"Very well."
Zhang Jinchen did not refuse. "Then Junior Brother Wang Jun will remain outside the barrier to stand guard."
"Senior Brother Xu, shall I stay behind as well?"
Chen Sanshi, disguised as "Liu Feng," spoke up.
"Alright. Be extra careful."
Xu Baoren agreed.
Chen Sanshi and the other two remained outside the barrier, while the rest proceeded deeper inside one after another.
"Tch~"
Qian You, who had been ordered to stay behind, muttered resentfully, "When it's time to charge, I'm there. When it's time to seize treasures, I get kicked aside."
"Who's to say that losing a horse isn't a blessing in disguise?"
Wang said calmly. "To be honest, I find this place rather eerie. There may be great danger hidden within. It's best not to approach rashly."
"That's true."
Qian You neither agreed nor disagreed.
"Foundation Establishment middle stage, Foundation Establishment early stage."
Chen Sanshi's gaze swept over the two of them as he calculated silently. Dealing with them alone would not be a problem. His main concern was alerting those inside.
However, under the effect of the sensing talisman, some of Tianyong City's men were already close to the forbidden land. Once they swarmed in together, the two should be dealt with swiftly.
After that, he intended to try using the wooden token in his possession to reactivate the barrier, trapping the disciples of the three sects inside—and then close the gate to beat the dogs.
"Almost there."
Chen Sanshi sensed the positions of his subordinates inwardly.
Qian You lay sprawled across a rock, humming idly.
Wang climbed to higher ground to look out. Before long, a paper crane drifted leisurely into his palm. The man's expression changed drastically at once. He immediately released another paper crane into the forbidden land to deliver a message, then mounted his flying sword and departed without a word.
"Huh?"
Qian You sprang to his feet. "Where is Fellow Daoist Wang going?"
"This is bad."
Chen Sanshi thought to himself.
As a puppet master, he could naturally see through the trick.
The paper crane was a small puppet used for reconnaissance.
The only anomaly nearby at the moment was the Tianyong City officers converging from different directions. There was a high chance this man had discovered them.
That was why Wang Jun had sent word into the forbidden land while fleeing at full speed.
"They can't be allowed to find out."
Chen Sanshi did not hesitate. He immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at the paper crane that had just entered the edge of the forbidden land. He released the string.
The streaking arrow tore through the air and pierced the paper crane with unerring precision. The surging True Force it carried crushed it into powder.
"What is Fellow Daoist Liu doing now?"
Qian You was utterly baffled.
"Nothing."
Chen Sanshi took out the Golden-Scale Flying Blade. "Let me show you a treasure."
"What? What are you doing?!"
Seeing the bow suddenly aimed at him, Qian You was horrified. He instinctively summoned a vine-and-grass shield before himself.
Boom!
The Golden-Scale Flying Blade transformed into a blazing fire dragon. Fire overcame wood—within moments, the second-grade magic shield was burned to ashes.
Qian You staggered backward on his knees. As he reached for his natal flying sword at his waist and opened his mouth to shout for help, it was already too late.
The Dragon Abyss Sword tore through the curtain of flames. A cold flash arrived in an instant. He felt a chill at his chest, then the world spun—and he lost consciousness completely.
The entire process lasted only a few breaths and made almost no noise.
Chen Sanshi pulled the Dragon Abyss Sword from the corpse.
The bluebird slipped out of the Storage Bag and fluttered to his ear, chirping incessantly—clearly eager to seek revenge on Wang Jun, whose Cold-Iron Bird had once injured it.
"It is time for revenge."
Chen Sanshi looked toward the direction Wang had fled. There was no trace of him left.
That fellow really runs fast.
Thinking back, Chen Sanshi remembered that during the middle phase of the Great Han's rise, this man had gone to Qiantang Prefecture and tossed Chen Sanshi's fake head to the Northern Liang army as part of a deception. By the time the war ended, the man had never been seen again.
"Forget it. Another time."
Given the current situation, Chen Sanshi could not afford to waste too much time pursuing a single Wang Jun. "As long as the Great Han survives this present crisis, sooner or later we will settle accounts with these sects."
He soothed the bluebird, then rose into the air and began carefully studying the formation plate on the cliff face.
"The size is about the same."
Holding the wooden token engraved with the words "Guardian Envoy," Chen Sanshi felt a trace of unease. "It's just made of a different material. I wonder if it will work."
Making up his mind, he directly placed the wooden token into the empty slot.
Buzz—
The moment it made contact, the wooden token—seemingly nothing more than aged, decaying wood—burst forth with dazzling spiritual light.
With his hand resting upon it, Chen Sanshi felt as though he had formed some kind of connection with the restriction here. However, due to the formation's exceedingly high grade, he could not comprehend it at all. He could only imitate the movements of Zhang Susu from Lingji Cavern, gently turning the formation plate.
Rumble—
Like a key sliding into a lock, once the orientation aligned, the entire earth trembled. Waves of powerful spiritual energy surged up from the ground, and the barrier once again enveloped the entire secret realm.
Moreover—
Perhaps because of the wooden token, the barrier's power grew significantly stronger than before. It rose from third grade directly to fourth grade!
A fourth-grade formation!
That corresponded to Nascent Soul great powers!
"What principle is this?"
Feeling the astonishing might, Chen Sanshi found it profoundly mysterious. He examined the wooden token repeatedly, yet could discern nothing special about it. "Is it because their bronze token was pieced together from fragments, while mine is intact?"
The closer he stood, the more he could sense the connection between the wooden token and the restriction—or rather, control.
The wooden token functioned like a command talisman, possessing a kind of rule-level suppression over the barrier.
Yet Chen Sanshi remained unable to grasp its underlying laws. Perhaps his realm was insufficient, or perhaps his attainments in formations were still too shallow.
"With the token in hand, the barrier does not seem to harm me!"
Acting on instinct, he approached the edge. When he was about seven steps away, a passage automatically opened in the barrier!
"So it works."
"In that case, there will be no need to leave someone outside specifically to operate the formation plate."
"Which means—"
"This forbidden land, or rather this great battle, is related to the 'Guardian Envoy'?"
As Chen Sanshi pondered, movement sounded behind him.
Sima Yao led the way with a long blade in hand, the others following close behind. More than 40 Tianyong City captains arrived almost simultaneously.
"We pay respects to Your Majesty!"
"Rise."
Chen Sanshi drew the Dragon Abyss Sword and pointed its blade toward the forbidden land. "Hear my command! The Guiyuan Sect killed my senior brother and slew the Great Han's military strategist. If this vengeance is not repaid, our national destiny cannot flourish!
"Today, there are 11 Guiyuan disciples inside the forbidden land. Not a single one must escape! As for disciples of the other sects—any who dare obstruct us shall be killed without mercy!
"For every person slain, you will be promoted three ranks!
"Those who render great merit shall be ennobled as marquises and appointed as ministers!"
Under the current regulations of the Great Han, official ranks within Tianyong City differed from those of ordinary people. They were called the Nine-Rank Immortal Officials, each rank corresponding to specific immortal stipends—spirit stones, pills, or other cultivation resources.
Everything had become systematized and standardized.
This was equivalent to the merit systems within the various sects, where accumulated contributions could be exchanged for cultivation resources.
"Your subjects obey!"
Though they restrained their volume, their killing intent shook heaven and earth.
Wang Zhi and Rong Yanqiu's eyes were already bloodshot.
Holding the Guardian Envoy token, Chen Sanshi opened a passage through the barrier, allowing the Tianyong City captains to pass through one by one.
There was still one more person—
The Guiyuan Sect had many Foundation Establishment cultivators; he needed additional support.
However, if Deng Wuchang truly failed to come, Chen Sanshi would still proceed according to the original plan—at most, it would require greater adaptability.
He was not disappointed.
About the time it took to drink half a cup of tea later, a figure arrived riding a flying talisman.
"Brother Xiao, sorry to keep you waiting!"
Deng Wuchang wore a beaming smile, clearly in high spirits. This trip had evidently yielded quite a few treasures.
"Many thanks to Brother Deng for being willing to lend a hand."
Chen Sanshi cupped his fists respectfully.
After all, going up against sect disciples carried extremely high risk. An ordinary blade-for-hire, having already obtained large quantities of heavenly materials and earthly treasures in the forbidden land—perhaps even exceeding the originally agreed compensation—might have simply walked away.
"What are you thinking, kid?"
Deng Wuchang saw through him. "Deng is not like those people. My reputation in the trade is second to none. If I say I'll do something, I'll do it.
"Also, many thanks for the Storage Bag you gave me."
The Storage Bag had been of immense help. Since the other party had trusted him so completely, without fearing he would 'eat his fill and leave,' then naturally he must repay that trust with credibility.
"They're inside."
Maintaining the passage, Chen Sanshi let Deng Wuchang enter. Only then did he follow closely behind, stepping into the depths of the secret realm!
After harvesting two patches of spiritual land in succession, the disciples of the three sects continued forward. Before they had gone far, a curtain of light suddenly descended over their heads.
The barrier—
Had been reactivated!
"What's going on?!"
"Who reactivated the barrier?!"
The cultivators fell into a wave of panic.
"Where is Liu Feng?!"
Qian Qiren frowned. "They were guarding outside. If something happened, how is it that not a single message was sent in?"
Buzz—
Xu Baoren rose into the sky with Aerial Control, only to be blocked by the barrier in the end.
"We really can't get out?"
Cui Zichen's expression darkened. "Who did this?"
"Everyone, do not panic."
Zhang Susu's face was equally grave, yet she remained composed. "Let's piece together the map first and see whether there are other exits."
The torn sheepskin scroll was assembled once more.
"A so-called forbidden land secret realm is nothing more than a fragment of space that collapsed in ancient times. With such massive fluctuations, there is often more than one breach."
Zhang Jinchen discovered a clue, his finger landing on the southeastern corner of the map. "If my guess is correct, this marking could be another exit. It just seems rather far from our current location."
"I'll say the same thing again."
Xu Baoren spoke in a low voice. "Since we're already here, no matter what happens, how can we return empty-handed? We'll gather resources as we move toward the direction of the exit. At the same time, we must also figure out what happened outside the barrier."
Everyone agreed.
They once again split off three people to head to the rear and investigate the situation.
The rest continued forward. After passing several stone steles whose carved inscriptions were no longer legible, what appeared before them—
Were even more corpses and heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
"Nascent Soul corpses—how can there be so many?!"
Ahead of them lay at least more than a dozen Nascent Soul skeletons. It was unknown whether they had turned into nourishment, but the spiritual plants nearby grew exceptionally lush.
"So many Nascent Soul seniors died here—what ancient great battle was this?"
The crowd discussed animatedly.
Along the way, the number of Nascent Soul remains they had encountered likely exceeded the number currently alive in Heavenly Water Isle.
"White Jade Capital?"
Beside one Nascent Soul skeleton, Qian Qiren found fragments of a shattered jade pendant. After carefully piecing them together, he vaguely made out the characters upon it.
Immortal Sect—White Jade Capital!
The True Immortal Canon recorded that hundreds of thousands of years ago, Heavenly Water Isle had a true immortal sect called White Jade Capital. It was founded by a true immortal from the upper realm, a sect capable of linking heaven and earth, connecting the two realms.
In that era, heaven and earth spiritual energy had still been abundant. All kinds of resources were not as scarce as they were now. As long as one's aptitude was sufficient, forming a Golden Core or even reaching Nascent Soul posed no major difficulty.
That period of time was one all cultivators of Heavenly Water Isle yearned for.
Unfortunately—
Later, the demonic heads of the demonic sect Luoxiao Sect launched a great righteous-demonic war, damaging the very foundation of this world. Spiritual energy became increasingly scarce, and resources ever more impoverished.
The details of that great battle were not recorded clearly.
But now it seemed highly likely that the Nine Nether Forbidden Land had been part of that battlefield.
Only then could it explain the fall of so many high-realm cultivators.
The spiritual objects growing here had mostly sprouted from the residual spiritual energy left in this place, rather than existing here originally.
"If it really was that great battle, look over here—there's a shattered magic artifact engraved with the ancient characters for 'Luoxiao Sect'!"
As he spoke, one cultivator could not help but viciously kick the remains of a Luoxiao Sect "demonic head" twice. "If not for these damned demonic heads, would cultivators of our generation have to cultivate under such hardship today?!"
Not far away—
Chen Sanshi, who had followed closely behind, lay quietly in ambush, observing the situation ahead. With his exceptional five senses, he naturally heard their conversation.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago—truly distant indeed.
He raised his arm, signaling the Tianyong City captains behind him to act according to orders and not to make any rash moves.
Now was not the time.
Though they had numbers on their side, aside from himself and Deng Wuchang, their realms were insufficient. Dealing with a single sect alone was manageable. More than that, however, would backfire.
When Chen Sanshi had been disguised as Liu Feng, he had also glanced at the map and knew that there would be a fork in the road ahead. The three sects might temporarily separate.
Sure enough.
The disciples of the three sects stopped at the fork. Xu Baoren held the map and said, "These paths ahead may all contain treasures. Why don't we each choose one, then regroup at the main road further ahead?"
"Let's be quick."
Zhang Susu reminded them. "We still haven't figured out what happened with the barrier. It's possible someone has infiltrated the secret realm. We shouldn't stay separated for too long."
Each sect chose a small path and soon disappeared from sight.
Chen Sanshi was about to follow the Guiyuan Sect into the leftmost path when his heart suddenly tightened.
His Qi Observation Technique abruptly detected that within the dense forest ahead, there was still a figure lying in ambush, quietly observing everything.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, the observable range of Qi Observation Technique was no longer a fixed distance, but depended on the strength of one's divine sense.
This mysterious figure happened to stand just beyond the edge of his detectable range. He could only tell that someone was there, but could not determine their specific realm or strength.
Yet Chen Sanshi felt an indescribable sense of danger.