Longzang

Chapter 539 Reality and Illusion
Instead of sitting idly and waiting, Wei Yuan continued to dig downwards. When he reached a depth of about a hundred feet, he built a stone chamber and left a marker there.

Wei Yuan then left the stone chamber and dug and backfilled underground, preparing to find another place to unearth the artifact.

Wei Yuan wasn't sure if the marker he left behind would be discovered. Generally speaking, once the Demon Bees had cleared a place, no one would be so bored as to dig another hundred feet underground to take a look.

However, Wei Yuan felt that Sheng Xin had a strange and abnormal personality and a very problematic mental state. He might dig down several hundred feet and then discover this beacon.

To be on the safe side, Wei Yuan decided to leave several Dao markers in different places. This way, by increasing his luck before entering the Netherworld, he would have a greater chance of avoiding an ambush.

A moment later, Wei Yuan was dug out of the ground. After clearing the ground, Wei Yuan ran towards Shu Li's country at almost full speed.

During his journey, Wei Yuan spotted a rapidly moving black cloud in the distance, likely the swarm of bees he had just encountered. However, they were heading away from the Shuli Kingdom. Based on the swarm's behavior, Wei Yuan surmised that the Youwu Kingdom probably possessed the ability to expel various mindless monsters.

If the swarm of demonic bees was deliberately attracted, then someone must have come to the site to investigate, and the investigation must have been very thorough, otherwise it would have been difficult to find any clues left by Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan wanted to seize this precious time and quickly create distance, so that he could reach Youwu Shuli's kingdom before the enemy could react.

Wei Yuan remained hidden, flying and running at top speed. After running for half a day, he was not far from Shu Li's kingdom and could faintly sense the changes in the distant world.

Wei Yuan's spirits lifted, and he flew straight toward the country. Suddenly, there were a few soft popping sounds, and something exploded.

These things exploded directly on Wei Yuan's body. He immediately stopped, carefully examined his surroundings, and then discovered a strange, transparent worm floating in the air.

These worms have numerous segments on their bodies and are transparent and gelatinous, making them almost imperceptible with divine sense. They can only be discovered by careful visual inspection under special lighting.

Wei Yuan advanced at full speed, and without realizing it, he smashed several transparent worms. As these worms exploded, a burst of magical power erupted, seemingly connected to something in the distance.

Wei Yuan understood that these worms were most likely the perimeter of the country's defenses.

The kingdom is able to drive away demons, and its own people must know the entrances and exits. They also lay down dense worms around the area, which will trigger an alarm if any stranger tries to approach the kingdom.

Since his whereabouts had already been exposed, Wei Yuan no longer hesitated and rushed towards the country at full speed.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan felt as if he had crashed into a giant soap bubble, and the world around him changed.

The world seemed to have become more distinct, and it was no longer an extreme, chilling place. By human standards, it was still very cold, but compared to the true chilling realm, this place was already quite warm.

A faint, sweet, and slightly fishy scent filled the air, as if it were the aroma of spiritual blood. Even Wei Yuan felt a sense of exhilaration upon smelling it.

In a valley, rows of houses stand side by side, and a shrine is built against the mountainside. In the center of the shrine is an ancient and primitive platform, upon which a shaman with four wings on his back is preaching. Around the platform are white, round stone pedestals, each about ten feet in diameter. A dozen or so shamans of various shapes and sizes are perched on the stone pedestals, listening attentively to the sermon.

The smaller ones were almost the same size as humans, still in their infancy. The largest one was over ten zhang tall, with more than a dozen arms and legs, and its body could change into various forms at any time. It occupied about ten stone seats, but carefully avoided the two juvenile shamans closest to the platform.

The shaman preaching emitted a strange buzzing sound, which was not in the shamanic language. However, as each shaman listened, the changes in the heavens and earth of the Netherworld naturally surfaced in their minds.

During this sermon, the shamans saw a massive mountain range split open, revealing a bottomless abyss in its center. Then, a strange, enormous creature crawled out of the abyss. Its body was thousands of miles long, and each segment of its body had a pair of segmented legs.

After emerging from the abyss, it climbed upwards, its joints treading on the void as if on solid ground, causing the surrounding space to tremble. It continued upwards until it disappeared beyond the horizon.

All the shamans were carefully observing the changes in the world as the mountain range split open and the colossal creature appeared.

The preacher's voice then resounded in the minds of the assembled shamans: "This is an extraterrestrial monster that passed through the Netherworld. I was nearby when it appeared, and what you see now is what I saw back then. It tore open the heavens and earth of the Netherworld, revealing the Great Dao. This is the best opportunity to comprehend the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."

But don't just look at the cross-section of the abyss; pay close attention to its segmented feet as well. These segmented feet allow it to walk on air. If you can grasp this, it will bring you many advantages when you arrive in the outer world…”

At this point in the explanation, the shaman suddenly stopped and said, "There is an invasion by foreign enemies."

The witches were all puzzled. Was there really an invasion by foreign enemies? They had been there for varying lengths of time, and only those who had stayed the longest had experienced the invasion of the country by foreign enemies.

However, all the shamans were extremely confident in the safety of the kingdom and were not flustered at all.

“Wait here for me, I’ll be right back.” The preaching shaman fluttered his four wings and vanished in a flash.

In a dense forest, a shaman lay on a grassy slope by a stream, taking a nap with his eyes closed. A fishing rod lay beside him, motionless, and the fish basket, half-submerged in the stream, was empty. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, looked out of the forest, a cold smile appearing on his face, and his figure vanished.

On a distant mountaintop, a shaman sat gazing into the distance. Suddenly, he sensed something and rose to his feet. The mountain trembled, revealing countless caves from which scorpion-like monsters with wings on their backs flew out, following the shaman toward the edge of the kingdom.

Wei Yuan stood in the air, looking at the four-winged witch clan in front of him, seemingly lost in thought, and then said, "I see."

Another man, with a long head and tail, carrying a fishing rod, strolled over. When Wei Yuan saw him, his eyes lit up, and he said, "So that's how it is!"

In the blink of an eye, another shaman with a human head and scorpion body, and a body size of a hundred feet, came gracefully from the distant horizon. His movements seemed slow, but with each movement of his joints, he would move forward by hundreds of feet!

Upon seeing the shaman, Wei Yuan's aura suddenly surged, and he burst into loud laughter: "So that's how it is! Hahaha, I understand now!"

Before the three witches could speak, four spray nozzles appeared behind Wei Yuan, and he soared into the sky, disappearing into the distance and leaving the country.

The three witches simultaneously looked in the direction Wei Yuan had gone, but none of them gave chase. Wei Yuan was simply too fast; they couldn't catch up at all.

At this moment, Shengxin's figure appeared, looking at the three witches with some confusion, and then following their gaze. By this time, Wei Yuan had already disappeared into the horizon, and nothing could be seen anymore.

"Lord Shuli, what are you doing? Why are all three avatars moving?"

The four-winged sorcerer said, “Wei Yuan just broke into my kingdom. The kingdom’s defenses are currently insufficient. In order to prevent him from going any further, I deployed all my avatars to intercept him and also mobilized a portion of the army. However, his reaction was very strange. It is very likely that he has already seen through the kingdom’s true strength.”

Hui Xin was incredulous and said, "He only barged in briefly, yet he could see right through everything?"

Saint Heart's expression turned solemn as he said, "It's not impossible. Wei Yuan comes from the Primordial Palace, and the founder of the Primordial Palace has killed the Heavenly Witch. Among the various forces of the human race, the Primordial Palace must know the most about our Witch Clan. Wei Yuan may have already guessed this, and he just came to the kingdom to verify his thoughts."

Shu Li asked, "Have you fought him?"

Shengxin said, "I fought him twice. This guy is extremely cunning and treacherous, and I even suffered a small loss. If he really sees through the true nature of the kingdom, it will be a considerable problem."

"Is there any other way besides asking other countries for help?"

The Holy Heart said, "There is a solution, but it requires a price to pay and will cause some damage to the country. It depends on whether Lord Shuli is willing to pay the price."

"what way?"

Saint Heart held a sword lightning bolt in his hand and said, "This is a part of Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation, which can provide a little bit of karma. As long as Lord Shuli fully activates the power of the kingdom, with this little bit of karma, I can gather all traces of Wei Yuan in the Netherworld and teleport him to a certain point within the kingdom."

Regarding the teleportation location, my suggestion is beneath the Netherworld Golden Mountain. The Netherworld Golden Mountain is incredibly hard and heavy; the loose soil at its base has long been compacted into extremely hard crystalline rock. If Wei Yuan is teleported there, he will constantly be subjected to this immense pressure, making escape impossible. At the same time, I will consolidate his karma, so even if he sets up Dao beacons elsewhere, all of them will be teleported to the foot of the mountain.

In this way, Wei Yuan will only have one entrance at the bottom of the mountain to enter the Netherworld again. Even if he gets in, he won't stay long and will have nothing to do. No matter how many times he comes, there will be nothing to do in the Netherworld. It will just be a hassle for Lord Shuli to keep a close watch on his movements.

Shu Li pondered for a moment without speaking, then said, "Let me discuss this further."

The Holy Heart said, "Lord Shuli has made his decision. He can come to me at any time. I will stay in the kingdom for the time being."

The three witches nodded in unison and then left.

Sacred Heart and Painted Heart flew towards a small, mirror-like lake. Surrounded by trees, several courtyards were nestled among the lake, quiet and elegant, and tastefully arranged. These courtyards were for high-ranking shamans; Sacred Heart naturally occupied the best courtyard, while Painted Heart lived on the very edge.

This was only because she and Sacred Heart both came from the Heavenly Will tribe; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to live by the lake.

Huixin asked, "Why can't we ask other countries for help?"

The Holy Heart said, "If he were to seek help from other kingdoms, it would mean that Lord Shuli is admitting his weakness. At that time, the other Netherworld Witches would surely offer exorbitant prices, and might even demand that he divide up a part of his kingdom. This is something that Shuli absolutely cannot tolerate, so he has no choice but to come to me."

Hui Xin said, "But the cost of finding you is no less than that of dividing a country, is it?"

Shengxin smiled slightly and said, "There is one advantage to coming to me, which is that others do not know the price he paid... Wait, Uncle Li agreed."

(End of this chapter)