Chapter 675 - 656: Fortune All the Way

At that moment, the pressure of the Laws permeating the air became palpable. Wang Meng retracted his Divine Sense. His previous two entries into the Divine Sealing Tower had caused anomalous fluctuations in the Laws. This time, Master Wang was here to help, so it was only natural to be a bit more reserved.

This wasn’t Meng Ningzi’s first time on the fifty-ninth layer, but she usually trained in the Outer Sea. The last time she had entered the Inner Sea, it was with Zhang Yang and his group.

Now, moving with practiced ease, she led the party to the border of the Inner Sea.

The difference between the Inner and Outer Seas was immediately obvious. While the fog in the Outer Sea was thick, it was static. The fog of the Inner Sea, however, was like layered ocean waves, constantly surging and churning, emitting a chilling aura.

The pallor on Jia Yuan’s face deepened. Yi Qinwen and the others took turns supporting him, periodically infusing him with True Essence to sustain his vitality.

Meng Ningzi had also recognized the Gu Poison affecting Jia Yuan. She said, "The Purple Immortal Grass and Sleeping Rock Pure Lotus I need both grow in the Purple Mist Gorge within the Inner Sea. If there are no objections, I will lead the way. Brother Golden Wolf?"

Wang Meng nodded. "This is my first time here."

Even without his Divine Sense, he could feel faint traces of the Power of Laws stirring the mist. Logically, fog belonged to the water element and qi to the wind, but this sea of mist also contained another, more profound power.

As they journeyed onward, Meng Ningzi suddenly stopped and made a hushing gesture.

The group immediately halted and fell into a defensive formation. Just then, the ethereal sound of a harp drifted from within the sea of mist.

"Anyone with a Fate Grid below one thousand, seal your Sea of Heart at once! Don’t even think about trying to resist. This is the God-controlling Roar of a Fog Sea Harp Demon. Be careful not to fall under her control," Meng Ningzi warned. She raised her longbow, held her breath, and focused her energy. A True Essence Arrow, brimming with purple qi, materialized on the bowstring.

"Bow Defense, Eastern Emperor’s Aegis!" she intoned. With her chant, eight streams of purple qi shot out and settled upon everyone in the group.

Instantly, the harp music vanished, replaced by a series of hoarse, shrill shrieks.

Yi Qinwen breathed a sigh of relief. "And that was just the weakest of the Inner Sea’s Harp Demons... For a second there, I almost couldn’t defend my sea of consciousness."

Wang Meng smiled. ’The Purple Qi East Coming Technique is quite interesting,’ he thought. ’Purple is the apex of qi: white qi, red breath, cyan rainbow, and finally, the purple extreme. In terms of sheer power, the Wang Family’s Merak Fire Cloud Technique is far superior to the Purple Qi East Coming Technique, but when it comes to endurance, the latter has the upper hand.’

"It’s not time to relax yet. Something else is here." Wang Meng’s sharp hearing picked up the sound of stealthy footsteps hidden within the shrieks.

The words had barely left his lips when dozens of gleaming eyes materialized in the dense fog.

"Fog Ghosts!"

Yi Qinwen’s face turned green. Encountering Fog Ghosts in the Inner Sea was a near-certain death sentence. Within the sea of mist, these creatures were practically invincible. No matter how you attacked them, as long as there was fog, the Fog Ghosts could regenerate endlessly.

Meng Ningzi blinked. Instead of acting, she looked at Wang Meng. She was eager to see him in action one more time.

Wang Meng simply blinked back. Seeing her gaze upon him, he said, "Miss Meng, it’s all you."

Meng Ningzi’s eyes widened in astonishment. ’This guy... how can he be such a coward?’

Wang Meng wasn’t a coward; his True Essence Power was limited, and he couldn’t afford to use it carelessly.

By now, the Fog Ghosts were drawing closer. Speechless, Meng Ningzi drew her divine bow. A stream of purple qi formed an arrow. "Eastern Emperor’s Aegis, Kunlun Evil Slayer!"

—Ten Thousand Arrows Fired Simultaneously!

In an instant, a myriad of purple arrows shot forth, obliterating the dozens of Fog Ghosts into nothingness. Regeneration? They would need a physical body for that. Meng Ningzi had directly annihilated their very essence.

The color drained from Yi Qinwen’s face, turning from green to white. ’What a monstrous Divine Artifact...’

Jia Yuan’s eyes wavered, a corner of his eye twitching. He sighed. "Truly one of the Great Zhou Eight Saints. I used to be unconvinced, but now, I’m completely won over."

Meng Ningzi lowered her bow. "You flatter me. Next time, it’s Brother Golden Wolf’s turn to shine."

Wang Meng smiled. "Alright, no problem. But... how about you let me lead the way?"

Meng Ningzi had joined the team with the express purpose of seeing Golden Wolf fight again. The last time, on the twenty-eighth layer of the Divine Sealing Tower, everything had happened too quickly, making it difficult to gauge the true limit of his strength. From what she saw then, he seemed to be on the level of the Seven Extremes, yet according to Ni Yong, Golden Wolf was a young man. And Ni Yong was never wrong about a person’s age. ’So why does he pretend to be so old and worldly?’

That, combined with the incident involving Zhang Yang, made her eager to confirm just what level Wang Meng’s power was truly on.

Hearing Wang Meng’s condition, Meng Ningzi gave a slight nod and relinquished her position at the head of the group.

Wang Meng stood at the front... for a long while...

A dark look crossed Meng Ningzi’s face. "Brother Golden Wolf, why aren’t we moving?"

"I’m studying the path..." Master Wang would never admit that he, in fact, had no idea where he was going.

Meng Ningzi took a deep breath. "Continue forward for one li and you’ll reach the Black Stone Forest. Pass through the Black Stone Forest, and we’ll be at the entrance to Yongwu Gorge."

「...」

They traveled onward.

"Brother Golden Wolf, have you gone off course?" Meng Ningzi asked, having already discovered that the man’s sense of direction was exceptionally poor.

"Have I? I feel like the fog is a bit thinner over here. We might find something good."

Wang Meng smiled and continued forward. Meng Ningzi frowned, tightened her grip on her divine bow, and followed.

Jia Yuan, Yi Qinwen, and the others shared wry smiles, their eyes darting about as they cautiously followed close behind.

"Ah! Is that a Ten Thousand Shadows Fruit? One, two, three, four... eleven! There are eleven of them!" Yi Qinwen suddenly shouted, pointing excitedly at the fruits on a strange-looking tree.

"Quick, quick! Who has a jade bottle? You can’t pick Ten Thousand Shadows Fruit by hand; it must be done with Jade Cutting!" Jia Yuan, despite a wracking cough, called out in excitement. The sisters, Yi Jingyi and Yi Jingyue, immediately rushed forward and carefully collected the fruits.

Meng Ningzi was stunned for a moment. ’He actually found something good...’

After harvesting the eleven Ten Thousand Shadows Fruits from the tree, Wang Meng, as the one who led them there, took three for himself. Meng Ningzi was given two, and the rest were distributed, one to each of the others.

Once the Ten Thousand Shadows Fruits were divided, Wang Meng "adjusted" his direction and continued onward...

A moment later, Meng Ningzi frowned again. "Brother Golden Wolf, are we off course again?"

"My intuition says it’s safer this way."

Meng Ningzi opened her mouth, then closed it. She simply tightened her grip on her divine bow and followed, a wisp of purple qi quietly gathering at her fingertips.

「A moment later...」

"Ah! Th-th-this isn’t a Kaiyuan Immortal Plant, is it? It’s so big, it must be a hundred years old!"

Yi Qinwen cried out in excitement once more. The others were dumbfounded. ’What kind of insane luck is this?! It’s off the charts!’

An unnatural flush appeared on Jia Yuan’s face. "Look around, there should be a companion Kaiyuan Immortal Grass nearby..."

It was another huge haul.

Meng Ningzi blinked blankly. ’This seems far too easy. Can Golden Wolf actually see through the mist?’

In the Inner Sea, every step forward doubled the danger, while the potential rewards only increased by ten percent. Yet, in such a short time, they had found two different kinds of rare Immortal Fruit and Divine Materials...

It wasn’t unheard of, but such events were unrepeatable, miraculous encounters!

After distributing the Immortal Plant and Immortal Grass, they continued on.

After walking for a long time, it was Yi Qinwen who couldn’t hold back any longer. "Lord Golden Wolf, why have we stopped taking detours?"

Wang Meng smiled. "I was afraid Miss Meng would have an issue with it." In truth, Wang Meng had deliberately chosen a few safer spots to help the group out.

Meng Ningzi turned her head, pretending not to have heard.

Yi Qinwen pouted, glanced at his senior, Jia Yuan, then walked over to Meng Ningzi’s side. "Fairy Meng..."

"Do whatever."

Before Yi Qinwen could finish, Meng Ningzi cut him off with a casual reply. She wanted to see just what other tricks this Golden Wolf could pull!

Yi Qinwen quickly scurried back behind Wang Meng. "Fairy Meng doesn’t have any objections."

A faint smile touched Wang Meng’s lips. ’This Illusory Sea of Mist truly is a Treasure Vault, a natural Dream Realm that protects these heavenly treasures. But the Spirit Waves these treasures emit are difficult even for me to ignore.’ The thought of collecting them for himself and Nine Discount crossed his mind. Both his body and their needs were substantial. ’It seems this layer of the Divine Sealing Tower is a pharmacy. What a great place. I’ll have to study it properly when I come back by myself.’

And so, they began weaving east and west once more...

At first, Yi Qinwen would shriek and make a fuss with every new discovery, but eventually, he became numb to it. Gathering treasures and picking Immortal Fruits became as routine as harvesting rice in a paddy.

The way everyone looked at Wang Meng began to change. This wasn’t a person; he was a human-shaped, treasure-finding Divine Artifact.

However, as Meng Ningzi watched her Qiankun Bag grow ever fuller, she became thoroughly perplexed.

’Logically, heavenly treasures are favored by the heavens and should be guarded by Exotic Beasts. How is it that every time Wang Meng finds something, it’s just the treasure, with no risky Exotic Beast in sight? We’ve come all this way without a single battle... This is... rather unusual.’

She couldn’t figure it out. As they collected more and more, she finally gave up trying. She would just have to consider it a miracle.

To cover a distance of one li, they had taken a detour of more than ten, but they finally arrived at their destination: the Black Stone Forest.

Wang Meng stopped and gazed at the forest. A strange Five Elements Aura pressed down on them. The Laws here seemed to have been twisted and unraveled by a powerful force, forming a unique domain.

The moment he stepped inside, he felt his body grow heavy. His True Essence Divine Techniques were being suppressed.

With a jolt, Wang Meng activated his Fate Grid Law and shook off the pressure.

Just then, Jia Yuan’s voice was heard. "We’re safe once we reach the Black Stone Forest. This is a Forbidden Martial Land. All powers are suppressed here."

Wang Meng blinked and consciously slowed his pace.

However, Meng Ningzi’s eyes widened slightly. ’Was that a hallucination? I thought I just saw Golden Wolf use some kind of Divine Technique.’

Wang Meng slowed his steps, his Divine Sense probing the secrets of the Black Stone Forest. There seemed to be a kind of sealing power here, one that was exceptionally strong. It was very likely the handiwork of a god...

Past the Black Stone Forest was the Inner Sea’s Yongwu Gorge. Here, the fog began to thin. High above the gorge, a vortex was continuously sucking in the surrounding mist.

"Let’s go. Finding the Sleeping Rock Pure Lotus and Purple Immortal Grass will still depend on luck..." Meng Ningzi said, unable to stop herself from glancing at Wang Meng’s Golden Wolf Mask.

Jia Yuan, Yi Qinwen, and the others also looked toward Wang Meng, all of them unconsciously stroking their bulging Qiankun Bags.

"Why are you all looking at me? Miss Meng, you can lead the way now," Wang Meng laughed. ’These guys have really gotten addicted to picking up freebies.’

(To be continued... If you like this work, you are welcome to show your support.)