Chapter 257 – Eternity
It was an unbelievably large ancient hall. The place was grand and endless, with misty heavenly bodies overhead, as if this place was connected to the extraterrestrial world. Beneath the starry dome were clouds of chaotic energy that filled the entire hall.
The crowd was befuddled, and no one moved to attack it. The hall opened by itself. No one knew just how many tens of thousands of zhang it was in height. It was as if it lead to a completely different world!
Within this ancient hall, there was an extremely lifelike Kun Peng. It stared at everyone with its sun-like eyes.
Its form was ever-changing. One moment it looked like an incomparably large golden Peng with black striped on its body that could cross galaxies. Another moment, it sank into the primal chaos and took on the form of a large fish. Its body became pitch black, with a size of several tens of thousands of li.
The crowd was shocked. Was that a living Kun Peng? This was not a common building, but a grand hall! It was absolutely massive.
The Kun Peng looked down upon them with pride and nonchalance. Many creatures could not withstand its presence and immediately knelt down before it. Its divine prowess was magnificent, and it gave off an aura of invincibility.
“How could this be? The Kun Peng is still alive?”
The crowd was trembling. After so many years, the world had gone under countless transformations and and generations of creatures had come and gone. There shouldn’t even be any traces of this creature left over, so how could it appear again now?
The rumor that the Kun Peng died during the archaic era should be true. Now that it appeared again, all the experts here became scared.
The master of the divine nest was still alive, so weren’t they simply seeking death by coming here to seize its precious technique?
However, in the next moment, the giant Kun Peng was gone. The hall was empty and deadly quiet, the previous atmosphere nowhere to be found.
“Yi, what is happening? Why is it gone?”
“I understand. That was a miraculous scene created from the Kun Peng’s precious technique. It must be hidden in this hall!”
This place immediately became chaotic. Everyone dashed forward. From the mighty experts to the condescending elders, all of them had lost their self-restraint. They fought their way into the ancient hall with bloodshot eyes.
Precious technique like this were deemed peerless. If one managed to get hold of it and studied it thoroughly, then he would surely be qualified to conquer the world. They would be able to weather any trials and tribulations that laid ahead.
There was a dense fog within the hall, but it only rose up to one’s knees. It was as if they entered a heavenly palace. One could only fully appreciate its grandness after entering this hall.
People kept charging inside. After running for a long distance, they still did not reach the end of the hall. An incredibly long time had passed before an ancient altar appeared, floating in the air.
“There it is!”
At this moment, everyone could feel that unique aura again. They began to speculate that the Kun Peng’s original symbol bones might be on the altar, and that it were these bones that produced the miraculous image of a real Kun Peng.
Immediately, all kinds of beams surged. Treasured artifacts rose up as they dashed towards the altar.
The mountain-high altar was built from enormous ash-brown boundlers. They appeared to be extremely ancient, with little to no divine aura. However, it seemed to possess an even greater affinity with the dao.
The greatest daos were the simplest ones that did not possess thriving sceneries. What this one possessed was the fusion of heavens with the earth, the unity of all living creatures. The altar towered within this heavenly room.
Many people speculated that this was probably the tomb of the Kun Peng where all its bones were buried. The miraculous image that filled this place just now was a reflection of its imprints.
Everyone made their way inside. Even though the altar was enormous, it did not contain a single killing symbol formation. The Kun Peng would not do such a thing, because if it really wanted to kill these people, no one would be able to get in here alive.
“Is this an altar or an archaic divine mountain?!”
The crowd was shocked. Spiritual medicines were growing between the stones on this grand altar, and the air was filled with spiritual essence. There was even a great waterfall that cascaded downwards, spraying out waves of essence.
The people here believed that these precious medicines were not planted on purpose. Because this place was full of great wonders and incredibly dense spiritual essence, it naturally gave birth to these precious medicines.
“That is… definitely a divine medicines!” The crowd realized with astonishment.
There was a stone stairwell that lead straight to the highest point of the altar. Beneath it grew a unique stalk of medicine. A drizzle of light curled around it, making it look rather dreamlike.
It was a stalk of Star Grass, a rare spiritual existence that could evolve. Once it produced its fourth leaf, it could already be considered a spiritual medicine. It was extremely precious.
The one they discovered, though, had already grown out seven leaves and was shining splendidly. At this stage of evolution, even the colors of the plant had changed. The seven leaves were glittering and translucent, each with a different color corresponding with the seven color of a rainbow. It was so bright and resplendent that it made people dazed.
More importantly, the star patterns on each leaf had become deeper. Misty precious light was flowing within them, as if stars were twinkling one after another on them. It made these leaves look absolutely magnificent.
“Star Grasses can actually grow seven leaves?!” The crowd was shocked.
Star Grasses were usually hard to come by, and the ones that everyone discovered were all four-leafed. The existence of this stalk was absolutely insane.
“Once the eighth leaf comes out, it will become a divine medicine. Yi, something isn’t right. Look, its eighth leaf is already sprouting. It’s turning into a divine medicine!”
Someone shouted in surprise. There was a small bud at the very tip of that stalk of star grass. It was wrapped within a sphere of light, brimming with vitality.
This discovery made everyone go mad. Once they were dug up,nurtured carefully, and watered with the spiritual springs, this stalk of medicine would surely become an extremely rare divine medicine.
As soon as the word ‘divine medicine’ was spoken, the crowd immediately went crazy. All sorts of symbols flew out as they dashed towards it.
Hong!
A river of stars suddenly fell down, blasting away all those that had came near. The crowd immediately halted. They felt their hearts racing, since they were almost struck like the others. That river of light was powerful enough to collapse mountains.
“Those are… weapons!”
Weapons like the sword core they saw moments ago in that cold pond had fled here. After Shi Hao obtained the exquisite pagoda made from chaotic earth, these powerful spirited entities were all frightened and hid themselves here.
Among them were also weapons. They were not unfinished cores, but real archaic divine objects!
“The magical artifacts of the Kun Peng! Those are the weapons it used!”
Nothing shocked the crowd more than these items. Apart from its precious technique, these were the objects that the Kun Peng cherished the most, and they were all displayed on this altar.
There were eight or nine weapons that were floating above the others, and all of them were surrounded by divine light. Apart from those unfinished cores, there was also an exquisite dragon-tooth dagger, a golden fan, and a black ruler.
The weapon in the center was the most special one, and it was being surrounded by the other artifacts. Misty chaotic energy flowed all around it, making it appear extremely terrifying and astonishing.
Upon closer inspection, it was actually damaged. It was a great halberd that was ancient and unadorned. Even the halberd’s blade was dim and lusterless. It was broken into three pieces, and dense chaotic energy surrounded it.
“It’s Eternity!”
“It’s a legendary weapon that belonging to the highest level of heavenly ranks, one of the ten great weapons of the archaic era!”
Even the elders were astonished. Their bodies trembled as they became excited beyond belief. This was a true weapon of legend.
Eternity had followed the Kun Peng throughout endless battles, allowing it to remain ever victorious. In front of its power, all other precious artifacts would turn into ashes. Some said that Eternity was refined from a true dragon, while others claimed that the Kun Peng refined it from his own symboled bones.
No matter what material it was made from, its might was unquestionable. It was all-conquering, regardless of whether it faced deities or devils. From heavenly-ranked vicious beasts to divine birds, nothing could withstand its attacks.
The weapon was bathed in blood during the archaic time. Countless mighty beings died at its blade. All clans trembled at it during that time. Any powerful creatures would gasp and shiver with fear at the mention of its name.
Now that it was displayed here, everyone became both crazy and befuddled at the same time. It was actually broken, turning into three pieces. This… how did this happen?
No one had heard about it being broken! People only knew that it had followed its master into the Kun Peng nest, never to be seen again since.
It then dawned on them that something must have happened back then that the outside world was not aware of. What sort of great battle took place back then? This was just too terrible. What kind of frightening thing was this?
With Eternity in hand, the Kun Peng represented absolute invincibility, yet it still cornered like so. Could it be that the the fall of the Kun Peng… also had something to do with this?
Soon after, the crowd felt rather vexed again. Even the supreme experts were frowning, because even after Eternity was broken into three pieces, it was still too powerful for them to take away. Moreover, their cultivation levels were being suppressed, and with only their spiritual bodies here, the situation was looking even more hopeless.
The river of stars just then was released by Eternity. It wasn’t even one of its attacks, and was merely some of the light that drifted around it, yet it was already so terrifying. Who could fight against it?
The divine treasures were right in front of them. All types of archaic treasures were being displayed, yet they could only watch helplessly. This type of feeling was incredibly complicated.
The crowd felt incredibly conflicted and frustrated. They were truly being tempted right now! So many weapons were lying there, yet they couldn’t approach at all. This was pure torture.
“The Kun Peng’s nest has already split open, so it’s only right for it to not make things difficult for us. It has left its legacy for future generations, or else we wouldn’t have been able to make it this far.”
There was someone who whispered this softly after grasping the key to this problem.
The crowd felt awed after hearing these words, and soon after, they all became silent. They all began to spread their divine senses afterwards to communicate with the weapons on the altar, hoping to receive their recognition.
Unfortunately, they were disappointed. Let alone Eternity, the golden fan, black Sky-measuring Ruler and dragon-tooth dagger did not even respond. Even objects like the sword core had ignored them.
The divine medicines and weapons were all lying there, but they could only look at these matchless treasures from afar, not able to get close at all. The felt utterly defeated.
“I must have it.”
The Sea Deity descendant stared at the damaged Eternity with eyes that flickered with frenzy. He was extremely fond of it, because his original weapon of choice was a halberd.
He was not the only one. The young individuals from the Archaic Divine Mountains were also eyeing it with divine light-filled pupils. Weren’t these legendary divine weapons meant for matchless heroes? They were young and vigorous, and they were at the age where one could rise abruptly to power, so they longed for to become a legend.
Needless to say, those supreme experts also desired these weapons. They could be used to guard their clans and help them prosper forever.
“Broken weapons can still be fixed!” Shi Hao similarly spoke to himself. He couldn’t shift his eyes away once he saw this weapon. He wanted to hold it in his hands and use it to to travel the world.
“Fellow cultivators, there’s only one way left. Let’s take out all our Kun Peng bone pieces, scales and feathers, and use them to climb onto the altar. Otherwise, we won’t get anything,” said someone.
Everyone nodded. So many great forces had gathered here. They were masters of Ocean Divine Islands, supreme experts of their regions, and others, so there were naturally some within this group that could bring out things like broken Kun Peng bones.
Just like that, even Shi Hao brought out a piece he obtained previously from ransacking Mo Shang with the little witch. Later on, she left it with him when she left.
When the sea deity descendant saw this, his eyebrows immediately arched. He began to burn with rage.
As a result, the crowd began to climb the altar while holding these scales and feathers. The weapons indeed did not attack them, but they still did not dare pick the divine medicines or touch the black Sky-measuring Ruler, dragon tooth dagger, the golden precious fan, or Eternity.
At this moment, the people here could not shift their eyes away. They were staring at the center of this place. A stone platform rested there, as if it was a coffin.
A bone laid on top of the platform. It was golden in color with black stripes running through it. Symbols densely surrounded it, swirling with the profound mysteries of the heavens!
“This is it! This is it!” Everyone began to shout loudly