Longzang

Chapter 112 The Secret
How dare a mere fourth-rate sect with only a Dao Foundation be so arrogant? Wei Yuan was naturally furious, automatically ignoring the effect of his Immortal Lord status, and took action directly.

A golden cauldron appeared above his head, and then his body and the cauldron grew larger. He reached out and grabbed the cauldron's legs, then swung it down at his senior brother's head! The blow was incredibly fierce, and his senior brother had no way to dodge it. He could only raise his throwing knife and desperately parry.

With a clang, the golden cauldron in Wei Yuan's hand shattered, and the eldest brother was smashed, spitting out blood. His flying sword broke into several pieces, and most of his body was pinned to the ground! Wei Yuan's smash was equivalent to a direct collision between the two people's Dao foundations. In just one strike, the eldest brother, who had already cultivated his spirit, suffered damage to his Dao foundation, making it difficult for him to circulate his Dao power.

The golden cauldron shattered, and Wei Yuan felt a slight dizziness. A stone on his Dao foundation broke into several pieces. However, it was just scattered rock, not part of a whole rock stratum, so Wei Yuan wasn't in much pain. With a thought, another stone on the ground began to deform, transforming into a square, three-legged cauldron. Then, Wei Yuan reached out and grabbed it, and another golden cauldron appeared in his hand.

With the golden cauldron crashing down, the eldest disciple had no chance to resist. He was smashed to the ground, coughing up blood, his Dao foundation cracked, and he was submerged, with only half his head visible. In truth, the eldest disciple's defeat was extremely frustrating. The Lan Shen Palace, which rose to prominence through incense offerings and divine practices, possessed many unorthodox methods, but direct combat was not its forte. Now, in a confined space, he was directly confronting Wei Yuan's Dao foundation, essentially attacking the enemy's strongest point with his weakest. Even though he had already cultivated to the level of Nascent Soul, he hadn't survived more than three blows.

Seeing his senior brother on the verge of death, the junior brother huddled in the corner, his eyes filled with terror.

After knocking down his senior brother twice, Wei Yuan habitually summarized the battle: "It takes time to temporarily create a cauldron, which can easily give the enemy a chance to catch their breath. Next time, create a few more as backups."

Wei Yuan put away the golden cauldron, looked at Yun Feifei lying motionless with her spring-like figure exposed, and then at the red-clad woman whose primordial spirit aura was completely different, and asked, "Who exactly are you?"

The woman in red glanced at Wei Yuan with a hint of resentment and said, "This soul of mine is actually Fei Fei's senior sister. She died tragically when the sect was destroyed, and a wisp of her soul was taken into Fei Fei's soul-guiding box and nurtured. Over the years, we've been hiding here and there. I went to places that Fei Fei couldn't go to. My actions, as well as the yin wind that blew you that day, were all transformed from the incense and prayer power accumulated in the palace over the years. Some time ago, Fei Fei was afflicted by a blood curse and could only suppress it by sleeping, so she attached a wisp of her divine sense to me. So, I am me, and I am also Fei Fei."

"Where are her belongings? Hand them over immediately so I can return to the sect and report back," Wei Yuan said expressionlessly.

The woman in red was taken aback and said, "Feifei is in this state, aren't you taking her with you?"

"Taking her things back with you is the same as taking them with you." Wei Yuan made it clear that he didn't want to bring a burden along.

The woman in red had never encountered anything like this before. In the past, whoever saw her or Yun Feifei would rush to help. But this woman in front of her was already treating her like a dead person just because Feifei had only been asleep for a short while.

"Refusing to talk?" Wei Yuan stared at the woman in red, a cold smile slowly creeping onto his lips.

"What are you doing? You're not allowed to touch Feifei!" the woman in red cried out, even though Wei Yuan had no intention of harming Yun Feifei.

Wei Yuan ignored the woman in red's reminder and drew a simple array on the floor of the room. Then the woman in red suddenly found herself unable to move!
Ghost-Binding Formation. This formation can temporarily immobilize ghosts and spirits, creating conditions for subsequent attacks. Wei Yuan had never been clear about what the woman in red was, but now that she herself said she was a remnant soul, using the Ghost-Binding Formation was obviously the best option.

Wei Yuan drew another array around the outside, and the woman in red immediately felt hot all over, and faint flames began to breathe out from her mouth and nose!
Soul Refining Array! This array is powerful; it can refine weaker ghosts into nothingness. Even if the woman in red has the power of her will to protect her, it's only a matter of time before she's reduced to ashes.

She was exceptionally stubborn, refusing to reveal what the thing was or where it was despite screaming in agony from the burning. Wei Yuan didn't argue with her any longer, stopped the Soul Refining Array, and said to Xu Wan'er, "You stay here and watch over them."

Wei Yuan pointed three times, pointing the woman in red inside as well, and then specifically instructed: "Don't believe anything they say. Kill anyone who dares to run away."

Before leaving, Wei Yuan was still worried, so he set up a feng shui array in the room, casting bad luck upon everyone around him. Wei Yuan himself had strong luck and was unaffected by the feng shui array.

Wei Yuan made all these arrangements because he found the relationships between Yun Feifei and her fellow disciples to be incredibly messy; none of them seemed like good people. Perhaps only the third senior sister, who had escaped to Hanyang Pass, was somewhat normal. In Wei Yuan's view, there was no need for him to bring his eldest and youngest senior brothers to Hanyang Pass; not killing them on the spot was already a mercy.

Of course, if they can prove their worth, that's another matter. Wei Yuan is definitely not the kind of person who would go against his principles for immortal silver, unless the amount is too large.

As for Yun Feifei, there was no need for her to bring the item back to the palace after obtaining it. The Immortal Lord valued the item, not her as a person, and Wei Yuan, having read so many books, naturally wouldn't confuse the important points. As for chivalry and pity, those were meaningless to a hot-tempered swordsman.

Xu Wan'er, however, was quite naive. Perhaps because she grew up in an official's office and had not seen much of the hardships of life, she was like a blank sheet of paper, sharp as a knife.

After giving him careful instructions, Wei Yuan headed towards the main hall. The array plate indicated that the greatest cause and effect was hidden underground in the main hall, and the key to unlock it should be the token in the jade statue's hand. Therefore, whether Yun Feifei spoke up or not was actually irrelevant. If Wei Yuan hadn't found the item after searching all the places with cause and effect, he could come back and negotiate with Yun Feifei again.

After Wei Yuan left, the room suddenly fell silent, and everyone was staring at Xu Wan'er, making her subconsciously...

She took a step back. The woman in red urged, "Quickly wipe away the array diagram under my feet, and I'll help you escape!"

Xu Wan'er took two steps toward the woman in red, then stopped. The woman in red's expression changed several times before she said, "You, you wouldn't be..."

Xu Wan'er blushed slightly and said in a voice barely audible, "I think it's better if we listen to our senior brother, so as not to ruin his important plans."

The woman in red angrily said, "He treated you like that, and you're still speaking up for him?"

She glanced at Xu Wan'er's completely flushed face and suddenly understood: "Could it be that you want to..."

"No!" Xu Wan'er denied it outright.

The woman in red stamped her foot in anger, but patiently prepared to persuade her a few more times. She knew Xu Wan'er was gentle and not very opinionated, making her easy to convince. As for Wei Yuan, she wasn't too worried, believing he was just boasting and couldn't possibly find the ancestral treasure. Back then, the Wuyu clan army and those people searched back and forth for days, even tearing down the entire Lan Shen Palace, and they still found nothing.
The most urgent task is to escape first, and after Wei Yuan leaves empty-handed, we can come back and try to unlock the Ancestral Master's Secret Treasure.

The thought of the secret treasure made the woman in red grit her teeth, cursing inwardly, "That old bastard deserved to die! You died, but you wouldn't even give me the secret before you died! Good riddance!"

Inside the Ancestral Hall, Wei Yuan lifted the paralyzed Xu Wenwu aside and paced around the hall, observing the reactions of the different causal light spots. The most intense spot was underground, about ten zhang deep. Another spot was inside the relatively well-preserved goddess statue, and there was also one in the ruins of the disciple area. That spot was farther away, already at the edge of the array plate.

Wei Yuan arrived in front of the goddess statue and examined it carefully. However, he found nothing unusual, whether with the naked eye or by scanning with his divine sense. Only the Qi Observation Technique showed that there was still a lot of incense and prayers. It seemed that even though the Lan Shen Palace was destroyed, there were still many people worshipping these gods.

Wei Yuan pointed, and a water-based spell slammed into the statue. In this region, water and wood-based spells were exceptionally effective, possessing many unique properties not found elsewhere. Wei Yuan's primordial spirit was incredibly powerful; while others could only create three to five branches with a single water-based spell, Wei Yuan could create hundreds, each branch incredibly strong.

The fine stream of water, like a knife, sliced ​​through the surface of the statue layer by layer, peeling back its outer layer like an onion, finally revealing the mystery within. Inside the statue was another statue, also a goddess, with a notch in its chest and abdomen, its shape exactly matching the small token. Wei Yuan removed the token from the jade statue and placed it on the goddess's chest.

A faint, dim light suddenly illuminated the main hall, revealing countless people praying and making wishes. Several floor tiles gradually faded and disappeared, revealing a deep, dark passage leading underground. This passage was visible only to Wei Yuan, who held the token; to others, the hall floor remained intact.

"So unoriginal," Wei Yuan thought to himself.

This method of setting up secret chambers and mechanisms dates back tens of thousands of years and is nothing new. The teachers in the art theory classes taught dozens of methods for setting up secret chambers, among which placing the switch on an inanimate object was the most foolish, and using an inanimate object token to open the entrance was even more foolish.

These teachers, constantly innovating, have long since come up with countless novel solutions. One particularly popular one is to integrate the secret chamber's switch with the owner's primordial spirit, requiring the secret realm to be in a certain emotional state before it opens. In simpler terms, the secret realm will only open when the owner is in a happy state.

Some have innovated upon this method by using a seductive tactic. The woman must not only meet the man's ideal woman standards but also be deeply in love with him for his emotions to be aligned and the secret realm to open. This method was immediately condemned by countless female cultivators, and even powerful senior figures stepped in to teach it a lesson.

However, after that, some female cultivators secretly modified this method for their own use and developed many new applications, which became a source of inspiration for many stories in later generations.

However, the one who set up the most sophisticated entrance mechanism in history was not one of these teachings on doctrinal theory, but rather the teacher who taught the theory of heaven and earth.

The gentleman left a puzzle at the entrance: calculate the orbital paths of the two large stars. Calculate correctly and you'll open the door; calculate incorrectly and you'll be struck by lightning.

There are very few people in the entire Taichu Palace who can solve this mechanism.

Similarly, the most ingenious way to enter the secret chamber from the entrance was also devised by that gentleman. After solving the puzzle, a door will open, leading to a void. One must fly along a calculated trajectory to reach the secret chamber. If the trajectory deviates even slightly, one will get lost in the void and never find the secret chamber again.

This method is specifically designed to deal with cheaters who rely on others to solve the problems to unlock the entrance. It is said that after its release, several True Lords were inexplicably in a bad mood for a period of time, and spent their days looking for someone to vent their anger on. The True Lords of Taichu Palace are all used to being arrogant and proud, and they cannot accept being inferior to others in terms of Dao or wisdom, even if it is true.

So during that period, things were chaotic in Taichu Palace, and Zhang Sheng didn't have a chance to get angry.

(End of this chapter)