mtlumby2d Chapter 397 Investigation Begins
Chapter 397 Investigation Begins
Yun Yao and Chu Mochen knew that if they didn't find out the mastermind behind the destruction of the sect, the sect would never have peace. After a short rest, the two immediately devoted themselves to the investigation.
Yun Yao first thought of starting with a series of unusual events that had occurred in the sect recently. She carefully sorted out her memories, and those seemingly scattered but strange details gradually emerged. For example, the precious raw materials for elixirs stored in the sect's warehouse had inexplicably decreased, but the disciples in charge of guarding them had no idea; and some disciples who were on missions outside reported that they were attacked by unknown forces, and the other party seemed to know their whereabouts very well, but the mission arrangement was obviously temporary and confidential.
Chu Mochen decided to break through from external clues. Relying on the connections he had accumulated in the cultivation world, he quietly contacted several well-informed independent cultivators. These independent cultivators have been wandering among various forces for many years and know many unknown secrets. Chu Mochen met them in a hidden valley.
"Brother Chu, what you're asking for is very tricky." A casual cultivator with a weathered face but shrewd eyes shook his head and sighed.
"Please trouble you, brothers. This matter concerns the survival of our sect. If you can help, I will reward you handsomely." Chu Mochen spoke sincerely and bowed.
The casual cultivators looked at each other and finally nodded. One of them said, "Recently, we have heard that a mysterious force has been frequently contacting some small and medium-sized sects, and seems to be forcing them to hand over something or obey its orders. Although these small and medium-sized sects are reluctant, they seem to have something on them, so they dare not speak out."
Chu Mochen's heart moved, and he asked: "Do you know what the characteristics of this mysterious force are? What do they want?"
The casual cultivator frowned and recalled: "The characteristics are not very clear, but we know that they act very secretly, and every time they appear, they are masked and wear the same black robe. As for the things they ask for, it is said to be related to an ancient cultivation method that can greatly increase spiritual power and has a miraculous effect on breaking through realms."
Chu Mochen thanked the cultivator and hurried back to the sect with this clue to meet Yun Yao. After hearing this, Yun Yao pondered for a moment and said, "If there is something related to this mysterious technique in the sect, the library may be able to find clues. There are countless books there, and there may be some words about this technique."
The two went straight to the library, but the vast amount of books in the library made them feel a little overwhelmed. Yun Yao suddenly had an idea and used the system's search function to input keywords related to the mysterious technique, trying to filter out useful information. The system ran quickly, and soon, it gave a list of several ancient books that seemed to be related.
They searched according to the list and found a vague record in a yellowed and old book. It mentioned that a thousand years ago, there was a peerless strong man who created a set of heaven-defying skills called "Lingxiao Jue". The spiritual power of those who practiced this skill could increase several times and break through the conventional realm bottleneck. However, this skill was too overbearing. During the practice, a large number of rare spiritual objects were required. It would also be a great test of the practitioner's character. If you are not careful, you will go astray.
“Could it be that this mysterious organization is pursuing the Lingxiao Jue? But this technique has been lost for many years, why has it reappeared in the world now?” Yun Yao was full of doubts.
Chu Mochen pondered: "Perhaps someone got some fragments and knew its power, so he tried to collect the complete skills. And our sect may have been mistakenly believed by them to have hidden key clues due to some coincidences."
In order to further verify their conjecture, Yun Yao and Chu Mochen decided to start by checking the records of the sect's recent new disciples, new items, and exchanges with the outside world. They spent several days checking the backgrounds of the new disciples one by one, but found nothing suspicious.
When investigating new items, Yun Yao found a jade pendant of unknown origin deep in the warehouse. The jade pendant looked ordinary, but when Yun Yao injected spiritual power into it to test it, it actually heated up slightly, and some strange runes appeared on the surface. Seeing this, Chu Mochen hurriedly used his magic weapon and carefully protected the surroundings to prevent any accidents from happening.
After the rune flashed for a moment, it turned into an illusory light and shadow, and a vague voice was heard: "Lingxiao appears, the world changes. If you want to find the method, look for the ancient traces..." The voice stopped abruptly, and the jade pendant returned to calm.
"Where is this ancient abyss? It seems that this jade pendant must be the key item, but how could it appear in our sect's warehouse?" Yun Yao frowned.
The two of them took the jade pendant and went to discuss with the elders again. An elder who was proficient in ancient textual research said after carefully examining the jade pendant: "In my opinion, this ancient abyss may be the place where the powerful man retreated thousands of years ago. Legend has it that the place is located in a mysterious space, full of dangers, and the entrance is hidden and difficult to find. But if this mysterious organization believes that our sect knows the location of the ancient abyss, they will definitely stop at nothing."
Yun Yao and Chu Mochen realized that time was running out and they had to speed up the investigation. On the one hand, they arranged for the disciples of the sect to strengthen their vigilance to prevent a sudden attack by the mysterious organization; on the other hand, they continued to dig deeper along the clue of the jade pendant.
Chu Mochen, relying on his profound knowledge of magic weapons, tried to decipher the hidden information in the jade pendant. He studied day and night and finally found a subtle spiritual power restriction inside the jade pendant, which seemed to be deliberately set up to prevent others from exploring all the secrets. After some hard work, he successfully unlocked the restriction, and the jade pendant shone again, projecting a simple map with a vague location marked on it, which was the approximate area where the legendary ancient abyss was located.
However, just as they were about to set out to explore, another major incident occurred in the sect. Several core disciples suddenly lost their spiritual power while practicing, were seriously injured, and fell into a coma. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen rushed to the scene, only to see that the disciples were pale, their spiritual power was disordered, and their breath was weak.
Yun Yao used the system to detect and found that there was a strange mark of spiritual power remaining in the disciples' bodies. This mark seemed to be a trace left by some evil technique, which could interfere with the operation of the practitioners' own spiritual power.
"This must be the work of a mysterious organization. They are attacking our disciples in secret and want to weaken our strength." Chu Mochen's eyes widened with anger and his fists clenched.
In order to save her disciples, Yun Yao searched for ancient books everywhere, trying to find a way to dissolve the spiritual power mark. She worked tirelessly and finally found a potentially effective elixir formula in an obscure ancient medical book, but the herbs needed were extremely rare, and some of them only grew in dangerous places.
Chu Mochen did not hesitate and immediately set out to collect medicinal herbs. He traveled between mountains and experienced countless hardships. In a swamp full of miasma, he was attacked by ferocious monsters. Those monsters were huge, spewed poisonous mist, and attacked fiercely. Chu Mochen used all his skills to fight the monsters to death. He was wounded in many places before he finally collected the key medicinal herbs.
Yun Yao waited anxiously in the sect, and at the same time commanded the disciples to strengthen the defense. Finally, Chu Mochen rushed back with the medicinal materials, and the two worked together to refine the elixir. After 49 hours of careful refining, the elixir was ready. After the injured disciples took it, the spiritual power marks in the disciples' bodies gradually dissipated, and their breath also stabilized.
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, a new crisis came. The mountain protection formation around the sect showed signs of loosening inexplicably, and some of the runes in the formation were dim, as if they were secretly destroyed. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen hurriedly checked and found traces of a strong spiritual force impact at the base of the formation.
"They are trying to break our sect's mountain protection formation and prepare for a large-scale attack." Yun Yao's face was gloomy.
The two hurriedly repaired the mountain protection formation and set up some secret early warning devices in the formation so that they could detect the actions of the mysterious organization in advance. During the repair process, they found that the destruction method was extremely sophisticated and was obviously done by someone who was proficient in formations.
Yun Yao remembered that when she was investigating new items, a foreign visitor who claimed to be a formation master visited the sect and said he wanted to exchange formation experience, and also left some formation diagrams. She hurriedly found those formation diagrams and compared them with the damaged parts of the mountain protection formation, and indeed found similarities.
"It seems that this mysterious organization had planned this in advance and infiltrated our sect through various disguises." Chu Mochen gritted his teeth.
Following this clue, they tracked down the whereabouts of the formation master, but found that he had disappeared without a trace. But Yun Yao did not give up. She used the system's backtracking function to simulate the possible whereabouts of the man after he left the sect.
According to the system prompt, they came to a remote town. In the inn of the town, they found out that a suspicious black-robed man had stayed here, and asked the waiter if there were any hidden valleys or ancient ruins nearby. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen were moved and chased in the direction the black-robed man left.
In the valley outside the town, they found some residual spiritual power fluctuations and a simple concealment formation set up by the black-robed man. After cracking the formation, they found a temporary camp inside, with some papers scattered on the ground, with partial maps of the sect's mountain protection formation and some scattered notes about the "Lingxiao Jue".
"The evidence is irrefutable. This mysterious organization is here for the Lingxiao Jue. They want to destroy our sect first and then look for clues to the technique." Yun Yao's eyes were firm. "We must not let them succeed."
Back at the sect, Yun Yao and Chu Mochen gathered all the clues and reported them in detail to the elders. After discussion, they decided to release false news, saying that the sect had found the fragments of "Ling Xiao Jue", but in order to prevent the skills from being used by evil people, they had secretly transferred them to an extremely secret place and guarded by several strong men; on the other hand, the sect secretly gathered forces and prepared to catch the mysterious organization in one fell swoop when it acted according to the false news.
While waiting for the mysterious organization to take the bait, Yun Yao and Chu Mochen were not idle. They continued to study the map obtained from the jade pendant, trying to find a safe path to enter the ancient abyss. At the same time, they strengthened their own training and improved their strength to cope with the upcoming war.
As the days passed, the sect seemed calm, but undercurrents were surging. Yun Yao and Chu Mochen kept an eye on the movements of all parties. They knew that the decisive battle with the mysterious organization was coming. This battle, which was related to the survival of the sect, would determine the future direction of the cultivation world...