Clear skies, blue seas, and green mountains.
He was finally outside.
Outside the dungeons, the skies were clear and sunny. When he recalled the scene inside, Ye Zichen sighed.
In the end, he failed to converse with the former Demon Emperor.
The reason was so simple, it was laughable: he was afraid to die!
Some people’s lives were as light as goose feathers, while other lives were as heavy as Mount Tai. Ye Zichen could sacrifice himself for a righteous cause. He could even do so without hesitation. But there was no way he’d throw his life away without a good reason.
He had far too many matters to complete. Facing the unknown former Demon Emperor?
He didn’t dare gamble his life like that!
That dense air of authority made it hard to even breathe. He’d thought he’d faced more than his fair share of experts, but after meeting Venerate Spirit Treasure and seeing for the former Demon Emperor in the middle of an outburst, he realized that he was nothing but a frog in a well.
He trusted that, throughout the vast reaches of the Upper Three Realms, there were plenty of reclusive, hidden experts.
But right now, he was more concerned about the Great Sage!
When they first started heading down to the third layer, Ye Zichen was already worried. The Great Sage’s wounds had looked rather serious.
Yang Jian and Pu Jingwan had carried the Great Sage out of the dungeons to attend to his wounds. To Ye Zichen’s surprise, by the time he stepped outside and went up to check on his friend, the Great Sage was missing, gone without a trace.
He carefully scrutinized his surroundings, but still saw no trace of his friend.
But when he looked at Yang Jian and Pu Jingwan’s expressions, he saw no sign of anxiety whatsoever.
“Why is it just you two? Why isn’t the Great Sage here? Why aren’t you with him? How are his wounds?”
“He….”
“I, Ol’ Sun, am here!”
Before Yang Jian could explain, a familiar, sonorous cry filled the air.
Then, the Great Sage flew through the air on his magic cloud and did a somersault. He showed no signs of injuries whatsoever.
“What’s going on?” Ye Zichen was completely baffled. He’d seen the Great Sage’s wounds clearly, with his own eyes; his injuries were severe, and he’d been weak and listless. Only six hours had passed since then; not even divine medicine should have been able to treat such heavy wounds so quickly.
Could it be because of Su Yan?
As soon as the idea occurred to him, Ye Zichen rejected it. Su Yan was currently on the Tenth Divine Mountain. Treating the wounded Outsiders’ had overdrawn her godhead’s divine power. Given how much Su Liu’er doted on her, there was no way she’d let Su Yan come here to help the Great Sage.
Besides, given that she was all the way on the Tenth Divine Mountain, there was no way for her to even find out about the Great Sage’s wounds .
The Hermit Emperor, the Medical Sage, had already left the Sea of Innocence. The Great Sage’s inexplicable recovery was really strange.
“You’re completely healed?” Ye Zichen’s eyes widened.
“Heh, and full of vim and vigor, too!” The Great Sage grinned and pounded his chest.
Yang Jian couldn’t help but sneer, “You really are a stone monkey. At first I thought this might finally be the end of you, but it seems you won’t go down so easily. You were up and jumping about after just an hour!”
“It seems your cultivation has gone up a bit too,” added Pu Jingwan.
“My son, if I already died like that, wouldn’t you miss me, your father? I pushed through all for the sake of raising you up. I can’t die before you do!” The Great Sage burst into laughter.
“Can you shut up for just a moment?” Yang Jian rolled his eyes, then pointedly ignored him. “Afterward, we wanted to go in and find you, but the second we reached the second floor, the former Demon Emperor’s aura made it impossible to advance so much as half a step more. We had no choice but to come back out and wait for you outside.”
Ye Zichen wasn’t particularly concerned about that. He was more interested in the Great Sage’s wounds. He merely nodded his acknowledgement of Yang Jian’s words, then took the Great Sage’s wrist as if taking his pulse.
The Great Sage knew what Ye Zichen was doing, and he made no attempt to resist. He simply let Ye Zichen’s divine power course through him.
“Strange!” Before long, Ye Zichen lowered his hand and exclaimed.
“Right? I’m as fit as a fiddle!” The Great Sage laughed.
Yang Jian then chimed in, “I checked out his condition too, and surprisingly, his cells are even more active than in the past. His divine power is even more plentiful, too.”
Ye Zichen nodded; Yang Jian’s results were the same as his. The Great Sage’s cells seemed to have been reborn; they were so vibrant and full of life, it left one tongue-tied. Also, his divine power seemed to have undergone some sort of cleansing; it was now incomparably pure.
This was a strange sight, but the way Ye Zichen saw it, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
When he next saw the Hermit Emperor, he’d have to ask him to take a look and ensure everything was in order.
“Right, Ye-zi, why did you come out on your own? Did you see the former Demon Emperor?” asked Yang Jian.
“No, I didn’t, but I sent Venerate Spirit Treasure down. He said he can have a quick conversation with the former Demon Emperor on my behalf,” said Ye Zichen.
“I’m not at all comfortable with that Venerate Spirit Treasure guy,” said Yang Jian, his expression suddenly darkening. “I can’t see through the guy at all. I couldn’t relax when he offered to lead you down there, either. Now, he went to talk to the former Demon Emperor on his own? Didn’t he say the former Demon Emperor loathes the entire yao race? Isn’t Venerate Spirit Treasure a yao, too? Why can he pay the former Demon Emperor an audience, then? Also, the dungeon suddenly seems a bit too quiet.”
Almost as soon as the words left his lips, a powerful aura surged out of the dungeons.
Due to the seals surrounding the dungeon, the aura that made it through was unspeakably weak, but from its fluctuations, it was still clear that someone was fighting inside.
For the aftereffects of a fight to get through the seals, albeit weakly, the combatants had to be Venerate Spirit Treasure and the former Demon Emperor!
“Embarrassed?” The Great Sage laughed. “You only just doubted him, and then they started fighting the very next second. Well? Are you embarrassed? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Venerate Spirit Treasure. In fact, I rather like him.”
“Isn’t that just because you have similar interests?” Yang Jian sneered.
“Is there anything wrong with bonding over shared interests?” The Great Sage rolled his eyes. “Also, you’d best be polite to me. I’m overflowing with endless power right now. If we fight, heh… I’m afraid your pathetic little body wouldn’t be able to take it.”
After getting hurt, the Great Sage’s cultivation had increased. Yang Jian wasn’t stupid enough to provoke him now.
Instead, he ignored the Great Sage’s taunts, crossed his arms, and took in the energy fluctuations escaping the dungeons. He shook his head. “I still don’t think we can trust that guy.”
Yang Jian didn’t take the bait. When he realized they weren’t going to fight, the Great Sage got bored and started playing with his phone.
Pu Jingwan, meanwhile, looked at Yang Jian curiously. “It’s rare for you to judge someone so decisively.”
“It’s a man’s sixth sense! It’s super accurate!” Yang Jian’s narrowed eyes were still fixed on the dungeons. He’d sensed there was something off about Venerate Spirit Treasure from the moment he first laid eyes on him. When he recalled the yao’s interactions with Ye Zichen, there seemed to be something very deliberate about his behavior.
Suddenly, the Great Sage dashed over and shouted, “Hey! Hey! Stop talking! Hurry up and look at the group chat…”