<b>Chapter 595: Ghost-Devourer</b>
Li Qiye looked at the monster while harboring many feelings in his heart. This mythical creature truly existed, and this was his first time seeing it. Although he was aware of the legends from the ancient past, countless wise sages and invincible existences didn't believe that this thing was real!
Prior to this, he wasn't too sure if this monster was actually imprisoned up here or not; it was only a possibility according to his intuition, so he was quite sentimental seeing it in person.
The terrifying monster was quite angry to see this group of ants before it. In the past, these ants would have been frightened to death after seeing it. Unfortunately, it was now suppressed and trapped inside this place. It was angry at them for staring at it like a caged beast, but it couldn't do anything since it lacked the ability to move.
Lan Yunzhu took a deep breath and asked while looking at the monster: “Just… what is it?”
“The Ghost-Devourer!” Li Qiye was also a stranger to this name since he had never seen one before.
“Ghost-Devourer?” This was the first time the two had heard of this unfamiliar name.
Li Qiye noticed their surprise and smilingly added: “It is understandable that you two haven't heard the name before. Since the start of time, very few people had seen it, and I'm afraid most who did have already died. There has only ever been one Ghost-Devourer, and it has been imprisoned here since a very long time ago.”
Lan Yunzhu and Xian Fan became even more shocked. Who actually had the power to suppress this terrifying Ghost-Devourer in this place? The person must have been extraordinary!
Li Qiye looked at the angry devourer and said: “Don't be mad, I will take you outside for a stroll. Maybe you will even thank me in the future.”
The devourer understood his words and glared at him with a terrifying gaze that could send even Virtuous Paragons' souls straight to the heavens.
Li Qiye slowly took out an ancient box. He obtained it from the Heavenly Dao Academy; they gave it to him as part of the agreement after he helped them repel the sects' joint attack.
The devourer's eyes changed after Li Qiye took out this box since it could sense a certain breath from it.
Li Qiye took out something from the box that resembled a dog collar. It had been heavily worn out from what seemed to be heavy usage.
The devourer's expression quickly changed. Its eyes narrowed, showing some fear after seeing this collar.
“What is it?” Xian Fan speculated that other than Immortal Emperors, nothing in this world could control this terrifying creature, but now it was shivering after seeing the thing in Li Qiye's hand. This was quite hard to believe. The worn-out dog collar in his hand didn't look like a supreme treasure at all.
“A Ghost-Devourer Lock.” Li Qiye answered. With that, Li Qiye activated it and, with a clanking sound, it flew towards the neck of the devourer. The monster didn't want to be sealed so it struggled vehemently. Unfortunately, it couldn't move with the four thick chains suppressing it.
The devourer was sealed by the lock, and its terrifying aura disappeared like a deflated ball. The lock was its nemesis so no matter how heaven-defying it might be, it would lose to this fatal weakness.
Lan Yunzhu and Xian Fan were in disbelief to see this frightening Ghost-Devourer being locked by this broken collar and losing its temper. Its powerful aura was dispelled entirely, becoming a leashed pet!
“Clank!” Right when the devourer was sealed, the four thick chains automatically fell down. With the Ghost-Devourer Lock, there was no longer a need for the four chains made of True Immortal Steel to suppress it.
Li Qiye held the chain that connected to the devourer's collar and shouted: “Come!”
The chain started to shake and, on the other side, the subdued devourer slowly shrank down and eventually became as small as a fist.
The little devourer was not scary at all; on the contrary, it looked a little cute.
Li Qiye opened the ancient temple to place the little devourer inside and formally put it away.
The other two were dumbfounded at the events that had unraveled before them. Even Lan Yunzhu, who had followed Li Qiye for quite a while, couldn't contain her shock. They knew just how powerful the beast was, but now it was just a tiny pet being brought along by Li Qiye. No one would believe this astonishing scene.
“This works… too?” Xian Fan stuttered. Li Qiye was bringing along an existence even more terrifying than a Godking, something that was beyond one's imagination.
“Why not?” Li Qiye shrugged and said: “Me bringing it along is the same as saving it, so it should be thanking me in the future.”
This was the first time Lan Yunzhu saw the collar, so she apprehensively asked: “What… is the Ghost-Devourer Lock?”
An item capable of locking the devourer and turning it into a pet was quite fearful. It seemed that Li Qiye was able to read her thoughts, so he smiled and replied: “This collar is only effective against the Ghost-Devourer. All things have mutual generations and mutual restrictions, so when the Ghost-Devourer appeared, it was already fated to not be able to escape the lock because they restrict each other.” [1. 相生相克 – A concept of the five elements; for example, fire creates/generates earth; woods breaks up the soil thus controls/restricts earth.]
“You, where did you get the lock from?” Xian Fan asked while looking at Li Qiye. This lock was so terrifying that it would instill dread in anyone.
Li Qiye smirked and casually replied: “I picked it up on the street.”
However, this answer didn't only annoy Xian Fan, even Lan Yunzhu was not happy, so the two of them leered at Li Qiye.
Li Qiye noticed their discontent so he smiled and said: “Fine, let me tell you two a story. A very long time ago, there was an existence who chose to walk the path of defying the heavens, to accomplish something that had never been done before — creating life.”
“Creating life?” Lan Yunzhu and Xian Fan were both startled.
This was the business of the heavens and not the responsibility of cultivators. Even Immortal Emperors wouldn't be able to accomplish this.
“It was just the initial stage and couldn't be considered true life creation.” Li Qiye continued his story: “He took out one of his ribs and borrowed the prime source of the heavens to create a miracle. Unfortunately, the experiment was a failure and suffered the heaven's punishment… Thus, the Ghost-Devourer was born.
“He didn't wish to create a bloodthirsty creature, but alas, his will was overshadowed by the heaven's punishment. Besides the devourer, the lock also came into being; this is the nature of mutual generation and restriction. From then on, the one and only Ghost-Devourer appeared.”
Xian Fan was enjoying the tale and quickly asked for more: “What happened after?”
Li Qiye continued: “The Ghost-Devourer was created as a heaven's punishment, so it was both murderous and bloodthirsty. That existence couldn't change this, but luckily, the lock also came out from the punishment. Because of the lock, despite its murderous nature, the beast became a great assistant to that existence.”
Li Qiye paused for a moment before continuing: “Nothing lasts forever in this world; a big change eventually occurred. The lock was lost and the other existence couldn't calculate its whereabouts.”
Both the girls exclaimed in shock: “The lock was lost?” They could already imagine the terrifying consequences when a murderous creature like the Ghost-Devourer was on the loose without the lock to restrain it.
Li Qiye went on to say: “You can imagine the consequences after the lock went missing. The Ghost-Devourer escaped and brought about the beginning of a calamity. The world became stained with blood as the nine worlds trembled. At that time, countless people died, creating flowing rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. The most incredible part was that the ghost race almost went extinct!”
Li Qiye's few words described it very lightly, but Xian Fan and Lan Yunzhu could imagine the scene where the devourer massacred the world. Just like Li Qiye said, this was a great disaster that couldn't be described with words.
“How come we have never heard of this story? There are no records from the ghost race as well.” Xian Fan asked emotionally: “Such a devastating event should be recorded, right?”
Li Qiye replied with a grin: “Do you know how long ago this was? It happened in an untraceable era. Plus, a few things aren't meant to be recorded. For example, do you know the true background of the Ancestral Realm? Do you know what ghastly thing is lying below its grounds?”
Lan Yunzhu and Xian Fan looked at each other after being asked this by Li Qiye. Not to mention them, even the ghost race itself didn't know too many things about the Ancestral Realm.
[spoiler title='595 Teaser']Li Qiye looked at the monster with many feelings in his heart. This mythical creature truly existed, and this was his first time seeing it. Although he was aware of the legends from an ancient past, countless wise sages and invincible existences didn't believe that this thing was real!
Prior to this, he wasn't too sure that this monster was imprisoned up here; it was only a probability according to his intuition, so he was quite sentimental to see it in person.
The terrifying monster was quite angry to see this group of ants before it. In the past, these ants would have been frightened to death after seeing it. Unfortunately, it was now suppressed and trapped inside this place. It was angry at them for staring at it like a caged beast, but it couldn't do anything since it lacked the ability to move.
Lan Yunzhu took a deep breath and asked while looking at the monster: “Just… what is it?”
“A Ghoathe!” Li Qiye was also a stranger to this name since he had never seen one before.[/spoiler]