The Steward Demonic Emperor

Proofreader: Papatonks

[From what Xie Wuyue said, the five lands' sacred mines could only be exploited at the edges. Most of their ores are being protected by a strong array that can only be placed by the likes of experts from the Sacred Domain.]

Who then, besides him, blowing himself up and ending up in the mortal domain, would fall so low?

Moreover, the path to descend from the Sacred Domain was closed shut. Even a Saint would find it hard to breach it, to say nothing of the others.

[In that case, the answer couldn't be more obvious.]

Squinting, Zhuo Fan pondered.

[This must be related to the five sacred beasts.]

Kunpeng had him look for the other sacred beasts while keeping young Sanzi hostage.

[That has to be it!]

Zhuo Fan looked around the place then his brow shook. "The sacred mine is so important that there are tens of monitoring arrays just a hundred meters from it. Not to mention they are all discreetly setup."

"A shame you guys met me. When it comes to arrays, yours truly is your great-great-great ancestor, humph!"

Grinning, Zhuo Fan's right eye flashed golden. "Besides, you should now be drawn to watching Lu Xie and the other's actions and have no attention to spare on me, he-he-he…"

Whoosh~

With a snicker, Zhuo Fan vanished. He kept showing up and disappearing all over the mountain range, but all were spots where the monitoring arrays could not reach.

Whoosh!

Zhuo Fan finally stopped before the dimly lit mouth of a cave.

As he entered, he did not trigger one of the hundreds of monitoring arrays outside.

He sighed in relief.

Zhuo Fan looked at the cave's walls filled with sparkling crystals shining in a faint light. The sheer density of the spiritual energy was so great it gave him goosebumps.

His eyes lit up at the sight.

This was the entrance to the sacred mine, and these crystals were the sacred stones the vein formed.

All sacred mines had to be formed on top of a World Array to condense such a high concentration of sacred stones. That meant that apart from the sacred array, the sacred mine was not suitable for setting up other arrays, or it would end up disturbed by the natural power of the world.

Thus, Zhuo Fan was not worried there might be any monitoring or defensive arrays here. Unless, of course, they could set up sacred arrays.

Which was an impossibility in the mortal domain.

So Zhuo Fan just waltzed in curiously. He wanted to see who this expert was and what kind of an array he set up to protect the sacred mine.

Hum~

He barely took a few steps, and an ear-piercing ringing came.

His eyes shook, and Zhuo Fan stopped.

[What's going on? Is there someone inside?]

Carefully walking deeper, Zhuo Fan noticed that the ringing intensified. When he reached the end, he was stumped.

A two-meter longsword covered in a prismatic haze floated just above the cave floor. It would sometimes shake and release a mesmerizing ringing sound.

The rich spiritual energy from the sacred stones converged on the longsword.

Like a newborn pup growing on the sweet milk, the long sword was also sustained under the sacred stones' care.

"Is that a… sacred weapon?"

Zhuo Fan squinted and cried out. "By the looks of it, it's even a 6th-grade sacred weapon, the strongest of the Sacred Domain!"

Above the 12-grade spiritual weapons were the sacred weapons!

Only a person from beyond the mortal domain could unleash this weapon's true might. And since sacred stones were needed to refine them, making such beauties was an extremely complicated process. They were a rarity, even in the Sacred Domain.

At least, when Zhuo Fan was the grand leader of the Eight Emperors, he could only refine a 3rd-grade sacred weapon, and that was only in theory as well, having never actually done it.

The materials weren't available everywhere either. Just going by the requirements of the sacred stone alone, he did not know just how many lands of the Sheng clan he had to cheat and how difficult it was to get them off his tail in the process.

He never expected the tiny mortal domain to contain such a beauty, the legendary 6th-grade sacred weapon. Such a wonder made his little heart flutter.

He had plenty of sacred stones on hand but no sacred weapon. Since he stumbled onto one, was he just going to pass by?

Zhuo Fan grinned and walked towards it. "Ha-ha-ha, I know that all sacred weapons have a conscious, so you must be able to understand me. Look, this place is so damp and gloomy, with no sunlight ever getting in. Aren't you bored sitting here all day, every day? Why not join me out to play?"

Hum~

The sword understood Zhuo Fan's intention and shook faintly before emitting a sharp light.

"Wait, wait!!"

Zhuo Fan jumped back at once and waved his hands. "I mean no harm and don't intend to take you for myself. I know sacred weapons need sacred stones to shine and replenish their energy. I have plenty of them with me. If you come with me, you get to soar in the endless sky as we travel the world and have your fill of all you can eat. I'll make sure to make you content."

Zhuo Fan was like an uncle swindling children. He showed such an obscene smile too. His hand flashed and took out a sacred stone. "See, I'm not lying. I can replenish your energy just as well in my ring. The only difference is that you can also come out to stretch your legs."

"Would you like to… check my ring for yourself? If you don't like it, you're free to come out. You're a sacred weapon, and I can't lock you up." Zhuo Fan tentatively showed his Thunder Ring in enticement.

The longsword looked hesitant. It hummed and went still.

Zhuo Fan knew he almost had it and was bursting with excitement.

[Holy hell, I'm about to have the strongest sacred weapon! This is both of my life's dreams come true!]

His trip to Double Dragon Gathering had paid off hundreds of times over. Even if he weren't forced by Xie Wuyue's task or Kunpeng's threat, he'd have come here ages ago for this sweet trinket.

Hu~

However, just as Zhuo Fan was about to hoodwink the sacred weapon, a blue flame flared up from his Thunder Ring.

At the same time, Zhuo Fan's forehead sported the same azure flame, his body crackled with purple lightning, and his right arm flashed crimson.

[What's going on?]

Startled, Zhuo Fan was stumped.

A chilling bloodthirst swept the cave, and Zhuo Fan's heart tensed as he looked incredulously at the longsword.

[What just happened? We were getting to the good part, so why the sudden hostilities?]

He didn't have time to think as the longsword ruthlessly attacked him.

Whoosh!

With a cold glint, killing intent shot out of the longsword and reached Zhuo Fan in a blink.

Zhuo Fan squinted and hurriedly raised his right to block it.

Pff!

The most astonishing thing happened. Zhuo Fan's invincible Qilin arm offered no resistance to the sword's attack.

In a flash, gurgling blood flowed out of it, but Zhuo Fan was too stunned to realize it.

[H-how can this be?]

That was just sword energy, yet it pierced through a sacred beast's body.

[Just what on earth is a 6th-grade sacred weapon made of to be so strong?]

Whoosh~

However, he had no time to ponder as the sword shook and rushed at Zhuo Fan, its blade shining in a dazzling light.

Zhuo Fan was horrified. For the first time, Zhuo Fan was scared to death.

Its sword energy was enough to pierce a sacred beast's body. So now that it came for him, how would he stop it? It was going to make mince meat out of him.

Zhuo Fan panicked, not knowing what to do. Just as the longsword reached him, he was hit by a stroke of genius.

[Since you can't beat them, flee!]

His right eye flashed golden, and Zhuo Fan had moved a hundred meters away in a blink.

As for the longsword, it lost its target and searched for him, unable to find him.

When Zhuo Fan appeared again, the sword closed in on him in a blink.

He cried out on the inside but did not dare to leave the cave, or those monitoring arrays would spot him. Zhuo Fan had no choice but to stay in this narrow cave and dodge the sword's attacks.

This couldn't go on forever since his Yuan Qi would run out if he kept this up. At the same time, the sword would keep replenishing its stores in this sacred mine. It could go on forever.

A fight for attrition was his worst gamble.

[For god's sake, I'll make another tunnel since there's no other path. I could use it to escape the monitoring arrays and take to the skies!]

With that thought in mind, Zhuo Fan dodged one more time, and his right eye flashed with two golden halos.

Divine Eye of the Void's 2nd stage, Void Annihilation!

Bam!

The space shook as the attack struck the cave wall, yet it bounced back. All the attack did was give the whole mountain range a good shake.

Zhuo Fan narrowed his eyes and panicked.

[Does that mean that since this is a sacred mine, breaking the space is still not enough to break the layers of sacred stones?]

But that wasn't the end of his shock. The longsword was in front of him once more…