Longzang

Chapter 402 Before the war
Wei Yuan, who was stealthily sprinting forward, suddenly shivered, feeling a deep resentment engulf him, followed by a violent fluctuation of magical power behind him. The fact that they could sense it from such a distance showed how intense the battle was.

Wei Yuan moved with lightning speed, but his route was winding and circuitous. Whenever he reached a place that attracted attention—such as a place with spiritual veins, where ferocious beasts roamed, or where spiritual creatures lived—Wei Yuan would release a flying sable. These flying sables barely moved, their presence almost imperceptible.

At this moment, several images in Wei Yuan's consciousness disappeared simultaneously, and he could no longer see the battle between the monk and the young island master. This was because the stone left to monitor them was destroyed by the aftershocks of the battle.

However, Wei Yuan had already gathered enough information, so the mortals across the vast land were busy again. With new materials in hand, the Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix began to appear in large numbers once more.

At this time, more and more mortals joined the research. After receiving a large amount of gifts from heaven and earth, all the immortal plants began to drive their followers to work, unwilling to listen to their useless prayers.

Wei Yuan felt the same way. He was annoyed by the hundreds of idlers in front of his own statue, and even more annoyed by the ones in front of the Jade Toad statue. He thought it would be better to use this energy to think of some other solutions, since perhaps some hidden talents were among them. Moreover, their so-called prayers were either for personal gain or to badmouth their companions. The closer their relationship seemed on the surface, the more ruthless their accusations would be behind their backs.

Besides a large number of research-oriented mortals, there are more than 10,000 people reclaiming land and farming, although Wei Yuan doesn't understand what kind of land they are farming.

Finally, there was a small group of mavericks who had been studying the cultivation materials given by Wei Yuan and had already begun cultivating.

However, Wei Yuan only glanced at them and could tell that these mortals' cultivation aptitude was not very good, and the truly talented ones were not among them.

Wei Yuan seemed to be deep in thought. It seemed that even if a slow bird flew first, it might not necessarily be of any use.

At this moment, the sacrificial image had gained a considerable amount of celestial fortune. If he could borrow some more from the shadow in the moon, he could barely get the girl to use her yin-yang powers once more. However, Wei Yuan did not intend to use her unless absolutely necessary.

The young girl's Yin-Yang attacks were too ruthless, leaving no survivors. Killing some rogue cultivators and followers was one thing, but if she were to actually kill the Peacock Buddha Mother or Zhao Fusheng, that would be a truly serious matter. This battle in the secret realm, in the end, hadn't reached the point of a life-or-death struggle. The deaths of some followers and rogue cultivators were insignificant, but the death of key figures was unacceptable.

With enough Dharma images offered in this sacrifice, Wei Yuan finally estimated that roughly four ordinary Dharma images would be needed for the girl Yin Yang to make a move once.

Even without touching the girl's Yin-Yang, Wei Yuan still had other backup plans, but he didn't need to use them for the time being. Now, the mortals had unexpectedly played a huge role, and in Wei Yuan's view, their role was practically equivalent to a second Dragon Eagle.

Although the Peacock Monk and Zhao Fusheng must have other tricks up their sleeves, Wei Yuan was not afraid.

The more chaotic the situation, the better. So Wei Yuan ventured deeper into the territory of the Haili tribe, intending to drag them into the fray. Even though the Haili tribe had many powerful members, Wei Yuan was not afraid, after all, he had two top-tier Dharma Aspects following behind him.

If a powerful expert from the Haili Clan appears, the Bao Family True Monarch will naturally step in to handle him. Wei Yuan isn't too worried about that. Besides, it wouldn't be easy for an ordinary True Monarch to kill Wei Yuan with a single blow.

As Wei Yuan ventured deeper, the surroundings became increasingly damp, the faint fishy smell of the seawater grew stronger, and the slime left behind by the Haili people's activities was everywhere.

Wei Yuan suddenly flashed into a small cave nearby and sealed the entrance with a rock.

Two Haili people appeared at the crossroads; their lower bodies were all snakes, and they slithered towards the crossroads. The upper bodies of these two Haili people were all human, one with two arms, and the other with a pair of much smaller arms.

The Haili people can live on land or in the sea, and their strength is primarily determined by the number of arms and limbs they have. Generally, the larger the body and the more arms, the more formidable their power.

Both of these Haili tribesmen were at the Dao Foundation level. Wei Yuan waited for them to pass by, then jumped down, knocked them unconscious, and dragged them into the shadows to begin interrogation.

In the teachings at the Taichu Palace, the languages ​​and scripts of the various major ethnic groups were a key focus. Not only did the scripts of different races differ in shape and meaning, but they also contained different magical powers, and the principles by which languages ​​carried magical power were entirely different. Learning a language was equivalent to learning a system of Taoist magic.

Due to their living environment, the Haili people are proficient in water and wood-related magic and are skilled at water manipulation.

Wei Yuan woke up the two Haili tribesmen and asked them in the Haili language, "Where is your camp? How many people are there? How many strong warriors?"

The entire interrogation process was shown in its entirety across the vast landscape. Several people with exceptional language skills had already spent several days learning the Haili language, and Wei Yuan also used a portion of his divine sense to translate the interrogation content into the human language.

The Haili tribesman with a pair of forearms ignored Wei Yuan and spat at him.

Wei Yuan dodged the spittle.

At this time, Zhuge Liang and Feng Xiao offered a suggestion: The sea people are arrogant and conceited, and they are too slow to reason with others. It would be better to cut them into raw fish.

Wei Yuan readily accepted the suggestion and obtained a flying sword. He first scraped off a scale from the snake's body, then, looking at the texture of the flesh, he made a horizontal cut with the sword.

The sea creature was greatly alarmed, its eyes revealing panic and fear. The sea creatures with lower cultivation levels beside it had even more dilated pupils and their dorsal fins completely folded over – a sign of extreme terror.

The meat of the Haili people is delicious, and the higher one's cultivation level, the sweeter the meat becomes. In particular, those whose lower bodies are snakes are considered a top-grade delicacy.

Generally speaking, there's an unwritten rule in the human cultivation world: they don't eat intelligent races. But rules are rules, and people are flexible. Throughout history, there have always been those who don't want to follow the rules. Some even take pride in breaking the rules, using it to flaunt their uniqueness.

Therefore, at the secret banquets of wealthy and powerful cultivators in the Wu Kingdom, there was never a shortage of various Haili tribe ingredients. As a result, the capture of Haili tribesmen had become an industry, and on a huge scale, it supported countless cultivators.

The Haili tribe waged countless wars over this, each resulting in mutual destruction. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of treaties signed between the Wu Kingdom, the islands of the East China Sea, and the Haili tribe prohibiting the consumption of the Haili, but each one becomes worthless within a few years.

Many of the upper echelons of Wu not only consumed the seafood themselves but also sold it to other countries, where it was widely praised. Some cultivators, who considered themselves righteous and unwilling to be tainted by the sins of killing, led to the rise of a new profession in Wu: proxy killing.

Those who engage in the proxy killing business are all low-level cultivators, and even some mortals. What they need to do is deliver the final blow to the Haili Clan and bear the sins. This single blow costs one or two taels of immortal silver, so many people flock to it.

Wei Yuan's knife-cutting technique was standard for slicing fish. The two Hai Li tribesmen recognized it immediately and knew their fate, trembling with fear.

In truly high-class secret banquets, in order to maintain the freshness and original flavor of the ingredients, they are not killed by others. Instead, they are preserved by magic. Once they are cut off, they are immediately served on the table. In more refined secret banquets, the time from cutting to eating the ingredients should not exceed three breaths.

In the eyes of the two Haili tribesmen, Wei Yuan's goal at this moment was simply to extract ingredients while the enemy was still alive.

Overwhelmed by fear, they finally broke down and revealed everything they knew. Having received the answers, Wei Yuan unleashed two beams of magical power, shattering their sea of ​​consciousness.

The feud between the human race and the Haili race has lasted for at least tens of thousands of years. Leaving aside the ancient times, in the last hundred years alone, the Haili race conquered three large islands in the East China Sea, killing nearly ten million people on the islands. They also caused several tsunamis that flooded the coast of the Wu Kingdom, with the number of victims reaching in the millions each time.

The grudges between the two sides have become too complex to explain by now, and Wei Yuan has never been a soft-hearted person. He knows that one of his main tasks upon entering the secret realm is to eliminate the sea creatures there, which is also one of the keys to winning over the elders of the Bao family.

As for whether Kong Que and Zhao Fusheng would follow, Wei Yuan wasn't worried at all, unless Kong Que and Zhao Fusheng could find the real Flying Sable.

However, the flying sable didn't just consume the aura of the Langya Divine Tree for nothing. As a result of its improved fortune, Wei Yuan secretly added several strands of azure energy to it. Although it was somewhat incongruous, the result was that the sable's fortune skyrocketed.

The Peacock Monk clearly inherited the Dharma form of his predecessors, and is bound by karmic destiny. People like him can often transcend the Five Elements and remain unaffected by worldly affairs, but the consequence is that their fortune cannot improve.

In the past few centuries, the world's fortunes have exploded, and most sects and schools have made progress. Tai Chu Palace and Si Sheng Academy, which are good at making use of fortunes, have soared to new heights, while Da Bao Hua Pure Land has shown signs of decline.

Therefore, even if the Peacock Monk catches the flying weasel, there is a high chance that it will slip away if he loses his grip.

At this moment, the Peacock Monk did indeed see the flying sable, but it was perched next to a ferocious beast, its aura completely concealed by the beast. Looking at the giant python, over a hundred feet long, the Peacock Monk frowned.

Snakes are the longest-lived creatures, so killing this ferocious beast is no easy task.

The peacock monk turned his gaze and saw a small ferret slowly crawling at the end of his line of sight, its movements clumsy, just like the one next to the giant python.

The monk couldn't help but sigh. He had already seen no fewer than ten fake flying sables along the way. These flying sables were so fake that it didn't even take a brain to tell them apart.

The Peacock Monk shook his head. Although he didn't know Wei Yuan's identity, it didn't stop his opinion of him from dropping even further. Needless to say, these fake sables were naturally the work of that guy. This guy even knew to add a bit of real sable's scent to each fake sable. It seems the flying sables have already fallen into his hands; otherwise, where would the scent come from?
After the peacock monk left, the clumsy little weasel next to the giant python suddenly raised its head, looked in the direction where the peacock monk had disappeared, and then quickly vanished.

On another road, Zhao Fusheng was surrounded by a layer of black mist, which concealed his body.

He only brought some simple personal belongings with him when he entered the secret realm. Unexpectedly, his storage magic treasure was destroyed by the flying sword, and everything inside disappeared into the void. Now, apart from his Dharma image and the giant axe in his hand, he has nothing else to carry and can only use his magic power to cover his body.

He hated the petty thief who caused all this to the core, so he chased after him all the way.

But as soon as he stepped out of the intersection, he frowned and sensed the thief's presence.

Zhao Fusheng scanned the area with his divine sense and immediately detected the source of the aura. Activated by his divine sense, the image stored on the stone was released, and Zhao Fusheng saw himself.

The image wasn't of Zhao Fusheng in his normal state, but rather of him just after being struck by a lightning bolt and cleansed by a flying sword, his skin smooth and flawless. The image froze on the moment he first saw the Peacock Monk, his face flushed with rage, his hands not yet having time to protect his vitals.

Zhao Fusheng's vision went black, and he almost fainted!

This is one of the new Thirty-Six Stratagems that the Crouching Dragons and Phoenixes of the Vast Land, after referring to Xu Wenwu's information, presented to Wei Yuan: Before the great battle, first manage his mindset.

(End of this chapter)