Duan De had been struck from behind with a blackjack and blindsided with a sucker punch. Burning with indignation, he cursed the Heavenly Venerable with his dying breath, rolled his eyes back, and went limp — crumpling to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Bang!”
The barbarian showed not a shred of decency. He hefted his spiked club and delivered one more solid blow to the back of Duan De’s skull, sending the fat fellow into convulsions even in his unconscious state, his face scrunched into a pained grimace.
Princess Yudie’s mouth fell open into a perfect “O.” The wholesome image she had held of Dongfang Ye crumbled before her eyes. He looked like a primitive man — simple and unassuming on the surface — yet he was so terrifyingly practiced at delivering sucker punches.
On the other side, Ye Fan was even less scrupulous. He pressed the half-foot-thick Dao Altar flat against Duan De’s forehead and proceeded to slap it down seven or eight times in rapid succession. Had he not been carefully controlling his force, the fat fellow’s skull would have already been split open.
They truly did not dare to relax. Duan De always gave people a sense of unfathomable depth, so all three stepped forward together and thoroughly sealed off his divine consciousness sea, preventing him from regaining awareness too quickly.
“Clatter!”
Ye Fan moved first, sliding a string of jade beads off Duan De’s wrist. Eighteen pearls of varying colors adorned it, each one dazzling and crystalline.
The moment the string settled in his hand, it felt weightily substantial, and his mind instantly became clear and serene, every stray thought swept away in profound stillness. One look told Ye Fan it was a treasure — one capable of aiding its owner in comprehending the Dao.
Princess Yudie exclaimed in delight. “These are Sea God Pearls — each one formed from the core of a beast king of the sea. A single pearl is worth a fortune under ordinary circumstances, yet he actually strung eighteen of them into a bracelet.”
Ye Fan handed the strand to her. The pearls shimmered in five brilliant colors, each one the size of a dragon-eye fruit, radiating cascading radiance — breathtakingly beautiful and resplendent.
“This Sea God Pearl necklace… is for me?” Princess Yudie had seen countless treasures in her time, yet she could not put this string of divine pearls down, her beautiful eyes lighting up with an otherworldly gleam as she caressed them with her slender jade fingers.
“Take it freely. This fellow has plenty more treasures on him.” Ye Fan was certain of it — what Duan De lacked least of all was treasure. Years of tomb-raiding meant heaven only knew how many fine things he had accumulated.
“Rip!”
Ye Fan tore open the fat fellow’s outer robe, revealing an inner armor beneath — a garment of jade plates linked together with divine silkworm thread, gleaming with flowing brilliance. It was clearly no ordinary item.
“Divine Threaded Jade Armor!” The barbarian’s face lit up with delight. He tossed his spiked wolf-tooth club to the ground and began rubbing his hands together eagerly.
Ye Fan tested it. The inner armor was extraordinarily sturdy. His physical body was of tremendous power, yet it took nine full tenths of his strength just to leave a single fingerprint on its surface.
Dongfang Ye hailed from a primitive tribe, home to a very ancient village. His seventh great-uncle was of unrivaled strength and possessed just such a protective robe — matchless in guarding the body and nearly impervious to attack.
“My seventh great-uncle said he dug it from the ancient tomb of a peerless Imperial Sovereign.” The barbarian shared this piece of information, his eyes burning with desire — he had clearly set his sights on the inner armor.
“This scoundrel has dug up more than a few ancestral graves in his time. He even paid a visit to the Fifth Great Bandit Wu Dao’s ancestral tomb, and now he’s come to wreak havoc in the Central State — he must have excavated the tomb of some supreme Imperial Sovereign.” Ye Fan speculated.
The Divine Threaded Jade Armor exuded an ancient air. Though it still possessed a faint luster, it looked as though it had been dusted over by time — clearly an antique that had endured the passage of countless ages.
“If you want it, go ahead and take it off him yourself.” Ye Fan grinned slyly.
Dongfang Ye made no ceremony of it. He reached out with hands like broad palm-leaf fans and stripped Duan De’s garments right off him, tossing the tattered rags aside and wrestling the Divine Threaded Jade Armor free, putting it on right there on the spot.
“Fancy a grown man wearing a longevity lock around his neck — this scoundrel truly fears death above all else.” Ye Fan yanked a purple-gold lock from around Duan De’s neck.
“Wait — let me have a look at that.” Princess Yudie’s voice trembled as she saw him about to toss it aside. She carefully took it and examined it closely.
The purple-gold lock bore no Dao inscriptions, nor any fluctuations of divine power. It appeared utterly ordinary — the only thing engraved upon it was a longevity scene: an elderly man with long eyebrows seated beneath an ancient tree.
“This is… the legendary Longevity Lock!” Princess Yudie’s voice quavered. She could scarcely believe it — that Duan De would have such a treasure on his person.
“Isn’t it just a broken old lock?” Dongfang Ye was entirely unconcerned. He had been watching from the side all along and had already sensed that the purple-gold lock was no ordinary divine artifact.
“This may be a sacred relic — one with the power to anchor fate and life itself. Most likely it was a personal keepsake of some peerless prodigy from nine thousand years ago.” Princess Yudie said.
Nine thousand years ago, a supreme genius had appeared across the Central State — a man named Xiang Yufei, who had become an Imperial Sovereign-level figure before even reaching nineteen years of age, sweeping all before him without equal.
His strength and achievements shook the world without question, a new star rising steadily in ascendance. In the post-Archaic era, to have achieved such cultivation at that age was nothing short of heaven-defying.
Yet heaven was jealous of great talent — he had not yet reached twenty when he died young, becoming a legend who never had the chance to blaze his full glory across the Central State.
“Originally, he could not even survive past fifteen — he was fated by birth to die young. It is said only this longevity lock allowed him to live to nearly twenty.” Princess Yudie recounted the tale.
“You mean… this broken old lock?” Dongfang Ye hefted his spiked club and leaned in for a closer look.
“This lock has quite an origin. It was given to Xiang Yufei by a supreme figure from the Western Regions who was on the verge of attaining Bodhisattva status — that is how he managed to live for those few extra years.”
“I can’t see anything special about it. It feels perfectly ordinary, with nothing particularly remarkable.” Dongfang Ye took the purple-gold lock, turning it over and back, then applied his raw brute force to try to crush it — yet the lock was not damaged in the slightest.
He was born with the strength to uproot mountains, his physical body capable of wounding Great Adepts, yet he could do nothing to a single lock. Without needing to think further, one knew this was a sacred relic — far from as simple as it appeared on the surface.
“Countless ages ago, the Buddha of the Western Wastes personally forged a Purple-Gold Demon-Subduing Staff for the Buddhist order to guard the Dao — its might was boundless and beyond imagination.”
Before the Demon-Subduing Staff was cast, the block of divine purple-gold sacred metal had been refined by the Buddha over and over, imbued with boundless compassion and merit, accompanying him through long ages of arduous cultivation, until it became imbued with a spirit of its own.
When the Demon-Subduing Staff was finally complete, a small piece of the purple-gold sacred metal remained. A Bodhisattva collected it and passed it down through the generations, each successive Arhat refining it until it became a lock — one capable of suppressing and stabilizing the wearer’s fate and lifespan.
“It is called the Longevity Lock. Worn upon the body, it can extend one’s lifespan by a measure of years — for figures who are living fossils, this is a priceless sacred object. Who would not wish to live a few more years?” Princess Yudie explained, visibly shaken. She had never in her wildest imagination expected to lay eyes upon this treasure.
“That turtle really does have some ability — even managing to get his hands on something out of legend. Heaven only knows how many ancient tombs he’s dug up.” Ye Fan marveled.
He had to admit — the fat fellow’s abilities were extraordinary. He had accumulated an astonishing collection of fine things, possessing certain uncanny capabilities that defied all reason — it was just a pity that none of it had been obtained through honest means.
“Nine thousand years ago, Xiang Yufei became an Imperial Sovereign-level figure at only nineteen — a feat that shook the ages. His burial site wouldn’t have been easy to find, would it?” The barbarian asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Xiang Yufei sealed himself within an ice coffin and sank into slumber upon a snow peak — legend has it he wished to evade death and resurrect in a later age. Many have searched for him over the years, and every location featuring snow peaks was visited, yet nothing was ever found. Sadly, Xiang Yufei never reappeared in later ages, and now that the Longevity Lock has surfaced, he has without question long since turned to dust.” Princess Yudie shook her head.
That Duan De could have found Xiang Yufei’s ice coffin, Ye Fan did not doubt in the slightest. This fellow had come and gone from the Demon Emperor’s Burial Mound without incident, and had even entered the Ji Family’s ancestral mausoleum in search of the Void Great Emperor’s ancient tomb — that alone spoke to how extraordinary his confidence was.
“You two can discuss how to divide that lock between yourselves — I don’t want it.” Ye Fan made no claim to the longevity lock.
“My life is hard enough on its own — I don’t need it either.” The barbarian waved a generous hand in dismissal.
“This… this is too precious. How could I dare keep it for myself?” Yudie felt she had not contributed much, yet was being given a treasure of such divine significance — she was somewhat embarrassed to accept it.
“When the next good thing comes along, just give me one piece.” Dongfang Ye waved it off. He could also see it plainly — this dead fat fellow certainly had no shortage of treasures on him, and those hanging on the outside of his body were merely the beginning.
Ye Fan personally set to work, continuing to search Duan De’s body for treasures. Even items that seemed unremarkable turned out to be precious artifacts — the worn hairpin in his topknot, for instance, turned out to be an ancient relic that could slice through space with the lightest stroke.
“Don’t throw it away, don’t throw it away!”
Even the shoes were retrieved by Dongfang Ye. Upon examination, they were confirmed to be an ancient treasure — wearing them increased movement speed by twenty percent, and he swapped them onto his own feet right then and there.
“This fat man really does have taste.” Ye Fan detached an Eight Trigrams diagram from the tattered Daoist robe, which also turned out to be an ancient treasure — one capable of storing people within it.
In the end, they stripped Duan De completely bare. Every jade piece, every coin pouch — all turned out to be precious items, not a single ordinary thing among them.
This sealed Duan De’s tragic fate. Ye Fan left him with only a pair of underpants — nothing else remained.
“Isn’t what we’re doing… a bit too much?” Princess Yudie’s face flushed faintly. She had never done anything like this before. Looking at the fat fellow lying motionless on the ground, she felt somewhat guilty.
“Don’t feel sorry for this fatty. He’s had his eye on my ancestral wolf-tooth club at every turn — he’s clearly no decent person. Thoroughly plundering him is entirely justified.” The barbarian showed no remorse whatsoever, and having had a taste of the spoils, moved to personally search through Duan De’s Wheel Sea and the other cultivation regions within his body.
“Boom!”
Dongfang Ye reached in and drew out several treasures from Duan De’s Wheel Sea. Brilliant divine light immediately erupted, nearly flooding the entire cave dwelling with its radiance.
Nine weapons emerged — a jade green blade, a purple jade sword, a crimson jade spear, an ink jade halberd, a white jade shield… Nine jade weapons, their brilliance soaring to the heavens, dazzling and magnificent, radiating an aura that shook the very soul.
“Heavens — these are the legendary Nine Divine Weapons!” Yudie cried out in shock.
Each tiny jade weapon was only a few inches long, yet the light they radiated was stunning and eye-catching, the fluctuations they emitted enough to make the heart tremble — they seemed even stronger than Sacred Sovereign-level weapons.
“These are the weapons a supreme sovereign of the ancient age refined over the course of a lifetime. When the Nine Divine Weapons are combined, their power is unrivaled and unstoppable!”
These weapons could be used in combination — the moment they were deployed, heaven and earth would pale before them, each one possessing supreme and formidable might.
According to Princess Yudie, these were the Nine Divine Weapons of the Feathered Transformation King — a peerless powerhouse from fifteen thousand years ago — lost for who knew how many years before this day.
Even Ye Fan was struck speechless. The fat fellow truly had abilities that defied heaven, having tracked down the tomb of the long-dead Feathered Transformation King and gotten his hands on the nine divine weapons the man had spent his entire life refining.
“This fatty is literally a living treasure vault!” Even the barbarian could not help but cry out in amazement. Even if one dug open an entire cave dwelling, one might not necessarily find such sacred objects.
And this was merely what had been fished out from one pass through Duan De’s Wheel Sea — heaven only knew what other treasures lay within.
“Keep digging!” Ye Fan had not forgotten the Undying Wondrous Tree, nor Duan De’s broken bowl.
“We’re going to strip him clean — when he wakes up, do you think he’ll go mad?” Princess Yudie asked.
“He’ll probably be fuming from all seven orifices and chasing people all over the world.” The barbarian gave a confident answer, then reached back into Duan De’s Wheel Sea for another pass.