Longzang

Chapter 950 Headless and Tailless
A small flying boat landed near the Immortal City. Wei Yuan boarded the flying boat and set off to return to the Taichu Palace.

After the flying boat took off, Wei Yuan activated the luck fishing formation that he had spent several days setting up. He put a small piece of desolate world refined iron into it, then placed a thousand strands of green luck into it, and began to read quietly, waiting to see who would take the bait.

On a desolate mountain at the edge of the Azure Sky, a boulder suddenly moved, looking at the flying boat passing overhead. Then the boulder exploded, and a divine thought flew out, shooting straight into the sky.

Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, several cultivators appeared at the scene, but apart from seeing a pile of rubble, they found no other clues.

In a secluded place, an old man suddenly had a thought, opened his eyes, and saw a middle-aged woman before him.

The woman was only a blurry figure. She bowed and said, "Reporting to Master, Wei Yuan has just boarded the flying boat and set off for the Tai Chu Palace. It has been confirmed through secret methods that Zhu Yuanjin is still in Qingming and did not go with Wei Yuan."

The old man stood up abruptly and said, "Very good! You have done a great service this time, and I will take good care of your descendants."

With tears in her eyes, the woman said, "Thank you, Master! Please forgive me for not being able to fulfill my filial duties in the future!"

In the blink of an eye, her image vanished into the world. The old man walked out of the room, and a moment later, a flying boat flew out of the secret realm and soared into the clouds.

Wei Yuan sat in the upper cabin, watching the scenery rushing past the window. Suddenly, the airship shook violently, its speed not noticeably slowing down.

A massive flying boat, several times larger than itself, emerged from the clouds, unleashing streams of sand-sinking magic that noticeably slowed down Wei Yuan's vessel.

Only a middle-aged cultivator and a young cultivator were piloting the small flying boat. Both were extremely panicked and desperately tried to urge the boat forward, but to no avail. Under the influence of the Sinking Sand Dao Technique, the small flying boat's weight increased several times, and it could barely float in the air.

Several more thousand-foot-long cables shot out from the large flying boat, anchoring themselves to the smaller flying boat. The cables tightened, and the two boats gradually drew closer. Wei Yuan emerged from the cabin, looked at a red-faced old man flying in from the large flying boat, and loudly proclaimed, "Senior, do you seek wealth or a life?"

Wei Yuan remained neither humble nor arrogant, ignoring the dozens of black-clad assassins behind the old man.

The red-faced old man laughed loudly and said, "Of course, it's to take a life! And incidentally, to ask for some money."

Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised and said, "Senior is only at the mid-stage of the Imperial Realm, how can you be so confident? Although our side has fewer people, your subordinates are practically non-existent."

The red-faced old man was furious and shouted, "Enough nonsense, let's see how long you can last in my molten lava hell!"

Suddenly, a scene of flowing magma appeared around Wei Yuan, the temperature rose sharply, and the small flying boat instantly burst into flames!
The old man's mental world was extremely peculiar; it was a sea of ​​molten lava, brimming with killing intent and almost devoid of any life or spirit. Ordinary Dharma bodies, even those at their peak, could only survive for a few breaths in such a mental world.

Before going to the Desolate Realm, Wei Yuan might have had to put in some effort to deal with it. But now that he has experienced the Desolate Realm and gained some recognition from its heavens and earth, even the sunlight there now feels mild, so he won't care about this little bit of heat.

Seeing that Wei Yuan remained unmoved, the old man waved his sleeve, and all the black-clad assassins leaped up, stepping on the sea of ​​lava and fire, and charged forward.

Wei Yuan remained standing still, calmly looking at the old man, and extended a finger to him, gently beckoning him.

The red-faced old man could no longer restrain himself. With a wave of his sleeves, dozens more assassins in black appeared, bringing the total to a hundred. Wielding dusty, gray short swords capable of harming the Heart Realm, they all swarmed towards Wei Yuan. Then, a massive ball of magma appeared in the air and crashed down upon Wei Yuan!
Wei Yuan finally nodded: "That's more like it."

He pointed to the sky, and the magma sphere in the air immediately froze in mid-air. The two began to compete in terms of Dao power. The old man exerted all his pressure, but Wei Yuan remained as firm as a rock, refusing to budge. Even with his Yujing cultivation, the old man was unable to overpower Wei Yuan in terms of Dao power.

The assassins boarded the small flying boat, when suddenly countless seaweeds appeared, their edges sharp as knives, instantly entangled more than ten black-clad cultivators, and killed them in a flash. Meanwhile, the seaweed in the aquarium inside the cabin vanished silently.

More than ten cultivators suddenly became covered in frost and stood frozen, but under the pressure of the magma's heat, the water and fire clashed, and their foundations were destroyed in an instant. A small tea tree in a flowerpot in the cabin also disappeared.

Then a subtle fragrance wafted through the air, and nearly twenty assassins fell silently to the ground, their deaths shrouded in mystery. A row of orchids on the flower stand in the cabin had vanished.

The last surviving assassins were suddenly ignited by the lava, yet died without a single wound. In the landscape painting hanging in the cabin, a small red tree vanished, transforming into a handsome, bald young man. A parrot on a perch suddenly stretched its neck and crowed, its cry possessing the force of a rooster's crow heralding the dawn. This rooster's crow instantly shattered the mental world of the lava inferno, severely injuring the red-faced old man.

Then three strange creatures with long, flowing hair and exquisitely beautiful faces appeared around him, all possessing the cultivation level of the Imperial Realm. Although they were the weakest of the Imperial Realm cultivators, they were still Imperial Realm cultivators, and were none other than the Mirage Demons who had recovered from their illness.

Holding the [Compassion] scroll, Wei Yuan strolled up to the old man and calmly asked, "Any last words?"

The red-faced old man looked both surprised and angry, and said, "Didn't you just say there were few people?!"

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "There are very few people, only two, and neither of them has made a move yet."

At this moment, the flying statue at the bow of the small flying boat came to life, transforming into Bao Yun and Feng Tingyu. The two of them had been disguised as statues, and even the red-faced old man's divine sense hadn't detected them at all. However, before they could even make a move, the battle was already over.

As for the male cultivator with a feather-like ribbon between his brows, the aloof young woman, the bald and handsome young man, and the three sweet girls who looked like the girl next door, none of them were human.

The parrot's calls shattered the old man's mental illusions. Its mission accomplished, it contentedly carried away a bag of spirit rice and flew back to its nest in the Azure Netherworld Herb Garden to sleep. It was currently growing and felt it had fought a fierce battle that day, narrowly defeating a powerful enemy. It needed to eat and sleep well to replenish its energy.

To Wei Yuan's surprise, the old man showed no panic or despair. Instead, he revealed a strange and crazed expression and said, "...Let me greet you!"

But in the first half of the sentence, the old man's lips moved, but no sound came out.

The old man then melted away like a candle, turning into a pool of wax-like residue. During the collapse of his flesh and blood, an extremely terrifying curse tried to cling to Wei Yuan, but it was channeled into the mortal realm, where it was distributed among the immortal plants, leaving each with only a small portion of the curse. The immortal plants grew naturally and soon completely absorbed it.

Now, the curse issued by a powerful expert at the cost of his life can no longer harm Wei Yuan.

The old man's death was so swift and unexpected, much to Wei Yuan's surprise. What was even more bizarre was that his soul hadn't escaped; he seemed like a soulless shell. Yet, his primordial spirit and mental world remained intact, a truly strange situation. Wei Yuan pondered this deeply, growing increasingly grave with each thought.

Wei Yuan boarded the flying boat that the old man was riding, and as expected, it was spotless, with not a single clue left behind.

This robbery and murder were inexplicable, without any beginning or end; Wei Yuan didn't even know who wanted to kill him. Judging from the messages transmitted through the Azure Nether, this group had clearly planned this for a long time and was quite familiar with the Azure Nether's surveillance methods. But after paying such a high price, was it really over?
In fact, the level of this assassination was quite high. The molten lava hell's mental realm is extremely powerful and can suppress most of the mental realms of the Imperial Realm. The black-clad assassins are all at the Foundation Establishment stage, wielding short blades with potent poison, which can also harm mental realms.

Generally, cultivators at the Imperial Realm level are caught off guard and will be severely injured when they enter the Mind World. Then, the red-faced old man will use his own life to cast a curse, which will basically cause all cultivators at the Imperial Realm level to perish together.

However, Wei Yuan truly lacked martial ethics, having already arranged numerous contingency plans to lure him in. The Immortal Rooster broke through the molten lava hell, and the curse was amplified by mortal fire; even the old man's strongest killing move was ineffective against Wei Yuan, meaning he had truly kicked a hornet's nest.

Wei Yuan was completely baffled by the motive for the assassination attempt and could only continue his journey to the Taichu Palace. The rest of the way, he was safe and sound. Wei Yuan had originally intended to spare the red-faced old man's life, using him as bait to lure out an even bigger fish.

Despite casting 100,000 units of green energy in one go, it was like throwing a mud ox into the sea; even after stepping into the gate of the Taichu Palace, nothing was retrieved.

As Wei Yuan stepped through the mountain gate, his expression was solemn. There were already cultivators who came to greet him and led him to the main hall. The first step was to pay homage to the ancestral master, and then the treasure vault was opened so that Wei Yuan could choose a site for his cave heaven.

The statue of the patriarch still exudes a vibrant spirit, with four immortal swords bobbing on and off the ground. Looking at it now, Wei Yuan even had the illusion that the patriarch was still alive.

Standing before the statue of the Patriarch, Wei Yuan was suddenly filled with emotion. The last time he formally paid homage to the Patriarch, he was only six years old and had just begun his cultivation. In the end, he received the Patriarch's boundary stone as a gift. Back then, he didn't know the significance of this boundary stone when he was cultivating. Now, looking back, he realized that the appearance of the Dao foundation across the vast land was probably partly due to the Patriarch's grace.

Today, Wei Yuan's worship is not an ordinary one.

With the pivot of the grotto-heavens selected and the third grotto-heaven put into orbit, Wei Yuan officially broke through to the Imperial Realm. But before reaching the Imperial Realm, there was still a test of conscience: Why cultivate immortality?
The answer to this question will directly affect the attributes of the cultivated Mind World. And now, Wei Yuan is about to answer this question before the Ancestral Master.

(End of this chapter)