Chapter 178: Investigation

“Whew—”

Qin Mu wiped the sweat from his forehead. This place was excessively large.

He had been walking for a long time, exhausted to the point of death.

He couldn’t use his True Qi to fly, so he had to walk step by step.

But he had finally reached the mountain range.

“Heave-ho.”

Qin Mu climbed over the giant rock and stood on top, looking toward the ravine ahead.

“Whoa! Ruins!”

In the ravine before him, a river ran through, carving out a flat area. On both sides of the riverbed, buildings stood.

However, most were ruined walls and collapsed buildings, looking as if they were built a very long time ago. Now only a pile of rubble remained, with just a few houses still appearing intact.

Qin Mu hadn’t expected to find houses here. There wasn’t even a trace of spiritual energy in this place, but judging by the appearance of the houses, they didn’t look like anyone lived there.

After some time, Qin Mu arrived at the ruins of the houses. All the houses were built from stone; there wasn’t a single wooden structure. Come to think of it, there was nothing here except stone.

Qin Mu walked up to a house that was still relatively intact. The door was also made of stone, slightly ajar.

He reached out and pushed it open. It wasn’t as heavy as he had imagined; on the contrary, it was very light.

Pushing the door open, inside there were some stone tables and stone chairs. The roof had a large hole.

He looked around the entire house; everything was made of stone.

There was something that looked like a wardrobe. He opened it, but inside was empty, with no trace of any clothes.

However, in the living room there was a stone carving of a painting. It was carved so vividly that one could see it was human-shaped, but the face was not carved.

The figure was a man, tall and sturdy, with arms wide open, wearing clothes made of something like silk ribbons.

Qin Mu wondered if he could find any written records, but he found none. Aside from this stone carving in front of him, there were no clues at all.

“Sigh, I thought I could find a way out, but it was all for nothing.”

Qin Mu sighed. This place looked like no one had lived here for a long time.

Could it be that everyone had died? If so, he hadn’t seen any graves outside.

If there were graves, it would be fine. He could act as a grave robber and see if he could dig up some useful information.

The top priority was to find Senior Chu and also avoid that black-robed man. He really didn’t know why the man wanted to kill him on sight when he hadn’t provoked him. He had never seen him before.

Could it be that their fates didn’t match?

But this wasn’t a marriage oracle; why did it have to be about compatibility?

Better to find Senior Chu first. It’s been so long; I wonder how Senior Chu is doing.

“Damn it! That brat actually got away!”

Long Shengtian watched Qin Mu escape from his grasp with his own eyes. He was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. He had never expected Qin Mu to be able to burst out like that.

“My lord, our top priority is to find Chu Jiujiu.”

A subordinate beside him reminded him. Long Shengtian had charged out as soon as he saw Qin Mu. Just what did he think he was doing—regarding him as a peerless beauty? That was just a man. Wait! A man…

Not knowing what he thought of, the subordinate quietly distanced himself from Long Shengtian.

“Hmph, of course I know that, but this place is too hard to search.”

If Long Shengtian hadn’t accidentally come here in his previous life, he wouldn’t have known how to enter and exit.

Now was Chu Jiujiu’s weakest moment. If he didn’t strike now, when would he?

As long as he captured Chu Jiujiu, the Wildlands would be within his grasp. Then, using the Spiritual Vein, he could bring the Demon Clan back into the world, throw everything into chaos, and that would be the moment he took control of the universe.

The moment he thought of this, Long Shengtian felt as if a wonderful future was waving at him. After all, in his previous life, although his cultivation was not low, his reputation was not really outstanding.

Having been reborn, Long Shengtian had first planned to get along well with the Qin Family sisters. Of course, if some ambiguous incidents occurred, he wouldn’t mind.

But far from any ambiguous incidents, they went straight for the kill upon seeing him; he almost died.

Even if he racked his brains, he couldn’t recall any figure like Qin Mu in his past life. The Qin sisters’ younger brother simply didn’t exist in his previous life.

The variable in this life was Qin Mu. Long Shengtian’s current degeneration into alliance with the Demon Clan was also thanks to Qin Mu.

So Long Shengtian hated Qin Mu to the bone. Now, not only was there Chu Jiujiu, but Qin Mu was also here—killing two birds with one stone, double happiness!

Thinking of this, if he didn’t have to maintain his image, Long Shengtian would have thrown his hands on his hips and laughed heartily.

While Long Shengtian was reveling in his bright future, Qin Mu was still miserably climbing over mountains to find Senior Chu.

“Aunt Lu!”

Qin Mengyu saw the beautiful woman appear before her and exclaimed in surprise.

Beside her, Lu Shuanger observed the legendary Sect Leader of the Seven Star Sect, Lu Qian, who was neither less in beauty nor cultivation than her master.

Lu Qian saw Qin Mengyu and Qin Ruoshuang and smiled.

“It’s been a long time. By the way, where is Mu’er? Why isn’t he here?”

She glanced around; there was no young man in the room, although there was a trace of residual aura.

“Qin Mu went with my master to investigate the Spiritual Vein issue.”

Lu Shuanger beside her answered.

“And you are?”

Lu Qian looked at the young girl in front of her and asked.

Lu Shuanger performed a courtesy as a junior and said respectfully.

“This junior’s name is Lu Shuanger. My master is the High Priest of the Gu Tribe.”

“Lu Shuanger, what a coincidence. We both have the surname Lu.”

Lu Qian said with a smile, without any of the pressure she had in the Dragon Clan; she seemed very friendly.

“You said just now that Mu’er went with your master to investigate the Spiritual Vein?”

“Yes.”

“Could you tell me which Spiritual Vein? I’ll take this Dragon Clan elder there and help out.”

Lu Shuanger glanced at the horned Dragon Clan person in front of her. This was her first time seeing a Dragon Clan, after all.

“I don’t know which Spiritual Vein. I only know it seems to be related to the spiritual energy of the Wildlands.”

Chu Jiujiu hadn’t told her disciple the details, because even if she did, her disciple couldn’t help with anything at present.

“Could it be the Spiritual Vein that governs spiritual energy!”

At this moment, the Water Elder of the Dragon Clan behind Lu Qian spoke. This time entering the Wildlands, only the Water Elder had come; the other Dragon Clan elders and Wang Yan’er stayed on the periphery of the Wildlands and didn’t come in together.

The Water Elder stepped forward, his long beard instantly floating up, and spoke excitedly.

“This is simply nonsense! If it really is the Spiritual Vein that governs spiritual energy, once something goes wrong, at the very least the entire Southern Region will be affected; at the worst, the entire Heavenly Profound Continent, and even the Cultivation World, will be impacted!”

The Dragon Clan had studied these Spiritual Veins in depth since ancient times. Whether it was ore-type Spiritual Veins composed of Spirit Stones or Spiritual Veins composed of spiritual energy, the Dragon Clan had some research on them.

Perhaps this was a racial talent of the Dragon Clan. For other races, they couldn’t even judge the flow of spiritual energy with 100% accuracy.