Chapter 47 Yanghua Cloud Sea (Thirty-Four)
The airship slowly descended into the dense jungle.
Spiritual energy rippled at the entrance, and the transparent barrier refracted colorful light under the sunlight. Countless sealing runes floated and flowed within it, with the Zhou family's Azure Dragon mark being particularly conspicuous. Every few dozen meters at the entrance, Zhou family disciples stood guard, dressed in uniform azure attire, carefully checking everyone's visiting cards.
These visiting cards bear the Zhou family's Azure Dragon pattern. Some were gifts from the Zhou family or obtained through connections, while others were purchased at great expense. The Zhou family possesses countless blessed lands and secret realms, not to mention their many hidden realms. It is perfectly normal for them to profit from these secret realms.
"The Xiyuan Secret Realm is vast, and although it contains many treasures, it is also extremely dangerous. At least half of the cultivators who enter each time perish inside. The fallen Purple Mansions and Spiritual Treasures become nourishment for the secret realm, sustaining it over time. Ordinary cultivators have to pay a considerable amount of money to enter, so the Zhou family makes both money and fame... They're not stupid at all." Mo Daojin explained in a low voice to his disciples. Seeing the fear on their faces, he added, "But there are countless opportunities within the secret realm. Even just getting a magic weapon or capturing a spirit beast by chance can propel an ordinary cultivator to the top, so everyone still flocks to it."
“Senior Brother Mo is right. We were able to come to the secret realm this time thanks to the Sect Master.” Yu Qianning continued, “I heard that Sect Master Wu has old ties with the Zhou family and went through a lot of connections to get the invitation. Otherwise, our Yanghua Sect would never have been able to get more than thirty people in with just one invitation.”
"This opportunity is hard-won, and everyone must cherish it." Lian Musi couldn't help but say, "No matter what our relationship is within the sect, we are all disciples of Yanghua Sect now that we're out here. We must not bring shame to the sect. Fellow disciples should help each other if they can. It's very difficult to come out of Xiyuan alive by going it alone."
The disciples of Yanghua Sect nodded in agreement. They were all top performers among their peers selected by Touchun Peak. Although their cultivation levels were still low, their aptitude and temperament were all excellent. Wu Hezhi and Xie Fuxue probably had the intention of gambling on luck. Yanghua Sect did not have enough resources to invest in cultivating outstanding disciples. Rather than letting them stagnate and miss their opportunities within the sect, it was better to find another way and take a risk to gamble on a path to heaven.
These disciples also understood that if they could survive the Xiyuan Secret Realm, they would soar to great heights upon returning to the Yanghua Sect, so they were all very much looking forward to it.
Wei Feng, carrying his sword, trailed at the back of the group. He had been practicing on his knees for several days, and his knees were still aching. At this moment, he was in a terrible mood and had no interest in listening to Mo Daojin and Mu Si's ramblings.
Both of them were utterly annoying to him.
Ruan Keji and Jiang Gu were distributing Yanghua Sect tokens at the front. Ruan Keji said, "After being teleported into the secret realm, your reappearance location will be random. No matter where you enter, you must remain calm first, and then use the locator in the token to find the nearest Yanghua Sect disciple. Try to travel in groups and avoid acting alone."
The red and green dots on the locator represent me and Elder Jiang, while the other white dots represent Yanghua Sect disciples. If a dot turns gray, it means you've perished, so don't waste your time searching for them. Head towards me and Elder Jiang as quickly as possible… If you encounter an extremely dangerous situation, you can crush the token; a half-quarter-hour concealment array will allow you to escape. However, it's best not to rely too heavily on this array, and once the token is broken, we will lose your location. We don't recommend doing this unless absolutely necessary. Do you all understand?
"Yes." The disciples were both nervous and expectant.
Jiang Gu didn't say a word throughout the whole process, only handing out tokens to his disciples. Mo Daojin respectfully accepted them with both hands, looking at him expectantly, "Elder Jiang, I will definitely find a good opportunity to come out alive, and I will not let you down."
"Yes, better safe than sorry." Jiang Gu nodded indifferently.
This single sentence filled Mo Daojin with ecstatic joy. Just as he was about to speak again, the person behind him rudely bumped into him, drawing out, "Excuse me—"
Mo Daojin frowned and turned around, only to meet Wei Feng's ambiguous smile. "Senior Brother Mo, there are still a lot of people waiting behind us."
Mo Daojin saw that only Liu Xian was standing behind him, and his face turned cold. However, he did not dare to lash out in front of Jiang Gu. He just gripped his sword tightly and went elsewhere.
Wei Feng smiled and spread his hands out to Jiang Gu, obediently saying, "Master, I've come to get the token."
Jiang Gu placed the token in his hand, but was grabbed by the sleeve. He lifted his eyelids and gave Wei Feng a nonchalant look.
"Master, don't you have anything to tell me?" Wei Feng had been forced to kneel for several days and was still a little intimidated by him, but he did not let go of his hand.
If Jiang Gu had only given him a perfunctory "be careful" response, he would definitely—
"Think before you act," Jiang Gu said expressionlessly.
"..." Wei Feng almost couldn't keep his smile going.
Once Liu Xian received the token, all the disciples had gathered. Jiang Gu took the lead and entered the secret realm first, with Wei Feng quickly following behind, hoping that the teleportation point would be closer to Jiang Gu.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
The Xiyuan Secret Realm is vast, and the small white dot where he is located and Jiang Gu's red dot are almost the farthest among all the white dots.
Jiang Gu's entry point was in an underground cave, surrounded by darkness. He lit a floating lamp, illuminating the clusters of amethyst on the cave walls, and the smell of sulfur wafted from the cave.
The thin air meant that he was far from the ground. The rustling and friction sounds grew louder as they approached. Jiang Gu quickened his pace, but soon the increasingly dense sounds surrounded him. He immediately summoned the Crimson Snow Sword. The sharp sword light flashed in the cave and stopped the fangs that were stabbing towards his neck.
The light from the floating lanterns grew brighter, and a massive three-headed snake coiled around the cave ceiling. Its enormous head was the size of seven or eight adults. At that moment, the snake's head was wide open, and a foul stench wafted out. Two legs remained in its throat, sinking into its belly as it swallowed.
This three-headed snake is at least at the Nascent Soul stage.
Jiang Gu didn't expect to be so unlucky. He had always disliked cold-blooded animals with scales, and he had encountered such a troublesome snake spirit beast right away. Even though their cultivation levels were similar, once someone targeted him, it was a fight to the death.
When the three-headed snake failed to strike, it swung its long tail and smashed the crystal cluster on Jiang Gu's head. Jiang Gu dodged to the side, and the other snake head behind him tried to swallow him, but Jiang Gu turned around and kicked it in its vital spot.
The three-headed snake roared in pain, its tail slithering rapidly as it lunged at Jiang Gu with all three heads, determined to rip him apart. However, Jiang Gu's sword strike was incredibly fast, and his immense spiritual power surged down, crushing one of the snake's heads. The other two heads immediately flew into a rage, their bodies coiling tightly around him, ready to devour Jiang Gu's primordial spirit. Suddenly, the spot on his seven-inch mark, where Jiang Gu had kicked him earlier, exploded.
The three-headed snake began to struggle desperately, and the amethyst crystals in the cave fell in a flurry. The struggle of the Nascent Soul stage spirit beast caused the cave to collapse with a roar.
After a while, Jiang Gu stood up from the ruins, holding a dark purple snake pill in his hand. He also took some snake venom and snake skin and threw them all into his storage bag.
Just as he was about to take a step forward, a soft, boneless spirit silently clung to his shoulder, and a bewitching young voice whispered in his ear, "My lord, you took my primordial core, why not take me with you?"
Jiang Gu did not stop walking. The primordial spirit coiled around him again like a snake, and the voice suddenly changed to Wei Feng's clear and lively voice, "Master, please don't leave me here alone, please."
Jiang Gu ignored him, and the primordial spirit simply transformed into Wei Feng's appearance, softly hooking its arms around his neck from behind, and said coquettishly, "Master, turn around and look at me. My knees are swollen from kneeling for several days. Look."
Jiang Gu frowned slightly.
The spirit was overjoyed upon seeing this and said in the boy's voice, "Master, would you like to see my wings? Can you see my tail too?"
After saying that, his legs transformed into shark tails and wrapped around Jiang Gu's legs, and his wings also rested on Jiang Gu's shoulders. The boy leaned on his shoulder and lowered his head to kiss his neck, but just before he touched him, he let out a shrill scream.
The Fire Rope tightly bound his primordial spirit, while the three-headed serpent's primordial spirit stared at him in shock, "Impossible! How could you still be conscious! This young man is clearly the person you care about most!"
This is his ultimate trick for saving his life. He can capture the most hidden emotions in a cultivator's heart, transform them into the person they care about most, and confuse their minds. Most people will have their primordial spirit devoured by him without realizing it. Even those with strong will cannot remain completely clear-headed.
The person in front of him was not only sober, but also looking at him with a mocking expression!
This is absolutely outrageous!
"Three heads haven't made you any smarter." Jiang Gu scoffed, and the Fire Rope in his hand tightened suddenly.
"You cheated—you didn't care whether he lived or died!" the three-headed serpent cursed bitterly before it died. "You even deceived a snake!"
Jiang Gu decisively crushed his primordial spirit, "You're so self-righteous."
A group of people who were waiting for the three-headed snake to emerge from the cave, looking up from the cave entrance, were stunned.
"What happened? Where is the three-headed snake?" the leading disciple asked in shock.
A woman in blue looked at the magical artifact in her hand and said, "Dead."
"We even entered the secret realm two days and two nights in advance to guard this three-headed serpent, and you're telling me it's dead?!" a young man in blue shouted angrily. "How exactly did you plant your mole here?!"
"Lu Ziming, calm down," the woman in blue said.
The boy named Lu Ziming said irritably, "I'm still waiting to use live snakes to refine the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill! If I can't refine it, I'll throw you all into the furnace and melt you down!"
“Lu Ziming.” A cold voice rang out from behind him.
Lu Ziming whirled around, and upon seeing the person who had arrived, he immediately looked incredibly aggrieved. "Brother, you're finally here! Look at this bunch of good-for-nothings—"
"Alright." Lu Zhenyi walked up to him and extended her divine sense to explore the situation at the bottom of the cave. "Someone must have gotten there first and killed the three-headed snake."
“This three-headed snake is very cunning. We trapped it in this deep cave for two days and two nights.” The woman in blue said solemnly, “Senior Brother, this person was able to kill the three-headed snake right away. I’m afraid he’s not someone to be trifled with.”
"Wan Haomiao, stop spreading alarmist rumors." Lu Ziming glared at her with a sinister look. "This time, it was clearly your fault for not keeping a good watch!"
He was Lu Zhenyi's younger brother, so Wan Haomiao couldn't refute him. He simply clasped his hands and said, "Senior Brother, it was my oversight."
“No wonder, Ziming, stop fooling around.” Lu Zhenyi said, “Other spirit beasts can be used to refine the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill.”
Lu Ziming looked indignant, but dared not argue because of his authority. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will kill that bastard who struck first!"
Lu Zhenyi glanced at Wan Haomiao, who understood and said to the disciples behind him, "You all come down with me."
Lu Ziming's expression softened slightly.
"Alright, let's go once you've calmed down," Lu Zhenyi said. "Weren't you looking for your friend? I had someone check the list of visiting cards when I entered the secret realm, and he came in too. Is he a disciple of the Yanghua Sect?"
“That’s right, his name is Wei Feng!” Lu Ziming clapped his hands, his face immediately beaming with joy. “Brother, quickly help me find him.”
Seeing his anger turn to joy, Lu Zhenyi smiled helplessly and said, "Okay."
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