Chapter 130 - You Should Change Back
"Since I can't get anything out of you, I guess I'll just have to go in and take a look myself."
Qin Jue sighed.
"No! No!"
The originally calm stone tablet suddenly spoke in the human tongue, emitting a tender voice like a child.
Qin Jue :"…"
Am I imagining things?
Something about it seems strange…
"Who… who are you? Why did you come to the village?"
The stone tablet's tone was slightly panicked and filled with fear.
It couldn't help itself. The pressure Qin Jue gave it was too strong.. However, the stone tablet had clearly used its ability to examine Qin Jue in the afternoon and did not notice any spirit energy fluctuations. So how did he suddenly become so powerful?
"I had only come here to spend the night."
Qin Jue said matter-of-factly.
In fact, if Qin Jue hadn't encountered Shi Tian had his interest piqued, he wouldn't have deliberately come here.
Unfortunately, this Stone Village was a bit different from what he had imagined. However, he still found it somewhat acceptable.
"Nonsense. You're so powerful. You don't have to rest here at all."
The stone tablet retorted.
"What does my strength have to do with me wanting to rest here?"
Qin Jue rolled his eyes speechlessly.
"…"
The stone tablet was instantly speechless. Wait, no… it didn't have a mouth.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to this village. If I wanted to get rid of this village, this village would have disappeared from the world long ago."
Qin Jue said indifferently.
"…"
The stone tablet fell silent again.
Indeed, since Qin Jue could easily suppress the stone tablet, he had already proved that his strength was far above it.
If even the stone tablet was unable to stop it, how could these low-level cultivators of Stone Village contend against it?
"You should be a sacred artifact, right?"
Qin Jue asked again.
This time, the stone tablet didn't choose to remain silent. Instead, it answered, "Yes."
Without a doubt, this was a sacred artifact that had already condensed an artifact spirit. Only sacred artifacts could possess an artifact spirit.
If it was in the outside world, any sacred artifact with an artifact spirit was already enough to make countless cultivators go crazy. Even the Eight Great Sacred Lands and the Twelve Sacred Clans were no exception.
It had to be known that even the Spirit Clan, one of the Twelve Sacred Clans, only possessed a few quasi-Saint artifacts.
As for a sacred artifact with an artifact spirit, its attributes and power was drastically higher in all aspects. It could be said to be devastatingly powerful.
Most importantly, it was no longer just a weapon. Just like how Yun Xi was a weed that had gained sentience, a sacred artifact with an artifact spirit had evolved into an individual life form.
In other words, even if no one was controlling it, it could still fight on its own. Moreover, its strength was not inferior to an ordinary Saint Stage expert. It could even contend against some high-level sacred artifacts and even Grand Saint Stage experts.
The reason why Stone Village was able to survive here for several hundred years was entirely because of the protection of the stone tablet. Otherwise, the village would have long been destroyed by the fiend beasts.
"I am under the orders of my master to guard this place. I cannot go anywhere until he returns."
After a pause, the stone tablet continued, "I hope you won't take me away."
Under normal circumstances, even a Great Sage expert would be extremely envious of a sacred artifact with an artifact spirit, so the stone tablet was very worried that Qin Jue would forcefully take it away.
"Master? Who is your master?"
Qin Jue was puzzled. He didn't realize that this stone tablet already had an owner.
"Uh… I forgot."
Qin Jue :"…"
"But I remember him saying he would come back for me."
"…"
"Fine."
Qin Jue smiled bitterly. In any case, he wasn't interested in this stone tablet.
Moreover, once he took away the stone tablet, it would be equivalent to giving the remaining residents of Stone Village a death sentence. Qin Jue naturally wouldn't do that.
"By the way, can you transform into a human?"
Qin Jue asked curiously.
Logically speaking, a sacred artifact with an artifact spirit should be able to take human form like a fiend beast, so Qin Jue really wanted to know what the stone tablet would look like after taking human form.
"I can, but you have to remove your hand first."
After a moment of hesitation, the stone tablet whispered.
From the moment Qin Jue appeared, he had completely suppressed its spirit energy. At the current moment, let alone taking human form, it couldn't even move.
Hearing this, Qin Jue immediately raised his arm.
Buzz!
In the next moment, black light lit up and enveloped the stone tablet, creating waves. Soon after, a naked boy with a head of silver hair appeared in front of Qin Jue. The boy looked as if he was a character from anime.
Especially those big eyes. They were clear and deep, like stars.
However, this scene… was too sinister!
"This is what I look like after I take human form."
The stone tablet looked up at Qin Jue, its body about half of Qin Jue's height.
"…"
"You should change back."
Qin Jue's face darkened.
Why are they always naked after taking human form? And it seemed like the kid had yet to realize this problem.
"…"
The stone tablet scratched its head, not understanding what was going on. It could only turn back.
"Ha, guard this place well. I'm going to sleep."
Stretching lazily, Qin Jue couldn't be bothered to continue talking nonsense. His figure swayed and he disappeared from his original spot.
Seeing this, the stone tablet was stunned. It didn't expect Qin Jue to really leave like this.
"This human… is so strange."
The stone tablet had long lost its memories about its master and had only been silently guarding this village. Qin Jue should be the first human being it had come into contact with who was stronger than it.
But judging from Qin Jue's behavior, it didn't seem like he cared about it at all. Could it be that there were many sacred artifacts in the outside world now?
The stone tablet was puzzled.
The next day, sunlight shone through the clouds, and everything revived.
Qin Jue and Su Yan woke up one after another and prepared to leave. Their destination was the Immortal Holy Land, so they naturally couldn't stay here for too long.
Moreover, Qin Jue only wanted to see what Stone Village looked like. Now that his goal had been achieved, there was no point in staying.
At this moment, everyone in Stone Village had come to the open space outside to send Qin Jue and Su Yan off.
The residents here were all simple folk. Although they had only interacted with Qin Jue for half a day, they were abnormally enthusiastic about him, like family.
"Qin Jue, are you from the Southern Land? I'll go visit you in the future."
Shi Tian's expression was firm as he said firmly.
Ever since the old man told him about that incident last night, Shi Tian had made up his mind to head to the outside world to adventure. Apart from avenging the old man, he also wanted to become stronger.
Qin Jue :"…"
Why did it sound like Shi Tian wanted to visit Qin Jue to pick a fight with him?
"Sure, I'll be looking forward to that."
"Bye."
"Bye."
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Jue glanced at the stone tablet not far away and slowly rose into the air with Su Yan, flying into the distance.
At this moment, a fiend beast suddenly rushed out of the forest and opened its bloody mouth as it attempted to bite Qin Jue!
"Be careful!"
Shi Tian exclaimed.
Bang!
With a dull bang, the fiend beast that had just opened its mouth exploded like fireworks and turned into a bloody mist that scattered into the sky.
"???"
It wasn't only Shi Tian who was shocked by this. Everyone present was stunned. If they weren't wrong, that fiend beast should be at the Heaven Stage. Why did it suddenly disappear?
Qin Jue didn't care what they thought. The spirit energy under his feet turned into a horse that carried him and Su Yan and they quickly disappeared into the horizon, leaving behind the dumbfounded residents of Stone Village.