Chapter 1022: The Truth is Smooth and Tender
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
At that moment, what could Yun Qingwu do?
Things had already gone out of her control. Of course, she could escape with the completed Guangling Painting and return to the Monster Race and Demon Race.
However, was it really so simple?
Putting aside the fact that she didn’t know to what extent could she unleash Guangling Painting’s power and therefore wasn’t sure if she could escape, what could she do after she had returned to the Monster Race and Demon Race?
Without any doubts, infighting between the Monster Race and Demon Race would break out.
That was because Nangong Mu had spent so much effort in order to control the army of Monster Race and Demon Race so he wouldn’t possibly hand over its command easily.
Regardless of the result, infighting was unavoidable.
Yun Qingwu didn’t want that to happen. Hence, her only option was to work together with Fang Zhengzhi even though she knew that she was ‘holding a candle to the devil’.
Of course, this was the logical choice.
Apart from being logical, Yun Qingwu was also a little excited due to an inner desire that she had been suppressing all along.
When she was the Young Lord of the Monster Race and Demon Race, her desire couldn’t be fulfilled.
However, now that she had a ‘valid’ reason, she didn’t feel guilty anymore. She truly wanted to know what would happen if she and Fang Zhengzhi could one day work together.
That was the thought that gave her the strength to stand up after she had collapsed in the black-golden box.
It was an intense obsession.
It burned deep down in her heart like a ball of fire and supported her weak body. She exerted all her might for the sole wish of working together with Fang Zhengzhi.
It didn’t matter… If it could only happen once!
At this moment, she seemed to have succeeded and fulfilled her desire. In addition, she didn’t just escape from Nangong Mu together with Fang Zhengzhi. They even solved the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation together and they were going to enter ‘Heavenly Yuan’ soon.
Yun Qingwu was delighted.
She was indescribably delighted.
However, she was also a little afraid that they would become enemies once again after entering ‘Heavenly Yuan’.
She wanted to enjoy this moment for a little longer.
Therefore, she wasn’t in a rush to enter ‘Heavenly Yuan’. Instead, she gave Fang Zhengzhi plenty of time and opportunities, and she even stopped to ‘shower and change her clothes’ in the final round.
However, she couldn’t be straightforward with her feelings.
“Thank you.” Yun Qingwu raised her head and gazed at Fang Zhengzhi intensely, subconsciously holding his hand tighter.
Fang Zhengzhi didn’t feel the change in Yun Qingwu’s strength.
After all, he was solely concentrated on the secret of ‘Heavenly Yuan’. However, he was still surprised when he heard Yun Qingwu saying ‘thank you’.
“She’s thanking me?’ Fang Zhengzhi was a little curious about Yun Qingwu’s behavior. ‘Why would she thank me? Is it because I’ve defeated her utterly again?’
‘Or is she thanking me for sneaking glances at her body when she was in the pond?’
‘Women…’
‘Are really strange!’
Fang Zhengzhi wanted to ask Yun Qingwu about it, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it anymore.
At this moment, a ray of light slowly appeared in front of him. The dark cave was gradually turning brighter, meaning that he had exited the cave.
Heavenly Yuan!
The center of the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation!
‘This place holds the key to solving the secret of the Black Stone Palace. What exactly would we find here?’
Fang Zhengzhi examined the surrounding carefully, not leaving out any details. As he looked around, his eyes opened wider and wider.
Even Yun Qingwu stopped gazing at Fang Zhengzhi’s face and started checking out ‘Heavenly Yuan’.
The dense trees were gone.
There were no more clear ponds and flowing water as well.
There were no flowers or grass either. This was a world that was formed completely by black rocks that were stacked on top of each other. There were many black chains in the sky.
Most importantly, there were many blinking stars in the sky as well. Every one of them was exceptionally dazzling.
“The galaxy?!” That was the first thought that went through Fang Zhengzhi’s mind. However, he quickly denied that possibility.
That was because this place couldn’t possibly be the galaxy.
Apart from the stars and black chains, there should be black rocks sealing the masters in Godly State in the galaxy.
However, there were only stars in the starry sky above him. There were no black rocks.
“No, those aren’t real stars. They are gemstones that are as bright as the stars!” Fang Zhengzhi could see extremely far with his eyes now, so it was only natural that he discovered their true identities.
However, these gemstones had obviously been meticulously cut and polished.
Every one of the gemstones was identically shaped, in addition, even their materials were the same. That was why they looked like stars in the sky at a rough glance.
It was magnificent.
‘Are there 10,000 gemstones in the sky?’
‘No, there are definitely more than 10,000 gemstones. There are probably tens of thousands of gemstones amongst those black chains. Their number is terrifying.’
Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes opened wider and wider as if there were numbers jumping around in his eyeballs.
‘Money!’
‘Gems!’
‘So much money and so many gems!’
He’d become so filthy rich if he took all of the gemstones down that he could probably afford the entire Flame Capital City.
“An ordinary life. This is the ordinary life that I’m seeking.” Fang Zhengzhi was getting increasingly excited. He felt like he was one step closer towards his dream.
“Fang Zhengzhi, this place seems like a tomb.” While Fang Zhengzhi was pondering how he could get the gemstones, he heard Yun Qingwu’s voice.
“Tomb?” Fang Zhengzhi was startled for a second, then, he subconsciously turned away from the dazzling gemstones in the sky and asked, “What tomb?”
“Look over there.” Yun Qingwu pointed towards the center of this place.
“Hmm?” Fang Zhengzhi looked towards that direction and soon discovered that there was actually a tombstone at the center.
The only thing was, the tombstone was also made out of black rocks, so it was hard to spot it at a quick glance because it blended perfectly with the ground, which was also made out of black rocks.
Most importantly…
There wasn’t a single word on that tombstone.
It was incredibly smooth and ordinary, and there were no patterns or any colors on it. The black tombstone simply stood there in the center, looking lonely and weird.
“Where’s the coffin?” Fang Zhengzhi intuitively asked that question because according to the normal plot of ‘tomb raiding’ stories, a coffin should appear at this moment.
It could be behind the tombstone, or it could be hanging upside down in the air like a lotus flower. There could even be multiple mechanisms on the coffin that needed to be activated simultaneously.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi took out a candle as if he was well-experienced. He walked towards the east, lit up the candle, and shouted, “A man lights a candle and the ghost blows it out!”
However, after looking around the tomb, he realized that there wasn’t a coffin.
‘What the hell?’
‘A tomb without a coffin?’
‘How am I supposed to raid the tomb if that’s the case?’
While Fang Zhengzhi had lost interest, Yun Qingwu seemed to have discovered something. She suddenly took a couple of steps forward and dragged Fang Zhengzhi along with her.
“Look behind the tombstone.” Yun was fixated on the back of the wordless tombstone while she was walking towards it.
“Behind it? Are you saying that the coffin is hidden behind the tombstone?” Fang Zhengzhi’s interest in the tomb was reignited and he also looked towards the back of the tombstone.
From his angle, he could roughly see a black object.
It looked like a squarish box, but also like a protruding rock. There were no patterns or colors on it either.
It was extremely inconspicuous.
However, Fang Zhengzhi didn’t ignore it just because it wasn’t eye-catching because he knew that such a design was extremely unusual.
Tombstone – A critical part of a tomb. Similarly, its position had to be chosen carefully.
Therefore, it was impossible for any unimportant objects to be placed around the tombstone. The chance of a rock falling behind the tombstone was even less likely.
Hence, there were only two possibilities.
It was either a treasure or the mechanism of a restrictive barrier.
Fang Zhengzhi instinctively felt that the former was more likely. After all, there were so many gemstones above his head.
This place was decorated so extravagantly.
In that case, how could there possibly be a lack of treasure?
Since Fang Zhengzhi was so focused on the treasure, he naturally threw everything about solving the ‘mystery’ out the window temporarily.
However, at this moment, he heard Yun Qingwu’s voice again.
“Why is there a tomb inside this palace? Someone spent so much effort to deploy the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation, but somehow there is only a tomb with a wordless tombstone at the center of Heavenly Yuan?” Yun Qingwu was obviously not interested in the treasure.
She was more concerned about the truth behind the tomb, why the tomb was decorated like the galaxy, and why there wasn’t a single word on the tombstone.
Of course, apart from that, she also wanted to figure out what the ‘rock’ behind the tombstone was.
However, she didn’t continue walking forward because she knew that since this was a tomb, then it wouldn’t be safe around here.
“Yeah, why is there a tomb here?” Fang Zhengzhi was fixated on the black rock as he mumbled. However, he didn’t stop moving. He actually let go of Yun Qingwu and quickened his pace towards the black rock.
“Watch out!”
“…”
Fang Zhengzhi was startled.
His body moved extremely ridiculously in that split second. He bounced into the air like a frightened cat.
However…
When he landed on the ground, he realized that there wasn’t anything to watch out for.
“…” Fang Zhengzhi turned towards Yun Qingwu.
“…” Yun Qingwu was also looking back at him.
The two of them stared at each other.
It was a little awkward.
“What do I have to watch out for?” After a long wait, Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t help asking.
“No… I just thought that since this is a tomb, there are probably dangerous traps around here, so I…” Yun Qingwu blushed.
“The daring ones make it big while the cowards starve to death. What do I have to be afraid of?” Fang Zhengzhi shot Yun Qingwu a condescending glance and continued walking towards the ‘rock’ behind the tombstone.
Nothing happened throughout his journey.
Just like that, Fang Zhengzhi arrived in front of the tombstone.
“…” Yun Qingwu’s lips moved. She was left dumbfounded for a moment because she couldn’t figure out why it was so ‘safe’ around here.
‘Did I overthink things?’
“Yo… It’s really a treasure!” While Yun Qingwu was feeling puzzled, she heard Fang Zhengzhi’s excited cry.
She subconsciously looked towards him.
Then, she discovered that Fang Zhengzhi was already holding the ‘rock’ in his hand. Moreover, he had even opened it up.
It was actually a stone box.
There was an extremely eccentric crown in the box.
It was made of bronze and there was an exquisite engraving of a dragon’s head on it. The crown didn’t seem big, but it exuded a tremendously ancient aura.
‘A dragon’s head?’ Yun Qingwu was stumped for a second. Then, her expression changed rapidly as if she was reminded of something extremely horrifying.
In the meantime, the ground that was paved with black rocks lit up.
Spots of golden light started flowing and then converged into a thin golden line.
The entire ground was painted gold almost instantly.
Most importantly, while the ground was covered by the golden radiance, golden symbols started appearing on the wordless tombstone.
It looked like flowing blood.
“Thump!”
“Thump!”
“…”
She heard a strong and powerful heartbeat sound.
“Look out!” Yun Qingwu didn’t know if it was the sound of her own heartbeat or if it belonged to someone else. However, she instinctively sensed an approaching danger.
It felt like something was staring at her intently.
She felt her body turning lighter as soon as she said that because someone had already grabbed her and lifted her off the ground forcefully.
It was extraordinarily fast!
It was so fast that Yun Qingwu couldn’t even resist it.
Of course, that wasn’t important. What was important was the fact that the arms that surrounded her body were obviously acting up.
“Let… Let go of me!” Yun Qingwu turned red instantly and she struggled as hard as she could to get out of those arms. However, they didn’t even budge.
“Let go? How the hell can I do that? This is a time when you should hold on to me tightly. Do you think that I’d secretly take advantage of you during such times?” Fang Zhengzhi reprimanded Yun Qingwu.
Then…
Yun Qingwu received a slap on her butt.
However, that didn’t leave her speechless. What truly left her speechless was the fact that he groped her waist after slapping her butt.
“…” Even though Yun Qingwu knew that Fang Zhengzhi was extremely shameless, she still didn’t expect him to be shameless to the core.
“Relax, I am not a sneaky man. I’d never secretly take advantage of you, I’d only do it openly!” Fang Zhengzhi added.
“…” What could Yun Qingwu possibly say?
She thought of countless words and phrases that she could use to vent her emotions, but at this moment, she felt that none of them could truly express how she felt.
Humiliated, frustrated, helpless, lost…
Countless emotions went through Yun Qingwu’s mind and she felt extremely complicated. She loved it but she also hated it at the same time. The dilemmas left her emotions tumbling like a violent tsunami.
She wanted to vent her emotions.
However, simply cursing wouldn’t be enough.
Yun Qingwu’s face turned redder as she tried to hold back her emotions. Her blush looked gorgeous and overwhelming.
For some reason, she suddenly felt like she wanted to vent all her ‘resentment’ in one go and stop caring about anything else.
She wanted to forgo all etiquettes and pretenses. She wanted to forgo everything.
That was because she was facing Fang Zhengzhi, a shameless fellow who had never cared about etiquettes.
“You shameless fellow. If you are really so daring, why didn’t you come near me when I was in the pond just now? Coward, you are a coward! Have sex with me if you have the balls for it!”
“…” Fang Zhengzhi was about to grope Yun Qingwu’s waist again when his hand stopped moving. He froze with a weird expression on his face and thought to himself, ‘Have sex with her? This chick…”
Boom!
At this moment, while Fang Zhengzhi was frozen, the golden radiance that had covered the entire ground shot up and swept towards him and Yun Qingwu like a massive wave in the ocean.