Chapter 47: Sung Li

Deep inside the Grand Valley Tomb, a battered Luo Ke slowly walked down a wide, dark tunnel. After the attack from Huang Xue, a great deal of his power had been reduced, rendering Luo Ke in this sorry state.

But unbeknownst to him, another person had been following him since the time he escaped from Huang Xue!

Nearly ten feet behind Luo Ke, was a pale skinned man in a scale-patterned black robe. This person...was the one the three elders had been targeting, Sung Li!

As Sung Li continued to tail Luo Ke, a black snake stealthily slithered along the tunnel walls, its astonishing blue eyes never leaving Luo Ke’s figure. This was the medium in which Sung Li had been using to track down Luo Ke for the past year!

“How should I acquire that mirror from him…” Sung Li thought solemnly as he stared at Luo Ke’s back. He had to hurry.

He knew that he was being chased by people from the Gui Clan. Several years ago, after a calamity struck his family, Sung Li had been roaming alone in the wilds from then on. At the same time, he was also being pursued by experts who wanted his life.

Under that type of pressure, Sung Li had desperately seeked strength. Fortunately, luck was on his side. On a certain occasion, upon venturing deep into a danger zone, Sung Li came across a hidden cave. Inside, while he did not discover any shocking treasures or manuals, he did uncover a secret about a heaven-defying treasure!

And that treasure...was precisely the bagua mirror in Luo Ke’s possession!

On the walls where the secret was written, Sung Li came to understand that the mirror was called the “Saint Mirror”, a relic supposedly passed down from the Primordial Era! While it did not discuss the functions of the treasure, it did harp on about the great powers that the previous owners of this mirror had wielded; granting them influence that no normal person could fathom!

Along with this description, there was a diagram on exactly how the bagua mirror looked like; with claims that there will never be another unique item appearance like it. There was even hints that this mirror was supposedly still somewhere in this Earthly Land!

After that, Sung Li destroyed the cavern walls to erase the secrets before he separated a portion of his divine sense and transformed it into thousands of black snakes to act as his eyes and legs. Only with those blue-eyed snakes, would Sung Li be able to search more efficiently for this treasure; though to comb through the entire Lower Region was still a near-impossible task. But it was a task that Sung Li had to take on no matter what…

And so, under the pursuit of his enemies, Sung Li managed to finally discover the bagua mirror a year ago. Under the guidance of fortuitous luck, he found the Saint Mirror...in the possession of Luo Ke. Due to its unique design, Sung Li had instantly recognized the mirror.

But due to the long distance from where he was then, to where the mirror was at, Sung Li had to painstakingly travel on ground to the Long Dynasty. This was to mainly hide from his pursuers; traveling by air was simply unsafe for him.

In the meantime, one of Sung Li’s snakes kept watch over Luo Ke the entire time. With its weak aura, no experts had bothered to care about the snake even when they detected it; allowing the blue-eyed reptile to remain relatively unnoticed.

As time passed, Sung Li watched how Luo Ke went from a mere commoner to a strong Jie Hai practitioner, one who was even capable of battling against others a rank or two higher than himself! And Luo Ke’s metamorphosis had further served to excite and consolidate Sung Li’s beliefs. If he were to obtain the Saint Mirror and uncover its secrets, his cultivation would undoubtedly soar!

Finally, after finding himself narrowly escaped death many times, Sung Li eventually arrived in the Long Dynasty and arrived at this moment…

“Should I offer to trade a rare item with him? Or should I just snatch it? Or should I simply kill him?” Sung Li debated within his mind. “No, no, that treasure is so powerful, how could I have something that could match its value. And for someone with a cultivation like mine, I definitely cannot kill a junior who is way below me. If I do that...I’ll be no different from those bastards!”

Although Sung Li could easily snatch away the Saint Mirror from Luo Ke, with him being quite conscious of his status and situation, he didn't choose to do so. Instead, contrary to expectations, he actually chose to find ways to compromise and did not make things difficult for those who were weaker than himself.

Since young, his principle had been to keep to his own business; if no one provoked him, he would remain indifferent. And if he needed something from others, he would pay an equal price in obtaining it!

Despite the sinister and murderous aura around Sung Li, his personality trait had a big contrast against the three elders’, who, although seemed amicable, held indifference to vanquishing lives.

As Sung Li was thinking to himself, he did not notice a the air behind him twisting; revealing a small black hole. From that crack in space, a jade hand struck out and grabbed firmly onto Sung Li’s right shoulder.

Before Sung Li could react, the world blurred before his eyes. By the time he had blinked once, the setting before him had completely changed. Now, instead of the gloomy dark cavern walls, Sung Li had found himself in the air; with trees and mountains set beneath him.

At the same time, Sung Li felt his entire body go powerless. The air around him seemed to come to a pause, making it difficult for him to even breath smoothly. An otherworldly pressure had descended upon him.

“Wh..at…?” Sung Li stared wide eyed at the scene before him. Previously he had felt someone grasp his shoulder from behind, but that sensation had only last a brief second before the other person’s hand had disappeared. Only a searing pain was left on his right shoulder.

Above him, the black clouds rumbled as an ancient voice pervaded out.

“Speak, what is your intention for coming here?”

When Sung Li heard the powerful voice, his soul stirred and his mind went blank for a moment.

“This pressure...it’s beyond the Dao Ascent realm! Could this person actually be...at the Heavenly Wang?! Or possibly even higher…” Sung Li snapped back to reality as he thought in dread. If this person had come to kill him, he would certainly not be able to escape today.

But Sung Li was extremely doubtful the Gui Clan could send someone of this caliber, or would even want to...

Regaining himself, Sung Li struggled to give a salute as he replied respectfully:

“G-great Senior...this...this one is called Sung Li. I hail from the Sung Clan of the Infernal Land . I came here today to…to obtain a treasure.”

In front of a powerful expert as this, Sung Li did not dare lie.

“What treasure?” Huang Xue’s voice echoed out.

Sung Li flickered for a second before he resignedly replied: “It’s...a treasure called the Saint Mirror.” Then, he gave a short narration on how he discovered the treasure and its unlisted uses.

Huang Xue’s voice remained indifferent as it resounded: “And how were you going to get this treasure from the child you were following? Kill him?”

Sung Li’s face immediately went pale. He had not even mentioned where the treasure was and yet this elder seemed to have already ascertain its location. If that was the case, with Sung Li tailing that boy and this elder’s sudden appearance...could it...be….

Sung Li quickly tried to bow amidst the stifling pressure as he said: “G-great Senior, you have misunderstood! I had not plan to do anything to the child at all. I was merely thinking on how I should compensate him for the item…”

Huang Xue did not say anything as he observed the nervous Sung Li. He had already noticed the moment his clone appeared, that there was never any true killing intent on Sung Li. While the faint murderous and sinister aura were a bit unsettling, it did not seemed to be directed towards Luo Ke, but rather acted as a natural presence around that Sung Li.

This was the reason why Huang Xue did not immediately move to take care of Sung Li, but rather the three elders first. Compared to Sung Li, Huang Xue had sensed true killing intent and darkness from the elders. Thus, when Huang Xue summoned Sung Li, he did not make things difficult for the latter; though he still had to ascertain the other’s intentions.

After a while, seeing that the elder was not replying, Sung Li tried to explain himself further:

“Um, Great Senior, if that child, Luo Ke, was your disciple, I ask senior to forgive me for my impudence! While I may have followed this child behind the scene for a while, I have never done anything malicious, or held any dark thoughts, to him. I...I ask Great Senior to overlook this for once; in exchange I will give you everything in my spatial bag as compensation…”

With this elder’s timely appearance, Sung Li had come to believe that the elder was Luo Ke’s master.

After all, when he thought about it, Sung Li had never truly seen how Luo Ke had obtained the bagua mirror! By the time he discovered it, it was already in Luo Ke’s possession. For such a powerful treasure to land in some commoner’s hands, it could truly be said to be heaven-defying luck! But could such luck really happen?

For the entire year when Sung Li observed Luo Ke, he did not notice anything strange about the latter. Luo Ke had a commoner’s background and when he ran into life-and-death situations no one had come to save him. He had relied on himself to preserve.

These events had led Sung Li to conclude that Luo Ke indeed did not have a strong backer. However, today’s situation had completely reversed Sung Li’s thoughts.

“I have heard stories before on how powerful masters would purposely leave behind their secret arts or heavenly treasures for those fortunate enough to discover them. They would then hiddenly observe and even protect those lucky fellows. If the person was able to fully comprehend the secret arts or grasp full control of the treasures, it was said those masters would actually reveal themselves to take them in as personal examples…” Sung Li thought back to those legends and rumors he heard long ago.

However, such events occurring were as rare as snow on a hot summer eve. To be so powerful where one could relaxedly discard heavenly items and use it as a way to determine their disciples...just how many people could do that? Such monsters were as rare as a phoenix’s feather or unicorn’s horn!

But unfortunately, it seemed Sung Li had the”fortune” to meet such a being today..

“Luo Ke? Disciple?” Huang Xue thought wryly as he engraved the name in his heart. “If my guess is correct, I may have already left quite an unpleasant image of myself in front of that child. To ask him to be my disciple at this point doesn’t seem realistic at all.”

After a moment, the ancient voice resounded again: “While that child is not my disciple, he can be considered one of my people. Since you did not reveal killing intent towards him, nor did you actually move against him, I can indeed spare your life.”

Huang Xue did not bother to explain any further on his relationship with Luo Ke. Since, even he does not know how it’ll play out as of right now!

Sung Li also did not continue to think further as his eyes widened with hope. But the mysterious elder’s next words caused his heart to plummet.

“However, I cannot let you off so easily either. I can see that your soul is actually quite stable and firm, meaning your conscious and previous words were indeed true. And with your current cultivation base, in this small region, you barely qualify as that child’s protector. But it will have to do for now. So let us do this: you will stay with that child and protect him from the shadows until he reaches the Profound He realm!”

Sung Li almost fainted from depression when he heard the mysterious elder’s words. For Luo Ke to reach the Profound He realm...how long will that take? Although generally those with normal talent would achieve this realm by the age of 100; but there had also been ones who would enter this realm at the age of 200…

Even with the help of the Saint Mirror, life was uncertain. Sung Li was absolutely unsure when Luo Ke would truly reach the Profound He realm.

To give up nearly a hundred to two hundred years of his life like this...even if Sung Li was a patient man, this was still too much for him!

“Great Senior, I…” Sung Li wanted to refute, before he was cut off by the elder.

“What? You’re unsatisfied? Remember that you had actually dared to target a person mine with your higher cultivation base. Even if you meant “well”, you had long since overstepped your boundary. Allowing you to live is already my limit. Furthermore, you only have to intervene if the older generation dares to shamelessly come into play. Other than that, you simply have to wait and watch. If he died fighting the younger generations, then you will be immediately freed of your duty.”

While Huang Xue wanted someone to watch over Luo Ke when he was not near, he would not go so far as to shelter the latter from every danger. It would serve to inhibit his growth if it was like that. But Huang Xue could not let his destined ones die off so easily either; thus, he needed someone to intervene on his behalf when Luo Ke truly met something he could not deal with, such as interference of great elders!

As for the rest of time, it would truly be solely on Luo Ke to survive and grow his talent.