Chapter 292 – Cleverly Using the Shanhai Division's Hands

Lu Chen looked at the activated Nine Realms Token in his hand, feeling that many doubts in his mind had nearly found their answers.

He had previously wondered: since the condition for activating the Nine Realms Token was to gain the recognition of a certain “Realm Lord,” how could cultivators or Immortal Fiends in places like the Central Province within the game establish contact with the Ancient Fiend Realm Lords, who were difficult to reach for various reasons?

Under such circumstances, those holding the Nine Realms Token not only struggled to gain the recognition of the Ancient Fiend Realm Lords but also lacked any means to communicate with them.

Based on this speculation, Lu Chen had ultimately come up with two possibilities.

The first was to reach a place where communication with the Ancient Fiend Realm Lords was possible while holding the Nine Realms Token.

For instance, back when he was at Luocheng High School, he had once engaged in a simple transaction with the Ancient Fiend Realm Lord, the Black Lotus Buddha Mother.

Although Luocheng High School was sealed off in a special space at the time, this indicated that the boundary between the real world and the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms was no longer strictly defined.

Thus, he might be able to directly gain the recognition of an Ancient Fiend Realm Lord in the real world, thereby meeting the condition to activate the Nine Realms Token.

However, this was only one possibility, and Lu Chen personally believed it was less likely.

After all, the Nine Realms Token was, at its core, a special type of Magical Artifact.

And to activate a Magical Artifact, one unavoidable issue was “Spiritual Power” or the unique “Ancient Fiend Power” possessed by the Immortal Fiends.

This led Lu Chen to consider another, more feasible method to activate the Nine Realms Token: gathering sufficient Ancient Fiend Power and channeling it into the token.

This was also the primary reason why Lu Chen had come to District 17.

After his recent experiment, Lu Chen found that his inference was entirely correct.

Now, the only task left before him was to find enough Ancient Fiend Power.

With this in mind, Lu Chen placed the Nine Realms Token back into his Storage Bag.

According to his perception, he would need roughly a hundred more instances of similar Ancient Fiend Power to preliminarily activate the Nine Realms Token and use it to open the Nine Realms Gate, allowing him to explore the mysterious Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

But before that, he needed to attend to other matters.

For example, fully absorbing the power contained within the Heterodox Immortal bone to advance his cultivation further.

Or finding feasible methods to step into the “Enlightenment Realm” and achieve a Breakthrough to the “Dao Infant.”

Only by doing so could he better plan his future cultivation path.

“Xiao Lu, did you just encounter an anomalous entity?”

Not long after Lu Chen had dealt with the fish-man anomalous entity, Mu Xiaoye and Jiang Yuanshan’s group arrived one after another.

Upon seeing the fish-man anomalous entity’s corpse pierced by countless Swords, Mu Xiaoye not only understood why Lu Chen had suddenly left earlier but also grasped what had happened here.

In response to Mu Xiaoye’s inquiry, Lu Chen briefly recounted the events that had just occurred.

When she heard that it was a chain of anomalous entities, Mu Xiaoye remained relatively calm, as she had never encountered such entities before.

The information she knew had been hastily crammed before coming to District 17, so she didn’t find it too strange.

After all, in the Major Thousand Worlds, nothing was too bizarre.

However, Jiang Yuanshan and the six Mountain and Sea Walkers beside him wore expressions of astonishment.”Brother Lu, are you certain what you just encountered was an aberration that emerged from within another aberration’s stomach?”

Seeing Jiang Yuanshan’s serious expression, Lu Chen was momentarily taken aback before asking, “Yes, Uncle Jiang, is there some issue with this?”

“The issue couldn’t be bigger.”

Perhaps realizing Lu Chen wasn’t familiar with the specifics, Jiang Yuanshan approached the fish-man aberration to examine it while explaining the origins of these aberrations to Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye.

“So-called aberrations are actually entities similar to Spirit Beasts and Yao Beasts.”

“The reason the Immortal Alliance doesn’t classify them together with ordinary Spirit Beasts and Yao Beasts is because they possess a characteristic completely different from regular spiritual creatures… Forbidden Power.”

“Forbidden Power is a special force independent of Spiritual Power. Although the Immortal Alliance began researching it long ago, beyond knowing most Forbidden Power originates from Forbidden Lands, they haven’t uncovered many useful clues.”

“As you might have gathered, the emergence of aberrant creatures is related to this mysterious Forbidden Power.”

“Due to their cultivation levels, Cultivators generally won’t be contaminated by Forbidden Power unless they venture deep into Forbidden Lands or are injured by magical artifacts or aberrations carrying Forbidden Power.”

“But ordinary people without cultivation and other animals are different.”

“Although the Vermillion Bird Great Wall of Nanli City can block most Forbidden Power from Mahakala, occasionally some city animals and residents still get affected, suffering varying degrees of contamination.”

“This contamination gradually deepens over time, eventually transforming infected humans or animals into aberrations that pose dangers to others.”

“However, Forbidden Power contamination possesses strong aggressiveness – they instinctively devour any Forbidden Power within their range.”

“Now you should understand, right?”

Lu Chen nodded, indicating he grasped Jiang Yuanshan’s meaning.

What was called Forbidden Power was actually what Lu Chen previously recognized as Ancient Fiend Power.

And indeed, as Jiang Yuanshan described, Ancient Fiend Power exhibited strong aggressiveness.

This might explain why the cultivation methods of Immortal Fiends were so extreme.

Such Ancient Fiend Power made it impossible for one aberration to appear unharmed inside another aberration’s body.

Yet precisely this scenario had unfolded before Lu Chen and the others.

This could only indicate two possibilities.

Either the Immortal Alliance’s research on Forbidden Power remained significantly incomplete.

Or the two aberrations possessed completely different types of Forbidden Power.

While different Forbidden Powers would still devour each other, compared to consuming the same type of Forbidden Power, the former required more time and presented greater difficulty.

The fish-man aberration swallowed by the salamander aberration might actually be the dominant party in this devouring process.

This would explain why its cultivation level exceeded the salamander aberration’s, and why its appearance bore salamander-like characteristics.

What Lu Chen had deduced, Jiang Yuanshan and the others had also realized.

Therefore, instead of immediately investigating the ‘Secret Drug: Illusion,’ they decided to temporarily pause their mission.Jiang Yuanshan and the others first took the mutated fish-man corpse to the Nanli City Research Institute.

Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye, meanwhile, gathered intelligence on ‘Secret Drug: Illusion’ within District 17.

After finalizing these arrangements, the two groups temporarily parted ways.

At the same time, in a villa within District 17.

“Saintess…”

“How goes the investigation into the Great Thousand Mountains matter?”

Facing He Ziling, also known as Ji Linghui – the Saintess of the Black Lotus Sect – the Eyeless Vajra, now transformed into an ordinary butler, calmly replied: “We haven’t yet found traces of those who defiled the Buddha Mother, but Earless has gone out to investigate. We should have news soon.”

“Good.”

With that, He Ziling walked to the center of the living room.

Seeing this, the Eyeless Vajra skillfully drew the surrounding curtains with practiced precision.

The next moment, the entire living room grew dim.

He Ziling sat cross-legged in the empty space at the center of the living room, where a pre-drawn formation immediately appeared beneath her.

Meanwhile, the Eyeless Vajra skillfully placed several incense burners around He Ziling and lit them.

Surrounded by the Buddhist incense, He Ziling’s body gradually became ethereal.

Before long, the intertwining incense smoke slowly coalesced into the form of an exquisitely beautiful ‘woman’.

This woman was none other than the Leader of the Black Lotus Sect, the Black Lotus Holy Mother.

The Black Lotus Holy Mother looked down at He Ziling below and said indifferently: “Why have you sought me?”

“Master, I have now largely investigated what happened at our missionary outpost in District 17.”

“Speak.”

“Those who destroyed our missionary outpost are a group of Great Thousand Mountains cultists from the west.”

“They use demon blood from the Great Thousand Mountains as a supplement, deceiving followers by claiming it’s Holy Water that can purify the body, thus gathering large numbers of followers.”

“Several missionary outposts we previously established in District 17 were gradually eliminated by them using this method.”

Hearing these words, the Black Lotus Holy Mother’s expression remained completely unchanged.

As if she had anticipated this situation.

Instead of immediately stating her arrangements, she asked in return: “What do you plan to do?”

He Ziling raised her head, her eyes now completely blank white, appearing utterly vacant.

Yet that emptiness seemed capable of transcending distance and space, directly reaching the Black Lotus Holy Mother far away in the Forbidden Land Great Dark Heaven.

“Master, I plan to appropriately disclose information about the Great Thousand Mountains to the Shanhai Bureau of Li Province, using their hands to eliminate these trespassers.”

“Approved.”

Hearing the Black Lotus Holy Mother endorse her plan, He Ziling brought up other matters.

After all, such communication opportunities were rare.

She still needed to maintain her cover as a student at Lihuo Dao Academy.

“Master, regarding the Sealed Land of the ancient immortal artifacts you asked me to find, this Disciple has gained some clues.”

“Currently known information indicates that the Sealed Lands for these ancient immortal artifacts are divided into three parts.”

“The largest is within the Myriad Enterprises Immortal Sect. However, the Immortal Sects transcend the mundane and exist in their own realms, inaccessible to ordinary people.”

“Moreover, given our sect’s current situation, we cannot shake the Immortal Sects in the slightest, making it difficult to steal the ancient immortal artifacts from within.”

“The other two Sealed Lands for immortal artifacts are located in Lihuo Dao Academy and the Li Province Shanhai Bureau respectively.””Disciple believes that if our sect wishes to use the immortal artifact to bring the Buddha Mother into this world, it would be best to choose the sealed object within Lihuo Dao Academy.”

“This is also the only sealed land I currently have the opportunity to access.”

After speaking, He Ziling silently gazed at the Black Lotus Holy Mother formed from Buddha smoke.

After pondering for a moment, the other party said: “Then proceed according to your plan. Our sect will fully support you.”

“Thank you for your trust, Master.”

“Is there anything else?”

Seeing that He Ziling hadn’t terminated the communication, Black Lotus Holy Mother guessed she seemed to have something else to say.

“Master, I… encountered the Holy Son within the academy.”

Hearing this, Black Lotus Holy Mother remained silent for a long time.

Through her investigations during this period, Black Lotus Holy Mother had roughly learned about what happened in Qingzhou through various means.

According to her investigations, it appeared that her clone with the strongest escape capabilities had been trapped and killed by Lu Chen.

Although Black Lotus Holy Mother couldn’t determine whether Lu Chen played a decisive role on the final day, the initial ambush setup, according to the intelligence she obtained, was entirely pushed forward by Lu Chen alone.

Talented prodigies are certainly fearsome, but there are always ways to deal with them.

But Lu Chen was different.

Not only was he exceptionally gifted, but his Heart-Nature was equally astonishing.

Trying to convert someone like him was definitely not something that could be accomplished overnight.

Yet when she considered the consequences of allowing Lu Chen to continue growing, Black Lotus Holy Mother still gave He Ziling a new command.

“Continue with the matter of the Buddha Mother’s descent. As for contacting the Holy Son, first find a way to approach him. I will tell you what to do next.”

“Yes.”

As the words fell, the white smoke surrounding He Ziling began to disperse continuously.

Along with it, the Formation beneath her completely vanished without a trace.

After everything returned to calm, He Ziling stood up and looked at the Eyeless Vajra not far away.

“Junior Martial Uncle Eyeless…”

“Please speak, Saintess.”

“Arrange for some people to find a way to inform the Shanhai Bureau about several missionary sites of the Great Thousand Mountains in District 17.”

“Remember not to let the Shanhai Bureau discover our traces.”

“Yes.”

After receiving He Ziling’s command, Eyeless Vajra immediately left the villa.

After everyone had left, He Ziling alone came to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the night scenery outside, lost in thought.

Three days later, beside a laundry factory in District 17.

“Little Lu, are you sure the person we’re looking for is inside this laundry factory?”

“I just scanned it with my divine sense and didn’t find anything unusual about this laundry factory.”

Outside the laundry factory, Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye stood on a tall building, overlooking the laundry factory below.

This laundry factory was the largest in District 17, with nearly a thousand workers inside.

The reason they were here was because the Shanhai Bureau had received intelligence that someone had discovered the presence of ‘Secret Drug: Illusion’ within the laundry factory.

The informant was a female worker from the laundry factory.

Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye came here to verify whether this clue was accurate.

Although Mu Xiaoye couldn’t see anything wrong with the laundry factory, Lu Chen knew just from one glance that they had come to the right place.

Because within this laundry factory, he actually detected traces of abundant Ancient Fiend Power.

Although these traces of Ancient Fiend Power were very faint and scattered chaotically.But this precisely illustrates the problem with this place.

Thinking this, Lu Chen knew they had likely found their target this time.

Even if they couldn’t eliminate the opponent in one fell swoop, they could at least seize their trail.

“Little Yezi, notify Uncle Jiang and the others.”

“Alright.”

With absolute trust in Lu Chen, Mu Xiaoye immediately notified Jiang Yuanshan and the team who were investigating other areas.

Once everyone arrived, it would be time for them to take action.

(End of Chapter)