Chapter 1390: Statues
Yi Yun guessed that the village was likely a place where the senior took his disciples and family to be isolated from the world. They would live in the pocket world, tending to their herbs and staying away from the complexities of the mortal world. It was their very own little paradise.
However, all things change with time.
As Yi Yun strolled through the village, he felt like he had entered a mortal village. He saw farming equipment and cutlery everywhere.
However, the herbs he had been looking forward to did not make an appearance.
Before Yi Yun entered the herbal garden, he had caught a whiff of the herbal fragrance. The herbal garden definitely had herbs in it but finding them was a different task altogether. If it were easy, Wang Mu and his wife would had taken everything away on their first visit.
Yi Yun circled the village and came to a tiny hill basin behind it. When he stepped into the inconspicuous hill basin, his expression changed. It was engraved with Dao patterns, making him sense nomological fluctuations as he walked around in it.
He guessed that a massive array had been set up in the herbal garden. Yi Yun was quite surprised that the massive array continued functioning for so long despite all this time that had passed.
As he walked into the hill basin, he was surprised to see a row of statues.
These statues were of normal human height. They must have been there for a very long period of time. There were signs of the elements wearing on them, making them look inconspicuous. They looked like the kind of ordinary rock statues that were randomly strewn throughout a mortal village’s back mountains.
There were a total of eight statues. Yi Yun took a casual glance at first but was stunned by what he saw.
He stood dazed in front of the eight statues for a very long period of time. His face was filled with shock and disbelief. Slowly, his look turned into one of reverence and astonishment!
The eight ordinary-looking statues contained a boundless ancient aura. Each statue had a corresponding name of the figure that was being immortalized.
There was no exception. All of them were Godly Monarchs!
Eight statues and eight Godly Monarchs?
Yi Yun drew a deep breath. Godly Monarchs were extremely rare in the Sinkhole, but now he was seeing eight at once. The Godly Monarchs depicted on the statues were likely ancient Godly Monarchs.
Yi Yun looked at each one of them.
Godly Monarch Still Destruction, Lord of Six Dao, Skychasm Ruler, Pure Yang Sword God...
Oh!?
Wait!
Yi Yun felt a jolt when he saw the Pure Yang Sword God. The statue was scuffed with the marks of time to the point that even the statue’s face was a little faded. However, it contained an inexplicable presence. It was as though a sword was slashing out of the statue. The sword stance was extremely insipid but it could split the celestial bodies and shatter the stars! It was as though everything was like a fleeting cloud, worthless in front of that sword.
Yi Yun deeply felt the link between his lifeblood and the aura contained within the statue. There was a strong resonance.
Pure Yang Sword Palace owner!
Yi Yun was certain that the shape of statue was that of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.
He never expected to see a statue of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. If that was the case, were the other seven figures all his equals?
Yi Yun continued down the line as he saw another Godly Monarch that left him even more astonished.
The statue was in the form of a woman. She had a graceful figure and had a beauty which could overthrow states and cities. Her name was Godly Monarch Mirage Snow!
"Godly Monarch Mirage Snow, could it be..."
Yi Yun looked at the woman’s face carefully. The sculpture’s face matched a beautiful face from his memory...
Huan Chenxue!
The statue was actually in the form of Huan Chenxue!?
Yi Yun found it unbelievable. Huan Chenxue was a Godly Monarch?
He recalled his time in the Mirage Sea Realm where he met the amiable blue-dressed woman. She had given him her most important Mirage Snow sword. Yi Yun spent several years with Huan Chenxue in the Mirage Sea Realm leading mundane but happy days.
Huan Chenxue was only a mortal woman now, so he had never thought that she was once a Godly Monarch!
There was also the Nine Li Magus Empire’s Nine Li Magus Maiden. She looked identical to Huan Chenxue. However, he did not know what their relationship was. He did not take the liberty to expose the existence of Huan Chenxue to the Nine Li Magus Maiden.
Now that he saw Godly Monarch Mirage Snow’s statue, Yi Yun was alarmed.
Both Nine Li Magus Maiden and Huan Chenxue were mortal. What was their relationship with Godly Monarch Mirage Snow? Could it be that during an ancient battle, Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was heavily injured, causing her to lose all her powers to the point of being unable to cultivate? Could she have reincarnated into Huan Chenxue and the Nine Li Magus Maiden...
As for the Nine Li Magus clan—the mysterious clan that had an extremely long history and incredibly deep heritage—could their true identity be the guardians of Godly Monarch Mirage Snow?
Upon coming up with this theory, Yi Yun was at a loss. He had yet to complete the Herb Nurturing Array that the divine alchemist had left behind. All he did was leave Ling Xie’er and the Divine Alchemy Cauldron behind in the array. If there came a day when he could complete the Herb Nurturing Array, what sort of situation would play out? Could he actually heal a Godly Monarch?
Yi Yun stared intently at Godly Monarch Mirage Snow’s statue. Although she looked identical to Huan Chenxue, there was a heroic bearing in between her brows. It made Yi Yun wonder what Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was like when she had free reign over the world back in the ancient times.
After Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was another female Godly Monarch.
Yi Yun also knew this Godly Monarch. She was Godly Monarch White Lunar—Bai Yueyin!
She was a terrifying existence that had unified the Seven Desolates, establishing the White Lunar Divine Empire. She was known by all in the Sinkhole. She had existed since ancient times. According to Huan Chenxue, Bai Yueyin was similarly severely injured in the ancient battle. It resulted in her having to frequently enter long periods of seclusion and slumber.
But even so, the power Bai Yueyin possessed was something average people could hardly imagine. Since the establishment of the White Lunar Divine Empire, Bai Yueyin had vanished. However, despite all the time that had passed, no faction was foolish enough to antagonize the White Lunar Divine Empire.
"Eight ancient Godly Monarchs and eight statues. Could it be that this herbal garden is related to the ancient Godly Monarchs? Or could it by chance be that this ancient herbal garden was left behind by one of the Godly Monarchs?"
Yi Yun had such a thought. Yi Yun had heard from Huan Chenxue the legend of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. They were people that had fought the Ancestor God back in ancient times. During that battle, there were deaths, injuries, and disappearances among the eight Godly Monarchs.
However, Yi Yun never expected that Huan Chenxue herself was one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs.
If the herbal garden was related to the ancient Godly Monarchs, it was truly not something Wang Mu could ever hold on to. Wang Mu’s discovery of the herbal garden was not an opportunity but a disaster.
Yi Yun walked out of the hill basin as he followed the Dao patterns. Soon, he arrived in a valley.
The valley was blooming with flowers. It was an idyllic scene that resembled an otherworldly paradise.
However, Yi Yun sensed an extremely dangerous atmosphere in there.
He swept his gaze and saw twelve red stone monuments erected in the valley. They looked like they were stained by fresh blood. In the middle of the twelve stone monuments was a bed of flowers. Yi Yun noticed a special plant in the middle of the bed of flowers.
It had seven leaves, and each leaf was laced with dark golden patterns that suffused a faint glow.
"This is..." Yi Yun looked at the plant and sensed its surging vital aura. Furthermore, it emanated a rich herbal fragrance. It seemed to resemble the fragrance he detected outside the herbal garden.
Yi Yun was certain that it was a supreme-grade herb but it was a strain he had never seen before.
Yi Yun was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes. If it was an herb he had never seen before, the rarity had to be unimaginable.
Now, Yi Yun was certain that if the Li family knew of this herb, they would probably go all out, attacking in full force to gain entry. The Martial Numinous clan would do so too.
The mysterious herb was right in front of Yi Yun but he was in no hurry to pluck it.
He could sense a dangerous aura lingering within the valley.