Chapter 41: Diamond Cuts Diamond

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Diamond Cuts Diamond

Below the thirteen peaks of Zao Ying Mountain, the floodwaters seemed to be boiling.

The sound of the waves crashing against the mountainside was like the howl of an ancient beast.

A closer look revealed seven whirlpools slowly forming around the Divine Statue, gradually expanding.

At that moment, countless birds took flight from the mountain forests, their mournful cries echoing as they fled Zao Ying Mountain.

Ascendant Xingfeng’s Divine Statue was already covered with people.

They stood on its head, its shoulders, and even on the protruding ridges of its sash. Of all the Cultivators who had come to Zao Ying Mountain, it was estimated that—aside from those who had just died in the tremors—at least eighty percent were now on the Divine Statue.

Chu Fan, however, returned to the mountain behind him. Standing on the peak, he discovered the seven whirlpools.

He also discovered that the water below was rapidly draining away through those seven whirlpools.

Seven whirlpools naturally brought the Big Dipper to mind.

When Chu Fan examined the positions of the seven whirlpools, he was stunned to find they were indeed arranged in the pattern of the Big Dipper.

And Ascendant Xingfeng’s Divine Statue was right at the corresponding position of Polaris.

He committed the positions of the whirlpools to memory and waited where he was.

Watching the water level drop lower and lower, it seemed everyone was waiting for it to recede completely.

The wait lasted for two days and two nights. By the morning of the third day, the entire Sea of Moisture had vanished, leaving only a few scattered puddles.

The previously flooded land was a muddy mess, littered with all sorts of debris in a scene of utter chaos.

The entire Divine Statue was now exposed. It depicted not only Ascendant Xingfeng with his hands clasped behind his back, but also a winged, ferocious tiger beneath his feet.

He gazed up at the vast sky. With his hands behind his back, one was clenched in a fist while the other rested on that wrist, several fingers forming a strange gesture.

As for the original locations of the seven whirlpools, they were now impossible to discern, as the ground was covered in broken branches and rotten wood.

Many people were wondering, ’Where on earth did all that water go?’

’Did it flow underground? If so, just how much space could there be down there?’

’Imagine the sheer volume of a flood that submerged the farmland of three counties.’

Everyone began jumping down from the Divine Statue and started searching.

But what were they searching for?

They were searching for ruins, originally buried deep underground, that might have been revealed by the earth-shaking tremors.

They were searching for the massive fissures caused by the tremors.

Or perhaps, they were searching for that faint, profound trace of the Dao of the Earth.

There were many fissures. Standing on the peak and looking down, Chu Fan could see nine of them, each one over ten feet wide at its broadest point.

But upon closer inspection, he was stunned to realize that the nine fissures were all roughly the same length. Furthermore, when viewed as a whole from above, they looked like nine dragons.

If you marked the head of each "dragon" as a point and connected them, they formed a perfect circle. And at the center of that circle was the Divine Statue.

Nine dragons, with their heads encircling a central point.

Wasn’t this the classic "Nine Dragons Playing with a Pearl" arrangement?

If the location of the seven whirlpools was a coincidence, then what about these nine fissures?

To still consider it a coincidence would be utterly absurd.

In that instant, Chu Fan’s mind raced.

He even began to suspect that the hidden treasure his master had supposedly left for him, the one Zhegu Slave had mentioned, might not have been his master’s doing at all.

The only explanation was that his master must have discovered the secrets of this place long ago, and had even predicted that a great tremor would one day occur, causing those secrets to resurface.

It was just that this event was happening nearly twenty days earlier than his master had calculated.

’But what about that voice at the beginning, resonant as a great bell? Who was speaking? And where did that Golden Light Net come from?’

’Was it Magic cast by the speaker? Or an Array hidden within Zao Ying Mountain?’

Pushing these questions to the back of his mind, he descended from the peak.

None of these Cultivators were fools. After finding nothing in the fissures, many turned their attention to the Divine Statue.

They began searching the statue for any possible hidden mechanisms.

Chu Fan blended into the crowd, also examining the Divine Statue with great care.

"Hm? My friend, you’re here as well?" Master Ni’s surprised voice rang out from behind Chu Fan.

He turned to see Master Ni approaching with several other people.

Master Ni seemed to be quite popular among the members of the Six Sects and Eight Gates.

However, the people with Master Ni—with the exception of Master Ni himself—looked at Chu Fan with expressions full of contempt and disdain.

Chu Fan paid them no mind. Instead, he smiled and said, feigning a bit of awkwardness, "Such a huge stone statue just appeared out of nowhere. I thought I’d come take a look."

"Senior Brother Shi, why waste time talking to him? Let’s hurry up and check the locations of the seven whirlpools!" the speaker, a disciple of the Xuanming Sect, urged.

Chu Fan had seen him once from a distance during the Tengxing Grand Assembly, so he vaguely recognized him.

Master Ni said to Chu Fan, "My friend, this is no place to linger. If you want to see the Divine Statue, it would be best to return in three to five months."

Without waiting for Chu Fan’s response, he led his group away.

’The whirlpool locations?’ The reminder made something click for Chu Fan.

’After the water receded, the ground became a total mess. The dead branches and rotten wood must have covered the spots where the whirlpools were. If they could drain all that water, don’t they have to be passages to whatever is underground?’

Recalling their positions from memory, Chu Fan found the nearest spot. After clearing away the dead branches and mud, he uncovered a pit, just as he’d expected. It was over three feet wide and appeared to be bottomless.

It looked more like a well.

He tossed a rock into it and only after a long pause did he hear a sharp CRACK from the bottom.

’There’s no water at the bottom?’ Chu Fan was even more surprised.

Just as Chu Fan was debating whether to jump down and investigate, a dozen or so people swarmed over.

"Here! There really is a deep pit here!" The person who spoke shoved Chu Fan aside and peered into the opening.

His shout drew over even more people, including the nine women and one man from the Celestial Dao Palace.

"If I recall correctly, based on the arrangement of the seven whirlpools, this is the position of Alkaid. Alkaid is also known as the Army-Shattering Star. ’The essence of Alkaid, a treasure of supreme harmony. The Army-Shattering Star is of the water element, signifying destruction before creation.’ This must be the place," the male disciple from the Celestial Dao Palace said, his brow furrowed as he muttered the cryptic words.

He then nodded to the white-robed woman beside him. "Xiang Ying, you go down and take a look."

The woman’s eyes, visible above her veil, held no fear. Instead, she responded peacefully, "Yes, Young Master."

"Wait," a Martial Artist dressed like a young noble stepped forward and said. "Young Master, this pit looks incredibly deep. Why must a beauty like Miss Xiang take such a risk?"

He then grabbed Chu Fan’s arm. "Have him go down and scout the path first!"

The man from the Celestial Dao Palace shot the young noble a sharp glance, clearly displeased by this behavior of bullying the weak while fearing the strong.

The woman in the yellow dress, understanding her young master’s intent, asked, "And who might you be?"

"In answer to the lady’s question, I am Gong Ping, son of the Second Elder of Red Blood Mansion. I have long heard of the Celestial Dao Palace and hold it in the highest admiration."

’Red Blood Mansion again.’ The way Chu Fan looked at the man changed.

"Kill him," the young master from the Celestial Dao Palace said.

Hearing her young master’s command, the woman in yellow waved her right hand, and a yellow silk ribbon shot toward Gong Ping like a viper.

Gong Ping scrambled to dodge it. "Young Master, what is the meaning of this?" he asked, utterly bewildered.

"My young master needs no reason to kill someone!" the woman in yellow retorted, her silk ribbon lashing out with even greater ferocity.

As she wielded the weapon, the onlookers, including Chu Fan, all retreated several yards to give them space.

He had just been thinking how arrogant and overbearing the people from the Celestial Dao Palace were, but now, Chu Fan found himself feeling a flicker of admiration for them.

"Are you acting like this because you think the Eastern Domain has no one to stand up for itself?" Gong Ping shouted in fury.

At his call, a dozen or so other disciples from Red Blood Mansion rushed forward.