CHAPTER 357: 210. I STARTLE A THUNDER OUT OF SILENCE

As for Nangu Valley Plain, it concerned a perfectly neutral lot that might pose certain risks.

By all reasonable accounts, Shangguan Peng would not turn against He Dongxing, Jiang Dongyu, or the other Mount Shu Elders.

But such coincidence could not help but make Lei Jun’s mind run wild with associations.

Shangguan Peng had ended the Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman call with that middle-aged captain after only a brief exchange, agreeing to discuss details after they met in person.

That middle-aged captain, acting as if nothing had happened, then returned to Star Dragon Abyss, joining the others to see Shen Qubing, who had found nothing.

"It seems Elder Lei is no longer here," Shen Qubing said, rather helplessly, "We’ve tried to contact him, but haven’t been able to. I wonder what the situation is right now."

The middle-aged captain said, "Though Elder Lei is young, his cultivation is impressive. I doubt anything serious could have happened to him. It’s just that the Southern Wilderness Lands are chaotic, and remnants of the previous dynasty are stirring up the earth vein Spiritual Energy, so it’s hard to reach him. Let’s try again later."

Shen Qubing said, "Seems like that’s our only option right now."

The middle-aged captain continued, "General Peng is headed this way, so let’s wait for him."

Shen Qubing said, "Oh? Well, that’s good too."

The group left the chaotic zone of Star Dragon Abyss, found a safe place, and rested for the time being.

Lei Jun, likewise, was in no rush to leave. While waiting for feedback from all the Spirit Talismans he had scattered, he pulled out several new Spirit Talismans.

He stayed hidden in the shadows, glancing in the direction of the middle-aged captain.

The Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman the other had used ought to have been crafted by Lin Shan.

The Tang Imperial Court’s Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talismans generally all came from the lineage of Shangguan Ning.

The very best were naturally the highest-grade talismans crafted personally by Shangguan Ning, but those were extremely limited and had not been issued to this middle-aged captain.

Still, the talisman he used was of fine quality and had been made by Lin Shan.

Lin Shan was Shangguan Ning’s first disciple, the strongest in cultivation among Shangguan Ning’s followers.

Lei Jun had taken an interest in Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talismans early on. With his solid contributions earned at Celestial Master Mansion, he’d managed to exchange for far more of these talismans than most could even imagine, by virtue of his proximity.

Besides, these Spirit Talismans had been created by various people, giving Lei Jun ample material for research, study, and comparison.

At present, he held several more Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talismans crafted by Lin Shan.

Lei Jun activated one of the talismans—not to contact anyone, but purely as an experiment.

As he contemplated the Spirit Talisman, he simultaneously activated his own Dual Polarity Yuan Magnetism Spell.

After a round of experimentation, Elder Lei of the Celestial Master Mansion let out a silent sigh.

*Well, I guess I could now be considered an in-house assassin, most of my tricks are designed to counter my own school’s techniques.*

*Forget it, let’s look on the bright side, I am building a backstock of reverse-engineered skills so our school can weed out its shortcomings and later improve or patch up as needed.*

*...Seriously, it looks like I’ve managed to pull off a bunch of things the Yellow Sky Sect cultivators have spent their lives dreaming about but never achieved.*

*Lei Jun actually felt a rare twinge of guilt.*

*But then again, honestly, I don’t have much Yellow Sky Sect material on hand—that’s something I should pay more attention to collecting in the future. Maybe I’ll be able to spot some flaws in their methods...* Lei Jun thought to himself.

Some time later, he sensed a subtle shift, and his figure vanished from where he stood, reappearing inside the True One Altar Cave Heaven.

Within the second layer of the altar, the star-chart-like display finally showed some responses.

Earlier, Lei Jun had released thirty-six Spirit Talismans in total, matching the number of Heavenly Gang stars.

Now, only nineteen points of light remained visible on the map, just over half.

The rest, he guessed, had either been destroyed amidst the earth vein Spiritual Qi flow, or else had drifted too far beyond the effective range.

But one thing gave Lei Jun cause for relief: the movement of one light point halted.

From the feedback of Spiritual Power, he could roughly determine that this Spirit Talisman, while traversing the earth vein, encountered something out of the ordinary.

There was a good chance of an earth vein anomaly at that spot, caused by human interference—perhaps the Sui Dynasty descendants were conducting some kind of sacrificial ritual.

Lei Jun sat cross-legged in the altar, gathering his thoughts and searching his memory.

He had studied the general map of the Southern Wilderness Lands every day for some time now, to the point of complete familiarity.

Granted, the Southern Wilderness was a complicated land and the existing maps were sketchy, lacking detail, but they served Lei Jun’s purpose well enough for orientation.

"That area should be somewhere around the Zhao River—looks like the middle-to-lower reaches of the Zhao River," Lei Jun judged, making a rough mental note.

The Southern Wilderness was covered with mountains, with few plains to speak of.

The Zhao River, like the Yu River, was one of the largest waterways in the region.

The so-called fate of nations, the course of earth veins, was determined by both population density and the lay of the mountains and rivers, and the two were often closely linked.

The Southern Wilderness was mountainous, and in places where waters flowed, there were riversides teeming with people.

It was no surprise that the Sui Dynasty descendants were making moves along the Zhao River basin.

Lei Jun quietly marked down the location of this feedback, but he did not hurry to act, intending to wait a bit longer for signals from his other Spirit Talismans.

As time passed, the points of light on the map dwindled further.

Still, other locations also sent feedback, and Lei Jun marked these as well, signifying possible Sui Dynasty descendants disturbing the earth veins.

While waiting, Lei Jun received the latest message from his master, Yuan Mobai.

Over at White Spring Mountain, Yuan Mobai had gone to investigate.

The outcome, in the end, was not bad, but not particularly great, either.

Yuan Mobai and Xiao Xueting both made it there.

Xiao Xueting had relentlessly pursued Jiang Tiankuo to the death, ultimately slaying the Great Scholar loyal to the Sui Dynasty line.

Since the destruction of the Former Sui, the Jiang Family had always followed the Crown Prince Sheng Kang’s faction and held on till today, but now their leading figure had died at the hands of the Great Tang’s rising star, Xiao Xueting.

At the same time, Elder Tu Dong of the Blood River Sect had also arrived at White Spring Mountain.