Imperial God Emperor

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden took a look at Ye Qingyu's arms without saying a word before turning to leave.

Wiping his mouth, the latter suddenly understood.

In chopping off Lu Li's arms after he sundered my arm bones, her intention was to retaliate on my behalf. An eye for an eye indeed.

The corners of his lips cocked upward slightly.

She still has a human side even though she is kind of cold and haughty. However, her way of dealing with people and things is like that of a five-year-old girl and doesn't quite go with her peerless strength.

Speaking of which, her strength is indeed scary.

It was during the earlier fight with Lu Li when Ye Qingyu saw the Celestial Phoenix Maiden display her skills for the first time. Her body turned into a rainbow-colored radiance which resembled the wings of a Phoenix soaring in the sky. It contained a might which seemed like it could destroy the world with ease and reminded Ye Qingyu of an old friend from years past - the female sword Immortal Wang Jianru, who gave him the same vibe that the Celestial Phoenix Maiden currently did.

One word...

Strong.

Ye Qingyu was well aware that he was not her match.

"Thank you for just now," the Celestial Phoenix Maiden casually said to Ye Qingyu with her eyes looking elsewhere as she kept the last few stalks of Phoenix blood herb she could see into a pocket.

She would normally have detected that long-plotted surprise attack, but did not because, for some unknown reason, she was uncharacteristically distracted and lost her chilly temperament during that moment.

Until now, she had not figured out what was going on.

"You're welcome," Ye Qingyu replied with a laugh. "I was just doing what I should. If you were killed, I would probably end up getting slaughtered by that guardian Saint of yours after I step out of the Door of Life."

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden did not say another word.

Lowering his head to look at the two arms that had been chopped off from Lu Li, he suddenly winced.

Black arms?

Both skin and bones?

"That can’t be right." With an uncertain look on his face, he recalled that during the last fight, Lu Li's bones were no different from that of normal people, and as a human, this should not be the case even for severed arms.

Crouching down, he stared at and carefully examined one of the arms.

"They're completely corroded by Black Demon qi... That's weird, this shouldn't be a case of intoxication... Hmm, it looks like he cultivated some kind of technique or, should I say, fused some sort of powers. Could he have obtained an opportunity of the Black Demon Race?" He did not know what really took place, but remembered that Lu Li was following the Third Prince of the Mizar Race rather than the Little Princess of the Black Demon Race.

If Lu Li has appeared, then where has Yang Wanqu gone?

And how about the Third Prince of the Mizar Race?

As he remained in doubt, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden walked over to him, bringing along a delicate orchid fragrance. Despite wearing a mask to go with her purple battle garments, there was a charming beauty about her, and thus Ye Qingyu could not help feeling a little uneasy that such a peerless female Heaven's pridling was, for the first time, barely a fist's distance away from him.

"Don't move," she uttered.

Grazing her right wrist using a left fingertip, a pale blood-colored line emerged, oozing a rainbow-colored jade bead which was gleaming and surpassingly beautiful. The faint smell of blood indicated that this was her blood.

Her blood was actually rainbow-colored.

She dripped the drop of rainbow-colored blood, which was as big as a thumb, on Ye Qingyu's broken arms.

Before the latter realized what she was doing, the drop of blood began to burn like a flame as soon as it permeated into his muscles and bones. However, it caused not a feeling of pain but a mild warmth instead. He then realized to his surprise that his broken arms were fixing up at a visibly rapid rate and showed no sign of fracture in a twinkling.

"Let's go." Having done this, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden turned and walked westward without saying anything else.

Ye Qingyu was stupefied for some time.

He only now understood that her blood had the effect of fixing bones, and could be called a precious medicine.

With some hesitation, he sealed the two arms on the ground slightly and kept them into the [Cloud Top Cauldron] so that he could examine them when there was time. He vaguely felt that they could be hiding some secret and might prove useful in the future.

He then followed closely behind the Celestial Phoenix Maiden.

Having walked so far, she seemed to have acquired a sense of things and needed not to depend on Ye Qingyu for directions, and thus proceeded westward with firm conviction.

Ye Qingyu quietly observed the military medal and realized that it was growing ever hotter as they headed west, thereby indicating that they were probably moving in the correct direction.

He was aware that it would not be wise to separate from the Celestial Phoenix Maiden no matter what happened thereafter, for it was quite possible that Yang Wanqu and the others had experienced miraculous encounters of their own since Lu Li had one, and hence he would most likely be at an absolute disadvantage in a fight against them. Instead of him protecting the Celestial Phoenix Maiden, she now became the thigh which he had to hold on tightly to.

After walking for another thirty minutes or so.

As if they had shortened the road to an inch's length, and every step they took was several kilometers long, the duo swiftly arrived at a mountainside with relatively gentle terrain.

The Celestial Phoenix Maiden revealed a hint of suspicion in her eyes and abruptly stopped walking.

Ye Qingyu, too, came to a stop at once.

"What's the matter?" He looked at her.

Without saying anything, the latter looked toward the front.

In front of them.

A thousand kilometers of fertile land overgrown with weeds.

The azure sky harmonized with the thousand kilometers of green grassland, forming a beautiful ecological scenery which possessed a vastness and openness that could accommodate all generations. It was simply fascinating and seemed to be the world's purest painting.

"Eh... is that... a tombstone?!"

At the corner of his eyes, Ye Qingyu suddenly saw a black tombstone standing upright on the boundless grassland in the distance.

Identical in size and shape to the one’s found  in the sea of tombstones seen earlier, it stood alone on an expanse of waterside grassland. Its gloomy and oppressive black color made it an aberration among the wonderland-like scenery all around.

What's a tombstone doing here?

Ye Qingyu recalled that he had not seen this strange type of tombstone since stepping on to the sea of hurricane lilies.

Feeling doubtful, he cautiously drew nearer to it.

The aura it discharged was not in any way ancient or terrifying, and was completely different to that of the tombstones in the ancient fieldgod city and the sea of tombstones. From afar, it looked more like a simple stele that was casually erected on the grassland.

He felt somewhat mystified.

Just then, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden walked toward the tombstone without prompting.

Ye Qingyu's heart jolted when he saw this.

Prior to this, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden had been apathetic no matter what they ran into. She did not appear overly enraged when surprise attacked by Lu Li, nor did she take a second glance at the sea of black tombstones. It was thus curious that she would actively walk toward this tombstone in the distance.

Ye Qingyu cautiously followed behind.

In front of the black tombstone.

The duo stood rooted to the spot.

Staring fixedly at the tombstone.

Why, something seems to be amiss... Is this... a new grave?!

Ye Qingyu was slightly surprised.

He could clearly discern that the soil surrounding the tombstone was very loose and revealed a bunch of grass stems, and thus knew at first glance that it was only recently flipped. The feeling it gave them was that the tombstone was erected less than a day ago.

How is this possible?

Who is buried within?

By reason, a grave which appears in the plane of the Fiendgod Age should at least be hundreds of thousands of years old. How can there be a recently-buried grave? Could this be an expert who died after entering the Door of Life and was buried by companions?

This was the only plausible explanation.

It's a pity if yet another Immortal Step realm expert has indeed perished. A life of adventure ultimately unable to avoid ending upon the loess.

Ye Qingyu sighed inwardly.

Just then.

An extremely weak and barely distinguishable divine sense poured out from below the tombstone.

Ye Qingyu was able to perceive it at once with his own keen divine sense.

He abruptly received a shock.

"This divine sense... why is it kinda familiar..."

He upped his vigilance instantly.

He immediately fixed his eyes on the tombstone with immense caution. After making on-the-go preparations, he used his divine sense to cover across swiftly.

The feeling became even more distinct.

Fine, hair-like, and cobweb-forming threads of divine sense emitted from beneath the tombstone fuzzily.

Is it possible that a living being is being held down inside the tombstone?

Ye Qingyu gulped a mouthful of air.

These wisps of divine sense show signs of life and couldn't have come from a lifeless thing.

There's a living person buried under this tombstone?

He found this a little hard to believe. Although these wisps of divine sense did not appear to contain murderous spirit, he was momentarily unable to discern what exactly was being suppressed underneath.

"Save... save me..."

Just then, from beneath the tombstone suddenly sounded a very feeble voice which could only be perceived using divine sense.

Ye Qingyu's body abruptly shuddered.

I've definitely heard this voice somewhere before!

And it's obviously speaking the common language of the Vast Thousand Domains.

Ye Qingyu could almost immediately confirm that the beseecher was one of the experts who entered the Door of Life at the same time as him.

But why is he buried alive?

Should I save him or not?

He turned his head to look at the Celestial Phoenix Maiden beside him.

However, the Celestial Phoenix Maiden's gaze had already turned toward a different spot and contained a tinge of emptiness as if she was in a daze. She was actually not looking at the tombstone.

Ye Qingyu gnashed his teeth.

Heck, since I've definitely heard this voice before, let's just save the person first. I can't just leave him to die at this time. What's more, I can ask him about what happened later.

The events of today have been strange in every regard.

After doubly making sure he had not heard wrongly, he walked right up to the tombstone.

Placing both palms on it, he gave a forcible push, hoping to lift the tombstone off first.

But...

What's this?!