The expedition to the ancient domain had implications that could very well affect the entire human race, so the Qingyuan Master Teacher Pavilion took the matter very seriously. Not only did they dispatch Wu shi, they had also engaged the help of 7-star pinnacle Formation Master Han Xu to aid the team in breaking the seal and leading them through the ancient domain.
Mu shi knew that even though his senior uncle was a very capable man, the other party was also a very gutsy and decisive person, never hesitating to do whatever he thought was right. Fearing that some unneeded trouble might arise due to his senior uncle’s obstinate personality, he felt that he should warn the other party in advance.
“Don’t worry.” Zhang Xuan nodded reassuringly.
Seeing the confident smile on Zhang Xuan’s face, Mu shi wasn’t too sure how he should respond. He subconsciously shot a glance at Luo Ruoxin and saw a slight smile of helplessness on the latter’s face, seemingly untrusting of Zhang Xuan’s words as well.
But thinking about it, it was no wonder Luo Ruoxin felt that way.
Back then, when she brought Zhang Xuan to the Saint Ascension Platform, she had warned him to remain respectful. But in the end, he had still collapsed the Kong shi’s cliff face, and if not for Kong shi speaking up in that crucial moment, he might very well have been pummeled to death on the spot.
Sometimes, that fellow possessed astounding talent and wits, such that one couldn’t help but be impressed with him. At other times, he behaved so doltishly that it was nearly adorable.
The trio began chatting casually. In the midst of their conversation, Zhang Xuan asked a few more questions about the ancient domain, and upon learning that it likely had ties with Kong shi, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of agitation.
Back at the Saint Ascension Platform, Zhang Xuan had asked Kong shi personally about the Innate Fetal Poison and confirmed that the latter had suffered from the same affliction back then as well. If this ancient domain had ties with Kong shi, perhaps he might be able to uncover something more about the Innate Fetal Poison.
Amidst the conversation of the trio, the aerial saint beast traversed swiftly through the sky. Five days later, Firesource City finally came into sight.
Looking at the city, which emanated a reddish hue beneath the radiant rays of the sun, Mu shi said, “Due to the geographical location of Firesource City, its weather is exceptionally hot. To make things worse, it is currently summer here as well. It would probably be unbearable for anyone who isn’t a cultivator to live here.”
“It is indeed really hot here!” Feeling the incredible heat in the surroundings, Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.
The place he had visited just a few days ago, Jingyuan City, was completely filled with snow, battering passers-by with its bone-chilling frost.
“Even though the Saint Ascension Platform isn’t too far away from here, there sure is a vast difference in the temperature,” Zhang Xuan remarked.
The Saint Ascension Platform, which he had visited with Luo Ruoxin back then, wasn’t located too far away from Firesource City, just a few hundred kilometers away. Yet, the weather there was perfectly normal, devoid of the blistering heat here.
“The Saint Ascension Platform is where Kong shi became a Celestial Saint. It is a place blessed by the heavens, so naturally, the weather there is mild. On the other hand, Firesource City has quite a few active volcanoes around it, so it is inevitably plagued by such hot weather,” Mu shi explained.
Zhang Xuan nodded.
He had a map of Hongyuan Empire in the Library of Heaven’s Path, so he was very familiar with the geography of the area.
To be named Firesource, the source of flames… It wasn’t any surprise that the city would be plagued with unbearable heat.
Luo Ruoxin couldn’t help but ask, “Given the unbearable heat plaguing the area, why was a city constructed here? Why do so many people still continue to live in the area?”
A place filled with many active volcanoes that could erupt at any moment, as well as the sweltering weather, why would people still live in the area?
Before Mu shi could speak, Zhang Xuan chuckled softly and replied, “As hot as the local weather is, it happens to be a suitable climate for growing plants that thrive in a torrid climate. Take the Witherleaf Grass for example, it is known for the withered look of its leaves throughout its growth, and it is able to mature even without water. A single stalk of Witherleaf Grass can easily fetch the price of a high-tier spirit stone in the market.”
“It’s so expensive?” Luo Ruoxin was taken aback.
A single high-tier spirit stone was more than sufficient for a normal person to live in luxury for their entire life.
For a single stalk of a medicinal herb to be worth such a price, it was no wonder so many people were willing to endure the unbearable weather and live here.
Zhang Xuan had not finished his explanation. “Not only so, there are also quite a few rare spirit beasts and saint beasts living in the area. They can fetch a high price when sold. Besides that, there are also several deposits of valuable ores in the area!”
Having read all of the books in the Master Teacher Academy, he boasted an even greater understanding of Hongyuan Empire than most master teachers who had grown up here.
“I see…” Luo Ruoxin nodded in realization.
There was bound to be a reason for a community to gather and a huge city to be constructed in the area.
Hearing the other party’s introduction, Mu shi nodded in approval. “Senior Uncle sure is knowledgeable!”
While his senior uncle might be unreliable at times, the vast knowledge he possessed was truly praiseworthy. Be it information regarding culture, geography, or occupations, everything seemed to come to him at a single thought, leaving others with nothing but admiration for him.
It was due to this that the school heads had elected him to become the leader of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy, which boasted a heritage of ten thousand years.
“It’s nothing much!” Zhang Xuan smiled.
“There is still some time before the seal opens, so why don’t we meet up with the others at the local Master Teacher Pavilion first?”
While the trio had been speaking, the saint beast had arrived in the airspace above the city. It gradually descended, and before long, it landed right before a towering building.
The Master Teacher Pavilion!
This city was significantly larger than Jingyuan City, and its population density was also greater than the latter. As such, the Master Teacher Pavilion had constructed a branch in the area. However, it was significantly weaker than the Master Teacher Pavilion in Hongyuan City, and the pavilion master only possessed a cultivation of Saint 1-dan intermediate stage.
Shortly after walking in, a middle-aged man walked over to welcome them. “Paying respect to Mu shi!”
“Un. Where are Formation Master Han Xu, Wu shi, and the others? Bring us to them,” Mu shi replied with a smile.
“Wu shi and the others have already left for the Swallow Embracing Mountain. They departed two days ago!” the middle-aged man hurriedly replied.
“They have already left for the Swallow Embracing Mountain?” Mu shi was taken aback. “Shouldn’t there be a few more days before the seal opens? Why did they head over so early?”
“I am not too sure. They only instructed me to remain here to urge the arriving master teachers to head toward the Swallow Embracing Mountain as fast as possible!” the middle-aged man replied.
“Understood.” Mu shi nodded before turning his gaze toward Zhang Xuan and Luo Ruoxin. “If even Wu shi and Formation Master Han Xu have made their way over, it is very likely that the situation with the seal might have worsened. Let’s quickly head over to take a look and see how we can help them!”
“Un.” Zhang Xuan and Luo Ruoxin nodded before getting atop the aerial saint beast once more.
“The seal to the ancient domain is not located within the city but in the depths of the Swallow Embracing Mountain, which is around three hundred kilometers away, on top of a massive active volcano. Due to the searing temperature, barely anyone goes there…” Seated within the room on the back of the aerial saint beast, Mu shi filled the duo in on the situation regarding the seal.
Similar to the island on which the Poison Hall was located, the seal to the ancient domain was also constructed on top of an active volcano. The massive formation that made up the seal was driven by the ravaging energy contained within the volcano. If those who didn’t have a comprehensive grasp of the formation were to attempt to break open the seal forcefully, there was a high chance that the entire mountain might collapse instead, causing the entrance to the ancient domain to disappear for good.
As such, not even the experts from the Master Teacher Pavilion dared to tamper with it. Until the seal opened of its own accord, they could only wait patiently.
It didn’t take too long for Zhang Xuan and the others to cover the three-hundred-kilometer journey to the seal. In less than ten minutes, a towering mountain peak, several thousand meters high, appeared majestically before their eyes.
However, the entire mountain seemed to be absent of life; all they could really see on it were crimson stones. Even before coming close to the mountain, they could feel a searing sensation licking their skin.
Flicking his wrist, Mu shi took out two pills and passed them over. “This is the Heat Cleansing Pill. Swallowing it will grant you some immunity against fire poison1, sparing you from harm!”
While it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to withstand such searing heat given their current cultivation, if they were to stay in such conditions for an extended period of time, the fire poison would still assault their bodies, causing them great suffering.
In order to prevent such a situation from occurring, half a month ago, the newly-appointed School Head Zhou of the Apothecary School had tasked his students with mass producing Heat Cleansing Pills for the expedition members.
The production method for the Heat Cleansing Pill wasn’t too complicated; most 4-star apothecaries were able to forge it. Its ingredients were mainly cooling in nature, thus granting it exceptional effectiveness in relieving heat-related afflictions.
“Thank you!”
Possessing the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, Zhang Xuan didn’t even fear lethal poison, so naturally, heat poison couldn’t possibly faze him in the least. Nevertheless, this was a token of goodwill from the other party, so he couldn’t bring himself to reject it. Taking the pill, he opened his mouth and swallowed it.
As soon as the pill slid down his throat, a cooling sensation permeated his entire body, leaving him feeling as if he was standing before a refreshing spring breeze. The heat around him seemed to have vanished altogether.
“This… This isn’t an ordinary Heat Cleansing Pill?” Zhang Xuan’s eyes widened in astonishment.
While it seemed no different from a typical Heat Cleansing Pill on the surface, the effectiveness of it was clearly far greater than an average pill.
“I forged it personally out of the various medicinal herbs I picked a while ago,” Mu shi replied with a smile.
“No wonder!” Zhang Xuan nodded.
Mu shi was a 7-star master teacher, and apothecary was one of his supporting occupations. It was only natural that a grade-4 pill forged by a 7-star apothecary would have outstanding effectiveness.
The aerial saint beast advanced swiftly, and not too long later, the group arrived at the peak of the Swallow Embracing Mountain. Gazing downwards, they saw a humongous hemispherical depression beneath them. Countless students were seated cross-legged along its perimeter, infusing zhenqi relentlessly toward a specific location. Their bodies were completely drenched in sweat, but that didn’t prevent more from trickling down their faces.
“They are trying to stabilize the seal,” Mu shi remarked grimly.
From the looks of it, the situation with the seal was far more precarious than they had thought. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have mobilized so many people simultaneously to stabilize it.
Zhang Xuan nodded. “Those are the ten thousand students from the Formation Master School.”
The students of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy were dressed in a unique robe, so it wasn’t too difficult to recognize them.
Hu hu hu!
Just as the students stabilizing the seal were about to reach their limits, another group of students suddenly rushed forward and swiftly placed formation flags that they had just smithed a moment ago on specific locations.
These new flags couldn’t alter the structure of the seal in any way, but it could stabilize it temporarily.
They were the students from the Blacksmith School.
The students from both schools worked together with excellent teamwork, their movements both swift and fluid. It was apparent that they had repeated this set of movements multiple times over the past few days.
However, despite the combined efforts of the twenty thousand students, a powerful energy still continued to rage within the hemispherical depression below, seemingly ready to explode at any moment. Frowning, Zhang Xuan activated his Eye of Insight and took a look.
After examining it for a moment, Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up. What a complicated formation this is.
His comprehension of formations was on par with most 7-star formation masters, and yet, he still found it rather difficult to comprehend the entire structure of the formation. The sheer complexity of the formation was enough to leave him slightly light-headed.
No, it doesn’t really look like it…
The more Zhang Xuan looked at it, the more perplexed he felt.
The structure he was looking at seemed like a formation, but there was something rather different about it at the same time.
Even though the seal was unstable, it was still dormant, not yet activated. As such, Zhang Xuan couldn’t use the Library of Heaven’s Path to assess the situation concerning the formation. With his current understanding of formations, even with the Eye of Insight, it would likely take at least several months for him to make sense of it.
If it was truly a formation, there was no doubt that it was beyond grade-7!
A formation that was beyond grade-7… No wonder no master teacher from the Qingyuan Conferred Empire Master Teacher Pavilion dared tamper with it!
It was already far beyond their scope of understanding.
Hu hu hu!
While Zhang Xuan was busy assessing the depression, Mu shi carefully controlled his aerial spirit beast to land gently on the ground.
After landing safely, before the trio could walk up to the hemispherical depression, Wu shi walked over and said, “Zhang shi, Luo shi, and Mu shi, you are here!”
EDIT from Starve:
The 1000 Likes event has ended at Chapter 1012 (999 to 1012, 14 chapters for the last week), so there is no need to solicit for 1000 likes anymore
Tabulating the numbers of Likes
999 – 1450
1000 – 1414 (1)
1001 – 1078
1002 -1028 (2)
1003 – 1266
1004 – 1161 (3)
1005 – 1192
1006 – 1125 (4)
1007 – 1085
1008 – 959
1009 – 871
1010 – 871
1011 – 776
1012 – 744
I will try to get the four additional chapters out as soon as possible. (Alright, since I didn’t set a deadline to the event, you can PM me whenever the other chapters reach 1000 Likes, and I will update the list.)
Also uh, I know you all don’t like me ‘administrating’ the comments, but it would be nice if the liked comments are something relevant to the story instead. Nevertheless, thanks for the support and the many ‘thank you’ messages sent over the past week. I am really grateful for the support.
For those who are unaware, I have been overseas for the past four days for an event, so updates have been a little inconsistent over the past few days. Now that I’m back, I will try to build a safe stockpile so that updates can get back on track.
