Chapter 109: First Exploration

This divination result was quite clear; there was indeed danger waiting for Wei Yuan. The immortal old man's death state was being sneak-attacked from behind, and he was also cursed by a powerful blood curse, and the blood curse was also accompanied by filth, breaking luck, and other effects. General anti-curse Dao techniques couldn't defend against it at all.

Seeing the result, Wei Yuan felt relieved instead.

Knowing the source of the danger made it easy to handle. Wei Yuan had always been cautious; he didn't trust anyone on this trip, and wanting to sneak-attack him was as difficult as ascending to heaven. And the Grand Void Palace had plenty of means to deal with blood curses. Although the opponent also added filth and breaking luck, among the several small items bestowed by the Tinghai Xianjun, there was a jade thumb ring specifically for defending against all filth effects. As for breaking luck, Wei Yuan sneered inwardly: even a True Lord couldn't break Wei Yuan's luck, so if others wanted to try, they could try as much as they wanted.

The reason this divination was so smooth was mainly because of the formation disk Wei Yuan placed in the formation. This formation disk was made by the Tinghai Xianjun, which instantly raised the status of the formation diagram infinitely, and it could almost be said to be the true Asking Immortal Method.

However, Wei Yuan wouldn't blindly overestimate himself; the preparations that should be made still had to be made. He found a small cloth doll from the silk thread space and squeezed a bit of fingertip blood on it. This small cloth doll was also bestowed by the Tinghai Xianjun, and after applying blood, it could act as a substitute, connecting with Wei Yuan and sharing the damage.

That is to say, if the opponent cursed Wei Yuan, it would be equivalent to cursing the Tinghai Xianjun and Wei Yuan together. Wei Yuan was actually curious to see if he could bear the karma of cursing an immortal.

After finishing all this, Wei Yuan put away the formation disk and messed up the formation diagram on the ground, erasing the traces of this place. It rained here every day, and in less than a day, all traces would be washed away by the rain.

During Wei Yuan's busy period, Xu Wenwu watched very anxiously, twisting and wanting to express some opinions, but Wei Yuan didn't mean to untie the rope on his mouth at all.

A moment later, the three of them got on their horses again, and Wei Yuan also separated a strand of black aura to bolster the three horses, running toward Lan Shen Palace all the way. One shichen later, the three of them stood in front of the mountain gate of Lan Shen Palace.

Lan Shen Palace was built against the mountain, and the mountain gate was built outside the foot of the mountain. At this time, only half a stone pillar remained, and the rest either turned into rubble and scattered all over the ground, or disappeared without a trace. Behind the mountain gate was a gentle avenue leading directly to the first great hall. That great hall now only had the foundation and a few broken pillars burned black. The road from the mountain gate to the great hall could accommodate two carriages side by side, paved with bluestone, but now most of the road surface was covered by mud, and the exposed stone surface was also covered with moss.

The main hall of the Lan Shen Palace was built halfway up the mountain, a full ten-plus miles from the mountain gate. Looking from afar, the main hall had collapsed by nearly half, with the remaining portion still stubbornly standing. However, the surrounding halls had completely turned into ruins.

Behind the main hall was a main peak that rose abruptly from the ground, high and perilous, like a sharp sword piercing the sky. Some side rooms and courtyards where disciples lived were built around the main peak, and now, they too only showed broken walls and ruined pillars.

It seemed that Lan Shen Palace had really been dismantled quite thoroughly; in just a few short years, only half of the main hall remained, and the rest had basically turned into ruins.

"Let's go, let's go in and see." Wei Yuan walked forward first, walking into the dead silent Lan Shen Palace.

In the north district of Quliu Town, in the back of the large mansion, the young swordsman was standing in front of a dignified-looking middle-aged man, unwrapping the bandages on his face layer by layer. There was a striking wound on his nose, even revealing the broken bone inside. There were also several cuts on his forehead and face, with the flesh turned out, already starting to turn white. As the bandages were unwrapped, a foul smell permeated the room, somewhat like the smell of filth, sewage, and leftovers mixed together and left to sit for a few days.

The middle-aged man's face was solemn, carefully examining the young swordsman's wounds, then picking out powder from several medicine bottles and sprinkling it on the wounds. Then his pupils emitted silver light; he should have been using secret techniques like Qi-gazing.

After trying several kinds of medicine powder in succession, the middle-aged man withdrew his Dao technique and said solemnly: "You were injured by a Qi Luck object, but this object is very strange, seemingly virtual and real, and should have a very high status, but it is also floating and gloomy. It smashed your Qi Luck with one strike, causing you to be in a state of bad luck, and the wound was also contaminated with filth, which is equivalent to being cursed by the Wu Yu tribe once. Now your wounds are absorbing the decaying aura around you, so it is naturally difficult to recover."

The young swordsman was somewhat incredulous and said: "A little flesh wound is so complicated?"

"Your injury is more troublesome than poisoning. Hmm, perhaps it can be called Qi Luck Feng Shui poison. What have you done recently to provoke such a powerful enemy?"

The young swordsman was very aggrieved: "I didn't do anything out of the ordinary! I just did what I usually do. I don't know what happened that day; we returned to the mansion normally, but that person suddenly attacked and killed several of my subordinates, and then I felt he wasn't very powerful, so I chased after him..."

The middle-aged man listened and listened, suddenly interrupted him, and then began to ask for details bit by bit, finally saying: "That person was able to kill nine guards in an instant, and you didn't even feel his Dao power fluctuations, let alone know what magic tools or Dao techniques he was good at! How could you feel he wasn't very powerful? Isn't this much more powerful than you!"

The young swordsman said: "I don't know, that's just how I felt at the time..."

"Could it be Qi Luck Fishing? Or some other divine ability?" Thinking of Qi Luck Fishing, the middle-aged man couldn't sit still and said: "Take my token and go find Master Mu Shang, and ask him to take action to cleanse your Primordial Spirit!"

The young swordsman was startled: "So serious? Is it necessary to find Master Mu Shang?"

The middle-aged man's face was gloomy: "It's possible you still have a hook on you, and I don't know what stupid things you'll do next!"

The young swordsman's face was pale. At this time, the housekeeper walked in and said: "Old Master, someone outside wants to see you, claiming to be from the Grand Void Palace."

"You go to the back first." The middle-aged man let the young swordsman enter the back hall, then sat upright. Not long after, a female cultivator walked in, dressed in a dark red robe, with eyebrows like willows and fair skin, having a kind of charm from the inside out.

The female cultivator bowed and said: "Junior is Zhu Yuanjin from the Haotian View of the Grand Void Palace, greetings to Elder Xu."

"Old man Xu Zhiyuan, a branch loose cultivator, cannot afford the title of Senior." The two exchanged pleasantries and sat down separately. Xu Zhiyuan said: "This is a shattered land, with no spiritual energy. I don't know why the Immortal came here?"

"Previously, several Senior Brothers came to Ningxi to explore, but after coming here, there was no news of them. So the palace sent several of us to check what happened."

Xu Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows and asked: "Are there other fellow disciples coming with Fairy Zhu? Why don't I see them coming in?"

"They went to investigate other clues separately. Because my master and Elder Xu Guanwen are old acquaintances, I specifically went to pay respects to the Elder first, and then Elder Guanwen asked me to come find you."

Xu Zhiyuan nodded and said: "Since it was ordered by the Sixth Elder, I will naturally cooperate fully. Fairy Zhu, just tell me what you need, and I will handle whatever I can. You can also stay in the courtyard these few days; it's really not very comfortable outside."

Zhu Yuanjin showed joy: "That would be best; I've been so damp these days that I'm about to drip water."

Xu Zhiyuan smiled and said: "Don't worry, the guest rooms here are all equipped with the Lesser Yang Smoked Wind Formation, so it won't be cold or damp in the room regardless of the season."

Zhu Yuanjin added: "By the way, I heard that your son Xu Jingfeng is outstanding in both sword technique and Dao techniques. I wonder if I could ask him to accompany me these few days? I'm not familiar with the people here, and I just happen to need an expert to guide me."

"That's a coincidence; my son was injured by someone some time ago, and the injury is a bit troublesome. I have already asked him to go to an old friend to treat the injury, and he just left yesterday."

"Alas, what a coincidence. I've long heard that Senior Brother Xu is a heaven-rank high cultivator, with superb attainments in sword Dao, and is also dignified. I wanted to open my eyes."

Seeing that this female cultivator was somewhat frivolous, Xu Zhiyuan felt a stir in his heart and said: "Actually, I have another younger generation in the clan, who can also be considered young and promising, and his appearance is not bad. Why not let him accompany you these few days?"

!.

Zhu Yuanjin showed joy and said: "Thank you for your trouble, Old Xu!"

At this time, Wei Yuan was standing on the ruins of the front hall of Lan Shen Palace, looking at a stone relief carving on the ground. The relief was a huge white snake, entangling several naked women, with the snake tongue wandering over their bodies.

"Ouch! This lewd..." Xu Wenwu blurted out, and then he remembered that Xu Waner was beside him, so he hurriedly remedied: "I mean, it's drawn well..."

Wei Yuan added a strand of Dao power to the rope and sealed Xu Wenwu's mouth again.

After the surroundings were quiet, Wei Yuan pointed his hand, a water flow technique, washing away the accumulated soil and rotten leaves on the ground, allowing the entire relief to be fully revealed.

The giant snake in the relief entangled seven women in total, each with different expressions and charms, all lifelike. The giant snake was even more like it was about to come alive from the carving, with a pair of snake eyes, lewd on the left and tyrannical on the right, each with different expressions.

Seeing this picture, Wei Yuan felt a stir in his heart. In the storybooks of the Lying Flat Inn, there was one about a giant snake achieving Dao and transforming into a human, turning into a scholar to take the imperial examination in the capital. On the way to the capital, the scholar met seven young ladies one after another, each with their own merits, and the experience of staying overnight was completely different, each making people reluctant to part with them.

The next day before leaving, the scholar told each young lady that he only loved her, and that he would definitely come back to marry her after passing the examination, and swore a poisonous oath that if he broke his promise, he would suffer and die.

The imperial list was posted in the capital, and the scholar failed the examination.

It wasn't that the scholar intended to break his oath, but that the human examiners set questions that were too tricky. The giant snake had just transformed and hadn't seen the treachery of the human world, so he answered the questions in a mess. Since he didn't pass the examination, the oath naturally didn't count.

The giant snake then transformed into a scholar again, preparing to return home while traveling, to see if he could meet a few more different young ladies on the road next year. Not long after leaving the capital, the scholar saw a large manor, and a maid recruited him in familiarly, saying that the young lady was waiting in the back courtyard to spend the night together.

The giant snake was familiar with this storybook, so he went to the back mansion happily, only to find a particularly festive main hall, and found seven young ladies sitting at the table together. That night, the room was filled with heat, infinite spring, and harmony.

Snake meat was very nourishing, and the seven young ladies all ate until their faces were flying red, and more than half of the snake meat was left uneaten.

This storybook was written without a beginning or an end. Wei Yuan only treated it as a bit of fun at first, as a cover for practicing the Heaven and Earth Madman in his sea of consciousness. But he didn't expect to see the relief from the storybook at the old site of Lan Shen Palace, and this painting was on the ground of the front hall, which could be said to be quite important.

Lan Shen Palace was also a fourth-rank sect, only a line away from a third-rank blessed land. The mountain gate was a hundred li in radius, not a small family. Even if the sect was destroyed at this moment, there were still many human villages and towns around, and several tens of thousands of people lived there. Such a sect would naturally not be bored enough to spend a lot of effort to carve storybook stories in the front hall. It should be that the relief existed first, and then the storybook. There must be an important story behind this relief.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 110 =====