Chapter 272: Asking the Way

As the Three Linked Realms almost brushed past, within the Nüwa Ancestral Land, Wu Jin, sensing something, lifted his head and glanced.

In Wu Tie's view, the Nüwa Ancestral Land was a vast, boundless expanse of land.

In Wu Jin's eyes, the Three Linked Realms were merely a tiny speck of light far off in the void.

After gazing thoughtfully at the direction of the Three Linked Realms for a while, Wu Jin raised his right-hand, oddly shaped great axe and let out a loud roar to the heavens.

He stood fifteen meters tall, clad in heavy armor, with a Soul-Nurturing Bowl hanging before his chest; inside the bowl, three points of flame had grown to fist size, and within the dark-red flames sparks occasionally sprayed out, forming streams of light like a small creek that slowly swirled around Wu Jin.

In his left hand he gripped a square wooden shield bearing the fierce visage of the Glutton Beast, while his right-hand great axe was as large as a small city gate, its sharp blade sprouting eighteen sharp fangs of strange beasts.

Wu Jin's entire body exuded an overbearing, brutal aura like that of a primeval giant beast, his eyes shooting long flames as he roared madly.

His roar was like a dragon's, causing the surrounding valleys to reverberate with a tremendous 'Boom—'.

In the distance, mountain peaks bore snow; glaciers a hundred zhang thick and stretching a thousand li were shattered by the roar and collapsed, an avalanche surging like a tide, carrying a tremendous sound as it plunged into the deep valley, where fierce winds raged and countless birds and beasts fled in panic.

Wu Jin stood atop a great mountain; before him on the slope, dozens of strange beasts several meters long slowly approached, their dark-green eyes flashing with ferocity, saliva constantly dripping from their mouths as they greedily eyed Wu Jin…

No, they were greedily gazing at the three clusters of dark-red flame within Wu Jin's Soul-Nurturing Bowl on his chest.

'Hiss—!'

These wolf-shaped strange beasts continually emitted serpentine cries; beneath their blue-gray hides, a layer of black energy slowly seeped out—icy, deathly still, exuding an ominous aura of the dead.

'You want to devour the souls of my father and brothers… trade your lives for it!' Veins bulged across Wu Jin's face as he bellowed, his right-hand great axe heavily striking his left-hand ancient wooden shield.

'Thud, thud-thud!'

'Thud, thud-thud!'

'Thud, thud-thud!'

The great axe showered sparks, the wooden shield thundered, and the Glutton Beast visage on the shield's surface suddenly opened its eyes, opened its mouth wide, bared its teeth, and let out a silent roar at those strange beasts.

Three strange beasts charged forward.

With a great shout, Wu Jin stepped forward and swung his right-hand axe in a horizontal cut.

A flash of axe-light, and the three strange beasts were chopped into thirty-six pieces.

Though the axe in Wu Jin's hands was huge and heavy, his technique moved like a nimble elephant weaving through flowerbeds without letting a single petal fall.

'To govern a great state is like cooking a small fish—this is the Way; to dissect an ox is to enter the gap without thickness—this is the Way; to lift Mount Tai and leap over the North Sea without startling a firefly—this is the Way.' Having slain the three strange beasts with one axe, Wu Jin muttered to himself.

'Though I don't really understand, it seems mighty. "Entering the gap without thickness," huh…' Wu Jin lowered his gaze to his massive axe, especially the thick back of the blade, which was over three feet thick.

After the three strange beasts were slain, wisps of blue-gray mist continually spewed from their corpses; the three points of flame inside the Soul-Nurturing Bowl flared up, swiftly devouring the mist, and the three clusters of flame visibly grew larger.

'Heh heh, are you here to hunt, or to deliver meat?'

Wu Jin watched the remaining hesitating strange beasts, and beneath his skin, ancient runes shaped like dragons, winding and twisting, suddenly blazed to life.

Suddenly an indescribable aura of primordial, sacred, overbearing, and solemn majesty enveloped him; he let out a sudden roar, and the heavens and earth trembled.

Dozens of strange beasts shuddered; over half were shaken by the roar, their legs going weak as they collapsed in disgrace.

Wu Jin shook his left wooden shield, and from the Glutton Beast's mouth gushed a great spray of blood energy; within the vast blood mist, thumb-thick cords flickered with strange ethereal light, swiftly winding around those strange beasts.

Wu Jin surged forward, his right-hand great axe chopping wildly; dozens of strange beasts were uniformly cut into thirty-six pieces, and the blue-gray mist that burst forth was swiftly swallowed by the three clusters of flame in the Soul-Nurturing Bowl.

After dozens of strange beasts were easily slain, Wu Jin's expression grew even more solemn.

He roared loudly toward a vast forest to the side, like a beast continually bellowing; he even set down his great axe and hammered his chest with his right fist, like an enraged great ape provoking a beast intruding on his territory.

Within the forest, a black shadow suddenly darted out.

The black shadow moved with extreme speed, like a streak of flowing light, even more like a wisp of gloom, making no sound as it tore through the air and lunged straight at Wu Jin's face.

It was a pitch-black creature with three eyes on its face, green flames rising in its pupils—an eerie… monkey?

Or rather, he resembled a monkey.

The pitch-black three-eyed monkey had a slender build; his waist was only two chi wide, yet his total length from head to tail was some thirty-odd chi, and his two long arms were even longer than his body by a half.

This fellow was exactly like a black-furred monkey stretched out.

In its three eyes, green flames rose; its two extremely long, slender claws moved soundlessly—one claw dug at Wu Jin's throat, the other claw grabbed at his heart.

Wu Jin abruptly lowered his head.

The three-eyed black monkey's claw aimed at his throat slammed heavily into his helmet.

With a tremendous crash, sparks flew everywhere, and a dim cluster of Blood Light exploded on Wu Jin's helmet. His body shook violently, he staggered back several steps, and the other claw firmly seized his chest.

Clad in archaic heavy armor, the claw aimed at his heart also failed to pierce the defense; only the immense impact unbalanced Wu Jin, making his body sway as he retreated several more steps.

On the wooden shield, the Glutton Beast's head opened its maw in a low bellow, spewing vast blood energy; within it, glowing ethereal cords crisscrossed, forming a great net that completely ensnared the three-eyed black monkey.

The three-eyed black monkey shuddered, and over ten cords had already wrapped around his body.

With a piercing shriek, the three-eyed black monkey shot three bleak green rays from its eyes, which struck Wu Jin's head with force.

Wu Jin let out a low growl, his body stiffened, and then an ancient sigil on his brow, radiating supreme dignity and lethal slaughter, suddenly surged forth.

Behind Wu Jin, winds and clouds swirled, sun and moon rose and set, tides ebbed and flowed, seas turned to fields…

All manner of celestial phenomena, countless heavenly signs, the various cycles of nature flickered into view behind Wu Jin.

'I shall be the Human Emperor.' Wu Jin growled low: 'Although I, Laozi, don't know what a Human Emperor means, this guy told me I am the new Human Emperor!'

Wu Jin threw back his head and let out a long whistle; golden scales blossomed beneath his skin, two gleaming golden horns sprouted from his forehead, and his legs transformed into a gleaming golden dragon tail.

Discarding the wooden shield, Wu Jin seized the three-eyed black monkey's neck in one grasp.

'Three months… you've chased Laozi for three months…' Wu Jin gripped the three-eyed black monkey's neck with both hands and violently slammed him to the ground.

The earth rumbled, the peaks trembled, and mountains within a hundred li were shaken up and down.

Wu Jin rumbled low: 'Still, I must thank you—for this armor, this wooden shield, this axe, and the Human Emperor's Seal in my mind—all obtained half a month ago when you chased me into that suddenly appearing rift.'

The slender three-eyed black monkey, thrown to the ground, shrieked 'Squeak—' as its bones continually shattered, and the earth was gouged by his lithe body into a dense network of long cracks.

'Thank you, then go die.' Wu Jin's arms bulged with muscle; the backs of his hands and fingers were covered in fine golden dragon scales, his nails turned into sharp, conical dragon claws; gripping the three-eyed black monkey's neck with both hands, he wrenched hard, tearing the beast cleanly in two.

Three months.

This three-eyed black monkey had hunted Wu Jin for three months.

Several times before, Wu Jin was beaten into a sorry state by the soul‑fixing evil light sprayed from the three‑eyed black monkey's eyes.

As long as his body slightly touched the soul‑fixing evil light, Wu Jin would be unable to move for a period. Facing the terrifying attacks of the three‑eyed black monkey, Wu Jin several times barely escaped death, and several times his throat was even pulled out by the three‑eyed black monkey.

However, Wu Jin's luck was not bad; several times he was seriously injured, yet he escaped from the three‑eyed black monkey's claws.

Especially, half a month ago, he was chased into a suddenly appearing great earth fissure; beneath that fissure lay a small ancient shrine, where Wu Jin obtained many good things.

"Die, monster." Wu Jin tore apart the three‑eyed black monkey's body, threw it to the ground, picked up the great broadaxe and hacked wildly, actually chopping it into minced meat; especially the three green‑glittering eyes, which he chopped to pieces.

The three‑eyed black monkey's body burned, strands of green qi rose up; the three flames inside the soul‑nurturing bowl swayed slightly, the strands of green qi were gulped down by the three flames, the reddish flames writhed slightly, their color gradually shifting from red to orange‑yellow.

"Hey!" Wu Jin lowered his head to watch the changes of the three flames in the soul‑nurturing bowl, and smiled with delight.

Holding the wooden shield and axe, Wu Jin looked off into the distance.

"In legend, there are things that can bring the dead back to life… In the ancestral land, it is said there is a passage leading straight to the legendary Kunlun Ruins, where grows the Queen Mother Grass. It can resurrect the dead, restore flesh to white bones, and even condense a flesh body out of thin air."

The dragon scales on his body gradually receded, the dragon horn shrank back into his forehead, and the dragon tail turned back into two stout thighs.

Wu Jin shook his body, slightly crouched, then leapt up violently.

With a tremendous boom, the mountain peak where he had just stood collapsed partially, leaving a ring of white explosive blast that swept outward, flattening seven or eight surrounding ridges.

Wu Jin sprang up like a flea to a height of over a hundred li, he roared loudly, joyfully tracing an arc hundreds of li long, like a meteorite falling from the sky, heavily landing on the summit of a great mountain.

The mountain peak shook violently once, the foot spewed out a vast yellow vapor, accompanied by a tremendous roar, the peak seemed to have shrunk by about a hundred zhang.

Wu Jin stood on the summit and looked around for a moment, then suddenly grinned: "Over there, there are living people… Hey, go ask them if they know where the Kunlun Ruins are… Hmm, keep your voice gentle, not like last time when you scared everyone away."

Wu Jin muttered to himself, then leapt up violently again and traced a huge arc.

After several such leaps, Wu Jin had already bounced over two thousand li.

He left the mountain region and arrived at the edge of a plain.

This plain presented a strange mixture of Gobi desert and grassland, with scattered Gobi and tiny lawns haphazardly patched together, stretching for thousands of li. The wind blew over, sand and stones striking the half‑green, half‑yellow grass stems, making the scene look quite bizarre.

The gravity field here is also chaotic; the gravity on the variously sized lawns is barely normal, while near the Gobi patches the gravity varies enormously—sometimes a step away, the gravity can fluctuate hundreds or even thousands of times normal.

Ordinary people here might at any moment go 'whoosh' and fly into the sky, or at any moment go 'bang' and become a meat patty on the sand.

Wu Jin's whole body sprayed with hot air, he strode in with huge steps, domineeringly charging into this plain.

His speed was incredible; he flung his long legs and sprinted wildly across the plain, the chaotic gravity field torn apart by his passage, and wherever he went, countless sandstones and grass leaves on the ground were pulverized.

Kicking up a long dragon of dust, Wu Jin sprinted to the edge of a lawn spanning about a hundred mu.

Inside the lawn, the two groups facing off simultaneously turned their gaze to Wu Jin.

Each side had a dozen or so young men and women, each bearing an extraordinary aura, their magical fluctuations quite strong, all at the high or even peak level of the Chonglou Realm.

However, they had obviously been in the Wa Clan's ancestral land for quite a while.

In the Wa Clan's ancestral land, fraught with danger, survival is not easy.

Therefore these young men and women were all disheveled, their original appearance unrecognizable; their clothes were also tattered, several young men simply wrapped themselves in a small piece of animal hide.

"Asking for directions, asking for directions." Wu Jin laughed honestly.

But to these young men and women, a figure several meters tall, clad in heavy armor, holding an oddly shaped ancient wooden shield and heavy axe, with veins bulging on his face, his aura fierce and wild, like a primeval beast giant suddenly charging at them, grinning…

"The monster of the ancestral land… Deal with him first."

A girl shrieked sharply, she shook her right shoulder, and a brilliant purple sword light tens of zhang long shot up to the heavens, like a flood dragon slashing down toward Wu Jin's head.

"Ancient… sword cultivator… a pure sword cultivator, how rare." Wu Jin gazed at that sword light and murmured: "Its attack power and lethality are fairly formidable among ancient cultivators, but… compared to orthodox cultivators, its divine abilities and transformations are inferior."

Wu Jin extended his right hand, with a 'pop', he seized the purple sword light in his palm.

No matter how the flood‑dragon‑like sword light twisted and struggled in his palm, the sword light cutting his palm's tough skin only sent up countless sparks.

Moreover, the appearance of these sparks was not because his palm's tough skin was damaged, but because the sword light's essence itself had been injured.

The girl's face turned ashen.

The faces of both groups of young men and women turned ashen.

Looking at Wu Jin's face, they were like a white rabbit seeing a big tiger, each of their complexions almost turning transparent.

"Hehe, I'm just here to ask for directions." Wu Jin cautiously said to those young men and women.

However, his body was too large; although he tried to speak softly, his voice sounded like a normal person shouting loudly, shaking up dust and debris all around.