Chapter 1371: "Listen to Lord Jue Talk About Magical Artifacts (1)"
The heart would not change just because a person's identity changed, and would not change because a person had been different from what one thought that person to be.
What Jun Wu Xie had acknowledged right from the beginning, had been Jun Wu Yao.
And it was just Jun Wu Yao himself.
If it was just because of his identity which brought a change of heart in her, that aforementioned heart would not have been true to itself.
Having realized that point, Jun Wu Xie felt she had gained a brand new understanding. Why should she persist in pursuing about the past? Why be stubborn and insist on revealing everything?
How Jun Wu Yao's past was, she no longer cared. What she wanted, was the present they were in, and their future.
Jun Wu Yao watched Jun Wu Xie's back, his eyes greatly filled with joy.
It was just moments ago that he had wanted to give up on hiding it, but the little one herself had covered it back down just when she was about to uncover the mystery. That had given Jun Wu Yao a highly wondrous kind of feeling, like his heart was swelling up with something, a highly fulfilling and excited feeling.
Jun Wu Xie single attempt at a "joke", had put everyone's hearts through a messy upheaval.
"I am feeling, that Little Xie really isn't suited for jokes." Qiao Chu said with a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Her first attempt at a joke was already so explosive and if she does it a few more times, how would their poor little hearts be able to take it?
Fei Yan nodded his head without a word, in complete agreement.
The atmosphere warmed up, and the spirits of the bunch of youths rose together.
Not because of anything else, but just that palatial hall filled with its mountainous pile of magical artifacts alone was enough to make them all excited enough to want to scream!
Any single one of those magical artifacts if taken outside, would be a treasure precious enough to cause a stir, and before all their eyes, was just an absolute countless number of them, giving them an excitement that just could not be described with words.
The were many types of magical artifacts and different artifacts would bring different effects.
This time, Jun Wu Xie and her companions had come here aiming to find magical artifacts that could increase their spirit powers in a short period of time. That type of artifacts were extremely rare even in the Middle Realm and except for the Dark Emperor's tomb, the total number of artifacts of that similar type currently in existence within the Middle Realm numbered less than ten.
The Dark Emperor had held most of the magical artifacts in his hands then and they were all buried here in the Dark Emperor's tomb.
Qiao Chu and the other could no longer hold themselves back and they were around to search for magical artifacts suitable for themselves.
But after going one round through the place, they found to their dismay.....
They completely could not recognize the origins of all those magical artifacts!
All these magical artifacts had been hoarded into the Dark Regions when the Dark Emperor reigned and over the many years that they had been sealed up in the Dark Emperor's tomb, information about the origins and rumours about all these magical artifacts had become extremely sparse. There's was no need to even talk about identifying them, as they had not even heard of more than a big half of them. Asking them to choose from them, they could only stare in helplessly.
The feeling was just like they held the book for an unparalleled skill in their hands but they did not know how to read a single word of it.
At that moment, even Jun Wu Xie was helpless. Not knowing how these magical artifacts were to be used, even if they wore them all upon their bodies, it wouldn't help them in anyway.
In the instant that Jun Wu Xie realized that, she immediately raised her eyes up to look towards Jun Wu Yao.
In that gaze, it was obvious they were saying these words.
[Aren't you going to teach us?]
Jun Wu Yao then walked forward with a helpless laugh. Jun Wu Xie's gaze had already been so obvious, how could he stand aside and pay no heed?
Ye Mei and Ye Sha were by then fairly certain. With the attitude the Young Miss was taking towards their Lord Jue, the Young Miss must have realized Lord Jue's true identity!
"What all of you are seeking, are magical artifacts that will quickly increase your spirit powers?" As expected, Jun Wu Yao had on his own initiative come beside Jun Wu Xie to ask as he looked at Jun Wu Xie's tiny face.
Jun Wu Xie nodded and before she could say a single word, Qiao Chu at the side had already come bouncing over with a cheerful howl!
Chapter 1372: "Listen to Lord Jue Talk About Magical Artifacts (2)"
"Big Brother Wu Yao! I just knew that there was nothing that you would not know about! You have to save us here!" Qiao Chu exhorted, almost on the verge of tearing up and having mucus run as he cried out, his eyes sparkling as they fixed upon Jun Wu Yao, as if contemplating whether to kneel down and hug Jun Wu Yao's thigh.
Ye Sha and Ye Mei stood speechlessly at the side with their eyes rolled back.
[When will this dumb kid grow some wits?]
"Sure." Jun Wu Yao said with a brilliant smile. That smile was like the fresh breeze of spring tinged slightly with a devilish air, a highly refreshing and invigorating sight to the companions.
Qiao Chu was thinking at that moment if he was a lass himself, he might very well have become a rival in love with Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Yao picked up a gold gilded incense burner beside him. The incense burner was only about the size of his palm and the entire artifact glowed with a faint golden light.
"To all of you, spirit powers are only differentiated by seven levels, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple. But the true differentiation of spirit powers are not limited to just that. The core of spirit powers stem from the resonance between your own souls and your ring spirits and have you thought about what it is that ring spirits depend on to search for their Masters?"
Jun Wu Yao's question made all the companions fall deep in thought.
The rules that ring spirits followed when selecting their Masters had eluded the companions till now and besides knowing that specific races would have specified types of Ring Spirits, they knew nothing about it.
"Normally, Ring Spirits are categorized into three types. Weapons type, beast type, and plant type. And among these three types of Ring Spirits, the weapons type and beast type are further split into seven other categories as darkness, light, metal, lightning, water, fire and earth. Ring Spirits when seeking for their Masters base their choices mainly on one principle according to a person's spirit properties. These seven properties are hidden within all your souls and only ring spirits with matching attributes would choose to submit themselves to all of you."
This talk about attributes and properties, was the first time that Qiao Chu and the others were hearing about it even though they were from the Middle Realm. They had never known that a person's soul and their ring spirit followed a hidden rule such as this.
Jun Wu Yao looked at the flabbergasted bunch of youths and continued on slowly: "The spirit powers all you cultivate daily also follows the different categories you belong to just as these magical artifacts are the same. For you to borrow powers from them to increase your own spirit powers in a short span of time, that is not a difficult task and you only need to find a magical artifact that corresponds to your own attributes to achieve it."
"But..... But we do not know..... what attributes we possess ourselves....." Fei Yan said a little sheepishly. All this talk of attributes was his first time even hearing about it and before this, he had never once given it a thought at all.
Jun Wu Yao smiled slightly and with his free hand, he snapped his fingers loudly. A golden light flew out from the tips of his fingers and leapt to hang over the top of the heads of Qiao Chu and the others, forming into a ball of light about the size of a fingernail, sprinkling golden flashes of light from the tiny light ball, to shroud over the bodies of the youths completely.
Soon, they all discovered that the little ball of light above their heads had mystically changed in an instant!
Their colours were no longer its original golden one but had changed to become several different colours.
The ball of light about Qiao Chu's head had turned a fiery red while the ball of light above Fei Yan had maintained its original gold. The ball of light above Hua Yao had become a deep blue and Fan Zhuo's was an ice blue shade. Only the ball of light above Rong Ruo's head flickered incessantly, unsettled between gold and grey but in the end, it finally settled down as grey.
Everyone then looked quizzically around at the balls of light over everyone's head that had changed colours.
Chapter 1373: "Listen to Lord Jue Talk About Magical Artifacts (3)"
"This shows the respective category your soul belongs to." Jun Wu Yao said with a faint smile.
"Qiao Chu is fire, Fei Yan is metal. Hua Yao is lightning, Fan is water. As for Rong Ruo....." Jun Wu Yao's eyes narrowed slightly, his eyes filling with interest.
"That's not too bad. She's darkness."
"Darkness is very good?" Qiao Chu asked slightly dazed, his eyes blinking blankly. Jun Wu Yao mere mention of it being not bad had piqued his interest.
Jun Wu Yao smiled but did not say a word. It was Ye Mei who could who not hold himself back and he explained it to the bunch of ignorant fools.
"Among the seven categories, the strongest of all are light and darkness, but these two types are also the rarest and seldom seen."
Qiao Chu then nodded looking like he understood and was also still confused at the same time.
Fei Yan was looking in surprise at Rong Ruo, the joy in his eyes looking happier than if he had belonged to the darkness category himself.
But compared to Fei Yan's excitement, Rong Ruo herself had a forced smile on her face instead.
"Then what category does Little Xie belongs to? Big Brother Wu Yao, why didn't carry out the test Little Xie?" Qiao Chu asked as he looked at Jun Wu Xie standing beside Jun Wu Yao. He was deeply curious what category the Heaven defying little devil's soul belonged to.
Jun Wu Yao turned his head to look at Jun Wu Xie. "Guess which category you belong to."
Jun Wu Xie calmly replied: "I am guessing I am different from all of them."
Jun Wu Yao lifted an eyebrow at the reply and asked: "Why would you think that?"
Jun Wu Xie sighed, suddenly feeling that someone was seemingly insulting her intelligence.
"You said there were three main types of ring spirits earlier but when you differentiated between the categories, you excluded plant type ring spirits and only explained about the categories of beast type and weapons type ring spirits, never mentioning anything about plant types.
His words had already been so specific and Jun Wu Xie did not think that she would even need to use her brain to guess.
Jun Wu Yao gave a slight chuckle. Jun Wu Xie's helpless expression really drove delight into his heart.
"You're really smart there." The little one was not to be underestimated as she saw through things very clearly.
Jun Wu Xie rolled her eyes at him, showing that she felt insulted.
"You are indeed different from them. Plant type ring spirits are also not differentiated by so many categories as there is only one category for plant type ring spirits and that is wood." Jun Wu Yao said, his eyes filled with smiles. Plant type ring spirits can be said to be the rarest type of ring spirit and even in the Spirit World where ring spirits resided, they were not commonly seen.
"Wood?" Jun Wu Xie felt that that category matched plant type ring spirits rather well.
"Nourishes all life, the base of all life." Jun Wu Yao said with a nod.
Although Qiao Chu and the other companions did not really understand about the categories, but after hearing Jun Wu Yao say that, they knew that Jun Wu Xie was in a completely different category with them. Although the categories they belonged to sounded less powerful than light and darkness, it nevertheless sounded like their categories possessed quite a bit of power still.
After Jun Wu Yao made all of them understand their own categories, he began to tell them the differences between the magical artifacts.
But he only explained it to them rather briefly.
Magical artifacts are segregated into three types. The first type are permanent. Magical artifacts of this type would never disappear unless they were destroyed. The second type was a consumable type. They could be used for long periods but when the artifact's power was depleted, they would be reduced to become a useless ornament, or one could employ other methods to replenish the powers that had been completely drained. The third and last type of magical artifacts could only be used once. Magical artifacts belonging to this type were also the most powerful type but would expire after one use. After using it once, they would lose their effects completely and there would be no way to restore it.
Chapter 1374: "Listen to Lord Jue Talk About Magical Artifacts (4)"
The Soul Calming Jade belonged to the second type, it powers being depleted incessantly, needing constant replenishment to maintain its powers.
If Qiao Chu and the other companions wish to increase their spirit powers, they must not only use one type among the three but to combine them properly for them to achieve breakthroughs within a short span of time.
Jun Wu Yao then based it on their individual soul attributes to select magical artifacts suitable for the companions.
Although the permanent magical artifacts did not give intense effects, but they were prized on their stability and permanence and they would act as an item of nourishment and support, to assist them in their cultivation.
Like Qiao Chu for example, he possessed the fire attribute. Jun Wu Yao chose a fire type Raging Flame Cauldron for him. The Raging Flame Cauldron was of course burning with an intense flame inside, but the flame would not cause a person's body any burns. One would not even feel any heat when touching the flame but if one really daringly place their hand inside for an extended period of time, the result would really be unthinkable.
The flames within the Raging Flames Cauldron was also called Flame Spirit Fire, a type of fire from the Spirit World. This kind of fire would only have an effect on a person's soul or a spirit body. If a spirit body that was not of a fire type were to touch it, the spirit would be burnt by the Flame Spirit Fire within the Raging Flame cauldron. But to a fire type spirit, the Flame Spirit Fire was the best thing to temper and refine them, driving the spirit to become stronger.
Cultivating spirit powers, people had also thought that they would only need to expand their meridians but essentially speaking, the source of spirit powers came from both the soul and the ring spirit. Only when both spirit bodies were strengthened, would one be able to grind their spirit powers adequately, to achieve elevation into a higher level.
Besides the Raging Flame Cauldron, Qiao Chu took another small magical artifacts called the Sun Bell. The external form of the Sun Bell was just like a little bell, but was completely bright red in colour, covered all around in carvings of flames.
The Sun Bell did not make any sound but instead gave out a fragrance that induced spirit powers. That fragrance only had an effect on fire type spirits.
The Sun Bell was like the Soul Calming Jade, a consumable type of artifact, but the difference between them was once the powers within the Sun Bell was depleted, it would crumble to pieces.
Besides these magical artifacts that would last for long periods of time, Jun Wu Yao chose some magical artifacts that had only a single use. These magical artifacts all hid powerful spirit powers within which would be able to greatly increase a person's spirit powers for short periods but although these magical artifacts were highly powerful, the adverse effects could be dire as well. The slightest carelessness in their use could cause a person to die by their having their bodies explode.
Hence, Jun Wu Yao made all of them take a few more magical artifacts that provided enhancements for them to train up their soul first before using the single use magical artifacts. Otherwise, if they were to ignorantly use them immediately, it was thought after using two of those artifacts, the souls of these youths would show signs of collapse from the over aggressive surge of spirit powers.
It could be said that Jun Wu Yao fully took charge of the distribution of magical artifacts for the youthful companions. As for Jun Wu Xie's magical artifacts, Jun Wu Yao was even more careful in his selection.
By the time Qiao Chu and the other companions had already begun to use the fundamental building magical artifacts to train the own individual souls, Jun Wu Xie still did not hold a single magical artifact within her hands.
Wood category spirits were highly rare in the first place or otherwise plant type spirits that showed up in the world would not be like phoenix's feathers or dragon's horns. Similarly, magical artifacts suitable for the wood category were just as pitifully scarce.
But no matter how scarce.....
It still shouldn't be scarce to the current extent.
The real reason for the scarcity was.....
"This will not do." Jun Wu Yao said after glancing at the magical artifact suitable for wood category spirits, and he threw it onto the floor in utter disdain. That had been a magical artifact highly coveted by countless people in the past but was now tossed out to roll a couple of times pitifully upon the cold floor, rattling mournfully with a hollow sound.
Chapter 1375: "Wu Yao (1)"
Seeing the floor filled with a wide scatter of magical artifacts, Ye Sha and Ye Mei could not help but feel pain in their hearts in grief and hang their in lament. They could recognize some of those magical artifacts as top notch ones but here they were..... tossed away by their Lord Jue as not being good enough?
[Lord Jue, follow the script a little would you?]
[Based on the standards you have set, which monkey year and horse month would it be before you find a suitable magical artifact?]
[You haven't noticed that the Young Miss is already not willing to stand there and wait for you anymore?]
The two men's gaze had already subconsciously shifted over to another skeletal rack where Jun Wu Xie had walked over to.
Jun Wu Xie had initially still stood beside Jun Wu Yao, waiting for him to choose a magical artifact for her. But very soon, she realized..... she had better not stand there to wait as it would surely take quite a long while.
She then quickly decided to have a look around the hall herself. Jun Wu Yao had mentioned it earlier that magical treasures with similar attributes with one's soul would give out a certain level of harmonious resonance to her touch. Although she was unable to identify the uses of the magical artifacts, she could at least test out the reaction from the various artifacts.
Jun Wu Xie already grown to be highly adept at utilizing her spirit power and she only needed to summon the slightest sliver of it and touch those artifacts and she could feel a reaction from them.
Like for fire type magical artifacts, when she touched them, her palm would feel tingle slightly with warmth while lightning types would induce a slightly prickly pain and water types made her feel a faint cold chill.....
Jun Wu Xie was left idle and with nothing to do, she went to have a look around. Little Jue clutched at a bunch of jade ornaments and munched happily away as he made like a little tail of Jun Wu Xie's, trailing behind her as his scarlet eyes stared till they were almost popping out at the magical artifacts upon the skeletal racks.
If it was said that there was a certain amount of spirit power within jade stones that posed to be an allure to the Soul Calming Jade, then all these magical artifacts that contained immense powers to Little Jue, would be no different from the finest foods in the whole world and he was standing in the midst of all of them. Even when he was chewing on jade stones in his mouth, his drool still flowed out from the corners of his mouth helplessly. After Jun Wu Xie had given him a warning earlier, he no longer dared to go around and "yit" indiscriminately, deeply afraid that he would incur the displeasure of Jun Wu Xie. Hence, in order to curb his gluttonous longing, he followed closely behind Jun Wu Xie, to use the sight of Jun Wu Xie's back to serve as a reminder to himself.
This had come about by instinct, but made Jun Wu Xie found it helplessly amusing.
She wouldn't really mind it if Little Jue were to grab at a bunch of the magical artifacts and gobble it down, but she had no way of knowing for sure what kind of an effect it would ultimately have on Little Jue.
Whether it would be good or bad for him, was not something she could judge with any certainty.
But seeing the highly pitiful eyes on the little fella, Jun Wu Xie's heart could not help but soften.
"Come." Jun Wu Xie said with a hand stretched out before Little Jue.
Little Jue blinked his eyes as he looked at the hand Jun Wu Xie had stretched out before him a moment, and then bashfully grasped it.
Jun Wu Xie led Little Jue to come right before Jun Wu Yao, to stand among the mess of magical artifacts Jun Wu Yao had tossed around him.
"Wu Yao."
"Hmm?" Jun Wu Yao answered without thinking with his head still buried among the magical artifacts while he searched for one that would be "suitable" for Jun Wu Xie when he suddenly heard Jun Wu Xie call out to him. But in the very next instant, an expression of surprise immediately came onto his face.
[She had called him Wu Yao?]
[No longer Big Brother anymore?]
That subtle change made Jun Wu Yao felt like a kitten was using its tiny paw to gently scratch at his heart, giving rise to a intoxicatingly ticklish sensation. He lifted his head to look into Jun Wu Xie's bright eyes, his own filled with surprise.
"The magical artifact for me, can be temporarily put aside for awhile. Can you help Little Jue see if there is any suitable for Little Jue here instead?" Jun Wu Xie asked as she looked at Jun Wu Yao, seeing the strange look on his face.
Chapter 1376: "Wu Yao (2)"
Jun Wu Yao looked at Jun Wu Xie without a saying a word, his highly handsome eyes slightly widened, like he still had not recovered from the shock.
Jun Wu Xie lifted an eyebrow a little as she watched the rare expression Jun Wu Yao was giving, finding it highly amusing in her heart. She then moved herself forward and lifted herself up on tiptoes to quickly plant a brief kiss upon the corner of his mouth.
"Why are you standing there all dazed for?" She asked in a slightly rising tone, tinged with a trace of amusement.
With that, Jun Wu Yao not only did not manage to recover but his expression grew even more stiff.
Ye Sha and Ye Mei could no longer bear to make themselves watch any further as they covered their faces with their hands while Ye Gu stared completely flabbergasted, his face in utter disbelief.
[Lord Jue..... Lord Jue..... by such a little picture of a tiny lass..... been taken advantage of! ! !]
"You're not willing to?" Jun Wu Xie asked teasingly when she saw that Jun Wu Yao was still frozen in a daze.
Jun Wu Yao finally managed to recover his senses after much struggle and he suddenly reached a hand out to wrap it around Jun Wu Xie's waist, pulling her into her embrace.
"What did you call me just now? Say it one more time." He said with a fiery gaze, like a ball of fire was fiercely ablaze within his eyes.
"You meant Wu Yao? What? You don't like it?" Jun Wu Xie asked with a evil fiery glint dancing within her eyes. Having gotten used to seeing Jun Wu Yao's usual demeanor with that devilish smile that was steady and indomitable as Mount Tai, occasionally seeing him look like this made her feel it to be rather interesting.
Seeing his emotions rising and falling because of her, made Jun Wu Xie feel a sense of achievement fill inside her heart, coupled with a slight tinge of heart wincing sweetness.
[Alright, she's got to admit that she seemed to have picked up a mischievous trait.]
Jun Wu Yao drew in a deep breath and struck while she was unprepared when he lowered his head to kiss Jun Wu Xie upon that little mouth which had the corners slightly lifted up.
The deep and immersive kiss drained out all the air from within their chests and Jun Wu Yao fought hard to suppress the surge of emotions in his heart before the situation could get out of control.
He knows the kind of weight Jun Wu Xie commanded within his heart and understood the fact that she was completely different from anyone else. But he had not expected that a mere form of address would cause his heart to explode with a feeling of such pure bliss.
He was really exceptionally easy to please.
His feelings for Jun Wu Xie, was something that Jun Wu Yao himself had not understood how it had evolved into the way it was today.
In the beginning, he had just been sealed up for too long and completely cut off from the rest of the world, unable to even recall how long it had been since he last saw another person till this little one appeared. Jun Wu Xie at that time, might have been in the most wretched state he had ever seen her.
Completely covered all over in filth, even her little face was so badly smeared that her countenance could not be seen clearly. She had obviously been teetering right on the verge of death but she could still be calm enough to negotiate terms with him, a man of unknown identity.
Jun Wu Yao could no longer remember how long the last person who dared to discuss terms with him had been dead for.
It might have been due to having been sealed up for too long but he had actually accepted and even adhered to the agreement to deliver the little one safely back to the Lin Palace.
Jun Wu Yao at that time had not had any other feelings for Jun Wu Xie at that time and the relationship between the two had been a transactional one where they made use of each other. Jun Wu Yao had needed an identity at that time and a temporary abode and he had settled down in the Lin Palace while assuming the identity of Jun Wu Yao.
But he had never thought that the single nonchalant decision he made at that time would change everything in his future.
Initially, he was just occasionally teasing this somewhat overly cold little one like he would a new toy he just discovered. He had also helped her then in a way that one would indulge a pet. It was not known from when his teasing of her had changed without him realizing anything, to morph into a kind of feeling that he had never experienced before.
Chapter 1377: "Wu Yao (3)"
Seeing her frown, his heart would ache. Seeing her being stubborn, he would feel helpless.
That was the first time Jun Wu Yao knew that his emotions could actually be affected by another person's and these feelings that he had never had before caused him to be at a loss on what to do.
Hence, he had then chosen to temporarily avoid any interaction with Jun Wu Xie but he was worried about her safety and he left Ye Sha behind to remain at her side to protect her.
Till when upon the Cloudy Peaks, when Ye Sha had self imploded when Jun Wu Xie met with danger.
When he sensed that, he was overcome with an almost uncontrollable urge to want to rush to her side in the first instant possible.
Those confusing feelings, had been like an uncaged beast, surging beyond his control.
Till he saw her and wrapped her within his arms, he then felt a kind of satisfaction he had never felt before.
It was also from then that Jun Wu Yao abandoned the self imposed suppression, to admit to himself the feelings he had for her, regardless of what they were.
He was perfectly willing, to protect the little one.
No matter how the way forward turned out, he no longer wanted to avoid himself from it.
Jun Wu Yao might still not know what those kind of feelings were called, but one point was incomparably clear to him. He wanted to be with the little one. No matter where or when, he wanted to do everything he could to give her the best, to fight with everything he had, to protect her.
He could not put into words, what those feelings were, but he knew. The three characters that read as Jun Wu Xie had become the most important in his life, irrevocably branded into him for all eternity.
The endless stream of thoughts whirled and spun through his mind at light speed as Jun Wu Yao finally ended that kiss. Where in reality, if he could, he wished that moment would forever never end.
"I like you calling me that."
Wu Yao, his name. No matter who he had been in the past, from that moment on, he would be Jun Wu Yao. The Jun Wu Yao who belonged only to her alone.
He would give up the whole world, just to be the one person in her heart.
Both of Jun Wu Xie's cheeks were flushed pink but she did not display any bit bashfulness as she looked at Jun Wu Yao with a grin on her face.
She used to not know how to laugh but now, she had grown used to showing him a smiling countenance.
The two of them shared a tacit understanding, an unspoken rapport. Some words had no need to be spoken and it was already understood between them.
All kinds whispered sweet nothings or pledges of undying love, would finally still pale in comparison to the deep rapport shared between two hearts.
When feelings went as deep as this, a single word of address would already be the most beautiful words of endearment.
"If you like it, shouldn't you be finding something for Little Jue?" Jun Wu Xie inquired with a slight lift of an eyebrow. He had already taken his benefit, so shouldn't he be repaying it back with some form of action on his part?
Jun Wu Yao laughed softly. The expressions on Jun Wu Xie's face was becoming more and more expressive and compared to the icy cold demeanor she had when they first met, it was definitely much more interesting now. And what he was most glad of, was that he had witnessed this change happening within her.
[Fortunately.....]
[Did not miss seeing it.]
"Your order has been received my Young Miss." Jun Wu Yao said, poking fun at Jun Wu Xie, his face stoic like he was obediently acknowledging orders given to him.
Ye Gu almost vomited out blood at the sight, his entire person completely stunned.
Ye Sha and Ye Mei then patted Ye Gu on his shoulder in greatly sympathy.
[He will get used to it in time.]
Having gained Jun Wu Xie's "encouragement, Jun Wu Yao no longer persisted in searching for a suitable magical artifact for Jun Wu Xie, but instead turned his gaze onto Little Jue standing at the side, who had his head shrunk into his shoulders.
Little Jue had developed an innate awe towards Jun Wu Yao and he did not even dare move too much when he saw Jun Wu Yao before him. The sight of that terrified little form standing there would make anyone who saw him feel like enveloping him into their arms to properly comfort him.
Unfortunately, Jun Wu Yao's embrace would forever only open up for Jun Wu Xie alone.
"The Soul Calming Jade is a magical artifact that restores souls and there are magical artifacts better than that here. Kid, I'm in a good mood today so I'll pick a good one out for you." Jun Wu Yao said with laugh, his tone soaring in good spirits, as if telling everyone his mood today was really rather great!
Chapter 1378: "Wu Yao (4)"
Little Jue didn't even dare to speak but just looked at Jun Wu Yao like he was almost about to cry.
There were more magical artifacts in the Dark Emperor's tomb than one could count with every single type there was.
Jun Wu Xie wasn't only thinking of having just Little Jue to recover and there were two other people she was equally worried about within her heart.
One was Jun Gu, her father, whose body was preserved by the other half of the Soul Calming Jade.
While the other was Yan Bu Gui in the Phoenix Academy, her Master.
She did not have a way of reviving Jun Gu and she had placed her hopes on Jun Wu Yao to find some magical artifacts for it. Whereas for Yan Bu Gui, the problem would be a lot easier for her to resolve.
Before she had walked into this main palatial hall, Jun Wu Xie had noticed that behind several doors they had passed, a good amount of herbs and medicine had been perfectly preserved and stashed away. Many of those herbs were things she had not seen before with some she recognized to be of highly prized and coveted varieties that included many types that Yan Bu Gui needed.
She did not have the time to look through them carefully earlier as they were still searching for the magical artifacts but now she would be free to check them out properly.
Jun Wu Xie then lifted her foot to step out from the main hall. Jun Yu Yao cast a glance upon Ye Sha and Ye Mei and the two men immediately grabbed Ye Gu up by the arms and went rushing towards Jun Wu Xie.
"Young Miss! Where are you going?" Ye Sha asked respectfully.
"To go look for some herbs." Jun Wu Xie replied as she swept her gaze upon Ye Gu who was held up between Ye Sha and Ye Mei. His body was that of a twelve year old and Ye Sha and Ye Gu were towering in height. Being grabbed on by the two men, Ye Gu's feet had not even touched the floor throughout the journey.
"Cough. We'll accompany you then. This place is rather big and bringing this fella with us, it will be more convenient for Young Miss to find the things Young Miss wants." Ye Mei chirped accordingly.
Jun Wu Xie looked at the trio a moment before she finally nodded.
Not long after they came walking out from the palatial main hall, Ye Mei began asking what kind of herbs Jun Wu Xie wanted to find and then secretly got Ye Gu to point out the location, wanting to make Jun Wu Xie's search easier.
Jun Wu Xie and the trio were already outside the main hall and were standing within a corridor. Seeing the thoughtful attention Ye Sha and Ye Mei were giving to her, Jun Wu Xie's steps suddenly stopped.
Ye Sha and Ye Mei stopped as well, not knowing what Jun Wu Xie wanted to do.
Jun Wu Xie turned herself around and looked at the trio as she said in a soft tone: "Put him down."
"Huh?" Ye Mei was slightly startled, knowing Jun Wu Xie was talking about Ye Gu.
Ye Sha instead said in a serious and stoic voice: "Young Miss, this fella holds rather substantial powers and if he reneges on his words after we release him, I'm afraid....."
Jun Wu Xie immediately shot a cold gaze at Ye Sha and Ye Sha immediately clamped his mouth shut.
"If he really goes back on his word, the two of you will not be able to stop him anyway." Jun Wu Xie then said.
Expressions of shock immediately appeared on Ye Sha's and Ye Mei's faces.
[How did the Young Miss see through them?]
"It's alright now. There's no one else around and all of you can drop the act already. Put him down and we can move faster." Jun Wu Xie said helplessly. After coming in here into the Dark Emperor's tomb, she came to feel that her intelligence was being repeatedly insulted.
Ye Sha and Ye mei were shocked by her words. Although they guessed that Jun Wu Xie had known about Lord Jue's identity, but they had not been completely certain of it.
But with these words coming out from Jun Wu Xie's mouth, their prior guess had instantly been confirmed.
[The Young Miss had unmistakably found them out!]
"You two screwballs! Why are you grabbing onto me for! ? If you want to continue to act stupid, you can go on ahead! Don't drag me into it!" Ye Gu realized that his act had been seen through and he had immediately lifted his feet to kick out brutally upon the behinds of Ye Sha and Ye Mei on both sides of him! He had then landed firmly upon the ground with his face looking at Jun Wu Xie, the expression on his face rather torn.
Chapter 1379: "The Hunt Begins (1)"
At the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff, was blood soaked earth. Under the thick fog, the chill was bitingly cold and people who fell in pools of blood numbered more than anyone could count.
Having just fought a great battle, a team of people stood under the thick fog as they panted heavily, looking at each other under the light thrown out from the Spirit Fire Globes they held in their hands.
The team of people and horses numbered more than a hundred and upon the bodies of every single one of them, was a swirling purple glow from their spirit powers. The great battle earlier had drained their powers quite a bit and now that the battle had just ended, they finally had a chance to catch a breather.
"Damn them all. Soul Return Palace, Flame Demons Palace..... They must have all gone mad, sending group after group of their people down to the Lower Realm with all of them acting like no one knows where they are thinking in their minds." The leader of the men said as he stared with a frown upon his face at the ground around them that was filled with dead bodies. His team had just descended down from the Heaven's End Cliff not too long ago when they had suddenly encountered other teams from the other palaces. The teams from various sides had clashed against each other, their intentions clear in their minds without having to say a word.
"The Lower Realm in recent periods have become like a pot bubbling with chaos and turmoil. I heard that the pawns planted by several of the other palaces in the Lower Realm were rooted out by someone and the maps deposited here in Lower Realm had also gone missing without a trace. How could they possibly not become anxious?" Another man said as he panted.
If this had been under normal circumstances, if they encountered other people from another one of the Twelve Palaces, they would at most just made some snide remarks or throw a few insults at them before they would find an excuse for all parties to carry on with their missions separately on their own.
Though their objectives were the same, whether they would be able to find the Dark Emperor's tomb would be based entirely on their own capabilities.
Afterall, the various palaces among the Twelve Palaces held rather similar levels of power and unless there was a pressing need, otherwise they would not engage each other.
But now, that status quo had changed.
"Heh, you remember how arrogant those seven palaces had been when they got those maps? Thinking that they have found a big clue, they thought they would be able to find the Dark Emperor's tomb before the others. But so many years have passed and what have they found? The maps they have handed over to the Lower Realm have now gone missing and they are casting their suspicions on the rest of us. That's just so ridiculous. When they themselves do not have the capabilities, they should not drag others into the water. They think they can now just point their finger at everyone else, do they really think they are invincible?" The leader of the team of men said as he spat out spittle specked with some blood. They had achieved victory through their superior numbers in the battle but the opponents had been people from other palaces afterall and their powers were not to be sniffed at. Although they had won, they were all well marked with quite a number of wounds and injuries as well.
"We were fortunate this time all due to the Elder's foresight to ask us to bring enough more men. If we had come here like the last batch, we would have fallen prey to the enemy." Another man said with a sneer.
They were from the Flamboyant Palace of the Twelve Palaces and among the Twelve Palaces, they were ranked in the middle range in terms of power, and were the type that were more low profile. All these years, they had not given up on their investigations into locating the Dark Emperor's tomb and like many of the other palaces, they had found themselves some pawns in the Lower Realm to carry out the work for them here. But about half a year ago, the Lower Realm fell into messy war and the pawns they held were annihilated and they had no choice but to carry out the mission themselves now.
From three months ago, they had sent many teams of their men down here to the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff to search for the location of the Dark Emperor's tomb but not a single one among them had returned.
They knew very clearly that the Heaven's End Cliff was a place filled with treacherous dangers and they had always left one or two of their men back upon the top of the Heaven's End Cliff to stand guard. If they still did not receive any news after half a month, the men standing guard at the top of the cliff were to bring the news back to them.
But for three consecutive months, the many teams the Flamboyant Palace had sent out one after another had not seen a single man among them return at all.
Chapter 1380: "The Hunt Begins (2)"
Such a situation, had never occurred before. The Flamboyant Palace had specially sent their people here to investigate but had never found any sign of their members. This was one point that they found highly suspicious and they had linked it to the chaos that had happened in the Lower Realm previously, when the other palaces had been thrown into a tizzy when they lost their maps and they began to develop some ominous guesses.
As they had thought, they had just encountered people from the Flame Demons Palace on this expedition and they had immediately attacked their group.
By the time the people from the Soul Return Palaces appeared, the battle quickly became even more intense.
"Those grandmothers' sons from the Flame Demons Palace really think that they own all of us now. The Elders were right, all those people we sent down here previously must have been ambushed by those bastards from the Flame Demons Palace." The people of the Flamboyant Palace were indignant with rage and they were already prepared to die in their search for the Dark Emperor's tomb. To the men here, heir loyalty and devotion to the Flamboyant Palace made them feel their selfless sacrifice was the ultimate sign of their dedication.
But dying under the hands of people from the other palaces, would be a most intolerable humiliation!
"Whatever we say now is of no use. We do not have time to waste with these people from the Flame Demons Palace. We should take advantage of this time when the Lower Realm is in such chaos and the various palaces are all distracted to quickly find the Dark Emperor's tomb instead." The leader of the men said cautiously.
The other men from the Flamboyant Palace nodded in agreement and after they have calmed down, the biting cold at bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff immediately made them feel the chill and they had no choice but to summon their spirit powers to keep their bodies warm.
It was not the first time the people in this group had come down to the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff. They had come here with other teams before but most of the people in their old teams had lost their lives down here. They had not managed to find the Dark Emperor's tomb in the end but had been fortunate enough to survive as they escaped back to the Flamboyant Palace. This time, the Flamboyant Palace had gathered all these veterans together and they had formed into a group of five hundred people to come once again down to the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff.
This could be considered to be an extremely big force but unfortunately, on the tenth day after they descended the Heaven's End Cliff, they had encountered a group from the Flame Demons Palace and their numbers had now diminished by more than half with less than two hundred of them left.
But they were all men of experience and coming to the Heaven's End Cliff was not that difficult a task for them. Although they did not have a map, but based on the many expeditions the Flamboyant Palace had sent forth to this place over the past few centuries and with the places those people had managed to slowly uncover, the group had already discovered a path that was slightly safer.
Till they came to the place filled with icicles.....
The sharp and pointed icicles sent chills into the people who looked upon them and what shocked the people from the Flamboyant Palaces even more was, upon this path they were familiar with, through the thick mist, they could faintly see the figures of some people!
"Who goes there!" The leader of the group roared out a warning shout, the men behind him all readying their guard.
But after waiting for a rather long while, he still did not hear any response. The dark blurry figures remained hidden within the darkness, not moving at all.
One of the men then suggested in a whisper: "The situation doesn't feel right. Should we try to take a look first?"
The face of the leader of the group furrowed up in a frown a moment before he got several of his subordinates to throw the Spirit Fire Globes forward, to light up the icy layer before them.
And what was then revealed made every single one of them gasp loudly!
"Mummy! ! !" The more timid ones immediately fell to their knees, their faces contorted in terror, their eyes almost popping out of their heads.
In the layer of ice before their eyes, a countless number of corpses hung pierced through by the sharp icicles. All the bodies had been turned upside down, the crowns of their heads facing the ground with the icicles pierced out through their mouths, their heads a gory mess over the icicles!