Chapter 8 The Secret Realm of Chaolong (Part 8)
Wei Feng practically rummaged through his storage bag before finding something suitable to pull off the immobilization talisman from his back.
He wasn't quite used to his new fish tail yet, and lay on the ground pinching the talisman on his ear, calling out, "Xuan Zhiyan! Xuan Zhiyan, are you there!?"
A commotion came from the other end of the communication talisman, followed by Xuan Zhiyan's hushed voice, "Ancestor! You've returned to the mountain?"
"No, I entered the Chaolong Secret Realm." Wei Feng took out a bunch of high-grade blood-restoring pills from his storage bag and stuffed them into his mouth. The high-grade pills melted instantly in his mouth, giving him strength again. "But I ran into a freak who wanted to use me as a furnace."
"What!?" Xuan Zhiyan's shocked voice rang out, "Is he crazy to use a mere Qi Refining cultivator like you as a furnace!"
Wei Feng was immediately displeased. "What do you mean?"
"Xuan Zhiyan, be quiet!" A disgruntled voice came from afar.
Xuan Zhiyan immediately lowered his voice, "Never mind that for now, did you escape from him? Do you want me to come and rescue you?"
“How can I send you a message if I don’t escape?” Wei Feng glanced back at the fish tail floating behind him, touched the scales on his waist, and almost made his scalp explode from touching them. He cleared his throat and said, “But I’ve run into a little problem here.”
"What's the problem?" Xuan Zhiyan asked.
"Before I went down the mountain," Wei Feng said solemnly, "I went to the treasure pavilion and took some things."
The red light on the communication talisman went out instantly, and there was no further movement from Xuan Zhiyan's side. Wei Feng raised an eyebrow, and after a moment, the red light came on again, and Xuan Zhiyan's somber voice rang out once more, "How much did you take?"
"Just a little." Wei Feng fiddled with the bulging storage bag, picking out a few items that didn't look too expensive, "A few strands of spider silk, a small hammer—"
He shook the small golden bell in his hand. "And bells and such."
"Those are the Nine Heavens Revolving Silk, the Limitless Hammer, and the Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell!" Xuan Zhiyan exclaimed in despair, "The Sect Master's treasure pavilion is sealed with layers of array formations, how did you manage to get them out!?"
"That's easy. I'll teach you when we get back." Wei Feng said with a grin, "I think I heard your master say that this broken bell can even trap cultivators in the Mahayana stage, so it should be no problem for those in the Nascent Soul stage. Can you ask Qi Fengyuan how to use this bell for me?"
"I'm asking you, you old man!" Xuan Zhiyan was almost crying with anger. "Wei Feng, those are the sect's most treasured possessions. If we damage even the slightest bit of them, we'll all die. Besides, you're just a Qi Refining cultivator. Even if you know the incantations, you can't actually use them!"
"How will I know if I don't try?" Wei Feng looked at the bell in his hand over and over. "Considering that old pervert saved me several times, I'll spare his life. Okay, Zhiyan, please ask him for me."
Xuan Zhiyan silently extinguished the communication talisman, and silently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as he watched Qi Fengyuan directing his disciples to set up the formation not far away.
He must have committed eight lifetimes of sin to end up being friends with that beast Wei Feng.
Wei Feng still couldn't control his balance, swaying back and forth with his tail up and head down. It took him some effort to squeeze himself into the gap in front of him, from which a string of tiny bubbles gurgled out.
——
The swarming resentment of the merfolk lingered below the high platform in the square.
A towering merman floated on the high platform, his bright silver tail slamming heavily onto the ground. Beside him stood a slender human cultivator with drooping, narrow eyes that gleamed with a fierce light. His gaze swept over the merman below the platform, and he gave a stiff, forced smile.
"Although some humans cruelly kill our fellow humans, there are also friendly cultivators among them." The silver-haired merman patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder and laughed, "This fellow Daoist saved my wife and my unborn child on the road, so I am prepared to use the full strength of my clan to thank him properly!"
The mermaids below the platform let out numb cheers, while the dragon silk floated and drifted before them like a ghost that had died tragically and could not find peace.
Jiang Gu mingled among the merfolk, carefully sensing the surrounding atmosphere. He locked his gaze on a male merfolk diagonally in front of him. Although the man's appearance was no different from that of a merfolk with resentment, his perfunctory actions were hard to ignore.
Caught off guard, their eyes met, and they instantly recognized each other.
Zhou Xiuyuan gave him a provocative look.
Jiang Gu ignored it and continued searching among the merfolk, but was disturbed by the spiritual energy spread out by Zhou Xiuyuan.
“Master, Zhou Xiuyuan’s cultivation is already at the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, which is a realm higher than yours. Should we temporarily avoid his sharp edge?” Wu Tuo transmitted his voice to Jiang Gu, his voice filled with worry.
Jiang Gu said in a deep voice, "The Divine Kite Shark Scale can help me wash away one of my spiritual roots."
Wu Tuo was stunned, and after a long while, he stammered, "We absolutely cannot give it away like that."
Human cultivators in the cultivation world place great importance on aptitude. Apart from conditions such as spiritual marrow, dantian, and sea of consciousness, the most important thing is spiritual root. The higher the purity of the spiritual root, the deeper the sensitivity to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Even if it is not a rare aptitude like the Heavenly Spiritual Root, the cultivation speed of a single spiritual root such as metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, lightning, or wind is terrifying.
Most of the outstanding individuals in major sects and families have a single spiritual root, or a few diligent and hardworking individuals with two spiritual roots. Once they reach the level of three spiritual roots, their path of cultivation is almost predictable. The highest cultivation level of three spiritual roots among the living people in Pingze Continent is only at the Mahayana stage. As for those with four or five spiritual roots, they are basically out of luck on the path to immortality.
Jiang Gu now... possesses the four spiritual roots of metal, wood, fire, and earth.
So even though he has exceptional comprehension and cultivates almost constantly, he has only reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Meanwhile, Jiang Xiangyun, who was his contemporary, abandoned the path of cultivation for more than twenty years. Because he has a Heavenly Spiritual Root, he reached the Great Perfection of the Mahayana realm in just ten years.
Jiang Gu has been stuck in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm for two years without making any progress. Although no one dares to mention it in front of him, even Wu Tuo understands that if he doesn't cleanse his spiritual root, Jiang Gu may be stuck in the Nascent Soul stage for the rest of his life.
It finally understood why Jiang Gu had taken on this hot potato-like task.
Jiang Gu fixed his gaze on the merman leader standing on the high platform. The leader's bright silver fish tail looked somewhat familiar.
"...Let us welcome my human friend, Qi Fengyuan!"
Jiang Gu's spiritual energy faltered slightly as he felt the name was somewhat familiar.
“That clueless kid mentioned this name,” Wu Tuo said. “It seems to be an elder of the Yanghua Sect.”
But it was Yang Huazong who led the destruction of Mermaid Bay more than a decade ago.
Jiang Gu looked thoughtfully at Qi Fengyuan's illusory figure on the high platform, then lowered his divine sense to search for Wei Feng's location. After a moment, he found the person among the rocks not far from the high platform.
Through divine sense, the rather thin merman boy was curled up head down in a narrow crevice, fast asleep. He probably didn't know how to breathe with merman cheeks, as his mouth was open, revealing his fangs, and he was gurgling out bubbles.
"..." Jiang Gu's lips twitched slightly.
If you call him stupid, he knew to run away and even broke Jiang Gu's immobilization talisman himself. If you call him smart, he didn't run far, wasn't in a hurry to be assimilated by the resentment, and could even sleep on the way to his escape.
Well, at least they knew to find a crack to hide in.
Jiang Gu's eyes hurt from the series of bubbles, so he recreated a concealment barrier for him to prevent him from being killed before he could make a move.
Wei Feng, who was fast asleep, was completely unaware.
He was originally planning to leave after exchanging letters with Xuan Zhiyan, but when he saw the gap, he inexplicably squeezed in. His dantian and meridians were burning and itchy, and every scale on his tail and arms was unbearably itchy. His heart suddenly started beating very fast. He scratched the scales on his arms and tail while panting heavily, and finally fainted.
Jiang Gu was not familiar with the habits of merfolk, so even though Wei Feng's current posture looked exactly like a dead fish turned belly up, he didn't think anything was wrong.
This outrageous pose actually makes perfect sense on Wei Feng.
His attention was now entirely focused on the merman leader.
"...However, there are still a few human friends mixed in with us. Why don't we find them and treat them together!" The dragon silk on the merman leader's face suddenly slipped down, revealing his gray-white eyes. He let out a sharp hiss, and the mermen who had been quiet and still suddenly turned their heads to stare at Jiang Gu and Zhou Xiuyuan.
Jiang Gu and Zhou Xiuyuan almost simultaneously lunged at the only surviving merman on the high platform.
The merman's hiss grew even louder, and a red-haired merman crashed to the ground, blocking his path.
"Lead your people and kill them!" The black-haired merman said urgently, not wanting to linger in battle, "I can sense his presence!"
After speaking, the grayish-white fishtail slapped up a huge wave of water, white foam flashed by, and the merman disappeared from the spot in an instant.
"Looks like we've been lured into a trap." Zhou Xiuyuan looked at Jiang Gu. "Jiang Qi, for the sake of our past as classmates, this red-haired one is yours!"
Before he could finish speaking, a wind blade grazed Jiang Gu's throat as it sliced through the water. Jiang Gu grabbed the dragon silk ribbon in front of him, and the smooth, thin ribbon suddenly lengthened, wrapping around Zhou Xiuyuan's ankle and pulling him back. He sneered, "I still prefer fighting alongside you."
The red-haired merman's long, black fingernails stabbed towards Zhou Xiuyuan's head. Jiang Gu showed no mercy, and the two and the merman clashed together. Countless merman resentments rushed up, completely enveloping the high platform.
Even though Jiang Gu and Zhou Xiuyuan were both at the Nascent Soul stage, these resentful spirits had been at the bottom of the lake for many years and had absorbed the resentment of countless living beings. Each of them alone had the cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage, making it extremely difficult for the two of them to deal with them.
"Roar—" Black and red flames burst forth from the encirclement, and the enlarged Wu Tuo bit the red-haired merman's fish tail, saying to Jiang Gu, "Master, hurry and chase after them!"
"Don't even think about it!" Zhou Xiuyuan drew his sword, intending to stop him.
Wu Tuo immediately released the shark's tail from its mouth, and the scalding flames blocked Zhou Xiuyuan's path. It lowered its body and roared threateningly at him.
After being injured, the red-haired merman went berserk out of control and began attacking everyone indiscriminately, including Zhou Xiuyuan, who had been holding back.
Zhou Xiuyuan, whose steps were halted, cursed under his breath, his sharp gaze falling on Wu Tuo. "I'd like to see if you, you little beast, can stop me!"
Utuo's black and golden fur swayed in the water, its sharp claws sinking deep into the mud and sand.
The Divine Kite Shark Scales are of utmost importance to its master; it would risk its life to prevent Zhou Xiuyuan from catching up.
"Then go ahead and give it a try!"
The urgent and melodious cries of the mermaids echoed throughout the lakebed.
The Yanghua Sect disciples who were searching for materials near the stone house all stopped what they were doing. Qi Fengyuan said sternly, "Hold your breath, concentrate, and block out your hearing. Continue."
"Yes!" None of the disciples dared to disobey.
Qi Fengyuan stared intently at Xuan Zhiyan with her greyish-white eyes. "What did you ask just now?"
"Disciple...Disciple has been reviewing the usage of the sect's magical artifacts recently, and I...I can't quite remember the incantation for using the Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell. Please enlighten me, Master." If they weren't in the water, Xuan Zhiyan's back would have been drenched in cold sweat.
"Did I recite the incantation for the Eternal Sound-Eliminating Bell?" Qi Fengyuan stared at him with an ambiguous expression until Xuan Zhiyan's legs began to weaken before he recited the incantation aloud. "You'd better remember it this time."
Xuan Zhiyan nodded in agreement like a chick pecking at rice. The telepathic talisman behind his ear flashed red, and he chuckled dryly, "Master, I'm used to memorizing things in telepathic talismans."
Qi Fengyuan nodded, and Xuan Zhiyan hurriedly turned to leave, but was stopped by someone calling out, "Zhiyan."
"Master?" Xuan Zhiyan turned around awkwardly.
“Your senior brothers, who are all at the Golden Core stage, are already finding it difficult to travel in the secret realm as a group. It’s even more difficult for you, who are only at the Foundation Establishment stage.” Qi Fengyuan looked deeply into his eyes. “If you only have the Qi Refining stage, going on a solo journey is just courting death.”
His words were pointed, and Xuan Zhiyan didn't dare to look him in the eye. "Master...you make a good point."
“True friends don’t do everything for you unconditionally; sometimes, good intentions can actually harm you.” A glint of blue light flashed in Qi Fengyuan’s greyish-white eyes. “Zhiyan, do you understand what I mean?”
Xuan Zhiyan nodded absentmindedly.
Qi Fengyuan raised her hand and touched the communication talisman behind his ear, whispering, "You should pretend you know nothing about this matter."
He raised his hand and formed a complex positioning magic circle on the sound transmission talisman, then put it back on his ear. "Now you can go find Wei Feng."
Xuan Zhiyan walked forward in a daze for a long time until he broke away from the group and suddenly came to his senses. However, his memory only stopped when Qi Fengyuan told him the incantation. He had only one thought in his mind—to find Wei Feng and tell him the incantation.
He hurried forward, unaware of the figure following closely in the shadows.
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