Chapter 414: The Omen Approaches

Yuanling Zhenren frowned as he looked at the many words and images projected from the jade token before him.

These were reports just received from various locations within the territory of Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain—concerning the abnormal flow of personnel from Taixu Lingshu to Shuji in recent times, as well as some suspicious phenomena that had occurred on Taixu Lingshu and its surrounding planets after the “Suppression Tower Out of Control” incident.

Yuanhe Zhenren stood to the side, equally solemn as he looked at the illusory projection in midair. A blurred phantom floated behind him—it appeared to be a hidden beast, lazily curling up beside its master.

“From the reports coming in from various places, it’s true that many people have suddenly set out for the border in the past few days—nearly twenty percent more than the normal flow,” Yuanling Zhenren said in a deep voice. “Although we can’t directly say that all of them were influenced by Yunqingzi, there must be cases similar to Linglong and Shang’an among them.”

“We’ve intercepted as many as we could. For the immortal boats that need to stop and transfer at planets around Shuji, I’ve already notified the local Control Bureau to temporarily detain the people under the pretext of ‘route risk’ or ‘facility malfunction,’” Yuanhe Zhenren said slowly. “They’re now carefully checking the passengers on those boats. If there’s any news, it should come soon.”

“Mm,” Yuanling Zhenren nodded lightly. “Fortunately, Shuji is remote, and most routes can’t go directly there. Ordinary civilian immortal boats need to transfer at planets like Yaomen and Shiting to get there, unlike the Otherworldly Traveler, which goes straight there. This gives us some time to react.”

“But even so, some had already arrived there before we could react,” Yuanhe Zhenren sighed. “We were ultimately too slow… I wonder how many victims like Linglong and Shang’an are already trapped in Shuji right now.”

Yuanling Zhenren stroked his beard. “Xuanche and the others are currently on another important task and cannot be moved. The situation in Shuji itself is unclear. Even the stationed disciples there, or even the ‘Planetary Guardian,’ might have been influenced by Yunqingzi. In the worst case, the entire planet could be compromised…

“I’ve already dispatched nearby disciples from Yaomen to head over—on one hand to assist Xuanche and the others, and on the other to track down the ‘travelers’ listed who may have already been influenced by Yunqingzi… We can’t let Yunqingzi’s power grow any further.

“Let’s hope it’s not too late. Let’s hope those who went to Shuji under his influence can wake up like Linglong and Shang’an. If we can save a few more, it might also help us figure out Yunqingzi’s background.”

As he spoke, another sound of tearing air came from outside the hall. Then, the fully machine-driven figure of Qianji Zhenren, who looked no different from a mechanical puppet, strode in from outside.

“Yuanling! I’ve arranged everything on my end!” Qianji Zhenren called out hurriedly from a distance. “The Ten Halls of Lying Cloud and Hengxu have sealed off all routes leading to Shuji—for the parts outside your Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain’s control zone, unless another ‘Daoist Fellow Yu’ opens a door to get there, not even a fly will get close to Shuji…”

Qianji Zhenren suddenly paused, then fiercely looked up at Yuanhe Zhenren. Under the latter’s somewhat startled gaze, he asked cautiously, “…You don’t happen to have any flies on your mountain that can tear through the void, do you?”

Yuanhe Zhenren’s face turned green. “No!”

“Good,” Qianji Zhenren lowered his cylinder and continued. “Yunyao the Immortal of Distant Haze Sect has just replied. She will send over a batch of records shortly, regarding the exploration and mining of Shuji over the past century. Nether Valley will also send some early development records of Shuji—if Yunqingzi has been lurking in Shuji for these thousand years, there might be some traces left in those records…”

As he listened to Qianji Zhenren, Yuanling Zhenren’s expression finally relaxed a little, and he slowly nodded.

Among the five great sects of Taixu Lingshu, Distant Haze Sect and Nether Valley were the most skilled in mining and extraterrestrial development. Although Shuji’s mining industry had declined now, hundreds of years ago the planet had been covered with mining stations and garrison towns established by Distant Haze Sect and Nether Valley. In fact, even now, eight of the twelve giant refining towers surrounding Ink City that pierced the clouds had been built by Distant Haze Sect.

These two sects held a vast amount of data regarding Shuji’s geology, environment, and development history. That they were now willing to share these materials was partly due to the many years of joint governance among the five sects, which had built some mutual trust… and partly obviously because they too had already felt the pressure brought by the matter of Yunqingzi.

Yuanling Zhenren’s expression was grave. His gaze passed through Qianji Zhenren, through the roof of the hall and the grand formation dome of Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain, as if looking into the starry void beyond the planet.

A formless, intangible sense of danger and terror hung over Taixu Star. It couldn’t be seen or touched, but to the spiritual perception of cultivators, the unease brought by that shadow had become as thick as ink, as if it intended to envelop and swallow the entire planet.

Yuanling Zhenren couldn’t tell what it was, but he felt… that a maddened Yunqingzi alone couldn’t bring such a strange “shadow,” not even with the addition of a group of sinister heretics.

Since he could sense it, then the leaders of the other four major sects… should have sensed it too.

“…What the hell is that thing?”

…

Giant suppression pillars stood tall in the vast underground cavern. Flowing light of earth veins crisscrossed, encircling the cave walls, then silently drifting across the cavern roof. The chains, after being reinforced and tempered with spiritual energy, swayed slightly, making clanking sounds as they rubbed together. Amidst this friction, a huge stone ball with a terrifying “face” lazily turned its body and looked at a corner of the cavern.

A bizarre giant snake with seven heads was coiled not far away on one of the suppression pillars, wrapped in “Binding Demon Ropes” much finer than the chains on the Doom Omen, snoring loudly.

The stone ball slowly split open its mouth, jagged, sharp stone “fangs” gradually parting. It floated up, its hollow black pits of “eyes” seeming to reflect chaotic shadows. Then it drifted in front of the bizarre giant snake, grinning menacingly at the latter, and deliberately rattled the chains on its body.

The giant snake woke from its dream. All seven heads opened their eyes at once. Fourteen eyes simultaneously reflected the Doom Omen’s terrifying and hideous appearance.

“Ah! Holy shit! Ah! Woof! Aooow—”

The giant snake let out a chaotic scream that no ordinary two or three people could produce. In an instant, it shot down from the suppression pillar, but because its several heads were pulling in different directions (mainly because the dog head clearly had a different thought process from the others), it ended up tying itself into a knot on the spot before it could escape, rolling messily amidst a tangle of chains.

The Doom Omen let out a hoarse, terrifying laugh.

“Are you fucking sick, scaring a protected animal like me!” Snake Empress struggled to poke one of her heads out of the ball she had coiled herself into, glaring angrily at the stone ball. “I’ve already been exiled here, isn’t that bad enough?!”

“I’m actually curious—how did you get ‘exiled’ to this very bottom level?” The Doom Omen floated lazily in front of Snake Empress, looking down at this creature it considered weak and lowly. “With your abilities, you’re not qualified to be suppressed in the lower levels, let alone here—look at these pillars around you. You were sleeping on them, and they didn’t even react.”

“Of course it’s because that old bastard Yuanhe settled a personal score!” Snake Empress immediately cursed loudly. “That pus-oozing, bastardly old Daoist! I just cursed him a few times when I was being escorted in, and he happened to hear me. Then he tossed me straight here, saying something about making me reflect… Reflect my ass! Was what I said really that bad? I didn’t even say the worse stuff!”

As the Doom Omen listened to Snake Empress’s rant, its terrifying face showed no emotional reaction that human reason could interpret. After a long moment, a hoarse voice came from its jagged-toothed mouth: “I think you asked to come down.”

Snake Empress’s several heads shrank back into the snake ball. “Wh-why do you say that?”

“You used to curse Yuanhe often too. Sometimes I could hear you cursing from all the way down here. He wouldn’t throw you down here for a reason like that—unless you begged him to.”

“Begged him? I begged him my—” Snake Empress’s face flushed, but as she spoke, under the terrifying and hollow gaze of the Doom Omen, she shrank back, muttering, “…Fine, the main reason is I was afraid of being beaten to death if I stayed up there. There were a few dumbasses who thought they were caught because I snitched at the end, and said if I hadn’t snitched, they’d have escaped the mountain long ago.”

“Did you snitch?”

“Yes.”

For the first time, the Doom Omen understood what humans meant by “speechless.”

“What choice did I have!” Snake Empress argued fervently. “With the situation at the time, anyone who didn’t bow their head was a dumbass. Those Daoists from Thousand-Peak Spirit Mountain were truly vicious. I saw with my own eyes that old bastard Yuanhe set up a giant tripod at the foot of the mountain, filled with Third-Order True Fire, and a five-spice spicy beef tallow broth inside. Whenever they caught an escaped demon beast, they threw it into the tripod—some cut into slices, some tied into butterfly knots, some flattened with crisscross cuts before throwing in… Was that snitching? That was me being sensible while helping others be sensible!”

Snake Empress cursed and ranted chaotically, her shouts filled with bits and pieces randomly assembled from her several muddled brains, from unknown sources. After cursing for a good while, she suddenly stopped, as calm as if she hadn’t been the one yelling just now, and cautiously looked at the “stone ball” in front of her.

“Why did you suddenly come to talk to me?”

“Boredom, and curiosity,” the Doom Omen slowly split open its mouth, as if smiling. “You know, little creature—the omen of doom approaches this planet. I can sense that the long-awaited day of my escape is near. I’ve always enjoyed observing the reactions of those so-called ‘intelligent species’ on the planet throughout the process at such times. And you… are an interesting individual.”

Snake Empress stared blankly at the huge stone ball floating before her. After a long while, she slowly widened her eyes. “…So what?”

The Doom Omen was silent.

A moment later, the stone ball suddenly turned and floated upward. It stopped at a critical position where it would provoke a violent reaction from the suppression chains and pillars, and shouted up toward the cavern ceiling:

“Yuanling! Yuanhe! Whoever it is, take this idiot away immediately! Send something with a brain down here! Do you hear me! Something with a brain!”

But no one paid any attention.