Talisman Emperor

Aquacove City.

Even though it was deep into the night, a gorgeous and majestic hall was illuminated brightly by lanterns, and waves of clamorous laughter frequently sounded out from within.

After they attained victory in the battle, Chen Xi and the others were warmly entertained by all the cultivators of Swallow Kingdom.

Especially when they found out Chen Xi’s identity, every single cultivator was shocked and joyful. They seemed to have never imagined that the legendary genius of the Nine Radiance Sword Sect, Chen Xi, who was renowned throughout the Dark Reverie, would actually be their life-saving benefactor.

Instantly, the gazes these cultivators from Swallow Kingdom shot at Chen Xi had changed, and they completely understood why those strange group had such a formidable and ferocious combat strength. It was because their background was extraordinary!

So long as it was someone in the Dark Reverie that had stepped onto the path of cultivation, was there anyone that hadn’t heard Chen Xi’s name?

If they were to speak about his dazzling deeds, then a single night wouldn’t be enough!

Everyone was extremely fervent, and they used their most precious wine and most delicious delicacies to entertain Chen Xi and the others.

But Chen Xi acutely noticed that the atmosphere was slightly strange.

For example, when they looked at Mu Kui, their gazes carried deep admiration and shock. When they looked at Ling Bai, their gazes carried deep fear instead, whereas when their gazes descended onto A’Man, it carried a wisp of terror.

This sort of slight changes seemed to be no different, but it still caused Chen Xi to be extremely curious, and he turned around to ask A’xiu. “What’s going on?”

A’xiu pointed at Mu Kui and said with a clear voice, “It’s very simple. He was peerlessly ferocious in the battle earlier, and he killed numerous Xeno-race experts, so everyone admires him extremely.”

Mu Kui raised his cup and grinned when he saw Chen Xi paying attention to him.

The nearby Ling Bai said with disdain, “What’s the point of admiration? He wasn’t as direct as me. I killed over a thousand people with a single sword strike, and that’s why they’re so afraid of me. Making someone fearful is much greater than making someone feel admiration.”

Mu Kui’s face stiffened, and he was slightly disheartened.

Chen Xi watched this scene with amusement, and then he patted A’Man’s head as he asked Ling Bai. “What about him?”

Ling Bai glanced at A’Man, and then his cold and handsome face turned dull for a moment before he muttered. “That’s a freak that can’t be understood.”

At this moment, Chen Xi became curious instead, and he asked A’Man. “What did you do?”

A’Man was nibbling on a large bone, and he raised his head in a daze when he heard this before he said honestly, “I didn’t do anything. I just slapped some bad people to death with a single strike.”

“How many bad people?” Chen Xi pursued an answer.

A’Man scratched his head and said with a rough voice, “I can’t count it. In any case, Ling Bai didn’t allow me to make another move after that strike, and he said he was afraid I would accidentally injure someone from our side…”

Chen Xi was stunned, and then he looked at Ling Bai. Ling Bai shrugged and said helplessly, “A’Man slapped 1,736 enemies to death with a single strike. Amongst these, 1,000 were at the Gold Rank. It was too overbearing. Just think about it, if I didn’t make him stop, would those little fellows from the Ninth Hell Tribe have any chance of tempering themselves?”

Chen Xi came to a sudden understanding, and he sized A’Man up with surprise. He slightly didn’t dare believe that this little fellow that was only 30cm tall would actually be capable of erupting with such a terrifying strength.

No wonder the gazes of these cultivators carry a wisp of horror when they look at him, so that’s how it is.

Liao Fan sat at the side and listened to all of this. Earlier, he was concentrated on getting a sense of existence, so he didn’t notice the situation of the battle. At this moment, when he heard that all these little fellows were so ferocious, he was both shocked and envious, and he felt the sense of existence of these little fellows was much greater than he who was an expert at the Earthly Immortal Realm…

“Fortunately, besides all of these freaks, I’m not so bad as well, and I just didn’t have a chance to make a move.” Liao Fan consoled himself in his heart.

He inadvertently glanced and noticed A’xiu, and he said with a smile, “Fellow Daoist Chen, is this your maidservant? She really is very beautiful.”

Maidservant? Chen Xi glanced at A’xiu, and then said to himself, How could I dare to take her to be my maidservant?

But when the word maidservant was mentioned, he recalled Xueyan instead. Xueyan was left behind on West Radiance Peak, and she didn’t follow them because she was helping him take care of Huo Molei and the others.

Of course, Chen Xi hadn’t taken Xueyan to be a maidservant at all because ordering a pure blooded Nine-Tailed Fox around like a maidservant was really beneath her ability.

“She’s…” 

Chen Xi was about to answer when Ling Bai had answered before him. “Fellow Daoist, you’re really too ignorant. Those seven General Rank experts were killed by A’xiu!”

Liao Fan originally asked this casually because he was trying to make conversation, yet a wisp of anger instantly arose in his heart when he saw Ling Bai actually said he was ignorant. I’m an Earthly Immortal Realm expert at any rate! How can you speak like this! Do you really think I have no sense of existence?

But right after that, when he heard the rest of what Ling Bai had to say, his entire body stiffened while his hand that held his wine cup trembled, and he said with astonishment, “Wha…what!?”

Ling Bai rolled his eyes and said with displeasure, “Have I not spoken clearly enough?”

Chen Xi was flabbergasted. He knew very well a long time ago that Ling Bai was very proud and cold. Besides people that Ling Bai cared about, Ling Bai wouldn’t pay attention to someone no matter what cultivation realm that person was at. So him speaking in this way conformed with his character.

When he saw Chen Xi didn’t deny it, whereas A’xiu didn’t have any intent of speaking at all, Liao Fan instantly understood that all of this was probably true!

When he thought up to here, a tempestuous storm surged in his heart, and he felt depressed, shocked, and filled with disbelief. Originally, he just wanted to feel a sense of existence from a tiny maidservant, yet never had he expected…that he actually offended a great being instead!

Up until the point the banquet ended, Liao Fan still hadn’t recovered from his shock. He noticed that he was indeed unable to find the slightest sense of existence from this group of people by Chen Xi’s side… It couldn’t be helped, it wasn’t that he wasn’t strong enough, and it was because all of them were too abnormal!

But he was stopped by Chen Xi when he was about to leave.

    …

All the other guests had dispersed from the spacious hall.

Chen Xi pondered for a moment before he spoke of the question in his heart. “Why would those Xeno-race experts mobilize such forces to attack Swallow Kingdom?”

Liao Fan was stunned, and then he was about to say something, yet he shut his mouth again. He pondered deeply for a long time before he said hesitantly, “I once obtained the news that those Xeno-race experts came to Swallow Kingdom because they seemed to be looking for a relic of their race.”

“A relic?” Chen Xi was surprised.

“Right.” Liao Fan laughed bitterly as he said, “I felt it was extremely absurd when I just found out about this. After all, they were Xeno-race experts, so how could the relic of their race possibly have been left behind in the three dimensions? This obviously didn’t conform to logic, so I didn’t take it seriously.”

Chen Xi’s brows raised, and he said while seeming to be lost in thought, “Then does Fellow Daoist Liao know exactly what relic they were looking for? Or where in Swallow Kingdom it’s located?’

“I don’t know its exact location.” Liao Fan frowned as he said, “But I captured a Xeno-race expert before torturing and interrogating that expert. They seemed to be looking for a place called Ghostcraft Ridge.”

“Ghostcraft Ridge?” Chen Xi unfolded a map and carefully searched the Swallow Kingdom, yet he didn’t notice this name.

“I feel that this Ghostcraft Ridge is probably here.” Liao Fan pointed at a place called ‘Ghost Domain’ on the map, and he said, “This place is densely covered in haze all year long, and it’s filled with various ghost type beings, causing ordinary people to not dare approach it.”

When he spoke up to here, Liao Fan laughed lightheartedly. “All those years ago, I felt that a secret realm might exist within it, so I held the intention of giving it a try as I went in to explore. The only thing I saw were the words “Ghost’s extraordinary skill of craft’ and nothing else.”

Ghost’s extraordinary skill of craft?

Chen Xi seemed to be lost in thought. If the first and last words were joined together, it would be the word Ghostcraft. But even though this explanation seemed logical, it was slightly forced.

“Let’s go take a look. I love looking for treasures.” A’xiu suddenly spoke with a grin on her face. 

…

Early in the morning on the next day, Chen Xi’s group swiftly left Aquacove City on their treasured vessel.

Ghost Domain was only 18,500km away from Aquacove City, and it was outside a place called the Ancient Town of Miro. It was a remote and desolate mountain.

Because this place lacked spirit energy and didn’t have any spirit veins spread in the vicinity, it caused the Ancient Town of Miro to be mostly filled with ordinary people, and there wasn’t any organization formed from cultivators.

To the people of the town, the Ghost Domain that was filled with various ghosts had become a restricted area, and none of them dared to step foot into there.

Even if there were cultivators who frequently came to explore the Ghost Domain, all of them would come back empty handed and leave angrily.

Swoosh!

A treasured vessel crushed the layer of clouds and appeared in the sky above the Ghost Domain.

When looked down at from high above in the sky, the entire Ghost Domain was actually an expanse of a desolate mountain range. It was around 5,000km in area and covered densely in haze while miasma flowed within it, causing it to be unable to see the light of day all year long, so it was ghastly and cold.

Chen Xi left everyone else in the treasured vessel, and he only brought A’xiu along into this mountain range called Ghost Domain.

Swish!

As soon as they stood on a piece of level ground on the mountain, a large expanse of pitch black haze and miasma assaulted their faces. But before it could even get close to Chen Xi and A’xiu, it was swept away completely by a shapeless force field.

This little bit of haze and miasma was naturally nothing to the two of them.

Chen Xi’s Immortal Perception spread out before he searched for a long time, and he really didn’t notice anything unusual. It seemed to be just as Liao Fan had said, there was utterly no secret realm, treasure vault, or any other sort of place of fortune within here.

The two of them quickly arrived before a stone stele.

This stone stele was extremely damaged, and it was partially slanting as it stood in the ground. Its surface was covered in moss, and if one looked carefully, one could faintly see the words ‘Ghost’s extraordinary skill of craft.’

To Chen Xi’s surprise, the words were extremely ancient and obscure. Moreover, it was actually slightly similar to the writing of Fiendgods that he’d seen in the past, but it seemed to be even more obscure.

Only someone with extremely abundant knowledge and experience would be able to distinguish these words.

“It’s up to Blackie to see if there’s a treasure here on not!” A’xiu suddenly chuckled as she stretched out her hand and carried out a fat and dark silkworm. It was four inches long, and it seemed to be muddled.

As soon as it appeared, it shook its little head and seemed to have smelled something, causing it to seem extremely happy, and then it started crawling around in A’xiu’s white palm.

“Blackie?” Chen Xi was stunned.

A’xiu made a tossing action and tossed out the silkworm in her hand before she said with a clear voice, “Blackie, soldiers are kept for years to be used on a single day. I’ll leave the rest to you. If you can’t find the treasure, then you’ll have nothing to eat tonight.”

Swoosh!

In the next moment, Blackie actually vanished in the sky like a bolt of pitch black lightning.