Wang Yu had been keeping an eye on the movents of the Moluo Horde for so ti.
Qingyuan City!
The only city in the southwestern part of Maple Prefecture, it lay extrely close to Night Jewel Prefecture. One could find it by heading south from Strange Peak Pass. Back when Wang Yu had teleported from the Blood-Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon’s cave abode to that abandoned city, he had already taken special note of it.
Although he had found nothing at the ti, based on the Moluo Horde’s activity patterns, as well as intelligence confird by several “spies” planted in Maple Prefecture, Qingyuan City was very likely their core stronghold within Maple Prefecture.
Whether for infiltration or retreat, its geographic position was excellent. It was also remote and lacked powerful experts, making it perfect for underground operations.
After advancing at full speed, Wang Yu headed north the entire way, compressing the journey to just three days.
Inside Qingyuan City, he used mid-stage fourth-rank divine sense and then activated the Ten Thousand Miles Trace-Revealing Secret Art to conduct a search. It was practically a carpet-style sweep.
Finally!
A restaurant that ran a spiritual cuisine business entered Wang Yu’s field of vision. After a few breaths of ti, it beca clear.
Immortal-Lingering Pavilion.
The token that the Noble Lady of Taihu had left him back then proved crucial. After he casually presented it, a waiter imdiately led him into a secret chamber. The manager of the place then brought out a communication magic treasure.
It was shaped like a jade pendant ant to be worn at the ear, and it could contact its other half.
“Thank you.”
Wang Yu made an effort to appear civilized and polite. After the waiter left, the jade pendant magic treasure rippled with spiritual energy fluctuations, and a phantom projection manifested in midair.
This ti she wore a veil, but he could still see the familiar brows and eyes of the woman from back then. As their gazes t, both fell silent.
Before long, she was the first to speak.
“Fellow Daoist, have you made up your mind?”
Wang Yu was slightly surprised.
“I did not expect the noble lady to still rember. I never properly thanked you for what happened with the Old Demon Five Poisons.”
“It was simply returning courtesy with courtesy. You pointed toward the right path, so I lent you a hand in return. This ti, using that token… are you planning to join the Moluo Horde?”
“Yes, and no.”
Wang Yu nodded and opened the Human-Seed Pouch, releasing only Li Mingsheng. He explained,
“This little friend Li… do you want him?”
The other side imdiately revealed a look of surprise, then said with gratitude, “Many thanks, Fellow Daoist. This is a trendous help.”
“Think nothing of it.”
Li Mingsheng, still dizzy and muddled, heard the familiar voice and tears instantly spilled out. When he saw the Noble Lady of Taihu’s projected spiritual energy phantom, his knees went weak and he slid forward, dropping straight into a kneel as he bawled loudly.
“Sister Lei, save !”
“This Crimson Kite place really isn’t fit for humans!”
“Where are you? Hurry and have my brother co pick up…”
Lei Yao opened her mouth, then said helplessly,
“Your Uncle Li and I are outside Strange Peak Pass. This ti, you caused a great disaster. Do you know how many senior brothers died because of you?”
“I…”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to prove myself too badly.”
“It’s too late to say anything now. When you co back, Uncle Li will make sure you understand the lesson.”
Hearing that, Li Mingsheng nearly collapsed where he knelt. Now that he was out of imdiate mortal danger, he finally had the presence of mind to think about how to escape the beating that awaited him.
At this mont, Lei Yao looked toward Wang Yu and said apologetically,
“I’ll have to trouble Fellow Daoist to bring this good-for-nothing over. I will have people from Immortal-Lingering Pavilion guide you into the Northern Severed Boundary Mountain Range, and you can co around by passing through the territory of the Demon Cat Clan.”
The Demon Cat Clan?
Wang Yu’s brows lifted slightly as he recalled Jin Miaoshan’s third-rank civet slave. As rchant organizations, Golden Abundance Tower and Heaven Treasure Pavilion had always maintained neutrality.
They did business with both regions, and the Demon Cat Clan was also a vassal force under Golden Abundance Tower. Their trade had already reached deep into the Severed Boundary Mountain Range, even involving demon races that rarely showed themselves.
Maybe it was not strange at all.
“No need to be so polite. I will bring Li Mingsheng over.”
“However… you are at Strange Peak Pass as well?”
“Yes. Once you arrive, I will find a way to produce a reward that satisfies you.”
“Then you will have to pay dearly.”
“It’s fine. Li Mingsheng’s father will foot the bill.”
The long-distance conversation ended there.
Li Mingsheng imdiately put on an awkward smile. This ti, however, he finally trusted Wang Yu completely. He bowed respectfully and said,
“Senior’s great kindness… this junior will never forget it.”
“Enough. Let’s set off.”
This ti, Li Mingsheng willingly climbed into the Human-Seed Pouch on his own, making sure not to cause trouble.
Through these exchanges, Wang Yu discovered that Taihu really did have far more human warmth than the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain. High pressure was still high pressure, but if one wanted to et like-minded companions, that side was clearly the better choice.
Going back to his hotown of Stone Lake City that ti, maybe it really had just been an accident?
Moving on.
Wang Yu followed the people from Immortal-Lingering Pavilion and left Qingyuan City through an underground passage. In less than half a day, he plunged straight into a towering, dense forest.
The North-South Severed Boundary Mountain Range was the most majestic and magnificent mountain range in the Ice Prison Realm. It cut across the continent at a slant, splitting it into two halves. Considering the historical problems of the Ice Prison Realm, it was highly likely that it had been artificially shaped.
Of course, Wang Yu was only thinking about it casually.
With soone leading the way, even the dangerous Severed Boundary Mountain Range beca safe. They encountered no trouble at all and successfully made a detour for so distance.
They arrived on the opposite side of the Ironstone Forest.
The army of Thunderfire Temple from the Taihu Spiritual Domain had set up camp here.
High in the sky, five war artifacts, Cloudsky Warships, floated quietly in place. These things were terrifying weapons of mass slaughter. Every single one of them was a fourth-rank warship.
Aside from being less flexible than a Nascent Soul cultivator, their wide-area attack power, single-target limit-breaking lethality, and large-scale defensive barrier formations all surpassed those of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.
They were absurdly powerful.
Thunderfire Temple had deployed five of them in one move. It was obvious that True Lord Yang Lei had paid a steep price to mobilize them, because he himself was only at the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm.
His authority should not have reached that level.
Spending this much just to rescue a single Li Mingsheng was frankly extravagant.
If the goal was purely to save soone, it would be far better for a single person to infiltrate Crimson Kite. Not only would the chances of a successful rescue be higher, the cost would also be far lower.
If their objective was a surprise attack, trying to catch everyone off guard and seize Strange Peak Pass, the Blood Reversal Sect would certainly be on guard. In theory, the success rate would be rather low, unless… there were traitors on the inside, and not just one!
Otherwise, the probability was simply too small.
At this point, he did not need to guess blindly. He would soon learn the reason. Following the cultivator guiding him, he flew all the way up to the leftmost Cloudsky Warship.
Wang Yu’s mind stirred.
At the center of the deck, the noble young lady of Taihu whom he had seen across the air not long ago was present, along with another middle-aged man with a jujube-red face. He wore a crimson robe patterned with thunder sigils and had a pointed goatee. He stood there without anger, yet his presence alone was imposing.
Their gazes t in midair, and their realms were instantly perceived.
“I am Wang Yu. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Yang Lei.”
“Fellow Daoist Wang.”
When he had previously interacted with Lei Yao, he had already introduced himself as “This Wang”.
Now he could only casually report a false na.[1]
After exchanging greetings with cupped hands, Lei Yao showed a look of surprise. She first examined Wang Yu’s boyish body, which looked around ten years old, and then considered the way they addressed each other as fellow daoists.
After thinking for a mont, she finally spoke.
“Earlier, when I saw the phantom projection of your spiritual energy, I already felt sothing was off. I never expected Daoist Brother Wang to have transford into this appearance, nor did I expect you to have already surpassed and advanced into the Nascent Soul realm… I was discourteous.”
“It’s fine. I only obtained a small opportunity.”
“We can exchange pleasantries later. Fellow Daoist, my son…”
“He’s here.”
As the Human-Seed Pouch opened, Li Mingsheng and a group of seven or eight people filed out one after another. True Lord Yang Lei’s eyes went wide, and two arcs of crimson lightning shot straight from his pupils.
True lightning born from the eyes!
Li Mingsheng was struck so badly that he imdiately foad at the mouth. His body suffered terribly, yet his expression was clearly completely relaxed, even carrying a trace of relief.
“Brat!”
“Get your ass up right now!”
That roar was like thunder splitting the heavens, scaring the entire group stiff. Several of them turned pale on the spot.
“Uncle Li… we…”
“Get lost already. Do you have any idea how worried your parents are?”
Clearly, this group did not include only Li Mingsheng as the child of nobility. They were most likely a combination of several spoiled young heirs and their personal attendants. This made even more thoughts surface in Wang Yu’s mind.
After chasing them all away, True Lord Yang Lei finally grabbed Li Mingsheng, flung him, and sent him flying to the vermilion tower entrance at the rear of the deck. The Cloudsky Warship was nearly a thousand ters long, so that throw was no light matter.
Only then did he turn back to Wang Yu and say,
“My apologies. I’ve let you witness a joke.”
“It’s no problem. Every household has its own difficult scriptures to recite.”
After a brief pause, True Lord Yang Lei took out twenty supre-grade spirit stones and handed them to Wang Yu. This amount was already close to half the price of a fourth-rank high-grade magic treasure.
It could not be called anything but expensive!
“Fellow Daoist has only recently condensed your Nascent Soul, so you must be lacking supre-grade spirit stones for cultivation. Consider these a gift.”
“Then I will accept without declining.”
After accepting the reward, Wang Yu could not help but think more highly of the man.
He was desperately short on supre-grade spirit stones. Even with these twenty, he would still be missing nineteen more. In his possession, he also had two Frozen Demonic Spirit Stones and one empty supre-grade spirit stone.
Once he filled the gap, his cultivation speed should rise significantly again.
The prerequisite was finding a fourth-rank spirit vein to go into secluded cultivation.
After this matter was settled, True Lord Yang Lei went off to discipline his worthless son, leaving only Wang Yu and Lei Yao on the deck. The two exchanged smiles and walked to the edge of the deck, coming to a stop.
Looking down at the imnse Ironstone Forest and the Strange Peak Pass standing tall across from it, Lei Yao suddenly spoke.
“I still haven’t introduced myself properly. My na is Lei Yao. How should I address Daoist Brother Wang?”
Hearing her bring it up again made Wang Yu deeply suspicious.
He had just said it once. Could it be…
“I almost forgot. Daoist Brother Wang already said it earlier.”
Their eyes t, and Wang Yu could clearly see the probing intent within hers. He imdiately understood.
Lei Yao knew him. She knew the identity of “Wang Yu”.
She had even drawn an equal sign between the two identities. Otherwise, she would not have asked again for no reason.
After a mont of silence, Wang Yu tried speaking. “It seems Fellow Daoist knows my origins. If so… and you still allowed to co here, is there sothing you wish to entrust to ?”
“No.”
Lei Yao tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her gaze turning distant.
“People of Crimson Kite would think that way. Your way of thinking has already beco very close to theirs, but I still feel that you are different.”
Once those words were spoken, the atmosphere imdiately beca sowhat strange.
And more than that, Lei Yao had even investigated that he ca from Stone Lake. This ant she had people within the Blood Reversal Sect as well, possibly even within Cold Blood Peak itself. They were hidden deep.
“There are many demonic cultivators who are forced by survival into taking risks. Even in the Taihu Spiritual Domain, countless people risk everything to secretly cross into Crimson Kite, abandoning righteous cultivation and turning to demonic cultivation. Daoist Brother, do you know why?”
“Because cultivation resources are scarce?”
“That is part of the reason. More often, it’s because those hypocrites in the Righteous Path Seven Sects, with their sanctimonious faces, speak nothing but benevolence and morality, yet everything they do is filthy.”
Wang Yu fell silent. He had seen that for himself.
Even among the elite disciples of the number one righteous sect, the Sword Sect, those standing at the peak of power controlled the standards of morality, and everything they did could be draped in the banners of justice and righteousness.
A large reason he had abandoned Taihu was precisely because of that experience.
“What do you think?”
[1]:- The real na 王煜 (Wáng Yù, aning "Shining King") and fake na 王玉 (Wáng Yù, aning "Jade King") differ only in characters—both sound identical in speech.
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