Longzang

Chapter 108 seems useless.
Wei Yuan felt ashamed. Xu Wan'er's concealment techniques were quite formidable; if he hadn't possessed the Immortal Lord's Karma Array Plate, he certainly wouldn't have been able to find her. Before setting off, Wei Yuan habitually reviewed the information.

Lan Shen Palace is located 1,300 li northwest of Qu Liu Town, and its mountain gate was destroyed several years ago. The fact that fragments of a celestial abode have fallen there indicates that the space is exceptionally fragile; if Master Fa Xiang were to use his full power, it could potentially lead to unforeseen consequences. At the same time, the effects of various causal, feng shui, predictive, and tracking spells would be greatly reduced, and curses would undergo unpredictable changes. Meeting there would make it easy to escape in the chaos should an accident occur.

Judging from Yun Feifei's reply, she should also be being hunted down, but it's unknown which force is chasing her.

Now that he had concrete information about Yun Feifei, Wei Yuan didn't delay any longer. He took out a small silver bottle and said to Xu Wan'er, "Open your mouth."

Xu Wan'er obediently opened her mouth, letting Wei Yuan pour a drop of liquid into it, and then swallowed it.

"This is the Immortal-Severing Liquid. With just a thought, I can dissolve your physical body, leaving you with only your primordial spirit. Also, don't even think about running away. If you can't sense my divine sense for more than three days, it will take effect. Once I see Yun Feifei, I will naturally give you the antidote," Wei Yuan said.

"I won't run away." Xu Wan'er nodded, without any resistance.

With a wave of his hand, Wei Yuan sent Xu Wenwu crashing to the ground. Although his back was to the two men, he had heard everything that had just happened. Now free, he leaned closer, tilted his head back, closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and stuck out his tongue, preparing to take poison to show his loyalty.

Wei Yuan pushed him away.

The Immortal-Severing Elixir is no ordinary poison; it was bestowed by an Immortal Lord and can be activated remotely with divine thought, making it extremely valuable. Someone like Xu Wenwu, who could be killed with a wave of his hand, has no need to waste such a precious elixir.

After Xu Wan'er took the Immortal-Severing Elixir, Wei Yuan returned everything he had found to her, then packed his belongings and prepared to leave Quliu Town. This time, with Wei Yuan in front of her and another guy watching her intently, Xu Wan'er was too embarrassed to hide the items in her body anymore, so she simply packed a backpack and carried it on her back.

Before leaving, Wei Yuan handed Wang Lang's body over to the innkeeper in exchange for eight hundred taels of silver. The transaction was completed swiftly and efficiently, so the innkeeper added another fifty taels, hoping to establish a good relationship.

Although Xu Wan'er issued the bounty, Wei Yuan couldn't directly take her money; that would be tantamount to robbery. Taking the bounty was different; Wei Yuan could accept the money with a clear conscience, even though Wang Lang was killed by Xu Wan'er. As the saying goes, a gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way.

In the blink of an eye, everything was ready, and Wei Yuan took the two of them to the former site of the Lan Shen Palace. Before leaving, Wei Yuan bought two more horses for transportation, and the three of them traveled on horseback. To be honest, Xu Wan'er found Wei Yuan's decision quite strange. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, flying on a magical artifact was the fastest way; three ordinary horses would be as slow as snails. But since Wei Yuan had made the decision, she didn't say anything more and gently accepted it.

The night was still dark when the three skinny horses slowly left the Tangping Inn, heading east through Quliu Town before turning northwest. This one-way journey alone would probably take until dawn.

In the grand mansion in the northern district of Quliu Town, a young swordsman with bandages wrapped around his face sat in the center of the hall, his expression grim. Below him, servants were being whipped. The whips were held by delicate young women, but the blows were heavy and poisonous, each strike causing blood to splatter everywhere.

The servant was whipped until he rolled around and screamed in agony. After dozens of lashes, the young swordsman finally vented his anger and ordered the whipping to stop.

"Useless! I asked you to arrest someone, and you can't even handle such a small task! You've arrested the wrong person six times in a row! What use are you!"

His outburst reopened the wound on his face, staining the bandages crimson with blood. A young woman beside him immediately said softly, "Young Master, the wound has reopened. Let me change your dressing later!"

"not in the mood!"

The girl then hung it up: "Then I can change here too."

The young swordsman waved his hand and pushed the girl hanging on his arm away, annoyed, "I told you I'm not in the mood! This is really strange, my injury is healing so slowly, even the medicine from the Hall of Life and Death is useless."

The girl said, "Could it be that we've been cursed? Should we go find a master to dispel it?"

"Looks like we need to find a master." The young swordsman suddenly remembered something and asked, "Recently, there's been this idiot named Li something, who claims to be the 'Master of Both Sword and Cauldron,' causing quite a stir. Why haven't I caught him yet?"

A burly man standing beside the hall stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Young master, that guy left overnight. He had two accomplices. But they both left on ordinary horses, so they should be liars. I was chasing after Yu Yirou, the 'Soul-Destroying Cauldron,' so I ignored him."

The young swordsman became somewhat interested: "Yu Yirou? I heard she's quite pretty?"

The burly man said, "I'm a bit old. I dress up as a young girl, but my actual physical condition is over forty. There are many traces of Taoist magic repairs on my skin."

The young swordsman immediately lost interest and said, "Then keep searching until we find that guy! That blow that hit me was definitely not simple; he must be at least a Heaven-rank cultivator, and perhaps even in the late stage."

"Understood, I will conduct the screening accordingly."

The young swordsman walked towards the back hall and said, "Make sure that girl surnamed Xu is ready. The prefect's distant niece is someone we can play with a few more times. Hmph, if Xu Zhijie knew, he'd probably die with his eyes wide open in disbelief. It's a pity his daughter ran away; that one is much prettier."

The burly man asked, "What about these people who were arrested by mistake?" "They're still worth some money, sell them to the west." Just as they were about to enter the back hall, the young swordsman suddenly remembered something and looked up at a plaque hanging in the main hall. In his eyes, the plaque was emitting a clear light, dispelling the faint black and red aura around it.

The young swordsman suddenly had an idea and said sharply, "Go after those two masters of swordsmanship and cauldrons! That name doesn't sound right!"

The burly man was somewhat surprised, but he didn't ask why and left to carry out the order.

Outside Quliu Town, three skinny horses were leisurely walking.

Xu Wenwu, always quick to talk, said, "In our world, the roads are all perfectly smooth, and some are even completely closed off—they're called highways. Look at the roads here, full of potholes and water everywhere. How can this be? At our speed, we can only travel thirty li in an hour, no, an hour? You don't know, in my world, there's something called a car, which can travel four or five hundred li in an hour on a highway..."

Wei Yuan tossed out a rope and used a binding spell to secure Xu Wenwu firmly to the horse, the end of which was then used to gag him. Then, three invisible streams of black energy shot out and entered the bodies of the three horses. The three thin horses neighed in pain, their bodies growing larger. They then began to trot, each step covering two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters), and their pace quickened until they disappeared into the night.

The scenery around Xu Wan'er rushed past her. She gripped the reins tightly, shocked. This speed was almost as fast as a cultivator flying at full speed. This was an ordinary horse, not a celestial steed!

Xu Wenwu was so frightened that he screamed, but his mouth was tied twice with rope, so he couldn't make a sound and could only groan all the way.

Wei Yuan leaned forward, urging his mount to gallop faster and faster until all four hooves were slightly off the ground, as if he were walking on the wind. The other two horses also followed closely behind under his control.

Outside Quliu Town, several cultivators flew out of the town, circled the road once, and then flew north along the road before turning northwest. They flew at full speed, covering more than a hundred miles in a short time, but the road was pitch black in the night, and there was not a single person in sight.

The burly man leading the group hovered in mid-air, frowning as he gazed northwest. There were still faint traces of three people in that direction, but they were completely invisible. The Shattered Lands were extremely dangerous at night, a natural hunting ground for the Witch Clan. Although the burly man had cooperated with the Witch Clan many times, he didn't trust them, much less the unfamiliar Witch Clan.

The burly man thought for a moment and then said, "No need to chase them. They can't have gone far. Let's go back and search them slowly!"

Three ordinary horses could cover hundreds of miles in less than half an hour? That's clearly impossible. The three men must have been creating a diversion; they either secretly returned to town or changed direction and fled—either is possible. But whichever way they went, they certainly didn't go far. The burly man was confident that his tracking skills would allow him to catch them.

After galloping at full speed for a full hour, Wei Yuan finally stopped his horse and rested on a small hill by the roadside.

Even Xu Wan'er's breathing had weakened somewhat, clearly indicating a depletion of her Dao power. The mortal horse running at the speed of a celestial steed wasn't a good thing either; the jolting and shaking were several times greater, making it far more uncomfortable than with a celestial steed. Since the horse beneath Xu Wan'er was completely beyond her control, she simply floated in mid-air, using her Dao power to bind herself to the horse, essentially letting the horse drag her along. This did eliminate the discomfort of the jolting, but it greatly increased the consumption of Dao power, and after an hour, she was starting to feel the strain.

Xu Wenwu remained silent, having already fainted.

Wei Yuan dismounted and withdrew his luck.

Three streams of black energy returned, but one of them was missing a little! Although the missing part was insignificant, it was enough to alert Wei Yuan. He carefully examined the destination of the missing energy and discovered that it was from the horse Xu Wenwu was riding that had lost a little of its energy.

The horse was originally just an ordinary steed, with red, blue, and white markings—a typical mixed breed. However, after Wei Yuan withdrew his luck, it didn't return to its original state like the other two horses. Instead, it grew a head taller and larger, its aura becoming much stronger. Although it had run nearly a thousand miles in one go, it was still full of vigor. Now, although it was still an ordinary horse, it was a rare and excellent steed among ordinary horses.

Is luck used in this way? Is it due to luck or Xu Wenwu's actions?

At this moment, Xu Wan'er untied Xu Wenwu's ropes, dragged him off the horse and placed him on the ground, then cast a calming spell. Xu Wenwu slowly woke up, then felt a churning in his stomach and vomited violently on the ground.

Wei Yuan took out a piece of jade paper containing a map of the Shattered Realm, recorded in great detail. This map alone would be worth five hundred merit points in the Hall of Merit. However, since it was a Celestial Lord who made the move this time, the map, the Immortal-Severing Elixir, and the like were all given to him directly, and Wei Yuan didn't need to pay for them himself.

Wei Yuan was currently more than 500 li away from Lan Shen Palace and 900 li away from Qu Liu Town. Because the journey involved navigating mountains and rivers, he had actually covered a little over 1,000 li in just over an hour. Wei Yuan looked at the map, then pondered Xu Wenwu's words, and began to think deeply.

If Xu Wenwu wasn't lying, then the car he mentioned wasn't even as fast as the three of them. Furthermore, the car would need an extremely smooth road without any potholes; in reality, aside from within the gates of a celestial sect, where could such a road exist?

Roads are only for mortals. Cultivators who fly on their magical artifacts don't need roads, and Wei Yuan, who transformed his mortal horse into a celestial steed, also doesn't need roads. Those so-called carriages, even if they were on the road, would only cover five or six hundred li in an hour, so they seem to be of little use.

Xu Wenwu went on and on about other things, but Wei Yuan only found them strange and nothing particularly memorable. He was somewhat intrigued by the claim that skyscrapers in that world were often over a hundred stories high. However, upon closer inquiry, Wei Yuan discovered that the so-called skyscrapers were a misnomer. Many halls within the Taichu Palace were over a hundred zhang tall, meaning one floor was equivalent to over a hundred stories in Xu Wenwu's world. Wei Yuan intuitively felt that building over a hundred stories of the same height was much easier than building just one.

Xu Wenwu was a long-winded person, so Wei Yuan lost interest after listening for a while. He tied Xu Wenwu's mouth with a rope and then asked Xu Wan'er about her past experiences.

(End of this chapter)