Longzang

Chapter 250 This Battle Mission
The so-called "grotto-heaven" is a small world that is attached to this world but operates independently.

Not only can mortals survive in high-grade cave heavens, but the environment within them also possesses various unique features that allow mortals to cultivate a certain type of technique more quickly or develop a certain type of talent.

The earliest grotto-heavens were all naturally existing small worlds. According to the speculation of the human immortals, many of the innate grotto-heavens were transformed from the bodies of ancient gods and demons after their deaths.

In this world, the history of other races is far longer than that of humans. The recorded history of the Northern Liao alone spans three million years, while the Wu tribe is even more ancient. It is said that the oldest tribe can be traced back to tens of millions of years ago.

In ancient times, powerful beings from other races revered returning to the heavens and earth. When they died, their bodies would slowly disintegrate and become part of the heavens and earth once more.

Some ancient powerhouses were so powerful that after their deaths, their bodies twisted the heavens and earth, becoming wondrous grotto-heavens.

There are also some innate grotto-heavens that were created when ancient powerful beings tore apart the heavens and earth during their battles. These grotto-heavens are often full of dangers, and those who are slightly weaker will be doomed if they enter them.

However, after humans achieved success in cultivation, they opened up the path to the acquired grotto-heavens. When True Monarch Yujing reached the later stage of cultivation, his mental world began to manifest in the world, merging the real and the illusory, moving from formlessness to form, and giving rise to color from emptiness.

Before their death, these types of True Monarchs of the Realm ...

While acquired grotto-heavens are far less stable and have fewer rules than innate grotto-heavens, they are still capable of sustaining mortals. Moreover, as cultivators within the grotto-heavens continuously repair them, acquired grotto-heavens can also gradually become more perfect.

Often, when another True Monarch of the human race reaches the end of his life, he will connect his own mental world with existing grotto-heavens, either expanding into new spaces or filling in existing gaps. In this way, as time accumulates, the number of grotto-heavens and secret realms of the human race gradually increases.

The realm of Immortal Lords is naturally different. They either create a relatively perfect and relatively large cave world, which belongs to the category of innate cave worlds, or they simply transform the mental world into reality, thereby completely changing a world.

The founder of Taichu Palace transformed himself into precious soil, establishing the first auspicious site for the Taichu Palace's mountain gate.

One of his three disciples passed away within the ancestral mountain gate, transforming into a solitary peak ten thousand feet high, which elevated the treasure land of the mountain gate to a higher grade. The other two chose to transform into treasure land outside, opening up two other mountain gates.

Regarding the Treasure Land Grotto-Heaven, the immortals of the human race throughout history have believed that the barbaric and uncivilized nature of other races, which has remained stagnant for millions of years, is related to the fact that the powerful figures of each generation have passed away. The ancestors of the human race, by protecting their descendants with their bodies, cultivated the immense power of heaven and earth to provide for their descendants, thus enabling them to stand out among countless small races and gradually carve out a not-so-small place to live.

This grotto-heaven in the Shattered Realm was originally a post-natal grotto-heaven jointly built by the three ancestors of the Xu family, serving as a stabilizing force to guard Ningxi. However, the Wu Clan became too powerful, forcing Xu Wangu to retreat, defeating the Xu family and the Western Jin army, and breaching the grotto-heaven.

The Houtian Cave Heaven was inherently unstable. The Xu family's Cave Heaven was still in its initial construction stage and could not withstand the great battle between the two powerful clans. In the end, it shattered and turned into many fragments, which fell to various parts of the Broken Domain.

There is a fragment of a grotto-heaven nearby, but Wei Yuan hasn't had time to put it on the agenda yet.

Wei Yuan initially believed that after years of fighting, the Xu family's grotto-heaven must have already moved its people and important treasures before its fall, leaving nothing of value but danger. Therefore, Wei Yuan was not keen on exploring it and planned to wait until the realm naturally expanded to cover it before proceeding.

But now that Master Chuhe has come to his door so earnestly, Wei Yuan has no choice but to take it seriously.

However, just to be on the safe side, Wei Yuan still wanted to confirm again: "Master, why are you so sure there are treasures inside?"

The True Man of the Farming Seeds reached out, and a giant Ganoderma lucidum appeared in his palm. Beneath the Ganoderma lucidum, a small mouse with golden fur was sleeping. As soon as it appeared, it suddenly stood up, sniffed intensely in one direction, and then began to squeak and squeal wildly.

Master Chuhe clenched his fist and withdrew his Dharma image, saying, "This Dharma image of mine is naturally adept at finding treasures, especially innate spiritual bodies and plants. The Xu family's cave heaven was shattered, and a trace of its aura leaked out. I was close by, which is why I noticed it."

"What grade of spiritual plant do you think it will be?"

Master Chuhe said, "For the old Daoist's Dharma Image to be so excited, it must be a top-grade spiritual plant!" Wei Yuan was also surprised. A top-grade spiritual plant was a Royal Landscape-level spiritual plant, something even ordinary True Monarchs would fight over. The Shattered Domain had ravaged the heavens and earth; originally, spiritual plants of this level would not have been able to survive. Perhaps it was protected by a grotto-heaven that allowed it to survive until now.

"Besides you, is there anyone else who might know?"

"This old Taoist's methods are no less than those of a True Monarch. One must be very close to sense it, and under normal circumstances, no one should know about it. However, the Xu family must know, but I don't know why they didn't move it. The old Taoist speculates that this spiritual object may not have been of high quality to begin with, but some change occurred during the shattering of the cave heaven, allowing it to transform."

Wei Yuan nodded; this was the only reasonable explanation.

After seeing off Master Chuhe, Wei Yuan unfolded the map and began to ponder carefully. The treasure tree was valuable, but the risks were considerable. Such a treasure could likely be born from a fragment of a grotto-heaven, but it also probably harbored ferocious beasts. Didn't you see how easily Master Chuhe became terrified, never daring to abandon Wei Yuan to enjoy it alone?

Aside from their shared sect affiliation, Wei Yuan knew he had no special feelings for the old Taoist priest. The old priest wouldn't give him all the benefits. The reason he came to him was definitely because he felt he couldn't handle it all alone.

If you want to explore the cave, you must be careful. And once you successfully unlock the treasure, you must be wary of someone sneaking up on you from behind.

Treasures of a certain rank are favored by heaven and earth, and generally have a background. Wei Yuan suspected that the treasure in the cave should have had a name and identity before its transformation, but the Xu family did not expect it to transform. However, once it leaves the cave, someone might sense it, so both the preliminary and follow-up work are very important.

Wei Yuan examined the map; the fragments of the grotto-heaven lay within a range of 100 to 300 li to the northeast, and any place could be the entrance. Finding the entrance required a thorough search. The problem was that such a large-scale operation would be difficult to conceal from the Western Jin and the Wu tribes.

However, Wei Yuan never intended to let the Western Jin and the Wu tribes be idle. As long as he gave them something to do, they wouldn't notice the increased number of spies in the north. Now, he could do both things at the same time.

Wei Yuan flew out of his residence and arrived at the northwest edge of the boundary. He concealed himself with the power of Qingming and looked towards the distant Wucheng.

Wucheng was originally a hundred li away from the boundary, but with the natural expansion of the boundary in recent days, the distance has decreased to only ninety-five li. At this time, Wei Yuan controlled the expansion of the boundary, changing it to one li per month, so as not to scare away the Wu tribe.

The strategy is now working. Even though the Witch Clan suffered a major defeat, they did not abandon Witch City. Instead, they greatly strengthened the city's defenses, and civilians, warriors, and resources were continuously sent into the city.

Wei Yuan had been managing the territory for some time and knew that such temporary emergency city construction could cost several times more than usual. Although he didn't know the strength and size of the opposing Wu tribe, they had definitely spared no expense to build such a large city in such a short time.

Having confirmed the state of Wucheng, Wei Yuan felt the time was almost right.

He returned to the realm, and with a single command, thousands of Body Forging cultivators pushed steel cylinders, each ten feet long and as thick as a water vat, towards the designated area. Some of these steel cylinders had just been pushed out of the weapon-forging workshop.

A large contingent of Foundation Establishment cultivators flew out from their base and, according to pre-arranged training, took their positions at the designated array core. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators formed a long line, stretching for thousands of feet. Dozens of Body Forging cultivators worked together to lift a steel cylinder and place it into the array. Ji Liuli then gave the array a final inspection before activating it.

As the formation activated, the steel cylinder slowly levitated.

Wei Yuan then went to Zhang Sheng's door, knocked on it, and said, "Teacher, it's time for us to challenge him."

The door opened, and Zhang Sheng stepped out. His entire demeanor had changed; he now appeared aloof and ethereal, and asked calmly, "What is it that I, your master, need to do in this battle?"

"Just adopt the demeanor of a master."

(End of this chapter)