151: Fragments of the White Emperor Map

Zhao Gan's body trembled slightly as he interjected, "Are you saying... the 'White Emperor Secret Realm' that Junior Martial Uncle Chu always talked about back then might not be baseless? He always said the entrance to the Secret Realm was vaguely connected to our Sect's Spiritual Vein. Could it be that the 'white emperor fragmentary map' he kept mentioning really brought about his death?"

Qu Yunshang's expression was grave: "Junior Martial Uncle Chu always firmly believed in the existence of the White Emperor Secret Realm, claiming it was a grotto-heaven left behind by the ancient Immortal Ascension Cultivator, White Emperor, and that it appeared once every sixty years, containing the Opportunity for Immortal Ascension. But he could never produce concrete proof, and most within the Sect were skeptical."

"white emperor fragmentary map?" Hearing this familiar term, Lin Feng immediately recalled when he was hunting Yao Beasts at Little Turtle Island, a Golden-Winged Cloud Peng had pursued a Qingyun Sect Core Formation Elder to demand the white emperor fragmentary map. Could that person have been the Junior Martial Uncle Chu they were talking about?

He couldn't help but ask, "Senior Sister Qu, what exactly is this fragmentary map and the Secret Realm?"

Qu Yunshang glanced at Lin Feng and explained, "The white emperor fragmentary map is rumored to be the key to opening the 'White Emperor Secret Realm.' Junior Martial Uncle Chu obtained the fragmentary map by Opportunity, but was targeted by unknown forces because of it. If the Secret Realm is indeed connected to our Sect's Spiritual Vein as he claimed, then the current abnormality in the Spiritual Vein is likely a part of the other party's long-term plan."

This deduction caused the hearts of the three to sink.

"We must report this to the Sect Head immediately!" Qu Yunshang said resolutely.

However, when the three returned to the original spot, they realized that the ancient transport Restriction they had triggered was one-way, and because it was extremely unstable due to its age, it had quietly vanished after they had transported through it.

Even more troublesome was that the Spiritual Vein here had become chaotic due to the Demonic Path methods and their intrusion, forming a natural maze and spiritual power vortex that completely trapped the three of them.

Zhao Gan tried various path-finding secret techniques taught by the Sect, but his compass was completely useless here. Although Qu Yunshang was proficient in Formation, she was at a loss regarding this naturally formed underground Spiritual Vein maze that had been artificially disrupted.

"The Spiritual Vein here is intricate and tangled like a mess of hemp, and Divine Sense is also greatly suppressed here." Zhao Gan frowned deeply, "If we cannot find a way out, once our protective spiritual power is exhausted, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Qu Yunshang's expression was also grave; she attempted to deduce the direction based on the water flow and rock Formations, but with little success.

Just as the two were racking their brains for a solution, Lin Feng took a deep breath and summoned the Slug from his spirit beast pouch. A soft white light flashed, and the jade-like Slug shrank and appeared on his shoulder.

"This is...?" It was Zhao Gan's first time seeing this Spirit Beast, and his eyes revealed surprise and a hint of undisguised doubt. He truly could not connect this seemingly weak and harmless little creature before him with resolving their current desperate situation. "Junior Brother Lin, the situation is critical right now, this Spirit Beast..."

Qu Yunshang's gaze narrowed slightly; she had seen this Slug once at the Star Gazing Platform, and at the time, she only felt it was highly spiritual, but did not look into it further. Seeing it again now, she keenly sensed a gentle fluctuation radiating from the Slug that was perfectly in tune with the surrounding Spiritual Vein abnormality. "Junior Brother Lin, does your Spirit Beast seem to have a unique sensitivity to the Spiritual Vein?"

Lin Feng met their gazes: "Senior Sister Qu has a Wisdom Eye. This little guy was born in the deep Spiritual Vein and is adept at finding paths in intricate underground environments. Senior Brother Zhao, please trust me this once."

Seeing Lin Feng so resolute, although Zhao Gan still harbored doubts, there was truly no other way at the moment, so he had to suppress his words and stare fixedly at the Slug. Qu Yunshang nodded: "Since that is the case, we will have to trouble it."

The Slug's antennae trembled slightly, and its body emitted a faint light. After sensing carefully for a moment, it raised an antenna, pointing to a crevice on the left that was half-hidden by rubble and extremely concealed.

Zhao Gan looked at the direction pointed out by the slender antenna and frowned slightly. That crevice looked like it could only allow one person to pass through sideways, and it was pitch black deep inside; it didn't look like a way out at all. But seeing Lin Feng walk forward without hesitation, he had to suppress his doubts and follow.

The Slug constantly adjusted the direction of its antennae, like a precise compass. Whenever they encountered a fork in the road, its antennae would shift slightly, pointing the way for the three. Sometimes it pointed to an almost invisible crack on the rock wall, and other times to an inconspicuous underwater current channel beneath a dark river.

Qu Yunshang carefully observed every movement of the Slug's antennae and discovered that it always pointed away from the areas with the most chaotic spiritual power fluctuations, and a look of realization gradually appeared in her eyes. Zhao Gan also noticed that as they moved forward, the suffocating spiritual power pressure around them was indeed weakening, and only then did he truly believe that this inconspicuous little creature indeed possessed extraordinary path-finding abilities.

Under the guidance of the Slug, a faint light finally appeared ahead. When they crawled out of the exit, they discovered they were already in a remote valley on the outskirts of the Qingyun Mountain Range. Not daring to delay, the three immediately rushed back to the Sect with all their might.

Venerable Qingxu and Elder Mo Yuan heard the report from Lin Feng and the other two, and their faces were instantly filled with shock.

"The Sect guarding Formation... has it really been eroded from the inside?!" Elder Mo Yuan walked quickly to the huge mountain-guarding Formation map in the hall, pointing with trembling fingers to the position corresponding to the heart moon fox array foundation, "The spiritual power here has been decaying for several days; we only thought it was a normal fluctuation, never expecting that someone was using the water veins to cross the river in secret!"

Venerable Qingxu's face was as dark as water. A ray of spiritual light from his fingertip entered the Formation map; the radiance of the heart moon fox array foundation was indeed dimmer than the surrounding areas, and it faintly revealed a trace of ominous, grayish aura. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath; the atmosphere in the entire hall seemed to have solidified.

The mountain-guarding Formation was the foundation of the Sect, as stable as a rock for hundreds of years. Now, a gap had been torn open without anyone noticing. This news was like a thunderclap, shaking the minds of all the high-level officials present who knew the inside story.

"Investigate!" When Venerable Qingxu opened his eyes again, his gaze was as sharp as a sword, "Immediately investigate all auxiliary array eyes connected to the water veins! Junior Brother Mo Yuan, you investigate personally; you must find all hidden dangers!"

After an emergency investigation, the results were even more alarming. Besides the heart moon fox array foundation, extremely subtle traces of erosion were discovered in several other edge array eyes. The methods were from the same source, all slowly infiltrating through extremely concealed water vein nodes. The depth of the enemy's layout and the secrecy of their methods far exceeded their imagination.

"The top priority is to repair the Heart Moon Fox main array foundation as soon as possible to plug the largest gap." Elder Mo Yuan suppressed his anger, "But the array foundation has been eroded, and the spiritual power is chaotic. Conventional nourishing methods are ineffective and may instead accelerate its collapse."

"Is there no other way?" an Elder asked anxiously.

"There is, but it is extremely dangerous." Elder Mo Yuan swept his gaze over everyone and said in a deep voice, "We need to use the 'Star Fixing Plate' to forcibly stabilize and repair the array foundation. This method requires the plate-holder to go deep into the core of the array foundation, which is currently the place where the evil aura of the Spiritual Vein and the Star Power of the array foundation conflict most intensely, like the center of a storm. The plate-holder not only needs pure spiritual power to activate the Magical Artifact, but also extremely powerful Divine Sense to stabilize the array plate in the violent turbulence and accurately guide the Star Power to repair the damage. Otherwise, anyone with slightly weaker Divine Sense will be swallowed by the turbulence in an instant!"

His gaze swept over the Core Disciples in the hall, and finally landed on Zhao Gan, who had the highest cultivation: "Zhao Gan, your spiritual power is the most profound; come and try the method of controlling this 'Star Fixing Plate' first."