Things Are Getting More and More Interesting — The Treasure-Hunting Rat Truly Never Disappoints
Things Are Getting More and More Interesting — The Treasure-Hunting Rat Truly Never Disappoints
“The successor of the Reincarnation Supreme Being has appeared.”
At that moment, an old woman with serpent-like pupils spoke, her voice icy cold, enough to make one’s scalp crawl.
In her hand was one of those very runes, its surface flickering with light.
“So this is also why I summoned everyone here,” said another tall elder. He had a pair of goat horns and carried a somewhat immortal, sage-like bearing.
Yet the words he now spoke were laced with coldness.
The other elders all nodded, their gazes frigid. “It seems the omen was true. He has come to claim the Reincarnation Supreme Being’s legacy. Who would have thought that after all this time... we always believed the Slave Mark was nothing but an ancient rumor, something no one could ever verify.”
“But now it has actually manifested. Truly unbelievable.”
At this, an elder with an eagle’s beak looked incomparably grim, feeling an absolute suppression from the depths of his very soul.
The rune on his arm was burning hot, as if branded into his flesh — no matter what he did, he could not erase it.
In all these years, it had never once manifested.
They had even come to believe the Slave Mark’s existence was mere rumor, not to be taken seriously.
That was what everyone had thought at first — until today... Shocked beyond measure, every one of them had sensed the rune’s existence at the very first moment.
The absolute suppressive power within it could decide their life and death with ease.
This was the Slave Mark — it could command and suppress them all.
This Slave Mark had been planted deep within their bloodlines, passed down from their ancestors to the present day.
Upon learning the truth of the matter, they were shocked, enraged, and unable to believe it!
The one thing they wanted to do now was... kill that successor of the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being.
Their respective ancestors had been such mighty figures.
Even the clan that now stood at the center of the Celestial Ancient Continent, ruling over all directions and possessing the True Dragon Bloodline...
...would have had to treat their ancestors with courtesy, never daring to slight them.
Yet in the end, no one could have imagined that their ancestors would be suppressed by the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being, who planted Slave Marks in their bloodlines and souls, binding generation after generation to guard the things he left behind for his successor.
And now, that successor of the Reincarnation Supreme Being had appeared and was drawing near — putting them all on immediate alert.
After all, no one would willingly submit to a complete stranger they had never even met, take him as their master, and offer up everything to him.
Who would agree to such a thing?
Unless they were out of their minds.
So they had all rushed here to discuss how to resolve this matter. No matter what means they had to employ, the successor of the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being had to die.
“The Reincarnation Supreme Being’s Reincarnation Stones have been held by our several great families for who knows how many years. Who would willingly hand them over? There’s even talk that a hidden cave dwelling left behind by the Reincarnation Supreme Being may lie nearby, containing many of his treasured scriptures and accumulated foundations...”
“Perhaps the key to that cave dwelling lies with that successor.”
The elders’ eyes gleamed as they discussed how to seize that cave dwelling for themselves.
The legacy left by the Reincarnation Supreme Being naturally belonged to them.
Some successor popping up out of nowhere — what was he? He dared covet their treasure?
“The Reincarnation Supreme Being’s successor should have come from the outside world. He won’t be very old. According to the agreements among those old fossils of the outside world, the strength of the younger generation is at most the Partial-Enlightened Realm.”
“Which means the Reincarnation Supreme Being’s successor is at most that strong — he can’t be much stronger. As long as he dares come here, we’ll make sure he never leaves. He’ll be buried right here.”
As the elders spoke, cold smiles crept onto their faces. They could already foresee the outcome.
Because of the Slave Mark, they might find it difficult to act personally — but they mustn’t forget, they could send others to act in their stead.
When the time came, they would lay an Inescapable Net and wait for that so-called successor to come deliver his own death.
After all, over all these years, their vassal races had grown quite numerous. Finding a few beings at the Enlightened Noble Realm or above the Enlightened King Realm would be as easy as lifting a finger.
“Keep a close watch on all unfamiliar faces in the coming days, especially those from the outside world. Better to kill the wrong person than let one slip by.”
With that, the elders began issuing orders. Command after command went out from this place, and the entire ruins went on high alert.
Only by killing the Reincarnation Supreme Being’s successor would they have a chance at freedom.
Boom!
Soon after, divine radiance shot into the sky from this place, terrifying auras surging and billowing as they spread out in all directions.
One astonishingly powerful aura after another appeared high in the sky, beginning to patrol for any suspicious figures in the surroundings.
At that moment, in the regions near the ruins, large numbers of native beings gathered and rushed over. Having received instructions from their clan elders, they were to lay an Inescapable Net and capture a certain someone.
...
“What’s going on? Have we been discovered?”
Ye Ling, who was quietly sneaking through the area near the ruins with Chi Ling and Yin Mei, suddenly paled.
He sensed several powerful auras sweep past overhead, mighty divine senses sweeping across the land as if to crush everything into dust.
It made his heart tremble.
If not for his boldness, his wealth of experience, and his steady nerves...
...he might well have shrunk back at a moment like this.
“Why have so many experts suddenly appeared? Are they searching for something?” Chi Ling asked with a frown.
The figure that had just swept past overhead was at least at the Enlightened Noble Realm. Unless they used special means, they could all die miserably at its hands.
“I don’t know. Is it because of me? Have our tracks been exposed? But we’ve hidden ourselves so well — there’s no way we were exposed. Or is it just a coincidence...” Ye Ling said, his face full of doubt.
He didn’t connect it to his own identity.
At that moment, however, the spirit turtle inside his pendant looked thoughtful, its expression somewhat cold — it had clearly thought of something.
“They look like they’re hunting someone...” A trace of worry suddenly appeared on Yin Mei’s face.
Seeing her expression, Ye Ling assumed she was worried about him, and couldn’t help turning back with a smile. “Yin Mei, perhaps I’m overthinking this. We just happened to run into this — it has nothing to do with me.”
Yin Mei shook her head and said nothing more, the worry on her face undiminished.
Naturally, she wasn’t worried about Ye Ling — she hadn’t even registered what he said.
So many experts had suddenly been alarmed, even Enlightened Noble Realm beings had appeared, searching around the ruins as if determined to root someone out.
It made her immediately think of Gu Changge.
After all, she knew of Gu Changge’s current movements — he had very likely already infiltrated deep into the ruins ahead of them.
So... could Gu Changge’s objective have been exposed? Had that enraged the native beings here, driving them to hunt for Gu Changge’s trail?
Yin Mei couldn’t help but worry. Then again, if Gu Changge died here, the Restriction on her might well be lifted — she should be happy.
So why did she find herself involuntarily worried about Gu Changge?
Moreover, Gu Changge’s orders were for her to secretly sow discord between Ye Ling and Chi Ling.
At the critical moment of Ye Ling’s infiltration, she was to “accidentally” create a surprise for him, drawing other experts over.
Such orders were tantamount to gambling with her life — the kind where one misstep meant death.
After all, the moment she attracted experts and exposed their tracks, she herself would be plunged into mortal danger.
But since Gu Changge had ordered it, she had no choice.
Such a cold, heartless man — why should she worry about him?
“Ye boy, listen well. These people are definitely coming for you...”
At that moment, the spirit turtle’s voice suddenly rang out from within Ye Ling’s pendant, and Ye Ling’s expression froze outright.
Coming for him?
What did that mean?
Ye Ling’s mind went blank for a moment.
“The Supreme Being left you good things, but he also left you a trial. There is a line of guardians protecting the Supreme Being’s legacy. If you cannot pass the trial, you won’t obtain those things — and you may very well perish here.”
The spirit turtle explained.
Hearing this, Ye Ling’s head swelled, and he couldn’t help cursing, “Why didn’t you say this earlier? You wait until now to tell me — aren’t you just screwing me over? And that Supreme Being too — couldn’t he just leave behind a nice, simple fortuitous encounter? Why did he have to throw in all these messy trials?”
Of course, he was only complaining verbally. He wasn’t shameless to that degree — after all, he had already received the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being’s inheritance and many fortuitous encounters.
At this point, he was riding a tiger and couldn’t dismount. He could only steel himself and press on.
Meanwhile, Yin Mei noticed the change in Ye Ling’s expression, and her heart stirred slightly.
“So these people really are all coming for him...”
She breathed a small sigh of relief inwardly.
Soon, the three of them continued on their way, far more careful and concealed than before, constantly avoiding the figures in the sky above.
Ye Ling knew that the Stage of Enlightenment the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being had left him was forged from a Reincarnation Stone — incomparably wondrous.
The Reincarnation Stone contained the laws of time and reincarnation, and the Power of Time ranked alongside the Power of Space as a supreme attribute.
Naturally, Ye Ling’s heart burned with desire.
“Your only option now is to rely on the Supreme Being’s inheritance to find the cave dwelling he left for you. Within it lies the method to subdue the Stage of Enlightenment...” From within the pendant, the spirit turtle began advising Ye Ling, pointing him toward a way to break the deadlock.
Otherwise, with Ye Ling’s current strength, there was no way he could contend with the guardian line.
Ye Ling had to find a way to gain the guardian line’s recognition.
That was his only chance in this trial.
Even the spirit turtle didn’t know that this so-called guardian line had actually been subjugated by the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being through Slave Marks — they had never submitted willingly.
Hearing this, Ye Ling gritted his teeth, and a surge of determination welled up in his heart.
“I will obtain all of this! Otherwise, how am I supposed to take revenge on Gu Changge!”
“He is the true Successor of Demonic Arts!”
Thinking of the face of his great enemy Gu Changge, endless strength and confidence surged within him.
...
After leaving the tomb, Gu Changge’s figure remained hidden within the void, never truly revealing himself.
Thanks to those corpses of ancient prodigies, his cultivation had improved tremendously, and he had even obtained quite a few rare Sources.
Mid-stage Enlightened King Realm!
Gu Changge felt that even facing a true Sacred Realm existence, he now had the power to fight head-on.
If it were a sneak attack from the shadows, slaying a Sacred Realm cultivator would not be difficult.
And that was only Gu Changge’s conservative estimate.
Though Sacred Realm beings wielded star-shattering power with every gesture, strong beyond belief...
...that was because they commanded the power of rules — an absolute suppression against any cultivator below the Sacred Realm, impossible to resist.
Even a stunningly brilliant Young Prodigy at the Enlightened King Realm would find it hard to contend with a true Quasi-Sacred Realm expert.
Those who truly slew Sacred beings as mortals did so because they had grasped some power beyond their current realm in advance.
His current outward cultivation was the early Partial-Enlightened Realm — for the younger generation, that was already an unattainable height.
So Gu Changge had no plans to break through further. Excess was as bad as deficiency; everything had its proper measure.
If the cultivation he displayed was too outrageous, it would inevitably attract the attention of those epoch-old monsters.
They had lived far too long — what kind of freak hadn’t they seen?
At his age, reaching the early Partial-Enlightened Realm was perfectly justifiable given Gu Changge’s talent.
He had no desire to draw fire onto himself and invite unnecessary trouble.
After all, he was fundamentally different from everyone else.
He walked the path of cultivating both “immortal and demonic” arts. The Skyward Ascension he practiced on the surface was all to muddy the waters — even if someone probed his Source, they would find nothing amiss.
Because he genuinely was cultivating the orthodox Skyward Ascension.
The Immortal-Devouring Demonic Art he practiced in secret was his true foundation. Besides himself, who else knew his real strength?
His enemies?
Every enemy who had witnessed his true strength was already dead.
“That said, with the route Yin Mei provided, finding Ye Ling shouldn’t be a problem. But now the entire ruins have been stirred up — has Ye Ling’s trail been discovered?”
Soon, Gu Changge, traversing through the void, furrowed his brow.
He felt he might have overestimated Ye Ling’s abilities.
His tracks exposed this quickly?
If he died here, who would keep taking the blame for him?
“No, that’s not right. These beings are all searching aimlessly — they don’t actually know what they’re looking for.”
But soon, Gu Changge noticed something amiss.
His eyes narrowed.
Come to think of it, very few people knew of Ye Ling’s status as the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being’s successor.
Besides himself and Yue Mingkong, who else was there?
Even if Ye Ling were stupid beyond redemption, he would know such a thing must never be exposed.
“These ruins hide what the Ancient Reincarnation Supreme Being left for Ye Ling. But following the usual pattern, there’s typically some kind of trial involved. Could this be Ye Ling’s trial?”
Gu Changge quickly grasped the crux of the matter.
Though he had no idea whether his guess was right.
Weng!
The void trembled, faint ripples spreading. Gu Changge noticed an Enlightened Noble Realm being searching near his location.
At once, he stepped through the void, moving swiftly.
At this point, even Sacred Realm existences would find it hard to detect the disturbance.
Gu Changge couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration.
The Void Talent truly was formidable. No wonder that in ancient times, a Killing Emperor bearing the Void Body was said to have assassinated a True Immortal — and nearly succeeded.
Moving through the void, becoming one with it — truly like a fish in water, a bird returning to the forest.
Of course... this was only the most rudimentary application of the Power of Space.
“Who’s there...”
Suddenly, the tall being searching among the stone-carved forests felt a chill run through its entire body, as if some terrifying existence had locked onto it from behind — even its soul felt frozen.
Terrified, it was about to turn around when it saw ripples spreading through the void before it, and a white-robed young man with a casual, unhurried expression stepped out.
“Shh. Don’t make a sound, or you’ll die,” Gu Changge said with an easy smile.
The next moment, a crack appeared in the space before them, stretching and widening.
“You...”
The tall being froze for an instant, dreadful runes surfacing in its eyes.
The next instant, shaken and horrified, it was swallowed whole by the widening crack — it didn’t even have time to react.
Gu Changge’s figure also turned and vanished, melting back into the void.
Everything just now seemed like an illusion. No one noticed that an Enlightened Noble Realm existence had abruptly evaporated from the mortal world, gone without a trace.
Like a pebble tossed into the deep sea — silent in an instant.
“Where is this? Who are you?”
Weng!
Within the Internal World, atop a mountain peak.
The tall figure had been thrown to the ground by Gu Changge. It stared at him in utter terror, shouting repeatedly, as if it had encountered the most horrifying existence imaginable.
As an Enlightened Noble Realm existence that looked down upon True Enlightened Realm beings, it could slaughter an entire city with a wave of its hand.
Yet it hadn’t even reacted before vanishing from where it stood — and when it reappeared, it was already in another space entirely.
It was terrified out of its wits.
What kind of horrifying method was this? Even Sacred Realm existences couldn’t pull this off.
Even the mighty power of heaven and earth couldn’t be wielded like this. Could this be a spatial domain?
Its whole body went cold.
This young man, clearly from the outside world, was far too terrifying!
Naturally, Gu Changge had been worried that too much commotion would attract the attention of other beings.
That was why he had brought it into the Internal World. After all, as his strength grew, the Internal World’s capacity grew with it.
Accommodating a single Enlightened Noble Realm being was no problem at all.
“I want to know a few things,” Gu Changge said casually.
“What things? If I know them, I’ll definitely tell you!”
The tall being hurriedly replied, terrified beyond measure.
Here, it could sense no other aura at all. It felt like an ant beneath the gaze of the Heavenly Path — lowly and insignificant.
“No need. I prefer to do it myself.”
As Gu Changge spoke, he directly chose to perform a Soul Search.
Black light surfaced in his palm like thousands of black threads, and in an instant he covered the being’s forehead with it.
“So the clan elders gave the order. I never expected something this interesting to be hidden here.”
“A Slave Mark, the Supreme Being’s cave dwelling... this treasure-hunting rat has truly never let me down.”
A moment later, Gu Changge put an end to its suffering, a faint, unreadable look on his face.