Chapter 249: Chapter 149: Searching for the Holy City

Besides the chaotic and disorderly multitude of evil cultivators, the swamp below is filled with countless and unpredictable dangers.

The Ten Thousand Poison Swamp has no spirit veins, but the spiritual qi is very strange; besides the areas not corroded by poisonous mists, which are regarded by cultivators of this region as sacred lands and have stable spiritual qi all year round, the spiritual qi in the desolate areas filled with poisonous mists shifts at any time.

Just like the place where Li Jizhou is now, currently it senses like having the level of a high-tier spirit vein, but it might degrade to the level of a Tier One spirit vein after a year or two, or conversely, become a Tier Three spirit vein.

It could even have been a Tier Four spirit vein a year ago.

Therefore, this place might have Tier Four Great Demons lurking in the black water of the swamp.

Additionally, due to the demon beasts in this area absorbing and practicing with spiritual qi mixed with poisonous mists, they mostly undergo inexplicable mutations, and many have become unable to be comprehended by common logic.

There are even legends that underground connections beneath this swamp sometimes sporadically surface with inexplicable ancient miracles.

Records have noted that an alleged Demon Emperor’s tomb from ancient times once emerged from the earth veins, and someone accidentally triggered a restriction, causing a thousand li radius to turn into dust instantly.

Li Jizhou stood silent for a moment, discerning the direction.

During the escape from Qingyin Valley, he primarily moved westward to accelerate the distance.

After arriving in the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, he deliberately altered his direction.

Having changed direction multiple times, it is difficult to precisely determine his location now.

“I should still be slightly southeast of the northeast!”

After roughly confirming the direction, Li Jizhou re-organized all the information he previously gathered about the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp in his mind.

Unfortunately, although the swamp has existed for hundreds of thousands of years, no detailed and precise map has been passed down to the Eastern Desolate Southern Domain.

Those capable of mapping it might not have the inclination.

Those who have the inclination find it hard to traverse the swamp thoroughly.

Perhaps the southwestern Nanling Demon Race or the northwestern Central State Dynasty bordering the swamp have it, since they are the most prosperous areas within the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, with many high-tier cultivators.

During his years in the Yan Kingdom, the information Li Jizhou collected about the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, both openly and discreetly, was mostly broad, general maps with no precision.

“Southeast of the northeast… that’s fine, going further north risks accidentally entering the dark rivers converging with Black Water.”

“It’s said that the headquarters of the Wuxiang Sect might be in this area.”

Although the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp is riddled with dangers, proceeding cautiously might enable evasion.

And now, the Yan Kingdom, even the entire Eastern Desolate Southern Domain, is draped with an intangible celestial net over Li Jizhou.

The Demon Sect sending a Nascent Soul Demon God personally to execute him surely evidences their determination.

The cultivation of corpses using southern domain spirit veins is the major goal of the Alliance and the Demon Sect, and Li Jizhou’s significant supply of Celestial Thunder Talismans is a dire threat to them.

They accurately located Qingyin Valley while bypassing numerous high-profile righteous army experts, indicating their means and the information they possess.

Li Jizhou is uncertain if it was Yu Ziyu or Zhou Cang who leaked information, or if the opposition has an insider within the righteous army, or possesses some divine secret skill he hasn’t heard of, like a high-tier Divination Master adept in divination.

Anyway, until the Demon Sect and the Alliance are wholly defeated, returning to the Southern Domain poses substantial and certain threats.

Within the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, the pervasive poisonous mists significantly reduce the range of Divine Sense detection; its chaotic spiritual qi and the unusual terrestrial trends obscure heavenly secrets.

With his mind made up, Li Jizhou stopped hesitating.

“Seek refuge in a sacred city and practice cautiously, waiting for the Eastern Desolate Southern Domain’s conclusion!” Within the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, all regions free of poisonous mists are called sacred cities, and most incline towards the theory that only the blood and flesh of Earth Spirit Masters can repel the poisonous mists.

As for the matter in the Southern Domain, when he confirmed that the Demon Sect and the Alliance were just pawns, he lost the ability to intervene and could only await the final result.

Detaching from his fusion with the withered tree, Li Jizhou swiftly soared upwards, flying west again, instantly transforming his aura into that of Master Huangshi.

During his flight, as the poisonous mists became denser the further up he went, Li Jizhou had to slightly reduce his altitude.

Originally, with his Early Stage of Golden Core realm and that pure, substantial, yet enduring Eternal Spring Magical Power, he had long been able to fly within the Second Heaven, gaining considerable speed and maintaining a position six thousand zhang above the ground, mostly beyond the strike range of Tier Three Demon Beasts below.

However, as the poisonous mists grow denser the higher the elevation within this domain, he had to descend to the First Layer of Heaven.

The Nine Layers of Profound Celestial, each layer is three thousand zhang high.

The First Layer is no more than twenty li from the ground, leaving room for Tier Three Mid Stage Demon Beasts to attack.

Hence, Li Jizhou adopted a more cautious approach to his flight.

The Ghost Shadow within his storage bag was also prepared at any moment.

This was Li Jizhou’s only puppet trump card now, a quasi-Fourth Tier with an innate spatial imprisonment divine ability, integrated with Ghost Shadow Cold Gold, undetectable by Peak of Core Formation Divine Sense, and covered in black scales of Tier Three Peak Half-Step Dragon Transformation with an accompanying attack spiritual artifact.

Li Jizhou wasn’t overly fearful of Demon Beasts below Tier Four.

Thus, he flew for over a month, with poisonous mists shrouding the sky, limiting Divine Sense detection.

Without a specific target, it inevitably became somewhat tedious.

On the journey, he didn’t encounter any other cultivators.

The deeper he went into the swamp, the more perplexed he became, unsure if the unique terrestrial trends disrupted his directional judgment or if the previously obtained rough positions of forces within the swamp were all incorrect.

To this moment, not a single sacred city came into sight.

Until half a month later,

On this day, Li Jizhou suddenly sensed a faint fluctuation of magical power from the southeastern direction.

He instantly became alert, deploying the Ghost Shadow to approach stealthily.

“Cultivator at the Early Stage of Core Formation!”

In his view, five cultivators appeared battered and disheveled.

The highest among them was a middle-aged man at the Early Stage of Core Formation, followed by three Fake Pill seniors, and another…

“Hmm, no magical power fluctuations, no magical power aura within the dantian?”

“Mundane? No, impervious to poison, and a layer of invisible shield protection!”

The sight slightly puzzled Li Jizhou.

The five were fiercely combatting a Tier Three Junior Level Demon Beast.

The most perplexing for Li Jizhou was a woman in their midst, bereft of the slightest magical power aura, yet surrounded by repelling poisonous mists and shielded by a non-magical shield.

“It’s not going well. If it escapes, who knows when we’ll find such a demon beast again; we can’t wait that long, we must capture it this time!”

“I’ll complete the array base, you needn’t worry about me! You must catch it!”

A Fake Pill senior shouted, plunging straight into a vortex before anyone else could react.

Instantly, his Fake Pill Level body solidified, his entire vitality erupting outward, quickly amalgamating with the imprisonment array there.

As the array base was completed, the six-legged, four-eared, turtle-bodied, mouse-headed Tier Three Junior Level demon beast within the array gradually slowed its aggression.

“Second brother!”

“Granduncle!”

“Second granduncle!”

In that instant, the remaining three let out cries of sorrow.

Only the oldest senior clenched his teeth, eventually turned and shouted:

“Alright, calm down! Second Brother is gone; we must not let him down! Yanzhi, exert your full strength immediately.”

“Hong Ling, remain focused. Should you succeed in advancing to Tier Three Earth Spirit Master, it will be the greatest recompense for your Second Granduncle!”

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