## AST 2257 Primordial Golden Bear’s Tomb, Secret of Skull

The power of this Exploding Crystal was correlated to its materials. Qing Shui could feel approximately 350 billion Dao of attack power in it. That was a terrifying amount of damage. Qing Shui might not have been able to guard against it in the past, and even if he could, he might not have risked it.

But he didn’t have a problem with it now. Qing Shui didn’t move and stopped strangling Bing Shao.

When Bing Shao saw the thing that Yang Shao threw, his face became ashen and looked at the latter in disbelief. He understood where this was going, but everything was too late. There was a hint of misery in his heart, but it only lasted for an instant.

Boom!

A sound of explosion rang out, followed by Yang Shao’s maniacal laughter. “You want to fight? I’ll see how you can fight now.”

It wasn’t long after his words that he watched the man in front of him in disbelief. Qing Shui was practically unscathed while Bing Shao had disappeared. He had been blasted into smithereens.

His voice came to an abrupt stop as if he had been strangled. He couldn’t even feel amazement as his brain stopped working at that moment. That was his strongest weapon, the Exploding Crystal. It was something he used to save his life. The man in front of him should have perished.

“I had been deliberating over killing you all. Seem like it’s the only choice I have left.” Qing Shui raised his hand with Stellar Transposition. In a flash, all the men disappeared.

Qing Shui captured a number of Mountain Boar Spirits, Wild Phoenix Chickens, and others. There were numerous valuable food ingredients here, and they were all pretty decent. However, not many people recognized their value. Otherwise, this area wouldn’t have been so empty.

Qing Shui pondered over creating a village within the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal to grow these valuable food ingredients.

There weren’t many selections of valuable food ingredients within Qing Shui’s Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal, but there were still a few such as the Rainbow Trout Fish. While they were decent, they couldn’t be regarded as valuable.

He gathered a good amount of ingredients, reaping a good amount of gains from the trip. It was a pity that he didn’t manage to find the nest of the Ninth-Grade Divine Chicken. He wanted to check if he’d be able to find its eggs.

Qing Shui didn’t take long before he returned to the city, but Tantai Lingyan was nowhere to be found. He didn’t know if she had left or if she had entered a shop.

Qing Shui searched again on the second day but still didn’t find a trace of her. Eventually, he used Nine Continents Steps and left.

Fourth day!

Qing Shui was standing at the entrance of the Northern Death Demon Mountain. The name was intimidating enough, but there was still a crowd which had gathered. Qing Shui couldn’t understand why there were so many people.

“Why are there so many people here, old chap?” Qing Shui approached a stout man.

“You’re not from here right? You don’t even know about such a huge event!” The man shot an odd look at Qing Shui, as though questioning why he was even here if he didn’t know what was happening.

“That’s right. I came here to train through experience but didn’t expect the crowd, so I grew curious. I saw your strong and domineering figure and assumed you should know, so I came to ask,” Qing Shui nodded and said.

The man was pleased with Qing Shui’s compliment about him being strong and domineering. If Qing Shui had called him good-looking, he reckoned the man would be furious. The man’s looks were average, edging towards being ugly but his body was tall and sturdy. These were the words which would please them the most.

“Haha, you’ve come to the right person then! To be honest, I’m not too sure why all these people have gathered here…”

After listening to the man ramble on for ages, Qing Shui finally knew what was going on. As it turned out, a treasure appeared around the area. It was said that it had been the tomb of an invincible beast, and everyone came in search for it.

An Ancient Primordial Golden Bear’s tomb. According to rumors, it had 70% of a Primordial Bloodline.

This startled Qing Shui. The demonic beast which had 20% Primordial Bloodline was already so mighty. After refining demons, he had a half-blood Primordial Boar which he had gifted to Qing Xuan. He was sure it would make a name for itself in the Main Continent some day.

Yet, there was now a dead Primordial Golden Bear which had 70% Primordial Bloodline. That must have been terrifying.

“Old chap, the people here don’t seem too strong though? Are they here to try and snatch it too?” Qing Shui questioned curiously.

“Ah you don’t know about it, right? The scariest thing about the Northern Death Demon Mountain is that everyone’s strength would be reduced to Martial Saint Realm upon entering. At the very most, you’d reach Peak Martial Saint. Of course, for anyone who hasn’t reached Martial Saint Realm, their abilities wouldn’t be suppressed but neither would they increase.” The man chuckled.

Qing Shui watched the gleeful look on the man’s face. He was at the Peak Martial Saint level, so his abilities wouldn’t be suppressed when he entered. Additionally, anyone stronger than him would be reduced to the same level.

Qing Shui recalled the Sky-Obstructing Crow’s words. The reason he wanted Qing Shui here was precisely because of this suppression. It was no wonder the place was named Northern Death Demon Mountain. With the restriction on power, demonic beasts should also be affected. However, some pure-blood desolate beasts were much stronger than humans when they were on the same rank.

Qing Shui was well-acquainted with the man by now. Out of curiosity, he asked again. “What good stuff is there at the Primordial Golden Bear’s tomb?”

“There’s plenty. The Primordial Golden Bear was one of the strongest demonic beasts outside of the top ten. Moreover, it had 70% Primordial Bloodline, which was rumored to be the strongest demonic beast around. With such a powerful existence, its skin, bones, core, blood, and flesh would be considered treasures. Even so, we don’t know how long this tomb has been around for. There might not be any flesh left, but the others should still be around. In addition, the Primordial Golden Bear’s Battle Technique must have been left behind too.”

“The Primordial Golden Bear’s Battle Technique?” Qing Shui was startled.

“It’s powerful to an extent. For example, only demonic beasts with their own inheritance would have something like that. Their inheritance would be imprinted on their bodies in the form of a skull. If they wish, it could be broken down at the moment of their deaths. If it’s not destroyed, then the person who retrieved this skull could infuse his spirit energy and learn the Primordial Golden Bear’s Inheritance. That’s the principle of it, but whether the person could learn it would depend on talent.” The man was like a familiar friend to Qing Shui now as the latter had given him gifts.

The people at the entrance had all entered the Northern Death Demon Mountain on the second day. There was a tunnel that was mandatory to pass through. And from there on, there was a suppression on Heavenly Dao. As long as the suppression remained, they would be stuck in the Saint Realm.

This was a broad tunnel, and they moved through it without control. Their bodies didn’t seem like theirs to manage.

After about thirty minutes, everyone regained their consciousness and emerged in an icy world. Everything around them was snow white. The snow was thick and hard, and with a feel, Qing Shui could tell that it was about 100 meters thick…

There weren’t any snowflakes in the air. The sky was bright and there were rays of multicolored sunlight, but the sun was nowhere to be found.

There were many people around and increasingly so as Qing Shui looked around them. There were no limitations and since anyone of any level was free to come, tens of thousands of people filled the space in a short time, with more of them coming in.

Qing Shui could feel his powers slipping off him, scaling down to the state of Peak Martial Saint before stopping.