Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 518: Emperor's Blood
The massacre of the Ice Prison Sect did not result in many casualties.

The high-ranking members of the Ice Prison Sect who accompanied Elder Yin Feng on a "tour of the town" with Ling Qixuan were wiped out by Lu Xingzhou's Soul Banner. These people were also involved in the ambush, so this was considered revenge for the ambush. As for the Ice Prison Sect's mountain gate, which was attacked by the allied forces of Si Han and Tianyao Holy Land, the killing was very light.

Si Han needs to capture prisoners to work for him, and he is currently organizing and incorporating the prisoners.

But he didn't touch the Ice Prison Sect's storage; the people from the Heavenly Yao Holy Land were guarding it.

Lu Xingzhou led Dugu Qingli and Jiang Yuan to the Ice Prison Sect's treasure vault to search for something. Along the way, Jiang Yuan had a sour face and lagged behind, following silently.

No matter how confused you are, you'll still have your memories when you wake up.

The experience of her flirtatiously snuggling up to the man, pouting and asking for a kiss, only to end up kissing his sword, made Jiang Yuan want to die.

That's not all; back then, she was tearing at her clothes, saying she was so hot.

Fortunately, those were repaired robes. If they were still ordinary clothes, they would probably have been torn apart again and sold for their flesh.

Anyway, Jiang Yuan has been in a daze since she woke up. She watched Yuan Muyu's domineering performance of dancing in front of the formless life form the whole time, and only her peach blossom eyes twitched slightly, showing a little admiration.

Then they hung their heads and started fighting amongst themselves again.

The annoying little white cat next to me had a sly look in its eyes, making me feel really uncomfortable.

Am I a mistress? Is that how you look at me? I have absolutely nothing to do with you guys!

Jiang Yuan was listless. She wanted to leave and not stay with them, but she couldn't bear to leave the Ice Prison Sect's treasure vault.

When smuggling, one can't carry much. The main items are their family's key mechanical puppets and personal weapons like daggers. The rest are mostly useful pills; they barely even brought a few spirit stones. Therefore, Jiang Duxu chose the route of a maritime merchant to establish himself, just to secure his basic needs.

What's the point of going through all that trouble to explore the secret cave? Isn't it to get some good stuff from this world so people won't call you a beggar?

There was nothing in the secret cave except for a bed full of lace lingerie, which Lu Xingzhou had rolled up in the sheets and thrown away.

After a long and arduous battle, the little wooden puppets were exhausted, and even the large puppet was slightly damaged by the Mystic Maiden, resulting in nothing gained. Oh, and what they did gain was being taken advantage of by a man and becoming the mistress of the white-haired girl.

If Jiang Yuan didn't earn it back from the Ice Prison Sect's treasure, he would have wanted to kill himself. He would have to endure it even if he wanted to run away!

The treasure vault door opened, and the dazzling array of jewels made Jiang Yuan squint her eyes slightly. She reached out and stroked the shelves with a hint of surprise.

The Ice Prison Sect's treasury might even be of a higher standard than that of the Kingdom's Lord Si Han... Although Ling Qixuan's communication with the Ice Demon over the years has only yielded very occasional results, the information he has obtained far surpasses that of ordinary people. For example, the Bone Dragon was first discovered by Ling Qixuan and used in his scheme.

Dugu Qingli was too lazy to choose, so she directly took down the topmost jade box, which contained a piece of ice jade. The ice jade emitted a misty, somewhat psychedelic and distorted aura, looking somewhat unreal, yet its icy intent was strong and pure.

Even the well-traveled and knowledgeable Tianyao Saintess, Dugu Qingli, couldn't recognize it: "What is this?"

Jiang Yuan peeked inside and exclaimed, "Ice Illusion Divine Jade! This treasure is extremely rare even in the Ancient Realm, yet the mere Ice Prison Sect possesses it!"

Lu Xingzhou and Dugu Qingli glanced at her sideways, one on each side. "You ancient people have been shouting 'The ancient world doesn't have XXX' several times a day, and you still say you're not begging for food."

However, they were quite knowledgeable; neither of them recognized the item, yet Jiang Yuan immediately identified it.

Lu Xingzhou asked, "What is its function?"

"It's an ice-type treasure that has touched upon a trace of the laws of nature. It's mainly used to refine and comprehend ice-type illusions or mirror magic. If you can master it, your cultivation should improve significantly. Hmm, wearing it should also grant immunity to other illusions."

"Ice magic also has illusions?"

"Why not? Ice has a reflection. Isn't this white-haired guy supposed to be 'Frosty Sky, Frozen Moon, Reflecting the Cold River'? If there's a reflection, it's an illusion. If you don't even know this, then your Frosty Sky, Frozen Moon technique probably isn't very good."

Dugu Qingli: "..."

Did someone steal your lines?
"Besides, the rising ice mist is so thick that it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. What else could it be but an illusion?" Jiang Yuan said disdainfully, "You bumpkin."

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Fine, I'll bear with it since she's so weak.

Dugu Qingli didn't say anything, took out the Ice Illusion Divine Jade, glanced at it, and said in a low voice, "My cultivation is indeed lacking in this kind of thing... It's a good supplement to my understanding... Perhaps if I can fully grasp it, it will be my path to Huiyang."

Lu Xingzhou was somewhat gratified. This time, Xiaobai Mao was badly injured but gained nothing. Having this trophy was enough. The Path of Huiyang was something that could only be encountered by chance.

Jiang Yuan pursed her lips, not intending to compete with Dugu Qingli for ice-type items, as they were unsuitable.

Even if the Ice Prison Sect focuses on ice-type items, it's not like they don't have other types of items.

She opened several boxes with a clatter, but wasn't satisfied with the contents. The quality was alright, but none of them were suitable, so Jiang Yuan tossed them aside. Then she heard Lu Xingzhou say, "You keep them."

Jiang Yuan said expressionlessly, "I'm not a junk collector."

Lu Xingzhou said, "You may not need it yourself. Judging from your family's appearance, you probably didn't bring too many things down with you. These can serve as a reserve for your family's resources."

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and picked out a few that looked good to her.

Then he started to find Lu Xingzhou more agreeable: "You don't want it? I know you inherited a lot of resources from the Huo family, and you have a lot of soft... well, a lot of external support. But the things here are also special, and they'll be a good supplement for you."

"You said it yourself, it's just a supplement for me, your family needs it more urgently. Anyway, take whatever else you like, no need to discuss it." Lu Xingzhou didn't dwell on it, waving his hand to go search for other good stuff. Consider it a tip, he had to give her something, otherwise the girl would cry.

However, these so-called reserves for the family's wealth are ultimately not as valuable as things suitable for an individual. At this moment, Lu Xingzhou would rather not find anything suitable himself than let Jiang Yuan find what she wanted.

"What kind of silk thread is this?" Lu Xingzhou opened a box and looked at the silk thread inside, which resembled ice silk: "Ice silkworm silk?"

Jiang Yuan leaned over to take a look: "It's Jade Crystal Ice Silk extracted and refined from Xuanbing Jade Marrow... Just give me a pinch, the bulk is for your white-haired friend."

Lu Xingzhou glanced at her red dress: "Mending clothes again?"

Jiang Yuan pouted, "Of course, robes can be upgraded and reforged at any time, but they're still best suited for your white-haired girl. It's infuriating how this place feels like it was set up just for her..."

Dugu Qingli remained silent, only focusing on collecting things.

In fact, Lu Xingzhou's Dragon-Subduing Armor still has a hole in its back and needs to be patched. But as Jiang Yuan said, the items here seem to be tailor-made for Dugu Qingli. Although there are other attributes, they are far inferior to the ice attribute ones and are not very useful.

Lu Xingzhou was alright; at least there were some extremely special ice-type medicinal herbs here, which were very important for alchemists' reserves. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was really useless except for replenishing the family's supplies, and she was so angry that her pretty face turned red.

This battle was basically like handing meat to someone for nothing.

Lu Xingzhou said apologetically, "Miss Jiang, is there anything you particularly need? If so, please let me know, and I'll keep an eye out for it if I see it."

Jiang Yuan looked at his expression with a bit of a puzzlement: "It's just that I was unlucky that it didn't work. What are you apologizing for? You didn't promise anything."

"I owe you a tip..." Lu Xingzhou said, "Miss Jiang made a great contribution in this battle, but she didn't gain anything. I feel bad about that."

Jiang Yuan sneered: "Then I need a drop of imperial blood. Can you help me find it?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "If you had said so earlier, Gu Zhanting would have been burned to ashes, otherwise I would have given you a drop."

"What would I need his blood for?" Jiang Yuan laughed. "The Emperor's Blood refers to the ancient clan's Great Emperor. All eight of us are descendants of his bloodline, but over the generations, the bloodline has become much diluted. If I could have the bloodline concentration of my ancestors, even Wuxiang would be no problem."

"You? Wuxiang?"

Jiang Yuan remained expressionless.

Lu Xingzhou stroked his chin: "Okay, I understand the information. I'll keep an eye on it."

He paused, then suddenly asked, "Did your Jiang family's smuggling have any purpose in mind, perhaps to see if there are any ancient imperial tombs or similar relics remaining in the human realm?"

Jiang Yuan paused, then fell silent.

After a long pause, he said, "Indeed, some factors were related to the desire to find things that did not exist in the Ancient Realm... As it turns out, although most of the high-end items from the Ancient Realm are not available here, there are indeed a few things here that do not exist in the Ancient Realm."

Lu Xingzhou said, "I've suddenly been thinking about something..."

"You said."

"Is it possible for people from this world to illegally cross over to the ancient world?"

Jiang Yuanren was completely dumbfounded.

I've never thought about this question before... What's it called when this world goes to the ancient world? It's called ascension.

Can one smuggle themselves into a foreign land to ascend to immortality?

But theoretically, if we can smuggle ourselves down, can't we also smuggle ourselves up?

This question was beyond the scope of the curriculum, and Jiang Yuan was completely dumbfounded, unable to answer it.

Lu Xingzhou then asked, "You know about the Sky Patrol, right? Are the pursuers you're trying to escape from the Sky Patrol?"

“Yes.” Jiang Yuan’s face was a little pale, and she lowered her voice: “It’s best not to call someone by their real name, as it’s easy for them to sense it.”

Lu Xingzhou nodded. This sounded mysterious, but it was actually easy to understand. Even ordinary people might have a sixth sense if someone was talking badly about them nearby, and would subconsciously look over. When this perception is amplified a billion times, it's naturally "knowing by reciting the true name," not that mysterious.

Currently, it seems that the Sky Patrol is the maintainer of order, and is opposed to the smuggled Maha and the Jiang family.

But the maintainers of order are not necessarily the righteous ones... Did the maintainers of order not know that the Heavenly Tribulation had been tampered with all these years? They should be aware of the objective fact that no one has ascended to the Upper Realm for so many years, right? So, was the Heavenly Patrol itself responsible for tampering with the Heavenly Tribulation?
There's another issue... Judging from the King of the North Sea's words, Tianxun and Maha were originally on the same side. Everyone considered them to be on the side of justice, and even regarded Maha as a high-ranking monk and saint, working together to fight against the Ice Demon and his ilk. But the North Sea Kingdom was ultimately betrayed by Maha, and the King wanted to tell Tianxun this himself.

Maha was once pursued, but after his pursuers were all silenced, Maha returned... The current Gu Yiheng is an incarnation of Maha, smuggled in using a method similar to the Mysterious Maiden's incarnation; his true body should still be in the Ancient Realm. In other words, the Heavenly Patrol may still be unaware that Maha has been smuggling himself in, and the two sides have not yet fallen out.

The problems in the Ancient Realm are quite complicated... Lu Xingzhou really wanted to slip a message to Tianxun to see if Tianxun and Maha would get into a fight. But how could he slip the message? He couldn't smuggle it in, and even if he could, he wouldn't dare.

"So why did the Jiang family try to smuggle themselves across the border? What exactly happened in the Ancient Realm? Can you give me the answer?" Lu Xingzhou finally asked.

Jiang Yuan's face turned pale, and she shook her head vigorously: "We're not that close."

Finally, Dugu Qingli's voice came from the side: "That's not what you said when you pouted and kissed him."

(End of this chapter)