Chapter 729
The three of them took turns, which naturally made things easier than if there were just two.
...
The search for the Tianhe Ruins had not been successful.
Xiao Yuying led the archaeological team all over the Baixian Alliance but found no useful clues.
Standing in the Heavenly Palace, her tone was dejected:
"Although we've encountered about ten secret realms and caves, there’s very little information about the Tianhe Zun."
"Just a bunch of junk."
As she spoke, a flash of light appeared from the storage jade bracelet in her hand.
Magical artifacts cascaded down like a waterfall, piling up in front of Zheng Fa into a small mountain nearly as tall as a person, their brilliance reflecting off Zheng Fa's face in a dazzling array of colors.
"…"
For a moment, Zheng Fa didn’t know whether to laugh or not.
To be fair, among this pile of "junk," he seemed to spot a good ten magical artifacts!
For him, they weren’t particularly useful right now.
But these things were still quite valuable!
As the head of the Jiushan Sect, Zheng Fa knew all too well that the sect was earning more and spending more; after decades of hard work, the account books showed little money.
Yet, the moment he caught a glimpse of Xiao Yuying's disdainful expression, he lost the urge to smile.
"Have you explored the entire Baixian Alliance?"
"Basically, there’s no place we missed," Xiao Yuying replied helplessly. "With my Yuan Magnetic Dao Body and the Dongxu Spirit Eye, if there were any secret realms left undiscovered, they wouldn’t be ones we could find."
That made sense.
Zheng Fa felt a bit anxious.
He had no leads on the Tianhe Fa, and even in the Xuanwei Realm, there probably wasn’t much inheritance left.
If he had to research it himself… as Xie Qingxue said, he might be studying it until the cows came home.
But seeing Xiao Yuying’s somewhat dejected face, Zheng Fa held back his own anxiety and instead comforted her, "You’ve done your best, Fairy Xiao."
Xiao Yuying nodded slightly, but her expression didn’t improve. She murmured, "I just feel like my archaeological team hasn’t been of much help; it feels a bit like a misnomer."
"Moreover, the sect has been very accommodating to us, providing an almost unlimited supply of Bihua Spirit Dew. We’ve spent so much yet gained almost nothing, wasting a lot of resources."
Fairy Xiao’s standards were a bit too high!
But Zheng Fa understood; this Fairy Xiao had a high fortune and a strong background, and her life had been smooth sailing. Now that she faced difficulties, it was only natural for her to feel a bit down.
Such people were often prone to getting stuck in a rut.
It was probably useless to offer advice, so he decided to suggest something instead.
He thought for a moment and said, "If the Baixian Alliance doesn’t have it, why not check the sea region? The sea is vast, and it just so happens to be within our Baixian Alliance’s territory…"
The more he spoke, the more he felt this idea was good. But to his surprise, Xiao Yuying frowned, looking somewhat troubled. "The sea region?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"…No." Xiao Yuying fell silent for a moment but didn’t explain further. Instead, she slowly said, "Let me make some plans."
...
In the sea region.
Sister Zhang was at a station on an island, using her Flying Immortal Brush to draw the innate Eight Trigrams, seemingly calculating something.
Suddenly, her expression changed, and she looked westward.
"Sister Zhang?"
The Jiushan Yuan Ying stationed at the station knew she wasn’t one to panic easily and quickly asked.
"Send a message to all the disciples at the trading route stations: evacuate immediately to the backup island!"
Sister Zhang’s face was serious as she issued the order swiftly.
The Yuan Ying understood the gravity of the situation and quickly replied, "Yes!"
"Inform the sect that it seems there are monks from the Thunder Sound Temple attacking Hongsha Island, and their cultivation… might exceed Dao Fruit level!"
Upon hearing this, the Jiushan Yuan Ying’s expression changed dramatically, but he remained calm and nodded.
Sister Zhang had already taken to the air, heading west, and called out, "Inform the sect that I’m heading to Hongsha Island for rescue!"
The Jiushan Yuan Ying watched her leave, and suddenly remembered—Hongsha Island was the most crucial stop at the end of the trading route, and it was currently where Master Huang was stationed!
Realizing this, his expression grew even more anxious as he quickly sent a message to the sect.
...
Hongsha Island was not far from Sister Zhang; within the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the island came into view.
The island’s beaches were red, which was how it got its name, resembling a red dot on the blue-green sea.
In the past, she wouldn’t have thought much of it, but now, the island’s redness felt glaring, and her pace quickened involuntarily.
Fortunately, the Jiushan cultivators on the island seemed to have received the news as well, already using their magical artifacts to flee.
Perhaps seeing Sister Zhang, they turned their treasures and flew toward her.
"Eh?"
A soft exclamation escaped Sister Zhang’s lips, and she halted, gripping her Qingjing Bamboo tightly.
From the west, a golden lotus floated across the sea, illuminated by the Buddha light.
The one who had exclaimed was an old monk seated atop the golden lotus.
This old monk had remarkably long yellow eyebrows that drooped down to his shoulders.
Beside the golden lotus stood over fifty monks from the Thunder Sound Temple.
Sister Zhang’s heart tightened, and the innate Eight Trigrams diagram in front of her spun rapidly, confirming the cultivation level of the person before her—True Immortal!
She even guessed the original purpose of this group:
They must be the monks from the Thunder Sound Temple here to set up a formation for the Tianhe Sect.
The long-browed old monk glanced at the fleeing Jiushan cultivators but didn’t seem to care much. Instead, he addressed Sister Zhang, "You must be Sister Zhang from the Jiushan Sect?"
"Yes, may I ask who the master is?"
"I am the humble monk Huitong, pleased to meet you, Sister Zhang." The old monk clasped his hands in greeting, very polite, and added, "May I ask why Sister Zhang seems to know we were coming?"
His murky gaze fell on Sister Zhang.
Sister Zhang felt a weight pressing down on her, as if she might fall into the sea at any moment. Fortunately, the Qingjing Bamboo in her hand emitted a blue-gold light, protecting her.
"Qingjing Bamboo…"
The old monk Huitong’s gaze shifted to the Qingjing Bamboo.
Sister Zhang knew this was bad; the Thunder Sound Temple was already here with ill intentions, and they had long coveted the Qingjing Bamboo.
No matter what, she couldn’t match a True Immortal.
But she didn’t show any fear on her face; instead, she frowned and said, "This Hongsha Island is part of our Baixian Alliance. May I ask what brings you here, master?"
The old monk Zhihui smiled gently and replied, "It’s nothing much; we from the Thunder Sound Temple received news that there seems to be traces of the Demon Sect on Hongsha Island, so we came to investigate."
Master Huang had already flown to Sister Zhang’s side, and upon hearing this, her expression turned angry, as if she wanted to refute.
But Sister Zhang raised a hand to stop her from speaking and instead said, "This is a major matter; master, you might as well go and investigate."
Master Huang was taken aback, but the old monk said, "No rush. The Demon Sect is indeed a big deal, but I have one more request."
Sister Zhang narrowed her eyes.
"This Qingjing Bamboo is a treasure left by the sages of our Thunder Sound Temple. I wonder if Sister Zhang would be willing to return it?"
The waves on the sea suddenly calmed down.
...
Zheng Fa received the message quite early; he was in his small courtyard in the Ziwei Courtyard.
Xiao Yuying and Master Pang were also there, and the three were discussing plans to search for the Tianhe Ruins in the sea region.
When the alarm sounded, Zheng Fa immediately grew anxious.
Seeing his troubled expression, Master Pang asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Sister Zhang has deduced that the Thunder Sound Temple is going to attack Hongsha Island."
"…"
Both Master Pang and Xiao Yuying were startled, realizing the urgency of the situation, but Master Pang asked, "How is she?"
"Master Huang is at Hongsha Island, and Sister Zhang has gone to rescue her."
Zheng Fa took a deep breath, suppressing the anger rising within him, and frowned, "The trading route has already provoked the Thunder Sound Temple; we anticipated this. But to act so recklessly at this moment, does the Thunder Sound Temple have no regard for anything?"
Master Pang’s expression was equally grim.
The value of the trading route between the East and West Continents was clear to the Ni Chang Yuan Jun, and the Thunder Sound Temple was certainly not foolish.
But the problem was, Jiushan Sect hadn’t expected their reaction to be so intense.
Hadn’t the Taishang Dao warned them?
"…Wait." Master Pang suddenly spoke up, "What the Taishang Dao said back then was not to act against you?"
Zheng Fa was taken aback, suddenly recalling that this was indeed the case.
From the very beginning, the Taishang Dao had only cared about him.
Generally speaking, cultivators at the Dao Fruit level would have some decorum and wouldn’t deliberately target those of lower cultivation.
Aside from Zheng Fa, the others in Jiushan Sect didn’t seem to pose any threat to the Thunder Sound Temple.
But this line of thinking clearly underestimated the Thunder Sound Temple’s shamelessness, or rather, their obsession.
"I’m going to rescue Sister Zhang," he said to Master Pang.
Master Pang frowned, "I’m afraid it’ll be too late."
Hongsha Island was close to the West Continent, far from the Jiushan Realm, and even with the transformation method, it would take a long time.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yuying fell silent for a moment, then brushed her chest and took out a pearl.
"My master should be able to make it in time."
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 500: The Deep Sea Dragon Maiden, Trading Route Bodyguard
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