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Before long, a crimson vortex floated above Qing Yuan’s beast bone.
This time, before Su Yi could speak, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s voice rang out. “Might I ask if Fellow Daoist Su has summoned me?”
His voice already carried a trace of reverence.
This subtle change was unquestionable proof that he’d adjusted his attitude. He now treated Su Yi with far more respect than before.
Qing Yuan said hurriedly, “Master, it is indeed Senior Su who has called you.”
“All of you, step away. I wish to converse with Fellow Daoist Su privately.”
“Yes, sir!” Qing Yuan and the others immediately left the area.
Su Yi was still sprawled out in his wicker chair. “It seems you’ve already thought this through.”
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s hearty laughter emanated from within the crimson vortex. “There’s no hiding it. It’s only been a few months since I obtained the first scroll of the Refining Void Malevolent Incantation, my severely damaged foundations in the Grand Dao have made a partial recovery.
“Although they’re still as feeble as can be, it’s far better than before. It’s given me hope of recovering my former peak and escaping my confinement in the Den of Caterpillars!”
His voice contained difficult-to-disguise excitement.
Su Yi took a sip of wine and said, “Now are you willing to tell me where you came from and about the Den of Caterpillars?”
“Of course,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy without so much as pausing to think. “But first, there's an unreasonable request I’d like to make.”
Su Yi laughed. “The rest of the Refining Void Malevolent Incantation?”
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy said solemnly, “If at all possible, Fellow Daoist. I would be endlessly grateful!”
Su Yi couldn’t see the Divine Monarch of Tragedy, but he dared say with certainty that the bird’s expression was full of longing.
“A secret method like that doesn’t mean much to me. There’s no harm in giving it to you,” Su Yi said casually.
“Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Su!” The Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s voice quavered; he’d obviously lost control.
He then went on to explain his origins in full detail.
It turned out that he hailed from the Nine-Headed Demon Peng lineage, and he was born with nine souls, each with mastery of an innate divine ability. He was incomparably heaven-defying.
He was a top-level yao, one of the most ferocious creatures around, strong enough to contend with even True Spirit divine beasts.
Thirty thousand years ago, he was already in the Profound Illumination Realm. At the time, his title was the “Nine-Soul Peng Emperor”!
At the time, the Holy Church of the Caterpillar didn’t yet exist on the Azure Continent.
After the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness befell the Azure Continent, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy was among the first group of Emperors to leave the continent and venture deep into the stars.
However, within his first year of exploring outer space, he ran into big trouble…
Despite himself, Su Yi’s curiosity was piqued, and he listened attentively.
According to the Divine Monarch of Tragedy, outer space was extremely vast and boundless, and it was full of unpredictable perils.
Even Imperial Realm Experts were unlikely to survive it!
Furthermore, it was in a forbidden zone called the “Sixth Star Ruin” that he faced disaster!
“The Sixth Star Ruin?” Su Yi couldn’t help but blurt out, interrupting the Divine Monarch of Tragedy.
“That’s right, the Sixth Star Ruin. It’s a withered, destroyed world floating amidst the starry void. It’s obviously long since lost its origin, and everything that once lived there has perished,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy. “It’s only after I entered it and uncovered clues from within numerous ruins that I ascertained that it was indeed the Sixth Star Ruin.”
“A world that lost its source….” Su Yi’s eyes flashed as he inferred a startling possibility.
He’d once entered a place connected to Sumeru Immortal Island, the Ninth Star Ruin. There, he saw an ancient tree laden with fragmented corpses of stars. It was manifested from the Azure Continent’s source.
In the past, the cultivators of the Azure Continent called that place the Well of Ancient Chaos.
However, the Ice Soul Spirit A’Cang called it the Ninth Star Ruin!
In other words, the source of the Azure Continent was in the Ninth Star Ruin.
According to the Divine Monarch of Tragedy, deep within the starry skies there was a similar place known as the Sixth Star Ruin!
Unlike the Azure Continent, the world attached to the Sixth Star Ruin had already withered and died. Its origin was gone forever.
This was enough for Su Yi to deduce quite a bit.
The source of the Azure Continent had once suffered a calamity of the Grand Dao, an attack from the depths of the starry sky. That was what damaged it so badly.
This calamity of the Grand Dao was the cause of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness that had enveloped the continent for thirty thousand years!
Furthermore, in the near future, the Origins of the Azure would crumble completely. Its origin power would feed back into the Azure Continent, which would welcome an unprecedented age of prosperity, a Radiant Epoch.
However, Su Yi knew all too well that the Radiant Epoch would end, and the continent would wane.
After all, this blessed age of cultivation was powered by the world’s source. Once the world’s source power dissipated completely, the Azure Continent would inevitably wither!
If this happened, the Azure Continent would unquestionably wind up just like the Sixth Star Ruin the Divine Monarch of Tragedy had discovered: withered and devoid of life!
In other words, the Sixth Star Ruin was almost certainly a vision of the Ninth Star Realm’s future.
Or, looking at it from the other direction, does this mean the Sixth Star Ruin faced a calamity of the Grand Dao from outer space just as the Ninth Star Ruin did? Su Yi’s gaze was solemn.
If that were truly the case, he feared there weren’t just the Sixth and Ninth Star Ruins out there. There ought to be a First Star Ruin, a Second Star Ruin, and so on!
Star Ruins, Star Ruins…. The name suggests a ruin floating amidst the stars, and it seems likely that all such places must one day face an unexpected calamity of the Grand Dao...
Su Yi sank into thought.
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s information made him recall quite a few other things. However, his leads were too few. He could make a few inferences, but he couldn’t confirm their veracity.
The only thing I know for certain is that the Sword of the Nine Hells can suppress and neutralize a calamity of the Grand Dao like the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. That’s why A’Cang entrusted the Seed of the Azure to my care…
Su Yi cast aside his scattered thoughts and said, “You said you ran into trouble in the Sixth Star Ruin, but what exactly happened there?”
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy sighed. “Just as I planned to leave the Sixth Star Ruined, I encountered someone extremely terrifying. He called himself a jailer charged with capturing and suppression, and he said that I… was an escaped prisoner.”
A jailer?
Su Yi was stunned.
If he called himself a jailer, he naturally kept watch over some sort of jail.
Furthermore, there were almost certainly others like him!
But what did the word “jail” mean here?
Could it be the Azure Continent?
If not, why would the jailer call the Divine Monarch of Tragedy an escaped prisoner?
If all of this was true, it was unbelievable!
The Azure Continent was a jail, and its jailers kept watch from amidst the stars. Who could possibly have remained calm after hearing that?
Even with the knowledge and experience of his past life, this was Su Yi’s first time hearing such a thing.
“What happened then?” asked Su Yi, already intrigued.
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy grimaced. “I sensed that something was amiss and planned to leave, but against all expectations, I couldn’t. The person who called himself a jailer and I fought, and in the end, I was captured…”
“How strong was he?” exclaimed Su Yi?”
“His cultivation was about the same as mine,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy. “We were both Profound Illumination Realm Emperors. However, he had mastery of an extremely terrifying forbidden power; I had no way of fighting him.”
He hesitated, then added, “That forbidden power seemed similar to the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness.”
Su Yi finally understood. “If I’m not mistaken, that was a calamity of the Grand Dao from outer space, and it indeed shared an origin with the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness.”
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy was flabbergasted. “Fellow Daoist, you’ve seen that power before too?”
“No, that’s mere conjecture,” said Su Yi.
He suddenly recalled something.
When he left Sumeru Immortal Island, he inadvertently glanced at the skies above Meteor Abyss. A pair of gray, illusory eyes hovered there. They were incomparably strange.
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Furthermore, the power of those strange eyes invaded his soul. At least, it tried—in the end, the Sword of the Nine Hells crushed it.
And the strange power the eye had used was none other than the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness!
This was why Su Yi guessed that a creature capable of controlling the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness lurked deep within Meteor Abyss!
Furthermore, it was highly likely from outer space.
And it had most likely set its sights on him because he was in possession of the Seed of the Azure!
As he recalled all of this, Su Yi couldn’t help but wonder: Is that creature deep within Meteor Abyss… a ‘jailer’ too?
After all, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy described a jailer who could manipulate the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness.
Out loud, he asked, “What happened after the jailer captured you?”
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy said gravely, “It’s as you see: I was imprisoned within a place devoid of sunlight, the Den of Caterpillars. Even after all this time, I’ve yet to escape…”
“Why didn’t they kill you?” asked Su Yi.
The Divine Monarch of Tragedy grimaced. “Do you know what a ‘Den of Caterpillars’ is, Fellow Daoist?”
Before Su Yi could answer, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy said, “I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘a moth’s child is carried by wasps.’”
Su Yi nodded. Moth caterpillars were a common sight in the mundane world. Potter wasps, meanwhile, were a type of parasitic wasp that frequently carried moth caterpillars back to their nests.
The ill-informed common folk thought that potter wasps couldn’t reproduce, and that they raised moth caterpillars as their own. This was why some people called adopted children “caterpillars.”
The term was based on a misconception.
In truth, when a potter wasp brought a caterpillar back to its nest, it stung the caterpillar half to death, then laid its eggs inside the caterpillar's body so that the wasp's offspring could feed on it!
They weren’t “adopting” anything.
When this occurred to him, Su Yi froze, and his pupils constricted. “Could it be that the jailers see you as a caterpillar? By which I mean, do they see you as… food for their children?”