Gu Hai looked at the region covered in black fog before the group.
Outside the black fog were many cities with animal spirits, ghosts, humans, skeletons, and even more—a hodgepodge of races.
The various races seemed to have formed a civilization here, coexisting with one another.
The Mantra Seeking Ball Gu Hai held pointed to the black-fog-covered region.
“The Heavenly Demon Holy Land?” Gu Hai’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the black fog ahead.
“All the cities in the vicinity are part of the Heavenly Demon Holy Land’s territory. Your Reverence, you are not mistaken, right?” the Mosquito Daoist said with an unsightly expression.
“It’s not wrong. He is within the black fog.” Gu Hai nodded gravely.
The Mosquito Daoist’s expression fluctuated, now appearing extremely unsightly.
The expressions of Chang Ming, Kong Xuan, and Bodhisattva Lian Sheng did not change, as they did not understand this place.
Only the Unborn Man said in a somewhat serious tone, “Your Reverence, since that is so, let’s go in while it is early.”
Gu Hai nodded.
“Wait!” the Mosquito Daoist called out again.
“Huh?” Gu Hai looked at the Mosquito Daoist in bewilderment.
This was not the first time already. Gu Hai had noticed the Mosquito Daoist acting strange earlier. It seemed that the Mosquito Daoist was facing some difficulties.
The Mosquito Daoist’s expression changed again as he glanced at Chang Ming. Eventually, he showed a faintly bitter expression. “Your Reverence, you previously asked me about the Primal Essence Pearl, but this official kept my silence about it. Hah! I hope Your Reverence does not mind that.”
“We do not blame you. Everyone has secrets. The Han Imperial Dynasty is a place where everyone works together for their dreams. It is not a place for us to steal from you. If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to,” Gu Hai said seriously.
The Mosquito Daoist shook his head and smiled wryly. “It is not that I don’t have to, but I have no other choice. Hah… How could there be such a coincidence?”
“Oh?” Everyone looked at the Mosquito Daoist in bewilderment.
“Lord Chang, would you lend me the Primal Essence Pearl?” the Mosquito Daoist asked with a wintery smile.
Chang Ming felt slightly startled. Then he looked at Gu Hai.
Despite some misgivings, Gu Hai eventually nodded.
Chang Ming took out a translucent black ball and handed it to the Mosquito Daoist.
A dramatic change in expression took place in the Mosquito Daoist’s eyes as he received it, showing greed, anticipation, bitterness, and regret.
“The Primal Essence Pearl is finally in my hands. Your Reverence has no idea how much this official has done for so many years for this Primal Essence Pearl. Haha! However…,” the Mosquito Daoist said with a faintly bitter expression.
“The Primal Essence Pearl is ranked sixteenth of the top sixteen ancient treasures, the last-ranked. The Seven Immortal Executioner Swords rank even higher than the Primal Essence Pearl, but they are only so-so. No matter how strong an enchanted treasure is, it ultimately depends on the user. If the user is strong, even a blade of grass can be a powerful weapon. If the user is weak, even the Heaven Splitting Ax would only be so-so. Why are you so fixated on the Primal Essence Pearl?” Gu Hai asked in bewilderment.
“Few people know, but this Primal Essence Pearl is not an enchanted treasure. It is actually just a key,” the Mosquito Daoist said seriously.
“A key?” This startled everyone slightly.
This was especially so for Chang Ming. He appeared skeptical. Have you ever seen such a powerful key? It protected the entire palace previously!
“A key to where?” Gu Hai asked.
“To the black-foggy region before us,” the Mosquito Daoist said gravely.
“Oh?” Everyone felt slightly startled.
“Are you very familiar with this black-foggy region?” Gu Hai’s eyes lit up slightly, his expression changing.
After all, the Mosquito Daoist sounded like he understood this place well.
“I’m not just familiar. This official was born there. That was my home,” the Mosquito Daoist said with a bitter smile.
“Your home?” Kong Xuan said in shock.
The Mosquito Daoist nodded. “That’s right. I have never told anyone before. Actually, my home is within the black fog.”
Everyone exchanged looks. Indeed, this was too much of a coincidence.
“As for the Primal Essence Pearl, the Fly Daoist discovered it with me. We fought over it for so many years. Haha! It eventually ended up in Chang Ming’s hand,” the Mosquito Daoist said with a bitter smile.
“The Fly Daoist?” Chang Ming said in confusion.
“He is the person who passed you the Primal Essence Pearl,” the Mosquito Daoist said gravely.
“My master? He said he was a spirit-assimilated human who later on destroyed his primogenitor animal spirit like me. That’s why…,” Chang Ming said with a frown.
“Ptooey! A spirit-assimilated human? What a joke! That was just his excuse. Do I not understand him? We were born in the black-foggy region together. We later found this Primal Essence Pearl after fighting for many years. Initially, we agreed to share the Primal Essence Pearl. However, he wanted to monopolize it. I pursued him for a long time before chasing him to the land of the living, which was the place near Borderless Heavenly Capital’s previous location,” the Mosquito Daoist said seriously.
“Then?” Gu Hai asked.
“Then I won. I forced him to hand over the Primal Essence Pearl, but he said he did not have it. He stubbornly insisted on it, so I searched him. However, I did not find it. He said he had placed the Primal Essence Pearl in this black-foggy region, so I returned and searched for many years,” the Mosquito Daoist said with an unsightly expression.
“You trapped my master in that valley?” Chang Ming asked sullenly.
“That’s right. I believe he had already been greatly weakened by then. It had been close to a thousand years. Humph! He was weakened and could no longer protect the Primal Essence Pearl. Furthermore, you were of the blood race, and your body contained Yin-attributed energy. It could not only nourish the Primal Essence Pearl but also completely hide the Primal Essence Pearl’s aura. Therefore, he went with the flow and passed the Primal Essence Pearl to you—but only for temporary safekeeping. Since he could not protect it, he will come for it after he recovers his cultivation,” the Mosquito Daoist said.
“But that is too much of a coincidence, right?” Chang Ming frowned.
“Coincidence? Hah! It is no coincidence. You were just lucky. One thousand years! A full one thousand years. Do you think no one could enter that valley and rescue him in one thousand years? That place was close to cities. Even if no one passed by, there would be animal spirits. Why couldn’t he pass his inheritance to other animal spirits but only wait one thousand years? Haha! You probably don’t know this, but I checked the place later on. There were countless dried skeletons below the valley. This proved that others had died there,” the Mosquito Daoist said.
“My physique happened to be good for hiding the Primal Essence Pearl?” Chang Ming raised his eyebrows.
“That’s right. That’s why he used you to hide it,” the Mosquito Daoist said indifferently.
“But…but…couldn’t he just reincarnate? Why wait for me?” Chang Ming could not understand.
“Reincarnate? Reincarnate, my ass. He probably returned. He can only recover his cultivation here. Why wait for one thousand years? Because the chains I sealed him with had restrictions. If he escaped, I would know immediately and rush over. Furthermore, he leaked some of the Primal Essence Pearl’s aura in the end, telling me he gave the Primal Essence Pearl to someone else, which was you. He was just diverting the trouble, sending me to trouble you instead,” the Mosquito Daoist said.
“After failing to find the Primal Essence Pearl after searching for one thousand years and suddenly discovering you were fooled, you would be furious. No wonder you wanted to destroy the city when you went to Borderless Heavenly Capital,” Kong Xuan said with a frown.
“That’s right. The Fly Daoist used the Primal Essence Pearl to lure me away, to get me to give up pursuing him. While I sensed the Primal Essence Pearl in Borderless Heavenly Capital, Chang Ming’s physique could hide its aura, so I didn’t know who held it. Later on, I started fighting His Reverence,” the Mosquito Daoist said with a frown.
“Given this, the Fly Daoist did not have good intentions for Chang Ming. He gave the Primal Essence Pearl to Chang Ming only so that Chang Ming could shield him from disaster?” Gu Hai frowned.
“Yes!” the Mosquito Daoist said sullenly.
“Since you said the Primal Essence Pearl is the key to the black-foggy region, why stop us from entering? What is there to worry about when we have the key?” Bodhisattva Lian Sheng asked in bewilderment.
The Mosquito Daoist showed a faint, wry smile. “You know this is the Heavenly Demon Holy Land, but do you know who rules this place?”
“Oh?” Everyone’s expression changed as they looked at the Mosquito Daoist.
After all, the Mosquito Daoist grew up here and would be the most familiar with this place.
“I dared to go to the Myriad Age Daoist Sect and eat the Spiritual Tortoise Holy Lady and dared to go to the Spirit Mountain Holy Land and eat three petals of Jiang Gautama’s Twelve-Petaled Golden Lotus, but I do not dare to cause trouble in the Heavenly Demon Holy Land’s headquarters. It is like facing Long Zhanguo; I would not dare to cause trouble with Long Zhanguo.” The Mosquito Daoist frowned.
“The Heavenly Demon Holy Land is comparable to the Qian Heavenly Dynasty?” Kong Xuan said, his voice sinking.
“The Heavenly Demon Holy Land has one main peak and twelve subordinate peaks. I have never dared to go to the main peak, as the master of the Heavenly Demon Holy Land is the Unrestrained Heavenly Demon. Furthermore, each of the twelve subordinate peaks has a peak master, all of them powerful experts. Do you see that? The interior of this black-foggy region is actually a peak, the Corpse Mound Peak. More accurately, the eight hundred ghost cities nearby and the black-foggy region are all the Corpse Mound Peak Master’s territory. The eight hundred ghost cities surrounding this black-foggy region and this black-foggy region compose the Corpse Mound World,” the Mosquito Daoist explained.
“Corpse Mound World? The name sounds somewhat familiar?” Gu Hai frowned.
“Your Reverence, the Spirit Mountain Holy Land sent Lifespan Chunshen and Lifespan Beiming to lay a Burial Mound Lifespan Ritual Array using a corpse worm at Three Mountains City not long ago,” the Unborn Man explained.
Gu Hai’s expression changed. “That’s right. Are they related?”
Kong Xuan’s face immediately turned solemn as he recalled how horrifying that Burial Mound Lifespan Ritual Array had been, turning all the citizens into corpse demons. It had trapped him and prevented him from escaping.
“Of course they are related. This official had been resisting the Spirit Mountain Holy Land experts in Borderless Heavenly Capital. Otherwise, I would have known what was going on with that Burial Mound Lifespan Ritual Array,” the Mosquito Daoist said.
“Oh?”
“The corpse worm Your Reverence gave the Unborn Man came from this Corpse Mound World. Furthermore, there is more than just one corpse worm; there are many. The corpse worm from Three Mountains City is just a run-of-the-mill corpse worm,” the Mosquito Daoist explained.
“Run-of-the-mill?” the Unborn Man parroted in shock.
After all, that corpse worm was already the best the Unborn Man had seen.
“Of course. I grew up in this Corpse Mound World. How can I not know the situation here? The Corpse Mound Peak’s Peak Master is a corpse worm spirit called the Corpse Worm Heavenly Demon. He is a formidable animal spirit king; I am no match for him!” the Mosquito Daoist said bitterly.
“The Corpse Mound Peak Master? The Corpse Worm Heavenly Demon?” Gu Hai echoed gravely.
“Yes. Every time we returned, we did so behind the Corpse Worm Heavenly Demon’s back.”
“What is this Corpse Mound World?” the Unborn Man asked in bewilderment.
The Mosquito Daoist fell silent for a while before replying gravely, “Have you heard of the war between the shamans and animal spirits in ancient times?”
“Of course. That was the war of divine cultivators. Jiangchen led the shaman race, and the four divine beast commanders led the animal spirit race. In the end, both sides suffered greatly in the battle in the nether realm. No, they practically wiped each other out,” Kong Xuan said.
“That war shook the world. Countless died. They nearly exterminated each other. However, Heaven showed pity on them later, gathering all the corpses of the shamans and animal spirits and burying them together,” the Mosquito Daoist explained.
“Burying them here? The Corpse Mound World?” The Unborn Man’s expression changed.
“Yes, this is the place. Thus, this is where filth-type animal spirits like us are born. There’s also the Fly Daoist—a housefly who turned into an animal spirit. There are also countless corpse-eating corpse worms. However, the Heavenly Demon Holy Land was soon established. The master of this place, the Corpse Worm King, became one of the Heavenly Demon Holy Land’s thirteen peak masters,” the Mosquito Daoist explained.
“The Corpse Mound World?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.
“This place is too dangerous. That’s why this official is worried.” The Mosquito Daoist smiled bitterly.
“But my son Gu Han is in there,” Gu Hai said, frowning.
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