"Oh my… that does seem excessive." After hearing his woes, even Lin Mu felt quite bad for the man.
The same sentiment was echoed by the others and caused a few thoughts to appear in their minds.
"So why do you still live there?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked. "You are free and no longer a slave, so couldn't you just leave?" "Well, she is my wife." Ziran said with a positive change in his expression. "She isn't all bad and is actually caring." He said, showing genuine affection.
"Huh…" Daoist Chu and Lin Mu were perplexed by the sudden reverse made by Ziran.
"Other than it being a bit of an effort, living there isn't that bad." Ziran stated. "Plus, my wife is the strongest demon among several tribes there." "No wonder…" Crown Prince Feng Shun muttered.
"What does that mean?" Lin Mu asked.
"Most Demons consider strength as the absolute measure of authority." Crown Prince Feng Shun explained. "If his wife is that strong, there's a high chance she's next in the line to be the chieftain. It's the same as being the Patriarch of a great clan." "I see…" Lin Mu now understood.
"Yeah, she's slated to be the next chieftain already. I just have to wait a few hundred years more until all the kids grow up, then they'll handle themselves." Ziran spoke. "I'll be free to go out after that. I'm an immortal and have plenty of life left. I'm not in a hurry anyways." He added.
The group finally understood his situation and that Ziran was merely frustrated for a bit and needed some time to unwind. Hence the expedition, which he was looking to enjoy.
Though it was unknown if an expedition to an unknown spatial plane full of dangers could be considered enjoyment or not.
"Ziran will be invaluable to us in deciphering and understanding the traces of the demonic tribes." Qiao De stated.
"Yes, if you've been actively living with the Demons, you probably have the most information about them." Crown Prince Feng Shun couldn't help but approve of Qiao De's choice.
While he was pleased by Lin Mu too that he could read the Shamanic Script of the Demonic Tribes, it was entirely a different thing when Ziran was so closely connected to the Demons.
"Wait… Do you know about the Demonic Tribes that used to live in the Rust Sky world then?" Daoist Chu suddenly asked. "I've heard that the Demonic Tribes often worship the same ancestors even if they live on different worlds. Often times their origins are the same." He inquired.
Hearing that, Lin Mu couldn't help but be surprised that it was such a great expert.
"Wait, if he was defeated then how is his spirit still there?" Lin Mu asked.
"Well, he was defeated… not killed." Monk Hushu replied. "Even with the combined power of the Buddhist alliance and the Immortal court, it was not enough to kill him. He was merely defeated and chose to flee.
With how many casualties the Immortal realm had, no one had the will to go after him. Thankfully for them, the Demon King of the Jagged Crown was greatly injured, both in body and soul. It was rumored that he would have perished to his injuries and nothing could cure him.
Thus, instead of dying entirely, he willingly sacrificed his body and became an ancestral spirit. As long as the Demonic Tribes worship him, his spirit will continue to exist," Monk Hushu explained in detail.
Other than Ziran, the others didn't know this and were quite intrigued by such an expert of the demonic tribes. "To be able to exist even after death… No wonder the Demon King of the Jagged Crown managed to seal the Demon Queen even after having become an Ancestral Spirit." Lin Mu muttered.
"This is also why things become a bit complicated." Ziran interrupted. "How did you find this stele?" he asked first.
"The stele was unearthed in the Desolate Blood Battlefield." Qiao De answered finally. Content © 2024.
"There?!" Lin Mu couldn't believe that it ended up linking to the same place.
While he had a hunch about it, this was getting far too close.
"Yes… Though it was unearthed a long time ago. Over fifty thousand years ago along with a few more things." Qiao De revealed. "It took me a while to gather all the items since they had been scattered since then, but through them I figured out that it was indeed the inheritance of a celestial." He spoke.
"That is also how Qiao De came in contact with me." Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke. "The stele was in the imperial vaults for a long time." "What other things do you have in addition to that?" Lin Mu asked, since he had only seen the stele.
"There's just a few documents and a broken immortal tool." Qiao De said taking them out. "I'll translate them." Ziran said, taking the documents first. While he read them, Lin Mu took a look at the broken immortal tool that looked like a large compass of sorts. It was circular in shape and had a red stone set in its middle. But the body of the compass was cracked and its needle was also missing.
Lin Mu sensed no immortal Qi fluctuations coming from it, which confirmed that it had been broken for a long time now. And just as he finished checking the broken compass, Ziran started to speak.
"These documents are a bit different… They aren't written in the Shamanic Script. At least not entirely." Ziran said first. "These documents are actually written by demons too, but whoever wrote it had been looking for the inheritance too. They were also the first ones to discover the stele." He revealed.