Book 8: Chapter 17 – Blanket Search
Black White Deity Mountain was a superpower in the Xia Clan. It held the most mages and was the organization with the most accomplished research results among them. Although it controlled the six central provinces, many other Transcendent mages from other provinces joined them as well.
Mountain Lord He currently held the undisputed position of the strongest mage.
Hua!
In the Mirage, Xue Ying was currently nearing Black White Deity Mountain at great speed. Very soon, he had enveloped the entire Black White Deity Mountain!
“I’ve found him.” Xue Ying immediately discovered Mountain Lord He.
Mountain Lord He was currently sitting cross-legged atop one of the mountain peaks. Two mysterious black and white bent moons were floated by his side. At the same time, countless seals were appearing on top of these moons, and, for a moment, these dense seals aggregated to form large amounts of solid images which would make anyone’s headache upon seeing them.
These two black and white bent moons naturally formed the strongest Deity weapon of the Black White Deity Mountain—the Black White Moon Wheel! Although it had not been ranked as the strongest Xia Clan Deity weapon, in the hands of Mountain Lord He, the potential combat power it could unleash was much greater than any other Demigod’s!
Mountain Lord He frowned before turning his head over towards the direction where Xue Ying was located at.
“He discovered me?” Xue Ying was shocked. Without a doubt, he had been found!
Mountain Lord He’s vision had seemingly passed through space itself as he stared in Xue Ying’s direction.
“However, from his expression of doubt, he hasn’t discovered it was me. Let’s go.” Xue Ying finished testing his True Meaning of Mirage, so he left without hesitation. He would not reveal this method of searching for the Demon Generals, or the True Meaning of Mirage, to anyone for the moment. Only in the future would he tell Palace Head Chen at first. After all, he was the only person whom Xue Ying could truly trust!
As for the other Transcendents?
Mountain Lord He and the rest were worthy of being trusted. Their combat powers were huge, and the Xia Clan had provided them with resources. Thus, they did not have a need to betray the Xia Clan and depend on the Demonic Faction. As such, Mountain Lord He, Si Kong Yang, and the others could learn the many secrets of their clan as well.
But as long as he didn’t have any reason to reveal them, Xue Ying would rather refrain from doing so.
“Who?” Mountain Lord He frowned in suspicion. There was an expert hiding about a hundred kilometers away from here? Such a formidable technique. Was it a spell? Or was it done through the assistance of a Deity weapon for concealment? I could only sense a vague presence!
There were many possibilities for who this person hiding in the dark might be.
Yet Mountain Lord He could only vaguely sense someone.
Was it a Demon General’s technique? Or one of the Demonic Faction, or the Sorcerer Palace? Or was it an outsider? The outsiders coming to my Xia Clan World are mostly well behaved, though, and have no need to come and offend me. For a moment, countless questions filled Mountain Lord He’s mind.
……
As Xue Ying left, he began contemplating over the previous events.
The two Demigods who have condensed a Deity Heart in my Xia Clan are Faction Head Si Kong Yang and Mountain Lord He. While Faction Head Si Kong Yang could not discover me, Mountain Lord He did! Xue Ying thought. Maybe it’s related to the True Deity Heart which they condensed. Faction Head Si Kong Yang’s Deity Heart is flame-related and veered towards the end of an offensive spectrum, while Mountain Lord He’s is spell-related and more of a domain type.
One focuses on overbearing power, the other on domains.
Maybe that is the reason Mountain Lord He could sense me, judged Xue Ying. With this, I can now start my investigation!
******
Xue Ying had gone to the Water Daoist Faction and the Black White Deity Mountain early in the morning, which allowed him to have enough time to accompany his family for breakfast when he returned.
“I’ll be entering closed-door cultivation.” Xue Ying told his family directly at the dining table. “Don’t reveal this to anyone.”
“Oh.”
“Alright.”
Everyone at the table nodded. To them, nothing a Transcendent did could ever be truly strange.
“Xue Ying, how long are you planning to stay behind the doors?” asked his mother, Mo Yang Yu.
“About ten years. I’ll come out once every year,” Xue Ying replied.
“That long? Remember to take care of yourself when you cultivate. Don’t force it too much,” Mo Yang Yu reminded him.
“You should’ve stopped before those two sentences. You haven’t even become a Legend rank mage yet, but you still plan to give pointers to our son on how to cultivate?” Dong Bo Lie laughed beside her.
“Why can’t I give some pointers?” Mo Yang Yu glared at him, causing Dong Bo Lie to immediately retreat.
Xue Ying laughed. As his parents got older, their personalities became even more vibrant. They were both already over 100 years of age.
Jing Qiu suspiciously looked towards Xue Ying. She did not believe his excuse of going into closed-door cultivation for ten years. Before, Xue Ying had only ever gone into close-door cultivation for ten day to half a month at the most, and that was considered long for him. Was there any need for him to come out only once a year?
“Disciple Brother Xue Ying, what are you planning to do?” Jing Qiu transmitted her message using the World Energy over to Xue Ying in a pleasant tone.
“Jing Qiu,” Xue Ying transmitted back, “it seems I cannot hide this from you. Alright, I have no plans to hide too much from you. This will be a very important task, related to the eradication of the demon bases!”
“Will it be dangerous?” Jing Qiu felt her heart tightening.
“Rest assured. My only responsibility is to scout the demons,” transmitted Xue Ying. “Alright, you’ll understand sooner or later. I might not even need the whole ten years!”
*******
In theory, ten years was the longest estimated period of time he would need.
Xue Ying’s plan was to search the entire mortal world for the Demon Generals using the most simple and direct method—a blanket search!
He was prepared to do a full search through all the lands, continuing on to the greater area of the ocean if he was unable to find any of the five Demon Generals!
By estimation—
Xue Ying could investigate while flying at high speed. How frightening was his current speed in flight? In a day’s time, excluding rest periods, he could fly across the entire landmass of the Xia Clan five to six times! However, he could only investigate an area of 500 kilometers with each passing, so he would have to fly through the entire world many times. To completely scour the entire landmass of the Xia Clan, he would need about two to three years.
Every day, he would fly for five hours, and then rest for another hour. These rest periods existed because of mental fatigue, as well as the need to consume Origin Stones.
After all, it would be truly arduous for him to search every corner for as much as five continuous hours. On top of that, Xue Ying had about 1.5 million kilograms of Origin Stones which he needed in order to improve his fleshy body to the middle stage Saint realm as soon as possible. To do so, he needed to consume a total of two million kilograms of Origin Stones. Although his fleshy body could absorb energy much faster than his Dantian Qi Sea, he could still only absorb a little over 500 kilograms of Origin stones per day. By spending half an hour absorbing them every day, he would need around five years to finish absorbing them!
“Let’s begin!”
Xue Ying had neither worries nor concerns.
Of the seven Deity warriors, he had placed the Black Rat in charge of guarding his little brother, Qing Shi. Having watched his friends die one by one, Xue Ying was truly scared that one day he would receive grievous news regarding his own brother. That would truly be too large of a shock to his parents. Therefore, he left behind the Deity warrior specialized in defense—the Black Rat—to protect his little brother.
The White Fog Ape, Wu Lei, as well as the second brother, third sister, and the fourth and fifth brother of the Five Shadows were all stationed in the Snowrock Castle to guard the people there! With them there, the entire place would be extremely secure! Even if his parents were to visit other places, the second brother and third sister would follow them in the dark.
Jing Qiu was even less of a concern as she had the strongest Deity warrior provided by the Xia Clan protecting her. She had also a protective treasure and was a Transcendent mage.
Xue Ying himself had brought the leader of the Five Shadows, and the green armored protector with him! He had taken them as a precaution, in case a Demon General was too powerful and could attack him within the Mirage. Thus, he could use the Deity warriors to retaliate instead! The Gold Devil of the Five Shadows had the strongest offensive power among them.
……
Hu hu hu~
Day and night, he would fly out at about 150 kilometers underground. Of course, since he was in the Mirage, his flight could not be obstructed by any obstacle.
In the Xia Clan World, as a mortal world and part of the material world, the deeper one went underground, the more they would be obstructed. Usually, at about 50 kilometers underground, there would be thick layers of rock. Beneath that was a layer of magma, and even deeper were unseen obstacles. The entire underground space was like a body of repulsion.
The Crimson Rock Mountain had been able to penetrate through the material world’s outermost layer and through the mortal world’s outer membrane before finally stopping at a depth of 5,000 kilometers underground!
To have penetrated to such a deep location, one could tell how mighty it was.
If I move deeper than 150 kilometers underground, obstructions will start forming from the laws. The Demon Generals could not possibly reach a depth lower than 150 kilometers under the surface. That was Xue Ying’s reasoning for deciding to fly at 150 kilometers beneath the ground while searching for the demons.
With a range of 500 kilometers, he could not relax his mind at all while flying! Only during the night would he have a respite of about an hour. During this time, he would consume Origin Stones and have his meal while relaxing.
Day after day…
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
On a certain day, at noon…
Xue Ying continued his search by flying underground inside the Mirage. In the blink of an eye, he moved as fast as lightning to a position 50 kilometers away from his starting point. That was also part of the reason why he decided to conduct a blanket search on the entire Xia Clan World!
“Mn?” Xue Ying suddenly stopped, revealing a look of astonishment.
The Mirage reflected upon reality…
Ahead of him and to the left was a giant building. It was built underneath a mountain, atop a lake of magma. It was much bigger than the Black Wind Deity Palace.
Investigating, he found that in one of the torture chamber within this huge structure, there was a shackled male. His skin had been marked with a seal, and he seemed to have fainted.
“Pu Yang Bo?” Xue Ying opened his eyes wide in disbelief. This person who was locked and shackled, was none other than the person the Xia Clan thought to be dead—Pu Yang Bo!