Chapter 627: The Star Emperor’s Successor
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The shriveled corpse floated slowly towards Mo Wen. An endless amount of anger rolled through the air. It was a hatred that seemed to come from a war-torn nation or a family that had been destroyed, the anger stemming from desertion by one’s spouse and children. The fury assaulted Mo Wen’s body, causing it to stiffen gradually. His face grew paler and paler and Mo Wen could sense the life draining out of his body. If this continued, Mo Wen would become a corpse before too long.
Suddenly, a crisp sound rang from within Mo Wen’s body. The sound was like a bird chirping; it was a clear, pleasant-sounding noise.
Just as Mo Wen, on the verge of death, was drowning in despair, the chirp immediately pulled his soul back into his body. At the same time, a warm force grew in him, traveling around his entire body. He slowly regained feeling and his life force, which had been draining out slowly, began to be replenished. The anger, evilness, and cold disappeared completely as his furnace-like body eradicated them.
There was a flash of red light. A beautiful tail feather appeared in front of Mo Wen, suspended in the air. It kept vibrating lightly.
The shriveled corpse that had been floating towards Mo Wen immediately stopped. It shook slightly and did not dare to take another step forward.
Mo Wen breathed out heavily, removing the final traces of the poisonous Qi which had infected him. There was shock in his eyes as he glanced warily at the corpse. What exactly was this creature?
Mo Wen knew a great deal about the immortal cultivation world and also some things about demons and devils. There were many ghosts and zombies among underworld immortal cultivators. However, he had never seen such a strange entity as this before. This ancient corpse was beyond his understanding. It did not have any obvious ability but seemed to be able to control heaven and earth and take control of the destiny of others. It even had the power to take souls.
The hatred and fury emanating from the creature petrified those unlucky enough to come into contact with it. The strength of the attack meant it was practically unstoppable. Mo Wen was so mentally strong that it was very difficult to scare him, even if he encountered terrifying things. Even being confronted with death would not be too much of a shock for him. He had experienced life and death and had even died many times.
However, the shriveled corpse had been able to send despair, fear and a range of other negative emotions into his mind. Mo Wen had not experienced such mental torture in some time. It was even more terrifying than being killed outright.
Mo Wen had turned pale after the terror he had just experienced. Furthermore, he could not understand it at all. Zombies cultivated by underworld immortal cultivators definitely did not have such an ability. This ancient corpse seemed to be where all the negative emotions in the world have gathered.
The tail feather suspended in the air slowly released a warm glow that enveloped Mo Wen. He was no longer affected by the surrounding atmosphere.
The shriveled corpse continued to float in mid-air. However, Mo Wen was left stunned once again when the ancient corpse slowly descended to the ground. Turning to face him, it slowly knelt down.
“Successor…of…the…Star…Emperor…” the corpse said slowly, pausing between each word. Its voice reverberated in the air.
The corpse did not make any further movements and laid prostrate on the ground like a humble subject.
The golden tail feather suspended in mid-air flickered and returned into Mo Wen’s body, disappearing in a flash.
“Successor of the Star Emperor?”
Mo Wen remained on his spot, dazed. He looked at the corpse in confusion. What did it mean? The ancient corpse seemed to be talking about him. When had be become the successor of the Star Emperor? This had nothing to do with him, right?
Mo Wen suddenly thought of the crimson gold tail feather. It was one of the seven tail feathers from the Seven Star Heavenly Fire Fan.
He had experienced some amazing encounters after receiving the crimson gold tail feather from that mysterious place. After that, he had gone to the Inferno Star Hall and gained an inheritance from the Inferno Star Lord. Even though he had not received the true inheritance from the Inferno Star Lord, he had learned some of the rite of passage martial arts in the hall. He was counted somewhat as a disciple of the Inferno Star Lord.
Could the Star Emperor the corpse had mentioned be a reference to the Inferno Star Lord?
Mo Wen thought of how the dried corpse had behaved oddly only when the crimson gold tail feather had appeared. It was possible that his conjecture might be correct. The Seven Star Heavenly Fire Fan was the natal treasure of the Inferno Star Lord then, and that voice in the Inferno Star Hall seemed to have referred to itself as the emperor. It was one of the five emperors under the Martial Arts God.
Everything seemed to fit. The Star Emperor that the ancient corpse had mentioned was doubtlessly the Inferno Star Lord.
The corpse had even bowed to Mo Wen after realizing that he was the successor of the Inferno Star Lord. It was a very respectful gesture. What had the corpse got to do with the Inferno Star Lord then?
Mo Wen wore an unsettled expression as many thoughts ran through his mind. He now knew he was a successor of the Inferno Star Lord. The corpse had not hesitated to bow down to him. It seemed as though the status of the Inferno Star Lord in the past had been far higher than Mo Wen had ever imagined.
The ancient corpse’s attitude towards the Inferno Star Lord was no coincidence. It definitely had something to do with the history of this place.
No wonder Mo Wen had felt an odd sense of familiarity when he had first arrived in the city. It was an inexplicable sense of familiarity that had stayed with him. It was the first time he had seen or visited this place, so where had this sense of familiarity come from?
Mo Wen had not understood this earlier, but now everything was becoming clear to him. The sense of familiarity had nothing to do with him but was because of the Inferno Star Lord, or rather, because of the inheritance he had received from the Inferno Star Lord. The three tail feathers from the Seven Star Heavenly Fire had sent him this feeling.
Furthermore, the place that Mo Wen was now in was probably part of the same space as that in which the Inferno Star Hall was located. Or, one could say, they belonged in the same space fragment. In the past, the space had fragmented for an unknown reason, causing the current situation. If the fragments were pieced together, they would definitely belong in the same space.
With this thought in mind, many doubts in Mo Wen’s mind were solved. This ancient city must have belonged to the Inferno Star Lord. That was why all the citizens in the ancient city had respected him so much and crowned him as emperor.
Clack! As Mo Wen was immersed in his thoughts, a sudden soft sound was heard.
Mo Wen looked down to see a cloth pouch rolling out from the ancient corpse’s clothing. It was rather odd, but it rolled and stopped at Mo Wen’s feet. Mo Wen looked down at the object and was very confused.
In a normal situation, a cloth pouch would not be able to roll several dozen meters to his feet. It must have been done deliberately by the ancient corpse. It had given him the cloth pouch intentionally. What were its intentions?
The shriveled corpse was an extremely strange and unpredictable creature. Mo Wen did not dare to simply pick up something which had come from it. God knows what would happen to him if he did.
It was also clear to Mo Wen that the ancient corpse must have been a complex character in its day. From its attitude towards the Inferno Star Lord, it probably would not intentionally harm him Mo Wen now.
The material of the cloth bag was from an unknown type of silk. It was smooth and cool to touch. A sense of coldness penetrated his body. Mo Wen was shocked and his mind cleared greatly.
At first glance, Mo Wen thought that the bag was a storage space pouch. However, he later discovered that it was just a normal cloth pouch. However, the material of the cloth pouch was not plain. He undid the string on top of the pouch and poured out several items.
A round object rolled out from the cloth pouch and Mo Wen was immediately attracted to it.
A Spiritual Stone!
One, two, three, four, five…there were seven spiritual stones!
Mo Wen would not have been so surprised had they been normal spiritual stones. However, the spiritual stones in front of him were all medium grade spiritual stones. They were definitely better than low-grade spiritual stones. Even in the immortal cultivation world, medium grade spiritual stones were important resources. They were much more valuable than low-grade spiritual stones.
Even though the comparative value of low-grade spiritual stones and medium grade spiritual stones was 1:100, the people in the immortal cultivation world were rarely willing to use this ratio to make exchanges. Even if they were to make exchanges, the ratio would be far higher than 100. The reason for this was because the practical use of medium grade spiritual stones was more than a hundred times of low-grade spiritual stones.
For example, only medium grade spiritual stones could be used in some stratagems in the immortal cultivation world. Low-grade spiritual stones were unable to provide the energy flow required for slightly higher level stratagems. Only medium grade spiritual stones could. Some rare immortal cultivation materials, when there were not many differences, could be bought with medium grade spiritual stones but not with low-grade spiritual stones.
It was the same for puppets. Medium grade spiritual stones could definitely provide stronger energy than low-grade spiritual stones.
Mo Wen’s Black Gold puppet was powered by a low-grade spiritual stone right now. That meant it could only have the power of an ancient martial arts practitioner at the pinnacle of the Golden Elixir realm. However, if Mo Wen used a medium grade spiritual stone instead, then the puppet would have the power similar to that of a human martial arts grandmaster.
Receiving seven medium grade spiritual stones in one go was a pleasant surprise for Mo Wen. At first, he had thought that he would never be able to obtain medium grade spiritual stones. That was because the immortal cultivation world greatly valued such stones. No matter how wealthy Huatian Palace was, they would not allow medium grade spiritual stones to end up in the ancient martial arts world.
“If I use the medium grade spiritual stone on the Black Gold puppet, and also use them with a few other treasures, I might even be able to fight martial arts grandmasters.”
A look of excitement appeared in Mo Wen’s eyes. He was usually a steady person, but he could not control himself this time because he needed power way too much right now. Both the human martial arts grandmasters and the seven beast kings of the Fire Domain all posed a serious threat to his life.
In such a situation, his power was insufficient and his very survival was in question. It was a much greater problem that the possibility of fighting with the other powerhouses for the spiritual fire.
Now that Mo Wen had the medium grade spiritual stones, it meant that he the protection of a martial arts grandmaster. Furthermore, it was a martial arts grandmaster that could use spiritual power and shared his thoughts.
Mo Wen waved his hand excitedly. There was a flash of black light and the Black Gold puppet flew out from the medicine spiritual ring. It was the size of his palm before it was activated. However, Mo Wen knew that immortal cultivators had set up prohibitions on it that could shrink the size of the puppet, enabling them to bring it along with them easily. The true height of the Black Gold puppet was at least three meters.
He hit the Black Gold puppet with his palm and held a spiritual stone in his other hand, transmitting the spiritual power. The Black Gold puppet immediately shone with a black light and grew bigger in the blink of an eye. When fully grown, it was about the same size as Mo Wen, and even their body structures were about the same.
Mo Wen placed all seven of the medium grade spiritual stones into the Black Gold puppet so that it would have a sufficient energy source in case of any unforeseen incidents. He did not want the puppet to lack power. Even though there were only seven medium grade spiritual stones, they would be sufficient for the Black Gold puppet to operate for a long period of time.