Chapter 349: Investigation and Visit

While deep in thought, Du En lowered his body.

With one hand still holding the infant, he pressed his other hand against the keyhole in the gap of the sealed gate, using his power of spatial manipulation to sense along the internal structure, and very easily and quickly captured the corresponding four support nodes.

As long as they were destroyed, this sealed gate, which had been created in haste and already had gaps, would lose sufficient support, allowing it to be easily crushed, forcing the Spirit Mother to float back up to the surface space.

"Sure enough, it seems quite deliberate. If I really chose to do that, it would likely be quite dangerous, and furthermore, I would be stepping, step by step, into some kind of seemingly pre-set routine."

"However, although using means like the Phoenix Blood Spear to forcibly break it open is not something I cannot do, to truly use the Phoenix Blood Spear rashly to force open this door would inevitably be ill-considered and too reckless. If this is exactly what the enemy wants to see, then that would be falling into another trap."

When it comes down to it, it is still because of a lack of intelligence and information.

Therefore, being unable to accurately judge what actions to take is the most appropriate course.

There is, however, one point that is becoming increasingly obvious.

Du En feels that he has actually already fallen into some kind of trap; the situation in this Queguang Realm seems somewhat specifically targeted at him, guiding his actions step by step.

An open conspiracy, is it?

Unless I ignore it completely—no, if I truly ignored it, there would be other, even worse developments! Thinking this, after memorizing the locations of those spatial nodes, Du En chose to step out from the back of this surface space and return to the front silently, intending to first search for intelligence clues in the Queguang Sect's main camp on the front side, not planning to rush blindly to "follow the map to find the horse."

Even if the longer time passes, the more the Spirit Mother recovers, and I fear some unpredictable changes will gradually appear! "That Sect Leader ran away fast."

When Du En returned to the ritual grounds, the crowd had long since dispersed, and Sect Leader Luo Heng had already fled. Perhaps he discovered the situation was wrong and that he might be in mortal danger, so he ran extremely nimbly and should be hidden very securely.

Du En remains stingy with the use of his divine sense, appearing even more cautious.

Because the situation is actually somewhat strange.

Around the ritual grounds, the daily guarding ritualists and soldiers remained, and judging from their behavior, they were unexpectedly normal, without much panic or unease.

If it weren't for the fact that he could confirm from the fragments of the ritualists' conversation that they had witnessed with their own eyes and still remembered Du En snatching the infant, he would have suspected they had their memories wiped.

"It looks more like they are under some kind of evil spell, but the strange thing is, the Spirit Mother is not an existence on the level of a resentment-wraith, and she seems like a wild practitioner who only knows how to wield evil nature. She was first stunned by my top-grade spell, looking like she had never encountered a proper spell before, and then her first reaction was close-quarters combat, which confirms this. Therefore, there shouldn't be anyone here capable of using evil spells. In other words, could that Sect Leader be a member of a proper sect, serving as a keeper here?"

Based on this possibility, he naturally dared not be careless and it was best to be cautious! However, before officially launching an exploration of this Queguang Sect main camp, Du En still had one thing that needed to be resolved first.

"Hmm."

The infant held in one arm had woken up by this time, blinking its innocent eyes at him, one little hand acting restlessly, reaching to its mouth and shaking constantly, finally sucking on it directly.

It was very clear that the child was hungry.

"Moreover, I cannot always hold him while carrying out activities. It is fine under normal circumstances, but it is not very convenient if a fight breaks out at a critical moment..."

Du En pondered, walked to a corner, and pointed a finger; a limit-shrunk version of a Profound Armor Giant Statue, only five feet tall, appeared before him.

He then applied the Earth-Wood Sacred Refining he had just started practicing to further process it, making its form more solid, with layers of artifact prohibitions extending within, divided into three levels, like reactive armor; the first level was a self-detonation defense form, and the second was even more solid and more explosive.

And the innermost layer was for breaking through space to escape, capable of carrying the infant to flee at a critical moment.

To provide a sufficient buffer for the too-frail infant, Du En waved his hand, and the small stone statue unfolded its outer shell, revealing the inner space, whereupon a verdant color emerged—it was lush, vibrant vegetation growing, weaving into a flexible, shock-resistant cradle.

Placing the infant inside, it seemed proper and correct, and he would not get sick.

As for food, that was even simpler; he took in some Qi, filtered it, and then diluted and mixed it to form what could be called spirit milk.

"Smack, smack~"

The little guy ate very happily, then felt there was a bit too little, because it was only the amount of a small spoonful.

But it was enough, even more than enough, enough for him to slowly digest for a while.

"Sleep."

Du En waved his hand, and the infant immediately fell into a deep sleep.

The vegetation cradle protected him, and the Profound Armor stone statue closed.

With this, the necessary measures for this side were almost finished.

At the very last, Du En mused slightly and did not cover it with an Ice Soul shell again.

Because compared to the abnormal environment here, the concealment effect brought by the Ice Soul Art was a bit too normal.

Under normal circumstances, it would be nothing, but under non-normal circumstances, this normality might instead become a counterproductive focal point.

"Anyway, under normal circumstances, I am capable of taking care of this side, and he will not be in any danger."

Thinking this, Du En did not cover it with ice.

Then he turned around and officially began his actions.

The small stone statue took steps and followed closely behind; it was pitch black, and under the illumination of the flames, its specific outline was somewhat unclear. With Du En's current abilities, even without specifically casting concealment spells, those ritualists and soldiers all intentionally or unintentionally ignored it, not focusing their attention on it at all.

Thus walking directly out of the ritual grounds, he heard a bit of noise, followed the sound, and saw a crowd discussing animatedly in front of the main camp.

"What exactly is going on now?"

"Has the Immaculate Holy Infant really been sacrificed to the Spirit Mother?"

"Will the great Spirit Mother not be enraged and abandon her favor and pity for us?"

They were all the devout men and women who had watched the ceremony earlier. After being dismissed, they did not return home, but because of the unease in their hearts, they crowded at the entrance of the Queguang Sect main camp, wanting to get an answer that would put their minds at ease.

It was very clear that although that Sect Leader Luo Heng reacted fast enough and was suspected of being able to use evil spells, the time was too short after all, and Du En's speed in defeating the Spirit Mother was too fast, so it was still not perfect and left some loose ends.

Perhaps he could try to start from here and incite them to mutiny...

Just as Du En was brewing his plans, a tall crown appeared in the crowd's field of vision.

It was the Great Ritualist.

He brought eight ritualists, sixteen ceremonial guards, and several hundred heavily armored soldiers, arriving in a grand procession. In the soldiers' hands, they were also carrying one hundred vats.

Thud! These large vats filled with things landed, immediately making the entrance quiet.

The devout men and women were no longer worried, their eyes filled with longing!

Whatever religious piety they had, in the end, it was all to demand benefits; they wanted both their hearts and their material needs satisfied. Thus, that Sect Leader, out of the idea of pacifying the people's hearts and cleaning up these loose ends, gave orders to the Great Ritualist, resulting in the current development.

"The Holy Infant has been offered, and the Spirit Mother is greatly pleased. Therefore, for this ritual, spirit paste will be distributed in increased amounts. All devout men and women, line up in order and collect your share!"

"Praise the Spirit Mother, bow to the Spirit Mother, the Spirit Mother has ten thousand virtues!"

The people cheered one after another.

Since the infant had indeed been offered to the Spirit Mother, and the Spirit Mother had also distributed spirit paste, their hearts were suddenly calmed, and their greed was suddenly revealed without doubt.

Gazes filled with covetousness were fixed upon those large vats, noses twitching incessantly, desperately trying to inhale a fragrance that wasn't even diffusing, that didn't even exist, their entire faces instantly becoming intoxicated. Du En walked in front of the soldiers, watching them open the vats; as expected, they were filled to the brim with grease.

It was the very grease used by the priests of the Queguang Sect, the kind previously scraped off the corpse of Zheng Xing! It looked like solidified lard, yet somewhat thinner; perhaps it had been cut and diluted.

White, greasy, yet exceptionally attractive, it was a tremendous temptation.

"But there is no obvious evil aura radiating from it; from its appearance, color, and smell, there is actually no attraction at all."

Du En thought to himself, lifting his eyes to look at those devout men and women, as well as the priests.

Pairs of covetous eyes were mixed with expressions of heartache, pain, and secret loathing.

Giving it to others was a huge loss! No matter which side they were on, they all had this mindset, but constrained by some kind of suppression, they could only obey obediently, starting to distribute it while simultaneously lining up to receive it.

One by one, exquisite and gorgeous precious containers were taken out from the bosoms, pockets, and clothes of these people who gathered around the base camp of the Queguang Sect—people who were either immensely wealthy or held power—clearly having been prepared well in advance.

Because the wait in line was quite long, some people, in order to restrain the greed in their hearts, couldn't help but feel smug and began to show off in various ways to those of lower status around them.

They also, by unspoken agreement, began to despise the lower-class people on the outskirts of the central camp together, as well as the "mud-legs" in the thousands of scattered camps surrounding this central camp further out.

In this situation, the functions of the Spirit Paste also surfaced one by one.

It was the most top-tier wealth in this Queguang Star Realm, symbolizing one's piety and status!

Its primary function was to ensure food and clothing.

A single spoonful was enough to keep a person from hunger or thirst for several days, with complete nutrition.

In a situation where one needed to eat, in this incredibly barren underground world, nothing could be more important than this!

And its secondary function was to enhance strength.

Even for the lower-class people who could only receive mercy during the Great Sacrifice Day, with this mouthful of Spirit Paste, over time, they could appear stronger than the "mud-legs" further out, their strength gradually able to match their empty cultivation base.

"Gaining satiety and strength—such factors are what make this thing the most vital resource in this realm, the foundation of the Spirit Mother and the sect's rule, and the root of people's fanatical belief."

People did not need to cultivate, and had long since abandoned cultivation; they only needed a mouthful of Spirit Paste, which was better than any technique or spirit pill... It looked that way, but Du En could see that relying only on this diluted stuff, at most one could only reach the Foundation Establishment perfection stage.

Yet within this Queguang Sect, there were large numbers of Golden Core stage and not a few Nascent Soul stage members; clearly, it would not be that simple.

So he waited silently, waiting until the large vats were emptied, and the soldiers lifted the vats and turned, heading toward a certain place inside the base camp.

Du En naturally followed behind.

There were also priests together; their expressions seemed as if they were worried about those silent soldiers, wanting to supervise them to prevent them from stealing a taste.

"Sigh~ An accident occurred during this ritual, and the Sect Master is now refusing to see anyone; I don't know how it will end."

"Fortunately, the current reserves of Spirit Paste are still sufficient; for now, there shouldn't be much of a problem."

Two priests whispered to each other privately; they clearly still had impressions of the event, so they were filled with worry.

What worried them also included other situations.

"I heard from the High Priest that the Sect Master seems to intend to call back the Holy Sect Army from the south?"

"Hmm? Wasn't it already decided to withdraw them?"

"Eh? There's such a thing?"

"The High Priest only gave the order the other day, how could it be fake!"

"... So that's how it is; then it seems it wasn't caused by today's events, and I feel a bit more at ease."

"Haha, in any case, the Sect Master will shoulder the responsibility! We don't need to worry!"

On the way to the Spirit Paste warehouse, the conversation between these two priests was naturally heard clearly by Du En.

"Power struggles, is it?"

He naturally did not believe this easily, only having some speculation, without basing any conclusions on it.

Then, they arrived at the warehouse.

Pushing open the door, it was a deep and vast space, with vats of Spirit Paste, large and small, stacked high, almost filling the entire room; there had to be at least tens of thousands of vats.

As the two priests said, the reserves of Spirit Paste here did indeed appear abundant now.

It was just that Du En couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

It was a bit too much...

Just as he was thinking, more footsteps came; it was a priest leading several different-looking ceremonial guards who were clearly stronger than ordinary priests and filled with killing intent, coming over aggressively.

The guardians of the Spirit Paste warehouse immediately had one person step forward to meet them.

"What is the urgent matter, my lord?"

"By the urgent order of the Sect Master, withdraw one thousand vats of Spirit Paste; arrange for manpower immediately to escort them and follow us."

"This..."

"Hmm?"

"Understood! This subordinate understands!"

Just like that, even those who had just come over to return the vats were drafted, escorting the thousand vats of Spirit Paste to a certain place in the base camp.

Du En naturally continued to follow behind.

The atmosphere of this team was rather strange; several priests were quite hesitant to speak, but in the end, no one said anything, all silently doing their work, arriving at another area that was heavily guarded, with three layers inside and three layers outside, looking like a military camp.

Or rather, this was a military camp, with the banners of the Holy Sect Army hanging everywhere.

Coming and going were either patrolling soldiers or transport teams carrying supplies.

Armor, weapons, and also bloody corpses.

Not human corpses, but the corpses of demonic beasts.

These transported demonic beast corpses were very close to the Spirit Paste escort team; they should be heading to the same place, or somewhere nearby.

Du En immediately moved closer.

(End of chapter)