"Li Qingzhou, we're just going up against a branch of Blood Demon Cult. Don't tell me you're afraid of a mere branch? Oh, right. I forgot. You've never encountered any demon cultivators before so I guess it's normal for you to be afraid," said Zuo Jiansheng disdainfully.
It was obvious that Zuo Jiansheng was just being bitter since he was imprisoned by his Peak Lord because of Li Qingzhou.
But Li Qingzhou simply smiled and shook his head. He did not want to argue with Zuo Jiansheng anymore.
Dozens more rushed over from the various peaks of Xuantian Holy Land.
Once everyone had gathered, Xuantian Holy Maiden Xue Wei activated her vision and a bright Sun rose high against a brilliant blue sky with auspicious clouds floating behind her. Then, she turned towards the people in the square and said, "Fellow disciples, our target this time is at Black Tortoise Mountain Range, right at the junction between Azure Billow Region and Strange Stone Region. It is thousands of miles away from Holy Land.
"According to the information we've received, there's a demon cultivator's stronghold hidden in Rubble Cave somewhere in Black Tortoise Mountain Range. It's most likely the branch of Blood Demon Cult.
"When the time comes, I hope all of you can display your strengths, destroy this branch of Blood Demon Cult swiftly, and help spread the reputation of Xuantian Holy Land!"
Then, Holy Maiden Xue Wei raised her hand and shot out a golden stream of light which grew with the wind and turned into a thousand-foot-long ship in a blink of an eye. Various radiant lights and colors flowed on the surface of the ship as it was surrounded by numerous auspicious clouds.
Holy Maiden Xue Wei flew off and landed on the bow of the ship. "Everyone, please get on!"
The others wasted no time rising up to board the ship too.
Everyone was excited to get on the ship, all except Ye Chen who had a slight frown on his face. Wasn't this ship a little too flashy?
If the Blood Demon Cult branch was weak, they would have already escaped at the sight of the ship.
And if the Blood Demon Cult branch was too powerful, they would have set up an ambush in advance. By then, Xuantian Holy Land's disciples would suffer heavy casualties.
Or did Holy Maiden Xue Wei seriously want to fight with the demon cultivators head-on?
Did she think demon cultivators were fools?
Eventually, Ye Chen, Zi Menghan, and Li Qingzhou boarded the ship together. Once aboard, Ye Chen secretly sent a voice transmission to Holy Maiden Xue Wei. "Holy Maiden, if we go with such a great fanfare, won't we just be giving our positions away?"
Holy Maiden Xue Wei looked at Ye Chen who was calmly looking at the clouds in the sky as if he was enjoying the scenery. She could not tell whether he was the one who sent her the message at all.
She knew that this Peak Lord usually kept a low profile and did not like to be in the limelight, so she simply responded to his message. "Thank you for your concern, Peak Lord Ye! However, I want to destroy the Blood Demon Cult's branch to spread the reputation of the Holy Land. So, of course, I will go there openly.
"And don't worry about alerting the enemies.
"Since we've heard back about the situation there, that means that our fellow disciples there are keeping a good eye on the situation. If there are any unusual movements, we'll be the first to receive the news."
Ye Chen faintly smiled and no longer tried to persuade her.
The Blood Demon Cult's branch was a hundred thousand miles away. Who knew how reliable the news was? Who knew if the disciples monitoring the area were still alive? To place their lives completely in these remote disciples was too risky!
In the end, he could only rely on himself!
Ye Chen, or his puppet representative, activated a rice-sized puppet at the edge of the ship's great protective array. It silently passed through the array and turned into a skinny old man, moving a hundred miles with each step towards Black Tortoise Mountain Range.
Along the way, the skinny old man would activate and drop off more puppets every ten thousand miles. Eventually, Ye Chen would have spies everywhere to watch out for any incoming dangers.
Ye Chen also decided to activate his divine consciousness through his many puppets now strategically positioned to scan the area for the dead.
Once they reached the mountain range, Ye Chen would release even more puppets to do the same.
Since he already knew the exact location of the Blood Demon Cult's branch, it would be better to prepare himself in advance.
With the number of puppets Ye Chen was using, it was obvious that he had almost entirely used up the cultivation resources of Qingyun Peak. In fact, he had been procuring materials beyond Qingyun Peak most of the time.
Ye Chen used the first few puppets he had made to acquire the subsequent materials he needed to make more of them.
When he had obtained the Death Spirit Seal, he used it and his divine consciousness through his many puppets as they traveled, to search for and collect the magic treasures of the dead buried underground as puppet-building materials.
In a nutshell, most of Ye Chen's latest puppets were either made from or equipped with the magic treasures gathered from the dead.
"Take off!"
Holy Maiden Xue Wei ordered the departure of the ship, which released a dazzling stream of multicolored light as it left Xuantian Main Peak.
As for Shen Beiwang, the Peak Lord of Crimson Flame Peak and who was now supposed to be the leader of the scouts at Black Tortoise Mountain Range, there had been no sign of him. No one knew where he was hiding.
Qingyun Peak's Ye Chen, Zi Menghan, and Li Qingzhou sat cross-legged in a corner of the cabin and closed their eyes, quietly waiting for the ship to arrive at their destination.
Ye Chen was now in the Late Stage of Primordial Realm and he had refined his divine consciousness three times, greatly expanding the power and range of his divine consciousness. This was how he could use his divine consciousness in such a wide range through his puppets - the one currently on the ship and those out scouting for magic treasures.
As he did, he could sense the traces of historical battlefields, buried mountains, burned forests, ancient temples, and countless skeletons of all sorts of humans and demons. The land on which they now walked buried a history no one knew of.
The skeletons that had been preserved had either died not too long ago or been very powerful when they were alive.
And these skeletons were Ye Chen's trump cards.
He had to do everything he could to protect the lives of these two disciples. They were very important to Ye Chen.
Allowing them to tag along this trip was to give them more battle experience. However, if the situation took a turn for the worse, Ye Chen would not just stand by and do nothing.
This huge golden boat was the exclusive flying treasure of Xuantian Holy Maiden Xue Wei. She seemed to be trying to show off the reputation of the Xuantian Holy Land, so she did not seem to bother about getting to their destination quickly. In the end, it took them three days to reach the mountain range.
After all, they were still within Xuantian Holy Land's territory, so they would not have encountered any other dangers.
The mountain range of their destination stretched for tens of thousands of miles. From afar, it looked like a huge black tortoise with its head held high, covered in a layer of gray fog.
Countless mountains and lakes made up the whole mountain range. The mountains were high and dense, with strange rocks everywhere. From time to time, there would be black, gray, blood-red, green, and other lights flashing from its depths. Other times, the cries of birds and beasts could be heard, so shrill that they could pierce through gold and cut through rocks. Hearing these noises made one's blood boil and hair stand on its end. No one knew how many powerful beasts were hiding there.
Ye Chen squinted and looked at Black Tortoise Mountain Range.
It was said that the mountain range was created by the Black Tortoise, a godly beast, but Ye Chen did not sense its remains anywhere. The Black Tortoise might have become a part of Heaven and Earth, which would mean that it would become a real mountain range with no bones left behind. This might explain how Ye Chen couldn't sense it.
And judging by the thickness of the death Qi here, Ye Chen had a feeling that this mountain range was not simple at all.