In fact, it was exceedingly difficult to go through an improvement in strength at Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord's realm. What laid beyond them was the legendary Godly Monarch realm.
Advancement in the Martial Dao required one to blaze a trail through all obstacles to begin with. Some rare geniuses could cultivate to the Divine Lord realm in a few millennia with unstoppable momentum, but later, they could spend the rest of their lives stuck. They might not even break through to become a Godly Monarch; they might not even figure out the general direction they needed to go in to become one.
Therefore, upon seeing Fire Cloud Divine Lord's strength, Primordial Chaos Daolord had no choice but to admit that although he was of questionable character, he did have extremely high talent. Furthermore, Fire Cloud Divine Lord had concealed his strength very well. Prior to this, Fire Cloud Divine Lord's cultivation level was definitely ranked in the top five among the Divine Lords present, but he had never revealed his true strength.
Now, he had revealed it because they were about to enter the treasure hill. He was giving Primordial Chaos Daolord a warning.
With Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord using their strongest techniques, the time barrier immediately exploded.
The explosion of the time barrier resulted in a cracking sound as a corner of the Chaos hill's wall was blasted open. They saw a faint, old figure in that thin wall. He was draped in ragged clothes with a head of white. His flesh and bones were wrinkled and his eyes turbid. He looked like a dessicated corpse that had been exposed to the elements for millennia.
"Who is that?"
Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord were stunned.
"Was the one who attacked us before this old bastard…?"
Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at the dreary old man in disbelief. The old man was clearly on the brink of death. He did not have any signs of life in him.
How could a dying person pose such a huge obstacle to him and Fire Cloud Divine Lord?
"A man who loses position and influence may be subjected to much indignity. It's all fated…"
The dreary old man sighed. He was a Godly Monarch, and had been sealed in the wall for hundreds of millions of years. His body had shriveled to the point where he could be described as a candle flickering in the wind!
"Who are you?" Primordial Chaos Daolord asked in a deep voice. He could not sense a specific realm from the elder, but he was sure that the elder was on his last breaths.
"There's a stone chamber here?"
It was only then that Fire Cloud Divine Lord discovered that there was a side room, a stone table, and a bookshelf. There were a few gray stone slabs on the bookshelf.
"Good stuff!"
Fire Cloud Divine Lord's eyes lit up. These stone slabs were actually Chaos Gems!
They had been fighting tooth and nail for months, only to get Chaos Gems the size of rice grains. In contrast, each of the stone slabs on the bookshelf were as big as the palm of a hand!
And they could tell at a glance that these stone slabs had been used to record something.
What exactly merited Chaos Gems being used as stone slips for the recording of information? Could it be a peerless cultivation technique?
Upon coming to this realization, Fire Cloud Divine Lord laughed out loud. He beckoned, and the stone slabs were soon in his hand.
"We agreed to share it equally!"
Primordial Chaos Daolord took a few slabs, and the both of them stored them into their interspatial rings.
These stone slabs had not turned sentient, making it very easy to grab them.
"There must be good stuff in here!"
Primordial Chaos Daolord's eyes lit up like a starving predator seeing a huge chunk of meat.
"Old Fogey, tell me what's in there. I do not care who you are, or how powerful you were in the past. Now, you are an old man on your deathbed. We are here for treasure, yet you made fools of us. If you do not wish to be tortured to death, answer my questions properly!"
"Where is this place? Where is the youth who entered previously? Tell me!"
Primordial Chaos Daolord's voice was overbearing.
Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness remained silent, as though he could not hear him at all.
He knew very well that he did not have much time left. He had previously used the worldly might to make the two Divine Lords spin around. Now that the might had been destroyed, and he had the demon wraith wreaking havoc inside him, he could no longer pose a threat to Primordial Chaos Daolord or Fire Cloud Divine Lord.
"Are you deaf? I can guess even if you do not tell. This must be a land of heritage left behind by a mighty expert. You must be an old servant that served that expert, right? You are watching over this place for your master."
Only when experts were about to die would they leave behind a land of heritage. If not, how could a living person hand things as valuable as Chaos Gems to people of the future? As such, the elder must have been a guardian.
"Have you given the good stuff in here to that little bastard? Or did you hide him? I know he's inside this mineral vein. I have already sealed off the surrounding area of this mineral vein with an array formation. It's impossible for that punk to leave!" Fire Cloud Divine Lord closed in towards Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, a sinister smile suffusing his lips. "Since you aren't speaking, don't blame me for what I might do. I believe that little bastard must be watching in secret. Then, I'll let him see how the old fool that's protecting him is being tormented! You are probably unafraid of death considering your wretched state, but that's fine. I have ways to make a person wish he were dead."
As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, he took out a red mirror.
"The Eight Fires Mirror is specially used for the refinement of souls. I'll let you experience the pain of having your soul refined."
Fire Cloud Divine Lord shook his wrist as the Eight Fires Mirror flew out. It floated above Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness's head. At that moment, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness remained calm. His eyes were slightly closed, as though everything that was happening around him had nothing to do with him.
This utter lack of acknowledgment enraged Fire Cloud Divine Lord.
"Heh! You sure are calm. I'm interested to see how long you can maintain that. Soul extraction!"
As Fire Cloud Divine Lord shouted, a sanguine beam of light blasted out of the Eight Fires Mirror. It shot straight for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness's head, but he continued sitting there calmly, like an enlightened Buddha.
However, the sanguine beam of light that was about to hit Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness's head slowed down suddenly, as though an invisible hand was tugging at it.
The sanguine light slowed down and almost came to a stop three inches from Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness's head. The tiny distance then became an untraversable ravine.
"Oh? A time barrier!?"
Fire Cloud Divine Lord's expression changed. His Eight Fires Mirror had been stopped in place by a time barrier.
He never expected that the old man could still cast a time barrier despite being so close to death.
"That's not right. There's no energy fluctuations coming from him at all. This time barrier isn't being cast by him." Primordial Chaos Daolord had sharp senses. The moment he finished his sentence, an azure lamp appeared out of thin air. It floated above Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness's head, and towered above the Eight Fires Mirror.
The ancient azure lamp sprinkled its azure glow onto the Eight Fires Mirror.
Following that, an incredible scene happened. Wherever the surface of the Eight Fires Mirror was touched by the azure light, it would lose all its luster. It even began to produce speckles of rust that began to spread and increase in number. Gradually, it spread throughout the entire mirror.
The weathering of endless time seemed to be compressed into a few seconds. The Eight Fires Mirror rotted in such a manner, losing all its numinosity, and was reduced to rusty scraps.
"Oh!? My Eight Fires Mirror!"
Fire Cloud Divine Lord looked up suddenly as a figure walked out of the wall, as though an invisible door had opened inside the wall.
"Little bastard, so you were hiding here!"