Chapter 500: Shadowy Figures

"What are you doing here?" Wei Tianchen asked by the Jiuyin River, where he had built a temporary shelter out of an array of unknown giant beast bones.

"I was worried you might run into danger."

"You're talking nonsense," Wei Tianchen chuckled. "If lying like that could lead to enlightenment, you'd probably be a God-King by now."

"Old Imperial Physician, don't be so harsh. They say doctors are benevolent, so how could you think that of me?" Zhao Xing's gaze fell on Wei Tianchen's leg bone, where a distinct black patch was visible. "See, you're injured, so my worries weren't unfounded."

Wei Tianchen removed the leg bone, burned it, and then replaced it with another from his bone ring.

Judging by his practiced movements, this was clearly not his first time doing it.

Zhao Xing looked at the completely incinerated poisoned bone and pondered for a moment. "Lately, as you've been exploring the Jiuyin River, have you been consistently unlucky? Is the toxic energy becoming a burden rather than something you can utilize, ending up harming yourself?"

"How did you know?" Wei Tianchen was surprised.During his campaigns, he constantly collected "bone poison" to temper himself; using poison was Wei Tianchen's primary method of attack as a physician.His current bone body was no longer the Sun-Blaze Bone Body but a unique type called the Heavenly Poison Bone Body.This was a bone body cultivation method Wei Tianchen had created himself in the Divine Realm.However, he had been very unlucky recently. After exploring the Jiuyin River for several years, while he had gained some things, he would inexplicably "go berserk" or "suffer cultivation deviation."Wei Tianchen suspected there was an issue with his self-created method, but Zhao Xing's sudden remark made him reconsider.

"It's not an issue with your self-created cultivation method," Zhao Xing mused. "It's an issue with your luck."

"You mean destiny or fortune?" Wei Tianchen was clearly skeptical. "How could that be?"

"Think about it carefully," Zhao Xing said. "Does this poisoning only occur after you pass through a specific area of the Jiuyin River each time?"

Wei Tianchen stood up with a start. It was clear that Zhao Xing's words had made him realize something.

The fire seed burned brightly, reflecting a scene:The river flowed mightily, winding back and forth, and islands appeared dimly in the ink-like water.The current was chaotic, with no discernible north-south or east-west flow, like aimless black dragons moving among the islands.

"You're right," Wei Tianchen said. "Going berserk three times in seven years is clearly abnormal. Every time I finish exploring this particular area of the Jiuyin River, the bone poison goes out of control."Initially, I thought my cultivation method wasn't perfected, and the symptoms were minor. But why would it be related to fortune?"

Zhao Xing raised his hand, and the green aura dispersed, revealing a purple finger bone."Old Imperial Physician, you must know the Qi-Gazing Art. Can't you tell how strange this bone is?"Wei Tianchen remained unmoved. "I don't know the Qi-Gazing Art.""How can you not? You gave the Great Zhou Dynasty a treasure of fortune…"Wei Tianchen sighed. "Although I gave a treasure of fortune to the Great Zhou, I don't practice it myself. I once swore an oath before the Divine Statue of Emperor Li that I would never pursue the path of becoming a god through fortune, nor cultivate any fortune-related arts."

"Why?" It was Zhao Xing's turn to be surprised.

"Do you know how the Five Emperors Coins came to be?" Wei Tianchen asked.

"The Five Emperors minted coins, embedding their own fortune within the ancient currency to circulate and bless their subjects," Zhao Xing replied.

"That was indeed the initial intention," Wei Tianchen said. "The Five Fortunes Coin Casting Method was seen as a way to bless the people. However, it changed later and led to constant turmoil."

Zhao Xing listened silently.

"The principle behind the Five Fortunes Coin Casting Method was to weaken the strong and support the weak. The Heavenly Fortune Coin Bureau, when minting coins, would first incorporate the ancient coin material into the bodies of powerful individuals for refinement. The ancient coins would then absorb the strong individuals' fortune, and after many years, they would be retrieved and circulated.""The Five Emperors Coins were also known as 'God-Made Coins'."Zhao Xing was alarmed. "Wouldn't that mean—"Wei Tianchen nodded. "No method is inherently good or evil; its nature depends on how it's used."To be blessed with fortune and deep blessings means cultivation becomes twice as effective, and everything goes smoothly—it's a shortcut to becoming stronger."Everyone wants to take a shortcut. When the Heavenly Fortune Coin Bureau leaked the secret method, it overturned the natural order, and the purpose of this secret method became twisted."Officials, both great and small, began extracting power from the Heavenly Fortune Coins for themselves. Eventually, Heavenly Fortune Coins became increasingly scarce. Some, impatient with the slow pace, simply massacred entire cities and slaughtered people to extract their fortune for coin refinement."There were even some who became gods through this method. Because the stronger one's fortune, the easier it is to have good luck, even if they committed acts that angered both heaven and man, the stronger their fortune, the harder it was to trace them, and they would instead rise to high positions. Even the Divine Emperor was deceived."From then on, this method became a complete source of chaos. By the time order was restored, a large number of powerful individuals had fled to the Demon territories or desolate regions."The nation suffered greatly as a result, and many generations thereafter experienced a power gap due to their inherently weak fortune."Wei Tianchen sighed with emotion. "It can be said that during the Five Emperors Era, apart from the strict control during the Void Ancestor's period, the other four emperors all experienced major upheavals because of this method."

Zhao Xing was stunned. He hadn't expected such secrets existed in the Five Emperors Era. It seemed that some dark history was truly only known to old-timers like Wei Tianchen.

"Later on, fortune-based methods were banned and completely abandoned. The Divine Emperor's wrath even blocked the path to becoming a god through fortune for a time."

"Blocked the path to becoming a god?"Zhao Xing immediately thought of something, and his fire seed pulsed."My joint cultivation of the Straw Man Art with Zuo Qiyu and Jin Yan—does that also count as our Great Dao being blocked?"

Wei Tianchen looked at him. "You saw my notes in the Imperial Library. At the time, I only speculated that when Gu Tianyang created this method, he might have also considered using fortune to avoid calamities."As for the specific details, Gu Tianyang is dead after all, and I have never cultivated this method, so I'm not entirely clear."

Zhao Xing fell into deep thought.Gu Tianyang was Gu Luohe's brother, and both were descendants of the Celestial God 'Gu Xiao'.Zhao Xing had heard Gu Xiao's name when he first entered the ancient Yuankai Kingdom, but it had since been forgotten.Furthermore, Gu Xiao had appeared in Wang Tianzhi's records!Wang Tianzhi said that a 'Xuanhuang Divine Cult' had appeared in the Xuanhuang Realm, suspected to be a revamped version of the Xuantian Sect (sect version).At the time, Wang Tianzhi was very surprised because their Heavenly Timing faction, or Xuantian Sect (Xuantian Academy), jointly revered Patriarch Yun Tiandao.

"You know the Qi-Gazing Art. What did you notice?" Wei Tianchen's words interrupted Zhao Xing's thoughts.

"I suspect this is the bone of a Fortune God," Zhao Xing said, wiggling his index finger.

"No wonder—" Wei Tianchen suddenly understood.

The path of fortune follows a law: in the same event, those with high fortune prosper, while those with low fortune suffer misfortune.Of course, for a powerhouse like Wei Tianchen, his innate fortune level was not low, which guaranteed a lower limit to his bad luck.This explained why he had only gone berserk three times in seven years, and each instance was mild, involving only a localized outbreak of bone marrow poison in a specific bone, not affecting his entire body. He simply needed to discard it and cultivate a new one.

Zhao Xing had initially asked if Wei Tianchen had gone berserk only after visiting a certain place. It was because Wei Tianchen had inadvertently entered the territory of a Fortune God of Freedom."That Fortune God might be dead, or perhaps the influence didn't spread because you left quickly.""After seeing this bone, I worried about your safety and immediately came to find you."

Wei Tianchen applauded. "You even managed to justify yourself. Tianningzi, you truly are talented."

Zhao Xing was speechless. The old man's distrust of him had reached an extreme.Had being tricked once in the ancient Yuankai Kingdom given him a psychological shadow?

Wei Tianchen pointed, and the Enlightenment Golden Fillet detached from Zhao Xing's head. It shrunk into a ring and settled onto his hand."Hmm? What does this mean—" Zhao Xing touched his head in confusion.Had Wei Tianchen truly been moved?"The space around the Jiuyin River is chaotic, and I might not be able to look after you," Wei Tianchen explained. "If you and I are in very distant spaces, the Enlightenment Golden Fillet would self-detonate, which would hinder our exploration."The reason it hadn't self-detonated before was that Wei Tianchen had a fire seed clone in Fugu City, serving as an anchor for the Enlightenment Golden Fillet.

Zhao Xing believed that Wei Tianchen now had at least some degree of trust in him.Of course, this trust also stemmed from the fact that Zhao Xing couldn't possibly escape this strange Bone Divine Realm alone; he had to rely on Wei Tianchen and the bamboo sword.Where else could he run? Emperor-level beings were everywhere, and over a dozen King-level demigods had been slain in recent years. Zhao Xing running around by himself would easily lead to his demise.

Above the Jiuyin River, gusts of chilling winds blew, making one's bones feel cold.Even the Sun-Blaze Dao Bone couldn't shine here; only specific types of bone bodies could withstand the elements.Wei Tianchen held a pale blue bone shield, crafted from the discarded bone of a unique bone-body creature, capable of resisting the chilling winds of the Jiuyin River.

"Can you pinpoint the exact location?" Wei Tianchen had been traversing the islands from his memory with Zhao Xing for two and a half months."Haven't found it," Zhao Xing shook his head."The places where I've had these incidents over the past few years are only a few. It should be easy to find. If it's not here, then there are only two places left.""Let's go check them," Zhao Xing nodded.

He used both the Qi-Gazing Art and his system panel to observe simultaneously.The Qi-Gazing Art revealed nothing special, but Wei Tianchen's fortune level showed some fluctuations.Wei Tianchen's fortune level was "Derivation Twenty-Four," but with the bonus from his treasures, which added five ranks, his total was "Derivation Twenty-Nine"!This was very close to the threshold of thirty ranks!Another step forward, and his fortune level would be comparable to that of Gu Luohe and Bowei.At that level, Wei Tianchen's fortune would be like a vast ocean, difficult to sway with ordinary minor turbulences.Only being pursued by a super-force or facing extreme danger would cause his fortune to fluctuate.Otherwise, he would remain in a state of great auspiciousness, rarely encountering anything bad.

Zhao Xing continuously monitored Wei Tianchen's fortune level, assuming that any change would indicate they had entered the target area.After another two and a half months of flying, suddenly, Wei Tianchen's fortune level fluctuated.It dropped from "Derivation Twenty-Nine" to "Derivation Twenty"!A direct drop of nine ranks!One of the laws of fortune stated: when one's inherent fortune fluctuates significantly, it results in clear good or bad luck."We're here!" Zhao Xing immediately alerted him."There are five islets below. Which one?""Take two steps."Wei Tianchen suspected the young man was getting revenge.He flew around with Zhao Xing, circling among the five islets.Zhao Xing intended to make his judgment based on the fortune fluctuations displayed on his panel.However, he found that all five islets were the same, meaning this entire area consistently reduced fortune by nine ranks.As for himself, his fortune showed no reduction, seemingly because the purple finger bone in his hand originated from the same source."They're all the same; the entire area of these five islets is affected.""Let's go down and take a look," Wei Tianchen decided promptly, leading Zhao Xing to descend.

As Zhao Xing and Wei Tianchen landed on one of the five islands to explore, from another direction, a black beast-bone ship flew towards them.Inside the ship's main hall, a group of pink skeletons dressed in ceremonial robes raised banners and performed, singing and dancing.Above them, on a throne, a king's finger bones gently tapped to the music. His true spirit fire seeds scattered and pulsed, seemingly dancing along.The king's upper body remained in bone form, but his lower body's feet and ankles had grown flesh!The flesh was fluid, seemingly dancing with the music. As the performance reached its climax, two masses of flesh suddenly detached from his feet and began to climb up his ankles.The fascia acted as battle lines, and the flesh particles were like soldiers. Using the leg bones as a battlefield, they launched an assault towards a higher point!However, when the flesh climbed to the knees—*Poom!*A sudden explosion occurred.The king's finger bones tapped more frantically. All the pink skeletons in the hall had their fire seeds suddenly fly out, merging into the flesh to quickly repair the decaying tissue, swiftly organizing a second wave of attack.But just as they entered the knees, the flesh "soldiers" seemed to take a heavy hit.The high-pitched singing abruptly ceased, and the army collapsed like a crumbling mountain!The king watched helplessly as the flesh retreated back to his feet. He tried to attack again but could only manage to hold the line at his ankles."Sigh—" A soft sigh echoed. "Fu Mengzhen, oh Fu Mengzhen, when will I truly be free?"The bone king stood before a bronze mirror, with several high-end bone ornaments laid out beside her. She caressed her facial bones, sighing with self-pity."In the Yang Realm, I was incomparably beautiful, admired and pursued by countless people. Now I've fallen to this ghostly appearance."In the Dao of dance and music, aesthetics were crucial. But every time Fu Mengzhen saw her skeletal appearance, she felt disgust, and even her Dao heart was affected.

"Master, we have arrived at the Jiuyin River." Just then, a Sun-Blaze Skeleton wielding a long spear appeared outside the door. "Understood. Prepare my procession," Fu Mengzhen said indifferently."Yes."After her subordinate left, Fu Mengzhen's gaze fell on a piece of fur placed in front of the mirror.The red fur gently curled and twisted into characters.Fire Source Script!This was a unique mark of the Fire Source Divine Palace."It took a lot of effort to exchange for the location of a secret place in the Jiuyin River from the Divine Palace. I wonder what exactly this Five Fortunes Island holds. Just the specific location alone cost fifty thousand Fire Seed Origin."Fu Mengzhen put on her ornaments one by one. As the beast-bone ship slowly came to a halt, she descended onto Five Fortunes Island, surrounded by a group of ornately dressed skeletons.

"Hmm? Someone actually arrived at Five Fortunes Island before me?!" Fu Mengzhen's beautiful mood was instantly ruined."Did that scoundrel Venerable Nanying sell the information twice?!"

"Zhao Xing, someone's coming." Below them were mountains resembling skeletal scales. Wei Tianchen, who had been exploring a cave with a flickering star lamp, suddenly stopped."Who?" Zhao Xing leaped back, positioning himself behind Wei Tianchen.Wei Tianchen pulled out a double-layered mirror resembling a Bagua, and eight streams of grey energy spun around it, eventually revealing the beast-bone ship in the sky.This was a divine artifact of a Destiny Master!Zhao Xing couldn't help but marvel at Wei Tianchen's wealth. How many divine artifacts had he seen from him already? Had the old man plundered the Divine Emperor's treasury back then?It was only natural for an Imperial Physician to enter and exit the imperial palace. Surely, Wei Tianchen hadn't also inherited a divine dynasty's treasure, just as Zhao Xing had inherited the Grand Dream Academy?

"Hmm? She's recovered flesh and blood, and she has a ceremonial robe?" Wei Tianchen's eyes lit up.In the thirty-odd years they had occupied Fugu City, almost all the spoils Wei Tianchen and his group acquired were made of bone material.Bone spears, bone battle knives, bone helmets...Or magic tools crafted from bone spirit stones and soul crystals.Ceremonial robes were typically made from plant fibers or animal fur.This implied the existence of flesh-and-blood life and naturally growing plants!In other words, this eerie place still contained things from the Yang Realm!However, in all these years, Wei Tianchen had never encountered high-quality non-bone life forms.He had no idea where the legendary Fire Source Divine Palace was located.The Southern Continent was shrouded in thick mists, pervasive poisonous swamps, dark clouds, and chilling winds. His exploration of the Jiuyin River was perhaps not just to explore a broader world; having a river as a reference was better than aimlessly stumbling around.

Upon seeing Fu Mengzhen in the mirror, Zhao Xing immediately understood Wei Tianchen's intent.He stamped his foot. "Leave her minor soldiers and generals to me."Wei Tianchen watched as an extremely intricate yet swiftly forming underground palace method appeared beneath Zhao Xing's feet. "...Tianningzi, how are you so proficient? You must have done this quite often before."He merely voiced his question, but Zhao Xing had already begun to act, as if it were an instinct."Old Imperial Physician, we're old acquaintances, so stop pretending," Zhao Xing said, burying himself in his work.Wei Tianchen let out a wry chuckle.His bone body rapidly turned black, and streams of poison essence were quickly drawn out. Following Zhao Xing's underground passages, they began to spread throughout the island.

For ambushes and hidden attacks, the Egoist Faction's Master of Agriculture was excellent, arranging troops like a forest and disguising them as natural environments, possessing strong deceptive capabilities.However, the Terrain Faction was also not to be outdone. Their Underground Palace Art, Earth Treasury Art, and Profound Earth Art were all excellent spells for tricking people.Especially in a place like the Bone Divine Realm, which merged the Southern Continent with the Netherworld, and whose ley lines were of Yin attribute, all of the Terrain Faction's spells adapted to the local environment after Zhao Xing became familiar with the area over the past thirty years. They all became netherworld-like.After the Terrain Faction's spells were cultivated in the Mustard Seed Dharma Domain of the Extreme Land, most of them had transformed into Samsara-level secret arts.The spells of the Primordial Mound were complete: Demon God Underground Palace, Yaoguang Earth Treasury, and Earth Core Fissure were already Samsara-level secret arts.Though Zhao Xing no longer had the cultivation of the Extreme Land, it didn't mean he couldn't use Terrain Arts. With the amplification of his Azure Flower magic power, he could still cast them. This secret art had already surpassed the Extreme Land's level. With his current realm, having the third layer of Extreme Land cultivation or not made no difference, unless he cultivated to the fourth layer, where the Mustard Seed Dharma Domain would transform into a Mustard Seed Dharma Realm.The twelve underground palace arts of the Primordial Mound corresponded to twelve Demon Gods. Zhao Xing had explored in the Baihan Realm at that time.He had four clones in the outside world: one oversaw the daily construction of the Annihilation Star Ancient Path, one searched for Heavenly Timing faction cultivation methods, one returned to the Primal Realm, and one went to the Primordial Mound.The clone that went to the Primordial Mound studied the Life Underground Palace Art under Venerable Meishan, the contemporary head of the Primordial Mound.When his main body first entered Jixing Island, the second stage of the Baihan Realm, he had already learned the Life Underground Palace Art. After that, he turned to learning other Terrain Arts.When Zhao Xing emerged from the Baihan Realm, his main body and split soul had completed a mutual exchange of knowledge.What Zhao Xing now knew was not just one type of underground construction method.

"The Demon God Underground Palace Art that Emperor Hongshan taught me back then was merely the foundation among the twelve Demon God Underground Palaces, a great divine secret art.""The full name for the Life Underground Palace should be the Life Demon God Underground Palace Art," Zhao Xing recalled the scenes of his split soul learning from Venerable Meishan as he set up the array.The Life Demon God Underground Palace Art was developed based on the ancient god 'Akaru', a born deity.However, this method naturally couldn't be called the Akaru Underground Palace Art or the Life Demon God Underground Palace Art, as that would make the Primordial Mound seem like a cult, so it was simply called the Life Underground Palace Art.

What Zhao Xing was currently setting up was the Nirvanic Underground Palace Art.The origin of this art stemmed from the Demon God 'Nirvana', one of the twelve Demon Gods.It was born during a 'Nirvanic Period' in a top-tier great world. Logically, during a Nirvanic Period, the Great Dao would be extremely weak, and all material life would be undergoing destruction, making it very difficult for 'innate god-level' life forms to emerge.However, the appearance of the Nirvanic Demon God was different. The great world he inhabited happened to collide with a primal realm.The Nirvanic Realm, thus nourished, gave birth to an innate deity amidst destruction.The Nirvanic Demon God commanded the Great Dao of Destruction and possessed extremely tenacious vitality. The Primordial Mound could only imprison him to this day, unable to kill him.

*Rumble~*The ley lines shifted, and the earth slightly bulged as if a small earthquake had occurred.This change was utterly insignificant in the Jiuyin River, making it hard to distinguish as man-made.Due to Zhao Xing's tailored adjustments to his spells within the Bone Divine Realm, the formation of this Nirvanic Underground Palace was almost natural, appearing beneath the island without anyone realizing.Its interior was entirely carved with the divine essence of the Nirvanic Demon God's Great Dao, all recorded from when the Nirvanic Demon God roared in battle, unleashing his innate secret arts.Within the dark underground palace, several wisps of grey gas still lingered, and the Heavenly Poison of True Spirit cast by Wei Tianchen complemented this underground palace art perfectly.

"One underground palace isn't enough; combining two arts would be more secure."Zhao Xing hadn't directly seen Fu Mengzhen, so he didn't know her cultivation realm, but the fact that she could manifest flesh and blood indicated she was definitely a demigod.It was always better to over-estimate an opponent's strength."Burn the underground palace, rise!"Golden light pulsed beneath the earth, and an underground palace, shaped like a pyramid, appeared as an outer layer around the Nirvanic Underground Palace.Merging the two arts caused the difficulty to skyrocket, and Zhao Xing's Azure Flower magic power was completely consumed at that moment.

"You've made quite a lot of progress," Wei Tianchen said, surprised. After thirty-odd years apart, Zhao Xing had advanced to the Eighth Tribulation Emperor rank. He had thought Zhao Xing merely had the realm but lacked corresponding spell proficiency.He hadn't expected this dual-art underground palace to astound him."Old Imperial Physician, let's not chat. This person seems to have a significant background," Zhao Xing disliked chitchat during battle. If Wei Tianchen were on his team, he would surely be kicked out after one fight."..." Wei Tianchen was speechless. He, a dignified demigod, actually felt like Zhao Xing was treating him as a slacker.