Chapter 330: The Four Eastern Regions and 3,000 Great Ways
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Zhou Bao, you are so conceited!”
Yan Yunyan’s scream passed through the small reception room, and even the cloud in the distance. Jiang Xiao and Wang Cheng, standing in the front of the room, could not help but quiver, gazing at each other in speechless despair.
No one dared to say anything!
Zhou Bao ruthlessly broke a eunuch’s neck the moment they met. Although only a eunuch, he was from the imperial court, as could be judged from his clothing, bearing as well as Yan Yunyan’s attitude towards him, which made his true intention of the visit less important. Spy or not, no officials of the imperial court shall be empowered to give death sentence to such a eunuch. Zhou Bao, regardless, broke his neck even before he got to finish a complete sentence. What the hell was going on?
Yan Yunyan was infuriated.
Originally, she was a little curious and even had a crush on Zhou Bao. After experts led by Yan Yuntian failed to besiege and kill him, Yan Yunyan agreed on the suggestion of Yan Yuntian’s marrying her to Zhou Bao. After all, in this world, free love was rare and it was also a wonderful choice to marry such a teen expert with a bright future who owned a territory, even though she was a princess.
However, she did not expect Zhou Bao would reject the offer with only one sentence and even complained that she was not a good match because of her sophistication.
Zhou Bao said those words in front of Chi Hengxing who certainly would not broadcast them, but he reported them to Yan Yuntian. Because of it, Yan Yuntian harshly criticized Yan Yunyan and warned that she should seldom show her face in public and must stay in the palace for some time.
The treatment aggrieved her very much. She had never experienced that and thus detested Zhou Bao.
Initially, she planned to ask her brothers to make trouble for Zhou Bao. However, this knucklehead directly rushed to the Mingyi School and fought alone against several experts of the school. To her surprise, he left the school without being hurt, and you could say, returned in triumph. The news shocked her very much and also made her realize that Zhou Bao was an ignorant and unreasonable person. Thus, she gave up her original plan. In these few months, she became less intense, but still felt angry, so she proactively took the task from Yan Yuntian to spite Zhou Bao. But she did not expect that this man acted before she made clear what she had come for. Without consideration of others, he killed the eunuch who accompanied her to deliver an imperial order and insisted that her company was a spy. Wasn’t it possible?
Yan Yunyan, full of grievance, eventually exploded. She pointed at Zhou Bao and loudly shouted. “Zhou Bao, Eunuch Ying was sent by my father to announce the imperial edict. How, how dare you kill him! Do you look down on my father, the emperor? Do you look down on the Jin? You…”
That was some serious charges all at once.
“On the contrary, I killed him only because I respect Jin and His Majesty!” Without caring a nut, Zhou Bao gently loosened his grip, and the corpse of the eunuch fell on the floor. Then he asked Jiang Xiao and Wang Cheng to drag it out by waving his hand at them.
The two didn’t dare to neglect. They lifted the body and quickly left the reception room as if being chased by a dog.
“This eunuch was a spy of the Li Dynasty. Your Highness, don’t you know the Li Dynasty?”
“What evidence do you have to prove that he was a spy of the Li Dynasty which was about several million miles away from us. Even though it might send a spy, how do you know that? Do you also collude with the Li Dynasty?” Yan Yunyan coldly looked at Zhou Bao and her words were so bitter that they seemed to be going to roast him on a fire.
However, this time Zhou Bao was confident and not angry at all. He just watched Yan Yunyan explode as if seeing a drama. After the princess gave vent to her fury, Zhou Bao smiled. “I said he was a spy and certainly had evidence. Your Highness, maybe you don’t know that when Yunfei and I were on our way to the territory, we were intercepted by ten experts from the Li Dynasty headed by Ye Qingtian. Fortunately, I had got the news earlier and prepared for the attack. Otherwise, we would not pull out unharmed!”
“Ah?” Yan Yunfei, who was standing behind Zhou Bao, realized what had happened until now. Having heard Zhou Bao’s words, she grabbed his hand even more firmly. “Are you all right?”
“I am fine. Do I seem to be not fine?” Zhou Bao laughed. Then he turned to Yan Yunyan and said, “I have caught all those assassins who came to kill me expect Ye Qingtian. If you don’t believe it, I can show you the way to see them. As for why I knew that eunuch was the spy of the Li Dynasty. Well, I got it from the interrogation!”
“Really?”
Yan Yunyan felt shocked after hearing Zhou Bao’s words. Not until she and Shui Hongyan exchanged looks did she raise her head and said, “Even though he was a spy, you can’t kill him like this. He was a eunuch of our palace, a confidant of my father. Thus, his life and death must be determined by my father. Besides, we should interrogate him to find whether he has accomplices in the imperial palace and who are they if he has. As soon as you showed up, you killed him. Are you trying to hide something?”
“Whether he had accomplices and whoever are they, I think those assassins will give you the answer. As for why I directly killed him, I did that for your Highness. Though the eunuch’s cultivation was not high, he had learned weird skills. Once he starts to assassinate, I am confident that I won’t be hurt, but can’t guarantee the safety of your Highness. If this spy wants to alienate the imperial court from me by hurting or killing you in front of me, I can’t clearly explain what has happened even though I have a thousand mouths, so I have to slay him. This is the best choice. Does your Highness think it was improper?”
“You…” Yan Yunyan was speechless. She had seen shameless people, but not such shameless one. A moment ago, the eunuch found out something and was ready to speak out, but Zhou Bao held him by the throat to prevent him from speaking. His behavior was obviously to silence the eunuch. However, she also knew that she could not provide any evidence against him, if what he said about the Li Dynasty turned out to be true.
Well, killing the eunuch was a blameless behavior for him and even a meritorious service!
As she thought of it, her hatred went to her marrow. She itched to kick Zhou Bao down and trampled on his face a hundred times, a hundred times.
“Princess Heyang is of a kindly disposition that I appreciate. However, people like him are as vicious as scorpions. If I didn’t kill him as soon as possible, he might hurt your Highness here. I can’t afford the consequences if either your Highness or Miss Shui Hongyan were hurt.”
“Humph!” Yan Yunyan flung her sleeve and angrily sat back in her chair. At this moment, Yan Yunyan knew what Zhou Bao said was probably true. It seemed that this matter really related to the Li Dynasty. However, even it was true, she still cannot forgive Zhou Bao!”
Without saying a word, she angrily sat on the chair and her plump chest heaved. The reception room suddenly became silent.
“Sister!” Seeing the tense atmosphere, Yan Yunfei wanted to say something but Zhou Bao pulled her and winked at her.
“Humph!” Yan Yunfei saw Zhou Bao’s wink and felt very angry. With a cold snort, she rolled her eyes, shook his hand off, and came before Yan Yunyan. Then she whispered, “Sister, don’t be angry. Don’t lower yourself to his level. He is a vault. You shouldn’t be angry at a vault. Come, just let me show you around!” With this, she held Yan Yunyan’s hand and walked outside.
Yan Yunyan was annoyed like a bone was struck in her throat. At the thought of dealing with Zhou Bao, she didn’t expect to see he ate a humble pie in front of Yan Yunfei and thus, almost cooled down with an angry expression on the face. Then she stood up with the help of Yan Yunfei and accompanied her to walk out of the reception room, followed by the expressionless Shui Hongyan, leaving Zhou Bao there alone blinking his eyes.
“That thing in the box was what my father ordered me to bring to you, so you can take it to death!”
Yan Yunyan’s voice with obvious grievances rang outside the reception room.
“What the hell is this!” Zhou Bao grabbed the box in the air and opened it. Then his facial expression changed. It turned out that a token, not gold or metal, was in the box with the word “Taiyuan” carved on it.
“Taiyuan Token!” Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows and a peculiar feeling flashed in his heart.
It was something that he wanted and planned to take. To his surprise, the Emperor gave it to him directly.
“Heh heh!” Zhou Bao gently weighed the Taiyuan Token in his hand and thought, “It seems that the Emperor has straightened his thinking. He gave it to me and wanted me to do something in Taiyuan Heaven. Hehe, the heaven opens once a thousand years. The last time it opened, the Jin was not yet built. However, those millennium families should have experienced the opening of Taiyuan Heaven. I should figure out the situation inside it. If Mo Yinyang and I enter it without any preparation, we might be played fool of without any awareness!”
Zhou Bao thought for a while. Then he put away the Taiyuan Token, caring nothing about where Yan Yunfei showed Yan Yunyan around. After that, he flew to the yard in a flash.
Wuyang yard was located at the foot of Jilei Mountain. Though it was not extravagant, it had a certain extent of scale at that time. In order not to disturb others, Zhou Bao quickly wormed his way into the original mining tunnel and walked down.
This mining tunnel had now become an important protection object of the Immortal Palace for it had the entrance to Azure Heaven. After expansion and arrangement for some time, its passageway was covered by plenty of formations. It was totally different from its original appearance. It became a more spacious and tall underground passageway whose walls were made by huge bluestones carved with complicated and numerous decorative patterns. There were many traps on the road as well, which were not ones in the unofficial historical novel for ordinary people, but huge traps aimed at experts above Level Seven.
At the end of the passageway around that entrance, there was a huge expanded underground hall, which was about 10 feet high with nine over ten-feet-diameter pillars arranged in the direction of the Jiugong. These pillars were engraved with stars in the sky and talismans of antiquity times, showing a kind of mysterious power beyond Zhou Bao’s knowledge. Along with, was an architectural structure similar to an altar or a small pyramid, divided into nine steps, in the middle of the nine pillars.
At the top of this pyramid, there was a small gateway, ancient and atmospheric, as if cast by a bronze. The bronze door frame was engraved with patterns of ancient times, forming a complex and mysterious talisman formation.
Gate of All Manifestations!
This was the gateway of the Immortal Palace that was used to connect with the Azure Secret Area. Gate of All Manifestations, a Pure Yang Celestial Device!
This was a kind of pure space celestial device. It was said that it could flow through all heavens and earth with unpredictable power. It was the characteristic of this Pure Yang Celestial Device that made it perfect to be used as a bridge to enter the Azure Secret Area.
“Oh, the damn place should be quite different!”
Zhou Bao hadn’t been there for a long time, so when he arrived here, he was shocked and surprised. He inferred that when he came here, he saw that the immortal palace constructed this place as a lair from all the battle formation institutions.
“Of course, this is an important place to connect the Azure Secret Area, which is surely different. Otherwise, how can they explain it to Elder Qing!” said Earth Bat of Girl, one of the permanent residents of the Immortal Palace. He didn’t care it was the entrance to the Azure Secret Area, but he still chose to stay here because it was the center of nine dragons, where he could study his favorite subject, Fengshui, here.
Other permanent guys were just Golden Rooster and Wang She, and the latter one, similar to him, also had two identities, so he could stay here as he like.
This was the best part for Zhou Bao. These experts stayed at his place and got everything without a pay. If something bad happened in the territory, they surely should give a hand!
Even if they were not willing to do anything, Zhou Bao could have his way to solve this.
These bodyguards were sent here for free and could be asked to do everything. If they could practice to the Expert Realm, they would demand less just like Immortals. Besides, they were from famous family, Immortal Palace or the Tian Long Taoism, where they could get a lot of benefits if they became the expert. So they didn’t favor things from Zhou Bao, a little lord.
“That’s reasonable!” Zhou Bao nodded and agreed.
“Boy, it’s rare to see you here. So, why do you come here? What’s the matter with you?” Earth Bat of Girl, a kind person, came close to Zhou Bao and asked with a smile.
“No big deal!” Zhou Bao took out the Taiyuan Token as he said, “I came here for this!”
“It’s—!” Earth Bat of Girl looked at the Taiyuan Token for a while without any response, meanwhile, Zhou Bao heard a loud voice.
With a breeze flashed over, Zhou Bao moved and quickly withdrew his hand holding the Taiyuan Token.
“Eh?”
Again it was a loud voice.
“Surprised for what? That boy’s power is getting more and more strange. It’s not easy to steal something from his hand!” Earth Bat of Girl laughed. “I’ve heard that this boy taught Ye Qingtian a good lesson, admired much by White Tiger!”
“You knew Ye Qingtian?” Zhou Bao was shocked. “Ye Qingtian was a person from the Li Dynasty, which was hundreds of thousands of miles, nearly a million miles of the sea area, away from the Jin Dynasty. How could he know that guy? Who was White Tiger? Is that the person of the Sixiang?”
Zhou Bao got this idea since he heard the names of the 28 constellations. According to his knowledge, 28 constellations were divided into four parts, namely, Seven Constellations of Green Dragon, Seven Constellations of White Tiger, Seven Constellations of Scarlet Rosefinch, and Seven Constellations of Spirit Tortoise.
But later, he found out that he was wrong. He was Water Leopard of Winnowing Basket, who belonged to one of Seven Constellations of Green Dragon. Wang She was Flying Fire Snake, belonging to one of Seven Constellations of Scarlet Rosefinch. Sun Rat of Emptiness was one of Seven Constellations of Spirit Tortoise and Moon Deer of Extended Net was also one of Seven Constellations of Scarlet Rosefinch. As for Golden Rooster, he was one of Seven Constellations of White Tiger. All of them, not divided into four groups of Sixiang, were subordinates of Elder Qing. So, Zhou Bao held that view. But this time, Earth Bat of Girl suddenly raised the phrase, White Tiger, which made him somewhat puzzled.
“Of course I knew him. White Tiger once wanted to persuade him to join us but failed. That boy is very arrogant because he got the inheritance of Great Ancient Emperor and Star Palace, and he had never fluffed White Tiger off. However, White Tiger doesn’t care at all and admires his pride even more. He may have lost his mind!”
“In that case, the Immortal Palace also has its power in the Li Dynasty?!”
“The influence of Immortal Palace spreads all over the Four Eastern Regions!” Earth Bat of Girl took a look at Zhou Bao and smiled. “You just stay in your own place to practice and care nothing about the Immortal Palace. But when you finally feel the need to know about it, all you have to do is to ask somebody. Good for you!”
Zhou Bao smiled sheepishly at his words and turned back to see that man, who was trying to take his Taiyuan Token before. “This is…”
“This is Sun Horse of Star, succeeding Mouse!” said the Earth Bat of Girl. “It seemed that he was very interested in the Taiyuan Token in your hand!”
“Is it?” Zhou Bao smiled and took out his Taiyuan Token. “It was given by Yan Yuntian, who wanted me to come to Taiyuan Heaven. You know, the heaven appears only once a thousand years and there are some things I can’t identify now, so I would like to ask you!”
“It’s really something, and he gives it to you?”
Wang She reached out his hand to get the Taiyuan Token, ignoring Zhou Bao, and said behind him, “That’s true. It seems that Yan Yuntian has some ideas!”
“What ideas?”
“Some troublesome ideas!” Wang She smiled slightly and put the Taiyuan Token back into Zhou Bao’s hand. “It’s possible for three people to enter Taiyuan Heaven with it. Count me in!”
“And me!” Sun Horse of Star on the side said coldly.
“Sorry, I already have a candidate!” Zhou Bao also smiled. He did not like Sun Horse of Star, who was so rude and wanted to get the Taiyuan Token without saying hello. “You want me to count you in? Who are you, idiot?”
Sun Horse of Star did not expect Zhou Bao refused him directly. With a cold look, he looked up and stared at Zhou Bao. He said, “Taiyuan Heaven is very important to me. I must go!”
Zhou Bao blinked his eyes and stared at him as well. His eyes gradually revealed a hint of an inexplicable smile. Instead of looking at him any longer, he turned to Wang She and smiled. “Chief Wang, you know some things about Taiyuan Heaven, right?”
“Sure!” Wang She nodded and stared at Sun Horse of Star aggressively. “I know it quite well!”
“That’s good! Let’s go and talk over there so that we won’t be bothered by others again!” He walked out with Wang She.
“Stop!” Anger appeared on Sun Horse of Star’s face, he moved his body and stopped in front of Zhou Bao and Wang She quickly.
“You want to die?” Zhou Bao was really angry, filled with an inexplicable viciousness. Sun Horse of Star was also angry with the killing intent. The same was true of Wang She, squinting his eyes.
“Calm down, calm down! Three of you, please calm down!” After seeing that, Earth Bat of Girl moved his body and stood in the middle of the three, waving his hands, “We are family! Take it easy!”
“Family? I don’t have such a family member like him!” Zhou Bao said coldly.
Wang She also looked angry.
Earth Bat of Girl smiled bitterly. “Sun Horse of Star just came back and hasn’t been informed of everything. You guys…”
“I told you, I must enter Taiyuan Heaven!” Sun Horse of Star said firmly and stood in front of the two people without stepping back.
Zhou Bao, resisting his anger, looked at Earth Bat of Girl with an extremely unhappy face, but decided not to embarrass him. “Some other Taiyuan Token can be found. If you want it, find it by yourself. Don’t count on this one!”
“I know a big secret about Taiyuan Heaven. If you count me in, I can help you get great benefits!”
“Benefits?” Zhou Bao laughed. “I have my own purpose in Taiyuan Heaven. As for benefits, there are so many benefits around the world and I don’t need you to get them!”
“The 3,000 Great Ways!” Sun Horse of Star looked at Zhou Bao with a determined look, withdrawing his killing intention. “In Taiyuan Heaven, there is a secret cultivation book about the 3,000 Great Ways. You have strong strength and pure Internal Qi, but you don’t have the excellent cultivation method for practice. Otherwise, you could get rid of the obstacle in Level Eight and break into the Mysterious Realm!”
“3,000 Great Ways?” Zhou Bao was shocked but he shook his head. “I have prepared myself for my practice incantation and it’s one of the 3,000 Great Ways!”
Sun Horse of Star shook his head slightly, “The 3,000 Great Ways in Taiyuan Heaven contain more than one ways. Even if you already have one of the cultivation methods, you will benefit from other methods!”
Zhou Bao shook his head again. At this time, Wang She intervened. “Do you really know the secret of the 3,000 Great Ways in Taiyuan Heaven?”
“Yes!” Sun Horse of Star was hopeful, showing his expression of expectation.
“No!” Zhou Bao suddenly interrupted Wang She. “I don’t know about Taiyuan Heaven, which is why I need someone I fully trust to go with me, and it’s definitely not him!”