Chapter 147: Nine Sun Mountain

Beneath the Northern Plains Battlefield, millennia of warfare had forged layered deposits of baleful aura and lingering resentment. Deep underground, a pitch-black void corridor had been carved out at some unknown time.

At the far end of the corridor, an altar hung suspended in the void, the surrounding darkness slowly writhing like a living creature.

Across the altar's surface, dense formation runes crisscrossed into a massive vortex, drawing in every drifting soul from the battlefield above. The souls poured silently into the array, layering upon one another before ultimately converging into a faintly glowing, dark purple Spirit Velvet at its center.

A dim light pulsed through the Spirit Velvet. Its roots reached deep into the runes, bit by bit devouring the dead souls accumulated on the battlefield over thousands of years.

An emaciated figure sat in quiet meditation in one corner of the altar. Cloaked in a blood-red robe embroidered with gold, his hood drawn low, he kept his face hidden in shadow. He had been sitting there for a very long time, his breathing so faint it was nearly undetectable, looking like a stone sculpture fused with the altar itself.

Unhurried footsteps echoed from the depths of the corridor, slowly drawing closer. A tall, scarlet-robed figure emerged from the darkness, his face concealed behind a gold-and-red mask. Reaching the altar, he came to a halt, sank to one knee, and slightly lowered his head.

"Junior Brother Kun, has something happened?" The figure on the altar did not open his eyes. His voice was aged and hoarse, sounding as though he had not spoken in ages.

Cultivator Kun looked up slightly, his tone urgent yet measured. "Reporting to the Great Elder: I just received a message from Thirteenth Junior Brother. Junior Brother Ding's soul lamp has extinguished. We do not yet know who is responsible."

The figure on the altar fell silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, as if he had just heard of an inconsequential trifle. "Understood. The grand plan comes first. You may withdraw."

Cultivator Kun acknowledged the command. Just as he rose to leave, the aged voice called him back.

"Right. Has that junior brother of mine made any unusual moves lately?"

Turning back, Cultivator Kun clasped his hands and bowed once more. "This subordinate is incompetent. In recent years, the Second Elder's movements have been quite secretive, and I have been unable to track them. However, a few months ago, someone from Precious Heaven Pavilion seemed to approach Senior Brother Sun to discuss a major deal. As for the specifics, this subordinate has yet to uncover them."

The figure on the altar pondered this at length. He did not press further, merely waving his hand. Without another word, Cultivator Kun retreated into the darkness.

The footsteps gradually faded into the distance, and silence reclaimed the corridor.

At last, the emaciated figure on the altar slowly lifted his head. His expression remained hidden beneath the shadow of his hood, but a soft chuckle escaped his lips.

"Another one dead... Hmph."

He paused, his gaze drifting toward the Spirit Velvet as his tone steadily grew colder.

"Junior Brother, oh, Junior Brother. You finally couldn't sit still. You want Deity Transformation? This opportunity, your senior brother will gladly let you have. This Spirit Velvet, along with the two Nascent Souls in the sect treasury—take them as you please. Your senior brother will not stand in your way."

He slowly closed his eyes, muttering as though to himself, "Do you truly believe the Blood Soul Restriction is something so easily cultivated?"

No answer came from the corridor.

Several days later, the emerald grasslands had completely faded away, replaced by ten thousand li of scorched, crimson earth. As far as the eye could see, yellow sands and blackened ground stretched to the horizon. Heat waves rolled forward, flying grit and tumbling stones were everywhere, and the blistering heat warped the shimmering air.

A streak of greenish-gray escape light tore across the sky at blistering speed, traversing dozens of li in the blink of an eye and vanishing toward the horizon in a matter of breaths. Jiuyou's figure flickered faintly within the escape light, his robes snapping loudly in the hot gale.

Truth be told, that man surnamed Ding had been quite stubborn. Enduring round after round of Jiuyou's "ice and fire" torture, he had held out for several days before finally cracking.

Not only had Jiuyou extracted the exact location and local power distribution of Nine Sun Mountain, but he had also stumbled upon an unexpected piece of news: the Great Elder of the Blood Abyss Sect was indeed hiding beneath the Northern Plains Battlefield, seemingly up to something extraordinary in secret.

Since it belonged to the Blood Abyss Sect, Jiuyou naturally had no reason to pass it up. Even so, he did not act rashly.

First, the truth of the report remained unverified; if it proved to be a trap, venturing deep while operating at only seventy percent of his strength would be unwise. Second, even if the information held true, confronting a Peak Nascent Soul Stage cultivator in his current condition would be cutting it too close.

Thus, he decided to secure the Jinli Stone first, enhancing his strength before concerning himself with anything else.

Leaving the cave behind, he pushed northward into the territory of Nine Sun Mountain.

The closer he drew to the center, the higher the temperature soared. Occasionally, rare fire-attuned spirit beasts could be seen prowling along the edges of molten magma, and a few small tribes that relied on this harsh land for survival were scattered about.

To suppress the baleful aura within his body, Jiuyou did not linger. He advanced completely concealed, refusing to let even a wisp of his aura leak out.

After he pressed several thousand li deeper, the outline of Nine Sun Mountain finally rose into view.

Even accustomed to the towering majesty of Tianyuan Mountain, he could not help taking a second look. In sheer height, this peak was second only to Tianyuan Mountain, its massive bulk so vast that it could not be taken in at a single glance. Up at the crater, dense fire spiritual qi surged and billowed in a wave of blazing heat; for a fire-attribute cultivator, this place would be an absolute paradise.

Without hesitation, Jiuyou activated his Heavenly Wind Robe. A greenish-gray escape light shot skyward, and moments later, he hovered directly above the caldera.

He peered down into the abyss, finding it seemingly bottomless. Sweeping his divine sense inside, he discovered dozens of paths winding down along the crater's inner walls. The rock bore the marks of manual excavation, and thousands of cultivators were down there wielding specialized spiritual picks, endlessly quarrying ore.

Spirit Sealing Shackles bound the laborers' wrists. Dressed in varied attire, most hailed from Ganzhou, with a small fraction from the Northern Plains—clearly captives forced into labor as mine slaves.

None of that mattered, however...

What mattered was that after observing for a time, Jiuyou found no trace of any spiritual ore resembling Jinli Stone. He circled the caldera several times, his divine sense sweeping across it repeatedly, but still turned up nothing.

On second thought, he found no cause for surprise. Once discovered, a rare spiritual ore of the Jinli Stone's caliber would have been mined to exhaustion long ago. Whatever remained in the world today was almost certainly held by the major tribes.

He did not linger, turning and vanishing from the mouth of the crater.

Arriving quietly and leaving quietly, he disturbed not a single soul.

A moment later, a cyan streak cut across the sky above the crimson earth, racing toward the Yellow Sand Tribe.

With his hands clasped behind his back within the escape light, Jiuyou gazed at the rolling sand dunes ahead and the faintly visible outline of the tribe, his expression completely calm.

The Jinli Stone was likely there, and his goal for this journey was simply to take it back.

As for the so-called Grandmasters of the Yellow Sand Tribe, in his eyes, they did not even qualify as a nuisance.

As long as the item was there, he would claim it.

As for how he would take it, that could wait until he arrived.