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After settling into the Murong Family’s residence, a barrier swiftly enveloped the dwelling. This time, whether it was the eldest of the Murong Family or the second child’s group, they were all isolated outside.

However, both parties seemed to know their place and didn’t question anything. Murong Yunji was no longer considered part of the Murong Family. When they closed the door for a private discussion among their own, there was no reason for them to interfere.

"Which group do you think is trustworthy?"

"Neither..." Murong Yunji directly shook her head.

"You’re really... not saying a single good word for your relatives, huh..." Weichi Feihong said, amused.

"That’s just how it is..." Murong Yunji rolled her eyes, "Neither group ever tells the whole truth. The second child is hiding something, and so is the eldest. As for the second child’s claim that the eldest is sinister and ghostly, that should be true. I’ve observed carefully; the collective emotion of the second child’s group doesn’t seem fake.

As for what happened to the eldest, that still needs investigation. "

Weichi Feihong nodded and then asked, "Can you use the thing that Zi Yue gave you?"

"Should be able to..." Murong looked at a purple crystal nearby, a secret treasure from the Dragon Palace. It took significant effort for the academy’s magicians to activate it. Although they still couldn’t use it fully, they had basically managed to open a connection with the Heavenly Mirror inside the Dragon Palace.

As the mirror’s energy began to circulate, infinite water spirits quickly appeared around it, and then, a blurry face emerged in the mirror—it was Chen Qing.

Fortunately, the master is there...

Murong Yunji breathed a sigh of relief. This secret treasure had many inconvenient drawbacks.

First, it consumed a great deal of energy to activate; the refined Bai Yu she brought was only enough to activate the mirror three times.

Each activation could only connect to the Heavenly Mirror in the main hall of the Dragon Palace.

If Chen Qing wasn’t around at the time of activation, it would amount to a wasted opportunity.

"Is there something important you need to report?" Chen Qing asked directly from the other side of the mirror.

The mirror consumed a lot of energy, and nowadays, every force’s energy was precious, so naturally, this type of costly communication should be as brief as possible.

Murong Yunji didn’t beat around the bush and related all the recent information she knew.

A black lotus on the chest? Black flames burning in the city?

Chen Qing’s eyes lit up as he heard this, and he roughly guessed some things.

Of course he knew about the Infinite Spiritual Method, which was a foundational technique of the White Silk Sect.

However, after other forces infiltrated it, the technique mixed in some specific attributes.

The standard Infinite Spiritual Method would make the human spiritual body start to resemble a snake, with physiology also becoming snake-like, and even snake scales might grow on the body.

But it didn’t go beyond that. In fact, any spiritual technique could have a demon’s special effects, depending only on what kind it imitates. The human spiritual body has infinite possibilities and is the most inclusive. Even the ancient cultivation techniques couldn’t change human nature.

Just like those Sorcerer Families now, inheriting the Big Dipper Earth Fiend Techniques—their origins are even more unreachable, yet haven’t some magicians mastered and tamed them?

So, under normal circumstances, this so-called Infinite Spiritual Method couldn’t cause any sort of mutation. At most, there would be some anomalies, and then one would quickly adapt.

Unless someone tampered with the cultivation technique...

Something able to cause a black lotus to grow on a person’s chest could not possibly be due to the simple Infinite Spiritual Method of the Celestial Serpent Palace—it had to come from another force...

Using the identity of the Celestial Serpent to cultivate an army among humans?

Chen Qing frowned slightly. Wasn’t this method too slow?

The ancient times were not short of soldiers; any ancient force with a name had at least a million transcendent subordinates. They only required enough resources to awaken to become a formidable army. This was different from King Xiang’s cultivation of Ghost Soldiers.

King Xiang lacked his own following, so he needed to cultivate anew, which involved many years of slow accumulation. He cultivated through the unique properties of the Path of Yin and Yang, and could also ensure absolute loyalty.

But the situation in the Northern Wasteland seems off, these magicians are old foxes, hardly reliable sources of troops. To cultivate them with so many resources... What exactly is the power behind this planning?

"The Nascent Soul Method is fake," Chen Qing immediately judged. "I’ve never heard of the Nascent Soul Method."

Murong and Weichi both stared in astonishment. You haven’t heard of it, so it’s fake?

If Chen Qing knew what they were thinking, he would have scoffed. Nonsense, if he hadn’t heard of it, of course it was fake. Everything in this game had to go through his approval; if he didn’t know about it, could it possibly be real?

Not to mention that this crappy name is exactly like the nonsense methods in those online novels.

Nascent Soul is here, and I’m still undergoing Divinity Transformation.

.. What era is it? Still talking about Golden Core and Nascent Soul, are they planning to use Siao Qian’s methods until they die. ..

This is obviously the nonsense creation of some modern guild using the online Xianxia fiction framework.

"You’d better advise your brothers not to continue practicing. I suspect... that it’s not a legitimate Cultivation Technique, but some kind of trap, which might not pose a problem for now, but the more you practice, the more likely it is to cause issues."

"Yes..." Murong Yunji quickly replied.

"As for the black burning lantern you mentioned, I do know what that is."

"Your Majesty knows what that is?"

"That’s a secret treasure from the Path of Yin and Yang.

I didn’t expect to find such a thing here.

You should stay away from it normally; it’s very sinister.

It’s a flame created from the burning ghost fat of fierce ghosts, and because the spirits inside are formidable, it can drive away demons.

However, the only reason it can scare demons away is that the entity inside the lamp is even more terrifying.

Humans are unaffected by it, so they can carry the lamp safely through many places that would normally be impassable for the Human Race, such as the Nether River in the Path of Yin and Yang. "

"This thing shouldn’t have appeared so soon. Be careful, and try not to provoke it. Each lamp has a different fierce ghost inside, and although they can’t materialize in the world of the living, if you’re not careful and they pull you into a certain space, that would be troublesome."

"Imprisoned fierce ghosts?" Both Murong Yunji and Weichi Feihong were disgusted upon hearing this. What oddities the world contains, creating such items in ancient times; what were they used for?

"These black lamps will be useful later on, but of course, don’t compete for them. These things must be controlled by finding the original lamp source. This topic is very complicated, and our secure connection time is limited, so let’s focus on the important matters for now."

"Your Majesty, please speak..." Murong Yunji urged quickly, for she also saw that the Bai Yu that activated the mirrors had become dim and lusterless. Just in a short while, all the energy was nearly expended. She couldn’t help but sigh, this thing really consumed resources.

To think, those pieces of Bai Yu were refined with the effort of the academy for three months by hundreds of students from the earth institute, and yet they had powered the mirror for only half a quarter of an hour...

"The matter about the three envoys mentioned by your elder brother is likely true. I also have some intelligence on my side, indicating that there are several powers vying within the Northern Celestial Python Palace. I don’t have specific information on which ones, but I suspect these three are not all of them, yet they are likely familiar with each other and have formed some tacit rules. "

"Rules?" Weichi Feihong was puzzled and then said, "Does Your Majesty mean that the coups in Bei Qi Country and Snow Eagle Country occurred under certain rules?"

"That should be the case..." Chen Qing nodded.

"I speculate that before, in both Bei Qi and Snow Eagle Countries, several factions entered at the same time, just like the current ones in Northern Wolf Country, involving several envoys. These envoys will focus on co-opting several family powers by granting them different abilities, which will swiftly place the family powers including the Imperial Family in their camps. The various factions won’t fight directly but will let family powers squabble through their proxies. "

"The winning side will take complete control of the country and continue to receive support from the power behind them, while the losing side must accept their defeat gracefully and withdraw from that country."

"So... that’s why there have been consecutive waves of powers showing up in Northern Wolf Country!"

"I really hadn’t considered Your Majesty’s explanation, but now that I hear it, it seems like the case.

..," Weichi Feihong agreed but then wondered, "But if that’s the case, why is there such a huge gap this time in Northern Wolf Country? The first envoy has been here for months, and the next two groups have only just arrived. Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to set up early? "

"There likely has been some compromise among them," Chen Qing deduced.

"The ability of the first envoy to lay out plans early on is probably the result of a compromise from the other two. As for why they compromised, that’s for you to investigate.

Be extremely careful because though this is a proxy battle, if external Transcendent forces like yourselves show up, those folks might personally take the field against you.

You better assess the situation clearly before taking action. "

"Yes!"

"Lastly, regarding your suspicion about having a traitor among you, it’s not unfounded, so be even more cautious. Your arrival is not a secret; it’s very likely... that you’ve already caught the eye of several factions. Act with utmost discretion!"