are dao arts!”
When the flames descended, someone finally recognized the true nature of the fire, thunder, and lightning.
This wasn’t some test or obstacle of the mausoleum. No, someone had achieved a breakthrough in their dao.
As for who that person was?
Flashing lightning, rumbling thunder, heavenly flames…
This was obviously the work of one who’d gleaned enlightenment into the five elements. Of those who’d entered the mausoleum, the only one with enlightenment into that particular dao was…
“Ye-zi! It’s Ye-zi!” Yang Jian stood beside the flames and shouted at the top of his lungs. “He’s alive!”
“I told you Ye Zichen was alive, but you refused to believe me,” snorted Gu Li. But he, too, was inwardly a little shaken.
Such powerful flames, thunder, and lightning meant full mastery of their respective elements.
And it was Ye Zichen who’d caused that downpour of auspicious rain. That meant he’d masted four of the five elements. He was only one step away from condensing the Dao of the Five Elements’ dao heart!
“The Emperor Star really is Heaven’s chosen.” From somewhere within the mountains, the Ocean Emperor watched the flames and lightning and muttered to himself.
“There really was a treasure hidden there!” Although no one knew it, while the others stood in place at the foot of the pitch-black mountains, unwilling to move recklessly, someone used the light of the flames and lightning to stare intently at the palace they all longed for. “Forget it! So long as this emperor can obtain transcendent fortune, even the Gu Family will have no choice but to bow before me!”
