Chapter 363: “Human Skin Map (1)”
It was interesting to note that when the little lad seeked for discipleship, Yan Bu Gui was hesitant to accept. And now that the little lad was unwilling, Yan Bu Gui was seeking to accept the discipleship.
But…..
It was now up to Jun Wu Xie to decide instead.
Jun Wu Xie did not reply and Qiao Chu was getting flustered. He grabbed at Jun Wu Xie by the arm and pulled her into his room.
The others stood still and did not move from their spots. They knew very well what Qiao Chu was up to and did not step in to stop him.
When they were inside the room, Qiao Chu searched and produced a small brocade box. Jun Wu Xie had seen that box before. They retrieved it when they were in the Qing Yun Clan.
“This is the reason why Brother Hua and I infiltrated into the Qing Yun Clan.” Qiao Chu brought the box before Jun Wu Xie and gestured for her to open it.
Jun Wu Xie opened the box and a map laid within. She looked closer and she saw that the map was drawn on a piece of human skin!
“That piece of human skin was cut out from my father’s back.” Qiao Chu’s voice suddenly grew suppressed.
Jun Wu Xie looked up. The map drawn on the piece of human skin was not complete and she could see that it formed only a part of the whole map.
“Me, Brother Hua, Fei Yan, Rong Ruo and our Master, were all from the Middle Realm. The powers of the Middle Realm is broken up into, One region, Four sides, Nine Temples and Twelve Palaces. The lone region among them refers to the Dark Regions, under the command of the Dark Emperor, and is the most powerful force in the Middle Realm. The people who attacked us previously were two people from the Palace of Flame Demons from the Twelve Palaces. Centuries ago, the Dark Regions held control over the Middle Realm, and the four sides, nine temples and the twelve palaces capitulated and surrendered all their magic items and weapons to the Dark Emperor. But the Dark Emperor died suddenly and all his treasures and magic items were buried together with him deep in the catacombs of the Dark Emperor.”
Qiao Chu slowly explained further: “The tomb of the Dark Emperor, contains all of the most powerful magical items and unimaginable riches in the Middle Realm and it was the treasure trove everyone in the Middle Realm dreams of possessing. But for the unendingly and rigidly loyal minions of the Dark Emperor, no one knew where the catacombs of the Dark Emperor laid. The Dark Regions had lost their Dark Emperor and their might was not like before. But the Dark Emperor was the one man who dominated the entire Middle Realm and even after his death, his dominating reputation lingered. If anyone dared to make any moves towards the Dark Emperor’s tomb, the Dark Regions would swarm out of their nest and annihilate them.”
“But human greed had always been insatiable and people continued to eye the Dark Emperor’s treasures. With intensive but discreet investigations over long periods of time, they finally uncovered news that the Dark Emperor’s tomb laid in the Lower Realm. In order to not alert anyone, and to keep the treasures for themselves, the Twelve Palaces sent a group of people into the Lower Realm to locate the catacombs of the Dark Emperor. The search carried on for hundreds of years over an endless number of expeditions. Finally, seven out of the countless people sent out found the location of the tomb. They had come from different powers and in order to curb and restrict each other, they split up the map and tattooed them on the backs of the seven of them.”
Upon saying that, Qiao Chu’s face darkened as he continued: “The people who located the Dark Emperor’s tomb all returned to the Middle Realm, and handed their portion of the map to the powers they served respectively. They had thought that their mission was accomplished with all the hard work they had put in in the Lower Realm, and they deserved a good rest. But what awaited them instead was a massacre!”
“The Twelve Palaces were fearful of reprisal from the Dark Regions and pushed all blame of desecrating the Dark Emperor’s tomb onto the seven men. None of them survived and the tattooed maps on their backs were carved out and held by seven of the twelve palaces. As the maps were split and all the individual palaces selfishly wanted to monopolize the treasure, till this day, they still have not found the exact location of the catacombs.”