Imperial God Emperor

One behind the other, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden and Ye Qingyu walked across the magnificent giant ancient city, quietly and neither fast nor slow, just like they were here sightseeing.

Ye Qingyu's task here was just to follow the female genius. Once the three days of time was over and they had left the 18th district he would have completed the task. As to whether he could obtain the so-called great opportunity or see traces of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, it would all depend on his luck. Therefore, he was not impatient at all. 

With such a mentality, Ye Qingyu carefully observed the surrounding buildings. 

To tell the truth, he had never seen buildings of the God and Devil Era that still preserved their complete and unique style in today's world. Even the description in a lot of ancient books was based on some seriously damaged ancient ruins. Having studied the records of the God and Devil Era before, Ye Qingyu was very interested in these ancient buildings.

The buildings on both sides of the spirit path were mostly palace buildings. 

The top of each palace and along the eaves were like flying swallows, while the beam of the ridges were like the tail of a Phoenix. Different statues of ancient beasts were sat on the ridge of the eaves, roaring to the boundless sky, ready to pounce and to tear apart the void. All statues were of creatures of the God and Devil Era , and most of them were now extinct. 

Further to the distance, the jade buildings and pavilions with characteristics unique to the ancient God and Devil Era were arranged in picturesque disorder. What was even more peculiar was that the water flowing around the pavilions was not a clear spring, but a pale mysterious yellow mist, densely floating around and making these pavilions that were strewn between palaces appear like a fairyland. 

This ancient city of the God and Devil Era must not be that simple, and is definitely not created by the Black Demon Emperor... Ye Qingyu speculated in his mind. 

The martial arts emperor of the Black Demon Race was also said to be remarkable, but he was after the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and far from the God and Devil Era, therefore why would he be obsessed with the architecture of the God and Devil Era.

After a while. 

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden gradually slowed down her speed. 

Ye Qingyu was examining these buildings in high spirits, when he saw something that made his eyes light up and even stepped out of the spirit path to observe the surrounding building up close...

Next to the spirit path on his left stood a two-storey stone house.

The stone house was no more beautiful and exquisite than the other engraved and decorated buildings. Instead, the four walls were built with a very minimalist style and the material was nothing special. It was constructed from the black rocks commonly seen in the Black Demon Abyss, and there weren’t any beautifully carved patterns on the eaves nor did it have glazed tiles as roof. 

Ye Qingyu came to the front of the stone house. 

The closer he got, the more he felt the strange power being emitting out slowly from the stone house.

“Huh?” This stone wall is emitting the power of a formation...” 

Ye Qingyu was both astonished and suspicious.

He gently covered the wall with his palm. 

A feeling that sent his heart palpitating came. 

The whole stone house seemed to have come to life, there was a heavy and powerful pulse beating rapidly. The force of the shock suddenly poured into the palm of Ye Qingyu and numbed his entire arm.  

“This is... a defense formation of the ancient times!”  

He stood there shocked. 

These buildings were strengthened with the defense formation of the ancient times.

“No, it's not complete... the formation in this house has been damaged and destroyed...” Ye Qingyu looked closely and noticed more details.

Clearly, because of time, there were little aura and power left in the formation. The effect of time can obliterate even the Fiendgods that had once claimed to be Immortal and even the martial arts emperor, known to be invincible, let alone such formations. 

“These formations may be incredibly powerful back then, but today, there is little left...” Ye Qingyu lamented. 

Additionally, there was one very strange thing. 

From Ye Qingyu's observation along the way, he discovered that next to every palace, hall, pavilion, and buildings there was a tall and wide stone tablet of different shapes, but all similarly black and without writing. 

The originally magnificent and vast ancient city, set against such black tombstones, appeared gloomy and eerie like a land of ghost and spirits.

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden has already moved around a bend and continued to walk forward. 

Ye Qingyu trotted after. 

After one hour. 

The buildings on both sides of the spirit path began to change. 

The tall palace buildings disappeared and were replaced by black sculptures and statues of up to hundreds of meters high.

“This is... Qiu Niu [TN Note: A hybrid of cow and dragon]?!” Ye Qingyu was astonished.

The statue in front of him was a mythological beast, hovering over a guqin, with jade-like scales, eyes tightly closed and facing skyward. It was vivid and realistic, like a real living creature. 

Ye Qingyu recognized that the mythological beast was one of the nine offspring of the legendary dragon.

The carving and work of the statue was exquisite, which Ye Qingyu had never seen before in his life. 

Upon a closer look, one would find that each of its scales was fluctuating with the power of the dragon, as if the Qiu Niu was alive, but simply petrified by some kind of remarkable power. 

“This carving skill can be called the work of the gods...” Ye Qingyu couldn't help but marvel at the sight. “It's just...t why is the Qiu Niu's eyes closed tightly?”

Then he followed the Celestial Phoenix Maiden and walked another one thousand meters.

In the direction of the rear of the pavilion on the left side of the spirit path was another scene that came as a shock to him. 

“Another divine statue!” 

He trotted towards the edge of the spirit path.

Appearing in his field of vision this time was a mythological beast statue crouching on the ground with a body similar to a tiger or leopard and the head and neck of a dragon, and was holding a sword in its mouth. Although its eyes were closed he still could feel that it was glaring at him.

“This is Ya Zi, one of the nine offspring of the dragon.”

Ya Zi looked ferocious and aggressive, surging with killing intent, and even from afar, he already felt its imposing and murderous aura.

Why would these statues of mythological beasts be placed around the buildings? 

Ye Qingyu had read about the statues of divine beasts in the ancient records and books. The mythological beasts such as the nine offspring of the legendary dragon, each had a different meaning, representing different powers, whether evil or good, and were powerful representatives. However, these divine statues were generally used in the temple or halls as objects of worshipping. Why were they placed on the edge of the path in this ancient city? 

At this moment, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden, following the spirit path, was climbing the steps and heading towards another group of buildings. 

Ye Qingyu had to stop observing and hurriedly caught up to her.

After another distance of more than one thousand meters. 

Ye Qingyu deliberately looked around as if he was looking for something. 

On the left side of the spirit path, next to a palace building, there was another towering and mighty mythological beast statue, imposing and fierce. It bent forward with its back straight, and its limbs were like strong and powerful pillars, positioned as if it would leap up at any time, revealing a haughty and aggressive air. 

“This mythological beast... it's Chao Feng, one of the nine offspring of the dragon isn't it...?” Ye Qingyu looked closely at the statue in front of him and muttered to himself.

But it's kind of strange, how come these mythological beasts all have their eyes closed?

In addition to the Qiu Niu and Ya Zi he saw before, as well as Chao Feng in front of him, the three mythological beasts, though majestic and ferocious as living creatures, all had their eyes tightly closed.

More importantly, he found a strange pattern. 

The distance between these mythological beasts was around a thousand meters, and it could almost be said that every time he followed the spirit path and climbed a set of steps he would see another mythological beast statue.

Such a layout was seemingly strange, but had a regular pattern. What exactly was the purpose?

Ye Qingyu of course did not think that the statues of the mythological beast were placed here and there and with a distance of around a thousand meter between each other, just for the sake of beauty.

“These lines...” 

While puzzled, he was suddenly attracted by the exquisite carving lines of the mythological beast statues.

These smooth and exquisite lines seemed to contain some sort of mysterious power, that when Ye Qingyu focused his eyes on them, his whole body and mind seemed to be deeply absorbed in it.  

“Could it be... every strand of line... contained Dao power...”

He suddenly remembered that during his time in Youyan Pass he had once followed the [Painting Saint] Liu Yuqing to the Snow Ground Demon Court and had seen Mister Liu paint on the boat. In his painting, there was a hint of Dao power.

At that time, he also happened to inherit that wisp of Dao power, which was why he was able to succeed in raising his spirit.

And the power within these mythological statues was many times greater than that of the painting.

After a moment, Ye Qingyu suddenly looked a little strange, his aura began to grow calm and steady. 

He raised his head slowly, his torch-like gaze moving along the lines of the dragon's body gradually to the tight shut eyes of the mythological beast. 

At the same time, a bizarre scene took place.

Seconds ago, Ye Qingyu was still standing in front of the mythological beast, but now his vision blurred.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on top of a raging wave of a red ocean. The waves were connected to the red clouds in the distance, surging up violently and seemed to be sweeping everything of the world to the bottom of the ocean.

The whole sky had turned into an expanse of scarlet red, as if it was set ablaze.

“This is... where is this?” 

Ye Qingyu stared at the surging ocean and rushing red clouds in the sky, completely unaware of where he was. 

Aoo!

Suddenly, a wild roar sent the world quaking.

From the whirlpools of the distant waves, a ferocious-looking and powerful beast suddenly leapt out of the sea. Its tremendous mountain-like body pounced toward Ye Qingyu.

“It's Chao Feng!” 

Trembling, Ye Qingyu couldn't help tightening his fist.

The next moment. 

Amidst the earth-shaking bellow, before Ye Qingyu could react, the mythological God Chao Feng had already landed before him, blazing with a power unique to the Dragon Race that maked one feel despair. The power and aura were so real, and several times more horrifying than the pressure exuded from the several great guardian Saints before. 

In a hurry, Ye Qingyu instinctively threw out a punch.

Boom! 

A heavy punch that contained the power of thunder and lightning were aimed at the mythological beast Chao Feng——