Chapter 648: Plum City and other Dead Towns
Plum flowers were in full bloom, a fragrant breeze rustled the leaves, and birds chirped as they flittered from one tree to the next.
However, Plum City was a dead city!
The streets were quiet; with no merchants or children running about.
There were no beast-drawn carriages or people arguing as they walked down the streets.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue sighed.
’What a waste.’ He thought.
"Immortal seniors, this is Plum City." Lin Hua said with a sorrowful expression.
"No one has entered this city after my sect’s initial investigation." She said, and Yu Nianzhen nodded.
At the same time, he looked at his lover, and Jiang Yue also nodded.
"There is a residual aura." Jiang Yue said, and several cultivators couldn’t help but be confused.
After all, they had previously investigated the city but not found residual aura or any traces of the culprit.
However, this was to be expected.
"The culprit is an immortal master." Yu Nianzhen said in a gloomy voice.
"An immortal master? Is there another immortal master in our Cangxing world?" Shangguang Hu asked, but neither Yu Nianzhen nor Jiang Yue answered him.
When they last checked, there were many immortal, immortal king, and immortal emperor realm cultivators in the Cangxing world.
However, these cultivators were in the sealed spaces and couldn’t get out for the time being.
[Xioayue, are the formations still intact?] Yu Nianzhen transmitted, and Jiang Yue nodded.
When they travelled around the world, Jiang Yue repaired many of the formations around the sealed spaces.
Most importantly, he left a soul mark on all the formations, including the ones he didn’t repair.
Because of these soul marks, he had real-time knowledge of the status of the formations.
[None of the formations have been broken. Although many cultivators have entered and exited the sealed spaces, no immortal and higher realm cultivators have come out.] Jiang Yue confirmed before he continued.
[Could a master have exited before I reinforced the formations?] He wondered.
[It’s possible.] Yu Nianzhen agreed.
After all, the incidents began before Jiang Yue reinforced the formations.
However, Yu Nianzhen was not completely convinced.
[Xiaoyue, there is another possibility.] He said.
[What possibility?]
[Maybe the master is not a native of our Cangxing world.]
Jiang Yue frowned when he heard this.
[Why do think so?] He asked.
[Think about it....] Yu Nianzhen started and quickly continued.
[There are countless immortal realm masters, level seven demonic beasts, and space beasts in the sealed spaces. If a flaw appeared in one formation, wouldn’t more masters and beasts have come out? Why stay if they can leave?]
[I get your reasoning.] Jiang Yue said and seriously thought about it.
As Yu Nianzhen said, it didn’t make sense that just one immortal realm master managed to escape through the flawed formation.
Even if they assumed that only one master was powerful enough to take advantage of the flawed formation, the master’s current actions didn’t make sense.
After all, which powerful master would scurry around instead of openly attacking the Cangxing world?
When thinking about it, Jiang Yue suddenly thought of a possibility, and his eyes widened in shock.
[Azhen, what if they seized someone’s body?] Jiang Yue said, and Yu Nianzhen clenched his hands.
[It’s indeed possible.]
After seizing a body, the person would still have the aura of an immortal master but no corresponding strength.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were horrified when they thought about it.
"Junior Shangguang, take us to the other dead towns." Yu Nianzhen instructed in a solemn voice.
"Immortal seniors, Plum City..." Lin Hua started, but Jiang Yue stopped her words.
"Don’t worry, we already have a clue. Let’s see the other places to confirm if our guess is consistent."
Shangguang Hu and the other leaders didn’t understand.
However, they could see the solemn looks on the two seniors’ faces and knew the matter was more serious than they expected.
After that, Yu Nianzhen, Jiang Yue, and several leaders spent one year travelling around the Cangxing world.
On this day, the people sat together, and Jiang Yue started.
"Fortunately, there is only one culprit." He said and was genuinely relieved.
Although he and Yu Nianzhen didn’t know if there were many masters who had seized bodies in the Cangxing world, they at least knew there was only one culprit behind the disappearance incidents.
"The culprit should be an immortal master practising an evil technique." Yu Nianzhen said, his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Damned evil cultivators." Wei Luo gritted his teeth in anger.
Like many righteous cultivators, Wei Luo hated evil cultivators.
Logically, the evil cultivators were children of the Cangxing world and should unite with other natives against external forces.
However, evil cultivators did not act according to common sense.
More often than Wei Luo cared to admit, evil cultivators often came to the foreign devils’ battlefield.
Unfortunately, they didn’t go there to contribute to the war effort but to trade with the foreign devils.
These bastards even went as far as to trade confidential information in exchange for rare goods from the foreign devils’ world.
Evil cultivators were abominable, and Wei Luo had killed more than a few.
However, the evil way never lacked followers.
After all, evil techniques were often easier to cultivate than righteous techniques.
"Think about it..." Jiang Yue started and quickly continued.
"Has there been a particularly powerful evil cultivator in the past few centuries?"
"There is one." Jin Jianfeng suddenly said, looking at his fellows for confirmation.
"Fellow Daoist Jin is right. There is indeed such a person." Shangguang Hu nodded.
"He is a supreme elder of the Black Tripod sect."
"What cultivation technique does he practice?" Jiang Yue asked, but Shangguang Hu shook his head.
"No one knows."
"I also know this person." Lin Hua gritted her teeth before continuing.
"His name is Kong Yunfei. He used to be a practitioner of the Buddhist way."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were shocked when they heard this.
After they returned from the Reincarnation world, they discovered the Thunder God Temple had long disappeared.
When they investigated, they learned the monks from the Thunder God Temple retreated into a secret realm.
However, no one had seen them for many centuries.
That said, no one suspected any foul play.
They just assumed the monks were peacefully practising in the secret realm.
Hearing that Kong Yunfei used to be a monk, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were naturally interested.
"Junior Lin, do you know something?" Jiang Yue asked.
"I only know a few rumours." Lin Hua said in an uncertain voice.
"Tell us what you know." Yu Nianzhen said.
After all, Xuan Ke was a monk of the Thunder God Temple.
When he returned to the Cangxing world, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue hoped to have something to tell him about the Thunder God Temple.
"The Thunder God Temple suffered serious harm during the Death Flower Ascension war. To revitalise the temple’s foundation, the monks chose to enter their secret realm to cultivate in seclusion. That said, the monks were not completely cut off from the world. Once in a while, a group of monks would come out to practice before returning to the secret realm. This was the case for Kong Yunfei."
"From what I know, Kong Yunfei and several monks went to a sealed space and stayed there for more than one hundred years. Unfortunately, only Kong Yunfei returned to the secret realm."
"A few years after returning, Kong Yunfei left again and later joined the Black Tripod sect."
"What about the Buddhist monks? Didn’t they chase Kong Yunfei?" Jiang Yue asked.
"That’s the thing." Lin Hua sighed before continuing.
"Buddhism is incompatible with evil. Logically, many monks should have come out to deal with Kong Yunfei. However, it’s been hundreds of years, but no one has come out. Also..." Lin Hua hesitated, but Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen had already guessed what she wanted to say.
"No monks have come out to practice since Kong Yunfei left the secret realm." Yu Nianzhen stated, and Lin Hua nodded in agreement.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue turned gloomy when their guess was confirmed.
They didn’t expect such a thing to happen.
However, without confirmation, everything was just speculation.
"Where is the secret realm of the Thunder God Temple?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
After that, the group once again embarked on a journey.
One month later, they arrived at the previous location of the Thunder God Temple, and Yu Nianzhen felt for the presence of the secret realm.
An incense stick later, he looked at Jiang Yue with a solemn expression.
"I have found it." He said, and Jiang Yue nodded.
Since they didn’t have a key, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had no choice but to forcibly break into the secret realm.
Fortunately, the level of the secret realm wasn’t high, and the two could barely create a gap in its space laws.
Soon after, a gap opened, and the two looked at several leaders.
"Wait here." Jiang Yue said and followed Yu Nianzhen into the secret realm.
