Chapter 639: The Plot of the Ageless Realm

Zhong Shan had no intention of involving himself further in Nangong Sheng's battle with the two other Wu Clan members. The fight with just one Wu Clan member had already drained him, and opening the reincarnation passage consumed an immense amount of energy.

Fortunately, the reincarnation passages Zhong Shan opened were not large, but he had still opened seven of them. The cumulative effort had reached a tipping point, comparable to the last time he dealt with the brain-eating beasts. Although he wasn't about to faint, he was thoroughly exhausted both physically and mentally.

Not calling out to Yin Luo Ri was also because Zhong Shan was unsure of Yin Luo Ri's current intentions. After all, one should never fully trust someone they've just met; confiding in them and entrusting one's life to them was out of the question.

Zhong Shan distanced himself from the battlefield and rushed in the direction where Gu Qianyou and her party had gone.

Blood rain continued to fall from the sky, and the heavens were dark and somber. Zhong Shan transformed into a shadow, swiftly traversing the vast distance on the ground. At this moment, another shadow rushed towards him from a distance.

It was one of Zhong Shan's shadow clones.

The two Zhong Shans stood facing each other, and the shadow clone took out a small flag.

The five-element flag, the Yellow Flag of the Center! Zhong Shan placed it alongside the Wu Clan member's staff. Neither could be stored in a spatial ring, but Zhong Shan's shadow form was unique. As long as they were affixed to his body, even these two immortal-level treasures could be shadowed along with him.

After securing the two treasures, Zhong Shan shot off again.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Yin Luo Ri and Tian Xiao regained consciousness.

The moment they woke, they vividly recalled the terrifying scene from before.

The reincarnation passage? The staff that destroyed the reincarnation passage?

They looked around and saw countless unconscious figures lying all around.

What had just happened?

Was Zhong Shan dead? Had he been killed by that Wu Clan member? No, if Zhong Shan were dead, they wouldn't have survived either. What had happened? Had Zhong Shan killed the Wu Clan member? Impossible, right?

Had Zhong Shan perished alongside the Wu Clan member?

Their hearts were full of questions. They exchanged glances, seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

In that brief moment, more and more people began to wake up.

Seeing that they had been saved, everyone looked around with excitement. At the same time, they all noticed the ongoing battle between Nangong Sheng and the Wu Clan members in the distant sky.

Everyone felt a chill of fear and quickly decided to leave. They had just narrowly escaped death and had no desire to risk their lives again.

At this moment, a group of figures flew in from afar. It was the fifty people of the Great Yan Heavenly Dynasty. Upon seeing the numerous rescued individuals, a few quickly flew off to report to Xing Taidou.

"Let's go!" Tian Xiao didn't hesitate and led the Tian Family disciples to retreat swiftly.

Yin Luo Ri did the same. Watching the Tian Family disciples leave, he squinted his eyes and turned towards another direction. He intended to go to the Great Zhen Dynasty. He wanted to verify what Zhong Shan had said about the Great Zhen Dynasty, to confirm if Zhong Shan was truly alright.

The strong cultivators from all directions quickly turned to leave. The current situation was beyond their reach. Both the Wu Clan members and Nangong Sheng were overwhelmingly powerful, capable of crushing them with a mere flick of their fingers. Staying here would only mean courting death.

Faced with numerous strong cultivators, the dozens of people from the Great Yan Heavenly Dynasty didn't dare to act rashly. They waited for Xing Taidou to return, who had gone after the five-element flags. Who knew how many he had retrieved? One of the flags had already fallen into Zhong Shan's hands.

In an instant, the area emptied as everyone left.

In another valley, members of the Ageless Realm, including Nian Youyou, were present.

Leading them was a purple-haired man. At this moment, the purple-haired man stood atop a high mountain, staring into the fog-filled distance with a cold smile.

Nian Youyou approached, carrying the ancestral divine beast that resembled a fluffy ball on her shoulder.

"Junior Sister, why have you come to find me today?" The purple-haired man turned to Nian Youyou, a faintly wicked smile playing on his lips.

"Senior Brother, can you show me the group of people you're planning to deal with?" Nian Youyou asked.

"Of course, since Junior Sister has asked, how could I refuse?" the purple-haired man replied with a smile.

With a wave of his hand, he used a spell to conjure up the images of a group of people.

Seeing the group, Nian Youyou's pupils constricted, a look of extreme disbelief flashing in her eyes. This… how could this be?

The images were of Gu Qianyou, Xianxian, Mr. Corpse, Old Drunkard, and others. While Nian Youyou couldn't recognize all of them, she was more than familiar with Gu Qianyou.

During the time when the Eight Extreme Heavenly Tail devoured heaven and earth, Nian Youyou had been by Zhong Shan's side, deliberately competing with Gu Qianyou for his favor. They had engaged in many verbal sparring matches, becoming very familiar with each other.

This…?

Nian Youyou stared in astonishment. How did Gu Qianyou end up in the underworld? During the time of the Ancient Divine Opening of Heaven and Earth? No, later, during the Great Zhen Dynasty's conquest of the Chaos Lands, Gu Qianyou had already become Zhong Shan's empress. It couldn't have been then.

But if not then, how did she enter the underworld? That wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that if Gu Qianyou was here, then what about Zhong Shan? Did Zhong Shan abandon his foundations in the mortal realm and come down too?

Could Zhong Shan have come to the underworld?

A wave of panic flashed through Nian Youyou's eyes. She had come to the underworld to escape Zhong Shan, not wanting to see him again. But why did Zhong Shan keep haunting her mind all these years? Why couldn't she shake him off?

Has he come? Panic flickered in Nian Youyou's eyes.

This flicker of panic did not escape the purple-haired man's notice.

"Junior Sister, what's wrong?" he asked.

Hearing his call, Nian Youyou steadied her emotions, the earlier panic fading away.

Staring at the conjured image of Gu Qianyou, Nian Youyou looked closely before saying, "Senior Brother, I have some advice for you!"

"Oh? Advice? What made you suddenly want to give me advice?" The purple-haired man looked surprised.

"Do you know who they are?" Nian Youyou asked.

"I don't. What of it?"

"I advise you not to provoke them!" Nian Youyou said.

"Not provoke them? Ridiculous. Why shouldn't I provoke them? In this small world, is there anyone our Ageless Realm cannot provoke?" The purple-haired man dismissed her concern.

"At the very least, you need to let that woman go!" Nian Youyou pointed to Gu Qianyou's image.

"Her? Hahaha, if it were someone else, I might have given Junior Sister this favor. But not her!" The purple-haired man shook his head.

"Why not?" Nian Youyou frowned.

"Because she, like you, possesses the Nine Cauldron Body, specifically the Xun Cauldron. If it weren't for this feng shui formation, I wouldn't have discovered it. Knowing her constitution, I can't let her go. One of our elders in the Wind Sect of the Ageless Realm has been searching for the Xun Cauldron for a long time!" The purple-haired man revealed a wicked smile.

Nian Youyou's frown deepened. "You don't understand her, nor do you understand the people behind her. If you refuse to release them, you may regret it!"

"Regret? I've never known what regret is!" The purple-haired man retorted stubbornly.

"The realm lord's grand plan is about to commence. Do you really want to jeopardize it by capturing these people at such a critical moment?" Nian Youyou tried to persuade him further.

"Junior Sister, stop trying to persuade me. My mind is made up. The realm lord's plan hasn't started yet. In the meantime, I have enough time to capture them. Besides, I'm in charge this time. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility. You don't need to worry." The purple-haired man remained obstinate.

"Let's hope you won't regret it, Senior Brother!" Nian Youyou said one last time before turning to leave.

Watching Nian Youyou depart with the ancestral divine beast, the purple-haired man's eyes narrowed, his expression darkening slightly.

In the dense fog before the purple-haired man were Gu Qianyou and her group.

"This is a bad omen, a really bad omen! We are surrounded by danger from all sides. Someone is specifically targeting us. We're doomed!" Old Drunkard said, his face full of worry.

"Enough, stop making noise!" Gu Qianyou frowned.

"Shut up! It's just a small fog array. Haven't we dealt with worse? What's there to be so alarmed about?" Xianxian said disdainfully.

At this moment, Mr. Corpse approached from a distance.

"Reporting to the Empress, fifty li to the east there is an abandoned city," Mr. Corpse said in a deep voice.

"Good! Move to the abandoned city immediately!" Gu Qianyou nodded.

"Yes!" everyone responded promptly.

"Empress, can you discern what kind of formation this is?" Mr. Corpse asked with a frown.

"This is a feng shui formation. I've studied some with Old Tian, and the Clay Bodhisattva has given me some texts. Even if we can't break this feng shui formation, we can certainly defend ourselves within it. Once His Majesty arrives, everything will be resolved!" Gu Qianyou said with unwavering confidence.

"Yes!" everyone nodded.

Quickly, they reached the so-called abandoned city discovered by Mr. Corpse. In this foggy place, it was impossible to distinguish directions, and even their spiritual senses couldn't penetrate far, similar to the feng shui formation set up by the Clay Bodhisattva long ago. Zhong Shan had broken that formation with wild wolves, but there were no such wolves here. Discovering this abandoned city was thanks to Mr. Corpse's zombies, who found it while tunneling underground.

The abandoned city was very dilapidated and small, only having been a small settlement for mortals.

"Now I will transform this small city to gather wind and concentrate energy, dispelling the interference of the external fog. I need your assistance to alter the layout of the city's buildings and pathways!" Gu Qianyou said to everyone.

"At your command, Empress!" everyone responded.

Gu Qianyou then assigned various unusual tasks to the wolf generals and the wolf king. Some places required buildings to be torn down, while others needed new paths to be created.

With so many strong individuals, the city's layout was transformed in no time. The city now had nine concentric circular roads, with eighteen different routes extending from the center in all directions.

"Activate the formation—" Gu Qianyou commanded.

At her command, eighteen wolf generals placed a formation flag into the ground at each of the eighteen positions.

"Humm—"

The formation flags trembled slightly before vanishing, and the wolf generals suddenly felt the newly altered city begin to spin slowly. Yet, they themselves hadn't moved. The city seemed to spin quickly, yet it also seemed stationary, causing a dizzying effect.

However, the fog within the city gradually disappeared, reducing more and more until all the fog was expelled outside, surrounding but not penetrating the city.

Using a feng shui formation to counter a feng shui formation, Gu Qianyou secured a safe haven for her group.