Chapter 508

"You? If you don't work harder, you'll be the Fourth in the future, and I'll have Xu Qing become your Senior Brother!"

Seventh Master snorted coldly.

These words were like ten million bolts of heavenly thunder, exploding in the Captain's mind, the rumbling sound causing his heart and spirit to churn violently.

Thinking about what would happen if that day truly came...

The Captain shuddered, his expression turning solemn.

"Master, rest assured. I will definitely work hard. All these petty romances, I will cut them all off from now on. I will focus entirely on cultivation and strive to accomplish great things!"

Seventh Master nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Xu Qing without saying a word.

Xu Qing blinked and immediately put on a look of astonishment, gazing at the golden power in his Master's palm.

Although it was a bit late, Xu Qing felt that when it came to attitude, being late was always better than not having it at all.

Sure enough, seeing Xu Qing's attitude, Seventh Master was even more satisfied.

"Fourth, this kind of divine essence was researched by me using the body of Sheng Yunzi, and by sensing the many strange plants from the Yinghuang Province and the Southern Phoenix Continent, which I then transferred into my own body."

"I have to say, the methods mastered by Zhuzhao are truly moving."

"So-called gods are merely existences on a different level than us cultivators. It's just that they are higher-ranked and more powerful!"

"But it's not that they cannot be replaced. I even have a bold hypothesis, though I am still searching for those lost ancient texts to provide evidence."

"Unfortunately, after so many epochs, most ancient texts have been lost. I can only hope that the scattered wish boxes in the world might contain some fragmentary records."

"Once I find the evidence, I will inform you both."

Seventh Master spoke calmly, wearing an inscrutable expression.

Xu Qing was moved. He had always respected his Master immensely, and at this moment, that respect grew even deeper. He bowed low.

The Captain did the same.

Seeing both his disciples being so well-behaved, Seventh Master felt incredibly gratified.

"Let's go. We will continue forward. Master will take you to a good place. I once visited a Profound Void Imperial Palace and know that every palace has a special location."

Seventh Master said, walking ahead.

Half an hour later, as they continued to advance, they slowly penetrated deep into the palace complex.

However, this palace complex was too vast; even after walking this far, they were still in the Eastern District, with quite a distance left to reach the center.

But the destination Seventh Master had mentioned earlier had been reached.

This was a rather peculiar palace.

Although it was also covered in flesh and blood, the shape formed by this flesh was that of a face filled with agony.

This face had no discernible gender and no hair; it was purplish-red, covered in blood vessels, and while it emitted a thick, alien quality, it also exuded a power that influenced emotions.

Any living being that saw it would uncontrollably have twisted emotions rise within their hearts.

This would then affect their heart and spirit, driving them to madness.

Even though the Captain was no slouch, he was still affected at this moment, his breathing becoming rapid as countless mouths appeared on his body, wandering about, looking incredibly bizarre.

Xu Qing was fine.

The divine finger was one of the physical bodies of the god sleeping in this place. Since it had specifically crafted its own body to allow Xu Qing to absorb the alien quality of this place and give birth to divine essence, it could naturally ignore the power of this place.

"This is the place."

Outside the flesh-faced palace, Seventh Master's eyes revealed a deep, dark light.

"This is a place of creation. You'll know once you go inside."

Seventh Master said, his entire body emitting a sheet of golden light. At this moment, he actually gave off a sense of holiness, yet he emitted no aura at all, as if he had hidden himself to the extreme.

Even when viewed with the naked eye, he was blurry, and it was impossible to keep his figure in one's memory.

This scene caused waves to rise in the hearts of the Captain and Xu Qing once again.

Xu Qing had seen several gods, so he knew very well that this was already a partial ability of a god—impossible to be remembered, belonging to the realm of ultimate concealment.

"Master, you..." Xu Qing couldn't help but speak, as the impact of this scene far exceeded that of the death of the first-stage Void Returning beast earlier.

"The divine essence I stole and researched possesses the power of time, as well as concealment." Seventh Master walked in front, his voice calm.

As he approached the palace, the flesh face twisted even more violently, as if it were about to come alive. The agony became more apparent, and it visibly aged.

In the blink of an eye, it was covered in wrinkles.

But clearly, the face on this palace was stronger than the beasts and anomalies Xu Qing and the others had encountered before, so it attempted to resist at this moment.

Yet, under Master's advance, this resistance was fragile; it aged faster, and even its edges began to dissipate.

Seeing this, Xu Qing's heart churned even more, and the Captain rubbed his eyes vigorously, suddenly sending a voice transmission to Xu Qing.

"Little Ah Qing, you say Master is this strong, so why do we still need to work so hard? Wouldn't it be better to stay in the Seven Blood Eyes and be fed? Little Junior Brother, at this moment, I feel so safe..."

Before Xu Qing could answer, Seventh Master's cold snort came from the front.

"Safe my foot. If it were truly safe, I wouldn't have had to borrow an identity to sneak in. I would have swept through everything long ago. This Seventh Prince is not simple; any one of his commanders is formidable. And that Blood Demon, at the very beginning, seemed to have sensed me!"

"Furthermore, I have sensed the presence of other foreign auras in this place. The ones who arrived this time are not just your group."

"So, once this job is done, I will also have to find a place to lay low. You two little Heavenly Palace Golden Cores actually dared to scheme to seize a god; your guts are too big. Once this is done, find an opportunity to leave the Capital District and return to the Seven Blood Eyes to wait for me."

Xu Qing's expression tightened. Hearing this, the Captain seized the opportunity to flatter him.

"Master is mighty. We only dared to scheme because we have you, Master."

"All you know is how to flatter!" Seventh Master said calmly while walking.

Hearing this, the Captain felt no sense of being reprimanded; instead, he was incredibly proud.

And at this moment, as Seventh Master walked, the struggle and twisting of the flesh face became even more intense.

A moment later, when Seventh Master walked up to this flesh face, a sheet of mist rolled over. The massive face let out a sound of unwillingness, turned into fly ash before the three of them, and revealed a red temple buried within.

This temple exuded an ancient aura, its doors tightly shut, and it was silent inside.

Its color, while containing a sense of gloom, also possessed a feeling of lightness.

It was as if this red blood was not fresh blood, but nectar.

This contradictory feeling stirred the instincts of life. Xu Qing's stomach rumbled, hunger rising, and the Captain's eyes went straight, his mouth watering.

"You two, step back a bit." Seventh Master said slowly.

Xu Qing retreated rapidly. Seeing the Captain retreating a bit slowly due to his instincts, Xu Qing grabbed him, and they retreated until they were a hundred feet away. Seventh Master walked to the red temple door and, with a solemn expression, pressed his right hand down lightly.

With a boom, the red temple door opened.

A sheet of red light poured out from within, turning into a massive, illusory face that swallowed toward Seventh Master.

Seventh Master snorted coldly, his whole body shining with golden light. He raised his right hand and pressed forward. The illusory face paused before him, finally turning into countless blood-colored butterflies that dissipated.

Wherever these blood-colored butterflies passed, the void was corroded, and the aura they emitted made Xu Qing and the Captain feel terrified.

"It's fine now." Seventh Master said calmly, walking toward the temple.

Xu Qing and the Captain ran over. After stepping into the temple, they saw a hall that shook their hearts.

Inside the temple, it was filled with a sense of grandeur.

In the very center was a massive statue, not of the Profound Void Ancient Emperor, but of an unfamiliar existence, one that seemed not to have been recorded in the subsequent history of the human race.

He wore a blood-colored Daoist robe, standing there with both hands raised, as if to embrace the entire temple.

And all around him, the inner walls of this temple...

... actually contained hundreds or thousands of mask-like faces.

These faces were roughly the same size, with old and young, men and women, and expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were everywhere.

They were all stuck to the walls, surrounding the area, and if one looked closely, one could discover that these faces were actually human skins.

The atmosphere created by a large number of human skin masks was naturally extremely bizarre. At this moment, with the arrival of Xu Qing and the others, these human skin masks looked toward them in unison, emitting a dark light from the holes where their eyes should have been.

Xu Qing was moved, and the Captain gasped.

"This place is called the Hall of Immortal Arts. Every palace of the Profound Void Ancient Emperor has such a Hall of Immortal Arts, which contains a large number of special immortal techniques from that era."

Seventh Master said calmly, his expression flat.

"Immortal arts are different from the beauty you imagine; they are not fluttering and gorgeous, but contain terror."

"Every human skin mask here is an immortal art. No need for comprehension, no need for cultivation; just stick it on your face and you can use it."

"Such a method naturally requires a certain price. Every time an immortal art is deployed, it requires the absorption of life. This human skin, when worn on the face, becomes tighter with every use, until finally, it cannot be taken off, and all the flesh, blood, and life of the body are absorbed into it, and then... it becomes a new human skin mask."

Seventh Master's tone was flat, but the words he spoke caused waves to rise in Xu Qing's heart, giving him a deeper understanding of immortal arts.

As for the Captain, he seemed to know something about this and was not surprised, only his expression revealed a touch of complexity, which he quickly hid.

"You don't need to be overly nervous. In general, the power of immortal arts is extraordinary and contains various unfathomable paths, so using them reasonably is beneficial to you. Also, each person can only take one immortal art mask in the Hall of Immortal Arts; taking more will bring a curse. Once taken here, you cannot take any more from the Hall of Immortal Arts in other palaces."

After Seventh Master finished speaking, he looked up at the statue in the temple, his calm tone carrying a bit of emotion.

"As for this statue, this is a human emperor who was chosen to be forgotten by history. He created many immortal arts in his lifetime."

"It was only through the clues in some ancient texts that I learned of such an existence. Perhaps to beautify the human race and beautify immortal arts, after the Profound Void Ancient Emperor unified everything, he was hidden in history."

"And the immortal arts were also hidden in the thirty-six palaces and turned into forbidden arts, no longer passed down. However, ancient texts record that in that era, the immortal arts created by this emperor performed great meritorious service for the human race and saved countless human kingdoms."

After Seventh Master finished speaking, he looked at his two disciples, especially at Xu Qing, with a meaningful gaze.

pt.

Er Gen