Chapter 316: Chapter 314 - Floating Butcher (Congratulating the Alliance Leader Huo Yu Bing Feng!)_1
"Yanmo Taoist Palace?"
"Skinless Temple... Skin Peeling Skills, Skin Shadow Skills, Blood Skin Skills... and a ’Boundless Blood Sea Pill’?"
Fang Xi played with the blood-colored pill in his hand, slowly savoring the experiences of his Externalization in the Red Sun World.
"Could it be the long-extinct way of magic cultivation? It seems to have merged with the local demonic and strange practices... evolving into a completely new system."
"Mantra, Spell, Skill, Path... What exactly is the ’Path’ in the end?"
One mystery after another surfaced in Fang Xi’s mind.
Looking at the ’Boundless Blood Sea Pill’ that was vastly different from his own Kuyong Golden Core, he was also very interested in studying it further.
"However, what is most important now is to first deal with the Externalization!"
Fang Xi looked at the Externalization sitting cross-legged opposite him, and immediately began forming hand seals. He infused Magic Spells into the Externalization’s body continuously, repairing and perfecting the original Prohibitions based on the Secret Skills and Cultivation he had pieced together.
This was an act that had to be carried out periodically to ensure that the Externalization did not encounter any problems.
After a long while, Fang Xi opened his eyes, a hint of a smile on his face, "Over there in the Red Sun World, the focus is mainly on collecting Cultivation techniques and various Golden Cores... I think the Yanmo Taoist Palace is worth a visit, even if it is just ruins... Besides that, the various Demonic Spirits in the wild, some as powerful as Core Formation, are also worth studying..."
"I know about that..."
The Externalization opened its eyes, "The Cultivation techniques in the Red Sun World are mysteriously demonic and seem to facilitate rapid progress even more than Battle Marks... This technique cannot be cultivated by the main body, to avoid tainting oneself, but it is naturally fine for this Externalization to try it out."
"Exactly, but if you are to practice, you should choose the best. Now that you have undertaken a great task, it would be better to lay low here for a while before we talk about anything else..."
Fang Xi looked out of the carriage and saw a wild and barren landscape.
Although the Azure horn Fish Dragon was useless and lazy, its keen sense of danger was still extremely strong. Pulling the cart all this way, it had led the Demon Blood Flood Dragon in avoiding several dangerous spots.
...
Three months later.
Red Sun World.
Within a desolate forest, a merchant convoy was struggling to make its way forward.
"Everyone, stay alert. Although this trade route has been explored by others before, it’s not completely safe..."
A red-clothed young lady riding a horse instructed a manager-like figure beside her.
"Please rest assured, young miss, our Treasure Light Business Association has traveled this road for so many years... we know it well!"
The manager replied with a flattering smile.
"Recently, Demonic Spirits have been rampant outside... and some might have moved."
The young lady’s face was full of determination, holding a bright yellow Talisman in her hand.
She was no pushover; not only was she adept at the art of calculation, but from a young age, her parents had also sent her to a Taoist Temple, and now she was considered among those who had entered the Path!
Moreover, the success of the Treasure Light Business Association in dominating several nearby cities depended on several Cultivators who had achieved Taoist Foundation!
"Young miss..."
A maid came running up and whispered a few words, "The Cultivator summon you..."
"I know..."
The red-clothed young lady showed a bit of an awkward expression, but she still galloped over to a luxuriously decorated carriage.
Through the carriage window, one could see the exquisite cushions and a small table with a spread of assorted food.
A plump-faced Taoist lay indifferently inside, shoving away the serving maid who attended to him and looked at the red-clothed woman, "Owner... are you displeased with old Pang, to only offer me this cheap cosmetics and vulgar powder?"
He pointed to the maid with fresh tears and a bright red slap mark on her face, and snorted coldly.
The red-clothed young lady was furious inside but showed a smile, "Cultivator Pang, please bear with it for now. Once we reach the next town, I will surely present many women for your Cultivation..."
"Heh heh, within the convoy, there are also beauties around, don’t you agree, young proprietor?"
Cultivator Pang ogled the red-clothed woman from top to bottom, his gaze revealing a lewd intent.
The red-clothed young lady suddenly became expressionless, "I myself would also like to serve in your Cultivation, but the ’Seven Emotions Mantra’ that you practice, the masters and elders in the temple have strictly warned, must not damage the foundation of Cultivation..."
Cultivator Pang then grudgingly sat back down, "Let it be... for now, but for the next ’Five Organs Pill’, you’ll need to add another thirty percent for me..."
It appeared he had a degree of wariness towards the red-clothed young lady’s temple.
"Thirty percent? That’s too much..."
The young lady frowned, "At most, twenty percent... and Cultivator, you will need to exert yourself too. I feel a bit uneasy, there might be some danger nearby... Please venture out and make a survey."
"Heh heh... This place is no simple location. A hundred li to the north is ’Floating Toa Mountain’... A hundred years ago, that was the ancestral grounds of Yanmo Taoist Palace... Even though it’s been abandoned for a hundred years, it still has some secrets. No overly powerful Demonic Spirits will come close..."
Cultivator Pang lay down lazily again, "There’s no need for patrolling. Let’s just keep it this way..."
"Floating Toa Mountain..."
The red-clothed young lady seemed to contemplate thoughtfully.
The merchant convoy continued its journey.
Just then, a faint singing voice echoed through the valley, coming from the dense woods:
"What Demon Beasts and ghosts, all just images of immortality..."
The song was clear and melodious, yet the tune seemed to be some kind of rustic folk song, leaving the people in the convoy looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Stop for a moment!"
The red-clothed young lady called a halt to the convoy, gazing towards the direction of the singing with a grave expression.
A handsome young man, holding a pitch-black banner, was strolling along.
The steep cliffs, the vines full of thorns... seemed incapable of impeding him in the slightest.
Even as he traversed mountains and ridges, to the young man, it was as if he were taking a leisurely walk in his own courtyard.
He sang in a long chant as he continued on his way.
"Oh? I didn’t expect to encounter a caravan..."
Fang Xi’s eyes flashed, a smile appeared on his face, and with several bounding steps, he arrived in front of the caravan.
"Treasure Light Business Association? I seem to have heard of this association before..."
He murmured to himself, smiling, "Where is the person in charge of the caravan?"
A woman in red rode forward on her horse, forming a seal with one hand and performed a Taoist salute: "Disciple Xiao Mei of the Ruthless Temple... greets this young master."
"So you’re a disciple from the Taoist Temple, even better. You must be clear about the location of the ruins of the Yanmo Taoist Palace, right?"
Fang Xi smiled.
"What... Elder wishes to seek out the Yanmo Taoist Palace?"
Xiao Mei had just heard Pang Gong mention this, and her expression became somewhat strange.
"It seems... you do know a thing or two," Fang Xi said, nodding thoughtfully.
"I only know that the Palace is about a hundred miles north of here... As for more than that, I really know nothing...," Xiao Mei answered cautiously.
"That’s to be expected... After all, your cultivation base is too low, it’s normal for you to know little," Fang Xi said, scanning her with his divine thought, then immediately let out a cold snort: "Seeing this seat, yet you still don’t come out!"
While he was speaking, a terrifying aura of magic power spread from him, causing the woman in red to feel suffocated.
"Master, please forgive me..."
A meatball rolled out from the carriage, turning out to be none other than Pang Gong.
But looking at his demeanor, where was there any of the arrogance from before?
"Earlier, the Elder did not reveal any sign of his aura, and I could not detect it. It turns out it was a Yushi who has graced us with his presence..."
Pang Gong, rolling and scrambling up, came before Fang Xi, bowing continuously and explaining.
"Well then... are there any dangers near the Yama Taoist Palace?"
Fang Xi waved his hand, asking casually.
"Dangers?... Ordinary strange and evil spirits usually dare not approach the Palace... But since a hundred years ago when the Yanmo Taoist Master disappeared, the Palace has been thoroughly abandoned, completely different from the past... According to the rumors, there are indeed some dangers lurking, but as long as you don’t get too close or delve deep into the Palace, it seems the internal dangers won’t leak out... Otherwise, Treasure Light Business Association would not have chosen this mountain path..." Pang Gong replied, sparing no detail.
"I see..."
Reassured, Fang Xi nodded and asked a few more questions.
Despite the woman in red pricking up her ears, she couldn’t hear a thing anymore.
With a corner of her eyes, she could only see Pang Gong, who had been arrogantly poised before, behaving like a mouse before a cat, bowing and scraping with a degree of ridiculousness.
"I see, I shall take my leave then..."
Having acquired the information he wanted, Fang Xi let out a laugh, his body flickered with demonic light, and he transformed into a pitch-black Escape Light, vanishing into the sky.
"Pang Gong..."
Xiao Mei had an inkling and wanted to go up and inquire.
Unexpectedly, Pang Gong let out a cold snort: "The Elder’s inquiries are best left unasked by our Master..."
Xiao Mei seemed to realize something, her face paled slightly, and she managed a smile: "Pang Gong speaks wisely..."
...
High in the sky, a beam of demonic light shot northward at a rapid pace.
Fang Xi steered his magic power, letting the fierce winds blow without disarranging a single strand of his hair.
At the same time, all the information he had gathered these days consolidated in his heart.
"The Yanmo Taoist Palace is located at Floating Toa Mountain... It prospered for a thousand years, then declined a hundred years ago... The decline was very thorough; perhaps there was some inner turmoil, or a powerful evil being took up residence?"
"As for the Yanmo Taoist Master..."
"There’s a high likelihood that he was a Nascent Soul cultivator who, after a thousand years, probably ran out of his lifespan and met his end, right?"
After all, the reign of the Yanmo Taoist Palace lasted a millennium.
People believed the Taoist Master was immortal, with a lifespan equal to the heavens, but Fang Xi knew that even Immortal Cultivators had their day of decay.
Without the Nascent Soul cultivator, the Golden Core disciples and Temple Masters below wouldn’t be able to agree on a new Taoist Master. The collapse of the Yanmo Taoist Palace and the arrival of chaotic times seemed understandable, right?
’I wonder what the world was like a thousand years ago? Where did the Yanmo Taoist Master come from?’
For a Core Formation Cultivator’s Escape Light, a hundred miles was no more than the blink of an eye.
By the time a few thoughts had flickered through Fang Xi’s mind, the scenery ahead changed abruptly, revealing a mountain range brimming with spiritual energy.
Large and small buildings sat among the ranges, spiraling upwards circle by circle until a huge palace at the peak.
"Floating Toa Mountain’s Yanmo Taoist Palace... I’ve arrived!"