The Earth Vein Ancient Tree was likewise caught within the Faceless Sacred Emperor's net of Source Power Essence.
Thus, when Ruomu surrendered, the ancient tree had a faint intuition of it in its heart. Yet it could not be certain, and the dread and unease in its mind only grew day by day.
"We are both subordinates of the Sacred Emperor now. Sheltered by the Sacred Emperor, could he really dare do anything to me?" The ancient tree could only console itself this way.
The Earth Vein Ancient Tree knew clearly that in this world, perhaps only the Sacred Emperor could preserve its life.
And the more useful it proved to the Sacred Court, the safer it would be.
Hence, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree was impatient to prove its worth to the Sacred Emperor.
Unfortunately, ever since arriving in Great Qi of the Sacred Court, it had seemed as though it were forgotten. No one had sought it out.
Even the task assigned earlier—to dredge and regulate the earth veins of the Great Qi pocket world—had never been inspected by anyone.
This left the Earth Vein Ancient Tree quite dispirited.
However, on this day, the opportunity to prove itself that the ancient tree had been longing for finally arrived.
The visitor was none other than the Sacred Emperor's fifth disciple, Ou Shangtian.
"This is the diagram of the Xuanhuang Realm's surging earth veins?" Ou Shangtian asked, pointing at the projection ahead.
Densely intertwined like a vast subterranean web, it stretched to every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm, contracting and throbbing relentlessly like blood vessels within a human body. It looked thoroughly eerie.
The Earth Vein Ancient Tree nodded. "The Little Venerable is perceptive."
Ou Shangtian seemed rather flattered by the ancient tree's praise and accepted the title of "Little Venerable" without hesitation.
"I heard Senior Sister Lin Ling say that when traveling through the rushing earth veins, the power of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao naturally conceals you, making it difficult for ordinary people to detect. Is that true or not?" Ou Shangtian asked further.
"Indeed." The Earth Vein Ancient Tree offered a withered branch. "Have a look, Little Venerable."
Feeling the surging power of the earth veins coursing through the withered branch, Ou Shangtian frowned slightly. "It doesn't seem like much to me. How could this shield one from another's perception?"
The Earth Vein Ancient Tree smiled faintly. "The Little Venerable must understand that grains of sand build a tall tower, and drops of water merge into great rivers. A wisp of earth vein power may appear unremarkable, but when the surging earth veins of the entire Xuanhuang Realm converge, it is truly vast and boundless, rolling with the might of thunder.
"In the end, the circulation of the earth veins is a vital part of the Xuanhuang Realm's normal function, and this old self merely wields its authority on its behalf. Compared to the surging, supreme principles of the entire Xuanhuang Realm, ordinary cultivators are like mere ants; it is only natural for them to be overlooked."
Ou Shangtian stared blankly at the earth vein diagram, lost in thought.
After a long while, he came back to his senses, returned the withered branch, and instructed, "As it happens, I am heading out to execute a task assigned by Master, and I may need your help."
This was exactly what the Earth Vein Ancient Tree had been waiting for. Overjoyed, it said, "Little Venerable, give your command, and I shall assist with all my heart."
"There is a senior in the Xuanhuang Realm of unfathomable strength who carries a stone slab on his back... Are you aware of him?" Ou Shangtian looked at the ancient tree and asked.
The tree's expression abruptly changed, its earlier eagerness vanishing in an instant.
Staring at Ou Shangtian in disbelief, it tentatively asked after a long pause, "Little Venerable, does the Sacred Court intend to move against Senior Stone Slab?
"Forgive my frankness, but Stone Slab is a genuine Longevity realm cultivator, and one who attained the Dao countless years ago..."
Ou Shangtian waved an impatient hand. "I naturally know what that Stone Slab is capable of. The Longevity realm, so what?
"Compared to Master, it's nothing!
"Rest assured, my only responsibility is to lure him to a designated location."
Hearing Ou Shangtian say this, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Since the enigmatic Faceless Sacred Emperor had managed to subdue its father, dealing with this Stone Slab should pose no great issue either.
The ancient tree rallied its spirits. "Little Venerable, may I ask how you require my cooperation?"
Ou Shangtian laid out the detailed plan. The tree pondered for a moment before nodding, indicating it would be fine.
"There is no time to lose. Once I meet with Master, I shall depart immediately."
The ancient tree replied, "My true body remains in Xuanhuang. Whenever the Little Venerable calls upon me, I can manifest at any time."
Ou Shangtian hurried into the Holy Emperor Throne.
When he emerged, all trace of anxiety had vanished from his face.
"I have the Kunqian Bone Hand and the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light protecting my body, and on top of that, Master has bestowed treasures upon me this time. I have also studied arrays for so long...
"All I need to do is lure him to the fishing pond, and the mission is complete. There shouldn't be much of a problem.
"Still, isn't the fishing pond a treasure ground of our Sacred Court? Why would Master have me lure a formidable enemy there instead? Isn't he afraid something might go wrong?"
Ou Shangtian pondered this without reaching an answer.
In the end, he did not bother overthinking it. Leaving the Great Qi pocket world, he headed straight for Jiushan Province of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
With the help of the surging earth veins, it took merely the time to drink a cup of tea to reach the borders of Jiushan Province.
Ou Shangtian tested things out, and indeed, the laws of space here were somewhat chaotic and fragile.
If one rashly cast a teleportation technique, it was very likely to tear space apart directly, getting sucked into the spatial turbulence and lost without a trace.
"However, flying poses no problem. These nine peaks may baffle ordinary cultivators, but they cannot stop me with my Seven-Colored Divine Light."
With this thought, under Ou Shangtian's deliberate manipulation, the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light formed a protective ring around his body, radiating its own rhythm outward like a great sun high in the heavens.
With a slight shift of thought, a suit of armor likewise shimmering with seven-colored radiance suddenly appeared on Ou Shangtian's body.
His master's voice rang in his ears at the same time: "This item is named the Flowing Light Armor, forged from nine-heavens thunderbolts and morning-breath rainbows. Once worn, your flying speed can rival lightning, and it can disregard the vast majority of attacks..."
Ou Shangtian gave it a test.
Looking from afar at the summit of the mountain range ahead, his vision blurred for just an instant, and the next moment he was already atop the peak.
"So fast?!" Even Ou Shangtian, the one wielding it, could not help being shaken.
Under the dual empowerment of the Flowing Light Armor and the Seven-Colored Jade Void Flowing Light, his speed had reached an unimaginable degree.
Even though he flew through the sky so conspicuously, his whole body radiating brilliant seven-colored radiance, his speed was so extreme that not a single cultivator in the entire Jiushan Province was able to detect him.
Even the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Dao Integration garrisons were no exception.
Ou Shangtian was somewhat cautious at first, but after confirming that no one could detect him, he gradually relaxed. An exhilarating thrill of being able to do whatever he pleased even welled up within him.
"Thrilling! Truly thrilling!"
In the span of a few breaths, he had already zipped back and forth across the vast Jiushan Province several times. The sensation of tearing through the sky like wind and lightning intoxicated him.
At the same time, doubts crept into his mind: "Just flying around endlessly like this will draw out that Stone Slab?
"Is it really that mystical? Moving this fast, what if he can't even find me?
"Should I try slowing down a bit?"
Just as Ou Shangtian's thoughts began to wander, an inexplicable sense of crisis abruptly surged in his heart.
A vision suddenly welled up in his mind.
The world suddenly went dark.
As if held by an invisible shackle, no matter how hard he flew, he could not escape the domain enveloped in darkness. In despair, his body could only slide slowly toward the center of the dark abyss.
...
"!"
Ou Shangtian's heart jolted violently.
He knew this was the spontaneous warning of his other companion wonder besides the Kunqian Bone Hand: the Myriad Deaths Ledger.
"What ghostly thing was that? Stone Slab?"
The foreseen scene made Ou Shangtian's hair stand on end. Without a moment's hesitation, he detonated an array coronet he had prepared long in advance.
In an instant, countless arrays deployed and formed a protective barrier around Ou Shangtian at the center.
Only then did the phantom vision from the Myriad Deaths Ledger slowly disperse.
Yet the sense of danger in Ou Shangtian's heart did not fade in the least. As the caster, he could clearly feel that the hundreds of thousands of arrays he had personally deployed around himself were vanishing at an unthinkable speed.
Yet from beginning to end, he saw no one breaking the formations. It was as if something were silently devouring them.
The horror in his chest deepened. Taking advantage of the brief window while the protective arrays still held, Ou Shangtian hurled several more array coronets into his surroundings.
As layer upon layer of arrays unfolded in succession, an illusory silhouette was forced to slowly reveal its form.
Ou Shangtian dared not look any further.
"Earth vein!"
Crying out inwardly, Ou Shangtian plunged straight from the sky into the ground, disappearing in a flash.
The myriad arrays he left behind, however, were bizarrely compressed into solid page-like sheets that floated slowly before the abruptly appearing figure.
The figure gradually revealed his true appearance—a scholar's guise, with a remarkably conspicuous stone slab strapped to his back.
Whenever he took hold of a page and finished reading it, the page would vanish from his hand in a flicker of fluorescent light, seemingly branded onto the stone slab behind him.
The scholar was in no hurry to pursue the fleeing Ou Shangtian. Instead, he unhurriedly read through all the pages in his hands.
His originally calm countenance gradually furrowed into a frown.
"When did the arrays of the Xuanhuang Realm advance to such a stage?
"And that light of the world...
"Could he be an outsider?"
Once the pages in his hand had completely vanished, the scholar cast a glance toward the location where he sensed Ou Shangtian.
"Such speed. And he even has the Earth Vein Ancient Tree as an accomplice..."
The scholar sorted through the recent records on the stone slab, finding no relevant entries.
"With more and more external provinces arriving, the stone slab known as all-knowing is ultimately falling short of its name.
"Wuyou, you were right. Nothing is truly eternal. Not immortals, and not even the power we Longevity cultivators pride ourselves on."
Although this matter clearly reeked of a conspiracy, practically screaming an attempt to lure him forward, Stone Slab felt not the slightest trace of fear in his heart. Instead, he felt only curiosity.
Taking a single stride, the next instant he arrived at the spot where Ou Shangtian had just been.
However, as if prepared well in advance, Ou Shangtian had already slipped a step ahead into the earth veins.
The surging earth veins roared and thundered; even Stone Slab would find it difficult to pinpoint the trace of a single ant within them.
Yet Stone Slab was in no rush. Knowing the other party would surely surface again, he simply remained in place, waiting.
"Intriguing. It seems whoever is behind the scenes understands me quite well."
Without the slightest anger at being toyed with, a faint smile appeared on Stone Slab's face instead.
Just like that, bit by bit, Stone Slab was drawn to a tranquil Daoist temple in the mountains.
Ou Shangtian fled no further, standing respectfully behind an imposing figure.
Stone Slab's gaze shifted from Ou Shangtian onto this figure.
After observing for a moment, the smile at the corners of Stone Slab's mouth finally faded, replaced by a trace of perplexity and solemnity.
The person before him gave him a feeling that was both faintly familiar and faintly alarming.
"I cannot sense the aura of the unity of body and Dao. Not the Longevity realm? Or perhaps, like me, he achieved Longevity through ancient methods?" Stone Slab secretly surmised.
"Isn't it tiring just standing there? Come in and take a seat." After a moment of confrontation between the two, Li Ping took the initiative to speak.
With just this single sentence, the tense, blade-drawn atmosphere was shattered.
Rather than enemies crossing paths, it sounded like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years greeting one another familiarly.
Stone Slab immediately felt a touch of strangeness in his heart.
Even so, he replied softly, "Very well."
Following Li Ping, he entered the Daoist temple below.
Passing through the temple, Li Ping did not pause, continuing on until he reached the edge of a pond behind it.
"Fellow Daoist, how long have you carried that stone slab on your back?" Li Ping asked.
Stone Slab was slightly taken aback, then answered without hiding anything, "Thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-two years."
"Thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-two years," Li Ping repeated the number.
"It sounds like a very long time, but it is only thirty-odd thousand years after all. Compared to the lifespan of the Xuanhuang Realm, it is insignificant, to say nothing of the sea of stars beyond it," Li Ping said with a sigh.
Stone Slab chimed in, "Indeed. Thirty thousand years passes in the blink of an eye. To Heaven and Earth, it may not be worth mentioning. But to an ordinary mortal like me, it is truly rather long."
"An ordinary mortal..." Ou Shangtian could not help muttering under his breath at this moment.
Li Ping chuckled. "Shangtian, do not be impolite. This senior speaks the truth; he is indeed merely an ordinary person."
Ou Shangtian did not dare disobey the Sacred Emperor, quickly bowing to Stone Slab in apology.
Stone Slab did not hold it against him at all, staring straight at Li Ping instead. "You... seem to know me very well?"
Li Ping did not confirm it. "I merely empathize to some degree.
"I, too, am just an ordinary person, only bearing a destined mission."
Hearing these words, Ou Shangtian lowered his head even further, terrified of revealing the slightest sign of oddity.
Stone Slab, however, was lost in thought, studying Li Ping intently.
That towering stature was unlike that of an ordinary cultivator. The several auras coiling and clinging to him were extraordinarily profound and mystical, preventing Stone Slab from taking him lightly.
"Fellow Daoist, for what purpose have you lured me here? Surely not just for a casual chat?" In the end, Stone Slab took the initiative to ask, putting an end to their cryptic exchanges.
"I have come to help Fellow Daoist find release," Li Ping said in a deep voice.
These blunt words caused Ou Shangtian to raise his head, a glimmer of excitement flashing in his eyes.
Stone Slab narrowed his eyes, instinctively on guard.
"It seems Fellow Daoist has misunderstood me. I truly wish to help you find release." A hint of disappointment lingered in Li Ping's tone.
The Faceless Sacred Emperor pointed around them.
"Could it be Fellow Daoist hasn't noticed anything amiss here?"
Hearing this, Stone Slab's attention finally shifted from the Faceless Sacred Emperor to his surroundings.
Looking around, his gaze ultimately came to rest upon that tranquil little pond.
Chapter 1250