Chapter 88 Xuanchengzhou

The ruins fell completely silent. Logically, the next team should have entered the ruins. Fortunately, Feng Wutong had a selfish motive and would not allow others to disrupt the situation before the Qiming people succeeded. Luo Xuanyi had to seize the opportunity. In addition to packing up everything in the room and taking it away, Luo Xuanyi left the room to see if there were any valuable items left outside.

And before leaving, she also wanted to say goodbye to Yu Linghe, even if it was just a body.

But as soon as she left, she was startled. She practically rushed to the altar, but found no sign of movement, as if the girl who had been sitting at the center of the altar had completely disappeared. Furthermore, the murals on the wall had vanished without a trace, leaving only six grooves in the wall.

It's like a phantom that disappears after completing its mission.

The altar suddenly shone with a bright light, causing Luo Xuanyi to squint and look up. When the light faded, she lowered her head again, only to see a rough stone surface devoid of any carvings. The altar, standing like a mountain in the underground palace, seemed like a fantasy, with only flat ground extending towards the front hall.

Luo Xuanyi gradually reacted.

This altar likely served the same purpose as the stone slab, serving as an anchor point in time and space. The only difference was that one transformed Luo Xuanyi into a ghost, while the other was set in the Jade Crane era. With its mission complete, the stone slab could no longer open a passage through time and space, and the Jade Crane's phantom dissipated.

Putting aside her complicated feelings, Luo Xuanyi completely burned the dead vine spider with fireball magic, confirmed that there was nothing else left, and returned to the room again.

After ordering his phantom to clean up the fake underground palace as much as possible to prevent those who come later from noticing anything, Luo Xuanyi began to take stock of his gains.

Of the eighty bodies, only about thirty were worth preserving. Most of the others had been killed by Shen E'dai's strange techniques, rendering them unusable. Others were utterly destroyed in battle. With the exception of Shen E'dai's utterly destroyed spirit, all the others were confined to the underground palace and easily collected on the stone slab.

However, due to the chaotic battle, many disciples had exhausted their methods, and all their magic weapons were destroyed. This could be considered a loss or gain. Luo Xuanyi briefly inspected the relatively intact storage bags, confirmed there were no tracking marks, and then stamped them with her own brand and stored them in her sleeves. There were over sixty of them. Even if they were all a hundred square meters in size, it would be enough for her to use for a long time.

After collecting the items and loading the materials onto the stone slab, Luo Xuanyi's top priority was to leave the Zang Yao Sect's territory and find a secluded place to practice the ghost way. Who knew when the next batch of Zang Yao Sect disciples would arrive?

Even if the Zang Yao Sect disciples could be led into the underground palace for a fight, the deacons would not act carelessly again and again. Moreover, the Zang Yao Sect would never give up until they got what they wanted.

Luo Xuanyi pondered for a moment, then retrieved the fake ruins map Yu Linghe had prepared for her. With a thought, the cracked mural mirror surface rippled slightly, and "Luo Xuanyi" emerged. She took the map, left the room, and placed it in the fake underground palace. To disguise its authenticity, the map was hidden in the dark layer where the underground palace's mechanism map had originally been placed.

After everything was ready, Luo Xuanyi took a deep breath, unlocked the restrictions on the ruins, and prepared to leave.

It's a shame the underground palace itself can't be taken away, otherwise Luo Xuanyi would be much more convenient outside, without having to worry about being disturbed while practicing. She sighed and opened the stone slab, her index finger running along the edge of the gold line, one by one. With a hook, she picked out the piece of paper with the chess beast painted on it.

The originally twisted and hideous flesh chess pieces on the chessboard now had a strangely naive quality when depicted flatly. Luo Xuanyi played with them for a while before awakening the chess beast.

The gold paper began to burn, but the dark red flames didn't completely ignite it; only a corner burned away. The falling ashes clung to the air, wrapping around the slightly burnt gold paper, which began to rapidly swell and deform. The gold threads were pulled out and wrapped by the ashes, transforming into a mass of flesh.

The chess beast made a subtle, flattering noise, and sensing Luo Xuanyi's thoughts, it automatically snapped together. Seeing the slimy mouth open before her, Luo Xuanyi felt a faint voice calling out in her head, its tone unusually cheerful: "Master, where are you going?"

Where to go? That was a real question. Should she immediately go to the location on the Yulinghe map? Luo Xuanyi considered it, but ultimately rejected it. Although she trusted Yulinghe to not deliberately deceive her, after all, ten thousand years had passed. Who knew if any human or demonic beast had discovered and taken up residence there?

The most important thing right now was to find a secluded place where no one was around to start practicing. The Zang Yao Sect's territory was controlled by patrolling disciples, so it was safer to go to the righteous sect's territory.

"Go to Xuanchengzhou. Not to a crowded place."

The chess beast clearly had no face, but Luo Xuanyi could sense a hint of embarrassment in its ferocious mouth. "I can't confirm the coordinates. Master, have you ever looked at a map or something? Just try to recall the place name and silently recite it before stepping in! Oh, and if there are places with the same pronunciation, you might be transported to the wrong one, so it's best to go to a specific location you remember."

"Anywhere I can tell?"

"Of course not. If the destination has such a powerful restriction like here, it won't work. Besides, I'm likely to make mistakes if I'm hungry. But you name a place, and I'll try my best to get closer to it!" The chess beast seemed to want to act cute to survive. Luo Xuanyi didn't intend to tell it that the souls collected and made into soul paper would die if used too much. She was just thinking about her own goal.

Just looking at a map wouldn't reveal the local situation, but Luo Xuanyi had already read through Taoist Hua Shen's collection of books, especially those on local customs. She finally made up her mind and said, "Let's go to Xuancheng Prefecture, Changlongpo."

As she stepped into that corpse-smelling maw, Luo Xuanyi recalled the description of Changlongpo in the local gazetteer. The soft flesh beneath her feet suddenly swayed, and the dark landscape completely enveloped her vision. In an instant, her senses seemed to be dulled, as if she had been submerged in water, becoming incomparably inert. Just as she realized she could no longer endure it, the chess-crossing beast opened its mouth again.

Luo Xuanyi quickly threw out a storage bag. After confirming that there was no movement outside, she quickly scurried out of the chess beast's mouth. Before the chess beast could even ask for food, she took it back and transformed it into gold paper again. Luo Xuanyi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She discovered that the memories brought to her by the initiation made her unable to accept this dark environment where her senses were weakened. Once she was in a similar environment, she began to hate her own weakness and her fingers trembled from the intense hatred.

But it doesn't matter, she will be able to get rid of this weak body soon.

Luo Xuanyi reluctantly diverted her attention and began to carefully observe the surrounding environment.

Outside the ancient alchemist's ruins, Feng Wutong tapped the edge of the wooden bed with his fingers anxiously, making a rapid and heavy sound.

"Haven't you found Shen Edai yet? She can't have just disappeared out of thin air!"

Shen Edai's team, responsible for sacrificing the living and breaking the formation, should have rested in the ship, but the entire team vanished completely, seemingly evaporating into thin air. This was already a sinister enough situation, but Qiao Yangrun, the only person to return from the ruins, made it even more confusing.

"Sir, an accident has occurred in the ruins!" The child named Qiao Yangrun's body was covered in wounds, and the residual spiritual energy showed that it wasn't just one person who did it. His expression was grave, and it didn't seem fake. "A team led by Deacon Dai suddenly appeared in the ruins, and Deacon Dai was among them. They suddenly attacked us!"

A true lie is one that is half true and half false, and that is the most effective. He lowered his head, shielding his eyes with his neatly cut bangs.

"I was injured and used a magic weapon to escape, but when I ended my suspended animation, I discovered that Senior Brother Qi, Junior Brother Shang, and the others were gone. Strangely, there were no bodies either. I didn't dare to make a rash decision, so I had to return immediately to report to the deacon!"

Feng Wutong paused tapping the railroad ties. She glanced at Qiao Yangrun, then suddenly relaxed, waving her hand in a bored manner. Qiao Yangrun was immediately taken aside by Cha Yu, who stood beside her, and began describing how to navigate the ruins. Feng Wutong stopped paying attention to them and sneered.

"Sir, aren't you going to send someone in to search?" Cai Hu, who was carefully massaging her leg, looked worried. He glanced in Qiao Yangrun's direction and stopped talking, but Feng Wutong understood what he meant.

"Of course. Remember to send Cai Miao's team and tell him that his junior sister has defected. Remember to call our people in. Don't worry about Shen Edai, just look for that thing." She paused. "Don't inform the elders about this yet. I will report it personally when I return."

It would take at least half a month to go back and forth. Even if he knew, what could he do? Cai Hu didn't dare to say much. He just watched with his eyes and nose, and massaged Feng Wutong's legs one by one.

I've already advised you, if you insist on leaving, then you'll be on your own. Feng Wutong sighed inwardly, and couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Prepare to lay out the right path map~