Chapter 344: Gate

350. Chapter 350 Gate

The court…… not…… the imperial palace knows Death Valley better than anyone thinks.

As a die-hard confidant of the Kang Qian Emperor, Tianshi knows more inside information than the court officials who jointly plotted against Governor Hu this time.

Tianshi actually knows the greatest peculiarity of Death Valley: that the Longevity Peach tree produces its fruit by absorbing human life force.

The reason they drive jianghu martial artists into the valley to scout is not because they are unwilling to lose the court's strength, nor because the court intends to weaken the jianghu forces.

They simply want to feed that Longevity Peach tree.

Only after feeding it can the thing buried beneath the Longevity Peach tree have a chance to be unearthed.

According to royal secret reports, the last time they barely satisfied this condition and were about to unearthed that thing, it was ruined by a peak Void Refinement cultivator of the Human Immortal Martial Dao who had little lifespan left.

Once the Longevity Peach leaves the tree, the seal beneath its roots will reactivate.

Then trying to unearthed it again becomes impossible.

This time, Death Valley has finally reached the point when that thing can be unearthed again, and the Kang Qian Emperor decided to preemptively eliminate the threat.

Driving jianghu martial artists into Death Valley under the guise of exploration, but actually to feed them, is just one of many methods.

Tianshi pondered languidly, spaced out for a moment, and did not continue monitoring the surveillance feed.

"Sir…… sir, there's a situation."

At that moment, a local official who had defected from below, seeing that no one else noticed the anomaly, gritted his teeth and spoke up to warn.

"Huh?"

Tianshi glanced over displeased.

Though his gaze held no killing intent, it frightened the official to the point his soul almost left his body.

During this period, the local officialdom has experienced earthquakes, one after another.

No one knows when or why, but people will be dismissed, thrown in jail, or meet a gruesome death.

In the Imperial Music Bureau, many relatives of convicted officials have appeared.

Many former sisters-in-law and nieces have fallen into it, becoming tainted by worldly dust.

This official even took time to visit and console them, engaging in deep conversation, sincerely leaving something behind.

Thinking of those weeping sisters-in-law and nieces, the official grew even more afraid.

He feared that if he met a bad end, his wife and daughter would suffer the same fate, relying on others' exchanges and donations to survive.

But now that it's come to this, regret is useless; the official gritted his teeth and said: "Sir, the two daughters of Hu Shengqing, whom you have been focusing on, have gone missing."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, Tianshi flew into a rage and immediately glanced at the surveillance screen.

He starkly realized that the five-person squad and Hu Songqi's figures were nowhere to be seen on the screen.

"What's going on?"

Staring fixedly, aside from the mountains and forests of the valley, he could see nothing else on the surveillance screen for a while, then Tianshi finally asked languidly.

The official replied: "Hu Shengqing's illegitimate daughter entered the peach grove, while the team containing his legitimate daughter entered a white mist, after which their figures vanished."

"Really?"

"I, your subordinate, am certain."

Tianshi gave the official, whose tone was firm and resolute, a few deep looks, then grinned: "Good! You're not bad!"

"Thank you for your praise, sir."

The official fell to his knees with a thud, kowtowing.

"Hahaha……"

Seeing the usually proud and upright scholar now so obsequious before him, Tianshi couldn't help but burst into a hearty laugh.

This feeling is truly exhilarating.

"Get up. I, the Superintendent, recommend you as Deputy Superintendent; I hope you won't disappoint His Majesty, the court, or me."

"Thank you, sir."

The official kowtowed again, then rose, declaring: "Your subordinate will follow only your lead, sir."

"Hmm. Alright."

Tianshi nodded in acknowledgment, then returned to monitoring the surveillance feed.

He wanted to see how much of a commotion Hu Shengqing's two daughters could cause.

The bigger the commotion, the better.

Only then can we completely neutralize Hu Shengqing's plot to rebel, and kill Hu Shengqing without the world feeling anything.

The official let out a long sigh.

Not only did he save his own life, but he also gained three ranks.

Not bad, not bad; it's worth the risk he took.

Tonight, returning to the city, he will share this good news with the former sisters-in-law and nieces, bringing some joy to their miserable lives.

In Death Valley.

Hu Songqi entered the peach forest/cliff and immediately lost consciousness.

The five-person team walked safely across the ice crystal path created by Hu Suqi, passing the cremation site.

However, at the end of the path lay a thick fog.

In Lin Ke's perception, this fog besides obscuring vision had no other harmful effects.

It was perfect for escaping the court's surveillance, so he led the team straight into it.

Walking in the fog, the two biggest difficulties are reduced visibility and labored breathing.

After all, it's large particles; the respiratory system naturally resists.

But these two points are nothing for the five-person team.

Hu Suqi didn't wait for a greeting; she actively cast a technique, summoning a fist-sized ball of light that hovered before her, illuminating all directions.

At the same moment, Lin Ke finally acted, using a secret art to create five air-filtering light shields.

"What technique is this?"

Hu Suqi toyed with the intangible yet substantive air-filtering light shield in her hand, utterly astonished.

She increasingly felt that Lin Ke's technique truly formed its own system, a kind of technique utterly distinct from fangshi, Daoist arts, ancient witchcraft, and evil witchcraft.

"Just use it; it can't be explained in a sentence or two."

Lin Ke isn't just being possessive of his own technique; he truly can't explain it.

When he now casts techniques, aside from the teleportation after Li Shuwen's guidance, he has deeply contemplated the principles.

Most of the time, it's just him "thinking it over".

For example, now.

Lin Ke pondered the need for something to filter the air, and thus grasped this secret art.

The reason it's called a secret art rather than witchcraft is that Lin Ke knows the principle is unclear and cannot be disseminated, so it doesn't qualify as witchcraft.

"Oh."

Hu Suqi didn't press for details either; she slapped the air-filtering light shield onto her face, experiencing it firsthand, hoping to reverse-engineer the principle.

Many of the ancient witchcraft techniques she masters are obtained this way, by reverse-engineering from those ancient witchcraft artifacts.

"Junior brother, where are we headed next?"

Shi Shixiong spoke up at this moment to ask.

After entering the mist, the five-person team, following Lin Ke's signal, had already halted in place for a while.

Now that the problems of low visibility and breathing difficulty have been solved, we should continue onward.

"Wait a bit longer."

Lin Ke replied, while gesturing for the others to pay attention to what lay ahead.

Shi Shixiong, Min Rouhua, and Xu Huiyun, three pure human immortal martial artists, only after Lin Ke's reminder realized that the mist was not merely mist.

The scene before them kept shifting, never settling on a fixed form.

"What's going on?"

Shi Shixiong immediately voiced his doubt.

Min Rouhua and Xu Huiyun of the Mingxin Sword School perked up their ears, also eager to know the cause.

Lin Ke chuckled: "We'll have to ask Sister-in-law Suqi about that."

"Huh?"

Shi Shixiong looked at Hu Suqi.

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't do anything!" Hu Suqi snapped, giving Shi Shixiong a fierce glare.

You believe whatever your junior brother says?

Seeing this, Lin Ke didn't rush to explain himself, but instead focused on the ever-changing scene ahead in the mist.

After a moment, Lin Ke shouted: "Pay attention, you must keep up with me!"

As his words fell, Lin Ke stepped forward, standing before them, fixing the surrounding space.

All four were elite among elites; having been forewarned, they immediately followed his action.

Confirming that everyone was now within the same space, Lin Ke withdrew the mental power that had been holding the surrounding space.

A splash sound.

As if a mirror had shattered.

Shi Shixiong, Hu Suqi, Min Rouhua, and Xu Huiyun then discovered they were standing beneath a towering, sky-reaching peach tree.

"What is this?"

Pointing at the towering sky-reaching peach tree before them, Hu Suqi was so excited she could hardly speak coherently.

The same went for Shi Shixiong, Min Rouhua, and Xu Huiyun.

Over three thousand martial artists had searched for more than a month without even finding a trace of the longevity peach tree, yet it now appeared before them, truly unbelievable.

"This is the longevity peach tree."

Lin Ke answered their doubts unhurriedly, though his gaze was fixed on a tree root below.

He didn't even deign to glance at the corpse clutching the highest secret of evil witchcraft.

"How did we get here?"

Shi Shixiong, acting as their spokesman, asked the question that Hu Suqi, Min Rouhua, and Xu Huiyun were eager to have answered.

Lin Ke chuckled: "Because this peach tree wanted to meet us, within the rules it gave us a chance to see if we could seize it."

Having said that, Lin Ke offered no further explanation, merely gazing wistfully at that tree root.

Hu Suqi, hearing this, fell into thought.

Shi Shixiong noticed this, immediately shifted his focus to his girlfriend, asking, "Suqi, what have you thought of?"

"Hmm."

Hu Suqi nodded, organized her words, and facing the trio's inquisitive gazes, she slightly opened her vermilion lips: "The reason Death Person Valley is so hard to breach may have many causes, but there has long been a speculation that it is a remnant left by ancient fangshi, or even ancient witch priests. I have just used techniques in succession, and they lean toward orthodox fangshi-style ancient witchcraft, perhaps triggering the valley's selection mechanism."

"Is that so?"

Shi Shixiong furrowed his brows slightly, still not fully grasping.

Xu Huiyun of the Mingxin Sword School suddenly said: "Then… does that mean that martial artists entering the valley are akin to bandits entering a city, and will encounter resistance and retaliation?"

"That can be understood that way."

Hu Suqi affirmed Xu Huiyun's speculation.

Oh.

Xu Huiyun nodded somewhat dazedly, "No wonder so many people died, yet they still haven't managed to get in here."

Follow me.

Just as the four were about to continue chatting, Lin Ke made a new move.

He walked toward the peach-tree root he had been staring at for a long time.

The four hurried to follow.

The root of the Heaven-Reaching Peach Tree was as wide as a four-lane, two-way road.

The five stood before the slightly arched tree root, as if standing beneath a bridge.

The space formed by the arched root was like a tunnel.

Hey! There's a door here!

After a period of getting acquainted, Xu Huiyun finally dared to speak, revealing her true nature.

Min Rouhua, who was like an elder sister and mother to them, noticed this but did not stop it.

The relationship between the Bright Heart Sword School and the Eight Extremes Martial Hall was unusually close.

In front of the Eight Extremes Martial Hall's inner disciples and their spouses, the Bright Heart Sword School disciples could not relax—how could that be acceptable?

It was only fitting!

Yeah, there's a door here.

Looking at the hatch whose style was very familiar, Lin Ke felt somewhat bewildered.

What on earth is the situation in this world?

Whenever he thought he had a deep understanding of this world, something "strange" would pop up.

Evil witchcraft is like that, ancient witchcraft is like that, and so are folk arts and Daoist arts.

Now...

Lin Ke actually saw a hatch from a star battleship of the wizard world!

Having largely confirmed that this is a real world, not a fictional illusion, that belief was shaken silently.

Real or fake?

I can't tell them apart anymore.

Junior Brother, what's wrong with you?

Seeing that Lin Ke's mood was off, Senior Brother Shi asked with concern.

I'm fine, Senior Brother; I just thought of some things.

Lin Ke took a deep breath and regained his composure.

Hu Suqi's eyes flickered, as if lost in thought.

Well... should we go in?

Xu Huiyun didn't notice the change here, and asked in a somewhat timid tone.

Min Rouhua sighed inwardly, still having stayed too long in the mountains, lacking experience in dealing with people.

After sighing, Min Rouhua said, "Senior Brother Shi, Junior Brother Lin, we've been traveling for so long; I want to rest a bit, I'm a little tired."

Huh? Tired?

Xu Huiyun was somewhat puzzled.

The senior sister's cultivation is higher than hers, and she isn't tired, so how could the senior sister possibly be tired?

Tired.

Min Rouhua put on a stern face and gave Xu Huiyun a glance without expression.

Instantly, a chill shot up from the tailbone to the back of the head, and the fear of being dominated by the senior sister surged in her heart.

Tired! Tired! I'm tired too!

Xu Huiyun repeatedly echoed the senior sister's words.

Then let's rest a bit.

Senior Brother Shi didn't wait for Lin Ke to speak, and made the decision first.

Lin Ke then agreed, accepting their kindness.

Since the situation here was unclear, they didn't sit on the ground, just stood.

Seeing Lin Ke fall into thought again, Senior Brother Shi gave Hu Suqi a look, took her aside, and whispered, "What's special about this door? Why does my junior brother act odd after seeing it?"

Hu Suqi replied with a strange expression, "This door reminds me of a legend; perhaps my junior brother's change is related to that legend."

What legend?

It is said that in ancient times, the wizards were not naturally born among humans, but descended from the heavens.

Wait! Wizards aren't human?

Wizards are human, but the earliest wizards in ancient times were not native humans.

I'm feeling a bit dizzy from what you're saying. What does 'not native humans' mean? Could it be extraterrestrials?

According to the legend, the earliest wizards in ancient times were extraterrestrials!

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Shi's expression became as strange as Hu Suqi's.

After a while, Senior Brother Shi swallowed, finding it difficult to say, "Could it be that my junior brother is also an extraterrestrial?"

Hu Suqi recalled Lin Ke's mysterious and unique secret arts, and nodded almost imperceptibly.

She indeed suspected as much.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain the source of those secret arts.

Hu Suqi, through Senior Brother Shi, had gained a deep understanding of Lin Ke's life over the past ten years, and had determined one thing.

That is, before the Li Sisi incident occurred, Lin Ke had never used a secret technique even once.

Senior Brother Shi had not yet shaken off his shock; his mouth opened and closed as he muttered words, whispering to himself:

"An outsider from beyond the heavens?"