Chapter 394: Chapter 381: The Secret of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect
Dawn was breaking.
The heavy rain outside was still falling, showing no signs of stopping.
Shen Lang embedded the last Spirit Stone into the ground, and a flash of Spirit Light immediately flickered through the thirty-plus-square-meter room.
The Array, which he had spent over an hour setting up, was finally complete.
Shen Lang finally let out a sigh of relief. He took a few steps forward, backward, left, and right with a strange gait, finally stopping in the center of the room.
After seeing the note from Gu Feng, Shen Lang had specifically gone with Xiaomuzi to find him.
But for some reason, whether the old man was deliberately avoiding him or not, they waited for a long time at his usual haunts without seeing him. Even Xiaomuzi was surprised and could only offer explanations like, "He already got Big Bro’s money, so he must have gone off to have a good time."
Whether he was a true master or not, that old fellow Gu Feng had perfected all the mannerisms of one to a sublime degree.
Even someone as demonically cunning as Shen Lang, who had inherited everything from the War Emperor, found himself intrigued and a little captivated by his methods.
...
’Wentian, I’ll leave the rest to you,’ Shen Lang said softly in his mind.
Zuo Wentian replied, ’Master, rest assured. With me here, no one can harm you.’
With Zuo Wentian to protect him and the Grand Array to defend him, Shen Lang took out a small piece of Beast Hide.
This was the secret manual for creating the "Illusory God Talisman" that he had bought from Cai Chaoqun when he went to the market with Kou Xiaotian and the others.
The object was strange through and through.
Its material was incredibly tough; even someone with Shen Lang’s vast experience couldn’t identify it.
Moreover, when Shen Lang had examined it with his Silver Eyes of Truth, he had actually seen a powerful expert’s Divine Thought left within the Beast Hide.
And that Divine Thought had even sensed Shen Lang’s prying gaze!
Curiosity is human nature, and Shen Lang was no exception.
He just hadn’t found the time to examine it until now.
With an old monster like Zuo Wentian protecting him, and being exceptionally bold himself, Shen Lang couldn’t wait to take the object out after he finished his Cultivation.
The small piece of Beast Hide lay on the floor, looking completely unremarkable.
Shen Lang’s palm, glowing with Spirit Light, gently swept over the Beast Hide. He then watched it quietly, but it remained motionless.
After a short while, a plume of white smoke rose from the Beast Hide. The smoke then slowly coalesced into the form of an old man with a white beard and hair.
The old man had a youthful face despite his white hair. He wore a white robe, appearing transcendent and otherworldly, yet possessed a considerable aura of authority.
He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at Shen Lang, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Then, with an awkward expression, he also sat down cross-legged.
"Although you are just a strand of Divine Thought, it contains an unbelievable amount of Thunder Power. To be able to imbue one’s very Soul Power with such tyrannical and incomparably pure Thunder Power... Senior, you must be from the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect, correct?" Shen Lang said with a faint smile, meeting the old man’s gaze.
A strange look appeared on the old man’s face, and two bolts of thunder flashed in his eyes. He nodded and said, "It seems I haven’t been waiting for the wrong person. I am Lei Yanzi, and I am indeed from the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect."
Shen Lang’s eyes flickered as he said, "Nearly ten thousand years ago, the illustrious North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect suddenly vanished without a trace. Yet now, Senior’s Divine Thought has appeared in a piece of Beast Hide like this. Why is that?"
"You said you haven’t been waiting for the wrong person. Could it be that you’ve been waiting for me all this time, inside this Beast Hide?"
Lei Yanzi pondered for a moment before saying slowly, "It’s a long story..."
"Since you’ve sought me out, you must need my help with something. So, it would be best if you were straightforward with me." Shen Lang’s words were a bit blunt, but irrefutable.
Lei Yanzi gave a bitter smile and said, "Very well. The North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect has already been reduced to dust. There’s no point in worrying about face anymore. I’ll give you a brief account of what happened."
And so, as if confiding in an old friend, Lei Yanzi began to recount the entire story from beginning to end.
As Shen Lang listened, he connected what he was hearing with everything he remembered, hoping to uncover the various secrets of that era.
The North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect was a mysterious and powerful Legendary Level Sect that had been passed down since the Ancient Era.
The Sect was founded in the Far North and rarely had contact with the outside world.
But everyone on the Star Continent knew that this was a Sect whose combat prowess was utterly terrifying, as they had cultivated Thunder Skills to the absolute apex.
Over ten thousand years ago, before sects like the Profound Dao Sect were even founded, the first name that came to anyone’s mind when speaking of Thunder Element Techniques was the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect.
Although the Sect had always been very low-key, their fame had spread to every corner of the world countless years ago.
Their disciples practiced Thunder Skills, used thunder for Body Forging, and manipulated thunder and lightning, each possessing a strength that could chill one to the bone.
Rumor had it that the most powerful experts within the Sect could even influence Tribulation Thunder, striking fear into the hearts of powerful figures everywhere.
Tribulation Thunder was something that, according to legend, the supreme experts of the Human Realm would encounter upon their ascension, and its power was unmatched.
When facing the mighty Tribulation Thunder, even supreme experts on the level of the Five Directions Emperor could be reduced to ashes with a single misstep.
But the people of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect could actually influence Tribulation Thunder. News of this heaven-defying ability spread throughout the entire Human Realm.
Besides their supreme Thunder Skills on the Star Continent, the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect possessed one other thing that made people’s faces pale and struck terror into their hearts.
That was the "Silent Extinction Divine Thunder."
The Silent Extinction Divine Thunder was the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect’s exclusive Secret Treasure. Its power was by no means weaker than various Divine Weapons, yet it was not classified as one.
It was an object created through the combined efforts of powerful experts who had cultivated mighty Thunder Element Techniques and top-tier Artifact Refining Masters.
Many Artifact Refining Masters considered this item a disgrace to the craft of Artifact Refiners, but they had to admit its world-destroying power.
Artifact Refining Masters considered it a disgrace because every single Silent Extinction Divine Thunder required an Artifact Refiner to pour in their heart’s blood and countless days and nights of hard work. The difficulty of refining one was in no way less than that of the legendary Imperial Artifacts, Emperor Artifacts, or even Sacred Artifacts.
However, this object, as difficult to create as ascending to the heavens and capable of terrifying even peerless experts, could only be used once.
Just one use could shatter the heavens, sunder the earth, and overturn rivers and seas!
The Silent Extinction Divine Thunder had an ordinary appearance, and they varied in color and size.
According to legend, a peanut-sized Silent Extinction Divine Thunder could level a mountain, while a lychee-sized one could make a Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm expert flee for their life.
Its appearance was unassuming, but it stored an earth-shattering amount of Thunder Power. The burst of Energy it released was unparalleled in this world.
But its power didn’t just lie in its explosive force.
It also lay in the fact that even though it contained an absurd amount of compressed and stored Thunder Power, its exterior was plain and simple, emitting no aura whatsoever. An ordinary person’s Divine Thought could not detect anything unusual about it at all!
It was the kind of thing you could place right in front of someone, and they wouldn’t sense its danger!
It was undetectable and difficult to defend against.
Once used, it was unstoppable.
Yet this impossibly powerful North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect, this Sect that possessed an unknown number of Silent Extinction Divine Thunders, had suddenly vanished without a trace ten thousand years ago.
It was as if it had never existed in this world at all.
In Shen Lang’s memories, the approximate time of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect’s disappearance seemed to be five or six years after the Thirty-Six Great Cave Heavens and the Seventy-Two Small Blessed Lands vanished.
The War God Hall had once dispatched experts to investigate what had happened, and after many years, they seemed to have gathered some information.
But this information had likewise been sealed away by the War Emperor. To Shen Lang, all of it was a secret.
But now, under the telling of Lei Yanzi, these secrets were slowly beginning to be unveiled...
Ten thousand years ago, the already mysterious Thirty-Six Great Cave Heavens and Seventy-Two Small Blessed Lands suddenly disappeared. The few people and sects who knew about these Pocket World Blessed Lands became extremely secretive about the matter.
As it happened, the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect had some connection to one of them, the Qingxu Cave Heaven.
So, after these Pocket World Blessed Lands suddenly vanished, disciples of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect, who had rarely ever appeared in the world, began to mobilize in large numbers.
In order to investigate the matter of the Pocket World Blessed Lands, the Silent Extinction Divine Thunder began to appear frequently in the world.
And it was precisely because of the appearance of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect’s people that many people and sects on the Star Continent learned about the existence of the Pocket World Blessed Lands.
However, the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect’s high-profile emergence not only failed to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of the Pocket World Blessed Lands, but it also brought a fatal disaster upon themselves!
Just as the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect was sending out its experts to investigate, the Witch Race, hidden deep in the Barbaric, suddenly appeared in the Far North.
According to Lei Yanzi, it was a member of the Witch Race, so ancient that one dared not look directly at him.
He told the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect that disaster was imminent. They had to immediately disband and have the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect disappear completely. Otherwise, rivers of blood would flow, and their doom would be inescapable!
The people of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect were all incredibly arrogant, but the Witch Race, who were said to know the past and future, was a force they had to take seriously.
As the Elders of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect squabbled, time slipped away.
A golden opportunity was thus missed...
On the seventh day after the member of the Witch Race spoke those words and left, a few Elders who believed him led their disciples away from the Far North. The rest, however, remained in the North Nether Celestial Palace, refusing to leave.
Many even suspected that the Witch Race was trying to sow discord and cause a rift within the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect.
The remaining few Elders led their experts and prepared to enter the Barbaric to demand an explanation from the Witch Race.
They hadn’t even had a chance to leave the Far North...
A mysterious person named "Candle Dragon" appeared and, leading sixteen others, massacred the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect in an instant!
In the blink of an eye, the North Nether Celestial Palace of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect was turned into a ruin. Blood stained the snow, and the horrific scene was like something out of the Nine Netherworld Prison.
Hearing the story up to this point, Shen Lang finally couldn’t help but interject, "With the strength of the North Netherworld Extreme Heaven Sect, how could they be so easily annihilated by a mere seventeen people? What is the origin of this person called Candle Dragon? That name... Could he be the Fierce Beast Candle Dragon from ancient legends? A Fierce Beast like that is said to possess the power to overturn rivers and seas. Every time it appears, it brings with it a rain of blood and endless slaughter. Besides, that Demon Beast’s malevolent aura is overwhelming. How could it have been tamed and recruited by someone?"
