Book 10 Chapter 8

B10C8: Fight for what?

The atmosphere in the main hall immediately becomes totally tense like the string of a bow.

His pupils contracting, Old Taoist Gan Xu quickly suppresses his aura. At the moment he is like a leopard before attacking. An ice-cold light shoots out from his eyes, sweeping over the other loose immortals and loose devils.

Reverend Yue Yan, Reverend Shui Rou, Huo Lan and Huo Can all become vigilant in the blink of an eye.

People die for valuables and birds die for foods.

A chunk of elemental holy rock is already able to excite these loose immortals and loose devils, who have not passed the 4th tribulation. At that time, after concluding that this whole palace was made entirely of elemental holy rock, none of them hoped and tried to obtain the whole palace. They only hoped to get some tables and stools.

It is not that they did not want to have the entire palace, but they did not dare to.

Just like a mortal who one day sees mountains of gold and oceans of silver, they were scared … because the treasures in this palace are beyond their expectations. Their innermost beings were scared.

Facing a palace as large as an imperial palace on the Qian Long continent and, moreover, made entirely of elemental holy rock, these loose immortals and loose devils were frightened. Their minds were unconsciously frightened by such a large amount of elemental holy rock.

A table and a few stools were enough to excite them to the point of losing self-control but, even though there are more, they were unable to move anything.

However --

Now, because the mansion-guarding stele has appeared, it has become totally possible for them to possess this palace, which they originally thought was immovable.

Possess all of it!

An unlimited amount of elemental holy rock, various kinds of precious decorations, all kinds of artificial mountains, carvings and structures and various kinds of immortal flowers and grasses have become totally obtainable. Such a large amount of elemental holy rock alone will be able to improve their power rapidly. This alone is enough to make them go crazy.

“Ha-ha … Old Taoist Gan Xu, you old geezer, you’re really wicked. You knew the wondrous function of this mansion-guarding stele but you didn’t talk. Could it be you wanted to swallow this entire immortal palace by yourself? With this unlimited amount of elemental holy rock, if you swallowed all of it, how big do you think your stomach would be?” Huo Lan says with a cold laugh.

In the main hall,

Old Taoist Gan Xu and his 2 junior brothers are standing on one side, Huo Lan and Hou Can are next to each other and Reverend Yue Yan and Reverend Shui Rou are also relatively close to each other. Obviously, these 7 loose immortals and loose devils have divided into 3 sides.

Old Taoist Gan Xu says with a cold laugh: “A fiend like you wants to criticize me? I think now you want to get that mansion-guarding stele more than anybody else, right. But … it won’t be so simple to personalize the stone stele. Do you think you have any chance?”

At the same time --

“Reverend Shui Rou, Reverend Yue Yan, we absolutely can’t let this mansion-guarding stele fall into the hands of a fiend, no matter what. So, let’s join forces to kill Huo Lan and his brother first. What do you think?” While talking to Huo Lan using his mouth, this Reverend Gan Xu communicates with Reverend Shui Rou and Reverend Yue Yan using his holy sense.

“Ha-ha … Old Taoist Gan Xu, I am a fiend? Humph, you hypocritical scumbag, you’re probably even more cunning than a fiend like me. Even if we brothers can’t obtain the mansion-guarding stele, your Qingxu Temple won’t even get it in your dreams.” Huo Lan says arrogantly.

Concurrently with that, he says to Reverend Yue Yan and Reverend Shui Rou through holy sense communication: “Reverend Yue Yan, Reverend Shui Rou, we also know about the situation of Xiuxianists on the Teng Long continent. That Qingxu Temple has always been the sole leader and considered itself extraordinary. But in fact, it’s just like a hypocritical prostitute. We Xiumo schools always look down on it. This mansion-guarding stele must not come into their possession because if it does, your Lanyang and Ziyang schools will probably be oppressed even more by them.”

Reverend Yue Yan and Reverend Shui Rou exchange a look.

“Gan Xu, dealing with the fiends is naturally what we Xiuxianists should do. But this mansion-guarding stele is unique so distributing it is going to be a bit troublesome.” Reverend Yue Yan tells Old Taoist Gan Xu through holy sense communication.

“Reverend Yue Yan, it’ll be easy to discuss the matter of distributing this mansion-guarding stele. After all, distributing it will be an internal affair of us loose immortals. No matter what happens, we can’t let those fiends take part in this.” While answering through his holy sense, Old Taoist Gan Xu says to Huo Lan using his mouth: “This immortal mansion belonged to an immortal, yet a fiend like you want to snatch it? Are you dreaming?”

“I am dreaming? Aren’t you the one dreaming when a midget loose immortal like you hopes to obtain such an immortal palace?” Huo Lan says with a cold laugh.

“Huo Lan, that Qingxu Temple has indeed been the sole leader among Xiuxian schools and been one up on us. Of course we know that they are very hypocritical. No matter what happens, Reverend Yue Yan and I aren’t willing to let Old Taoist Gan Xu and his brothers get this immortal mansion.” Reverend Shui Rou tells Huo Lan using her holy sense.

“Good, then let’s join forces to kill Old Taoist Gan Xu and his brothers first. After that, we can slowly spend time on the distribution.” Huo Lan immediately says through his holy sense.

……

Chaos!

In the main hall, the 3 sides openly attack each other with sharp words using their mouths. At the same time, each of them secretly takes the opportunity to try to rope another side in. However, these 7 loose immortals and loose devils are no fools. They are all very cunning.

To what extent is it worth trusting the agreements secretly reached through holy sense communication like that?

As the loose immortals and loose devils are angrily scolding each other, Azure Dragon Yan Lang and the 3 yellow-clad men under him, Yan Mo, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Qin Yu and Li’er, and that black-haired old man all watch this scene happening in the main hall in amazement.

They can hear what is said aloud but they know nothing about what is communicated through holy senses.

All of a sudden, Old Taoist Gan Xu stops talking, as do the 2 Huo brothers.

Old Taoist Gan Xu then turns to one side, giving Qin Yu, Azure Dragon Yan Lang, Yan Mo and the others a look, and scolds angrily: “Get lost.”

Azure Dragon, Reverend Yan Xu, Yi Da, Qin Yu and the others are startled.

At this moment, Huo Lan also stands on the same side as Old Taoist Gan Xu: “All of you listen up. From here on in, nobody is allowed to come into this main hall. Whoever comes in … shall be killed, no matter what.”

“Yan Xu, you can’t come in either.” Old Taoist Gan Xu shouts to Reverend Yan Xu.

“Yes, grand uncle master.” Reverend Yan Xu says respectfully.

Azure Dragon and the 3 yellow-clad men exchange a look. He then says with an indifferent smile: “All right, we know ourselves too. This mansion-guarding stele is precious but if we lost our lives, it would be useless to us. So we’ll just leave now.”

After saying so, he leads the 3 yellow-clad men going out of the main hall.

“Gentlemen, don’t forget the oaths and promises at that time outside the immortal mansion.” Yi Da licks his lips and says smilingly. Afterwards, he turns around very unhesitatingly and goes out of the main hall in large strides.

Yan Mo takes a look at the loose immortals and loose devils then also leaves silently.

“Let’s go, big brother Qin Yu.” Li’er says while pulling Qin Yu’s hand.

Qin Yu frowns. In order to enter the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion, he really used a very great amount of effort along the way, whether in snatching the 8th jade sword, going into the Wilderness searching for the 9th jade sword or getting into this immortal mansion. But now, despite having seen the mansion-guarding stele, he is forced to give up.

Qin Yu knows his power cannot compare so he has no choice but to take a deep breath then smile at everybody. Afterwards, he holds Li’er’s hand and gives her a smile. The 2 of them then leave the main hall just like that.

The black-haired old man stares at that mansion-guarding stele with blazing eyes, but seeing those loose immortals and loose devils, he eventually has to give up.

……

Outside the main hall, Azure Dragon, the 3 yellow-clad men, the black-haired old man, Yi Da and Reverend Yan Xu are all staying at places not far from the main hall looking inside. They also want to see what these loose immortals and loose devils are going to do.

But Qin Yu and Li’er have left. They have gone into a certain small flower garden of the immortal mansion’s palace. A fountain here is forcing water up into the air. The drops of water glitter like pearls. Qin Yu and Li’er are sitting on a bench beside the fountain.

“What’s the matter, Li’er?”

Qin Yu feels that Li’er is a little different from in the past. Even though the 2 of them have hardly talked about love, they have come to romantically accept each other.

When you like someone, you do not necessarily have to say ‘I love you’ in the beginning. If you say it too soon, you will probably scare the girl, which will have negative effects. In contrast … if you wait until the feeling is strong, you will not have to say anything for it to be known.

Some romantic words such as ‘I love you’ are not said to make your love interest acknowledge the romantic relationship at all. They are naturally said when the feeling has become strong.

At the moment, Li’er is frowning deeply, looking like she is having a very big worry.

Asked by Qin Yu, she holds his hand very tight then forces a faint smile, saying: “Nothing, nothing at all.”

“If there’s something, say it. Don’t hide it in your heart.” Qin Yu finds this very strange. Right after getting out of the Hallucinatory Magic Land, she was still fine, how could her enthusiasm seem to have changed into indecision and uncertainty in just a while?

Facing Qin Yu’s inquiry, Li’er immediately says: “There’s no problem. I’m just having doubts about something.”

“Having doubts about what?” Qin Yu keeps asking.

She purses her lips, pondering for a while, and says: “I find that mansion-guarding stele strange.”

“What’s strange about it?” Qin Yu asks in reply. When mentioning the mansion-guarding stele, Qin Yu feels very frustrated in his heart. Who would not want such a treasure? But Qin Yu also knows that his power is too weak.

Li’er says with a shake of her head: “At that time, when I took a look, I really thought that it was a mansion-guarding stele. But to my knowledge, a mansion-guarding stele’s aura is connected to an entire palace.”

“This mansion-guarding stele’s aura seems to be connected to the entire palace. I could feel this.” Qin Yu says frowningly.

Li’er shakes her head and says firmly: “That’s only a trick to fool you. Using a special method, I can conclude that even if you personalize that mansion-guarding stele, you’ll only be able to control part of the palace. It’ll definitely be impossible for you to control the whole palace.”

Qin Yu knows that she has strange skills so he keeps asking without delay: “What do you mean, Li’er?”

Li’er continues: “Big brother Qin Yu, don’t talk about the other things. There are jade deposits on the Qian Long continent, right?”

“Oh, why did you ask this question?” Qin Yu asks in reply.

She says with a shake of her head: “You don’t need to ask. Since a jade deposit is so big, generally it has jade essence, right? This is also ‘fine jade’, the most valuable thing in jade.”

“Yes, of course it has.” Qin Yu knows very well about this. “A large deposit of jade naturally has a core, which is made of fine jade in general. But fine jade is very precious. Even those so-called gems on the market can’t compare with this jade essence.”

Li’er nods and says smilingly: “Big brother Qin Yu, in fact a deposit of elemental holy rock is the same.”

“You mean … a deposit of elemental holy rock also has its essence?” Qin Yu says in amazement.

Li’er nods and says: “Yes, big brother Qin Yu. I think, when such a large palace was carved entirely out of a chunk of elemental holy ore, perhaps such a huge chunk of elemental holy ore can only be seen in 10,000 deposits of elemental holy rock. Also, such a huge chunk of elemental holy ore must be the core of a deposit. If my guess is correct, when that immortal Ni Yang obtained that huge chunk of elemental holy ore, it should have been containing a clump of elemental holy essence.”

Qin Yu understands her meaning.

Such a huge chunk of elemental holy ore is very rare. Because it is really too massive and of such high quality, it is very likely to have contained elemental holy essence.

“Li’er, even if this chunk of elemental holy ore had a clump of elemental holy essence, what does it matter?” Even now Qin Yu still does not know how this clump of elemental holy essence is related to the mansion-guarding stele.

Li’er gives a brilliant smile and says confidently: “You don’t know this, big brother Qin Yu. The immortal world also has palaces made entirely of elemental holy ore. And the controlling cores of those palaces aren’t mansion-guarding steles at all, but those clumps of elemental holy essence!”

“Firstly, forging a mansion-guarding stele is complicated. Secondly, only ordinary immortals and ordinary golden immortals use this method for their immortal mansions.” In her words, obviously a mansion-guarding stele is a relatively low-grade item for controlling a whole palace.

Li’er continues: “Big brother Qin Yu, this palace was carved out of a huge chunk of elemental holy ore. This clump of elemental holy essence must have been the core of this chunk of elemental holy ore! If this immortal Ni Yang used some secret method to process that clump of elemental holy essence, naturally he would be able to control the whole palace. Moreover, this would be much more effective than using a mansion-guarding stele. I think he wouldn’t neglect this clump of elemental holy essence to use such a low-grade thing as a mansion-guarding stele.”

She talks with fervor and assurance, seeming to know the matters of the immortal world like the palm of her hand.

Qin Yu’s eyes brighten: “Li’er, you mean …”

“Yes, immortal Ni Yang basically put that mansion-guarding stele there to trick those people. The controlling core of the whole palace isn’t it, but a clump of elemental holy essence. My guess is that this clump of elemental holy essence should be at a certain place in the palace.” Li’er’s eyes shine brilliantly.

“You’re really too formidable, Li’er. Let’s go. We’ll go to find that clump of elemental holy essence and let them take time fighting for that mansion-guarding stele in there.” Qin Yu is delighted in his heart. He immediately grabs hold of her hand, wanting to start searching for that clump of elemental holy essence.

Suddenly --

Boom!

There are a terrifying noise and a terrifying shock, as if the ground is trembling and the mountains are swaying. Even Qin Yu and Li’er can feel this clearly.

In the main hall of the green jade palace, cruel fighting has finally broken out.

End of b10c8.