262: Chapter 262: Layout and Calculation

Hundred Kingdoms Territory!

A figure streaked rapidly through the sky and arrived before a ruin!

Looking at the pile of ruins before him, a flicker of emotion flashed in Qin Xiao's eyes!

Only a few years had passed, yet the once prosperous Hundred Kingdoms Territory had turned into this state.

White bones lay exposed across the fields, not a cock crowed for a thousand miles; everywhere was filled with evil spirits and ghosts, with no sign of life to speak of!

The ruins before him were once the residence of the Yun Family, a Family in the Yin Yang Realm within the Hundred Kingdoms Territory!

However, in a turmoil a few years ago, this Family was attacked by a ghost, resulting in the death of the entire clan!

Qin Xiao's gaze pierced through the heavy obstructions and saw a bronze stele amidst the ruins!

The stele was engraved with strange runes; it was covered in rust and looked extremely ancient.

It was precisely the shang gui stele that had appeared in the Hundred Kingdoms Territory over a decade ago.

At that time, after Qin Xiao learned how eerie this thing was, he turned and left, fearing bad Luck!

However, he had constantly sent people to keep an eye on it, as his intuition told him that this thing might come in handy in the future!

Because it was a good item for plotting against others in the shadows!

As long as you had enemies, you could secretly bury this thing within their forces and let it ruin their Luck!!

Qin Xiao had come to the Hundred Kingdoms Territory specifically to take it and place it in the Taigu Dynasty!

He knew that he certainly could not take on the Taigu Dynasty right now, but if he wanted to farm the qi luck value from Gu Shentong, he would inevitably clash with the Taigu Dynasty!

Therefore, he planned to strike first and send the Taigu Dynasty a grand gift!

"But how should I transport this thing over?"

This shang gui stele could not be put into a Storage Ring, and touching it or being in its vicinity would cause it to drain one's Luck, affecting one's own fortune!

This was no small matter!

Suddenly, Qin Xiao thought of something. He indeed dared not touch this thing, but he could find someone else to transport it!

He just needed to find a stele-bearer, and then he would not have to worry about being affected!

Thus, Qin Xiao circled the Hundred Kingdoms Territory and captured a middle-aged man in the Yin Yang Realm!

This middle-aged man had also come from Qing Province. After the Half-Saint Realm expert from the Dao One Holy Land was defeated and retreated, he had been left behind in the Hundred Kingdoms Territory.

Due to insufficient strength, he could not cross the Hengyuan Mountains, so he remained in the Hundred Kingdoms Territory!

"Go, pick up that bronze stele, put it in that box, and then carry it and follow me!"

Qin Xiao pointed at the shang gui stele, threw out an iron box, and said to the middle-aged man!

"Yes!" the middle-aged man replied with a bitter face!

He then walked into the ruins, dug out the shang gui stele, placed it into the iron box, and carried it on his back!

Seeing him finish this, Qin Xiao immediately threw out a long iron chain and bound him with it!

Then, taking the middle-aged man, he soared into the sky and flew toward the capital of the Taigu Dynasty!

The Hundred Kingdoms Territory was very far from the Taigu Dynasty, separated by the entire Qing Province, with a journey of countless thousands of miles!

However, flying at full speed, Qin Xiao still took over ten days to arrive at the capital city of the Taigu Dynasty!

The Taigu Dynasty had a vast territory, comprising 103 regions, and its domestic territory was even broader than that of Qing Province!

The capital city of the Taigu Dynasty was located in the Taigu Region. The Taigu Region was the heartland of the Taigu Dynasty, where the vast majority of the dynasty's noble clans and forces were established!

And the Taigu Region had 128 provinces, each of which was vast and boundless.

It was home to tens of billions of people, filled with Sects, dotted with Families, and geniuses emerged one after another.

Within the Taigu Dynasty, whether it was a Sect or a Family, all had to obey the orders of the Imperial Dynasty.

Within this Taigu Dynasty, the top-tier forces were the noble clans; they were rooted in the Taigu Dynasty and constantly influenced the dynasty's decisions!

The capital of the Taigu Dynasty was called Shendu!!

Shendu was the center of the Taigu Dynasty. Almost all Martial Artist forces within the Taigu Dynasty had their own informants, residences, and connections in Shendu.

It gathered Martial Artists from all over the world; it was vast and boundless, the greatest city in the Qianyuan Divine Continent, and contained everything within its walls, attracting a massive number of Martial Artists.

Qin Xiao stopped at the outskirts of Shendu!

Then, he let down the middle-aged man, told him to hire a carriage and enter the city alone, while Qin Xiao followed from a distance!

After entering Shendu, Qin Xiao could clearly sense an extremely powerful fluctuation of Spiritual Qi beneath the ground.

It was as if a divine Dragon were buried beneath the ground, and the Spiritual Qi in Shendu was several times denser than elsewhere.

"What's buried beneath here must be the legendary Dragon vein!"

A Dragon vein was a type of Spiritual Vein, only it was denser than an ordinary Spiritual Vein and had been tainted with some Imperial Dragon Qi, hence it was called a Dragon vein!

The streets in Shendu were extremely wide, a full kilometer across.

Looking out over the streets, they were almost entirely filled with Martial Artists. Compared to Shendu, the cities he had seen in Qing Province were like comparing "fireflies" to the "bright moon," appearing utterly dilapidated.

After entering Shendu, Qin Xiao had the middle-aged man find a place to put down the shang gui stele!

Then he found someone else to carry the shang gui stele and arrived at a courtyard near the Imperial Palace in Shendu!

Most houses near the Imperial Palace belonged to imperial relatives, wealthy families, and high-ranking court officials; every house was inhabited by people of noble status!

This temporary lodging courtyard was something Qin Xiao had gone to great lengths to acquire; he planned to place the shang gui stele here!

He first dug a deep pit in the courtyard and then placed the shang gui stele inside!

Then he set up two Formations around the shang gui stele.

One was a concealment Formation, which hid the shang gui stele!

The other was an activation Formation; it would continuously absorb Spiritual Qi and inject it into the shang gui stele, stimulating it to activate!

Once fully activated, the range covered by the shang gui stele would expand thousands of times, encompassing the entire Imperial Palace!

Not only that, but the eerie Qi, ominousness, and curses within it would completely erupt!

And it would constantly influence the Luck of the Taigu Dynasty!

Moreover, this was caused invisibly, and it could not be detected at all by conventional means!

Unless those who were proficient in the Art of Qi Observation and had reached the Heavenly Master level might be able to discover it!

Many people had studied the Art of Qi Observation, but most of what they had learned was only the Elementary Art of Qi Observation.

Then there were the Intermediate Art of Qi Observation, Advanced Art of Qi Observation, and Saint-Grade Art of Qi Observation!

Only those who had cultivated the Saint-Grade Art of Qi Observation could be called Heavenly Masters!

Such people were incredibly rare; even Saints had to treat them with caution if they encountered them.

Because the lowest cultivation level among them could potentially reach the Half-Saint Realm, and they were not ordinary Half-Saint Realm practitioners; they mastered some mysterious and unfathomable methods!

They could intercept other people's Luck, causing them to have continuous bad Luck, which even Saints could not withstand!