Longzang

Chapter 210 Past Secrets
Upon returning, Wei Yuan immediately entered his sea of ​​consciousness, but the scene within left him speechless.

The vast land was swarming with flies, some as close as Jade Mountain, others a hundred miles away. This time, Wei Yuan captured several thousand flies.

At this moment, all the flies lay motionless on the ground, devoid of any life. Regardless of distance, their heads were all pointing towards Jade Mountain, as if they had suddenly died on their way there.

Wei Yuan picked up a ghost fly and found that it had completely lost its vitality. The power of eternal silence in its body was dissipating and then gathering in the Jade Mountain.

How did these flies die?

However, when Wei Yuan first captured them and brought them into the Dao Foundation, he could clearly feel them flying around wildly throughout the vast land. But the moment they returned to their original realm, all the Nether Flies suddenly stopped moving and all pointed their heads toward Jade Mountain.

Unable to find any results from his research, Wei Yuan left his sea of ​​consciousness to find Sun Yu.

In Sun Yu's courtyard, Wei Yuan conjured several ghost flies. Sun Yu's expression changed upon seeing them. He then took them away to study and chased Wei Yuan out of the courtyard.

Next came the pair of butterfly daggers. After one of their legs was severed, Wei Yuan was extremely cautious with them, using several bells and cauldrons to encase them, and then placing several Suppressing Pagodas on top of them before carefully handing them over to his senior sister.

While the eldest sister isn't very skilled at weapon crafting, she's an expert at dealing with weapon spirits. The main problem with these short blades isn't with the blades themselves, but with the weapon spirits.

After handing over the short blades, Wei Yuan entrusted the crucial question of whether they needed to be forged into new ones entirely to his senior sister.

Then Wei Yuan returned to his residence, where countless trivial matters awaited him in the new day.

First, intelligence from the north arrived. The main force of the Wu tribe did not continue its attack on the border that day, but instead turned east, intending to wipe out Yue Jinshan's border army in one fell swoop. Yue Jinshan was a seasoned strategist; seeing that the main force of the Wu tribe had superior numbers and was advancing aggressively, he immediately retreated, fighting as he retreated.

The two sides fought a protracted battle, traversing thousands of miles in just a few days, from the northern border all the way to the outside of Hanyang Pass. Later, the Western Jin Dynasty sent a large number of reinforcements from within the pass, which finally forced the Wu tribe's army to retreat.

After several days of bloody fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses. Yue Jinshan's main force of 80,000 border troops was reduced to half its original strength, while the Wu army's casualties were roughly equal. The two sides were evenly matched. Judging from the comparison of troop strength and battle losses, Yue Jinshan had a slight advantage. The veteran soldiers from the northern frontier that he led were indeed living up to their reputation.

However, among the high-level cultivators, almost all the Dharma Images from various families who came to protect their disciples were wiped out. Apart from the Treasure Tree True Person of the Bao family, none of the others escaped.

Just before the Blood Curse began, Fenhai and Lanhua, the two True Immortals, were with these True Immortals from various aristocratic families, exchanging greetings, reminiscing, and pleasantries.

However, once the great battle began, Fenhai went to play chess with a peak Daoist sorcerer, while Lanhua Zhenren went to monitor the main force of the sorcerer clan and deterred the sorcerer clan's great sorcerers who were acting alone. Both Zhenren left their original positions.

Only the true members of the aristocratic families felt it was none of their business, believing that no matter how fierce the battle was, it wouldn't affect them. They calmly watched the battle, focusing more on their own subtle competition.

These True Immortals, sent to look after their own descendants, are naturally no ordinary beings. About half of them possess Immortal Foundation Establishment, and the rest are all exceptionally powerful Celestial Foundation Establishments. Such Dharma Forms are highly valued in various aristocratic families; otherwise, they wouldn't be entrusted with such a crucial task as rescuing people in the midst of battle.

Before they arrived, they had all been blessed with feng shui formations, but that wasn't enough. Some wore items that brought good fortune, while others had their luck changed by high-ranking cultivators from their clans. After all, the idea that the Heavenly Mystery Hall of the Primordial Palace was a feng shui depression was now deeply ingrained in people's minds. The high-ranking cultivators weren't afraid of having too much luck themselves, but rather of others having better luck than them. Therefore, they had all done their homework thoroughly.

The presence of these highly skilled cultivators, imbued with extraordinary fortune, already significantly increased the difficulty of their predictions. Furthermore, they were all adept at concealment techniques, arriving and departing silently. Logically, unless the Heavenly Witch intervened, the Witch Clan should have been unable to predict the arrival of these powerful cultivators, yet they did.

The powerful cultivators from the aristocratic families had just gathered when a blood curse was unleashed.

Wei Yuan put down the intelligence report, feeling increasingly terrified. Fortunately, the two True Immortals, Fen Hai and Lan Hua, had been actively involved in the battle; if they had slacked off even for a moment, they would have ended up with these True Immortals.

Although the True Immortals under the Xuan Yue True Lord are poor, they are truly resilient.

In this great battle, Qingming achieved a minor victory in the inter-realm warfare, the main force of the Northern Witch Clan fought to a draw with Yue Jinshan, while the aristocratic families suffered huge losses in the high-level cultivation aspect. Overall, the human race still lost.

The immense pressure was almost suffocating Wei Yuan. He knew he might not be so lucky next time, and might even become a primary target for the Witch Clan. But then Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something. According to his senior sister and Zhang Sheng, the witch with three pairs of wings had once infiltrated the realm and attempted to steal the boundary stone, but gave up because she couldn't solve the puzzle left by his senior sister.

That sorceress's cultivation was already very close to that of a Grand Sorcerer, and her supernatural powers were strange and powerful, almost on par with Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng. Bao Yun, being too young, lacked sufficient cultivation and was therefore inferior to her.

How come such a powerful priestess didn't play a more important role in the war when she was on the battlefield?
Furthermore, the sorcerers and witches Wei Yuan saw in the Netherworld were also quite powerful, but their combat strength was greatly diminished in order to integrate the protective canopy into their primordial spirits. If they returned to their home world, their combat strength would be reduced by at least 70%. In a battlefield where life and death hang in the balance, that would be suicidal.

Wei Yuan instinctively felt that these wizards must have been active in the Netherworld and rarely returned to their home world.

This made Wei Yuan wonder: what in the Netherworld was so important that it was even more important than the border wars of the human race?
Unfortunately, the swarm of ghost flies was too terrifying; those witches and sorcerers were left without even a trace. Otherwise, Wei Yuan might have been able to find some clues by examining their corpses.

Wei Yuan grew increasingly uneasy, so he went to the Hall of Merit to exchange for information about the Netherworld. However, upon entering the hall, Wei Yuan discovered that he no longer possessed any Heavenly Merit Points, leaving him no choice but to seek out Zhang Sheng.

Zhang Sheng had ample Heavenly Power and the materials didn't cost much, so he exchanged them immediately. Then, the master and disciple called over everyone from the Taichu Palace to study them together.

As Dream Eater described, the Netherworld is where the outer realms and this realm meet, situated on the edge of illusion and reality, where many strange and terrifying things happen. However, this place is also crucial for the advancement of Blood Witches. If they cannot establish a kingdom here, Blood Witches cannot harmonize with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth and become Celestial Witches.

Previously, the human race had also attempted to send people into the Netherworld to uncover the secrets of how Blood Witches could achieve Netherworld Witchhood and even advance further. However, over the past tens of thousands of years, the human race has sent many people in, but almost all of them have been wiped out, and even two potential Immortal Lords have been lost.

Since then, the human race has stopped exploring the Netherworld.

Wei Yuan had not expected that the losses from exploring the Netherworld would be so great. Over the years, thousands of people had been sent in, but only a few dozen had ever returned alive.

But thinking about it, it's quite normal. The Paper Wedding Dress Bureau alone could wipe out almost all of humanity. Having experienced it firsthand, Wei Yuan felt that only geniuses of Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, and Bao Yun's caliber could possibly survive. Their Dao Foundation and Primordial Spirit were incredibly powerful, and each possessed immortal-like abilities, enabling them to awaken from the illusion. Anyone else, even Xiao Yu, would undoubtedly die.

How could a genius like Ji Liuli be sent to the Netherworld? If it weren't for the great curse from Youwu Shuli, Wei Yuan would never have gone to the Netherworld.

After reading the document, Zhang Sheng suddenly said, "This document does not explicitly state whether the immortal lords already know the secret of the Netherworld."

The records of information in the Taichu Palace follow extremely strict procedures, especially those that require Heavenly Merit to exchange for. If something is secret or unknown, it will be stated as unknown. However, if it is something that is already known, even if only the Immortal Lord knows it, the record will either state that it is known or simply not state it, but it cannot state that it is not yet known.

Ji Liuli said, "That means it's possible that they knew, or had some guesses, but didn't make it public for some reason."

"What kind of content could make even an immortal lord so reluctant to discuss it?" Wei Yuan wondered.

Zhang Sheng remained silent, but Ji Liuli said, "There are many such cases; they are recorded in historical books."

Wei Yuan recalled the historical books he had studied, but there seemed to be no similar records.

Seeing that he couldn't remember, Ji Liuli reminded him, "Have you forgotten what Feng Chutang taught in the courses on the general history of the human race and the general knowledge of the immortal path? For example, how the first immortal lord appeared."

Wei Yuan seemed lost in thought. After reviewing the information, the importance of exploring the Netherworld had increased dramatically. It held the great secret of a Blood Witch's ascension to Heavenly Witchhood, and if Wei Yuan caused enough commotion there, it would be like setting fire to the Netherworld Witches' backyard, potentially drawing their attention away from the Realm of the Netherworld.

Wei Yuan had made up his mind, and immediately asked his senior sister and teacher for the methods and techniques of capturing live creatures, preparing to capture a few live ones in the Netherworld and interrogate them properly.

Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli both taught him everything they knew, and their ruthless and insidious methods made Wei Yuan break out in a cold sweat. Especially Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan's teacher who was considered invincible, was no less ruthless than Ji Liuli when it came to backstabbing.

Having inadvertently discovered another side of Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan deeply understood why the Tianqing Palace repeatedly emphasized respect for teachers.

(End of this chapter)