Pff!
In the middle of laughing, Zhuo Fan's eyes bulged, he shivered and, under a purple lightning's effect,spat blood.
When the blood hit the ground, it exploded and left a black mark.
Gu Santong cried, "Godfather, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. This purple lightning is just too powerful!" Zhuo Fan wiped the blood, and panted with a grave look in his eyes.
The purple lightning exceeded his calculations. The part that he failed to refine with Demon Transformation Art roamed around his body just now and caused disaster in its wake.
But he had no way to stop it either. This was akin to slow acting poison. He knew it ravaged his body, and would one day rob his life, but couldn't do anything about it!
Looking further, at the rocks and yellow sand, Zhuo Fan took a deep breath and stood up, his face hard, "Santong, help me search for anything suspicious!"
He knew the purple lightning was one of Heavenly Emperor's abilities and the emperor must have had to have a way to dispel it. He had no choice but to scour Heavenly Emperor's remnant and find that cure.
Gu Santong nodded genially and helped Zhuo Fan up, "Uh, godfather, you can just call me young Sanzi. That's how my old dad used to call me. Anyone who was friendly with me called me that!"
Zhuo Fan nodded, smiling weakly, "Alright, young Sanzi. Go scout ahead!"
"Understood!"
Gu Santong cupped his hands, and skipped away. Having recognized Zhuo Fan as godfather, and finding someone close to him, did wonders for his ego, even ignoring the ceaseless rumbling above.
Since Zhuo Fan was right behind him, he had nothing to fear!
The duo had been wandering this endless stretch of yellow sand for over six hours but still couldn't reach the end. Zhuo Fan ceased his walk and frowned.
Gu Santong stopped as well and looked back, "What is it, godfather?"
"Young Sanzi, don't you feel we've been going in circles?" Zhuo Fan looked around and his doubts grew, "Damn, it's a bewildering array!"
Gu Santong's eyes widened and rushed to him. "What, a bewildering array?"
"How could I've been fooled by it…" Gu Santong pouted. Basing his confidence on his previous shallow experience, he had nothing to fear and smiled, "No worry, godfather. See how I punch through it!"
Gu Santong lifted his small fist and struck!
Hum~
But the usual sight of seeing a ripple level a hundred miles of land didn't appear. The ground just shook a bit then quietened.
Gu Santong was dispirited, "This can't be!"
This never happened before, not once.
Zhuo Fan shook his head, having already guessed it.
This was not your average array, but one set up by Heavenly Emperor, one of the three strongest emperors of ancient times. If a little monster could simply force his way through, then the Heavenly Emperor would've been an empty title.
[If he could break this array so easily, what would then be the point of finding some Heavenly Emperor's remnant when I could straight up take this little monster as master instead!?]
"Young Sanzi, save your energy. Come here!" Zhuo Fan shook his head seeing him punch everywhere, "Young Sanzi, I want you to be honest with me. You've never been here before?"
Gu Santong shook his head puzzled.
Zhuo Fan frowned, "Then why are you afraid of purple lightning? Did you see it before?"
"I haven't!" Gu Santong paused then shook his head in the end, "How strange, this is the first time I'm seeing it yet I felt instinctual fear towards it. At it's thunderclaps, I can't help but shiver. It's not like the common lightning, which I hate but am not scared!"
This was odd. According to Zhuo Fan, the kid had to have a connection with Lightning Canyon, but now…
Scratching his nose, Zhuo Fan mulled it over, "Can't be. No one has instinctual fear against anyone, not to such extent at least. Was it perhaps… ancestral memories?"
Zhuo Fan asked, "Young Sanzi, who is your master to have trained you so powerful?"
"I don't have a master!"
"Then how did you reach the Profound Heaven Stage three centuries ago?"
"Uh…" Now that he stopped to think about it, Gu Santong said puzzled, "I don't know. For as long as I can remember, I've been in the Profound Heaven Stage. I had no one to call a friend, looking for ingredients alone!"
Zhuo Fan was shocked as a radical conclusion crawled into his mind.
[What if… this kid isn't human?]
Zhuo Fan licked his dry lips, he himself was scared by that thought.
The average human became stronger through diligent cultivation and understanding of the Heavenly Dao. But there were some creatures that were naturally strong, like the spiritual beasts. And those that assumed human form, were a cut above mere spiritual beasts…
Zhuo Fan didn't dare to finish that thought. If it was true, then wasn't the Mortal Domain, the place unanimously despised by all experts from the Sacred Domain, a place to be reckoned with?
Recalling the mysterious expert in the Allbeast Mountain Range only worked to strengthen his hypothesis!
"Godfather," Gu Santong turned his bright eyes to him, "I'll use my nose. In the illusory array before, I could see through anything fake with my nose. Nothing can lie my sense of smell. I'll find us a way out in no time!"
Zhuo Fan shook his head in dismay.
[It worked outside because there were all kinds of scents coming from outside of the array! But here, beyond all this sand, there's only more sand.]
[If this array had such a weakness, Heavenly Emperor would've been taken for a fool, locked up and had his cell key thrown away!]
Before he could say anything, Gu Santong wiggled his nose and said, "I found something, godfather! I smell something familiar!"
What?!
Zhuo Fan was bug eyed, letting himself be pulled by the child.
After just a few steps, they stopped. He scrunched his nose again and pointed, "There's our exit!"
Zhuo Fan found a three inch jutting rock. A kick could send it flying easy. [Is this the core of the illusory array?]
Before he could make sense of it all, Gu Santong jumped over and picked it up. Then collapsed on the side!
Whoosh~
The surroundings suddenly changed. They were walking downward when the change in scenery came and it was hard to react quickly!
This place was but half a mile wide, with a black still sky, but the soil was no longer sand. Instead it was red earth.
Zhuo Fan could easily take in the scent of blood. Looking back, he realized they'd been walking in circles not a hundred meters from the edge.
Taking a deep breath, Zhuo Fan rejoiced, [Thank god I have Gu Santong with me, or I'd be caught dead wandering the illusory array alone!]
Then, some sobbing entered his ears.
Zhuo Fan looked to Gu Santong leaning on a red pillar and shedding tears. He struck an incredibly sorry figure, with his tear-streaked face.
"Uh, young Sanzi, what's wrong?" Zhuo Fan raised an eyebrow.
Shaking his head, Gu Santong was trying to hold in his crying, "I don't know either. I only picked up its scent and all of a sudden, my heart couldn't bear the sorrow!"
Startled, Zhuo Fan eyed the red pillar closely.
That look alone made him jump in fright.
It was hundreds of meters tall, jutting out of the ground like a mountain. It even passed the black sky! The purple lightning not once stopped striking it, making out a scorched sound yet couldn't make a single dent on it.
Zhuo Fan clicked his tongue. [What is this thing? How can it withstand so many purple lightning strikes without so much as a scratch?] The shocker was the stage of the lightning, 12th Heaven!
The fact this pillar was standing strong even in the face of this, it was bound to be special.
Zhuo Fan inwardly smiled, [So the Heavenly Emperor is a fool in the end! Letting such a huge pillar with such an obvious scent, of course someone will find it… Wait!]
Zhuo Fan caught onto something and sized the pillar in greater detail all while his breathing grew ragged.
[This scent, the spiritual energy is mixed with something wild. It must be from a spiritual beast, no, a sacred beast!]
Zhuo Fan gasped as a chill crawled up his spine.
[You're telling me this pillar isn't made of metal but from a sacred beast!]
Zhuo Fan started combing through the Nine Serenities Secret Records in his mind.
"During the ancient times, five sacred beasts ruled the skies, undefeated. Not even peak Emperor Stage experts could fight them. Their only match were the three strongest emperors. The beasts were…"
"And one of the five ancient sacred beasts is the Soaring Qilin!" Zhuo Fan cried out in shock.
None of the ten famous emperors of antiquity ever expected Soaring Qilin would end up here. And by the looks of it, it was clearly dead, with only the Soaring Qilin's leg still firmly planted in this place!
Its killer was no secret either, the owner of the 12th Heaven Purple Lightning Gold Eye, Heavenly Emperor!
[Could this perhaps not be the Heavenly Emperor's remnant, but his slaughterhouse instead…]