Chapter 288: Homeless

……

The Southern Border, on the edge of a region shrouded in black wind.

Xu Chen, Guiling Zhenjun, and their group of eight stood in the air, looking at the vast, sunless black fog before them and the large number of Nether Beasts roaring and surging out from the fog from time to time, their expressions all solemn.

This was the legendary Yelang Ancient Kingdom.

However, after a terrifyingly large-scale collapse erupted here a few months ago, a massive amount of black mist rolled out, shrouding an area of ten thousand miles in every direction.

Once a holy land for many cultivators to hunt for treasures and adventure, it had now unexpectedly become a home for Nether Beasts.

Located at the border between the Song Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom, and deep within the Southern Border, it was a desolate land where few humans lived; thus, after the disaster occurred, the nearby living beings fled or perished, and not a single human figure could be seen for hundreds of miles.

According to the explanation of Seventh Senior Sister Qu Mei, when she and Eldest Senior Brother were searching for the whereabouts of Fourth Senior Brother Chen Yang here, a violent earthquake happened to occur, followed by the collapse of half the ancient city; while the two were fleeing, they were swept into the Mihun Shilin by an array.

The two of them had been trapped in the Mihun Shilin for half a year, almost as long as the time Xu Chen had been trapped in the Minghuang.

"I really didn't expect that in just a few months, the black wind leakage would have become so terrifying. I wonder if the great arrays of Black Wind Ridge and Spirit Fox Valley can hold steady?" Xu Chen was extremely worried.

Chen Yang had been wandering outside for eight years, and now that he was on the verge of returning to the sect, he was naturally more anxious and concerned than Xu Chen, so he said: "Since that is the case, we should return to the sect as soon as possible."

Thus, after the group discussed briefly, Wang Daolin, Zhong Hui, and Lu An each returned to their own sects and families first, while Guiling Zhenjun took Xu Chen and the others to tear through the Void and teleport directly toward the Taiyuan Sect.

Not long ago, the group had just escaped from the Mihun Shilin.

The experience had been incredibly thrilling.

Under the impact of three powerful Demon Beasts that appeared one after another, the Mihun Shilin triggered a restrictive counterattack, the white mist vibrated, and the space became chaotic; if it were not for the fact that Guiling Zhenjun's strength was already at the top level of the mortal world, protecting the group firmly, not a single one would have escaped.

However, the group's ability to escape death was not entirely due to Guiling Zhenjun's merit, but rather the Nether Beast horn in Xu Chen's hand, which was not easy to show off.

Just as the power of the array became increasingly terrifying and Guiling Zhenjun was almost unable to hold on, Xu Chen proposed to make a desperate attempt to escape from the sky.

Thus, Guiling Zhenjun took the group and rushed into the high sky; amidst the chaotic vibrations of the inverted space, Xu Chen sacrificed the horn and urged the remnant soul of the Nether Beast to launch its most powerful impact. Sure enough, under the collision of two powerful spatial rules, a crack appeared in the spatial restriction of the Mihun Shilin, and Guiling Zhenjun naturally seized the fleeting opportunity and successfully rushed out of the array to escape.

After the group escaped, they did not immediately return to the Taiyuan Sect, but went to the Yelang Ancient Kingdom to check the situation, only to find that the black wind had already spiraled out of control, which forced them to rush back to the Taiyuan Sect.

From the Yelang Ancient Kingdom to the Taiyuan Sect, although the distance was a full three thousand miles, for a True Monarch, it was but a moment.

However, when the group flashed out from the Void, the scene before them left them dumbfounded; even though they were still an unknown distance away from the Taiyuan Sect, black mist was already surging into the sky, and within the range of their Divine Sense, it was pitch black and completely boundless.

Xu Chen now had a Divine Sense range of the Spirit Transformation Realm, but he could not even see a shadow of the Taiyuan Sect, which indicated that the area covered by the black wind had long exceeded his imagination.

Guiling Zhenjun naturally saw further, so after some observation, he said: "Deep in the black wind, there are indeed two places where Underworld Qi is leaking; they should be Black Wind Ridge and Spirit Fox Valley, but they are over a thousand miles from the edge of the black wind. The Taiyuan Sect has already collapsed and been severely damaged, and I don't see anyone..."

Listening to Guiling Zhenjun's observation report, Xu Chen, Chen Yang, Qu Mei, and the severely injured Eldest Senior Brother were all filled with worry and helplessness.

They never expected that after being away for a few months, even their sect would be gone; they had now become a group of homeless people.

Judging by the current situation, the great arrays at Black Wind Ridge and Spirit Fox Valley must have collapsed long ago, otherwise the black wind would not have spread so far.

Just calculating by a radius of a thousand miles, the area covered by this black wind had already reached millions of miles.

In such a large black wind region, the number of Nether Beasts inside was impossible to count, numbering at least several hundred thousand.

If all these Nether Beasts entered the areas where mortal humans lived, I fear the entire Great Song would have already seen all living beings perish.

And all the large and small Immortal Sects and folk rogue cultivators of the entire Great Song Immortal World combined amounted to only ten thousand cultivators, and eighty percent of them were only low-level cultivators at the Kaiyuan Realm.

These cultivators, let alone resisting Nether Beasts, would be in extreme danger even if they stayed in the black wind for a long time.

Therefore, this Nether Beast disaster brought by the black wind was almost unstoppable; even if several Spirit Realm Great Cultivators exhausted their Spirit Qi and cultivation, they would be unable to eradicate them all.

Not to mention how many Third-Tier and Fourth-Rank or even more ferocious Nether Beasts were hidden within, no one knew.

Nether Beasts above the Third-Tier could not be dealt with by anyone except for a few Spirit Transformation Great Cultivators.

If there were one or two more Fourth-Rank or Fifth-Rank Nether Beasts, it would be the end for the entire Great Song Immortal World.

With the Song Kingdom territory already rotted to this extent, I fear there was not a single inch of land left for human survival in places like the Eastern Wasteland or the Wu Kingdom.

Just as the group stood in the air, observing, communicating, and feeling helpless, they suddenly heard a long bird cry coming from behind.

"Hee~~"

Xu Chen was very familiar with the sound; he turned his head abruptly and released his Divine Sense, seeing a colorful giant bird flapping its wings and coming from above a mountain ridge several dozen miles away.

This was the Third-Tier Spirit Sparrow that Lan You had given him.

Seemingly sensing Xu Chen's familiar Divine Sense aura, the Spirit Sparrow excitedly flapped its wings, turning into a colorful blur of light as it sped over.

On the back of the Spirit Sparrow, Jiu Shixiong Lu Yuan was hugging the bird's neck in terror, feeling only the wind like thunder by his ears and the vast mountains flashing by before his eyes. When the Spirit Sparrow slowed down and stopped, he discovered that there were a few people in front of him, and they were all very familiar.

"Jiu Shixiong!"

Xu Chen was overjoyed and stepped forward to grab Lu Yuan's arm.

"Ju... Junior Brother?!"

Lu Yuan felt as if he were dreaming; he rubbed his eyes hard, looked again, and discovered it really was Xu Chen. He immediately leaped off the Spirit Sparrow's back and pulled him into a bear hug, his eyes reddening with excitement as he said: "Junior Brother, you... you didn't die! We all thought you were dead!"

Xu Chen also patted Lu Yuan's shoulder and back hard, excitedly saying: "I have a tough life; I survived again. Look at who else came back this time?"

Xu Chen let go and pointed to Chen Yang behind him.

"You... are you Fourth... Fourth Senior Brother?" Lu Yuan was instantly even more bewildered and rubbed his eyes hard again.

"Ninth Junior Brother, it is me. Long time no see; I almost thought I would never be able to come back!" Chen Yang was even more excited than Xu Chen, stepping forward to hug Lu Yuan tightly.

"Am... am I dreaming!"

The two hugged tightly; Lu Yuan felt it was incredibly unreal. However, looking at Qu Mei and Eldest Senior Brother Qin Zhao standing to the side with red eyes, he was suddenly startled, let go, and stepped forward to grab the pale-faced Eldest Senior Brother: "Eldest Senior Brother, your... why has your aura become so weak?"

Eldest Senior Brother grinned and said: "Because I self-detonated my dantian, but fortunately, I didn't lose my life!"

Lu Yuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning; he opened his mouth wide and was completely stunned.

Xu Chen stepped forward at this time and patted Jiu Shixiong's shoulder: "Jiu Shixiong, don't ask too much for now. That we were able to return together this time was indeed a narrow escape from death. Let's talk about these things slowly after we go back. You tell me about the situation of the sect first. Oh, right, let me introduce you; this is Senior Guiling Zhenjun from Yuqing Hall."

"Guiling Zhenjun?!"

Looking at the thin, tall, strange cultivator in front of him, Jiu Shixiong could feel the terrifying aura radiating from him, deep as an abyss and impossible to probe. However, this name left him completely confused; after a long time of chaos, he bowed and stammered: "Senior, please forgive me; this junior did not know that Yuqing Hall had a fourth True Monarch."

Guiling Zhenjun smiled and waved his hand: "This poor Daoist has been missing from Yuqing Hall for seven hundred years. I haven't even heard of the three Great Cultivators currently in the sect, so it is only natural that you don't know me. What crime is there?"

"Seven hundred years?" Lu Yuan's mouth opened another circle, unable to close at all.

Xu Chen hurriedly explained: "Senior Guilingzi is a Great Cultivator from several generations ago at Yuqing Hall, having been in the Spirit Transformation realm for over seven hundred years. However, he is now a Spirit Transformation Divine Monarch, not an ordinary True Monarch..."

"True Monarch?" Lu Yuan shuddered all over and was completely stunned, his head buzzing, and he didn't hear the rest of what Xu Chen said at all.

After Lu Yuan finally came back to his senses, Xu Chen asked a few questions and learned that the Taiyuan Sect had already relocated its mountain gate to Heming Mountain, thousands of miles away, so the group decided to go to Heming Mountain first.

Thus, Ghost Spirit True Monarch once again performed the art of teleportation, taking everyone and a Spirit Sparrow to soar through the air, and two quarters of an hour later, the group appeared on a beautiful mountain peak surrounded by towering mountains and ridges.

Almost the moment they appeared, two powerful bursts of Divine Sense suddenly swept over them; the auras were still familiar, belonging precisely to Sect Leader Xuanhe Zhenren and Third Elder Xuanfeng Zhenren.

Ghost Spirit True Monarch knew these were the elders of Xu Chen's sect, so he restrained all his aura, allowing the two bursts of Divine Sense to sweep over him one after the other, and then two figures flashed out from two simple Taoist temples on the mountain ridge, standing before the group in an instant.

(End of this chapter)