Chapter 124: The Three’s Speculation and Being Surrounded

"An Immortal Artifact!" A green light suddenly ignited in the big black dog's eyes.

Even Ye Fan looked at Duan De in shock, wanting to confirm whether this was true or false.

Duan De rolled his eyes and retorted irritably, "Let's get one thing straight: even if it is an Immortal Artifact, I am not going to scheme against that place with you lot!"

Seeing Duan De—who usually couldn't be dragged away once he caught sight of a treasure—acting like this, the Black Emperor felt a bit guilty. But the mere thought that it was a legendary Immortal Artifact made his heart burn with desire, and he urged Duan De once more.

Seeing the Black Emperor’s anxious state, Duan De looked at him with the sympathetic gaze one might reserve for a platter of braised dog meat.

The Black Emperor felt a chill run down his spine and snapped impatiently, "Damn priest, just speak up already!"

Duan De nodded decisively. "Fine! I'll tell you, though I hope you actually have the guts to go!"

Seeing the big black dog strike a pose that screamed, "Who am I? What do I have to fear?", Duan De stopped stalling and slowly began to recount everything he had seen and heard at the Chen Mansion.

After listening to Duan De’s account, the big black dog was dumbstruck, stammering, "You mean to say that the people from the Ji family, wielding the Void Mirror, were frozen in place by a single finger? And that was with the Imperial Weapon fully awakened?"

Duan De gave a mysterious nod.

"And you also said the Ji family’s Void Mirror could absorb longevity substances from that Immortal Artifact to undergo its own transformation?" The Black Emperor’s expression turned solemn.

Duan De nodded again.

At this moment, Ye Fan, who was roasting meat on the side, calmly interjected, "I forgot to mention, on our way to this world, we ran into a monster, and that woman crushed it to death as if it were nothing."

Seeing the Black Emperor’s dismissive look, he continued, "It is said that thing had the cultivation level of a Saint."

"Damn it! You fat priest, are you trying to get me killed? You actually want me to provoke such a titan? I'll bite you to death! Woof!" Once the Black Emperor processed this, he went into a frenzy, barking wildly and lunging at Duan De.

"You mangy dog! I didn't tell you to go—ow! Where are you biting!" Seeing the situation turn sour, Duan De tried to scramble away, but the Black Emperor tackled him to the ground, and the two began to scuffle.

After a long while, the group finally calmed down. The Black Emperor, with rare seriousness, said to the two, "I think I need to return to Purple Mountain."

Ye Fan hesitated. "You want to persuade the Beginningless Bell to come out with you and seek the longevity substance from that person to help it transform?"

Ye Fan had long suspected that this mangy dog was related to the Great Emperor Beginningless, so he naturally guessed the Black Emperor's motive for returning to Purple Mountain.

The Black Emperor no longer hid it, nodding. "The Great Emperor Beginningless was invincible throughout his life, both in the heavens and on earth; his Imperial Weapon must never fall behind others!" His voice was filled with resolve.

However, Duan De suddenly shook his head. "It's useless! That person said that without its original master, an Imperial Weapon cannot fully transform. It can only store the longevity substance."

The Black Emperor had not known this before, and hearing Duan De say it now, he was stunned. After a long silence, he asked in confusion, "Then the people of the Ji family... wasn't it all just a hollow joy for them?"

Duan De hesitated for a long time before saying gravely, "According to that person, the Void Great Emperor might have been reborn in an alternative form."

He hadn't revealed this news earlier because it was too shocking. If word leaked out, the ancient monsters in the Undying Mountain would stop at nothing to hunt him down and kill him—after all, the Void Great Emperor had once slain several Supremes of the Undying Mountain!

Ye Fan and the Black Emperor were shocked. The Black Emperor hurriedly asked, "Can you be sure what that person said is true?"

Duan De smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I know nothing about them, but personally, I believe it. After all, they are suspected to be 'Immortals'!"

The Black Emperor curled his lip. He could believe in an Immortal Artifact, but he found it hard to believe that someone had achieved immortality—let alone two people at once! In his heart, if anyone could transcend the realm of the "Immortal," it had to be the Great Emperor Beginningless! But now that even the Great Emperor Beginningless had passed on, he didn't believe anyone else could become an Immortal.

Ye Fan, however, was somewhat inclined to believe it. Having traveled with them, the ease with which that woman had wiped out the Crocodile Ancestor left a deep impression on him to this day.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he hurriedly said, "I once saw them enter the abyss of the Ancient Forbidden Land. They must at least have the cultivation of a Great Emperor, right? Otherwise, how would they dare to enter such a place?"

Upon hearing this, Duan De and the Black Emperor were both dumbfounded, unable to speak for a long time.

Suddenly, Duan De jumped three feet into the air and howled, "They must be Immortals! Don't forget, they were even carrying a child! Even a Great Emperor couldn't just stroll through a forbidden zone while carrying a child!"

The Black Emperor nodded frantically! He knew that even in his prime, the Great Emperor Beginningless couldn't have protected someone while entering a forbidden zone with such casual ease!

The Black Emperor's eyes glowed, and he joined in the howling: "If the Void hasn't truly perished, then the Great Emperor Beginningless must still exist! I’m going to find the Great Emperor!"

As he spoke, tears welled up in his dog eyes. No one knew the depth of his bond with Beginningless! In his heart, the elegant man who had rescued him from starvation as a tiny black puppy, the peerless Emperor who was invincible in his time and struck terror into the forbidden zones, was more important than his own life!

Hearing that the Void Great Emperor was still alive, he naturally believed that with the Beginningless Emperor's peerless talent, he would never truly perish!

Watching the tears in the Black Emperor's eyes, Ye Fan was silent for a moment before saying, "How about we go seek verification from that person before we make any plans?"

Duan De shuddered at these words. "I don't want to go back there! If you want to go, go yourselves!" He started to rise to sneak away.

The Black Emperor lunged at him, biting his clothes, and growled through his teeth, "If you don't go, how will we find them? We're brothers, aren't we? We share the blessings and the burdens!"

Duan De wailed, "Is this what you call sharing blessings? This is sharing misfortune! You mangy dog, let go!" He struggled to break free.

Ye Fan watched the two brawling and added fuel to the fire. "Fatty! For the sake of all the schemes and scams we've pulled together lately, just make the trip!"

"Exactly! We agreed to face things together. You want to leave? Not a chance!" The Black Emperor snarled, pinning Duan De down.

The melee finally ended with Duan De’s surrender.

Looking at the man and the dog, Duan De said helplessly, "I hope I can keep my life this time! If I don't make it, you two better find a place with good feng shui to bury me."

Ye Fan laughed and patted his shoulder, encouraging him, "Don't worry, you survived the last two times, you'll be fine this time!"

Duan De sighed bitterly. "I hope so."

The three of them began to eat the roasted meat; as Duan De put it, even if they were going to their deaths, they should at least be well-fed ghosts.

Before long, they finished their meal, tidied their clothes, and prepared for the Black Emperor to carve the Dao patterns to traverse the void toward the capital of the Yan Kingdom in the Eastern Wastelands.

Just as the Black Emperor was carefully carving the patterns and nearing completion, a cold voice rang out: "Saint Body! Hand over the Profound Yellow Mother Qi Cauldron!"

The three looked up in shock to find themselves surrounded by over twenty people.

They exchanged glances. Ye Fan sighed internally, realizing they had been careless after all. He signaled Duan De with his eyes, telling him to be ready to use their ultimate trump card: the half-piece of the Heaven Swallowing Demon Jar.