Chapter 469: Chapter 355: The Waters of the Styx_2
Clearly, they were all aware of the origins of this lake.
Li Cheng did not know the origins of the lake; he only felt that its waters had a great attraction to the Divine Soul, and that the Law of Death within it was exceptionally concentrated, with an astonishingly pure death aura.
"Styx water! It's actually Styx water!"
"The Styx has been a legend for at least a trillion years and has not appeared. How can Styx water emerge here?"
Ao Wuzhan looked solemnly towards the Dragon Emperor, but the Dragon Emperor shook his head and said, "Legend has it that the Styx is the cradle of dead spirits, with the earliest of them born from the waters of Styx. I thought that was only a myth, yet here we have the actual Styx water."
Li Cheng understood; the Styx, he had come across it in ancient texts, known as the source of dead spirits, omnipresent yet never seen by anyone.
The records claimed that the earliest dead spirits were corpses scoured by the waters of Styx, which gave birth to a new consciousness in them and retained some of their cultivation from their living days.
As the Styx is omnipresent, the number of dead spirits has been steadily increasing.
But the Styx had vanished for far too long, during its absence, dead spirits were formed by nurturing bones with death energy.
"Let's go down and take a look; I believe it is very likely that the Styx passed through our ancestral lands and broke open a gap, pooling together to form this lake," said the Dragon Emperor.
Ao Wuzhan nodded, his divine power parting the waters, revealing a path leading to the bottom of the lake, which was unfathomably deep.
The three descended tens of thousands of meters, when a bright light emerged below them, emanating from a colossal crown, a hundred zhang in size, that emitted a strong golden light, illuminating the surrounding tens of miles!
Within the crown sat an old man cross-legged, his divine power ceaselessly flowing into the crown.
"Father!" Ao Wuzhan breathed a sigh of relief and called out.
The elder looked up, nodded slightly, then glanced at Li Cheng and the Dragon Emperor, his eyes revealing a hint of surprise, "The son of the Confucius Ancestor! The Devouring Ancient Dragon!"
"You recognize me?" Li Cheng was somewhat surprised.
The elder nodded, "I have seen you before, though you were but a child then. I would not mistake your aura. Why have you come? And with them too?"
"Father, it was Brother Li who helped open the Formation; otherwise, we could not have entered," Ao Wuzhan explained.
The elder's eyes flashed with astonishment, marveling, "The master outdoes the apprentice. I did not expect your Array Mastery to reach such levels!"
As the Dragon Emperor and Clan Leader of the Dragon Clan, he was well aware of the strength of the nine Formations at the entrance. To break through them was sufficient proof of his Array Mastery.
Li Cheng bowed respectfully and looked below, where countless dragon corpses and bones lay shrouded in golden light!
"They have all become dead spirits, so I had no choice but to suppress them here, refining their death energy and consciousness," the Dragon Emperor explained.
Ao Wuzhan, puzzled, said, "Father, why not just destroy them?"
It was a wondrous waste of effort to refine the death energy and consciousness; it was no wonder that the Dragon Emperor had not been able to return for hundreds of thousands of years.
The Dragon Emperor narrowed his eyes at Ao Wuzhan, "These are our ancestors!"
Ao Wuzhan coughed awkwardly, thinking that since these ancestors had died so many ages ago and turned to dead spirits, they should just be destroyed. But he dared not voice this thought aloud.
Instead, he swiftly changed the subject, "Father, what about this Styx water then?"
The Dragon Emperor seemed helpless, heaving a sigh before speaking, "I don't know which ancestor brought it. Perhaps they wanted to use the Styx water to live once more?"
Hearing this, Li Cheng and the others exchanged glances.
Finding Styx water was quite impressive in itself.
But the Dragon Emperor's words seemed too conservative. It was possible that the ancestor wanted to turn all ancestors in these ancestral lands into dead spirits, meaning he could be in collusion with the dead spirits.
All the remains here belonged to beings of Divine Emperor level, and once turned into dead spirits, whether they joined the Corpse Clan, Bone Clan, or some other, their growth would be incredibly rapid.
"Was this lake's location previously a grave? Which ancestor is buried here?" Ao Wuzhan asked further.
The Dragon Emperor glared at him, retorting, "Are you suggesting that whoever is buried here brought the Styx water? If it were you, would you not usurp the place for your own?"
Ao Wuzhan once again took a hit and, feeling helpless, shrugged his shoulders. Indeed, if it were him, he would certainly destroy any dragon corpse in a grave on the brink of death and after taking possession, release the Styx water to prevent any future generations from discovering his acts.
"Who brought it here is no longer traceable, nor important now. What matters is to first erase the death qi and the consciousness of these ancestors turned into Dead Spirits, allowing them to return to rest in the earth," said the Dragon Emperor.
The three of them were well aware that the bones below had developed a faint consciousness and were instinctively drawn to the Styx because it could hasten their metamorphosis.
Thus, all the Dead Spirits in the ancestral land had converged here, inadvertently giving the Dragon Emperor a splendid opportunity to capture them all at once.
Only, looking at him, it was feared that it would take him hundreds of thousands more years to complete the task.
He used the Dragon God Crown to isolate the water from the Styx, while refining the death qi and consciousness within these bones. The consciousness had been refined, but the death qi was not so easy to eliminate.
"Clan Leader, let me refine the death qi. I can directly devour the death qi within the bones of our ancestors," the Dragon Emperor said.
The Dragon Emperor was overjoyed, "That's the line I've been waiting for. I've long anticipated the inheritance of the Devouring Ancient Dragon to emerge. It's the perfect chance to see how much power you've inherited from the Devouring Ancient Dragon!"
Li Cheng smiled without saying anything, realizing that the Dragon Emperor was actually quite stubborn; he was clearly exhausted and severely drained of Divine Power, looking for someone to take over.
Sure enough, once the Dragon Emperor began to activate the Dragon God Crown, the Dragon Emperor quickly consumed a Divine Pill to recover, while looking forward to the Dragon Emperor's actions.
As the Dragon Emperor activated the Dragon God Crown, the rule of Devouring swept forth, and the death qi within those bones was drawn out, surging crazily and rushing towards the Dragon Emperor.
Li Cheng looked at the Dragon Emperor, who seemed to easily absorb the death qi as well.
"Wuzhan, are you just going to stand there? Aren't you going to hurry up and collect the water from the Styx?" After watching for a while, the Dragon Emperor spoke to Ao Wuzhan.
Ao Wuzhan nodded, activating the Space Law to envelop the Styx water. Before long, all the water from the Styx was contained within spatial bubbles.
"Father, should we not investigate the source of the Styx water?" Ao Wuzhan asked tentatively.
He always felt that since the Styx water had been brought in by someone deliberately, that person might be colluding with the Dead Spirits. Moreover, they might not be dead and could be lurking within the ancestral land.
However, the Dragon Emperor shook his head, "There's no need. Would the ancestor who brought in the Styx water have left any trace behind? Once these ancestral bones have been restored, they shall be buried right here."
Ao Wuzhan nodded, and then said, "Father, may I take Brother Li for a walk around the area?"
The Dragon Emperor smiled at Li Cheng, "Go ahead. This place was once the Divine World of the Dragon Ancestor, and its existence dates back an extremely long time. You might find something useful."
Ao Wuzhan signaled to Li Cheng, and the two bowed together before turning to depart.
Ao Wuzhan flew far out with Li Cheng before speaking, "Brother Li, the Haoran Justice Air has the ability to suppress death qi. Could I ask you to activate it to clear out the death qi from the ancestral land? And perhaps use the Confucianism Law to probe around a bit."
Li Cheng looked at Ao Wuzhan, "Do you feel that…"
Ao Wuzhan made a quick shushing gesture and said, "It can't hurt to try, right?"
Li Cheng nodded, "I'll give it a try, but after all, my cultivation hasn't reached the Divine Emperor's Realm, so I may not be able to detect anything."
Li Cheng had a feeling that Ao Wuzhan wanted him to conduct this exploration to a certain extent, and if nothing was detected, it could also dispel his own doubts. After all, he represented the Confucian Sect, and harboring doubts about the Dragon Clan's ancestral land would not be good.
But he, too, wanted to probe around, which coincidentally aligned with his own intentions.
The ancestral land imposed severe restrictions on Divine Sense, and the method Ao Wuzhan suggested was naturally the most suitable.
Without hesitation, Li Cheng activated the Confucianism Law.
The next moment, the entire ancestral land was filled with the mighty Haoran Justice Air. Under this air, the pervasive death qi quickly dissipated, and the once gloomy heavens and earth gradually cleared up!
Li Cheng carefully sensed his surroundings, but there were no abnormal situations emerging from the land; it seemed everything was being purified by the Haoran Justice Air.
As time passed, Li Cheng gradually noticed that there were several places where extremely vigorous Divine Qi fluctuations were emerging, obviously denoting valuable natural treasures.
After a while, the death qi in the ancestral land had dissipated, and Li Cheng deactivated the Confucianism Law, turning to Ao Wuzhan, "There's nothing unusual, but I did find some heavenly and earthly treasures."
Ao Wuzhan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as he, though cautious, also did not want the Dragon Clan to have real issues.
"Given the ancient existence of the ancestral land, normally only dying Divine Emperor-level members of the Dragon Clan can enter. The natural treasures born here are sure to be exceptional. Let's go take a look!" Ao Wuzhan said with delight.