Chapter 333 Searching for Purple Mountain
The northern region is boundless and vast, rich in mineral resources, and is famous throughout the world.
Compared to the vast land, this place is sparsely populated, with no signs of human habitation for miles around, and most areas are desolate.
Success and failure both stem from the source; this mysterious substance, condensing the essence of life, seems to have drained the spiritual energy of the entire northern region.
The phrase "a land of outstanding people and beautiful scenery" has little to do with the Northern Region.
There are oases in the North, but they are insignificant compared to its vast territory.
This place is rich in "sources," so people don't have to worry about food and clothing. However, it is precisely because of these sources that fierce battles often occur, and the local people are known for their shrewish nature. They frequently fight each other to seize the source mines.
The preciousness of "source" to cultivators is like gold coins to mortals, leading to rampant banditry. Not only locals, but also forces from all over the Eastern Wilderness fight fiercely for source mines, resulting in rivers of blood. This is the most common occurrence.
Famous for its "source," this place was destined to be filled with chaos and bloodshed.
The Thirteen Great Bandits are the thirteen most powerful bandit groups, along with countless other bandits scattered across the boundless lands of the Northern Region.
Having obtained the map of the Northern Region from Yao Xi saved Jiang Liu a lot of time. Although he still had to spend a lot of time searching for Zishan, Jiang Liu remembered the "Qingxia Sect" very clearly. It was a small sect that appeared in the story and was located near Zishan.
Centered on Qingxia Sect, Jiang Liu searched in circles, feeling that it wouldn't be long before he found the Purple Mountain and the successor of Yuan Tianshi.
"Purple Mountain, the legacy of the Great Emperor Wushi, the Source Celestial Master, and the God King Jiang Taixu..."
The reddish-brown land stretched as far as the eye could see, devoid of vegetation and water, only emptiness and silence.
Jiang Liu rode atop an old horse, galloping across this barren land. The people of the Northern Region were known for their fierce and untamed spirit; he had witnessed countless bloody incidents, with battles frequently erupting for control of oases and mineral resources.
Especially in the wilderness, many merchants sometimes also act as bandits, preying on lone travelers.
Jiang Liu encountered many people and gained a lot of "sources" along the way. But he only encountered three groups of real bandits, all of whom were ruthless thugs who killed without blinking an eye. They were extremely brutal, and there were also beautiful women they had stolen on their horses.
"Hand over your money and valuables, or my knife will draw blood!"
The bandit group of about thirty men looked fierce and menacing. Jiang Liu smelled a bloody odor, indicating that they had all recently committed murder. At the very center of the bandits, on a horse with savage blood, sat a forty-year-old man with a large, curly beard, his mane as bushy as a lion's mane, giving him a ferocious appearance.
"Haha... Boss, it's such a waste to only give away money. This kid has such fair skin and is even more handsome than a woman. Why not give him to me and let me have some fun too!"
"Haha..." Everyone burst into laughter, and someone sneered, "Thirteenth Brother, you'll die on a man's ass one day, just like we'll all die on a woman's belly one day..."
"You don't understand, three flat ones are not as good as one round one. You only know how wonderful it is after you've tried it!"
Jiang Liu rolled his eyes, and in a flash, he appeared behind the thirteenth old man. Unbeknownst to anyone behind him, he was holding a wooden stick as thick as a baby's arm, which he then thrust into the hole.
"ah!"
A bloodcurdling scream rang out, and the old thirteenth man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His body convulsed violently, and a large puddle of yellow liquid spilled down his trouser leg, landing on the dry Gobi Desert, where it quickly dried.
A wooden stick, as thick as a baby's arm, was inserted, causing everyone's anus to tighten.
"Who are you?" The bearded man sitting on his horse narrowed his eyes instantly.
Jiang Liu didn't waste any words. He shot out a purple light, and apart from the bearded man, every other bandit had a bloody hole in their forehead. More than thirty corpses fell to the ground at the same time.
"Now I'll ask you a question, and you answer it!"
"Please speak!" the bearded man said tremblingly.
"Is there a purple mountain around here?"
"Yes, it's about 800 li to the southeast..."
“He’s lying to you. Zishan is in the northwest…” the woman who had been captured on horseback said.
Jiang smiled slightly, shrugged, and said, "See, you weren't cooperating with the first question. Looks like I'll have to get it myself!"
"Fuck your cooperation..."
The bearded man, with a ferocious expression, suddenly attacked. He was also a cultivator at the Divine Bridge Realm and would not surrender easily.
Jiang Liu pressed down on the bearded man's head with a palm strike, reading his memories. When he released him, the man was bleeding from all seven orifices and lay limply on the yellow earth.
"Do you know Zishan?" He untied the ropes binding the woman. Although her face was covered in dust, the skin exposed below her neck was snow-white.
"Thank you for saving me, immortal! I know where that Purple Mountain is; it's right outside our village!"
"Oh! Then I'll take you back, and you can give me directions, okay?"
Seeing that the little girl's lips were chapped, Jiang Liu took out a water bag and some food and handed it to her.
“Okay…” The little girl was obviously starving and wolfed down her food.
Jiang Liu searched around and obtained twenty catties of source, which, together with the source he had obtained along the way, amounted to a total of one hundred catties.
"Isn't there an Imperial Jade?"
Jiang Liu carefully searched based on his memory, and sure enough, he found an ancient jade piece, about half the size of his palm. It was a broken piece, clearly a fragment.
Holding it in my hand, I immediately felt an ancient and desolate aura, giving me a strange feeling.
"Interesting. Ancient and mysterious, it seems even my current power cannot destroy it. What power destroyed it, leaving only a fragment..."
Jiang Liu examined it carefully and found that some mountain and landform maps were engraved on the ancient jade. It was unknown how many generations it had been passed down, as these traces were almost completely worn away. However, the character "帝" (Emperor) on it could still be faintly seen.
They took the little girl and flew away in a rainbow, covering hundreds of miles in no time.
"Girl, is the stone village where you live just below?"
Looking down at the earth through the clouds, the little girl felt a little dizzy, but she could barely make out that it was the home she had lived in for more than ten years.
The river didn't rush down, but instead looked down over the entire land. Under the sunlight, a mountain range appeared entirely purplish-brown, as if polished from dull purple-gold. The mountain's shape resembled nine caterpillars converging at a central point.
Nine dragons guard a single pearl!
The mausoleum of the Great Emperor Wushi came into clear view of Jiang Liu.
Purple Mountain has remained silent since ancient times, seemingly unaffected by the endless passage of time. Neither geographical activities nor human destruction have had any effect on it.
"The Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo should only be able to be opened by descendants with the same physique as the Great Emperor Wushi..."
Chapter 334 An Ominous Place
At the end of the immortal path, who stands at the peak? A single glance at the beginningless Dao reveals emptiness.
This title wasn't given lightly; it came from the fact that he swept away everything, suppressing and killing any dark chaos or supreme being who dared to emerge. The ancestors of the Heavenly Demon Palace left behind the words, "We would rather fight against a fully-fledged, perfect holy body than see Wushi again."
The Great Emperor Wushi was invincible, leaving no room for doubt, causing all the heavens to tremble. All the sources of chaos lay dormant, and no great calamity arose during his era.
Indeed, the Great Emperor Wushi was unparalleled in his majesty and supreme. When mentioning other great emperors, people might find that they had experienced bloody battles, faced formidable enemies, and had their lives threatened. But only Wushi, no matter who his enemy was, no one ever worried about him. Listening to his past and observing his experiences, one can truly see how he swept away everything in his path, dominating all the way to the very end!
No matter who he encountered, Emperor Wushi swept them all away in a single battle, without any suspense, suppressing them completely. In the end, mentioning Wushi was synonymous with invincibility, the only one supreme in heaven and earth, sweeping across the nine heavens and ten earths. In his lifetime, no one dared to challenge him. Even the supreme beings in the forbidden zones of life remained silent and dutifully guarded their secluded places.
Purple Mountain stands before me, silent since time immemorial.
A stone village sits within an oasis spanning several miles. On the horizon rises a solitary mountain, thousands of meters high, devoid of soil and vegetation, entirely composed of stone. In the early morning sunlight, the massive stone mountain evokes a profound sense of solemnity.
Jiang Liu rescued Er Lengzi's sister and earned the gratitude of Zhang Wuye, a descendant of Yuan Tianshi, and everyone in Shizhai.
"Old man, can you tell me about that mountain?"
Jiang Liu pointed to the mountain that Zhang Wuye worshipped every day. It was purplish-brown all over, like it had been polished from dark purple gold. It was thick and heavy, reaching a height of four thousand meters. It was very steep and ordinary people could not climb it at all.
From the ground, the purple mountains stand tall and imposing, like a giant sword piercing the sky.
Master Zhang's expression hardened, then he sighed and said, "That place is an ominous place. You must not go there. My ancestors once said that no one in the Northern Region, or even the Eastern Wilderness, or even the entire continent, can provoke it!"
"I can tell that it's an ominous place! Nine dragons guarding a pearl—this is the Emperor's mausoleum!"
Master Zhang was startled. Jiang Liu's words echoed those of his ancestors. He said in a deep voice, "You figured it out? What a pity. A thousand years ago, my Zhang family was lost. I can only learn some secrets from fragments of my ancestors' words..."
"I'd like to go in and take a look. Does the old man have any suggestions?"
"Don't go in under any circumstances. You know it's a place of great misfortune." Master Zhang's expression changed drastically, and it took him a long time to recover before he said, "This purple mountain was discovered by my Zhang family ancestor, the former Yuan Tian Master. He warned his descendants not to approach it, but to worship from afar!"
“There are artifacts inside, you must not provoke them, or you will suffer a great disaster. This is what my ancestors warned me repeatedly.” Old Master Zhang sighed and said, “A thousand years ago, an ancestor disobeyed the warning of his ancestors, took a weapon, broke through the Purple Mountain and went in. Alas… he never came out!”
Jiang Liu had already made up his mind and was frightened by his words: "So, you mean, it's in Purple Mountain, and the old man doesn't want to take it out?"
Looking at Jiang Liu's face, Master Zhang shook his head and sighed, saying, "I know I can't persuade you. You have done a great service to my Stone Village, and I still have treasures left by my ancestors here, which I hope will be of use to you."
Jiang Liu followed the old man into the stone house and saw a large wooden box, yellowish in color, which was obviously an antique and very old.
Having chosen an auspicious day, Jiang Liu embarked on his journey.
Zishan, the mausoleum of the Great Emperor Wushi, seems to be closely related to the Immortal Emperor.
There are endless opportunities, but also endless dangers.
An inauspicious place, a place of great misfortune.
Wearing the stone armor, holding a stone knife in his right hand and a compass in his left, Jiang Liu, with a heavy yet excited heart, stepped onto Purple Mountain.
This sealed stone garment is nothing special; he could easily crush it if he wanted to. However, this stone is also extremely special, being the same special stone skin that enveloped the source.
Moreover, it's an old piece of divine material! It was left behind by Master Zhang's ancestors and has extremely powerful effects when entering Purple Mountain. Ye Fan's successful entry into Purple Mountain is largely due to this stone garment.
Even the outer skin of ordinary source stones can block the divine sense of cultivators and cannot be penetrated. Therefore, it is difficult to know whether there is treasure inside any source stone without actually cutting it open. This is why stone gambling has become popular.
Such divine robes are even more powerful, capable of warding off evil and protecting against unclean things. They can even seal away various ominous signs and conceal the aura of the river, which is quite simple.
The stone knife in his hand had a rotten wooden scabbard, and the blade was engraved with the sun, moon, and stars, as well as some strange patterns. It was the nemesis of evil spirits and ghosts.
Stone garments, stone knives, and stone star discs are all carved from the old skin of divine source. They show no special features, but they all possess spirituality.
According to the information provided by Master Zhang, his ancestors once entered Zishan through an ancient mine, never to return. Jiang Liu searched and, comparing it with the information Master Zhang had given, found it to be a deep, dark pit right in front of him.
Upon closer inspection, it was bottomless, with gusts of cold wind blowing in, and the sound of a woman crying could be heard inside, extremely mournful.
"Green Copper Block, Immortal Fire Tree, I've nurtured you with chaotic energy for so long. If I'm ever in danger, you must protect me!"
Jiang Liu paid homage to Heaven and Earth, and to the Three Pure Ones, before stepping into the ancient mine and plummeting downwards.
He secretly measured the depth and was incredibly surprised; he had fallen a full three thousand meters before landing. Fortunately, the climate in the northern region was very dry, and there was no standing water.
The pitch-black ancient mine, carved out hundreds of thousands of years ago, is filled with the aura of time, and is extremely quiet here.
It felt like hell; the boundless darkness and silence instilled fear. Jiang Liu moved his feet gently, the stone armor greatly hindering his movements, allowing him to advance step by step, carefully sensing everything around him.
Everything here was connected to the ancient emperors, placing a heavy burden on him, making him more cautious than ever before. And so, Jiang Liu walked silently for several miles, the ancient mine growing ever darker.
"I've ventured into the Forbidden Zone of the Ancient Wilderness, and I've even been to the ninth level of the Fire Domain. Although Purple Mountain is dangerous, as long as I'm careful, I shouldn't be in much danger. Even someone with Ye Fan's strength could return safely, so what do I have to fear!"
Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed towards me, and the dark shadow vanished in a flash...