Young Noble Be Monster Slaying
Chapter 971: Lost (II)

"If you've got time to be here, you'd best hurry back to protect your home," the Divine Phoenix King yelled.

Enlightened Wulou rarely got this furious. Raising his eyebrows, he declared indignantly, "If Mount Reticence has truly come under attack, then I will wipe out the West Sea in return!"

He raised the legendary Seven-Star Sword high into the air!

Shiiing.

A slash of swordlight swept over the sea, slicing through the fiery clouds. Even the Divine Phoenix King dared not take the slash head-on. With a flurry of wingbeats, he withdrew swiftly.

As for the army of demonic beasts that had followed him, the General's Supreme Constellation Disc had driven them into a panicked retreat.

Wenren Yue had deliberately surrounded the army of demonic beasts from three directions, leaving the side leading back to the coastline open. Doing that saved some of her spiritual qi and gave the demonic beasts hope of escape, making them less likely to fight to the death against the light screen.

However, the demonic beasts that turned and fled toward the coastline were hunted down by the General's Supreme Constellation Disc. Less than ten percent of them succeeded in getting there, and even if they did, it did not guarantee that they would be able to escape.

Meanwhile, the Divine Phoenix King was fleeing without looking back. The countless blazing clouds across the sky were swiftly devoured by the endless starlight. The celestial radiance spread beyond the West Sea and engulfed this section of the coast. 

Under the falling starlight, the flying demonic beasts seemed to have been frozen in midair, their movements slowed drastically. Regardless of their cultivation level, all of them had slowed down by some degree. This was the power of a great divine ability that the Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor had unleashed with a sweep of his sleeve.

The General's Supreme Constellation Disc followed up with unrelenting slaughter. Driven by the combined power of several eighth-realm cultivators, the disc's spiritual qi seemed inexhaustible. It rained blood across the sky, and vast swathes of red spread through the West Sea. Countless fish surged up from the depths to devour the blood and flesh of the fallen demonic beasts, which were infused with spiritual qi.

Even the cultivators in the positions of generals on the constellation disc began to feel uneasy. Their forces had taken more lives on this day than many had seen in a lifetime.

Nevertheless, Wenren Yue didn't bat an eye. She simply continued the slaughter, using the power of the legendary artifact to coldly hunt down the defenseless members of the demon race.

With war on the horizon, the divide between humans and demons had never been clearer. If Wenren Yue’s forces showed mercy now and let even one demonic beast go, that demonic beast might one day claim the life of a human. Since they had dared to climb ashore today, they had to be prepared to die!

If Wenren Yue had gone easy on them, the Divine Phoenix King might have returned home and raised another great army with a mere flap of his wing. Nevertheless, today's merciless slaughter had hit the Divine Phoenix King's forces hard. So, even if some demonic beasts survived, who among them would still dare to follow the Divine Phoenix King again?

High above, Enlightened Wulou wielded the Seven-Star Sword with frenzied force, determined to slay the Divine Phoenix King. Nonetheless, it could not possibly be easy to kill someone on the brink of ascension. The Divine Phoenix King could not withstand the power of a legendary artifact, but escaping was well within his ability.

Despite that, Enlightened Wulou refused to let him go and was about to pursue him into the depths of the West Sea region.

Worried that something bad might happen to Enlightened Wuluo, the Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor shot over to stop him and shouted, "Don't be reckless!"

Enlightened Wulou was not part of the top tier of immortal sect leaders, so if he went after the Divine Phoenix King alone, it was hard to judge whether he could even kill the Divine Phoenix King. Worse still, he might fall into a trap, and the immortal sects could end up losing the Seven-Star Sword. That would be a loss too great to bear.

"Argh!" Enlightened Wulou and several high-ranking members of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion all had bloodshot eyes. "This grudge is too great for us to live under the same sky!"

…

"They're not chasing me? What a pity."

The Divine Phoenix King had fled deep into the West Sea region, leaving a blazing trail of fire clouds as he darted through the empty space. 

Moments later, a massive glowing ring lit up in the emptiness. The ring shrank to the size of a doorway, and two figures stepped out—the Noble Dharma and Grand Ancestor Wuchao. Both appeared as elderly men, hovering in the sea breeze with dark auras.

The Divine Phoenix King transformed into a middle-aged man dressed in a sovereign's crimson-gold robes and hat, looking much like an emperor.

As he turned around to face the Noble Dharma and Grand Ancestor Wuchao, he said angrily, "Were you two not planning to make a move at all if they didn't come after me?"

"Divine Phoenix King, please calm your anger," replied the Noble Dharma slowly. "They have the Heavenly Star Grand Ancestor and two legendary artifacts. The General's Supreme Constellation Disc alone channels the full might of the Celestial King Sect. Even if the three of us joined forces, we would still struggle to take them head-on. We must rely on strategy."

"My troops have died. What do we even have left to use in a strategy??" the Divine Phoenix King raged.

He had thrown all of his demonic beast followers into battle. He did not feel sad about their deaths, but he could not accept that the loss of his troops had amounted to nothing in his favor. Compared to him, those two old foxes, Grand Ancestor Wuchao and the Noble Dharma, had sacrificed nothing at all.

The Noble Dharma answered, "We are indeed lacking in power, but if we gain one more powerful ally, it will be enough."

"Who?" Grand Ancestor Wuchao asked. "Who else in this world could stand against a legendary artifact?"

"Of course, it's my ally from before," the Noble Dharma stated clearly, "Evil Ksitigarbha."

"Evil Ksitigarbha?" The Divine Phoenix King was a little surprised. "Didn't he flee in a near-death state after killing the Demon God? You can find him?"

The Noble Dharma smiled. "I couldn't before, but I can now."

He summoned the Celestial Cosmic Ring once more, opening up a gateway. On the other side of the gateway was a pale gray stone wall.

"That is…?" the Divine Phoenix King and Grand Ancestor Wuchao uttered, looking his way puzzledly.

"That is the Celestial Pivot Pavilion's Omniscience. It is activated using the Heavenly Star Secret Arts and allows for everything under the heavens to be observed," the Noble Dharma explained with a smile. "With this treasure, we could theoretically track anything in the world."

When he destroyed the Celestial Pivot Pavilion's Mount Reticence, the celestial tome Omniscience was the most important loot he acquired.

Grand Ancestor Wuchao turned to him in surprise. "Aren't the Heavenly Star Secret Arts a secret that's only passed down through the Heaven Observer lineage? You know the Heavenly Star Secret Arts too?"

The Noble Dharma chuckled, "Haha." 

He waved his hand, and the stone wall lit up. Characters resembling those of the Great Dao of Talismanic Script slid faintly across its surface. 

The Noble Dharma asked, "Have you two forgotten what my name is?[1]"

The two demons had always been wary of this unpredictable human. However, as things stood, the Noble Dharma wasn't wrong. Without his help, they truly couldn't compete with Heavenly Star or Baize, who both had legendary artifacts at their disposal.

The Divine Phoenix King and Grand Ancestor Wuchao had no choice but to go along with the Noble Dharma's plan.

"So can you locate Evil Ksitigarbha right now?" the Divine Phoenix King asked.

"Omniscience may not provide a precise answer, but at the very least, it can give us a clue to his rough whereabouts," the Noble Dharma said. "Before we search for Evil Ksitigarbha, let us ask a different question first."

As he spoke, he raised a sheet of blank talisman paper with two fingers and swiftly wrote with his fingers. In the blink of an eye, the details of his query were written onto the paper.

The Noble Dharma paused for a moment. Then he asked aloud, "This time, in the struggle to become the mortal realm's new Hallowed One, who will prove their understanding of their Dao?"

Hearing that, the two demons' eyes lit up. Without a doubt, this was the question they wanted answered the most.

The stone wall glowed as lines of characters on the wall moved around madly. It went on for quite some time, draining the Noble Dharma's strength until his face turned pale. If it went on much longer, he might not have enough cultivation power to sustain it.

Nevertheless, that was to be expected since the question pertained to the supreme being of the mortal realm, the Hallowed One. It would be difficult to get even a vague answer to that question, so much so that he could come away with no answer at all.

Whoosh.

After the glowing characters roamed across the stone wall for quite a while, a section of the wall lit up and protruded out, finally presenting an answer. However, it wasn't a line of characters but rather a drawing. It was extremely simple, drawn in just a few strokes.

"Is that the outline of a mountain?" the Divine Phoenix King asked, his eyes narrowing in focus.

With a bewildered expression, Grand Ancestor Wuchao muttered, "This looks like…"

The Noble Dharma's expression was as dark as still water.

Slowly, he uttered two words. "Mount Shu."