Chapter 553 - 552: The Supreme Sage of Human Taoist

As expected, the Water Spirit did not know all the details.

Although she and the Fire Essence could be considered as one of the few survivors from the Ancient Fairyland, as sacred beings nurtured by humans, they didn’t have a chance to participate in many significant events.

Based on what the Water Spirit was saying,

Everyone received confirmation.

The Original in the stone coffin was killed before the arrival of the Charming Spirit.

It was the master of the Water Spirit and Fire Essence who retrieved his corpse, sealed it in the stone coffin, and entrusted them to watch over it.

As expected,

The master of the Water Spirit and Fire Essence prepared some special means to ensure their well-being.

After gathering all the information, everyone was frankly unable to imagine how powerful their master could really be.

After all,

The chance of the Water Spirit and Fire Essence avoiding the catastrophe when the Charming Spirit arrived to destroy the Ancient Fairyland was impossible just with their own strength.

In the end,

The fighting power of sacred beings isn’t necessarily strong.

Even the two existing in Return to Origin Realm can be easily handled by Emperor level beings.

If it weren’t for outside protection, the Water Spirit and Fire Essence wouldn’t be alive.

Although both are not living beings in the true sense, an ability like triggering the primitive instinct of beings to burn their life force by the Charming Spirit wouldn’t work, but her destructive power isn’t limited to just this.

This can be understood by looking at the destroyed Ancient Fairyland.

A power like Charm won’t be able to shatter a whole world.

"Can you tell us about your master?"

Li Jing spoke up.

The Water Spirit hesitated upon hearing this, then she said.

"Our master...her identity is a bit special. Even the four strongest Heavenly Emperors from the Ancient Fairyland bowed respectfully before her. She is the Saint of Human Taoist and the only Saint in the Ancient Fairyland."

Saint of Human Taoist?

Li Jing was slightly stunned.

What is this realm?

Above Return to Origin?

Blue Phoenix and others changed their expressions hearing the Water Spirit’s words.

Xiang Dong exclaimed in shock.

"Your master, is she the Human Saint!?"

Li Jing gazed sideways upon hearing this.

Seeing this, Blue Phoenix kindly explained.

"The term ’Saint’ doesn’t refer to a cultivation realm, but rather a symbol of being at the pinnacle of a certain species in the universe. A Saint is approved by the Heavenly Path, shares the same lifespan as the heavens, and is outside the Five Elements."

"In front of a Saint, cultivation realms lose all meaning. If one’s strength is strong enough, they can fight a Saint but generally, only a Saint can kill a Saint."

"Besides, unless a Saint falls and the heaven and earth mourn together, there can’t possibly be a second Saint of the same species within the whole universe."

Conveying these three points, Blue Phoenix had a strange look on her face.

"If there truly was a Human Saint in the Ancient Fairyland at that time, I can hardly imagine how dire the situation must have been when they were invaded by creatures from the void. Even the Human Saint couldn’t stop the disaster, and there was even the fall of another Original..."

She didn’t continue after saying half of it.

"It seems that back then, in the Ancient Fairyland, there were more terrifying creatures causing trouble, not just things like the humanoid fruits from the void and the Void Dark Spirit."

Jin Ritian interjected, saying.

"If there were only those two types of creatures, it wouldn’t be impossible for a Human Saint to deal with."

"Indeed."

Xiang Dong nodded, saying.

"Although the humanoid fruit from the void we encountered hadn’t completed its metamorphosis yet, even if it had metamorphosed into a Void Worm Mother, capable of multiplying Void Dark Spirits, they would be nothing but ants in the face of a Saint, not to mention a Human Saint."

After saying that, he added with a proud expression.

"Saints vary in strength, but it’s not related to cultivation but to the prosperity of the species they represent. In all of the universe, whether in the past or present, the Human Taoist is undoubtedly the most prosperous."

Before he could finish talking, Jin Ritian interrupted.

"There’s no denying that Human Taoist is currently the most prosperous, but it’s nonsense to say that this was the case in the past as well. In the time of the primordial era, humans were just prey for other races. It’s not clear whether the Human Taoist was the strongest during the period when the Ancient Fairyland was destroyed. Even now, no one can definitively say whether the human race is the strongest among the three thousand worlds. After all, we are all living in just one of these worlds."

Xiang Dong clicked his tongue unhappily upon hearing this, saying.

"Elder Jin, you’re just being argumentative."

"I’m just stating facts."

Jin Ritian rolled his eyes and said,

"As I said, we all just live in one world. If you’re talking about this Big World being the place where the human race thrives the most, I can agree. But in the entire universe, it’s not necessarily the case."

In the face of Jin Ritian’s argument, Xiang Dong opened his mouth but said nothing.

He wanted to argue back,

But he had to admit that no one knew exactly what the situations were in the three thousand worlds.

Besides, the term ’three thousand worlds’ is just a saying, there are far more than three thousand Mini Worlds around the Big World.

Additionally, there have been speculations made by ancestors.

There might be more than one Big World.

Seeing Xiang Dong and Jin Ritian arguing, Li Jing couldn’t help but smile while his mind was full of thoughts.

The fact that the Ancient Fairyland was ravaged by not just the humanoid fruits from the void and the Void Dark Spirit, was something they could predict.

Setting aside anything else,

The reason why the Charming Spirit had to completely destroy the Ancient Fairyland wasn’t just because of the Void Worm Mother and the Void Dark Spirit, there must have been other hidden factors involved.

These are secondary issues.

The issue now is that a Saint came into the picture.

This made the situation more complicated.

Without needing clarification from Blue Phoenix and the rest, from their expressions a moment ago, Li Jing could discern the situation.

Such an existence as a Saint should not appear in the Ancient Fairyland, perhaps the Upper Three Realms was where the Saint really belonged.

The Saint of Human Taoist appearing in the Ancient Fairyland couldn’t be just for a vacation, right?

How long had she been dwelling in the Ancient Fairyland before the invasion of the alien species from the void?

And what attracted her to come to the Ancient Fairyland?

Li Jing glances at the Water Spirit, not intending to ask directly, but instead, he confirms by asking.

"Water Spirit, how many different types of alien species had you seen before you were entrusted by your master to guard this stone coffin?"

"Many, too numerous to count."

The Water Spirit affirmed.

"As I mentioned before, when I learned of it, the situation was extremely dire — too many unseen alien species rampaging through the Ancient Fairyland."

Before the sentence was finished, the Fire Essence on his shoulder began to chatter "Ah ba ah ba" twice.

Everyone instinctively looked over upon hearing the sound.

Obviously, the Fire Essence didn’t have the ability to speak the human language.

So,

What was this little guy saying?

At this moment, Xiaocai who was happily chomping on a spirit fruit, raised her eyes, and spoke.

"He said those alien species seem to not purely kill, but also to search for a certain item or person."

Searching for a certain item or person?

Li Jing and the rest scrunch their brows all together.

This news was undoubtedly thought-provoking.

Primarily, everyone could easily infer a fact from it.

If the invasion of Alien species was to find something or someone, then it was not a coincidence that a passage appeared in the Ancient Fairyland allowing the invasion of Alien species, or some similar accident.

Everything had been premeditated.

And behind the ferocious alien species, there must be a mastermind.

Just as everyone was speculating, someone threw a curious glance at Water Spirit, who upon seeing it nodded.

Receiving affirmation, Li Jing rubbed his brow.

The information on hand for reference was limited.

But if what the Fire Essence unintentionally said was true, the Human Saint in the Ancient Fairyland might also be searching for what the alien species were hunting for, or someone.

Looking back,

Involving certain items and people, the truth that the Big World’s Heavenly Taoist spoke about earlier might not be complete.

Her summoning of the Charming Spirit to destroy the Ancient Fairyland wasn’t simply due to being worried about the invasion of the Alien Species to the Big World. Rather, she probably didn’t want the mastermind behind the alien species to obtain that thing or person.

However, the result should be the same.

Once they get what they’re after, it will have a significant impact on the Big World.

Damn it!

This mess is getting more and more troublesome.

If he wasn’t unable to return after going back to Xianyu through the passage in his Little Universe, Li Jing really wanted to go find the Big World’s Heavenly Taoist, confront her, and clear up all the ins and outs of the situation.

If she refuses to talk, he’s not going to do anything for her.

Heaving a deep sigh, Li Jing got up.

"It’s about time, Blue Phoenix, let’s go out and continue exploring the Ancient Fairyland. We need to quickly visit all the locations that Xiaocai mentioned. Then we try to explore other places, see if we can find anything."

Upon hearing this, everyone got up.

The information provided by the Water and Fire Spirits wasn’t much, but it was enough.

By their appearance, there probably wasn’t more.

Continuing the chat would be rather pointless. They should rather follow Xiaocai’s ’coordinates’.

They’d encountered something else in two consecutive locations, thus it was already obvious that the locations Xiaocai dared not go to were quite "resourceful," they could easily obtain something.

Shouldn’t they hurry to finish visiting all of them?

Although most of the benefits were probably taken by Li Jing when they were with him, they could still hope to get a piece of the pie.

For instance, the Eternal Elixir Jin Ritian had obtained earlier.

This "soup" tasted wonderful.

Li Jing was now a really big thigh, they had no intention of snatching from him.

They would be content with having a soup to drink.

Without much more to say, Li Jing led everyone to leave, but not before leaving some instructions.

"Water Spirit, you and Fire Essence can stay peacefully among us. Ling Ling is at the bottom of the hill, you can acquaint yourselves with her. If you two are willing, she can show you around the area, and help you familiarize with the current situation."

...

Both Li Jing and the others had great interest in the location provided by Xiaocai.

Upon returning to the broken Ancient Fairyland, everyone immediately started their journey.

Just after a few hours, they arrived at another location.

But this time, they came up empty-handed.

Of course,

Coming up empty-handed didn’t mean the spot was normal. It’s just that they couldn’t find anything unique.

This location was a desolate land shrouded with gloom.

Li Jing was too familiar with a desolate land.

If it was at the Blue Star and in a Secret Realm, he would certainly be exhilarated.

Another place to grind Experience!

But now,

A desolate land was no longer exciting.

The dead land in the Ancient Fairyland, including all kinds of negative forms were obviously of a higher quality than the ones he saw in Small Secret Realm Number 107.

But overall, it was just that.

He had a small amount of Essence Source, but it was not enough to even fill a crack in his teeth.

As it turned out.

What Xiaocai had previously said was somewhat unreliable.

Just because she didn’t want to go somewhere, didn’t mean she wouldn’t dare to go. It could also be places that made the Spirit of Origin, which represents the origin of life, feel physically disgusted.

When it came to the Deceiver of Heavens.

It was not that he would not venture lightly, but there was no point in visiting such a place for no reason.

Of course.

Li Jing and the others didn’t stop because of this.

Expecting the Spirit of Origin, who is naturally simple and even silly, to be reliable would be too naive.

They still had to go where they needed to go.

At the very least, the "coordinates" provided by Xiaocai were bound to be unique.

...

In the blink of an eye.

Half a month had passed.

During this half month, Li Jing and the others did not cover the entire broken Ancient Fairyland, but at least they visited the dozens of special locations provided by Xiaocai.

The gains from this trip were quite rich.

Each of them acquired some rarely seen treasures from the Immortal Realm, and among them were a few Divine Objects.

The only pity was.

All these Divine Objects were of extremely negative types.

Of course.

This result was not unexpected.

Xiaocai had said it at the beginning.

She had been in the Ancient Fairyland for so many years, and she knew where all the good food was. If it wasn’t in her pocket, it was in her stomach.

Only places she didn’t like or dare to go might have "missed out".

Li Jing didn’t take the gains of this half month.

With the purpose of taking Qingluan and the others around, he was also aware of this.

He couldn’t take all the advantages, he had to leave some for others.

Along the way, he hadn’t seen many things he could use himself, but when he came across some high-quality refining materials, he kept them and gave the rest to Qingluan and the others.

It’s worth mentioning that.

Li Jing had a great time killing along the way.

Except for the dead silence at the beginning, each of the coordinates given by Xiaocai had a number of strong Alien Species present.

On their journey, they occasionally encountered native and reckless Alien Beasts in the broken Ancient Fairyland trying to attack them.

Supported by Emperor-level strength, Li Jing killed these with ease.

Venerable Realm, shattered with one strike.

The Return to Origin Realm, with the help of Qingluan and the others, was not too difficult to kill.

In a sense, Qingluan and the others had a tacit understanding.

They did not know that Li Jing relied on killing monsters to level up, but they knew that he had a huge amount of murderous aura accumulated from killing large numbers of Alien Species. The more monsters he killed, the stronger his murderous aura.

Following Li Jing, they had to consider his needs, didn’t they?

Not only was Qingluan, who had cultivated Li Jing during their journey across the Endless Sea, present, but Jin Ritian and Xiang Dong also ensured during their journey that they would not kill the "monsters" with their shots, leaving the final blow to Li Jing.

With three godlike teammates willingly leaving the "final blow" to him, how could Li Jing be anything but comfortable along the way?

Unconsciously, he gained a whole 18 levels.

After clearing the last place given by Xiaocai, killing the necessary ones and taking the necessary gains, Li Jing and the others chose to rest for a while on a nearby continent full of birdsong and fragrant flowers.

For half a month, they never stopped.

The "coordinates" given by Xiaocai were not many, but they were an increasing distance apart.

Even though the four of them were at Emperor-level and moved very fast, it still took a lot of time to reach the corresponding locations.

Putting these aside.

Since it was time to rest and Li Jing was here, naturally a meal had to be prepared.

After one person busied himself about, the four of them sat together, chatting and laughing, enjoying the delicious food.

Chatting casually with Qingluan and the others, Li Jing moved his mind and summoned the panel.

Controller: Li Jing

Rule Control: Strength of Thunder Punishment, Space, Shadow, Heavenly Fire

Heavenly and Earthly Essence: 28753360/43251893

Level: 440 (Venerable)/Next Stage Level 455

Skill Points: 310

Strength of Thunder Punishment: 194040

Seeing that he was already at level 440, Li Jing couldn’t help but smile.

The gains from this trip to the Ancient Fairyland exceeded any concept of it being worthwhile.

As for other gains, let’s not talk about them.

Apparently, he only needed fifteen more levels to enter the Return to Origin Realm.

The method of breaking through to the Return to Origin Realm had not been found yet.

But for him, that shouldn’t be an obstacle.

Ever since he officially started "cultivating", he had never encountered any bottlenecks.

When he reached the level, he would naturally break through.

Based on the current progress, if he continued to wander around in the Ancient Fairyland for another month, he might be able to achieve Return to Origin.

That’s what he said.

But Li Jing had no plans to hang around in the Ancient Fairyland any longer.

In the blink of an eye.

He had already been out for more than a month.

He had told Blue Phoenix that he would only be gone for half a month - he had now exceeded that by half.

He wasn’t all alone in this world.

His family was waiting for him at home.

Especially since in recent times, despite the passage through Chen Tang City was open for direct access to the Mini Universe, his family members hadn’t made any movements.

Only Tong Rou had come through seven days ago, carrying messages from Yulian that Cangming Entertainment City had officially opened and that Liu Sisi had returned.

If Li Jing said he wasn’t worried, it would surely be a lie.

Upgrading one’s power was undoubtedly a good thing.

But the allure of his family was far greater than the allure of upgrading.

He could seek to enhance his power in the Immortal Realm; he could venture into the Endless Sea too.

With his current capabilities, he no longer needed Blue Phoenix’s protection.

As long as he didn’t act recklessly and had enough time, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to journey through the Endless Sea alone.

At worst, he might just level up slower, and his actions might have a larger impact on the ecosystem of the Endless Sea.

The current dilemma for Li Jing was...

Even if the method to break through to the Return to Origin Realm wasn’t a part of his plans, the Human-shaped Fruit from the Void, which was in the process of transformation, still showed no signs of appearing.

No one knew whether it had completed its transformation or what had happened to the Deceiver of Heavens that it had devoured.

There had been no recent activity from the Charming Spirit, not even through Ling Ling. It was unknown where she was now.

Just as he was feeling a little frustrated, Xiang Dong came over and looked at him.

"Brother Li, we’ve already completed the locations Xiaocai marked. Do you have any plans for what’s next?"

Li Jing looked up upon hearing the comment and gave a bitter smile of helplessness.

"Honestly, I don’t know where we should go. We’ve seen a lot of places while hurrying along our own path, but there doesn’t seem to be many of them that have been worth paying attention to, right?"

In response to Li Jing’s words, Xiang Dong shrugged in agreement, and Jin Ritian sighed in silence.

Besides the locations provided by Xiaocai, hadn’t they seen anything else that was worthy of attention?

They hadn’t even encountered many remnants from the Ancient Fairyland.

It couldn’t be helped.

The era of the Ancient Fairyland was too far in the past.

It was so far that many things wouldn’t even have the chance to leave behind remnants unless they were extraordinarily special.

There might be some items hidden underground in certain continental plates, but if these items weren’t sticking out on the surface like the stone tablets they encountered before, they wouldn’t be interested in looking for them.

In contrast to Xiang Dong and Jin Ritian, Blue Phoenix didn’t have much of a desire to break through to the Return to Origin Realm.

After finding the Fire Phoenix, she had "no other desires."

If it weren’t for Li Jing still being in the Ancient Fairyland, she would have left already.

Her thoughts weren’t that complicated, to begin with.

The threats from the Deceiver of Heavens and Void Worm Mother were not things she would be concerned about.

Upon seeing Li Jing’s bitter smile and Xiang Dong and Jin Ritian’s despondent looks, Blue Phoenix wiped Xiaocai’s oily face with a handkerchief while saying,

"The size of Ancient Fairyland exceeds our imagination. Based on our journeying these days, even if it’s shattered, it might still be more vast than the Immortal Realm. Searching for the Void Worm Mother would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. As for finding a way to break through to the Return to Origin Realm, it doesn’t seem feasible at the moment."

Having said that, she paused for a moment before adding,

"If we don’t have a clear direction moving forward, I think it might be more appropriate to return to the Immortal Realm first."

Hearing Blue Phoenix’s words, Li Jing and others fell silent.

Li Jing definitely wanted to return home.

Xiang Dong and Jin Ritian felt the same way.

If they couldn’t find a method to breakthrough to Return to Origin Realm, insisting on staying here wouldn’t make much sense.

In comparison.

Both of them being Emperors, they had been away from home for too long.

As the Eastern Emperor Donghua and the Southern Demon Emperor, both had their own responsibilities, even finding a way to break through to the Return to Origin Realm wouldn’t make them leave immediately.

But if they returned just like that, they wouldn’t feel at ease.

The indifferent Blue Phoenix who only desired the Fire Phoenix could ignore the potential threats from the Deceiver of Heavens and Void Worm Mother, but the three of them couldn’t.

Just as they were caught in a dilemma, Xiaocai, who had been engrossed in eating, suddenly looked up.

Li Jing and the others instinctively looked in the same direction.

At the same time.

A spatial rift quietly opened.

Seconds later.

A slender leg stepped out from within.

Upon seeing this leg, the three of Yulian were stunned, and then hurriedly opened their respective domains.

But they were still a step too slow.

Li Jing wasn’t affected.

However, judging by the reactions of the Yulian and the others, it was easy to determine that this slender leg belonged to Charming Spirit.

As expected.

In the next second, Charming Spirit appeared from the spatial rift.

Upon arriving and seeing Yulian and the others sitting in their domains with sweat-soaked hair, she cast a glance at Li Jing.

"You stay. Escort them out."

?

Li Jing.

"I’ve run out of patience."

Charming Spirit spoke,

"I can’t find where the Void Worm Mother is hiding. I think it might be more straightforward to destroy the Ancient Fairyland again. You and Ling Ling have a symbiotic contract, so my powers won’t affect you. If you stay, you might be able to help out."