Dominator Emperor

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: 1 Snail (Part 2)

At this moment, Li Qiye placed a hand on the giant snail’s body. A ray of brilliant light flew out from the snail and instantly vanished between Li Qiye’s brows.

After the light flew out of its body, the giant snail shuddered all over, only then managing to slowly get back up.

"The pot of potent restorative medicine is ready," Li Qiye said. "Since you’ve decided to follow me, you can have it."

These words left the giant snail exasperated. This entire pot of medicine had been brewed with its own Longevity Blood!

"What? You don’t want it? If you don’t drink it, those two would be fighting for it!" Li Qiye said, pointing at Guardian Mo and his disciple.

"I’ll drink it, I’ll drink it! Of course I’ll drink it." The giant snail was genuinely afraid that Guardian Mo and his disciple would snatch it away. He lifted the massive cauldron and began chugging it down in big gulps. This medicinal soup was brewed with its Longevity Blood; if it didn’t drink it, the loss would be immense, and it would take a long time to recover from its injuries.

Finally, after finishing the entire pot of medicinal soup, the giant snail let out a long sigh of relief. It felt like it had just taken a trip through the Ghost Gate.

"Retract your shell," Li Qiye instructed the giant snail.

The giant snail formed a True Technique with its hands and, with a shake of its body, transformed. Appearing before Li Qiye and the others was a withered, skinny old man. A pair of small, fleshy antennae grew from his forehead, and he carried a small shell on his back like a piece of shield armor.

"Uh, this... this is your True Body?" Nan Huairun was stunned. The contrast between the old man before him and the previous form was too great. The giant snail had been like a small mountain, yet this withered, skinny old man looked like he could be blown away by a gust of wind.

"No, this is my second body." The old man smiled and shook his head. "The one from before was my True Body." With that, he bowed to Li Qiye and said, "This old one, Niu Fen, was blind to your greatness just now. My apologies for the offense, Sir."

"Uh, Niu Fen—" Hearing the old man’s name, Nan Huairun’s eyes went wide. "Is... is there really a name like that?"

The old man shot Nan Huairun a glare, looking rather embarrassed. "It’s Fen! The ’Fen’ in ’strive’!"

"A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding." Nan Huairun was also embarrassed. He gave an awkward laugh and quickly apologized.

Li Shuangyan, who was standing to the side, wanted to laugh but felt it wasn’t appropriate, so she had to suppress her amusement.

Without its former massive body, the now withered and skinny Niu Fen actually seemed more approachable to Nan Huairun. This made Nan Huairun warm up to him, and he said, "Master Niu, you were digging a pit at the old site of my Xiyan Ancient Sect. What were you looking for? You weren’t trying to dig up our sect’s treasure, were you?"

"Just digging around. Besides," Niu Fen shot Nan Huairun an irritated glare, "who knows how many people have been here already. If there really was treasure, do you think it’d be my turn to find it?"

"If you weren’t digging for treasure, Master Niu, then why make such a deep hole?" Nan Huairun asked, not giving up.

Li Qiye glanced at Niu Fen and said, "He was looking for the Calamity God!"

"The Calamity God? What’s the Calamity God?" Nan Huairun looked completely lost, glancing from Li Qiye to Niu Fen.

Nearby, Guardian Mo’s expression shifted. He looked at Niu Fen in shock and said, "You were looking for our Xiyan Ancient Sect’s Guardian God!"

Hearing the two words "Guardian God," Nan Huairun was also shaken. "The one from the legends? The strongest existence in the Xiyan Ancient Sect! The Guardian God who was said to be invincible, second only to the Patriarch?"

Niu Fen had no choice but to admit it. "I was just looking around. I heard your Guardian God left a long time ago. I just wanted to turn over this land and see if His Excellency left behind any stray words. Perhaps he and I are fated to meet."

"If the Guardian God were still here, our Xiyan Ancient Sect wouldn’t be in this state today," Nan Huairun murmured, having heard the legends.

There were simply too many legends about the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s Guardian God.

Not every sect had a Guardian God. Aside from incredibly powerful sects, some fortuitously fated sects might also have one.

As for the origins of a Guardian God, there were basically no restrictions. It could be a Celestial Beast, a Longevity Spirit, or some other living creature. In many cases, a Guardian God would exist alongside a sect, and only leave after the sect perished.

The Xiyan Ancient Sect once had a Guardian God, and this Guardian God was known as the Calamity God! Legend had it that this Guardian God was extremely powerful. Some later generations even claimed that during the era of Mingren Immortal Emperor, no one besides the Immortal Emperor himself could have been its match. The subsequent enduring prosperity of the Xiyan Ancient Sect was, to a great extent, closely related to the existence of this Guardian God.

There were many legends about the origins of the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s Guardian God. One claimed it walked out of the Burial Ground. Another said it was born in the old lands. Yet another legend claimed that Mingren Immortal Emperor had subjugated it beyond the heavens and brought it back...

The Guardian God of the Xiyan Ancient Sect had protected the sect for one era after another. However, for some unknown reason, it suddenly left one day and vanished without a trace, never to be seen again.

As for when the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s Guardian God disappeared, some believed it was fifty thousand years ago. Many more believed it had vanished much earlier, and the Xiyan Ancient Sect had simply kept the news hidden.

As for why the Guardian God would suddenly leave—why a being that had protected the Xiyan Ancient Sect for so long would suddenly abandon it—no one knew, not even the disciples of the Xiyan Ancient Sect at the time. The matter later became an unsolved mystery.

"Sir, where are we going now? Are we heading back?" Guardian Mo asked Li Qiye.

Li Qiye looked out over the buried landscape, shook his head, and said, "No. You’re going to bury me."

"B-Bury you?" Hearing Li Qiye’s words, Nan Huairun was dumbfounded. "First Brother, that’s... that’s bad luck."

"Just bury me," Li Qiye said without further explanation, instructing Guardian Mo.

In the end, Li Qiye chose a spot. Guardian Mo buried him within the highest mountain peak of the old site, and buried him very, very deep. Niu Fen personally dug the tunnel for Li Qiye so that they could bury him.

"First Brother will be alright, won’t he?" Li Qiye’s sudden request to be buried made Nan Huairun extremely anxious. If not for the fact that his First Brother seemed perfectly lucid, he would have thought he’d gone mad.

"He’ll be fine." Li Shuangyan shook her head and said no more. Although she didn’t know why Li Qiye wanted to be buried, she was certain he had his reasons.

"It’s a type of ritual," Niu Fen said after carefully examining the location Li Qiye had chosen and the way he was buried. "A very rare one. It could be a communication ritual."

"Communication? Communication with what? What kind of thing do you have to communicate with by burying yourself this deep?" Nan Huairun asked curiously.

Niu Fen didn’t have an answer for Nan Huairun’s curiosity. He didn’t know what Li Qiye wanted to communicate with, but he had a faint feeling that it was something extraordinary.

Li Qiye remained buried underground for five full days and five nights. Finally, he crawled out of the earth on his own.

"Let’s go back." After crawling out of the dirt, this was all he said.

Nan Huairun was bursting with curiosity and desperately wanted to ask questions. But seeing the disappointed look on Li Qiye’s face, he didn’t dare to ask. If Li Qiye didn’t want to talk, it was probably useless for anyone to ask.

In the end, Niu Fen carried Li Qiye and the others back in his True Body. As a giant snail, his crawling speed nearly made Nan Huairun’s eyes pop out of his head. Niu Fen’s speed across the ground was comparable to a bolt of lightning, unbelievably fast. It was likely that many Flying Treasures couldn’t even keep up with him.

Even more miraculously, he could crawl in complete silence or with the rumbling boom of a thunderclap, whichever he pleased. Regardless of the method, his speed remained constant.

Sitting on the snail’s back, Nan Huairun was utterly dumbfounded. In fact, so was his master. This was their first time riding a snail, and it was also the fastest snail they had ever encountered.

"Master Niu, what is a Celestial Beetle Ancestor?" Nan Huairun asked, recalling Li Qiye’s words. He had never heard such a title before; it was completely foreign to him.

"An ancient lifeform, rare in this world. They form their own race and are seldom seen by mortals," Li Qiye said, answering before Niu Fen could.

Seeing that Li Qiye’s mood had improved, Nan Huairun grew bolder and asked with a grin, "First Brother, what are the ’Eighteen Understandings’ you mentioned?"

Li Qiye just glanced at him and didn’t answer.

"It is the True Destiny Understanding of us Celestial Bull Ancestral Calamities," Niu Fen said. He, too, was desperate for Li Qiye to speak about the Eighteen Understandings, as it was incredibly important to him.

"True Destiny Understanding? Is it a Cultivation Technique? Or an Emperor Technique?" Nan Huairun asked curiously.

The rapidly crawling Niu Fen shook his head. "No. It is neither a Cultivation Technique nor a set of profound principles. In a sense, it is the True Understanding that unlocks the shackles of us Celestial Bull Ancestral Calamities."

"Shackles? Eighteen of them? What happens if you unlock all eighteen shackles?" Nan Huairun fired off several questions in one breath.

Niu Fen was silent for a moment before finally saying, "I don’t know either, because I have never met a kinsman who obtained the Eighteen Understandings. I’ve only heard legends that if one could achieve the Eighteen Understandings... if there are gods in the heavens, we can slay them!"

Upon hearing this, not just Nan Huairun, but Li Shuangyan and the others were all shaken. Slay gods! What a shocking phrase. At that moment, they finally understood why Niu Fen was willing to submit.

As for Li Qiye, he just smiled. ’The Eighteen Understandings... such a distant memory. It’s not a Cultivation Technique, nor is it a Secret Technique. It is precisely for that reason that this memory was never erased.’