txolops Chapter 225 The Ye Family's Grand Plan! The Ancient Divine Mountain Kunwu!
Chapter 225 The Ye Family's Grand Plan! The Ancient Divine Mountain Kunwu!
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Standing at the edge of the crack and looking down.
With Lin Chuan's eyesight, he could only see a deep darkness, as if it led straight to the deepest hell.
What's even more chilling is that a steady stream of grayish-black air is gushing out from this bottomless crack!
These air currents are icy cold.
Even through the protective aura, one could feel the bone-chilling cold.
Amidst the air currents, countless mournful wails, cries, and sinister laughs could be faintly heard, intertwining into a chilling cacophony of ghostly howls, as if millions of wronged souls were struggling and roaring within it!
On the rock walls on both sides of the crack, a thick layer of black ice, shimmering with a dark luster, had long been eroded by the gray-black airflow!
The chilling air spread out, freezing the nearby poisonous miasma into a strange icy fog.
"This is the entrance to the Yin-Yang Cave!" Fu Cheng stopped his escape light and looked down at the bottomless, enormous crack that exuded endless cold and deathly silence. His expression was extremely solemn.
He carefully took out a fist-sized, deep purple, and seemingly nebulous pearl from his bosom.
"This is the 'Purple Nether Pearl,' a rare treasure that I obtained from a senior at great cost. Its only function is to weaken and resist the erosion of the 'Nine Nether Winds' to a certain extent," Fu Cheng explained, then poured his magic power into the Purple Nether Pearl without hesitation.
"Buzz—!"
The Purple Nether Pearl shone brightly, and a soft purple light shield rapidly spread out from the pearl, forming a spherical light shield with a diameter of about fifteen or sixteen zhang, enveloping Fu Cheng within it.
"Fellow Daoists, quickly enter the area of the light barrier! The range of the Purple Nether Pearl's light barrier is limited. Only when the five of us are close can we concentrate its power and weaken the Yin wind to the greatest extent."
Fu Cheng urged.
Lin Chuan, Bai Yaoyi, Yuan Kui, and Chang Zhifang dared not delay and immediately flew into the purple light shield.
As soon as they entered the light barrier, everyone immediately sensed the difference.
The all-pervasive, bone-chilling wind outside seemed to encounter an invisible barrier when it touched the purple light shield, and its force was visibly reduced by more than half.
The eerie power that erodes the soul contained within it has also been greatly filtered out.
Although a chill could still be felt, it was now within a tolerable range.
"It really works!"
Chang Zhifang breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go! We'll go down! Remember, all actions within the cave must be under my command. The area covered by the Purple Nether Pearl's light is our safe zone; we must not leave it easily!"
Fu Cheng gave solemn instructions, then manipulated the Purple Nether Pearl, and slowly descended into the bottomless, howling Yin-Yang Cave fissure.
Lin Chuan and the others followed closely behind.
Five figures were enveloped in a soft purple light shield, like faint fireflies in a dark abyss, disappearing into the crack at the entrance of the Yin-Yang Cave, which represented death and opportunity.
As Fu Cheng, Lin Chuan, and the other four rode the purple light shield of the Purple Nether Pearl, they slowly sank into the bottomless crevice of the Yin-Yang Cave.
Hundreds of thousands of miles away, in another desolate and uninhabited place in the southern border of the Great Jin Dynasty, a secret operation that had been brewing for hundreds of years quietly began.
This is an unnamed lake surrounded by low hills.
The lake water was an eerie dark green, calm and silent, with a faint smell of sulfur and decay in the air.
Above the lake, dozens of figures with considerable auras had gathered.
They stood in mid-air, the lowest of whom was at the Core Formation stage, and five or six of them even had spiritual pressure emanating from them that reached the Nascent Soul stage!
These people wore different clothes, but on their cuffs or lapels, they all wore an inconspicuous gold leaf mark, which was the symbol of the Ye family, the royal family of the Great Jin Dynasty.
The leader was an elderly man with a thin frame but an unusually large head.
The old man's head was almost two or three times the size of an ordinary person's, creating a bizarre contrast with his thin body. His facial features were squeezed onto the huge head, making him look quite strange.
However, those eyes, deep beneath his massive forehead, shone brightly with every blink, occasionally revealing a hint of wisdom honed by experience and an undeniable majesty.
His aura was as deep and vast as the sea, clearly indicating that he was a great cultivator in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm!
This person is none other than Ye Yuesheng, an old monster from the Ye family with an extremely high seniority and who has lived for nearly a thousand years!
Because he is the seventh child, even the current elder of the Ye family has to respectfully call him "Seventh Uncle" when he sees him!
Ye Yuesheng was once a brilliant genius in the Ye family, and was the most promising person to succeed as the Grand Elder and lead the Ye family out of the puppet predicament.
However, the cultivation world of the Great Jin Dynasty is too complex, and the ten major sects would never allow the Ye family, which is a symbol of the royal family, to have any real Nascent Soul late-stage combat power that could threaten them.
Therefore, shortly after breaking through to the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, Ye Yuesheng resolutely chose to "fake death," hiding his identity and fleeing to a distant place to cultivate in seclusion.
With his astonishing talent and the Ye family's secret support, he actually succeeded in breaking through to the late Nascent Soul stage, becoming the Ye family's most hidden trump card.
For the next several centuries, he remained hidden, and he would never have revealed himself unless the major event that the Ye family had been planning for hundreds of years had reached a critical point.
Standing beside Ye Yuesheng was a middle-aged man with a square face and a calm expression. His cultivation level was at the mid-Nascent Soul stage. He was Ye Ming, the current second elder of the Ye family.
The other Nascent Soul cultivators were also either core members of the Ye family or members secretly trained by them.
"Seventh Uncle, the First Elder has sent word that he is dealing with one last important matter and will arrive in person soon. Before that, we must do our utmost to break through the weak points of the seal at the bottom of the lake, so as to buy time for the First Elder to fully open the passage after his arrival," Second Elder Ye Ming said respectfully to Ye Yuesheng.
Ye Yuesheng nodded slightly, his voice hoarse yet clear: "Hmm. Kunwu Mountain... has been asleep for tens of thousands of years, it's time for it to see the light of day again. Whether my Ye family can escape its puppet fate and join the ranks of the true top forces of the Great Jin depends on this one move."
Kunwu Mountain! An ancient sacred mountain!
Legend has it that this place is the most abundant place of spiritual energy in the human world, a sacred place for ancient cultivators to cultivate and comprehend the Dao. There are even rumors that several heaven-reaching spiritual treasures are hidden in the mountains!
For some unknown reason, at the end of ancient times, it was sealed by an ancient powerful being with astonishing divine power, and the entire sacred mountain sank into the depths of the earth, disappearing into the long river of history, leaving only scattered legends.
The Ye family spent hundreds of years of effort, mobilizing countless manpower and resources, searching through ancient books and deducing the secrets of heaven. Finally, ten years ago, they pinpointed the approximate location of the sealed Kunwu Mountain—beneath this nameless lake in the southern border!
After ten years of preparation and probing, they finally found several relatively weak points in the seal. This time, they mobilized all their forces to break the seal in one fell swoop, enter Kunwu Mountain, and seize the possible heaven-reaching spiritual treasures and ancient inheritances within!
If they could obtain one or two powerful spiritual treasures, the Ye family would have the confidence to engage in equal dialogue with the ten major sects, or even to stand on equal footing with them, thus completely shedding their awkward status as a puppet royal family.
"Let's begin. As planned, divide into three groups and attack the three marked nodes at the bottom of the lake: 'Xun,' 'Li,' and 'Dui.' Remember, you can only weaken them, not force them to break through, so as not to trigger the seal's backlash or alert others," Hazuki Sei ordered.
"yes!"
The Ye family cultivators responded in unison, and then, led by several Nascent Soul elders, they all used water-repelling spells or summoned water-repelling magic treasures, transforming into streaks of light and disappearing into the dark green lake water, heading towards the sealing node at the bottom of the lake that was covered by layers of silt and ancient restrictions.
A momentous plan concerning the future of the Great Jin Dynasty is quietly unfolding beneath this nameless lake.
Inside the Yin-Yang Cave, time and direction become blurred.
Lin Chuan and his group of five, following Fu Cheng, had been carefully navigating the intricate network of underground caves with countless branching passages for five or six days, protected by the purple light shield of the Purple Nether Pearl.
There is no sunlight here, only the occasional flickering pale green phosphorescence from the rock walls, which absorbs yin energy, and the soft purple glow emitted by the Purple Nether Pearl, illuminating an area of no more than ten feet in front.
All around was endless darkness and a chilling cold that seemed to freeze the soul. The sharp howling of the Netherworld Wind echoed in my ears, along with the faint wails of ghosts and spirits carried on the wind.
The divine sense is greatly suppressed here. If you venture out even a little, you will be eroded by the yin wind and feel a needle-like stinging pain.
"Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh!"
Ahead, in a relatively spacious cave, a dozen or so dark figures emerged without warning. Their forms were indistinct, seemingly composed of thick, grayish-black mist, with only pairs of crimson eyes filled with resentment and greed clearly visible, and a single, pale horn about an inch long growing from their heads—these were the most common ghosts in the Yin-Yang Cave, the "One-Horned Ghosts"!
These Yin ghosts were mostly between Foundation Establishment and Core Formation level, but they were numerous and fearless. Driven by the Yin wind, they frantically rushed towards the purple light shield.
Here we go again!
Yuan Kui let out an impatient growl, and with a slap of his fan-like hand, a solid golden giant palm phantom was unleashed, smashing the three or four Yin ghosts at the forefront, causing their mist to dissipate and emitting a shrill shriek.
Bai Yaoyi flicked her wrist, and several ice spikes shot out, accurately piercing through several Yin ghosts. Chang Zhifang unleashed a pink ribbon, which danced like a serpent, crushing the approaching Yin ghosts.
Fu Cheng, on the other hand, manipulated the Purple Nether Pearl, splitting off a wisp of purple light that swept across like a sharp blade, achieving the highest efficiency.
With a slight thought, Lin Chuan unleashed a golden sword light from his sleeve—one of the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.
The sword light, like golden lightning, darted through the horde of ghosts, easily slaying two of them before flying back.
His movements were clean and efficient, as if he were lifting heavy objects with ease.
Such an experience has happened no less than a hundred times in the past five or six days.
These evil spirits seem endless; often, just as one batch is cleared out, a new one is spawned by the evil winds as soon as you turn a corner or go a certain distance.
Although the individual threats were not significant, the frequent battles constantly drained everyone's magical power and spirit, making the oppressive and gloomy environment even more unbearable.
"Fellow Daoist Fu, this can't go on!" Yuan Kui gasped for breath, his face showing frustration. "This godforsaken place has as many side passages as rat holes, and the ghosts just won't stop!"
"Even with your Purple Nether Pearl, our Nascent Soul cultivators' mana and divine sense aren't limitless! If we continue searching aimlessly like this, we'll be exhausted before we even find that damned Yinzhi Horse!"
Fu Cheng's expression was also not good. Maintaining the Purple Nether Pearl was extremely taxing for him. Hearing this, he reassured him, "Fellow Daoist Yuan, please calm down. According to my observation of those traces, the Yin Qi in the area where the Yin Horse was active should be more refined and concentrated, and the number and activity of the nearby Yin Ghosts should also be different. Although we have taken many detours along the way, we have not been going in the wrong direction. If we persevere a little longer, we should... be approaching our target area soon."
Even so, a barely perceptible hint of anxiety flashed in his eyes.
The Yin-Yang Cave was far larger than he had initially estimated, making the search for the Yin Zhi Ma seem like finding a needle in a haystack.
The group continued onward in silence. After about half a day, another fork in the road appeared ahead. This time, however, there were three almost identical, dark passages branching off in a "Y" shape, extending into the endless darkness.
At the entrances of the three passages, the intensity of the howling wind, the thickness of the black ice on the rock walls, and even the faint wails of ghosts were all nearly identical, making it difficult to determine which one was more likely to be the dwelling place of the Yinzhi Horse.
The five people stopped at the crossroads, the light from the Purple Nether Pearl illuminating their solemn faces.
"Three paths...do we have to split up and search again?" Chang Zhifang frowned. Constantly splitting up and reuniting is too inefficient and greatly increases the risk.
Lin Chuan's gaze swept over the three passages. After a moment's thought, he said, "Time is of the essence, and the protection of the Purple Nether Pearl has its limits. Perhaps we should split up and explore separately. I'll take the middle one alone." His tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable confidence. With his current strength and trump cards, acting alone would actually give him more peace of mind.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, this... the middle passage seems to have the strongest yin wind, there might be even stronger ghosts there. You're alone, is it...?" Fu Cheng hesitated. Although Lin Chuan was strong, there were too many variables within the Yin-Yang Cave.
"It's alright." Lin Chuan waved his hand.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, let me travel with you." A clear, cold voice rang out; it was Bai Yaoyi who spoke first. She looked at Lin Chuan, her gaze clear, "One more person means one more friend. I have some knowledge of ice-based techniques; perhaps I can cope with the chill of this place."
Lin Chuan glanced at her, didn't refuse, and nodded: "Alright."
The final decision was: Lin Chuan and Bai Yaoyi would form a team to explore the middle passage; Fu Cheng and Chang Zhifang, who were fellow disciples, would form a team to explore the left passage; and Yuan Kui would explore the right passage alone.
"I can temporarily spare a wisp of the protective aura of the Purple Nether Pearl to bless you all, but its power will be greatly reduced and it can only last for about five or six days. Within five or six days, regardless of whether anything is found, you must return here to regroup! If you discover any trace of the Yinzhi Horse, or encounter any insurmountable danger, immediately activate this communication talisman!"
Fu Cheng solemnly took out three light purple talismans and gave them to Lin Chuan, Bai Yaoyi, and Yuan Kui. Then he made a hand seal, and three thin streams of purple light flowed out from the purple light shield of the Purple Nether Pearl, entering the bodies of the three of them respectively, forming a faint, constantly flickering purple halo on their bodies.
This halo's protective power is far inferior to the Purple Nether Pearl's own protective shield, but it can still barely resist most of the direct erosion of the Yin wind, buying some time.
"Without further ado, let's go!"
Fu Cheng gave a low shout, exchanged a glance with Chang Zhifang, and then transformed into two streaks of light, disappearing into the left passage.
"Hmph, I'm going too!"
Yuan Kui said in a deep voice, his blood and qi surged, and the light purple halo seemed to brighten a bit. He strode into the right passage.
"White Fairy, please."
Lin Chuan gestured to Bai Yaoyi, and the two walked side by side into the middle passage where the howling wind was the most desolate.
The three passages, like three gaping maws, swallowed the five figures.
The eerie wind still blows, the ghostly wails still echo, as if no one had ever been here.