Those who can rank within the top ten of the Seven Springs Hall are not only naturally gifted and powerful but also must possess magical artifacts. Magical artifacts are also a part of one's strength. Xue Zheng was no exception.
The four-foot ring-handled sword in his hand was a low-grade magical artifact bestowed upon him by the Yang Clan when they recruited him. It was thanks to this artifact that, even after being struck by the lightning released from the Black Iron Seal, he did not completely lose his fighting ability.
Lying on the ground, he held his sword defensively, his eyes fixed on Li Weiyi, who was approaching with a sword, ready to fight to the death. Li Weiyi wanted to step forward and deliver the final blow, but an arrow shot by Murong Xiao from afar flew in.
"Youngster, the debt you owe to the Changlin Gang, I will personally collect it."
The voice of Tang Yan, the deputy leader of the Changlin Gang, came from deep within the dense forest. The terrifying aura of a Five Seas Realm expert caused the fallen leaves in the forest to swirl up like waves, following his figure as he surged forward. The leaves, imbued with magical power, struck the tree bark like flying daggers.
"Your strength is not weak. Once I break through another realm, I will use you to test my sword."
Li Weiyi threw these words at Xue Zheng, then immediately sheathed his sword and fled south. Moments later, he transformed into a dark mist accompanied by the sound of bells, rapidly disappearing into the distance. Xue Zheng let out a long breath, relieved.
The situation had been too dangerous, and he had already prepared himself to use his final trump card to take his opponent down with him. Among all the opponents he had faced in the Spring Surge Realm, Li Weiyi was not the strongest, but he was the one who had pushed him to the most perilous edge.
"Break through another realm? Is he aiming to reach the Nine Springs to become a Sage?"
Xue Zheng naturally assumed that Li Weiyi was currently at the Eighth Spring level. After all, Li Weiyi was neither a special mutant nor a Pure Immortal Body—just a mortal. To have such combat power at the Eighth Spring level was already quite impressive.
Tang Yan, the deputy leader of the Changlin Gang, arrived, and Murong Xiao also gathered around. Tang Yan glanced at Xue Zheng, whose arms were charred, and coldly asked, "What happened? With the two of you working together, you couldn't handle him?"
Murong Xiao said, "It's very likely that he not only practices martial arts but is also a Spirit Sense Master."
Xue Zheng, moving his numb and painful arms, was not afraid of Tang Yan and calmly said, "He is probably a seed disciple of the Thundercloud Sect, wielding a powerful lightning artifact and another unknown escape artifact that emits the sound of bells." He did not mention the spatial treasure.
"Thundercloud Sect?"
Tang Yan's expression changed slightly. The Thundercloud Sect, located in the Eastern Region, was one of the countless sects within the Lingxiao Sacred Realm, and possibly even the foremost among them. Xue Zheng nodded.
"Other than the seed disciples nurtured by the countless sects and clans, who else could possess so many magical artifacts at the Spring Surge Realm? Even Cang Li, back in the Spring Surge Realm, wielded multiple artifacts for protection."
Murong Xiao, the more she thought about it, the more she felt Xue Zheng's analysis made sense.
"No wonder the Cang Li Tribe values him so much. No wonder he is so powerful at such a young age. The Cang Li Tribe must have known his identity long ago!"
Tang Yan pondered for a moment, his eyes turning cold.
"So what if he's a seed disciple of the Thundercloud Sect? Those countless sects and clans nurture multiple seeds, like raising gu, and only the ones who survive become true inheritors. Besides, if he dies in the Mangshan Mountains, who will know if it was by the claws of a beast or the hands of an evil spirit?"
Xue Zheng was afraid that Tang Yan would not dare to provoke the Thundercloud Sect and immediately agreed.
"He never revealed his identity. Who knows if he's really a seed disciple of the Thundercloud Sect? The most important thing now is to carry out the young lady's orders. But the artifacts on him..."
Tang Yan instantly understood and smiled.
"The artifacts on him that only we know about will naturally be secretly divided among us. Not a single word must be leaked. Bringing back a corpse will be enough to satisfy the young lady." ...
The giant camel released by the Evil Camel Bell was fast, but it consumed too much magical power. After opening the Sixth Spring, Li Weiyi could only ride it for a quarter of an hour before having to rely on his own two legs.
Perhaps only by entering the Five Seas Realm, opening the Qi Sea, or breaking through the Eighth Spring's "Wind Mansion" and the Ninth Spring's "Ancestral Field" to gain the ability to store magical power could he sustain it for longer. For the next five days, Li Weiyi alternated between healing his injuries and fleeing through the mountains.
Every hour, the spirit in the stone coffin would guide him once. Tang Yan, Xue Zheng, and Murong Xiao occasionally caught up, but Li Weiyi did not engage them directly, escaping each time with great difficulty. His injuries never fully healed.
Once, he was nearly critically injured by Tang Yan and only escaped thanks to the Evil Camel Bell and the Black Iron Seal. Throughout this time, his protector wife never appeared. Perhaps she felt he had been getting too close to Li Ling and Cai Yutong.
In any case, Li Weiyi felt that relying on her for survival was not reliable. Five days later, Li Weiyi, dragging his battered and exhausted body, traveled day and night, sleeping no more than two hours a day, finally crossing hundreds of miles to reach the edge of the ancestral lands of the Nine Li Tribe.
Standing on a mountainside above a waterfall, he looked into the distance. A magnificent snow-capped mountain stood in the distance, surrounded by countless steep peaks and rolling hills. Only the midsection of the mountain was visible, as the upper part was shrouded in clouds.
The surrounding peaks, though already impressive, were completely overshadowed by the central snow-capped mountain. Behind Li Weiyi, the stone coffin, which had been lying flat on the ground, suddenly stood upright. A voice came from within the coffin.
"Do you see that grand and majestic snow-capped mountain? It resembles a crown, and the snow on it never melts."
Li Weiyi asked, "Is that the tomb of the Cang King?"
"No," the voice in the coffin replied.
"That is the Nine Li Divine Mountain. Legend has it that the God of Nine Li, Chi You, is buried beneath the snow. Whether he is truly buried there is uncertain, but the Nine Li Divine Mountain is undoubtedly one of the top three most dangerous and mysterious places in the Southern Region. Even at the peak of my power in life, I nearly perished when I ventured there."
Li Weiyi had long heard of the God of Nine Li and was initially startled. The name was too close to that of a figure from ancient Chinese mythology, making it hard not to draw connections. Hearing the coffin spirit's words, Li Weiyi's heart stirred once more.
He had already guessed the identity of the spirit in the coffin. In life, this person had been so powerful that the current clan leaders, sect masters, and ancestors of Li Prefecture could not even glimpse his shadow. Yet, even he had nearly perished when venturing into the tomb of his own ancestor?
The coffin spirit continued, "Legend has it that the God of Nine Li had eighty-one sons, all buried around the Nine Li Divine Mountain, forming the peaks and hills you see before you. Nine of these eighty-one sons are the ancestors of the current nine major tribes of the Nine Li Tribe."
"What about the remaining seventy-two?"
Li Weiyi asked. This question clearly touched upon a gap in the coffin spirit's knowledge. After a long pause, the spirit finally said, "The Cang King was the eldest son of the God of Nine Li and the ancestor of the Cang Li Tribe.
He is buried closest to the Nine Li Divine Mountain, on the first peak to the right of the snow-capped mountain!" Li Weiyi saw the peak, which was quite imposing, its summit nearly touching the clouds.
The coffin spirit added, "However, the ancestral lands occupy a vast and extremely dangerous forest area, protected by many forces left behind by ancient sages, and even the power of the God of Nine Li. If you do not follow the few safe paths, even a Longevity Realm expert would lose a layer of skin venturing in."
"So as long as we enter these ancestral lands, we will be much safer. Those chasing us would not dare to enter, even if they had ten times the courage."
"Next, I will accompany you on this journey."
"Raise the Nine Emperor Banner. It can silently open the light veil barrier protecting the ancestral lands."
An hour later, Li Weiyi arrived at the base of the waterfall, carrying the stone coffin on his shoulder and holding a three-meter-long white Nine Emperor Banner in his hand, resembling a funeral bearer. After opening the barrier's light veil, he officially entered the ancestral lands of the Nine Li Tribe. It was eerie.
Upon entering the ancestral lands, the sky instantly darkened, as if night had fallen. The surroundings were completely silent, not even the sound of birds could be heard. The sky was filled with dense stars... it looked remarkably like the Milky Way...
Li Weiyi was stunned for a moment, then immediately asked the coffin spirit, who informed him that the ancestral lands were called such because they were different from the outside world, a small realm arranged by the God of Nine Li.
As for the stars in the sky, they had always been there, and even the coffin spirit could not explain them.
"Could this place lead back to Earth?"
Li Weiyi muttered to himself. Just then, a hundred-meter-high hill in front of him suddenly began to move, lifting a bull's head the size of a palace, its eyes radiating a terrifying aura. Countless rocks tumbled down its back.
The night was too dark to see clearly, but Li Weiyi's scalp tingled, and he wanted to turn and run. This place was too dangerous for someone of his current cultivation level. The coffin spirit said, "Don't panic.
That's the tomb guardian, the Mud Bull. Use the Nine Emperor Banner to clear the path, and it won't harm you." How could he not panic?
Li Weiyi held his breath, forced a stiff smile at the hill-sized Mud Bull, and carefully walked past it, feeling as though the bull's head was watching him the entire time. Fortunately, after he passed, the massive head lowered back down, and there was no further movement.
"Whoosh!"
He followed a glowing stream, the water resembling a luminous ribbon. After walking for half an hour, green glowing orbs suddenly emerged from the ground, each containing a basin-sized armored creature. They had mantis-like sharp claws and humanoid heads, appearing extremely sinister and terrifying.
Li Weiyi gulped, his hand gripping the Nine Emperor Banner sweating profusely.
"Don't panic. These are the tomb guardian insects, the Yan Ke Clan. Just sweep the Nine Emperor Banner, and they will make way," the coffin spirit said calmly.
"These are... insects?"
Li Weiyi could feel that these Yan Ke were no ordinary creatures. Each one gave him a stronger sense of danger than Xue Zheng had. Following the instructions, he gently waved the Nine Emperor Banner.
The Yan Ke on the ground indeed became docile, automatically clearing a path. After passing through the area occupied by the Yan Ke, Li Weiyi couldn't help but ask, "Coffin Master, what exactly are we going to the Cang King's tomb to retrieve? Given the danger here, I feel like I should train for a couple more years before coming."
The coffin spirit laughed.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't have you take such a risk without at least a ninety percent chance of success. Besides, you're no longer at the Fifth Spring but the Sixth Spring, and you've even cultivated the last bit of spiritual power. I think the danger is minimal..."
"Someone's here!"
Li Weiyi heard something and immediately placed the Nine Emperor Banner on the ground, crouching down and looking in the direction of the sound.
(End of Chapter)