"A clay jar?"
Hearing Third Senior Sister call out to him, Lu Yang interrupted the Immortal Fairy's explanation.
Unlike the ancient, crude drawings on clay jars in Lu Yang's impression, which required guesswork to decipher, the artwork on this funerary jar from the Ancient Qiongqi's collection was extraordinarily exquisite.
The painting depicted a cataclysmic upheaval in heaven and earth, like the advent of doomsday. All living beings were reduced to mere ants. Even through the jar, Lu Yang could feel that overwhelming sense of suffocating despair; before such mighty power, there was not the slightest room for resistance. The Ancient Qiongqi spread his wings wide, desperately shielding his clan.
The intent of the painting was to celebrate the Ancient Qiongqi's magnificent achievements, how he had once protected the Qiongqi Clan during a great disaster.
Yet Lu Yang's focus was not on the Ancient Qiongqi, but on the background of the painting.
This doomsday cataclysm originated from four figures in the background.
Though blurred, every gesture and movement of these four figures exuded their boundless, terrifying might.
"These four figures should be the Four Ancient Celestials," Third Senior Sister said with certainty.
Only the legendary Four Ancient Celestials could compel the Ancient Qiongqi to spread his wings in such a desperate bid to protect his kin.
"It should be so." Lu Yang nodded with a solemn expression, having roughly guessed the scene depicted in the painting.
"The question is, what kind of enemy could force the Four Ancient Celestials to join hands?"
Third Senior Sister was thoroughly perplexed. Judging from their positioning, the Four Ancient Celestials stood in a line, united on the same side.
What enemy in ancient times could have caused four such peerless, invincible beings to team up?
Third Senior Sister had searched through all the ancient texts she knew, yet had never found any record of a matching opponent.
Lu Yang fell silent. Of course there was one: the mysterious being capable of assassinating the Immortal Fairy and rousing the furious wrath of the Four Ancient Celestials.
This painting captured the battle where the Four Ancient Celestials fought the celestial who had assassinated the Immortal Fairy. It was completely unlike the usual spars among the Five Ancient Celestials, which were meant to exchange cultivation insights, learn from one another, identify shortcomings, and grow together without dealing lethal blows.
This time was different. The Four Ancient Celestials were fighting a mysterious celestial in a full-blown battle of five immortals going all out with nothing held back. It was likely that no clash in history could match the scale and caliber of this confrontation!
This was the most powerful clash since the dawn of time!
A battle of the ages!
Even half-immortals lacked the qualifications to intervene!
However, he could not mention any of this to Third Senior Sister. Eldest Senior Sister had warned him that the mastermind's identity and motives remained unknown, and the Immortal Fairy's existence must not be exposed.
If the mastermind discovered that the Immortal Fairy had revived, they might slaughter everyone who knew about her existence.
Lu Yang shook his head, feigning ignorance as to who the opponent of the Four Ancient Celestials could be.
Just as Third Senior Sister showed a hint of disappointment, Lu Yang pointed to another detail in the painting.
"Third Senior Sister, look. In the background of this painting, there are other planets, and each has a ring of light around it. It looks like a protective barrier."
The Four Ancient Celestials had not lost their reason to fury; even in the midst of intense combat, they had spared the concentration to protect these planets.
Without this layer of protection, most of the living beings across the entire universe would have perished.
"It really is!" Third Senior Sister was astonished. This was a monumental discovery. Current historical records only documented Immortal Jiuchong using Breathing Earth to save people, without any mention of the other three celestials doing so, which had led to long-standing disputes in the historical community over their moral character.
Now one thing was clear—the Four Ancient Celestials did not view all living beings as mere ants.
In truth, Lu Yang had not discovered this detail on his own. He had never seen the Four Ancient Celestials in action and did not know what those glowing halos enclosing the planets were; it was the Immortal Fairy who had recognized them.
Inside his spiritual space, Lu Yang frowned. Now that it was certain the Four Ancient Celestials were the Ancient Nameless One, and that they had used measures to protect the stars during battle, it contradicted the historical records he knew.
According to history, the Ancient Nameless One had refined stars into a continent, causing countless casualties and leading to a severance in history where not even ancient languages were passed down. Only later did the Great Qian Dynasty rise from the ruins, inaugurating the era of human imperial dynasties.
If the Four Ancient Celestials were the ones who refined the stars, how could they have disregarded the lives of all living beings and caused history to be severed in the process?
"Could it be that after refining the stars into a continent, something else happened that led to the historical severance?"
Lu Yang suddenly remembered: there was still the Xinhuo Dynasty of unknown origins!
The Xinhuo Dynasty had been discovered within the Immortal Secret Realm. Dating placed it in the ancient era, yet strangely, there was not a single contemporary record mentioning the Xinhuo Dynasty, not even its name!
What on earth had happened during the Xinhuo Dynasty?
"Old Lu, come over and take a look at what's painted on this clay jar," Meng Jingzhou called out to Lu Yang, unwilling to let such a living fossil go to waste.
The jar Meng Jingzhou referred to stood on the other side of the primary tomb, depicting a ferocious clash between a dragon and a tiger.
A Qiongqi and a true dragon were locked in an earth-shattering struggle, while a radiant figure descended from the heavens to halt the battle between the two peerless Demon Emperors.
Before Lu Yang could answer, Third Senior Sister, rich in historical lore, chimed in with an explanation.
"This is a very famous Buddhist legend; you've probably all heard it. The Qiongqi Clan and the Dragon Clan are natural enemies whose conflicts are irreconcilable. Once, a Qiongqi and a true dragon fought a tremendous battle, flooding the eight wildernesses and throwing the world into chaos. Fortunately, a Buddha intervened, subduing both the Qiongqi and the true dragon to restore peace to the realm. This is also the origin of the Buddhist saying about the Buddha possessing 'the power to subdue dragons and tame tigers.'
"Based on my research, this battle was very likely a fight between the Ancient Qiongqi and the Old Ancestor of the Dragon Clan over a seat of immortality, which someone interrupted halfway through.
"In fact, having this painting displayed here also puzzles me. This clearly depicts a scene of subduing a dragon and taming a tiger, which is a disgrace to the Qiongqi Clan's reputation. Why would it be placed here as a funerary object?"
Meanwhile, Lu Yang was listening to the Immortal Fairy's words in his head.
"Old Qiongqi had a little daughter who was gorgeous and remarkably talented, nearly rivaling Old Qiongqi himself. Many pursued Little Qiongqi, but she looked down on everyone except Immortal Kirin. Coincidentally, Immortal Kirin fancied her too, and sparks flew between them. Later, an exceptional prodigy from the Dragon Clan found out. Furious, she went to confront Little Qiongqi, and the two ended up brawling.
"However, Little Qiongqi was no match for the Dragon Clan prodigy and took a beating. That was when Immortal Kirin showed up, blatantly taking sides while sweet-talking and doing everything he could to calm them down. I heard that after returning home, Immortal Kirin had to kneel on a sword formation every single day.
"Later, a few of us put our heads together and adapted the incident into a Buddhist story."
Lu Yang: "..."
What was he supposed to do now? Should he tell Third Senior Sister the truth about Immortal Kirin taking a mistress and getting caught red-handed by his wife?
If Immortal Kirin ever found out, would Lu Yang make it out of this tomb alive?
"Come to think of it, why is only Old Qiongqi buried here? Where is his daughter? Given how much Old Qiongqi doted on her, they should have been buried together."
The Immortal Fairy was puzzled. She recalled that Little Qiongqi was only at the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence stage, not even a half-immortal. She should have died of old age long before Old Qiongqi.
Chapter 579