Chapter 209: Inquiry of the Inner Court (Please Subscribe)

Nancang Ruins, before the inner court.

Previously, the hemispherical seal that stood here and shrouded the inner court had suffered damage because it had been bombarded by Du En with a magical artifact, so Zhu Ding had subsequently created a new barrier.

When Du En and the others arrived again, they could see a new hemispherical barrier.

Jet-black bricks were stacked to form a tomb-like shape; it was larger than before, with a full three-layered structure, completely wrapping and isolating this place, with only a silent stillness in the dim darkness.

Looking at it now, that initial sealing barrier must have been created by the Falling Feather Immortal Gate, as if they were piling up a grave for an old friend, so Zhu Ding's subsequent modifications and reinforcements had been very simple, encountering no accidents.

Meng Changqing, with a cold expression, stopped before the door of the barrier passage, took a deep breath, took out the key given by Zhu Ding, activated it to make it fly, and inserted it into the only keyhole.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

The key and keyhole quietly vanished, then a sound emerged, the pitch-black gate slowly rose, and the passage behind the door became very clear amidst the flickering candlelight.

Meng Changqing focused their gaze and swept a look, basically seeing through all the arrangements inside.

That guy Zhu Ding really didn't give any chances before!

But looking closely, something seemed a bit wrong...

At this moment, Meng Changqing did not think too much, walked hurriedly, and stepped in first; the guards also nervously followed in protection, which caused Du En to fall to the back unknowingly, looking at this passage with some deep thought.

The group quickly reached the end.

Passing through the original inner court's sealing masonry along the way, it now served as the middle layer and looked completely renovated, almost entirely replaced.

I always feel something is not quite right...

Du En couldn't help but think this, and in their caution, they only used their eyes to look past the many people in front, toward the end of the passage.

A patch of cold, ordinary mud.

This was the inner court of the ruins, the core point of the original Daoist arena.

There were no remains of buildings, only this patch of ordinary, cold mud, and a corpse sitting on this ground, facing the passage.

The corpse was very old and thin, sitting there in rags, with its right leg propped up and its right hand resting, devoid of any vitality.

Du En's keen eyesight even captured that the head, chest, and abdomen of this old corpse had actually been sliced open by something, revealing an empty cavity inside.

It was almost as if only a skin remained, while the contents had long since run away!

This made Du En's brows twitch slightly.

"Venerable."

Meng Changqing was in no mood for pleasantries right now; since Venerable Nancang had pulled small tricks before, they were very blunt and went straight to the point: "Tell me about what happened back then!"

"... Are the little ones these days all so difficult to deal with?"

An aged, withered voice sounded faintly.

Venerable Nancang really hadn't died completely!

"What do you want to know? There are many things from back then..."

"About the Resentful Evil!"

Meng Changqing interrupted directly, appearing to vent some of their pent-up frustration on this old senior.

"That thing..."

Venerable Nancang's mood seemed to become melancholy. "When I saw it finally gestate, I thought to suppress and eliminate it, but I ended up underestimating its evil nature. In the end, I could only use my Daoist body to imprison it, and then cast a supreme Daoist technique to link my fate with its, connecting our existences. Thus, killing me was equivalent to killing it, and I entrusted an old friend to take action and slay me here."

From this, it could be fully confirmed that the black brick pile wrapping the outside was indeed truly a tomb!

That was why there were no additional measures and no subsequent reinforcements; ten thousand years had passed, and even the self-detonation of a mere second-tier magical artifact could blast open several large holes.

Meng Changqing, however, was somewhat skeptical: "Venerable is a senior; logically, there is no need to deceive us juniors, but you are still alive now. What is going on?"

"Haha, you should ask my old friend about that. The reason I didn't die in the end might be because I entrusted the wrong person, and my old friend's heart softened at the last moment, or perhaps he intentionally held back and didn't kill me, letting me be of some use now. Or perhaps, he has actually been replaced by the Resentful Evil!"

Venerable Nancang's voice turned icy, and they couldn't help but ask angrily: "Look at what they have done in these ten thousand years?"

"Striving for hegemony..."

Meng Changqing's attitude couldn't help but soften, no longer maintaining the coldness from just before.

Because there was nothing to say.

"Right! Hegemony! Immortal Gate hegemony! If I hadn't learned about the current situation from that young lad, I would still be foolishly optimistic. But what happened? They actually started playing at hegemony in the world, pushing the situation to this point, and even managed to produce a new Resentful Evil!"

Venerable Nancang was very angry. Judging from the murals in the temple earlier, their own vision should have been to return to the era when the Ascension Ladder still existed.

Even if there were struggles back then, and various heterodox paths like the Demon Sect, it was far, far better than ten thousand years ago, and far better than now.

So they were dissatisfied, they were suspicious, and they were forced to drag this old, withered corpse to try and take action.

Li Jian was a pawn, lurking into the Immortal Gate, getting close to the target, and probing the reality.

They even acted according to the changing times, attempting to meddle with the two upper-level members of this sect to obtain information without anyone knowing.

As a result, both attempts failed!

Li Jian was killed by Du En, and the influence on Meng Changqing and the others was cleared by their own self-inspections.

"So, difficult junior, does it seem unreasonable for you to come and question me now?"

"Does the senior's unprovoked attack count as being completely in the right?"

"... It is not in the right."

Venerable Nancang's voice was gloomy, lacking the previous dissatisfaction and anger, because it was truly difficult to refute the nature of such behavior.

However, judging from Meng Changqing's form of address, it seemed there were no more hard feelings.

They then went straight to the point: "I wish to beg the senior to bestow upon me the Daoist technique for suppressing evil!"

"Are you sure? When you painstakingly cultivate to the Great Vehicle stage in the future, only to have to pay with your life to try and kill the Resentful Evil, can you really do such a thing?"

"If there is truly no other way, then naturally I can only attempt it. Of course, I will modify it as much as possible before then, refine and perfect it as much as possible, and then use my own life to complete the final step of the practice!"

Meng Changqing's tone became impassioned and unwavering: "To me, that would be dying for a worthy cause. At that time, as long as someone can take over my results, they will be able to gradually clear away the lingering poison of the Resentful Evil in the world and return this world and its people to purity!"

"Good ambition!"

Venerable Nancang couldn't help but offer a word of praise, and then an ancient jade slip flew out from the mud in front of Meng Changqing, which they raised their hand to catch.

"If you want it, I'll give it to you. In any case, even if vulgar people obtain it, they wouldn't dare to learn or use it. I hope you can achieve some results; at the very least, don't be like those Five Great Immortal Sects."

"I will."

Meng Changqing did not hesitate, the voice calm and resolute, causing others to look over involuntarily.

(End of this chapter)