Chapter 1029 - 1028: A Strange Town

"Lu Lang, don’t you want to..."

"Not sure yet, don’t you think, if we put this stone stele at Peach Blossom Plain, wouldn’t it..."

"Be too wasteful?" Shen Ying raised her sleeve and chuckled lightly, "Peach Blossom Plain is just a small hill, with some wild mountains and old forests to the southeast. It’s not really beautiful or serene, barely enough for a Taohua Temple. Placing the Taiyue Stele here, aren’t you afraid of attracting the covetous eyes of those with intentions?"

The Taiyue Stele at Hundred Peaks Sect has been well protected, hidden for a whole century, but evidently can’t stay hidden much longer.

As long as one outsider knows, soon more will know.

Fortunately, Lu Zheng and the others were timely, otherwise who knows which family might quietly snatch and hide it away.

Hmm, it didn’t matter much to Song Kaichuan, at worst he’d just change his location to comprehend it, since he’s a wanderer with no fixed abode, calling the world his home.

Lu Zheng thought for a moment, then looked at Song Kaichuan with a smile, "What if a master discovers it?"

Song Kaichuan wasn’t pedantic, he stroked his beard and smiled, "Then of course I’ll take the stele and leave, I reckon ordinary people wouldn’t be able to stop me."

Everyone laughed at his words.

...

After leaving Hundred Peaks Cave, Lu Zheng asked, "Elder, where are you headed?"

"Since I discovered the Taiyue Stele last year, I haven’t left. It’s been a long time since I visited Fellow Daoist Wansong, and coincidentally, the southern border has abundant mountains, perfect for cultivating the Taiyue Divine Mountain Painting." Song Kaichuan said with a smile, "I’m planning to go to Wansong Mountain to seclude myself for a period."

"That’s a coincidence, I’m planning to accompany Qingyan to visit family at Tushan, and also pay a visit to Elder Wansong." Lu Zheng said with a smile, clasping his hands, "Then we’ll meet another day."

"Alright, I’ll be waiting for you at Wansong Mountain!" Song Kaichuan laughed heartily, clasped his hands in farewell, then his form lowered and vanished into the earth.

"What an exquisite Earth Travel Technique!" Shen Ying praised.

"I’ve always suspected that Elder Song is a spirit-formed pangolin, but never had the right opportunity to ask." Lu Zheng mused, rubbing his chin.

Liu Qingquan asked curiously, "Why not a spirit-formed earth dragon?"

Everyone: "..."

...

After watching Song Kaichuan leave, Lu Zheng waved his hand, and everyone flew into the air, leaving Hundred Peaks Sect, heading straight north, enjoying mountains and towns along the way. Seven or eight days later, they entered the northernmost Huo Mountain Dao.

Huo Mountain Dao is named after Huo Mountain, a stretch of continuous mountains located within it. With terrain spanning thousands of miles, it consists mostly of hills and rivers, interspersed with some plains and highlands, inhabited by people and dotted with cities. Additionally, in scattered mountain valleys, there are numerous rural villages and towns.

The group arrived at Huo Mountain Dao, leisurely flying in the sky, when they saw cooking smoke rising ahead.

"It’s almost nightfall, why don’t we rest in the town ahead for the night, and head to Tushan early tomorrow?" Liu Qingyan suggested, "We’ve been playing for more than ten days, can’t keep playing."

"Alright." Lu Zheng looked at the sky, nodded, and then led the three to descend upon the town’s entrance.

Here, amid the mountains, lay a small plain, spanning dozens of miles. A small town was nestled within, and as the sun set, people returned home, smoke lazily curling from chimneys, appearing peaceful and serene.

"I saw there’s an inn in the middle of the town earlier; let’s rest there for the night," Liu Qingyan said, holding Lu Zheng’s arm, ready to enter the town.

But just as she took a step, Lu Zheng stopped her, and Shen Ying frowned, saying, "Something’s off with this town."

"Off?" Liu Qingyan was startled, hurriedly turned back, carefully inspecting the town and the people coming and going, but didn’t notice anything wrong, "Where’s the problem?"

"There’s a faint ghostly aura," Shen Ying said, "It’s pure and subtle, if I weren’t a Ghost Body, I wouldn’t be able to sense it. The opponent is a master."

"I didn’t sense anything earlier in the sky either," Lu Zheng said, "And as night falls, the ghost qi grows denser and more intense."

Liu Qingyan’s eyes flashed, "Related to the terrain?"

"Don’t know." Lu Zheng shook his head, looking around, "Look, the town’s people have long been affected by the ghost qi, resulting in weak bodies and waning vitality."

Liu Qingyan had noticed before, but without detecting the ghost qi, she thought it was due to years of work and poor nutrition causing weakness.

"If it were terrain-related, gathering yin at night, theoretically, the Court should’ve discovered it long ago. Even if they didn’t relocate people or move the ground, they should’ve changed the feng shui, not letting the townsfolk continue like this," Shen Ying said.

"The terrain indeed gathers qi, night is yin, but it doesn’t have such a large impact," Lu Zheng said looking around, "It’s very likely that ghosts are at play, exacerbating the terrain’s effect."

"Such audacious ghosts, daring to affect an entire town’s people, aren’t they afraid of master cultivators coming to exterminate them?" Liu Qingyan exclaimed in surprise.

Huo Mountain Dao, being a northern border, is unlike Lingbei Dao’s Yizhou, a southern, water-abundant land of Central Plains. Not to mention the Anomaly Suppression Bureau’s stronger presence, there are also border troops, Daoist Yuan Mountain Temple, and Buddhist Dharma King Temple, along with other various smaller factions.

Under such a powerful presence, there exist spirits and demons that carry out evil in the dark?

Shen Ying shook her head, "You think too much, the heavier the border, the more mischief goes unnoticed, especially in Huo Mountain Dao, with high, dense forests, and scattered rural towns. Even the Anomaly Suppression Bureau and border troops can’t cover it all, not to mention sporadic infiltrations by Northern Land demons, Netherworld ghosts seizing the opportunity to cause havoc. Remember Red Silk’s Story? It happened in Huo Mountain Dao."

"Huo Mountain Dao’s Mo State!" Liu Qingyan, having heard Red Silk’s Story countless times, was very familiar with the name.

"Yuan Mountain Temple is located in Mo State," Lu Zheng nodded, clicking his tongue, "Thankfully, I started in Lingbei Dao’s Yizhou and not Mo State in Huo Mountain Dao."

Liu Qingyan couldn’t help but laugh, "Otherwise, Lu Lang might have joined Yuan Mountain Temple."

Shen Ying smiled with a curve at her lips, only Liu Qingquan was at a loss, "Can’t brother-in-law decide where to go himself? Are his family dictating it?"

Lu Zheng laughed loudly, then tousled Liu Qingquan’s hair.

"Ah! Brother-in-law, my bun!" Liu Qingquan couldn’t help but hide behind her sister, angrily adjusting her hairdo.

Having distracted Liu Qingquan, Lu Zheng held Liu Qingyan’s warm, soft hand in his left, and Shen Ying’s cool, jade fingers in his right, "We’ve been sightseeing these past days, tonight let’s do something different."

Something different?

Though she knew full well what Lu Zheng meant, Liu Qingyan couldn’t help blushing, heart aflutter, while Shen Ying chuckled softly, eyes shimmering like water.

Only Liu Qingquan pouted, muttering quietly, "Setting up a Sound Insulation Array every night—boring."

Lu Zheng: "..."