Chapter 289 - Mystic Domains (2/2)
He went back to his lodgings right before dark and found Zi Mo waiting for him. Also present were Perfected Immortal Qing Chen and Perfected Immortal Tai Yi of the Order of the Countless Blades, along with a few Elders of the League, including the Warden of the Immortal’s League who had last presided over his hearing at the citadel.
Their faces were obscured in the veil of darkness, but that did little to hinder Xiao Chen from noticing the troubled looks on their faces. “What is going on?”
“D*mned boy, where have you been!” Zi Mo growled and yanked at his arm, dragging him into the yard.
But he was stopped halfway by a fuming Murong Xian’er who pulled hard at his beard. “BAD OLD MAN! How could you bully Big Brother!”
“Argh! That hurts! Let go, girl!”
“NO! You let go of Big Brother Xiao Chen!”
Xiao Chen adjusted his clothes, smiling bleakly before he turned to the others, bowing low to them, “How can I help you, Seniors?”
A frowning Perfected Immortal Qing Chen was the first to speak, “Xiao Chen. Is it true that you’ve seen a ravine filled with an aura so dangerous and diabolical during your stay at the Burg of the Feral Phoenix?”
The Warden followed immediately before Xiao Chen could utter a word, “Have you gone down there to investigate? Did you see anything?”
“I see, so this is the purpose of their visit,” Xiao Chen realized. “It’s true,” he replied, “But the deadly aura was too thick and strong that I could not go down there.”
The newcomers traded dark looks again. “Tell me about the place in detail,” Perfected Immortal Tai Yi said.
Xiao Chen recounted to them of everything he saw and felt there, leaving out only the part about Su Xiaomei’s warning for him to leave and the attack by the seven assassins until the Three Friends of Winter came to help.
The information of the evil aura spanning hundreds of miles left everyone shocked and aghast. “Heavens… It is as we’ve been dreading…” The Warden of the Immortal’s League stammered.
That was followed by several mournful sighs from the others. Although he was still confused and oblivious to the source of their angst and anxiety, their worried looks were enough to convey the gravity of the situation. “I’ve given my word to the Governor of the Burg that I would implore for help from the League. So here I am, beseeching you, and the rest of the League, to send them the help as soon as possible.”
The Warden nodded grimly. “You’ve done well. Rest assured, we will not sit and watch while the commons of the Burg suffers from danger. Just concentrate on the tournament and leave this to us.”
“Understood. I’ll thank you all for looking into this matter, Seniors,” Xiao Chen noted gratefully, relieved that he had finally made good of his promise to Ye Lingfeng, the Three Friends of Winter and everyone whom he had met during his stay there.
Everyone shuffled out of the yard and left. Just when the footsteps of the last person padded out of the door, Zhiluan’s head popped out of the window. “Meow! And here I was, thinking that trouble has come seeking…”
“Serves you right! That should teach you not to steal food again!” Murong Xian’er chirped cheerfully.
Xiao Chen chuckled. But his buoyancy died quickly. But he dismissed any worries readily, diving into his work of brewing some pills and elixirs for Zhiluan and concocting a Lark’s Serum for the scar on Qingluan’s face.
She was beyond words when presented with the potion. Beside her, Ziyun’er was equally taken aback. “So you were chasing the scared cat, all for the want of concocting a cure for Sister…”
“Th-thank you, Master,” Qingluan breathed softly and said.
“All right,” Xiao Chen smiled and said, “To the Violet Illusory Land we go now.”
The entrance to the Illusory Lands was in a cave at the far slopes of the back mountain trails. But the Violet Illusory Lands were by no means illusory, in fact, they were very much real.
It was similar in kind to the true Kunlun Sect. Most common folks believed that the stronghold of the Kunlun Sect was built upon the jagged spires of the icy precipices of Mount Kunlun, when the actual location of the sanctuary of one of the most respected and ancient school of magic in the world was hidden deep in the Kunlun Mystic Lands.
Many of the great and powerful houses of the lands owned mystic domains of their own, although admission into these hallowed lands was often only by permission by the masters of the clans and some of the more lowly-birthed clansmen might not even realize that their family had control of such domains.
That was because mystic domains were often the final bastion of hope for any households in the time of war. Hence, unless needed to, domains like these were mostly well-guarded secrets after being created by the collective powers of conjurers of the Grand Completion Realm. Creating such pocket dimensions would be a task so arduous and harrowing that it would take decades before the conjurers’ work finally reach the fullest fruition.
But Xiao Chen knew that there were countless of pocket domains and mystic realms in the world. Most of them became exhausted due to disrepair and neglect with no one discovering their entrances, while some were occupied by some of the most secretive and enigmatic factions of the magical community of the Violet Manor.
And he was quite certain that one of them, was the Fallen Immortals Sect, a school which he suspected had long remained hidden in their own mystic domains.