Chapter 149: Without a Bracelet
"Haha, Wuji..." Zhen Shaoru could obviously see Mo Wuji approaching, and welcomed him with a bellowing laugh.
The cultivator locked in combat with Zhen Shaoru slowed down as he saw that a friend of his opponent had arrived. When he observed that Mo Wuji's spiritual energy was ordinary, he was relieved. Mo Wuji's cultivation definitely was not at the Spirit Building Stage, and his talent was ordinary, hence there was nothing to worry about.
"Brother Mo, is this a friend of yours?" Hou Yucheng followed Mo Wuji and asked.
Behind Hou Yucheng, Qu Wan'Er and Yu Zhi also came. The cultivator that just thought that he did not have to worry about Mo Wuji immediately changed his expression.
Hou Yucheng was famous, and the man was aware of his identity. Just by Hou Yucheng's hands, he would die in seconds, and the two people following behind Hou Yucheng were not that simple either. With both that group and Zhen Shaoru present, he would be seeking death if he continued to stay here.
Before Mo Wuji could reply Hou Yucheng's question, the cultivator swiftly backed off, immediately turning tail and bolted.
No one went after him, and Mo Wuji also began introducing Zhen Shaoru to everyone.
Zhen Shaoru's eccentric personality kicked in, so he broke into a wide smile after that cultivator fled, "Wuji, this time I've struck the jackpot..."
It was already rather near the exit, with many people approaching, hence Mo Wuji had to reply, "Shaoru, why don't we leave this for after we've gotten out."
"Ok, we'll carry on after exiting. Let me tell you, even though I did not manage to obtain a Flower of the True Gods, the thing I got definitely is no worse than one. That guy just now was after what I have, and had been chasing me for days already, ha ha ha..."
This guy finally could not hold it in anymore, and bragged about his haul, stopping short of mentioning what exactly he was talking about.
The few people around also picked up on Zhen Shaoru's words, and turned their gazes in his direction. But once they saw that Mo Wuji was in a group of four, they skirted around them and left.
Mo Wuji whispered to Zhen Shaoru, "You're really asking for trouble. I hope that you didn't actually get something even better, because if you did, it probably won't end up as yours."
"Wuji, have you found the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal? What does it look like?" Zhen Shaoru only just recalled Mo Wuji's aim after he finished showing off, and quickly asked about it.
Hou Yucheng could finally understand why Mo Wuji kept asking around about the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal. It turns out that he wanted to obtain it, "Brother Mo, so you wanted to obtain a Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal?"
Zhen Shaoru, who was standing at the side, had already become acquainted with Hou Yucheng by then, and responded loudly, "Of course, Wuji asked my brother for a lot of information regarding the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal, but sadly, my brother and I did not know anything. Even after inquiring some pill refiners, we came up with nothing..."
"Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals are very rare, and I've never seen one before either. I've only heard about them through my master, so it's natural that ordinary people have not seen such a treasure before." Hou Yucheng nodded in agreement.
Hou Yucheng thought of something after he ended his sentence, so he asked again, "Brother Mo, are you looking for the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal to beg for Granny Linglong's help?"
With a sigh, Mo Wuji answered, "Indeed this is the case. Back when we were going to the ice mountain, I wanted to ask you if there were any Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals there, and since many pill refiners were not familiar with their characteristics, so the thought of asking you about it's appearance did not come to mind at all..."
At this point, Mo Wuji sudden felt that something was not right, and stopped abruptly.
Hou Yucheng sighed to himself. Even if you asked, you couldn't have done anything with the information. You were trapped at the ice mountain for two months, where would you have had the chance to search for the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal?
"That's not right!" Mo Wuji finally remembered what didn't add up.
If the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal was so rare, that even Zhen Shaoke and other pill refiners that opened pill houses did not know about them, how could the man and woman at the icy hall have known what they looked like?
Now, Mo Wuji forcefully pulled out his memories of that situation to reevaluate everything. There were tens of meters between the icy staircase and the ground, so while standing on the icy stairs, it would be very difficult to see the row of small Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals. Even if they did, the two ice flowers on the icy altar would have caught their attention first. The two ice flowers were so prominent, anyone would have definitely looked in their direction first, instead of those trash-like four-cornered crystal objects.
The only explanation for what happened was that, the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals that the two of them pointed out, were the two ice flowers that he had harvested.
If that was the case, then Hou Yucheng's description of Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals was incorrect.
Mo Wuji asked again, "Brother Hou, are you sure Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals are slightly yellowish four-cornered crystal objects?"
Hou Yucheng replied confidently, "It can't be wrong, Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals are indeed slightly yellowish four-cornered crystal objects. They appear a little shiny too." Seeing that Mo Wuji became silent again, Hou Yucheng tried to comfort him, "Brother Mo, Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals are extremely hard to obtain treasures in the Five Elements Desolate Domain, they're even rarer than Flowers of the True Gods. Moreover, even if you did encounter some, with our current strength, it would be difficult to get close enough to obtain it."
"I know." Mo Wuji replied. He knew better than anyone else how difficult it was to get close to Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystals. If he did not coincidentally train in the Seven Style Lightning Sky's first style, he would not have been able to get close to those two ice flowers.
Everyone fell silent, because no one here could help Mo Wuji to beg Granny Linglong to help him. Even the First Dean of Heaven Seeking Palace would be helpless.
In the end, the insensitive Zhen Shaoru also realised that Mo Wuji was in a bad mood, and hence he shut up.
Half a day later, when five of them arrived at the exit, there were already a couple of thousand people, and even more were streaming in. As for the poison fog that welcomed them when they first arrived, it was not present this time.
The cultivators that made it to the exit were all very cautious, and most of them were standing in groups; every one with their guards up. Evidently, the cultivators that entered the Five Elements Desolate Domain had a great haul from their time here.
Another four hours of waiting later, rumbling noises could be heart, and at the same time, the fog surrounding them became denser.
Mo Wuji took a casual glance around, noticing that the number of people that were going out was much less than the initial number that entered. Five thousand people went in, but not even three thousand were going out. Over a thousand men had somehow went missing in the Five Elements Desolate Domain. He spotted Yan Qianyin in the crowd, but was just not in the mood to go over to say hello.
When the rumbling stopped, a jet black tunnel opened up, and without any discussion, everyone rushed straight into it.
Thankfully, the tunnel was sufficiently broad, and the cultivators entered fast enough too, so there was no jam even though thousands of people were passing through.
Mo Wuji and co. were sandwiched in the centre, and this time, they had reached the small square from before in less than an incense's time. The entrances of the square were sealed up as they were previously, so everyone could only wait quietly in the centre.
An hour or so passed before the tunnel gave out a rumbling noise again. The tunnel connected to the Five Elements Desolate Domain slowly closed up, and finally disappeared completely.
"There's much less people than before." Zhen Shaoru commented heartlessly.
No one bothered with him though. Mo Wuji spotted the Second Dean of Heaven Seeking Palace, Feng Zhenqiu. Two red-robed cultivators, who seemed like guards, stood behind Feng Zhenqiu, totally stationary.
Feng Zhenqiu's gaze swept across the whole crowd, then he spoke, "Congratulations to all who managed to come back safe and sound, regardless whether each of you managed to obtained some treasure in the Five Elements Desolate Domain, this trip must have given an immeasurable amount of benefits to your cultivation. Now everyone please return your bracelets, and wait quietly."
Other than Mo Wuji who found out the function of the bracelets after entering the Five Elements Desolate Domain, everyone else knew that they must not lose their bracelets. After all, they still had to return them.
After Feng Zhenqiu finished his speech, the two red-robed men started collecting bracelets. When they reached Mo Wuji, he quickly bowed and apologised, "I met with a lightning strike when picking Lightning Splitting Grass in a lightning lake and almost died. My bracelet was lost in the lake then."
The red-robed cultivator in front of Mo Wuji turned to look at Feng Zhenqiu, who in turn gazed upon Mo Wuji.
Mo Wuji bowed respectfully once more, not daring to make any movement. Even his spiritual will was withdrawn completely within him.
Because he had trained his spiritual will, Mo Wuji was more sensitive to it than ordinary cultivators. He could clearly feel someone's spiritual will sweeping onto his storage bag. A moment later, the spiritual will disappeared.
This let Mo Wuji heave a sigh of relief. It seemed as though Feng Zhenqiu still cared about his reputation, and did not use spiritual will to do a body search of Mo Wuji.
"Since you have no bracelet, please stand to one side." Feng Zhenqiu nodded his head lightly, and did not say anything worrying.
Half an hour later, both red-robed men had already collected all the bracelets.
Only then did Feng Zhenqiu announce with a smile, "Everyone, you can leave now. Those who want to join the Heaven Seeking Palace can go to our encampment to register. We will grade everyone fairly based on their talent and contributions to Heaven Seeking Palace. We will be recruiting 300 people this time, so I hope everyone grasps this opportunity well."
The exits linked out of the Five Elements Desolate Domain opened up and everyone left swiftly. Zhen Shaoru still said annoyingly beside Mo Wuji's ear, "This time I will definitely join the Heaven Seeking Palace, Wuji, I'll help you look for that Granny Linglong then..."
This guy haven't even joined the Heaven Seeking Palace, and he thinks that finding Granny Linglong is as easy as saying it.
Inside, Mo Wuji was speechless, he guessed that the Heaven Seeking Palace was evaluating who had obtained more valuable treasures.They would likely choose their disciples based on these treasures, and if it was a top grade treasure, perhaps they would take some underhanded measures to obtain it for themselves. However, for a place like Heaven Seeking Palace, the definition of a top grade treasure would definitely be of much higher quality than what he thought to be top grade.