Chapter 358 Underground Demon Cave, Magi Soul Sword!

　　Why did the Magi not notice anything unusual about the earth meridians even after ten thousand years?

　　If he analyzed it carefully, he might be able to come up with many explanations. For example, the power of the Magi’s essence soul was innately insufficient, they did not have a complete concept of ‘medicine’, they were not good at array formations, there were many underground ley lines in the North Continent, and so on.

　　However, Li Changshou walked around the Magi tribe and discovered the real reason.

　　The Magi accepted their fate.

　　When they realized that there were not enough new Magi, they should have thought of many ways. However, after repeatedly encountering an obstacle and being unable to find the reason, they would accredit it to the Heavenly Punishment and to the fact that the world could not tolerate Magi, and quietly endure it. The Magi were the losers of the ancient times.

　　When Emperor Huang Xuanyuan fought Chi You, the Magi had rashly stood on the Magihumans’ side and supported the Magihumans. They had also exhausted their last bit of luck. It was their destiny to slowly perish in the North Continent… That was the main reason why the Magi could not find the problem. When a race could not find their own position in the Primordial World, they would lose the motivation to work hard. What awaited them would be endless suffering after encountering difficulties. Objectively speaking, the demons who were still hoping to revive were clearly more motivated and energetic. Of course, to humans, the demons were more threatening If the human race lost themselves one day and did not know why they existed, or if they lost their destination, would they be replaced by other races?

　　Perhaps.

　　Many complicated thoughts flashed across Li Changshou’s mind. Soon, he suppressed those distracting thoughts and began to think about the most important thing at that moment!

　　Panic!

　　How could he satisfy the curiosity of the leader of the “Primordial Exploration” without realizing it!

　　The Jade Emperor was already very interested in that matter. The two of them had just entered the Earth Meridian Array…

　　“Changgeng, look! There’s a strange Dao rune in the earth meridian!” Before he could escape 200 feet from the earth meridian, the Jade Emperor shouted excitedly… “Look, there are signs that the earth meridians have been modified. There are also restrictions to guide spiritual energy here!”

　　After traveling along the earth meridians for about two hours…

　　“Changgeng, why is there such abundant water spiritual energy in front of us? Could it be that we have reached the vital parts of the earth meridians?” Li Changshou could only reply calmly, “Your Majesty, we’re at the North Ocean. We… are going in the wrong direction.” Zhao Dezhu smiled in embarrassment. The two of them returned from the North Ocean and followed the earth meridians to the south. Li Changshou thought about it carefully and realized that it was not easy for the Jade Emperor. In the ancient times, the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother had just become sentient when they were taken in by the Dao Ancestor. After the Jade Emperor transformed, he was locked up in the Purple Cloud Palace. He cultivated while serving tea and water as a child. The living beings he came into contact with were all boring mighty figures like the Six Saint Demon Emperor. Suddenly, the Jade Emperor was informed to officially take over… the Three Realms. The pressure was indeed quite high. Therefore, although his incarnation was experiencing those novel things, it was a rather precious immortal life experience for the Jade Emperor! Li Changshou muttered in his heart, Should I design a few scripts and hire a few actors to let the Jade Emperor experience more life? He could but he would have to spend more effort.

　　However… it was too expensive.

　　Now, he was holding the merit of a third-rank Deity Position and doing more work than General Dongmu who was holding a second-stage Deity Position. It was already not easy for him to bear the risk of being a representative of a “force” in the first-stage Deity Position.

　　It’s better not to add scenes for yourself!

　　The two of them quietly hid in the earth meridians. With Li Changshou’s Earth Escape technique, it was not something that ordinary Golden Immortals could detect although it was not as secretive as Daoist Duobao’s earth cave…

　　After returning to the starting point of the investigation, Li Changshou and the Jade Emperor, who had transformed into Zhao Dezhu, discovered something unusual.

　　“Changgeng, this earth meridian seems to have been reconnected.”

　　“Your Majesty, please take a look. There are Spirit Stream Runes in the earth meridians. The Spirit Stream Runes in front and behind obviously don’t match.”

　　The two of them looked at each other. Zhao Dezhu smiled and said, “At this moment, I can confirm that the problem lies in this earth meridian!”

　　Li Changshou pondered for a while and said, “Your Majesty, nothing is absolute in this world. To be safe, it’s best to investigate to the end. Why don’t we let Ao Yi send Princess Long Ji back to the Heavenly Courts first? Then, I’ll bring Ox-head and Horse-face to follow from behind. If we encounter any trouble, there will be a backup outside.”

　　“Sure!”

　　Zhao Dezhu agreed and carefully probed the earth meridian with his immortal senses.

　　He was inexplicably excited.

　　Li Changshou quickly made arrangements… As the saying goes, the older one called the shots. Li Changshou placed a series of heavy responsibilities on Ao Yi’s shoulders!

　　Under the arrangement of his Brother Sect Master, Ao Yi had to send Princess Long Ji back to the Heavenly Courts first before he transferred the Heavenly River Navy. After that, he had to return to the North Continent to pick up Ox-head, Horse-face, and the other eight experts of the Magi race and follow Li Changshou and the Jade Emperor’s incarnation in the sky.

　　Ao Yi did not hesitate. He transformed into the Azure Dragon True Body and carried Long Ji on his back. He hurriedly flew to the North Ocean and rushed to the North Gate… When Ao Yi rushed back and picked up the eight experts of the Magi, the latter experienced the thrill of riding a dragon in the sky. Ao Yi was rather thoughtful.

　　In order to avoid being discovered by the demons, he brought eight experts of the Magi from the North Ocean to circle the sky. Then, he used the mystical abilities of the dragon race to wrap himself in a cloud and quietly travel through the sea of clouds. Soon, Ao Yi heard the paper effigy’s voice transmission. He adjusted his flying direction and speed and slowly followed. However, to the surprise of Li Changshou, Zhao Dezhu, and Ao Yi… They had thought that the location of the problematic earth meridian should be at the border between the North Continent and the Middle Continent. That was the strongest territory of the demon race. There were many remnants of old demons from the ancient times who were really tough. The reason why those old demons were gathered at the border between the North Continent and the Middle Continent was to make trouble for the Magi at any time!

　　However, the earth meridian was continuously reconnected, winding back and forth in the depths of the earth. It actually extended all the way to the border between the Aparagodānīya Continent and the Middle Continent. It took a huge turn and continued to extend towards the south!

　　The amount of work required to move the earth meridians was enough to prove that this was no small matter!

　　Zhao Dezhu sighed and said, “How much do the demons hate the Magi? They actually used such a secretive plan of extermination.” Li Changshou said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, you should not go as an incarnation. According to Little God’s deduction, there might be a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den ahead. This incarnation technique of mine is a coincidence. If it is destroyed, it can be refined using precious materials. Your Majesty, if this incarnation of yours is damaged, I’m afraid it will harm your own Dao…”

　　“It’s fine. It’s a small matter.” Zhao Dezhu smiled. “If this incarnation is damaged, only a portion of merit will be lost. My essence soul is covered by the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. Nothing can invade it.”

　　“Then, I feel more at ease.”

　　Hence, the two incarnations of the Heavenly Courts’ special ops team set off again. They hid in the earth meridians and headed south.

　　After traveling for tens of thousands of kilometers, they arrived at the border of the South Continent, the Middle Continent, and the Aparagodānīya Continent. Layers of blood-colored barriers appeared in the earth meridians…

　　Li Changshou and Zhao Dezhu looked at each other. They emerged from the earth meridians and bypassed the barriers. They traveled 150 to 200 kilometers underground and saw a protective array. Four thousand feet below the ground, the array formation wrapped around a “ball” that was 50 kilometers in diameter. Its sturdiness was several times that of the Immortal Du Sect’s mountain-protecting array formation! Through the array, he could vaguely detect that there was a huge underground universe behind it… A golden sword appeared in Zhao Dezhu’s hand. He said, “Changgeng, shall we attack them?”

　　Li Changshou stared at Zhao Dezhu’s sword. Why did he feel that this sword was several times denser than the Heavenly Emperor Demon-Slaying Sword that he had used before…

　　Yes, don’t dwell on that detail.

　　“I should be able to break through this array formation. Let’s go in and take a look,” Li Changshou replied with a smile. Then, he slowly walked forward and took out a disc from his sleeve.

　　There were Yin and Yang fish engraved on the disc. At that moment, Li Changshou had injected the immortal power of the Grand Pure One into it. The Yin and Yang fish seemed to have come alive. They rotated gently and condensed into a shallow Taiji Painting

　　That was not the power of the treasure. It was just… a small item in Li Changshou’s trump card vault.

　　The Taiji Painting melted into the wall of the array formation without any resistance, leaving behind a circular hole.

　　Li Changshou took out a paper effigy from his sleeve and placed it outside the cave. He handed two talismans to Zhao Dezhu and entered the array formation with the Jade Emperor’s incarnation.

　　This time, he had accidentally barged into the nest of the negative karma demon…

　　The talismans on the two of them lit up slightly and their figures disappeared. The Taiji Painting on their backs slowly dissipated. The array wall did not fluctuate at all.

　　Zhao Dezhu silently praised him.

　　In front of him, a pitch-black mountain was floating in the middle of the underground hole that the array had created.

　　There was a jade-green pool at the top of the mountain. There were sixteen huge piles of white bones around the pool, emitting a strange fluctuation.

　　Looking down from the top of the mountain, he could see that a large number of Cave Abodes had been dug out everywhere on the mountain.

　　What Zhao Dezhu saw on the demonic mountain were demonic beasts with astonishing strength.

　　Li Changshou looked over and saw a mountain of merit!

　　“Minister, your ability to enter the array can be said to be superb! What should we do next?”

　　“Your Majesty, since you have found this place, you should first investigate the matter of the Magi and get rid of the negative karma demons here. Only then can you protect the righteous path of the universe and show your majesty!” The Jade Emperor’s incarnation nodded and asked, “There are hundreds of demons here. Are we enemies?”

　　After saying that, Zhao Dezhu felt that something was amiss and added, “I naturally don’t feel the pinch for such an incarnation. I’m just afraid of alerting the enemy and running away.”

　　“Although there are many experts in the demon race here, there are very few Dao runes in the Zenith Heaven. Furthermore, there are negative karma and karma around me.”

　　Li Changshou smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I have some tricks up my sleeve that can destroy this place in an instant. I won’t leave their corpses intact! However, to be safe, we should investigate first and find the source of the matter regarding the Magi. We should give the Magi a proper explanation.”

　　“Sure!”

　　Zhao Dezhu smiled and squinted. “Then today, I’ll see how capable you are.” Li Changshou bowed with a Dao salute and said, “I accept your orders.”

　　Then, he turned around and looked at the mountain hidden underground. He was eager to try.

　　Merit!

　　A huge amount of merit! Don’t throw your head away, don’t spill your blood!

　　By secretly burying a set of spiritual paper effigies, he could easily take back the merit and destroy the source of the place. The matter of the Magi would naturally be resolved!

　　At that moment, Li Changshou was fully focused and began to perform multiple operations. He first informed Ao Yi and the others to hide far away in the sky. Then, he released a paper effigy and carefully checked the surface terrain. He released his immortal senses and realized that this was the territory of the demons. There were many demons, and a few powerful demon kings were active on the ground. That should be the cover of the demons.

　　Li Changshou quickly targeted a small demon patrolling the mountain. He carried the paper effigy and secretly went up. While the other party was playing the clapper and singing the mountain song, he knocked the small demon unconscious and carried him to the forest beside him.

　　What was worth mentioning was that he was a male demon. Li Changshou was only interrogating him about the demon race’s power. He would not do anything strange. At the same time, Li Changshou and Zhao Dezhu touched the top of the underground mountain and began to investigate the altar. Even the Jade Emperor’s incarnation did not notice that a hole had been formed in the underground array formation. A paper effigy that was specially used for ‘Spirit Explosion’ quietly entered the mountain with a set of paper effigies that looked like Earthly Demons. It hid its tracks and hid at the bottom of the mountain.

　　Everything was ready and could be activated at any time!

　　The progress was quite smooth. Li Changshou and Zhao Dezhu secretly reached the pond at the top of the mountain and carefully checked the arrangements.

　　According to Li Changshou’s understanding of array formations, the sixteen piles of white bones were the foundation of the array formation. The center of the pool was the array core. The array formation formed a strange spiritual energy flow that connected to the earth meridian that they had been searching for a long time. Of course, the array formations in this place were very complicated. Just the connection point between the ground and the bottom of the pool had several overlapping array formations! After comprehending the spiritual energy of the array formations slightly, Li Changshou came to a conclusion. The overall arrangement here was like a “water pump” that extracted the True Spirit. It used the earth meridians to draw the True Spirit over from extremely far away and trapped it in the pool! Li Changshou and the others followed the earth meridian and saw complicated restrictions along the way. They were all connected to the array formation set up there!

　　Clearly, that was the answer to the problem of the Magi.

　　The scheme of the demons was right in front of Li Changshou! Li Changshou silently took out a few Shadow-Retaining Balls and saved enough evidence.

　　Actually, what made Li Changshou feel that the demons there deserved to die was the pile of bones that had been refined into the array foundation… These were all once mortal flesh and blood bodies. Thousands of years ago, they had been imprisoned in this place. Every bone had been set up with restrictions, and their souls had been refined into evil souls…

　　He did not know what kind of evil array it was, but it was extremely heartless!

　　Although humans and demons were at odds with each other and had been fighting for many years since ancient times, the human Qi Refinement cultivators had gotten rid of the demons once and for all. They rarely abused the demons.

　　However, demons were usually ferocious when dealing with unarmed mortals… The corners of Li Changshou’s mouth twitched slightly. He asked the paper effigy hiding outside the array formation to take out the second set of Spirit Explosion Set and bury it outside the array formation. It would be activated later.

　　Double Spirit Explosion, stabilize your hand and ensure that the demons and ashes will not be left behind!

　　At that moment, Zhao Dezhu sent a voice transmission.

　　“Changgeng, the heavenly secrets have revealed that the children of the Magi who have yet to be born are trapped here by the array formation.”

　　Li Changshou, who was about to say “attack”, was stunned. He immediately said, “There are restrictions in the pool that we can’t see through.”

　　“I’ll do it.” The Jade Emperor’s incarnation closed his eyes. Wisps of Heavenly Dao power spread out quietly without alarming any living beings.

　　The Jade Emperor had given the demons enough face by using the Heavenly Dao to investigate. Not long after, the Jade Emperor pointed at Li Changshou’s paper effigy. A wisp of Heavenly Dao power was added to Li Changshou’s paper effigy, allowing Li Changshou to see the hidden situation in the pool. At the bottom of the pool, three huge bronze toads were squatting. They opened their mouths and spat out wisps of jade-green flames. The flames ignored the water in the pond and wrapped around a green sword. The sword contained an astonishing spiritual aura, causing the scene to be filled with strangeness…

　　There were three demon experts in the heads of the three bronze toads. Zhao Dezhu looked at Li Changshou and asked, “Changgeng, what should we do?”

　　Li Changshou frowned slightly and felt conflicted…

　　At that moment, he understood something. That sword contained the newborns that the Magi should have in ten thousand years. There was a high chance that he would not be able to save them now. However, there was also a possibility that he could send the True Spirit in the sword back to reincarnation.

　　Moreover, this sword should be a precious treasure of the demon race. The three old demons also seem difficult to deal with.

　　If the sword was seized and detonated again, there would be more variables. Moreover, there was an 80% chance that he would be working for nothing. There was a 30% chance that he would let half of the demons go.

　　If he did not snatch the sword, he would flatten the place. The chances of success were 98%. Moreover, the True Spirits of the Magi were refined by the demons. They would not increase his negative karma… Li Changshou squinted and made a decision in the blink of an eye. “Your Majesty, I want to see if I can snatch that sword and see if I can release the True Spirit inside. I have the support of the Magi, and I have responded. I don’t want to misspoke like I did in the East Ocean.” The Jade Emperor smiled and nodded slowly. “My schemes are not as good as Changgeng’s. Changgeng, go ahead and make arrangements. It’s fine even if my incarnation falls here.” Li Changshou’s heart warmed. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and said firmly, “Your Majesty, there’s no time like the present. This is a rare opportunity. Why don’t we take advantage of this opportunity to promote the Heavenly Courts’ prestige and cause a huge commotion for the demons!”