Chapter 1042: The Whereabouts of the Disciples

Chapter 1042: Chapter 1042: The Whereabouts of the Disciples

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, three months have passed.

During this time, Shen Mo thoroughly combed through Yang Ai’s remaining memories and gathered information through various means, gradually sketching the general outline of the Feather Realm in his mind.

Just last month, during his duty hours, the Battle Hall sent over a batch of damaged magic artifacts, and Shen Mo immediately recognized that these artifacts originated from the Red Flame Sect. Whether in terms of material, forging technique, or internal runes, they differed entirely from the standard magic artifacts of the Celestial Feather Sect!

After probing around, he learned that this batch of magic artifacts came from a place marked as "Forbidden Area 905", a so-called forbidden area that descended upon the Feather Realm from the Outer Zone. The Battle Hall was engaged in an expedition against this forbidden area, and these damaged artifacts were collected from the bodies of extraterrestrial demons during the battlefield cleanup.

Those too damaged would be directly melted down to refine the spiritual materials within, while those that could be repaired were sent to the Treasure Refining Room for restoration.

It’s said that the demons in this forbidden area possess incredibly formidable strength. The Battle Hall mobilized almost all of its elite forces, even the sect’s Divine Bridge Immortal Master participated, yet still could not conquer the area. The casualties on both sides were quite severe!

Shen Mo suspected that "Forbidden Area 905" was the Red Flame Sect’s outer mountain gate that fell into evil, and the so-called "extraterrestrial demons" were the Red Flame Sect members who had succumbed to the evil spirits. He wished to take a look at the demon corpses sent to the Celestial Feather Sect, but these corpses were sent to the Corpse Transformation Hall for processing, and as an Elder of the Artifact Hall, he had no authority to enter the Corpse Transformation Hall!

Thus, at the end of his third month on duty, Shen Mo used the excuse of traveling down the mountain to seek opportunities for advancement and requested a year off from the Artifact Hall head, Feng Yu.

The hall leader Feng Yu saw that he had broken through to the late-stage Spirit Sea Realm and was hopeful to achieve Nascent Soul Realm in the future, so he barely hesitated and approved, but his monthly salary for the year could only be half of the usual!

After collecting his advance, Shen Mo received thirty pieces of Lower Grade Spirit Stone and a bottle of Grade III Elixir, once again lamenting the Celestial Feather Sect’s frugality.

The Forbidden Area 905 is five to six million miles away from the Celestial Feather Sect’s mountain gate, and the body Shen Mo occupied, that of Yang Ai, only possessed late-stage Spirit Sea Realm cultivation. Even if he flew tirelessly day and night covering fifty thousand miles, it would still take at least three to four months to reach the forbidden area, with uncertainties over what incidents might occur in between!

Fortunately, the Celestial Feather Sect is the world’s sole immortal sect power and has constructed numerous teleportation arrays within the Great Xuan Dynasty to facilitate sect governance over this vast region and its billions of immortal and mortal subjects.

Tens of thousands of elite disciples from the Battle Hall travel through these teleportation arrays to various parts of the Feather Realm, engaging in battles against the forbidden zones that descend from the Outer Zone.

Other Celestial Feather Sect members can also use the teleportation arrays, but they need to pay a considerable fee.

Shen Mo paid with his only thirty-five pieces of Spirit Stone, and even sold off three bottles of Elixir to gather the funds for the trip to Forbidden Area 905. After transferring through the teleportation array three times, he arrived at Crying Bamboo Ridge, the location of the forbidden area!

"The Celestial Feather Sect’s strict control over spiritual resources and the detailed division of responsibilities among its sect disciples is truly remarkable. No wonder Yang Ai, as a Spirit Sea Realm Elder and Grade IV Forgemaster, didn’t even have a single magic artifact on him." Shen Mo stepped out of the teleportation array, cupped his hands in greeting toward the "fellow disciples" managing the teleportation array, and then took off with his escaping light toward Forbidden Area 905.

Not to mention magic artifacts, Yang Ai had only a main cultivation method, an Escape Skill, and forging-related magic, without any magic for combat.

Initially, Shen Mo thought it was due to the severe damage to Yang Ai’s remaining memory, but later found that most Forgemasters like him barely practiced combat-related magic and martial arts, leaving such endeavors to disciples of the Battle Hall, who are matched with corresponding cultivation methods and magic artifacts!

However, now it’s Shen Mo’s consciousness controlling Yang Ai’s body, and while the Special Destiny and Skills couldn’t be utilized, most magic and martial arts could be performed with ease.

Yet the Realm was indeed too low, or else, armed Nascent Soul Realm cultivators wouldn’t stand a chance against him!

After escaping for an hour, Shen Mo cast the Three-Heads Six-Arms True Immortal Technique, altering his body and appearance to resemble the frequently used look of "Mo Shen". Originally, he intended to turn into his true form, but on second thought, the body occupied ultimately belonged to someone else, and who knows what peculiar traits this evil land possessed, so he dismissed the idea.

Another hour and more of escaping light, he finally saw "Forbidden Area 905", and his mind couldn’t help but soar!

His guess was right; this so-called forbidden area indeed was the Red Flame Sect’s outer mountain gate that had succumbed to evil, abruptly and oddly standing among the mountains, like those prohibition zones.

The sect’s Array Masters relied on the existing terrain to set up a smaller Yin-Yang Five Elements Array, concealing this section of the mountain gate that had fallen into evil; the faint silhouettes seen inside were undoubtedly Red Flame Sect members, and a thunder light occasionally flew out from the array to survey the enemy’s situation. This was the very Lu Ming who had just established the Divine Bridge a few years ago!

Shen Mo was tempted to immediately fly inside, but the surrounding mountains were blocked by array fortresses of the Celestial Feather Sect, with Divine Bridge Immortal Masters stationed in different corners, closely watched by many Battle Hall members.

Even with his exceptional skills, quietly entering the forbidden area wouldn’t be easy.

But soon, Shen Mo’s opportunity arrived.

The Divine Bridge Immortal Master stationed at this location, seeing Lu Ming boldly leaving the array protection to gather intelligence, directly attacked him, attempting to kill him on the spot!

Lu Ming’s strength was slightly weaker, yet leveraging the Thunder Body’s peculiarities and his masterful thunder-type magic, he engaged in an evenly matched battle with the Celestial Feather Sect Immortal Master; their duel quickly attracted more Divine Bridge Realm cultivators into the fray, agitating the Nascent Soul and Spirit Sea cultivators from both sides to join the fray, preparing for the fight.

The Celestial Feather Sect’s Battle Hall troops specialized in assault, displaying a variety of combat tactics, war magic treasures, large puppets, fierce battle beasts, prohibition poison acids, among others, one after another. But Red Flame Sect members were no pushovers either, especially since all sect members had mastered the God Slaying Array, with Nascent Soul Realm and below cultivators employing the Creation Array to fend off enemies.

The fierce battle between them caused the earth and sky to change color, and murderous spirit soared to the heavens. After days of fighting, when the Battle Hall troops realized they couldn’t gain the upper hand, they gradually withdrew from the battlefield.

Although only a small portion of Red Flame Sect members had succumbed to evil, nearly all possessed Body Tempering Realm and above cultivation, including five Divine Bridge and one hundred thirty-two Nascent Soul members, representing the sect’s elite power. As long as the Celestial Feather Sect’s Spirit Feather Master, the world’s sole Formless Realm great cultivator, didn’t intervene, the Red Flame Sect could still persist for a century or two!

Once the fighting subsided, Shen Mo employed the low-key Great Five Elements Escape Technique Secret Inscription, using the mountains adorned with lush crying bamboo to stealthily move outside the mountain gate formation.

His figure had just emerged from a single crying bamboo when a thick, almost heavenly thunder-like purple lightning arced towards him.

"Lu Ming, it’s me!"

Shen Mo simultaneously transmitted a thought through his sense while using his finger as a sword, slicing numerous sword Qi towards the lightning arc.