Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The rays of light skyrocketed and reached the ceiling of the pavilion and connected to it like a sky pillar.
This giant pillar of light expanded outwards in all directions and gradually covered the entire tower. Radiant light spiraled inside the light pillar and surged around.
In the middle of the pillar of light, innumerable shiny crystals drifted into vision and rose along the pillar.
These shiny crystals were irregular in shape, but veins were faintly visible as if they belonged to the skeletons of animals. However, it didn’t seem that much like it while waves of dense but calm spiritual energy rippled.
They were vast like the stars in the sky, but they were a lot warmer.
“Are these the star skulls?” Lin Feng’s eyes sparkled. “There are so many of them…”
From the distance, the Zheng Yi Holy Man, the Xuan Lin Holy Man and Cai Fengzhou also arrived in the vicinity of the tall tower and watched the specks of light rising up through the sky pillar.
Cai Fengzhou lowered his voice and said, “Such large volumes – it appears that in the thousands of years after the last war of the worlds, the star tomb hasn’t been opened before.”
The Xuan Lin Holy Man nodded. “Before this, the opening of the star tomb using four gates to the Starry Sea has only happened once before. It’s probably because the demons haven’t been able to team up properly to open the star tomb the last time, so they saved everything for today.”
Lin Feng continued watching the events unfold. He knew very well that the reason why the demons could temporarily open the star tomb to retrieve the contents inside had something to do with the fact that he had a gate to the Starry Sea on his hands.
Ever since the Antiquity Age, the fact that humans were once again able to step foot into the Ancient Desolate Galaxy undoubtedly triggered some of the powerful demon races.
“However, this isn’t enough for them to scramble so quickly and form an alliance,” Lin Feng was searching for answers in his head, “I’m afraid this has something to do with the Origins Celestial Dragon successfully completing the Second Tribulation of Destiny.”
His eyes paused upon the giant yellow dragon. This was a dragon king in the Cardinal Tribulations Beginning Stage, and his demonic energies seemed boundless.
Even he was right, this should be the tribe leader of the Yellow Dragons from the Immemorial Celestial Dragons, the Yellow Plains Dragon King.
The natural talent of the Yellow Dragons that was the most widely known were their dense volumes of demonic powers. Their demonic power was heavy and abundant like the earth beneath their feet, and even though it seemed normal and nothing out of the ordinary, it was extremely powerful.
Without comparing other aspects, the total volume of demonic power that the Yellow Plains Dragon King possessed was almost the same as that of the Vipralopa Stage Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage.
If he managed to ascend to the Vipralopa Stage, he would be able to purify his blood essence and become an immemorial celestial dragon like the Earth Dragon King and his powers would experience an exponential increase.
The Immemorial Celestial Dragons were the supreme beings of the earth, the principles embodied by their golden bodies were not simply pieced together or nurtured after birth. Instead, it was a kind of innate talent that combined the various great Dao of the world with inexplicable sophistication.
Many different breeds of dragons who eventually managed to purify their blood to become an immemorial celestial dragon would discover that their original natural talents unique to their previous breed would experience an exponential increase in power. This evolution was clear, and it was obvious that their understandings of the relevant principles became much deeper and complex.
Dragons like the Yellow Plains Dragon King and the Azure Sky Dragon King, if they were able to reach the Vipralopa Stage and become immemorial celestial dragons, while they would see a similarity in natural talent, their differences would also become amplified. The demonic powers of the Yellow Plains Dragon King would grow even denser and powerful, while the powers of the Azure Sky Dragon King to dissolve mana would also become stronger.
When the Origins Celestial Dragon successfully completed the Second Tribulation of Destiny, the other great demons naturally felt a heightened sense of urgency and pressure.
After all, if the power of the Origins Celestial Dragon continued to rise, the first individuals to experience this dominant pressure would be the other demons of the Barren Expanses. The rise to power of a Holy Demonic Emperor of the current generation would be accompanied by bloodshed and an accumulation of bodies.
If not for the fact that the dragons controlled the Black Sea, and the fact that people like Lin Feng and the Great Void Sect were watching them closely, the other demon races were likely to have formed an alliance to attack the dragons.
This was a path that the dragons had to go through if they wanted to reign supreme in the world once again, and both the Earth Dragon King and the Origins Celestial Dragon understood this.
Since they were temporarily unable to do anything to the dragons, the other great demons chose to react to the pressure from the Origins Dragon King by raising their own powers as well.
The star skulls hidden within the Star Tomb therefore became the most optimal choice at hand.
Even though they would have to give a piece of the cake to the dragons, and therefore increasing the powers of the dragons in the process, everybody would grow together and it was better this way than otherwise. Progress and harvest was better than nothing, and better than sitting there doing nothing and awaiting the impending demise.
Furthermore, during the process of opening the Star Tomb, other opportunities could arise.
The possibility that the dragons would ride upon their superior strength to take a larger piece of the cake forcefully was not likely to happen, as the Origins Celestial Dragon had yet to recover from going through the Second Tribulation of Destiny.
The Origins Dragon King resolved to be embarrassed just that once, and it would be difficult to shake his decision unless there was something that he just couldn’t accept.
This was the Starry Sea, and not the Black Sea. Even if the Origins Celestial Dragon was personally present, he was still weak from the tribulations and him being able to sweep the entire field was another story altogether.
In the end, Lin Feng had a gate to the Starry Sea and the Great Void Sect had cultivators inside the Starry Sea as well. It was obvious that the group of human cultivators were more than happy to see the Origins Celestial Dragon leave the Black Sea before he had fully recovered.
The Yellow Plains Dragon King possessed the typical arrogance of the dragons, but his expression was calm and casual and it appeared like he had no intention to steal a larger piece of the cake.
Arrogance did not mean that he had no patience. The Yellow Plains Dragon King was very clear about what was most important to the dragons at this point in time. Furthermore, he wasn’t about to steal a larger piece but he wasn’t about to get a smaller piece either – ultimately, he wasn’t on the losing end of the stick.
Everybody getting an equal amount of star skulls naturally meant that the dragons would benefit the most. This was the confidence and the arrogance of the Yellow Plains Dragon King and the entire dragon race, and they were not afraid of an equal split at all.
However, the Yellow Plains Dragon King was on guard against the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage. If something was to happen, it would undoubtedly come from the actions of the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage. After all, he was the only demon here who was in the Vipralopa Stage and was used to being domineering and overbearing and it wasn’t so likely that he’d play by the rules.
Before the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage could do anything, Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man and the others were already on scene.
The Yellow Plains Dragon King frowned a little. “How did the humans get in here? Could it be that they have their own gate to the Starry Sea?”
Thoughts began to spin in his head as his eyes swept between the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage, the Peacock Grand Sage, the Qiongqi Grand Sage and the Zhujian Grand Sage as he had a tiny epiphany. “No wonder they are all so eager to open the Star Tomb, and even Xuangang became polite and courteous. It’s not just about the pressure from the Origins Celestial Dragon – they are also concerned about the humans.”
The other great demons teamed up to seek out the Yellow Plains Dragon King in order to open the Star Tomb and this made him a little frustrated and annoyed, but he thought it was only because of the pressure from the Origins Celestial Dragon completing the Second Tribulation of Destiny. He never thought that Lin Feng had a gate to the Starry Sea, and even the Zheng Yi Holy Man and the others were in the Starry Sea as well.
It only took an instant for the Yellow Plains Dragon King to smell the air of deception and a terrible scheme, and instinct told him that he had been conned by the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the others.
Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man saw the initial look of shock on the Yellow Plains Dragon King and they immediately understood everything. They realized that the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the other powerful demons didn’t reveal their battle with the humans before this to the Yellow Plains Dragon King.
The ulterior motive was fairly conspicuous.
However, Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man were not too particular as this fit into their agenda as well. They were not concerned about the other great demons using them against the dragons, but as long as the unrecovered Origins Celestial Dragon could be lured out of the Black Sea, they would be more than happy.
Without any communication at all, Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man pounced toward the Yellow Plains Dragon King!
Both of them didn’t lack the tactical ability and the patience, yet they were equally decisive as well.
If the Origins Celestial Dragon couldn’t stay calm and ended up leaving the Black Sea to enter the Starry Sea, that was the best-case scenario but if he chose to remain in reclusion, he would leave the Yellow Plains Dragon King to his fate inside the Starry Sea and this would shave off some of the dragons’ power.
If the Earth Dragon King was here instead of the Origins Celestial Dragon, it would be the same. After they discovered that the Origins Celestial Dragon had successfully completed the Second Tribulation of Destiny, both Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man would try their best to weaken the dragons with the assumption that the situation was controllable.
For the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the other great demons, the weakening of the dragons’ strength was acceptable, but the increase in power of the humans wasn’t something they wished to see
The war of attrition between the humans and the dragons to the point where both parties ended up suffering losses would give them the time they needed to develop and expand.
This was the reason why the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage didn’t push the Yellow Plains Dragon King down the well and cover the well with a stone, but neither did they lend him a helping hand. Instead, they focused their attentions on retrieving the star skulls while quietly observing the situation with the Yellow Plains Dragon King, who was about to be attacked.
The Yellow Plains Dragon King was a superior being after all. Faced with the impending onslaught from two powerful cultivators from the human race, he made a split-second decision and gave up the star skulls right before his eyes without hesitation and revealed his true form at the first possible instance.
There were sinister patterns on his forehead in his true form. These patterns seemed to spread all over his body, and they flickered with alluring color and brilliant light.
The flashing lights appeared endless as they turned into a deep black color. Beneath the layers of black light revealed a sea that was purely golden in color and sparkled as it reflected the great hall that everybody was in.
“The Black Sea!” Lin Feng was a mildly taken aback as he witnessed what was before him – he had seen this before.
Five years ago, during his battle with the Golden Cicada Master and the Earth Dragon King in the Barren Expanses, the Earth Dragon King drew upon the power of the Black Sea to escape with the Azure Sky Dragon King.
“But only Vipralopa Stage dragons can withstand the power of these patterns. Dragons still in the Cardinal Tribulations Stage shouldn’t be able to do that.” It wasn’t just Lin Feng that was astonished. Even the Zheng Yi Holy Man, the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage, the Qiongqi Grand Sage amongst the other powerful demons were also shell-shocked.
It wasn’t the real Black Sea between the flashes of light. However, the layers of light swept up the Yellow Plains Dragon King and he vanished into thin air.
Lin Feng sensed the strange layers of light and compared it to the impression he had during his last encounter with it. His eyes squinted a little as he thought to himself, “These patterns have been changed and refined and are much more complicated now. It appears that they can now be imprinted onto dragons in still going through the tribulations – is this the work of the Origins Celestial Dragon?”
Thoughts spun in his head as Lin Feng tried to make sense of what’s going on. The recuperation of the Origins Dragon King after the tribulations meant that there was an overall increase in his powers. Besides his own powers, it was likely that he had obtained a greater and deeper understanding of the complexities of the Black Sea.
The dragons had produced another individual who managed to complete the Second Tribulations of Destiny successfully, but nothing of this sort had ever happened before.
After inhabiting the Black Sea for such a long time, the dragons obtained a better understanding of their home turf and became better at manipulating it. When the Origins Dragon King completed the Second Tribulation of Destiny, they were finally able to put their knowledge into practical use.
There were only three light spheres remaining inside the great hall, and the Star Tomb appeared like it was going to close once more. The great hall itself began to quiver vigorously.
The expressions of the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage and the other powerful demons changed a little as they sped up their harvest of the star skulls while they kept an eye on Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man.
Even though this was only one of Lin Feng’s avatars, and only the Zheng Yi Holy Man from the more powerful circle of the Great Void Sect was here, the escape of the Yellow Plains Dragon King was well within their calculations – especially after the battle between Lin Feng and the Earth Dragon King and the Golden Cicada Master.
What they did not expect was that the Yellow Plains Dragon King drew upon the power of the Black Sea to escape like the Earth Dragon King did all those years ago, and it happened much faster than they thought. The Yellow Plains Dragon King disappeared without battling Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man at all.
At this point, Lin Feng and the Zheng Yi Holy Man turned toward the other great demons.
With only a momentary pause, the two of them never interacted with one another but picked the same target once again.
Their target was unexpected – it was the most powerful demon in the entire lineup, the Heavenly Grandmaster Grand Sage!