Chapter Seventeen: The Mysterious Daoist of the Demon Emperor's Forbidden Territory
"Bastard, I didn't think breaking through the Seventh Heaven of Qi Refining would cost me so many merit points!" On a small hill, a handsome young man was staring at his storage ring with a pained expression. This person was Lu Shao Yu, who had gone through the Yellow Springs' trial by fire and water. In order to get through this move, Lu Shao Yu had no choice but to resort to this tactic, and his over 10,000 merit points instantly dropped to 8,477. Fortunately, when Lu Shao Yu opened the eagle-patterned storage bag, he found a huge amount of merit points inside, which added up to even more than he originally had! There were a total of 13,732 merit points! "Good thing that Eagle Pattern idiot sent me some merit points."
Lu Shao Yu's face lit up with joy as he put away the small dimensional realm, gazing at its lush and vibrant appearance. A hint of nostalgia arose in his heart: "The yuanqi here is so pure, although the concentration is almost the same, but it's clearly more comfortable than the outside world. With over eight days left before being transported out, and having already found all the spiritual medicine he needed, with contribution points exceeding 1,000, why not take a stroll around? Who knows, maybe there'll be a great opportunity. Lately, he had a strong feeling that something was what he needed, even the mysterious stone monument in his dantian, which was normally unshakeable, was slightly trembling. But it didn't feel like fear, rather... excitement! How strange. It seems this small dimensional realm, retrieved from the ancient ruins, must hold many secrets!"
Lu Shaoxia stepped on the wind, strolling through the ancient trees that pierced the sky. At this moment, Lu Shaoxia had a deeper understanding of the Eight Steps to Tread Heaven, although he still couldn't take the third step. However, one day, Lu Shaoxia accidentally discovered that the Eight Steps to Tread Heaven could be transformed into an ethereal footwork, which was not only practical but also beautiful. Lu Shaoxia secretly admired the strong being who created this footwork, who must have been a great existence no less than the ancient giants! Maybe it was even created by the celestial beings in heaven?! Lu Shaoxia sighed inwardly and thought about what to do next. After flying for two hours, the dense ancient trees finally began to thin out. Although there were flowers, grass, vines, and trees here, which seemed vibrant on the surface, careful observation revealed that something was amiss - there were no animals around! The vast mountain range was eerily silent, with no bird calls or beast roars, and no signs of insect activity. Lu Shaoxia's heart tightened; this place seemed extremely dangerous!
At this time, the mysterious stone monument in Dantian had changed from a slight tremble to a violent one. Although the degree of the tremble was still light, it was much stronger than before.
"Is this the way...?" Lu Shaoyou's eyes narrowed, a glint of light flashed and disappeared. "It seems that there is no mistake." In his heart, he was calculating and considering how to respond later. "The only thing I don't know now is what happened to Qingyin... I'm afraid those two guys, Eagle Tattoo and Wei Lao Gui, will harm Qingyin, humph..."
After these few days of interaction, although Lu Shaoyou still felt a bit helpless and frustrated with this little demon girl, he was more affectionate. Lu Shaoyou's mother had passed away since his birth in this world, leaving him alone. Although he didn't have much feeling for the woman who raised him as his mother in this life, her lingering gaze before she died showed her attachment to him. His father, on the other hand, was a complete unknown, with no clues whatsoever, only a useless broken stone with the word "政" engraved on it. As a result, Lu Shaoyou took his family relationships very lightly and didn't feel much about parental love. However, this time when he met Luo Qingyin, Lu Shaoyou felt an urge to protect her for the first time. This warm feeling of sibling affection had already taken root in Lu Shaoyou's heart as they bickered with each other.
"I hope these two guys can behave themselves, otherwise, I'll make them suffer for eternity!" Lu Shaoyou's pupils flashed with a cold light, and even the air around him seemed to freeze.
"It seems to have moved a step closer...". Lu Shaoyou's eyes scanned around, and finally found something different. "What is this thing?" Lu Shaoyou's eyes shot out with a sharp light, scanning the thicket, and as a result, he discovered a broken stone tablet!
"Stone tablet...? What is this thing, could it be what the mysterious stone tablet in my dantian wants? Could the stone tablet in my dantian just be a defective one?" One after another question mark crazily jumped out from Lu Shaoyou's heart, but before he could even think deeply about them, they were all denied by Lu Shaoyou himself.
Because when he faced this broken stone monument, the stone monument in his dantian didn't have any reaction at all!
It seems that it's not the thing, Lu Shao thought to himself and was about to get up when he suddenly squatted down again. He carefully stroked the stone tablet, slowly brushing away layer after layer of sand and soil. Several ancient characters appeared before his eyes. What Lu Shao found most strange was that these characters were actually ancient Chinese! They seemed to be from the pre-Qin dynasty bronze script. In his past life, Lu Shao had only been an ordinary university student majoring in archaeology, which he thought would never come in handy. Who knew it would be useful now?!
"Mysterious... Imperial... Absolute... Domain! Later generations, beware of entry! The Great Mystic Way person left this message. Lu Shao-yu read out these words one by one, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Mysterious Imperial Absolute Domain!? What kind of place is this? Why would such a thing exist? But what puzzled Lu Shao-yu even more was why the pre-Qin bronze inscriptions from Earth would appear here! According to the Great Mystic Way person who left these words, it seemed he wasn't the master of this Mysterious Imperial Absolute Domain either, but rather, due to its great danger, he left this message for later generations to see."
Mystic Emperor's Forbidden Territory? It looks very dangerous. However, every time Lu Shao Yu faces this forbidden territory, he always feels an urge to explore it, and the mysterious stone monument in his dantian is constantly trembling, as if urging him to go forward quickly!
Lu Shao-yu took a deep breath, steeled himself, and stepped into the forbidden zone. After his figure completely disappeared, the broken stone monument suddenly shook slightly, and a faint yellow light emanated from it, transforming into a Taoist in a earth-yellow robe. The Taoist's face was withered, and his earth-yellow complexion seemed to have a medicinal quality to it, but if one looked into his eyes, they would discover that the Taoist's eyes were incredibly spirited, with a deep inner light, and an extremely profound cultivation, absolutely not something that ordinary people could compare to!
His eyes, ordinary yet with a unique charm, seemed to make the entire sky and earth fade away, as if the universe was collapsing! The mysterious symbols on his Taoist robe were noble, sacred, and solemn. The Taoist looked at the Demon Emperor's domain again, then lowered his head in contemplation for a while, finally letting out a long sigh.
"Fate and destiny! The supreme fate has begun...?" The Taoist's mouth twitched with a hint of bitterness, "So soon again?... Alas, alas, dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth, from where it came, it will return." With a wave of his hand, the shattered stone tablet turned into flying ash.
A gust of clear wind blew by, and even the flying ash was gone. The Taoist in the yellowish-brown robe also turned into a ray of light and dispersed into the air, as if he had never appeared before.
The jungle fell silent once again.
