Chapter 444 - 417: Sub-Palace Structural Diagram

Chapter 444: Chapter 417: Sub-Palace Structural Diagram

Li Yuan retracted his aura, preparing to continue deducing the array, when Ji Wenchuan’s hurried footsteps sounded from outside.

"Pavilion Master," Ji Wenchuan said in a low voice from outside the door.

"A major client showed up at Yuanming Studio. Something isn’t right."

Ji Wenchuan stood outside the stone house, his expression laced with vigilance.

"A stranger just left Yuanming Studio," Ji Wenchuan reported quickly in a low voice. "Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, wearing a gray cloth robe, with no identifying marks from any Sect or family. The man entered the shop without saying a word, immediately bought three sets of Golden Body Armor and twenty Tier Two Defense Talismans, and paid for everything on the spot with Mid-grade Spirit Stones."

Li Yuan’s gaze shifted slightly.

’For one person to buy three sets of Golden Body Armor plus twenty Tier Two Defense Talismans all at once... it’s definitely not for personal use.’ Golden Body Armor was a top-quality item among Tier Two Low Grade Magical Artifacts, and quite expensive. An ordinary Loose Cultivator would have to scrape together every Spirit Stone they had just to buy one.

"Either a faction is secretly preparing for a conflict, or this person is a proxy buyer for a group," Ji Wenchuan offered his assessment. "The quantity is too unusual, and he paid so readily. He’s not like a typical Loose Cultivator."

"Which way did he go?" Li Yuan asked.

"He just left through the south gate. I have someone keeping an eye on him from a distance."

Without wasting a moment, Li Yuan extended the passive sensory net of his Dark Evil Insight toward the south gate. With the strength of his Golden Core Stage Divine Sense, combined with the acuity of Dark Evil Insight, he instantly locked onto a solid Late-stage Foundation Establishment aura amidst the bustling crowd outside the gate.

The gray-clad figure was rapidly leaving the marketplace’s monitored area.

With a flash, Li Yuan activated the Earth Escape Technique and sank silently into the ground. He avoided the main road, instead traveling several dozen feet underground, maintaining an absolutely safe distance of about two li from the gray-robed cultivator on the surface as he tailed him.

After leaving the marketplace, the gray-robed cultivator immediately veered off the trade route commonly used by monster-hunting squads and plunged into the most treacherous terrain deep within the Ghost Mist Forest. His counter-tracking awareness was extremely strong; he changed direction several times and even deployed a few simple warning Array Discs. But all of it was useless against Li Yuan’s subterranean travel and long-range senses.

After about thirty li of tracking, the gray-robed cultivator stopped at the foot of a steep, rocky peak.

At the base of the peak was a natural cave, completely hidden by vines. The gray-robed cultivator parted the vines and slipped inside.

Li Yuan came to a stop beneath a massive boulder a hundred zhang from the cave, completely suppressing his aura with a concealment art. He then carefully extended the perception of his Dark Evil Insight into the mountain cave.

An array that muffled sound and concealed auras had been set up inside the cave, but it was practically useless against Li Yuan’s perception.

Inside the cave, besides the gray-robed cultivator, there was another person.

It was a swirl of extremely faint Demonic Qi.

Li Yuan immediately focused his attention on that swirl of Demonic Qi. Its fluctuation pattern was unique—not the segmented pulses characteristic of the Evil Slaying Sect, but a continuous wave with a constant frequency, stretched out like a straight line.

’The unique signature of the Abyss Sect’s peripheral forces.’

The gray-robed cultivator handed over a storage pouch and muttered a few words. Due to the distance and the sound-dampening array, Li Yuan couldn’t make out the exact conversation. However, the surges of Spiritual Power and communication ripples captured by his Dark Evil Insight were enough to piece together the general situation.

’The Abyss Sect’s peripheral members are using unaffiliated Loose Cultivators to procure High Tier defensive Magical Artifacts and Spirit Talismans from marketplaces all over Liangzhou, buying in small, scattered batches.’

’The individual purchase volumes are small to avoid attracting the attention of the three major Sects, but the items are extremely specific—all materials geared toward survival and defense.’

Li Yuan didn’t alert the two inside the cave. He simply committed the Abyss Sect contact’s Spiritual Power signature and the precise frequency of their continuous-wave communication to memory.

Combining this with the previously intercepted report from the Evil Slaying Sect’s western front and the intelligence that they were gathering large quantities of Homogeneous Materials from the Profound Nether Sect, a vague yet incomplete chain of logic began to form in Li Yuan’s mind.

Li Yuan slowly retracted his senses and returned the way he came.

He didn’t return directly to Mist Forest Marketplace. Instead, he changed course midway and traveled to Mozhou through a hidden Teleportation Array.

「The core node of the Mozhou Spirit Vein.」

Spiritual Qi, so dense it was almost tangible, flowed through the underground cavern. Li Yuan walked over to the Jade Bead’s nurturing nest and sat down cross-legged.

He extended his Divine Sense into the nurturing nest to monitor the progress of the Jade Bead’s second stage of repairs. The circuits in its middle layer were healing slowly but steadily, washed over by the energy of the Spirit Vein.

After confirming the Jade Bead was fine, Li Yuan closed his eyes and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique, entering a state of quiet cultivation.

The trait from the Earth Core Crystal Root had not yet become permanent, but the Earth Vein resonance effect it provided while equipped was already beginning to manifest. Li Yuan felt his perception merge with the entire Mozhou Spirit Vein. Every fluctuation of energy, every surge of its hidden currents, was reflected with perfect clarity in his sea of consciousness.

In this state of hyper-awareness, he detected a subtle, deeply hidden anomaly.

Amidst the vast, ocean-like energy fluctuations of the Mozhou Spirit Vein Core, there was an incredibly faint, yet perfectly regular, periodic pulse.

This pulse occurred roughly every quarter-hour, and it was so faint that without the amplification from the Earth Core Crystal Root’s resonance, even a Late-stage Golden Core Cultivator would struggle to notice it. Li Yuan followed the pulse’s frequency, probing deeper, and his heart suddenly jolted.

’This frequency... it’s a perfect match for the Profound Nether Sect’s base array frequency, as recorded in the Jade Bead’s crafting files.’

Li Yuan extended his Divine Sense further downward, following the course of the Spirit Vein, penetrating layers of rock and hidden currents of Spiritual Qi.

A scene so vast it was breathtaking slowly unfolded in his mind. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The core node of the Mozhou Spirit Vein wasn’t a natural convergence point at all, but a massive, man-made foundation for an array. Centuries ago, in an undertaking of unimaginable scale, the Profound Nether Sect had integrated the entire Mozhou Spirit Vein into their sealing system.

Here, the Spirit Vein’s energy didn’t just flow naturally; it was precisely siphoned and guided by the vast Array Patterns below, then distributed to various branch nodes.

Time trickled by.

After two hundred hours of quiet cultivation, the resonance between the Spiritual Power in Li Yuan’s body and the Earth Vein reached its zenith.

[Earth Core Crystal Root (Complete) equipped time requirement met.]

[Earth Vein Resonance (Green) has become a permanent trait.]

The spectral image of the Earth Core Crystal Root in his equipment menu dissolved into motes of green light, fusing completely with Li Yuan’s body. The equipment slot was now empty.

Li Yuan opened his eyes. He could clearly feel that his efficiency at absorbing Spiritual Power had jumped by a full thirty percent, and the surrounding rocks and the Earth Vein’s aura now held a natural affinity for him.

Li Yuan stood up. The last piece of the puzzle in his mind had finally clicked into place.

The Mozhou Spirit Vein wasn’t merely a sacred ground for cultivation; it was the core foundation of the Profound Nether Sect’s entire sealing system. The seabed beneath Luoxia Port was one of its endpoints, while the Ghost Mist Forest Sub-Palace and Skeleton Ridge were intermediary nodes.

With that, the massive web spanning the Three States finally revealed its complete form.

And the recent movements of the Abyss Sect and the Evil Slaying Sect were obviously targeting one of these key nodes.

Li Yuan retracted his gaze, turned, and stepped into the Teleportation Array. In a flash of light, he vanished from deep beneath Mozhou.