Chapter 696: The True Monarch of Observing Chess

Lu Yang was silent for a moment, seeing how casually the Cicada Demon had died. He didn't even know the Golden Cicada's name.

Seeing Lu Yang's silence, Immortal Fairy guessed his thoughts. In the manner of a seasoned veteran, she earnestly lectured, "This is merely a glimpse of the brutal ancient battles. You must adapt to it."

"The cruel things I've experienced far exceed your imagination. Even now, I'm unwilling to recall them."

Lu Yang had an epiphany. Indeed, the great struggles of ancient times were life-and-death battles, far from the casual description given by Immortal Fairy. They must have involved bloody slaughter.

These weren't pleasant experiences for Immortal Fairy, which was why she was unwilling to recall them.

"Back then, to squash that Golden Cicada, I even used my 'Universe in Palm' technique. My fingers were covered in its juices; the mere thought of that sensation still sickens me." Recalling the battle, Immortal Fairy displayed a disgusted expression and symbolically shook her hands.

Immortal Fairy rose from the bed. The mattress was soft and bounced twice as she stood up.

"You've seen 'Universe in Palm,' right? Back then, the 'Universe in Palm' I cast was this—big." Immortal Fairy spread her arms wide, vigorously gesturing a circle.

Immortal Fairy then extended a finger and said, "It was like this."

With that, she poked Lu Yang a few times.

Lu Yang was speechless.

"Isn't your gesturing a bit too abstract, Fairy?"

Tao Tingfeng carefully examined the cicada shell in the box, which looked as if it were cast from gold. It appeared to be an extraordinary treasure.

He had heard from his clan uncle that only cultivators at the Integration stage were addressed as "True Monarch." This meant True Monarch Guanqi was an Integration stage cultivator.

For an Integration stage cultivator to cling to a treasure until death, one could imagine how precious it was.

"What should we do with this? Should I try to bind it to me?" Tao Tingfeng was tempted; this was a great opportunity fallen from the sky.

Meng Jingzhou glanced at Man Gu's evaluation in the small booklet, recalling Tao Tingfeng's recent actions—sneaking up the mountain and approaching True Monarch Guanqi. He mumbled quietly:

"This doesn't look like someone timid or easily scared at all."

Lu Yang stroked his chin, speculating, "Do you think Junior Brother Man might have used us two as a reference when he made that assessment?"

Meng Jingzhou considered it and found Lu Yang's point valid. Given his and Old Lu's usual conduct, this young man named Tao Tingfeng indeed seemed timid as a mouse.

As they spoke, Tao Tingfeng, following his clan uncle's old teachings, bit his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the golden cicada shell.

The blood vanished quickly upon contact with the golden cicada shell.

"Is it working?"

Tao Tingfeng was delighted and continued to drip blood until his face turned pale, almost to the point of anemia. Only then did the golden cicada shell stop absorbing blood. It then floated into the air and abruptly drilled into Tao Tingfeng's body, startling him greatly.

He quickly touched the spot where the golden cicada shell had entered but found nothing.

His body felt no discomfort.

"Does this mean I've successfully bound it?" Tao Tingfeng wasn't very sure.

"...Isn't this binding method a bit too simple?" Lu Yang complained.

"This is called 'the greatest truth is the simplest' and 'returning to simplicity'," Immortal Fairy rattled off two idioms.

"But True Monarch Guanqi is just... gone?" Meng Jingzhou was bewildered.

They had only been waiting for a while, and an ancient Integration stage cultivator had simply died. Wasn't that too easy a death?

Judging by True Monarch Guanqi's injuries, he had undergone fierce battles in his lifetime, possibly more than once. His wounds were not just external; his soul was also severely damaged, like a flickering candle flame in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.

Now, it had truly extinguished.

"He's not dead. The Fairy said True Monarch Guanqi branded his last faint consciousness onto the golden cicada shell, and now it has entered Tao Tingfeng's spiritual space."

Inside Tao Tingfeng's spiritual space, a weak voice spoke, "Boy... I didn't expect... you to know the method of binding."

True Monarch Guanqi's original intention was for Tao Tingfeng to carefully guard the golden cicada shell while he secretly recovered within it. He never expected the boy to directly bind the golden cicada shell with a blood ritual!

He was forced to enter Tao Tingfeng's spiritual space along with the golden cicada shell.

"Forget it. Perhaps I was truly destined to have no connection with the golden cicada shell."

Tao Tingfeng was startled to hear the voice. "Ah, y-you're still alive?"

True Monarch Guanqi stopped speaking. His current condition was truly too dire; he needed quiet recuperation.

Tao Tingfeng was somewhat flustered but didn't know what to do. He could only return home and, in his panic, fell into a dream, his mind filled with the events at Mount Yan.

After resting for a night, True Monarch Guanqi finally recovered somewhat and could speak continuously.

"I didn't expect to still be alive, boy. Where is this place?"

Hearing True Monarch Guanqi speak again, Tao Tingfeng was mentally prepared this time and didn't show too much panic.

"To answer True Monarch, this is Mount Yan City in Quanzhou."

"So it's Quanzhou." Although Tao Tingfeng couldn't see True Monarch Guanqi, he felt that the True Monarch must have a pensive expression.

"True Monarch, who exactly are you...?" Tao Tingfeng racked his brain for historical figures he had learned about, but none seemed to be named True Monarch Guanqi.

True Monarch Guanqi was displeased at not being recognized. "You're an ignorant junior! I am True Monarch Guanqi of Great Qian, an Integration stage cultivator, proficient in all hundred arts of cultivation."

Although he had already known True Monarch Guanqi was at the Integration stage, hearing him admit it still left Tao Tingfeng greatly shocked.

Good heavens, an Integration stage cultivator! The strongest person his clan uncle had ever met was only at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.

Tao Tingfeng recalled another matter: "True Monarch, what exactly is this golden cicada shell? Why did nothing change after it entered my body?"

True Monarch Guanqi snorted coldly, "You ignorant boy! If it weren't for fighting over this golden cicada shell, I wouldn't have been hunted down and ended up in such a state."

"This golden cicada shell is a supreme treasure. It would even be effective for me if I cultivated to the Tribulation Transcending stage."

"I seized it from a cultivator during the Great Yu period. Originally, the two people I was working with and I had an agreement: they would help me, I would give them benefits, and the item would be mine. Unexpectedly, those two betrayed my trust, violated our agreement, and, overcome by greed, tried to snatch the golden cicada shell."

"Those two dared to seize my possession. They truly didn't know what was good for them."

True Monarch Guanqi showed a cruel smile, even though his own situation wasn't much better.

"Alright, I need to rest more."

True Monarch Guanqi had expended all his strength just to say that much.

Lu Yang temporarily borrowed Immortal Fairy's divine sense and could observe Tao Tingfeng's spiritual space. It was his first time seeing such a weak Integration stage cultivator.

In contrast, the one residing in his own spiritual space had been lively and energetic since her revival, even able to exchange a few moves with his senior sister.