Chapter 388: The Lighting Of The Lamps
Zen wasn't sure what was special about that lamp, but Tia was dumbstruck at the sight of it. It made the other things left Blood Fiend Emperor pale by comparison.
Heavenly Fruit Tree and flood dragon blood both belonged to the inheritance of the grade 6 sect
which could certainly help the Cloud Hall reach a new level.
But they were not a must at present because the Cloud Hall, as a grade 4 sect, was developing rapidly and leaving behind those at the same grade. If Tia could succeed in improving her strength, it was highly possible that the Cloud Hall would rank as grade 5 soon.
This enchanted lamp, however, was different.
There was a celestial tomb in the Chaotic Ocean of Stars which was thousands of miles away from Central Region.
The celestial tomb was literally the tomb of a celestial being.
But even the celestial beings were not immortal. It seemed that their infinite life expectancy also had an end. That was the incontestable power of time.
When an immortal reached his ten thousand or even tens of thousands of years old, there would be some irreversible and noticeable changes in their bodies: “Filthy Clothing”, “Falling Hair”, “Sweating Armpit”, “Stinky Body”, and “Restless Mind”. Once the immoral reached the “Restless Mind” stage, he would become mortal and die.
These five stages were so-called Five Aging Processes of the celestial beings.
It was said that this tomb was owned by Mist, a celestial being from the mundane world. At the end of his very long life, probably for tens of thousands of years after he became immortal, he went back to his homeland once he reached “Restless Mind”, the last stage before vanishing permanently.
A hundred years after his return, he built a celestial mausoleum at the bottom of the Chaotic Ocean of Stars and buried himself in it, giving it the name “Celestial Tomb of Mist”.
As a deadly attraction, the tomb attracted many cultivators who were willing to risk their lives. Unfortunately, many of them died trying to get in there. The Chaotic Ocean of Stars had long been a forbidden area for human beings and being guarded by the celestial beings, it became more dangerous than ever. So the tomb was not accessible for everyone.
For the past tens of thousands of years, nobody had harvested anything from the Celestial Tomb of Mist. No one ever succeeded in breaking into it and those who attempted lost their lives.
As a result, people chose to stay away from the celestial tomb, and thus the Celestial Tomb of Mist finally rested in peace.
Nevertheless, two thousand years ago, several enchanted lamps appeared in the Central Region. They looked like ordinary oil lamps, except that the name of Mist was carved at the bottom of each lamp.
For this reason, the rumors went around.
Some believed that these lamps were guarding the Celestial Tomb of Mist. If the nine lamps were lit up, they would create a portal to the tomb.
The top cultivators managed to find six of them, which were now in the possession of some high-grade sects.
To get into the tomb, they agreed to light the lamp at the same time. But with only six lamps in their possession, success was just wishful thinking. The rest of the lamps were nowhere to be found, although they were possibly in the possession of some unknown masters.
It was almost an impossible mission to locate the three little lamps in the vast Central Region, so the sects in power came up with a solution–Lantern Lighting Festival.
For common people, it was a festival where they lit the lanterns and released them into the sky. Children loved this day because they could enjoy all kinds of beautiful lanterns and have fun on the streets.
But for the masters in the Central Region, it was the time to light up the enchanted lamp!
They made an announcement to the world, hoping that everyone who owned one or several of these lamps could light it at the same time during the Lantern Lighting Festival.
At the edge of each lamp, there were some small marks and when other lamps lit up, the corresponding number of marks would glow.
Two hundred years ago, only six marks glowed at each year's event which meant that only six enchanted lamps were found.
However, 150 years ago, something unusual happened–an extra mark glowed. Someone had found the seventh lamp and was ready to break into the celestial tomb. If the owner had not dreamt about it, he would not even dare to light it up.
Another 30 years had passed since the seventh lamp was lit up. And now another lamp was lit up. It was the eighth lamp!
The Central Region was thrilled at the news. Every cultivator and sect made all the efforts to ensure that they were ready for the last one which might open the path to Celestial Tomb of Mist. Some believed that it would happen in the next three years after the eighth lamp was lit up.
But 30 years had already passed since the eighth lamp, but there wasn't a sign.
“Surprisingly, the last lamp the Central Region has been waiting for was in the hand of Blood Fiend Emperor. If I hadn't got the inheritance of Blood Fiend Emperor, their wish would never come true,” Tia concluded calmly.
Listening to Tia's story about the lamp, Zen sighed. He could not imagine that the celestial tomb was that amazing and attractive.
Was it related to that fairy palace? The fairy palace was beautiful, but it was no use for Zen because he was only a temporary owner and could not make use of anything in it.
“This enchanted lamp...” Zen pointed at the oil lamp.
“It's mine,” Tia stated. Noticing the dissatisfaction in Zen, she added, “You belong to the Cloud Hall anyway. If there's a chance to explore the tomb, I will certainly take you with me.”
“Nonsense! Are you really from the Cloud Hall? Can you prove that? You haven't told me anything about your identity yet!” Zen was more convinced of the importance of the enchanted lamp now, so he would not easily give up.
Tia stared at him, “Do I look like a bad person?”
“You made up your background and changed your appearance to sneak into Cloud Road, aiming for the inheritance of Blood Fiend Emperor. What do you think?” Zen grinned.
Finding it hard to convince Zen, Tia threw a token to him, “This is my communication token. You can talk to me through it in Cloud Hall.”
“The Cloud Hall token?” The token was white and bright as snow with several clouds carved in the back. In the middle of the token, there was the name of Tia.
With merely a token, Zen was still not sure of her identity, but he had his own assumption.
The Cloud Road could only be opened by several specified sects under the Cloud Hall. And it wasn't the first time for Tia to enter the Cloud Road. The only explanation for why she could succeed for several times was that she herself might be from the Cloud Hall.
Zen hoped to force Tia to tell him the truth with those questions so that he could be saved from all the guessing. But it seemed that she would rather give him her token than tell him her real background, and there was nothing Zen could do now.
Most of the inheritance from Blood Fiend Emperor was here now. While Tia believed that these were left behind by Blood Fiend Emperor because they were not the most important ones and he didn't need them anymore, Zen thought these were more than enough.
He took some of the treasures and stored them in the space ring and let Tia pack up the rest.
Then Tia searched around the plaza again, but she found nothing valuable. Satisfied with the harvest, she took the crystal key and ascended the flood dragon puppet.
The flood dragon puppet was a very important one in the inheritance from Blood Fiend Emperor. Although the cyan dragon didn't bother to devour it as the puppet had lost all the vital energy and blood, the giant flood dragon puppet was still priceless to Cloud Hall.
If a war broke out, this flood dragon puppet could function as a war machine and could cause dreadful damages to the opponents with only one roar.
They took the puppet and flew across the sky over the Cloud Road. Those who were struggling forward could only envy their luck.
Frank saw the flood dragon as well. He suspected at once that Zen and that mysterious disciple could have survived. Could the flood dragon be a test on the Cloud Road? Or was it a shortcut?
After all, the flood dragon appeared after they fell. What a coincidence.
But he didn't believe in coincidence! Frank didn't think they could have survived, so he decided to put those thoughts aside. Watching the blood pool that he aspired to fly away was a heavy blow for him. He was profoundly demotivated and felt worn out.
Like a gambler who had just lost all his fortune, he had no interest in other's outcome.
Before long, the flood dragon puppet stopped at the exit of Cloud Road. As the giant dragon mouth opened, Zen jumped off first. He turned around and asked, “Aren't you coming with me?”
Tia smiled and suddenly looked very serious. She patted the dragon's mouth and it closed. The dragon flew into the sky swiftly again, leaving Zen confused.
Women were indeed incomprehensible. Zen shook his head and walked towards the eddy in the exit.
Meanwhile, Frank and the others were marching on the fifth stage of Cloud Road while others were mostly stuck in the fourth stage. Only one person was left behind alone.
Standing on a stone pillar in the Sea of Raging Fire, Lennon was left speechless seeing the broken stones before him...