Chapter 2377: Third-Party Force

He had a vague impression of this person, but not much; they had crossed paths in Heishuicheng and the Panlong Ruins, and even fought side by side.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror in his arms dutifully called out: "Ling Jinbao, Elder of the Jianyang Gate!"

He Lingchuan snapped his fingers: "Oh right, Ling Jinbao. Does his sect still exist?"

The last time he returned to the Panlong Ruins, he set a trap for He Chunhua and Naluo Tianzuan, but that night the ruins emitted treasure light, which attracted other sects and adventurers as well — this Jianyang Gate was one of them.

But on the night the various teams entered the Panlong Secret Realm, only Ling Jinbao led the Jianyang Gate disciples to flee outward; they did not stay overnight in the "Ghost City" at all, thus avoiding a deadly disaster — even the Cloud Envoy of the Lian Tian Palace perished, and in the end, only He Chunhua's team walked out of the Secret Realm alive.

He was a clever man too, with a keen nose.

After ten-odd years, this Elder Ling's appearance hadn't changed much, just the forehead wrinkles had deepened a bit.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror really wanted to roll its eyes, if it could: "The Jianyang Gate is gone, gone five years ago! Under the presiding of Lingshan, it merged with another sect, and is now called 'Yunshan'."

He Lingchuan stroked the mirror without a shred of guilt; this secretary really performed his duties conscientiously.

In recent years, spiritual qi has exploded, the world is in turmoil, a large batch of Xian Sects have emerged from seclusion, yet even more sect forces have fallen, perished, or been swallowed up. In this unreasonable era of raging waves, those who cannot be the ones riding the crest may be slapped dead on the beach.

This phenomenon is so common that He Lingchuan usually just glanced at such news and rarely took it to heart.

His energy had to be placed on more and more important state affairs.

"Who are those few beside him? Their cultivation looks higher than his; are they also Yunshan people?"

The mirror replied dully: "How would I know?"

This question is beyond my scope.

Zhu Xiuer, however, raised a claw: "The third from the left, Dao title Si Hai True Person, was originally a loose cultivator from the ancient era, joined the Great Return Sect during the Immortal-Demon War, extremely powerful and ruthless! Haven't heard of him for so many years, I thought he died in some cave long ago."

"What about the others?"

"Oh, there's also this one, titled Ming Yao Supreme. I don't know much about him, only that he excels at controlling true fire. But I recognize his junior brother Ming Ke, also an Immortal, skilled in wood and earth techniques, likes to study underground palace ruins. I cooperated with Ming Ke to explore a labyrinth; he's a decent person. Oh, Ming Ke Immortal always has many treasures on him; last time he took out one piece that left a deep impression on me."

Dong Rui's ears perked up at the mention of treasure: "What good thing?"

"The Cardamom Garden." Zhu Xiuer explained, "It's actually a portable mustard-seed space, can carry nearly ten thousand catties, most importantly it can take in living beings, up to thirty or fifty people!"

With the rise in heaven-and-earth spiritual qi concentration, large-capacity portable spaces have appeared one after another. But those that can hold living beings have always been few.

Dong Rui laughed: "Mustard-seed space divine ability, not too rare nowadays either, don't we have this technology too?"

Not everything ancient is good; mustard-seed space techniques have developed rapidly over the past three thousand years, and one of Songyang Prefecture's house specialties is manufacturing mustard-seed spaces.

Zhu Xiuer chuckled: "Songyang Prefecture can't make a mustard-seed space with such a large load capacity either. And, didn't we not bring ours this time?"

It's not that they can't make large-capacity portable spaces, but that mustard-seed spaces simply can't increase their load capacity.

As far as can be seen, load capacity is an insurmountable problem.

Those that can hold people have low total load capacity; those with huge load capacity cannot hold living bodies.

Ultimately, transport category and efficiency cannot both be achieved.

And the mustard-seed space in He Lingchuan's hands was recently handed to Songyang Prefecture for modification, so it couldn't be brought along.

"Enough, aside from Si Hai and Ming Yao, I don't recognize the others in this scene either." Zhu Xiuer also seemed a bit regretful, "My sister and I weren't exactly widely connected in the ancient era either."

Wild immortals like them loved to cultivate alone in the ancient era, unlike humans who are born to form cliques and factions.

Just from the scene, He Lingchuan couldn't sense their true cultivation.

"Why would the Yunshan Sect and Immortals appear here?" Dong Rui wondered, "The Earth Mother driving the Jade Capital City to the Panlong Wasteland only happened these past two days. How could their information be so well-informed?"

"Perhaps they've been tailing the Earth Mother all along. Don't forget the Earth Mother ate Shaocheng's people and seized Lingshan's mines. If Lingshan can swallow this grievance, it might as well change its surname to Turtle; who would still respect it?" As He Lingchuan spoke, he saw these people walk to the blessing pool at the ruins' edge.

Ling Jinbao pointed at the blessing pool and said to the others:

"Various Immortal Lords, this was formerly the prayer pool of the Mitian Divine Temple. I heard that the Shen King led his army into the Secret Realm from here back then."

Si Hai True Person asked: "What method was used to enter?"

"Earth dragons caught from the desert outside the city." Ling Jinbao took out a waterskin, "These things habitually live in the sand sea; they used to be everywhere, but in today's Panlong Wasteland they're no longer common. To save time, my disciples and I caught one beforehand, bled it, and stored the blood in here."

Another person said: "Since then, has anyone else entered the Secret Realm?"

Ling Jinbao shook his head: "Haven't heard of any."

"It's been over ten years; the people who know this entry method shouldn't be few. As long as many people go in and out, this kind of secret can't be kept. No one has entered, showing this method doesn't work anymore."

Si Hai True Person then said: "What's the harm in trying?"

He carried great authority, so the others kept silent.

Thus Ling Jinbao poured all the earth dragon blood from the skin into the blessing pool.

This waterskin was also an excellent storage space; it looked small, yet could pour out over a hundred catties of liquid.

The blessing pool wasn't large, and the pool water was quickly dyed red by the fresh blood.

"Back then, they jumped in just like this." Knowing his status was the lowest among those present, Ling Jinbao very consciously stepped into the pool.

He stood firmly, and did not disappear.

Heh, as expected.

"Are there no other incantations or formulas to open the passage?"

"Supposedly not." Ling Jinbao shrugged, "Back then there were several teams fighting to the death by the pool, everyone wanted to snatch the lead, but monsters rushed out of the pool and killed people. Some tried to escape, but when they reached the city wall they found the city gates had been shut."

"What does this mean?"

Before great powers, Ling Jinbao didn't want to speculate recklessly: "No one knows."

Si Hai True Person turned, looking at the ruined, wide-open South City Gate: "This gate cannot be closed, unless..."

"Unless they were already inside the Secret Realm at that time." Ming Yao Supreme continued, "Ancient ruins, passages, old sites — sometimes their beginning and end are unknowable."

Thanks to reader 20230519103630235 for the reward~~