Feng Feiyun initially wanted to follow Xiao Nuolan and the Good Corpse towards the Grand Southern Prefecture to reclaim his Azure Bronze Spirit Vessel. However, there was an unexpected detour. It seemed that this dark-faced young man, Bi Ningshuai, had been waiting for him for a long time and wouldn’t let him leave.
“There is not much time left. If we can’t steal the Cloak of Invisibility, both of us will die.” The thief also saw the blood bracelet on Feng Feiyun’s wrist and understood that they both suffered the same fate.
The mysterious master was a devil. All were mere pawns that couldn’t escape from the master’s control.
The bracelet has become a thorn in Feng Feiyun’s heart, but he couldn’t destroy it despite having numerous methods. A Spirit Treasure had enough power to do so, but the backlash would be too strong. Feng Feiyun almost shattered his own wrist with this method, so he could only stop in the end.
He paused to look at the sky and noticed several rays of light streaking to the horizon while carrying supreme power. Characters of the tower lord level were heading for the Wanxiang Pagoda’s central location.
The Grand Southern Prefecture has undergone a great change. The undefeated divine army has fled. They were all slaughtered for three thousand miles, shocking the world, so the tower lords had to urgently convene to discuss countermeasures.
“Dong! Dong!” The bell of the Bell Tower echoed across the mountains for an entire day as if it was mourning the tragic deaths of those that fell on the battlefield!
Every now and then, a ray of light would streak across the sky, creating a fluctuation in the atmosphere. Many tower lords were summoned from their isolated cultivation sessions.
There was a familiar figure crossing the sky with her hair tied up while bearing a noble aura. This was the Spirit Treasure Tower Lord. She was also summoned by the bell to participate in the meeting.
Feng Feiyun’s eyes were burning with fire as he stared into the sky: “The Spirit Treasure Tower Lord has left her tower. This is the best time to steal the cloth.”
He had met this tower lord before. It was someone of the Giant level. As long as she was presiding over the tower, there would be no chance of stealing the Cloak of Invisibility.
“This tower lord has lived for several hundred years, yet she is still so beautiful. Time cannot leave a trace on her body.” Bi Ningshuai stared at the flying figure in the sky.
“If you don’t go now, she’ll return soon.” Feng Feiyun kicked him as a reminder before running for the treasure tower.
This kick hit Bi Ningshuai’s butt right where his unhealed wound was. His mouth contorted from the pain: “Fuck!”
He cursed and rubbed his buttocks before giving chase.
Their cultivations could be praised as kings among the younger generation, so they were quite swift; they managed to reach the treasure tower before the return of its lord.
The green bamboo forest stretched for thousands of miles like an ocean of bamboo trees. Lights were flashing in this place. They were the millennium spirit grasses and spirit flowers planted by the seniors of the Spirit Treasure Pagoda.
There were countless amazing treasures in this region, but they all had masters.
This was Bi Ningshuai’s first time visiting this sacred location, so he was frightened by this scene. This was worthy of being called the holy ground of Treasure Masters. After all, treasures were scattered everywhere.
He was also an expert appraiser and had read through the “Spirit Treasure Rankings” written by Scholar Heaven Calculating several times. A few items from there were right before his eyes; they were tempting him to take them.
“This is a spirit flower on the ‘Spirit Treasures Rankings’! It has grown for more than three thousand years and can prolong the life of a Heaven’s Mandate expert by fifty years.” He glanced at a peak not far from there and noticed a pink flower the size of a person. It also resembled a wisp of flame, so one could see it from a hundred miles away.
Next to the red flower sat an old man with gray hair and a gray beard. He was immovable with an ancient sword hanging on his back. There was a Heaven’s Mandate cultivator who wanted to steal this flower and was cut down by him. The cultivator’s corpse was buried underground to become fertilizer for this flower.
This red flower had a great background. It once grew in a tomb in some ancient ruins. A rank seven Treasure Master dug it out from there and planted it back here in this sacred ground. Ever since then, a top expert had been protecting it.
“Damn! Is that the violet bamboo on the list? I heard that a wise sage tried to obtain rebirth on this bamboo. He was almost successful but was ultimately swallowed by the heavens.” The thief saw a violet bamboo in the water in front of them. His feet suddenly stopped since he couldn’t bear to leave.
This was a bamboo tree where the wise stayed to comprehend the dao. It was 380 meters tall and thicker than a big water bucket. It resembled a purple divine tree as its leaves fluttered up into the clouds.
Bi Ningshuai was quite shaken and wanted to dig it out but was stopped by Feng Feiyun.
“Another powerful expert is learning up there. If you want to die, then go for it!” On the first day of visiting this place with Murong Ta, Feng Feiyun had recognized how amazing this tree was. He wanted to open a cave under it but was stopped by a heavenly saber of the Spirit Treasure level. If he didn’t back off fast enough, he would have died under its edge.
Despite not being a Treasure Master, Bi Ningshuai’s spiritual sense was frightening. It was one hundred times more than an ordinary man — not much weaker than Feng Feiyun’s. He noticed a terrifying aura coming from the top of the bamboo tree and made him not dare to even breathe.
Even though his heart didn’t want to, he still left in the end.
‘After surpassing the earth tribulation to reach first level Heaven’s Mandate, I will definitely come back and steal all the treasures here.’ Both Feng Feiyun and Bi Ningshuai shared this thought. However, both of them were pretending to be indifferent. Along the way, they saw more and more treasures, but they went past them without a care.
A man adorned with silver armor spoke: “The primary ground of the Spirit Treasure Tower is only for the teachers of the tower, no trespassing is allowed. Juniors, leave now.” If it wasn’t for the white robes signifying their studenthood, he would have directly attacked Feng Feiyun and Bi Ningshuai instead of wasting his breath.
Feng Feiyun had been here once, but he had a teacher leading him in back then and didn’t see these armored soldiers protecting the tower.
Another armored guard showed up. These two were quite powerful and gave off an unfathomable and irresistible power.
“I am the successor of the Divine King, here on his order.” Feng Feiyun took out a black insignia token. It was around the size of a palm and weighed 99 pounds with the words “Divine King” engraved on it. An oppressive aura came from it as if the Divine King was here himself.
“Thump! Thump!” Both of the guards put away their spears and kneeled with one knee on the ground: “Hail the Divine King.”
There was only one token like this in the entire world, and it represented the will of the Divine King. It used the same material as the “Divine Seal” of the Jin Emperor and the “Queen’s Order” of the Divine Queen. It had been passed down for thousands of years and contained the untouchable prestige of the royal family. [1. Note, Divine Queen should be the emperor’s wife, not the Divine King’s. Divine Empress would make more sense, but I’m not using it for the wife’s position.]
The Divine King’s Insignia weighed 99 pounds; the Divine Seal was 308 pounds; the Queen’s Order was 63 pounds. All of them were created from a rare divine metal that had been used completely. One would be hard-pressed to find the same metal once more in the present.
Although Feng Feiyun had the insignia, he had yet to win its recognition since he was not bestowed the title of Divine King just yet. This meant that he couldn’t carve his own mark on the insignia, and he wouldn’t be able to use the sacred power accumulated from the previous Divine Kings.
Seeing the insignia was akin to seeing the Divine King, so how could these two guards not kneel?
“Seniors, please rise.” Feng Feiyun naturally didn’t dare to act arrogantly and put away the insignia shortly after.
The two guards finally stood up and made way for Feng Feiyun. The Divine King and the Spirit Treasure Tower Lord were both members of the royal family, so it was understandable for the king to send his own disciple to the treasure tower.
Moreover, they knew that Feng Feiyun was once a disciple of the treasure tower. After going through the sixth level of the Immeasurable Tower, he was then taken in as a disciple by the Divine King.
“The Divine King actually gave the insignia to him. It seems like the king truly intends on grooming him to be the successor.” One of the silver guards watched the two youths in white daoist robes disappear into the bamboo forest.
The other guard said with emotion: “One must be undefeated to become the new Divine King. He must accept challenges from all the young lords and trample on countless corpses to reach the peak. It was the same for the current Divine King; his path was one of blood and bones.”
The two of them glanced at each other before sinking into the ground. They were only guards and didn’t dare to comment and overstep their bounds.
After passing through the two guards, the duo saw more tower guards along the way, one stronger than the previous. There was even a character at the half-Giant level blocking their path.
However, after seeing the insignia, the bunch all performed a similar ceremony before retreating into the darkness once more.
“Damn… Brother Feng, can you lend me your insignia to play with for two days?” Bi Ningshuai’s eyes were full of envy after seeing the insignia and kept on glancing at Feng Feiyun.
Feng Feiyun, on the other hand, was very wary of him and hid the insignia in his Boundary Spirit Stone before tightly clasping it. There was no chance for Bi Ningshuai to do anything.
“Are we that familiar?” Feng Feiyun didn’t want to stay close to him. Just a moment of carelessness and even his underwear would be stolen by this thief.
“Of course we are! We are the ‘Dao’ Gate’s heroic duo, there is no place in this world where we don’t dare to steal, nothing we don’t dare to rob. Our names shall echo across the world in the future.” [2. The “dao” here means “steal”, not “dao” as in “the way”. “We are the “Robbery” Gate — is the intent, but it sounds like Dao Gate.]
His eyes were fixated on the spatial stone in Feng Feiyun’s palm. A strange glimmer flashed across his pupils for he recognized it.
The Boundary Spirit Stone was ranked 14th among the mysterious gems and was as precious as a Spirit Treasure. It was tempting him quite a bit.
Feng Feiyun held the stone even tighter as he replied: “We are here at the treasure tower. The cloak is hidden on the 81st floor, go and return quickly.”
He stood there coolly as if he had no intention of entering.
“Just me alone?” Bi Ningshuai noticed that Feng Feiyun wasn’t following him, so he stepped back.
“Of course, I’ll stand outside and keep an eye out for you.” Feng Feiyun sat down on a white boulder in the bamboo forest and smiled: “If we are the ‘Dao’ Gate’s heroic duo, then we need to divide our responsibilities clearly. If the tower lord comes back, I’ll immediately inform you.”
‘Your sister!’ Bi Ningshuai wanted to curse. Even though the tower lord was not present, this tower was still full of dangers with as many experts as the clouds in the sky. Sneaking inside and stealing the Cloak of Invisibility was tantamount to pulling chestnuts out of a fire.
If you want to divide the responsibilities clearly, then why don’t you fucking go and I’ll stay guard outside?!