Longevity, starting from traveling and telling stories

Chapter 230 Fragments of the Pangu Axe

In the lush and secluded swamp forest, miasma filled the air, and a huge figure appeared and disappeared among the mist.

He walked steadily, each step making a slight sound. The three of them involuntarily gripped their weapons tightly, their nerves on edge as they stared ahead.

Just when the three were extremely tense, the figure finally revealed itself completely.

He was a burly man, but headless, and he was slowly walking towards them with a giant axe in his hand. Although he had no imposing presence, the tense and oppressive feeling made the three of them hold their breath.

Seeing this, Ye Xiaofan drew his sword three inches ahead, a flash of cold light, attempting to strike first and seize the initiative.

"Wait." Just as Ye Xiaofan was about to launch a swift and decisive attack, Ye Beixuan suddenly spoke up to stop him.

This action drew a rather displeased glance from Ye Xiaofan, after all, such a good opportunity to perform had been interrupted.

Ye Beixuan didn't notice Ye Xiaofan's displeasure. Instead, he stared intently at the headless giant axe-wielder and said in a deep voice with a solemn expression, "He doesn't seem to be coming for us."

Ye Xiaofan was slightly taken aback, then put aside his displeasure and turned to face the headless corpse, ready to fight, watching closely as the other party approached step by step.

The three were so nervous that they dared not breathe. However, when the headless man was about 30 meters away from them, he suddenly turned around and walked towards the rocky mound that they had just mentioned.

Watching the headless man turn and leave, the three breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, they couldn't help but feel curious.

"Could there really be some unknown secret hidden there?" Ye Xiaofan couldn't suppress his curiosity and wanted to go and find out, after all, this was a great opportunity to make a name for himself.

Ye Yaoyao's expression was solemn, and she said in a serious tone, "This headless man's cultivation level is at least at the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm. Even if the two of us join forces, we probably won't be able to gain the upper hand. It's best not to provoke him rashly."

Ye Xiaofan muttered something under his breath, but finally nodded and said, "Alright! I'll listen to my junior sister and proceed with caution."

So, the group suppressed their curiosity and continued towards Black Dragon Pool.

The deeper they went into the forest, the thicker the miasma became.

The three of them carefully stepped onto the seemingly dry but actually sticky and soft swampy ground, their bodies on high alert.

Ye Yaoyao casually raised her hand to push aside the branches, and the water droplets condensed on the leaves fell instantly with a "drip," which was particularly clear in the quiet environment.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound rang out, and the three of them froze on the spot.

Ye Beixuan looked down and realized that he had accidentally stepped on a dry branch.

He breathed a sigh of relief and looked up, but suddenly felt something was off.

The group followed his gaze and their pupils contracted sharply. On a crooked old tree in front of them, there was a mark that Ye Yaoyao had carved earlier.

The sap within the sword mark, like tears, slowly gathered and dripped down.

"An illusion?" Ye Yaoyao quickly formed hand seals, and her true essence immediately spread out, trying to find the correct direction.

However, after a long while, she stopped what she was doing, shook her head helplessly, and said, "I can't find my way. There must be something hidden nearby that we can't find."

Just then, a dull thud of an axe blade cutting through the thick miasma rang out.

The three of them were startled and looked in the direction of the sound at the same time.

"Something's strange." Ye Xiaofan's expression was grave. As the strongest member of the team, he naturally took on the role of the eldest brother.

"Could it be that headless man?" Ye Yaoyao asked, her brows furrowing slightly.

Ye Beixuan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "We are currently trapped in an illusion, which may be related to this voice. Should we go and check it out?"

The three exchanged glances, then reached a consensus. They lightly touched the moss with their feet and, like ghosts, drifted away in the direction from which the sound came, without making a sound.

As soon as the sound approached, the air, which had been filled with a fishy stench, was suddenly filled with the fragrance of willows.

Ye Beixuan felt a buzzing in his mind, as if a voice was faintly calling to him.

Feeling that they were already very close to the source of the sound, Ye Xiaofan walked in front.

He gently parted the sycamore leaves that were blocking his view, and saw a beam of light pierce through the dense swamp forest and fall on the headless man.

He exuded an aura of antiquity and vicissitude, and the giant axe in his hand radiated a chilling aura under the beam of light.

He kept swinging the axe blade, chopping at the hard rock.

Each swing sent forth intense sparks, illuminating the deep grooves carved by the axe blade.

Strangely, the shattered stone fragments after each chop seemed to revert to their original state as if time had reversed, and he continued to chop in this seemingly futile manner.

"What exactly is he trying to split open?" Ye Xiaofan said in a low voice. "Could it really be as rumored, that he's splitting the mountain to save someone?"

At that moment, a large willow tree above the rock suddenly began to sway its branches, as if guiding something.

The headless man stomped his foot heavily, causing his tattered scales to rustle.

Immediately afterwards, his chiseling speed increased dramatically, several times faster than before, and the rate of destruction was several times faster than the rate of rock repair.

Ye Yaoyao noticed something was wrong and said warily, "Look at that willow tree, something seems off. And there seems to be something hidden in that ditch."

As if to confirm her words, in an instant, the three of them felt their bodies bound by a force. Looking down, they realized that their limbs and waists were tightly bound by soft willow branches, rendering them unable to move.

"Oh no..." Before Ye Xiaofan could resist, he was pulled into the willow tree.

"Young Sect Master!" Ye Yaoyao had just called out when she followed in his footsteps and was pulled into the big willow tree.

Just as Ye Beixuan was at a loss for what to do, a weathered voice suddenly echoed in his mind: "We have finally met."

"Who?" Ye Beixuan cried out in his heart. Could it be this big willow tree? Impossible! What secret does this willow tree hold? Why did it take Ye Xiaofan and Ye Yaoyao away? Does it want to reveal a secret to me?

Seeing that his mental calls went unanswered, Ye Beixuan guessed that this might be some kind of secret telepathic communication or mental influence technique, so he asked softly, "Who are you?"

That weathered voice finally rang out again: "Who I am is not important. What is important is whether you would like to hear a story?"

"A story? What story?" Ye Beixuan frowned slightly as he replied.

"This story was told to me by my best friend, and now I'll tell it to you, shall I?" the voice continued. Although Ye Beixuan was worried about Ye Xiaofan and Ye Yaoyao's safety, he had no way to escape at the moment. Since the willow tree hadn't attacked him, it meant it had probably only trapped them, and there shouldn't be any major problems.

So he replied softly, "I'm all ears."

Perhaps not expecting Ye Beixuan to be so straightforward, the weathered voice paused for a long while before loudly proclaiming, "Legend has it that in ancient times, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor vied for supremacy..."

"The Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor?" Ye Beixuan was shocked. Wasn't this just a myth from Earth? Could the person telling him this story also be a time traveler from Earth? Or perhaps, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor also existed in this world? Could such a coincidence really be possible?
The big willow tree continued, "Emperor Yan was defeated by Emperor Huang in the Battle of Banquan. Since then, Xing Tian, ​​Emperor Yan's most loyal subordinate, has been determined to avenge Emperor Yan."

The result was exactly the same, which shocked Ye Beixuan once again. This was definitely not a coincidence.

He was now 100% certain that the person telling the story to the big willow tree must be a time traveler, just like himself.

The big willow tree recounted incessantly: Later, the Yellow Emperor declared himself the Heavenly Emperor in the Central Plains, ruling the world. Xing Tian was dissatisfied and took up his divine axe to attack the central Heavenly Court.

Perhaps pleased with Ye Beixuan's shocked expression, the big willow tree playfully stretched out a branch and tickled Ye Beixuan's ear, saying in a slightly flirtatious tone, "That day, in the Heavenly Court, Xing Tian and the Yellow Emperor engaged in an unprecedented battle, which raged until the sky darkened and the sun and moon lost their light."

"The Yellow Emperor possessed the destiny of heaven and earth, and his cultivation was unfathomable. His subordinates were all highly skilled immortals. In the end, Xing Tian was defeated by the Yellow Emperor and had his head cut off. His head was buried at the foot of Changyang Mountain. Do you know why?"

"Why? Isn't it because the Yellow Emperor was worried about Xing Tian's resurrection!" Ye Beixuan had planned to tell Xiao Hu and the others this story when he got back, so how could he not know the reason?

A gentle breeze swept by, and the leaves on the willow branches danced in the wind, the fragrance of the willow trees was close at hand.

After a moment of silence, the big willow tree finally spoke in a deep voice, asking, "Do you know who this headless person is?"

Ye Beixuan looked at the headless man who was frantically hacking and slashing, and his heart suddenly tightened. As if he had thought of something, his face instantly showed shock, and he blurted out involuntarily, "Could it be that he is Xing Tian?"

But how could this be? He was still full of doubt. How could Xing Tian really exist here?

The big willow tree seemed to be waiting for him to process this information, and after a long while, it spoke again: "Do you know why he is here?"

"Why?" Ye Beixuan asked eagerly, impatient to know the answer.

"Do you remember Mu Fuliu?" the big willow tree sighed softly and asked in a low voice.

"Mu Fuliu?" Ye Beixuan carefully searched his mind for all the names he might know, but found that no one could match it. He even thought of characters from various online novels and myths, but still had no clue.

So he gently shook his head and said truthfully, "I don't know..."

The big willow tree seemed to have anticipated his answer, and chuckled, saying, "Alright, this Xing Tian was brought here by him."

Then, the big willow tree began to tell the story: In ancient times, after Xing Tian was beheaded by the Yellow Emperor, he did not die, but went into hiding. Until the Blood Sea first entered the world, he failed to suppress the Blood Sea alone, and his body was trapped there.

Later, Mu Fuliu brought him out, but Xing Tian's soul had already been annihilated, so he was placed here and kept chopping at the rock, hoping that he could rescue the soul of the celestial god trapped inside.

"So that's how it is. The legends of the Immortal Realm are true? Are the gods of the Heavenly Court really trapped here?" Ye Beixuan asked curiously.

“That’s right. When the Blood Sea entered the world for the second time, all the gods and Buddhas withered away. Some were forced to reincarnate, while others sealed themselves away. These are the gods who sealed themselves away,” the Great Willow Tree replied.

So that's how it is! Ye Beixuan immediately understood that those he had conferred godhood upon were all reincarnated gods who had been killed, or cultivators from the celestial realm. But this was only a part of them. Some had already been annihilated, while others had sealed themselves away to protect themselves.

So he asked, "What is your purpose in trapping us?"

The leaves of the big willow tree rustled a few times, and it said in a calm tone, "Of course, I need you to rescue them."

"Me?" Ye Beixuan gave a bitter smile and said helplessly, "As you can see, I haven't even reached the Heavenly Immortal realm, while Xing Tian's corpse is probably at the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm. He was even a Great Luo Golden Immortal in life. Even he was powerless, so I'm afraid I can't shoulder this heavy responsibility."

However, the big willow tree said with certainty, "If I say you can, you definitely can. Do you know what kind of divine axe he's holding?"

"I don't know." Ye Beixuan looked at the axe, which exuded a chilling aura, and couldn't help but shake his head.

"These are fragments of the Pangu Axe. In fact, the real Pangu Axe was not perfect; it broke open when the world was created." The willow branch of the big willow tree pointed to the axe that Xing Tian was wildly swinging in his hand, and continued, "And the one in his hand is the result of that broken opening."

Pangu Axe? That's the Pangu Axe, the foremost of the three divine weapons created from the heavens! Ye Beixuan stared at the axe in shock. Although it was just a fragment, if he could obtain it, wouldn't that mean he had collected all three divine weapons, even though none of them were complete?

But after a moment's thought, he sighed and shook his head, saying, "Even if what you say is true, I haven't even broken through to the Celestial Immortal realm. Even Xing Tian, ​​with his peak Celestial Immortal strength, couldn't split this rock, so there's even less chance for me."

“You’re wrong. Only you can do it. Only you can unleash the full power of this Pangu Axe.” The big willow tree seemed a little excited. Its branches trembled slightly as it spoke, causing the entire mound of earth to shake.

It continued, "I will transfer all the power of the Willow Divine Body to you, unlock the sealed power within your body, and help you break through to the Celestial Immortal realm. At the moment of your breakthrough, I will conceal the secrets of heaven so that no one else can detect it. At that time, you can find a quiet place to undergo the tribulation."

Ye Beixuan was stunned. There was such a thing? It could even delay the tribulation.

Left with no other choice, he had to agree. After all, he wouldn't lose out, and if he couldn't be rescued, it wouldn't be his fault.

So he replied, "In that case, let's begin!"

In an instant, dark green light wrapped around the entire willow tree like a ribbon. This light, containing a powerful life force, was continuously transmitted to Ye Beixuan through the willow branches.

Countless life energies seeped into his body through his pores, his bones cracked and popped from the force of the surge, and his meridians seemed to be flooded by the ocean, with riverbeds and dams being washed away and then rebuilt.

A massive vortex storm formed within the dantian, and the originally clear true essence turned dark green, gradually stripping away the power sealed within the dantian, causing the dantian to expand further.

As the last wisp of dark green light entered his body, Ye Beixuan suddenly heard a sound like glass shattering within him, a sign of a breakthrough.

Ye Beixuan broke free of his restraints, feeling refreshed and invigorated. He stretched his body, and his bones hummed and groaned.

But just as he was overjoyed, the dark green willow leaves on the gnarled branches of the big willow tree turned yellow and fell down in a rustling sound, and the green willow branches gradually turned black.

“Remember, the three divine weapons… are your hope.” The ethereal voice seemed to come from near and far in his ears, and suddenly, a ghostly blue flame ignited in the tree canopy and the withered black willow branches: “Three of the ten levels have been unlocked, Master. I have waited for him for ten thousand years and have not failed your trust.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire ancient willow tree exploded with a deafening roar, as dazzling as spring fireworks. And Xing Tian, ​​who had just been wielding the giant axe, also disintegrated in the process.

Ye Beixuan reached out and caught the flying axe handle. Looking at the cold light bursting from the axe blade, the handle and the axe body seemed to be a perfect match, exuding a chilling aura in the remaining firelight.

In an instant, the moves of the Three Forms of Creation suddenly appeared in his mind. He subconsciously unleashed the first move of Creation. Wherever the axe blade passed, a violent roar was heard. The mountain-like mound of earth and rocks in front of him was instantly split in two.

Just then, deep within the crack in the rock.

Suddenly, a hoarse, maniacal laugh pierced the sky: "Hahahaha, more than ten thousand years have passed, and I'm back again! This time, I'll fight three hundred more rounds!"

Before the words were even finished, another voice rang out: "Ten thousand years! I can finally get rid of this nagging ghost! God! Who saved me? If they had saved me any later, I'm afraid I would have gone crazy."

(End of this chapter)