Stranger Danger

Elder Tomb Keeper did not intend to waste anymore time on the black-shirt intruders. He continued to run for the Kunlun Tomb after killing those blocking directly in his path.

Why? Because these black-shirt intruders were just pawns to lure the tiger away from its mountain.

And who was this tiger? Elder Tomb Keeper himself, of course.

The man opening the door to the Kunlun Tomb could very well be the mastermind behind all this, and as the saying went, one should capture the chief first to defeat a band of thieves. He could toy with the small fries after he had the mastermind in his clutches.

More importantly, the secret of the Kunlun Tomb must remain a secret from outsiders.

He thought his thunderous strike would be enough to intimidate the rest of the intruders and stop them from getting in his way, but to his surprise, they charged him again as soon as he twitched a muscle. It was almost as if they weren’t afraid to die.

As if that wasn’t enough, more people were flooding in from multiple directions and joining the battlefield.

Although Elder Tomb Keeper was a powerful Half Sage, the black-shirt intruders weren’t exactly weaklings either. Combined with the fact that they fought without fear, he was unable to break free from them immediately.

He killed them ruthlessly and roared in anger and frustration, but his efforts were futile.

In front of the Kunlun Tomb, Ye Qing’s face looked contorted and strained. Every muscle on his arms was bulging, and blue veins were popping here and there.

He was aware of the battle between Elder Tomb Keeper and the black-shirt intruder, naturally. He was the one who orchestrated it after all.

He knew he would probably cause a loud commotion and alert Elder Tomb Keeper as to his intentions when he pushed open the door. That was why he commanded his dependents to stall Elder Tomb Keeper at all cost even before he began his work.

They were just fodders anyway. He wouldn’t feel a lick for them even if they all died.

Of course, he also knew that his dependents would not be able to delay Elder Tomb Keeper for long. That was why he needed to speed things up.

A growl escaped Ye Qing’s lips as every muscle and bone in his body popped in unison and elicited a noise that sounded like a dragon’s roar. His blood ran like a river, deafening and ceaseless, and the blue veins on his arms wriggling wantonly like they were actual dragons.

“O… pen!”

Ye Qing let out a guttural growl, and the stone door was flung open all of a sudden, the friction causing a deafening, screeching noise in the process.

Ye Qing was careful. The second the stone door opened, he immediately clenched his fists and sent his demonic thought forward.

Although his haste demanded that he make his move immediately, he firmly reined in his impulses and did not charge into the Kunlun Tomb at first notice.

After all, who knows if there was a trap or an ambush lying inside the Kunlun Tomb? It would be bad if he rushed in recklessly only to be caught in a death trap.

Thankfully, his worries proved to be unfounded. There were no traps or ambushes inside the Kunlun Tomb whatsoever.

Clearly, West Kunlun was extremely confident in the Kunlun Tomb’s defenses. They did not believe it was possible for anyone to infiltrate the tomb.

After confirming that there was no danger, Ye Qing slowly walked into the tomb. He had to because there seemed to be some sort of power that prevented spiritual power from functioning properly inside the tomb. ɽΆΝȰВЕṩ

As soon as he took his first step, a cold, dark, deathly feeling immediately assaulted his senses. Surprisingly, it did not feel tainted. In fact, the sensation felt sacred and noble.

The interior of the Kunlun Tomb was pretty bright. Fist-sized night pearls were embedded to the ceiling, casting down enough light to light up the entire tomb.

The Kunlun Tomb was impossibly massive and spacious. One naturally felt lonely and afraid when walking inside its belly.

Ye Qing would continue forward a little longer when suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and felt a flash of fear.

It was because a bunch of people had appeared in front of him. They were all sitting on the ground and boasted powerful auras.

Ye Qing quickly realized that they weren’t alive. It was because they exuded no vitality whatsoever.

That said, their bodies were so well-preserved that they seemed alive.

On top of that, their auras were potent, terrifying, and unfathomably deep like the abyss or the sky. Even in death, Ye Qing could not help but fear them and be on his guard.

“Sages…”

There was no doubt that they were Sages, all of them. Only a Sage’s physical body would remain as fresh as the living even after they had long perished, and only a Sage could retain their power beyond death.

What shocked Ye Qing even more was that there were over a hundred corpses in front of him. Their auras were different, but they were all vast and powerful beyond imagination.

This meant that every single one of these corpses was a Sage.

“They must be the late Sacred Lords and elders of West Kunlun.”

West Kunlun was the graveyard of all the Sacred Lords and elders of West Kunlun who came before. Considering how long West Kunlun had existed, it wasn’t surprising that over a hundred Sage-stage corpses were stored in this place.

However, why weren’t the corpses stored inside a coffin or a sarcophagus? Why were they left out in the open like that? Did West Kunlun know how bloody scary it was?

“Junior Ye Qing does not intend to disturb your eternal rest, seniors. I hope you will forgive me for my intrusion.”

Ye Qing cast off his stray thoughts and bowed to the corpses respectfully.

After that, he walked over to the foremost row of corpses.

There was an altar in front of the corpses, and placed on top of the altar was a single branch. The branch was about as thick as a human’s finger and completely purple in color. It was also as smooth and unblemished as jade. Attached to the end of the branch was a leaf and a flower. The leaf was so green it looked like a dew might take form on its surface, and the flower was so red and overflowing with vitality that it was like fire.

Behind the altar were three murals. Although the murals were carved using simple lines, they looked surprisingly lifelike and real.

The first mural depicted a group of people living in a palace high up in the clouds. They were all drinking, singing or dancing as if they were living in paradise.

The second mural depicted some sort of terrible tragedy that caused the world to decline, and the celestials living in the floating palace to fall aslumber. The servants and slaves looked panicked and unsure what to do.

Finally, the third mural depicted the servants and slaves climbing down a large tree that led through the clouds, leaving behind the celestial realm.

The tree in the mural was unbelievably huge and massive. It looked like a pillar that connected heaven and earth. It also looked different compared to your average tree. First, its trunk was completely devoid of branches. The canopy of the tree was covered in bends that stretched in every direction, covering the entire sky. Its roots were twisted and intertwined, long and meandering. They stretched for kilometers and kilometers like dragons. Its leaves were also as big as houses, and its flowers were shining like the sun itself.

A thought suddenly occurred to Ye Qing.

Is this… the legendary Radiant Tree?

There was a passage in “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas” that went something like this: In the great barren at the peak of the Cyan Mountain next to a river called the Black Water, there exists a sky-reaching tree called the Radiant Tree. The Radiant Tree is many feet tall and branchless. Its crown boasts nine bends, and its bottom nine woods. Its branch is purple, its leaf is cyan, and its flower is crimson. With help, one can ascend to the heavens and become a celestial.”

The Radiant Tree described in “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas” looked rather similar to the tree in the mural, and the branch on the altar was purple-colored with a cyan leaf and a crimson flower. Again, it matched the description of the Radiant Tree in the book.

This meant that the branch could very well be the branch of the legendary Radiant Tree.

Therefore, the three murals weren’t describing some sort of myth or folktale. It was a record of a historical event that happened way back in the past. It was the origin of West Kunlun.

To put it simply, the ancestors of West Kunlun most likely hailed from the celestial realm mentioned in the murals. They were originally the servants or slaves of the celestials until something happened to the celestial realm, and the celestials all fell aslumber. After a period of panic, the ancestors of West Kunlun eventually decided to climb down the Radiant Tree and arrived at the world of mortals. After that, they founded the West Kunlun.

This would explain the origin of the Radiant Tree and why west Kunlun would keep these murals in the Kunlun Tomb.

Combined with the description of East and West Kunlun in the “Taiping Martial Method”, there was no doubt that the ancestors of West Kunlun—or more accurately, the ancestors of West Kunlun and West Kunlun—all hailed from the celestial realm.

If Ye Qing had to make a guess, the name of the celestial realm was most likely…

The Kunlun Ruins.

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