Chapter 67: Cang King's Tomb

The sound of carriages and horses was loud and numerous.

Why would there be so many carriages and horses in a dangerous place like the Nine Li Ancestral Land?

Under the cover of night, a long procession of carriages approached from a distance, led by eight somber banners and scattering paper money. They passed about fifty paces from Li Weiyi on a path covered in paper money.

Many young boys and girls filled the carriages.

The drivers were all dressed in off-white cloth robes.

Li Weiyi counted carefully and found there were as many as eighty-three carriages.

In the last carriage, a middle-aged man pulled back the curtain, revealing his tall, imposing figure and dignified face. He called out in a low voice, "Faster, leave the Ancestral Land as quickly as possible."

The middle-aged man appeared to be in his fifties, his face bearing a four or five-tenths resemblance to Li Songlin, the leader of the Cangli Tribe.

Only after the procession had moved far away and its sounds faded did Li Weiyi remove the Ghost Banner covering him, pondering, "Judging by their attire, they seem to be from the Cangli Tribe."

"Those who use this ghostly paper-money path to enter and exit the Ancestral Land must be from the Cangli Tribe," said Senior Stone Coffin.

Li Weiyi frowned, asking, "It's truly strange. Where did these children come from? And why are they being transported out from here?"

"Keep going forward; you should find the answer," Senior Stone Coffin replied, seeming to already have an idea.

After several more hours of travel towards Mount Nine Li, Li Weiyi saw a light blue, shimmering veil barrier, set up by Soul Masters.

It rose from the ground, reaching towards the sky, with mysterious scriptures floating upon its surface.

Li Weiyi swept his Nine Sovereigns Banner across it, and the shimmering veil thinned, revealing the scene within.

It was a rice field shrouded in misty glow, where each rice stalk was over ten meters tall, with full, glistening rice ears at their tops. Faintly, fetuses could be seen gestating inside.

With just a glance, Li Weiyi immediately withdrew his Nine Sovereigns Banner and sat down on the ground, trying to process the shock he felt.

This shock came from the depths of his heart, as if a fundamental aspect of humanity had been assailed.

People could actually be cultivated.

Senior Stone Coffin also fell silent. After a long moment, he said, "Benevolent Rice has existed since ancient times, cultivated as sustenance by some forbidden demon kings and departed spirits. The human world has always resisted its cultivation. A thousand years ago, several of us, including Chan Hai Guanwu, shared this stance. That's why no one in the Lingxiao Living Realm dared to cultivate it."

"If I still commanded the Nine Li Tribe and the Cangli Tribe, I would surely ferret out anyone secretly cultivating it and punish them according to tribal law."

The voice from the stone coffin expressed anger in its calm tone.

Li Weiyi gave a bitter smile. "If the entire Lingxiao Living Realm is already like this, and the Nine Li Tribe doesn't cultivate it, they will fall behind other powers. Once this 'involution' begins, people's upper limits will rise, but their lower limits will also drop significantly."

"The widespread appearance of rice-people will inevitably shatter people's values. How can this world avoid war and chaos?"

"If I had sufficiently powerful cultivation, I would not let this chaos persist." Then, he laughed self-deprecatingly, "Ha, never mind. With my current cultivation, I can't even establish myself in this world, let alone change it."

Senior Stone Coffin said, "Weiyi, I feel you are close to finding what you truly desire!"

Li Weiyi stood up, no longer looking at the rice field beyond the shimmering veil. He hoisted the stone coffin onto his shoulder, raised the Nine Sovereigns Banner, and continued walking towards Mount Nine Li. "Becoming a Divine Hermit as soon as possible and breaking through to the Five Seas Realm is the foundation for standing firm. Otherwise, amidst this vast turmoil in the world, I'll only drift with the currents, a nameless nobody whose life is cheaper than grass, and forget about participating in anything."

Three days later.

Li Weiyi arrived at Cang King's Tomb.

Cang King's Tomb was only about ten li from Mount Nine Li. It was a thousand-meter-high perilous peak, shrouded in clouds and mist, with stone tablets and carvings visible everywhere.

The plaza in front of the mausoleum was filled with various rare coffins from other realms.

After salvaging coffins, the Cangli Tribe didn't sell all of them.

Those sufficiently rare coffins were sent to Cang King's Tomb for storage. Currently, they couldn't understand or dare to open them, but future generations of the tribe would surely produce extraordinary heroes who could.

Along the divine path leading to the tomb entrance stood various tomb-guarding beasts made of stone, such as stone horses, monkeys, and elephants, as well as sacrificial artifacts like stone lamps and tripods.

Senior Stone Coffin asked, "How many more days will the food you brought last?"

"Senior Spirit Tablet reminded me before, so I'm well-prepared. With some careful rationing, it will last me a month, no problem," Li Weiyi said, pulling out a piece of jerky and putting it into his mouth.

Senior Stone Coffin replied, "Good. Don't enter the tomb gate yet. I'll teach you some Insect Runes. With your talent, you should master them quickly."

Insect Runes, like Beast Runes, Scripture Runes, Spell Runes, Pill Runes, and Tool Runes, are not traditional characters. They were created by peak Soul Masters, not written by hand but formed by manipulating spiritual light flames with mental power.

Naturally, Insect Runes are used to subdue and control insects.

Li Weiyi said, "Master Coffin told me to retrieve something. Could it be a fierce insect? Or is there a fierce insect in the tomb that requires me to learn insect control techniques?"

Senior Stone Coffin explained, "A thousand years ago, during the peak of my cultivation in life, I ventured into a Realm of Immortal Descent and obtained an insect nest. It contained seven insect eggs, all conservatively estimated to be of the Lord-Marquis class. They've been nurtured in Cang King's Tomb, and now you, young man, get the benefit!"

Li Weiyi gasped.

It was known that in the Lingxiao Living Realm, human powerhouses and various demon kings ruled the surface, but the underground belonged to the Insect Race.

Master Qi of the Evergreen Gang commanded an Aoscorpion Spider, which was merely a Soldier-class fierce insect. Even so, he was still treated with courtesy by the gang leader.

Not every insect tamer was powerful; it depended on the level of the insect swarm they controlled.

However, among Soul Masters of the same cultivation level, insect tamers were undoubtedly the strongest contenders in terms of combat power.

Especially in this chaotic era, insect tamers with area-of-effect abilities held a higher status than any other Soul Master.

Lord-Marquis class insects could already be listed in the "Strange Insect Registry" because, once they matured, they possessed the strength of Martial Cultivators in the Longevity Realm.

Seven of them meant seven Longevity Realm experts.

If he truly became an insect tamer commanding seven Lord-Marquis class strange insects, then who else would be qualified to be the Nine Li Tribe's Divine Hermit if not him?

Moreover, adult Lord-Marquis class strange insects could even transform into human form and possess the ability to summon and command the subterranean Insect Race. Human cultivators, upon encountering them, would have to bow in reverence and address them as "Lord Marquis."

And Senior Stone Coffin said...

...they were all conservatively estimated to be of the Lord-Marquis class.

Li Weiyi quickly recovered his composure from the shock and said, "A thousand years have passed. I'm afraid the insect eggs have already hatched."

Senior Stone Coffin said, "Insect eggs of this level don't hatch so easily. Back then, I asked an extremely powerful insect tamer from the Lingxiao Living Realm to help research and analyze them. Using the small Heavenly Law and Earth Spring in Cang King's Tomb to nurture them, it would still take one to two thousand years for them to naturally hatch."

"I originally intended to leave them for the Nine Li descendants, as a foundation for the tribe. But the great war a thousand years ago came too suddenly; I didn't even have time to inform anyone before I was drawn away by the spatial power of Shaoyang Star."

Li Weiyi said, "If they haven't hatched, wouldn't I have to wait several more centuries?"

Senior Stone Coffin laughed, "Indeed, the time for natural hatching is hard to estimate. But since they've been nurtured for a thousand years, there are some unnatural methods to hasten their maturation and hatching. Did you buy the items I asked you to get?"

"Flame Cloud Stones, Nine-Leaf Cattail Grass, Blood Crystals... after buying all those, I'm practically broke again! That mansion in the suburban area was probably taken back by the Yang clan and the Evergreen Gang."

Li Weiyi took out the six items he had bought recently, following Senior Spirit Tablet's instructions. He felt a bit downcast, secretly praying that Yang Yun was still alive, as that was his largest asset. Oh, and Old Zhao's hundred thousand silver coins.

The stone coffin stood upright again, and using itself as a brush, it wrote Insect Runes on the ground.

There were seven of them in total!

Each character was very complex, with over thirty strokes, looking less like words and more like irregular symbolic drawings.

Senior Stone Coffin said, "Logically, your Spirit Tablet Master should teach you the Insect Runes; she is an extremely powerful insect tamer in the Lingxiao Living Realm. However, these seven Insect Runes carved on the insect eggs were my creation, so only I can teach them to you."

"Oh, right! Insect Runes should ideally be taught by drawing them as spiritual light imprints, but in my current state, I can only write them out. It might be much harder for you to comprehend, but I trust your talent... you'll be fine!"

Li Weiyi gave a wry smile, knowing that in the eyes of his three masters, he was already a cultivation genius far surpassing even a Pure Immortal Body.

As he observed and memorized the Insect Runes on the ground, he asked, "Master Coffin, if I hadn't cultivated spiritual light, wouldn't my trip to Cang King's Tomb have been for nothing?"

Senior Stone Coffin replied, "No, you could still use your blood to directly draw the Insect Runes on the eggs. Once absorbed, they would naturally recognize you as their master. However, this greatly increases the risk. What if they've already hatched, for example? By cultivating the Insect Runes, you'll have a means to subdue them, reducing the risk to a minimum."

Li Weiyi said no more. He sat cross-legged and, in his Glabella Spiritual Realm, summoned threads of spiritual light flame, using each fiery filament as a stroke to draw the Insect Runes.

The difficulty was indeed immense; his spiritual light was almost depleted, yet he made no substantial breakthrough.

He would have to nurture his spiritual light before trying again.

While nurturing his spiritual light, Li Weiyi did not neglect his martial arts. He wanted to quickly break open the seventh spring at the top of his head, the Heavenly Spirit, to avoid being relentlessly hunted by Tang Yan, Xue Zheng, and others once he left.

The seventh spring represented the peak of the Surging Spring Realm; most Five Seas Realm martial cultivators only possessed seven springs.

Such a peaceful cultivation environment was truly precious.

Time flew by; twenty days passed in a flash.

Li Weiyi had mastered all seven Insect Runes, and the barrier of his seventh spring showed signs of loosening. He was just about to make a concerted effort to break through it within the next two days.

"Rustle!"

A cold wind blew from the forest, making his hair and robes flutter.

Li Weiyi's eyes snapped open. He sniffed, detecting a faint, familiar scent on the wind: "It's Li Ling! Why is she also at Cang King's Tomb?"

His five senses were acute. While he couldn't detect special scents from tens of kilometers away like a bear, he wasn't far off.

The voice from the stone coffin rang out, "She truly must have a way to find you. Perhaps it's the keen perception of the Underworld Lamp Guide, or another reason. Since she's an unpredictable factor, don't let her get involved. Go, enter the tomb now!"

Li Weiyi agreed with Master Coffin. Everything was prepared, and no mistakes could be made at this crucial moment.

With the stone coffin on his shoulder and the Nine Sovereigns Banner in hand, he rushed towards the two massive, several-zhang-tall stone tomb gates at the end of the divine path.

As he approached the tomb gates, Li Weiyi narrowed his eyes and saw two star maps on the doors, embedded with numerous silver and yellow gems representing stars.

The one on the left strongly resembled the Milky Way.

The one on the right also felt familiar, like the Yellow Spring Star River he had seen on the bronze warship.