Immortal Liu Mang was knocked straight on his head; the Taishi stick carried a strong and powerful true Qi and the strike caused his eyes to roll back. Mo Tianliao didn’t give him a chance to breathe or recover. He again turned Taishi into a long spear and stabbed it directly towards Liu Mang’s heart.
Immortal Yunzhu, who was hit on the head by Xuanji’s tortoise-shell, reacted instantly and released his spiritual sword to block Taishi: “Today was really a misunderstanding. We will say our leave now. I hope that the Woyun Sect and the Demon Lord will be magnanimous and forgive us.”
The Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave had opened, and people no longer had any intention of staying in the Woyun Sect. What’s more, there were so many Zhangshen Elders in the Woyun Sect that it was unwise to stay.
“All visitors are guests, the Woyun Sect has not yet properly entertained you all,” Yanlie smilingly came out to speak, “the Sect Master has prepared a banquet in the Woyun Hall. Would the Sect Masters and Elders like to come and have a chat with us?”
His pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes were full of charm and looked very friendly, but the crowd shuddered in fear looking at that smile.
The people of the small sects were busy chipping away at the ice and trying to rescue the frozen disciples. A few large sects were still well staffed. Though some people were busy rescuing the frozen people, there were others who were not that busy and could converse with Yanlie now and then. However, these people were not in the mood to chat at all.
This time, not all the sects from the Righteous Path were dispatched to attack the Woyun Sect. Some factions that were friends with Woyun Sect stayed out and did not come, and not to mention the Demonic Path also did not join in. There was no restriction for entering the Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave, anyone could enter. It was said that on the first day of the opening of Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave, there would be innumerable treasures spewed out. Obtaining the treasures were always on a first come- first serve basis. If one went late, there would be no treasure left.
The crowd was anxious, but the people of the Woyun Sect were not perturbed.
“I have important business today, so I won’t bother you.” Immortal Liu Mang politely said, covering his head and guarding against Mo Tianliao as he walked past him.
Just as they were talking, the glowing radiance in the far West suddenly attracted countless cultivators to Taixuan Mountain.
Taixuan was a flat land. As long as you stood high enough and had good enough eyesight, you could see as far as you wanted to see. As soon as that dazzling light came out, people were even more uninterested in staying. Many small sects ran away without any notification. The Sect Master of the Qingyun Sect could no longer afford to stay back. He sighed and said, “Tianlang, today’s matter is clear to everyone. Let’s put the matter of the demonic beasts of the Woyun Sect aside. Now that Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave has opened, it’s better for our three sects to join hands to find treasures.”
“Demonic Path, Five demons, Ten demons…” the Sect Master of Liuyun Sect counted and then paused and couldn’t help but glance at Mo Tianliao.
A Demon Venerable was standing in front of him. It was weird to discuss in front of him on how to deal with the demons.
“From now on, the Woyun Sect will no longer participate in the Three Sects Alliance and will form its own faction. The two other factions are welcome to do as they like!” Tianlang didn’t give the crowd a chance to try and win them back and directly rebuffed them. He stopped Xuanji and Mo Tianliao who still wanted to fight and indicated that the flies should leave quickly.
The heads of several small sects were shocked. It was known that the alliance of the three sects had been in existence for thousands of years. The withdrawal of Woyun Sect meant that the alliance collapsed in an instant. In the future, it was estimated that the Righteous Path would also become fragmented like the Demonic Path.
Mo Tianliao stood in the void with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at the gradually converging glow in the far West, his eyes narrowed slightly. He didn’t know if it was his misconception, but he felt that the opening time of the Hidden Treasure Cave was too coincidental.
On the mountain protection array, there were still people frozen into ice lumps sticking to each other. The fellow disciples looked at Qingtong eagerly, hoping that he would be as kind as before and solve the frozen spell as well.
Qingtong yawned and floated to Mo Tianliao’s side, and with a “thump” leaned on his back motionlessly.
“Tired?” Mo Tianliao was pulled out of his thoughts, he slightly smiled, stretched out his hand to pull the person on his back into his arms, and got a small yawn as an answer.
“Go back to your room and sleep.” Tianlang let Yanlie clean up the mess, he also couldn’t help yawning as he didn’t get any sleep the previous night.
“We have to go back.” Mo Tianliao picked Qingtong up and held him in arms for him to sleep.
Qingtong felt awkward, so he turned into a small fur ball and burrowed into his clothes.
The Hidden Treasure Cave had opened in such a way that the whole continent knew, now it could no longer be called a secret instead it was now a gold panning mine. The people in the Righteous Path were still flustered, not to mention the rogue demonic cultivators.
Mo Tianliao had to go back and take stock of the present situation. Not everyone could go gold panning, else, how could he do his business? What’s more, this matter was really too strange. He had to ask Mingyan about his opinion first.
The flying boat had not gone far when it encountered the big green dragon that came flying with a roaring sound “Hong! Hong!“.
“Shizun! Shizun!” Mo Tianliao turned around to chase him, but the dragon was flying too fast, and their flying boat couldn’t catch up even at its fastest speed. Instead, the cat in his arms leaned out its head and gave a “Meow” at the top of his lungs. The serpentine dragon stopped immediately, turned around in an instant, immediately whizzed back and coiled into a circle, enclosing the flying boat.
The little cat excitedly wanted to jump towards the dragon’s head, but Mo Tianliao hurriedly hugged him to keep him from moving around: “Is Shizun going to pick up someone from the Woyun Sect?”
The green dragon flicked his tail, and a green light flashed. He turned into a human and stood on Mo Tianliao’s flying boat : “Yes.”
“The Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave has opened…” Mo Tianliao observed Mingyan’s expression carefully.
Mingyan didn’t have any expression. He just gave a “hmmm” and looked at the far West. After a long time, he said slowly, “You guys don’t go yet, you must craft the Xuan Jian before you do.”
Xuan Jian? Mo Tianliao was stunned: “Did the Hidden Treasure Cave have anything to do with Xuan Jian?”
“Relevant and also irrelevant,” Mingyan said ellusively, “Without Xuan Jian, it’s a waste of time to go.” After saying that, he jumped off the flying boat, transformed into a dragon, and flew away with a roar.
Mo Tianliao’s brow gradually creased into a frown: “Baby, is Shizun hiding something?”
“I don’t know,” Qingtong turned into a human, he lay on Mo Tianliao’s shoulder and looked in the direction of the departing dragon. “Shizun used to go to Taixuan Mountain and stare at the snowy mountain for several days.”
Immortal and Demon war, Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave, Xuan Jian, Tai Bai continent, Mingyan……..
These things must have something to do with the answer.
Mo Tianliao drove the flying boat, and quickly rushed to Duantian Mo Palace.
“Go and check the situation of Taixuan Mountain,” Mo Tianliao gave a handful of sound transmission jade tablets to the Chief Steward of Hundred Rumors Pavilion, “Have someone follow a treasure hunter inside and see what’s going on, and pass out any important information immediately.”
“Yes, My Lord.” The Chief Steward answered in a low voice, but did not leave immediately, waiting for Mo Tianliao’s further orders. The steward was thinking that he immediately needed to go and arrange sufficient manpower. Even if it was an ordinary treasure cave, it was bound to be full of dangers. A team of people would have more chances to survive than a single person.
Sure enough, Mo Tianliao spoke again and threw down a list: “The things on the list, if you see them in the Treasure Cave, bring them back, this Seat will offer a hefty reward.”
When a demon cultivator joined a group under the banner of another demon cultivator, they would get more resources. Therefore, in cases like treasure hunting, when there are such team-ups, usually the main leader would specify some items that are needed to be handed in and the rest of the items would belong to the person who found them.
One of the reasons why the Demon Venerable Duantian had so many followers, was that every time there was such a mission, the crowd could get a lot of practical treasures. And if you find a rare crafting material and give it to the Demon Lord, you would get additional rewards.
A series of orders were issued. Those who inquired for information, treasure hunters and messengers were all properly arranged.
Mo Tianliao took the jade slips handed by Hou Jing and reviewed the state of affairs while he was away.
“Supreme Demon Lord Mingyan has released an announcement that he was looking to find Heaven and Earth Wisdom, and the person who would find it, could either get a shape-shifting demonic beast or an Immortal City.” Hou Jing reported the recent situation.
“That’s all it is worth?” Qingtong sat with him, leaning on the throne and fiddling with the tortoise-shell colored dog-tail grass with his slender fingers.
Mo Tianliao laughed and pulled one of Qingtong’s hands to play with: “Giving out a shape-shifting demon beast was to attract those who don’t have demonic beasts, that is, those idle cultivators, while an Immortal City was to show their attitude to several demon dwellers and demon sects.”
For casual cultivators, it was hard to buy a shape-shifting demonic beast even with money. It was absolutely cost-effective for a person who didn’t know how to use the Wisdom of Heaven and Earth to exchange it for a shape-shifting demonic beast.
For several demonic cultivators, an Immortal City was not of any special value. Hence by offering an Immortal City, the meaning conveyed was that Mingyan wanted such a thing, but it was not particularly important. If one could get it, then they would surely be able to please the Supreme Demon Lord. At the same time, it avoided the problem of people thinking that it was too precious to give away.
The news of the opening of the Taixuan Hidden Treasure Cave had spread throughout the continent, and the desolate Taixuan Mountain had become very lively for the moment.
Everyday, Mo Tianliao went through the news that came from the front lines and increasingly felt that the Hidden Treasure Cave was very strange.
According to the news from Hundred Rumors Pavilion, when the cave opened on the first day, a large number of treasures gushed out from the top of the snowy mountain. The first group of cultivators who had rushed in succeeded in looting the lump of the treasures. The groups that arrived later did not find any treasures so they rushed to rob the initial group off their loot.
On the first day alone, countless people were killed and injured, and one of the main reasons was fighting one another.
And then, a gap opened between the two mountains, revealing the entrance to the Ancient Beast Cave. The crowd were overjoyed and tried every means to break through the entrance. There was an extremely powerful killing array at the entrance of the cave.
Mo Tianliao never went to Taixuan Mountain. He just looked at the news that came in everyday one after another. More and more people died in Taixuan Mountain, but they didn’t hear any information on who got the treasure. People gradually calmed down, stopped fighting each other, and began to concentrate on breaking the array. Finally, the array on the cave entrance was broken, and a large number of people poured in.
The Wisdom of Heaven and Earth was a very critical material that was included in Mo Tianliao’s list. However, in addition to the wisdom, there were many other important materials that were needed to craft Xuan Jian.
Taichu Stone was naturally essential. It was easy for a mirror to be brilliant enough to reflect one’s image, but it cannot illuminate a shadow and also show the people’s image clearly. It would be too difficult and even contradictory, to let alone show things in the past and in the future.
There was no record of Xuan Jian in the ancient archives.
“Predicting the future is definitely impossible,” Taishi’s big mouth secretly chewed a small piece of Taichu Stone. “As the wisdom of heaven and earth, I only know the past. The future was not known to even the Heavenly Dao, so how could I know?”
“Hmm?” Mo Tianliao, who was thinking so much that his hair was sticking out, froze, relying on the spiritual wisdom of heaven and earth to go back in time? “Ah! I got it!”
For a divine artifact to be able to go back in time was simply a fantasy. Everything had a cause and effect. Without an origin, it was naturally impossible to go back in time. But if reflecting the thoughts of the spiritual wisdom into a mirror, wasn’t that similar to a retrospection?
Taishi was a Spiritual Wisdom that had the ability to talk. He imparted the secrets of heaven and earth by speaking. So if one connected the Intelligence’s sea of spiritual wisdom to the Divine Weapon, then whatever the Spiritual Wisdom thought, it would be reflected on the mirror, and perhaps it would be possible to go back in time.
“Ha ha ha!” Mo Tianliao was so excited that he woke up Qingtong, who was sleeping on his lap.
“Oh?” Qingtong opened his eyes, raised his head in a daze, and was hugged by Mo Tianliao and kissed fiercely. The kiss woke him up fully and Qingtong raised his hand to slap Mo Tianliao.
—————
The author has something to say:
Mini Theater:
(What is the use of Xuan Jian)
Carpenter: Shizun, Xuan Jian has been crafted.
Mingyan: That’s great. I can finally fulfill my long cherished wish.