Chapter 615: Corroding Vacant Valley
The map that the Scattered Cultivators House distributed pointed them toward a place called Yao Ru City. It was said that the Yao Ru City was the only immortal city that contained a transportation array that led toward the Corroding Vacant Valley. Given Lonemoon’s and Yi Qing’s speed, they arrived at that immortal city in a matter of days. They went straight through the transportation array, into Corroding Vacant Valley.
The moment they emerged from the array, they felt a chilling aura all around them. There was a huge valley in front of their eyes. It was almost as if the entire earth was cut into two by that one valley. There was nothing but desert on the side they were on. The other side looked like a bottomless pitch-black hole. A black aura as dark as ink was being emitted from inside the valley.
Everything around them was already dark, but it was much darker still where the valley was, so that Lonemoon suspected there was not one shred of light in there. Even using their divine perception, they could not detect any motion. Subconsciously, Lonemoon frowned. He could discern what was inside that valley.
At this time, huge crowds of cultivators were gathering in front of the valley. Most of them were itinerant cultivators, but a minority were wearing uniforms belonging to different families and sects. Everyone was watching the valley, but no one dared to explore it.
Lonemoon took the chance to scan the crowd and found that most of them were indeed female cultivators. There were a few male cultivators scattered here and there, but they were either wearing veils or masks to hide their faces. Meekly, they stood by the side. Their cultivations were all low. The highest among them was a Golden Core cultivator. What’s more, most of them were surrounded by females who seemed to be protecting them.
Thus, when Lonemoon and Yi Qing openly stepped out of the array, many cultivators turned to stare at them. An obvious silence fell over the crowd. Suddenly, everyone’s eyes were on them. Some were confused, some were shocked, and some were in disbelief. There were others who even activated their divine perceptions to scan the two of their bodies, as if eager to take advantage of them.
Lonemoon pursed his lips. This was the first time that he was being taken advantage of by so many brazen people. Suddenly, he became filled with rage. This damned world of female supremacy!
He released his own suppressive force, which pushed the probing eyes back where they come from. A few cultivators turned pale immediately. As if shocked by his actions, they retracted their divine perception, not daring to probe any further.
“Fellow Daoist Lonemoon!” A surprised voice sounded. They saw a woman walk out of the crowd and briskly toward them. If not for the two peaks sticking out of her top, they would not have been able to tell that she was a woman. Her body was muscular and she was dressed in green robes. She looked unable to hide her surprised smile. Even her eyes twinkled as she kept her gaze on Father Niu. “What are you doing here?”
The three of them paused. Who was this again?
The woman stared at Lonemoon for awhile and seemed to recall something as her facial expression changed. “Don’t tell me you want to go into the Corroding Vacant Valley?” She frowned. Looking worried, she scanned the three of them until she finally landed her gaze on Shen Ying. Disapprovingly, she said, “Fellow Daoist Shen, the Corroding Vacant Valley is so dangerous. How can you allow the two of them to take such risks?”
Shen Ying: “…” Why are you blaming me again?
“Fellow Daoist Shen, this is your fault.” She began to reprimand her, “As a woman, how can you allow the men behind you to put themselves in such danger? What’s more, Fellow Daoist Lonemoon is your father. Listen to me – stop this nonsense. Take them back!” Once she finished speaking, she shot Lonemoon a look of affection.
Lonemoon suddenly felt all the hairs on his body stand. Frowning, he said, “I’m not familiar with you, Fellow Daoist. Please don’t worry about this. We will be careful.”
“Even if you’re careful, you…” The female cultivator trailed off mid-sentence. After pausing for several seconds, she said, “Don’t tell me you don’t remember who I am? I’m Lu Lin of the Dawning Pill Sect. We met a few days ago on the spirit boat,” she reminded them, clearly disappointed.
The few of them stared blankly at her for several seconds. Suddenly, they recalled the storage bag filled with all sorts of ingredients. Foodie Ying’s eyes brightened at once. She was the first among the three of them to recall who this woman was. “Oh… Prepared Step-Mother!”
Yi Qing: “…”
Lonemoon: “…”
What the hell was Prepared Step-Mother?
Lu Lin nodded excitedly, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s me!”
Lonemoon: “…” Motherf*ckker! Best believe I would call Shen Jing right at this moment!
“That’s right, Fellow Daoist Lonemoon.” Seeing that they had remembered who she was, Lu Lin became warmer towards them once again. She stepped forward and caught Lonemoon’s eyes, then asked nervously, “Did you like the food I made for you the previous time? Fellow Daoist Shen said those were your favorites. That was why I have been collecting more from the neighboring city these days. I wonder if you’ll care for it!” As she spoke, she retrieved yet another storage bag and handed it over.
“…”
Lonemoon’s expression darkened at once. He turned to glare at a certain foodie. F*ck you! What did you say to her?!
Shen Ying kept silent and took a few steps back. She looked to the skies, then to the ground, acting as if she did not understand what was happening in front of her.
“Ahya, Chef, the weather is really good today.”
The retarded disciple played along immediately. “That’s right, Master. There’s no… sun in the sky today!”
Lonemoon: “…”
Do you think I wouldn’t deduct your allowance just because you deny any responsibility?
凸(艹皿艹)
“Fellow Daoist Lonemoon?” Lu Lin asked, seeing that he was distracted.
“That’s alright!” Lonemoon answered curtly.
“Eh?” Lu Lin stared blankly at him. “Fellow Daoist, are these not to your fancy?”
“I’ve sworn off them!” Can’t I?
“…” Lu Lin looked absolutely confused. However, seeing that Lonemoon had suddenly turned cold toward her, she had no choice but to retract her gifts. “Well… I see!” Men were indeed fickle-minded. But Fellow Daoist Lonemoon looks cute when he’s angry!
The more Lu Lin looked at him, the more she liked what she was seeing. She seemed to melt in front of their eyes, hopelessly in love.
Lonemoon pursed his lips as all the hairs on his body stood up once again. This freaking world of female supremacy!
“Let’s go, let’s go in!” He turned to shout at the two wastrels. Just wait till we get in – then I’ll settle these scores with you! He mounted his flying sword, ready to fly into the Corroding Vacant Valley.
That was when Lu Lin finally snapped out of her trance and reacted. “Wait, Fellow Daoist Lonemoon, even if you really do want to go in, you can’t do that now!”
“Mm?” Lonemoon turned to face her. “Why not?”
He turned to glance at the crowd who was also looking at him worriedly. Seeing that they were not about to give in, Lu Lin sighed, “This Corroding Vacant Valley has no boundaries. No one knows what the situation inside is. To prevent people from getting lost inside, the elders of the various sects are going to set up a transportation array to allow people to come back up here from inside there.”
As she spoke, she pointed to the center of the crowd, at the people dressed in black.
Lonemoon instinctively activated his divine perception and indeed felt the movement of spirit Qi in the air. He turned to look at Chef.
“It’s the Five Spirit Transportation Array!” Yi Qing exclaimed after identifying the array. “In this small realm, wherever there’s spirit Qi, one will be able to set up an array to come back here.” The only thing about this array was that it would require too much out of low-level cultivators. Even high-level cultivators would need about a month’s worth of energy to come back here.
Lonemoon took a closer look at the array. Indeed, in the middle of the crowd, there was a bunch of Soul Formation cultivators.
“The few of you have the waist token of itinerant cultivators, right?” Lu Lin continued, “Once the array has been activated,the token will mark your aura automatically. Then, whenever you want to come out again, just press onto the token and you’ll be carried out here.”
Lonemoon recalled the waist token that the itinerant cultivators got a few days before. At first, he thought they were just the equivalent of identity cards for these cultivators. So that was what they were for. It was no wonder that everybody was gathering here, not daring to go in. They were waiting for the array to be completed.
“Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist.” Although the array would be completely useless to them, Lonemoon was used to being polite.
“No… No worries.” Lu Lin blushed, looking at him with that affectionate gaze once again.
“…” Motherf*cker!
“The array has been activated!” Someone in the crowd shouted. The next moment, there was a blinding white light bursting out from the center of the crowd. The transportation array appeared beneath everyone’s feet.
Lonemoon looked down and saw the token on his waist light up. He turned to Shen Ying and Yi Qing and said, “Let’s go!”
Without further hesitation, they mounted their flying swords and followed the crowd into the Corroding Vacant Valley, into the deep darkness.
