Two Realms: I Will Become the Immortal Emperor

Chapter 426: Chapter 395: Upping the Pressure on Duobao

This was the very same Mudskipper Shrimp that Fang Shuxian had lured over.

It was a massive creature, over two hundred zhang in length.

Its innate talent, true to its name, was mastery over the tides. Not only was it skilled at manipulating tidal flows, but it also possessed immense strength, far surpassing even Body Cultivators of the Same Tier. Coupled with the fact that Mudskipper Shrimps always appeared in pairs, they were considered overlords in their own right within these sea domains.

”If it hadn’t been for that last battle, taming it would have been impossible.”

Meng Changtu was quite pleased.

The Mudskipper Shrimp had first been forcefully controlled by Fang Shuxian’s Sea Snail. Then, it had endured a great naval battle where it witnessed Chen Che slay several Golden Core experts. Terrified and heavily wounded, it had become much easier to tame.

”Weren’t there two of them? What happened to the other one? Did it get away?”

Chen Che asked, turning his head to the side.

He remembered another Mudskipper Shrimp, one that was a size larger than this one. Its attack at the time had been even more ferocious than those Tigerhead Sharks. The massive hole in the Jinyun Valley’s Spiritual Boat had been smashed open by its Claw Clamp.

”The other one is a more difficult case. After several failed attempts to subdue it, I simply set up a Grand Array in the sea to wear down its arrogance. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have no choice but to give up.”

Meng Changtu said, slowly shaking his head.

A wild Golden Core Great Demon like this is incredibly difficult to tame, even for another Golden Core expert. Success often comes down to pure luck and opportune moments.

Just as Chen Che was about to speak...

At that moment, something stirred in his robes. The Juvenile Turtle poked its head out, its large eyes fixated on the Mudskipper Shrimp that had risen from the water, a creature as massive as the Spiritual Boat itself. Chen Che smiled, took out a small porcelain bowl, and poured a little Spirit Liquid into it.

The Juvenile Turtle immediately waddled over, dipped its small head into the bowl, and began to drink greedily.

The sight made the Mudskipper Shrimp practically drool with envy. Sensing the creature’s longing through its Divine Sense, Meng Changtu couldn’t help but marvel at the extravagance. This batch of Pills had been refined from the corpses of the Golden Core Great Demons they had slain.

The Great Demons had varied in strength and the amount of energy they contained.

As a result, while this batch of Pills wasn’t as potent as the Wangxian Pill, they were still Tier Three Middle Grade Pills. Yet here Chen Che was, dissolving these Pills in water to feed the Juvenile Turtle, which made Meng Changtu feel for a moment that ’my treatment as a Golden Core True Master is worse than this Juvenile Turtle’s.’

He couldn’t imagine what heights this Dragon Turtle would reach in the future, having been raised on such a diet from a young age.

Chen Che’s knowledge of Beast Taming was superficial at best. He had only managed to subdue his two Demon Beasts because they had hatched from eggs, a clever shortcut. Thus, he couldn’t offer much advice on how to tame the Mudskipper Shrimp.

”I have some spare Pills. Here, take them. See if they help you tame the other Mudskipper Shrimp any sooner.”

”This...”

Meng Changtu accepted the Pills, but there was no joy on his face. He felt like he was taking advantage of a junior. He had originally wanted to help Chen Che, but instead, the Meng Family had been the one to benefit and was now poised to soar.

’This debt of gratitude... it’s as vast as the heavens!’

The Four Greats of Cultivation: Dharma, Companions, Wealth, and Land. Obtaining even one of them guaranteed a meteoric rise.

’The ancients truly spoke no lies.’

”Alright, just you wait! I’ll have good news about the Mudskipper Shrimp soon!”

Gritting his teeth, his father-in-law took the Pills. ’We’re family, there’s no need for formalities,’ he thought. ’Actions speak louder than words. I couldn’t help when Chen Che fought Dan Kongzi; in fact, I was nearly a burden.’

This was precisely why he was so determined to tame the Mudskipper Shrimp.

”Right, why haven’t I seen Chen Xi?”

Tearing his gaze away from the Juvenile Turtle, Chen Che asked in confusion, ”Has she returned to Shuzhou?”

”No, she’s gone into the deep sea to prepare for Crossing the Tribulation,”

Meng Changtu replied.

Chen Xi had already been in Shuzhou preparing for her Core Formation, but she came here after hearing about the battle in the Black Tortoise Calm Sea. Then she had an idea: she might as well undergo her tribulation here. The Black Tortoise Calm Sea was dotted with deserted islands; in fact, Meng Qianxun had used one of them for her own tribulation.

After helping Changtu capture the two Mudskipper Shrimps, Chen Xi went straight to one of the islands. The old master went along to act as her Protector.

Chen Che remained noncommittal.

Divine Dao Cultivators only need to spread their faith, so their Cultivation speed far outstrips other paths. Of course, the difficulty of their tribulations increases exponentially as well. If the greatest calamity for a Ghost Cultivator is the Ten Thousand Ghosts Devouring Body, then for a Divine Dao Cultivator, it is undoubtedly the Heart Demon Tribulation.

If they fail to pass it,

the best-case scenario is simply perishing, body and soul. The worst-case scenario is being consumed and replaced by their own Heart Demon.

”If she succeeds in her tribulation, we’ll have another Golden Core ally. And with her Cultivation speed, she might reach or even surpass the level of Thousand Eyes at his peak in just a few short years.”

A pleased look appeared on Meng Changtu’s face. He was well aware of Chen Che’s plans.

The more allies they had, the better their ability to withstand risks. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. Even a behemoth like the Primordial Sect was constantly absorbing subordinate Golden Core cultivators to bolster its strength against the Star-Picking Sect.

”Oh, Che’er,” Meng Changtu said, his voice dropping, ”the Lu Family has been gathering Materials for the Qingxu Guiyuan Pill lately. Was that your doing?”

He seemed to recall something. A few days ago, Lu Qinglian had approached him about it. As it happened, his family still had some leftover Materials from their last Alchemy session, so he had planned on selling them to her.

Still, he felt he should double-check.

Even leftover Materials for a Pill like that were considered strategic assets, typically saved for the next clan member attempting Core Formation. If Lu Qinglian were acting on her own, he would have found an excuse to politely decline.

”Yes, that was my arrangement.” Chen Che admitted with a smile, gently flicking the fishing line in his hand. ”Her Cultivation and Lu Yuntian’s are almost at the breakthrough point. With the help of the Wangxian Pill, they’ll likely attempt Core Formation within the next few years, so I told them to start preparing.”

Then, his tone shifted as he asked:

”Any news about the Artifact Refiners?”

”Not yet. I’ve had my people visit several major Artifact Casting clans, and I’ve learned something disturbing. For a long time now, there have been very few Tier Three Artifact Refiners under the Primordial Sect’s jurisdiction. Most of them have vanished without a trace. It’s the same in the territories of the Star-Picking Sect. Some have been missing for as long as a century.”

Meng Changtu’s brow furrowed as he spoke of this.

”What’s more, I recently received news that the Soul Tokens left behind by those missing Artifact Refiners have all shattered. Some interested parties have done the calculations, and it seems all of these Golden Core Artifact Refiners perished on the very same day.”

!?

Chen Che froze.

After his Sword Box was damaged, he had asked Liang Yuan to inspect it for repairs. Liang Yuan, however, had admitted that the artifact was beyond his skills. He claimed that even his own master would likely be unable to fix it.

That was why Chen Che had been forced to seek help from outside Casting Masters.

He never expected to uncover such earth-shattering news.

”There’s something very odd about this.”

Chen Che mused for a moment before saying, ”Nine Gold Core Founders, all perishing on the same day. That’s no coincidence. It’s highly probable they were all killed by the same person.”

”Exactly. I suspect the same thing,”

Meng Changtu added quickly.

”Those nine have been disappearing over a long period, the earliest a century ago and the most recent just over a decade ago. All of them were abducted. If their Soul Tokens hadn’t remained intact, their clans would have assumed they were dead long ago.”

”My theory is that all these Casting Masters were abducted by the same individual. They must have been imprisoned together all these years; otherwise, it’s impossible to explain how they all died on the same day.”

”Whoever it was went to great lengths to abduct these Casting Masters. It must have been to forge a Magical Artifact! But what kind of Magical Artifact would require nine master craftsmen and a hundred years to forge?”

Chen Che thought for a moment before a name suddenly surfaced. ”Duobao? Is he forging a Sword Pill?”

”There’s a ninety percent chance it’s him. If it really is Duobao, what’s our plan?”

Meng Changtu nodded, his expression grave.

Before his death, Ye Yuanji had revealed that Duobao was attempting to forge a Sword Pill, so it was natural for the two of them to make the connection.

”We’ll face whatever comes our way.”

The tension on Chen Che’s brow suddenly eased. ”I’ll add another million Spirit Stones to the bounty on Duobao. Make it so he can’t even show his face in the Primordial Sect’s territory!”

It was a trick he’d learned from Duobao himself.

’If you can’t beat them or can’t act directly, just bury them in Spirit Stones.’

Meng Changtu’s eyelid twitched.

Including the original bounty on Duobao, this would bring the total price on his head to nearly four million Spirit Stones. A sum that large might even tempt a Nascent Soul True Monarch.