Chapter 390: Chapter 390: Winds Fill the Mountain Pavilion
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Wanshan Wilderness, First Mountain Building.
It was originally labeled as Pillar 99, but once a man-made structure was confirmed inside, the exploration team casually called it Building 99. However, as the exploration area expanded and more hidden structures were discovered, naming them by pillar number seemed inconsistent, so Liu Shuyue officially named it the First Mountain Building.
This numbering has now reached the Tenth.
And the First Mountain Building has been explored the most thoroughly.
It looks completely different from a few months ago. The upper layer’s large stone walls have been stripped and chiseled away, revealing metallic walls and light windows that reflect a dark golden glow under the sunlight, resembling a yellow crystal sprouting from the top of a stone tower.
The lower layer has several main entryways carved out, the largest of which is ten meters wide and five meters high, enough to allow excavators to enter.
Clearly, those who built them were far more advanced in technology than the current Six Kingdoms.
In Xue Xiaojin’s words, blacksmiths struggle just to make an iron pot, so forging a ten-meter-high iron door would probably take them a lifetime.
Liu Shuyue stood at the top of the First Mountain Building, overlooking the bustling scene below.
The mountains have changed, and so has Hot Pepper Village. Since receiving a pile of cultivation technique study insights from Ji Yun, her understanding of Immortal Techniques and Magic has made great strides. Some previously mediocre local techniques, after her improvements, have now become crucial.
For example, the "God Summoning Technique," a folk technique commonly used by loose cultivators, has now become the core skill for clearing mountain buildings. In the past, God Summoning usually involved paper dolls, which were flexible but not durable, suitable for killing but not for labor; the improved version can drive more robust and heavier humanoid objects, with physical attributes comparable to an adult and longer duration.
Villagers who master this technique can control seven or eight straw men at a time to do simple work like carrying, hammering, and cleaning, all with ease.
It greatly improves work efficiency, and only the user’s Spiritual Qi is consumed. Even after a full day of intense labor, there’s no significant burden. Replace a damaged straw man without difficulty, as all materials come from the mountains and fields, without any supply issues.
Now, the "God Summoning Technique" has surpassed Lotus Cloud Sect’s "Pill Medicine Study" as the most learned Technique in Hot Pepper Village. Not to mention that once learned, one can enter the exploration team and earn as much as the hunting team. It’s also very useful for doing household chores.
Now, on the highways opened up between the mountains, thousands of straw men are transporting carts of rubble out of the mountain buildings. These excavated stones become the foundation for other roads or serve as construction materials for the village.
"Immortal Master Lord, the hunting team is all in position." A tall, robust man took the elevator to the rooftop and reported respectfully to Liu Shuyue, "They can unleash all Spiritual Qi at any time."
This man was Fu Jiaolu.
After practicing the improved Purifying Heart Technique by Ji Yun, his strength has significantly increased. Liu Shuyue assessed that he had reached the standard of an entry-level disciple of Lotus Cloud Sect. Although still no match for the Mountain Disciples, his progress with the Great Demon’s blood to forcefully sense Qi is already astonishingly fast.
She originally thought it would take these villagers twenty to thirty years of cultivation to approach the level of a beginner disciple; the less intelligent might never reach this threshold in their lifetime.
Of course... it’s not all thanks to spells.
The villagers of Hot Pepper Village are all practicing improved spells, and the hunting team members progress faster for a simple reason: they have followed Chen Xuan to fight in other worlds, engaged in blood-soaked battles with strong enemies—a level of experience and knowledge unattainable by staying in one place. It aids their cultivation as much as advanced techniques do.
Liu Shuyue nodded, took out a Sound Amplifying Talisman, and amplified her voice so everyone busy below could hear, "The First Mountain Building initiation test is about to begin. Everyone immediately move to their safety positions and wait!"
The exploration team members in red vests quickly dispersed.
The densely packed straw men also stopped moving.
Then she ordered Fu Jiaolu, "Have them start the device."
"Yes." Fu Jiaolu took out a walkie-talkie to convey the Immortal Master’s instructions.
The order was relayed down to the mountain building’s lowest level—lower than ground level—also where Liu Shuyue had tested the Spiritual Qi convergence point using the Smoke Soul Pillar.
There were indeed many devices inside the First Mountain Building powered by Spiritual Qi, designed far more ingeniously than the Immortal Alliance’s Moon Gazing Tower. The only problem is that there are so many highly Spiritual Qi-dependent devices that using them all is extremely difficult. Based on the Smoke Soul Pillar’s flow, the structure’s base should have a massive Spiritual Qi source providing Qi to different parts of the building. However, when the exploration team finally reached the bottom, they found only a sunken pit and plenty of bones, with no Qi source whatsoever.
So, Liu Shuyue came up with a simple solution.
Since there is no Qi source, create one. The Moon Gazing Tower’s elevator can be powered by two Immortal Masters, so why not gather all the hunting team members of Hot Pepper Village to channel their Spiritual Qi into the base, hopefully getting some response from these devices?
Time ticked by.
Except for birds chirping and wind rustling, the forest was silent.
Fu Jiaolu furrowed his brows, "Immortal Master Lord, I’ll go down and check the situation—"
"Shh." Liu Shuyue gestured for silence.
Under the Celestial Mist Skill’s scan, she sensed the mountain building beneath her growing brighter little by little!
How is this possible!?
The mountain building is artificial, a lifeless object of stone and metal, with no reason to be filled with Spiritual Qi radiance!
Suddenly, a large flock of birds flew up from the forest in a hurry toward the horizon, seemingly disturbed by something.
As the birds flapped their wings, Liu Shuyue felt a slight tremor beneath her feet.
Soon, the tremor intensified into a vibration!
The First Mountain Building began shaking violently!
Although Fu Jiaolu was surprised, he didn’t panic. Even in a sudden earthquake in the Wanshan Wilderness, they had many ways to protect themselves. He glanced at the surrounding pillars and noticed no swaying trees, indicating the ground wasn’t shaking; the vibration came from the mountain building beneath their feet.
Rumble!
The sound of rocks collapsing and falling came from below.
Liu Shuyue’s expression changed, and she immediately grabbed a Wind Riding Talisman, leaping off the rooftop platform.
In the air, she quickly noticed the rocky envelope surrounding the First Mountain Building’s lower layer collapsing! Something was pushing from inside against those rocks, preventing them from adhering to the walls!
Large sections of rock walls, tens of meters high, slid down like an avalanche, causing the ground to shake with their impact; thick clouds of dust rose, shrouding the area within a ten-kilometer radius.
Liu Shuyue finally saw what was pushing the mountain rocks.
They were four long bridges.
Like petals, they peeled away from the mountain building, slowly descending and extending outward. Each bridge was made of metal, broadest at the base and tapering upwards, reaching a length of several miles when fully extended. From above, the bridges looked like they were floating in midair, as if they’d break with a gentle touch.
However, that was just a visual illusion; Liu Shuyue knew the bridges’ dimensions were staggeringly large, wide enough for over twenty carriages to travel side by side.
"Immortal Master Lord, I’ve received a report that several walls in the middle level have collapsed!" Fu Jiaolu shouted from the rooftop.
That wasn’t a collapse, Liu Shuyue knew; rather, it was an "opening." The areas where the walls opened aligned exactly with the four suspended long bridges.
Even more disturbingly, the bridge ends appeared to stop abruptly, but upon closer inspection, these steel bridges were precisely aimed at other pillars.
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