Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments

Chapter 314 - 176: Yellow Springs Traveling Palace Opens

After returning from the Ten Thousand Demons Mountain Range, Xiao Chen headed directly west to seek a breakthrough.

This meant that for the entire month of March, he made no public appearances.

If he hadn’t become a Demon-slaying Guard, he truly wouldn’t have enjoyed such freedom.

This, of course, was a problem for Han Ziyan.

She had a mission from Master Yaoshang, but if she couldn’t even find the man, how could she possibly complete it?

She tried everything, making inquiries through various channels.

When she finally learned that Xiao Chen had appeared in Xianghe Market, she rushed over in a hurry.

With the end of the month fast approaching, she decided to forgo any elaborate schemes and adopt the most direct and aggressive tactic.

She would dress in a beautiful outfit and cover herself in Joyful Dew beforehand.

The moment she saw Xiao Chen, she would throw herself at him and figure out the rest later.

She could improvise an excuse on the spot. Besides, with the Joyful Dew, it wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t think rationally anyway.

Of course, this approach had its drawbacks, as the potion’s effects would eventually wear off.

But time was short, and she couldn’t afford to worry about that now.

After years of training by the Divine Fire Sect, Han Ziyan had, in the end, not forgotten her mission.

However, she never expected that despite her efforts, she was still a step too late.

Xiao Chen hadn’t returned to Elemental Magnetic Peak; instead, he had headed straight for the West.

This was just news she’d gotten from a passerby; she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him herself.

Yet, strangely, upon confirming that her mission had failed again, Han Ziyan found herself inexplicably relieved.

’I did my best, anyway. He was just too cautious and gave me no opening at all.’

’That’s right, it was all Xiao Chen’s fault. It wasn’t that she had intentionally betrayed Master Yaoshang’s trust.’

With that thought, Han Ziyan managed to soothe her own conscience.

However, with the mission failed, the Divine Fire Sect certainly wouldn’t let her off easily.

At this thought, she glanced at the two Demon Sect undercover agents assigned to support her, a cold glint in her eyes.

’They’re a bit of a hindrance!’

「Three days later.」

The Divine Fire Sect was surprised to discover that several of their informants had gone dark.

This included two Foundation Establishment families they had secretly turned to their side; their patriarchs had suddenly vanished without a trace.

This development was quickly reported back to headquarters, drawing the attention of Master Nijie.

But the matter was too trivial; he had more pressing issues to handle at the moment.

The opening of the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace was imminent, and everything hinged on its success.

As long as they successfully obtained the Evil Qi, both Hezhou and Li State would fall under the light of the Holy Fire.

However, over the past half-month, while setting up the Talisman Array to open the entrance, they had discovered a vast number of Ancient Laws—at least double what they had anticipated.

Such a delay was not a good thing. If the Lingyuan Sect detected the anomaly, they would likely lose the element of surprise.

Therefore, he had no time to deal with trivialities like missing informants; he was busy racing against time to decipher the Ancient Laws.

He merely sent someone to urge Master Yaoshang.

He told her to speed things up and eliminate the potential threat that was Xiao Chen.

However, since they were both Golden Core Daoists, there was no strict hierarchy between them, so the effect of his urging was predictable.

It took several more days for Master Yaoshang to realize with a jolt that she could no longer contact Han Ziyan.

They had agreed she would report her progress every three days, but now, six days had passed without a single message from her disciple.

’Huh, where’s my disciple?’

But she soon had no time to dwell on it.

The entrance to the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace had been exposed.

This massive Traveling Palace, built by the Yellow Springs Dao in Ancient Times, was the tomb of their third Daoist Master—a man who claimed to be the "human incarnation of the Yellow Springs True Monarch."

But of all the many rumors surrounding it, not one had ever gotten a particular detail right.

The Yellow Springs Traveling Palace had two entrances, one in Hezhou and the other in Quanzhou.

The Divine Fire Sect believed they had found the entrance, but they never expected the two entrances to be linked.

Opening one would simultaneously open the other.

The Hezhou entrance happened to be located in a gully on the southern side of the Black Flame Mountain Range, within the territory of the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers.

As a result, the Lingyuan Sect quickly detected the abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuations at the entrance.

They even dispatched a team to investigate.

This was undoubtedly bad news. When Master Nijie learned of the situation, he was so furious that he smashed a small hill to pieces.

If a Golden Core expert intervened to sabotage their work, the opening of the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace would be delayed indefinitely.

But there was also good news: the Divine Fire Sect wasn’t the only one to make a mistake.

The Lingyuan Sect cultivators in charge of the investigation failed to recognize it as a Yellow Springs Dao relic, initially mistaking it for an ordinary Ancient Secret Realm.

They even reported it back as good news.

That small delay meant it failed to attract the attention of the Golden Core masters, who naturally did not intervene in time to stop the opening.

When both sides blundered, it was as if neither had blundered at all.

Thus, by a strange twist of fate, the Yellow Springs Traveling Palace successfully opened, albeit a few days late.

Vast amounts of Demonic Qi surged into the sky, transforming the hundred-li radius around the entrance into a Demon Realm.

This tremendous upheaval finally drew the attention of all of Hezhou.

Its effects inevitably reached the region west of Elemental Magnetic Peak.

So, when Xiao Chen finished his breakthrough and set off to return to Elemental Magnetic Peak, he encountered many groups of Tribulation Cultivators causing chaos along the way.

They were all malevolent cultivators at the Late Stage or even Great Perfection of Qi Refining, brazenly robbing other Middle Stage Qi Refining cultivators.

One group was even slaughtering mortals in broad daylight for their own amusement.

Xiao Chen casually dispatched the degenerates. ’Strange, where have all the local Foundation Establishment cultivators gone?’