Chapter 655: Circle of Immortal Friends

In high spirits, Wen Yulong launched into his explanation. "I studied the Dark King Sect's cultivation manuals all night yesterday, and I found that it's actually simpler than we thought."

Not minding that Wen Yulong was interrupting the meal, Chu Liang nodded, signaling him to continue.

Wen Yulong did just that. "The Dark King Sect's research on soul techniques and arts produced truly profound results. It's like you said. Many of their soul techniques and arts are dark magic, but there are quite a few we can use. This interdimensional soul domain is just one of them!

"I realized that they have to extract soul flames and use them in enchanted formations so that they can have a hold over the lives of their subordinate Soul Subjugators. With the soul flames of their subordinates in their possession, the higher-ranking members can use secret skills to kill their subordinates at any time. It's to threaten them into complying. However, since all we want is to communicate, leaving a fragment of our spirit sense[1] will do!"

Wen Yulong pulled out the Soul Subjugator Token from his inner chest pocket and a formation diagram, gesturing at it as he explained in further detail.

Chu Liang nodded repeatedly, wearing an expression that clearly said,

I understand. Keep going.

Beside him, Little Chu Yi listened intently and nodded too.

Upon seeing that even a kid understood what Wen Yulong was saying, Lin Bei and Shang Ziliang felt too embarrassed to ask questions. They exchanged glances and just nodded as well.

Likewise, seeing that the other guys seemed to understand just fine, Lackey A and Lackey B just nodded along too.

When the koi fish sisters saw that, they straightened their postures, adopted a serious look, and nodded occasionally—all to show that they were listening in earnest.

The Golden-Furred Hou, the Fierce Draconic Colt, and the Baize youngling had been playing happily nearby. However, when these spirit beasts saw the group of people nodding, they calmed down and nodded too.

Di Nufeng, who was seated at the highest spot, observed that even the spirit beasts seemed to understand what Wen Yulong was talking about, so she nodded along as well.

From those with the highest to the lowest level of intelligence, everyone on Silver Sword Peak nodded repeatedly as they listened to Wen Yulong's explanation.

Of course, as for how many of them actually understood it—well, that wasn't quite everyone.

"By acquiring a bit of spirit sense from each person, the scale of the enchanted formation can expand dozens of times!" Wen Yulong said loudly. "With Violet Gold Marquess's high cultivation level, he could control around a hundred soul flames. But if we only need to use spirit sense, we can probably accommodate thousands of fragments of spirit sense!

"Yesterday, you said the more the better. Now, the rough maximum number of people that can be connected simultaneously in one interdimensional soul domain is several thousand.

"With the Violet Gold Marquess's original method, each interdimensional soul domain can only contain four soul flames, and each soul flame has to be supported with minor enchanted formations. If we want to use only one enchanted formation for all of them, the strain on the enchanted formation would be significantly greater.

"Nevertheless, we can use spirit talismans to maintain the enchanted formation. It's more stable and lasts longer than using foundational qi. The Violet Gold Marquess probably didn't trust his subordinates, so he insisted on personally managing the main enchanted formation.

"In short, they've been using it wrong all this time! What a pity. If it's used only for communication, it will be an incredibly beneficial tool. It's far more advanced than the ordinary communication methods we use now."

Once Wen Yulong was done explaining, he pulled out a stack of golden tokens from his inner chest pocket.

"I worked overnight to make these ten tokens. Take a look."

Seeing the tokens, Chu Liang finally smiled. "Perfect. Let's each take one and have a trial run. Soon enough, everyone working on Silver Sword Peak will have one."

"

Heheheh!

" Lin Bei chuckled as he took a token. "That sounds great! But... if I may ask, what exactly is this?"

At his question, the line of people and spirit beasts nodded sincerely for the first time since Wen Yulong entered the scene.

Little Chu Yi explained, "It's a real-time communication tool."

"

Ohhh,

" the rest of the group uttered.

The people and spirit beasts that had been nodding mindlessly finally understood something.

Lin Bei muttered, "So, it's an enchanted tool for communication. I thought it was... precisely that, yes."

Each person who received a token injected a fragment of their spirit sense into the jade talisman on Wen Yulong's palm. He had already inscribed the enchanted formation into the jade talisman in advance, so the preparations were completed in no time.

The first message appeared in the golden interdimensional soul domain.

[The Handsome and Elegant Little Lin Bei]: "Heheheh!"

Chu Liang chuckled. "This token is exclusive to one person. Once you've set it up with your chosen name, that name will be added to the enchanted formation. You only get to select your name once, so choose carefully."

Lin Bei: "?"

Wen Yulong said, "Actually, changing the name isn't that diffi—"

Chu Liang swiftly covered Wen Yulong's mouth as he warned the others again, "Remember, only members can purchase Name-Change Cards. One Name-Change Card allows for one name change."

"Eh?" Wen Yulong blinked. "Members?"

"Naturally, I'm referring to people paying to become our honored members. I'll explain in detail later," Chu Liang replied smoothly. Then he said, "We obviously can't keep calling this thing the Soul Subjugator Token. Have you given it a new name?"

Wen Yulong answered, "I was thinking... this item is small yet intricate, capable of transmitting thoughts across the four seas with a mere movement of a person's spirit sense... so I plan to name it... Skillful Movements Across the Sea!"

He looked rather proud of himself. "How about it?"

It is not great.

This isn't how a normal person names things, is it?

Inwardly, Chu Liang criticized the name, but outwardly, he nodded and maintained a polite smile. "Very nice. It's quite an elegant name. But... perhaps a slight change could improve it."

"What do you think should be changed, Senior Brother Chu?" Wen Yulong asked.

"How about calling it 'Circle of Immortal Friends' instead?" Chu Liang suggested. "After all, whoever gets this item would undoubtedly be people in the world of immortality cultivators who are good friends of the Mount Shu Sect. Everyone can share their thoughts within the circle."

Xiaoyu'er tilted her head as she thought about it. "But... what exactly do we post in it?"

"Anything you want everyone to see. We can all post something now to liven things up in there since it's just the few of us," Chu Liang replied.

However, none of them had even seen anything like this before, so they weren't sure of what to post.

At that moment, someone called out from outside. "Chu Liang!"

A handsome young monk landed on Silver Sword Peak.

He yelled, "I heard you returned! Why didn't you notify anyone? I only found out after arriving at Mount Shu! Do you know how worried everyone's been over the years? Is this how you treat us? Does that make any sense? Does that make any sense?? Does that make any sense???"

...

The battle was over, and smoke settled over the battlefield on Mount Mang.

A figure emerged slowly from the dense forest, clad in pale gold armor. His eyes were blue, an unnatural hue that looked quite fantastical[2]. He spread his spirit sense through the area, carefully scanning his surroundings with a cautious gaze.

After that, he pulled out a wooden bird from his inner chest pocket.

He said into the bird's ear, "I am Seal-Holding Official Ji Lingfeng of the Capital of Yu. Under the Imperial Supervisory Commissioner's order, I have come to investigate the incident at Mount Mang. There is something gravely amiss here.

"The rebels of Mount Mang are not poverty-stricken, displaced people. They have ample resources and great combat power. They even managed to relocate all of their people in a very short time. For them to have such great mobility... there must be a powerful force backing them.

"The revolt at Mount Mang might have been long in the making. Or perhaps... someone carefully orchestrated it.

"The rebels have all vanished from Mount Mang. All neighboring kingdoms must reinforce their defenses immediately."

Then Ji Lingfeng tapped the wooden bird with the index and middle fingers of his right hand. The wooden bird's eyes sprang open. It seemed to now have a spiritual nature and sentience.

The wooden bird flapped its wings, soaring skyward.

Six years ago, Ji Lingfeng left home and competed with his younger sister to see who could stay away from home the longest. After a series of twists and turns, he ended up joining the Imperial Supervisory Bureau, working his way up from the bottom.

At present, he was a seal-holding official, and he had recently gained the favor of the Imperial Commissioner. As for the contest with his younger sister—well, that was still ongoing...

Just as the wooden bird was about to ascend into the heavens, a beam of cold light shot toward it.

Seeing that, Ji Lingfeng's gaze turned sharp. He pointed his halberd at the wooden bird, and the space around it became distorted.

The cold light appeared to pierce through the wooden bird, but it did not split the wooden bird in two. Instead, the beam of light simply pierced through air.

Unharmed, the wooden bird continued its ascent into the sky.

In the next instant, a massive black shadowy figure rushed toward the wooden bird with a whoosh. It swallowed the wooden bird and then crashed to the ground before Ji Lingfeng.

Boom.

The shadowy figure was revealed to be a black wild boar with prominent tusks sticking out of its face and a vicious large python coiled around it.

Despite the creatures' demon appearances, Ji Lingfeng thought that their expressions were very human-like. Furthermore, the wild boar was standing upright on two legs like a human. One of its front feet was even gripping onto a long saber, wielding it as a weapon.

Seeing that, Ji Lingfeng figured it out.

He looked closely at the two demons and asked slowly, "Are you rebels of Mount Mang who have reverted to your demon forms?"

"That's right," a gaunt young man answered from behind Ji Lingfeng as he strolled forward.

With a sinister grin stretched across his face, the young man said in a hoarse voice, "Thanks to you imperial dogs... we, the people of Mount Mang, can no longer be humans."

1. Quick explanation here. “Divine sense 神识” (which is what the author has been using so far in the novel) is the general term for “spirit sense 灵识” and “immortal sense 仙识”. Spirit sense is a cultivator's divine sense before they become an immortal. Immortal sense is what they use after they've become an immortal, so basically the upgraded version. End point: spirit sense = divine sense. Author used them interchangeably, so we'll follow suit and change when necessary. ☜

2. Chinese people don't have blue eyes. ☜