Chapter 768: 312. Bulk Sacred Land (Two-in-One Chapter)_2

The current situation of the Mount Shu Sect had forced everyone to huddle together for warmth, which was why it seemed less scattered.

In this respect, they were at least stronger than the Ming Court exiled in Heavenly Principle.

There, even though the legitimate Great Ming Dynasty had driven them to exile in Heavenly Principle, it hadn’t stopped the Wu Party, the Gan Party, and the Chu Party from hindering each other within this fugitive mini-court.

In a way, it’s also quite a scene...

Lei Jun recalled the map Ji Chuan had provided. High above his head, at an imperceptible height, the Great Celestial Mirror rotated, searching for the relevant destination.

Gradually, he pinpointed the location of Egret Peak.

As there was plenty of time, Lei Jun wasn’t in a hurry. He took his disciple on a tour of the vicinity, allowing them to soak in the natural beauty of the mountains and rivers. Meanwhile, he used the Great Celestial Mirror to continue observing their surroundings and confirm if anyone else was nearby.

After a full circuit, the place remained rarely trodden.

Although it was once the White Eyebrow Daoist’s sword-refining site, its now scant Spiritual Energy made it less appealing to cultivators. Moreover, the terrain was too perilous for ordinary folk to approach.

With a clear understanding of the situation, Lei Jun quietly waited for the tenth day of the sixth month. Then, he led his disciple past Egret Peak.

As noon approached, Lei Jun remained vigilant of any movement in the surroundings.

Suddenly, his gaze flashed, and the Heaven-piercing Earth-penetrating Taliscript quietly emerged in the depths of his pupils, radiating brilliance.

High above in the sky, the Great Celestial Mirror rotated. Its ethereal, almost invisible light descended upon a patch of forest at the foot of Egret Peak.

Lei Jun looked up. With the Heaven-piercing Earth-penetrating Taliscript active, he further concentrated his perception in that direction.

Sure enough, he faintly sensed a disturbance beneath the rocks, deep within the earth.

"Follow me and do not act on your own," Lei Jun instructed, then headed in that direction.

Zhuo Baojie was surprised but obediently followed close behind his master.

Lei Jun arrived at that patch of forest.

For the moment, there was no change in the rocks.

But after a moment, the rocks and soil began to tremble.

And then they collapsed.

The silent, fragmenting collapse went largely unnoticed, creating a dark cavity beneath a section of rock on Egret Peak.

Its silence made it difficult to assess.

But to the naked eye, the chasm seemed bottomless.

However, in Lei Jun’s perception, the space within the chasm was distorting and currently fracturing.

A Void Gateway was forming quietly.

"Master?" Zhuo Baojie asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty. He looked at the chasm below, then glanced around. "I feel... somewhat cold. It’s not a physical coldness, but more like... it’s arising from my Spiritual Soul?"

"Correct," Lei Jun affirmed. "Your spiritual sense is sharp. Your regular cultivation has indeed been diligent."

He looked down at the chasm. "Yama’s Palace, the Life and Death Underworld, from the legends lie below," he stated.

Zhuo Baojie had often heard his master and other sect elders discuss the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. He inquired, "Yama’s Palace... Master, does this passage below lead to the Netherworld proper, the Buddhist Sect’s Avici, or the Witchcraft Sect’s Luo Yuan?"

"Quiet and breathless, bitterly cold and deathly still," Lei Jun explained. "It leads to the Netherworld, which has deep entanglements with our Taoist Sect."

Xiaoxiong’s vitality was exuberant, providing him some resistance to such an aura, yet it also made him susceptible to attracting it. Affected by the invisible deathly qi from below, he felt extremely uncomfortable and shrank his neck. "The Three Paths of Wangchuan River, the Fengdu Netherworld... Master, the Netherworld is now connected to the Mortal World! What do we do?"

"We block it," Lei Jun stated calmly, his tone soothing Zhuo Baojie’s somewhat unsettled mind.

Lei Jun looked around again. "It’s fortunate we happened to pass by. Otherwise, if the Netherworld were to flood out, although there are few living beings nearby, its spread would inevitably create a vast expanse of dead land. I wonder if there are other such breaches?"

Indeed, there were other places.

Deep beneath the Summit of the Ancestral Courtyard of the Mount Shu Sect, the ground was now flooded in all directions.

The Netherworld’s Water of Wangchuan River.

Fortunately, the Mount Shu Sect had always been diligent in suppressing anomalies in the earth veins and had taken early precautions against the Netherworld’s potential backflow into the Mortal World.

Zhang Taigang, Xu Duan, Zhang Dongyun, Ye Dongming, He Dongxing, Ji Dongquan, Gao Dongyan, and others were all on the mountain. Together, they quickly sealed the newly opened Void Gateway.

Meanwhile, at Jian Pavilion’s Egret Peak, although Lei Jun was alone, he had already formulated a plan and was confident.

He did not act immediately, however. Instead, he looked down, observing the Void Gateway and the rising Netherworld qi from below.

This is an accidental leak, not man-made. It’s a result of the Surge of Global Spiritual Qi combined with changes in the Mountain and River Ley Lines... Lei Jun nodded slightly to himself.

The question is, is the current Netherworld like Avici—devoid of inhabitants and merely an overflowing natural disaster? Or is it like the Earth Sea, Heavenly Principle, and Sumi, with occupants still inside?

And if there are... can they still be called ’people’?

Lei Jun observed for a moment. In his perception, colorless but icy water began to converge within the Void Gateway below.

It was like a clear spring gushing from the earth, except this spring water was deathly still, as if capable of washing away all traces of life.

Lethe River Water.

As Lei Jun’s perception extended to touch the clear yet icy flow, he felt an unsettling sensation in his Spiritual Soul.

For Lei Jun, whose cultivation was steadily advancing, such a reaction was exceptionally rare.

However, as the Lethe River Water surged upwards, it suddenly paused.

Then, the water roiled. Though still silent, its surface churned continuously. Streams of nearly colorless mist, with clearly defined outlines, rose from the water, condensed, and began to ascend.

Lei Jun’s heart stirred slightly.

His Mana coalesced into silent Mysterious Thunder, transforming into a vast and boundless Black Thunder Sea that enveloped the rising, colorless mists.