Chapter 1747: 膨奇和虞村

Through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, Grandmaster Xiao Wencheng of the Illusion Sect's voice echoed in everyone's ears again: "Miaozhantian has been speculating on the Immortal Venerable's laws. Soon, the lighthouse barrier might lift the restriction on 'teleportation prohibition,' and the spirit mine will suffer! Therefore, everyone, please hurry and destroy the lighthouse."

Upon hearing this, He Lingchuan's heart sank.

Outsiders entering the Upside-Down Sea are subject to the "teleportation prohibition," which means even the demon immortals and Heavenly Demons brought by the Heavenly Palace are far less mobile than the Illusion Sect immortals. But if the lighthouse barrier could lift this restriction, allowing these opponents to also use teleportation freely, the Illusion Sect's significant advantage would be diminished.

The immediate crisis was that the Heavenly Demons could now use teleportation to mine underground!

This bad news could very well overturn He Lingchuan's entire plan that he had just formulated.

"How much longer will it take Miaozhantian to decipher—I mean, break the Immortal Venerable's teleportation prohibition?"

"It's hard to say," Xiao Wencheng replied. "But since the war began, the lighthouse barrier has been imbued with more and more abilities by Miaozhantian. I still can't see the lighthouse on Companion Hill through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror. So, it's likely only a matter of time before it breaks the 'teleportation prohibition.'"

He had no doubt that Miaozhantian had come personally; otherwise, why would the lighthouse barrier improve so rapidly?

He added, "Feedback from the Lakeside Battlefield just came in: the lighthouse barrier likely now possesses the ability to discern everything and oversee the entire situation within its domain, similar to the Haoyuan Golden Mirror. Our two surprise attacks behind the tower were both discovered by the enemy in advance. Miaozhantian possesses the Eye of Truth, so achieving this is not difficult for them."

He Lingchuan gave a wry smile. "Can't you give me some good news?"

Miaozhantian truly lived up to their reputation as one of the Righteous Gods of Lingxu, with a profound understanding of rules, quickly modifying their divine abilities based on the battlefield situation.

In He Lingchuan's opinion, the Heavenly Demons were indeed more adept than most immortals at adapting to changing times and circumstances.

Xiao Wencheng immediately said, "Just now, when all of you passed through the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, you were all imbued with the 'Illusionary Concealment' divine ability. You are invisible to mortals and opponents unless special divine abilities are used to reveal you."

Upon hearing this, Dong Rui casually took out a mirror and looked at himself.

Sure enough, the mirror's surface was empty, reflecting only the branches swaying in the wind behind him.

"This divine ability also conceals your aura, but traces you leave behind, such as footprints and sounds, cannot be hidden," Xiao Wencheng explained. "With the Immortal Venerable's divine ability blessing, even the 'Eye of Truth' cannot detect you. However, this effect only lasts for half an hour. Once the time limit is up, or if you engage in combat, the 'Illusionary Concealment' effect will automatically disappear."

Dong Rui asked, "Not even the lighthouse barrier?"

"No," Xiao Wencheng explained. "Just as Dyun can be invisible before the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, you can also be invisible within the lighthouse barrier."

This was truly a case of "tit for tat."

As He Lingchuan listened, he observed Yu Village below.

Perhaps because it was dedicated to mining, Yu Village, though called a "village," actually had over 1,300 residents, making it larger than nearby towns. The roads within the village were wide, and the houses were built quite grandly, with over a dozen three-story buildings.

Yu Village was brightly lit, and all the men were gathered at the village entrance, clutching their weapons, their faces etched with anxiety and unease.

Because the Yakshas emerged from the lake at irregular intervals, the villagers were always on edge and prepared on nights when the storm wall disappeared. However, the strangeness of previous years could not compare to tonight. The number of earthquakes on Silver Pearl Island was almost countless; five or six houses in the village had collapsed, killing over ten people. The most tragic was a family of four, all gone within a few breaths.

Not only were there flying rainbows and streams of light in the sky, but strange birds also constantly flew around, and the evening breeze often carried the distant sounds of battle cries...

With immortals and demons fighting, how could the people of Silver Pearl Island not be terrified?

These men knew they couldn't contend with powerful divine abilities, but with their homes and loved ones behind them, they had nowhere to retreat.

He Lingchuan and his group were actually a step late. Elder Liu's former junior fellow disciple, Dyun, who had now become a Heavenly Demon host, had already led a team to Companion Hill and erected a lighthouse.

Their objective was clear: to specifically mine Profound Crystals. They had even used Miaozhantian's divine power to evade the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, so logically, they wouldn't allow mortals to observe and then report them to the immortals.

Yet, they completely ignored the commoners of Yu Village, operating only within their own barrier.

After the lighthouse barrier was established, the actual situation inside the lighthouse could no longer be seen from the outside; only the gigantic phantom of the Eye of Truth on the tower's spire was visible.

However, this barrier was actually slowly expanding and would encompass the entire Yu Village in at most another fifteen minutes.

Thus, the people of Yu Village were also terrified, pointing and gesticulating at it.

This certainly didn't seem like a good thing, not like a spell from the God of Wind!

Some villagers immediately knelt facing north, mumbling prayers to the God of Wind, begging him to save Yu Village and their families.

Then one person stood out and shouted, "Stop kneeling! There's no time! We need to evacuate Yu Village!"

This person had thick eyebrows and large eyes, prominent temples, and was seventeen or eighteen years old, with a sturdy build. He wore light leather armor and carried two swords at his waist.

He Lingchuan, who also used a blade, could tell from the sheath's shape that the blades had wide backs and thin edges, with smooth lines, and slightly curved handles, making them more suitable for slashing from horseback.

Elder Liu conveniently explained, "This is Luo Xie, the Deputy Captain of the Profound Crystal Mine Guards."

Although their current position was still dozens of feet from the village entrance, too far for even nearsighted people to clearly see figures, Elder Liu still needed to set up a barrier to speak freely to He Lingchuan and the others.

Luo Xie had over a dozen subordinates, who now cooperated in urging the villagers to leave.

Someone weakly muttered, "Isn't our village protected by a formation?"

Yu Village had been established here for several decades, and most villagers had never left in their lives, so it was inevitable that they felt reluctant to leave now.

Luo Xie glared, "The battle in the southeast has been going on for so long, which means the High Immortals haven't won yet. Do you know what's on Companion Hill? Can a formation truly withstand that? Leave now, or you'll all die here if you wait any longer!"

The word "die" finally brought many people back to their senses.

The villagers scattered, not immediately fleeing outwards, but rushing back to gather their belongings.

The entire Yu Village was in an uproar.

Elder Liu asked He Lingchuan, "Island Master He, what's the plan now?"

"Has the lighthouse barrier spread to the mining area yet?"

Elder Liu knew without needing to go over the mountain to check: "Not yet, probably in another fifteen minutes."

"The lighthouse has just been established and requires full protection. They probably haven't gone down to the mines yet, so we still have time to set up," He Lingchuan said to the remaining three immortals. "Please, the three of you, infiltrate the lighthouse barrier to scout, and then wait for my signal before acting. Don't waste the opportunity of Illusionary Concealment."

Under the protection of the 'Illusionary Concealment' divine ability, they would become visible as soon as they engaged in combat.

The three immortals nodded, passed through the mirror with their disciples, went directly to the edge of the lighthouse barrier, and quietly slipped inside.

With their cultivation, they could easily remain silent and leave no traces on the ground throughout their movement.

On the hillside, only He Lingchuan's group of three, Elder Liu, and a dozen Illusion Sect disciples remained.

"There's a spirit beast hidden in this village that can store a large amount of Profound Crystals, right? I have a feeling the Heavenly Demons wouldn't easily let over a thousand catties of Profound Crystals go."

The fact that Venerable Dyun, despite losing an arm, was still sent here to quickly construct the lighthouse indicated two things:

First, Bai Ziqin didn't have many powerful figures around him, making resources stretched thin. Clearly, the Immortal Palace had suffered a substantial loss in the previous confrontation with the Illusion Sect.

Second, the Heavenly Palace forces urgently needed Profound Crystals and would acquire them at any cost.

Since Venerable Dyun was already here, why didn't he try to get his hands on Yu Village's Profound Crystal reserves? That was over a thousand catties of high-quality Profound Crystals, enough to supply the lighthouse for quite some time, wasn't it?

The Lingxu City Sky Crossing, which had left He Lingchuan awestruck back then, required only twenty catties of Profound Crystals daily to maintain its normal operation, despite being such a grand and magnificent set of magical artifacts. Yu Village's reserves could keep it running for two months.

"It's not necessarily in the village," Elder Liu explained. "This lineage of Pengqi is no longer seen by the outside world. This particular one is less than three hundred years old and was originally raised on Spirit Mountain. It's still in its infancy, playful and active, often teleporting over a hundred miles away, sometimes even going to other islands to play. This type of spirit beast only matures at eight hundred years old."

Dong Rui's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Wow, what a late bloomer."

He always became interested whenever rare spirit beasts were mentioned.

"It has a storage space within its belly that expands with its age. At eight hundred years old, it can hold 108,000 catties of Profound Crystals. Now, at three hundred years old, its capacity is only 37,000 catties, but that's still quite substantial," Elder Liu explained rapidly. "The Profound Crystal ore mined by the people of Yu Village is screened, refined, and weighed outside the mine shaft, then fed to Pengqi. It's not brought back to the village."

He Lingchuan immediately understood that this measure by the Illusion Sect was to prevent mortal miners from pilfering Profound Crystals.

After all, this item commanded a high price everywhere.

"Every fifteen days, Pengqi will automatically deliver the Profound Crystals to the Wind God Temple; the people of Yu Village don't need to intervene."

The transportation of Profound Crystals was also handled by Pengqi, allowing the people of Yu Village to focus solely on mining and screening, thus reducing another layer of risk. In peaceful times, Pengqi's inherently unstable temperament wasn't considered a risk.

"Normally, this spirit beast hides underground, and no one knows its exact location."

He Lingchuan nodded. "How can we call it out?"

"It has clairaudience; if you shout a bit louder, it can hear you," Elder Liu shook his head. "But hearing doesn't mean obeying. This creature is very willful. Old Luo had raised it for decades, but he retired last month and stopped caring for it, so it's been throwing tantrums."

"How did Old Luo usually feed it?"

"That's unclear." Could Elder Liu possibly manage such details? He pointed downwards. "This Luo Xie is his grandson."

Elder Liu was an immortal, so logically, how could he know the people of Yu Village? But Old Luo had a significant responsibility as the spirit beast's keeper, requiring a clear background check.

During their conversation, Yu Village was in utter chaos.

It was a true sense of chaos, as the villagers were not only packing their valuables but also trying to take their chickens, sheep, and pigs with them. The guard team's persuasion was useless.