Longzang

Chapter 1049 Above the Immortal Heaven, in the Alleys
After leaving the court and returning to the palace, Prince Ji, unusually, did not go to see Xu Shang, but went directly to the Imperial Study.

At this moment, Cangwu was already sitting in his study, casually playing with one priceless antique after another.

Upon seeing Prince Ji enter, he placed the white jade auspicious horse in his hand on the table and said, "The great formation is complete, and the time is almost up. We need you as the core of the formation. Let's go now."

King Ji frowned slightly but said nothing. He stood beside Cangwu, and the two vanished instantly, reappearing in the void moments later. Wherever they landed, purple patterns appeared, mysterious and eerie. Beneath the transparent patterns lay endless void, where clusters of ghostly flames could be seen drifting.

Cangwu smiled slightly and said, "Among the kings of the nine kingdoms, you are the first to be able to set foot in this Zichen Palace above the Immortal Heaven."

Looking down into the endless abyss of emptiness, King Ji took a deep breath, his face filled with an undisguised longing. With a flick of his sleeve, Cangwu led King Ji to a secret location within the Purple Heaven.

The morning mist had not yet dried, the bluestone was slightly damp, and dew dripped from the eaves, its sound shattering the black boats. A young girl was steering a boat, the green waves parting, causing the white walls and black tiles on the water to scatter like jade dust across the river: it was just like a scene from a Jiangnan water town.

But everything in the scenery was translucent, including the small boats that moved across the water, creating an indescribable sense of unreality. Many flowering trees had cracks and breaks, and tiny fragments would sometimes drift away and sometimes return to the trees, but they would never fly far, nor could they.

King Ji was curious and leaned closer to examine them. He saw that each of the tiny fragments was perfectly square with smooth cut surfaces. It was as if everything in the world was pieced together from these small, square particles.

For some reason, when King Ji saw these things clearly, he was suddenly filled with great fear, as if he himself would be assimilated by this world and gradually disintegrate!

Fortunately, this fear was dispelled as soon as it arose. Cangwu patted Ji Wang and said, "The true meaning of the Great Dao of Destruction is manifested everywhere here. You can't look around carelessly. If you touch the true meaning of the Great Dao and you don't have enough cultivation, you will become a part of the Great Dao and die beyond death. If I hadn't patted you just now, you would have turned into stone."

King Ji was startled and dared not say or look any further, following Cangwu into the valley.

In the center of the valley was a huge map of the Ji Kingdom, its terrain as realistic as the real thing, perfectly accurate, covering an area of ​​a hundred miles. Hundreds of nodes of varying sizes on the land of the Ji Kingdom were currently spewing out wisps of black gas, all of which converged at a certain point in the high sky.

King Ji looked up along the black mist and saw that all the black mist was flowing into a stone pillar hanging from the sky.

King Ji found the shape of the stone pillar rather strange. Upon closer inspection, he was horrified to discover that it was actually a little finger, a little finger hundreds of miles long!
Seeing Ji Wang's expression, Cangwu said, "You noticed? The Venerable One's Dharma Body is incomparably magnificent, unmatched by anyone. Being able to serve under the Venerable One is an honor you've earned over several lifetimes! Stop looking, enter the formation. I'll explain the key points to you again. The Venerable One is currently wandering beyond the heavens, perhaps tens of thousands of moments away."

"Time?"

"This is a measurement only immortals would use. In an instant, it covers the distance of ten breaths of an ordinary immortal's divine sense leap, generally defined as one hundred million li. Enter the formation!"

Following the instructions, King Ji stood cautiously on the map of the State of Ji.

But the place where he was standing was neither the capital nor any formidable city, but a desolate mountain wilderness, with no one around.

Cangwu said, "What you are standing on is the core of the formation for the next hour. When the core of the formation is activated, your bloodline and fortune will manifest accordingly as you become the Prince of Ji. The curse that the Martial Ancestor planted deep in the bloodline of your nine kingdoms will then appear."

"Curse?" This word instantly made Prince Ji shudder.

"What do you think the Martial Ancestor left you? Control at the bloodline level, generation after generation without letting go. The most useful thing is only a curse. Could it be a blessing?" Cangwu said with a sneer.

King Ji remained silent, his face gradually darkening.

Cangwu said, "Your Excellency is only slightly inferior to the Martial Ancestor, which is why you were able to break the sealing spell left by the Martial Ancestor. Only here can the influence of the Martial Ancestor's modification of the Heavenly Dao be slightly weakened, allowing us to freely discuss the contents of the Martial Ancestor's plan. Otherwise, if it were in this realm, even I, the Venerable One, would not be able to discuss the specific contents of the plan."

"The Martial Ancestor placed three seals in your bloodline, but the first thing to do is to use the fortune of the Prince of Ji within you, as well as the power of your bloodline, to set up the Great Array of Heaven and Earth Refining the World on the land of Ji Kingdom. Once the array is set up, we can use its power to break the first curse seal of the Martial Ancestor in your bloodline. After breaking this curse, and taking the elixir bestowed by the Venerable Lord, you will be able to become a Yujing." Prince Ji suddenly trembled and asked, "May I ask, Immortal Lord, what exactly is the purpose of this array?"

Immortal Lord Cangwu's face showed a sneer again, and he said, "It won't hurt to tell you something. The hundred-mile stretch of Ji Kingdom's land beneath your feet was forged from the earth vein nodes collected from all over Ji Kingdom over hundreds of years. It can be said that it is now the essence of most of the entire Ji Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, King Ji immediately understood and muttered to himself, "So that's how it is. No wonder I've read through historical records that the annual yield has been gradually decreasing over the past few hundred years, the land has become increasingly barren, and the people are suffering."

"What use is it for you to know all this? Hundreds of years ago, it was your ancestor who went down in history, King Ji Ying, who found a way to approach the Venerable Lord himself. The Venerable Lord granted him the art of reincarnation, and he offered up the general map of the Ji Kingdom's defenses and mountains and rivers. With this map, one can bypass the Martial Ancestor's Heavenly Dao and collect the earth vein nodes."

Prince Ji's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "The art of reincarnation?"

"Yes, he will be reincarnated in the royal bloodline, his true spirit will not be obscured, which is actually equivalent to rebirth. Besides him, several of your ancestors also served the Lord and were granted this technique."

Prince Ji felt a chill and said, "Among my children..."

"Of course it's possible."

King Ji suddenly trembled slightly. He loved his son and daughter very much, but the thought that their souls might have been replaced by the souls of their ancestors filled him with an overwhelming fear and anger!
Cangwu said calmly, "Your completion of this formation has surpassed their merit, which is why they lifted one of your curse seals to help you complete the Heart World and become Yujing. As for those who are in the cycle of reincarnation, it doesn't matter. Anyway, they will still have their own reincarnations before you die."

After calming himself down, Prince Ji asked again, "Then what is the true purpose of this great formation?"

Seeing that King Ji was determined to know, Cangwu said, "Once this formation is completed, it will connect the Ji Kingdom with this place, making them one entity, both real and illusory, and inseparable. Your Majesty can use this as a thread to fish up the essence of the Ji Kingdom's earth veins to the Immortal Heaven in one go, to repair the Purple Chen Secret Heaven. The first time, fish up the essence of the seven prefectures."

Prince Ji asked, "What will happen to the other seven prefectures?"

"It has become a desolate wasteland, where no living beings can rise."

King Ji remained silent in thought, while Cangwu sneered, "Isn't it a good deal to exchange seven prefectures for a thousand years of lifespan? Anyway, you didn't conquer these lands. You'll also benefit from the next fishing trip. By the time Ji Kingdom finishes fishing, you'll be close to ascending to immortality, and the vacant position in the Six Wonders will be yours, allowing you to live a carefree life for ten thousand years."

Prince Ji finally nodded slowly.

Cangwu relaxed, pointed a finger, and countless dark torrents rushed into King Ji's body, then spread across the mountains and land, attacking each node. A dark aura quietly spread across the land of Ji.

Cangwu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This formation is most vulnerable to interference from living beings, so we need to clean up the population in the counties we've captured. The number of living people cannot exceed ten million, otherwise..."

His voice suddenly stopped, and then a point of intensely bright life light suddenly appeared on the western edge of the Ji Kingdom, the life force of which was more than ten million!
Under this light, all the darkness receded rapidly as if scorched by fire, emitting plumes of blue smoke, and countless vengeful spirits screamed as they vanished into nothingness in the light.

The great formation has been broken!

Cangwu was momentarily blank-minded, his whole body ice-cold, only thinking: Impossible, absolutely impossible...

……

At this moment, in Guantun County, Wei Yuan was reviewing the latest population report. The total population of the Ji Kingdom was currently 23 million.

(End of this chapter)