Li Yan's Divine Sense swept the surroundings. For the moment, no other cultivators were passing by. He connected his Divine Sense to Tu Ban, and a Jade Slip appeared in his hand. Li Yan pressed it vertically against his forehead. Moments later, he put the Jade Slip away, his eyes narrowing as he gazed at the colossal tower piercing the clouds in the distance, lost in thought.
After parting ways with Su Hong half a month ago, Li Yan had raced north like the wind. He sensed the surging undercurrents in the cultivation world, making the need to refine his Natal Magical Treasure all the more urgent. He had already asked Gong Chenying and the others about the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" before they separated. At that time, he had already obtained a piece of Crimson Mother Essence, but the quantity was insufficient. A trip to the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" was inevitable.
Although Gong Chenying and Zhao Min had never been to the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" for training, they had been cultivating for longer than Li Yan and were far more experienced. They knew some information about the pagoda, and the two women explained everything they knew to Li Yan. Later, when Li Yan obtained the "Netherworld Order," he also inquired about the detailed situation from Huchen Wuding. The Jade Slip he just read was a gift from Huchen Wuding.
The "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" was a mysterious Magical Treasure owned by a great power among the ancient cultivators. However, the Immortal Art to control this Magical Treasure had long been lost, leaving only this peerless artifact standing here. In the beginning, the cultivators of the Four Great Sects had tried countless methods, but even Spirit Transformation cultivators were completely unable to control it in the slightest.
According to legend, this Magical Treasure was likely used by a great power from the Buddhist or Confucian sects. It suppressed millions of ancient, ferocious souls and yin spirits—all of whom were such evil and fierce cultivators that they could not enter the cycle of reincarnation. When they were alive, they had rampaged across the mortal world, harming cultivators and mortals alike. They either devoured their yang qi to strengthen themselves or captured cultivators and mortals alive to refine their flesh and blood, turning them into Jiangshi for their use. After they died, these ferocious souls and yin spirits had long since transcended the category of ghost cultivators, existing outside the Three Realms and Five Elements, becoming a type of Vicious Soul.
When this great Buddhist or Confucian power captured these ferocious souls and yin spirits that plagued the world, one method was to shatter them completely, making them vanish from the world forever. The other method was to absorb them into a Magical Treasure, where the formations and restrictions within would continuously refine these souls, purifying them and turning them into a part of the Magical Treasure's power.
Whether they were Buddhist Saintly Monks or righteous Great Confucian Scholars, as long as they were cultivators, they possessed a degree of self-interest. They wouldn't exorcise demons and defend the Dao for nothing. Naturally, they would only act if there was a benefit. Thus, this great power chose the second method. Perhaps due to the multitude of ancient wars, countless Vicious Souls that existed outside the Three Realms and Five Elements were created. Although the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" had refined many Vicious Souls, there were still millions, perhaps even more, remaining within the tower. It is unknown whether this great power perished or experienced some shocking event, but he left the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" behind on the Desolate Moon Continent. From then on, the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" was without a master.
Even the most powerful Magical Treasure, without the continuous nurturing of a cultivator, will eventually become mediocre. The "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" was no exception. After continuing to refine the souls within on its own for a period of time, it eventually fell into tranquility, submerged in the long river of history until it was one day rediscovered by cultivators.
When cultivators found it, it was just a palm-sized treasure. In the end, no matter how they tried, they could not control it, but they could change its size. It was eventually obtained by the Jingtu Sect. Even when their Buddhist Arhats tried, they were unable to control it. However, they were overjoyed to discover that a unique space had formed within the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" from the Five Elements Space. Countless unknown demonic beasts and strange flowers and fruits had been born within. After deducing the origin of the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda," they realized that although it could no longer refine the Vicious Souls within, its seal was unbreakable, still firmly locking them away. It had divided them into different regions based on their levels. The Vicious Souls in those regions had not been refined, so they all possessed intelligence no less than that of humans. They also reproduced and cultivated heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Year after year, they continuously assaulted the seal, attempting to descend upon the mortal world once more.
At first, the Jingtu Sect cultivators were quite fearful of this. But after several Arhats entered to explore, the final report was that the seal here was one-way and unbreakable. The incantations on the seal only affected souls and had no restrictions on beings with physical bodies. Therefore, living beings could enter and exit freely to explore. However, they had to be careful not to be subjected to Body Seizure. Otherwise, not only would the person die, but a Vicious Soul would also escape by borrowing their corpse.
This placed certain restrictions on cultivators entering to search for treasure. At the same time, new types of demonic beasts were also born within the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda." However, they themselves were slowly formed from the Heaven and Earth Vital Qi inside the pagoda, and their bodies carried the aura of Vicious Souls, so they too were unable to break through the seal. But after they died and lost their life force, their demonic cores, flesh, and bones could be brought out. These were rare cultivation resources not found in the outside world and were naturally very precious.
Inside the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda," one had to face not only the elusive and terrifying Vicious Souls and demonic beasts, but the greatest enemy was often the cultivators themselves. Mutual slaughter was a very common occurrence. The Jingtu Sect paid no mind to this. In fact, it was the same in all Four Great Forbidden Zones. If fellow sect members helped each other inside, that was that. If they killed each other, that was also that. The Four Great Sects would not settle scores afterward. It was, in itself, a form of training. If they didn't let their disciples experience blood and storms, they would just be noble young masters from prominent families. In that case, the Four Great Sects might as well not bother with passing down their heritage.
However, it was different for the families and cultivation sects outside the Four Great Sects. If someone killed their disciples and news of it leaked out, they would still hunt down the perpetrator in the outside world.
After reviewing the Jade Slip once more, Li Yan chuckled. The so-called policy of the Four Great Sects not hunting down the killers of their own disciples in the forbidden zones was just for show. Wen Xinliang and the others had told him that when ordinary disciples died during training in the forbidden zones, they were just dead. The sect needed a system of survival of the fittest and truly wouldn't pursue the matter. However, if an elite disciple of the sect died, once the perpetrator was identified, although they wouldn't bring disaster upon that person's sect or family, the person themselves would later die in an "accidental" training incident. These things were all unspoken understandings. But even if the cultivators from the sects under the Four Great Sects knew this, they would still spare no effort to enter the Four Great Forbidden Zones. And when facing disciples from the Four Great Sects, they would still show no mercy. What they had to do was annihilate all witnesses on the scene and leave no evidence. In the absence of evidence, the Four Great Sects would rarely act.
After pondering all the details in his mind, Li Yan's face blurred slightly, and his appearance changed. This transformation was only a partial, minor illusion. There was a big difference between this and completely altering one's entire appearance in terms of being seen through. A minor illusory change to one's features, because it retained most of the original framework of flesh and bone, was much harder for others to detect as a false face with Divine Sense.
He tapped the Cloud-Piercing Willow under his feet again, and a streak of black light shot towards the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" a thousand li away.
More than half an hour later, the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" before him grew larger and larger until it occupied most of his vision. Li Yan finally arrived at the top of the steep mountain peak. As expected, the summit was a wide platform paved with huge blocks of bluestone. In the center of the platform stood the base of the pagoda, five to six hundred zhang wide. As this was the top of the peak, clouds and mist swirled around the entire platform, with gray clouds drifting past the pagoda from time to time.
The platform appeared vast and empty. Apart from the pagoda's base, no other structures were visible. Li Yan didn't land immediately but first observed the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" from the air. The spire pierced into the higher clouds and disappeared from sight. The body of the tower was entirely dark black, rising layer by layer with delicate, overhanging eaves. It had no windows and no doors, and it was impossible to tell how many floors it had. The base of the tower was sealed on three sides, with no doors. Only on one side, at the bottom of the base, was there a semi-circular archway. A number of monks were sitting in meditation on the platform in front of the archway. All had their eyes closed in silence. There were about fifty of them in two rows, blocking the archway behind them.
Li Yan knew that these monks were the cultivators stationed here by the Jingtu Sect. Judging by their auras, they were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, just a group of Chan Monks. But on either side of the archway behind them stood two other monks, one thin and one stout, both around forty years old, with no aura fluctuations whatsoever.
Li Yan dared not use his Divine Sense to probe below carefully, but he could guess that those two monks were definitely Buddhas with cultivation at the Golden Core level or higher, the mid-to-high-level cultivators stationed here by the Jingtu Sect. Li Yan knew their purpose. Besides verifying the identity of those entering, there was another important reason: all cultivators coming out from inside had to be inspected by them again. This inspection was not to demand the treasures obtained inside, but to check if these people had been subjected to Body Seizure by the Vicious Souls in the tower and were trying to escape. Even their spirit pets and demonic beasts had to be carefully checked.
Li Yan's arrival had actually been noticed by the monks below long ago, but none of them bothered to look up at him. However, five other people did look at Li Yan. Li Yan had noticed them from a distance while he was still in the air. The five were split into three groups, separated by some distance. Two of them had already reached the archway and were speaking to a Buddha whose eyes were half-open, holding a storage bag and two tokens. Those two were women, no more than twenty years old. Their appearances were not outstanding, at best just comely, but their figures were excellent.
The other three were still standing in front of the two rows of Chan Monks. One pair, looking like a master and servant, also held two tokens and were speaking in low voices to a Chan Monk who had risen from the ground. The one conversing with the monk was the bookboy servant. He carried a bamboo back basket on his shoulder, covered with an oilcloth. It was unknown whether it contained books or something else. Behind him was a Confucian scholar in his thirties, dressed in a green robe, holding a folding fan, and wearing a square scarf on his head. He was tall and slender, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, his appearance quite striking. He was smiling as he watched the bookboy servant converse with the monk.
Not far behind the Confucian scholar stood a woman, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. Her expression was cold, and she wore tight-fitting clothes. Although her figure was slightly plump, it appeared quite full. Her appearance was much better than that of the two women in front, but she couldn't be described as stunningly beautiful. She stared ahead without a word, seemingly waiting for the scholar and his servant to finish so she could go forward.