Chapter 056: A Great Secret

The Divine Emperor will personally command the army, and the Golden Dragon Divine Vessel will arrive soon.

Receiving the message sent by Yang Xuan'gan via the token, Ling Xuan could not help but feel dazed. Had the trajectory of history returned to its normal track once again?

He had originally suspected that the Divine Emperor was the one secretly manipulating the situation, but now it seemed that was not the case.

The person influencing the entire trajectory of history had still not shown themselves, leaving him with a lingering doubt in his mind: "Who on earth is it?"

The little white snake had transformed into a white chi, moving at lightning speed. It had already reached the outer periphery of the Three Thousand Mountains; further ahead lay the territory of Goguryeo.

With its massive body, it was impossible not to be spotted by the enemy.

Ling Xuan made a decisive choice, jumping down from the head of the little white snake and having it shrink down to coil around his shoulder.

With a tacit mutual understanding, Ye Ziyan’s eyes flashed with a purple glow as she scanned her surroundings, waving the Prairie-Scorching Phoenix Spear to quickly carve a mark.

The mark was left for Sun Tianxin, Hou Junji, and the others, as per their prior agreement.

Different marks represented different messages, making it convenient for them to find one another.

Even if others saw them, they would not understand the meaning and would instead form misconceptions.

Once they left the ten-thousand-li territory of the Great Sui, the tokens could no longer transmit messages, leaving them to rely solely on primitive methods.

The little white snake emitted a soft hiss, and the corners of Ling Xuan’s mouth curled up. "Wife, let's go. The little fellow has found something."

"So fast?"

Ye Ziyan was slightly taken aback.

Ever since the little white snake activated its white chi bloodline, its abilities had become far more formidable than before.

Even though it was only at the Three-Star Yellow Star stage, with the assistance of the Chi Dragon Pearl, it could sense serpentine auras within a radius of nine zhang.

A snake understood snakes; moreover, a little white snake that had activated the white chi bloodline understood the attributes of serpentine creatures even better.

Even if a creature's star-glow realm was higher than its own, the little white snake still understood the habits of the Dark Water Black Snake Soul.

Not to mention, during the Battle of Luoshui, the little white snake had personally witnessed that wispy split soul of the Dark Water Black Snake Soul and had captured the lingering aura it left behind.

With the white chi bloodline activated, its perception of that wisp of aura was even sharper.

Yet, to Ling Xuan’s surprise, what the little white snake was pointing at was actually a stone—an ordinary, irregularly shaped fragment of rock.

"This..."

Ye Ziyan was somewhat baffled. What was going on here? Could it be a hallucination of the little white snake?

Instantly channeling the Qi-Observing Technique, connecting the single vertical pupil of the Spirit Snake Entwining the Moon with the snake-patterned vertical pupils in his eyes, Ling Xuan immediately discovered the anomaly.

Wisps of faint black Qi were actually entwined around the stone fragment.

Yet, this trace of black Qi was completely invisible to Ye Ziyan's purple-glowing eyes.

"Could it be?"

The hissing sounds of those little snakes in Hawk's Sorrow涧 instantly flashed through his mind. Ling Xuan began to understand: this stone fragment had fallen from that weathered stone tablet inscribed with the two characters "Senluo".

The weathered stone tablet that had not been found within the Three Thousand Mountains had unexpectedly been discovered right as they were about to enter Goguryeo.

However, Ling Xuan did not understand what Senluo actually represented, nor did Ye Ziyan know. Even that segment of memory dormant within the little white snake's white chi bloodline had yet to be unlocked.

Yet, the little white snake showed obvious, intense anger toward this trace of aura and the black Qi on the stone fragment.

"Could Senluo represent some kind of secret?"

Ling Xuan looked at Ye Ziyan with a playful smile. "Wife, have you ever heard Grandfather mention this?"

"Hold on, don't you feel like this is acting as a guide?"

Ye Ziyan countered, "It looks as though the Dark Water Black Snake Soul is pointing the way for someone."

"A traitor?"

This was the very first word that came to mind.

Ling Xuan did not even know if he was simply too sensitive to this sort of thing.

No matter the time, and no matter the faction, the thing they feared most was being breached from within.

If this was truly guiding someone, it meant that the Dark Water Black Snake Soul was connected to the internal elements of the Great Sui Divine Dynasty.

Otherwise, relying merely on that wisp of a split soul, it would have been utterly impossible for the Dark Water Black Snake Soul to enter Luoshui, devour the power of the Great Sui's national destiny dragon, and grow to the level of a Seven-Star Demonic Soul.

To evade the detection of the Grand History Bureau, it must have entered when its split soul was extremely weak.

When weak, it would not attract any attention.

After all, whether it was human beings or the observation methods of the Grand History Bureau, the most sensitive moments were always when facing crisis.

When facing something weak, unless under special circumstances, no one would think too highly of it, nor would they even deign to spare it a glance.

However, for a Demonic Soul to enter the Divine Capital, it would inevitably attract attention, regardless of whether it was weak or strong.

The only explanation for how it managed to bypass the city defense guards' inspection was that there was a mole within the city defense guards—someone who had been bribed by those carrying the Dark Water Black Snake Soul.

After all, when the Divine Capital was built, all demonic souls had been thoroughly cleansed and purged away.

That wisp of black Qi was the key to finding the Dark Water Black Snake Soul. Ling Xuan quickly channeled the Taiji Wuxing and the Embrace the Moon technique, drawing the aura into the Benevolent Heart Needle Casket.

The moment the black Qi entered the casket, the bronze astrolabe began to spin, rotating even faster than when it hinted at the location of the green needle.

The illusory figure of Old Master Chu reappeared. "Xuan'er, I truly didn't expect you to discover the traces of the Senluo Hall so quickly."

Senluo Hall?

Ling Xuan was stunned into a daze. Every action, every word, and every deed of Old Master Chu's illusory figure made him more and more convinced that this truly was his grandfather.

Yet, Grandfather had never once mentioned the Senluo Hall to him.

Watching the illusory figure of Old Master Chu open its mouth to speak those pieces of information, not only was Ling Xuan dumbfounded, but Ye Ziyan was also left in a state of daze.

In ancient times, supreme experts refined the essence and souls of demons into shikigami, with the primary purpose of dealing with the Senluo Hall.

The Senluo Hall controlled demonic souls, triggering numerous upheavals, causing floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, plunging the common people into endless misery and suffering.

Even the refining methods of those ancient experts were seized by the Senluo Hall.

To prevent the conspiracy of the Senluo Hall from succeeding, the ancient experts destroyed the refining methods.

However, residual methods were still acquired by the Senluo Hall.

To cope with the Senluo Hall, the ancient experts organized and established the Heavenly Medical Valley.

Yet they still failed to escape the notice of the Senluo Hall, triggering a massive war.

That great war caused mountains to collapse and the earth to shatter, the colors of heaven and earth to change, and blood to flow like rivers.

The Senluo Hall vanished into obscurity, while only a small number of members from the Heavenly Medical Valley survived, and most of their ultimate arts were lost, leaving behind only the Taiji Wuxing technique and the Taiji Needle Technique.

However, the survivors did not believe that the Senluo Hall had simply vanished.

Investigating in secret, they finally discovered its traces.

Yet the Senluo Hall was far too cunning, with erratic and shifting whereabouts, secretly cultivating various factions to wreak havoc upon the common people of the world.

Therefore, upon ascending the throne, the Divine Emperors of every dynasty shouldered the exact same mission: to ensure that the Senluo Hall would not rise from the ashes.

Apart from the Divine Emperor, the only ones who knew of this secret were those of the Heavenly Medical lineage.

Ling Xuan originally did not possess the qualifications for this, purely because his strength was far too weak.

Yet who could have imagined that, by a fluke and through blind luck, he would actually guide that wisp of black Qi into the Benevolent Heart Needle Casket and activate the bronze astrolabe?

The illusory figure of Old Master Chu let out a long, gentle sigh. "Xuan'er, since you have found out ahead of time, you must accelerate your pace and enhance your strength. You do not have much time left."

The illusion dissipated, leaving Ling Xuan still unable to snap back to his senses.

The news was simply too shocking; if he had not possessed a sufficiently resilient state of mind, he probably would have gone mad.

The Taiji Wuxing actually concealed such a massive secret concerning all the living beings of the world!

The fact that the Dark Water Black Snake Soul had brought over that weathered stone tablet meant that Goguryeo's control over the demonic souls and its theft of the power of the Great Sui Divine Dynasty's national destiny dragon were the work of the Senluo Hall.

No wonder finding the true physical body of the Dark Water Black Snake Soul would lead to finding the green needle!