Chapter 344 — Little Jade Capital's Hidden Mystery

"Borrowing the law of heaven and earth. This art of borrowing is no mortal technique!" He was deeply shaken.

This formation belonged to the art of borrowing, and its refinement had reached an inconceivable degree!

Shen Mu was no master of formations, but all formations under heaven must obey certain laws; they need a source of energy to keep them running. He himself had once thought of refining Fire Heaven Rings into a Nine Heavens True Essence Cannon Grand Formation to guard Sacred Advent Mountain, but the medicinal stones needed to sustain the formation were so vast in quantity that he had given up the idea.

Yet the formation formed by Little Jade Capital's immortal mountains and rope bridges borrowed from heaven and earth, drawing its energy from heaven and earth, with no need for medicinal stones or alchemical furnaces to supply power.

In the art of formations, one could well say Little Jade Capital had left Jingping Kingdom a hundred thousand li behind!

He wanted to study Little Jade Capital's formations too, but he had just stolen a bottle of the Water Mirror Sky's water and already incurred the old immortals' displeasure; it was not a good moment to make a move.

"This Little Jade Capital is somewhat like my Heavenly Sacred Cult. The Heavenly Sacred Cult and Little Jade Capital use the same formations. Is there some connection between them?"

Shen Mu's eyes flickered. The Heavenly Sacred Cult's Sacred Advent Mountain also floated in the sky, was likewise guarded by formations, and likewise borrowed the law of heaven and earth. The Heavenly Sacred Cult's Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra was extraordinary, but it still could not surpass Jingping Kingdom in Daoist arts and divine powers; yet its teleportation art was like a mythic divine power, leaving Jingping Kingdom's spells and divine powers far behind!

And Little Jade Capital's Water Mirror Sky, the refinement of its treasure had reached a terrifying degree of excellence, sharing a subtle kinship with the Silent Craftsman's Formless Treasure.

Clearly, Little Jade Capital must hold many arts and secret teachings far beyond the mundane world. It deserved its name as the foremost holy land in the world today!

Qingyou the Hermit offered tea to Li Zheng and said, "Brother Dao, you retired to the Desolate Ruins and vanished for several hundred years. Many thought you were dead and the world at peace. Why did you come out again? The moment you come out, there will be bloodshed and suffering among the living once more! If you did not wish to come out, how could the Human Emperor have brought you out?"

Li Zheng said calmly, "Many of our generation have already died of old age. Some, though brilliant and possessed of world-shaking cultivation and strength, willingly buried themselves, content to grow old and die quietly in this false immortal realm. But I do not wish to die that way. Even before death, I want to be like a Human Emperor, magnificent and blazing."

Qingyou the Hermit drank his tea and said with a smile, "Brother Dao, what use is brilliance? In those years you were first under heaven; a single sword of yours lit up how many mountains and rivers? In brilliance, how could any of us compare with you? And yet, what did you accomplish?"

Li Zheng's gaze turned sharp.

Qingyou the Hermit showed no fear at all. He set down his teacup and said, "Old Tathagata, old Daoist Master, myself, Ling Jing, and all these immortals on the mountain, back then we all submitted to you! We admired you deeply, all of us believed you could accomplish some world-shaking great work. And yet, brilliant as you were, what did you come to in the end?"

Li Zheng was silent.

Qingyou the Hermit sighed. "Your ambition was not worn away when your hands and feet were severed, but not everyone is you. We feel we are quite well off here. You are not the fish, how do you know the joy of the fish? I am not you either; I cannot feel your joy."

Li Zheng picked up the teacup and drank his tea, sip by sip.

Qingyou the Hermit looked at Shen Mu and said with a smile, "Human Emperor Shen, I have heard your name. You are also the Holy Sect Master of the Heavenly Sacred Cult."

Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly. "Since you are immortals who contend with no one, why do you still inquire into worldly affairs?"

Qingyou the Hermit smiled faintly and offered no explanation, with a certain air of keeping people a thousand li away. "Once the Human Emperor has drunk his tea, please leave Little Jade Capital."

Shen Mu did not drink. He took out the golden book and precious scroll and said, "Please, immortal, take a look at this book. I wonder if it might move you?"

Qingyou the Hermit opened the golden book. His expression changed slightly, his aura suddenly surging, then slowly calming again. He turned to the second page, the third page.

After a moment, Qingyou the Hermit closed the golden book, pushed it back to Shen Mu, and said with a smile, "It is indeed moving. Human Emperor Shen, please go back."

Shen Mu was stunned. Anyone who saw the golden book and precious scroll would find it hard to remain so calm, and harder still to hand it back to Shen Mu; yet this Qingyou the Hermit seemed utterly unmoved, leaving all his arguments useless!

"Immortal Qingyou..."

He had only gotten that far when Qingyou the Hermit gave him a deep look and said, "Human Emperors of every generation share the same temperament; it is very hard to make one retreat. Since that is so, I will speak plainly to you, Human Emperor."

He stood up and said, "Does Human Emperor Shen find Little Jade Capital somewhat familiar? Does it not resemble the Heavenly Sacred Cult's Sacred Advent Mountain?"

Shen Mu was slightly startled, and could not help rising to his feet as well. He did indeed feel a sense of familiarity; at the very least, Little Jade Capital's formation that borrowed the law of heaven and earth was almost identical to Sacred Advent Mountain's!

"That is because Little Jade Capital and Sacred Advent Mountain came from the same source."

Qingyou the Hermit gazed out over Little Jade Capital's towering immortal mountains and said softly, "The Heavenly Sacred Cult was founded by a Sage, and the founder of our Little Jade Capital was a man of the same era, who came out from the same place. And not only the Heavenly Sacred Cult and Little Jade Capital..."

He turned back to look at Li Zheng and said, word by word, "The first Human Emperor of the Human Emperor Hall also came out from there! Moreover, Little Jade Capital, Sacred Advent Mountain, and the Human Emperor Hall are all fragments of the same place! As for what place that is, brother Dao, who has been to the Human Emperor Hall, should know very well, should you not?"