Nine Nether Forbidden Land.
Yin souls wailed as banners fluttered in the wind.
Amid a desolate stretch of barren mountains, several black-robed cultivators wearing masks gathered together.
"Are all preparations complete?"
Hall Master Cao Dongjun of the Seven Kill Sect asked.
At his side, several cultivators above Foundation Establishment answered in unison.
"Rest assured, Hall Master Cao."
"Everything is prepared. The fish will certainly take the bait."
"Good."
Cao Dongjun gave a slight nod. "This abnormal movement in the secret realm has drawn many sect disciples. Do not make too much noise, lest we attract excessive attention."
"Understood."
"However… should we keep an eye on the people from the Han court? Last time they risked everything to rob our auction for resources. With the Nine Nether Forbidden Land opening this time, they will certainly come as well."
"Do not create unnecessary complications. Those pitiful wretches from barren lands will naturally be dealt with by the so-called 'orthodox sects.' Once the seal is broken in a few years, not a single one of them will escape."
"Hall Master speaks wisely."
Outside the forbidden land.
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, all 49 captains of Tianyong City are present and await Your Majesty's command!"
Among the mountain forest, 49 cultivators disguised in various appearances bowed in unison.
"Rise."
Chen Sanshi stood with his hands behind his back and spoke calmly. "Xiaozhu, tell them what to do."
"Listen carefully," Dongfang Jingxing proclaimed the imperial decree. "The forbidden land has opened. All of you will enter in batches. Form teams of 7. After entering, focus primarily on seeking resources. Act with utmost caution. If assembly is required, someone will notify you with a signal. Remember, the trial within the forbidden land is no child's play. Once inside, life and death are your own responsibility."
"Yes!"
All 49 answered as one.
"First team, Squad Leader Wang Zhi, depart. The rest remain and wait!"
With so many people from Tianyong City, it was impossible for them to rush in all at once. That would cause too much commotion and draw immediate attention.
At the entrance of the secret realm, the two broken stone pillars still stood tall. The teleportation gate between them no longer contained chaotic spiritual power. Instead, a dark green vortex churned within, resembling a mass of miasma.
From time to time, groups of independent cultivators stepped through the portal, disappearing as if clay oxen sinking into the sea.
"Move!"
Wang Zhi drew his mystic weapon mo dao and charged in first. Six subordinates followed close behind, vanishing silently soon after.
Chen Sanshi, meanwhile, altered his appearance and waited alone nearby.
"Brother Xiao!"
Deng Wuchang, masked, hurried over nervously. After glancing around to confirm no one was watching, he said, "Quick, change my appearance too. The less I look like myself, the better."
Chen Sanshi swiftly transformed him into a man in his sixties in just a few moves.
"Heh."
Deng Wuchang examined his reflection in a puddle. "Impressive. Even my father wouldn't recognize me!"
"Let's go."
Chen Sanshi did not waste time. "There is much to do."
The two crossed the teleportation gate one after the other.
"Weng—"
The moment they made contact with the gate, a howling gale roared in their ears. The world spun violently, and they lost their sense of balance, as if plunging into an endless abyss. Then their feet suddenly sank, and everything around them came to an abrupt halt.
When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a vast dark-yellow wasteland beneath a gloomy sky.
Everything within Chen Sanshi's sight was the color of yellow sand. The mountains and fields lay ruined and desolate. Broken walls and shattered structures were scattered everywhere. Damaged mystic weapons littered the ground, while flickering ghostly flames drifted about like demons and spirits.
An ancient battlefield.
This was how the Nine Nether Forbidden Land was described in the records.
It had once been a blessed land, but no one knew how many years ago, a great war had taken place here. Afterward, it separated from its original location and appeared within Northern Yang Dao, becoming the Nine Nether Forbidden Land of today.
Due to the laws within the forbidden land, cultivators above the Golden Core realm could not enter. According to rumors, in certain regions even Foundation Establishment cultivators would suffer backlash if they approached.
Moreover, in any location one might encounter attacks from ancient remnant souls. Even though these remnant souls were damaged and incomplete, they possessed formidable killing power. A single misstep could lead to death and the dispersal of one's Dao.
"I came here once 20 years ago," Deng Wuchang said as he cautiously scanned the surroundings. "Even back then, there were not many second-tier treasures left. After over a thousand years of harvesting, this place has practically been scraped clean to the very ground. There was hardly anything valuable left, and the risks were enormous.
"So afterward, I didn't get involved much.
"Who would have thought that this year's abnormal movement would draw so many people?"
Chen Sanshi kept an eye on the broken mystic weapons scattered haphazardly across the ground. Most of them had long since lost their spirituality and become nothing more than scrap metal. Who knew how many years they had endured? From time to time, two corpses could also be seen.
These corpses, however, were "fresh," dead not long ago. Presumably, cultivators who had come in search of treasure had clashed in combat.
"Careful!"
Deng Wuchang's voice suddenly rang out beside him.
There was no need for the warning—Chen Sanshi had already sensed the anomaly. The Xuan Yuan Sword appeared soundlessly in his hand. He turned and thrust out with a single strike, surging waves of water roaring forth as the blade pierced a skull that had approached at some unknown moment, scattering it into smoke.
"This is an ancient remnant soul," Deng Wuchang explained. "No one knows what exactly happened back then. It is said that hundreds of thousands of cultivators perished in that ancient war. Just thinking about it is horrifying."
Chen Sanshi slowly withdrew his sword, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.
He had already studied records concerning the forbidden land in advance and could guess that immense secrets yet to be unearthed lay hidden within. But for now, what mattered more was where to search for heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
After entering the forbidden land, they had searched over a hundred miles in each of the four cardinal directions—east, south, west, and north—yet found almost nothing of significance. At most, there were first-tier heavenly materials and earthly treasures, all trivial and dispensable.
"This isn't right," Deng Wuchang muttered as he crouched down and casually pocketed a first-tier lingzhi. "Before coming, I heard that a large number of third-tier treasures had appeared this time. But compared to 20 years ago, this place is even more desolate. Who are they trying to fool?"
"Brother Deng," Chen Sanshi said as he rose into the air and surveyed the terrain below, "haven't you noticed that along the way, we've encountered almost no sect disciples?"
"Now that you mention it, you're right." Deng Wuchang frowned. "There should be quite a few sect cultivators here for this treasure hunt…"
"The news was sealed off," Chen Sanshi said. "We need to search deeper."
After the forbidden land opened, the sect disciples had blocked information and entered several days in advance to explore. If none of them were visible now, then either they had died in some remote corner—or they had discovered some hidden location.
Between the two possibilities, the latter was clearly far more likely.
"Brother Xiao makes sense," Deng Wuchang said after some thought. "Last time I came, I stayed in the secret realm for over a month. I'm fairly familiar with the terrain. I'll take you to the places most likely to contain hidden spaces."
The two set off again. They searched for more than half a day, yet still found nothing.
"Again, nothing at all!"
Deng Wuchang crawled out of an empty underground cavern, sounding irritated. "Brother Xiao, why don't we forget it? Whoever you want me to kill, let's get it done quickly and head back to the market."
"That mountain…"
Chen Sanshi fixed his gaze on the peak at the southernmost edge of the forbidden land. Its height pierced straight into the clouds—not a figure of speech, but literal—as though it were a heavenly pillar connecting earth and sky, its summit impossible to see.
Not only was it impossibly tall, but it also stretched across the entire forbidden land like an infinitely high wall erected along its boundary.
According to the records, this mountain marked the edge of the forbidden land—Huangshi Mountain.
"Huangshi Mountain is not a place we can go," Deng Wuchang hurriedly warned. "It's said to be a mountain governed by laws. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators who approach it will be suppressed down to Qi Refining. Even if good things occasionally appear on the mountain, it's always Qi Refining cultivators fighting over them. Foundation Establishment cultivators never go near."
"Let's take a look nearby," Chen Sanshi said. Without waiting for a reply, he flew low toward Huangshi Mountain.
"Hey?!"
Deng Wuchang had no choice but to follow.
As they drew closer to the boundary of the forbidden land, Huangshi Mountain grew ever larger in his field of vision, allowing Chen Sanshi to truly experience what it meant to blot out the sky and cover the sun.
Moreover, he could clearly feel that for every 100 zhang he advanced, an invisible suppression pressed down a bit more. When they were still over 1,000 zhang from the foot of the mountain, he no longer dared to approach recklessly.
"Bluebird."
A flash of spiritual light shimmered, and a gyrfalcon appeared on Chen Sanshi's arm. He instructed, "Go inform the people of the Han court. Tell them to send someone up the mountain to take a look."
"Chirp—"
The bluebird nodded. Spiritual power surged, and the entire eagle transformed into a streak of light, vanishing in an instant.
Setting aside the suppression of the laws, neither Chen Sanshi nor Deng Wuchang could approach. Even without that, such a vast mountain would be like searching for a needle in the sea if they tried to explore it alone.
Of course…
Even 50 people were no more than 50 needles. Compared to the vast ocean, they were still insignificant.
But they could only try their best. If it truly came to it, they would have to stake out the sect disciples and see if they could capture one alive to extract the location where the heavenly materials and earthly treasures had appeared.
"Little White Jade?"
Chen Sanshi took out the White Jade Spirit Snake from his Storage Bag. It coiled around his arm, raising its head high and flicking its tongue at him.
He could not help but show a hint of surprise. "You want to lead the way?"
"Hiss, hiss—"
The White Jade Spirit Snake nodded vigorously.
"Very well."
Chen Sanshi knew that many spirit beasts possessed a sharper instinctive perception of spiritual energy and laws than human cultivators. Given the circumstances, there was nothing to lose in trying.
Holding the spirit snake like a "compass," he altered direction several times in midair. Suddenly, he felt the suppression loosen.
There was an entrance!
Huangshi Mountain, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, was like a great wall. Yet in the middle of that wall, there was a gate—one that bore no suppression at all.
"Well done, White Jade. Looks like you're actually useful."
Chen Sanshi tossed a few spirit stones into its mouth as a reward, then lightly descended onto the surface of Huangshi Mountain.
On the surface, the mountain appeared unremarkable. But upon closer perception, every blade of grass, every tree, every pebble, and every stone emitted a faint pressure.
Only the spot where they stood lacked that force.
"Such a thing exists?"
Deng Wuchang confirmed there was no pressure and immediately felt relieved. "This definitely didn't happen before. If it had, someone would have discovered it centuries ago."
Chen Sanshi gently set the white snake down. It slithered forward into the dark forest, continuing to guide the two. After traveling an unknown distance, a cave abruptly appeared ahead.
He summoned two puppet tigers and sent them inside to scout. Only after confirming there was no danger did he step in personally.
Deng Wuchang took out a deep-blue luminous pearl to illuminate the interior of the cave and followed closely behind.
The cave was completely bare, devoid of any living creatures. There were, however, several second-tier ferocious beast corpses—but even their bones had been stripped clean. It was obvious someone had already been here.
"Brother Xiao, look."
Deng Wuchang pointed to where the white snake had stopped. "It seems we can go further."
At the end of the cave, in the stone wall, there was a narrow crack. Through it, a faint light could be seen—indicating an exit.
The white snake led the way again, with Chen Sanshi following close behind.
The crack was extremely narrow, requiring them to turn sideways to squeeze through. Chen Sanshi held an Earth Escape Talisman in his hand at all times, prepared for any sudden mishap.
The process did not take long.
After roughly a dozen breaths, the passage gradually widened, and the light ahead grew brighter. For a moment, he could not help but think of the tale of the Peach Blossom Spring.
However…
The moment Chen Sanshi stepped out of the crack, the scene before him was nothing like a hidden utopia.
It was not a secluded paradise—
But an even greater ancient battlefield!
As far as the eye could see, there were dry bones everywhere. Flying swords were embedded into the ground like a bamboo forest. Lone souls and wild ghosts roamed in groups. Everything between heaven and earth was shrouded in gray gloom. Murky rivers crisscrossed the land, like the Yellow Springs of the Nine Netherworld!
Deng Wuchang stared at the sight in shock. "I understand now. The abnormal movements in the forbidden land over the past half year must have been caused by a fissure appearing in Huangshi Mountain. The even larger secret realm hidden behind it has finally been revealed!"
"That should be correct."
Chen Sanshi did not deny it.
With a brief sweep of his gaze, he found that this second layer of the secret realm was unimaginably vast, almost boundless. In many places, spiritual power fluctuations were erupting continuously.
"What a blade, what a blade!"
Deng Wuchang pulled a purple treasured saber from among the scattered mystic weapons. Its quality was faintly approaching that of a third-tier magic treasure. Its spirituality remained intact, perfectly preserved.
There were countless mystic weapons like this, dazzling the eyes!
"We're rich—this time we're truly rich!"
Deng Wuchang's eyes gleamed as he hurriedly picked and chose. In no time, he had filled the two Storage Bags he brought and even bundled a large heap onto his back.
Chen Sanshi, however, maintained a calm mindset.
Storage Bags were limited in capacity. There were surely better things elsewhere; otherwise, so many treasures would not have been left behind. He needed to conserve space.
Thus, he selected only the highest-quality mystic weapons. After filling two Storage Bags, he stopped.
"Brother Deng, let's continue forward."
Chen Sanshi had a very clear plan in mind for this journey.