A Night of Desperation

Chapter 344: Exploration 2

"What?"

"How did the Daoist Sect of the Heavenly Master Mansion achieve both strength and stability while also making money?" Yu Hong asked.

"Are you saying....." Yu Hen’s eyes lit up as he thought of something.

"Yes, exactly that." Yu Hong said with a smile and a nod.

"Indeed, I had forgotten that we now have the strength to collect protection fees ourselves!!" Yu Hen said excitedly, slapping his thigh.

"...." Yu Hong’s smile faltered; he never said anything about collecting protection fees.

"Wait, Master Uncle, why should we collect protection fees?"

"Isn’t it you who said we should learn from the Heavenly Master Mansion of the Daoist Sect?"

"But I didn’t mean to collect protection fees?"

"But that is exactly what they do, isn’t it? They demand tributes from everywhere to support the entire Daoist Sect, isn’t that protection fees?"

"....." Yu Hong was left speechless.

"So, what do you want to do then? Where will the money come from if we don’t collect?" Yu Hen could tell that Yu Hong had objections.

"There’s no need to be so disagreeable; since we can make money from talismans, why not strengthen that aspect and delve deeper into it?" Yu Hong said in a low voice as he strolled.

"Talismans can only go so far, there’s only so much we can produce, we cannot increase it anymore...." Yu Hen furrowed his brows. "If we want to raise the price, with that little efficiency, people won’t buy them if we raise it. Simple talismans are something both the Daoist Sect and other magicians can make. The complex and difficult ones, ordinary people can’t use them, requiring the Dao Breath to ignite."

"Don’t worry, I’ll handle this." Yu Hong narrowed his eyes, having a vague plan in mind.

Yu Hen opened his mouth to ask, but seeing that Yu Hong didn’t seem like he wanted to continue, he didn’t inquire further.

"I’ll leave the various matters to you, Masters Uncle. I plan to go check the Yin Qi Sky Pillar later to inspect the situation." Yu Hong said.

"The Yin Qi Sky Pillar..." Yu Hen had been intentionally avoiding this key point. In truth, it was impossible even for those at the Temple Master level to get close to the Yin Qi Sky Pillar.

Its vast radiating Yin Energy was enough to extinguish all Daoist Magic Techniques like trying to ignite fire underwater, instantly snuffed out.

Thus, in such a close-range environment, magicians below the Temple Master level were no different from ordinary people.

Approaching meant waiting for death.

This was also why Qingchen Temple had been inactive after the outbreak of the Yin Qi Sky Pillar.

It wasn’t for want of trying, but rather the inability to act.

But now... Yu Hong had broken through to the Temple Master level, and his Spiritual Sharpness could resist the corrosion of the high concentrations of Yin Energy, meaning he should be able to get close and observe something.

"Be very careful!" Yu Hen said in a deep voice. "You are the greatest hope of Qingchen Temple for hundreds of years. If you encounter danger, make sure to prioritize your own safety first!"

"Rest assured, I understand!" Yu Hong nodded.

He had long intended to investigate the Yin Qi Sky Pillar, mainly because the disaster that had erupted was not the Black Disaster he expected, but a Spirit Disaster.

There must have been some unusual changes that occurred, so he had to investigate in order to determine the subsequent developments and prepare in advance.

And before he went to investigate, he needed to make some preparations, just in case.

*

*

*

Hope City World.

Inside the safety house, Yu Hong coughed a few times, somewhat unaccustomed to the toxic air here.

But his strong body quickly adjusted his lung function, and the coughing stopped.

He glanced at the familiar first floor of the safe house.

The fireplace system, the boxes of supplies, the large communicator on the table, dried cockroaches, dried lizards, dried vegetables, and the kettle with half of its water still boiling.

As well as beyond these, the faint humming of the enhanced nuclear power machine in the air.

The warm and soft white glow made the entire safe house seem exceptionally quiet and peaceful.

Yu Hong walked up to the door and pulled open the peephole.

Through the reinforced glass, he could see the white ruins of the stone castle, frozen into mounds, and not far away, the Ultimate Gate continuously emitting blue light.

Several creatures that he couldn’t identify, resembling large dogs covered in ice-blue spiky fur, were crouching by the Ultimate Gate, busy gnawing on something, uttering whimpering sounds from time to time.

"Sigh...." Yu Hong sighed involuntarily and opened the door.

He stepped out just like that.

The sub-hundred-degree below zero temperatures instantly made his body tense up, but he quickly adapted.

Only his hair and eyebrows were instantly frosted.

That was a trace of moisture in the air freezing into frost.

Crunch, crunch.

Yu Hong stepped steadily towards another side cave next to the safety house.

There were three side caves in the camp altogether.

One was used for storage boxes and other miscellaneous items.

One was where Zhang Kajing lived.

And the last one... was his target for this visit.

Standing in front of this side cave, Yu Hong glanced at Zhang Kajing’s door. No movements.

There was also no sound of breathing or heartbeat inside, obviously, the mysterious girl had gone out to do something.

Yu Hong turned away and reached out, pressing his hand on the stone door of the cave in front of him.

With force.

Crack.

The place where the stone and the crack of the door were frozen emitted a faint sound of ice layers fracturing.

A pungent acid smell wafted out from inside.

Boom.

Yu Hong pushed the large stone aside and looked inside.

"....."

A massive cluster of densely packed Dragon Lizards had completely blocked the cave, motionless.

All the Dragon Lizards were like sculptures, intertwined with each other, forming a solid block over three meters tall and of unknown thickness.

Yu Hong could not recall how many Dragon Lizards this nest had produced, as he hadn’t visited for a while.

Seeing that the cave was almost too full, he suddenly realized that if the environment was suitable, these Dragon Lizards could potentially become a weapon of mass destruction...

"It’s time to use you..." Yu Hong stretched out a finger and lightly touched the surface of the solidified Dragon Lizards.

Invisible Spirit Light quickly flowed into all the Dragon Lizards, helping them enhance their resistance to cold.

Crack...

A layer of transparent ice shattered from the surface of the outermost Dragon Lizard and fell off.

Thud.

The first Dragon Lizard landed lightly, shook its head, and lay down in front of Yu Hong as a sign of submission.

Followed by the second, the third...

More and more densely packed Dragon Lizards were waking up.

In just a few minutes, over three hundred Dragon Lizards had squeezed out of the cave.

Yu Hong exhaled a cloud of white breath, opened the door of his security shelter, and had the Dragon Lizards line up to quickly enter it.

He had already positioned the dock of the Black Ship within his cave. The Dragon Lizards lined up, quickly crawling into the mist inside the cave, crossing the short mist-wooden bridge, and speedily boarding the Black Ship stationed in the Black River.

Boom.

As the last Dragon Lizard crawled into the cave, Yu Hong shut the door, took a final glance at the Ultimate Gate outside, then stepped forward into the mist.

Soon, the mist dissipated, and the interior of the cave returned to its previous appearance as a layer of security shelter.

There were still more Dragon Lizards left, but Yu Hong only planned to bring three hundred this time. The rest were left behind to protect the camp.

At the Primordial Heavenly Master Mansion.

Mo Wen, the Temple Master of Jinxiao Temple, with his wild and messy red hair draped over his shoulders and carrying a freshly-bought large pot of honey wine, knocked vigorously on the wooden gate of an annex within the Heavenly Master Mansion.

"Lu, open up! You’ve been secluding for so long; everyone’s going to go dumb from isolation!"

He reeked of alcohol, his face flushed and ears red, yawning from time to time, clearly having stayed up drinking again.

Bang bang bang.

No matter how much he knocked, there was no response from inside the courtyard.

"Lu!" Mo Wen called out again, now starting to pound the door.

"Temple Master Mo... My master went out two days ago to clean up resentful marks..." A teenage Taoist, approaching from not far behind, cautiously reminded him.

"He went out?" Mo Wen raised his eyebrows, "Strange, I had an appointment with him. We agreed to drink together at this time. Even if he went out, Lu usually calls to notify me."

"About that... The disciple is not sure either. But my master left in a hurry; it seems he received a very troublesome and urgent notification. The place he went to is also quite remote, probably with poor cell phone signal," the young Taoist explained.

"Fine, what a bother," Mo Wen said impatiently, waving his hand and turning away with the wine pot.

The young Taoist watched as the other man disappeared from view.

"Mo Wen and Lu Zhenshun have a profound friendship; persuading him would be challenging. It might be best to eliminate him too," a voice rang in the young Taoist’s ear.

"Not just him, there’s also Kong Jun of Yunshen Temple, Su Ling of Qingxia Palace. Their Daoist Magic Techniques pose significant obstacles to our plan," the young Taoist’s lips stayed still, but an aged voice sounded beside him.

"Additionally, Zihe Palace, along with Night Pool and the Pool of Ten Thousand Spirits, both are indispensable. With the limitless power of the Night Pool supporting it, devouring the latter is the only way to truly achieve immortality. The Spiritual Techniques of Zihe Palace have a significant restraining effect on Spirit Disasters. I’ve calculated it; they might become the biggest variable," the voice continued.

"Zihe Palace isn’t that easy to provoke," the young Taoist frowned.

"No matter, I will create an opportunity..." the voice slowly faded and drifted away.

Off the coast of Taizhou.

The blue-black sea heaved and roared with waves.

Hum.

A white speedboat, trailing a thin white line, headed towards a vast grey Yin Qi Sky Pillar that connected heaven and earth.

Standing alone on the speedboat, dressed in a white Daoist robe with gold edges and a large black and white Tai Chi Diagram on his back, was Yu Hong, a burly figure like a bear or tiger, who had departed from Qingchen Temple.

His towering stature of over two meters was commanding among people, but when compared to the boundless ocean around him, he appeared almost insignificant and frail.

Gazing at the thick grey Heavenly Pillar, Yu Hong estimated its diameter.

"That thing... at least hundreds of meters thick... truly magnificent..."

He had never seen such a thing in Hope City World.

The speedboat raced across the sea, and about ten minutes later, started to slow down.

Now, the Yin Qi Sky Pillar was close at hand, towering above the blue-black sea surface.

It seemed ethereal, rising from the bottom of the sea, with endless currents of Qi surging upward.

Yu Hong flipped off the speedboat engine and let it come to a stop.

Then, standing on the boat, he observed the entire Heavenly Pillar.

He was only a few meters away from the Heavenly Pillar, almost within touching distance.

The sea gently rocked the yacht, as if at any moment he could be swayed into collision with the Heavenly Pillar.

The entire pillar was composed of grey smoke. The swirling smoke within was turbulent, and nothing within could be seen.

Yu Hong narrowed his eyes and reached out with his Perception, but it was as if it was blocked by a curtain, allowing only a vague sense that inside there seemed to be many, many living things.

They were like insects drowned and solidified in resin, fixed within the Heavenly Pillar, unable to move.