Pure Yang!

Chapter 480 Li Yishan's Surprise! Chang'an Yinxu

Chang'an International Airport.

A whooshing sound pierced the sky as the silver-white plane slowly descended.

A moment later, Zhang Fan came out pushing his luggage, his expression solemn, as if he had something on his mind.

With his current cultivation level of the third stage of the fast, probing the memories of the Three Corpse Core wouldn't be as tiring as before. However, the memory he encountered on the plane this time was extremely special.

It could even be said to be one of the most crucial memories of the former strongest man in the world, the Three Corpse Taoist.

"A thousand-year-old demon... Just what is his identity that makes the Three Corpse Daoist and the Transcendent True Man who has already entered the Pure Yang Realm so wary of him?"

"And... the Three Corpse Essence Pill... the most special Three Corpse Essence Pill, what could it be? It couldn't be..."

Amidst a multitude of thoughts, Zhang Fan formed a bold conjecture.

"Zhang Fan..."

Just then, a soft exclamation came from not far away, pulling Zhang Fan back to his senses. Looking up, he saw a bright and tall figure walking towards him.

"Qiwu, it's been a long time," Zhang Fan said with a light laugh.

Every time he came to Chang'an, he had to trouble Meng Qiwu. There was nothing he could do about it, since this proud daughter of heaven was a top student of Zhongnan Mountain, and Chang'an was her territory.

"Huh? You..."

Ten steps away, Meng Qiwu suddenly stopped. He stared blankly at Zhang Fan, feeling that the man in front of him seemed different after not seeing him for several months. Even his memory of him became blurred and confused at this moment.

"You...you've broken through again?" Meng Qiwu couldn't help but ask.

"Just lucky," Zhang Fan chuckled.

"How...how did you train?" Meng Qiwu asked, pursing his lips.

She was confident in her high talent, already considered top-tier among her peers, but it was possible for her to achieve a leap in cultivation, progressing rapidly and at an unimaginable speed, like Zhang Fan.

“As Lu Zu said, cultivation is simply drinking water and eating,” Zhang Fan murmured.

"..."

"How many layers?" Meng Qiwu pressed.

She first met Zhang Fan when the innate spiritual embryo was born from Toad Treasure Mountain. At that time, their cultivation levels were similar, both being at the third level of the Great Master realm.

Now, only half a year has passed, and Meng Qiwu is still standing still, while Zhang Fan has already broken through to a higher realm.

It should be understood that at such a young age, to be able to cultivate to a high level is already a rare genius in the secular world. As for the Great Master realm, those are born to cultivate the Dao and are capable of inheriting the mantle.

As for the Zhai Shou realm, that's a talent only people like Chu Chaoran possess; it sounds like a scam if you even mention it. Meng Qiwu naturally didn't think about it that way.

"you guess."

Zhang Fan smiled but didn't say anything more.

"Get in the car first."

Meng Qiwu glanced at him sideways, led Zhang Fan to the parking lot, put away their luggage, and drove away.

"Where's Yishan? Why didn't he come with you?" Zhang Fan suddenly asked.

After things settled down in Tianjin, he contacted Li Yishan, who mentioned on the phone that he had received a lot of help from Meng Qiwu during his time in Chang'an.

Logically, the two of them should have come to pick him up together.

"He's gone." Meng Qiwu was driving when he suddenly realized.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask, "How come it's gone again?"

The last time he came to Chang'an was because Li Yishan had disappeared.

That trip to Chang'an was extremely dangerous. Not only did he meet the Celestial Master of the Chunyang Royal Family, but he also met another cultivator of the "Jia Sheng Gui Si" method, who was also Luo Sen, Zhang Fan's childhood friend from the orphanage. Furthermore, he witnessed the largest gathering of the Thirteen Zodiac Animals.

If Li Yishan hadn't emerged from the Tomb of the Living Dead in time, and if Zhang Sheng hadn't intervened promptly, their chances of leaving Chang'an safely would have been slim.

"I don't know." Meng Qiwu shook his head, and through the rearview mirror, he saw Zhang Fan looking down and making a phone call.

"No need to call anymore, we can't get in touch with them at all."

“He went out with Er Gou yesterday, and the last place they were seen was around Chaoyang Lane. I’ve already asked a friend to pull up all the surveillance footage from that night. He’ll send it to me later,” Meng Qiwu said in a deep voice.

"How could it have disappeared?" Zhang Fan pondered.

"Could it be that they've found the entrance to the Wuwu Sect?!"

Suddenly, a bold guess arose in Zhang Fan's mind.

This time, Li Yishan returned to find the entrance to the Wuwei Sect and help Zhang Fan find a way to break the Three Corpse Calamity.

"Has he been anywhere recently?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

"Aside from eating, drinking, and having fun... I don't think I've ever been to any serious places," Meng Qiwu recalled.

"..."

“He’s been going to the same place quite often these past few days.”

"where?"

“A ghost market!” Meng Qiwu murmured.

"Ghost market? The antique market we went to last time?"

“No, that’s on the ground, he went underground,” Meng Qiwu said solemnly.

"There's a ghost market underground in Chang'an?" Zhang Fan asked with a strange expression.

"The black market in Chang'an is divided into two types. One is the antique market I took you to last time, which is called the open market."

"The ghost market in Chang'an is a clandestine operation."

Ordinary black markets are already operating in the shadows, and the Chang'an Ghost Market is even more detached from the rules.

According to Meng Qiwu, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, a major earthquake caused a "geological subsidence" in the wards located along the river in the south of the ancient city. The earth opened up like a giant mouth, swallowing the once bustling market, the crisscrossing streets, and countless lives and wealth that could not escape in time into a pre-existing underground giant karst cave system.

The silt flowed in, partially burying the cavern, but the huge cavern space did not completely collapse. Instead, it formed an isolated underground world.

This is Yinxu, also known to outsiders as the "Ghost Market of Chang'an".

"That underground world is a labyrinth of intersecting tunnels, with countless branching points, crisscrossing underground rivers, and layers upon layers, like a natural maze..."

"Therefore, Yinxu is not only the largest black market in Chang'an, but also a place where many people from all walks of life, outlaws, and even great demons from the Qinling Mountains hide, either in seclusion or to cultivate..." Meng Qiwu said solemnly.

People say that there are many hermits hidden at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, but they don’t know that the number of hermits there is not even a fraction of that of Yinxu.

That underground world, where the sun never shines, seems to be truly isolated from the mundane world, and is the true cradle of spiritual practitioners.

"Yinxu...you haven't been with me these past two days?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

"How can I follow him around every day?" A strange look appeared on Meng Qiwu's beautiful face.

"However, I heard him say that he had made quite a few gains in Yinxu. He was very excited when he mentioned it, saying that he would give you a big surprise when you came."

"Surprise? Now it's shock." Zhang Fan rolled his eyes.

"How about we go take a look?"

"I'm taking you there now." Meng Qiwu stepped on the gas, speeding up so fast that the scenery outside the car window changed shape as cars kept passing by.

She seemed more eager than Zhang Fan to find Li Yishan.

"Drive slower." Zhang Fan felt a tremendous push against his back.

Three hours later, the car stopped in front of a desolate mound on the outskirts of Chang'an.

Zhang Fan and Meng Qiwu hiked up the mound, which resembled a grave. It was bare except for a dilapidated and abandoned Taoist temple, which also appeared to be made of piled-up loess.

"The Yin Ruins are here?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

From the outside, this abandoned Taoist temple is not even as big as their house.

"There are many entrances to the Yin Ruins, mostly through fissures in the ground and dry wells. Sometimes, in certain specific places, air holes will appear on the ground..." Meng Qiwu murmured.

“There have been ordinary people who fell into these air vents and mistakenly entered the Yin Ruins.”

Every year, a large number of living people disappear from the world and are never found again, for a variety of reasons.

"and after?"

"Later? Falling into a place like this, what later could there be?" Meng Qiwu shook his head and said.

Yinxu is no ordinary black market; its name alone tells you that.

This place is not just a black market; it harbors countless extraordinary individuals, outlaws, and even powerful sea monsters.

Perhaps, some famous figures who have long disappeared will suddenly emerge from the entrance of that cave.

“I usually wouldn’t come to a place like this,” Meng Qiwu said softly, shaking his head.

After all, she was a disciple of Zhongnan Mountain, a prestigious sect.

At this moment, she pushed open the door of the dilapidated Taoist temple, gently pushed the altar covered with yellow earth, and a black hole was revealed.

"Let's go."

Without turning his head, Meng Qiwu jumped straight in.

"No, wait for me, don't be in such a hurry." Zhang Fan pouted and quickly followed.

After passing through the narrow, winding path, the view suddenly opened up before us.

The dark underground world is a cave that seems to have no end. The ancient stalactites hanging from the ceiling and the fungi containing special phosphorus emit a cold, green and blue glow, like countless hanging ghost lanterns, illuminating the crooked and dilapidated Tang Dynasty architectural complex below.

"This is the Yin Ruins?" Zhang Fan's eyes were opened.

In the distance, clusters of firelight illuminated the outline of the Yinxu Ruins. Upon closer inspection, one could even see neon signs hanging at the entrances of shops.

He took out his phone and looked at it, and holy crap, there was still a signal here.

"You can access the internet here too. In modern society, there's nothing you can't do if you have money," Meng Qiwu said calmly.

"Let's go."

As he spoke, Meng Qiwu walked quickly toward Yinxu.

The damp air was filled with the scent of ancient spices, mixed with millennia-old dust and rotting wood.

After walking a while, the ground beneath your feet is no longer mud, but a smooth bluestone path polished by time, with pale ferns growing in the cracks, never seeing the light of day.

"Is this a road from the Tang Dynasty?" Zhang Fan felt as if he had traveled back in time, and everything around him was so novel.

The two walked along the ancient street, beside which flowed an underground river, its waters as black as ink, its murmuring softly, its source and end nowhere in sight. Occasionally, some strangely shaped blind fish would leap out of the water, creating splashes.

Looking up, there was no starry sky, only jagged rock peaks, like solidified dark clouds, oppressively shrouding this sunken underground world.

“Never talk to strangers here,” Meng Qiwu said in a deep voice.

"why?"

"Because you have no idea what the other party's true identity is." Meng Qiwu lowered his voice and looked around warily.

The Ghost Market of Chang'an, a world of darkness and desolation, is far more dangerous than it appears.

"Sixty years ago, the demon king of Qinling was severely injured by Master Chu's slap on the summit of Mount Dongyue. After escaping back to Chang'an, he hid here," Meng Qiwu suddenly said.

The Demon King of Qinling, Yin Pobai!?
Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan was deeply moved.

This old dragon died at Zhenwu Mountain.

"At that time, he hid here for more than 20 years without being discovered. Later, it was because a foolish disciple of the Chunyang Wang family provoked him that he was swallowed whole on the spot..."

"That's how the identity of this Qinling demon was exposed, and he left the Yinxu."

As he spoke, Meng Qiwu pointed to the dark cave entrances and forks in the road, which were bottomless and led nowhere.

Those seem to be the most natural and most hidden caves.

"No one knows how big this underground world is, or how many masters and hermits it hides..." Meng Qiwu said in a deep voice.

"If you ever run into trouble and find yourself in dire straits, or if you're on the run, you can come here to hide."

"Pah, pah, pah... Don't curse me." Zhang Fan glanced at him sideways.

He didn't want that day to come for him. Besides, if that day really came, his escape route would be the water palace in Tianjin, not this place.

"This is the most dangerous place, but also the safest," Meng Qiwu said calmly.

"Let alone the great demons of the mountains and seas, it wouldn't be surprising to encounter even a master from the Wuwei Sect here."

"The Wuwei Sect!?" Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat.

"I heard that the three masters of the Wuwei Sect all spent some time in the Yinxu."

The master of the Xuan Palace was formerly Li Yishan's father, Li Cunsi, and is now his stepmother, Jiang Yunxian.

Zhang Fan had also met the Lord of the Crimson Palace, Ming Shenshou.

As for the most mysterious master of the Yuan Palace among the three palaces, Zhang Fan had never even heard of him.

"This……"

“Maybe they’re among these people,” Meng Qiwu murmured.

Zhang Fan watched the flow of people coming and going, and his heart stirred slightly. It seemed that this underground world was more dangerous than he had imagined.

"But these are all just legends, some true and some false, who knows?" Meng Qiwu murmured.

"In recent years, the Dao Alliance has flourished, and the power of local Dao sects has become more concentrated and stronger than ever before... I heard that Yinxu is not as lively as it used to be."

After the founding of the nation, the Taoist community produced extraordinary talents like Jiang Wansui, who established the Taoist Alliance through the highest will. This move had a profound impact and was almost epoch-making in the history of the development of Taoism.

"How chaotic this place must have been before?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but say.

People from all walks of life, a motley crew, exist outside the rules. Their most primal desires will be completely out of control under the sway of power, leaving only slaughter and chaos.

"That's not true. I heard from the elders in the sect that a long time ago, Yinxu had an owner and someone was in charge of it. Anyone who stepped into Yinxu didn't dare to act recklessly."

"Hmm!?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan couldn't help but reveal a strange expression.

What terrifying strength and skill must one possess to become the master of such a chaotic underworld?
"Who could possibly be the master of this Yin Ruins!?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

"That must be someone from the older generation. I doubt many people would know about them now. I only heard an elder mention them once, I think their name was..."

"Nine Palaces..."

“Li Jiugong!” Meng Qiwu paused and then announced a name.

(End of this chapter)