Chapter Thirty-Three: An Ancient Secluded Dwelling

Though Zhang Xiao was startled by Zi Yan’s words, he did not believe them. He had already tested the might of the Starlight Godslaying Formation, and although its power was terrifying beyond measure, a supreme treasure of sufficient strength, such as the Buddha’s Golden Wheel, could still split open a rift in space and force a way out from within it. Seeing that Zhang Xiao did not quite believe her, Zi Yan lifted her little mouth and said, “Young Master, I know you do not believe me, but Yan’er can guarantee that the Starlight Godslaying Formation created by the old master is absolutely no weaker than those ancient killing arrays. Even if placed in the Primordial Era, it would still rank among the very best of top-tier killing formations. It is only because we could not find a rare treasure like the Earth Pearl that the formation’s full power could not be displayed. You must know that once the Earth Pearl is used as the heart of the array, it can easily draw upon the power of the heavens and stars and form a world of its own. Unless one is a true immortal who can command the laws of heaven and earth, no one can hope to escape the Starlight Godslaying Formation so easily.”

Seeing how earnest Zi Yan looked, Zhang Xiao also put away his teasing manner and carefully calculated in his heart. Indeed, just as Zi Yan had said, if the Earth Pearl were used to lay the Starlight Godslaying Formation, once the power of the heavens and stars was invoked, its might would be unimaginably fearsome. Even after personally experiencing the Starlight Godslaying Formation, Zhang Xiao still could not imagine how terrifying it might become. It seemed that once he had thoroughly studied spatial magic, he would have to return to the Mysterious Heaven Cavern and carefully study the method of setting up the Starlight Godslaying Formation, to see whether it was truly as Zi Yan described.

After putting away the Earth Pearl, Zhang Xiao stepped out of the cavern. In any case, this journey had brought him no small harvest. It seemed he should also go take a look at the southern frontier. With that thought, he activated Divine Foot Passage and strode westward with great leaps. At present, his Divine Foot Passage had already been cultivated to the intermediate stage. Once his avatar broke through the sixth level of the Brahma Meditation Scripture, he himself would be able to bring Divine Foot Passage to great completion. By then, there would truly be not many formations in the world capable of trapping him.

Along the way, Zhang Xiao crossed mountains by stepping upon mountains and walked over water by stepping upon water. His speed was far beyond what flight through the air could compare with. As the saying goes, the ninth month brings a wind as cold as a blade; in the northwest it was even more so. After the great change, the territory of the Divine Xia nation had expanded countless times. Who knew how many natural treasures and earthly wonders now lay upon this land, inevitably drawing the attention and greedy hands of many nations.

At the western border on the Blood Ridge, a continuous mountain range stretched on and on like a sleeping divine dragon lurking beneath the earth, while upon its back lay the Great Wall, extending beyond sight. Unlike the Great Wall before the great change, which had become merely a historical relic, the wall here was taller than ordinary hills. Its width was enough for twenty four-wheeled carts to travel abreast. The wall itself was made from special materials, with runes manifesting upon its surface. Unless one were a great cultivator at the Combined Body stage, it was impossible to fly through the air; one could not even rise half a meter off the ground. Even for those Combined Body great cultivators, flight would be greatly suppressed, making it impossible to simply soar over the wall. In addition, various defensive formations were embedded within it. Its protection was so great that even a Combined Body cultivator could not hope to damage so much as a single brick.

Upon the wall were even more defensive weapons, such as spirit crystal cannons, each shot possessing power equivalent to the full-force strike of a Nascent Soul cultivator. There were also gale-foot crossbows, which required ten Core Formation experts to brace the crossbow body with their feet and pull the bowstring by hand before the string could be fully drawn. One could imagine just how shocking the force of a bolt fired from such a weapon would be. It was said that a single shot could inflict grievous injury upon a Combined Body expert, of course on the condition that it actually struck the target.

Yet these gale-foot crossbows were not merely single weapons; they were arranged in thirty rows, twenty in each row, forming a battle array, and every volley was fired in unison. One could say that the defenses here were even more terrifying than those of Luoyang City, and calling it a copper mountain and iron wall would be no exaggeration. Looking at the scene before him, Zhang Xiao truly could not understand how, faced with such a copper mountain and iron wall, and with General Wang Ben in command, there could still be any trouble at all.

The moment he stepped into the Great Wall’s alert zone, Zhang Xiao immediately felt the surrounding air compress rapidly together, forming a wall of condensed air that blocked his path. Zhang Xiao was stunned. He had known there were restrictions everywhere here, but he had not expected them to be this formidable, to the point that even his Divine Foot Passage would be restrained. Though these limitations could easily be broken by him, he had come here to help, so how could he destroy them? He simply stood there and waited.

Sure enough, not long after, a squad of soldiers with the strength of late Core Formation cultivators appeared within Zhang Xiao’s spiritual sense. Ever since his avatar was about to break through the sixth level of the Brahma Meditation Scripture, the golden light sphere in Zhang Xiao’s mind had grown larger and larger, and with it, his spiritual sense had become increasingly pure. Among those soldiers, the strongest were only at the same level of cultivation as Zhang Xiao, late Core Formation experts, and how could they know that Zhang Xiao’s spiritual sense far surpassed that of cultivators of the same rank? Every move they made was already clearly within Zhang Xiao’s sight.

Still, Zhang Xiao did not mind. He stood quietly in place and waited. “This is a frontier stronghold. Who are you, and what are you doing here?” A soldier emerged from the woods, holding a saber and shield, and shouted at Zhang Xiao.

Meanwhile, the other soldiers had already hidden to the side with bows and crossbows in hand. If Zhang Xiao made the slightest unusual move, they would immediately shoot him down. Zhang Xiao did not argue with them. Instead, he took out a token and said, “I was sent at the request of Great General Wang Jian to meet General Wang Ben here. This is my proof of identity.”

The armored soldier cautiously accepted the token and examined it. Indeed, it bore the seal of Great General Wang Jian. Seeing this, he promptly cupped his fists and said, “I cannot make that decision. Please wait here for a moment while I go and report to the Grand General.”

Having said that, the soldier turned and ran toward the military camp, while the others remained hidden around Zhang Xiao, silently watching every one of his movements. With the speed of a Core Formation cultivator, he moved swiftly indeed. Before long, a group of riders came charging over from the camp. The leader wore golden armor and a vivid scarlet cloak. It was none other than General Wang Ben.

Although Zhang Xiao was quite unfamiliar with Wang Ben, they had at least met once when the First Emperor had just been revived. Wang Ben’s mount was clearly no ordinary horse. Its whole body was fiery red, and when it galloped forth, it was actually not much slower than Zhang Xiao’s use of Divine Foot Passage.

Wang Ben had already been utterly vexed these past days. Upon hearing that his father Wang Jian had sent someone here, he was overjoyed and immediately rode at full speed. The moment he met Zhang Xiao and saw him, he was taken aback. He had not expected his father to have invited the Nation-Suppressing Lord himself. Joy surged through him at once, and he quickly dismounted to walk up before Zhang Xiao. Laughing, he said, “Haha, I never expected the Nation-Suppressing Lord to come here. I was too slow in welcoming you, truly too slow.”

Naturally, Zhang Xiao did not dare be arrogant. Though in terms of rank he was indeed a bit higher than Wang Ben, Wang Ben commanded a million troops and guarded this bitterly cold borderland. For the defense of the frontier, Zhang Xiao felt only admiration. At once he smiled and said, “Grand General, you are too kind. I was only traveling about and happened to hear that you had encountered some difficulties, so I came to see whether there was anything I might help with.”

Hearing this, Wang Ben could not help but laugh. “Haha, the Nation-Suppressing Lord’s arrival has truly relieved my urgent need. Come, let us go into the camp and talk.”

Zhang Xiao also knew this was indeed not the place for conversation, so he followed Wang Ben into the military camp.

Zhang Xiao was not unfamiliar with military camps of a hundred thousand men, but Wang Ben’s camp before him was different. A thick smell of blood rose from within it. Every soldier in the camp exuded a dense bloody aura, never leaving their weapons far from hand, and their vigilance was extremely strict. Seeing this, Zhang Xiao’s eyes lit up, and he smiled at Wang Ben. “Grand General’s mighty troops are truly the elite forces of our Divine Xia.”

Who would have thought that after hearing this, Wang Ben’s face would darken, and he would curse, “Elite my ass. A bunch of useless trash. They nearly got beaten flat by those bald donkeys.”

Upon hearing this, the surrounding soldiers all lowered their heads in silence, clenching their fists, their faces full of resentment.

“Bald donkeys? Could they be Buddhist experts?” Zhang Xiao asked in shock.

Wang Ben led Zhang Xiao into the command tent before speaking. “That’s right, those monks spouting endless nonsense. Not the group from the Shaolin Zen sect, though. The ones from the Western Regions.”

“The Western Regions? Could it be India?” Zhang Xiao blurted out in surprise.

India was the birthplace of Buddhism, and Buddhist experts there were endless in number. Could it be that those Indians intended to invade the frontier?

Seeing Zhang Xiao’s expression, Wang Ben naturally understood what he was thinking and shook his head with a smile. “Yes, India. But now it has been renamed the Peacock Buddhist Nation, and its ruler is called Ashoka. However, the reason I am troubled this time is not because the Peacock Buddhist Nation covets our border, but because not far outside the frontier, a cave dwelling suspected to belong to a Primordial-era cultivator was discovered.”

“A cave dwelling of a Primordial-era cultivator!” Zhang Xiao was shocked. In the ancient eras, there were the Chaos Era, the Primordial Era, the Ancient Era, the Remote Antiquity, and the Antiquity of Old. Those were the ages in which cultivators flourished without end. After the Antiquity of Old, cultivators became the stuff of legends, vanishing into the long river of history. Though many inheritances remained, no true cultivator ever appeared again. Yet after the great change, the cave dwellings of ancient or remote-antiquity cultivators would occasionally emerge. Such places often contained priceless treasures. The Mysterious Heaven Cavern left behind by the True Person Xuan Cang was one such place, though at best it could only be counted as a remote-antiquity cave dwelling, far from comparable to a Primordial-era cave dwelling.

“Yes. It’s a pity that this Primordial cave dwelling made too much commotion when it appeared, and the people of the Peacock Buddhist Nation discovered it as well. Since the cave dwelling lies at the very center of the border between our two nations, in a no-man’s-land, we have been arguing over it all this time. In the end, some days ago, both sides decided to rely on our own abilities. Each side sends ten people in at a time. Whoever obtains a treasure from within the cave dwelling claims it. As for my subordinates, while their strength is not bad, they are not suited to brawling and direct combat. Those bald donkeys are cunning and treacherous, and on three occasions they were all ambushed by those bald donkeys. In the end, they came out defeated. Still, fortunately, it is said that those people also failed to obtain any treasure from within the cave dwelling.”

At last the electricity returned. Under a thirty-eight-degree heat, the uncles at the power bureau restored the line to our home. I am grateful to these hardworking people. As for the ones who cut my home’s power line, my readers and I, on behalf of the entire online reading community, send our heartfelt greetings to the women in your family. You even dared to cut the author’s electricity. Don’t let me learn your name, or I’ll write you into the book and make you suffer every kind of torment.