Seeing this scene, Li Qiye stood silently on top of the land for a long time. This was the commanding center of the sect. At this place, not just Min Ren, but Li Qiye himself used to command the generals and soldiers from here. He brought an invincible army from this place and started an expedition to conquer the nine heavens and ten earths.
In order to revive the sect, the Ancestral Land had to be opened. Otherwise, the sect must be relocated because, at the moment, the land of the sect was too small and the earth vein that was moving the world’s energy was too thin.
Li Qiye intended to begin by fixing the Ancestral Land to rebuild the sect, but, once he witnessed the scene before his eyes, he immediately knew what the ominous event that had struck the sect was!
The thing he hoped would never occur had happened. This caused Li Qiye to be solemn and a bit perplexed. In the end, who was the one to open the seal?! There was no chance that it was Immortal Emperor Ta Kong because, if Ta Kong forced open the seal, the entire sect would no longer exist. He would have needed to destroy the emperor’s foundation, but, seeing the current situation, that was not the case.
If it was not an intruder that broke the seal, then who on earth opened this seal? Thinking about this, Li Qiye quietly contemplated.
Nan Huairen curiously observed everything in front of him. This was his first time here, and he couldn’t help but take out his sword. He tried to pierce the stone paste on an ancient pavilion. However, no matter how hard he tried to chisel, he could only leave a small sword mark — the size of a rice grain — behind; essentially, he couldn’t drill through this stone paste.
Protector Mo shook his head and said: “It is useless, Elder Gu had tried doing the same thing before. It was essentially impossible to drill through. If a person with a certain cultivation was to force it, then there will be a rebound effect.”
“What is this?” Li Shuangyan, seeing the stone paste that encompassed the buildings, couldn’t help but feel strange.
“The protection of the emperor’s foundation.” At this moment, Li Qiye spoke: “This ground was laid with an unshakable emperor’s foundation. When a calamity presents itself, the emperor’s foundation will automatically protect itself. This, to an extent, suppressed the evil energy that was under the ground from spreading. The protection is still here, and that means that the emperor’s foundation is still here as well.”
Li Shuangyan was touched by the fact that, even though there was a great calamity, the emperor’s foundation was still standing. This was an Immortal Emperor lineage standing strong for millions of years — truly frightening. The hidden power of an Immortal Emperor lineage was incalculable. It seemed like, if there wasn’t a huge disaster that year, even if the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had truly declined, it was not an existence that could be provoked by the Heavenly God Sect!
“This will take some time.” In the end, Li Qiye said these words. The seal formation had problems, and Li Qiye knew that this matter was serious. In order to revive the sect and rebuild this land, he absolutely had to infiltrate the depths of this land once more.
If this was the case, then he must have full preparations. He needs powerful generals and brave soldiers. This couldn’t be rushed. Adequate arrangements must be made in order to be successful.
At this moment, Nan Huairen, who was looking around, found something and loudly announced: “There is a hole here.”
Li Qiye’s group hurried over. The place where Nan Huairen was standing was a valley of low elevation. Within this valley of dead vegetation, there was a big hole that was drilled straight down. No one knew how deep the cave was. There was only a black-as-ink color down below, as far as the eyes could see.
Carefully looking at the giant hole, one could see circular line patterns; it was as if a huge drill came down vertically in its creation. It was clear that this giant hole was not formed by a natural process.
“This giant hole wasn’t dug too long ago.” Li Shuangyan carefully observed the giant hole and eventually came to this conclusion.
Li Qiye meticulously observed the hole, and he made some careful analysis. In the end, he smirked and commanded Protector Mo: “Protector Mo, immediately return and bring me Violet Mulberry Trees, the more the better. Also, bring me a giant pot, three bottles of vinegar, six bottles of Dove Dark Water, and some Green Perfect Bones...”
Li Qiye listed a myriad of medicines, and, even though Protector Mo didn’t know what Li Qiye wanted to do, he still remembered each of them carefully. After Li Qiye finished his instructions, Protector Mo immediately flew away without the slightest of doubts.
Once reaching the Heaven’s Primal realm, cultivators could fly without relying on any treasures.
Seeing how Li Qiye’s wanted so many items, Nan Huairen curiously asked: “Oldest Brother, what are you trying to do?”
Li Shuangyan was also puzzled. Li Qiye’s list of items, many of them she had never even heard of before.
Li Qiye let off a smile and said: “I want to smoke a rat out of hiding.”
Finished answering, he simply sat down and got cozy as he eagerly awaited for Protector Mo’s return.
Protector Mo didn’t dare to linger around, and he immediately came back after one day.
“Set up the fire.”
After his return, he brought a large amount of Violet Mulberry Trees to Li Qiye; the pieces of wood were all dried. They immediately placed the dried wood in front of the giant hole and started a fire.
In a flash, the billowing smoke immediately infiltrated the cave. This smoke carried along with them a particular smell; it was a scent that was hard to describe by people.
The billowing smoke continuously circled into the cave. After a while, there was finally some movement. A thunderous noise appeared that shook the earth. It was as if there was a giant Earth Bull, turning over in his grave!
“Boom!” After a loud explosion, a humongous monster rushed out from the cave. Another “boom” exploded; this humongous monster created a large crater on the ground when he fell down.
“Who dares to disturb my slumber with this unpleasant smell?!” An ancient roar thundered. It was angered by being smoked out with this particular scent.
Seeing this humongous monster stomping on the ground, the group of Nan Huairen was dumbfounded. This humongous monster was not a particularly dreadful beast. It was a giant snail, but a snail that knew how to speak.
Seeing this humongous snail, only Li Qiye maintained his composure. At this moment, Li Qiye stood up, observed this humongous snail, and calmly said: “Not too bad. To be able to achieve Six Solutions; for your tribe, this is truly not an easy task.”
These words of Li Qiye greatly surprised the snail. Its two big eyes on its tentacles gazed at Li Qiye. The ancient noise resounded again, like the strike of thunder: “Little Brat, who are you? To be able to know the Six Solutions interpretation?!”
“Who I am is irrelevant. What’s important, however, is your appearance in this place!” Li Qiye calmly stared at the giant snail, and he said: “As for your comment regarding the Six Solutions, it is not a big deal; even the Eighteen Solutions, I can still theorize.”
“Good Little Brat! Speaking nonsensical rubbish!! There is no one in the world that knows the Eighteen Solutions.” The giant snail shouted: “No, that is not right! If there is indeed an Eighteenth Solution, then there is exactly one person that knows.”
Here, the giant snail gazed intensely at Li Qiye, and his eyes triumphantly said: “Not right, not right! Outside of that existence, there is no one else in this world that knows the Eighteen Solutions. You are simply a little human brat; it would be a miracle if you know the Eighteen Solutions.”
“The yellow peril lasting for ages, the ancient cauldron shining as deeply as the night’s blue ocean, the divine scholar tree exists in the mulberry field, the Golden Crow coming and leaving...” [1]
At this moment, Li Qiye opened with a profound incantation that Li Shuangyan’s group essentially couldn’t understand.
Hearing Li Qiye’s phrase, the snail was shocked in amazement. Its two eyes opened wide and glared at Li Qiye. In the blink of an eye, from under the snail’s shell came a fat and gigantic hand. It suddenly grabbed Li Qiye.
In just a split second, Li Qiye was gripped by the hand and moved into the sky, causing Protector Mo and Li Shuangyan to be aghast. They wanted to take action, but Li Qiye waved his sleeve, signaling for them to calm down.
“You, how do you know this profound incantation?!” The snail’s huge eyes gazed at Li Qiye in astonishment.
Li Qiye smiled, and he calmly said: “It was only the first part of the Seventh Solution incantation, nothing extraordinary; I could even say the Eighteenth Solution incantation.”
The giant snail became impatient, and he couldn’t wait any longer. His ancient voice yelled out: “Speak, hurry and tell me the Eighteenth Solution incantations!”
Li Qiye still calmly spoke: “The Eighteen Solutions is the thing that your tribe had always been searching for. For me to simply speak, it definitely won’t be so easy. Follow me, and then I can think about it a little bit.”
“Ignorant brat, you dare to negotiate conditions with this old man?!” The giant snail’s temper snapped, and he roared: “Wait until I rip apart your sea of knowledge and extract your memories; let’s see if you can still hide anything!”
Finished speaking, one tentacle turned into a strand of universal law, and it immediately pierced the forehead of Li Qiye, directly searching Li Qiye’s sea of knowledge.
“Not good...” Seeing this scene, Li Shuangyan’s expression soured. She knew that the situation was not favorable.
“Boom!” However, in a split second, the entire heaven and earth seemed to have exploded. The forehead of Li Qiye suddenly unleashed a strand of immortal light! Followed by a huge explosion, the giant snail was blown away into another corner of the world!
At this moment, Li Qiye was like a grand enraged Immortal Emperor, and the immortal light from his forehead directly suppressed Nan Huairen and his master to the ground. Even Li Shuangyan wasn’t able to stand steadily.
Li Qiye drifted on top of the ground, and the immortal light from his forehead started to disappear. Even so, the moment this light exploded, Li Qiye was like an angry Immortal Emperor; all existences under the nine heavens and ten earths had to prostrate under this immortal light!
[1] These were all four words phrases, interpreting their meanings is quite difficult since they’re meant to be abrupt and contextual which I am without. This is only 80% accurate at best, but the Golden Crow refers to Li Qiye I am sure.