Museum of Deadly Beasts

Patriarch Xue Pao let out a sigh in relief when he saw Curator stop.

After so many years, he was feeling true fear for the first time.

In the beginning, he had Corpse Taoist, the ant queen, and thousands of Rank 3 subterranean ants on his side. The chances of trapping Curator were insanely high, or so he thought.

Not only had Curator come prepared, but he even managed to turn the tide of the battle.

After he destroyed the blood talisman inside the ant queen and eliminated Corpse Taoist, it suddenly became three against one. Unless Patriarch Xue Pao used the abilities of his own body, death was his ultimate fate.

If he used his own body, the immortal corpse’s aura would inevitably be released, which would, in turn, attract the immortal devouring beast. Again, death was certain.

Thus, he could only try to come to a compromise with his enemy. That was the best option for now even if it meant surrendering.

After enjoying thousands of years of unbridled freedom, Patriarch Xue Pao could accept a surrender from time to time.

Lin Jin wasn’t very interested in the others except for the immortal devouring beast. Since Patriarch Xue Pao purported to know its origin, he would very much like to hear it.

“Tell me about the immortal devouring beast,” said Lin Jin.

Patriarch Xue Pao responded immediately, “If I tell you what I know, will you show me mercy and swear that we shall never cross paths from now on?”

“Sure,” Lin Jin answered easily.

Patriarch Xue Pao didn’t trust him wholeheartedly but at least it was a guarantee. Furthermore, if Curator did go back on his word, Patriarch Xue Pao wouldn’t just sit and wait for death. He would fight till the bitter end.

He would bind them together with a spell, and when the immortal devouring beast attacks, Curator and his allies would be dragged into it too. In other words, they would all die together.

That was Patriarch Xue Pao’s plan.

He could use this to threaten Curator in moments of desperation. To sum it up, Patriarch Xue Pao still thought he had a trump card.

Still, if a fallout could be prevented, that would be best.

Patriarch Xue Pao gathered the shattered rocks nearby with a spell and molded them into the shape of a table and two benches before inviting Curator to take a seat.

After all, sitting down to talk was better than having a hostile stand-off. Patriarch Xue Pao did not want to burn bridges right now. If an opportunity for him to survive presented itself, he would grasp it.

Without dawdling about, Lin Jin sat down. Patriarch Xue Pao’s blood silhouette took the form of an old man dressed in fine brocades. He sat down across Curator and smiled cordially at his younger counterpart.

Tiger Taoist remained in his tiger-human form. He stood behind Curator like a war god statue or his divine guardian.

Patriarch Xue Pao glanced at Tiger Taoist and chuckled. “I’ve met the Six Beast Taoist before and I’ve been acquainted with your master. We used to be very close.”

One had to admit that the longer a person lived, the more shameless he would become. Patriarch Xue Pao’s statement had so much room for explanation.

Lin Jin already knew that Daojun and Patriarch Xue Pao were enemies and not friends. Otherwise, Daojun wouldn’t have accidentally lured the immortal devouring beast over when he was trying to kill Patriarch Xue Pao.

However, Lin Jin didn’t feel the need to point out his lie and humiliate Patriarch Xue Pao.

The old man began to reveal what he knew.

Back in the day when the path of immortality prospered, Patriarch Xue Pao was merely an insignificant monster who hid deep inside the mountains to cultivate. Back then, any immortal could have killed him with relative ease.

Just like stepping on an ant.

“Hehe, back then, only the immortals reigned supreme. The monsters? Hmph! We could only kneel before them to survive.” There was an indescribable emotion in Patriarch Xue Pao’s tone.

Perhaps only those who lived in that era could understand his pain.

Lin Jin couldn’t empathize with him, nor did he want to.

“Get to the point.”

“Okay, okay!” Patriarch Xue Pao immediately stopped reminiscing on the past.

“Perhaps the path of immortality was too prosperous, things often take a turn for the worse when pushed to extremes. The immortals grew so arrogant in the Nine-Heaven Realms, they thought they could overpower the gods, and that they were above them. In the Nine-Heaven Realm, there exists a floating mountain. On the peak of this mountain, one can find a round stone plate. Legend has it that that was where the world began, the Foundation Stone of Heaven. Rumor had it that whoever can refine the Heaven’s Foundation Stone could become the new owner of heaven and gain everlasting life. Someone must have spread these rumors on purpose and the Immortal Emperor actually believed it. He led an army of immortals up to the floating mountain to witness him refining the Heaven’s Foundation Stone, hahaha…”

Patriarch Xue Pao couldn’t stop his mad laughter when he reached this point of the story.

“How foolish! None of the immortals tried to stop him. One should know that in ancient times after a mortal achieves immortality, they would recognize the Heaven’s Foundation Stone as their master and worship it. In spite of this, the Immortal Emperor was delusional enough to want to replace the gods, and that led him to commit a grave mistake!”

Lin Jin felt goosebumps as he listened to the tale.

What he understood was that mortals could only achieve immortality because of the Heaven’s Foundation Stone on top of the floating mountain, which was itself found in the Nine-Heaven Realm. The Immortal Emperor was like a starving animal that was taken in by the Foundation Stone. After being fed and nurtured, the animal started believing that it was greater than the hand who fed it and sought to replace it.

That was the simplest way Lin Jin could explain it.

That was what the immortals of that era did. Arrogant and conceited, they were like the animal who bit the hand that fed them.

Alas, they had courted death.

“Hahaha, when that happened, heaven and earth changed as the Heaven’s Foundation Stone unleashed endless bolts of divine lightning, killing the Immortal Emperor and several thousand immortals in an instant. Wouldn’t you call this karma? Several thousand immortals! Many of them were even unfettered immortals who never aged. Yet, they all turned into dust.”

It was horrible to even imagine that scene.

For several thousands of powerful immortals to be instantly killed by lightning? Just how potent was that lightning?

“Then, they heard a beast roar coming from the depths of that floating mountain and that was when the immortal devouring beast appeared. After that, the path of immortality began to decline as no immortal could escape the wrath of the immortal devouring beast. Us monster cultivators were spared. Perhaps they knew their time was up, so these immortals started killing monsters indiscriminately. Since I was still a weak monster back then, I managed to escape by hiding deep inside the mountains.”

Patriarch Xue Pao continued, “A few of the immortal sects eventually escaped into the extraterritorial area to hide from the immortal devouring beast using the ancient miasma. The way I see it, they’re just delaying the inevitable arrival of death.”

Taking a brief pause, Patriarch Xue Pao seemed to recall something. “There’s one other thing. It was said that the Immortal Emperor’s cultivation was so profound that he didn’t immediately die after being struck by lightning. Instead, he retaliated and even chipped off parts of the Heaven’s Foundation Stone. After that, the Immortal Emperor died and the broken stone pieces fell from the Nine-Heaven and were never found since. However, these are only rumors and not to be taken seriously.”

“Anyway, those immortals brought it upon themselves, and yet they forced me to go into hiding.”

Lin Jin could hear the resentment in Patriarch Xue Pao’s voice as he said this.

The source of his hatred was obviously the immortal corpse.

Otherwise, he would have been able to roam freely rather than hide here like a coward. He couldn’t even use his actual strength without being killed in the process.