Chapter 1831 - Greed, the Source of Endless Tribulations

When Fan Zhui saw Su Yi urge Xi Ning not to give chase, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

He understood his young leader better than anyone. He knew that when she was determined to kill someone, no one could dissuade her. She wasn’t concerned about life, death, victory, or defeat. No matter what, she’d fight to the bitter end. Not even her clan elders could hold her back.

But to Fan Zhui’s astonishment, a moment later, Xi Ning really did stop. She tilted her head, pondered briefly, and nodded. “Alright.”

“....” Fan Zhui was at a complete loss.

What’s going on? Since when does the young leader listen to others’ advice!? This is simply unheard of!

“Fellow Daoist, are you injured?” Xi Ning asked softly.

Su Yi shook his head, then looked at her Daoist seal with great interest. “Is that a treasure imbued with an Epoch Law?

True divine treasures were also known as Epoch Treasures. Only gods could refine them.

“That’s right. It’s called the Seven-Star Seal, and it was refined by one of my clan ancestors. It’s full of the Laws of Malevolent Stars, and although it’s not a top-class Epoch Treasure, it’s far from ordinary.”

Xi Ning passed it to Su Yi and said, “Have a look for yourself.”

Fan Zhui opened his mouth as if to object.

That was an Epoch Treasure! Even in the God Domain, it was an unparalleled divine artifact, the type that could protect an entire clan! How could she casually hand it to someone else?!

But in the end, Fan Zhui resisted the impulse. He was just an attendant. How could he dare voice his objections?

Su Yi examined it, then sensed it briefly.

Boom!

Within his sea of consciousness, he saw what looked like a boundless realm of stars. It was home to a thousand worlds, but seven stars were the most eye-catching of all. They looked eternal and indestructible.

All seven emanated an air of chaos, and they were full of the boundless power of the Laws.

Even Su Yi couldn’t help but feel paltry and insignificant in the face of the seemingly endless stretch of stars!

This was an Epoch Treasure imbued with the power of an Epoch Law. And Epoch Laws were the Grand Dao source powers of entire epochs. Their number was highly limited. More importantly, condensing a Godhead and becoming a god required an Epoch Law!

It was obvious that the Seven-Star Seal contained an Epoch Law known as the Laws of Malevolent Stars, which were born of an epoch’s chaos source.

After examining it intently, Su Yi returned the seal to Xi Ning and said, “Earlier, when Gongyang Yu, Qing Xiao, and the others fled, were the treasures they used their strongest trump cards, too?”

Xi Ning nodded. “That’s right. Epoch Treasures are far too taboo. Although they can save your life at a critical juncture, here in the Immortal Realm, using them will trigger a backlash from the Laws. Thus, none of us will use them lightly. And honestly, even when we do use them, we can display less than a tenth of their power.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but be impressed. “How do your Epoch Treasures compare to the Nine Mysteries of Chaos?”

Xi Ning grinned; she could tell Su Yi was extremely interested in Epoch Treasures.

She didn’t hide the truth from him, either. “As you saw earlier, Qing Xiao’s Endless Stars Scepter was damaged while defending against the power of the karma mixed into the Laws of the Dragon Palace. That proves that the Book of Karma, one of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos, is far beyond the Endless Stars Scepter.

“Treasures like the Book of Karma are far too rare. They’re so wondrous that even gods would fight tooth and nail over them! That’s why those of us who’ve come here from the God Domain are doing our utmost to locate the Nine Mysteries of Chaos.”

Su Yi understood. Some divine treasures were stronger than others, for the simple reason that each contained a different Epoch Law.

......

Just like that, the curtains fell on this grand battle.

Qing Xiao, Jin Zhuliu, Gongyang Yu, and Qing Wu fled in panic.

They’d escaped with their lives, but after experiencing the suppression of the Laws of heaven and earth, their foundations in the Grand Dao were badly affected. When opportunities to achieve divinity in the Immortal Realm appeared, they’d have almost no hope of success.

That was especially true for Gongyang Yu. His physical body had been destroyed, and all that remained of him was his soul. Even if he managed to reforge his physical body, his vitality was badly damaged, and he’d struggle to progress any further.

The price they’d paid was anything but light.

Far, far away, Qin Jianshu felt a chill in his hands and feet, and his back was drenched in cold sweat.

It was just as Qing Xiao and the others had thought. Qin Jianshu decided against working with them, but he hadn’t given up, either.

He’d hidden himself all this time, watching the battle in secret. He saw every last detail of Qing Xiao and the other divine children’s defeat.

I just knew the Heretic Reincarnator wasn’t so easily defeated, but you... refused to listen to me...

Qin Jianshu thought to himself.

Inwardly, he was celebrating. Celebrating that he’d decisively chosen against working with the other divine children, and that he hadn’t gotten mixed up in these turbid waters. Otherwise, he would undoubtedly have shared in the others’ fate.

Without any further hesitation, Qin Jianshu turned to leave. As wonderful as good fortune was, he was more concerned about his chances of becoming a god.

When I become a god... how could Qing Xiao and the others possibly compete with me?

Qin Jianshu faded into the distance, and before long, he’d vanished completely.

......

“Qin Jianshu has gotten smarter. He just watched the whole time, then left directly without getting involved,” said Su Yi.

Earlier, Xi Ning had transmitted a message to him, saying that Qin Jianshu was most likely hiding somewhere nearby. She warned him to stay on guard.

“It’s not that he’s gotten smarter, but that the situation has left him no choice but to lower his head,” said Xi Ning. “Would you believe me if I said that, given even the slightest opportunity, he’d strike to kill without the slightest hesitation?”

Su Yi smiled. “Indeed.”

He’d discovered that although his and Xi Ning’s opinions sometimes differed slightly here and there, it was wondrous how often their views lined up, as if by some kind of tacit understanding. It was quite a pleasant feeling. There was no need for wasted breath or probing. It was like their hearts were linked, leaving little need for words.

“Do you need to treat your wounds?” asked Su Yi.

Xi Ning shook her head. “They’re minor.”

“Then let’s head straight for the treasury.”

As he spoke, Su Yi was already leading the way in. Xi Ning and Fan Zhui followed shortly after.

Both of their hearts were full of eagerness.

Is the Book of Karma really inside the treasury?

......

Within the treasury of the Dragon Palace.

Strictly speaking, the “treasury” the dragons had controlled for generations was actually a hidden realm, not a building.

It consisted of a single hall the size of a mountain, and it looked as if it had been forged entirely out of mysterious immortal gold. Its surface was completely covered in dragon totems.

A fierce, chaotic battle was underway inside.

“Die!”

“Die!”

“Die!”

Roars rose and fell in waves, and blood splattered the air.

Jing Cheng, Jing Hongyu, and the other Giant Whale Spirit Race experts had joined forces with Yun Jiu, Xie Changque, and the Great Martial Stage experts of the six factions of the Immortal Realm. They fought side by side, bathed in blood.

Their opponents were Zuo Huai, Lin Gu, Huang Chongjia, and the experts of the factions of the Eastern Sea.

Treasure light whooshed past, and divine radiance ran rampant.

The ground was already littered with corpses, and a mist of fresh blood permeated the air. Fragmented treasures lay strewn across the battlefield, flashing with dull light. It was like a scroll painting of a bloody vision of purgatory, unfurling across the hall.

The prominent experts here all fought like mad, all for the sake of seizing the treasures here!

The hall’s walls were like a giant, densely packed chessboard. Each square contained a different type of treasure. The variety was enormous, and all of them were swathed in flowing, colorful light, and they all emanated extraordinary auras.

Most of the treasures were wondrous goods seldom seen in the outside world. Disregarding the details, their quality alone was enough to make Great Realm experts red-eyed with greed!

Yet this room contained thousands upon thousands of them!

The most shocking treasure of all was the enormous tripod cauldron hovering at the far end of the hall. It was one thousand feet tall, like a miniature mountain, and nine dragons coiled around it, their heads pointing into the heavens.

The tripod cauldron was covered in a mysterious, inscrutable power of the Laws, like a perfectly round barrier of light.

This made it impossible for anyone to see what was inside.

However, the giant cauldron wrapped in nine dragons was so impressive that everyone figured the treasure hidden inside was sure to be extraordinary!

“Everyone, stop! If we keep fighting like this, all of us will die!!” someone roared.

Splurt!

A spear ran the man through, splashing the air with blood.

It was Jing Cheng who’d attacked, his expression sinister and his eyes full of madness. “I said earlier that if you did as I said, we could split the treasures evenly, but you all refused to listen! In that case, we’ll just have to see who makes it out alive in the end!!”

The Giant Whales had already suffered heavy casualties. How could Jing Cheng willingly give up now?

At first, everyone had been overcome with desire for the treasures on display, but by now, everyone was simply red-eyed with fury and murderous intent, and their hearts were full of irrepressible hatred!

“Then let’s see who makes it to the end!” Zuo Huai said with a sinister grin.

He, Lin Gu, and Huang Chongjia were all servants of the divine children. Despite suppressing their cultivations down to the Great Martial Stage, their strength was extraordinarily terrifying.

By now, more than half of their enemies had died at their hands.

“When the esteemed divine children arrive, all of you will pay for what you’ve done!” said Lin Gu with seething murderous intent.

The three servants of the divine children were fully confident in their backing, and thus, completely fearless. After all, they were completely certain that the divine children would soon enter the treasury.

“Hah! Wishful thinking! The divine children have undoubtedly been intercepted by Su Yi. Otherwise, why aren’t they here already?” Yun Jiu said with a hideous laugh.

Not long after they entered the treasury, they confirmed that Su Yi and Divine Daughter Xi Ning hadn’t actually gone inside. They then realized that Su Yi and his companions were most likely busy fighting the divine children outside the treasury.

“Die!!”

A rain of blood splattered the battlefield, and the smell of blood permeated the air. The battle raged with ever greater intensity.

A book shrouded in inscrutable Dao Light hovered over the massive tripod cauldron at the far end of the hall. It took in the carnage, the blood-soaked vision of purgatory raging below, then turned to a blank page.

Lines of text appeared.

“Greed is the source of countless tribulations. They came here in search of good fortune, then met with disaster and died because of it. This is karma, cause and effect. Every step they took was predetermined.

“Men die for wealth, and birds die for food. Greed is one of the ironclad rules of karma! Throughout the ages, neither the loftiest of gods nor the lowliest of ants has been exempt!”

Here, the writing paused before continuing, “If they came here for me, they’ll die because of me!”

Kcch!

The book quivered, and countless cracks appeared on the page. The entire book shook violently, and it frantically erased that last line of text.