Chapter 641

So-called blessed lands do not all refer to places with abundant spiritual energy and pleasant spring scenery. Ancient immortals established cave dwellings on the peaks of snowy mountains and in worlds of magma precisely to feel the might of heaven and earth here and to ponder the natural creation of nature.

Ancient immortals could probably jump into magma for a hot mud bath, but people today would never dare.

It was too hot ahead, so the puppet stopped moving forward and took the Shaoling ore out of the sack, throwing it into the magma pool one piece at a time.

Every time he threw a piece, he had to roar: "Mountain Spirit of Xushan, appear quickly!"

The cave chamber was empty, and his roar had the benefit of an echo, drifting over the magma for a long time without dissipating.

The Shaoling ore was loose and fragmented, and having been struck by He Lingchuan with a hammer, the largest piece was no more than four or five jin, just right for an ordinary person to throw.

They fell into the magma and soon bubbled up.

The puppet maintained the rhythm, throwing one every dozen breaths; rather than calling it feeding—uh, no, offering—it was more like harassment.

Decades ago, the Mountain Spirit would have disdained such a frequency of offerings and, if in a bad mood, might have thrown magma at people:

Are you feeding fish here? Get lost!

But ever since the Spirit Gathering Array took effect, the offerings received by the magma fire monster had decreased year by year, and it was always ravenous.

Even a small fly is still meat.

So when the Shaoling ore in the sack was about to run out, the magma in the pool suddenly churned, and an object arched out from the middle, glowing with intense red light.

The heat wave was oppressive, and the puppet immediately closed his eyes and took a few steps back.

The viscous magma flowed downward, and the monster that rose from within finally revealed its true face.

It looked like a giant bear, with a thick, short torso and limbs, but a very long tail that crackled as it lashed against the surface of the magma.

As soon as it appeared, the brightness of the entire rock cave increased several times, and it itself was even more radiant, making it impossible to look directly at.

He Lingchuan had heard a public lecture in Panlong City and knew that this kind of magma fire monster, like the Wind Demon, actually had no fixed form and could change as it pleased. The image it was currently manifesting was a Fire Rat, a type of fire-mouse creature that could survive in a magma world, but it might change its appearance the next time it appeared.

This thing was composed entirely of crimson flames and magma, as well as black solid rock; as soon as its front claws stepped onto the bank of the magma pool, there was a 'hiss', and the ground began to smoke.

"Mortal?" It sneered at the puppet, its loud voice echoing in the mountain belly, "A mortal is worthy of summoning me? Hand over more ore, and I will spare your life!"

Just these few pieces of Shaoling ore weren't enough to fill the gaps between its teeth; if this frail mortal before it couldn't produce more ore, he would have to use his life to extinguish the anger of Lord Zuju, who had been woken up!

The puppet, following He Lingchuan's will, spoke: "Mountain Spirit Zuju, I am meeting with you on behalf of my master."

"Your master? And which onion is that?" Zuju seemed to glare at the puppet and sneered, "Puppet technique? Heh, a guy hiding his head and showing his tail is worthy of negotiating with me?"

It saw through it at a glance, and He Lingchuan did not beat around the bush: "If you kill the puppet, the subsequent offerings will also be gone. Having been abused by the Tiangong for so long, aren't you hungry?"

He then added: "Look clearly at where we are; how long ago was the last time someone entered this cave dwelling?"

"Several hundred years. What, did you get the relic of some old thing from the Great Return Sect?" Zuju shook its neck, and magma fell with a rustle, "Or are you a disciple of the Great Return Sect?"

The Mountain Spirit of Xushan was clearly very clear about the opening procedures for this cave dwelling. It had not been opened by force, so someone must have taken the right key and found the right hole.

He Lingchuan was able to lure it out with only a few dozen jin of ore, largely because the feeding location—no, the offering location—was in this secret cave dwelling. This was an unprecedented event, and it wanted to come and see what was going on.

A disciple of the Great Return Sect? He Lingchuan noted this sentence, his heart stirring slightly.

Was Zuju saying that the Great Return Sect's legacy had not been cut off, and there were still disciples active in the world?

Hmm, thinking back, when the Northern Demon Nation destroyed the Great Return Sect, it hadn't yet reached its peak, and perhaps the methods weren't as cruel as in later generations; the Great Return Sect as a Daoist sect had perished, but perhaps the disciples had retreated and fled and hadn't been completely wiped out? Zuju had participated in the battle back then, so it should know better than anyone.

"Before the Wood Spirit Venerable passed away, he specifically left me a prophecy, asking me to come down and see you."

He Lingchuan did not say the Wood Spirit Venerable had instructed him, but that the person had "invited" him down, which was raising his own status. For a spirit creature like Zuju, born of heaven and earth, being overly polite or humble was useless; it would only think you were weak and easy to bully.

This kind of creature only recognizes the strong.

If He Lingchuan wanted to have an equal dialogue with it, he needed the status of a strong person.

This mortal puppet he sent out was, of course, not enough, so he had the puppet take out a piece of a tree branch and toss it toward Zuju.

It didn't catch it; the branch landed in the magma on its body, emitting a bit of green smoke, but it didn't vaporize immediately.

"Eh?" Zuju seemed a bit surprised, raising its claw to fish it out and bring it close to its eyes.

To a mortal, it was a large tree branch, but in the Mountain Spirit's palm, it was a small toothpick.

The branch slowly turned black, the tip burning slowly; it looked like it could burn for a long time.

"Is this a branch of the Treasure Tree King?" Zuju seemed to be savoring it slowly, "It doesn't seem quite right, why does it have a bit of the bitterness of the Questioning Tree!"

"How does it taste?" A gourmet indeed; it tasted the nuance immediately.

"Barely acceptable."

"Savor it slowly." He Lingchuan knew this thing was extremely picky; if it said barely acceptable, that meant the quality was top-notch. If it wasn't palatable, it would have rejected it directly.

So, the puppet threw a few more Julao tree branches over.

As a tree born within the Great Fang Hu, besides possessing some of the characteristics of the Treasure Tree King, it had recently eaten the Hundred-Faced Nightmare and the golden leaves of the Questioning Tree, so its nature had, of course, changed greatly. Even Zuju, who had tasted everything under the sun, tasted an unprecedented deliciousness this time, and its mood improved greatly, and it looked at He Lingchuan with a bit more respect.

"This spirit wood—" The aftertaste was long and truly not bad, but it didn't want to praise the other party, "Where did you get it?"

"A brand new variety, cultivated by myself." He Lingchuan took credit for the Great Fang Hu with peace of mind. Anyway, this pot had no mouth and wouldn't protest. "But the yield is not high."

Zuju put the branch into its mouth, chewing it into a toothpick: "What is your business? Tell me."

"I heard that you guard the Star-Plucking Tower for the Heavenly God." He Lingchuan went straight to the point, "I want the treasure in the Star-Plucking Tower; please accommodate me."

"Which treasure?"

"The one enshrined in the shrine." He buried a trap in his words.

"The Mountain and River Splendid Picture or the Great Fang Hu lid?" Zuju tilted its head, and He Lingchuan felt as if it had rolled its eyes at him, "You are not the first; those before you all failed."

Sure enough, the treasure enshrined in the shrine really was the Great Fang Hu lid! He Lingchuan took a silent breath. He had no interest in any Splendid Picture; as long as the coordinates of the Great Fang Hu could be determined, this piece of intelligence immediately designated the location for subsequent actions!

Zuju didn't know how important its unintentional words were, allowing He Lingchuan to extract a piece of important intelligence for nothing.

"Others want to snatch it too? Why?"

"How would I know? Go ask them."

He Lingchuan's heart stirred: "The Great Demon Chifeng, did it also come to snatch these two treasures?"

Zuju chuckled: "Who can say for sure? There are many secrets in the Star-Plucking Tower, and external enemies don't just come for the treasures."

"Lingxu City says it was defeated by Fan Long."

Zuju was disdainful: "If I hadn't made a move, Fan Long could have defeated a fart!"

He Lingchuan asked it: "I heard that before the Spirit Gathering Array was rebuilt, the Tiangong was also very respectful to you?"

Zuju laughed: "You don't need to use reverse psychology. There are many people who want me to accommodate them, and I have only one thing to say: as long as this Spirit Gathering Array is still here, I cannot accommodate you!"

"How exactly does the Spirit Gathering Array suppress you?" Some questions only have accurate answers when asked of the victim themselves.

"The Spirit Gathering Array created by Lingxu directly suppressed the earth veins of Xushan, which also suppressed my origin!" Zuju became indignant when talking about this, and the entire magma pool boiled, "They deceived me!"

In order to build this array well, it used infinite power to move peaks and mountains, but it got this result in return. "Humans, heh, glib-tongued!"

It pointed to its own neck, and He Lingchuan noticed that there was actually a collar bound around its neck, wide and thick, with complex patterns.

The Tiangong is truly something; this is treating the Mountain Spirit completely as their own watchdog.

The puppet had to take a few more steps back to avoid the splashing magma. If he were sprayed with even a little, he would be gone.

"What if the Spirit Gathering Array could be broken?" He Lingchuan asked it, "Could you then break free?"

"Break it? Easier said than done!" Zuju choked out a puff of white smoke from its nose, and He Lingchuan took it as a sigh, "This array echoes with the stars in the sky and can be called the combined power of heaven and earth; even I cannot break it from the inside. Especially those few mountain peaks—as long as the mountains are still there, the array is still there. What can you outsiders do?"

"What about the array eye?" He Lingchuan said, "I heard that the array eye of the Spirit Gathering Array corresponds to the Heavenly Luo Star, and the strange treasure placed inside is the communication bridge for the power of heaven and earth. If it were taken away, would the array not collapse on its own?"

"You mean the spider molting that carries the star map?" Zuju gave an 'en', "Very likely. But there are two places in the entire Spirit Gathering Array that are most heavily guarded, and the array eye is one of them. A Lei Chi is also set up there; how do you intend to take out the star map?"

"I dare to mention the array eye because I have my own reliance. Otherwise, would I come to you to do this useless work?" He Lingchuan remembered the two words "Lei Chi," and at the same time, he would not reveal his trump card, "The Wood Spirit Venerable also calculated today's situation before guiding me to come and find you."

The Wood Spirit Venerable lived for eight hundred years and was the venerable number two figure of the Great Return Sect when he was alive; Zuju, of course, knew him very well and was also very clear that this old man was good at divination and deduction.

"Which prophecy did he give you?"

"The one that helped me enter this cave dwelling is 'East Li enters the Kan water'."

Zuju lay down on the surface of the magma lake and stopped making a sound.

Just now, at the first meeting, it had conducted a leading question.

(End of chapter)