The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 116 Accustomed to Being a Servant
Jiang Yuan completely killed Crab Brother Er and collected his demon core. Qing He had also collected the other two demon cores.

The little demons outside probably don't know yet that General Crab and his entire family are doomed.

Jiang Yuan didn't want them to come in and disturb him, so after breaking the restrictions in front of the cave entrance, he set up a powerful array, naturally wanting to explore the secret realm.

The passage behind the cave is quite long, and there is another restriction at the end. Since General Crab is dead, this restriction is not difficult to break.

Inside was a circular hall, about half a mile in circumference, with five pillars in the center surrounding a spherical void gate.

Jiang Yuan didn't rush in recklessly. Instead, he placed two talisman warriors and used them to sense the situation inside the secret realm. Only after confirming that there was no danger did he enter the void gate.

It is indeed a blessed land, full of flowers, plants, fish and insects, teeming with life. There may even be monsters roaming there. What's even more precious is that it is rich in spiritual energy.

Jiang Yuan flew to the sky above the secret realm, found no restrictions, and flew directly towards the center.

Within the secret realm, five mountain peaks are arranged in a highly regular order according to the five elements' generating cycle. At the center lies a large lake with two small islands in the lake, forming a yin-yang fish structure.

Qinghe was confused. "Can secret realms be artificially created?"

"Many secret realms were originally the magical treasure spaces of ancient cultivators, but this secret realm is probably transformed from a cultivator's spiritual domain."

"Spirit Realm?"

"If you can cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm, then the lotus pond can be materialized, and naturally it can also form a small secret realm."

Jiang Yuan didn't go into details, but even the spiritual domain of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't form a stable blessed land, let alone be this large.

If this secret realm is truly a manifestation of the Spirit Realm, then the person who created it must be at least a Great Dao Integration Stage cultivator. Having seen a True Buddha's Daoist temple underwater, it wouldn't be surprising to find a Mahayana cultivator's legacy here on this small, broken planet. Jiang Yuan simply doesn't understand why the spiritual energy on this small, broken planet is so thin now.
Jiang Yuan concluded that this spiritual realm also had a spirit-gathering array, but it was not activated. As long as it was confirmed that there was no danger inside, then this secret realm would be extremely valuable.

The key is that the space is large enough that whether it is refining sixth-order pills or advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, there will be extremely strong celestial phenomena, which will inevitably attract the attention of the Sashin Sect and Taiyi Sect in Silla.

The spiritual realm, spanning two thousand miles, is sufficient for the formation of a nascent soul. Even if there are some celestial phenomena outside, they will not be too intense, especially since this island is far from the mainland.

The two flew within the secret realm for two hours, basically confirming that there were no threats. Even the few small demonic beasts were no match for them. They estimated that there would be plenty of medicinal herbs, which they could search for later.

Jiang Yuan and his companion left the secret realm and searched the cave, but found nothing belonging to the original owner. They felt it was strange; could the Crab General be hiding something?
Jiang Yuan set up a spirit-trapping formation in the main hall of the cave, inscribed four soul-locking talismans, and released the remnant soul of the Crab General.

After searching the soul, Jiang Yuan finally understood that the Crab General's master was just a sub-landlord. When he occupied this cave, it was empty. The sub-landlord was only at the late Nascent Soul stage and had failed to advance to the Divine Transformation stage and perished.

Back then, General Crab was only level five. He was just casually captured by the landlord, who put a soul restriction on him and made him a servant. He was never given any guidance in cultivation.

General Crab was lucky enough to obtain all the resources in the cave and cultivate to the eighth level of human form. However, he did not understand the value of that secret realm and wasted hundreds of years outside. He was even so bored that he tortured and killed merfolk for fun. He was really stupid.

After Jiang Yuan searched the soul, the remnant soul of General Crab had lost its intelligence. If Miao Miao devoured it, it might improve her cultivation.

Jiang Yuan thought about it and decided against it. This stupid creature might make Miaomiao stupid too, so he might as well just kill it.

In Jiang Yuan's mind, Miao Miao's practice of ghost cultivation techniques was merely a temporary measure, and she would eventually have to follow the righteous path.

Following Crab General's memory, they indeed found the secret chamber where the second landlord was in seclusion, containing some cultivation techniques and magical treasures. Crab General's family relied on these resources to cultivate into great demons.

At this point, Jiang Yuan and Qing He revealed their true forms and cultivation levels, opened the inner cave's restrictions, and went out to deal with the lesser demons.

When the sea turtles, sea snakes, seahorses, and shrimp spirits saw two human cultivators suddenly emerge from the forbidden cave, they scattered and fled in terror.

Qinghe released Qiongniang and caught all the demons who had run away. A few sensible little demons, upon seeing Jiang Yuan and the other two, immediately prostrated themselves and begged for mercy, unable to even kneel.

Jiang Yuan didn't have time to interrogate them all now, so he simply placed soul-binding restrictions on them all and would deal with them as appropriate later.

The merfolk leader and his two followers waited anxiously for most of the day on the outskirts of the island until they saw Jiang Yuan fly out of the cave.

Jiang Yuan transmitted his divine thoughts, "The Crab General's entire family is dead. You can bring the Merfolk back."

The merman leader was overjoyed and sang a few lines of a song while sobbing. Two merman followers then went to the reef island to summon the mermen.

The merfolk leader followed Jiang Yuan to the cave alone. When he saw the eternal lamps lit by the merfolk on the wall, tears welled up in his eyes.

Jiang Yuan had been so focused on annihilating the crab family and exploring the secret realm that he hadn't noticed that the lights in the cave were all made from the corpses of merfolk.

Mermaid oil can burn for thousands of years, and ancient emperors liked to use mermaid lamps for lighting in their tombs, which was truly cruel.

Jiang Yuan was the leader of the mermaids who communicated through divine thought. If they didn't want to see those lamps, they could deal with them themselves and instruct the little demons to help.

Qinghe whispered to Jiang Yuan, "If we take over this cave, what will happen to the merfolk and the lesser demons?"

Jiang Yuan had already thought it through: "Let them have their way. If they want to leave, let them leave. If they want to stay, this cave can accommodate several hundred merfolk."

Jiang Yuan then sent Shen Wangzhi a talisman, instructing him to stay in the Xinluo Cave for the time being if there was no danger, to mine more spirit stones, and to move to this island later.

Of course, Jiang Yuan didn't mention that there was a secret realm here, but rather that he had found a spiritual vein island.

Shen Wangzhi was overjoyed and quickly replied to Fu Shu, saying that there were no problems with Silla for the time being and that the spirit stone mine was being mined at an accelerated pace.

Jiang Yuan doesn't want to go back to Silla yet; he needs to do some repairs in his cave.

With Cui Qinghe, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness, Jiang Yuan didn't need to worry much. She didn't even allow the little demons to help and took care of cleaning up the inner palace herself.

The mermaid leader, along with a few lesser demons, cleaned up the outer cave. Jiang Yuan gave them a bag of spirit stones, and they replaced most of the lights with spirit stone lamps, while some were replaced with mermaid pearl night lamps, which provided a softer light.

Jiang Yuan re-set up restrictions in both the outer and inner caves. Previously, General Crab had no strong enemies and had made a careless mistake in setting up the restrictions, which allowed Jiang Yuan to easily infiltrate. Jiang Yuan prioritizes safety wherever he goes.

The outer cave is actually just a corridor leading into the cave. When the original owner designed it, he referenced the style of the water towns in Jiangnan, China, and built many corridors and pavilions on the water.

General Crab naturally lacked aesthetic sense, so he drove the mermaids and little demons to live in the outer cave, making it a mess.

Just as Qinghe was preparing to make a major overhaul, all two hundred-plus merfolk returned, and they even found the little merfolk who had been injured and escaped earlier.

When the little mermaid saw Qinghe, she ran up to her and began to sing a sobbing song. The mermaid leader conveyed her message through divine thought: "She says she is grateful to the immortal for saving her life and is willing to serve the immortal as a slave for life!"

Qinghe frowned, not because she disliked the Little Mermaid, but because hearing about being a slave for life reminded her of her past as a maid.

"You don't have to be anyone's servant; live for yourself!"

Even the merman leader was stunned by these words, and it took him a long time to figure out how to convey the meaning.

These merfolk were probably used to being enslaved by the Crab General; they should be grateful they weren't killed.

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(End of this chapter)