NOVGO.NET Chapter 2327 - Pointing Out a Safe Path
Chapter 2327 – Pointing Out a Safe Path
Each of the Blazing Sundial’s twelve divisions manifested a true world of illusions.
Each of these illusory realms was overseen by a Realm Guardian.
The Realm Guardians were manifestations of the Blazing Sundial’s source power. They maintained the operations of their respective illusory worlds.
According to the Mountain Guardian, the twelve Realm Guardians of the Blazing Sundial were all but undefeatable.
This was because fighting them was like fighting the Blazing Sundial itsel, and the Blazing Sundial was a divine chaos treasure born in the Age of Supreme Emergence.
However, the Mountain Guardian nonetheless suggested that Su Yi test his Whip of Supreme Emergence against the Realm Guardians. If he managed to defeat them, he could proceed to the next illusory realm early!
Thus, Su Yi planned to hunt down the Realm Guardian.
Except he didn’t find anything on the road ahead. He didn’t even find any leads or vestiges.
But Su Yi did figure out a few patterns.
For instance, a new swarm of rats appeared every fifteen minutes! No matter where he was, the rats would find him immediately. It was downright sinister.
An hour later, Su Yi gave up searching for the Realm Guardian, found a spot, and sat down, cross-legged.
He hadn’t exhausted all that much strength fighting Hong Li. However, repeatedly wielding the Whip of Supreme Emergence had drained him considerably.
Ultimately, this was an unsurpassed Grand Dao, and one he’d only recently grasped. He’d barely even peered over the threshold of mastery, so using it exhausted a shocking amount of energy.
Fortunately, Su Yi had no shortage of treasures.
……
Time slipped by.
This dark, barren landscape was utterly silent. Not even the winds howled.
Su Yi sat there cross-legged, not moving a muscle.
A full hour later, a rift silently opened above his head. A streak of temporal light glinted like the edge of a sword and aimed for his skull.
Bang!
He instantly exploded.
Except… his body dissipated into light and shadow, almost reminiscent of soap bubbles.
“This is bad——!”
Thousands of miles away, a figure shot to his feet in a mountain pass.
He was a scrawny old man with a rat-like face, protruding lips, and sharp teeth. He gripped a worn-out beast skin.
He was obviously startled, but just as he turned to flee…
Whap!
A dazzling divine whip descended from the heavens, slamming into his gaunt frame and making him stagger on his feet. He fell onto his butt, agony written all over his face.
Meanwhile, Su Yi appeared out of nowhere.
“The Realm Guardian, I presume?” asked Su Yi.
“You… discovered me a long time ago?” The scrawny old man gasped, then slowly rose. When he looked at the Whip of Divine punishment, his eyes filled with undisguised dread.
“I didn’t discover you,” Su Yi said calmly. “I was using myself as bait to lure you out into the open earlier, that’s all.”
The scrawny old man frowned. “You suspected I’d attack you?”
“That’s right,” Su Yi said with a nod. “No matter where I went, the swarms of rats followed. When I took to the skies, temporal light attacked me. How could that possibly be a coincidence?”
He pointed to the old man. “There’s only one possible explanation. You were arranging all of this from the shadows!”
The scrawny old man’s expression shifted. He sighed, “I’m the Realm Guardian. It’s my job to erase everyone who enters the Hidden Realm of the Hour of the Rat. You can’t blame me for that.”
Whap!
Su Yi cracked the whip, tearing open a long, bloody gash on the old man’s body. The Realm Guardian thudded to the ground, his face contorted with agony.
However, he shook his head. “No matter how angry you are, you cannot kill me, not even with the Whip of Supreme Emergence. Ultimately, I’m just a manifestation of the Blazing Sundial’s source power.”
“Oh?” said Su Yi, instantly intrigued. “You’re just a manifestation of a divine artifact’s source power, yet you have intelligence, and you’re capable of feeling pain. That’s truly unbelievable. Just… where did you come from?”
The scrawny old man said disdainfully, “Ludicrous! The Mountain Guardian was manifested from the Divine Dao Fortune Stele and he’s intelligent. Why shouldn’t I be?”
Su Yi stroked his jaw. “But you and that fatty are different. You’ve got a distinct… humanity about you!”
“Humanity?” The old man laughed, his gaze suddenly complicated. “If only I could become a real person… that would be wonderful…”
Suddenly, Su Yi said, “Give me that beast skin scroll you’re holding.”
The old man instantly looked stricken. “Never!”
Crack!!
The whip tore into the old man once more, almost splitting him open. He convulsed from head to toe with agony.
Su Yi seized the opportunity to stretch out his hand and seize the scroll.
“No——!” The old man roared in surprise and anger, then charged at Su Yi in a frenzied bid to reclaim the scroll.
But then, another lash sent him flying, and this time, Su Yi used his full strength. He actually blasted the old man to bits in a single strike!
“You’ll be punished for this! I’m sure of it!” A desperate, embittered shriek rang out as the old man’s body scattered into a rain of light and dissipated.
Su Yi wasn’t the least bit concerned.
The gaunt old man really did have a distinctive hint of humanity about him, but ultimately, he was still just a manifestation of the Blazing Sundial’s source power, not a real person.
It was the beast skin scroll that really interested Su Yi.
When he opened it, the first thing he saw was a line of ancient glyphs of the Grand Dao—the Light Devouring Rat Chapter!
The scroll contained a method for refining and controlling the Blazing Sundial, but it was incomplete.
Something occurred to Su Yi. This is the hidden realm of the Hour of the Rat. Its Realm Guardian had the Light Devouring Rat Chapter. Does that mean that the Realm Guardians of the other illusory realms have the remaining scrolls?
Like the ox scroll, tiger scroll, and rabbit scroll?
If I gather them all, will I be able to use the complete legacy to control the Blazing Sundial?
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye said he used the Blazing Sundial to reign during the Age of Supreme Emergence. It was also the Blazing Sundial that let him control the Flame of Supreme Emergence.
If I overcome all twelve hidden realms and gather all twelve secret scrolls, I’ll have acquired the means to control the Blazing Sundial. I’ll naturally be able to glean enlightenment into the Flame of Supreme Emergence then!
Su Yi finally understood. It’s no wonder Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye said I’d have to overcome all twelve two-hour segments and reach the Blazing Sundial if I were to have any chance of mastering the Flame of Supreme Emergence.
The secret lies in these twelve scrolls!
But before Su Yi could give the matter any further thought, the scenery silently transformed around him.
Heaven and earth in all their facets flashed past like floating lights and shadows.
The needle of the Blazing Sundial was still forty-five minutes away from the Hour of the Ox when it sped up, reaching the next two-hour division in a flash.
Su Yi, meanwhile, found himself in a new world of illusions.
The interweaving streets were bustling with human traffic. Everything was boisterous and prosperous.
The streets were packed with buildings and full of shouting, sales pitches, and laughter…
All manner of noise overlapped, outlining the world of red dust in all facets.
Su Yi almost felt as if he’d returned to the mundane world.
Everywhere he looked, he saw foot soldiers, vendors, young lords, and beauties with full entourages, but none of them had any cultivation base whatsoever.
The sky was bright, and the warm winds carried a hint of the fragrance of wine.
When Su Yi looked toward its source, he saw a brewery up ahead.
It all seemed so real and so vivid.
Su Yi almost couldn’t bear to destroy this vision of the mundane world.
He put his hands behind his back and walked ahead. Along the way, all he saw were lively visions of mortal life. They reminded him of his time as a live-in son-in-law in Guangling City。
He recalled Wen Lingxue, Wen Lingzhao, Wen Changtai and Qin Qing, as well as Apricot Clinic, Qing Wan, Huang Qianjun… and the Great Azure River…
That was the place he’d begun his cultivation in this lifetime.
As dire as his situation had seemed at the time, looking back at it now, it was nothing at all. On the contrary, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for those days of peace and tranquility.
Hm? Suddenly, Su Yi’s pupils constricted. He’d just realized that his cultivation base was nowhere to be found!
It was completely gone. No trace remained.
He was like just another mortal on these lively city streets!
No matter how hard Su Yi tried to sense where it had gone, he couldn’t. He couldn’t even sense the Sword of the Nine Hells in his sea of consciousness.
It was as if he’d gone from a lofty god presiding over the nine heavens to an ordinary mortal. It was so strange and unsettling that any other expert would likely have panicked.
But Su Yi didn’t panic.
His cultivation had vanished, and so had his soul power. However, his staunch, unyielding sword heart remained!
Su Yi felt no terror or dread. He just walked ahead, hands behind his back, entirely unperturbed.
He’d never been any more wretched than he was as the live-in son-in-law of the Guangling City Wen Family, but he was far from the man he’d been then.
The streets were packed with carts, horses, and human traffic. Su Yi saw nothing dangerous or out of the ordinary.
It was only when he reached the city gates that the old man crouched there said suddenly, “Sir, please wait up!”
Su Yi promptly stopped in place and looked at him. “Do you want to tell my fortune?”
The old man’s face was covered in wrinkles, and his eyes were turbid. He laughed, “Destiny is far too grand for the likes of this old man to predict. However, I can tell by looking at you that you’ve run into problems.”
“What kind of problems?” Su Yi asked with great interest.
The old man smiled and gestured to the bustling streets in the distance. “In your eyes, this scene of mundane life is fake, and even I am highly suspect. Am I right?”
Su Yi smiled. “And what of it?”
The old man stroked his beard and said thoughtfully, “When a leaf blocks your view, you can overlook even a divine mountain. This is the problem you now face.”
Su Yi smiled. “Then might I ask what here is the leaf and what is the divine mountain? And how exactly should I solve this problem?”
The old man said warmly, “The thing blinding you is a power not your own. Give it up, and I’ll naturally be able to show you a safe path out of here.”
Su Yi pondered briefly. “Are you talking about this?”
With that, he slipped a beast skin scroll out of his sleeve. This was none other than the Light Devouring Rat Chapter!
The old man couldn’t help but look gratified. “It is indeed! To you, that scroll is a calamity, not a blessing, but if you give it up, you can turn disaster into good fortune!”