Longzang

Chapter 552 Germination
Shu Li hurriedly appeared in the central hall of the kingdom. At this moment, the entire hall was shaking. The monsters in the legion made uneasy low noises. All the witches in the kingdom, whether they were resting or cultivating, looked up in astonishment in the direction of the hall.

As shamans who had lived and cultivated in the kingdom for a long time, they could clearly sense Shuli's anger.

In some of the darkest corners of the kingdom, immense wills began to awaken, silently watching the movements of the main hall.

Shuli's avatar flew out of the main hall and roared at the attendants, "Where is the Holy Heart! Summon him to see me!"

At this moment, the gentle and composed voice of the Holy Heart rang out: "Lord Shuli, what happened? You seem to be in a bad mood."

Looking at Shengxin's clean, serene face, which seemed unaffected by anything, Shuli suddenly felt that he was uglier than ever before, and even a little disgusted.

Shuli reached out and grabbed Shengxin by the neck, lifting him up. Huixin, who was standing nearby, was shocked and quickly grabbed Shuli's arm, crying out, "Lord Shuli! Let's talk this out! What happened?"

Shu Li tightened his grip, demanding, "Do you know what Wei Yuan is doing?"

The Emperor remained calm and said, "Lord Shuli, this is your kingdom. If you don't even know what Wei Yuan is doing, how would I know?"

Shuli stared intently at Shengxin, while Huixin desperately shook his arm, but it remained as steady as a rock.

After a brief standoff, Shengxin calmly said, "Lord Shuli, instead of doubting me here for no reason, why don't you tell me what really happened?"

Shuli slowly released his grip, and the Holy Heart landed on the ground.

“He is still active at the foot of Mount Ming, and the growth array I set up on the mountaintop has been disturbed. I don’t know what he is doing down there, but I am certain that he has not given up.”

The Holy Heart asked, "Lord Shuli, if you were trapped beneath Mount Ming, could you escape?"

Uncle Li shook his head.

Shengxin said, "I can't either. If we can't do it, why do you think Wei Yuan can? Or do you have a way to move Mount Ming so we can go down and investigate?"

Shu Li frowned and said, "My Netherworld Growth Array has existed for eight hundred years. Once activated, it will be destroyed and needs to be rearranged. Moreover, Mount Ming is one of the three great array eyes of the kingdom, and it cannot be moved either."

Sacred Heart pondered, "That price is indeed a bit too high. Can you sense what he's doing down there?"

Shu Li's face was extremely grim. He said, "I don't know, but I can sense that a gap has appeared in the Underworld Mountain. The gap has been growing for almost a year!"

After pondering for a moment, Shengxin suddenly said, "I've heard that Lord Shuli has been diligently preparing a powerful magic weapon. Could the prototype be this Nether Mountain?"

Shu Li's expression was somewhat unnatural as he said, "Of course not. But this mountain does indeed have other uses, so it cannot be moved lightly."

Shengxin's expression changed: "Could this mountain be the core of the suppression formation?"

Shu Li exhaled and said, "...One of the key points of the formation."

The Emperor's heart turned serious, and he said, "That certainly needs to be taken seriously. Could we dig a tunnel down from the edge of this mountain to the center and see what has happened?"

Shuli shook his head: "The soil around this mountain has long been compacted, and the lower part of the mountain has likely crystallized. Only a great shaman can dig it out. Even if I mobilize all the great shamans in the country, it would take at least ten years to dig out such a passage."

Shengxin smiled slightly and said, "Isn't that it? It takes us more than ten years to dig, so how long will it take Wei Yuan to dig it out? Fifty years, or a hundred years? By the time he digs it out, Lord Hongye will have already razed Qingming to the ground."

Shuli thought about it and realized that it made sense, and his expression finally improved.

Saint Heart smiled and said, "It seems Lord Shuli isn't so worried anymore. Then let me say something unrelated. Lord Shuli, the reason we can talk like this is because of the difference in our cultivation levels. But you can't defeat me with just one avatar. It would be more likely if all three of you came at me together, but unfortunately, you can only send out two at most right now."

So, until you create your fourth avatar, you'd better speak to me politely. If something like what happened before happens again, I won't hesitate to take action. Although you have Lady Hongye backing you up, I'm not without the support of the clan elders as well.”

Shu Li's face instantly turned ashen. He snorted heavily and turned to leave.

Shengxin didn't take it to heart. Seeing that Shuli had walked away, she called to Huixin, "Let's go, let's go play in other countries."

Hui Xin was puzzled and asked, "We've finally gotten used to this place. If we change countries, won't we have to get used to it all over again? It will delay our cultivation by at least half a year."

The Holy Heart said, "If we don't leave now, we won't be able to leave at all."

"You mean..."

"I didn't say anything." Beneath Mount Ming, a space equivalent to two zhang square had been excavated, the ground transformed into a single iron plate with four pillars at the corners. Two furnaces were operating at full capacity. The small space was crammed with about ten people, plus the two furnaces, making it difficult to even turn around.

Fortunately, the furnace has its own magic array that can prevent the heat from leaking out; otherwise, no one except Long Yingweiyuan would be able to stay here.

Even so, the Southern Bright Fire of the Dragon Eagle and the True Fire of the two Dharma Aspect cultivators made the space so hot that water could boil out of thin air. Wei Yuan had to set up another barrier to isolate the heat before the Foundation Establishment cultivators could move around.

A small portion of the excavated Nether Iron was used for structural construction, while the majority was sent to the human realm. For the same volume, Nether Iron weighs seven to eight times more than ordinary iron, so although the amount of Nether Iron sent to the human realm may seem small, it actually amounts to twenty million jin (approximately 10 million kilograms).

Strictly speaking, this isn't true Nether Iron; it contains 20% impurities and needs further refinement. However, it's sufficient for the supporting structure in the Netherworld.

At this moment, Han Li and Long Wushuang were carving an array in a corner of the space. One after another, Dao Foundation Warriors appeared, piecing together pieces of refined Nether Iron, and gradually a portal began to take shape. However, these Dao Foundation Warriors could only endure the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea before they could bear it, and even the best ones could only last for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Han Li and Long Wushuang seemed to be secretly competing; they went to rest at almost the same time and then reappeared at the same time, before continuing to work.

Wei Yuan watched for a while and wanted to help, but this kind of formation was not his forte, and he was even less skilled at building and inscribing formations at the same time. So Wei Yuan could only let them do their work and wait to see the results.

After a full hour of intense work, a large gate framed with dark iron was finally completed, its frame covered with intricate and beautiful array patterns. Han Li and Long Wushuang exchanged a glance, their gazes sparking. In this round of array inscription, the two were once again evenly matched.

With the gate completed, it was finally Wei Yuan's turn to make his appearance. His task was simple: activate the gate spell, opening the gate within the frame. Subsequently, the magic circle on the frame was activated, allowing the gate to exist stably without drawing upon Wei Yuan's mana.

Wei Yuan observed the stability of the portal for a while, then his figure suddenly vanished like a bubble, returning to Qingming. However, the portal still existed, and Han Li and Long Wushuang were able to enter and exit freely several times.

Then the dragon eagle came over and replenished the magic circle in the door frame with magic power.

At this moment, Wei Yuan reappeared; he had returned to the Netherworld. Upon his return, Wei Yuan asked, "Can it be used?"

Han Li said, "You can come and go normally. If you replenish your mana once, it can sustain you..."

He calculated the time it would take for his mana to be consumed, and then said, "...two hours."

Wei Yuan was overjoyed. From now on, he wouldn't have to keep watch in the Netherworld every day. Even if he returned to Qingming, with this portal, the Dragon Guards could freely enter and leave the Netherworld from the mortal realm, constantly digging and transporting gold... no, Nether Iron Mountains.

The dragon guards are all born with wisdom, so the several Dharma form dragon guards only need to come regularly to replenish the magic power of the portal array.

There's really nothing for Wei Yuan to do here right now. The four Dharma Aspects are in charge of mining Nether Iron, while the Dao Foundations are in charge of smelting iron and making bricks. Then, as the mining progresses, the base will be expanded. Every time an area is expanded, an isolation array will be set up over it.

At this moment, Han Li discovered that the outer edges of the isolation array and the wind and fire array were fixed, but the upward extension was far from its limit. So, at his suggestion, the group of Dao Foundation cultivators began to build a second layer, and then the dragon eagle began to excavate and expand upwards.

Wei Yuan watched for a while longer and suddenly caught a very subtle fluctuation. It seemed that a wisp of peculiar spiritual energy appeared out of thin air and then disappeared into the Nether Mountain.

Wei Yuan, with his keen senses, immediately focused his gaze on the spot where the spiritual energy had vanished. A quick glance revealed a difference: a tiny grain of Nether Iron, about the size of a grain of rice, had appeared there.

Wei Yuan dug out the piece of Nether Iron and studied it for a long time, but found nothing special about it. However, it appeared out of thin air. Considering the spiritual energy that had just disappeared, it was probably formed directly from special spiritual energy.

We don't know what use this phenomenon is yet, so the first thing to do is dig it out first.

Based on calculations, it's estimated that it will take several months to dig a tunnel. The amount of ghost iron unearthed will likely exceed ten billion jin (50 million kg).

Wei Yuan now increasingly felt the inadequacy of traditional measurement methods. Neither jun nor shi was large enough, so he decided to promote the concepts of gram, kilogram and ton, mainly ton, throughout the human world and even the heavens.

Seeing that there was nothing to do, Wei Yuan decided to return to Qingming and let Long Ying and the others continue digging here. Anyway, the Dragon Guards didn't need to sleep; they could just return to the mortal realm to replenish their magic power when they got tired.

The only problem is that the magic power of the mortal world is actually Wei Yuan's magic power, and Long Ying is essentially transferring Wei Yuan's magic power to himself.

Therefore, Wei Yuan had already sensed that his magical power was insufficient, and planned to go to Xu Henshui after returning to Qingming to start refining pills.

Just then, the fairy orchid sent a message, one of its stems intending to take root and grow in the Netherworld. Since it was the fairy plant's own request, Wei Yuan left a small patch of ground at the edge of the space, revealing the Nether Crystal below, and then carefully moved a fairy orchid out and placed it on the Nether Crystal.

The roots of the fairy orchid quickly pierced the Nether Crystal. The Nether Crystal that Wei Yuan had risked his life to carve out was as soft as tofu in front of the fairy orchid's roots, and it was directly inserted and took root.

The orchid immediately conveyed joy, its branches and leaves unfurling, and then an invisible domain expanded outwards, replacing the original aura of the Netherworld.

Within the kingdom, Shu Li, in his avatar, unleashed a roar that resounded throughout the land, bursting forth from the main hall. Just moments before, he had discovered that a small point within his kingdom had gone out of control. There, it seemed, a new kingdom was beginning to sprout.

(End of this chapter)