Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

by Srtyi

Lin Wu was a university student that died after having one too many energy drinks and then reincarnated into the body of a worm. He awakens to find out that he now has a system, but even it doesn't have a clear idea of where they are. He comes out of the ground and discoverers that he’s no longer in his previous world but rather in a cultivation world. Witness Lin Wu’s journey as

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Hearing the question, the king couldn't help but sigh. Shirong was interested in knowing more too and focused on it.

"As far as we can tell, both of the beasts involved, both the one that flooded and the one that burned, are at the Dao Treading realm at least." The King answered.

~gasp~

~Hiss~

People couldn't help but take in a breath of air in shock when they heard this. Of course, this was the people who actually knew what the Dao Treading realm was. Many commoners didn't really know about it.

King Hong could see the mixed confusion among the people and knew what they were thinking.

"To those that don't know, the Dao Treading realm comes after the Dao Shell is two realms above the Nascent soul realm which most people should know.." The king spoke.

~thud~

Hearing this, some of the more weak hearted commoners directly passed out. While others were filled with fear. Even the Nascent Soul realm was something they were in awe of and this beast was two realms above it.

Many commoners didn't even know something above the Nascent soul realm existed and thus they were scared. Especially since these were spirit beasts and not humans. If it was a person, they might have managed to communicate and figure out a solution with them, but with a beast, that wasn't an option.

Even Shirong was surprised, as he had not expected something like this.

'How many Dao Treading realm beasts are there even on the continent? From the clan records, we know there are less than thirty Dao Treading realm cultivators, but there are no concrete records of beasts.

I'll need to check again once I return. Perhaps the ancestor has a better idea.' Shirong thorough to himself.

The king saw the reactions of the people and had expected it. But he knew giving them this information was necessary. If the people heard it from some other source, the chaos that broke out might be even more terrifying.

What the king didn't tell them was that they did know what one of the beasts was, but not the one that burned the Dread Coil marsh. It was also that very unknown beast that was the most problematic for them, since it had caused far more damage.

"My people… I know these are trying times, but we have to be brave. I assure you we shall do our best to protect our kingdom and our people." The King assured giving the people a sense of comfort.

Only the aristocrats and nobles knew just how much truth was there to it. Defending against a Dao Treading realm being wasn't something their kingdom could handle. At most, they would evacuate as many people as they could, but even then the death rate might go very high.

It wasn't like this hadn't happened before in history either. There were several stories ran records from thousands of years ago that described events like these. Each of those events was like a calamity for humans.

Whenever a beast of that level was enraged and it got directed towards Humans, it would turn into a one sided massacred. It was not often that this happened and there would be sects that would intervene of course, but oftentimes till then, the damage was already done.

Having completed his announcement, the King and his officials decided to return to the palace while the commoners and other aristocrats dispersed. Shirong looked for Yu Guowei among the official but did not find him there.

Shirong did see that some of the nobles headed to the palace instead of heading to their own homes. This prompted him to do the same.

"Hmm… guess I should head on to the palace, too. Not like they can reject me anyway… but that old minister… he's not simple." Shirong muttered to himself.

Thus, with that in mind, he went to the palace. There were several nobles heading here and the king knew of it already and thus he called for a court session to be held where the more specific questions of the nobles might be answered.

After all, while the king wouldn't need to explain much to the commoners, he did have a higher obligation towards the nobles. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these nobles were also linked with the royal family, while some were even external members of it.

"Halt, who are you?" One of the royal guards stopped Shirong, who was trying to enter the royal palace.

Shirong causally let out his spirit Qi and looked at the guard.

"Inform the King someone from the Ji clan is here." Shirong said calmly.

But him saying this was just a formality as when his spirit Qi flared up, the others in the royal court had felt it. There were several Nascent soul realm cultivators in the royal court who were part of it and the King was one himself as one.

Letting out a wave of spirit Qi could be seen as being offensive, thus Shirong caught attention rather easily and the people looked outside the door of the court.

"Who's letting out their spirit Qi so audaciously?" A minister commented.

"They are certainly arrogant but do have a strong aura." Another older minister stated.

The king looked towards the door as well and his spirit sense extended. The others did the same and went towards the common target. Usually using spirit sense like this in a public setting could set of a lot of problems, but when everyone was doing the same, they had a free pass to use it.

Shirong could clearly feel several spirit sense probes approaching him and he frowned. Before, he had been reluctant in coming out publicly since he was worried about there being spies of his sisters in the capital.

But now, that was no longer necessary as he knew that even if there were spies, there would be no use for him to be low key with the current situation.

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Shirong looked into the hall fearlessly while the others looked at him as well.

'Humph! Puny attempt.' Shirong thought to himself.

~shua~

A wave of spirit Qi that combined his spear intent, the aura of the Immortal Sky Shaker art, and the killing intent he had developed over the years was sent out. As soon as this came into contract with the spirit sense of others, they were turned back.

It was like a deer had met a tiger and had no option but to escape.

~gulp~

The only person who was unaffected was the old minister who was beside the king. All other Nascent soul realm cultivators, whether they be at the Infant soul stage or the Adult Stage were all affected by Shirong's defense.

.

"He's not simple… your majesty, be careful." The old minister spoke.

"Yes, senior Kong." The King spoke.

The minister who had just spoken was none other than the very same Senior Kong that Lin Wu had seen in the abode hidden in the mountains. It was evident that the man had returned to the capital and took up the position of a minister again.

Shirong also noticed the unaffected minister and knew that the man was above the Nascent Soul realm.

"Interesting…" Shirong muttered.

He wasn't afraid that they would attack him since once he stated his identity, they would have to be courteous to him even if they were a Dao Shell realm cultivator. The pressure brought on by the Ji clan was not light.

Besides, the two kingdoms Ivory Heron dynasty and the Ebony Duck dynasty were nothing but cash puppets in the hands of the Ji clan. It was due to them that they existed and the Ji clan reaped a part of their total profits from these two kingdoms.

The Ling Kingdom could also be considered to be a bit similar to this now, since Shirong had made them into an ally too. But this was under his own authority. These two kingdoms were not under his authority but directly under his father's thus, he couldn't fully control them either.

"Please enter," The King spoke.

The guard who had blocked Shirong's path quickly moved aside. The guard was already trembling and didn't know if he would have lived long enough. He was fully terrified and had decided that he would leave the capital today itself.

Shirong walked ahead and looked at everyone in the hall.

"Greetings King Cang Lu." Shirong cupped his hands.

"Who are you and why have you come here?" The king asked.

While Shirong had told who he was to the guard, they had not gotten the chance to tell the king and thus they didn't know about it yet.

"I am Ji Shirong… The heir of the Ji clan." Shirong revealed while holding out the token of the Ji clan.

The people in the hall were stunned upon seeing this. They had not expected they would receive someone like this today.

"How can this be?"

"Is it really someone from the Ji clan?"

"Didn't someone else from the Ji clan pass through the kingdom a year ago as well?"

Several questions were appearing in the minds of the court members and they didn't know what to think. The king was the same, but he decided to ask them straight.

"So it is Young master Shirong." The king also cupped his hands.

Senior Kong, who had been watching from the side, did the same and lowered his guard. Being one of the oldest and highest ranked people of the kingdom, the old man knew the underbelly of the kingdom and how things worked.

He knew that while the Ivory Heron kingdom was independent on the surface, a lot of its interests were tied with the Ji clan. They were simply lucky that the Ji clan never really interfered in the workings of their kingdom and only took some amount of assets as a tribute.

In fact, Senior Kong was secretly pleased that Shirong was here now. He had known that the current situation was not something that could be handled by them easily, as the threat of a Dao Treading realm beast was very high.

But requesting the Ji clan for help was also not an easy task and they would have had to wait a while to obtain it. Though now that Shirong was here, it would be far simple he thorough. Especially with his identity as that of the heir of the Ji clan.

"Greetings Young Master Shirong, I am Ou Kong." The old man introduced himself.

Hearing this, Shirong along with several members of the court were intrigued. There were a lot of members who actually did not know who Ou Kong was. The king simply called him Senior Kong, which showed the level of respect he commanded.

At most, they assumed that he was one of the retired elders of the Royal family that seldom showed themselves. His appearance at this time was obvious due to his identity and strength. The Nascent soul realm cultivators here could tell that Ou Kong was far stronger than them and thus were respectful to him as well.

'Didn't think I would see him here… wasn't he one of the disciples of external elder Simu?' Shirong recalled having read about this man.

While he had never met him before, Shirong did know the names of a sizable number of people that were linked to the Ji clan.

"Seems like Elder Simu would have been proud of you if he was still here." Shirong said.

Hearing the name of his late master, Ou Kong sighed to himself.

"It's been a long time since I heard master's name… oh how I wish he was still here with us." Ou Kong replied.

"Indeed. From what I've heard, he was a dedicated external elder and did a lot of work for the Ji clan." Shirong nodded his head.

Hearing this information, even the King was shocked. He had not known there was such background behind Ou Kong. The other ministers were even more shocked that one of the royal elders was the dispels of a Ji Clan external elder.

Though hearing this also made them a bit proud since they had someone backed by the Ji clan among them. But what they didn't know was that Ou Kong had no influence on the Ji clan.

Compared to the King he was even lower than that. This was due to the fact that the disciples of the external elders would not get a rank in the Ji clan unless they became an external elder themselves or were taken in by the clan.

This was a very rare opportunity that many took seriously and look forward to. Unfortunately for Ou Kong, this never came as his talent wasn't as high as his other fellow disciples and they managed to take up the position of an external elder first.

The King didn't question what Shirong had just spoken, plus it also severed as an additional verification to his identity. The identity of a Ji clan member could be faked, albeit with great difficultly, but such information that Shirong had spoken would be impossible unless one was a member of the Ji clan.

As for the identity of an heir, there were no doubts since it was confirmed that Shirong was a Ji clan member. And if one was a Ji clan member, they would never falsely claim to be the heir to it.

Doing so was basically asking one to get executed, as the Ji clan would not take falsehoods like that lightly.

If someone had claimed they were the heir of the Ji clan and even had the token, they might actually be fooling others. But with the information stated, Shirong had proved it now that he truly was who he said he was.

It was a covert way of proving his identity to the people that mattered.

"Please take a seat, Young Master Shirong. We'll take after that." King Cang Lu said.

Shirong nodded and sat down before looking at the king.

"I believe you asked me why I was here?" Shirong asked.

"Yes, Young master." The King replied.

"The main reason for it is something I can't say as of now, but at this moment, I am here to learn about what happened to the Dread Coil Marsh." Shirong answered.

"I see…" the King said, finding it to be good.

To him, if Shirong was inquiring about their situation, it meant that he was either here to help or would probably get his clan to help. Either of these options was beneficial to them, and they were pleased with it.

"Very well, young master. I shall tell you all that I know." The King said before looking at the rest of the people in the hall. "The rest should focus and listen as well, as this will be the information which could not be revealed to the commoners and I believe you want to know it as well." He added.

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Everyone looked and listened to the King with their full attention.

"The beast that caused the flood has been determined to be an Aquadream Lotus, or more accurately, the Aquadream Sea Lotus." The King stated.

"Impossible!" Shirong said out loud.

The others who didn't know if this beast were confused about it, while the ones that had little knowledge were taken aback.

"An Aquadream Sea Lotus cannot even exist there! They need seas to live while our world does not have any seas, only oceans. Thus, they exist in the Great Ocean as well. Even if they did attack the continent, they would at most be able to attack the coast.

The area that was flooded was still rather inland." Shirong explained..

"I know, young master Shirong, we had the same confusion. But after seeing the spirit Qi fluctuations that reached the Dao Treading realm and the effect that it brought upon the area, have no other option but it being an Aquadream Sea Lotus." The King replied.

"But there must be a way it appeared so far inland. They can't be out of their habitats for long." Shirong spoke.

"Actually, that is the reason why we think the flood occurred." Senior Kong chimed in.

Hearing this, Shirong finally understood.

"It can't be… so it flooded the area so it could continue on ahead." Shirong said with disbelief.

Shirong had learned about the Aquadream Lotuses in his clan a long time ago. They were often the reason why it was difficult to cross the Great ocean and get to the other continent.

While there were indeed Teleportation formations that could take one to the other continents, they needed a lot of spirit Qi to run and thus used up several tens of thousands of High grade spirit stones.

Plus, for it to work, the formations needed to be activated on both ends. So for example, someone wanted to go to the Hu Continent from the Long continent, then the people on both sides needed to agree and activate it at the same time for it to be usable.

It was a safety feature and prevented them from experiencing any surprise attacks. It also prevented people from illegally leaving the continent that they lived in. These formations were said to have been built a long time ago and were currently in the ownership of the three guardian clans.

Thus, if anyone even wanted to go to the other continent using them, they needed to be strong enough that they could talk to the clans. Otherwise, they would just be ignored and won't seven be considered.

Thus, the only way people could travel across was by using large ships. Flying was also an option, of course, but again, this was limited to a few strong cultivators. Even Nascent Soul realm and Dao Shell realm cultivators would die if they tried to cross the ocean by flying.

They would either end up exhausting all of their spirit Qi, or be killed by the dangers there. As for the ones in the Dao Treading realm, they were already influential enough that they could just use the teleportation formation to do the same.

"Could it perhaps be some other Aquadream Lotus? For example, an Aquadream Lake lotus that managed to break through?" one of the more knowledgeable ministers questioned.

"No… even if it was one often Aquadream Lake Lotus's in the wild, we already know their locations. As for the Aquadream Pond Lotus that are raised by some sects, they are even more unlikely as they will never break through to the next realm." Shirong answered.

"Huh? The location of all Aquadream Lake Lotus's is known?" A general asked.

"Indeed… the top clans and sects have known about their locations for a long time. We also prevent them from leaving their territories. Why do you think people do not see beasts above Nascent soul realm often?" Shirong replied.

"I see… I didn't know…" The general and several other people were surprised by this.

While they had known that the sects and top clans kept a lot of secrets that most people didn't know, they also didn't know that they protected them from this as well.

"This is one of the dilemmas we have, Young Master. We do not know how this Aquadream Sea Lotus managed to appear there and also why exactly it did so." The King spoke.

"Didn't you say earlier that it was due to the battle between the beast that burned the Dread Coil Marsh and the lotus?" Shirong questioned.

"Well, that…" The king hesitated a bit. "We just had an assumption we don't know for sure. It was more to give an excuse to the commoners. We couldn't just say that the beast destroyed the area for no reason. This would cause panic among the commoners.

Rather than saying that, we found it better to just say that it was a battle between two beasts of equal caliber. This way the people won't have the fear that the beast came to attack and eat humans." The King explained.

"I see… that's understandable," Shirong replied.

He knew how important it was to keep the public anxiety and fear in control. If it went to high or low things could get ugly real fast.

"Though…" Shirong replied. "I think the fact that it was two beasts fighting might really be the truth."

He had been in the Dread Cool Marsh himself and knew somewhat of the events that occurred. So far Shirong was thinking that it was the Immortal Crystal Armament that caused the fire, and now it seemed to be far more likely.

But it was now that a question was presented to him.

"Wait, what's the time period between the flood and the fire in the dread coil marsh?" Shirong questioned.

"Well, the fire started about a month ago, but the flood definitely occurred earlier. We can't tell how early though since it was done by a Dao treading realm beast and its spirit Qi traces can linger on for a long time." The King answered.

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~sigh~

Seeing that the discussion was not really helping much, Shirong couldn't help but sigh.

"I see and we have no information on what beast caused the fire either?" Shirong questioned.

"No young master. And we can't enter to check it either. Just getting within a hundred meters of the Dread Coil Marsh is enough to kill most Qi refining realm, cultivators. The core condensation realm cultivators can get close, but can't enter it.

Nascent soul realm cultivators may try to fly over it, but the flames are far more dangerous to try that. We don't dare to attempt that as it would only result in more deaths." The King answered.

With that said, Shirong knew that there was little he could do here now..

"I'll go and take a look myself. See how it really is," Shirong stated.

"I'll send some people with you, to guide young master there. The area is very dangerous." The king offered, not knowing that Shirong had actually gone to the Dread Coil Marsh before.

"Oh also… do you know where administrator Yu Guowei is? I was unable to find him and the clerk in his office said he would be here." Shirong asked, remembering what he was here for originally.

"Yu Guowei?" The King furrowed his brows.

He looked towards his advisers and asked them about him.

"Umm… I believe administrator Yu Guowei was helping the scholars in verifying the identity of the beast. He headed to the Dread Coil Marsh a day ago as well." One of the advisers informed.

"I see… well, that just makes it easier. I'll leave for the marsh now," Shirong said.

"Alright, Young master Shirong." The king said before towards his people. "General Jian, and General Han shall accompany you, Young master Shirong."

The two generals that were called out stepped up and kneeled in front.

"We are at your service, Young master Shirong." They said respectfully.

Shirong nodded his head and spoke, "let's leave now. Best not waste any time."

The generals stood up and followed Shirong out of the palace. The three of them directly flew out of the city and headed to the west. It took them about a day to reach the border of the Dread Coil marsh and when they did, they could see the changes.

The sky was shaded orange and there was a heatwave radiating from the Marsh. Shirong looked at the flames burning in the distance. They were over a hundred meters tall and were still blazing at a good potential.

No sign of the marsh could be seen behind it and, with the size of the marsh, it looked like a long wall of fire spread across the entire kingdom. It was a terrifying scene and would be hard for the weak hearted to observe.

Though seeing this, Shirong just furrowed his brows.

'There is no aura of the Immortal Crystal Armament within the flames.' Shirong discovered.

He had thought that it might be the confirmation he needed to see if the fire was indeed caused by the immortal crystal armament. If there was an aura within it, that would be the confirmation that it happened for sure.

But even if there was no aura in the flames, there was still a chance it was caused by the immortal crystal armament. The only problem was that Shirong didn't know what king do an ability it really was.

"There's the outpost, Young master." General Jiao pointed after either traveled a little further.

Shirong could see a group of buildings that were surrounded by a moat. The moat looked like it was made recently, as the soil around it looked to be freshly dug.

"They made a moat?" Shirong asked.

"Yes, we feared that the fire may still continue to spread, thus we made it as a safety feature. Though we know if the fire is really that strong, the moat might not even last for a minute before evaporating.

Thus, it is mostly there for a false sense of safety for the people here.

"Let's land there then," Shirong said before heading there.

Once they were there, a few people appeared around him to check on them.

"General Jian! General Han!" The people recognized them.

"What are you here for? Did his majesty order something of us?" the person who was in charge of the outpost asked.

"We are here to accompany Young Master Shirong of the Ji clan." General Han replied.

"The Ji clan!" Hearing the name, everyone was shocked, but they all forcibly suppressed their shock as was the discipline.

"What is it that Young master Shirong desires?" The person in-charge questioned.

"Where is Yu Guowei?" Shirong asked.

"Administrator Yu Guowei? He's in my office, please come with me." The man replied.

"No need, I'm here!" Just as the in-charge said that the voice of Yu Guowei could be heard.

The man appeared to be a bit anxious and was sweating as well.

"Greetings Young Master Shirong." Yu Guowei cupped his hands.

"Let's talk in private," Shirong stated with a straight face.

"Of course, follow me, young master." The man said before taking him to the office. He then locked the door and looked at Shirong.

"I've been looking for you, Young master! I'm so relieved you are fine." Yu Guowei said.

"Huh? What?" Shirong asked.

"After the fire started in the Dread Coil Marsh you didn't return, thus I was worried if you were fine or not. I was deliberating on whether to inform the clan or not, but decided not to for the time being.

I waited a month, but you didn't appear, thus I went to check myself first. If I hadn't found you here today, I would have gone to inform the clan that you have gone missing young master." Yu Guowei explained.

Shirong finally understood and nodded his head. It was understandable that Yu Guowei needed to follow his duties. He was appointed by the Ji clan and if their heir disappeared like this near his position, the blame might fall on him.

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Having found Yu Guowei, Shirong finally started to ask him what he wanted to.

"So what is it that's exactly going on? Something that the king or the others don't know?" Shirong questioned.

"Umm… I am rather clueless as well, young master. Whatever the king told you is accurate, and I know the same as well. I've already contacted our other informants in the Burrow light kingdom and the Bing Kingdom; the information I got from them matches the intel we have right now." Yu Guowei spoke.

Hearing this, Shirong furrowed his brows. He didn't know, but the entire thing made him feel strange and as if something was missing.

"Though, young master, what happened to your mission? There was no contact with you and after the fire, I assumed the worst." Yu Guowei questioned.

.

"The mission is completed and I know why uncle Quan died." Shirong answered.

"You do? How?!" Yu Guowei asked hurriedly.

Even he himself was every curious and wanted to know how someone as strong as Ji Quan could go missing and then die. It was not like the man was some inexperienced junior that was lucky to break through to the Nascent Soul realm early on.

No… he was once a Dao Shell realm cultivator and was over three hundred years old. He had plenty of experience and knowledge and thus there was little chance that something could have caught him off guard.

And since Ji Quan had died in an area that was under the administration of Yu Guowei, the Ji clan was always breathing down his neck. If it were not for his good record and that the clan found no signs of foul play, they might have just decided to get rid of him as a means to vent their anger.

And hearing that Shirong went missing did not do well for him. That was also the reason why he had hesitated in contacting the Ji clan, which he should have done the moment the fire started.

"I can't tell you the details as they are a bit confidential and need to go through the clan first, but I can tell you this much… whatever caused the fire… it is linked with the death of uncle Quan." Shirong replied.

Hearing this, Yu Guowei was startled. If something as strong as a Dao Treading realm beast was involved in this, then he could understand how Ji Quan managed to die in the Dread Coil marsh.

But this also reminded him of another thing.

"Wait, Young master! Did you encounter any ruins there?" Yu Guowei questioned before quickly taking out something from his storage ring.

Shirong was a bit surprised upon hearing about ruins from Yu Guowei and wondered how he knew about that. But he waited for him to show whatever the man wanted to show him right nows.

Yu Guowei took out what looked like a long scroll from his spatial storage treasure. The scroll was a meter wide and about ten meters long when fully unrolled.

"See this young master? Were there any such markings there in the ruins?" Yu Guowei asked, while pointing to the unrolled scroll.

Shirong saw that on the scroll, several markings and patterns were printed down. They weren't written but looked like someone had taken a charcoal rubbing of some monolith. Shirong furrows his brows and observed the markings.

A few seconds later, his eyes went wide as he recognized several of them.

"Where did you get these?" Shirong questioned.

"One of the informants got this from the Jiao Dian city in the Bing kingdom." Yu Guowei answered.

"Jiao Dian city? Wasn't that city burned down?" Shirong questioned, feeling doubled.

"Yes, young master. The Bing kingdom sent out multiple people to investigate it, among which was one of our informants as well. The city does not exist anymore and is reduced to less than rubble.

The rocks and stones around it have melted, not to mention the rest of the things. But the thing is when they went further deep, they found something strange underneath everything.

A few of the cultivators including our informant, were at the Nascent soul realm and thus used their stronger spirit sense to probe the ground, discovering that there was actually a hollow space below.

After some difficulty excavating, they managed to unearth what looked like ruins. They were in a horrid state, but they still managed to find several things. These markings were something he obtained there as well and he took them himself so there is no chance of manipulation." Yu Guowei explained.

Hearing this, Shirong felt even more strange. While he did know that the fire in the Jiao Dian city and the one in the Dread Coil Marsh were somehow linked, he did not know exactly how.

"Did they find anything else?" Shirong questioned.

"Most of the ruins were severely affected by the heat, either crumbling under it or directly melting. Even the rubbing we obtained was only cause it was taken from a pillar that was buried deep within other pillars and thus it managed to survive.

But yeah, in addition to this, the informant also mentioned that some of the kingdom's people found a few fragments of what looked like statues. We were unable to figure out what they were but one of the fragments looked like a beak." Yu Guowei said before taking out another scroll.

"Here's the sketch of that fragment," Yu Guowei stated.

Shirong looked at the small sketch which was of a beak and instantly recognized it.

'Isn't this the same as that bird beast statue from the temple?' Shirong thought.

"I asked you this since I found it to be related to what young master just said. If the cause of Elder Ji Quan were related to the disaster at the Dread Coil marsh, and the fire in the Jiao Dian city was said to have been made by the same beast, I reckoned you must have seen or known something more about this." Yu Guowei answered.

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Having listened to Yu Guowei, Shirong was now sure that the two places were linked. The only thing was he didn't know if it really was a beast or the Immortal Crystal armament.

'No, wait… it could be the Skull god itself as well. They were certainly looking for those crystals and would very well not hesitate to kill others. Perhaps they tried to do the same in the Jiao Dian city and triggered some traps.

The same could have happened in the ruins in the Marsh as well.' Shirong came to a hypothesis.

It was the most logical thing Shirong could think of, but it also made Shirong wonder if there were more people belonging to the Skull god out there.

'But the Immortal Crystal armament's memories assured me that the Skull god was gone… at least that was the part that was the clearest.' Shirong thought to himself, feeling a bit relieved.

.

He had known just what level of danger he had been in back then and knew that he was very lucky that he had the Immortal Crystal armament to deal with it. But it also came at a cost and now he was unable to use it.

While it was a bit frustrating, Shirong knew there was little he could do, and that it was far better to persevere and get strong on his own. He had already learned a lot of things from the Immortal Crystal armament and had managed to enhance his own skill with the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

He had managed to make new techniques that even he didn't know were possible and new weapons styles that he evener knew existed. These were all made by Lin Wu and he had learned these from the various media in his past life.

"So young master, is it really something you know?" Yu Guowei asked after seeing the silent Shirong.

"Yes, I do… but do not speak of this to anyone else. Not even the king. The information is highly sensitive and cannot be revealed to others at this moment. Only after the patriarch approves of it, can it be released." Shirong warned.

~clap~

"Of course, Young master! My lips shall be sealed." Yuo Guowei said while clapping his chest.

Shirong nodded his head and looked out, using his spirit sense. The people were already gossiping about his visit and wondering why he was here.

"We should leave now, this is enough," Shirong stated.

"Alright, Young master. Do you wish to see the fire wall?" Yu Guowei asked.

"Yes, I do want to see just what kind of a fire can it even be." Shirong replied.

"Let's go then." Yu Guowei said and opened the door of the office.

~shua~

The two of them then flew towards the blazing fire that raged on in the Dread Coil Marsh. Even at this distance, the air was very hot and any normal person would faint within a minute.

The closer they got, the hotter the temperature got. By the time they reached the border of the Fire, Yu Guowei was already drenched with sweat. Even Shirong himself was finding it to be rather hot.

"Huh? This heat… spirit tools can't block it?" Shirong questioned.

"That's another problem we discovered recently, senior. None of the mid and low grade spirit tools work if we use them to defend against the heat of the fire. And high grade spirit tools can only block the heat for a certain amount of time.

The only ones who manage to last longer were the people who have water element based cultivation techniques. But even they would die from their spirit Qi exhausting after a while. The constant heat here is no joke.

"Hmm…" Seeing the fire, Shirong tried to use his spirit sense to probe it.

But the moment it got close enough to the fire that it was a mere fingernail's length away, his spirit sense started to waver and got unstable. Shirong tried to control it and exert more face, but it got even more unstable.

He felt like if he approached anymore or forced his way in, his spirit sense would end up getting destroyed and he himself would feel the backlash. Thus, to be cautious, Shirong quickly withdrew it.

He then looked at Yu Guowei in curiosity.

"The fire in the Jiao Dian city was not this strong, right?" Shirong questioned.

"Yes, it was not as strong as this, and neither did it last as long. From the information we were able to deduce, the flames in Jiao Dian city died down about a day or two after the initial start.

As for the Dread Coil Marsh, they have now been burning for a month. We do not know if this will stop as it has shown no signs of stopping at all." Yu Guowei answered.

This was enough for Shirong to consider the importance of the locations.

'The ruins in the dread coil marsh were far bigger… they were almost the size of an entire city which means that the trap or whatever that triggered its explosion must have also been bigger.

And seeing the time period for which the flames have lasted, it seems like it has a source of spirit Qi that it was burning.' Shirong thought to himself.

He spread his spirit sense around, ensuring that none of it came in contact with the fire and checked the movement of the spirit Qi in the area.

"Huh… just as I thought," Shirong muttered after finding something.

"What is it, Young Master?" Yu Guowei questioned.

"The flames… not only were they injected with massive amounts of spirit Qi at the start, but the spirit Qi was enough that it condensed and caused it to start absorbing more spirit Qi from the environment," Shirong answered.

Hearing this, Yu Guowei was stunned and had an idea of what Shirong meant.

"You mean to say, young master… that this place has now become a self sustaining fire pit?" Yu Guowei questioned.

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"Indeed. We may not find anything for a long time and investigating it would be impossible unless a very strong expert lends a hand." Shirong spoke.

Hearing Shirong, Yu Guowei nodded his head in understanding.

"Seems like the clan is our only chance." Yu Guowei replied.

"Yes, I'll head out there now. There doesn't seem to be much left to do here." Shirong said.

"I'll wish you the very best, Young master." Yu Guowei cupped his hand..

Shirong then left the office and spoke with the two generals about heading back. They thus departed and went back to the Royal Palace. There, Shirong talked to the king about discussing this with the king and that they could contact him and the clan if any problem arrived or new information was found.

The king agreed right away and was thankful for the help. With that done, Shirong left the Ivory Heron Dynasty and headed north. The Ji clan was located far to the north of the Long continent in an area that was secret to others.

"Time to head back home…" Shirong muttered as he flew away.

While Shirong experience and learned of the disasters, there was another person who had done the same as well.

This was none other than the current chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, Wang Xiong, who was also the first human subordinate of Lin Wu.

Currently, he was sitting in a rather luxurious room and reading a bunch of letters and reports that he had gotten. Wang Xiong had been following Lin Wu's instructions and was building his own power in the sect.

He knew that building power was not easy, and neither was it direct. One needed more than just a cultivation base to do so and thus Wang Xiong was increasing his understanding of the current events of the world.

Only by keeping himself updated on everything will he have the chance to act when an opportunity presented itself. It would also allow him to predict different situations which could be both beneficial and disadvantageous.

It was up to him to make use of them and thus he was doing his best in learning about things.

~knock~ knock~

A minute later, a knock on the door was heard.

"Senior, it's me." A woman's voice could be heard coming from the outside.

"Come in, Ye Jin," Wang Xiong called her in.

The woman was none other than the junior sister of Wang Xiong, who had sacrificed her life so that he could succeed in the trial. Since Wang Xiong had become the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, his authority was only below that of the supreme elders and the patriarch now.

Making his friends into inner disciples and giving them resources took little effort from him. And then from among them the ones that progressed fast were even elevated to the next rank, becoming the Core disciples.

The ones that had managed to do this were Ye Jin and Su Wen. Ye Jing had reached the pseudo Nascent soul realm already and was close to a breakthrough at any time. Su Wen was the same and it could be said that both of them had a lot of talent.

Once they were given the resources and the cultivation technique, the two of them showed their true potential and their cultivation soared. It had been almost a year since they managed to survive the trials in the tomb now.

And in this one year, all of them had progressed a lot. Still, the one that had progressed the most was none other than Wang Xiong himself. The man had reached the Child Soul stage of the Nascence soul realm already.

The resources he got as a Chief disciple were the highest in the sect and he basically had a free rein on whatever they had. If he wanted it, he got it. With such access, even a pig would be able to cultivate.

The Taiji refinement scripture was already a top grade cultivation technique when compared to the rest in the world and it was enough to make Wang Xiong progress at a speed never seen by anyone in the sect.

The sect patriarch was very pleased with his progress and couldn't help but smile whenever he thought of the time he decided to take him in as a disciple. Even with the few pointers, he gave to Wang Xiong, the man managed to figure out the rest on his own.

The patriarch didn't even feel like he was teaching a student, it was so easy.

This had also managed to suppress the other elders and had reduced the authority of the discipline hall. There were many elders with Wang Xiong becoming a chief disciple and the resources he was getting.

But once he started to show his true potential, there wasn't much they could do. Not only was Wang Xiong under the protection of the patriarch, but he was also growing strong at a fast pace.

They knew that it wouldn't be long before Wang Xiong might become stronger than all of the high elders and reach the level of the supreme elders. Not only that, but if Wang Xiong managed to reach the Dao Shell realm in the coming few years, the position of the next patriarch would definitely be his.

Though that was a change that would happen a long time in the future. After all, the current patriarch was still rather young and had a long time ahead of him. His potential was also no less than Wang Xiong and he was once a prodigy of the sect as well.

Wang Xiong looked at Ye Jing, who had walked in and smiled. The woman had gotten better after her breakthrough and the various resources she had consumed had enhanced her skin, turning it smooth like milk.

Her cherry red lips curled as she saw her senior brother. In her eyes, a hint of affection could be seen and the same could be said for Wang Xiong.

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"Why do you need Ye Jin?" Wang Xiong questioned.

"Can't I just come to meet senior brother?" Ye Jin said charmingly.

"Ahah, of course you are free to come here always." Wang Xiong replied.

Ye Jin's smile bloomed like a rose under the moon upon hearing it, tugging at the strings of Wang Xiong's heart.

"Senior brother is just too easy to tease. How can I waste your time? I'm here with something," Ye Jin finally said.

She took out a box from her spatial storage treasure and put in on the table in front of Wang Xiong.

"What's this?" Wang Xiong asked..

"A few of the junior disciples we recruited into our faction found this box on one of the spies. They intercepted him in the Di Guan mines, and stopped him. But before they could manage to extract anything from him, the spy killed himself.

This was the box he was carrying though. We suspect that the spy was working for the opposing faction of the elders." Ye Jin spoke in a serious tone.

Hearing this, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and looked at the box. It looked to be a plain wooden box and had a simple latch on it. There were no markings of any kind on it that would point to any ownership.

"Why were they at the Di Guan mines, though?" Wang Xiong questioned.

"We do not know, but if they are there, then there must be a reason. Our juniors were there on a hunting mission and encountered the spy." Ye Jin answered.

"A hunting mission? But how did they know the man was a spy?? Wang Xiong questioned.

"The mission itself was the reason. The hunting mission was assigned to our sect as there was an unknown beast wreaking havoc in the mines. The mines themselves are owned by an independent cultivator by the name of Lai Hai.

The man is a merchant by profession and the mine is one of his assets. The mine mostly contains some iron, but in the depths, there are some rare metals found as well, some of which are useful in high grade spirit tools.

Lai Hai is a supplier of our sect and has often transacted with us. Because of the beast, a lot of miners were killed and thus he asked us for help. The man himself is barely in the Core Condensation realm and thus couldn't be bothered to fix the problem himself.

Since the mines were closed due to the beast, our juniors found it suspicious that someone was there in the mines. No one would dare to enter it for the fear of death." Ye Jing answered.

Hearing this, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and thought for a bit. About ten minutes later, he spoke again.

"This spy… what did he look like?" Wang Xiong asked.

"He ate a flesh bone melting pill, thus we were unable to tel that." Ye Jing spoke.

~gasp~

Hearing this, Wang Xiong couldn't help but take in a breath. The flesh bone melting pill was a poisonous alchemical pill. It was rather terrifying and could kill anyone below the Dao Shell realm if consumed.

Its effects were also terrifying and could melt the flesh and bones of a cultivator into a puddle of blood and grime. It was a cruel and painful way of dying and yet the spy had not hesitated in doing it.

"A Flesh Bone melting pill is not something that can be obtained by just anyone. It would need at least a Nascent soul realm alchemist to make one." Wang Xiong spoke.

"Exactly, and that is why we suspected it to be someone from the elder's faction. After all, it would be very easy for them to get it." Ye Jin stated.

"Hmm… but that's not enough proof. It could be any other power as well. Besides, what would they even get from the mine? The spy being there makes no sense." Want Xiong reiterated.

"Well… there were rumors that there might actually be a spirit stone mine in the unexplored depths of the Di Guan mines." Ye Jin spoke.

"Huh? That's impossible. If there were a spirit stone mine anywhere, the sect would have found it already." Wang Xiong replied.

"That's the thing. It might actually be a new mine that matured in the recent years. Plus, it is still buried under several hundred meters of solid rock, thus it may have managed to stay hidden." Ye Jin spoke.

Wang Xiong nodded his head and found her words to be reasonable. If there truly was a spirit stone mine there, it would be enough of an incentive for the elders to try to obtain it. If they truly managed to do it, they would basically have the capital needed to mount a resistance freely.

Right now, since the elder faction that was in the opposition of the sect patriarch was being suppressed and thus they could not use the resources and capital they had in the sect. They had to give a reason and report for each use and thus it was made difficult for them.

Not to mention the punishment that was meted out to several of the elders, making it so that they received reduced resources while some were directly forced to stay in seclusion for the coming few years.

Them obtaining the mines might be the new lease on life that they needed.

"That does seem like something they would attempt to do." Wang Xiong spoke.

"Although that spy took the flesh melting pill, we still managed to take this box before that. If fear if we were late even by a few seconds, the man might have destroyed it as well." Ye Jin replied.

"Hmm… So this box potentially contains the clues to what the elders are planning." Wang Xiong stated.

"Indeed, senior brother." Ye Jin confirmed.

"Let's take a look then. It looks normal enough…" Wang Xiong said before he used his spirit sense to probe it.

But after doing that, his eyes went wide in shock.

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The box that looked to be rather plain and normal on the surface was not. Ye Jin noticed the change in Wang Xiong's expression and spoke up.

"I checked it with spirit sense, but couldn't detect anything. I couldn't open it directly either." Ye Jin spoke.

"That is exactly the problem." Wang Xiong replied.

"Did you find something?" Ye Jin asked curiously.

"Seems like it…" Wang Xiong said before closing his eyes.

A couple of seconds later, he opened them and they appeared to be rather still. He lifted both his hands and waved them in a circle before creating a Taiji symbol. A white glow appeared on his right hand faintly and a black one appeared on his left hand.

Then placed both of them on the box and infused the energy from the two hands in it.

~shua~

The energy seemed to have caused a change within the box as all of the formations that were hidden on it appeared on its surface. The energy that Wang Xiong had used was like a stain, making the hidden visible.

"This… how was this hidden?" Ye Jin questioned in shock.

"Whoever made this was definitely a master in formations. Not only did they place a concealing formation on it, but they also added a spirit Qi diffusing formation, a reflection formation, and an isolating formation." Wang Xiong answered.

"What? How are they all even working?" Ye Jin was confused.

As far as she knew, all of these were complex formations and didn't work particularly well unless they were made in a large area. The box... certainly was not large enough to compare to its requirements.

"Hmm… from what I can tell, the concealing formation is the outermost layer of it. The spirit Qi diffusing formation diffuses the spirit Qi that is brought by the spirit sense, making it seem like there is nothing there, while the reflection formation and isolating formation provide additional secrecy." Wang Xiong hypothesized.

"But these formations are way too complex to be put on a box as small as this. I mean… they are used to hide entire sects if not buildings." Ye Jin said.

"Indeed. Whoever made this managed to find an alternative method that can accommodate smaller versions of these formations. Though… from what I can tell, this formation can only last a certain amount of time." Wang Xiong added.

"A certain time? You mean to say it has a fixed spirit Qi storage?" Ye Jin questioned.

"Yes, it does. But the spirit Qi diffusion formation that is present in it is the self destruct formation as well. Once it runs out of spirit Qi, it will forcibly try to absorb spirit Qi. And you can imagine what will happen to it under the effects of the other formations." Wang Xiong explained.

Hearing his words, Ye Jin was shocked. She could understand it now and knew that the conflict between other formations and whatever items were kept in the box would cause it to explode.

This explosion would also result in the destruction of its contents, thus keeping the privacy and identity of the owner safe.

"But if it really is something on this level, then is it even possibles or anyone from our sect to do this? I don't think we have formation masters of this level in our sect." Ye Jin said with concern.

"Exactly," Wang Xiong said and took a pause to gaze at the box with the black glowing formations.

"Then if it isn't someone from our sect… who else could be involved in this? There aren't many powers that even have formation masters of that level." Ye Jin spoke.

"That is what I fear… it's either a top sect thinking about meddling in our matters. Or perhaps even some other clan." Wang Xiong said as his brows furrowed.

"Still, we need to know what is inside it to get a proper idea." Ye Jin said.

"Of course. Let me try to get it open." Wang Xiong spoke.

Ye Jin nodded her head and waited patiently for Wang Xiong to do his task, she didn't want to disturb him and break the box destroying its contents. She also watched on curiously as Wang Xiong used the inheritance he had obtained from the tomb.

He had told her about the technique and the skill, but she was still a bit confused. After all, the Taiji Celestial's inheritance was not that simple. If one could understand it just from listening, there would be no need for an inheritance trial.

Wang Xiong released more of the black and white energies and placed his hands on the two sides of the box. He released them at the same timer, directing them to push against the formations on the box.

The formations were being filled with the new energy and were getting impacted. After a few seconds of infusion, Wang Xiong withdrew the energy and instead reversed the flow of it.

Now the energy that had entered the box tried to return to his hands instead. But this energy was like water getting trapped in a glass box. No matter how much it tried, it could not get out.

Seeing this, Wang Xiong reversed the flow again and poured more of the energy. After a sufficient amount of time, he withdrew the energy and tried to see if it worked… it did not.

But the change he did discover was that the box's formation was bending just a slightly more than before.

'If it can do it for this, then I just need to continue.' Wang Xiong thought.

He continued to repeat the process of infusing and pulling one after the other until an entire hour had passed by. By this time, he realize the water that was getting trapped in the box had reached a certain level.

After about one more attempt, Wang Xiong reckoned he would be successful.

"Just one more time… one more time and we figure out who is behind all this." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

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One more push was all that Wang Xiong needed, and it was that very push that was proving to be difficult. In his attempt to fill the 'container' with 'water' he had forgotten just how much he had left himself and how much he could control.

He didn't even realize that he was sweating rather heavily and thick beads of sweat would drip down his forehead every so often. It had also resulted in his meridians being strained far more than usual.

'No, I cannot fail at this moment.' Wang Xiong thought.

If he failed at this moment, he would not only be wasting all of his time and effort, but the box would also be destroyed along with its contents. Which was not something that he wanted to happen.

Just as he was about to force himself more, he felt a pair of hands at his back. The hands were gentle and soft and gave him a warm feeling.

.

"Just focus on the box, I'll give you the spirit Qi needed!" Ye Jin urged.

Wang Xiong nodded his head and focused on the box as spirit Qi poured in from his back. The spirit Qi of Ye Jin was different from his own, and this needed to be converted in his meridians before he could use it.

Still, with the Taiji celestial's technique, his absorption rate was rather high. This added with the difference in the spirit Qi capacity of Ye Jin and Wang Xiong made it so that Ye Jin was drained within minutes.

Her body was covered in sweat as well, and she was pale now. But this was just the boost Wang Xiong needed and he managed to push through at the last moment.

~kacha~

Like a dam breaking after just one extra drop of water was added, the formations broke apart from the inside.

~shua~shua~shua~

The formations started to dissipate at a fast speed and let out various sounds. Wang Xiong had never seen formations or spirit Qi at that point behaving like this before and thus it was a new learning moment for him.

He also realized that the spirit Qi that was being released by the runes of the formation was different from the normal spirit Qi.

"Hmm? Fire and wood elemental Qi?" Wang Xiong recognized.

These two spirit qi's were masked by the normal spirit Qi and would not appear normally. If the formation were broken normally or unraveled, the spirit Qi being released would be in the form of normal attribute less spirit Qi. But here there was a mix of three types; fire, wood, and attributeless.

While the quantity of attributeless spirit Qi was higher than the other two elements, their presence here was already something unusual.

'Why is spirit Qi of different elements being released like this? This is strange…' Wang Xiong thought.

As the condition of the box was a bit sensitive in this transformative moment, Wang Xiong could not touch or interact anymore with the box, for the fear that something might disturb its natural dissipation and end up damaging the contents.

"Is it done?" Ye Jin questioned while wiping away the sweat from her brows.

Her upper robes stuck to her torso, accentuating her curves. Wang Xiong's eyes wandered for a second before he forcefully reined himself and looked away.

"It should be over soon, we just have to wait." Wang Xiong replied.

"Alright," Ye Jing replied, not paying attention to her condition.

Like a leaking pot of water, the spirit Qi drained out of the runes of the formation until there were no more left. Soon the plain looking box was nothing more but just a plain looking box. Wang Xiong ensured that everything was fine one last time before finally touching the box.

~click~

A clear clicking sound could be heard as the box opened under gentle force. Once the box was opened, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin's eyes were met with what looked like a folded up piece of paper and a finger sized piece of jade.

Both of the times looked unassuming and there was no spirit Qi fluctuations coming from either of them. This made Wang Xiong even more alert as he knew nothing simple would be placed under such security.

"Should we take a look?" Ye Jin inquired.

"Of course…" Wang Xiong said before taking out the folded paper.

He unfolded it and saw a few lines written on it. They were written in a rather elegant manner and their strokes were well defined. Whoever wrote it was certainly well versed in the art of calligraphy and used a good brush.

'Bury each of the seven agitation jades in the mines at a sufficient distance. Keep a gap of one to two days between the planting of each agitation jade to ensure full effect. Once all seven agitating jades are planted, the beast should be enough to drive out the people.

Escape within few minutes of planting the final agitation jade or experience death.

Ensure no one can find this box and its contents though they will still be destroyed if anyone other than you opens them. Make sure our new allies are getting what they are paying for.

—Weiyuan.'

Seeing the contents of the small note and the name at the end, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows. Neither of these things made sense to him and the name at the end was unknown to Wang Xiong.

"Who is Weiyuan? Do we have someone with that name in our sect?" Wang Xiong questioned.

"As far as I know, there aren't any elders with that name, but there are a couple of disciples with that name." Ye Jing answered.

"Hmm… later on investigate and get me reports on those disciples." Wang Xiong spoke.

"As you wish. Though it seems unlikely that they would be someone linked to this." Ye Jing spoke.

"Still… we need to cover all bases." Wang Xiong replied before picking up the finger sized jade.

"Besides… this might just be the thing we need for the confirmation." He added.

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