Longzang

Chapter 365 Because of you

After absorbing the memories of the iron ring, the ring lost all its mystique and became an ordinary iron ring.

Wei Yuan put the matter aside for the time being and picked up the fragments of the statue one by one, storing them in the vast land of rivers and mountains.

Even if the memories in the ring are real, they happened a very, very long time ago, and there might not have been many changes in between. That Liao youth might have already vanished into nothingness.

Moreover, it is more likely that the so-called memory is an illusion, or even a hoax.

Without further clues, Wei Yuan didn't intend to linger. He decided to collect the statue first. The blood mud used to create the statue possessed astonishing spirituality. The Red Lotus Bodhi, the Ice Glass Divine Wood, and the aquatic immortal plants all began to sprout new life, and the spirituality of their Dao foundations increased accordingly, allowing them to use Dao power exponentially.

By this time, Wei Yuan had already used up most of the flying swords in his hand, and the gains from this exploration after obtaining the statue were already enormous. Moreover, standing here, he could faintly sense a more terrifying aura from a deeper level, far surpassing the Dharma Form.

Wei Yuan decided to refrain from further risks and return to the surface first to replenish his flying swords before deciding on his next move. The aura deep underground was far beyond Wei Yuan's current capabilities; he only intended to sweep through the surrounding area, reaping as many ordinary undead monsters as possible to enhance the spirituality of his Dao Foundation.

The rebirth of spirituality has clear standards. If the spirituality that is born only remains at the foundational level, then it has virtually no hope of manifesting a Dharma form. When a spirituality reaches the Dharma form level, it can successfully cultivate a Dharma form. As the saying goes, you can't hatch a phoenix from an egg; if the spirituality's grade and quantity are insufficient, it will be difficult to give birth to a Dharma form.

In reality, only a small number of cultivators with a Dao Foundation can generate a Dharma Aspect-level spirituality; the vast majority of cultivators are somewhere between a Dao Foundation and a Dharma Aspect. Whether one can achieve a Dharma Aspect depends on luck and timing.

Wei Yuan's three Dao Foundation Warriors should have been classified as Dao Foundation level spiritual beings, but there are three, and there will certainly be more in the future. The number of spiritual beings is also a very important factor. Generally, the Tai Chu Palace believes that ten Dao Foundation level spiritual beings are roughly equivalent to the entry level of the Dharma Aspect stage. However, although there have been cultivators in history who achieved the Dharma Aspect stage purely by accumulating the number of Dao Foundation level spiritual beings, they are extremely rare.

However, these Dao Foundation warriors like Wei Yuan are not ordinary spiritual beings; they have all awakened their wisdom, and there are no precedents to follow, so it is unknown how to calculate it.

After obtaining the blood mud from the divine statue and reviving the immortal plants, Wei Yuan's Dao power recovery ability also increased significantly, allowing him to store five hundred flying swords daily. Combined with three awakened Dao foundation puppets, Wei Yuan now effectively possesses four sources of firepower, resulting in a massive increase in combat strength. However, his combat power now depends on the number of flying swords he has; once the flying swords are used up, his strength will be halved.

Stepping out of the temple, Wei Yuan sensed that the village was acting strangely again. This time there was no thick smoke, but a vast amount of residual magical power lingered above the village, and the rules of heaven and earth were disturbed. All of this indicated that a battle between Dharma Aspect cultivators had just taken place here.

Wei Yuan sent a warrior to sneak up to a high vantage point to observe the village, while he himself slowly walked back. With the concealment ability of the treasure tree, and the fact that Dao Foundation warriors lack the reactions of flesh and blood beings, their stealth ability was extremely strong, even stronger than Wei Yuan's own body.

In the Daoji warrior's view, the villagers were carrying stones to repair the collapsed houses, and it wouldn't be long before they were restored to their original state.

Wei Yuan returned to his residence, where the woman was cutting wooden shafts to make more crossbow bolts. Upon seeing Wei Yuan, she immediately tensed up, appearing ready for battle at any moment.

Wei Yuan didn't touch her, but said, "Is there anything we need to pack? We have to escape."

"You knew everything?" the woman asked.

“I’m not blind… Oh, I mean, the signs of battle are so obvious, of course I can sense them. But what I don’t understand is why the Liao tribe only comes when I enter the temple.”

"That's because the mountains are only safe at noon. At other times, very powerful monsters roam the mountains, and the Liao people don't want to encounter them."

"How could the Liao people have suddenly appeared?"

"It's mostly because of you."

Wei Yuan nodded; he had guessed the same thing. The woman said that the Heavenly Sorrow was shedding blood—such a great anomaly would likely be noticed by the Liao tribe. Moreover, the Great Shamans of the Northern Territory possessed various mysterious spells, and in divination and fortune-telling, they were once far ahead of the human race, until the human race slowly caught up ten thousand years ago.

At this moment, someone outside the stone house said, "Young master, the village elder invites you."

Wei Yuan left the stone house, and this time the woman did not follow. Wei Yuan then followed the man all the way to the village.

Upon Wei Yuan's arrival, the old woman said, "The Liao tribe already knows your whereabouts and has sent a centurion today. This village has been hiding for thousands of years, but it seems they can no longer hide. In a few days, the Liao tribe will send even more powerful warriors. You need to leave."

"Then what do you do?"

The old woman smiled and said, "In our current state, we're just barely surviving, and we won't have peace after death. The sooner we die, the sooner we'll be reborn. Come with me, I'll take you to see the ancestral hall in the village."

The old woman left the house and slowly walked up the mountain. Wei Yuan followed behind her, and they walked for several miles before arriving at a large rock. The old woman touched the rock, and the entire rock disappeared like ripples on water, revealing a deep passage. The old woman walked into the passage, and the lamps on both walls lit up, illuminating the passage.

Passing through the passage, one arrives at a stone hall. Inside, a tiered platform is built, with countless memorial tablets placed on each step. On the offering table sits a small incense burner, its entire surface made of glass, with seven-colored light flowing within.

The ancestral hall was filled with a sinister and eerie atmosphere, chilling to the bone. The walls were covered in mold, and countless tiny white worms crawled around inside.

Many of the memorial tablets were covered in purplish-red flesh and decay, dripping yellow pus and blood. Only a few tablets remained relatively clean.

Wei Yuan used his divine sense to discern the direction of the spiritual veins within the ancestral hall, and then discovered that the array set up here had the function of binding souls, and it was seven or eight parts similar to the array that had bound the soul of the Xu family's young man.

“These are the ancestors enshrined here. You may have noticed that they are not in a good condition.”

Wei Yuan nodded.

All the memorial tablets are made of special materials and form part of the overall Soul-Binding Array. As long as the array is not destroyed, these tablets are part of the soul and flesh of the person listed, and the condition of the person will be reflected in the tablets. The tablets can also influence the person.

The more Wei Yuan examined the formation, the more suspicious he became. It wasn't just about binding souls; it was about manipulation. This was a formation capable of controlling everyone on the ancestral tablets within the ancestral hall, even if they were dead!
The old woman noticed Wei Yuan's shock and said, "It seems you've already figured it out. The underground area of ​​the temple is extremely vast, but the yin energy and evil aura are also very strong. Even if you enter at noon, you can't last for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Later, our ancestors came up with a solution: they refined the corpses of their deceased clansmen into puppet corpses and then controlled them to go deep underground. Through generations of exploration, our ancestors finally made a breakthrough and found a temple hidden deep underground."

However, the puppet corpses that approached the statue all lost control. But the area around the statue was the purest place of yin energy, so the ancestors built tombs around it and put the corpses of their clansmen inside, hoping to obtain more powerful puppet corpses to continue deeper. In order to have enough strength, some ancestors who had not yet reached the end of their lifespan also entered the tombs.

But at that moment, all the puppet corpses suddenly became uncontrollable; they transformed into puppets of the idol. Since then, we have never returned to the tomb.

The old woman sighed and continued, "Actually, our ancestors' use of this method greatly damaged their karma. All those who became puppet corpses do not enter the cycle of reincarnation; their souls are actually in this Yellow Springs Two-Part Cauldron."

The small cauldron contained surging soul power, holding countless vengeful spirits. It was like the plaza in the Xu Family Grotto-Heaven, a container for imprisoned souls.

The old woman said, "I want you to take this Yellow Spring Cauldron with you. After you return to the human realm, open the cauldron and release the souls inside, letting them disperse back into the world and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. Only in this way can you be considered truly liberated. This Yellow Spring Cauldron can separate Yin and Yang and create a new world. It can serve as a treasure for the manifestation of the mind's world into a grotto-heaven. This will be your reward."

If a True Lord wishes to manifest the world of his mind, he needs a foundation stone. Treasures that can serve as foundation stones are extremely rare, therefore this Yellow Spring Cauldron is also priceless.

Wei Yuan asked, "What is hidden below the temple? Why did our noble ancestors go to such great lengths to explore it?"

"Our ancestors believed that every node of the earth's destiny calculated by the Grand Celestial Master was actually an entrance to another world, such as the Netherworld and the Great Wilderness of the Wu Clan, and the Golden Feather World of the Liao Clan. You haven't explored deep enough yet. If you see the tomb chamber built by our ancestors, you will be able to sense the terrifying creatures dwelling deep below."

Our ancestors believed that those beings had seeped in from another world. If one day you have the ability to venture into the tomb, remember, never look at the idols.

Wei Yuan nodded solemnly, indicating that he had remembered. However, he did not mention that he had already entered the tomb chamber and that the statue had already become nourishment for immortal plants within his Dao foundation.

Just as the old woman was about to say something more, a thunderclap suddenly rang out in the night sky, and a terrifying burst of magical power erupted in the distance. Even through the array of the ancestral hall, Wei Yuan could feel the shock of the magical power.

The burst of magical power could travel hundreds of miles away, yet it reached here, clearly indicating a battle at the True Lord level!

The old woman's gaze pierced through the obstacles, looking into the distance, and her expression suddenly changed.

She picked up the Yellow Spring Cauldron and placed it in Wei Yuan's hand. Then, she took out a bone from some unknown creature from under the altar and gave it to Wei Yuan as well. She then said urgently, "The Liao Clan's Great Shaman has arrived. The monsters roaming the mountains won't be able to hold him off for long. I can only delay him for one day using the spiritual energy accumulated in the ancestral land. You must leave through the temple entrance now. There is a secret passage leading out of the mountains. Once you go in, I will seal the entrance."

In this urgent situation, the old woman picked up Wei Yuan and instantly arrived at the stone house where he and the woman lived. Then, taking the woman with her, she was at the temple entrance in another instant. She then handed the woman a scroll of parchment, saying, "This is a map of the passage..."

With a loud boom, another burst of magical power erupted from the distance, this time dozens of miles closer.

The woman acted decisively; she lit a torch, glanced at the map, and then pulled Wei Yuan towards a hidden passage. A rumbling sound came from behind; the passage they had entered through had collapsed.

After running a few steps, Wei Yuan scooped up the woman and sprinted away, his speed indeed increasing significantly.

(End of this chapter)