Chapter 1740 - 878: Sacrificing to Heaven and Earth, Winds and Clouds Stir (Part 2)

"But they... they are locked." Li Yan’s voice grew somber as he explained what he saw.

"What?!"

An elder, whose hair and beard were all white, stepped forward abruptly, his cloudy old eyes widened in disbelief. His face drained of color, and his lips quivered, "Ancestor veins! These damned bastards! Have they... have they meddled with the foundation of the ancestor veins?!"

Another elder staggered slightly and barely managed to stand by holding on to the altar table, his gaze toward the ground filled with fear.

Sha Lifei glanced at the elders, who looked as if they had lost their parents, their faces pale as ghosts, and grinned, "Ha! I thought it was a big deal! Isn’t it just meddling with a bit of earth vein fengshui?"

"Don’t panic! Our Mr. Wang here knows astronomy above and geography below, and can calculate everything in between. No matter what kind of fengshui or earth energy troubles, once Mr. Wang steps in, it’ll be sorted out clearly for you!"

"Right, Daoist?" he said, winking at Wang Daoxuan.

But Wang Daoxuan did not respond as he usually did; instead, he frowned even tighter.

His face was stern enough to drip water, as he stared fixedly at the ground, seemingly sensing something.

The elder who had shouted earlier suddenly turned his head, his voice hoarse, "Daoist, you are wrong!"

"This is no simple fengshui earth vein; it’s the ancestor vein! It’s the root of Changbai Mountain!"

"It’s the foundation that sustains the thousand-year heritage of our Five Immortals Hall, and the survival of countless immortal spirits!"

"Whether it’s the advanced Dao out-of-horse disciples who went to investigate, or the veteran immortals who have been offered tributes in our hall for years... none! Not one could come out alive! Not even a trace of residual soul escaped back!"

......

The wind and snow howled, and the group returned to the previous mountain peak.

They stood at the edge of the deep crevasse, with dark depths beneath them that seemed unfathomable.

The atmosphere from the depths surged up, cold, ancient, accompanied by a threatening sensation that chilled the soul, far beyond just the ancestor land of the Five Immortals Hall.

"Brother Li, do not!" Wang Daoxuan’s voice carried unusual urgency.

He stared intently at the crevasse, the Turtle Shell Compass in his hand spinning wildly, almost flying out of his grasp.

"The peril within is unpredictable, and cannot be surmounted hurriedly. Presently, the Goryeo Ghost Land is unresolved, the Liaodong army trapped, and the Jianmu Demons looming, now is not the time to venture into the unknown."

Sha Lifei grasped the handle of his firearm, his brow furrowed into a knot, "The Daoist is right."

"This place is extremely sinister, and should we get trapped inside for ten days or half a month, we can’t afford to wait!"

Li Yan remained silent, his gaze sweeping along the black edges of the crevasse.

The pulsation emanating from within, like an ancient heartbeat, radiated intense repulsion and warnings.

Wang Daoxuan’s judgment was accurate; although he had his trump cards, the depth of this crevasse far exceeded imagination, and could not be explored quickly. To forcibly proceed would not only consume time, but if any strange occurrences befell them, the consequences would be unpredictable.

Right now isn’t the time for adventure.

"So be it." Li Yan finally spoke, nodding, "Let’s temporarily set aside this matter. San’er, track that rebel Great Elder and the remnants of the Dark Five Immortals and see which rat hole they’ve hidden in!"

"Got it!" Lv San responded, swiftly retrieving a few items from his bosom:

A beast bone marked with strange patterns, a small handful of soil stained with black blood from the previous battlefield, and several strands of singed black hair picked up from the Great Elder’s escape site.

In the wilderness, tracking techniques were Lv San’s specialty.

Under the scrutiny of the crowd, Lv San found a relatively flat snowy ground and, using his finger as a pen, dipped in vermillion and realgar powder, quickly sketched out a complex and ancient tracking witchcraft array.

He placed the beast bone at the array eye, positioning the black blood soil and hair at two corners, chanting incantations in a strange, archaic rhythm of primitive witch sacrifices. As the spell quickened, the beast bone spontaneously ignited, releasing a plume of smoke laden with a sweet and foul stench, the smoke twisted but guided towards the southeast direction, into a dense forest.

"Over there!" Lv San shouted lowly, collecting his magic instrument and leading the way.

Li Yan and others followed closely, braving the wind and snow, trudging laboriously through knee-deep snow.

The two elders of the Five Immortals Hall and the remaining few core disciples also gritted their teeth and followed.

The tracking path led deeper into a primitive forest sea seldom touched by humans.

Lv San stopped occasionally, observing faint traces left on the snowy ground or summoning small animals to confirm directions.

However, the closer he got to the destination, the more tightly his brow furrowed.

When the group finally arrived at a mountain hollow half-covered by a giant ice waterfall, the sight before them confirmed his worries.

Indeed, in the mountain hollow, there is a concealed cave entrance, but it has been mostly blown apart, the scattered rubble and frozen ground covered in a thick layer of fresh snow, evidently having been abandoned not long ago.

Inside the cave, there lingers a strong sense of evil energy, the smell of blood, and a pungent scent similar to sulfur.

The ground is littered with abandoned fragments of Beast Bone Magical Artifacts carved with sinister runes, several pieces of blood-stained coarse cloth, and some leftover animal remains, creating a chaotic scene.

"Too late!" Sha Lifei angrily punched the nearby ice rock, causing a flurry of snow to fall.

Lv San squatted down, carefully examining the collapsed traces at the cave entrance and the surrounding snow. "They left in a hurry, but calmly. This collapse was deliberately induced to block the way. Moreover..."

He pinched a small amount of discolored soil beneath the snow, sniffing it, "They used ’Filth Dust Powder,’ specifically to disrupt the Tracking Technique, along with this heavy snowstorm..."

He looked up at the gloomy, snow-laden sky, "All traces have been erased."

"The secret passage again!"

Kong Shangzhao asserted, "They must have used some path that doesn’t trigger spell fluctuations, just like before when they silently sent Ghost Soldiers into the military camp, once again slipping away."

Everyone immediately turned their attention to the two elders of the Five Immortals Hall who were with them.

The elders looked at each other with bewilderment and shame on their faces.

"This... We truly do not know!" one of the elders surnamed Hu said bitterly, "The legend of the Holy Land Tongyou Gorge has existed for a long time, but precisely how it is opened, how it can be traversed, has only been orally passed down through generations of the Great Elders. The traitor Hu Li (the Great Elder’s name)... In recent months, he has indeed been acting suspiciously, often going out alone,"

"Asked about it, he only said he was patrolling the mountains. We never imagined he would dare to collude with external demons, polluting the ancestral vein, nor did we know when he mastered such a secret passageway!"

The disciples also shook their heads, indicating they had never heard of it.

The clues have been completely cut off.

"Return to the camp first," Li Yan decisively ordered while looking into the distance.

"These guys will eventually surface..."

......

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in the heart of the Divine State, on the outskirts of the Imperial City at the Circular Hill.

The solemn sound of bells and chimes pierced through the leaden gray clouds, echoing across the vast and grand altar square.

On the nine-tiered Circular Hill Altar constructed of white marble, flags fluttered, and the ceremonial guards stood in stern formation.

A few State Preceptors, draped in Purple Gold Eight Diagram Taoist Robes, wearing Furong Crowns, and holding Jade Tablets, stood at the top center.

On either side stood two of the highest-ranking Xuan Sacrificial Officers, all wearing apricot yellow Vestment Robes, their expressions solemn.

Outwardly, there were dozens of high-level Mages from the Taoist leaders of Dragon and Tiger, Maoshan, Qingcheng, and Gezao, standing in formation according to the three talents and Five Elements positions.

Beneath the altar, civil and military officials and the Imperial Family members were assembled according to their ranks, forming a dense, silent crowd.

The air was filled with the rich scent of incense and candles mixed with the fresh aroma of burning pine and cypress branches.

The auspicious time had arrived.

Several State Preceptors performed the Astral Step ritual, their movements fluid like drifting clouds, each step in harmony with the rhythm of heaven and earth.

They chanted the ancient and grand "Spirit Treasure Sacrificial Heavenly Text."

A High Priest held a cyan jade plate Sacrificial Heaven Document, written in vermillion and stamped with the National Seal and Taoist Seal, burning it over an incense burner. A column of green smoke rose straight up, cohesive and undispersed, as if with spirituality, directly piercing into the nine heavens.

The core mages’ movements were profound, their feet seemingly stepping on the Seven Stars of Beidou, their Magic Swords wielding, activating the giant array set around the altar field.

They summoned generals, invoked gods, harmonized Dragon Veins, and burned incense to pray...

The entire ceremony lasted for most of the day, solemn and meticulous.

When the final Dharma Seal to "send the spirit back to its place" was formed, the State Preceptors and the Mystical Sect high priests simultaneously concluded the ritual, and the immense, unstoppable power within the altar field slowly subsided.

Almost at the same moment the Divine State’s ritual was completed, phenomena abruptly emerged!

First, within the Divine State itself.

From Kunlun to the East Sea, from Mo Bei to Lingnan, at the geomantic nodes of numerous famous mountains and great rivers, visible white mists rose like thin veils, enveloping the mountain tops for a moment before slowly merging into the sky and earth.

In the sky, the overcast clouds that had lingered for days were stirred by an invisible force and quickly dispersed.

In the coastal prefectures and cities, the initially calm sea surface suddenly became tumultuous...