Martial Arts: Start by Obtaining the Wild World

Chapter 376 0375: Shadow Alliance, Flame Prison City
Looking at the information on the No. 1 and No. 2 Soul Gathering Monuments, it was basically as he expected.

The grade did not change, but surprisingly, they all absorbed the third-level soul. He estimated that it was not that they were fighting against the golden elixir, but that there were golden elixir souls in some places, and they were collected by the soul-gathering monument.

It was only when he noticed the coverage of the Yin Realm that he understood that the souls absorbed by the battlefield gradually increased the coverage distance. The rest remained unchanged.

With confidence, Cheng Zongyang left the Realm of All Races and headed for Ice City.

After an hour, Cheng Zongyang asked various large chambers of commerce and various sect offices, even if he spent spirit stones, he only got one answer - there are no statistics.

There is no dynasty in the world of immortal cultivation, and it is impossible for a sect to do such an unnecessary thing.

Since even the sect hasn’t kept statistics, there’s no need to think too much about it.

Since the population survey problem could not be solved, Cheng Zongyang prepared to continue his unfinished task of collecting spirit veins.

Spiritual veins are vital resources. They not only provide sufficient spiritual energy for practitioners, but are also the key to the rise and fall of a force. The Shadow Alliance has been entrenched in the Fire Region. Its power is equal to that of the five major immortal sects and should not be underestimated.

Cheng Zongyang knew that if he could destroy the Shadow Alliance's spiritual vein, he should be able to drive the Shadow Alliance out of the Fire Region, and secondly, it might cause the Shadow Alliance to fight against the five major immortal sects. He continued to stir up trouble and force more people to enter the realm of all races.

When I was collecting spirit veins, I had seen people from the Shadow Alliance stealing spirit veins before, but I didn't fight them.

Cheng Zongyang was not worried about this chaos. On the contrary, he believed that there were often various opportunities in the chaos. As long as he could seize the opportunity, he could allow more people to enter the realm of all races.

According to what Lin Changfeng said before, because of the Shadow Alliance, the Fire Domain is far more dangerous than the Ice Domain.

As long as you enter a certain range, you will be involved in the territory of the Shadow Alliance.

What follows are various man-made traps, formations, etc.

Therefore, to get to the Shadow Alliance from a certain area, one must either go through the Shadow Alliance's teleportation array or go on their own.

There is only one road in each direction. If you take the wrong one, you will have to face all kinds of astonishing high temperatures of fire, fire poisons, fire monsters, fire spirits, as well as mazes, illusions, and killing arrays set up by the Shadow Alliance.

Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would not dare to enter with such numerous killing moves.

But Cheng Zongyang didn't care about these.

He drove the Feiyun Shuttle to a fire abyss that was several dozen feet wide and had no end and stopped.

“This is the critical area.”

Cheng Zongyang came all the way here, looking at this strange area in front of him, and a sense of solemnity surged in his heart. He stopped here according to the map in his hand.

Here, the temperature is at two different levels. The environment is also different. Looking across from the Fire Abyss, it seems like a world dominated by flames. The air around is slightly distorted by the high temperature, and heat waves are rolling.

But these had no effect on him. With his natural ability to adapt, he had already ignored the ever-present high temperature.

The blazing fire region was like a gigantic furnace, enough to scare away ordinary cultivators, but for Cheng Zongyang, it was nothing more than a challenging adventure place.

He took out the map of the Fire Region that he had bought from the Chamber of Commerce. He had spent a lot of money to get this map. It not only marked the topography of the Fire Region in detail, but also marked the location of the Shadow Alliance headquarters.

This is also an important destination of his trip.

Looking at the complicated lines and marks on the map, Cheng Zongyang found a route with fewer monsters but more poisonous fog and higher temperature based on his location.

Next, Cheng Zongyang took back the Feiyun Shuttle and prepared to take a more covert approach.

He used a secret technique to perfectly conceal his aura and cultivation, and then took out a magic robe. This robe not only has a protective function, but also has the function of ignoring spiritual detection. More importantly, it also has the function of protective color that changes with the environment.

When he put on the robe and activated the robe formation pattern, the whole person seemed to blend into the surrounding environment, as if he was invisible.

Then, he took out two soul-gathering tablets. One soul-gathering tablet was suspended below him, and Cheng Zongyang sat cross-legged on it. The other soul-gathering tablet was palm-sized and quietly fell beside him, ready to take effect at any time.

In addition, Cheng Zongyang also took out a token for entering the formation. This token could help him ignore the formations below level 6 along the way, reducing the influence of the formations that might exist on the road.

After making all preparations, Cheng Zongyang controlled the Soul Gathering Monument and quietly flew over the Fire Abyss.

In the fire abyss, the hot magma rolled and surged, emitting a terrifying high temperature and a terrifying aura. Cheng Zongyang did not dare to be careless at all, staring closely at the front, trying to avoid the dangerous area.

He took out the map, followed the route, and officially entered the depths of the fire region.

Cheng Zongyang saw many amazing sights along the way. The temperature here was extremely high, as if it could melt everything. The air was filled with pungent poisonous gas, which was emitted by various strange flames and minerals. Cheng Zongyang even saw some fire creatures spewing poisonous gas.

But he had to remain vigilant at all times, using his own talents and secret methods to constantly adapt to these influences.

In the Fire Region, various strange monsters appear from time to time, just like the various ice monsters that appear in the Ice Region.

Some monsters are huge, like a small mountain, and exude a strong aura; some monsters are flexible and extremely fast, making them hard to grasp. Some are invisible and formless, appearing and disappearing from time to time, which is very strange.

Cheng Zongyang knew very well that his goal was not to fight these monsters, but to find the destination as soon as possible.

Therefore, whenever he encountered a monster, he would speed up to avoid it and try not to attract their attention. It was also with the help of the robe that he was not discovered or entangled by the native creatures along the way. Even when he faced them head-on, he was not attacked.

As time went by, Cheng Zongyang had been flying in the fire zone for several days and nights.

Along the way, he did not consume much spiritual power, because his extraordinary adaptability allowed him to easily withstand high temperatures, while controlling the Soul Gathering Monument consumed mental power.

Whenever his mental strength was close to the limit, he would enter the realm of all races to recover. After the recovery, he could continue to fly for two days. It can be said that he could fly without interruption while on the road.

Finally, after flying for a few more days, Cheng Zongyang saw a huge lava-colored city in the distance.

This huge city seemed to have risen from the lava of a volcano, exuding a dark and oppressive atmosphere. The city walls flickered with strange lights, as if they were condensed from countless flames. The city gates were tall and heavy, engraved with mysterious runes and patterns, which made people feel daunted.

Cheng Zongyang slowed down and approached the huge city cautiously.

He observed the people entering and leaving the huge city and found that they were all wearing black robes, their faces were not revealed, and they were all in a hurry.

Under his subtle perception, some people exuded a strong aura, and he immediately retracted it to avoid being noticed. This kind of people were obviously extraordinary cultivators above the foundation building stage; after all, he was now in the middle stage of the foundation building stage, and the cultivation level of those who could make him feel frightened could be imagined.

Some people seemed ordinary, and their entry and exit were not secretive. Looking at the people entering and leaving the city gate, they were all wearing black robes. I don’t know if it was to cover up or to protect against high temperatures, but there were no other colors.

Cheng Zongyang was secretly alert in his heart. He knew that in such a dangerous place, he had to keep a low profile to avoid unnecessary trouble. His purpose of coming here was to find the location of the spiritual vein. So he needed to investigate.

Through the information collected previously, we learned that this huge city is called "Yanyu City".

Yanyu City is an important city in the Fire Region where the Shadow Alliance’s headquarters is located, and it is also the only city of the Shadow Alliance.

The environment here is extremely harsh. For the safety of the headquarters, the Shadow Alliance has set up many formations outside the city, making the temperature far higher than other places, but it will not affect the headquarters city. In addition, there are poisonous gases and third-level and even fourth-level fire monsters.

It was precisely these methods that made the cultivators outside stop at the Fire Abyss. The brave ones would cross the Fire Abyss and go more than a hundred miles deep. But there were very few cultivators who dared to continue going in.

The main reason is that they don't want to run into people from the Shadow Alliance. Therefore, more monks are willing to go to the Ice Region instead of the Fire Region.

After Cheng Zongyang changed his robe into black, he thought about entering these cities.

After a while, Cheng Zongyang locked onto a cultivator who was out, and judging from his aura, he should be a Qi training cultivator, which was more in line with his goal.

A quarter of an hour later, Cheng Zongyang, who was far away from Yanyu City, took out a soul-gathering stele, twisted the neck of the cultivator who had been following him, and his soul was immediately absorbed.

At this time, Cheng Zongyang activated the soul realm ability of the Soul Gathering Monument, stripped the cultivator's memories, and began to explore all of his memories.

Half an hour later, Cheng Zongyang had an understanding of the situation of this cultivator and Yanyu City. Of course, it was also the cultivator's cognition. He couldn't be sure how much of it was correct. But it was enough for him.

He brought the monk's body into the Hall of All Races and used the method of camouflage to transform himself into his face, body shape, and aura of cultivation.

Therefore, he inherited the identity of Tie Ling, who was a dark blade-level assassin of the Shadow Alliance.

In the Shadow Alliance, there are five levels of killers - Shadow (warrior), Dark Blade (Qi training), Nether Fire (foundation building), Soul Devourer (Golden Core), Shadow King (Nascent Soul).

He threw the corpse to the Ringwraiths as a sacrifice, and then came out and headed towards the Fire Prison City.

The purpose of this trip, in addition to collecting spirit veins, is also to take a look at the dark world that the Shadow Alliance has been defending, and its relationship with the previous lord.

Being able to possess such a precious martial art as the Black Evil Secret Codex, even if it is only the first half, is enough to prove that the Shadow Alliance had a relationship with the previous leader.

Cheng Zongyang successfully entered Yanyu City with the identity token he obtained.

Just like in my memory, the outside looked like a world of flames and poisonous gas, but the inside was a different environment.

The environment here is the same as other fairy cities, which is normal. It has all the necessary business environments, the only difference is the dress and atmosphere.

Cheng Zongyang was walking on the street. The atmosphere here seemed a bit solemn. He listened to the conversations of some businessmen around him. They were all directly quoting and bargaining. There were no extra words.

It seems that their behavior is caused by their professional habits.

Cheng Zongyang slowly walked towards the center of Yanyu City.

In the central area is a palace that covers a large area and is five stories high.

Although it is not high, it is a place that the entire Yanyu City dares not be presumptuous and respects. That is the headquarters of the Shadow Alliance.

"Lin Changfeng said that the Dark World is at the core of the Shadow Alliance. Could it be underground?" Cheng Zongyang pondered.

When he got nearby, Cheng Zongyang looked normal and moved as usual as he passed by and took a glance.

Seeing the palace flickering with mysterious light, it was obviously protected by a formation. Cheng Zongyang did not stop and slowly left Yanyu City.

"Overall, it's similar to the memories I gained." Ten miles outside the city, Cheng Zongyang stood on a fiery red spiritual tree, looking at Yanyu City in the distance.

Next, Cheng Zongyang began to investigate the location of the city’s underground spiritual veins.

From the layout, guards, and formations of Yanyu City, he knew that collecting spiritual veins was much more difficult than it was for the Ji family back then.

He began to patrol back and forth around Yanyu City, exploring and looking for traces that might be related to the underground spiritual veins, such as the direction of the spiritual veins, the approximate range, and the degree of spiritual energy leakage.

After seven days of various investigations, a detailed data was recorded by Cheng Zongyang.

From these observations, Cheng Zongyang felt that the spiritual veins underground might be different from those outside.

During this period of observation, he found that in some places, the ground would occasionally emit some hot air, and the surrounding plants grew particularly lush. However, this hot air contained more fire spirit energy.

Cheng Zongyang speculated that these places might be related to underground spiritual veins.

In order to further understand the situation, Cheng Zongyang began to take action. He wanted to first test whether his guess was correct.

In order not to attract the attention of Yanyu City, he still chose not to use magic, but released the well-protected mole beasts to dig.

Under his command, the two moles began to dig the soil, but the land was very hot, so they also carried magic weapons to ward off fire and reduce temperature.

The moles were digging quickly underground, while Cheng Zongyang was closely watching the surrounding situation.

The excavation took three days.

Cheng Zongyang tracked the underground heat and gradually went deeper by measuring the reaction given by the spirit stone, which made Cheng Zongyang more and more certain that even if this was not a spirit vein, it was at least the periphery of the spirit vein.

Next, he returned to the ground, camouflaged the cave entrance, and continued to track the direction of the spiritual vein.

This whole thing lasted another two days.

When Cheng Zongyang checked the direction from time to time through his spiritual sense, he finally discovered a light film that seemed to be there and not there.

Cheng Zongyang first took the two mole beasts into the realm of all races. After an inspection, Cheng Zongyang was a little surprised.

"How cunning! He actually set up a spirit detection restriction underground."

(End of this chapter)