King of Ten Thousand Years

The entire Blue Crystal Palace transformed into an Ice Palace, its chill seeping into the very bones.

”It’s so cold!”

Ning Xueyao shivered.

Luo Tian stopped channeling the Martial Venerable’s heritage, activated his Nether Dragon Divine Vein, and dispelled the chill in his body.

He walked out of the inner hall and saw the Mermaid Lady holding a piece of pale Blue Jade. Even she was frozen so stiff that her thoughts had slowed.

”The Cold Power of this treasure is beyond our current level. I will seal its power first!” the Mermaid Lady offered.

Luo Tian nodded.

’The Ice Dragon Celestial Cold Stone is too terrifying. If such an astonishing phenomenon occurs every time I take it out, freezing me into an ice sculpture, it won’t be fun at all.’

HUMMM!

The Mermaid Lady formed a Spell, casting one mysterious Ice Crystal Palm Seal after another.

The Cold Power emanating from the Ice Dragon Celestial Cold Stone weakened layer by layer as it was sealed away.

”It is done!”

The Mermaid Lady handed the sealed Ice Dragon Celestial Cold Stone to Luo Tian.

At this moment, the Ice Dragon Celestial Cold Stone looked like an ordinary, unremarkable block of ice.

Luo Tian took it and carefully placed it into his Storage Space.

”There is one thing I must tell you. My control over this place is still very low. But this Secret Realm Space is drifting farther and farther away from your continent!”

”Perhaps in three days, I will no longer be able to send you back to the Dongchen Continent!” the Mermaid Lady said with a deadpan expression.

”So, that means I can’t pick any more treasures?”

Luo Tian was slightly stunned.

’If we keep picking out treasures, we’ll very likely miss our chance to return to the Dongchen Continent!’

He made a quick calculation and confirmed that the Mermaid Lady was not lying.

”Kid, you can’t forget about this god! I want treasures too! You gave the entire Martial Venerable heritage to that girl, and this god got nothing! You can’t be so biased!”

”I don’t need ten items anymore! Five will be fine! I can even accept three.”

Just then, the Crow in the Celestial Book began to shout frantically, even wailing and sobbing.

Luo Tian thought for a moment. The Crow was his Spirit Pet, and it was true that it hadn’t gotten many good things since entering this place.

’Besides, this greedy and petty fellow will definitely hold a grudge.’

”There’s another option. Send Xueyao back first. If you do that, I should be able to stay here for another three or four days.”

This was the result Luo Tian had calculated.

In three days, sending two people back to the Dongchen Continent at the same time would likely fail.

Sending one person, however, would be no problem.

Another day passed, and Luo Tian finished channeling the entire contents of the Martial Venerable’s heritage into Ning Xueyao.

And now, it was time for Ning Xueyao to leave.

”Wait for me to come back,” Luo Tian said with a smile.

”Mhm!”

Ning Xueyao nodded firmly, walked toward the Space Passage opened by the Mermaid Lady, and left.

Now, only Luo Tian and the Mermaid Lady remained in the entire Secret Realm.

Luo Tian let the Crow out and said, ”Time is limited. You can only pick one item.”

”What? Only one? There are so many treasures here, and I can only have one?”

The Crow was incensed. It wished it could swallow every single treasure here.

But it still began to choose seriously.

Luo Tian, meanwhile, looked at the Mermaid Lady and asked, ”As your master, I still don’t know your name.”

The corner of the Mermaid Lady’s mouth twitched.

She was unwilling to acknowledge the fact that she was a servant.

”Qin Aolan!” the Mermaid Lady stated flatly.

”Nice name.”

Luo Tian smiled. With nothing else to do, he asked another question, ”That ethereal blue figure that tried to possess your body before, what was its origin?”

’The real Venerable Biqing should already be dead.’

”Venerable Biqing was a peak Martial Venerable. When the end of his lifespan was approaching, he cultivated an Evil Technique to extend his life and attempt to break through to a higher Realm, but he failed...”

”That ethereal blue figure was formed from the evil thoughts that gestated and condensed after Venerable Biqing’s death. It was equivalent to a special kind of Fierce Ghost!”

The Mermaid Lady, ”Qin Aolan,” had absorbed and fused with the ethereal blue figure, so she also knew its memories and explained everything.

”Even someone as strong as Venerable Biqing couldn’t escape old age, sickness, and death. To stay alive, he actually cultivated an Evil Technique, leading to such an end!”

Luo Tian couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

He was still young now, but one day, he might face the same problem.

’I just hope that when the time comes, I won’t end up like Venerable Biqing.’

”Before, when I wanted to kill you, it was because after absorbing and fusing with him, my own Soul was weakened, and my personality was twisted to a certain extent...”

The Mermaid Lady continued, seeming to justify her actions in hopes of gaining Luo Tian’s understanding.

After all, she was now Luo Tian’s servant. If he held a grudge and wanted to enact some kind of revenge, it would be effortless.

”I’ve picked it! I want this one!” the Crow shouted.

Luo Tian stared over, wanting to see what good thing the Crow had chosen.

”This...”

His expression immediately stiffened, and he somewhat regretted agreeing to the Crow’s request.

The Crow had actually chosen a Guqin!

In Luo Tian’s mind, the elegant and graceful Guqin was utterly incompatible with the ugly, black-smoke-wreathed Crow.

Moreover, Luo Tian had a bad feeling about this.

”Kid, don’t you look down on this god! Back in the day, the Divine Melodies this god played shook the heavens and moved ghosts and gods! Countless Great Powers traveled thousands of miles just to hear a single piece!”

The Crow puffed out its chest and boasted.

The Mermaid Lady flew over to the Guqin and began to break the Array sealing it.

「Three days later.」

The Guqin was successfully retrieved. The Crow hugged it, unable to let it go.

It slapped a wing on the black Guqin, which was over a meter long, and the instrument instantly shrank to the size of a finger. The Crow then tucked it away in its feathers.

”Huh? This thing isn’t simple!”

Luo Tian let out a soft exclamation but didn’t press the matter. He had no interest in the guqin whatsoever.

After returning the Crow to the Celestial Book, Luo Tian said to Qin Aolan, ”Alright, send me back!”

Qin Aolan nodded slightly but didn’t move.

”Can you... return the Sea Blue Holy Pearl to me?”

Her expression held a hint of begging.

With an incomplete soul, her personality was also incomplete, and her memory had huge gaps.

This would also affect the speed at which she could recover her strength.

”You can keep the Sea Blue Holy Pearl. Just give me back my Residual Soul!” Qin Aolan compromised.

”We’ll talk about this next time we meet.”

Luo Tian did not agree.

’Qin Aolan is ultimately not subservient to me. It’s safer to have a few more ways to control her.’

Qin Aolan sighed, not daring to threaten Luo Tian.

At the same time, she felt she would probably never get her Residual Soul back.

In her eyes, Luo Tian was far too weak. If not for the restrictions of the Master-Servant Contract, she could easily crush him right now.

’As far as I’m concerned, Luo Tian and I will never cross paths again!’

HUMMM!

She waved her arms, and surging True Essence permeated the void, connecting with the Heritage Treasure Land.

Three breaths later, a dazzling, silvery-blue radiance rippled through the Blue Crystal Palace, producing faint spatial fluctuations.

An oval Space Passage soon appeared. It was an abyssal blue and extremely unstable.

SWISH!

Luo Tian’s figure leaped into it and vanished.

The Mermaid Lady waved an arm, and the Space Passage quickly closed.

’Forget it. So what if there’s a Master-Servant Contract? He and I will never cross paths again!’

Qin Aolan, elegant and noble, gazed into the distance, her eyes revealing a resolute light.

...

「Dongchen Continent.」

In a vast, desolate forest.

HUMMM.

An abyssal blue, oval passage materialized in mid-air. The surrounding space warped, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi trembled.

The blue passage flickered in and out of existence, extremely unstable, and looked as if it would collapse and dissipate at any moment.

At that moment, a handsome, white-robed young man walked out from within.

”I’m back!”

A smile spread across Luo Tian’s face.

The moment he appeared, he felt a familiar and welcoming aura, confirming that this was the Dongchen Continent!

’Qin Aolan’s abilities are truly formidable... If we meet again, I’m afraid she’ll be even stronger. Having such a powerful maidservant doesn’t seem too bad...’ Luo Tian smiled faintly.

He hadn’t brought Qin Aolan back with him.

Venerable Biqing’s Heritage Treasure Land was filled with treasures. He was counting on Qin Aolan to control the place so he could go back for more benefits in the future.

’I wonder where I am?’

After flying for some distance, Luo Tian felt the terrain looked somewhat familiar.

’This seems to be the Eastern Domain...’

Back when Luo Tian had left the Yunxiao Sect for training, he had traveled toward the Central Domain.

He had gotten a good grasp of the entire Eastern Domain’s topography.

’Looks like my luck is pretty good. This isn’t too far from the Azure Cloud Kingdom...’

Luo Tian smiled.

The Azure Cloud Kingdom... it instantly brought back some memories.

’It’s also time to pay a visit to the Azure Cloud Monarch!’

A few months ago, he had passed through the Azure Cloud Kingdom to visit Master Lin and some other friends, and had declared that he would personally visit the Azure Cloud Monarch in the future.

A man must keep his word.