Chapter 697: The Hanging Mountain, Flying Island, and Immortal Qin Affairs

Clouds and mist surged halfway up the Hanging Mountain of the Yingzhou Pavilion, where dense spiritual energy condensed into fog and drifted into rosy clouds.

Qian Chen perceived that a formation was also laid out here, shrouding the entire immortal mountain's hanging peak. Within it lay a separate world; forbidden spiritual light flickered in the void, layered and stacked, as if many levels of space had been opened up.

The Yingzhou Pavilion's investment was immense; they had locked nine spiritual veins within the immortal mountain.

Without the nourishment of earth qi, an immortal mountain could at most sustain one medium-sized spiritual vein, but by locking nine here, they were able to create such thick spiritual energy.

Yet to maintain it, they had to continuously invest heavenly treasures transformed from the essence of earth qi, such as spirit jade and earth milk, to nourish the spiritual veins.

The resources the Yingzhou Pavilion had expended on this hanging peak of the immortal mountain were likely a figure that could be called astronomical.

Near the edge of the immortal mountain stood a pavilion, as if intricately built from jade, constructed above a waterfall, protruding from the cliff and hanging halfway in the void.

This was the reception platform for guiding visitors into the Hanging Mountain.

The pavilion had flying corridors and hanging ladders leading to a massive palace faintly visible within the immortal mountain. The palace was extremely magnificent, guarded by several Longbo people dozens of zhang tall, which set it off as exceptionally towering and grand.

It stood within the immortal mountain like a jade mountain.

That was the most famous Yingzhou of the Yingzhou Pavilion. Although it was not a magic treasure refined into existence, the resources the Yingzhou Pavilion used to build it were enough to refine dozens of magic treasures!

Its materials were extremely luxurious; the entire body was like mutton-fat white jade, crafted from the extremely precious spirit material, Linglong Jade.

The most wonderful thing about this jade was that when the wind blew, it would ring with Linglong immortal music, pure, natural, and incomparably beautiful.

The best quality Linglong Jade was known as Linglong Miaoyin Jade. Qian Chen had once seen a magic tool refined from Linglong Miaoyin Jade hanging in front of the Cloud Sky Palace.

But although that piece of Linglong Jade was of high quality, its volume and value were likely ten thousand times lower than this immortal palace!

Moreover, the texture of Linglong Jade appeared extremely fragile, but it could resonate and dissolve the immense force struck against it into sound. Even if a divine ability borrowed the power of heaven and earth to attack it, it would be returned to primordial qi, and it could even counter-borrow this immense force's resonance and divine ability primordial qi to evolve into sound-killing!

A single piece of Linglong immortal jade might be relatively fragile, but such a mountain of jade piled into a palace, spread with forbidden formations...

Once activated, it was likely enough to dissolve Great Completion divine abilities or withstand the attacks of several magic treasures...

The Linglong immortal jade flowed with the color of clear springs, reflecting dots of flowing rainbow light. There was a clear and lingering tinkling sound, like the remaining echoes of a jade chime, ceasing and then rising again, making one clear their heart and forget their worries...

Ning Qingchen rode a green ox and landed on that high platform. Stepping onto the jade platform composed of hundreds of pavilions of varying heights, she saw young boys and maidservants on both sides who were either carved from pink jade or pure and refined, and could not help but whisper, "The Yingzhou Pavilion has such a grand investment!"

"Although these boys' cultivation bases are slightly low, they are still practitioners! To be sent here to entertain guests!"

There were about hundreds of pavilions on the jade platform to welcome guests, which meant thousands of disciples and maidservants!

In the Central Lands' Southern Jin and Northern Wei, unless it was a sect like Luo Fu or Meishan, who could bring out so many practitioners?

Even the Jialan Temple, the number one Buddhist sect in Northern Wei, likely didn't have that many little novices!

Qian Chen smiled and said, "Overseas is not like the Central Lands. These boys and maidservants are all demon spirits; they have long lifespans and a long shelf life, and there's no need to provide for their cultivation. They are like Dao soldiers, mostly sold by the Twelve-Story Pavilion and supplied by the Long Gong side!"

"The sect disciples of the Central Lands' immortal sects are all properly cultivating the Dao; which one of them isn't like a two-legged gold-swallowing beast! Like the Daoist academies of our Daoist sects recruiting disciples, the outer sect disciples mostly come from aristocratic families and cultivate at their own expense, requiring large subsidies every year!"

"If they recruited thousands of disciples like them, could the sect even survive?"

"If it were the demonic path, it would indeed be somewhat possible. They emphasize an output ratio; generally, disciples with too much investment and no output don't live to the time when they consume resources! Recruiting tens of thousands of disciples every year is commonplace. Anyway, raising a realm eliminates ninety percent; they are all resources supplied for the higher-ups and disciples of the same level to advance..."

Qian Chen revealed a strange light in his eyes when he said this, looking somewhat fascinated.

Ning Qingchen hurriedly pulled him and asked again, "I heard from Ning Ning Shimei Si that when you and she entered the Jin Ling Cave Heaven last time, you saw many hanging mountains and floating islands left by the Fangxian Dao! How do they compare to this Yingzhou Pavilion's?"

Qian Chen smiled and said, "They are much more imposing than this!"

"Speaking of which, the hanging mountains of this Yingzhou Pavilion and the Star-Scattered Heaven built by the Fangxian Dao are fundamentally the same; both use star primordial magnetic crystals within the mountain body to construct formations, using primordial magnetic repulsion to hang and fly!"

"This one of the Yingzhou Pavilion should also have been found as a remnant of the Immortal Qin alchemists and remodeled!"

"In the Star-Scattered Heaven, it only counts as medium-sized."

Ning Qingchen revealed a trace of expectation after hearing this, sighing in her heart: I wonder what kind of scene it is to have mountains like this immortal mountain lined up and hanging in the sky!

There was a trace of fascination!

Qian Chen stared at the immortal mountain and said calmly, "However, in the hands of the Yingzhou Pavilion for so many years, they have invested huge resources and remodeled it a lot. For example, the spiritual veins locked in the mountain and the formations protecting the hanging mountain! When it comes to it, few of the hanging mountains and floating islands in the Star-Scattered Heaven can compare."

"But there are about hundreds of thousands of hanging mountains and floating islands in the Star-Scattered Heaven, arranged into a remnant formation suspected to be the Primordial Zhou Heaven Star Array."

"Tens of thousands of floating islands and hanging mountains operate according to the formation; one combined strike would likely have the power to kill a Nascent Soul True Immortal, and moreover..."

Qian Chen did not continue speaking—

That Star-Scattered Heaven in the Jin Ling Cave Heaven, which gathered hundreds of thousands of hanging mountains and floating islands, was presided over by an Immortal Qin Dharma Spirit at the Dao Lord level.

Below the Nascent Soul, no matter how many came, they would all die.

Even if it were the Nascent Soul True Immortals rarely seen in the Earth Immortal Realm, if all the old monsters of the major orthodoxies in the Earth Immortal Realm today, and even the Nascent Souls hidden in corners, were brought out, it is unknown if they could break the outer formation of that Star-Scattered Heaven.

The main body of that Dharma Spirit was still a top-tier Post-Heaven Spirit Treasure, a war heavy weapon of the Immortal Qin, a Luo Heaven Immortal Tool—one of the Twelve Golden Men.

Zhu Jiuyin was already gradually transforming into a Demonic Path Dao Lord. Even if a Dao Lord really broke in, Qian Chen felt that Zhu Jiuyin likely had a greater chance of winning. He still didn't know whether Zhu Jiuyin was the Dharma Spirit of the Immortal Qin Luo Heaven Immortal Tool or the remnant soul of the Candle Dragon seizing the body.

Anyway, just treat him as a brand-new existence!

Last time they ascended the Hanging Mountain, both the righteous and demonic paths only touched the periphery and didn't see the core at all.

Who knows how much of the core power of the Fangxian Dao Zhu Jiuyin retained?

Even if hundreds of Nascent Soul-level Immortal Qin soldiers flew out of that Star-Scattered Heaven, Qian Chen wouldn't be surprised.

If the backer of the Yingzhou Pavilion really was the great alchemist Xu Fu who betrayed the Immortal Qin in the past, this person seized a complete Immortal Qin fleet and even obtained a Golden Man; his strength is likely not inferior to Zhu Jiuyin's side!

The little foundation revealed by the Yingzhou Pavilion's immortal mountain today is likely not even one-ten-thousandth of his family wealth.

Of course, the Immortal Qin went against the heavens and was wiped out by the Heavenly Court.

If remnants like Zhu Jiuyin and Xu Fu dared to reveal even a little, it is likely that the Heavenly Court's Ministry of War divine generals would immediately lead an unimaginably terrifying Heavenly Court army to descend and wipe them out!

In the Return to Ruins, Qian Chen unearthed many secrets and knew only more than the Ear Dao God.

Immortal Qin remnants, whether they have already betrayed or are still loyal to the Immortal Qin, once they appear, they will touch a certain nerve of the Heavenly Court.

The Heavenly Realm likely will never tolerate things related to the Immortal Qin appearing in the world again!

The Fangxian Dao, which hid in the Jin Ling Cave Heaven and still encountered a great calamity, is proof...

"It seems that when the Immortal Qin struck at the heavens in the past, they truly stabbed the lungs of that Jade Emperor! The Zhou Tian Starship, virtual gods; the Luo Tian magic treasures, the Twelve Golden Men, the Immortal Qin terracotta soldiers, and even the Epang Palace and the Boundary Sea Great Wall!"

"The Western Kunlun Queen Mother's country was leveled just like that; the strength of the Immortal Qin in the past really didn't seem to be below the Heavenly Court..."

"Look at the Earth Immortal Realm today; Nascent Soul True Immortals are the peak! The Immortal Han at least had hundreds of Nascent Souls! It really is one generation worse than the last... How can this Earth Immortal Realm still be called the base camp for opposing heaven and cutting down gods?"

Qian Chen and Ning Qingchen walked along the flying corridor toward the Yingzhou Treasure Palace.

While measuring the immortal mountain with their feet, they were pinching their fingers to calculate the flaws in the immortal mountain's formation and the formation qi mechanism of the star primordial magnetic crystals hidden in the mountain.

"This immortal mountain counts as a huge war magic tool. The so-called treasure palace and immortal pavilion are just a part of its function, used to earn resources to maintain the formations and restrictions here!"

The flying corridor was like a rainbow bridge crossing the valley, with mysterious cranes crying leisurely as they flew past, but Qian Chen was saying things that spoiled the scenery on the bridge.

"The Yingzhou Pavilion sent this immortal mountain out; I'm afraid they don't have any good intentions. Originally, I only had a fifty percent certainty that this treasure meeting would have trouble, but now that I've seen this immortal mountain, I have seventy percent certainty... there will definitely be trouble!"

Qian Chen was not ashamed at all!

The Yingzhou Pavilion sending out such a well-hidden trump card as the immortal mountain only increased the probability of trouble by twenty percent.

And he himself created fifty percent of it!

Even Ning Qingchen beside him knew clearly that the treacherous situation in the East Sea and the various omens of calamity were inseparable from her senior brother.

The great calamity overseas can be said to have been caused single-handedly by this person! If one were to say the Yingzhou Pavilion had ill intentions, then this senior brother of theirs was holding a black heart through and through.

Holding the Dao Dust Pearl up to the sunlight, one might truly be able to see that the heart of the pearl is black.

Just as Qian Chen and Ning Qingchen stepped into the Yingzhou Treasure Palace, they happened to see the White-Browed Soul Transformation of the Three Mountains Hall and the Soul Transformation True Person of the Kong Que Palace; right beside them were Xiao Yu and the other two.

At a glance, the three of them looked unwilling, having been forcibly invited here.

The White-Browed Soul Transformation even smiled and said to them gently: "It was a good intention to rashly invite the three young friends to attend the treasure assembly. This sexagenary grand assembly is a major event of ours overseas; the rare treasures and peerless spiritual objects that flow out from it each time are countless."

"If the three young friends take a fancy to anything, just speak up; it will all be recorded under this old man's name."

The Soul Transformation of the Kong Que Palace also said indifferently: "This time, we seven great immortal alliances have brought out all our foundations to protect this sexagenary treasure assembly. The flying ship immortal city is empty, and we really dare not leave the three young friends there."

Xiao Yu's expression was calm as she slowly said: "Aren't you afraid that I might mess up the treasure assembly too?"

"This Yingzhou Pavilion is a rare treasure, and with several of us Soul Transformation True Persons here, the three young friends are welcome to try..." The Soul Transformation of the Kong Que Palace revealed a trace of arrogance.

Xiao Yu and the old Daoist exchanged a glance, secretly thinking: "Try it and you'll die! With so many Soul Transformation experts, who would dare!"

"Let's try it then!"

Qian Chen and Ning Qingchen exchanged a glance, and seeing the surprise in Yan Shixiong Sister Ning's eyes, Qian Chen felt eager to try—

How about trying a few evolutions of the Zhou Tian One Dream?

At this moment, a commotion suddenly came from outside the treasure palace. The dense crowd of cultivators pouring into the palace suddenly parted, revealing a group of people. Those people all had extraordinary temperaments, and terrifying pressure surged around them. Leading them was a man with faint golden scales hidden between his brows.

He scanned the surroundings, and upon seeing a person in the distance, his expression immediately turned gloomy, and he sneered repeatedly.

"Wang Longxiang! This time there is no green ox to save you! Just wait, you won't be able to walk out of the Flying Ship Archipelago!"

The Soul Transformation experts of the Seven Immortal Alliances hurriedly extended their spiritual sense, and faint Soul Transformation auras enveloped the young man to warn and deter him.

The several old men beside the young man, however, revealed auras not at all inferior to those few, and the two sides stood in a standoff...

Wang Longxiang held his long sword, standing in the crowd, silent and very low-key; only seeing that man seemed to awaken something in him.

"You are Ao Bing?"

Wang Longxiang said indifferently: "It seems I didn't kill enough in the Profound Water Array; you splashing loaches actually dare to come again!"

"Wang family brat, overseas is not the Central Lands! It is not a place where your Wang family can run rampant! The Wang family only relies on a Wang Dao; you dare to kill the true dragons of my Dragon Clan, even if Wang Dao came now, he couldn't protect you!" an old man beside Ao Bing said majestically.

"It seems the Dragon Clan is prepared to use their Primordial Spirit-level foundation."

Wang Longxiang said: "Spiritual treasures, or an old dragon of the Primordial Spirit level?"

"You used two spiritual treasures in the Profound Water Array to set up the great array, but it was of no use. You were still killed like loaches by others..."

Ao Bing said coldly: "Just wait! You and Shaoqing, as well as that sword immortal Lu Chunyang, and that green ox! My Dragon Clan will not let any of you go. Those who have stained themselves with the blood of a true dragon, even if they reincarnate for three lifetimes and peel off their own skin, I can still smell the Dragon Clan blood on them! This grudge must be avenged!"

Qian Chen, whose body was almost dyed red with dragon blood, tilted his head along with the green ox to look at him.

Ao Bing turned his head and headed toward the balconies protruding around the Yingzhou Treasure Palace. When passing by Qian Chen, he specially glanced at the green ox, his gaze sweeping over like a knife, but in the end, he still passed by this butcher whose hands were stained with the blood of countless dragons!

On the balconies were private rooms covered by seals. Below, cultivators were swarming, and from the upper floors, one could clearly see every move in the main hall.

The balconies led directly to the inner palace, so entering and exiting would not appear in the eyes of ordinary cultivators, and with the seals of the Yingzhou Treasure Pavilion blocking, their identities would not be exposed.

These were all reserved by the Seven Immortal Alliances for distinguished guests, and the owner of each room had an extraordinary identity!

And the Dragon Clan never hid it, swaggering toward the No. 5 balcony on the far east side, which was noted in people's hearts.

The Long Gong is wealthy across the four seas; when it comes to financial resources, few overseas immortal sects can compete with it. Most people knew the location of the Dragon Clan, and if they wanted to bid for something, it would inevitably make everyone avoid them; of course, it might also attract snipers from certain people.

Qian Chen also took out an invitation and was led by a maid to a private room on the second floor. Although it was not as good as the nine heavyweight balconies, it could still relatively hide his identity and clearly observe everything in the main hall.

At this time, the treasure palace was surging with people, crowded with cultivators, and almost every seat was taken.

"It's Uncle-Master Xie!"

Ning Qingchen pointed to the side, where a group of Shaoqing disciples arrived together.

It was still the same down-and-out appearance, with the drunk Xie Jianjun leading the team.

He was staring blankly downstairs at this moment, not even noticing Qian Chen and the other...