The abyss felt as though it plunged straight into hell. Zhang Yuanqing fell for two full minutes without hitting the bottom.
The deeper he went, the heavier the chill grew, and the more palpable the sealing power became. Fortunately, the divine power of the sun stood transcendent above worldly matters; coursing through his body, it provided warmth, dispelling the freezing cold and slowing the progression of the seal.
Finally, Zhang Yuanqing landed with a soft patter, his soles meeting a surface of hard ice.
The bottom of the abyss was devoid of light, but his night vision as a Night Wanderer allowed him to see his surroundings clearly.
Beneath his feet lay a thick layer of ice. Ahead was a cavern whose walls, ceiling, and floor were likewise coated in heavy, solid ice, resembling hawthorns encased in sugar.
The sound of breathing beside his ears grew even clearer.
Just then, Xiahou Aotian touched down lightly, wrapped in a dark red overcoat.
"So cold... I'm about to freeze solid." Xiahou Aotian tucked his hands into his sleeves, shivering as he savored what little heat the coat offered. Glancing at Zhang Yuanqing, who was standing straight and unyielding beside him, he grumbled sourly, "Day Wanderers really have it good. Thick-skinned and tough."
Zhang Yuanqing looked him up and down. "You're wearing a Fire Master's coat and you're still cold?"
"Most of the props' functions are sealed down here too... Hmm, this chilling aura seems to stem from the Eternal Night profession. But isn't Secrets of the Five Elements a dungeon of our Second District? Why does it possess power from the First District?" Xiahou Aotian stomped his feet and rubbed his hands together.
"The person sealed in the abyss probably traveled to the First District in ancient times and obtained an extremely high-tier sealing artifact or substance from there," Zhang Yuanqing offered his view.
From within the black iron thumb ring, the Qin dynasty fangshi's deep voice urged, "This is no place for idle chatter. Enter the cavern at once."
*The old fangshi cares an awful lot about the First Emperor's whereabouts. Just what grudge does he have against the First Emperor?* Zhang Yuanqing drew a deep breath, reining in the excitement surging within him, and led Xiahou Aotian into the cavern.
He was about to see Brother Bing.
Their boot soles crunched against the solid ice with creaking noises. In his palm, Xiahou Aotian ignited a clump of Samadhi True Fire, using the dim flames to inspect their surroundings.
The cavern ran deep, entirely empty within. After walking slowly for fifty or sixty meters, they finally reached the end.
The first thing that caught their attention was a black stone sarcophagus resting upon a platform of frigid ice, its exterior encased in a thick glaze of frost.
The second was a figure seated cross-legged beside the sarcophagus. He was clad in camouflage military trousers and a white tank top, his muscles bulging and sinewy. His facial features were ordinary—thick eyebrows, a high nose, and a somewhat squarish jaw—which, combined with his attire and physique, gave off the rugged air of a wild, burly man.
At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing felt a lump in his throat, and his eyes grew wet despite himself.
Xiahou Aotian tore his gaze from the sarcophagus and looked toward the seated figure, surprised. "Why is there someone here? Is he a Spirit Realm walker matched into the Secrets of the Five Elements dungeon? Looks like a Bewitching Demon, or maybe a Fire Master."
Having spoken, he noticed Yuanshi Tianzun standing motionless like a clay figurine, and walked over to scrutinize him.
Seeing Zhang Yuanqing's expression, Xiahou Aotian blinked in surprise, realization dawning on him. "You know him?"
"I don't," Zhang Yuanqing denied in a cold, flat tone.
Despite his words, he disregarded the sarcophagus and walked straight up to the frozen figure, staring at it in total silence.
The ice sculpture sat in utter stillness—no warmth, no breath, no spiritual fluctuations.
Zhang Yuanqing gazed for a long while before finally pulling his eyes away. Turning to the heavy sarcophagus, he said, "I'm about to take out the Buliangren waist token now."
He said this to the old man in the ring.
The Qin dynasty fangshi remained silent for several seconds before replying, "You may."
Xiahou Aotian urged, "Hurry up! My fire is shrinking, and I feel like I'm walking stark naked across the Arctic tundra."
His complexion had already begun turning pale and bluish.
Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory and took out the waist token he had stowed away earlier.
The moment the waist token left the inventory, the sarcophagus sealed in ice exerted a pulling force, dragging the token toward it.
Upon touching the sarcophagus, the multicolored bronze waist token dissolved into pure energy, penetrating the shell of ice and flowing inward.
At this sight, Zhang Yuanqing and Xiahou Aotian instinctively raised their guard, bracing for the worst.
As the five-colored energy poured into the sarcophagus, Zhang Yuanqing sensed a faint mental fluctuation emerge from within out of nowhere—or more accurately, awaken.
The feeble mental fluctuation did not erupt violently as they had anticipated. Instead, it lingered in a dazed, half-asleep, half-awake state.
Presently, a faint mental pulse emanated from the sarcophagus:
"Who has brought my waist token?"
Neither Xiahou Aotian nor the Qin dynasty fangshi inside the ring made a sound.
Zhang Yuanqing tentatively replied, "Senior, it is I."
Having said so, he distinctly sensed mental power spill out from the sarcophagus, scanning him over.
"What year and month is it now?" The mental fluctuation within the sarcophagus suddenly intensified.
"January 2023. Fourteen hundred years have passed since your dynasty." Zhang Yuanqing did not treat him lightly or disrespectfully just because the other party seemed weak.
For the entity within the sarcophagus had merely awakened a single wisp of conscious thought.
"2023... 2023..." The consciousness within the sarcophagus murmured to itself.
*He seems to care greatly about time?* Zhang Yuanqing keenly sensed something amiss. To a figure of this caliber, the passage of time like a fleeting white colt would be nothing out of the ordinary. Never mind the sea turning into mulberry fields outside—even if the world had ended, he probably wouldn't have been too surprised.
The thought from the sarcophagus conveyed a sense of exhilaration:
"I have endured until the arrival of the new era... I have finally outlasted time, awakening in an age where longevity is possible... A pity that I cannot yet emerge."
After muttering to himself for a moment, he reined in his emotions, his mental fluctuations turning calm once more. "Lad, the fact that you obtained my waist token means you are fated with me. If you have come seeking magical treasures or other wealth, you may leave. I have nothing to give you."
As Zhang Yuanqing was framing how to respond, an excited and urgent mental vibration burst from Xiahou Aotian's thumb ring:
"Are you... Are you the First Emperor?"
The consciousness in the sarcophagus replied:
"The First Emperor? Heh, I am not he."
"You are not him? You are not him!" the Qin dynasty fangshi murmured, his tone a tangled mixture of delight and regret, relief and lingering unwillingness.
Seeing that the Qin dynasty fangshi was lost in his own emotions, Zhang Yuanqing took the initiative to ask, "Are you the Commander of the Buliangren from the Tang dynasty? The commander during the Empress's reign?"
"I am."
"How did you comprehend the Secrets of the Five Elements?" Zhang Yuanqing got straight to the point.
The thought in the sarcophagus replied indifferently, "No comment."
*What happened to being 'fated' with me?* Zhang Yuanqing grumbled internally, then changed tack: "Then do you know the First Emperor's whereabouts? Or any news of him?"
To this, the consciousness in the sarcophagus merely responded, "The First Emperor was the first figure throughout history to comprehend the power of the five elements. As for his whereabouts, I know nothing."
*Now that's strange!*
According to the intel from the Turmoil of the Five Elements dungeon, the power of the five elements was inherited through body snatching. Unless the Commander of the Buliangren had comprehended the mysteries of the five elements entirely on his own, he must have been possessed as well.
Or rather, that wasn't entirely accurate: "Commander of the Buliangren" was merely his identity during the Tang dynasty; he surely had others before that.
If the Commander wasn't the First Emperor, then where was the First Emperor?
Could the First Emperor's five elements essence be buried in some forgotten corner of the Spirit Realm, never claimed by anyone?
Yet that was impossible. According to the Qin dynasty fangshi, the First Emperor was a Human Immortal, and the Commander was also a Human Immortal. Being a Human Immortal meant possessing administrator privileges.
A complete set of administrator privileges might be split among three or four early-stage demigods, but it could never be divided into three or four mid-stage demigods.
At most two.
With five Alliance Masters in the real world, the administrator privileges within the Spirit Realm should consist of only the First Emperor's share.
Unless the Commander was indeed the First Emperor, but simply refused to admit it.
Just then, the Qin dynasty fangshi sighed. "You are indeed not His Majesty. If you truly were His Majesty, you would not deny it. The First Emperor possessed grand vision and great talent, but he was also supercilious and disdainful of lying."
*Ah? He really isn't the First Emperor? Old man, aren't you jumping to conclusions a bit too quickly...?* Zhang Yuanqing was skeptical, though he placed considerable trust in the Qin dynasty fangshi.
Bringing Xiahou Aotian along had been motivated precisely by the adage: "An elder in the family is a treasure in the house."
He had worried that if he truly met the Commander of the Buliangren, a situation like this would arise where he couldn't tell whether the other party was speaking the truth or lies.
Having an antique around yielded more benefits than drawbacks.
Without dwelling further on whether the Commander was truly the First Emperor, he asked, "Why are you sealed here?"
"As I said earlier, to outlast time, for longevity." The thought in the sarcophagus instantly turned low and weathered with age. "Since ancient times, princes and generals, peddlers and foot-soldiers alike cannot escape death. No matter how brilliant your talent or how overwhelming your power, all turns to dust. Heroes of every era have chased after longevity, and I was no exception. At my peak, I traveled far overseas, where I obtained a supreme treasure capable of prolonging life from a group of foreigners. I brought it back to the Central Plains, ordered artisans to craft it into this sarcophagus, and sealed myself beneath the earth until today."
The consciousness in the sarcophagus recounted steadily:
"Sealing oneself cannot entirely halt the flow of time, but I am a Human Immortal with vast longevity, which allows me to race against time. Anyone below the Human Immortal level, even if sealed here, would turn into an icy corpse within three hundred years."
Hearing this, Xiahou Aotian instinctively raised a question: "This method isn't complicated. Why were you the only one who chose to travel overseas? Were all the Human Immortals throughout history blockheads?"
Having gone without speaking to anyone for so many years, the consciousness in the sarcophagus welcomed the rare conversation and replied promptly:
"Because I received an oracle from Haotian God, granting me the means to longevity."
*Haotian God—Haotian God again!* Zhang Yuanqing's gaze focused slightly. The First Emperor had also forged the Heaven-Worship Set, performed the Fengshan sacrifices to Heaven atop Mount Tai, and received Haotian God's oracle, learning the secret to longevity.
Xiahou Aotian blurted out bluntly, "What the hell is Haotian God?"
"Silence!" the Qin dynasty fangshi rebuked coldly.
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head at Xiahou Aotian, signaling him not to speak recklessly, and asked after a moment of thought, "Senior, how did you communicate with Haotian God?"
The consciousness in the sarcophagus replied, "By means of the Heaven-Worship Set left behind by the First Emperor."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing's heart stirred with a surge of excitement and joy. The Heaven-Worship Set was still missing a headpiece, but its location remained unknown. Dungeons were vast and countless, their coordinates intricate and convoluted; searching for it cost Uncle immense time and effort, and waiting for the Spirit Realm to allocate it naturally was even less likely.
He immediately asked with excitement:
"Senior, do you know where the headpiece of the Heaven-Worship Set is?"
The Commander of the Buliangren might not know its current whereabouts, but having used it in the past, he could surely offer some valuable clues.
"I have slept for fourteen hundred years. How could I know where the crown is today?" the consciousness in the sarcophagus said. "In my era, the White Emperor Crown was the crowning treasure of Shushan, a sect of sword cultivators. Back then, I borrowed this artifact from Shushan to assemble the complete Heaven-Worship Set, and only then received Haotian's oracle."
"Shushan?" Hearing the name of this sect for the first time, Zhang Yuanqing found it somewhat familiar.
A thought struck him, and he remembered.
Among the intel on White Tiger Guards' guild dungeons that Fu Qingyang had given him, there was one called "Shushan Southern Courtyard."
At this moment, the consciousness inside the sarcophagus began to weaken. The Commander seemed on the verge of falling back to sleep.
Operating on the principle of squeezing out every bit of information he could, Zhang Yuanqing pressed:
"Senior, what kind of entity is Haotian God? He told you the method for longevity, but did he tell you how to break free?"
"Lad, if you wish to know what kind of entity Haotian God is, gather the Heaven-Worship Set yourself. As for how I am to break free, it requires the right moment... It requires the birth of the Lord of the Sun to melt the ice..."
The voice within the sarcophagus gradually faded until it vanished completely.
Xiahou Aotian called out a few times, but seeing no reaction from the Commander, he hurriedly said, "I can barely hold on any longer. Let's head up."
White frost had coated his eyelashes, his lips were purple, his face was as pale as snow, and the dark red coat he wore had frozen stiff.
"You go up first," Zhang Yuanqing said without moving, speaking softly. "Give me a few minutes."
Xiahou Aotian gritted his teeth. "You have to come up within three minutes."
With the flickering, sputtering Samadhi True Fire in his palm, he strode out of the cavern.
Once the dim gleam of fire grew distant and vanished completely into the pitch darkness, Zhang Yuanqing sat down beside Lei Yibing.
"Brother Bing, you really weren't being a bro. I was playing games and looking at lewd pictures every damn day, living the easy life, and that character card you sent screwed me over big time.
"You didn't tell me a single thing, hiding here all by yourself. Finding you was bloody exhausting.
"I've got a girlfriend now. Her name's Guan Ya. I have another girlfriend named Xiao Yuan. And oh, Jiang Yu'er isn't my aunt—she's my child bride... Back then, the two of us used to hide under the blankets every day watching 'art films' on an MP4 player, dreaming of having girlfriends, testing theory through practice. Now I've got three wives, and you're still a nobody.
"The decisive battle between orthodox and evil is coming soon. Whether I can become the Lord of the Sun or not, there's hope for your seal to be broken and for you to return to reality... A few days ago, I went to see Auntie Zhou. Felt like she's aged ten years.
"It took me less than a year to advance to Dominator, while you took three. I'm still better. Once you're out, it'll be my turn to cover you.
"To this day, I still don't know what really happened in that battle where the Demon Lord perished."
Amidst his rambling monologue, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly noticed something odd about Brother Bing's right hand. It had remained tucked into his trouser pocket, while his left hand hung down naturally.
*Is there something in his right hand?*
Chapter 890