Chapter 1073: What is the Use of This Broken Box!

The Thunder Lord had been distinctly unmoored of late, yet it was not because his close companion, the Lord of Dawn, had vanished without a trace, nor was the loss of his hand-drawn treasure map a matter of great consequence.

The paramount crisis confronting him now lay in his utter ignorance regarding the location of the primeval secret realm.

Three hundred thousand years ago, he had discovered an ancient realm left behind by the Immortal of Eras; however, the restrictions within were far too numerous for him to dare disturb, yet he remained loath to abandon such a fortuitous destiny.

Owing to the immense duration of his slumber, coupled with the warping influence of the power of faith, he awoke to find that fragments of his memory had potentially slipped away.

Thus, before descending into sleep, he had drafted a map, splitting it into three portions to be scattered among the mortal realm to prevent the Emperor and others from discovering it, ensuring that even if someone obtained a piece, they could never piece together the whole.

Naturally, he possessed a secret art to discern the locations of the map.

Yet upon awakening, he found he still recalled the location of that ancient realm—it lay right within the Lotus Mountain Range, rendering the map a superfluous commodity.

"Where exactly is the Azure Lotus Mountain Range?"

Waking from his slumber, not only had the dynasties changed twice over, but the very topography of the world had undergone a cataclysmic shift; without any landmarks, what earthly use was it to merely remember the name of the Azure Lotus Mountain Range?

"Can those wretched cultivators not restore the land after their battles!" the Thunder Lord raged, his fury mounting; he refrained from restoration only because he was a half-immortal, so by what right did those beneath the half-immortal realm neglect to restore the earth!

A secret realm left by the Immortal of Eras would highly likely contain immortal artifacts pertaining to time itself; if he held a time-bearing immortal weapon, who among the half-immortals could ever hope to be his match?

Recently, however, a piece of good fortune had reached his ears, offering a glimmer of hope to locate the Azure Lotus Mountain Range.

"It is said that the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect preserves the maps of every passing dynasty of the Central Continent; surely the position of the Azure Lotus Mountain Range must be among them!"

Stepping out from his celestial palace, the Thunder Lord made a direct line for the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect.

"So this is the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect? They certainly knew how to choose a fine estate." Observing the sect nestled against the mountains and overlooking the waters in idyllic splendor, the Thunder Lord felt a passing desire to dwell here himself.

As a half-immortal whose movements were shrouded in mystery, not a soul within the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect could perceive his arrival.

He slipped into the Pavilion of Sutras, where books were piled high as mountains, making it an impossibility to unearth any volumes regarding the Azure Lotus Mountain Range in short order.

The cultivator guarding the Pavilion of Sutras possessed a modicum of merit, but that was the extent of it.

"A mere early stage of the Tribulation Transmutation Realm," the Thunder Lord murmured with a careless smirk; he sauntered right past the elderly guardian of the pavilion without the old man noticing a thing.

An early stage of Tribulation Transmutation would have barely qualified to serve as his underling during the Great Qian era.

Yet, as the man was a Tribulation-stage cultivator after all, the Thunder Lord refrained from causing too great a stir; unwilling to deploy his divine sense for a sweeping search, he was reduced to flipping through the volumes one by one.

As he ascended to the fourth floor, he caught wind of a commotion down on the ground level.

"Grandmaster, look at this iron lump—do you recognize it?" Sect Master Kong approached the elder guarding the pavilion, Jin Wenzhang, who was the Supreme Elder of the Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect, while holding a box forged of immortal gold.

Fang Jin, Lu Yang, and Meng Jingzhou followed closely behind.

"What manner of object is this?" The Supreme Elder scrutinized the immortal gold box, tapping and probing it, only for the spiritual energy he injected to be instantly deflected away.

"Even you do not recognize it?" Sect Master Kong had sought out the Supreme Elder precisely because he could neither identify the box nor decipher its use; he had not expected that even the Supreme Elder would be left wanting.

"It was by sheer happenstance that young Jin, Nephew Lu, and Nephew Meng unearthed an ancient map from the Great Qian era. The ancient map stated that something lay buried within the Azure Lotus Mountain Range. It was only because young Jin reads so widely that he knew the Azure Lotus Mountain Range of the Great Qian era is the present-day Heavenly River Plains, which is how they managed to find this immortal gold box."

"It seems you have not spent your days soaking in the Pavilion of Sutras in vain, young fellow," the Supreme Elder remarked with a genial smile, stroking his beard, highly pleased with this junior.

The Azure Lotus Mountain Range!

Hearing those familiar words, the Thunder Lord’s mind wavered instantly, allowing a breath of his aura to leak out.

"Who goes there!" the Supreme Elder roared, rearing his head like an enraged old lion; to think someone had infiltrated the Pavilion of Sutras right under his very nose!

Roar—

The Buddhist Lion’s Roar!

"That object ought to belong to me!"

The Thunder Lord was similarly consumed by fury; he had searched for years to no avail, only for the prize to be snatched by a mere junior, who now held the Immortal Artifact of Eras that rightfully belonged to him!

Unpardonable!

The Thunder Lord’s great hand manifested into golden lightning, reaching out to seize the immortal gold box, but the Supreme Elder was hardly one to let him have his way.

"Heavenly Pivot!"

The Supreme Elder bellowed, and a divine dragon gleaming with a metallic luster erupted from the earth; the dragon reared its head, forcefully throwing the Thunder Lord straight out of the Pavilion of Sutras!

If a battle at the Tribulation level were to unfold within the pavilion, regardless of who emerged victorious, the repository of knowledge would be utterly reduced to ashes!

"All disciples, retreat!" Sect Master Kong knew a clash of the Tribulation grade was far beyond his capacity to handle; his sole recourse now was to usher the disciples away from the sect posthaste to avoid the fallout!

The Thunder Lord paid the Supreme Elder absolutely no heed.

"Thundering Might of a Myriad Force!"

Lightning flashed and thunder cracked as the entire Mountain-Moving Sea-Filling Sect was instantly engulfed in a tempest of lightning. Bolts as thick as water vats ravaged the sect, gouging massive craters into the earth and fracturing the ground, the flickering brilliance of the lightning casting a terrifying aspect across the Thunder Lord’s face.

He possessed the embryonic form of the Tribulation-Responding Dao Fruit; unless a Heavenly Immortal manifested, he was the very incarnation of lightning, the bane of all cultivators!

"A Half-Immortal?!" The Supreme Elder recognized at a single glance that this brand of lightning was beyond the execution of the Tribulation Transmutation Realm; it undeniably relied upon the embryonic form of a Dao Fruit.

"What of a Half-Immortal? A mere Great Qian half-immortal dares to run rampant within the borders of our Great Xia!" Though the Supreme Elder recognized the disparity in their power, he harbored not a shred of fear; in his youth, he had been a man of fiery temperament, frequently coming to blows even with those who commissioned his tasks.

Expanding against the wind, the Supreme Elder transformed into a giant nine thousand chang tall, the metallic divine dragon coiling tightly around his forearm.

With his feet planting the earth and his head piercing the thunderclouds, the giant wielded a massive hammer and smashed it directly toward the Thunder Lord!

"Law Heavenly Phenomenon, Earthly Upheaval!"

If this strike were to connect, even a hundred thousand mountains would be leveled to the ground!

"Ignorant youth, blind to the majesty of Heaven!" The Thunder Lord looked upon the Supreme Elder with cold detachment; what did it matter if he grew in size? Lacking the requisite realm, no amount of technique could ever bridge the chasm.

Before the embryonic form of the Tribulation-Responding Dao Fruit, before the majesty of Heaven, all endeavors were utterly futile.

"Nine Heavens Demon-Vanquishing Divine Thunder."

Nine tiers of the firmament manifested, each rising higher than the last, as the demon-vanquishing divine thunder rolled forth in a vast torrent to sweep away the foul and monstrous fiends of the world.

And as for who constituted a fiend, that was entirely for the Thunder Lord to decree.

"Thou art the fiend."

He spoke thus, as though sealing the Supreme Elder's fate; the Nine Heavens Demon-Vanquishing Divine Thunder locked onto the Supreme Elder, and nine divine thunders of distinct attributes began to cascade in succession!

Lu Yang tensely recited the words of the Immortal of Eras from the Records of the Immortals.

According to the Immortal Fairy, as long as one chanted the incantation correctly, the immortal gold box could be utilized; if the Supreme Elder had the aid of the immortal gold box, he could absolute contend with the Thunder Lord.

As the penultimate bolt of demon-vanquishing thunder crashed down, seeing that the Supreme Elder was powerless to resist, Lu Yang grit his teeth and hurled the immortal gold box directly forward, intercepting the divine thunder.

In the ancient tongue, he uttered the final sentence of the Immortal of Eras from the Records of the Immortals.

"Three thousand Great Paths, yet Time reigns supreme."

Instantly, all manner of mystical patterns flared to life across the surface of the immortal gold box, radiating the profound power of eras, a single glance enough to draw one helplessly into its depths.

A burly silhouette stepped out from within the immortal gold box.

"Finally, I can come out."

The final bolt of divine thunder struck down, hitting the burly, robust man squarely.

"Who the motherfucker is striking me?!"

The burly figure roared in fury, a mere shout possessing a might equivalent to the Supreme Elder's Buddhist Lion's Roar!

Catching sight of the burly man's form, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou froze in unison, rubbing their eyes, wondering if they had fallen prey to an illusion.

"Celestial Revered Guiyuan?"

The Immortal Fairy stared at the glowing patterns etched upon the immortal-gold box, its purpose finally flickering back into her memory.

"This is a chest crafted by the Immortal of Time during his research into the Dao Fruit of Time. The flow of time within it diverges from the world outside; a single day of cultivation inside spans an entire year in the external realm."

Lu Yang was just about to nod and praise the box for its sheer marvel when the sheer absurdity of it struck him like a physical blow.

What bloody use was a broken box like this!