Chapter 189: Dao Protector

The topic of the human-shaped stone carving was too heavy, so Hua Changxi shifted her gaze from it to the hammer radiating red light in the center: "I heard from Fellow Daoist Baili that this is a divine hammer."

Tong Yao nodded: "Each of the Four Sacred Lands possesses two divine artifacts."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi immediately looked over: "Two divine artifacts? Which two?"

Tong Yao looked at her: "Does Fellow Daoist Hua not know?"

Hearing the surprise in his tone, Hua Changxi was also astonished: "Should I know?"

Tong Yao fell silent for a moment: "Did Fellow Daoist Hua visit Kunmen Pass before?"

Seeing him suddenly change the subject, Hua Changxi was somewhat confused: "Whatever Fellow Daoist Tong wishes to say, please speak directly."

Tong Yao said: "I saw you at Kunmen; this is our second meeting."

Hua Changxi examined Tong Yao; during her visit to Kunmen Pass, it was her first descent into the Nine Netherworlds, and she understood nothing. First, she was captured by ghost officers, and later, due to cooperating with Master Changmei, she nearly lost her life. Throughout that time, she had not befriended anyone.

"Has Fellow Daoist Tong mistaken me for someone else?"

Tong Yao shook his head: "There can be no mistake. You are the one who assisted Master Changmei at Kunmen Pass in rescuing me and other cultivators. Just now, when you condensed the Fire Palm, I recognized you; your Fire Palm is extraordinary, inscribed with the Buddhist 'swastika' rune. Furthermore, the Fire Lotus you just condensed is exactly the same as the one that cultivator used."

Saying this, Tong Yao bowed to Hua Changxi once more.

"I was one of those you carried across the Nether River on Master Changmei's kasaya to escape the Nine Netherworlds. Last time, my injuries were severe, forcing me to depart hastily upon returning to the human realm, unable to thank you in time; please forgive me."

"Fellow Daoist Hua, this is the second time you have saved me."

Hearing him say this, Hua Changxi was truly surprised. The situation during the crossing of the Nether River had been extremely critical, and the cultivators she escorted were all in disguise; she had never imagined Tong Yao was among them.

"Now that you mention it, we seem quite fated."

Hua Changxi did not deny having saved people back then: "However, what does this have to do with whether I know about the divine artifacts of the Four Sacred Lands?"

Tong Yao looked at her in disbelief: "Last time, Fellow Daoist Hua appeared at Kunmen Pass just in time, allowing us to survive disaster and preventing the Talisman Saint Pavilion's brush from falling into the hands of the demon race. This time, when the demon race infiltrated Tang Gu to sabotage the formation eye, it was again your timely intervention that prevented demonic qi from spreading into the human realm."

Hua Changxi asked: "And so?"

Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi, whose clear eyes reflected nothing but the three words 'I don't understand': "...Could it be that you are not a Dao Protector?"

Hua Changxi's expression shifted slightly: "Dao Protector? What is a Dao Protector?" This was yet another piece of information unknown to her.

Tong Yao fell silent, and only after a long while did he speak: "Before the ancient great war, powerful experts had already calculated that the Four Spirit Realms would undergo a great extinction of spiritual qi. To ensure the continuity of our heritage, all five major continents selected Dao Protector families."

"On the Central Continent, other sects and powers may have permanently vanished with the passage of time, but the Five Sacred Lands, due to the Divine Tree and their role as the formation heart and eye of the Demon Prison, are definitely the key focus of the Dao Protector families."

"I do not know the situation of the other Sacred Lands, but the reason the Artifact Saint Palace has not lost its lineage is precisely because of the secret protection of the Dao Protector family. Had the Dao Protectors not acted, the underground fire vein of the Artifact Saint Palace would have long been seized by the imperial family."

"You appeared twice at moments when the Talisman Saint Pavilion and the Artifact Saint Palace faced crisis, so I assumed you were a member of a Dao Protector family."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi also fell silent.

Before this, knowing that many noble and powerful families had long discovered the resurgence of spiritual qi, seizing cultivation resources in advance and embarking on the path of cultivation, she had felt a great sense of urgency, daring not to slacken even slightly in her cultivation.

Now, it turned out there were even more formidable Dao Protector families emerging.

In this world of cultivators, there truly are always stronger individuals above the strong; one cannot relax for even a moment.

Wanting to gauge the depth of the Dao Protector families, Hua Changxi probed: "From ancient times until now, countless tens of thousands of years must have passed. Can the members of the Dao Protector families truly inherit their lineage generation after generation to the present day? Did no accidents occur in between?"

Hearing her question, Tong Yao became fully convinced that she knew nothing about the Dao Protector families: "Members of the Dao Protector families have always lived in secret realms abundant with spiritual qi. Whenever great chaos arises in the human realm, the Dao Protectors will appear, saving the human world to some extent depending on the situation."

"You should know that in Great Jin, mythical legends have always circulated. Aside from those deities and great demons passed down from ancient times, most of what the common people speak of refers to the Dao Protectors appearing in the human realm."

Hua Changxi's eyes flashed with light: "Born in secret realms abundant with spiritual qi, the cultivation levels of the Dao Protectors must surely be very high."

Tong Yao nodded: "That is certain." As he spoke, he glanced at Hua Changxi, wanting to say, 'Your cultivation level is also very high,' and that her divine abilities were formidable; it was precisely for this reason that he had guessed she was a Dao Protector.

Who would have thought it was not so.

Tong Yao looked at Hua Changxi again; if she was not a Dao Protector, then she must be a scion of some other cultivation family.

However, he had never heard of a cultivation family surnamed Hua.

Could she be a rising star?

Seeing Tong Yao looking at her with an inquisitive expression, Hua Changxi interrupted him: "You still haven't told me which two divine artifacts each of the Four Sacred Lands possesses."

Tong Yao gathered his thoughts: "One can guess one of the divine artifacts possessed by the Four Sacred Lands simply from their names. The Alchemy Saint Hall has the alchemical cauldron for pill refining; the Artifact Saint Palace has the divine hammer for artifact forging; the Talisman Saint Pavilion has the brush for drawing talismans; and the Formation Saint Sect has the Zhou Tian Xing Luo Array Disk for deducing formations."

Hua Changxi said: "I know this one; what about the other?"

Tong Yao replied: "The second divine artifact is the same for all Four Sacred Lands: it is a Demon-Slaying Sword."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi's eyes flickered; she now finally understood what kind of sword was depicted on the wooden plaque of the Qihuang Hall. Suddenly thinking of something else, she asked again: "You just mentioned Five Sacred Lands; what is the name of the fifth Sacred Land?"

Tong Yao answered: "The fifth Sacred Land is the Central Sacred Land. Located at the center of the Central Continent, it is the birthplace of the Jianmu Tree. The Jianmu connects the Nine Heavens, the human realm, and the Nine Netherworlds, serving as the formation heart of the Demon Prison."

Hua Changxi pondered: "The four formations of Alchemy, Artifact, Talisman, and Formation are located in the east, south, west, and north respectively. The Central Sacred Land is likely situated in the middle of these Four Sacred Lands, so..." She looked at Tong Yao. "Is the location of the Heaven Department the Central Sacred Land?"

Tong Yao nodded: "Correct."

The fact that the Heaven Department was the site of the Central Sacred Land had been known to the imperial family and various powers for a very long time.

Hua Changxi asked again: "The Heaven Department is under the command of the imperial family; does this not mean the Central Sacred Land has already been controlled by the imperial family?"

Tong Yao shook his head: "Based on my observations, the Heaven Department only obeys the imperial family on the surface to maintain stability in the human realm. However, the most powerful force within the Heaven Department, the Demon-Suppressing Army, has both its Left and Right Generals as members of the imperial family. The Left General, Chu Junyi, is the son of the War King; the Right General, Chu Junling, is the eldest son of the current Emperor."

Hua Changxi knew nothing about the imperial family and asked curiously: "Is the War King the Emperor's brother?"

Tong Yao nodded: "The Retired Emperor had two Empresses: one was the deposed Empress Su, and the other is the current Empress Dowager Zhu. The War King was the son of Empress Su, the Retired Emperor's legitimate eldest son. Had Empress Su not been deposed and the Su family not been exterminated to the ninth degree, the Retired Emperor's throne should have been passed to the War King."

"Alas, Empress Su was deposed, and the Su family was uprooted completely. Although the War King survived, he was exiled to guard the borderlands, where he fought bloody battles until his death, ultimately dying in a foreign land."

"While guarding the borderlands, the War King never suffered a defeat and was honored with the title 'God of War.' After his death, the Retired Emperor bestowed upon him the title 'War King'."

Speaking of these matters, Tong Yao's tone carried some sighs: "As the son of the War King, Chu Junyi was taken in by the Retired Emperor to be raised personally because a fiery qilin auspicious sign appeared in the sky at his birth. At age five, he became a disciple of Wei Zhenjie, the Head of the Heaven Department, later joined the Demon-Suppressing Army, and step by step rose to become its Left General."

"At the imperial family banquet where the Retired Emperor abdicated, Chu Junyi was jokingly referred to by the Retired Emperor as the 'Qilin Son' of the royal family. Because of this, Chu Junyi was feared by many in the imperial family, especially the sons born to the current Emperor, who regarded him as a thorn in their eyes."

"Within the Demon-Suppressing Army, Chu Junyi and Chu Junling also could not stand the sight of each other and were constantly competing."

Hua Changxi treated this news about the imperial family merely as gossip. As for whether the Central Sacred Land was truly controlled by the imperial family, she could do nothing about it, nor did she wish to; as long as it did not affect her, it was fine.

"What should be done about this crack?"

Another human-shaped stone carving had been mostly shattered, revealing a large fissure.

Tong Yao walked over, propped up the stone carving, and said: "Wait until I recover my spiritual power, and I will repair the stone carving."

Hua Changxi: "It can still be repaired?"

Tong Yao nodded: "The formation eye was crafted from realm stones. The Artifact Saint Palace happens to still preserve some realm stone powder, which can be used to repair the stone carving."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi handed over several bottles of Third-Grade Fire Return Pills: "Taking these pills will speed up your recovery."

Tong Yao accepted the pills; seeing they were all top-grade, he looked surprised: "Fellow Daoist, are you also an alchemist?"

Hua Changxi nodded: "I possess some talent for alchemy. Since Fellow Daoist Tong specializes in artifact forging and I in alchemy, we can exchange resources in the future."