Young Noble Be Monster Slaying
Chapter 974: Truly, Don't Say It (II)

Chapter 974: Truly, Don't Say It (II)
Across the vast, seemingly endless desert of the northwest, Ji Lingjue and Huo Tianya flew swiftly through the air.

They had already done one round of the entire desert, enduring the blistering sun for several days as they combed through it. Their high cultivation levels spared them from physical exhaustion, but it could not save them from the discomfort of the intense heat in the desert.

"When is this going to end?" Huo Tianya grumbled with a frown.

He was the first to express his displeasure about their situation. His cultivation was centered on water-based divine arts, so he disliked the dry, scorching climate of the desert intensely. Nevertheless, he didn't dare disobey the Noble Dharma's orders. The Noble Dharma outranked the Celestial Master after all.

Huo Tianya continued, "The Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten aren't fools. They've definitely searched for Evil Ksitigarbha already. They have all that manpower and still couldn't find him. We're basically searching for a needle in the sea. Just how long will we have to keep searching like this?"

The Noble Dharma had used the Omniscience to deduce the location, but he could not supply the Omniscience with enough cultivation power to determine Evil Ksitigarbha's exact whereabouts. All they knew was that Evil Ksitigarbha was hiding somewhere within a seemingly endless desert.

This desert was the largest in the world, so the members of the Celestial Charm Sect were dispatched to perform a blanket search. If nothing turned up at this desert, they might have to move on to another site.

However, back when the Omniscience was still in the possession of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion, there was no doubt that the righteous immortal sects would have tried to locate Evil Ksitigarbha. After all, the righteous cultivators were likely much more desperate to find him. Now that he was in a weakened state, they would want to seize the opportunity to eliminate him once and for all.

Seeing as the righteous immortal sects had not found him, it meant that Evil Ksitigarbha's hiding place had to be incredibly well concealed.

Ji Lingjue explained, "The Noble Dharma's intent is simply for us to search. If we draw close enough to where Evil Ksitigarbha is hiding, perhaps we won't even need to succeed in finding him. He'll come out to us. So long as we're patient, we'll find him eventually."

"If he's weak right now, why would he come out at all?" Huo Tianya asked, clearly still displeased.

Nevertheless, he resumed the active search.

Ji Lingjue stared at Huo Tianya's back, light flickering in his eyes. A moment later, he moved to catch up to Huo Tianya.

After the Celestial Master revealed himself to be one of the Noble Dharma's disciples, he passed the leadership of the Celestial Charm Sect to the Noble Dharma. 

When the Celestial Master led the sect, he relied on the Great Dao of Chaos and Separation to maintain his authority over the sect. He sought to plunge the nine provinces into great turmoil—to have the mortal realm descend into chaos and ensure the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten knew no peace. That was the very reason that led so many rebel disciples of righteous immortal sects to serve under him. 

The members of the Celestial Charm Sect all bore hatred toward one righteous immortal sect or another, and they wished to overturn the order of the mortal realm and usher in a new one. However, after the Noble Dharma took over the Celestial Charm Sect, he changed the aim of the sect.

The Noble Dharma didn't merely want the mortal realm to descend into chaos. Everything he did was so that he could become a Hallowed One. It was clear from his alliance with Evil Ksitigarbha that he had never cared about the fate of the mortal realm. In fact, he might even destroy it without hesitation alongside Evil Ksitigarbha if it meant he would advance to the ninth realm.

Huo Tianya had realized this. That was why his resolve had begun to waver. This was the real reason he had no desire to search for Evil Ksitigarbha.

And he wasn't the only one. Among the remaining core members of the Celestial Charm Sect, many felt conflicted about following the orders they were given.

The Celestial Charm Sect was full of evildoers, but they were not fools. They were willing to do terrible things together, but none of them wanted to be subjected to someone else's evil. The problem was they simply had no way to back out for now, so they had no choice but to maintain their current facade as obedient members of the Celestial Charm Sect.

Whoosh.

Rays of golden light shot out of Ji Lingjue's eyes as he swept his gaze across the surrounding desert land, scanning a radius of a thousand li. Suddenly, he fixed his eyes in a particular direction. There was something unusual there that caught his attention.

Ji Lingjue said to Huo Tianya, "Let's go take a look over there."

He turned into a beam of golden light and quickly headed over there. Huo Tianya followed closely behind without delay.

They flew over hundreds of li to an area that looked completely ordinary. Nevertheless, Ji Lingjue landed on the ground and looked down in search of one thing.

When he scanned this area from afar earlier, he noticed a single grain of black sand hidden amid the yellow desert. That was the amazing power of the golden Xuan Yuan Eyes.

Ji Lingjue crouched and gently picked up the black grain of sand. Just as he expected, he could sense an ancient and peculiar spiritual power emanating from it.

He muttered, "This is… Evil Ksitigarbha's blood?"

Boom!

A giant black hand burst out from the desert ground, pulling everything toward it with a powerful suction. Ji Lingjue was left with no chance to escape. The hand instantly seized him, along with a torrent of sand.

The sand quickly dissolved into nothingness, disappearing from the giant hand as it shrank. In the blink of an eye, only Ji Lingjue remained trapped within the hand's grasp. As the hand's grip on him tightened, his bones creaked and groaned, and his face flushed deep red.

"Lord Evil Ksitigarbha!" Ji Lingjue cried out. "The Noble Dharma sent us to find you. He knows you are currently in a weak state and are wary of encountering the righteous sects. He has a way to help you recover. He requests to meet with you!"

By the time he was done talking, his golden eyes looked like they were about to burst out of their sockets. He was a hair's breadth away from being crushed to death.

Whoosh.

At last, just as Ji Lingjue saw his great-grandmother waving him over, the black hand loosened its grip on him. Ji Lingjue took a deep breath, and a cold, dark, and resolute gaze returned to his eyes.

It gave off the impression that if he truly did meet his great-grandmother, it was likely that he would want to kill her once before going to the netherworld.

Rumble.

The desert shook as the ground caved in, forming a large hole shaped like the hollow of a hand. Then a black head emerged from underground, followed by the rest of the figure's body. It was Evil Ksitigarbha, sized like an average human.

There was no sign of weakness in his appearance. He was still shrouded in dense murderous intent, and even the slightest movement of his crimson eyes terrified Ji Lingjue and Huo Tianya, who were extremely evil people.

Nevertheless, that was no surprise because no matter how evil a human was, they were still human. On the other hand, celestial devils from the upper realms were mainly made of pure evil. There was simply no comparison.

"If the Dharma wants to find me, have him come in person," Evil Ksitigarbha said in a hoarse voice, like metal grinding against metal.

Ji Lingjue fell to the ground, gasping for air. "Of course, the Noble Dharma will arrive promptly."

As soon as the words left his lips, a glowing ring appeared in midair. A beam of light shone down from the ring, carrying a white-robed figure. It was the Noble Dharma.

"I knew it. You need me too," the Noble Dharma said with a smile as he looked at Evil Ksitigarbha. "As long as this world still exists, we are the closest of allies."

Evil Ksitigarbha turned his gaze to the Noble Dharma and asked, "You claim you can help me recover?"

During his battle against the Demon God, she had almost devoured him entirely, and he had nearly perished. Severely weakened, he fled at top speed and concealed himself within a rift in space.

Had he not chosen to reveal himself, not even Ji Lingjue's discovery of his blood would have been enough to locate him.

He chose to come out of hiding for one reason. If he stayed there and quietly absorbed the world's evil thoughts, it could take him thousands of years to recover. He had already wasted too much of his life in this mortal realm. He did not wish to waste any more time there. If the Noble Dharma could help him recover, then that would be ideal.

"I know of a method," the Noble Dharma replied, "but it cannot be executed immediately."

"Tell me," Evil Ksitigarbha said quietly in a measured tone. "But if this was just a trick to draw me out… you'll find out first-hand that even though I've been severely wounded by the Demon God, I still possess the power to crush those on the brink of ascension."

"Of course. How could I possibly dare to offend a celestial devil?" The Noble Dharma smiled. "As I said, we are allies."

He paused for a moment to prepare his next words. 

"You've lost too much to the Demon God. It will be incredibly difficult for you to recover on your own. But I need your power. That's why my offer to help you is sincere; you need not doubt me. It is not within the power of my Great Dao to help you recover, but fortunately... there exists a legendary artifact that can."

"What's this legendary artifact that can be of use to me?" Evil Ksitigarbha asked.

The Noble Dharma pointed toward the distant east. "The East Sea Chrono Wheel."