Plundering the Heavens

The light from the bronze mirror was so bright it shocked Fang Xing, causing him to quickly throw it away, but the mirror didn’t fall to the ground and instead began to hang in the air on its own. The light shot out into the sky without causing any harm, but an extremely powerful force was released from inside. It was like the aura someone would release in order to suppress their enemies, but the fact such an aura was coming from a bronze mirror was more than enough to draw bewildered gazes.

The beasts quickly felt fear while the men felt shock. It seemed as though the entire heavens and earth became silent for two breaths of time, with only the light from the mirror reflecting off the sky. Two breaths later, the peril bird, vicious tiger, violent crocodile, and peculiar scorpion all let out low growls before slowly retreating from the Hentian clan, as though they’d just come across a terrifying existence and were completely alarmed.

Fang Xing grabbed the bronze mirror back into his hands at once, and when he looked at it, he noticed a group of spell seals that were growing steadily dimmer while the light of the mirror itself disappeared at the same rate. He couldn’t tell why such a strange phenomenon had occurred.

Fang Xing’s gaze moved to the clan master who was pointing a bow and arrow at him, and a vicious look appeared in his eyes. ‘Motherf*cker, still thinking of trying to kill me even now. Looks like your little grandpa needs to be a bit more vicious….’  When the Hentian clan master originally hid himself away, Fang Xing had decided against trying to find him immediately—he’d already caused enough chaos in the clan and he wanted to slowly collect this debt at a later time—yet who would have imagined this guy would try to keep himself hidden while trying to attack him from the dark?

“You bastard! Come and give me your life!” Fang Xing shouted from atop the dragon’s head, and he soon began waving his giant black sword while rushing forward with great might. A distance of ten miles was nothing more than a few breaths of time for Fang Xing now, and for the red dragon it was nothing more than a blink of an eye. The two reached the front of the peak nearly instantly alongside a great deal of murderous intent, and the dragon’s sharp claw rushed straight down.

The clan master no longer dared to pull the bowstring at all in a moment like this. as even the small amount of delay needed to draw the bow would lead to him being split in half. Panicstricken, he threw away the bow and fled, but how would Fang Xing be willing to let him go? Fang Xing let out a loud shout and slapped the dragon’s head to order it to quickly chase after him.

“Stop! Where did you get the treasure mirror of the grand ancestor?”

Just as the clan master was about to be snatched up in the red dragon’s claws, two silhouettes suddenly appeared in front of the dragon’s head. One of them wore a hemp robe and had a white beard and hair—the Head Exalt—while the other was an old bald man wearing a black robe, which Fang Xing also recognized as the Hentian clan’s head elder. The moment they appeared, they both threw themselves towards Fang Xing with great fury.

The two of them were so heavily wounded their complexion was even turning grey. They were certainly no opponent for the red dragon in their current state, but they appeared maddened while trying to capture Fang Xing… or, perhaps more specifically, trying to snatch the bronze mirror in Fang Xing’s hands. They were rabid for this mirror, even if it meant throwing their lives away.

“Sh*t! Big doggie, quick, flee!”

Fang Xing jumped in fright and fled without any hesitation. He wasn’t stupid; although the red dragon might not necessarily lose to the two old men, it also wouldn’t take much effort for them to deal with him. Even putting aside the fact Fang Xing could be squished in their hands without much effort, if the red dragon were to go against these two old farts, even the aftershocks from their spells and attacks might be enough to mince him up. This red dragon might be very affectionate towards him and only listen to his words, but it wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed and it definitely wouldn’t have room to think about Fang Xing’s safety during a heated battle. In such circumstances, Fang Xing immediately decided to run; at the very least, he’d have to find a safe spot for himself before ordering the red dragon to come back for the fight.

The red dragon also jumped at Fang Xing’s shout, and after a brief moment of stunned surprise, it quickly followed his orders and turned to flee. Perhaps it understood the word a bit too clearly, too; although it was a mighty and powerful dragon filled with viciousness and ruthlessness, as soon as it turned around, its presence was more like a sneaky little thief’s….

The pair ran off so fast neither the Head Exalt nor bald elder could catch up even after giving it everything they had. “Leave the treasure mirror of the grand ancestor behind!” the two shouted while chasing like mad, and they were so frenzied they may have even activated their spells too quickly, as blood began to seep from their mouths.

“What grand ancestor’s mirror? It’s your little grandpa’s! It’s your little grandpa’s treasure mirror!” Fang Xing shouted without even looking back. Even an idiot would be able to tell this mirror was certainly some extraordinary treasure thanks to these two old men’s reaction, and Fang Xing only clenched it to himself even tighter.

The red dragon’s speed was no joke and it truly took off into the sky like a bolt of lightning, whereas the Head Exalt and bald elder were both heavily wounded. They watched Fang Xing and the red dragon go farther and farther away before disappearing past the giant house-sized moon, and it was only then that the two old men stopped to catch their breaths while inwardly crying.

“How… how can the treasure mirror be in his hands?”

“The secret treasure from the grand ancestor…. The only hope of leaving the Guixu Ruins… Wasn’t it lost a long time ago?”

The two old men howled in the air with despair, but Fang Xing had already fled without a trace.

That night, a rumor spread within the Guixu Ruins that the Hentian clan had been attacked by a beast tide and had suffered a huge loss. Under the assault of at least six fifth-tier peril beasts, the entire clan had become akin to a true ruin. The number of dead or heavily wounded clansmen and Exalts was very high, and even the most powerful five elders and Exalts had been affected. Three of the top elders had died on the spot and the other two had wounds so great it was said they were only hanging on by a thread.

The Hentian clan’s entire foundation had been destroyed in a single night, and with so many of their most powerful cultivators dead, it could be said their clan had been wiped out. What most didn’t know was that on that night, the Hentian clan had lost something even more important….

Although Fang Xing had originally intended to go back and take the life of that Hentian clan master who tried to sneak attack him, he was frightened off by the two mad old men who’d come out halfway, so he could only order the red dragon to flee. He didn’t even know how far the old men had chased him, and he only stopped once the two could no longer be seen. After observing his surroundings, he found a safe valley to land.

Fang Xing stood next to a small bush while patting his chest, still terrified. “Sh*t, crazy old men are so scary….” He also made up his mind; he definitely had to quickly increase his own battle prowess! Even with the red dragon by his side, he still wasn’t safe in such circumstances—no matter how strong the red dragon might be, it couldn’t be considered his own power!

If the red dragon had been on its own, it would have easily been able to fight and kill to its heart’s content, but Fang Xing wouldn’t dare to have the dragon do so while he was beside it. Someone who had full mastery over Golden Core Stage was simply too powerful, and there would only be one outcome if he got caught up in the fight: death. What purpose would there be in killing those two old men if he lost his life in the process?

Fang Xing sighed for a moment before lowering his head and closely inspecting the bronze mirror. “But what exactly is this mirror?” Something that causedtwo full-mastery Golden Cores to go mad would not be simple at all. Furthermore, Fang Xing could faintly tell that these two old men seemed to know about the bronze mirror’s existence, yet they hadn’t known it was within the painting in the secret pavilion. This was why they’d been so shocked and angry, filled with fury and madness at the absurdity of it all as though they’d been played by someone….

This was the perfect time to use the Book of Revelation. Fang Xing rested for a while before excitedly making his way in front of a stone wall, where he found himself a somewhat hidden location and used his Flying Sword to make a cave. As usual, he had the red dragon guard the entrance as he went inside with the bronze mirror in hand and activated the Book of Revelation to see exactly what it was.

“The Great Taixi Mirror….”

After looking at it for a long while, Fang Xing finally managed to appraise the mirror’s name and usage, and the answer left him completely surprised. This mirror certainly wasn’t ordinary—according to the Book of Revelation, this mirror was actually a Divine tool, and when Qi was filled inside, it was able to reflect the light of Taixi that could kill even those in Budding Soul Stage. Of course, doing this required the user to have a certain level of cultivation; the mirror naturally wouldn’t be able to reach its maximum potential if the user wasn’t powerful enough.

Even then, however, was something like this truly enough to cause two full-mastery Golden Cores to become crazy? Was it enough to have someone like the Hentian grand ancestor at Calamity Stage go through so much trouble with secret spells to hide this mirror within a painting? Had that Vermillion Bird snuck into the Hentian clan for the sake of this mirror as well? Fang Xing really couldn’t imagine the reason behind it all….

What Fang Xing didn’t know was that right now within the depths of the Guixu Ruins, at a giant palace surrounded by a chaotic void of air streams and clouds of lightning bolts, there was the sense of something beginning to awaken now that the bronze mirror had appeared. Afterwards, the giant palace suddenly opened up, revealing a tiny crevice to allow entry.

When the crevice opened, a red lantern appeared and began rising higher and higher, until it had nearly reached the same height as the moon in the sky.

A bright moon, a red lantern, both reflecting off each other. The lantern’s brightness didn’t seem to lose out to the moon at all, and it even seemed as though another moon had risen beside the first….

ROAR ….

In moments, a countless number of powerful peril beasts began howling and roaring towards that red moon in alarm, seemingly frightened but also angry. All the powerful masters throughout the ruins could also sense something, and they began leaving their seclusions to fly into the air and look towards this red moon. Their expressions were filled with shock, with some also showing unconcealed joy and others a deep fear. Regardless, their thoughts were all the same:

‘Is it the time of the nine moons again? There’s hope… of leaving?’