Chapter 391: Chapter 391: "The Messenger
The hunting team couldn’t hold on for long.
In less than a quarter of an hour, they exhausted all their Spiritual Qi, and the glow of Spiritual Qi inside the Mountain Tower gradually faded, once again becoming a stone tower.
But in the eyes of Hot Pepper Village villagers, it was already a completely different tower from before.
"Immortal Master Lord, these bridges... could they be interconnected?"
After Liu Shuyue landed on the rooftop, Fu Jiaolu came over with a look of shock and asked.
"Very likely." She pointed to one of the long bridges, "Over there is the fifth Mountain Tower, from today on, the key clearing should shift to it, its priority should also be moved up to the second position."
Fu Jiaolu expressed his understanding.
Now the end of the long bridge hovered in mid-air, leading nowhere, but if the mountain tower opposite had a similar installation, wouldn’t they essentially have a super long suspended interchange bridge?
Over the next three days, numerous reports from the pioneering team piled on Liu Shuyue’s desk.
The sky bridges were just the prominent external changes to the Mountain Tower, internally it changed a lot as well.
Doors that were tightly locked before were now open, revealing new passages and compartments behind them.
Many reports stated that at the moment the Mountain Tower shook, some ceilings were seen glowing.
Previously beside the grain warehouse on the 45th floor, the pioneering team found another originally sealed room, inside were many grain processing devices, identifiable ones like husking dishes and rice mills, seemingly powered by Spiritual Qi as well.
The most incredible report came from Huang Ting’s group.
When they were drafting the new map of the Mountain Tower, they entered the central part of the building for the first time and discovered a massive hollow column in the middle of the tower. The column walls were cast from a mix of stone and metal, filled with small cavities inside. More astonishingly, a giant gray-white bone hung in the column, its diameter over ten meters, with unknown height.
Liu Shuyue felt more and more uneasy the more she read.
She thought she had a fairly clear understanding of the Mountain Tower, but it turned out she had barely scratched the surface. She began even to doubt the conclusion that the Mountain Tower was a man-made structure — could humans really create such an edifice allowing Spiritual Qi to roam all over it?
Moreover, the bone hidden at the building’s center, assuming it was as tall as the Mountain Tower, would be terrifying. Even stripping the Cyan Dragon’s skin and muscles wouldn’t piece together such a bone.
After finishing all the reports, Liu Shuyue couldn’t help closing the book and pondering.
Without a doubt, the Mountain Tower was a masterpiece with extremely sophisticated use of Spiritual Qi devices, its technological level far ahead of the Immortal Alliance.
It’s not just a dwelling; it contains numerous convenience facilities, exceeding the complexity of skyscrapers in Chen Xuan’s world.
The Mountain Tower doesn’t seem abandoned, as there are few traces of previous human activities inside.
It’s more like it has fallen into slumber.
Once infused with Spiritual Qi, it awakens and gladly accommodates visitors.
One Mountain Tower’s scale alone is astonishing, let alone the many such towers in the Wanshan Wilderness. If fully developed, the benefits to Hot Pepper Village would be immeasurable.
The largest puzzle before her is, why does the Mountain Tower "sleep"?
If its purpose is to serve humans, why disguise itself as strange stone mountains?
Liu Shuyue has no idea.
She realized that the people around her who could offer ideas and strategies were truly scarce.
The villagers’ loyalty is unquestionable, and they study techniques desperately, but they all come from lower backgrounds, with limited understanding of this world, offering little valuable discussion.
Chen Xuan is one of the few she can consult with, but he isn’t from the Six Kingdoms and knows little about the secrets of the Wanshan Wilderness.
"Immortal Master Lord," at this time, a villager came in from outside to report to her, "Zhangwei’s trade caravan has arrived."
Liu Shuyue raised her head with some confusion, "Is there anything else?"
Trade between Wanshan Wilderness and Zhangwei City is normal; now at least two caravans travel back and forth between Qing State lands each month. Hot Pepper Village even established a specialized reception department to handle trade matters, there was no need to notify her immediately.
Sure enough, the villager continued, "County Magistrate Tang from Zhangwei is also in the caravan, he says he brought a letter from the Governor."
I see, Liu Shuyue nodded, "Let him in then."
Not long after, County Magistrate Tang was led into Liu Shuyue’s office.
"Imm-Immortal Master Lord... it’s been a while..." He greeted nervously, his tone tighter than usual.
Liu Shuyue couldn’t help but find it somewhat amusing.
When she was a proper Immortal Master, the County Magistrate wasn’t this polite... or, his politeness only existed on the surface of officialdom, he didn’t take her seriously privately.
Now, she’s no longer recognized as an Immortal Master by the Court, yet he acts hesitantly.
"Why didn’t Shen Fang come?"
"The Governor cannot leave, now the atmosphere on the court... is rather tense, so I was entrusted to deliver the message." The County Magistrate replied while taking a letter from his chest and handing it to the edge of the desk with both hands.
Judging by his troubled expression, clearly, he doesn’t want to undertake this task either.
Liu Shuyue took the letter, "Sit down."
"No need, no need, I’ve been sitting for a long time in the carriage, now it’s good to stand for a bit." He waved repeatedly.
She stopped persuading and opened the letter, roughly glancing through it.
The content was all about intelligence on the Six Kingdoms — which was also information she requested the Zhangwei Governor to collect. Except in the past, the Governor would visit personally every month or two, this time he sent the County Magistrate, indicating the situation above is indeed not optimistic.
"Do you know what’s written in the letter?" Liu Shuyue asked after reading.
"As an inferior official... I roughly know."
She understood in her heart, as the Governor’s right hand, County Magistrate Tang surely knows his superior’s betting down. Whether he supports it or not, his interests are now tied to the Governor, he has to keep up.
The first major affair mentioned in the letter refers to a serious conflict erupted between the Xia Kingdom and the Lan Kingdom.
The Lan Kingdom’s army, supported by the Luo Kingdom, has invaded the Xia Kingdom, reportedly changing ownership of several cities there, causing many displaced people locally.
Yet again, the Luo Kingdom.
Though the letter didn’t make more predictions about the war situation, Liu Shuyue already understood the outcome. Both the Xia Kingdom and Lan Kingdom have lost their Immortal Masters; no matter whom Luo Kingdom supports, the opposing side would be in absolute disadvantage.
Moreover, Luo Kingdom’s support carries enormous ambition, she has no doubt the aided Lan Kingdom will eventually be controlled by the Luo Kingdom.
Following this trend, Luo will become the most powerful kingdom among the Six Kingdoms.
"Helper Kingdom is World Helper, Prosperous World leads to Unification, is this the answer Sister Lan Qin gave?"
Another major affair concerns Qi Kingdom’s new Immortal Master Jiang Ning.
He is recruiting young boys and girls between ten and eighteen years old from the civilians extensively, claiming to gift them a path to Ascension.
This decree has been praised and supported by the King of Qi.
Even faraway Qing State’s Zhangwei City must select a batch of children to send to the Royal City.
"About Ascension... Shen Fang followed the orders from above?" Liu Shuyue raised her brow.
"His Majesty ordered it, Lord Shen doesn’t dare not to obey." County Magistrate Tang lowered his head, "Only... this holy intention is very difficult to execute, he still needs more time to complete the task."
She laughed coldly, "Is it merely difficult? How is this different from forced abduction?"
"You cannot say that... After all, this is an opportunity for immortality." County Magistrate argued, "Many children from poor families are hoping to turn their fate, what’s more, some state cities are willing to provide ’Ascension Fee’—"
"Absurd!" Liu Shuyue interrupted harshly, "This practice is equivalent to the government openly trading people! When written into history books in the future, it will undoubtedly be condemned by all! Moreover, how come I’m unaware of such a convenient path to Ascension? If anyone can sense Spiritual Qi, then cultivators would have flourished everywhere long ago."
Speaking of which, she suddenly paused.
Isn’t Hot Pepper Village exactly where everyone senses Qi?
Using Great Demon’s blood bathing to forcibly breach the cultivation threshold, this is no secret among Mountain Disciples. Immortal Master Song Wei from Xia Kingdom once mentioned Jiang Ning’s background is suspicious; he is also closely related to Lan Qin, if he knows this, it would make sense. However, Great Demons are not found everywhere, slaying Great Demons and acquiring demon blood is by no means an easy task.
Yet the issue lies in, is it really only Great Demon’s blood that can help breach?
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