Chapter 443: Life, Death, Treasure, Passing

In the Divine Capital, there seemed to be someone from the Poison Dragon Academy of the Heaven Beyond Heaven who had traded with the Dry Emperor, yet a fated connection was still required to receive them.

The Dun Tian Zhou could traverse the Nine Layers of Gang Wind Heaven, but it seemed to require an enormous expenditure of incense and fire merit.

Within the Gang Wind Heaven, Wan Wan Zhuliu had merged with the heavens and earth for nearly half a year, failing to find the Eight Directions Temple, yet seemed to have gained some other fortune…

Within the imperial city, the sound of a bell seemed to echo unceasingly.

Damn.

Cutting out at the crucial moment!

Li Yuan suddenly felt his mood sour, his brows furrowing as he pondered: "Dragon markings, bloodline throbbing… Wan Wan Zhuliu found a bloodline that requires no self-sacrifice, meaning this so-called bloodline can enhance one's talent."

Wan Wan Zhuliu, the sole foreign-surnamed King of Great Fortune—in truth, he too should be of imperial bloodline. Although this was merely a folk rumor, Li Yuan felt its credibility was extremely high!

For no other reason than that head of silver hair, the dragon markings were almost identical to the Dry Emperor's.

His bloodline was, quite evidently, that of the Dry Emperor…

"It can't be Pang Pang Wenlong, can it?"

Li Yuan frowned!

When he had previously listened to the Heavenly Sound, he had seen that Great Fortune Founding Emperor, and he looked nothing like the Dry Emperor or Wan Wan Zhuliu!

"Could it be Pang Pang Wenlong's special constitution?"

Recalling the sights and sounds from his many listenings to the Heavenly Sound, Li Yuan felt both startled and doubtful—what kind of constitution could still be influencing descendants over a thousand years later?

"The dragon marking on Wan Wan Zhuliu's brow has changed greatly!"

His thoughts churning, he always felt something was off. Pang Pang Wenlong had been dead for a thousand years—surely he couldn't still be alive?

There was too little intelligence, mainly an insufficient understanding of that Great Fortune Founding Emperor, and of the realm of the Supreme Grand Grandmaster!

He only knew that above Unity was the Divine Palace; what the Divine Palace was, even the Dragon Dao Lord did not know, so he was even less able to find out!

"Can a bloodline also alter one's talent?"

Wooo!

In the warehouse, there seemed to be a faint breeze!

Spirit beast blood was scattered across the ground. Li Yuan paced in the four directions and bowed. After his Learning Sound Talisman advanced to the sixth rank, the first thing he did was hold a ceremony…

"Disciple Li Yuan, bowing to pray that the heavens grant the talisman."

Li Yuan bowed for a long time but received no response. He glanced at the spirit beast blood on the ground—there was no change whatsoever!

"The Founding Master is truly hard to communicate with!"

Li Yuan was not too disappointed; after all, last time he had used the blood of a Spirit Beast King, and the Learning Soldier Talisman had already advanced to the seventh rank!

This time, not only did he use ordinary spirit beast blood, but the Learning Sound Talisman was only at the sixth rank!

"Is it that the Offering's grade is insufficient, or that the sixth-rank Learning Sound Talisman is still not high enough?"

Li Yuan frowned and deliberated: "Hopefully it's the latter. If it's the former, then that's troublesome!"

Although a hundred strands of sixth-rank incense and fire merit was enormous, it wasn't necessarily unobtainable. But if it was due to the Offering, that would be a real headache.

The first time, an ordinary beast sufficed; the second time required the blood of a Spirit Beast King. Then for the third time, wouldn't it have to be a divine beast on the level of the Northern Sea Azure Dragon?

Beast.

"The blood of a Five-Element Spirit Beast King, I do happen to have a portion…"

Li Zhou thought for a moment, then took out the jar containing the blood of four Spirit Beast Kings, as well as an Angry-Sun Egg—the Offerings he had used last time for his second talisman-granting!

Previously, he had asked Zhang A-Da to gather another set!

"Sixth rank, seventh rank—only one rank apart. Maybe it'll work this time!"

Li Yuan was somewhat tempted and immediately prepared to try. Given his current status and wealth, although these Spirit Beast King bloods were precious, they weren't beyond his reach!

Wooo!

He scattered the Spirit Beast King blood according to the directions and tossed the Angry-Sun Egg onto the ground!

Li Yuan shook out his sleeves, recited the sacrificial text in his heart, and paced in the four directions to bow!

Hum!

Li Yuan focused his perception. Faintly, he heard a tremor, and immediately, the Spirit Beast King blood on the ground suddenly leapt up!

"There's a reaction!"

Li Yuan's gaze sharpened, but the next moment, his eyelid twitched!

Li Yuan shook out his sleeve to disperse the smoke, released his true qi outward to block the pungent smell of burning blood, feeling both joy and alarm!

There was a reaction, but the Offering's grade was insufficient!

"Now this is troublesome!"

Li Yuan muttered to himself!

He would much rather it be because the Learning Sound Talisman's grade was insufficient than because the Offering's grade was insufficient!

"Where on earth does one find higher-grade spirit beast blood?"

Watching the black mist gradually dissipate, Li Yuan felt a headache coming on. He had read all the various Spirit Beast Rankings published by Yunshu Tower; normally, the Spirit Beast King was already the highest-grade spirit beast!

Those of higher grade only existed in legends!

Such as the Northern Sea Azure Dragon, Qianshan Qianshan Qilin, Lei Guang Ox, and other divine beasts—either they had been hunted and killed a thousand or several thousand years ago, or they had long since vanished without a trace!

This simply couldn't be bought with money!

"The Founding Master's demands are a bit too high!"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly, but thinking of the conditions for sacrificing to outer gods in the Ji Shen Pian, he felt somewhat relieved!

By comparison, the Founding Master was still generous!

"No, that's wrong—they're offering sacrifices, whereas I'm using this to communicate with the Founding Master. The two can't be lumped together!"

Letting out a long breath, Li Yuan was half worried, half pleased!

The good news was that the Cangtian Bestowment Talisman still responded, but the bad news was that a spirit beast of that rank was utterly impossible to find, let alone one that also gathered all five elements!

"What a hassle, what a hassle!"

Pushing open the warehouse's great door, the night had already grown deep. Li Zhou returned to his room and lay down, squinting slightly as he began to sense the ascended Listening Sound Talisman!

Listening Sound Talisman: Activated

Two wooden steles stood side by side in the middle of the gray stone platform. Glancing at the Listening Sound Talisman, Li Zhou felt a measure of comfort in his heart, and most of his slight troubles faded away!

Although the third talisman still seemed far out of reach, for now, the ascension of the Soldier Talisman and the Listening Sound Talisman was already enough to give him headaches!

By consuming heaven and earth treasures, one may designate a category of sounds within heaven and earth to listen to…

The Listening Sound Talisman's use was simple and blunt!

"Just a category? There's no way to specify a particular person?"

Li Zhou touched the wooden stele, and a sliver of fragmented information rose in his heart. He had already gained a thorough understanding of the stele's use!

One could designate a category, but could not subdivide down to an individual!

"This 'category'…"

At a thought from Li Zhou, several lines of text had already appeared on the wooden talisman:

Death: Listen to the sounds of dead things.

Treasure: Listen to the sounds of treasures.

Passed: Listen to the sounds of the passed.

Four categories in total, simple and blunt!

And depending on the category, the consumption also differed. Ordinary listening

consumed one portion of incense. Designating the sounds of the living required two portions, the sounds of dead things required four portions, the sounds of treasures required eight portions, and the sounds of the passed required sixteen portions!

"Another big consumer of incense!"

Li Zhou sighed. At a thought, wisps of incense had already risen from the incense burner, drifting over—all of it unranked incense: "Let's try them one by one, from low to high!"

Hum!

The instant those wisps of incense sank into the Listening Sound wooden talisman, text and sound appeared together: "In the night wind, weeping sounds come from within Dragon Tiger Temple. The hall master of Dragon Tiger Temple, Mao Qiancang, has failed in entering the Dao. His hair turned white overnight, his body and spirit both decline. He is presently making arrangements for his affairs within his residence!"

"Mm."

Li Zhou's heart jolted. "Senior Brother Mao has failed his breakthrough?"

Mao Qiancang, of course he knew him. That was the hall master of Dragon Tiger Hall, one of the three halls of the main vein. Thirty years ago he had already achieved Great Success in Blood Exchange, and had once been ranked

among the top three of the Dragon Ranking!

A figure of this caliber, with the Dragon Tiger Health-Preserving Pill in hand, still couldn't enter the Dao?

"Body and spirit both in irreversible decline—even with the Long Hu Longhu Dadan, Senior Brother Mao probably doesn't have many years left!"

Li Zhou sighed softly: "Entering the Dao is just like leaping the Dragon Gate!"

The failure of someone familiar was far, far more profound than hearing it from someone else's mouth!

Hum!

As Li Zhou's thoughts wandered, text flowed again on the wooden talisman. This time, it was the sound of dead things: "In life, the Lockbone Bodhisattva was unrestrained and unconventional; even after death he would not rest. Time and again he would leave his dwelling to meet with handsome men. But recently, he has vanished without a trace, and the handsome men who were his companions feel vexed."

Such a dead thing.

Li Zhou paused. This "dead" referred to people who had died.

Those evil gods of the Xieshen Sect, although still alive, were actually already considered dead things.

Li Zhou pondered the difference between the two types of listening. As for that Lockbone Bodhisattva, he didn't really care—similar minor gods, the Xieshen Sect had several hundred!

Hum!

"This is the sound of a divine weapon."

This was easy enough to understand. Li Zhou thought for a moment and recalled this Ancient Elephant Hammer—when he had first gone to Divine Weapon Mountain, he had seen this hammer!

At the time he had even handled it for a bit, but this hammer's grade wasn't high and it was also damaged, so it wasn't under his consideration!

"Treasures—this category should be very broad, right? Does incense count within it?"

At a thought from Li Zhou, another sound arose. After sixteen wisps of unranked incense were consumed, a sound came—this was

the sound of the passed: "More than seven hundred years ago, in the Nine-Bend River, a Grandmaster who cultivated the Blood-Worshipping Vajra Dharma was defeated in spirit by the Blood Vajra, and his physical body became one of the Blood Vajra's many dwellings. Before death, he roared in unwillingness!"

The sound of the passed referred to the past.

Li Zhou's interest was piqued. He had plenty of unranked incense and wouldn't be stingy, so he immediately began experimenting!

Hum!

Hum!

Various listening sounds echoed unceasingly!

Li Zhou listened while pondering the differences between these several types of listening!

"The sound of the living is very broad—anything alive, whether person or spirit beast, falls within it. The sound of the dead is its opposite, and its use seems a bit smaller."

"The most useful is the sound of treasures, but this thing is also very random—most of the time, it doesn't matter whether there's an owner or not!"

The sound of the passed consumed the most, but its use seemed limited!

After dozens of consecutive attempts, Li Zhou finally stopped with lingering interest. This Listening Sound Talisman was different from what he had expected, but its use was indeed considerably greater!

If the incense were sufficient, he could well choose a category to use for gathering treasures!

The sound of treasures was the biggest gain!

"Eight times the consumption—it's fine with unranked incense, but if it were sixth-rank incense…"

"Eight times the consumption. If it weren't a ranked incense, that would be fine, but if it truly is Sixth-Rank Incense..."