novelraw Chapter 638: Baimu—Who Is It?
Chapter 638: Baimu—Who Is It?
Time ticked away, and gradually, thousands of old monsters gathered below the Ascension Tower, all intending to partake, among them Void Refinement and Void Fragmentation experts.
High platforms surrounded the Ascension Tower on four sides. The north side was filled with Yuan Palace cultivators, while the other three sides were occupied by the disciples brought by the participating old monsters.
This grand gathering aimed to decide the five hundred spots for the Dragon Fishing Tournament.
The low-tier cultivators who couldn’t enter Tianyuan City gathered outside, watching the grand scene through the Shadow-casting Jade Screen.
In the four directions outside Tianyuan City stood towering Shadow-casting Jade Screens, each ten thousand feet high.
The jade screens transmitted images, naturally only showing the scenes outside the Ascension Tower. Those outside couldn’t detect what was happening inside the tower.
On the northern high platform of the Ascension Tower, there were ten purple-gold seats.
These ten purple-gold seats were prepared for the ten Moksha Emperors!
Yuan Emperor, dressed in a Golden Feather Robe, looked around middle-aged, with short whiskers, his appearance full of majesty, sat in the center of the ten purple-gold seats, twirling his beard with a smile.
Beside Yuan Emperor sat three other Moksha Emperors.
For this Yuan Palace event, not all the Moksha Emperors were present to observe. Only three of the other nine came.
Fox Emperor from the Snow Fox Hall in the West Demon Sea.
Emperor Qing from the Green Ox Hall in the Northern Demon Sea.
Serpent Emperor from the Goujiao Hall in the Southern Demon Sea.
Fox Emperor was a beautiful woman dressed in white, possessing the Fourth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm, with every movement carrying enchantment.
Emperor Qing was a big man with horns on his head, his short whiskers resembling pikes, eyes full of authority, with the Sixth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.
Serpent Emperor was an old woman with white hair and hunched figure, yet her almond-shaped eyes were more lively than a young girl’s, which was rather strange. Her cultivation was of the Sixth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm.
Though Fox Emperor’s strength ranked low among the ten Moksha Emperors, due to the rogue devil sitting in Snow Fox Hall, none dared to underestimate this generation’s Fox Emperor.
There was still time before the competition began, and Yuan Emperor, Fox Emperor, and Emperor Qing were exchanging cultivation insights, enjoying their conversation.
The old woman, Serpent Emperor, squinted her almond eyes, searching among the crowd below for prey, occasionally licking her lips.
"Wonder if this conference has any cauldron furnaces that can catch my eye..." the old woman pondered.
The Moksha Emperors from the Goujiao clan have always cultivated the art of absorption, and this old woman had absorbed countless men in her lifetime.
Closest to the Ascension Tower, forty-six Void Fragmentation experts stood proudly, each dominating their area.
Undoubtedly, these forty-six Void Fragmentation experts would secure positions in the event.
Hex Shixiu and his group were naturally among them.
The four of them were not Demon World cultivators, yet dared to boldly appear in the Demon World, all thanks to Hex Shixiu’s identity as the Dao Heir of Qiongdao Sect.
This identity was enough to intimidate the Ten Emperors of the Demon World, though ordinary people were unaware of it.
"Baimu, the vile practitioner from the Baiyu Clan... Humph, who would have thought that the esteemed ’Xiao Qianci’ of the Divine Void Young Master would fancy such a scoundrel!"
Hex Shixiu’s eyes showed disdain, mingled with a sense of humiliation.
He, the esteemed Dao Heir of Qiongdao Sect, relentlessly pursued the little demoness but to no avail—such an unworthy person could capture her heart... Why!
Days passed, and Hex Shixiu gathered plenty of information on Baimu of the White Feather Clan.
Initially, he esteemed Ning Fan somewhat, but after reviewing the intel, he was filled with disdain for Ning Fan.
Baimu, during the Void Glimpse Stage, was relentlessly hunted for a year by just a Half-Step Void Refinement...
Baimu, having dishonored many women of his clan, was expelled; he was the disgrace of the White Feather Clan...
This information was sufficient to demonstrate Baimu’s weak strength, disgraceful nature, despicable and shameful character, he was a scoundrel of the Void Fragmentation Realm.
Hex Shixiu simply considered Ning Fan as Baimu, filling his heart with disdain for Ning Fan.
"Xiao Qianci deliberately called this man her husband, probably just to anger me... She always had high standards, there’s no way she would fancy such a scoundrel. Well then, this Baimu, with his notorious reputation, is so unworthy, not threatening to me, yet perhaps he has some peculiar aspects that might aid in the mission to seek the map... Thus, for now, I’ll keep him."
Yun Youmu, Black Fire Ring, and Gongyang Zi stood behind Hex Shixiu; Black Fire Ring and Gongyang Zi had their eyes closed, resting, while Yun Youmu carried a hint of perplexity in his gaze.
During these few days, he could not forget the eerie familiarity brought by Baimu.
He felt certain he had seen Baimu somewhere, yet couldn’t recall where.
After the forty-six Void Fragmentation experts stood thousands of Void Refinement experts.
Among them, around a hundred belonged to the Return to Origin Grand Void Realm, while the rest were Void Refinement Realm experts numbering two hundred.
Void Glimpse Stage, Void Inquiry Stage, and Void Refinement Realm cultivators totaled about two thousand.
Clan Leader Xuan He and his three friends all possessed Void Refinement Realm cultivation, renowned in their own areas as old monsters.
But in such a grand occasion, it’s difficult to attract attention.
With their strength, if they wish to compete for one of the five hundred spots, a fierce battle is inevitable.
"Hasn’t Baimu arrived yet... I can’t wait to tear him to pieces." Clan Leader Xuan He sneered grimly.
Behind him, three Void Pierce Stage experts also sneered coldly, "It’s said the last Star Stone of the Baiyu Clan is with Baimu. If Baimu is killed, then the Star Stone..."
"It naturally belongs to the three of you!" Clan Leader Xuan He laughed heartily.
Ning Fan walked along the Demon River, step by step towards the northern city.
His pace wasn’t fast, but every step crossed countless distances.
In his ears echoed the unceasing musical tunes over the Demon River, day and night.
Those intoxicating tunes drifted into Ning Fan’s ears, gradually separating into life and death.
Comprehending life and death is a crucial part of the path to ascension.
In the Ascension Tower, all five hundred cave mansions have insights into life and death.
This enlightenment must be fully comprehended!
Ning Fan’s eyes rose with a hint of battle intent.
He originally intended to snatch a cave mansion among the top twenty, then wait for the competition to end.
But now, he wants to go through all five hundred cave mansions, not missing any enlightenment from the Ancestors of Yuan Wings.
"What is life, what is death!"
Ning Fan suddenly quickened his pace, his figure flickered, disappearing by the Demon River. He reappeared under the Ascension Tower.
This is a massive tower, a million feet high, with a Cauldron Ring inside; each tower level is a middle-ranked Cauldron Ring.
The entrance is not at the base but at the top of the tower.
The cultivators entering the tower must proceed from top to bottom.
At this moment, Ning Fan’s identity is Baimu, a Void Inquiry cultivator.
His arrival did not attract much attention; only a few people’s expressions changed.
"He’s here; it’s Baimu!" Clan Leader Xuan He and his three friends all had eyes filled with cold brilliance.
"Humph, it’s Baimu..." Hex Shixiu sneered disdainfully, while Yun Youmu’s eyes flickered slightly.
Once again, he sensed a strange feeling of familiarity from Ning Fan.
On the purple-gold seat of the northern high platform, the old snake empress’s apricot eyes suddenly flashed, gazing in disbelief at Ning Fan’s direction, drool dripping from her mouth.
"This... This child has such a perfect body; it’s an excellent Cauldron Furnace! It’s a pity Tan Tianyan has ordered that in Tianyuan City private fights are forbidden; otherwise, this empress would have captured the child directly and brought him back to the hall for a good play! Well, wait until he leaves Tianyuan City..."
The old empress’s eyes turned cold.
As Ning Fan entered the venue, he suddenly sensed several icy gazes.
There are too many experts here, spirit sense chaotic, making it hard to discern the source of the gazes.
Before he could carefully identify the source of the gazes, the Grand Elder of Yuan Hall suddenly soared into the sky, standing in midair, and crushed a golden jade slip with his hand.
The Grand Elder was named Zhou Nan, having the cultivation of the Fourth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm; his ascent immediately attracted the attention of countless people.
Upon the jade slip’s destruction, countless golden writing instantly appeared in the sky.
"The competition starts at the time of the snake and ends the following day at the time of the snake. Upon completion, all Daoist friends who occupy cave mansions can obtain eligibility to participate in the Dragon Fishing Conference and receive additional rewards!"
"Those who hold the cave mansions from the first to twentieth level can receive one Yuan Cleansing Pill!"
"Those who occupy the mansions from twenty-first to hundredth level can obtain one Shattered Void Pill!"
"Those who occupy the mansions after the hundredth level can get one Taixu Pill!"
"Inside the Ascension Tower, unless necessary, no killing is allowed. Violators will face death!"
Ning Fan’s gaze swept over these golden words without saying much.
But many old monsters present already exclaimed, including several Void Fragmentation cultivators.
"Yuan Cleansing Pill! This is the Earth Yuan Palace’s renowned pill, seventh grade; cultivators below the Fifth Heavenly Layer of the Void Fragmentation Realm can greatly enhance their spirit sense cultivation when consumed. Initially, this old man planned to casually acquire a cave mansion, but now it seems this Yuan Cleansing Pill is worth fighting for!" A Void Fragmentation old monster’s face lit up, his spirit sense already on the verge of breakthrough; obtaining the Yuan Cleansing Pill would likely elevate his spirit sense by one whole realm!
"Shattered Void Pill! A pill that can increase the success rate of Void Fragmentation by half a level! For this pill, no matter what, this old man will strive to break into the top hundred levels!" A Return to Origin Elder Fiend’s eyes gleamed.
"Taixu Pill! With this pill, upon completion of the conference, I can officially retreat to break through to the Void Fragmentation Realm!" A Void Pierce Stage old monster rejoiced.
Grand Elder Zhou Nan smiled slightly; Yuan Hall offering these rewards naturally aims to make the competition fiercer.
Thus, the strongest five hundred people can be selected to participate in the Dragon Fishing Conference.
The weak have no right to fish for dragons.
"Open the tower gate!"
Zhou Nan gave a sudden command in a low voice, and immediately, four Void Fragmentation cultivators from the Yuan Hall soared into the sky, transforming into four giant birds with golden wings, flying towards the top of the tower.
"Is this the Yuan Wing true birds..." Ning Fan gazed at the four giant golden-winged birds, a flicker in his eyes.
Dragons are True Spirits, and the Yuan Wings feed on dragons. They are naturally formidable, slightly inferior to the Dark Sparrow of the Immemorial Era, yet not lacking by much.
In the Land of Demons of the Four Heavens, the Yuan Wing clan is considered a powerful True Spirit tribe.
The four Yuan Wing giant birds flew to the top of the tower, fiercely flapping their giant wings.
Beams of golden light shot onto the gigantic door at the top of the tower, and with a rumbling sound, the door slowly opened.
The golden light of the four Yuan Wing giant birds flashed, and they flew back to the northern platform, transforming back into four Void Fragmentation cultivators.
The rumbling opening of the door continued uninterrupted.
At the moment the door opened, Elder Zhou Nan suddenly spoke, "The competition begins!"
He said this while discreetly glancing in Ning Fan’s direction, then took the lead, transforming into a golden rainbow, directly entering the giant tower.
The people present obviously didn’t expect the Grand Elder of the Yuan Hall himself would participate in the competition, but they didn’t mind.
Forty-six Void Fragmentation cultivators simultaneously flew up in an instant, entering the gigantic door at the top of the tower first.
Then, streaks of light followed, heading towards the giant door.
Ning Fan was not in a hurry to enter the Ascension Tower.
The cultivators entering first might gather on the initial few floors to vie for the cave mansions or descend all the way down but would inevitably face conflicts.
Ning Fan’s goal was to explore five hundred cave mansions, which meant he would face over five hundred battles regardless, just to enter the cave mansion and comprehend life and death!
He had only one day to traverse five hundred floors!
Time was tight, so if anyone blocked his way, he needed to use thunderous means to fend them off!
Whoosh!
When nearly all the cultivators had entered, Ning Fan transformed into a fleeting smoke, drifting towards the interior of the tower.
The Clan Leader Xuan He glanced coldly, accompanied by three helpers, quietly transforming into an escape light and following in...
One by one, the Void Refinement old monsters entered the giant tower, and eventually, no one was left outside the Ascension Tower.
In the Demon River Palace, the little demoness leisurely brewing tea seemed to sense something and muttered to herself, "I wonder which floor my Little Fan Fan can seize the cave mansion..."
In the Upper Nine Pavilion Refining Workshop, Tan Zixin just completed the final step of refining the fishing rod.
"The competition should have already started. I wonder what the result of Uncle Zhou’s investigation will be..."
On the northern platform of the Ascension Tower, the Yuan Emperor was discussing the Dao with the Fox Emperor and Emperor Qing when his gaze suddenly changed.
In that moment, a battle intent overwhelming the heavens suddenly descended towards the direction of the Ascension Tower!
Countless cultivators suddenly looked up towards the sky.
But they saw above layers of overwhelming demon clouds stood a fierce giant ape, three thousand zhang tall!
The aura emanating from that fierce ape was enough to suffocate all cultivators present below the Void Fragmentation realm!
The Yuan Emperor’s expression changed, and so did the expressions of the Fox Emperor, Emperor Qing, and the Serpent Emperor.
"Ape Emperor, why have you come so aggressively!" The Yuan Emperor already saw that this fierce ape had ill intentions.
This fierce ape was precisely the Ape Emperor, followed by a host of hundreds of strong beings, including Yuan Tong among them.
The Ape Emperor’s physical defense had been cultivated to the Nirvana Seventh Heaven level, having once repelled a Void Fragmentation level Demon Emperor with a punch from the Demon World.
The Ape Emperor was vicious and cold-blooded in nature, once stirring the Eastern Sea with a wave of a rod in anger, blood-washing hundreds of clans in the Eastern Sea.
The Ape Emperor came with ill intentions, and everyone felt an intangible pressure.
"Who is Baimu!" the giant ape asked coldly.
A voice as domineering as thunder resounded, causing tens of thousands of lower-level cultivators present to simultaneously spit blood.
"Baimu?" The emperors looked at each other, evidently unaware of who Baimu was to provoke the Ape Emperor.
However, the Yuan Emperor knew who Baimu was.
Baimu had entered Tianyuan City a few days ago, coming for this Dragon Tournament. He had stirred up quite a storm, even slightly attracting the Yuan Emperor’s attention.
But after viewing Baimu’s information, the Yuan Emperor immediately cast Baimu out of his mind and no longer paid attention.
What was worthy of his attention needed to be at least a Void Fragmentation cultivator. Baimu, merely at the Void Inquiry stage, was not enough.
At this moment, the Yuan Emperor was greatly surprised.
For Baimu, with his humble Void Inquiry stage cultivation, to provoke the Ape Emperor, he was indeed bold.
"Baimu has already entered the Ascension Tower and is participating in the competition," the Yuan Emperor said blandly.
"Is that so? Haha, in that case, this emperor also wants to enter the Ascension Tower! To meet this Baimu!" The fierce ape transformed into a black rainbow, intending to fly towards the Ascension Tower.
But the Yuan Emperor’s gaze turned cold, pointing a finger towards the sky, blocking the escape light of the fierce ape.
"Yuan Emperor, why do you hinder me!" the fierce ape roared in anger.
"This is Tianyuan City! You missed the opening time of the Ascension Tower and can no longer enter it!" The Yuan Emperor’s gaze turned cold; he certainly wouldn’t allow the fierce ape to enter the tower and slaughter indiscriminately inside.
Rules are rules.
The rules set by the old Yuan Emperor could not be violated, and neither could the fierce ape defy them!
"Am I not allowed into the tower!" The fierce ape’s gaze darkened; he didn’t even consider this generation’s Yuan Emperor in his eye.
But thinking of the incomparably deep old Yuan Emperor stationed at the Yuan Hall, the fierce ape dared not act recklessly.
A black light flashed, and the fierce ape retreated from his demon form, transforming into a black-robed, burly man with thick hair, descending onto the northern platform with his party, sitting coldly on a purple-gold seat.
"Fine then, this emperor shall wait here for that Baimu to exit the tower!"
"Feel free!"
The Yuan Emperor returned to his seat, contemplating whether to offend the Ape Emperor for Baimu.
He had no intention of protecting Baimu, as this would antagonize the Ape Palace. But he also didn’t plan to betray Baimu to appease the Ape Emperor, as he wasn’t a footman of the Ape Palace and need not humble himself...
Moreover, the Yuan Emperor learned that the Grand Elder entered the Ascension Tower to investigate someone for his daughter.
It seemed they were investigating Baimu as well.
"This Baimu truly knows how to cause trouble. But it’s peculiar, Zixin has always shown little interest in any man, so why is she suddenly concerned about this notorious Baimu..."
"Could it be... Zixin fell for Baimu?"
As soon as this thought arose, the Yuan Emperor’s face instantly turned black.
Baimu’s reputation was too foul. If his daughter fell in love with such a person, how could he not worry as a father?
If his daughter truly had feelings for Baimu, should he stop it, or follow his daughter’s wishes?
"Alas..." The Yuan Emperor sighed deeply, feeling a headache coming on.
...
Ning Fan was unaware of the Ape Emperor’s arrival.
At this moment, as he entered the Ascension Tower, he was instantly transported to a certain area on the five hundredth floor.
"I wonder where the cave mansion on the five hundredth floor will be?"
Though vast, the Cauldron Heaven was only several thousand miles wide.
Ning Fan’s spirit sense slowly spread out, covering the entire Cauldron Heaven in an instant.
Retracting his spirit sense, Ning Fan’s escape light flashed, and he immediately sped off in a certain direction.
In that direction, there was a high mountain, within which was a finest ranked cave mansion.
At the moment, more than ten Void Glimpse cultivators were battling for this cave mansion.
Among them was a Void Inquiry elder. Relying on his profound cultivation, he occasionally struck with a red sword light, defeating one Void Glimpse cultivator after another within the crowd.
"Hmph, this cave mansion is determined to be mine. No one should compete with me for it, or I will show no mercy!"
One by one, the Void Glimpse cultivators looked at the Void Inquiry elder in terror.
"He is Elder Can Feng of the Fire Silkworm Clan!"
"Not good, he has Void Inquiry cultivation. We can’t compete with him; we can’t get this cave mansion... Should we give up?"
"Let’s join forces to defeat this person, and then we Void Glimpse cultivators will fight for the cave mansion, how about it!"
Just as all the Void Glimpse cultivators were about to join forces against Can Feng, at that moment, an extremely cold aura of Evil Qi suddenly descended from the heavens.
The bone-chilling aura made each old monster’s soul tremble.
They couldn’t even imagine how many people this individual with such baleful qi and devilish aura must have slaughtered to possess such terrifying aura!
"I, Bai Mou, want to enter this cave mansion and do not wish to be disturbed by anyone! Those unrelated, step back!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)