Chapter 1209: The Hidden Underground Sect
Ji Hongdao declared with an air of confidence, "Rest assured. As long as I'm here, they won't dare to overstep their bounds again."
"Not even the Chen family would dare to offend both the Array Strategy Hall and the Law Enforcement Hall simultaneously."
Sun Luyuan cupped his fist in gratitude. "My thanks in advance, Brother Ji."
"My destination on this journey is the Great Rift Valley in Fuguang Province."
A flicker of surprise crossed Ji Hongdao's eyes. "That journey might prove more complicated than you think," he cautioned.
Seeing Sun Luyuan’s baffled expression, Ji Hongdao paused. "What? You didn't know? After the great upheaval in the Xuanhuang Realm, the Great Rift Valley was crushed by the shifting earth and has sealed over."
"The landscape is completely unrecognizable. Getting down to where the original valley floor was..."
Sun Luyuan’s brow furrowed into a tight knot.
After a long moment, he let out a heavy sigh. "If that's the case, all I can do is try my best and leave the rest to fate."
Their bond was clearly a strong one. En route to the Great Rift Valley, Sun Luyuan explained the purpose of his journey to Ji Hongdao in great detail.
He was careful, of course, to downplay and conceal the true destructive power of the calamitous windstorm the Immeasurable Mirror had unleashed.
"So you suspect the ruins where you first found the Immeasurable Mirror were actually created by the artifact itself?" Having not witnessed the terrifying disaster firsthand, Ji Hongdao didn't dwell on it, simply categorizing it as a threat to cultivators at the Dao Integration stage.
"Exactly. Since that's where the Immeasurable Mirror came from, there might be a way to counter its annihilating calamity. If I can just find some records—even of failed attempts—they could serve as valuable lessons..."
As they spoke, both men’s expressions suddenly darkened.
They had spotted a Dao Integration cultivator from the Chen family tailing them, just as they had expected.
"It's Chen Ruoyu from the Chen family."
"Don't engage him. Let's lose him," Ji Hongdao communicated via divine sense.
A halo of white light enveloped them. Empowered by the formation, their speed exploded, multiplying several times over in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished over the horizon.
Seeing this, Chen Ruoyu immediately accelerated in pursuit.
A short while later.
"That was a brilliant decoy, Brother Ji."
"Hmph. It's more than enough to deal with those fools who only know how to brew pills," he scoffed.
Two illusory figures materialized from thin air and then sped off in a different direction.
After shaking off their pursuer from the Chen family and traveling for the better part of a day, the two finally arrived at the location of the former Great Rift Valley in Fuguang Province.
Sun Luyuan's face twitched as he stared at the long, dragon-backed mountain range that had risen where the valley once was.
"Do you remember the exact location from all those years ago, Brother Sun?" Ji Hongdao inquired.
Sun Luyuan searched his memory. "I can only pinpoint the general vicinity," he said. "The rest is up to luck."
Just then, Sun Luyuan suddenly received a mental message from his brother.
"Brother, move a little lower. I think I feel a faint connection to something."
Sun Luyuan was overjoyed.
He skimmed low over the ground, circling the mountain range once before quickly locking onto the source of the sensation.
"Wait."
Just as Sun Luyuan was about to force his way underground, Ji Hongdao stopped him.
He produced a small flying vessel. "We'll go in with this."
"A Dust Crossing Boat?!" Sun Luyuan exclaimed in surprise, then clambered inside without a moment's hesitation.
The Dust Crossing Boat transformed into a beam of yellow light and sank slowly into the earth as if it were water.
As he watched the shifting layers of earth and sensed the residual auras of numerous restrictive spells among the buried ruins, Sun Luyuan remarked, "It's a good thing you have this treasure, Brother Ji. This would have been quite a hassle otherwise."
Ji Hongdao nodded. "It was a gift from Chief Lu. She's been tied up at the Alliance headquarters lately and couldn't get away, so she sent me to run some errands in her stead."
The Dust Crossing Boat descended deeper, its hull continuously bumping against buried debris within the rock strata.
A reddish-orange glow emanated from the vessel's surface, neutralizing the impacts.
Ji Hongdao periodically formed hand seals, casting small formations to bolster the boat's defenses.
"I can't imagine what this region was in ancient times," Ji Hongdao mused, "to have so many ruins buried within it."
It wasn't just crumbled buildings. The deeper they went, the more often they saw massive piles of bones.
Some were human, others belonged to colossal, unidentifiable creatures.
The sight was enough to secretly unnerve even these two seasoned and knowledgeable cultivators.
"Brother, I think this is the place!"
When they were nearly ten thousand meters beneath the surface, Sun Luyao finally spoke up.
The Dust Crossing Boat came to a sudden halt.
The pressure here was immense. The red halo surrounding the vessel swirled relentlessly, deflecting the crushing force of the earth around them.
Sun Luyuan and Ji Hongdao surveyed their surroundings but couldn't see any sign of ruins.
"It's changed too much. There's not a single trace of how it used to be," Sun Luyuan observed. "But this is definitely the right depth."
Ji Hongdao was also surveying the area. "There's something about this place..."
"...something isn't right!"
A circular formation disk flew from his robes, hovering overhead and bathing the area in white light.
In the glow of the white light, Sun Luyuan could faintly make out dark golden characters that flickered into existence and then vanished.
"There's a remnant formation still active," Sun Luyuan said, startled.
While he was no expert in formations, he understood the basic principles well enough.
"Brother, I think there's a way in here."
Just as Ji Hongdao was using his formation disk to scan the area for an entrance...
...his brother Sun Luyao found it first.
Ji Hongdao immediately directed the disk's white light toward the spot to confirm.
Sure enough, on a patch of what appeared to be solid rock, the golden characters appeared with far greater frequency than anywhere else.
Ji Hongdao closed his eyes, his mind racing through calculations.
After a few moments, he gave a low shout and pointed forward.
As if a paper talisman were being torn, countless golden characters shattered and drifted away.
The Dust Crossing Boat seized the opening and flew through.
Behind them, the fragmented characters began to knit themselves back together.
"Don't worry," Ji Hongdao said. "It's a self-sustaining concealment formation that draws energy from the earth."
"Judging by its design, it's completely different from modern styles. It must be ancient. I've already grasped its structure completely; we can come and go as we please," Ji Hongdao stated proudly.
Sun Luyuan was quick with his praise. "Asking for your help was the right decision, Brother Ji! This formation alone would have stumped me for who knows how long. What's odd, though, is that this formation wasn't here when my brother and I first came..."
A sudden wariness dawned on Sun Luyuan.
Inside the Immeasurable Mirror, listening to the conversation between his brother and Ji Hongdao, Sun Luyao secretly glanced at the illusory figure nearby, his heart filled with an even deeper sense of awe.
It had taken Ji Hongdao several minutes to break the formation.
But this senior...
...had found the entrance with a single glance.
That was right. He hadn't discovered the entrance through some innate sensation.
It was entirely thanks to the senior's guidance.
Li Fan's avatar felt Sun Luyao's reverent and fearful gaze but paid it no mind.
While Sun Luyuan and Ji Hongdao were still cautiously probing the entrance, he had already used the Immeasurable Mirror to complete a full scan of the entire ruin the moment they arrived.
"The One Beginning Sect?"
Li Fan's tone was unreadable.
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