Chapter 297 - 292: The Opportunity for Enlightenment Lies in the Future

"Qingxu Tongxuan Guanmiao True Monarch? With a Cultivation like yours, you dare presume to call yourself a True Monarch?"

The man in the imperial, beaded crown slowly stood up.

Du Youqian couldn’t help but hold his breath as large beads of sweat rolled down his temples.

He couldn’t get a word out. He simply couldn’t open his mouth.

’The pressure is overwhelming!’

When this Great Power had been sitting and reviewing his documents, he hadn’t felt anything out of the ordinary.

But now that the man had stood up, his physical size hadn’t changed, yet the impression he gave was of a sudden, boundless magnificence. His aura came crashing down like a tidal wave.

It was as if a colossal mountain range stood before him; no matter how far he craned his neck, he could not see the peaks that pierced the heavens.

Du Youqian wasn’t holding his breath out of courtesy; under such pressure, he genuinely found it difficult to breathe!

He had never imagined that one day he would find himself struggling to breathe before the phantom of a man from tens of thousands of years ago.

’But... who’s ever seen a phantom that can speak, move, and even hold a conversation?’

"Hmph!" The figure noticed Du Youqian’s predicament but did not press him further. He sat down again and began picking through the pile of Jade Scrolls, inspecting one after another, seemingly with his Divine Sense.

"No."

"Not this one either."

"There is no Qingxu Tongxuan Guanmiao True Monarch." At last, he frowned slightly and looked at Du Youqian.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. By observing the shifts in a person’s gaze and capturing their emotional fluctuations with his Divine Sense, Du Youqian could practically perform a Mind Reading Art, or what some would call Telepathy.

A single glance was all it took for him to know what someone was thinking.

But in the presence of this man in the imperial, beaded crown, Du Youqian didn’t dare even attempt to guess his thoughts.

’One must not pry into the mind of the Emperor.’

The sentence surfaced in his mind, unbidden.

From behind the veil of beads, the Great Power’s gaze was icy, yet also as vast and boundless as Beichen, the North Star, hanging high in the Celestial Realm.

A faint light flickered in his eyes, as if reflecting the birth and destruction of countless worlds and civilizations, or perhaps watching the great river of time itself flow past.

He seemed somewhat perplexed. "Hm?"

After a long moment, he nodded as if he had finally solved a difficult puzzle. "I see."

Du Youqian had no idea what the man had just understood.

He saw the man pick up the square Jade Seal and press it toward the Creation Jade Scroll.

The Seal never touched the Creation Jade Scroll, but Du Youqian could feel a connection form between them.

At the same time, Du Youqian felt a change on his palm, right where he had touched the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment earlier.

After using the Seal, the man set it down, raised his head, and observed Du Youqian from behind the beaded veil. "Your opportunity for Enlightenment lies, perhaps, in the future. Since you possess such a chance, you would surely not wish to become a mere Immortal, nor a Ghost Immortal, so it is not my place to grant you a title. I know not which path you will walk. Celestial Immortal? Earth Immortal? Human Immortal? A pity the future is one of a Thousand Transformations; I cannot see your choice."

’I don’t, I’m not, don’t be ridiculous!’ Du Youqian screamed internally. ’Just try making me an Immortal! See if I’d turn it down!’

"Qingxu Tongxuan Guanmiao True Monarch, as you have borrowed the power of three items—the Reincarnation Mirror, the Spring and Autumn Brush, and the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment—to trace your way back to this Cosmic Light Fragment, you are clearly a person of great destiny. In my observation, you even have a sliver of a chance to... Alas, in the future, the Human Race has lost its mandate, the Celestial Court has fallen, and I am no longer of this world. Otherwise, I would grant you an opportunity and lend you my aid."

’A sliver of a chance to do what?’

’Why can’t people finish their sentences? I hate riddlers!’

’And what’s this about the Reincarnation Mirror? From the sound of it, is he saying I have a Reincarnation Mirror Fragment on me? How have I never noticed?’

Du Youqian lowered his head. Remembering the warning that had surfaced in his mind, he did his best to sound calm and said, "I ask that the Emperor bestow upon me his title."

Behind the veil of beads, the man seemed to smile, but on closer inspection, his expression remained solemn and dignified.

"I am..."

Du Youqian saw his lips move slightly but could not hear a single sound.

This shouldn’t have been a problem for Du Youqian; the Lip Reading Art wasn’t a particularly difficult skill.

But no matter how intently he stared, he could not make out the movement of the man’s lips.

It was as if some mysterious force had simply erased the words this Great Power spoke.

The man seemed to realize this too, shaking his head with a hint of regret. "To think... that not even my name can be passed down."

Just then, Du Youqian felt everything before him begin to ripple like flowing water.

The palace, tables, and chairs all began to waver, then underwent Voidification.

Only the Great Power remained perfectly clear and motionless, watching Du Youqian from behind the beaded veil.

In addition, the Seal, the Spring and Autumn Brush, and the Creation Jade Scroll all retained their sharp outlines, untouched by the Voidification.

Du Youqian gazed back at the Emperor, a wave of sadness washing over him for some unknown reason.

This was clearly a man from tens of thousands of years ago, long since passed from the world. He had merely spoken a few words to him through some means that Du Youqian could not yet comprehend.

’So why do I feel so sad?’

The palace, tables, and chairs ultimately underwent Voidification until they were unrecognizable, then gradually vanished.

Then, in a single moment, the Emperor, the Seal, the Spring and Autumn Brush, and the Creation Jade Scroll all vanished abruptly, as if they had never been there at all.

Du Youqian felt a stinging pain on his face. He raised a hand to touch it and his fingers came away stained with blood.

The Creation Jade Scroll Fragment was gone from his left hand. Instead, Du Youqian could feel the Creation Jade Scroll itself bobbing within his Dantian, though now was not the time to study it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he realized his surroundings were those of Jie Yu’s immortal cave.

’So, I’ve returned at some point.’

When he focused his gaze, he saw Little Wukong waving its claws and chirping happily at him, "SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!" There were clear traces of blood on its claws.

’So, the scratches on my face... they’re from Little Wukong?’

Du Youqian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "I’m fine. Why’d you scratch me? And so hard, too."

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!" Little Wukong shrieked at him aggressively.

"I passed out? Stood here for a long time? You couldn’t wake me up no matter how much you yelled?"

Du Youqian was skeptical. He had clearly only spent a month in that Illusion Realm; how could it have been a long time?

It wasn’t until he piloted his Flying Boat back to the Wu Kingdom that he realized two and a half years had passed.

He spent some time disguising Little Wukong, visited the Shengxuan Sect to get an update on the situation, and then returned to the Wu Kingdom Royal Palace to deal with those little vixens from the Red Lotus Sect...

’How am I supposed to explain all this to Jie Yu!’

’Tell her I didn’t touch the Creation Jade Scroll, that it came after me on its own?’

’Blame it for burrowing into my body all by itself?’

After wracking his brain for a while, Du Youqian could only stammer, "Anyway... in short... it’s gone. I swear to the heavens, I didn’t try to refine it, but it just... ran into my Dantian."

Jie Yu was about to explode with rage.

’I’ve worked for eight thousand years to refine that Creation Jade Scroll Fragment! Do you have any idea how I’ve spent those eight thousand years?’

’And now you’re telling me it’s gone? That it’s in your Dantian?!’

"I’m going to rip open your Dantian! Don’t you run! Give me back the Creation Jade Scroll! It’s mine! You little thief! Get back here!"

Jie Yu ground her teeth in frustration, feeling just as she had over eight thousand years ago when she was a helpless, naïve little fox. When she met someone she despised, all she wanted to do was bite them and claw at them.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to pin Du Youqian down and take a vicious bite out of him to vent her fury.

After three days of tormenting him, Jie Yu was finally able to confirm that the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment had indeed been refined by Du Youqian.

And with her current abilities, she had absolutely no chance of getting it back.

It would be impossible even if Du Youqian cooperated fully and let her do as she pleased.

But strangely, the way Du Youqian didn’t resist at all, letting her torment him as she pleased, inexplicably put her at ease and even gratified her.

She even found herself thinking, on several occasions, that as long as she had such a good disciple, losing the Creation Jade Scroll Fragment wasn’t such a big deal.

’Besides, she hadn’t managed to refine it in eight thousand years. Had she truly been working hard all this time? Had she made any real progress?’

’Perhaps this Creation Jade Scroll Fragment was never meant to be hers in the first place.’

’Immortal Artifacts have spirits and belong to the virtuous... Ptooey! Ptooey! That wretched disciple of mine—what virtue could he possibly have!’