Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 592: Pissing Off a God

It was not just a matter of whether Hai Pinglan truly understood the Profound Control Realm... Even by conventional reasoning, no one could have predicted that the Sea Emperor would recover so efficiently. Xia Longyuan probably had not anticipated it either—if he had, he might have come to chase down the remnants even while wounded, leaving no need for Zhao Changhe to handle it.

Everyone who knew about the existence of these ancient gods and demons was well aware that they were all still in a weakened state and were far from fully recovered. The Sea Emperor had remained dormant for an entire era and had only started stirring a little over a decade ago, and even then, he was in a fragile state—forced to use underhanded means like the Soul of Water to invade the spirit of Lady Three’s mother.

Afterward, he even compromised and made deals with Hai Pinglan, exchanging terms for the construction of a temple to gather faith, gradually restoring his power to his current state.

With the Sea Emperor having carried out a self-detonation, even if the damage he would suffer would not be as severe as when he collapsed at the end of the last era, it would not be far off. With the faith directed toward him weakened and his followers slaughtered, it would be as though he had been reset to its weakest state. So, it was only natural to assume that it would take him an extended period of time to recover.

Lady Three felt uneasy, urging them to leave as soon as possible. This was obviously not due to some logical reasoning—with the reasons having just been stated. It was her intuition as a martial artist that caused her uneasiness. She sensed lingering dangers and felt the urge to eliminate them at the root. It was not that she could actually foresee that the Sea Emperor would recover to this extent so quickly.

Zhao Changhe, however, actually did harbor a faint suspicion. Back when the Sea Emperor had been slumbering, he likely had not possessed a Heavenly Tome, but perhaps he had managed to acquire one over the last decade. When anything involved the Heavenly Tome, things could never be simple.

Xia Longyuan had a page of the Heavenly Tome, and thus was invincible in the world. Zhao Changhe had acquired a page early on and, in two years, ascended to the top ranks of the Ranking of Earth.

They lived lives with cheats, leaving others in despair, unable to comprehend how they achieved what they did.

Yet, even with how fast he had progressed, Zhao Changhe was far from fully utilizing the potential of the page—and eventually, pages—he had. Despite having multiple pages, there had not been a significant qualitative change compared to when he had just one or two pages. Instead, it was as if he was simply adding one more feature after the other to the page he originally had, which was honestly somewhat underwhelming to him. He had a sneaking suspicion that the blind woman was suppressing the Tome’s true power, or perhaps she herself was benefiting from it while he only enjoyed a portion of its value.

Nevertheless, if even a fraction of its value offered him so much, then if the Sea Emperor had a page and could tap into its full potential...

Well, he could only imagine the wonders that were accessible to the Sea Emperor.

Zhao Changhe believed the page in the hands of the Sea Emperor to be related to the power of faith or the Dao of incense and offerings. This was a concept that belonged to an elusive aspect of martial philosophy, and perhaps it could not even truly be classified as a part of martial arts. Regardless, at the very least, for the Sea Emperor, it likely proved far more effective for recovery than the page that Xia Longyuan possessed.

As the Tang Clan’s flagship completed its turnaround and sailed back into the chaotic reef islands, Tang En, grumbling about the futility of their previous voyage, suddenly froze.

He realized that the sea, previously littered with floating corpses, had become strangely clean.

Bones were scattered sparsely, almost out of sight.

Given the vast number of corpses that had been present, it was impossible for them to have all drifted away so quickly with the tides—especially with the calm weather of the past two days. It felt as if... someone had deliberately cleaned up the battlefield.

Who would bother cleaning up a battlefield like this? Were they worried about an outbreak of disease?

Zhao Changhe leaped from the ship and landed atop a reef that barely protruded from the sea. He knelt to examine a somewhat intact corpse, and his brow furrowed.

His understanding of the Dao of Life was now far beyond ordinary, and he could tell that this was the result of all the life energy being completely drained from the corpse, even down to the bones and skin.

Faithful followers, tribe members—what did it matter? To the Sea Emperor, they were nothing but a field of crops to be harvested.

Nearby, Xia Chichi was inspecting the shattered remains of the temple’s wood and stone. After a moment, she shook her head. “The wood and stone show no particular properties—any energy they contained has long since dissipated.”

Zhao Changhe looked around, lost in thought.

There has to be a secret realm here...

Yet, despite his countless ventures into secret realms, this time, he was at a complete loss on how to enter it.

While the chaotic reefs might seem, well, chaotic, Zhao Changhe’s experience from the Black Tortoise Secret Realm taught him that what appeared as simple islands or rocks on the surface could conceal entire mountains beneath the sea. Finding the entrance to a secret realm within a massive underwater mountain range was nearly an impossible task.

Ying Five believed himself to have a knack for discovering secret realms, and that was certainly true when compared to Zhao Changhe. Zhao Changhe’s expertise in this area fell far short of his, and the only reason he had stumbled upon so many was really just due to his extraordinary luck and unique fate. In other words, Zhao Changhe was practically cheating.

“Blind woman...”

The blind woman responded irritably, “Even if you say that I’m the one who wants the page, I still can’t give you that kind of hint.”

“Why? Is someone or something actually stopping you?”

“That’s just the rule of the Heavenly Dao. What’s forbidden is forbidden.”

“And if I can’t find the way in, and the Sea Emperor recovers and comes for us, what then? I get killed... Oh, right, you’d probably be fine with that, but what if the Heavenly Tome gets taken from me?”

The blind woman replied flatly, “Then I’ll just follow him.”

For some reason, even though Zhao Changhe wanted to rid himself of the blind woman, hearing her response made him feel uncomfortable. He could not quite figure out why, though.

It was equally perplexing trying to understand the blind woman’s perspective. She had given him guidance in the past—such as hinting that he needed a weapon that specialized in damaging the soul to defeat the Sea Emperor—but when it came to breaking into the secret realm to reach the Sea Emperor, she refused to offer any help. She said there was a bottom line, but he simply could not figure out where that line was.

Is it that she can’t be too specific? She never actually told me that I needed Dragon Soul Wood, only that I needed something to extinguish souls. Whether the Dragon Soul Wood actually works is still up to me to find out. Is this how she avoided breaking the rules of the Heavenly Dao?

Maybe that’s why she’s been writing the announcements of the Tome of Troubled Times—she’s probably trying to navigate the loopholes of the system.

Just as he was pondering how to manipulate the blind woman into giving him a hint without crossing any forbidden lines, Lady Three’s voice rang out from a distance, “I’ve found something! Come and look.”

Zhao Changhe and Xia Chichi quickly moved to Lady Three’s side. She stood at the edge of a reef, gazing down at the corpse of a member of the Sea Tribe that was slowly dissolving beneath her feet.

“Their bodies are being broken down into various forms of energy—water energy, life energy, spiritual energy[1]—and all of it is being drawn somewhere, like rivers flowing into the sea. I can sense the direction the energy is moving. It’s gathering at the center of the reefs, swirling like a vortex... Since the energy can enter, it means that the secret realm isn’t completely sealed!”

Zhao Changhe clapped his hands. “If it’s not completely sealed, that means we can send our energy in as well.”

Xia Chichi added, “Should we give it a small boost then?”

With a flip of her palm, a group of green qi materialized above her hand. “This is the Azure Dragon’s intent pertaining to wood and plants. It’s not only capable of nourishment and rejuvenation, but also poison and decay. That’s what I’ve learned most about the Azure Dragon’s will lately...”

Lady Three raised an eyebrow, curious. “In a place brimming with vitality, how did you end up comprehending the opposite?”

“I spent too much time copying the Classic of Materia Toxica lately, so it’s been on my mind. As a result, I ended up going in that direction,” Xia Chichi explained.

Zhao Changhe: “...”

Lady Three: “...”

Xia Chichi continued, “Don’t underestimate the Classic of Materia Toxica

. It’s an ancient text on poisons. Do you know what this green qi does?”

Lady Three teased her, “Well, I guess you could put it on your head and see if it looks good on you[2].”

Xia Chichi’s eyelid twitched, but she didn’t retort. Grinding her teeth, she said, “This poison reverses the power of regeneration. Anything meant for healing or recovery will instead cause harm. Since you can see where the energy is flowing, send this in first. Whether or not the Sea Emperor can resist it, we’ll find out later. Then we can come up with more plans.”

Lady Three, despite her teasing, took the task very seriously. She swiftly guided the green qi from Xia Chichi’s hand into the corpse at her feet, effortlessly fusing it with the water energy released from the body, letting it seep in.

She was extremely familiar with the Sea Tribe’s water energy, having practically dismantled the water constructs down to their cores.

Zhao Changhe said, “If that’s the case, let me add a bit more to it.”

Lady Three raised an eyebrow. “Your vicious qi?”

“No.” Zhao Changhe began unfastening his belt. “Help me send in a stream of my piss...”

Before he could finish, the reefs began to tremble violently, the ground quaking beneath them.

At the center of the reefs, the underwater mountain cracked open, transforming into a massive vortex. All the yet-unabsorbed bones were sucked in, vanishing in an instant.

An enormous suction force pulled at the three of them, trying to drag them in, but they were far stronger than before and stood their ground, unmoved.

The secret realm was the Sea Emperor’s domain, and none of them knew what awaited inside. They were not so foolish as to walk in. Even if they did have some thoughts on entering before, it was only because they had no other choice. But now that the Sea Emperor had shown himself, why go inside at all? If he still refused to come out, Zhao Changhe was ready to literally take a piss on the other party again.

“Three foolish humans...” From the heart of the vortex, a figure emerged—a humanoid being no larger than an average man, seemingly condensed from water and covered in scales, even on its face. It looked just like a god of war in full armor.

Zhao Changhe’s expression grew incredibly grave. “He’s actually recovered this much!”

The level that the Sea Emperor was at was definitely no weaker than when he fought Xia Longyuan and then fought Hai Pinglan after being wounded.

He was at about the peak of the third layer of the Profound Mysteries—still not quite at the Profound Control Realm.

Their timing was perfect. If they had come any later, giving the other party more time to recover, he would have surely reached the Profound Control Realm!

“Heh...” The Sea Emperor’s eyes were a blazing crimson, filled with hatred and fury. “I wished to complete this last bit of recovery to prepare for Xia Longyuan, not you lot. I truly am at a loss as to where you three find the confidence and courage to provoke me like this.”

All three readied their weapons, prepared for battle.

“If you won’t appreciate these few more moments of life I’ve granted you, then die!”

Whoosh!

A trident flew straight toward Zhao Changhe, aimed right at his face.

This was the Sea Emperor’s true weapon, a weapon that was a part of his very being!

1. Just a reminder that while the author uses different words for life force, vitality, and life energy, they seem to all refer to the same thing. The same applies to spiritual energy, soul energy, and whatever else is spiritual or soul-like in nature, it seems. ☜

2. This is a reference to the classic green hat = cuckold joke, though it’s unclear how this joke came to be in this world. ☜