Chapter 1383: Legend

As the giant tortoise cracked open, it revealed rows of bones inside. Every single one was incredibly large. There was also a bone running along its back that was several dozen meters long; a good portion of it was buried in the dirt.

“This is…” The party was shocked. The object had turned out not to be a stone tortoise statue, but rather a great beast that had turned to stone beneath the ravages of time.

The Fiend Emperor gave it a look and said, “This is not some giant tortoise. If I am not mistaken, this is more like the remains of one of the Ocean races’ Great Whales. Of course, there seem to be some differences from the Great Whales.” As the Fiend Emperor, and moreover one who had lived for so long, his knowledge and experiences were naturally extraordinary.

Off to the side, the Golden Crow Crown Prince attentively showered his father in praise. Then, he said, “If the bones are so big, the creature itself must have been a powerful expert. I wonder why it is lying here.”

The Fiend Emperor’s gaze landed on the bones. When he saw the sparkling radiance on their surface, he was inwardly shocked. This thing seemed to be even stronger than the Ocean races’ Great Whale race’s clan leader. As expected of a creature from the Unknown Regions.

He became excited again when he thought of that, as it raised his expectations for the exploration.

Just then, a wave of strange noises came from the distant mountaintop. They could vaguely make out some dark figures moving around. Because it was too far away, however, there seemed to be some kind of mist blocking their vision. It was too hard to see what those things were. Despite that, the sounds were quite clear.

Yu Yanluo said in surprise, “These seem to be bird cries.”

Zu An nodded and said,“You’re right. These sounds are a bit strange, though. They’re kinda creepy.”

At the same time, he thought to himself that it had been peaceful mere moments before, and yet when the Fiend Emperor blasted open the stone tortoise, new activity had started up. Could the two events be connected?

The Fiend Emperor gave the mountain a look and said, “Continue leading the way.”

Zu An shrugged, then began leading the way again.

Yan Xuehen’s pretty brows drew together into a frown. She said in dissatisfaction, “With the Fiend Emperor’s strength, as long as your primordial spirit left your body, you could instantly travel ten thousand miles. Why do you need Zu An to scout the way?”

The Fiend Emperor replied indifferently, “Does this emperor need other people’s comments when I do things?”

He had actually already tried it when he first arrived in the Unknown Region. He had then noticed that the speed and distance his primordial spirit was limited to were much lower than in the outside world. Furthermore, he had sensed threats from several directions. As such, he was unwilling to scout the way with his primordial spirit. Of course, there was no reason for him to explain those things to them, or else they could start thinking strange thoughts.

Yan Xuehen was speechless. However, Zu An stopped her from continuing, saying, “It’s fine. I’m pretty thick-skinned. Even if there are any dangers, I should be able to deal with them.”

Thus, Yan Xuehen finally dropped the matter. Yun Jianyue found a chance to move next to her and secretly nudged the other woman with her shoulder, remarking, “You’re normally all cold and aloof. I didn’t expect you to care about his safety so much.”

Yan Xuehen rolled her eyes and retorted, “Do you know what kind of situation we are in right now? And yet, you are still in the mood to pick a fight with me?” Then, she picked up her pace. She didn’t want to stand next to Yun Jianyue.

Yun Jianyue didn’t really suspect their relationship, however. She actually just felt a lot of pent-up frustration and wanted to tease Yan Xuehen a bit.

Soon afterward, the group arrived in front of a towering mountain peak. The vegetation on the mountain peak was lush and flourishing, but the mountain itself was extremely steep. Much of the rock face was made up of ninety-degree cliffs. Forget about an ordinary person, the mountain was not something normal cultivators could climb. Fortunately, all of them were quite skilled.

Zu An began walking forward. Suddenly, the Golden Crow Crown Prince cried out in alarm, his voice shaking a bit.

“What is it?” the Fiend Emperor asked, looking at him with a frown.

Even the bootlicking Wu Liang felt a bit of disdain. He had once thought that the Golden Crow Crown Prince was someone special, but now, he seemed like nothing more than an idiot.

The Golden Crow Crown Prince pointed at the mountain in front of him in fright. Even though he was trying to suppress it, his voice still shook a bit as he said, “I do not know why, but I feel very uncomfortable when I look at this mountain. I feel a kind of… a kind of fear.”

The others’ expressions grew strange. They didn’t really feel anything. This mountain was just a bit steeper than normal mountains. The supposedly glorious Golden Crow Crown Prince shouldn’t have been acting like this, right?

They waited, expecting to hear the Fiend Emperor lecture him. However, to their surprise, the Fiend Emperor didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared at the distant mountain in absentminded silence.

In truth, he also felt a kind of palpitation inside when they approached the mountain. He had thought that it was just the danger he sensed when his primordial spirit left his body before, but when he heard what his son said, he realized that it was related to the mountain.

What was going on? Ever since he had reached the earth immortal level, there was practically nothing left that could threaten him. Today was the first time such a thing had happened. Most importantly, he noticed that no one else shared that feeling. He didn’t want them to notice, however, so he said indifferently, “Continue forward.”

Anyone who could cultivate up to the earth immortal rank not only needed exceptional bloodline talent, but also had to have an unshakable and resolute temperament. He had never been the cowardly type. Such strangeness only spurred his desire for exploration. In all his years, across the entire world, only the human emperor alone could be considered his rival. He already bore the pride of an unrivaled being, so he naturally refused to believe that there was anything that could truly injure him.

Off to the side, the Golden Crow Crown Prince was about to say something, but he felt a wave of warmth enter his body. He understood that his father was helping him calm his chaotic energies and felt moved.

The group continued up the mountain. Suddenly, they discovered a stone tablet in the weeds. There were also two characters written on it.

This time, even Wu Liang was able to recognize them. He said, “Feather Mountain! This mountain is called Feather Mountain.”

“Feather Mountain?” The Fiend Emperor’s brow furrowed tightly. He began to think back to see whether there were any such mountains in his memory. The others were also puzzled. They had seen some mountains that bore such a name before, but the mountain in front of them was clearly something entirely different.

Only Zu An was shocked. He had felt that the phrase ‘Feather Abyss’ was a bit familiar. When he saw the words ‘Feather Mountain’, he finally remembered where he had heard that before.

In the world he had transmigrated from, all kinds of ancient civilizations had records of a great flood. The West had Noah’s Ark, while the East had Yu the Great, who had tamed the floods.

Before Yu the Great, his father Gun had kept the waters in check. Unfortunately, all of his work had been for naught. Emperor Yao had sent Zhu Rong to kill him, and Yu the Great had needed to take up. That was how the story of Yu the Great taming the floods had come to be.

Meanwhile, the place Gun had been killed at was none other than the Feather Mountain. His corpse had then been tossed into the Feather Abyss next to it. Could it be that this was where Gun had been buried back then?

Zu An was shocked. If that kind of ancient figure was involved, could it be that this secret dungeon was related to the Xia Dynasty? At the same time, he found it extremely strange. After all, apart from Gun being killed at the Feather Mountain, there was actually an even more famous legend.

In ancient Chinese mythology, there was the legend of Great Yi, who had shot down the sun. It was said that the sun in the sky was a Golden Crow; Golden Crows were the Celestial Emperor’s sons, and there were once ten brothers who normally liked to play together. That made it so that there were ten suns in the sky, so the earth was arid and the people suffered unbearably.

At some point, a great hero named Yi had appeared, who had been bestowed with a red bow and white arrows by the Celestial Emperor. He had picked up his bow and nocked his arrows, then shot down nine of the Golden Crows in the sky, only leaving a single one behind.

Afterward, the feathers of the Golden Crows that had been shot fell down, in the end piling up like a mountain. They had thus formed Feather Mountain.

Zu An didn’t know what kind of relationship the Golden Crow race of this world had with the mythological Golden Crows of his previous world, but since they had come to Feather Mountain, and with the Sun Slaying Bow no less, it was hard not to connect the two together.

He took the chance to ask, “Right, where did you guys get the Sun Slaying Bow from?”

The Golden Crow Crown Prince was quite annoyed. He harrumphed, “What does that have to do with you?”

However, he Fiend Emperor replied, “The Sun Slaying Bow is a divine weapon passed down from the Golden Crow race’s ancestors. Ever since the earliest records, it has belonged to the Golden Crow royal family. However, that is not what you should be concerned with. You should properly lead the way. I seem to have sensed some kind of life on this mountain. Be careful not to be ambushed and killed. It will not be so easy for me to find another pathfinder.”