“That’s right,” Wu Xian said with a nod. “There’s a deity on Mount Zhong named Zhu Long. It has a human face and a snake body. Its body is entirely red, and its eyes grow vertically. When it closes its eyes, the entire world becomes as dark as night. When it opens its eyes, the world becomes as bright as day. It doesn’t eat, doesn’t sleep, and doesn't breathe. It can summon wind and rain, and it can also shine light on evil places…”

Zu An was surprised. Zhu Long[1] appeared frequently in ancient mythology. He hadn’t expected to hear of it in this secret dungeon too.

Yan Xuehen and the other women had never heard of Zhu Long before. When they heard its description, they were shocked. It became day when Zhu Long opened its eyes, and became night when it closed its eyes? Wasn’t that basically on the level of a creation deity?

Upon hearing Wu Xian’s description, they suddenly remembered Yayu and Er Fu from Shaoxian Mountain, who seemed to have human faces and snake bodies too.

To some degree, Yu Yanluo also matched that description. The others wondered if she shared some kind of bloodline relationship with them. However, Yu Yanluo frantically shook her head, clearly aware of what they were thinking. She immediately declared that it had nothing to do with her.

Wu Xian continued, “Zhu Long’s status is extremely, extremely high. He has three sons. One is Yayu, another is Er Fu, and the third is Gu.”

“Huh?” Even Zu An cried out in surprise.

He hadn’t expected Yayu to actually be Zhu Long’s son! And Er Fu was actually his brother?! Now that he thought about it more carefully, Er Fu and Yayu both had human heads and serpent bodies. They were indeed very similar to Zhu Long.

“Hm? Do you recognize them?” Wu Xian asked in surprise when he noticed their reaction.

“We met them earlier…” Zu An began. He and the others shared their previous experience on Shaoxian Mountain, and told the shamans about how they had met Yayu in the Weak Water.

The ten shamans were shocked when they heard the entire course of events. Wu Xian exclaimed, “I wouldn’t have expected Yayu to be hiding over there! And you fully set him free, at that! We really underestimated you earlier.”

The group could clearly sense the shamans treating them more amiably. Zu An thought, Could it be that Yayu was friends with them? He quickly asked the question to satisfy his curiosity.

Wu Xian and the others explained, “Even though Yayu and Er Fu were brothers, their personalities were entirely different. Yayu was the oldest son. Both his character and reputation were excellent. People all believed he would be Zhu Long’s successor. But Er Fu was extremely unsatisfied with that. He felt he was better than his older brother in both cultivation and wisdom. He just couldn't understand why everyone acknowledged Yayu as the successor instead.”

Yan Xuehen and the others nodded. The fiend races’ successors, apart from having their bloodline powers, also inherited the cultivation of their predecessor. That was why once one was chosen as the successor, even if the other heirs did everything they could, they wouldn’t be able to win. As such, the struggle for the position of successor was far more intense and bloody than the equivalent in the human world.

“Er Fu had a subordinate named Wei who sowed dissent between the brothers. Er Fu could no longer hold himself back. As such, he and Wei killed Yayu. When the Celestial Emperor heard of that matter, because of Zhu Long’s respected status and Yayu’s reputation indeed being quite good, out of pity, he had us use the immortal medicine to revive him,” Wu Xian continued.

Zu An and the others were shocked. They had thought that the immortal medicine was from the Queen Mother of the West’s Jade Lake. Had it actually come from Spirit Mountain’s ten shamans?

He knew the importance of the immortal medicine, such that asking about it directly wouldn’t bring them any information. As such, he first asked about other things. “By the way, who’s the Celestial Emperor you’re talking about?”

He had heard many things about the Celestial Emperor ever since he entered the Unknown Region.

Wu Xian found his question a bit strange, but he still replied, “The Celestial Emperor’s taboo name is Zhuan Xu. All the elders of the older generation knew that, but now, it’s to be expected that the younger generation doesn’t know about him.”

Zu An thought, Finally, that clears up the riddle. Wasn’t the Black Emperor Zhuan Xu? He had heard Shun say that the Black and White Emperor’s sides fought, but he hadn’t expected Zhuan Xu to have already become the Celestial Emperor.

However, he thought of something and quickly asked, “Then what about Emperor Jun?”

The Golden Crows called Xi He ‘mother empress’, and Emperor Jun’s status was clearly extremely high as well. He had heard the legend of Yi shooting down the suns before too. The Celestial Emperor in that story was none other than Emperor Jun!

Wu Xian replied, “Emperor Jun is also the Celestial Emperor.”

Zu An’s group was completely confused, left awkwardly speechless. Meanwhile, the other nine shamans found their stunned appearance laughable and remarked, “Who told you that there could only be one Celestial Emperor?”

Wu Xian thus explained, “There are five Celestial Emperors in the heavens, respectively associated with the directions of north, east, south, west, and center. Two of them are none other than Zhuan Xu and Emperor Jun.”

Zu An and the others were surprised. So that was how it was! No wonder they had always felt as if something wasn’t right when they listened to different stories. It turned out that there were five Celestial Emperors!

“Then who are the other three?” Yan Xuehen asked curiously.

Wu Xian shook his head, saying, “These are mysteries of heaven that must not be revealed. It brings no benefits for ordinary humans to know too much, only disaster.”

Zu An was speechless. What the hell? You were praising me a moment ago, and yet now, you’re starting to talk in riddles?

Wu Xiao continued, “Back then, the Celestial Emperor wanted to save Yayu with the immortal medicine, and we naturally didn’t dare to go against orders. We went to Bao Jiang, who was safeguarding the immortal medicine, and used it to save Yayu. However, we hadn’t expected that after he was revived, he would become muddle-headed. Later, he fell into the Weak Water and his nature changed greatly, turning him into the Yayu monster.”

“Bao Jiang?” Zu An asked, finding the name unfamiliar.

Wu Xian replied, “Bao Jiang is our friend. He lives on Spirit Mountain, and he was the keeper of the immortal medicine.”

Zu An was surprised. So the immortal medicine was in Spirit Mountain?

Wu Xian continued, “Because Yayu was extremely kind when he was alive and had an excellent reputation, and out of consideration for his father’s status, no one troubled him any further. They left him alone to do what he wanted.”

Zu An cursed inwardly. It was probably because his father Zhu Long was too formidable, right?

“When Wei’s schemes to urge Er Fu were exposed, the heavens punished Er Fu. At the same time, they gave the order to execute Wei in order to get revenge for Yayu…” the other shamans added enthusiastically, retelling the entire story.

Zu An sighed in amazement. As expected, those without any backing could only unjustly take on all the blame. Er Fu was only punished despite being the chief offender, and yet Wei was mercilessly killed.

As if he could read Zu An’s thoughts, Wu Xian explained, “Even though Er Fu wasn’t killed, he had his position of successor stripped away. He lost the only thing he had been chasing after the entire time. That wasn’t necessarily much better than death.”

Zu An still felt that being alive was better than being dead. He then asked, “What do these things have to do with the Golden Crows and Nuba?”

Wu Xian continued, “The matter of Yayu was quite a tragedy in itself. Still, if that had been all, it still wouldn’t be too bad. Later, though, it was discovered that there was another, more sinister motive.”

“Another sinister motive?” Zu An repeated, stunned.

“Haven’t you noticed that there’s someone else you’ve overlooked?” Wu Xian asked with a mysterious expression.

Yun Jianyue, who had previously remained silent, suddenly replied, “Gu!”

Wu Xian said in surprise, “These little girls are quite smart. It was indeed Gu.”

Yun Jianyue thought, I’ve already been famous for many years, and yet I’m being called a little girl here! Still, she didn’t feel upset about being called that at all.

Zu An and the others weren’t stupid. Upon hearing the reminder, they quickly reacted. Gu had originally been the third successor. One older brother was kind-hearted, and the other was powerful, so either way, he wouldn’t get a turn. However, after his two brothers died and were ruined respectively, he became the one who would benefit the most.

Often, all one had to do to figure out the identity of the mastermind behind a plot was to see who had the most to gain.

Wu Xian released a long sigh, saying, “Gu hid his motives well. Only much later did something reveal to us that he was the one who plotted all of this. Not long after the incident between Yayu and Er Fu happened, Bao Jiang was killed, and the immortal medicine was stolen.”

“The immortal medicine was stolen?” Zu An repeated, and his entire group was shocked.

If such a thing were revealed to the world, people would all lose their heads fighting over it! Even though the people within Unknown Regions were powerful, it was clear that immortal medicines were still incredible treasures for them.

“The legends of immortal medicine have existed for a long time. The forces with great backgrounds had an idea that the immortal medicine was hidden in Spirit Mountain. However, no one knew where exactly it was hidden,” Wu Xian explained. “However, because of what happened to Yayu, Gu found out that the immortal medicine was under Bao Jiang’s control. As such, he worked together with his subordinate to plot against Bao Jiang.”

1. Zhu Long, also known as the Torch Dragon, was a giant red solar dragon and a god in Chinese mythology. It supposedly had a human face and snake body, created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, and created seasonal winds by breathing. ☜