Longzang

Chapter 643 The Real Gains

Wei Yuan calmly stood up and said, "Let's go take a look."

Wu Li couldn't see any expression on Wei Yuan's face, as if he were talking about something insignificant. Its eyes seemed somewhat complicated, but it still hunched over, dragging its long robe that reached the ground, and walked out first.

After leaving the academy, it led Wei Yuan towards the mansion.

The layout of the Witch Clan's residence differs from that of the Human Clan. After entering and passing through the courtyard, the first place one encounters is the shrine. The shrine usually enshrines the Ancestral Witch, but sometimes it enshrines other minor gods. However, as a Nether Witch, Shu Li naturally enshrines the Ancestral Witch.

Wei Yuan had rushed back and forth earlier and hadn't had time to examine the shrine carefully. This time, he was able to observe the Ancestral Witch in detail.

The Ancestral Witch has four legs and six arms. Its lower body is quite large, while its upper body is humanoid. Each of its six arms holds a magical artifact, symbolizing different powers. The Ancestral Witch has a ferocious beast head with dozens of eyes densely distributed on both sides. Countless ribbons grow from its back, each with an eye on it.

It is said that the eyes of the ancestral witch symbolize that she knows everything in the world and that nothing can be hidden from her eyes.

Wei Yuan looked at the statue of the Ancestral Witch and suddenly felt that the face was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

However, Wei Yuan, who was accustomed to the mundane world, would not let such a sudden whim pass by. After searching his memories, Wei Yuan understood why he felt that the face of the Ancestral Witch was familiar.

When he reached the peak of his Dao Foundation, he almost condensed a true dragon's dharma form several times, only to forcibly dissipate it. Although the dragon's head looked different from the Ancestral Witch's head, their inner Dao essence was remarkably similar. In other words, their temperaments were alike.

Wei Yuan didn't know how he came to this conclusion, but once the conclusion was reached, he felt more and more that perhaps it was just how it should be.

Wu Li arrived before the altar and respectfully bowed nine times. But looking at its back, Wei Yuan felt that it didn't seem very devout.

After the worship was completed, the statue of the ancestral witch suddenly rose up, and the roof also rose up, making the entire room several times larger. As the statue of the ancestral witch flew up, the altar slid to both sides, revealing a deep passage below.

The passageway sloped downwards, with wall lamps lit on one side, their dim, flickering lights creating a deep and eerie atmosphere, with no end in sight.

As they entered the passageway, Wei Yuan couldn't help but say, "Your master doesn't seem poor, so why can't he even afford to install more lamps?"

Wu Li was speechless for a moment.

Wei Yuan continued, "How much can a few lamps cost? So he just wanted to make it dark to scare people? Nobody usually comes here, is he trying to scare himself?"

Wu Li finally couldn't help but speak up, saying, "I don't know what Master is thinking either."

Wei Yuan snorted and said nothing more.

Wu Li looked at the oil-paper umbrella that Wei Yuan was holding up, but didn't say anything.

The man and the sorcerer walked down the passage, and the atmosphere gradually became eerie.

Wei Yuan suddenly frowned and looked around, but he couldn't see anything. However, he sensed some extremely tiny things flying towards him, trying to enter his body. They were all refined into ashes by Wei Yuan's protective Dao power. Because they were so small, the ashes were invisible.

Wu Li then said, "My lord, please be careful. There are some unseen Gu worms down there. They are very insidious. If they accidentally enter the body, even a person with perfect Dharma Aspect cannot withstand them and will die from a serious illness. However, with your cultivation level, my lord, these Gu worms are nothing to worry about."

Wei Yuan sneered inwardly. If he had said this earlier, he might have believed that Wu Li had submitted. But now, if his protective Dao power were even slightly insufficient, the Gu worms would have already entered his body.

Wei Yuan initially thought these so-called Gu worms were, in the terms of the outer world, bacteria and viruses. However, upon closer reflection, he realized they were completely different. Viruses and bacteria have almost no mobility, while these tiny Gu worms are hundreds or even thousands of times faster.

If this kind of Gu worm were to enter the outer world, that world would probably perish very soon.

The deeper they went, the more tiny Gu worms appeared, and among them, a few with exceptionally immense power emerged. When these Gu worms collided with Wei Yuan, he could actually feel them subtly. This power was practically equivalent to someone punching a thousand-foot-high mountain and shattering it.

Wei Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, and all the cultivators from the Tai Chu Palace within the umbrella were also ready for battle.

After descending for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the passage finally leveled out, and soon Wei Yuan found himself in a vast underground space. He was now standing on a platform at the top of this space, overlooking the area below.

Below lay an endless abyss, its bottom unseen, and even Wei Yuan's divine sense couldn't fathom its depths. The deeper he went, the colder it became, until eventually Wei Yuan's divine sense was numb from the cold, and he dared not venture any further.

"Is this Tianyuan?" Wei Yuan asked.

"No, this is not the real Tianyuan; it's just a projection of Tianyuan into this world. This is the size we see right now."

Wei Yuan frowned slightly; he disliked this half-truth. Those who liked to show off their superior intelligence usually died quickly. For example, Wei Yuan was already considering either eliminating it or throwing it into the mortal realm once it was no longer useful.

Wu Li added, "You'll understand once you come with me. Remember, you can only jump!"

As he spoke, Wu Li reached the edge of the platform, leaped down, and plunged directly into the abyss.

Wei Yuan was speechless, feeling that Wu Li's method of deceiving him into committing suicide was somewhat foolish. At this moment, Wu Li's voice echoed from the abyss below: "Jump down. Only by jumping can you enter the Heavenly Abyss."

Wei Yuan sensed the sound wasn't far away, so he took out a long silk thread, handed one end to two Dharma Aspect warriors, grabbed the other end, and leaped down. If there were any ambushes or traps, Wei Yuan could simply have the two warriors pull him up with a thought.

After jumping down, Wei Yuan suddenly found that the scenery around him had changed, and he felt as if he had entered a water membrane and arrived in another space.

The layout here is extremely mysterious; this mysterious space will only appear when the speed during the descent reaches a certain level.

At this moment, Wei Yuan stood on a desolate land, surrounded by black, sword-like rocks that pierced the sky, some reaching thousands of feet high. The sky was devoid of stars, sun, and moon, only a vast emptiness.

At this moment, Wei Yuan was standing on a teleportation array, which was still faintly flashing.

Wu Li, who was guarding outside the array, said, "Activating this teleportation array will allow us to return to the temple."

Wei Yuan said calmly, "For your own life, next time don't keep me in suspense, just tell me everything."

Wu Li broke out in a cold sweat instantly and quickly agreed. Then it pointed to the plain and said, "The Heavenly Abyss is over there. Go and see for yourself. I can't get there; if I get close, I'll die."

Wei Yuan continued to hold the umbrella and walked slowly forward, each step covering more than ten zhang. His speed was not slow, but he was not in a hurry either.

As Wei Yuan emerged from the valley, his vision suddenly expanded dramatically, extending to over a hundred miles away. In the distant mountains and fields, a colossal creature lay prone, its back towering over mountain peaks hundreds of feet high.

A familiar figure stood ahead, smiling at Wei Yuan, "You've finally arrived. Let's go see the little guy over there."

The moment Wei Yuan saw his face clearly, he was immediately moved; it was Hongye!
At this moment, Hongye was even more terrifying than at his peak; no one knew what he would do as his lifespan neared its end. Although he still appeared gentle and friendly, Wei Yuan never trusted appearances.

Hongye chuckled and said, "You're still so cautious. That's good, at least you won't be as easily fooled as I am."

Wei Yuan still looked at Hongye with suspicion. Hongye said helplessly, "No need to pretend anymore. I know you can open the portal and escape back to the Heart Realm at any time. So what are you afraid of? Let's go. I have a lot of burdens here and can't stay for long."

Wei Yuan then approached and asked, "Are you really Hongye? How can you prove it?"

Hongye said irritably, "Have you figured out which one is my child?"

Wei Yuan then believed that the person in front of him was really Hongye.

Hongye walked forward, and the surrounding scenery suddenly changed. In the blink of an eye, he was already standing dozens of miles away, while Wei Yuan was still a few feet away from Hongye.

Wei Yuan was secretly alarmed. He had been able to teleport him all the way here without sensing anything unusual. Hongye was still as unfathomable as ever.

They were still several miles away from the monster, but it already appeared to be the size of a mountain. It was over three thousand feet long from head to tail and several hundred feet tall, its body covered in a glossy black carapace, beneath which were pairs of segmented legs. The part of the carapace near the ground was covered in dense, long hair, with black mist constantly swirling in and out of it.

Wei Yuan instantly recalled the terrifyingly enormous monster he had seen when he first arrived in the Netherworld. Compared to that, this one was practically tiny, yet still as majestic as a mountain. At this moment, the monster's carapace was gleaming with a faint blue light, and Wei Yuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Hongye smiled slightly at Wei Yuan and said, "Congratulations, this is your greatest gain from taking over the Shuli Kingdom: a young extraterrestrial demon!"

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Wei Yuan's mind, and he said, "You were the one who put that book in the Confucian Academy!"

Hongye said approvingly, "You're really clever, you figured it out so quickly. But the contents of that book should be very useful to you in the future, Shuli couldn't have written it."

Wei Yuan's face was ashen. While he was engrossed in his book, the Ancestral Master's Boundary Stone's domain had expanded to the main hall, destroying Ling Shu and replacing Shu Li's kingdom. He knew without a doubt that this was a huge problem.

However, Wei Yuan's original plan was to use the Ancestral Master's Boundary Stone to destroy Shu Li's kingdom and completely eliminate a major enemy. Thinking about it this way made him feel a little better.

As expected, Hongye looked at Wei Yuan, her voice becoming deep: "You have taken over Shuli's kingdom, and with it, his responsibilities. From now on, you will be in charge of guarding and suppressing this demon. Your domain has already covered this extraterrestrial demon and begun to suppress it, and it has also remembered your presence."

So don't even think about pulling out the boundary stone and running away. The Western Regions are a shattered land; once it breaks free from suppression, it will follow the causal aura to find Qingming. You definitely don't want an extraterrestrial demon watching you every day.

"Are extraterrestrial demons only found in Shuli's kingdom, or are they found in other kingdoms as well?" Wei Yuan suddenly asked.

Hongye said, "Suppressing the demons from Tianyuan is the destiny of us Youwu, and the kingdom is our tool for suppressing them. Every Youwu must suppress a demon from beyond the heavens after establishing a kingdom, but the choice depends on their abilities. If we didn't suppress them, the demons from Tianyuan would have already torn the Youhan Realm out of our world and devoured it."

This is true not only in the Netherworld, the Wilderness, and the Wind Realm, but also in the Frost and Snow Realm and the Kui Wood Realm of the Vast Ocean Liao Clan.

The major races of this world dedicate more than half their energy to resisting the erosion of the Abyss. Otherwise, this world would have long been assimilated by the Abyss, and you and I might now be two demonic creatures.

"How come I've never heard of these things before? Don't our human immortals know about them either?"

Hongye chuckled, a mocking look on her face, and said, "Of course they know! They just don't want you to know."

(End of this chapter)