"Six months ago, a grove of trees outside Qiuguan City was suddenly struck by lightning."
"Normally, this is nothing unusual. This place is close to the residences of immortals, and occasionally when an immortal undergoes tribulation, it brings lightning and thunder. It's not surprising."
"But what's strange is that from then on, all vegetation withered and nothing grew in that area. Even snow that fell into it would instantly evaporate! Isn't that strange?"
"I've lived in Qiuguan City for over twenty years, and this is the first time I've ever seen something like this."
Ji Mo Fan frowned upon hearing this, "Where is that place?"
In all his years of cultivating immortality, he had never heard of anyone's tribulation of lightning causing such a strange phenomenon.
Unless... that wasn't actually a tribulation of lightning at all.
"It's in the woods about fifty miles outside the West Gate." The waiter pointed in a general direction, then put his hand down and looked somewhat puzzled. "But sir, if you're going to visit Thousand Crane Tower, why would you ask about the woods that were struck by lightning?"
"I've never heard of this before either, and I find it quite interesting. I just asked because you mentioned it," Ji Mofan replied casually, picking up his teacup and taking a sip. "That's all for you. Go on with your work."
"Oh...but by the way, sir, if you want to go and take a look now, I'm afraid it's not possible." The waiter, unsuspecting, was about to turn and leave when he remembered something and turned back to remind him.
"Ever since that place was cleaved, the Thousand Crane Sect has surrounded it."
At this point, Xiao Er shook his head again, "I don't understand why such a dilapidated place is worth fencing off. You can't dig for wild vegetables or hunt there. What kind of person would have nothing better to do than wander around in there?"
"Thank you for reminding me."
After dismissing the waiter, Ji Mofan left the money for the meal and got up from the table.
Yu Wen of Qianhelou had previously mentioned that the reason he was so obsessed with the egg of the Arc Light Qilin was to heal a fellow disciple who was injured by a lightning tribulation.
Could the forest, which he described as having been struck by lightning six months ago, be related to this incident?
"Master, where to next?" Ge Gen tidied up his toys and jumped up with Ji Mo Fan, his face full of eagerness.
Ji Mo Fan thought for a moment.
He reached out and pressed down on the child's head, then spun him around. "It's getting late. The child should go to bed early. You should go back to your room and rest."
Ge Gen stared blankly as he turned towards the stairs, then wiggled his hips to face Ji Mofan again. "Master, are you going to do something dangerous?"
"Take me with you! If there's any danger, you can throw me out and use me as a human shield!"
Ji Mo Fan was amused by him, "I don't need you to sacrifice for me."
"I risked my life to save you from the sea, how can I let you die so easily?"
Ge Gen lowered his head in dejection. "That means Master thinks my cultivation is too weak..."
"It's alright! Then I'll cultivate diligently and strive to catch up with Master's pace as soon as possible!"
Ji Mofan was originally thinking about how to comfort him, but Ge Gen comforted himself in just two seconds.
"Master, be careful going out alone! I'll wait for you to come back!" He waved his little hand and turned to go upstairs.
Ji Mofan watched his figure disappear around the corner of the stairs, shook his head and chuckled softly.
After leaving a protective array for Ge Gen at the door of the room, Ji Mo Fan then headed towards the city exit.
Sword flight was forbidden within Qiuguan City, so it took him some time to reach the city gate. By the time he flew to the area whose color was distinctly different from the surroundings, it was already completely dark.
Just as the waiter at the restaurant had said, Qianhelou had indeed sent disciples to guard the area.
Under the dim light of the campfire, the patrolmen were all dressed in ivory robes adorned with gold and red, the same color as the robes that Ji Mofan had worn when he encountered Yu Wen in the secret realm. They must be disciples of the Thousand Crane Tower.
Despite being just a scorched and desolate place with a radius of about a hundred meters, the guards here are quite tight, with guards almost every ten steps, making it difficult for even a bird to fly over.
The disciples guarding this place are all around the Golden Core stage in strength. A few have broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, but they are not among the strongest in the sect.
However, Qianhelou only has a little over a hundred disciples in total, and twenty or thirty of them were thrown here, probably because they didn't have that many people left to use.
So what's so unusual about this place?
Ji Mofan stopped flying on his sword a short distance away, concealed his spiritual power, and hid in the dimly lit woods, watching the Thousand Crane Tower disciples who were constantly patrolling.
Just as the waiter had described, the area they had surrounded was completely devoid of even a blade of grass. Ji Mofan secretly extended his spiritual sense to investigate and was shocked to discover that even the spiritual energy in that area was extremely thin.
What kind of lightning could strike the earth like this?
Rather than being the result of a lightning strike, it's more like... it's as if the entire space was slicing away.
Similar techniques do exist in ancient books; Mo Fan once read about them in the library.
The hesitation lasted only a few moments. He immediately touched his Qiankun bag, and with a slight movement of his fingertips, pulled out Shuanghuang, who had been sleeping soundly inside.
During his training in the Dark Mist Realm, Ji Mo Fan was always in an injured state, so he did not gain any opportunities or magical treasures on the surface. Naturally, he also hid the little puppet Shuang Huang very well, and never even took it out in front of Ge Gen.
Now that we need him, and there's no one around who knows him, we might as well use him.
Shuanghuang was placed on the ground by him, still somewhat dazed, his memory still stuck on the last time he was dragged out to question the Arc Light Qilin.
"Hmm... Little Master?" He rubbed his eyes in confusion.
Ji Mo Fan made a shushing gesture.
The puppet is not considered a living thing. It has no spiritual energy fluctuations and, as long as it doesn't make a sound, it's no different from a small stone on the roadside.
Xiao Shuanghuang covered her mouth.
Ji Mofan used his spiritual power to cover his voice and secretly sent a message to him, "Go and distract those guards in a moment. I want to go into the central area to take a look."
Shuanghuang's big eyes widened, and she asked in a low, bewildered voice, "Who? Me? Me?"
"There are at least twenty people patrolling over there. You want me, a mere weapon-refining puppet, to go?"
"Didn't you once work as a puppet for the greatest weapon refiner in history, Lu Tong?" Ji Mofan immediately bestowed a high compliment upon him. "You must be different from ordinary puppets, right? Otherwise, how could you be worthy of Master Lu's title?"
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