Chapter 734: Who’s the Invader?
Lu Zhou intended to interrogate a local cultivator to obtain more information about the red lotus domain such as its basic structure, number of sects, or who the ruler was, among others. If he knew who the leader was, he could just directly go to the leader. It was stated in the art of war that one should always aim for the king. If one could capture or kill the enemy’s commander, the remaining army would crumble of its own accord. This way, the red lotus domain’s plans of invading the golden lotus domain would be foiled. He thought this was a rather feasible plan. However, since they did not manage to capture anyone alive, he would have to look for someone else. The information he wanted was not a great secret after all, He could always just ask around when he arrived at a human settlement.
“Forget it. Just listen to my orders when we enter the human city. Don’t make any rash movements.” Lu Zhou felt these words were not enough. Although the young girl had improved by leaps and bounds, she was not too familiar with the workings of the world or the conflict between the golden lotus domain and the red lotus domain. Therefore, he added, “You mustn’t reveal your energy or your avatar as well.”
“Oh, got it.” Little Yuan’er seemed to know she had made a mistake since she joined her palms together in a pleading gesture.
Lu Zhou turned to look at the Sky Chariot. There was a new problem. Where should he park the Sky Chariot? When he discovered the human settlement was still some distance away, he decided to take a look before deciding on anything.
“Let’s go.”
…
The Sky Martial Court.
Mo Buyan hurried into the main hall. He bowed and said, “Elder Qiu, the Song brothers guarding the Endless Ocean are dead.”
Elder Qiu’s eyes snapped open in shock. He asked, “What about the others?”
“Song Gang and Song Chu were in the fifth team. Team one to team four guard the northeastern direction. Team five to team eight guard the southeastern direction. When the others hurried to the scene, Song Gang and Song Chu were already dead.” Mo Buyan seemed to have trouble accepting this as well.
“Isn’t General Zhuo there?” Elder Qiu wondered out loud, puzzled.
“Zhuo Xing is from the palace, after all. He’d wished for nothing more than for the sects to fight amongst themselves. The palace has always seized opportunities like this. If we haven’t been supporting them in secret…”
Elder Qiu narrowed his eyes and raised a hand to cut him short. He said, “Don’t spout nonsense.”
“I’ve spoken wrongly.”
“To be able to deal with team five in such a short time and openly challenge the palace and the Sky Martial Court… I can’t think of anyone else apart from invaders from the golden lotus domain. Send someone to investigate this in secret. Also, notify the palace about this. Every cultivator entering and leaving the cities should be examined,” Elder Qiu said.
“I’ll get to it immediately.” Mo Buyan left the great hall.
Elder Qiu sighed. He looked at the door and muttered to himself, “Perhaps, the golden lotus domain is much more powerful than we expected. The invaders… are here.”
Who was the invader?
…
Lu Zhou remembered the outline of the map that Si Wuya had sketched. Moreover, Luo s.h.i.+yin’s notes mentioned that the red lotus domain and the golden lotus domain were similar. If that was the case, it would take some time before they encounter a human settlement.
The Sky Chariot flew in the sky.
At this moment, the Sky Chariot was slightly too slow for his liking. It was not s.p.a.cious as well. It did not offer the best experience while crossing the Endless Ocean as well. However, this was their only Sky Chariot that would serve as their only means to return to the golden lotus domain. They could not destroy it nor could they carry it everywhere with them. Considering the fact that Luo s.h.i.+yin left this object behind 300 years ago, there would likely be more advanced Sky Chariots in the red lotus domain. The difficulty of building a Sky Shuttle would be much greater than that of building this miniature Sky Chariot.
The three of them crossed several thousand miles of mountains, rivers, and forests before they saw the human cities, villages, and residential zones.
After a while, Lu Zhou found a cave. He placed the Sky Shuttle inside the cave and sealed the entrance.
Feeling a.s.sured, three of them entered the city and found an inn.
Then, Lu Zhou sent Little Yuan’er to obtain information about this city and its location.
…
Little Yuan’er returned around dusk.
“Master, I’ve asked around… Wait, let me have a drink of water…” Little Yuan’er poured herself a gla.s.s of water right after she entered the room. After quenching her thirst, she said, “This is a small city in Longyou Circuit.”
“Longyou?” Lu Zhou stroked his beard and pondered.
“I hate the name. Aside from the foreign tribes, everything is under Great Tang’s control. Great Tang is divided into ten circuits. There’s the Guannei Circuit, Jiangdong Circuit, Jiangbei Circuit, Jiannan Circuit… The capital is in Guannei Circuit. This is Longyou…” Little Yuan’er drank some water again.
Lu Zhou nodded slightly. He had a rough idea now. He asked, “Are there any major sects around here?”
“From what I heard at the relay station, the Flying Star House sounds powerful. They killed the luan… There are many who wish to join the Flying Star House,” Little Yuan’er replied.
‘The Flying Star House? What a small world.’ Lu Zhou remembered that Gu Ming, whom he had killed, mentioned that Great Yan’s Imperial tutor, Jiang Wenxu, was from the Flying Star House. If they could kill the luan, they were, indeed, powerful. However, he took these rumors with a pinch of salt.
In Great Yan, the ten great sects were said to be powerful as well, but they still paled in comparison to the Three Sects. The rise of the Fiend Sects could not compare to Yu Zhenghai’s Nether Sect at all.
Then, Little Yuan’er told him everything that she had learned.
Lu Zhou nodded and committed the information to memory.
Conch supported her chin and blinked as she listened to Little Yuan’er’s report. In the beginning, she managed to stay awake. However, as she listened, she slowly rested her head on the table and fell asleep.
After listening to what Little Yuan’er had to say, Lu Zhou now had a basic understanding of the red lotus domain. Aside from learning about the Sky Martial Court and the Flying Star House, there were still organizations such as the Blood Sun Temple, the Thousand Blades Temple, the Ninth Temple, and the Twelve Sects of Cloud Mountain. The restrictive power of the palace was not as great as compared to Great Yan. However, it was not to be underestimated since it managed to remain in power up to this day. Apart from that, there were also more foreign tribes around Great Tang, but none of them dared to invade Great Tang. Things were comparatively peaceful here.
The problem was… How was he supposed to find Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong?
“Did you find out anything about your Eldest and Second Senior Brother?” Lu Zhou asked.
Little Yuan’er shook her head.
Lu Zhou wondered inwardly, ‘Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong have killed many red lotus grand cultivators, but they weren’t exposed. The issue of the golden lotus domain isn’t a common topic of conversation among the people yet.’
Among the sects, the Blood Sun Temple was the nearest. Moreover, they had lost one karmic fire elite, and they did not have many monks. They would be a relatively easy target.
With his Deadly Strike Card, Lu Zhou was not worried about opponents with possibly more profound cultivation bases than his. With this, he recalled the colossal creature in the Endless Ocean. He could not help but wonder if humans could reach the stage of that colossal creature through cultivating?
…
The next morning.
Lu Zhou and his two disciples left the inn. After they found out the Blood Sun Temple’s location, they left the city. Upon their exit, they noticed that the process was stricter than when they had entered. However, it posed no problem to them.
…
Outside the city.
Lu Zhou tried to summon his mount. “Whitzard.”
After waiting for a while, there was still no sign of Whitzard.
Lu Zhou told Little Yuan’er and Conch to stay close as he called up the system dashboard and checked the information of his mount.
Whitzard (rus.h.i.+ng to the red lotus domain)
“Qiong Qi”
Qiong Qi (insufficient ability, could not head to the red lotus domain.)
“Ji Liang.”
Ji Liang (rus.h.i.+ng to the red lotus domain…)
Lu Zhou thought of summoning Bi An here as well. However, when he considered that they would have to return to the golden lotus domain again, he decided to not summon Bi An to save it the trouble of going back and forth.
He made his decision after considering Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong. Two would be enough. Whitzard could carry three riders, and Ji Liang could carry two. It was just right.
Lu Zhou sighed. ‘I don’t think parents would have this much trouble. Being a master is much harder than being a parent.’
With no mounts available, they had no choice but to fly themselves.
Lu Zhou looked up and saw some beasts circling in the sky. He was puzzled. ‘What’s the red lotus domain using to prevent the beasts from coming nearer? There were more beasts during the night, but they couldn’t break the city’s barrier.’
He turned to look at the city wall, and he looked at the towering walls. It was 100-meter tall so he could not see the ends on either side. When he looked up, he could see a web-like pattern halfway up the wall.
‘Formation veins?’ It was too far away for him to see.
Formation veins were largely used on weapons, flying chariots, and Formations on the ground. It was rare to see them being used on city walls. Indeed, the red lotus domain was much more advanced than the golden lotus domain. He would have to reach a consensus with the red lotus domain’s cultivators as quickly as possible.
If a war were to break out, the golden lotus domain would be hard-pressed to fend off the red lotus domain with its combined strength.
“Let’s go.” Lu Zhou took flight made his way to Blood Sun Mountain.
Little Yuan’er and Conch responded and followed him.
…
Two days later.
The three of them landed at the foot of Blood Sun Mountain.
Without mounts, they took longer than usual. They gained a better understanding of the red lotus domain’s surroundings along the way. The plants, mountains, and rivers were lusher in the red lotus domain. The beasts in the wild were more ferocious. They could often see larger beasts that tried to get close to human settlements, but they were swiftly killed by human cultivators.
“Master, is this Blood Sun Mountain?” Little Yuan’er looked at the red leaves that covered the mountain.
Under the sun, the red maple leaves painted the scene bright vermillion.
Blood Sun Mountain was true to its name.
Lu Zhou nodded. He stroked his beard and said, “Go up the mountain.”
The three of them flew instead of walking. When they were halfway up the mountain, a young novice monk came up to meet them. His palm was straightened before his chest, and his head was bald. He bowed politely as he said, “Dear benefactors, kindly halt… This is Blood Sun Temple, and we’re not accepting visitors at the moment. I kindly ask you to leave.”