The sound of carriages and horses echoed in the distance, and there were many of them. How could such a large number of carriages and horses appear in such a dangerous place like the ancestral realm of the Nine Li? Under the night sky, eight yin banners led the way, and paper money fluttered in the air.
A long convoy approached from a distance, moving along a path paved with paper money, about fifty steps away from Li Weiyi. The carriages were filled with young boys and girls. The drivers were all dressed in grayish-white robes.
Li Weiyi carefully counted the carriages and found that there were as many as eighty-three of them. In the last carriage, a middle-aged man pulled open the curtain, revealing a tall and imposing figure with a stern face. He called out in a low voice, "Speed up, we need to leave the ancestral realm as quickly as possible."
The middle-aged man looked to be around fifty years old, and his appearance bore a striking resemblance to Li Songlin, the leader of the Cang Li tribe.
After the convoy had passed and the sounds faded away, Li Weiyi finally removed the ghost flag that had been covering him and pondered, "Judging by their attire, they seem to be from the Cang Li tribe."
"Those who travel this path of paper money to enter and exit the ancestral realm are likely from the Cang Li tribe," the voice from the stone coffin said.
Li Weiyi frowned.
"It's strange. Where did these children come from? Why are they being transported out from inside?"
"Keep moving forward, and you should find the answer," the stone coffin's voice replied, as if it already knew the answer.
After several hours of traveling toward the Nine Li Divine Mountain, Li Weiyi came across a light blue barrier made of spiritual energy, set up by a Spirit Sense Master. The barrier rose from the ground and connected to the sky, with mysterious scriptures floating on its surface.
Li Weiyi used the Nine Emperor Banner to sweep across the barrier, causing it to thin and reveal the scene inside. It was a rice field shrouded in mist, with each stalk of rice over ten meters tall. The rice ears at the top were plump and crystalline, and within them, faintly visible, were human fetuses.
After just one glance, Li Weiyi immediately retracted the Nine Emperor Banner and sat down on the ground, trying to process the shock he felt. This shock came from deep within his heart, as if a fundamental aspect of his humanity had been struck. Humans could actually be grown like crops.
The stone coffin's voice also fell silent for a while before speaking again.
"The 'Human Rice' has existed since ancient times. Some forbidden demon kings and departed spirits have been cultivating it as a food source. The human world has always resisted this practice. A thousand years ago, we, including the Chan Sect, held the same stance. That's why no one dared to grow it in the Lingxiao Living Realm."
"If I were still in charge of the Nine Li tribe and the Cang Li tribe, I would have rooted out those who secretly grew it and dealt with them according to the clan's laws."
The voice from the stone coffin expressed anger in a calm tone. Li Weiyi smiled bitterly.
"If the entire Lingxiao Living Realm has already reached this point, the Nine Li tribe would fall behind other forces if they didn't grow it. Once this internal competition starts, the upper limit of humanity will rise higher and higher, but the lower limit will also sink lower and lower."
"The mass production of human rice will inevitably severely impact people's values. How can this world not descend into chaos?"
"If I had enough strength, I wouldn't let this chaos continue," Li Weiyi said, then laughed self-deprecatingly.
"Haha, forget it. With my current strength, I can't even establish myself in this world, let alone change it."
The stone coffin's voice said, "Weiyi, I feel like you're close to figuring out what you truly want!" Li Weiyi stood up, no longer looking at the rice field beyond the barrier. He shouldered the stone coffin, held up the Nine Emperor Banner, and continued walking toward the Nine Li Divine Mountain.
"Becoming a Divine Hidden Person and breaking through to the Five Seas Realm is the foundation for establishing myself. Otherwise, in the vast and turbulent world, I can only drift along, a nameless person with a life as cheap as grass, unable to participate in anything meaningful."
Three days later, Li Weiyi arrived at the Tomb of the Cang King. The Tomb of the Cang King was only about ten miles away from the Nine Li Divine Mountain. It was a steep mountain over a thousand meters high, shrouded in clouds and mist, with stone tablets and carvings scattered throughout.
In the square in front of the tomb, there were various exotic coffins from other realms. After the Cang Li tribe retrieved these coffins, they didn't sell all of them. The most precious ones were stored in the Tomb of the Cang King.
Although they couldn't understand or open them now, future generations of the tribe would surely produce extraordinary talents who could. On both sides of the sacred path leading to the tomb gate stood stone horses, stone monkeys, stone elephants, and other tomb guardian beasts, as well as stone lamps and stone tripods used for sacrificial rituals.
The stone coffin's voice asked, "How many days of food do you have left?"
"The spirit tablet elder reminded me earlier, so I prepared thoroughly. If I ration carefully, I can last a month," Li Weiyi said, pulling out a piece of dried meat and putting it in his mouth.
The stone coffin's voice said, "Good. Don't enter the tomb gate yet. I'll teach you a few insect scripts.
With your talent, you should be able to master them quickly." Insect scripts, along with beast scripts, scripture scripts, curse scripts, pill scripts, and weapon scripts, were not traditional forms of writing. They were created by top-tier Spirit Sense Masters and weren't written by hand but formed by manipulating spiritual light and flames with mental energy.
Insect scripts were naturally used to subdue and control insect-like creatures. Li Weiyi asked, "Is the coffin master asking me to retrieve some kind of dangerous insect? Or is there a dangerous insect in the tomb that requires me to learn insect control techniques?"
The stone coffin's voice explained, "A thousand years ago, at the peak of my cultivation, I ventured into a fallen immortal realm and obtained a nest of insects. Inside were seven insect eggs, all estimated to be at the Marquis level. I stored them in the Tomb of the Cang King to nurture them.
Now, they'll benefit you, kid!" Li Weiyi gasped. In the Lingxiao Living Realm, the surface was ruled by human experts and demon kings, but the underground was the domain of insect tribes.
The armored spider controlled by Master Qi of the Longlin Gang was only a soldier-level insect. Yet, even with that, he was respected by the gang leader. Not every insect controller was strong, as it depended on the level of the insect swarm they controlled.
But among Spirit Sense Masters of the same realm, insect controllers were undoubtedly the strongest contenders for the top spot. Especially in this era of war, insect controllers with group attack abilities held a higher status than any other Spirit Sense Master. Marquis-level insects could be listed on the "Rare Insect Ranking."
Once they matured, they would possess the strength of a Longevity Realm martial artist. Seven of them would mean seven Longevity Realm experts. If Li Weiyi could truly become an insect controller with seven Marquis-level rare insects, who else would be more qualified to become the Divine Hidden Person of the Nine Li tribe?
Moreover, some adult Marquis-level insects could even take human form and command underground insect tribes. Human cultivators would have to bow and address them as "Marquis." And the stone coffin's voice had said... they were conservatively estimated to be Marquis-level.
Li Weiyi quickly calmed down from his shock and said, "It's been a thousand years. The eggs must have already hatched." The stone coffin's voice replied, "Eggs of this level aren't so easy to hatch.
Back then, I consulted a highly skilled insect controller from the Lingxiao Living Realm. Even with the small Heaven and Earth Spring in the Tomb of the Cang King nurturing them, it would take one to two thousand years for them to hatch naturally."
"I originally intended to leave them for the descendants of the Nine Li tribe as a foundation for the clan. But the great war a thousand years ago came too suddenly, and I was taken away by the spatial power of the Shaoyang Star before I could inform anyone."
Li Weiyi said, "If they haven't hatched yet, wouldn't I have to wait a few hundred years?" The stone coffin's voice laughed.
"Natural hatching is indeed hard to estimate. But after a thousand years of nurturing, there are some unnatural methods to accelerate their hatching. Did you buy the items I told you to?"
"Fire Cloud Stone, Nine-Leaf Grass, Blood Crystal... After buying these things, I'm practically broke again! The mansion in the suburbs was probably reclaimed by the Yang clan and the Longlin Gang."
Li Weiyi took out the six items he had purchased according to the spirit tablet elder's instructions. He felt a bit down, silently praying that Yang Yun wasn't dead, as that was his biggest asset. Oh, and there was also Old Zhao's hundred thousand silver coins.
The stone coffin stood upright again, using the coffin as a brush to write insect scripts on the ground. There were seven in total! Each character was extremely complex, with over thirty strokes.
They didn't look like words but more like irregular symbols. The stone coffin's voice said, "Normally, your spirit tablet master should teach you insect scripts. She's an extremely skilled insect controller in the Lingxiao Living Realm.
But these seven insect scripts on the eggs were written by me, so I have to teach you."
"By the way! Insect scripts are supposed to be taught by forming spiritual light into written imprints. But in my current state, I can only teach you by writing. It might be harder for you to comprehend, but I believe in your talent... You'll manage!"
Li Weiyi smiled bitterly, knowing that in the eyes of his three masters, he was already considered a cultivation prodigy far beyond a Pure Immortal Body. As he observed and memorized the insect scripts on the ground, he asked, "Coffin Master, if I hadn't cultivated spiritual light, wouldn't coming to the Tomb of the Cang King have been a waste?"
The stone coffin's voice replied, "No, you could still use your blood to draw the insect scripts directly on the eggs. Once the blood seeps in, they would naturally recognize you as their master. However, this method carries greater risks.
For example, what if they've already hatched? If you cultivate the insect scripts, you'll have a way to subdue them, minimizing the risk." Li Weiyi said no more and sat down cross-legged.
In his spiritual sea, he summoned strands of spiritual light flames, using each flame as a stroke to draw the insect scripts. The difficulty was indeed high. Even after exhausting his spiritual light, he hadn't made any substantial progress.
He would have to replenish his spiritual light before trying again. While nurturing his spiritual light, Li Weiyi didn't neglect his martial arts. He wanted to break through the seventh spring at the top of his head as soon as possible, so he wouldn't be chased down by Tang Yan, Xue Zheng, and others once he left.
The seventh spring represented the peak of the Spring Surge Realm. Most Five Seas Realm martial artists only had seven springs. Such a peaceful cultivation environment was truly precious. ...
Time flew by, and twenty days passed in the blink of an eye. Li Weiyi had mastered all seven insect scripts, and the barrier of the seventh spring showed signs of loosening. He planned to make a final push to break through in the next two days.
"Rustle!"
A cold wind blew out from the forest, causing his hair and clothes to flutter. Li Weiyi suddenly opened his eyes and sniffed the air, catching a faint but familiar scent in the wind.
"It's Li Ling! Why has she come to the Tomb of the Cang King?"
His senses were sharp, though not as keen as a bear's ability to detect scents from dozens of kilometers away, he wasn't far off. The voice from the stone coffin spoke up.
"She must have a way to find you. Perhaps it's the Mourning Lantern Guide's heightened perception, or maybe something else. Since she's an uncertain factor, don't let her get involved. Let's go into the tomb now!"
Li Weiyi agreed with the coffin master's view. Everything was prepared, and he couldn't afford any mistakes at this critical moment. Shouldering the stone coffin and holding the Nine Emperor Banner, he rushed toward the massive stone tomb gates at the end of the sacred path.
As he got closer, Li Weiyi narrowed his eyes and noticed that the gates were adorned with two star maps, inlaid with silver and yellow gemstones representing stars. The one on the left resembled the Milky Way Galaxy. The one on the right also felt familiar, like the Yellow Spring Star River he had seen on the bronze ship.
(End of Chapter)