Chapter 180

Chapter 180: World Rules, Duobao’s Hypotheses

“Ghost soldiers passing by…”

Seeing this scene, the group was overwhelmed with horror.

Legends said that meeting ghost soldiers in the Burial Soil meant they faced certain death.

The passage of ghost soldiers would leave no survivors.

Duobao Daoist was trapped among them, also feeling terribly anxious.

The power of the Burial Soil was like a rule. Anyone present within had to submit to it—unless they had reached the end of the Great Dao, where their power could oppose the rules themselves.

Dao King, Emperor Venerable Mi Luo, Yama Hall Master, and Su Miao Zhen—these four paramount powerhouses were also now suppressed by the constraints of rules, unable to shake off the force crushing them.

“Is my fate truly to perish here?”

“No!”

Emperor Venerable Yama’s face twisted with unwillingness as he frantically mobilized his arcane arts. He managed to summon only a trace of magic power, which was utterly useless against the overwhelming situation.

The long sword hum of Su Miao Zhen’s Dao Path was also suppressed by the rule’s power; not a sliver of its strength could be unleashed.

Dao King desperately urged the Enlightenment Tree into action, but it remained completely unmoving.

It seemed they could only wait for death.

“Nangong Zhandao!”

Suddenly, Duobao Daoist’s gaze snapped towards Nangong Zhandao. His eyes burned like torches. Nangong Zhandao, bearer of the fortune of the ancestral home, was within the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest. If anyone could save them, it would be Nangong Zhandao.

Lin Qianmo and Nangong Zhandao were also bound by the rules of the Burial Soil.

Millions of ghost soldiers surged forth, the freezing ghost aura threatening to shatter their primordial spirits and bodies into dust.

With immense difficulty, Nangong Zhandao communicated with the Ziwei Spirit Root. Strands of divine light flowed into his Purple Palace and body, protecting his primordial spirit and flesh.

However, this only delayed death.

Once those ghost soldiers passed over them, everything would scatter like smoke and vanish like dust.

Boom!

At that precise instant, the firmament trembled violently! Yin clouds were shattered apart as seven-colored divine light bathed the earth.

Where the seven-colored divine light shone, the Burial Soil instantly corroded, becoming pockmarked with holes.

Ghost soldiers vanished one after another, dissolving into nothingness.

Piercing, agonized shrieks erupted from the depths of the Burial Soil, chilling everyone to the bone.

The Burial Soil coalesced into a dark streak of light that plunged into the ground, fleeing towards the entrance of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest.

Slowly, the seven-colored divine light faded away.

The group remained standing where they were, staring blankly. Were they saved?

“That power just now… was it the rule power of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest?” Emperor Venerable Mi Luo, seasoned and knowledgeable, immediately speculated.

The Burial Soil was profoundly strange. The power that could counter it had to be one of the rules within the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest.

This was a world with an inheritance of countless ages, an entity of truly astonishing origin.

"It should be," Su Miao Zhen said lightly. That power broke the Burial Soil’s rule and saved everyone.

Moreover, from that cry of agony, it seemed that the Burial Soil was injured.

"Do you think the Burial Soil is alive?"

Emperor Venerable Mi Luo looked towards Dao King, Emperor Venerable Yama, and Su Miao Zhen. It seemed like he was inquiring, yet as if talking to himself.

Everything that had happened just now occurred in an instant. It was extremely astonishing.

"If it was the rule of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest that saved us, then why did it save us?" Dao King muttered to himself, explaining his deduction.

"Perhaps this piece of Burial Soil was originally suppressed by the master of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest. Now, as the Burial Soil revived, it drew out the rule power of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest."

In a moment, there were many differing opinions.

Duobao Daoist hid in the shadows, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

Perhaps the Burial Soil was suppressed here by the master of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest, but the rule force of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest appearing could not possibly be because of the revival of Burial Soil.

He could be certain, it was because of Nangong Zhandao.

The one the rule of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest intended to save was Nangong Zhandao; they were merely an addition.

"The master of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion already knew this. Why did he still ask me to look after Nangong Zhandao and Lin Qianmo?" A doubt arose in Duobao Daoist’s mind.

Nangong Zhandao, bearing the luck of the Yuan Realm, roamed freely almost without hindrance in the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest. It was absolutely impossible for anything to go wrong.

With this being the case, what was the meaning of Ye Xu asking him to look after Nangong Zhandao?

"Could it be…"

A few breaths later, Duobao Daoist figured it out.

"He wants me to assist Nangong Zhandao?" Duobao Daoist murmured.

There was only this one possibility.

Fortunately, Ye Xu did not know Duobao Daoist’s thoughts, or he definitely would have been completely baffled.

His idea was very simple; he just wanted to preserve a spark for the Yuan Realm.

And Nangong Zhandao was that spark.

As for the intention of assistance, it was purely Duobao Daoist’s imagination.

"You scared me to death."

Emperor Venerable Zi Zai was soaked all over and slumped to the ground.

Originally, he had thought he was doomed to die.

Unexpectedly, a miracle occurred.

"Junior Brother Chen!"

A sorrowful cry came over.

An Emperor Venerable held a corpse in his arms, crying bitterly with tears streaming down.

As the Burial Soil revived, several Great Emperors perished.

Their bodies were intact, but their primordial spirits turned into ashes, obviously annihilated by the Burial Soil.

Dao King’s gaze was indifferent. He had long hidden Yan Duxing in the Purple Palace. If not, Yan Duxing, with his slight cultivation, would have turned to ash.

"That was close…" Lin Qianmo felt lingering fear. This segment of Burial Soil was utterly unlike that of Godfall Ridge. Were it not for the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest’s rules, she likely would not have escaped this disaster.

"Nangong Zhandao, you really are a lucky star," Lin Qianmo said.

"Me?" Nangong Zhandao’s expression remained blank. "Perhaps I am."

He truly felt no premonition of death. Even amid the extreme danger moments ago, Nangong Zhandao stayed calm and composed.

"Brother Qing Xuan, it seems trouble has occurred ahead," Great Emperor Ziwei remarked, arriving late with Ye Xu.

The two gazed forward and involuntarily halted their steps.

"It looks like several Great Emperors fell——and not just one," Great Emperor Ziwei said sharply, his eyes narrowing. "Could a supreme treasure have descended into the world?"

Ye Xu was speechless. In the space between heaven and earth, not a trace of surge of magical energy, residual divine powers, or aura of sacred creatures existed. How could such a descent possibly happen?

They did not seem to have fought among themselves; instead, they must have encountered something bizarre.

"Let’s go and take a look," Ye Xu stated calmly, walking toward the assembled group.

Only upon drawing near did Ye Xu learn what had transpired at this spot.

"Why is Burial Soil found even in the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest?" Ye Xu frowned.

"Oh my…" Great Emperor Ziwei gasped upon hearing this, draped an arm over Ye Xu’s shoulder, deeply grateful. "Brother, it’s fortunate we arrived late. Otherwise, we might well have ended up like those ill-fated fellows, croaked!"

As these words rang out, Great Emperor Ziwei at once felt as though thorns stabbed his back.

Several sharp gazes fixed upon him, thick with anger.

"Everyone, I don’t know him," Ye Xu said, retreating a few steps to distance himself from Great Emperor Ziwei.

"Cough, cough…" Great Emperor Ziwei cleared his throat and swiftly yielded. "Daoist brothers, I intended no mockery at all; it was purely a verbal slip."

"That person’s aura is very strange," Duobao Daoist muttered, sensing Ye Xu’s aura and slightly furrowing his brows.

"It contains the Heavenly Dao’s power…" Ye Xu’s physical form was nurtured by the seven-colored divine stone and filled with the Heavenly Dao’s power. For Duobao Daoist, who once attained the indestructible Dao in a previous life, it was simple to identify. "Peculiar…" Duobao Daoist murmured softly.

At the same moment, Ye Xu also perceived many gazes upon him.

The most open one came from Su Miao Zhen.

She made no effort to hide it, her cold eyes fixed on Ye Xu with an astonished expression.

Ye Xu thought nothing of it.

The aura of the seven-colored divine stone was highly uncommon naturally. Since he refrained from using the Great Dao of creation to mask it, it drew others’ notice—no surprise.

"With no Burial Soil obstructing the path, what lies ahead is a smooth and clear journey," Emperor Venerable Mi Luo chuckled.

Having escaped calamity, all were in joyful spirits.

"Remember, another person slipped into the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest ahead of us," the Palace Master of the Holy Mother Palace suddenly warned, giving a cold snort. "His concealment skills are exceedingly refined, defying even my efforts to find any trace. Daoist friend Su, you possess remarkable talents—can you sense his movements?"

Emperor Venerable Mi Luo shifted his gaze to Su Miao Zhen.

"I could earlier," Su Miao Zhen responded. "But he has grown wary; now, I cannot detect him."

All bore expressions of disappointment.

Duobao Daoist’s existence was a bomb ready to explode at any moment, unsettling everyone deeply.