"Back then it was just a small island that didn't even have a name. Now maybe the island is gone..."
Xu Ziyang repeated what the spirit of the Bronze City said at that time, while looking into the distance with a confused look on his face.
Lin Bei and Chu Liang, who were standing side by side with him, were also looking in the distance, both frowning. Lin Bei tilted his head and said, "He calls this an island?"
"How long has this been going on?" Chu Liang said, "There have been changes in the sea. Maybe part of the original island has gathered here."
They flew around the East China Sea for five days, and finally felt a warm vibration coming from the bronze talisman.
Tens of thousands of years have passed, and the formation patterns on the bronze talisman still have spiritual power and can function. It has to be said that Jiuli's weapon refining technology is really top-notch. It's not unusual for large magical artifacts to be preserved for thousands of years. It only makes sense that such small objects can be passed down.
Then the closer he got in one direction, the stronger the vibration of the copper talisman became, until he came to an island.
Three, to be precise.
Penglai, Fanghu, Yingzhou.
That's right, in front of them are the Penglai Islands deep in the East China Sea! Under the colorful clouds and mist, the three islands are boundless and surrounded by fairy spirit. The Mirage Mountain above the clouds is like a cave of gods in the sky.
The bronze talisman is among the three islands at the foot of Mirage Mountain.
"It's indeed a bit difficult to handle." Chu Liang also smiled bitterly.
The Three Islands where Xia Zong lives is the world's first cave paradise where countless natural materials and treasures are planted, and outsiders are absolutely not allowed to enter. On the contrary, Mirage Mountain, where the Shang Sect is located, serves as the place where guests from the Immortal Sect are welcomed and sent off.
If it were another immortal sect, Chu Liang could be accommodating just by brushing up his connections, and the dignified disciple of Silver Sword Peak in Shushan would definitely not come to your house to steal spiritual plants.
The relationship between Shushan and Penglai, even if there was originally a fight, was not brought to light. At most, Shushan and the Tianwang Sect are close, and there are some overt and covert objections to Penglai, but everyone can live with it in terms of face.
But……
A while ago, a brave Shushan Tianjiao came over. He called Qi Lin'er out and beheaded him with a sword in front of all the immortals.
Since then, the struggle between Shushan and Penglai has developed into an open one. Now people from Shushan have to be extremely careful when going around the East China Sea, let alone entering other people's sects.
The predecessors felled the tree, and the later generations exposed it to the sun, but they didn't expect that the trunk of the tree fell on their heads as they went round and round.
"If it really doesn't work, can I think of a way?" Lin Bei suddenly said: "I have two in the Penglai Sect..."
"You have friends in Penglai?" Chu Liang and Xu Ziyang were quite surprised.
I know you have a lot of friends, but I didn't expect you to be in the enemy's camp.
"I'm not a collaborator. I'm not considered a friend." Lin Bei waved his hands quickly, and then said: "I have two subordinates in the Penglai Sect."
Chu Liang: "?"
After Lin Beiyi explained, he finally understood what was going on.
It turns out that Penglai Shangzong strictly prohibited his disciples from communicating with Shu Mountain. Even though Hongmian Peak has been in full swing in recent years, Penglai people have never set foot there.
However, Mirage Mountain is divided into three factions. As the backbone, the Penglai faction and the Fanghu faction, who was born in Chi Niu Taoist, have always been hostile to the Shushan faction, so they naturally resisted vigorously.
The Yingzhou clan that Xi Miaoxian belongs to has always advocated peace and aloof from the world, so for them to join in the resistance, subjectively, there is a lack of willingness.
Later, some Shangzong disciples from the Yingzhou line secretly collected spiritual plants in the Three Islands and went to Hongmian Peak to sell them. Lin Bei got to know a few of them, and gradually developed two of them as downlines, who were regarded as Shushan's informants to penetrate the Penglai Shangzong.
"Actually, Penglai uses this method the most. They have their own spies in the nine heavens and ten places, and they will cause trouble from time to time." Lin Beidao: "Just like the split of the Tianxing Divine Sect, it may not be the result of the secret instigation of Penglai spies. . In the early years, they also attempted to split the thirty-six peaks of Shu Mountain. Thanks to the unity of the headmaster and the elders of Zhenshan, the influence was quickly eliminated."
Only then did Chu Liang realize that struggle had always existed, but he had never been exposed to that level before.
Xu Ziyang has been a deacon for six years and has already understood this, so it is not surprising.
"The Penglai Sect's death will never give up on me." Lin Bei sighed at the end.
He took out the token of the Fairy Friends Circle and sent out the message. Not long after, two rainbow lights flashed across the sky.
In fact, it is now quite convenient to open a private domain in the circle of fairy friends. However, Wen Yulong has never found enough spiritual consciousness to deal with the complicated news, so the soul domain token that can be used for private chat has not been promoted.
After all, if it cannot be supervised, the circle of fairy friends is likely to become a convenient tool for evil traitors to commit illegal acts. In that case, it is better not to promote it.
However, these close relatives of Chu Liang have all obtained the latest circle of immortal friends that can open private domains, and Lin Bei is naturally included in them.
"Brother Lin!" The two rainbow lights came in front of him, both young Penglai disciples in green clothes said in unison: "You call us?"
"Yes, let me introduce you. This is my top line, Chu Liang from Shu Mountain." Lin Bei pointed at them again, "These two are the Penglai martyrs, Lin Chuan and Xue Pu, who abandoned the dark and turned to the light."
Lin Chuan and Xue Pu laughed when they heard this, "I can't talk about being a righteous man, but it's just because of Brother Lin's friendship."
Of course, the most important thing is to get more by following Lin Bei.
After chatting for a while, Chu Liang got to the point, pointed to Fanghuxian Island, one of the three Penglai islands in the distance, which is where the bronze talisman points, and asked: "We want to go to Fanghu Island to find something. , is there any way?"
"Oops..." Lin Chuan frowned, "This is not easy to handle. Penglai's lower sect's mountain-protecting formation is much tighter than that of the upper sect. If there is no pass talisman, it will immediately attract an attack."
After all, the lower sect has fewer strong men and more spiritual plants, so it must be more tightly guarded against thieves.
Xue Pu continued: "The two of us do have a pass, but we are on duty in the law enforcement team. Many people on the three islands know us, which may attract attention and make it inconvenient to find objects."
"What if we go in with your pass?" Chu Liang asked, "Are there any risks in this?"
Anyway, the pass talisman of the Penglai disciples is actually just a secret key of the magic circle, and it is not a real name. It doesn't matter who uses it.
"Huh?" Lin Chuan blinked and said, "That's okay, but..."
Xue Pu continued: "You'd better paint your faces black."
…
The three Penglai islands are very vast, and their combined area exceeds one state. Moreover, the spiritual energy on it was so rich that a spiritual plant once grew just a few dozen steps away. For a long time in the past, the indigenous people of the Three Islands lived in such a paradise.
It’s just that the cultivation of indigenous practitioners is not systematic. Even if there are sufficient resources, few can break through the heavenly barrier. With the arrival of those who traveled eastward from Kyushu, these natives finally lost their dominant position in the three islands and became the lower sect of Penglai.
Today, the Penglai Lower Sect has a large number of people, living in three fairy islands respectively, and is responsible for the daily cultivation and care of the natural materials and treasures on the island. A spiritual plant may take tens to hundreds of years to grow. If no one takes care of it during this time, only one in ten will grow to maturity.
But once these heavenly materials and earthly treasures mature, they have nothing to do with the people of the lower sect. The law enforcement team will pick them away, either for the disciples of the upper sect to use in practice, or for the sect to sell them.
If the spiritual plants that the people of the lower sect are responsible for wither and decay, they will be severely punished; if they dare to steal the spiritual plants privately, it will be a direct crime of death.
Regardless of whether it has been cultivated for hundreds of years, it has nothing to do with them.
The only way for them to make a comeback is to be born as immortal cultivation seeds with excellent talents. In that case, they will be chosen to join the Shangzong, and then they can become disciples of the Shangzong.
Otherwise, we will continue to brave the scorching sun of the East China Sea every day, wandering among many spiritual plants, taking care of them but not using them.
Over thousands of years, the skin color of the Xia Zong people has generally become dark, which is proof of the suffering they have suffered.
After Chu Liang and Xu Ziyang were reminded, they also cast spells to disguise their faces as dark, and then they boarded Fanghu Island with the pass talismans of Lin Chuan and Xue Pu.
The island is surrounded by mountains and forests, and there are often people from the lower sect taking care of Lingzhi working on the hills, but no one noticed the two of them. They slowly rode the wind and followed the vibration of the copper talisman to guide them to a wooden building deep in Fanghu Fairy Island.
There were two figures in the building, and they stopped temporarily on the hilltop on one side, using their spiritual senses to detect what was going on in the wooden building.
They saw a little girl with rough skin and pale skin lying on the bed in a simple room on the second floor. She looked to be eight or nine years old.
She was lying there weakly, grabbing a boy of about 16 or 17 years old beside the bed, and said sadly: "Brother, it seems that I am really going to die."
"You'll be fine, no!" The young man held the little girl's hand, "I have already found out from Grandpa Hu that there is a mature white butterfly summer grass on Heron Mountain five hundred miles away. Refining it into a pill can cure your injury. I'll go get it and you'll be fine."
"No!" The little girl immediately opened her eyes in horror and held the boy's hand tightly. "Brother, don't go! You will die! I would rather die than let you go."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." The young man seemed to have made up his mind. He gently removed the little girl's hand, then turned and left resolutely.
"Brother--" the little girl shouted in panic, but she couldn't get up, so she could only wave her hands helplessly, and soon the boy's voice was no longer heard.
Her eyes were full of worry, and she could only hold an ancient bronze talisman on her chest with her hand. It was the only relic left to her by her mother before she passed away.
For some reason, this half-made bronze talisman has been vibrating today, as unsettled as her heart.
I was thinking wildly when I suddenly heard footsteps outside.
"Brother, are you back?" the little girl immediately said in surprise.
Naturally, the five hundred-mile journey back and forth cannot be so fast. The brother naturally changed his mind again. She thought so and immediately smiled.
But this smile suddenly turned into fear. She looked at the two strange men who walked into the room, huddled up, and asked in surprise: "Who are you?"
"We are here to heal your injuries." Chu Liang smiled, but now his face was dark, and his signature harmless smile had lost its effect.
A smile that looks quite harmful.
But it doesn't matter, he has other ways to close the distance.
Chu Liang turned over his hand and held up a suet-white spiritual plant in the palm of his left hand. Once he took it out, the rich aroma immediately filled the room.
"This is a white jade fragrant fruit. It can also cure your injuries." He said slowly: "We are here to give you this."
When they were observing outside the house, they discovered that this little girl obviously had not stabilized her body training foundation in the first level and had insufficient qi and blood, so she wanted to forcefully enter the second level of qi condensation. During the process, her true blood dried up, causing her meridians to reverse course and her muscles and bones to become incapacitated. If you let it go like this, your life will be short-lived.
But if there is a magical elixir that can reshape the Qi veins to heal her injuries, she will be able to recover as before.
The White Butterfly Summer Grass that the young man mentioned just now is one of them, and the White Jade Ningxiang Fruit in Chu Liang's hand is also one of them.
Sure enough, when she saw this spiritual plant, the little girl's expression softened.
She had grown up on this fairy island since she was a child. She had never seen anything else. Ling Zhi was a compulsory course, so she naturally knew that what Chu Liang took out was not a fake.
"But..." Her expression was still a bit hesitant, "We don't know each other, why did you give me such a precious spiritual plant..."
"Because we want to exchange a treasure with you." Chu Liang pointed to the half of the copper talisman she held in her hand, "I will give you the spiritual plant, and you can give me this, okay?"
"But..." the little girl was a little reluctant, "this is the only relic my mother gave me..."
"That's so sad. When you reunite with your mother in two days, she will definitely praise you for being such a good boy." Chu Liang said in a gentle tone, while retracting the spiritual plant he handed out.
"Hey!" The little girl quickly stopped him, raised her hand and pulled off half of the bronze talisman hanging around her neck, and handed it to him, "Here it is, here it is."
The bronze talisman was given by my mother, but my mother also gave me my life. If I could only keep one, then my life would definitely be more important.
Chu Liang smiled slightly, turned over the spiritual plant in his hand, refined it with divine dragon fire into a ball of vitality, and fed it to the little girl.
After the spirit was implanted in her abdomen, her complexion immediately changed from dark and pale to dark and rosy. She seemed to be in a much better condition, but she did not relax for a while but said eagerly: "Thank you two benefactors, you can Can you do me another favor? My brother went to Heron Mountain to steal spiritual plants for me. Now that I am fine, can you go tell him? Otherwise he will die if he is caught!"
…
After asking for the location of Heron Mountain, Chu Liang and Xu Ziyang immediately set off and flew five hundred miles away.
Although the task has been completed, there is no need to add any complications. Staying here for a while will be a bit more dangerous. But it only took a moment to save a life, so they did it without hesitation.
As they approached the mountain, they heard a shrill sound of gongs.
There were over a thousand members of the clan gathered around the mountain peak, all watching what was going on. When I looked with my spiritual sense, I saw two disciples from the law enforcement team in green robes in the center of the crowd.
These law enforcement teams are all disciples of the Penglai Sect, and they come here in turn to guard these lower sect members.
Taking a closer look, another disciple of the law enforcement team was holding a shiny golden whip and stepping under his feet was a young man in shabby clothes. It looked like he was the brother of the little girl!
But the people around him just watched in silence, not daring to take a step forward.
A disciple from the law enforcement team on the left holds a golden gong and is beating it continuously.
"It has been a long time since there has been a serious incident of spiritual plant theft in our Fanghu Immortal Island!" The disciple of the law enforcement team held a long whip with a golden light and said loudly: "Today, there are actually audacious people who openly steal natural materials. Treasure! According to the rules of Penglai Mountain, he will be executed here today as a warning to others!"
After that, he flicked his wrist, and the golden whip immediately wrapped around the young man's neck and pulled his head back. The young man's face suddenly turned red and he looked completely unable to breathe.
"Ho..." A silent roar came from his throat, his eyes filled with despair.
"Stop!" Chu Liang, who arrived in time, jumped out and said loudly: "He stole the spiritual plant to save his sister. His sister was seriously injured and was on the verge of death. She urgently needed the spiritual plant to save her life! Even if he doesn't give the spiritual plant, at least spare him. One life.”
"Bold!" The law enforcement disciple holding the golden gong shouted, "Who asked you to come forward?"
As he spoke, he knocked the magic weapon in his hand hard.
clang--
The sound of the gong brought with it magical power, and ripples of golden light suddenly spread out. The surrounding lower sect members, all of whom were not highly cultivated, immediately wailed and retreated in pain.
But Chu Liang remained unmoved.
At the same time, Senior Brother Jade Sword Peak had fallen from the sky.
laugh--
Between the sword energy, a cold light cut off the golden whip in the hands of the law enforcement disciples, and another cold light cut off the golden gong next to it. With two more sword pointing bangs, the two law enforcement disciples were already lying on the ground unable to move.
In just a moment, Xu Ziyang had already dealt with the two law enforcement team disciples, landed calmly, and rescued the young man.
Time is tight and if we can't reach an agreement, we take action.
The so-called ruthless people don't talk much.
The crowd around them looked at Chu Liang and Xu Ziyang and were stunned for a brief moment, but soon burst into cheers: "Oh——"
"Everyone!" Seeing the atmosphere around him, Chu Liang's eyes flashed, he immediately jumped into the air, raised his hands and said: "Everyone, let me ask you, this little brother, he just wants to pick a spiritual plant to save him Was he at fault for his sister’s life?”
"No!" the crowd responded loudly.
"We spend our whole lives taking care of these spiritual plants, but we don't enjoy any benefits at all. Is this fair?"
"Unfair!" The crowd became more and more angry.
"Then listen to me, starting from today, it's time to make some changes!" Chu Liang clenched his fist fiercely: "I want everyone to know that I have a dream!"
His voice was impassioned and seemed to have a magical power that bewitched people's hearts.
"I dream that one day, the Penglai Islands will stand up. Not just the disciples of the Shangzong, but all of us, just like the legendary world of saints, everyone is like a dragon!"
"I dream that one day, on the top of Mirage Mountain, the children of the lower sect and the children of the upper sect will be able to receive the same resources and training, to prove that we are truly no worse than them!"
"I dream that one day we can gain freedom and justice and no longer have to endure oppression from anyone above us!"
"If we want to no longer be oppressed, we must fight for it on our own! Let our voices spread from Fanghu to Penglai, from Penglai to Yingzhou, and let our voices ring through the three islands of Penglai and tremble. The top of Mirage Mountain!”
good evening.
(End of chapter)
