Chapter 465: The Chat of the Big Shots

On the coffee table lay the thick and large "Principles of Spell Separation," a cup of Yuanzhou black tea was still warm, and beside it was a notebook filled with Runes; Chen Shu, however, leaned back to rest for a moment, holding his Mobile Phone in his hands.

Qingcai Keke: Master, how did the promotion go?

Qingcai Keke: @Gate of All Wonders

Gate of All Wonders: Amitabha, everything went smoothly.

Qingcai Keke: Oh, @the wrong person.

Qingcai Keke: @Green Lamp Ancient Buddha

Gate of All Wonders: /smile

Gate of All Wonders: Brother Qingdeng's sleep schedule just happened to cycle to sleeping during the day, he should be asleep by now, so I answered for him.

Grandma Always Says: You even know his sleep schedule? If I didn't know better, I'd think you two were a couple /picking nose

Qingcai Keke: Then I'll wait until the Master wakes up to ask.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: I anticipated that Donor Qingcai or Donor Grandma would surely ask this, so this poor monk stayed up all night waiting.

Qingcai Keke: How did Master Xuanzhen's promotion go?

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, everything went smoothly.

Gate of All Wonders: Is there a difference? /confused

Grandma Always Says: Did he go crazy or act like a fool?

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: A little bit.

Grandma Always Says: Quick! Tell us about it!

Grandma Always Says: Or post it for us to see!

Qingcai Keke: +1

Haoran Zhengqi: /eating melon seeds

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: /front row with a small stool

Just Call Me Luo Huaian: 1

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Apologies, people of the Buddhist Sect value faith and promises; this poor monk promised Junior Brother Xuanzhen that I cannot leak the secret.

Grandma Always Says: Coward.

Qingcai Keke: Boring.

Grandma Always Says: It's just a little social death, what are you afraid of?

Qingcai Keke: Grandma is right. Life is short; one should let out as much light as possible during this brief life, the brighter the better. As for what color this light is, it doesn't matter. And looking at it from another angle, you are both monks; why not just post it? One sacrifices their image, the other sacrifices their credibility, but you bring joy to everyone in the group—isn't that also a meritorious deed?

Grandma Always Says: /complex expression

Grandma Always Says: You make me look very dull.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, as long as everyone can persuade Junior Brother Xuanzhen to nod, I have no problem with it.

Gate of All Wonders: Logging off, have things to do, see you later.

"Sigh..."

I don't see any hope at all.

Chen Shu felt an itch in his heart, extremely curious, yet feeling deeply helpless.

People of the Buddhist Sect are indeed reliable.

What can be done? Chen Shu fell into deep thought.

Messages were still popping up in the group, all from other members either overtly or covertly persuading or even criticizing the two; finally, led by Zhang Dailian, they even talked about holding a referendum to vote out these two people who didn't fit the group's style.

However, the two had stopped bubbling up.

I reckon Green Lamp Ancient Buddha has already fallen asleep; after all, it is staying up late for him. I don't know if Gate of All Wonders is still looking at his phone, but he hasn't spoken again anyway.

The group members, getting no response, also felt quite bored; after denouncing them for a while, they quieted down.

"Buzz buzz."

Haoran Zhengqi: Perhaps Cao Ci is about to start searching for a Forbidden Land.

Gate of All Wonders: Are you sure?

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: How can you tell?

"?"

So you two were lurking?

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth, simply sat cross-legged on the sofa, and lay down to watch.

Haoran Zhengqi: Because of troop movements; the country has deployed a large number of weapons targeting Nine-Tier Cultivators to the surroundings of major Forbidden Lands, while overseas bases and military forces at sea are moving closer to other countries that have Forbidden Lands but insufficient military strength.

Gate of All Wonders: The group owner is awesome.

Chen Shu couldn't help but type.

Qingcai Keke: If Cao Ci wants to use a certain Forbidden Land to fuse with the origin, which one would he choose?

Haoran Zhengqi: Who knows.

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu had been thinking about this question for a long time.

Currently, the Forbidden Lands of the four continents are almost all in the hands of major powers, either within their borders or under their actual control.

But major powers also have their strengths and weaknesses.

The strongest are Yiguo, Yaoguo, and Lanya, though even these countries have not gathered all the Forbidden Lands into their pockets.

One has to admit, Cao Ci is very strong, ridiculously strong. A figure of the level of a contemporary Sword Master, even in history, is considered very strong, and is the most top-tier existence among Nine-Tier Cultivators, but compared to Cao Ci, he still seems to fall short by quite a bit.

Plus, the Ming Sect system is the least afraid of modern weapons; perhaps if Cao Ci went all out, an ordinary major power really couldn't stop him.

Haoran: Everyone can think about it, if you were Cao Ci, what would you choose?

Grandma Always Says: I'd pick the one in the Northern Continent, it's easier to fight.

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: But there are only two Forbidden Land in the Northern Continent in total; if all their power is guarding that place, it wouldn't be easy for Senior Cao to break through, right?

Grandma Always Says: That's still easier to fight than Yiguo or Lanya.

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: /staring blankly

Grandma Always Says: Then what would you choose?

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: Senior Cao Ci has the clone technique, and the clones have the exact same strength as the original body. Most importantly, I've heard that no one knows how many clones he has in total right now; perhaps one could put some effort into that.

Haoran: Very smart.

Grandma Always Says: Hmm, you've got twenty percent of my wisdom.

Door of All Wonders: I've discovered an interesting point.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Seventeen sources, sixteen Forbidden Land.

Door of All Wonders: /thumbs up

Grandma Always Says: Want to know why? If you ask sincerely and earnestly, perhaps Grandma will be merciful enough to tell you.

Haoran: Because there is also the Nanzhou.

Grandma Always Says: Damn...

Door of All Wonders: Nanzhou Island?

Haoran: Not bad knowledge.

Haoran: But you guessed wrong.

Haoran: It is Nanzhou, the true Nanzhou from historical legends, the Nanzhou Continent.

Door of All Wonders:???

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha...

Suddenly Stopped Speaking: Is there really a Nanzhou? But why have I never heard of it?

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: /staring blankly

Just Call Me Luo Huaian:?

Haoran: I only found out recently too.

Haoran: The Nanzhou Continent was sealed off by gods five thousand years ago, and since then it has almost been equivalent to disappearing from our planet. However, major countries often use it as a target range for Zhan Lue Wu Qi; the Zhan Lue Wu Qi nominally launched at Nanzhou Island are actually mostly aimed at Nanzhou.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: And how did Benefactor Grandma come to know of this?

Haoran: @Grandma Always Says

Grandma Always Says: Since you asked sincerely and earnestly, Grandma will be merciful enough to tell you.

Qingcai Keke: Because she returned from Duqin before, fell into the sea, drifted for several days, and accidentally entered Nanzhou. Don't ask me how I know; Zhaoyeqing and I arrived there before her, and it was also because we borrowed the residual Divine Power on Nanzhou that our cultivation gap widened so much compared to yours.

Grandma Always Says: Damn...

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Amitabha, so that's how it is...

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: No wonder your cultivation progressed so fast for a while.

Door of All Wonders: So it was cheating.

Haoran: Actually, with your current cultivation, if you went to check, you would already be qualified to know this information. It's just that you cultivate too fast, to the point that many things have been left behind, but this is also unavoidable.

Door of All Wonders: Is Nanzhou a deserted island now?

Haoran: No, and there are people there.

Door of All Wonders:?

Beauty with Eight-Pack Abs: Then why launch Zhan Lue Wu Qi at it?

Haoran: Let Qingcai say it; he has been to Nanzhou, and after returning, he must have researched it. Perhaps he knows it in more detail than I do.

Door of All Wonders: @Qingcai Keke

Grandma Always Says: Why not let me say it?

Haoran: Quiet.

Qingcai Keke: Because of the war with another Plane.

Qingcai Keke: We are adjacent to a Plane that is about to wither. They are stronger than us because they are heading toward destruction. When drowning, they wanted to gain a chance at survival by seizing our Plane, so our ancient gods and them broke out into a long confrontation.

Qingcai Keke: At first, we were completely at a disadvantage, and only managed to hold on with the help of local advantages and the power of the World Will.

Qingcai Keke: Slowly, the scales balanced out.

Qingcai Keke: Until Shengzu descended; this was a key point in time, representing our shift from a disadvantage to an advantage.

Qingcai Keke: The gods of the other world were unwilling to accept failure, and using the power of their entire world, with the sacrifice of gods and sources as a catalyst, they launched an all-out attack on us, attempting to reverse the situation of heading toward failure and destruction. I don't know the process, but the result was that they failed.

Qingcai Keke: Nanzhou is the residue of that power.

Qingcai Keke: Zhaoyeqing, Grandma, and I have been to Nanzhou. The people there are strange; you can't tell what's strange about them, but they are just very strange. Normal people who go there are eroded by mysterious power, as if they have become an alien race. So that place was isolated, and Nanzhou was divided into two parts: one part is the territory of those who were eroded, and the other part is the Ancestral Court and positions of the exotic beasts. Many exotic beasts gather there to help us resist them.

After Chen Shu finished typing, he drank a cup of tea.

After a while.

Door of All Wonders: Can I speak now?

Haoran: You can.

Door of All Wonders: Is this the origin of the exotic beasts?

Qingcai Keke: Yes.

Door of All Wonders: Many exotic beasts in the ocean that disappear periodically also go to Nanzhou?

Qingcai Keke: Impressive.

Green Lamp Ancient Buddha: Then what about now?

Qingcai Keke: Hundreds of years ago, the other world withered, the gods perished, and all vitality vanished.

Qingcai Keke: We won that war.

Qingcai Keke: But Nanzhou was left behind.

Qingcai Keke: And one more thing.

Qingcai Keke: When I was in Nanzhou before, the Nanzhou Fengyin was already barely holding on.

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: So...

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: Cao Ci wants to use the Nanzhou Forbidden Land?

Haoran Zhengqi: Not very likely.

Haoran Zhengqi: The Nanzhou Forbidden Land is in another part of Nanzhou; it is impossible for Cao Ci to use that Forbidden Land to fuse the origin. If he did, the time required to fuse the origin would allow him to be eroded by the power of the other world, eventually losing his sense of self and becoming an alien.

"Buzz."

Jiu Jiao Luo Huaian Suan Le: So, is our cultivation progressing so quickly, combined with the Divine Power in the marks, just to reclaim Nanzhou? Or to resist the power of the other world that will descend once again after the Nanzhou Fengyin shatters?

Haoran Zhengqi: Perhaps.

Zhong Miao Zhi Men: Very likely.

Haoran Zhengqi: If the power of the other world can truly erode even the Ninth Stage, the only thing that can resist it is Divine Power.

Nainai Zong Shuo: Doesn't the Buddhist Sect have the ability to peer into the future? Call that monk out to speak about it.

Qingdeng Gufu: Amitabha, those futures belong to the gods; they are not futures that this humble monk can peer into.

Qingdeng Gufu: At the same time, because Senior Cao Ci possesses the Heavenly Human Mirror, his final choice of which Forbidden Land to use has nothing to do with "which Forbidden Land is more logical," but rather which one he ultimately deduces to be easier. This is destined to be a contest of mutual speculation regarding each other's thoughts—a confrontation between the Secret Sect, the Mengyue Sect, and the Heavenly Human Mirror.

Qingcai Keke: Then I have a question @Haoran Zhengqi.

Haoran Zhengqi: Please, go ahead.

Qingcai Keke: Is there any news about the Secret Sect senior who is cooperating with the Imperial Family?

Haoran Zhengqi: They have been missing for a long time.

Qingcai Keke: Then who is currently opposing the Mengyue Sect and the Heavenly Human Mirror?

Haoran Zhengqi: I do not know either.

At the same time.

In a room within the Eastern Palace, a man of such beauty that his gender was indistinguishable sat on a chair, holding a Mobile Phone, his face completely blank—having suddenly heard such incredible secrets, his entire brain felt as if it were being ravaged by a storm, his worldview suffering a frantic impact.

Yan Keling was also curled up on the sofa in her home, silently watching the big shots chat, trembling with fear, unable to interject.

Jiang Lai sat on the edge of the training ground, scratching his head as he watched.