None of the seven people in the car were surprised at how sophisticated Immortal Mansion was — to be able to establish itself in Winter city despite the military troops stationed there, and despite strict inspections and ID verification through the Skynet System, a lot of underhanded deals must have taken place behind the scenes.
But the problem in front of them now was that Wang Ling could clearly sense Jingke on Sanyuan Road, but Victory Zhao was saying that there were no buildings there… what kind of operation was this?
“Is it possible that they used some kind of illusion spell to make it invisible, or build an underground palace?” Cailian Zhenren guessed.
“Impossible… the leaders from the Land Resource Bureau aren’t fools. Whatever seniors can think of, they’ve already thought of themselves. Ever since the two sects moved away, that spirit vein somehow came under private ownership, and we’ve never been able to contact the owner. We’ve had people waiting here every year for the last few years, but from this year onward, no one is going to come,” said Victory Zhao.
“Why’s that?”
“We’ve given up.”
“…”
“It’s no use squatting here if we can’t contact the owner.”
Hands on the steering wheel, Victory Zhao shrugged helplessly.
During their conversation, he had already been able to vaguely guess what these great seniors were going to do — it had to have something to do with the owner of the spirit vein. They had even marked it on the map, so it was very obvious that they had come prepared.
Because he was familiar with Sanyuan Road, his heart had thumped when he had heard that these seven people were headed there. At first, he had thought that they had made a mistake, but after hearing in the car that it was Ling Zhenren who had marked the location on the map, he could only pull his neck back and swallow his words down into his belly.
He couldn’t offend any of the seven seniors in the car, especially that Ling Zhenren…
Director Zhuo had kept stressing this point on the phone.
To be honest, even if Odd Zhuo hadn’t emphasized this, Victory Zhao could feel the respect which the other seniors had for this Ling Zhenren.
On the road, he would glance at Wang Ling, wittingly or unwittingly, through the rearview mirror in the car. Apart from being surprised at how young he was, he was also starting to become more curious about Wang Ling.
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal was in the front passenger seat. After some thought, Victory Zhao asked very carefully, “Ling Zhenren usually doesn’t like to talk, right?”
Hearing this question, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal nodded earnestly. “As the saying goes, silence is golden. All sages are fond of thinking.”
“Then, what does Ling Zhenren think of?”
“On our way here earlier, he was thinking about the exercises in On Talismans. Now, he’s probably still thinking about his mid-term exam.”
“…” Hearing this, Victory Zhao couldn’t help sighing in his heart; sage affairs were truly hard to fathom. Only now was he realizing how important this exercise book On Talismans actually was! It seemed that he had discovered why there was such a gap between him and these great seniors… He could only blame himself for his superficial thinking, that he was unable to fully grasp the mysteries contained in this common exercise book for high school students!
After thinking this, he decided to change this sad topic. “Seniors, we’re about to arrive at Sanyuan Road, it’s up ahead.”
“So quick?” It actually made sense, since Victory Zhao was familiar with the roads in Winter city, and they were in a commercial car with government plates, so they could take the green passage through the toll stations.
The black commercial car sped along the motorway. As they passed a road sign, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal noticed that the turn off the motorway up ahead was Sanyuan Road.
“Just drop us off at the crossing and go back. If we need your help, I definitely won’t hesitate to contact you.” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal revealed a mouth full of white teeth as he gave Victory Zhao his trademark smile.
“Very well, senior. It just so happened that I also have something I need to do,” said Victory Zhao.
“What is it?” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal asked casually.
“Hm, we’re dealing with a twisted preschool teacher who abused kindergarten children by actually forcing them to eat mustard(1.This is based on an incident at a daycare centre in Shanghai). This is just too cruel!” Victory Zhao said wrathfully. “The government has placed high priority on this matter, and voted unanimously to send this psychopath to the Internet Addiction Rehabilitation Center for electrotherapy!”
In the backseat, Dharmaraja thought for a bit, then gave his business card to Victory Zhao. “Tell your leaders that I’ll give them a ninety percent discount for the electrotherapy. I guarantee I’ll burn this lunatic with my electricity!”
Victory Zhao: “…”
…
Ten minutes later, they arrived at their destination.
Victory Zhao stopped the car. When he pushed the button for the automatic doors, the commercial car’s side door opened and everyone got off one after another.
Sitting in the last row, Wang Ling was the last person to get out of the car.
Victory Zhao stared at the glove compartment in the front passenger seat for a very long time. In the end, before Wang Ling got out, Victory Zhao finally screwed up his courage and opened the compartment. He took out two original flavor crispy noodle snacks and thrust them into Wang Ling’s hands. “Ling Zhenren… these… these are for you! Please accept them!”
Wang Ling was stupefied when he accepted them. “…”
On the side, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal laughed and couldn’t help himself as he came up to the car window and patted Victory Zhao on the shoulder. “Boy, you have potential!”
“…”
For some reason, Victory Zhao felt extremely flattered.
…
Everyone saw Victory Zhao off in the car before they focused and looked at the map once again.
“Based on the location Ling Zhenren marked here, we are in the right place,” Fatty Luo said with certainty as he held the map in his hands in the chilly wind.
But as Victory Zhao had said, this area around Sanyuan Road covered in white snow was the outskirts. There wasn’t a single tree to be seen, and thick snow was piled up along the road.
Looking down the road, Wang Ling saw that even at its lowest, the snow was already over three meters high.
“Senior Immortal, can you see if a camouflage spell has been used or not?” Although there was nothing to see on this empty street, Fatty Luo still felt it was pretty suspicious.
But though they hadn’t noticed anything so far, everyone could feel the power of the spirit vein.
“This is indeed rare and precious land for cultivation; it also has good feng shui. If a cultivator at the Golden Core stage went into seclusion here, they could just rely on the spirit vein and never have to worry about running out of spirit energy,” said Dharmaraja.
On the side, Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal opened his Heavenly Eye to observe their surroundings. In the end, he threw a grenade at a snow drift.
After a loud bang, snow was sent flying with a burst of light.
“Senior Immortal, what are you doing?”
“I was wondering if there was an illusion spell. Since the space created by an illusion spell usually isn’t stable, I can test it out with a Skybomb Grenade. But it’s obvious that the space here is extremely stable!”
Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal sighed before turning to Wang Ling. “…Brother Ling, do you have any ideas?”
Narrowing his eyes as he stared at the snow in front of him, Wang Ling naturally discovered some clues.
But before he could pass them on telepathically, Fang Xing actually also noticed something. He cupped his chin as he moved forward, his long legs especially striking against the white snow. “The aura is here, but we can’t see anything. In addition, we’ve discarded the possibility of an illusion spell. With the spirit vein under our feet, could it be a camouflage? Seniors, have you heard of a holy array which can only be operated using the spirit vein?”
“Are you referring to the legendary Ice Crystal Array?” Cailian Zhenren was struck by realization — this was a major array which relied on combining a magic array with reality to create a mirror space used for concealment. It wasn’t an illusion spell, but it was very hard to see through.
