Su Ming"s eyes sparkled. The woman"s appearance and her words were rather mystifying, but after focusing his mind on the matter and falling into pensive silence, he could discover some clues.

The Yu Family to which the woman belonged to in the ancient past was clearly not cultivators at that time, but were… members of an alien race!

This race might have been known as the Gate of Dao race, but might have also been a branch of the Gate of Dao.

The Gate of Dao wors.h.i.+ped the G.o.ds of the Sun and Moon. In an age that once existed, perhaps they had reached an age of glory as well, but as the era when all lives died, which the G.o.ds of the Sun and Moon spoke of, came about, the Gate of Dao gradually fell to ruin.

The members of the race left their homeland and arrived in Black Ink Planet. From then on, the Yu Family appeared.

The Yu Family"s ancestors had never forgotten the G.o.ds they wors.h.i.+ped, that was why they had returned to Divine Essence Star Ocean numerous times, and in the end, brought back the Enchanted Vessel that belonged to the Gate of Dao.

It was the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao.

They brought it back, and perhaps they had also communicated with the G.o.ds of the Sun and Moon who had woken up from their slumber. That was why all members of the Yu Family were required to challenge the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao. It could be that even this was not enough, and so in an attempt to cover up something, they also had guests join in the challenge.

They longed for their family members to clear the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao and obtain the legacy from the G.o.ds, and from there… become the Apostle.

Su Ming"s arrival had caused him to be mistaken as an Apostle due to this coincidence. That was why Yu Rou had spoken to him previously.

"The Shamans are in Black Ink Planet, and so I"ve suspected that there are members of alien races who have disguised themselves to be here. Now that I look at it, this guess had been correct." As he was deep in thought, Su Ming did not speak.

However, at the instant the woman finished speaking, the members of the Yu Family in the area closed their eyes and fell to the ground slowly. In fact, even the three family elders fell into deep sleep.

Only Su Ming and the woman remained. One of them stood calmly in the sky, while the other stood respectfully on the ground.

At the same time, as the members of Yu Family fell asleep, distortions appeared at the spot where the statues of the Sun G.o.d and Moon G.o.ddess shattered. As booms echoed in the air… the final gate of the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao appeared.

It was… a cream-colored mountain rock!

The size of the mountain rock surpa.s.sed the size of the statues that belonged to the Sun G.o.d and Moon G.o.ddess, and an elephant was carved on that mountain rock!

The elephant had its nose wrapped around a scale… At the instant this strange carving appeared, a mighty pressure spread out from it, and it was so strong that Su Ming"s heart trembled.

The mighty pressure filled the entire area, and if it was not because the Rune of the Yu Family had been activated and the Yu Family had been waiting for the Apostle to appear, hence had been ready for this since a long time ago, then this mighty pressure and presence would have spread through the entire Black Ink Planet during that moment.

"The third gate of the Three Gates of Heavenly Gate… Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here. By all means, Lord Apostle." As the woman from the Yu Family spoke softly, she bent her body slightly to bow to Su Ming.

He looked at the gigantic mountain rock, then at the image of the third gate on its side - Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here. He might have seemed calm at that moment, but his heart was trembling. He could sense… that this was an Enchanted Vessel!

This was an Enchanted Treasure that contained an endless amount of power, and in fact could only be activated by the power of Divine Essence - a Divine Essence Enchanted Treasure!

While looking at the third gate, Su Ming suddenly asked, "Who brought the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao from Divine Essence Star Ocean to Black Ink Planet?"

Yu Rou was momentarily stunned before she answered him softly, "The fourth Progenitor of the family. He obtained the Enchanted Vessel tens of thousands of years ago. This matter is a secret within the family, and most normal family members do not know the details of this."

"What is the name of your fourth Progenitor? Is he still around?" A glint appeared in Su Ming"s eyes. His voice was normal, so others would not be able to tell why he would suddenly ask this question.

"The fourth Progenitor"s name is Yu Han. He used up all his life to activate the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao in the past. Once he brought the Enchanted Vessel back to the family, he left a will, then his form and spirit were destroyed, and he died." Yu Rou"s voice was as gentle as a piece of jade, just like her name suggested.

"I once heard someone mention that someone from the Yu Family cleared the third gate. Was it you?" Su Ming averted his gaze away from the third gate and looked towards Yu Rou.

"It is indeed me. It was also at that time that I became the Sacred Lady of the Moon G.o.ddess" lineage. I obtained Divine Essence and awakened to my mission, but I was restricted in my movements and could not leave the Yu Family. My body cannot bear sunlight, so now, what stands before you is just a shadow… Only by completing my mission will I be able to walk out of the Yu Family," Yu Rou said softly.

"Lord Apostle, please enter the third gate and obtain Enchanted Vessel: Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here. The Yu Family will look upon you as our G.o.d and from then on wors.h.i.+p you."

"You want me to enter the third gate as soon as possible?" Su Ming smiled faintly, then cast the woman a profound look.

When he looked towards her, his eyes shone brightly.

The woman"s expression remained the same and not a hint of change could be detected on her. She lifted her head and looked into Su Ming"s eyes before she spoke to him softly.

"This is my mission."

Su Ming continued to smile faintly. Once he turned around, he took a step towards the Enchanted Vessel and instantly appeared before that gigantic mountain rock. With a flash, he disappeared inside it without a trace.

Yu Rou looked at Su Ming disappearing, but even when he was gone, her expression remained the same and did not change. It was as if emotions could not be detected on her.

She stood there quietly and did not move, as if she was waiting for Su Ming"s return.

Once every one hundred feet under the ground where she stood was a layer of fine, golden sand. They formed layers upon layers of obstruction, and these layers continued for one hundred thousand feet under Yu Rou"s feet until… a gigantic underground palace could be found.

"With the Spiritual Sand acting as an obstruction, even a G.o.d"s divine thought will not be able to penetrate through. After all, this Spiritual Sand is a relic of the ancient past. As long as we believe that it can prevent all forms of investigation, then it will be able to do so." An old voice that sounded as if teeth were grinding against each other gradually echoed in the darkness within the underground palace.

Once that voice spoke, green candle flames suddenly lit up in the underground palace. As the place illuminated by the green light, it looked very eerie. As the candle flames swayed, it looked as if there was a sinister gust of wind made by a malicious spirit roaming about in the underground palace.

"We"ve waited for tens of thousands of years, and the day has finally arrived..."

"It"s a pity that this person isn"t from the Yu Family, or else… we wouldn"t have to be so cautious."

"Yu Rou is a pragmatic person. She won"t let anyone discover any clues, and even we cannot be certain whether she leans more towards the family… or the G.o.ds."

Voices that were similarly as old as the first echoed in the underground palace. As the green candles were lit up and as most of the palace was revealed, it could be vaguely seen that there were thirteen old men sitting cross-legged in there.

Each of the thirteen old men was older than the last. A decaying presence was spreading out from their bodies, and they looked as if they were dead. In fact, there was a faint green light s.h.i.+ning from their eyes under the candle flames, and they looked incredibly horrifying.

Their skin was dry and shriveled, and their flesh had withered, making it look as if they were only skin and bones. However, with the light from the candle flames, it could be vaguely seen that there were plenty of complicated pictures drawn on their bodies.

"Even if she leans more towards the side of the G.o.ds, she is still a member of the Yu Family. All the pros and cons will tell her that she only has one choice…"

"We"ve waited for tens of thousands of years, and the day has finally arrived. The Apostle has truly appeared, and it"s not a waste that we have been suffering for so many years in this place. We did not dare be exposed under the sun, and did not dare walk out of the underground palace…"

"We hid the secret of the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao, and not even our family members know about this. In truth, over the course of tens of thousands of years, Yu Rou was not the only one who cleared the third gate… Including us, there were fourteen people who cleared the Third Gate of Heavenly Dao."

"All of it was worth it. As long… as the Progenitor"s plan is successful and as long as the Progenitor can Possess the Apostle to become G.o.d, then… from then on, our branch of the Gate of Dao will only believe in ourselves and wors.h.i.+p our own people!"

"The Yu Family will rise to power, as long as the Progenitor"s plan is successful!"

"We shouldn"t fail. We"ve prepared for so many years, and the thirteen of us have even given up everything to help the fourth Progenitor, Yu Han. In fact… we"ve already destroyed the Life Souls of the third, second, and even the first Progenitor. All of these… if we still don"t succeed…"

"We"ll definitely succeed!"

"That"s right. We"ll definitely succeed. The fourth Progenitor accidentally fused with the third gate in the past. Over tens of thousands of years that we have offered help, we"ve suppressed the Vessel Spirit that had originally fallen asleep and turned it into a new Vessel Spirit.

"What the Progenitor needs is just Possession. We"ve prepared for this for tens of thousands of years to Possess the Apostle!"

"Hmph, Apostle, my foot. It"s just a body formed by the wills of the spirits of the sun and moon gathering on that person. The others don"t know the truth, but we"ve known since a long time ago that the moment we chose to wors.h.i.+p them, we would lose all forms of intelligence the moment we become Apostles."

"As long as you believe it, it will exist… Such a mighty power. This is the source of the spirits of the sun and moon"s Divine Essence. We must have control over this power. The G.o.ds have already died, and the Path of Immortals have already faded away. This is… an era when all lives will rise to power!"

As the thirteen old men in the underground palace spoke with excitement and antic.i.p.ation, Yu Rou stood calmly on the ground above. Her face remained indifferent, as if she was not concerned with any of these… but also as if she did not know what could possibly cause her emotions to change.

Above her, within the third gate in the sky, within Peace Arrives when the Elephant is Here, a majestic sea of clouds appeared before Su Ming"s eyes.

This sea was boundless. It covered the entire region. When he looked over, he could see that there seemed to be an elephant crying out in the clouds in the far distance.

The sound of the elephant"s trumpets was echoing faintly. As it shook his heart, the Divine Essence in his soul boiled because of it.

"Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here…" Su Ming took a step forward and moved swiftly through the sea of clouds.

"The Yu Family might seem normal, and while I can"t find any clues from that Yu Rou, not even from her words… all of this is just too smooth." Su Ming let out a cold harrumph. While remaining wary, he gradually approached the trumpeting elephant.

Translator"s Notes:

1. Peace arrives when the elephant is here, 太平有象: It is a traditional pattern that means luck. The meaning of the whole thing means that "when the world is at peace, crops will grow well". 太平 means that the world is at peace, and 有象 is "there are elephants". The whole thing is "Elephants are the signs showing the world is at peace". Since elephants live for a long period of time, they were seen as auspicious creatures.