Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

The freak was Chusu.

In White Emperor City, he had been forced to retreat again and again by Xu Yourong and was simply no match for her, but that was because she was his natural bane. In truth, in the world of experts beneath the Divine Domain, he had the ability to threaten any expert, whether it was Chen Changsheng or Qiushan Jun.

This grassland abandoned by man did not have too many old and powerful monsters, and even if there were monster herds that were hard to deal with, the Earth Monkey’s help had allowed him to easily subdue them. Several years had passed, and he had quickly become the sovereign of this grassland.

Perhaps because the previous sect master’s soul’s influence on him was getting weaker and weaker or perhaps because he enjoyed the life of a sovereign, Chusu never left the grassland again, and he put aside any thoughts of carrying out revenge against Su Li’s descendants.

Sometimes, late in the night, he would sit at the highest point of the grasslands and look south for a very long time.

It was not because he was missing that life, as he had no love for those dark and humid quarters beneath the Longevity Sect. He was battling with his instinctive desires.

When he was created, his soul had been implanted with a nigh-inextinguishable desire to kill and a hatred for anyone related to the name of Su Li that was engraved into his bones. If he could not vent this desire and hatred through brutal actions, he was highly likely to suffer backlash from the Yellow Springs art.

But too many Elves had died on this grassland, drenching the soil in blood, so few people ever visited.

He simply had no one to kill, so he could only learn how to patiently endure, learn how to fight with this instinctive desire.

On a certain night, as he sat at the highest point of the grasslands, he suddenly sensed something and raised his head to the sky.

One star of the countless in the night sky was exceptionally bright, several hundred times brighter than it normally was.

Chusu’s face paled so much that not even his black fur could hide it.

It was hard to say if it whitened because of the starlight or for some other reason.

"How is this possible?"

As he looked at that dazzling star, Chusu became extremely agitated.

"Another person has entered the Divine Domain! Why isn’t that person me!"

He angrily howled, his two hands striking the ground, sending grass and dirt into the air.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Chusu’s unpleasantly hoarse voice echoed through the grassland, letting the world feel his reluctance and loathing.

Suddenly, he stopped shouting, his nose twitching like he was a dog that had smelled something in the wind.

With a rustling sound, the Earth Monkey appeared on the meadow. It crawled forward with its forelegs to Chusu’s side.

Chusu was a hunchback with a short figure. He was dressed in a shabby black robe that stank of decay.

The more beautiful the starry sky was, the uglier Chusu was, especially when he excitedly waved his hands in the starlight.

His hands were covered in scales and sprouted black fur, while their sharp claws were packed with dirt and blood and flesh that had been rotting there for several years.

Anything, even a monster, would feel fear or revulsion upon seeing such a freak.

The Earth Monkey did not. It looked at Chusu with eyes filled with confusion, trust, and adoration.

"There’s treasure."

While looking at a certain point in the darkness, Chusu spoke in a low and raspy voice.

That brightest star in the night sky symbolized an expert entering the Divine Domain. Just like when Wang Po broke through in the Luo River, all things in the world responded, especially those laws and existences that dwelled above the Divine Domain.

Chusu could clearly sense a ripple of divine Qi.

He could sense it so clearly because that divine Qi was in this grassland, just nearby.

The origin of this divine Qi was probably in heavy sleep or in a very weak state.

To avaricious cultivators, this was a temptation that was impossible to refuse, and Chusu was even a practitioner of the Yellow Springs art.

He instantly merged into the ground and moved toward that place in the darkness.

The Earth Monkey looked around and let out a low whimper of warning. It then stood up and pissed on the ground, after which it burrowed into the earth and followed Chusu.

......

......

Several dozen li away stood a mountain of rock. It looked rather normal on the outside, but the rock within was red.

Deep within a cave in this mountain, the walls were covered in ancient and simple murals drawn with sap. Though the light was dim, one could vaguely make out a stone platform inside.

A nest of branches and soft grasses had been constructed on the stone platform, and a small, gray bird lay inside.

This cave network extended for several li and was extremely complex, with all sorts of forking paths. Even the most formidable of monsters would find it impossible to reach the end.

Logically speaking, this gray bird should have been very safe.

Yet the most complicated of tunnels could not keep out species that could travel through the earth.

Chusu’s body trembled incessantly as he looked at that unremarkable gray bird, the stench rising from his tattered black robe growing thicker and thicker.

He did not fear beings of the Divine Domain, nor was he disappointed because he had found the wrong target. He was excited.

He felt that his rough fate had finally come to an end.

The word ’luck’ had finally anointed his head.

The Earth Monkey followed the trail Chusu had left in the earth, and when it drilled out of the ground, this was the sight that greeted its eyes.

When its gaze fell on that small, gray bird, it went cross-eyed.

To put it another way, this extremely experienced and most shameless and insidious of monsters had been blindsided.

The Earth Monkey recognized the gray bird.

Even though it had changed shape, even if it had become dust, the Earth Monkey would not dare to forget.

That bird was the Golden-winged Great Peng.

In the Plains of the Unsetting Sun, countless monsters had esteemed it.

Like Dragons and Phoenixes, the Golden-winged Great Peng was an innately divine being.

Chusu was well aware that eating a Golden-winged Great Peng would bring him many benefits.

It was obvious that this Golden-winged Great Peng was in the extremely long process of awakening, leaving it incapable of defending itself.

Chusu could not pass on this opportunity.

The Earth Monkey was well aware of this, so no matter how cunning and sinister it was, it could not think of a way to stop Chusu.

At this moment, the gray bird opened its eyes.

With just a glance, it knew what this freak stinking of decay wanted to do.

The young Peng showed no fear or pleas for mercy in its eyes, only cold indifference.

An indescribably terrifying pressure filled the cave.

"Do you think that you can scare me?"

Chusu’s voice was still very hoarse and unpleasant.

The young Peng’s eyes burned with rage.

But just like Chusu thought, it was at a crucial moment of its soul’s awakening, so it could not move.

A ruthless hiss that seemed to express grief at being wronged echoed through the cave.

"You are the same as me: a proud, cold, and malicious species that has never liked this world. We have no masters and no friends, so there will naturally be no one willing to save us. This being the case, why not merge into one and try to compete against the world again?"

Chusu very seriously spoke to the young Peng.

The young Peng rolled its eyes as if Chusu was an idiot.

A streak of fire suddenly appeared in the night sky.

The line of fire plunged straight into the rock of the mountain.

The ground quaked as blazing magma surged with indescribable heat.

The mountain collapsed into a plume of dust.

Chusu sensed a familiar Qi. As he recalled his wounds from several years ago, he turned abnormally pale.

A delicate figure walked out of the dust, her wings slowly retracting behind her, then vanishing.

The young Peng shouted at that figure like it had been greatly wronged, and also like a child that was whining.

Xu Yourong petted it.

The young Peng seemed very comforted. After softly whining a little, it closed its eyes and continued to sleep.

"So it was you..."

At this sight, Chusu cried out in anguish, "Is it the law of the heavens that everything good belongs to you?"

Xu Yourong thought this over and replied, "It seems that it is a little unfair."

Chusu sensed her Qi and suddenly laughed.

His laugh was very unpleasant, his smile even more so.

"So it wasn’t you."