Chapter 586: Shan Xuan Qi Cang Long

Wooo~

Walking slowly along the strange-stone path, Li Yuan focused his spirit and sensed carefully, only feeling that the airflow blowing out from within the temple gate contained a kind of elusive, hard-to-pin-down aura.

Desolate, ancient, chilling the heart.

He pondered briefly and had already discerned:

"This aura is somewhat similar to the aura within the Zang Guan Mi Jing... Could this temple's master also hail from the Origin Divine Dynasty?"

Treading carefully, Li Yuan stepped through the wide-open temple gate.

Hum~

As if invisible ripples of water had been parted by him, as though entering another Yi Fang Mi Jing cave-heaven, he raised his eyes and beheld a dim, deep starry sky.

The starry sky was vast; constellations wheeled within it, and even straining his gaze to the farthest horizon he could not glimpse its end.

"This starlight doesn't look fake..." Li Yuan's eyelid twitched.

He had altered his constitution to the 'Star Mastiff Body'; when bathed in starlight he could recover his stamina to a certain extent. The instant he entered this place, he felt the change within himself.

The starry sky contained within this small temple held at least one real star—or perhaps, every last one of them was real?

Wooo~

Li Yuan stood still in place, looking around in all directions, feeling only gloom rolling in like a tide, stars dazzling, an inexpressible desolation rushing toward him, making his heart press down with a weight he could not suppress.

"Roar!"

As if it had detected the presence of an outsider, this stretch of starry sky suddenly erupted with dazzling divine light; within that divine light a colossal beast roared—now like a dragon's cry, now like a tiger's howl—only magnified countless times over.

Even though Li Yuan sensed danger and immediately released his true qi to shield himself, he was still shaken by that sound, shaken until his vision went black and his qi and blood surged.

"... Such a big voice?!"

Li Yuan gathered his spirit to the utmost, enduring the trembling of that sound wave, only to see that stretch of starry sky gradually dim, collapsing from the edges toward the center at tremendous speed; in just a few short instants, more than half had already collapsed.

Before Li Yuan could recover from that roar, the starry sky that had enveloped his surroundings had already vanished. Even with his spirit gathered to the utmost, he only caught—at the very center where the starry sky had crumbled apart—a shadow of a Cang Long flashing past.

'That dragon...'

Li Yuan's mind went blank for an instant; nearly all his spirit was seized by that blurred dragon shadow. He instinctively wanted to see it clearly, but suddenly let out a muffled groan:

"How ferocious?!"

Raising a hand to wipe the filthy blood seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, Li Yuan's heart was already shaken to the extreme.

The terrifying aura contained within that dragon shadow surpassed imagination; merely recalling that fleeting glimpse in his mind, his spirit was nearly torn apart.

Had he not decisively cut away his distracting thoughts on the spot, he would probably have... died?

"A deity!"

Li Yuan gripped the Illusory Dragon Sash at his waist; the little mother dragon gave no response at all, as if dead, but the whip-body itself was trembling violently, clearly terrified out of its wits.

"A deity!"

Li Yuan's heart filled with awe.

Before entering the temple he had already guessed that some terrifying existence was enshrined within this East Temple, but seeing it with his own eyes still made him tremble.

This was a crushing on the level of life itself, not something the Qian Yan Fa Lord—who was left with only a wisp of remnant soul—could compare to. He even suspected that dragon shadow might still be alive????

"Hoo!"

Forcibly suppressing the agitation in his heart, Li Yuan looked before him.

After the lingering gloom and starlight vanished completely, what lay before his eyes was an incense burner, a table, an altar, a divine statue—seemingly no different at all from any temple outside.

The only difference was that divine statue.

It was a statue of a Cang Long, crimson as blood, as if carved from the most perfect jade in the world, vivid and lifelike; the one flaw was that the Cang Long had no eyes.

Those eye sockets, each the size of a human head, were pitch-black hollows.

'Surely it can't really be alive, can it?'

That one glance from before had left a shadow on his heart; he said nothing, only slightly

With some patience, he waited a full half-day, but stubbornly didn't wait for any—bored, playing this game

Playing this game bored is really satisfying!

Truly satisfying

《Start Game》

《Start Game》

Pondering and trying several forms of address with no response, Li Yuan's brow furrowed slightly, but he still raised his head to observe his surroundings; before long, his gaze fell on a small stone stele before the divine statue.

Many temples had such stone steles, inscribed with the deity's origins and deeds.

What met his eyes was still the Origin Divine Script—he couldn't read it, having never learned it—yet he could completely understand the meaning within the characters; the only problem was that the stele itself was somewhat damaged, making the text appear broken and fragmented.

【... The God King swept through the realms, his might reigning over the starry heavens... One Origin Era comprises the number one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred; this is the great limit......】

【...... The sea of stars is boundless, myriad realms coexist, all races stand like a forest..... There is one race named Shan Xuan Qi, born from the Endless Blood Sea that gathered the blood of the cosmos..】

【The Shan Xuan Qi race, stained with the blood of all races, upon reaching adulthood can naturally transform into any race; even deities cannot discern....】

"Shan Xuan Qi Cang Long."

Li Yuan digested the information on the stone stele.

The Shan Xuan Qi race was also one of the most ancient races; because its birth was so demanding, the number of its members was extremely few, and naturally, it was also extremely powerful.

It was unknown who had erected the stele; it contained no songs of praise, only a calm narration of the origins of the Shan Xuan Qi race—though some parts had been erased by someone.

"Then?"

Li Yuan looked all around; apart from this stele, he found nothing unusual. After examining it several more times, he had no choice but to turn his gaze to the incense burner before the altar.

【Incense Burner Before the Hall of the Shan Xuan Qi Cang Long (Tier Ten)】

【???】

【???】

"A tenth-tier incense burner... could it be that I need to offer incense?"

Li Li Yuanzhong muttered to himself, feeling quite wary.

Over the years, he had often encountered weapons whose specific information he couldn't see, and based on his pondering, the reason he couldn't see the information on such weapons had nothing to do with the Soldier's Register; it was that he hadn't truly seen them!

He had tried many times with the old dragon-head; weapons taken into the Ru Shen Jing, he could only see vaguely.

"Burn incense..."

After his talent metamorphosed, Li Li Yuanzhong's mind worked quickly: "According to the rules of Tian Shi Yuan, one must burn incense when encountering a temple?"

Cursing Dong Dong Ershisan inwardly for not giving even a hint, he nimbly took out a stick of incense from the Soldier Space; burning incense had its proprieties, he had heard the little mother dragon mention it before.

The aura of incense and fire could reach up to the heavens and down to the earth, could cross You Jing, transmitting the devout wishes in one's heart to the corresponding deity.

"No deity will refuse incense and fire, even if it's just a casual stick."

These were the little mother dragon's exact words, meaning that Tian Shi Yuan had the saying "burn incense when you meet a temple, bow when you see a god," and one stick of incense probably counted as... a greeting?

"Hiss!"

He raised his hand and inserted that stick of incense into the incense burner.

Li Li Yuanzhong stood with his hands down, waiting silently, but saw the incense aura drift up, scattered at first, but quickly gathering and sinking into the azure dragon's eye socket.

With a "hiss," one stick of incense burned out.

"Not enough!"

Li Li Yuanzhong heard a low voice, very similar to the dragon's roar that had resounded before.

"Alright."

Hearing a response, Li Li Yuanzhong's spirit jolted slightly, and he continued offering incense.

The incense burned quickly, turning to ash in a few breaths; that low voice also only ever said "not enough," not responding to Li Li Yuanzhong's greeting.

"Something's not right..."

After offering several sticks of incense, Li Li Yuanzhong stopped his hand and realized: "This isn't asking for incense, it's asking for incense fire."

Deities want incense fire.

A moment later, under Li Li Yuanzhong's pained gaze, a wisp of seventh-tier incense fire, like a beacon smoke, sank into the eye socket of the azure dragon statue, and he heard the second sentence from this azure dragon god:

"Step forward!"

Concise and to the point, sparing with words, low and indifferent yet with an indescribable woodenness; Li Li Yuanzhong guessed inwardly that even if this god wasn't dead, it probably wasn't much better off than that Qian Yan Fa lord.

After a moment's hesitation, seeing the incense fire about to run out, he stepped forward.

Hum~

The next instant, the deep, dark starry sky reappeared before his eyes.

Li Li Yuanzhong landed on a drifting meteorite; he looked around and discovered that this stretch of starry sky was very different from before—namely, the starlight had decreased by ninety-nine percent.

Yet the remaining starlight had become extremely dazzling, like lighthouses guiding the way.

"Hmm?"

Li Li Yuanzhong lowered his head; the meteorite he was currently on also emanated a faint glow: "So, every glowing star represents one Ru Dao Jing temple-enterer from the east?"

"The number isn't many, does this mean I have to fight my way through this Star Light Road?"

"In what form do the other temple-enterers exist? The Ta Yin of the aura they left when entering the temple back then? Or what... annoying, why isn't there even a hint?"

"Given the harshness of the Eight Directions Temple and that Dong Dong Ershisan, every single one of these temple-enterers is a freak..."

The glowing meteorite streaked swiftly across the deep night sky, approaching the nearest glowing place; Li Li Yuanzhong cursed Fa Huan Yi Tong inwardly and decisively took the Eight Directions Temple token in hand.

"This Daoist master doesn't fight unprepared battles!"

Staring at the increasingly close glowing meteorite, Li Li Yuanzhong had no habit of risking his person at all, preparing to take a distant look and then withdraw, but when he saw the person sitting cross-legged on that meteorite, he was stunned.

Although they were far apart, he still recognized them at a glance—it was himself!

"The one at the very back is me?"

Li Li Yuanzhong's eyes were very bright, and his heart settled at once: "It seems the other temple-enterers on this Star Light Road are also in the state they were in when entering the temple; the first trial of entering the temple, fighting yourself..."

"Roar!"

As the two meteorites drew close, Li Li Yuanzhong heard that low dragon roar again, indifferent and cold:

"Temple-enterer Li Li Yuanzhong, Divine Demon Inherited Talent, Ru Dao Jing Fa Jie... passed the temple-entering trial, bestowed, spirit treasure, one Shan Xuan Gui Shield."

The night was dark, moonless, and beast roars occasionally rose in the Dragon Tiger Mountain Range.

In Dragon Mountain, a lamp was lit in a small courtyard.

"This Great Sun Golden Scripture is indeed profound and vast..."

Qi Qi Benchu leaned against the headboard, holding a yellowed ancient scroll and studying it carefully; his eyes were very bright, sometimes frowning, sometimes clicking his tongue, sometimes exclaiming in admiration:

"But that old man Qin still underestimated me; in another half month, I'll be able to get started..."

The night deepened; Qi Qi Benchu put away the ancient scroll, massaged his brow, and was about to blow out the oil lamp when his expression suddenly changed:

"Who?!"

With a great shout, Qi Qi Benchu twisted his body like an ape and crashed toward the back wall, but only heard a cold snort; his whole person was already frozen in place. He turned his head with difficulty; a man in black slowly raised his head, and beneath the cloak, dense lines of red light lit up, as if thousands of eyes were watching him at once!