Chapter 209: Scheming, the Current State of Yu State

In the Northern Wasteland of Liangzhou, Yu State, a terrifying spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared on the vast Gobi Shore, and the numerous ferocious beasts living in the desert as well as the bandits hidden in the desert were all drawn to this terrifying spatial fluctuation.

Those ferocious beasts scattered and fled, all leaving this area.

Meanwhile, the nearby bandits thought some great relic had appeared in the Gobi Shore, each feeling a beating in their hearts, and they all crept toward the place where the spatial fluctuation appeared.

Above the Gobi Shore, the spatial fluctuation grew increasingly violent, causing severe distortion in the sky within a hundred‑li radius!

In an instant, a huge phantom of a bronze great cauldron abruptly appeared in the void.

The phantom of the bronze great cauldron was extremely terrifying, appearing unobstructed above the Gobi Shore, blazing with brilliant light, so much so that even Liangzhou City a thousand li away could see the sight of the cauldron's appearance.

For a time, all the martial artists of Liangzhou City went mad and rushed to the place where the cauldron appeared.

In their view, the manifestation of this bronze cauldron phantom surely represented a tremendous opportunity.

And obtaining this opportunity would be enough for anyone to defy fate and change their destiny.

After all, when the Tilan Mountain relics first appeared, that Fang Xu of the Ascension Immortal Society relied on the 'first‑rank martial technique' he comprehended within the relics to go from an unknown nobody to a being capable of slaying the Yu Emperor in one fell swoop.

In the sky, after the phantom of the bronze great cauldron appeared, it flickered rapidly a few times and then completely exploded.

Accompanying the disappearance of the phantom of the bronze coffin cauldron, tens of thousands of figures appeared on the vast Gobi Shore.

"Is this Three Mountains Island?"

"How desolate; the heavenly and earthly energy is far thinner than that of the Central Continent."

"Who would have thought the Heaven Mystic Realm still has such a place—it's practically barren compared to the Northern Wasteland of the Central Continent!"

"Are we going to live here from now on?"

"Enough, stop complaining; since this is the decision of the Divine Son and the elders, we must obey."

"Right, at least here there's one thing better than the Central Continent: we no longer have to hide like rats in dark, sunless strongholds."

"That's true; there are certainly no spies from the major powers here, so we can at least live like ordinary people."

"……"

After appearing on the Gobi Shore, the disciples of the Dark Divine Palace began to discuss heatedly.

On another side, Fang Xu, the five Temple Elders, and the heads of sects such as the Three Corpse Sect and the Qi Huang Sect had already gathered together.

"Divine Son, where is this?"

"Liang Deming, the sect master of the Qi Huang Sect, bowed his hands toward Fang Xu and said:"

Fang Xu glanced around and said: "This should be Liangzhou of the Yu State; Liangzhou City lies a thousand li away, and I have been there several times."

"Liangzhou..." Several people silently committed this place to memory.

"Perhaps for a long time to come, they will need to live on Three Mountains Island; remembering everything here is the most basic requirement."

"Divine Son, Evolution God, Venerable..."

At this moment, the head of the Mysterious Gate, Xuan Ji, cautiously glanced at Fang Xu.

He knew Fang Xu had previously lived on Three Mountains Island and had seen the Evolution God; now that everyone had arrived on Three Mountains Island, could they also get a chance to see the Evolution God?

"Evolution God?"

All the sect heads, including several Temple Elders, looked at Fang Xu in surprise.

Fang Xu nodded: "The largest mountain range on Three Mountains Island is Tilan Mountain, and the place where the Evolution God, Venerable, hides is the Tilan Mountain relics."

He did not tell everyone that what exists within the Tilan Mountain relics is the past incarnation of the Evolution God, nor that the Evolution God can only leave the Tilan Mountain relics for a short time.

So the Divine Son has seen the Evolution God!

At this moment, the sect leader of the Three Corpse Sect, Shi Huan, and the senior members of all the sects suddenly realized.

They had thought Fang Xu was truly just an unknown nobody.

They never expected that he was first a disciple of the Ascension Immortal Society founded by the Seventh Elder Qi Shaoyu, then became the inheritor of the Evolution God, and had even personally seen the Evolution God.

"There is one more thing I haven't told you all: the Divine Son's grandfather is precisely the former head of the Mysterious Gate, Fang Yuanshan."

Xuan Ji then added another sentence.

"The Divine Son is a descendant of Elder Yuanshan!"

At this, everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Qi Shaoyu didn't know this.

Fang Yuanshan was actually quite famous in the Dark Divine Palace.

His fame did not come from the Mysterious Gate, but from his own personal charisma.

Back then, the Mysterious Gate was weak and had indeed become one of the weakest forces in the Dark Divine Palace.

At one point it declined to the extent that the sect had fewer than a hundred disciples.

It was Fang Yuanshan who, relying on his personal charisma and outstanding talent, revived the Mysterious Gate's prestige, allowing many Divine Palace disciples to appreciate the charm of the Mysterious Gate's Feng Shui secret art.

It was also Fang Yuanshan who, with the aid of Feng Shui secret art and Qi Men formation methods, helped the Divine Palace recruit much fresh blood and meet many prominent figures of the Heaven Mystic Realm.

But later, due to a traitor's betrayal, the stronghold where Fang Yuanshan was located was besieged, and Fang Xu's grandmother tragically died.

From then on, Fang Yuanshan left the Divine Palace and vanished into the Heaven Mystic Realm.

"The Divine Son actually has this additional identity; if I had known earlier, I would never have wasted resources cultivating Liang Xing that brat to compete for the Divine Son's position."

"Liang Deming chuckled and said, 'Elder Yuanshan, if he hadn't suffered an accident back then, the Divine Son's position would surely have been his.'"

Shi Huan and the others beside him also nodded.

It seems they greatly admire Fang Xu's grandfather, Fang Yuanshan.

"Divine Son, Elder Yuanshan, how is he now..."

"His grandfather has been dead for thirty years." Fang Xu spoke.

"This..."

Everyone was somewhat surprised and found it hard to accept for a moment.

When Fang Yuanshan first left, his cultivation had already reached the Martial Sovereign realm; after all these years, let alone how much his cultivation has increased, just the Martial Sovereign realm alone gives him a lifespan of over a hundred years.

"Did someone kill Elder Brother Yuan Shan?" Shi Huan frowned and said.

In his view, given Fang Yuan Shan's cultivation and proficiency in esoteric arts, on this tiny Three Mountains Island, let alone acting arrogantly, there probably aren't many who could harm him.

Fang Xu shook his head.

Grandfather Fang Yuan Shan's death is shrouded in many mysteries.

He still feels that his grandfather bears too many secrets.

Hmm?

Thinking of his grandfather, Fang Xu suddenly thought of something else.

The map!

When Grandfather initially left the Central Continent and came to the remote Three Mountains Island, it seemed he was searching for a treasure capable of resurrecting Grandmother.

And during his decades of searching, the map he left behind seems to be a world left over from ancient times.

It seems… they can find the entrance to that world, and then let all the disciples of the Dark Divine Temple hide within that world.

Thinking of this, Fang Xu immediately took out the map his grandfather left behind and briefly explained it to everyone.

Upon hearing his words, several temple elders and sect high-ranking officials flashed a hint of delight on their faces.

From the map, the vast world that Fang Yuan Shan found is extremely expansive.

And the world's vastness also means its resources won't be poor; theoretically, the resources of one world would certainly be far better than those of this barren Three Mountains Island.

"Several elders, I have a plan."

Seeing everyone interested in that vast world, Fang Xu directly said: "Right now we have three things to do."

"First, each sect should quickly send people back to secretly bring over all their disciples."

At the Divine Son selection convention, the disciples each sect brought to Tianhuang City are actually their finest elites.

When the Five Emperors of the Great Expansion Dao Sect besieged Tianhuang City, they escaped using the divine cauldron formed by Xing Lin, and the ordinary disciples of each sect are still in their strongholds.

We must now quickly send people back to fetch them; otherwise, if traitors appear among the sects that have left the temple, each sect's stronghold will surely be purged, and the ordinary disciples will suffer heavy casualties.

Everyone nodded; this point must be acted upon promptly.

"Second, the location indicated on the map left by grandfather lies a thousand li away in the Sea of Death; we can organize personnel to go explore it."

He had once explored the secrets of the Sea of Death before leaving Three Mountains Island, but he hadn't obtained much useful information.

Later, in the Stone Coffin World, he also came to the Sea of Death and discovered its secrets beneath.

But at that time the entire Sea of Death had undergone a great battle, left in ruins, and furthermore, Fang Xu at the time had no mood to carefully investigate its secrets.

Now that we intend to take root here with the Dark Divine Temple, we should properly explore the secrets of the Sea of Death.

"Third, I want to make a trip to the Ti Lan Mountain ruins; who wishes to join me?"

Go to the Ti Lan Mountain ruins?

Several people around flashed a hint of delight, for just now from Fang Xu's words they learned that the Divine Yan now resides in the Ti Lan Mountain ruins.

By going to the Ti Lan Mountain ruins this time, might we be able to see the Divine Yan?

You should know that the era of the Three Gods has long passed.

Among them, even the oldest second elder, Zhongli Hui, has never seen the true appearance of the Divine Yan.

If this time they can see the Divine Yan, it would not be in vain for them to have upheld their faith for so many years.

"Divine Son, are you going to bring us to see the Divine Yan?" Shi Huan said.

Fang Xu slightly shook his head: "I'm not sure whether we can see the Divine Yan, but if the Divine Yan wishes to see you all, then it should be possible to see his venerable self."

The Divine Yan's former incarnation had expended great power back then; now it's unknown whether it has recovered.

This trip to the Ti Lan Mountain ruins is because he has an important matter to attend to.

And bringing Qi Shaoyu and the others is also to borrow their strength.

Upon hearing that this trip might not necessarily allow them to see the Divine Yan, everyone instantly felt a bit disappointed.

But thinking that although it's not certain, there is still a chance, they all expressed willingness to join.

"Old man I won't join you in the fun." At this moment, Zhongli Hui suddenly said: "The temple's disciples have just arrived here; everything still needs someone to oversee."

"Old man I will stay behind to help the disciples handle some matters, at least letting them build a temporary foothold."

All around are endless deserts; although these Dark Divine Temple disciples are cultivators who fear neither ordinary cold nor sandstorms, they are still human and need a place to reside.

"Second Elder, this place is not the best dwelling."

At this moment, Fang Xu spoke.

Although temple disciples don't care about these environmental factors, probably no one likes the desolate desert beach.

The place he ideally wants in his heart is naturally the vast world mentioned in his grandfather's map.

Before finding the vast world, the best destination for the Dark Divine Temple disciples naturally is Liangzhou City.

Given the current strength of the Dark Divine Temple, not to mention taking Liangzhou City, even wanting to unify the Three Mountains Island would encounter no problems.

However, they now need to keep a low profile, and moreover, secular power to cultivators of their level is undoubtedly superfluous.

So having a temporary foothold will suffice; later they will surely still need to find a way to counterattack the Central Continent.

After telling his plan to Zhongli Hui, Fang Xu also pointed out the location of Liangzhou City for them.

Zhongli Hui indicated that he understood this.

"Since the Divine Son has decided, let us now act separately."

The first of the three matters: each sect needs to send people back to fetch the other disciples; this is a major undertaking.

Among the crowd, the old lady Left Jiang volunteered and took on this task.

The Left family controls the Red Beauty Chamber of Commerce, possessing countless powerful treasure ships.

With the help of the Red Beauty Chamber of Commerce, transporting other sect's disciples to Three Mountains Island is not a problem.

Thus, each sect dispatched disciples to follow Left Jiang secretly back to the Central Continent, preparing to bring all disciples back as soon as possible.

Among the remaining people, Fang Xu led Qi Shaoyu and others to Ti Lan Shan.

Zhongli Hui, meanwhile, led all the Divine Temple disciples toward Cool Prefecture City.

After the group split up, Fang Xu's party had not gone far when they encountered the first wave of bandits rushing in.

These people had come for the sudden apparition of the bronze grand cauldron's phantom, thinking that a significant relic had appeared here.

Upon seeing Fang Xu and others rushing from the place where the grand cauldron appeared, the bandit leader's expression turned somewhat grim.

He had thought his group would be the first to arrive, but he hadn't expected someone to beat them to it.

Moreover, judging by their demeanor, it seemed they had already surveyed the area and were preparing to leave.

Could it be that the treasures within the relic have already been taken by them?

The bandit chief secretly thought, then sized up Fang Xu's group, wanting to gauge their cultivation.

However, among Fang Xu's group, the lowest cultivation was Yun Wan's, at the ninth level of Martial Sovereign.

The others possessed cultivations of Primordial Martial Realm, Dharma Appearance Realm, and Divine Connection Realm.

Placing Yun Wan's strength on Three Mountains Island, she would be considered a top-tier powerhouse there; as for the rest of the group, they could easily wipe out a city with a casual gesture—far beyond what the people of Three Mountains Island could comprehend.

"Hey, where are you from?"

The bandit chief was still hesitating, unable to see through their cultivation, when a bandit behind him stepped forward to block Fang Xu's group's path, speaking in a heavy, commanding tone.

Fang Xu and his companions were all bewildered.

They noticed these bandits, but they didn't even regard Martial Sovereigns and Martial Masters as worth noticing.

Yet they hadn't expected a Martial Master to actually block them at this moment.

"Divine Son..."

Shi Huan in the crowd glanced at Fang Xu.

Fang Xu nodded.

He understood that Shi Huan was asking whether he could kill.

He also knew that these rascals were the bandits of the Gobi Desert, who often engaged in killing and looting.

Seeing Fang Xu nod, Shi Huan wasted no words, directly waving his hand at the bandits.

In the next moment, the bandits tens of meters ahead froze on the spot, then one by one silently collapsed to the ground.

This little incident was no concern to anyone, and they continued onward.

With their speed, they could have flown straight to Ti Lan Shan.

But for some reason, Fang Xu did not choose to fly, and no one asked further.

This was a good opportunity to take a close look at the situation on Three Mountains Island.

The party quickly crossed the Gobi Desert and arrived at the strategic pass between Cool Prefecture and Central Prefecture—Hidden Dragon Pass.

"Strange, Hidden Dragon Pass actually has no soldiers?" Seeing that a group of sword-wielding cultivators stood outside Hidden Dragon Pass instead of armored troops, Fang Xu felt doubtful.

When he had left the Yu State back then, the Yu State's royal family had already been exterminated, and the Yu Emperor Li Cangwu was killed.

Logically, Jiang Feng should have supported a new Yu Emperor to take the throne.

He remembered that the Yu Emperor Li Cangwu had chosen was his former master, Lu Zhiyuan.

But now…

After his master inherited the Yu Emperor's throne, could it be that he didn't rebuild the court's institutions and raise an army?

Curious, the party passed through Hidden Dragon Pass and headed straight for Zhongzhou City. (End of chapter)