Chapter 531

Throughout the ages, no matter who it was, mentioning Jiao Heng Immortal Emperor left them utterly speechless. It couldn’t be helped. He was simply the most arrogant person in all of history!

“Jiao Heng Immortal Emperor!” Hearing the name, Lan Yunzhu could only sigh. At this point, news like this no longer surprised her.

The Twelve Life Palaces were a heaven-defying, unparalleled achievement for any Cultivator. But for an achievement like this to belong to Jiao Heng Immortal Emperor, it seemed only natural.

“Of course, throughout Jiao Heng Immortal Emperor’s entire life, the Twelve Life Palaces weren’t even his proudest achievement. In later ages, very few people even knew he possessed them,” Li Qiye said with a smile.

Lan Yunzhu was speechless. The name Jiao Heng Immortal Emperor represented everything. Coming back to her senses, she remembered something and said to Li Qiye, “While you were in Cultivation, I took a walk through the Medicinal Garden. Guess what I saw? I saw a Phoenix!”

“A Phoenix? What kind of Phoenix was it?” Hearing Lan Yunzhu’s words, Li Qiye’s eyes narrowed as he asked.

Lan Yunzhu quickly explained, “At first, I thought I had run into a Divine Beast Immortal Phoenix. But when I chased it, I found this Phoenix was only the size of a fist, though it was extremely powerful. It entered a certain area, and when I followed, I found the place was filled with billowing purple energy. It was easy to lose my way, so I didn’t dare to follow any further and came back.”

“Did this Phoenix have five streams of Divine Light? And did these five streams of Divine Light form long, trailing Phoenix Feathers?” Li Qiye pressed immediately.

Lan Yunzhu quickly replied, “Yes, that’s exactly it! Its cry was also incredibly loud, as if it could tear through the Nine Heavens. If it wasn’t a young phoenix, then it must have been transformed from an extraordinary Immortal Elixir.”

“Where did it go? Quickly, take me there.” A brilliant light suddenly erupted from Li Qiye’s eyes, so dazzling it seemed they could see through the Heaven and Earth Ten Thousand Paths.

Seeing Li Qiye’s expression, Lan Yunzhu immediately knew this was something serious. Without another word, she led him toward the place she had found.

On the way to the location Lan Yunzhu had found, they encountered numerous Medicine Kings and even Nine Transformations Soul Grasses. However, Li Qiye didn’t even spare them a glance; he was too eager to see the thing Lan Yunzhu had described.

“What exactly is it?” Seeing how serious Li Qiye was, Lan Yunzhu couldn’t help but ask while leading the way.

Li Qiye shook his head. “I can’t be certain yet. I’ll only know for sure once I see it with my own eyes!”

Soon, Lan Yunzhu led Li Qiye to the place where the Phoenix had vanished. It was a small valley, and inside, there were even ruined walls and broken ramparts, suggesting someone had once lived there.

Logically, it should have been impossible for anyone to have lived here. But on second thought, this place was called the Lost Immortal Medicine Garden. If anyone had ever lived here, it could only have been an Immortal.

The small valley was shrouded in an incredibly dense purple energy, making it seem as if a treasure was about to be unearthed. Though the valley wasn’t large, it was easy to get lost upon entering the purple mist, which caused one to lose all sense of direction.

“This place…” Li Qiye stood there, glanced around, and murmured thoughtfully.

After scanning the area, Li Qiye locked onto a direction and led Lan Yunzhu onward. They hadn’t gone far before they arrived at the base of a cliff. It was a dead end.

However, at the very bottom of the cliff face was a small, fist-sized hole. The opening was pitch-black and looked like a bottomless pit.

Staring at the small hole, Li Qiye’s eyes narrowed. Two cold glints shot out, as if trying to illuminate the depths of the tiny opening.

“Should I scan the hole with my Divine Sense?” Lan Yunzhu suggested, seeing Li Qiye staring at it intently.

Li Qiye shook his head gently. “It’s no use. Your Divine Sense can’t scan it.” He stared at the hole for a moment, then pondered. With a BOOM, he opened one of his Life Palaces.

At that moment, one of Li Qiye’s Life Palaces opened, and a withered tree stump shaped like a hand flew out. WHOOSH! The stump instantly took root inside the small hole. With a soft BUZZ, a faint black glow began to flicker.

This was the same withered tree stump Li Qiye had obtained from the Thousand Islands. The stump had been dead, but after Li Qiye irrigated it with a medicinal brew, it had sprouted a single tender branch. The entire stump was shaped like a hand with five fingers spread wide. Its center was hollow, forming a hole that ran straight through it.

At this moment, a black Daoist Door appeared inside the hollow stump. This faintly shimmering black door was woven from black Order Divine Chains.

The sight of the black Daoist Door was chilling, as if it were a gateway to Hell itself.

“Is… is this the Secret of the Tombs you were talking about?” Lan Yunzhu stammered in shock, a certain memory dawning on her as she watched.

Lan Yunzhu had been there when Li Qiye obtained this withered stump at the Thousand Islands. At the time, she had thought it was a monstrous waste for him to brew a potion from the World Tree’s tender leaves just to pour it on a dead stump.

But after entering the First Evil Tomb, Li Qiye had used this very stump to acquire the Realm Guardian Treasure in the Secret Realm. It made Lan Yunzhu realize that Li Qiye had been planning for this day for a very long time. He had made his preparations to enter the First Evil Tomb long ago.

Li Qiye had used the withered stump to obtain the Realm Guardian Treasure in the Secret Realm, and now he was using it again. This reminded Lan Yunzhu that Li Qiye had once said that each of the secret tombs in the Five Great Realms held its own ultimate secret.

Lan Yunzhu immediately realized that this little hole was the entrance to the ultimate secret Li Qiye had mentioned!

“You’re right about that,” Li Qiye said with a nod. “This is the ultimate secret. You were very lucky this time to have stumbled upon such a great fortune. It’s a pity you couldn’t seize it and intercept the Phoenix before it returned. Of course, I don’t blame you. That creature is incredibly powerful; trying to stop it is exceedingly difficult. Either it must be willing to give you something, or you must be powerful enough to take it!”

“So the Phoenix was the great fortune?” Lan Yunzhu was moved, never having imagined she would stumble upon such a massive opportunity.

“For you or anyone else, it certainly is. If you had managed to obtain that Phoenix, the implications would be terrifying,” Li Qiye nodded. “However, I’m not satisfied with just that. I’m going inside—into the ultimate secret! This is an incredibly rare opportunity. I never thought the entrance would actually appear this time!”

Lan Yunzhu picked up on something in Li Qiye’s words. She looked at him and asked, “So, has no one ever entered the ultimate secret before? Have people only ever received fortunes that came out of it?”

“Perhaps.” Li Qiye narrowed his eyes. “If anyone has ever entered the ultimate secret, it would be only one person!”

“Who?” Lan Yunzhu asked, her curiosity piqued. ‘What kind of place is this ultimate secret? And who could have entered it?’ she wondered. “Was it Earth Fool Immortal Emperor?”

Her guess was not without reason. According to the legends, Earth Fool Immortal Emperor was the only person in all of history to have obtained a Longevity Technique!

“No.” Li Qiye shook his head. “It was a person who never existed, someone no one has ever heard of—at least, not in the current age.”

Lan Yunzhu was puzzled. ‘A person who never existed? Someone no one has ever heard of? What kind of person could that be?’

Lan Yunzhu couldn’t help but look at the withered stump rooted in the hole and ask, “Is this stump of yours a key? Like the Key of the First Evil Tomb, a key that can unlock its greatest secrets?”

After all, Lan Yunzhu was the only one present when Li Qiye obtained the stump, and the only one who knew how he got it.

“No,” Li Qiye said. “It’s not a key, but it is a million times more precious than one! It carries a secret unknown throughout the ages!”

Lan Yunzhu looked at the stump, no longer underestimating it in the slightest. ‘I know how he obtained this stump,’ she thought. ‘It definitely isn’t just for opening this ultimate secret. I’m afraid it has other uses as well.’

“Are you ready? We’re going in. It might be a little bumpy, so brace yourself.” Li Qiye wrapped an arm around Lan Yunzhu’s slender waist and spoke in a low voice.

Lan Yunzhu took a deep breath, nodded solemnly, and said in a low voice, “I’m ready.”

“Open!” As Lan Yunzhu hugged Li Qiye’s waist tightly, he let out a low cry. Instantly, a vortex formed in the Life Palace that housed the withered stump. The stump’s black Daoist Door sucked in all of the black Order Divine Chains.

SWISH—! In that instant, a whirlwind of dust and debris kicked up. The black Daoist Door instantly sucked Li Qiye inside, pulling the tightly-held Lan Yunzhu in with him.

As she was pulled into the black Daoist Door, Lan Yunzhu felt as if her entire body was being torn apart. This was completely different from any ordinary Daoist Door.

With a SWISH, Lan Yunzhu felt herself being violently spat out. Thankfully, Li Qiye held her tight, preventing her from tumbling to the ground and helping her land on her feet.

Lan Yunzhu opened her eyes to find they were standing at the foot of a Giant Peak. It was incredibly tall, stretching high into the sky, and the entire mountain was wreathed in Chaos Qi.

The sight of the Giant Peak created an illusion, as if this place was a scene from the dawn of creation, and the peak itself had been born when the world began.

The Giant Peak loomed above them. Looking up, they could see a huge Wooden Nest hanging from the edge of a cliff at its very summit. A chaotic mist billowed from the massive nest, rising like a sea of clouds.