Chapter 1021: Shou Zheng's Request

Lord Sword King, Ouyang Jian, is an old courtier who has been loyal to several generations of monarchs in the Dali Dynasty. He made a request on behalf of his blood relatives, which is quite reasonable.

Although Ba Wudi wields great authority and rules with strict control, he is not unreasonable.

Ouyang Jian has already swallowed his pride to ask for a favor, and he surely wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of his loyal old courtier.

Ba Wudi granted Ouyang Jian this favor and agreed to his request.

Feng Baoshan casually mentioned this matter to Meng Zhang, without any deep intentions behind it, just a passing remark.

In Feng Baoshan's view, his immediate superior and Ouyang Jian had a falling out, and Ouyang Huajin even died at the hands of Meng Zhang. Meng Zhang would likely be interested in any information regarding Ouyang Huajin.

If Ouyang Huajin were to enter the Netherworld and embark on the path of the Ghost Deity, separated by life and death, it would be unlikely for him to have any further connection with Meng Zhang.

Meng Zhang was indeed interested in this piece of information, though not for the reasons Feng Baoshan suspected.

When he killed Ouyang Huajin, he had a suspicion that Ouyang Huajin seemed to willingly court death, making his defeat almost effortless.

Now, Ouyang Jian wants to send Ouyang Huajin's Primordial Spirit into the Netherworld through a special passage of the Dali Dynasty. Could there be some significant connection between the two?

If so, it must be part of Ouyang Jian's plan. What could his intentions be? Why would he be willing to sacrifice his blood relative and closed-door disciple?

Meng Zhang's mind was filled with various thoughts and countless speculations.

After Feng Baoshan left, he pondered for a long time, but couldn't find any clues.

Later, he thought about Sun Pengzhi, who had been by his side and had shown no inappropriate behavior. He had gained Meng Zhang's initial trust.

After a moment's hesitation, he called Sun Pengzhi over and shared the entire situation, including his own speculations.

Meng Zhang hoped to get some fresh insights from Sun Pengzhi.

Although Sun Pengzhi was intelligent, he lacked extensive information and therefore couldn't provide many new ideas.

However, the True Monarch Shang Yuxia, who had been accompanying him, offered valuable information after hearing Meng Zhang's words.

When Shang Yuxia was still a high-ranking member of the Shang Family, they had close dealings with Ouyang Jian and cooperated in many aspects.

Shang Family held significant power within the Great Trade Alliance and owed much of it to Ouyang Jian's strong support.

Thus, Shang Family always went to great lengths to fulfill Ouyang Jian's requests.

According to Shang Yuxia, Ouyang Jian had once asked Shang Family to secretly gather a batch of special resources through the channels of the Great Trade Alliance.

These resources were of no use to ordinary cultivators but held great significance in the Netherworld.

Some could strengthen yin soldiers, while others were meant for the Ghost Deity's cultivation...

Among these resources were many rare items from the Grand Dust World. The Great Trade Alliance had invested a considerable amount of time and effort to collect them all.

These resources included items like Purple River Carriages, Ghost Infants, Yin Children, and others. Gathering these items came at a great cost, causing immeasurable harm.

Shang Yuxia didn't know why Ouyang Jian needed these resources.

As a woman, she couldn't tolerate such inhumane actions and attempted to stop them, leading to conflicts with other high-ranking members of her family.

This conflict eventually contributed to her downfall in the internal struggles of her family.

After hearing Shang Yuxia's account, Meng Zhang finally confirmed that Ouyang Jian indeed had ulterior motives and had been preparing for many years.

It seemed that Ouyang Huajin's demise under his hand wasn't accidental, nor was it due to his incompetence. Instead, it was part of Ouyang Jian's plan, with Ouyang Huajin intentionally sacrificing himself.

During the public confrontation with Meng Zhang, Ouyang Huajin's physical body was killed, leaving only his Primordial Spirit.

Subsequently, Ouyang Huajin's Primordial Spirit entered the Netherworld through the royal family's special passage.

Meng Zhang still didn't know Ouyang Jian's ultimate intentions, but he was aware of the extensive preparations he had made for all of this.

Ouyang Jian had manipulated even the conflict between Meng Zhang and Ouyang Huajin to make everything appear seamless.

Meng Zhang recalled the rumors that led to his conflict with Ouyang Huajin, as well as Ouyang Huajin's unexpected challenge...

All of these events were likely orchestrated by Ouyang Jian.

Shang Yuxia also provided another piece of information.

She had heard of the special passage that the Dali Dynasty's royal family possessed, leading to the Netherworld.

This passage was opened voluntarily by members of the royal family approximately every sixty years.

The passage belonged to the royal family and seemed to be linked to their secrets.

For ordinary cultivators from the Dali Dynasty, it was challenging to enter the Netherworld through this passage.

This time, due to a request from the Sea Spirit Sect cultivators, the royal family had opened the passage prematurely and allowed them to enter.Although Ouyang Jian is not a member of the royal family, as a foreign prince, he had a valid reason to request this favor, which led Ba Wudi to agree.

If it weren't for the request from the Sea Spirit Sect cultivators, Ba Wudi wouldn't have agreed to open the passage ahead of schedule.

According to past practices, this passage would have been opened more than twenty years later.

If that were the case, Ouyang Jian's actions would have appeared more normal.

After such a long time had passed without being able to rebuild Ouyang Huajin's physical body, he should have been thoroughly disappointed and turned to consider letting Ouyang Huajin embark on the path of the Ghost Deity.

After all, the path of the Ghost Deity is extremely perilous, filled with numerous difficulties and obstacles. If not absolutely necessary, no Primordial Spirit cultivator would willingly choose that path.

Furthermore, with the passage of time, Meng Zhang had returned to Jiuqu Province, which likely meant that there were even fewer cultivators concerned about Ouyang Huajin's Primordial Spirit.

Meng Zhang, Sun Pengzhi, and Shang Yuxia discussed the matter and reached a consensus that Ouyang Jian must have a significant plan.

A key aspect of his plan was to send Ouyang Huajin's Primordial Spirit to the Netherworld through the royal family's special passage.

Originally, whatever scheme Ouyang Jian had wouldn't have concerned Meng Zhang much.

Even if he harmed the interests of the Dali Dynasty or caused some catastrophe, it wasn't Meng Zhang's responsibility to address it.

However, this time, Ouyang Jian's plan had involved Meng Zhang and exploited him.

Moreover, since Meng Zhang was still under Han Yao's command, and given Han Yao's favorable disposition towards him, Meng Zhang should also consider Han Yao's interests.

Han Yao and Ouyang Jian were at odds, so causing trouble for Ouyang Jian would likely be something Han Yao welcomed.

For Meng Zhang, since he was already at odds with Ouyang Jian, disrupting his plans seemed only appropriate.

Of course, Ouyang Jian held a high position and was immensely powerful. Meng Zhang alone couldn't threaten him.

For Meng Zhang to make a difference, he needed Han Yao's assistance.

However, during this time, Han Yao seemed to appear and disappear at will, making it extremely difficult to reach him.

Not just Meng Zhang, even Feng Baoshan, who was responsible for the Five Punishments Guard's daily affairs, had trouble getting in touch with Han Yao.

Originally, if Meng Zhang couldn't reach Han Yao, he wouldn't have been able to thwart Ouyang Jian's plans on his own. This matter might have been left unresolved.

After all, Meng Zhang wouldn't risk putting himself in danger just to counter Ouyang Jian.

However, curiosity bubbled up within Meng Zhang.

What kind of grand scheme did Ouyang Jian have that he had been plotting for so long and was willing to involve his closed-door disciple and blood relative?

With limited clues at his disposal, aside from his own speculations, the information provided by Shang Yuxia about the resources Shang Family had offered to Ouyang Jian was all he had.

While these resources were of limited use in the mortal world, they held great value in the Netherworld.

But how Ouyang Jian intended to use these resources remained a mystery to Meng Zhang.

With his keen insight and experience, he couldn't discern their purpose from these resources alone.

Meng Zhang was a stubborn individual.

The more he couldn't comprehend something, the more curious he became, and the stronger his desire to find answers.

Since he couldn't reach Han Yao, there was still one more individual he could turn to for information related to the Netherworld.

To be precise, his confidant wasn't a person but the Ghost Deity.

As his Cultivation Base improved, Ghost Deity Shou Zheng began to take greater notice of Meng Zhang.

Especially since Meng Zhang had become a Primordial Spirit stage cultivator, Ghost Deity Shou Zheng regarded him almost as an equal, treating him as a peer.

For Meng Zhang to contact the senior Ghost Deity Shou Zheng wasn't a challenging task.

He secluded himself in a quiet chamber, closed it off using a spell, and then initiated a special ritual to contact Ghost Deity Shou Zheng in the Netherworld.

This ritual, having undergone several simplifications, was straightforward and easy to perform.

As Meng Zhang's Cultivation Base grew stronger, Ghost Deity Shou Zheng's response to his call became increasingly swift.

Unless he was exceedingly busy, he wouldn't keep Meng Zhang waiting.

Shortly after completing the simple ritual, gusts of cold wind swept through the chamber, and a vast Divine Sense descended.

Meng Zhang released his own Divine Sense, skillfully communicating with this Divine Sense.

After a brief exchange of greetings with Shou Zheng, Meng Zhang meticulously recounted the circumstances of the matter, especially Ouyang Jian's preparations, leaving out no details.

Once he finished relaying the information, Shou Zheng fell into silence.

After waiting for quite a while, Meng Zhang began to doubt whether Shou Zheng had already departed. But finally, Shou Zheng's Divine Sense reconnected with Meng Zhang and transmitted entirely new information to him.Shou Zheng told Meng Zhang that fortunately, he was the one inquiring about this matter. Even the great powers of Return to Emptiness in the mortal realm might not be as familiar with this information as he was.

Among the batch of resources Ouyang Jian collected through the Shang Family, many were intended for a specific ritual. However, Shou Zheng temporarily kept the nature of this ritual a secret from Meng Zhang.

Shou Zheng only requested that Meng Zhang must accompany Ouyang Huajin through the special passage to the Netherworld. Once they entered the Netherworld, Meng Zhang could use a special summoning ritual to call upon Shou Zheng's true self to manifest.

This was because Shou Zheng's true self was also in the Netherworld.

Although the distance to the Gu Qi Mountain Range was quite vast, making it unreachable in a short time, due to their shared presence in the Netherworld, as long as Meng Zhang set up and initiated the ritual, Shou Zheng could directly manifest there.

Upon his manifestation, he would work alongside Meng Zhang to carry out the next phase of their plan.

Shou Zheng merely made the request without disclosing the reasons behind it, which left Meng Zhang somewhat dissatisfied.

Shou Zheng easily assigned tasks without realizing how challenging and perilous his requests were for Meng Zhang.

Meng Zhang was tempted to flat-out reject Shou Zheng's unreasonable request.

However, upon reflection, Shou Zheng was still a senior from Taiyi Sect. He had provided assistance to Meng Zhang and Taiyi Sect over the years.

Considering Meng Zhang's experiences with Shou Zheng, he wasn't the type to be unreliable or whimsically order others around without regard for practical circumstances.

Suppressing his dissatisfaction, Meng Zhang patiently engaged in a slow exchange with Shou Zheng, hoping to elicit a more detailed explanation.

This time, Shou Zheng remained tight-lipped and didn't reveal any hints whatsoever.

He only informed Meng Zhang that the matter was of great significance and must not be prematurely disclosed. If he were to provide specific information to Meng Zhang beforehand, it would inevitably resonate through a higher order. This could lead to changes in celestial mechanisms, introducing new variables into the situation.

Meng Zhang was a capable Diviner himself and had a profound respect for the changes in celestial mechanisms.

Given his insights, he recognized that Shou Zheng wasn't speaking without reason.

Moreover, he had inferred the meaning behind Shou Zheng's unspoken words.

Diviners were involved in this matter.

Since becoming a Diviner, Meng Zhang only knew of Gu Yue Huaidie as a fellow practitioner.

Between them, there had never been any conflict typical of Diviners.

If other Diviners were involved in this incident, there was a possibility of clashes between them.

The thought of facing other Diviners both excited and made Meng Zhang uneasy.

Shou Zheng didn't know that Meng Zhang was also a Diviner, nor did he realize that Meng Zhang had gleaned more information.

However, the involvement of other Diviners made Meng Zhang hesitate about participating in this event.

Without substantial gains to be had, he wasn't eager to become entangled in conflicts with other Diviners.

As a Diviner himself, he was well aware of how formidable his counterparts could be.

Sensing Meng Zhang's hesitation, Shou Zheng played his final card.

If Meng Zhang were to participate in this event, it would hold significant meaning for him personally and for Taiyi Sect.

Shou Zheng casually mentioned one benefit.

During its heyday, Taiyi Sect had left behind a hidden treasure location situated in the Netherworld.

According to their predecessors' arrangement, Meng Zhang couldn't access this location before reaching the late stage of the Primordial Spirit realm.

However, if the current event proceeded smoothly, Meng Zhang might gain access to this treasure ahead of time.

Until now, the Taiyi Sect inheritance he had received contained numerous gaps.

Completing all the Taiyi Sect legacies was one of his major goals and held immense importance.

As his Cultivation Base continued to improve and he interacted with more advanced levels of knowledge, Meng Zhang became increasingly aware of his shortcomings.

To address these inadequacies and acquire more Taiyi Sect legacies, he viewed this as a shortcut.

Shou Zheng informed Meng Zhang that by actively participating in this matter, the benefits gained would far exceed this single advantage.

While the operation to enter the Netherworld was extremely dangerous, having Shou Zheng, a local expert, would significantly reduce the risks to an acceptable level.

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