The light of the An Shi Book dimmed slightly, as if a bit disappointed. The book flipped automatically, causing the pages about the meteor disaster and alien fire disaster to detach and fall into Yu Ziqing's hands.
"Is this the only option?
Is the page about the Tenth Tier Prefectural Governor turning Devilic unusable?
Is it that I can't use it at all?"
The An Shi Book flickered, indicating that he was correct.
"Then do you think that meteor is something I can summon?"
The An Shi Book indicated that he couldn't summon it.
Yu Ziqing rolled his eyes and put those two pages away.
Even if he could use them, it would come at a sufficient price.
The alien fire was indeed the easiest to use, capable of being strong or weak. The meteor, however, had an extremely high baseline, and under normal circumstances, he couldn't use it.
Upon returning from the Mountain Abyss, Yu Ziqing first went to check on the recovery of the Tong Family Master Tong Weishun, Yin Yang Sect Master Liao Yilai, and Devil Extermination Sect Master Peng Song.
Next, heading to the Dadui Jade Seal's Sealed Land was bound to lead to conflict. Before a fight, one must gather people; otherwise, what's the point of fighting?
At least a few strong allies were necessary on his side to bolster their strength.
These three were purely Qi Refinement cultivators, and with the aid of heavenly materials and earthly treasures, their Divine Souls recovered quickly. After recuperating for this period, they were mostly fine.
Additionally, the Crown Prince of Dali was quite generous, sending them treasures. Once they returned to their prime, they might even become stronger than before.
To avoid giving the chief director any time to react and push forward as much as possible, Yu Ziqing found Zhong Shouzheng at his new seclusion site.
"Senior, I'm gifting you a heavenly material and earthly treasure. Do you want it?"
"Why wouldn't I want it?" Zhong Shouzheng laughed heartily. "Tell me, what message do you want me to pass on this time?"
"I've deciphered the meaning of those messages and found the Sealed Land."
"I directly went into Dadui Seal and found someone from that era."
"..." Zhong Shouzheng was a bit stunned. Was this even possible?
Yu Ziqing smiled and shared the translation with Zhong Shouzheng.
"Three days later, I'm going to the vicinity of the old site of Dingmao City. You can guess what this means, right?"
"Demanding one heavenly material and earthly treasure was a loss."
"Then request two and give me one."
Zhong Shouzheng departed cheerfully, reaping the benefits without any loss.
A day later, in a secret meeting room, Zhong Shouzheng wore a cold smile.
"You people always want to sit on the sidelines and never take risks. Now I tell you, even if you have the clues to the Dadui Jade Seal, it's useless. You'll still need the help of those from Jinlan Mountain. I'll tell you first that 'Wang Ri' refers to the sixteenth of August, which is just a few days away. Miss it this time, and you'll have to wait another year. Two heavenly materials and earthly treasures, not a single one less."
After securing his benefits, Zhong Shouzheng finally shared the complete information with everyone.
They all looked at each other in surprise, as Dadui no longer existed; where would they find Dingmao City?
After passing on the message, Zhong Shouzheng vanished without a trace.
Upon leaving, he immediately concealed himself, burrowing underground.
He sensed danger here as well.
In recent times, he had helped Yu Ziqing transmit messages, tricking these people out of several heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
These things weren't common commodities. Besides the first-rate major factions, any other power would be lucky to have one or two in reserve.
Carrying several heavenly materials and earthly treasures, all usable by Refining God cultivators, as well as some for restoring the Primordial Spirit, it was no surprise someone was after him.
It felt normal to him.
After escaping for a full three thousand miles, Zhong Shouzheng finally emerged from the ground.
As a loose cultivator, and one of evil Dao at that, carrying several heavenly materials and earthly treasures, he was treading the Dao to Death.
Surely someone wanted to kill him and seize these treasures.
He couldn't help but recall the conversation with Yu Ziqing when the Old Eunuch was mentioned.
Joining some faction was undoubtedly impossible, not in this lifetime. However, just being a neighbor, that could be negotiated.
Suppressing this thought, Zhong Shouzheng quietly left, thankful he had changed his seclusion site.
Several heavenly materials and earthly treasures usable by Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators might be precious to a major faction, but probably not worth forming an enmity with a Primordial Spirit Realm.
However, not everyone attending this conference came from affluent top factions.
Mostly because he was a loose cultivator, with no background, and of evil Dao, killing him wouldn't matter. As long as it was done cleanly once, there would be no repercussions.
Thinking this, alarm bells rang in his mind, and he continued fleeing, giving no one any chance.
Three days later, Yu Ziqing walked in the southern part of the Wilderness, searching for the location of the former Dingmao City.
With the passage of time and changes in the world, even if everything once existed, today, only ruins might remain.
Not to mention that there weren't even ruins here.
Holding one of the book pages, he used it constantly for sensing.
Finally, in a stretch of the wilderness, he found the rough location.
Upon reaching the general area, however, the sensing from the book page kept guiding him further.
Yu Ziqing circled within a ten-mile radius, gradually narrowing down the area until it shrank to a single mile's range. The sensing from the book page grew incredibly strong, and the guidance became increasingly clear.
Walking through the wild grass of the wilderness, Yu Ziqing followed the guidance bit by bit.
He eventually determined that the page was pointing to a small hole in the ground.
Yu Ziqing was a bit puzzled; what did this mean?