Chapter 88: The Ten Sacred Artifacts of the Savage Realm
Beside the sacred sword was a pool about five meters square. Fine wisps of searing yet frigid qi were rising from its surface, shrouding the nearby air in a hazy veil. With his keen eyes, Bai Mu could still make out the faint silhouette of a black-haired woman seated within it.
From Bai Mu’s angle, only the top of her head could be seen above the water, but the back of her head looked oddly familiar. Most striking of all was the emerald jade hairpin pinned among her glossy dark locks, which seemed somehow known to him.
“Could the one in the pool be Ling Yan?”
Bai Mu turned a puzzled gaze toward the middle-aged man in blue.
“Indeed, it is the little girl Ling Yan.”
“Is she your friend?” the man in blue asked with interest.
“Yes.”
Bai Mu nodded gravely, then said in confusion, “Senior, I remember that day I was ambushed outside Howling Cloud Cave by the Gray Crane Patriarch. Both Ling Yan and I were gravely wounded, and we fell from the sheer cliff of Jiexiu Mountain. Why, then, are we now in this woodland paradise?”
“It was the divine bird Bi Fang that saved the two of you.”
As he spoke, the man in blue pointed toward the one-legged firebird standing quietly off to the side outside the pavilion, and explained in an even voice, “That day I ordered Bi Fang to go into Jiexiu Mountain and capture some wool snakes for me to refine into pills. I never expected it would bring you and Ling Yan back instead.”
“It was it?”
“You really are not deceiving me, Senior?”
Bai Mu swept Bi Fang with a disbelieving sidelong glance, while in his heart he wondered, “This Bi Fang was grievously wounded and fled after being beaten by Ling Yan not long ago, and now it has turned around and saved the two of us? Isn’t that a little like the fox paying New Year’s respects to the chicken?”
“That is right.”
“It truly was Bi Fang that saved you.”
The man in blue lifted the white-jade flute in his hand and said in a low voice, “You must be very surprised. Bi Fang, one of the four great ferocious birds, turned out to be your benefactor. And given its unruly nature, it was actually willing to obey my command. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
Bai Mu answered with great solemnity. “To tell the truth, this vicious bird Bi Fang bears a deep blood feud with us.”
“A while ago in White Deer Valley, Ling Yan and I joined forces to beat Bi Fang into grievous injury. We had already formed an irreconcilable grudge, and yet today it…”
“So that is how it is.”
Before Bai Mu could finish, the man in blue seemed to understand at once. “A few days ago, when I passed near White Deer Valley, I saw that Bi Fang had been badly wounded. I even wondered whether another peerless expert had appeared in the Barbaric Wilderness Realm. So it turned out to be the doing of the two of you youngsters!”
Then his tone shifted, and he smiled faintly. “One protected by the Azure Dragon Sword truly deserves to be called a young hero.”
“Senior, in that case, did you save Bi Fang that day?”
“And may I ask your honored name?”
“My honored name?”
The man in blue shook his head with some helplessness, then gave a wry smile. “Between the endless starry river and the ages of antiquity, I long ago forgot my own name.”
“Now that I have gone into seclusion in the Cold Abyss Valley, there is no need to be tied to any mortal name. If you truly mean to honor me, then call me Brahma Sage.”
“Senior Brahma Sage must surely be one of the rare masters of the Barbaric Wilderness Realm.”
“Even a beast as savage and murderous as Bi Fang can be used by you, which shows how transcendent your cultivation and realm must be.”
“No, no.”
At this, Brahma Sage waved his hand repeatedly. “The reason I was able to subdue the ferocious bird Bi Fang is, first, that it was grateful for my life-saving kindness, and second, that it feared the power of this jade flute in my hand.”
As he spoke, he extended his hand a little farther and gave the flute, its spiritual energy flowing through it, a shake toward the pavilion outside.
Bai Mu quickly strained his eyes to inspect the jade-white flute. The moment his gaze fell upon it, he felt waves of radiant light surging around its body, billowing like cloud seas in the sky. If one were to speak of the abundance of its spiritual energy, it could likely stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jade-Cold Immortal Flute in Ling Yan’s hands.
“Senior’s flute is brimming with spiritual power, and its body is clear and lustrous, faintly carrying the warm sheen of white jade. I imagine it must be no ordinary object?”
“Correct.”
Brahma Sage’s expression grew solemn, and with a distant, desolate sigh he said slowly, “This flute is called the All-Subduing Divine Flute. It can command every spiritual beast in the world to serve it, and in the entire Barbaric Wilderness Realm it is an exceedingly rare treasure.”
“Could it truly command every spiritual beast across all the realms of the Barbaric Wilderness?”
“With this jade flute in hand, would one not be invincible under heaven?”
Bai Mu stared enviously at the All-Subduing Divine Flute in Brahma Sage’s hand, his eyes filled with an astonishment and yearning he had never before known.
“Hahaha.”
Seeing his expression, Brahma Sage laughed heartily. “There is no need for envy. In the ranking of the ten great sacred artifacts of the Barbaric Wilderness Realms, the Sacred Sword Azure Dragon far surpasses the All-Subduing Divine Flute.”
“The ten sacred artifacts?”
Bai Mu’s heart stirred at once, and his curiosity surged up all of a sudden.
He had previously heard Ling Yan explain some things related to the Sacred Sword Azure Dragon, but because she was still young, her understanding of matters from the primal ages was only partial and uncertain. Thus Bai Mu had always been especially curious about them.
Now, hearing this mysterious and elegant Brahma Sage bring up the ten sacred artifacts connected to the Azure Dragon Sword once more, he could not help asking, “May I ask, Senior Brahma Sage, what exactly are the ten sacred artifacts? I beg you to enlighten me.”
“Gladly.”
Brahma Sage swept an approving gaze over the courteous young man before him, and answered with obvious delight, “The so-called ten sacred artifacts of the Barbaric Wilderness Realm are the ten most formidable divine weapons since the primordial ages. Their ranking is as follows.”
The first sacred artifact of all time: the Demon-Transmuting Bottle. This bottle was forged from the Thousand-Year Flame Lotus and the Dark Jade of the Eastern Wastes. Within it is stored the innate aura of karmic fire, capable of incinerating all things in the world. Once one enters the Demon-Transmuting Bottle, whether god or demon, there is absolutely no chance of survival.
The foremost sacred sword of the Barbaric Wilderness: the Azure Dragon Sword. This sword was forged from a Sky-Mending Spiritual Stone and infused with the consciousness of the Azure Dragon, one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons. It is a sword of righteousness, devoted to slaying demons, ghosts, and all manner of evil. It is also the only thing in the world that can counter the Demon-Transmuting Bottle.
The ancestral relic of the Eight Trigrams from the primordial era: Fuxi’s Tooth. This is a sacred object left behind by Fuxi, the ancient sage of humankind. It is the most mysterious of all, and so far fewer than ten people know its true functions. I am one of them.
The number one immortal artifact of absolute cold under heaven: the Jade-Cold Flute. This flute is likewise made from the Dark Jade of the Eastern Wastes, but within the body of the flute lies the spirit essence of a ten-thousand-year ice toad. Thus, aside from the spiritual energy inherent to the flute itself, it also overflows with the toad’s bone-deep cold aura, making it astonishingly effective against foes, in ways beyond mortal understanding.
The ancient artifact that can pierce heaven and earth: the Netherworld Jade. This jade is a sacred object of the ancient evil race. Beyond its formidable defensive power, it can also penetrate heaven and earth, freely shifting space and territory, thereby appearing and vanishing without a trace.