Chapter 110: Leads
"Did you manage to find something down there?" Wyrm 8 hurriedly asked as an elated look appeared in his eyes.
"I suggest all of you take a look at what's 1,000 feet under here," Wyrm 25 said as he stood up straight again.
Everyone immediately released their spiritual sense before directing it into the ground beneath their feet, following which their eyes quickly lit up.
There was a large underground cavity directly beneath them, and it had clearly been artificially constructed.
"It's a good thing that you have such great attention to detail. Otherwise, we would've missed this entirely," Wyrm 8 praised.
"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist. I just so happen to be using a special cultivation art that gives me heightened sensitivity to what's underground," Wyrm 25 replied with a modest smile.
"Let's go and take a look down there." Wyrm 8 didn't say anything further and led the way down underground.
The other two members of his team immediately followed along, as did Wyrm 25.
Soon, Han Li's trio were the only ones left still on the surface.
Wyrm 9 was looking rather displeased, and he didn't immediately follow Wyrm 8 and the others underground.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 exchanged a glance before also choosing to remain on the spot.
Even though the seven of them were operating together, certain factions had been formed among them due to the teams assigned by Wyrm 3.
After a brief moment of silence, a burst of blue light appeared over Wyrm 9's body, and he also vanished into the ground down below.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 quickly followed suit, and a short while later, they arrived in that underground cavity.
The space within the underground cavity was quite large, standing at a radius of at least tens of thousands of feet.
The ground was very smooth and even, and it was entirely paved with bluestone slabs to form a circular underground plaza. It seemed that it had already been a very long time since anyone had visited this area.
Everyone couldn't help but exchange a few glances upon seeing this.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, then took a whiff of the air in the underground cavity to find that it was very damp here. In addition to that, there was a faint bloody odor wafting through the air alongside an indistinct yin aura.
He crouched down before plunging his fingers into one of the bluestone slabs on the ground, then pulled it up to reveal the dark red earth down below, upon which he discovered that the dark red soil was tinged with a faint layer of black.
Han Li picked up a handful of soil, then tossed it away after a brief inspection.
"Did you discover something, Wyrm 15?" Wyrm 16 asked.
"No, I just feel like this place is rather strange. The faint odor of blood and the yin aura in here indicates that many people seem to have died here, and even the soil beneath these stone slabs has been tainted to become yin soil," Han Li mused with a contemplative expression.
"Perhaps this is a place that was specifically constructed to deal with enemies," Wyrm 16 speculated.
Han Li shook his head in response. Enemies of the island could've been killed anywhere, so why was it necessary to construct this massive underground chamber as an execution site?
He felt like there was something very suspicious about this, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong here.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 8 and the others were also speculating about what this underground space could've been used for.
"There's a simple solution to this. If we want to know why there's an underground space here, all we need to do is capture someone and interrogate them," Wyrm 9 suddenly said, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a small yellow flag, which vanished into the ceiling of the underground cavity in a flash.
Somewhere on the edge of the plaza in Red Moon City, a blue-robed middle-aged cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage was patrolling the city and maintaining order.
All of a sudden, a burst of yellow light flashed beneath his feet, and a large yellow hand shot out like lightning, closing itself around his legs before dragging him down into the ground.
At the same time, a series of yellow ripples emerged on the ground beneath his feet, transforming the hard stone material into a swamp-like consistency.
Thus, the middle-aged man vanished into the ground in the blink of an eye, and the yellow ripples on the ground also disappeared immediately thereafter.
Everyone was focused wholeheartedly on the pilgrimage, so no one noticed what had just happened.
Yellow light flashed on the ceiling above the underground plaza, and the middle-aged man tumbled down before falling onto the ground.
His expression immediately changed at the sight of Han Li's group, but his body was enshrouded in a layer of yellow light that prevented him from moving and making any sound.
Wyrm 9 grabbed onto the man's head, and countless black threads shot out of his palm before vanishing into the man's head.
The man's facial muscles twisted and spasmed painfully as blood began to seep out of his orifices, but Wyrm 9 paid that no heed as he continued to release more black threads out of his palm with a cold expression.
Moments later, the middle-aged man's body abruptly shuddered, and a dull thump rang out within his head, as if something had exploded in there.
Immediately thereafter, his aura completely faded, as did the light in his eyes.
A dark look appeared on Wyrm 9's face.
As was the case with the Body Integration cultivator that he had captured in Heavenly Water City, this man's soul had also had a restriction placed upon it, leading to automatic self-detonation as soon as certain memories were encroached upon through the use of soul search techniques.
"Even if there were no restrictions placed on the souls of these cultivators, a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't have known much anyway. There's not much point in continuing to stay here. I suggest we move on to the next Red Moon City right away," Wyrm 8 said with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
After that, he rose up into the air and vanished into the stone ceiling up above, followed immediately by the three people beside him.
Wyrm 9 gave a cold harrumph, then also departed from the underground cavity with Han Li and Wyrm 16.
A short while later, the group of seven departed from the city and traveled to the next Red Moon City.
……
Several days later, the seven of them arrived in front of another city that was enshrouded under an enormous blue restriction, and this one was right next to a massive lake.
To call it a lake wasn't entirely accurate. In reality, it was connected to the sea, making it technically an inland sea.
Outside the city was a series of connected docks with thousands of ships and boats entering and exiting, presenting a breathtaking spectacle to behold.
This was the Red Moon City of the Feng province, and it was also already the sixth Red Moon City that they had visited in the past few days.
Every single one of those cities had been the same as the Red Moon City in Lan. Aside from the residents of the cities observing the pilgrimage and the underground space that each city possessed, there was nothing abnormal or worthy of note.
The seven of them landed outside the city before sneaking their way inside.
Once again, this city had two main roads that connected the four city gates, with a massive circular plaza at the center of the city.
This city was also absolutely packed with people, and the plaza was laden with worshippers who had come to attend the pilgrimage from all over the province.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and a hint of dismay quickly appeared on his face.
Just like the previous few Red Moon Cities, there were no high-grade cultivators in this city at all. Once again, this was most likely a red herring and a complete waste of time.
Wyrm 8 was just about to say something when a faint breeze swept past him, and Wyrm 9 had already taken Han Li and Wyrm 16 deeper into the city.
A cold look flashed through Wyrm 8's eyes, but he didn't say anything as he led the three people accompanying him down another path.
Moments later, Han Li's trio arrived in a secluded corner.
Right as they were about to split up and go off on their own, Wyrm 9 suddenly said to Han Li and Wyrm 16, "There's an unofficial rule in the guild that those who make important contributions in missions will be given additional rewards, and these rewards are often extremely bountiful.
“Even though we don't have many leads at this point, make sure to constantly be on the lookout so the reward doesn't fall into the hands of Wyrm 8 and the others."
Han Li and Wyrm 16 faltered slightly upon hearing this, then cupped their fists in a salute toward Wyrm 9.
"Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Daoist."
Wyrm 9 nodded in response before departing in a certain direction, and Wyrm 16 also did the same after hurriedly bidding farewell to Han Li, seemingly very eager to claim this reward for himself.
Meanwhile, Han Li made his way down another street, and his gaze was constantly roaming over the shops on either side of the street as if he were searching for something.
At this point, the pilgrimage seemed to be about to draw to a conclusion soon, and many people had begun walking through the city, so he didn't have to employ a concealment technique.
A short while later, Han Li made his way into a shop on the side of the street, and this was yet another bookshop.
The shop was quite large, with a total of four levels. There were three rooms on the first floor, each of which was around 40 to 50 feet wide, and they were packed with bookshelves.
Due to the ongoing pilgrimage, business was quite slow, and there weren’t many customers in the shop.
"What can I help you with?" A portly middle-aged man with a well-maintained mustache immediately approached Han Li with a warm smile, and it seemed like he was the shopkeeper of the bookshop.
"Do you have any old maps or books on geography? The older, the better," Han Li replied as he glanced at the bookshelves in the shop.
A peculiar look flashed through the shopkeeper's eyes, but the expression only lingered for an instant before he replied in a calm manner, "We do have maps here, but none of them are very old."
Even though the change in the shopkeeper's expression was only present for a split-second, it naturally didn't escape Han Li's attention.
Intrigued by this development, a layer of translucent light appeared in his eyes, and the shopkeeper's eyes instantly took on a dazed look at the sight of Han Li's eyes.
"Bring me the oldest maps and geography books that you have here," Han Li instructed.
"Yes," the shopkeeper replied in a wooden manner, then turned and made his way deeper into the shop.
Han Li followed along behind the shopkeeper, and a short while later, he emerged from the shop with a book that had a brown cover.
The pages of the book seemed to have been made of some type of beast hide, and it appeared to be an extremely old book.
As Han Li flipped through the pages of the book, a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
Close to half a day later, the group of seven met back up again, and all of them were looking rather frustrated.
They hadn't discovered anything in this city, and the underground space here was also completely empty, so no leads had been gathered.
"Where the hell is he? Are we really just going to have to keep searching for him indefinitely on this island?" Wyrm 21 grumbled.
"Don't get disheartened. Gong Shuhong may have gone into hiding, but this is his stronghold. There are only less than 30 Red Moon Cities in total. If we search through them one by one, we'll be sure to find some leads. Next, we'll go to the Red Moon City in the Zang province," Wyrm 8 said before turning to depart.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly spoke up. "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8, I may have found some leads pertaining to Gong Shuhong's whereabouts."
Everyone immediately turned to him upon hearing this, and an elated look appeared in Wyrm 9's eyes as he hurriedly asked, "What have you found?"
Han Li extended a finger forward, and a screen of light that was depicting an image appeared in front of him.
"Please take a look, everyone," Han Li said.
Everyone turned to the light screen to find that there was a map of the island displayed on it. It was very similar to the map of the island that Wyrm 8 had previously presented to everyone, except this one was a bit more detailed.
"Isn't this the map that Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8 has already distributed to everyone? We've already seen it," Wyrm 25 scoffed with a hint of disdain in his voice.
Everyone else was also rather perplexed.
However, Wyrm 8 and Wyrm 9 seemed to be quite intrigued by what they were seeing.
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