Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 358 I can do whatever I want

The Divine Blade Sect isn't far from the Upper Pool Sect. Ordinary disciples, if not in a hurry, could arrive in about half a month. If they used their skills day and night without stopping, it would take seven or eight days. But if two Nascent Soul cultivators were involved, one flying on a sword and the other transforming into a hazy ball of light, it would only take half a day.

Xu Zhen said that when Li Wuxiang took him to the Divine Blade Sect to retrieve the artifact, it was still morning. According to Li Wuxiang's memory of the otherworldly visitor's calculation, it should have been around nine o'clock.

When the two arrived at the valley where the Divine Blade Sect was located, it was only a little past six in the afternoon.

Here, it's already getting dark around six o'clock in the autumn. The two of them looked down from the sky and could see the ground very clearly.

The Divine Blade Sect is located in a valley called Maple Valley. At this time of year, the valley should be ablaze with vibrant red foliage, a truly eye-catching sight.

Maple Valley is shaped like an eye, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only one narrow path in and out. The east and west sides of the valley have protruding cliffs, much like the Flying Eagle Rock near Dapan Mountain, but larger, enclosing half of Maple Valley.

This type of terrain is not common, so Xu Zhen and Li Wuxiang easily spotted it from the sky.

As darkness fell, the valley grew even darker. The Divine Blade Sect, with its more than eight hundred disciples, should have lit their lamps by now, illuminating the "eye" hidden in the woods.

The problem was that the two of them found the valley to be dark from the sky, as if no one lived there.

So they went straight down into the valley to take a look—the valley was very large, with a jade-like river winding through the middle. On both sides of the river were yellow sand beaches formed by the water flow, and beyond the sand beaches were lush, dense forests.

Tong Xu said that to get to the Divine Blade Sect, one should head straight northeast. Both of them were at the Nascent Soul stage, and they would fly in a straight line, so there was no mistake.

They also said that Maple Valley had a unique and rare terrain. The two of them had indeed seen it, and there was no mistake about it.

Tong Xu also said that there is a small river in the valley called "Erliang River". After flowing out of the valley, it becomes a large marsh called "Maple Leaf Marsh". The two of them saw the river and the marsh outside, so they were sure they were right.

However, since all of these points match up, the place is completely empty. What is the reason for this?

They walked along the river for a while to investigate, and then Li Wuxiang discovered a few things—a crumpled piece of paper buried in the river sand, damp from the moisture in the sand. When unfolded, they found that the paper was covered with crooked writing, but all eight characters were repeated over and over again: “天地玄黄，宇宙洪荒” (Heaven and Earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate), as if it were a beginner's writing exercise.

Li Wuxiang tossed the paper aside and said to Xu Zhen, "It shouldn't have been buried for very long. The outside is wet, but some parts inside are still dry."

He squatted down and stuck his fingers into the river sand, then stood up again: "The sand isn't very wet. I guess it's more from the frost at night or the dew in the morning. It'll probably only last three or four days at most."

Xu Zhen nodded: "Let's walk around and take another look."

Then Li Wuxiang discovered the second thing. It wasn't a small object, but a grove of trees, a pine forest.

Maple Valley is filled with maple trees, but there is a square pine forest under the protruding cliff on the east side. The trees are arranged in a neat manner, and they are all about the same size and height. It is obvious at a glance that they were planted by humans.

The pine trees also appeared to have been pruned; there were saw marks on the trunks and branches, as if they had been used for a long time.

Li Wuxiang circled around the pine forest, then frowned slightly: "Brother, I'm afraid the Divine Blade Sect has gone into hiding."

Xu Zhen was very clever, but even the smartest person can't suddenly understand everything in a relatively unfamiliar place. He already knew that Li Wuxiang's current situation was more dangerous than he had originally thought, so he told himself, "No matter what this man says, I must be wary and not believe him easily."

So he remained calm and simply asked, "Why do you think that?"

As darkness gradually descended, Li Wuxiang pointed to a tree beside him: "In the Central Plains, pine wood is a good material for making furniture and utensils. But I see that the parts of this tree that have been used were originally either crooked branches or knots on the trunk—so it shouldn't have been planted for timber. It must have been used to extract resin."

“Brother, look.” He touched the tree trunk. “There are knife marks, some are new, and some have healed, which means it has been cut repeatedly. That must be for the resin.”

Xu Zhen nodded: "They use pine resin for lighting."

"Or add other things to the pine resin and refine it into something else."

Xu Zhen thought for a moment: "You think they're hiding because of this?"

“Brother, don’t be anxious, listen to me. I was thinking that there are many lighting products in the Central Plains, the most common of which is tung oil lamps. If the people of the Divine Blade Sect want to make tung oil themselves, they should plant tung trees. But since they planted pine trees, I remembered something called ‘Five Brightness Essence’.”

"Five-bright grease is a kind of ritual material, but it's not for eating. It's used for lighting, and it has several advantages. One is that it burns for a long time; a small piece the size of a thumb can burn for ten days. Another is that it burns with a cold flame, not a hot one. Well, not exactly cold, but just a slightly warm flame to the touch, yet it's very, very bright. Also, it burns without smoke or smell; you can even put it in water and it will still burn, regardless of air circulation."

"This kind of thing is best suited for lighting in enclosed spaces. It won't be choking, it won't go out, and it won't make it too hot. The Divine Blade Sect has planted so many pine trees and collected so much resin; I guess they're using it to refine Five-Brightness Resin. But what kind of place would need Five-Brightness Resin for lighting?" Li Wuxiang looked at the valleys on both sides. "I guess it's either in the mountains or underground. These pine trees have been growing for a long time, which means the Divine Blade Sect has been collecting Five-Brightness Resin all along—they must have set up another refuge somewhere."

“Zheng Jingxi isn’t too stupid. After leaving Dapan Mountain, he should have realized that his sect’s most treasured artifact might not be safe… I guess he hid it. Hiding a sect’s artifact isn’t easy; he probably only hid it a few days ago.”

Li Wuxiang's words made perfect sense. Xu Zhen stood in the darkness, squinting as he thought for a while, and concluded that what he said was probably true.

He didn't have time to collude with Zheng Jingxi, and he was right; whether hiding a sect or moving it away, it would take a long time to prepare.

But what's with the dense forests on both sides?

"An illusion," "a trick." And the method was quite clever, so clever that he and Li Wuxiang didn't notice anything unusual when they walked down the river.

However, no matter how sophisticated the magic, it would be futile against him. Xu Zhen looked around, his eyes becoming extremely sharp, as if trying to see something else in the forest through the darkness. Then he gathered his breath slightly and opened his mouth—

However, before the word "broken" could even be uttered, the surrounding scene changed.

The trees on both sides of the Erliang River seemed to have been sculpted from wax, but now, exposed to the high temperature, they melted and faded. First, their shapes became distorted, and then they all turned into a blur, receding like the tide.

What was exposed were densely packed wooden stakes and stone pillars. Even though he hadn't been in the Central Plains for long, Xu Zhen recognized at a glance that these were the remains of buildings—or rather, they were buildings that had been thoroughly demolished and left in their original locations.

Based on his understanding, cultivators in the Central Plains always needed something to rely on when casting illusions. These wooden and stone pillars were not dismantled, presumably to transform into the dense forests on both sides of the Erliang River.

Upon seeing this scene, he couldn't help but be stunned.

It wasn't that I had seen through the illusion, but rather that I hadn't expected it to be so easy.

The more convincing and well-prepared the illusion, the harder it is to break. The Divine Blade Sect must have truly hidden and fled, but they left behind so many architectural remnants before that. Zheng Jingxi was only at the Nascent Soul stage, and the sect had many members. This illusion must have been very sophisticated.

He breaks the law not by using the law itself, but by relying on his innate supernatural powers. The Xie Zhi can distinguish right from wrong, so it is naturally very good at dispelling illusions.

But knowing himself as he did, a single glance wasn't enough; he needed to make his words come true. Yet, before he could even utter the word "break," the true form had already been revealed... Had his supernatural powers become stronger? And not just a little?

He couldn't help but glance at Li Wuxiang.

Xu Zhen's cultivation is different from that of other demon races. Other demon races, such as Xu Pianpian, find it very difficult to begin cultivating—they need to live a long time, never have bred, and then accidentally stumble upon a place rich in spiritual energy. But his Xie Zhi is a born magical beast, capable of cultivating from birth, making him not much different from a "human." In fact, even before he began cultivating, he already possessed some supernatural abilities.

Even if someone like Xu Pianpian gains sentience, she will still follow the path of cultivation in the Central Plains. She must continuously absorb the light of the sun and moon, drawing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, accumulating it little by little within her body. Once she has accumulated enough, she will temper her physical body, slowly transforming into a human. This process is difficult and requires a long period of time. But it is also simple—as long as she lives and continues to cultivate, she will always make progress.

What makes his magical beast different is that it can only temper its physical body by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and the spiritual energy of the surrounding environment. If it wants to make its supernatural abilities stronger, it needs to specifically train those abilities.

If you're going to practice, you have to put it into practice. Therefore, he established rules and a rule in Fangju City, using his supernatural powers to discern matters requiring judgment. As a result, Fangju City was quite famous in the Eastern Continent and was one of the most powerful forces. However, this was still too slow; what was truly effective was fighting against stronger opponents.

The stronger the opponent, the better he refines this divine power. And today's change…

It might be because of Li Wuxiang. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator who had mastered the Great Calamity Sword Scripture, making him one of the strongest Nascent Soul cultivators in the Central Continent. But I led him astray, and thus his supernatural powers increased?

But this has never happened before. It only counts if he is truly and completely refined. Right now, he still only feels that he is Xu Chen, and he still remembers many other things... Is it because this person is far stronger than he thought, and therefore his supernatural powers have already been partially refined and become stronger?
In the short time it took him to process those thoughts, he heard Li Wuxiang exclaim in a low voice, "Brother, you broke the illusion!?"

"Well, they really have hidden themselves! Zheng Jingxi is clever, but did he ever think that he could hide forever?"

Xu Zhen wasn't sure if Li Wuxiang genuinely didn't know or was feigning surprise. But since he possessed supernatural powers, he could ask.

The reason I didn't test his condition with supernatural powers before was because I was afraid of startling him. But asking him about the Divine Blade Sect now is no big deal.

Xu Zhen stared at Li Wuxiang and asked only one question: "Brother, can't you tell where they've hidden either?"

Li Wuxiang's expression faltered slightly, and he turned around. He stared into his own eyes for a moment, then lowered his voice: "I don't know."

Xu Zhen patted him on the shoulder: "Then let's look again."

Li Wuxiang genuinely didn't know. He didn't need any particular reasoning to reach this conclusion; if he felt it was "true," then it was true. This innate supernatural power of magical beasts was like a person's sense of self—if they felt hungry, then they were truly hungry; this feeling was infallible.

Xu Zhen lifted his foot and walked into the ruins of buildings scattered across the mountains, while Li Wuxiang stood there for a moment before following him.

He must have realized that he had been momentarily dazed. Such a daze is highly unusual for a Nascent Soul cultivator. But since this place is an illusion array left behind by the Divine Blade Sect, who can say for sure whether it was because of this array?
Xu Zhen smiled to himself, focused his gaze, and looked around into the darkness as he walked.

If the Divine Blade Sect has truly hidden themselves, they will not escape the reach of this Torch-like Divine Power as long as I spot even the slightest clue.

It seems Li Wuxiang was right; they were indeed hiding, they definitely were. Since they "definitely were hiding," then "they could definitely be found." Because with so many people, the places they hid, whether in the mountains or underground, would inevitably be interconnected, leaving numerous traces. These traces wouldn't escape our notice—

As he thought about it, he actually discovered it.

Two steps ahead, at the base of a wooden pillar. There is a stone base under the pillar, and a small mound of earth at the edge of the stone base.

It was about the size of a thumb, with a ring of loose soil particles around it, like a small grave.

This was an ant nest. But when Xu Zhen saw the ant nest, he felt something was very unusual. And once this "unusual" feeling arose, he used his supernatural powers to take another look, and the entrance to the ant nest changed.

It expanded across the ground like a black hole, growing to the size of a well in an instant. The wooden pillar that had been standing beside it, along with its stone base, fell in. Xu Zhen immediately heard a shout from inside—"What happened? The formation is broken? Quickly, go and call the sect leader!"

He smiled slightly and turned to look at Li Wuxiang: "Little brother, I've found him."

(End of this chapter)