Longzang

Chapter 278 The Source of Danger
Before entering the cave to explore, Wei Yuan set up several additional traps before confidently leading his group through the entrance and into the cave fragment.

In a secret place a thousand miles away, an old man covered in wounds appeared in mid-air. Upon landing, he lost his balance and almost fell. Several people came out of the house in the secret place and quickly came forward to help him up, saying, "Seventh Elder, how did you get so badly injured?"

The old man snorted, pushed away the person helping him, and said, "It's just a minor injury, nothing to worry about! I didn't expect them to come out in full force this time, even bringing their only Dharma Aspect Realm cultivator. They outnumbered me, so I inevitably suffered a small loss. But after this battle, they will surely think there are great treasures in the fragments of the cave, and they will all fall into my trap and obediently enter the cave. Hmph, then they will be trapped inside!"

A junior member whispered, "Elder, your wound is still bleeding."

"It's just a minor injury. Prepare hot water; I need to bathe and change." The old man ignored the still-bleeding wound and strode into the room.

Everyone knew that the Seventh Elder always cared about his reputation, so this meant that his injuries weren't serious. However, there were bloody footprints on the ground with a bluish tinge to the blood, which didn't look like the injuries were minor at all.

After entering the room and closing the door, the Seventh Elder quickly took off his clothes to examine his wounds. He was shocked to find that many of the wounds had turned bluish-black and he had lost sensation. No wonder he hadn't felt much pain just now!
He cursed Wei Yuan's wickedness while searching for an antidote. But just then, a sharp pain shot through his mind, causing him to feel dizzy and faint!
At the critical moment of life and death, the Seventh Elder unleashed an astonishing will, crawled to the door, pushed it open, stretched out a hand, and then fainted.

Outside the cave, Sun Yu suddenly sensed something unusual in the merit book. He took a look with his divine sense and was immediately surprised. Where did this heavenly merit come from? He didn't have time to think about it and followed the others into the cave.

At this moment, Wei Yuan passed through the dark ripples floating in the air, and his vision changed; he was now in another world.

Ahead stood a tall gate, made entirely of white jade, ten zhang high, inscribed with the four large characters "Huan Kong Dong Tian" (Universal Cave Heaven). Wei Yuan looked behind him and saw only a thin layer of mist, indicating that this was the boundary of the cave heaven.

The mist churned and shifted, occasionally thinning to reveal the black void behind it. This void was different from the void of the outer realms; it was the gap between the grotto-heaven world and this world. Once caught in it, one might never be able to escape.

At this moment, the figures of Master Chuhe, Sun Yu, and others were outlined in the air, from nothing to something, and from something to reality, allowing Wei Yuan to see the entire process of entering the cave.

Ji Liuli looked around and said, "We're lucky; this should be a side entrance to the cave. Be careful; there should be some traps nearby. I don't know if they'll still be effective."

Wei Yuan also divined in his mind, and the result was that there was no danger.

However, he wasn't very confident in his divination skills, so he secretly put on a bracelet. This bracelet was actually a feng shui formation; Wei Yuan had added the aura of the Red Lotus Bodhi to it to enhance his luck and turn misfortune into good fortune when encountering danger.

Behind the white jade gate, a main road gently ascends, leading to a small town not far away. Judging from the number of houses in the town, it must have housed at least several thousand people. The town boasts taverns, restaurants, and all kinds of shops, and the roads are all paved with bluestone, wide enough for two horse-drawn carriages to travel side by side, giving one a sense of its former prosperity.

This should be the residence of ordinary disciples and mortal servants. Following the main path upwards, there are large palaces and pavilions at the top of the mountain, which is the core of the entire grotto-heaven.

The terrain within this grotto-heaven is hilly with gentle slopes, the highest point being only two or three hundred feet high. Between the town at the foot of the mountain and the palace at the summit, there are several dozen miles of gentle slopes. The steeper sections are clearly rich in spiritual energy and have been terraced to cultivate spiritual herbs and plants. Some fields have been cultivated on the remaining gentle slopes, where spiritual rice is grown. Perhaps due to insufficient spiritual energy, the cultivated fields are not numerous.

The sky above the cave was still bright, roughly in the morning, but there was a clear dividing line on the distant horizon, beyond which lay the dark void. That vast expanse of uncertain light and shadow resembled a huge wound in the cave, which was slowly expanding.

In a while, this fragment of the grotto-heaven will be completely swallowed up and disappear from the world forever.

Wei Yuan entered the town, randomly chose a magical artifact shop, broke through the wooden planks sealing the door, and went inside. The shop was quite large, with exquisitely crafted counters and shelves. However, the shelves were now completely empty, without a single item. The area behind the counter was also spotless; everything had been taken away.

There were signs of demolition in some parts of the shop; the light fixtures that were originally embedded in the walls were all gone, presumably removed. The entire shop was just an empty shell; anything of value had been taken. The shop owner seemed to still have the intention to return to business, as he had kept the counter and shelves and carefully sealed the door.

After visiting one shop, Wei Yuan knew that the others were roughly the same. Perhaps there were some hidden places where unknown valuables might have been left behind, but that was unlikely.

It would take a lot of time to thoroughly search the town, but the advantage of Wei Yuan bringing so many people became apparent at this moment. With a wave of his hand, hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators dispersed to search the entire town.

Wei Yuan then went to inspect the spirit field with Master Chuhe.

The spiritual fields in the mountains where spirit rice was grown are now barren and overgrown with weeds. Master Chuhe bent down, picked up a handful of soil, examined it, and said, "There's hardly any spiritual energy left in the ground. It seems that the spirit-gathering array lost its effectiveness after the cave heaven shattered. It's also possible that the array was destroyed during the retreat."

The field was now overgrown with weeds and there wasn't much to see, so Wei Yuan and Master Chuhe headed towards the medicinal herb field. Master Chuhe's little cat followed behind them, walking leisurely. Suddenly, it turned around, its fur standing on end, but it didn't see anything.

After communicating with the kitten for a while, Master Chuhe said, "The Broken Cave is full of dangers, but the most dangerous thing is actually the void. It may have sensed that a certain place is about to break and expose the void."

"Master, where is the peerless treasure you sensed?"

Master Chuhe smiled wryly, "The grotto-heaven is a world unto itself. Once inside, my magical abilities become useless. Otherwise, I would have come to explore it myself long ago..."

So he wanted to keep it all to himself… Wei Yuan thought to himself. But nothing comes without a reason, and it's normal for the old Taoist to have his own ideas. Considering the abundant spiritual energy contributed by those few pieces of Netherworld Soil, Wei Yuan could tolerate it.

Upon reaching the edge of the herb garden, Wei Yuan felt inexplicably uncomfortable, as if he hadn't showered for several days, his body feeling sticky and damp.

The feeling was somewhat like being cursed, and also like something bad was about to happen.

So Wei Yuan didn't rush into the herb garden. Instead, he cast a divination on the spot, but found nothing. Just as the True Man of the Hoeing Fields had said, a grotto-heaven is a world unto itself, and many spells and formations are unusable within it. This is also an important means for many grotto-heavens to defend against external enemies. Seeing that he couldn't divination find any danger, Wei Yuan put a drop of platinum-gold tree sap into his bracelet, using the power of the laurel tree to enhance his fortune and thus resist unknown risks.

His movements were discreet, and the old Taoist priest, focused entirely on the herb garden, didn't notice what Wei Yuan was doing. Upon entering the garden, the old priest was very excited, saying, "This herb garden is indeed of high quality; the Xu family has invested heavily. Hehe, although they took all the spiritual herbs when they left, some herbs can regrow as long as a few roots are left! Let me see if any have escaped..."

As they were talking, the old Taoist suddenly lost his footing and fell into the next terraced field.

The kitten rushed to the rescue, but its hind paws suddenly slipped as it jumped, and it fell down as well.

Ignoring his disheveled state, Master Chuhe got up and continued his search. After a careful search, he actually found several revived spiritual roots. These were all top-grade spiritual herbs, useful even to True Monarchs, and were of the same grade as the Red Jade Lantern and the Impure Earth Dragon Sunflower.

Besides this, there was an unexpected bonus. In a small corner of the field, dozens of Earth Luo Red Flowers were planted. This was a mid-grade spiritual plant, and a main ingredient in Qi-replenishing pills for Foundation Establishment cultivators. These Earth Luo Red Flowers must have been planted recently, so no one paid them any attention when they left. Several years passed, and they had all sprouted.

Master Chuhe carefully picked up the tender sprout, wrapped it up, and tossed it to Wei Yuan. This level of spiritual plant was not worth the old Daoist's attention, not because it was worthless, but because the old Daoist only valued rare spiritual plants, as these would help him comprehend them.

"These medicinal herbs can be exchanged for a single leaf from the laurel tree. If there is any deficiency, this old Daoist will make up for it with the things grown on six pieces of Netherworld Soil."

"No problem," Wei Yuan readily agreed. He didn't know what the old Taoist was planting on the six pieces of Netherworld Soil, but it was definitely better than ordinary high-grade spiritual plants. Perhaps it wasn't quite top-grade, but it wasn't far off either.

The old Taoist priest lightly leaped up, preparing to climb another step, but his foot tripped on the edge of the terraced field and he fell to the ground again.

"Strange, strange, what's wrong with the old Taoist today?" Master Chuhe felt like he was drunk, but he was perfectly sober. Just then, he heard a meow behind him. The cat jumped up but slipped, and because it wasn't high enough, it crashed headfirst into the edge of the terraced field and fell down.

Wei Yuan pointed to the palace above and said, "The land there is flat."

The old Taoist priest, Chuhe Zhenren, found this reasonable and didn't delve into it further. He followed Wei Yuan out of the herb garden to explore the palace. But as soon as they left the herb garden, Wei Yuan swiftly pulled the old Taoist aside, dodging a sudden, floating shadow.

Master Chuhe was immediately terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat. This shadow was a manifestation of the void; if he were to touch it, he might lose a piece of flesh. If it happened to appear inside his body, he would be severely injured, if not killed.

The old Taoist priest wiped away a cold sweat, still shaken, and said, "Thank you, junior disciple!"

"Let's regroup with the others first," Wei Yuan said.

Wei Yuan had already discovered that the Immortal Tree's sap was far too powerful. After being added to the Feng Shui formation, the old Taoist was no longer at the bottom of his luck, but had fallen directly into an abyss of luck with no end in sight. If he stayed with him any longer, the old Taoist might just die a natural death.

The old Taoist priest couldn't quite explain what was wrong with him; in short, he was terrified. So, he reluctantly abandoned his plan to eat alone and followed Wei Yuan toward the palace.

Outside the palace atop the mountain, all the cultivators of the Taichu Palace had arrived and were waiting for Wei Yuan and the True Man.

Ji Liuli suddenly exclaimed in surprise, frowning as he said, "There's something strange about this place. Why is my luck constantly declining?"

The other cultivators also noticed this, and thus each displayed their own methods.

Ji Liuli activated the array plate, re-blessing the feng shui.

Zhang Sheng's four immortal swords appeared, stabilizing the surrounding energy and the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind.

Yu Zhizhuo took out a strange stone from outer space, using it to take his place in facing the calamity. If someone were to strike with a knife, they would most likely hit this strange stone. And in the world, there are truly few things that can withstand the hardness of this strange stone.

Sun Yu simply distanced himself from the crowd and lit a stick of incense that could melt demons and destroy gods.

Listening to the wind and rain is the simplest thing, revealing an innocent and pure smile.

The saying goes that innocent youths are often joyful. The disciples of the Mingwang Palace have pure minds, and their brains are mostly filled with muscle, which is why they are born with good luck.

Everyone used their own methods and finally managed to stop the continuous decline in fortune. At this moment, Wei Yuan and Master Chuhe arrived. Seeing everyone's strange postures, Wei Yuan was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What are you doing..."

Before he could finish speaking, the old Taoist priest next to him suddenly cried out in pain and slipped on the ground.

A faint shadow appeared in the air, reaching out a claw towards Wei Yuan. But Wei Yuan stopped and turned to look at Master Chuhe. The shadow's claw missed its target and headed towards the old Taoist on the ground.

(End of this chapter)