Longzang

Chapter 398: Evil intentions
The cultivator wasted a lot of time, but finally continued forward.

Following him, two more cultivators appeared, both sensing a clear presence of being watched. After some time, they found the monitoring artifact and a stone. Neither of them understood the stone's purpose, but judging from its placement, it seemed to be part of the artifact set.

As they ventured deeper into the secret realm, they felt spied on several more times, each time with magical artifacts and matching stones. After several such encounters, the cultivators became somewhat numb, and some simply stopped searching whenever they felt spied on again.

The feeling of being spied on by different methods is also different, and cultivators with keen spiritual sense can detect the subtle differences. In these few instances, the feeling of being spied on clearly came from the same monitoring magic weapon, so some cultivators didn't bother with it and just focused on exploring further.

Some were carefree, while others were stubborn and meticulous. At a crossroads leading into the middle of the secret realm, several cultivators sensed they were being watched. The first three simply ignored it, but the fourth insisted on flying to the top of the cave to search.

This time, she didn't find the monitoring magic weapon or the matching stone. Instead, she was met with a barrage of flying swords!
The explosion was so sudden, accompanied by flashes of light and a chilling, demonic sound, that her movements faltered. She was unable to dodge the flying swords and was blasted with four or five bloody holes in her body, suffering serious injuries.

She struggled to her feet, quickly took some medicine to heal her wounds, and hurried away. The commotion was so great; it would surely attract the attention of other cultivators nearby. Killing was strictly forbidden in this secret realm.

By this time, Wei Yuan had already moved far away from this location to another area. After surveying the terrain, he chose a cave, buried a box of directional flying sword bombs at the bottom, and then attached a white light bomb and a magic sound bomb. After setting everything up, Wei Yuan quickly left for the next location.

Across the vast landscape, another set of markings appeared at the edge of the secret realm image, totaling four heads. Three of them bore the Bao family mark, and one bore the mark of Qiongshan Immortal Island.

Shortly after Wei Yuan left, an explosion suddenly rang out behind him, followed by angry curses and then a surge of sword energy. In the shadows of the cave ceiling, a stone was quietly recording everything.

He was a swordsman, judging from his attire he was from one of the islands of the East Sea, but not from Qiongshan Immortal Island; he was likely a rogue cultivator from the East Sea. Half of his body was covered in blood, and his Dharma form was somewhat unstable, clearly indicating he was seriously injured.

Wei Yuan set up this trap at the bottom of a cave with no way out. The cultivator went in to investigate and probe the source, but ended up triggering the trap at the bottom of the cave. He had nowhere to escape and was severely injured by the explosion.

He staggered out of the cave, cursing as he went, when suddenly a soft white light shone behind him, and a slender hand touched the top of his head.

The wandering cultivator from the East Sea heard endless Buddhist chants, and his face gradually became calm and serene. After a moment, a joyful smile appeared on his face, as if he had grasped the true meaning. However, his face was covered in blood, making his smile look extremely eerie.

Behind the man appeared a monk dressed in a blue robe, whose eyes were amber in color. His face was both handsome and resolute, making it difficult to tell whether he was male or female.

The man bowed to the monk and then followed him into the depths of the secret realm. As he walked, his long hair fell out.

Across the vast landscape, another human-shaped marker was added, but this one was marked with the words "severely wounded" and "transformed." Immediately, a dozen or so people separated to begin studying it.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly from a distance, feeling that the monk seemed familiar, and that when he appeared, he glanced at the stone he had left behind, intentionally or unintentionally.

This stone isn't one of those that intentionally reveals its spying aura; it possesses the ability to conceal itself, and so far, apart from this monk, no one has been able to detect it.

Wei Yuan accelerated, disappearing into the shadows. He now had supplies for four people, which would be very useful in the final arrangements. Especially the three members of the Bao family; they seemed to have gone there specifically to deal with the Haili tribe, bringing only supplies for combat and conquest, but now they had all fallen into Wei Yuan's hands.

Wei Yuan could only apologize in his heart and try to kill a few more Haili people to regain some goodwill with the elders.

In a quiet courtyard in the ancestral home of the Bao family, Bao Yun was sitting opposite a man.

The man had a majestic and resolute appearance, like a giant axe capable of cutting through any obstacle in his path. His eyes shone with an undisguised, frightening light, and he had a strange mark between his eyebrows.

He was quite tall; a normal tall man would only reach his shoulder, but his body had smooth, slender lines, without any sense of clumsiness.

This man's aura was like a volcano about to erupt, and compared to him, Bao Yun was like a small tree at the foot of the mountain.

The man looked at Bao Yun, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, and said, "Miss Yun is indeed a perfect match for me. After I deal with that androgynous peacock, I will come to marry you!" Bao Yun said, "It seems you have never asked me what I think, nor do you intend to."

The man laughed and said, "After you marry into our family, we'll study the Floating World Dragon Diagram together. I'll be at least 70% confident of achieving enlightenment, and you might even reach the final step. Who would refuse such a heavenly path to immortality?"

"Even if the path to immortality were right in front of me, some people wouldn't want to take it. Besides, the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land can also give me the path to immortality."

The man frowned slightly and said, "What kind of heretical sects are those Great Treasure Flower Pure Lands? Would you still be yourself after you go there? Besides, if you go in and don't experience the joy of dual cultivation, what's the point of living?"

"If all the young island master knows is to say, then please leave."

The man was not annoyed. Suddenly, an unparalleled mental power descended from the sky and froze Bao Yun!

He slowly reached out and lifted Bao Yun's chin, saying, "I will say what I want and do what I want! You probably don't know how terrifying the Floating World Dragon Map is, but some members of your Bao family do. Why don't you think about why no elders have stepped forward to stop it?"
Even if I did it to you right here and now, no one would stop me; the only difference would be a grander ceremony afterwards. I've heard you're a very intelligent woman, and I like intelligent women, so you'd better not do anything foolish and disappoint me.

He withdrew his mental power, returned to his seat, and his gaze roamed over Bao Yun without restraint.

Bao Yun's face was somewhat pale, but there was no movement around her, only the sound of the wind and birdsong, and no human voices.

She composed herself and asked, "Have the elders already agreed to your request?"

“We’re still missing one, but persuading another elder won’t be difficult. We can do it even without touching the peacock. It’s just that I don’t like that androgynous guy. He has ill intentions towards you, so we must teach him a lesson.”

"Honest intentions?"

"Hmm, that guy has ulterior motives. The way he looked at you was off; he must be lusting after you."

Bao Yun paused for a moment, then said, "How dare you say such a thing?"

The man laughed and said, "I, Zhao, have always acted openly and honestly. I not only covet your body, but also your primordial spirit, your fortune, and your opportunities—I covet you as a whole! And whatever I get, I will only give more. The reason your Bao family elders tacitly allowed me to come see you this time is precisely because I gave them enough."

Bao Yun said calmly, "But I don't like you."

The man didn't seem to care: "We'll be spending thousands of years together in the future, so whether you like someone now or not is unimportant. Oh, if you have someone else in your heart, you'd better break it off quickly and let him stop bothering you, and definitely don't appear in front of us again. Otherwise, he'll be an obstacle to my path to immortality. The struggle for the Great Dao is a fight to the death, so guess how many years I'll torment him in front of you?"

He continued, "Our Qiongshan Immortal Island wants to break this deadlock, and so does your Bao family. The key to breaking this deadlock lies between us. If we cannot cultivate the Floating World Dragon Diagram, our two families will remain trapped in the same place, and we don't know how much longer we will have to wait."

But now that I'm on the Immortal Island, and I possess the Floating World Dragon Diagram, perhaps in another hundred years I'll find a second woman capable of jointly cultivating the Floating World Dragon Diagram. And at that time, you might as well guess how I'll treat you, how I'll treat your Bao family?"

Bao Yun said, "Are you threatening me?"

The man grinned and said, "I guess so!"

He stood up and said, "I'll go meet that peacock first, and then I'll come find you. Also, what you just said wasn't very clever; I didn't like it."

(End of this chapter)