35: Strange questions

As soon as this voice emerged, a "thud" sound came from the mist, as if someone had knelt down.

"Hall Master, Spirit Venerable Wandu and the others likely encountered an unknown expert, which is why they were lost."

Another hoarse voice spoke up, but it was clearly trembling, sounding somewhat terrified.

"Hmph, you are giving this Hall Master such ghost stories? What this Hall Master wants to know is how they died! And the current situation of the target."

That cold, eerie voice continued, waves of killing intent sweeping through the misty area, making one shudder.

"Hall Master, please forgive me!" The hoarse voice quickly interjected, "My subordinates and I have already investigated; it is said that they disturbed a mysterious expert and were killed by the opponent in a single move, without any power to resist."

"Their corpses were thrown outside the city by the Qingyou Empire; we have gone to investigate, and it is indeed so!"

"In addition, the target has now moved into Shouxian Palace, the bedchamber of the Empress Dowager in the Qingyou Imperial Palace. It will likely be much harder to make a move now!"

Once these words were spoken, the misty area fell into silence.

It seemed that no one doubted these words, or perhaps they were doubting but did not dare to ask.

After a long while, the voice of the so-called Hall Master drifted out eerily.

"Let this matter rest for now. The Qingyou Imperial Palace is heavily guarded, with no lack of Spirit Venerable Realm experts patrolling with Divine Thought every day. It is not simple to go in and kill someone, let alone with Ji Ziyu guarding Shouxian Palace; succeeding will be even harder!"

Hearing this, a third voice appeared.

"Hall Master, are we just going to let it go like this? My Netherworld Hall has lost three assassins, and two of them were Ninth-Rank assassins. This loss..."

But before he could finish speaking, the Hall Master's cold, eerie voice came through.

"Who said we are letting it go? It is only resting for now. You all should pay more attention and seek a suitable opportunity to strike again. The people of Netherworld Hall are not so easy to kill!"

"Also, since two Ninth-Rank assassins were lost, tell the employer to send all the remuneration as soon as possible, and make it double!"

"Yes, this subordinate understands!"

...

Protector General Ming Tianan, honoring the imperial edict, was urgently assembling an army capable of participating in the Northern Expedition and preparing military supplies.

He also knew that they should not go to war, but the imperial edict had already been issued, so he would prepare for now and see.

For a time, the citizens within the Empire turned their attention, very curious about whether Nangong Aotian's Northern Expedition could continue!

Meanwhile, in the other neighboring countries, everything was calm, but if one were to investigate deeply, one would find undercurrents surging within each nation.

Clearly, if the Qingyou Empire really went to war with the Beichuan Empire, they would absolutely not remain idle!

How could Nangong Yu know about all this?

...

Time passed leisurely, silently slipping through the fingers of pedestrians, yet it was fleeting.

Nangong Yu lived with his mother in Shouxian Palace for a long time, and his interactions with Empress Dowager Ji Ziyu were quite pleasant.

And Nangong Ruoxue also came over often, seemingly just to see him more.

Five months had passed since they were last attacked, which meant Nangong Yu was already half a year old.

During these five months, after mastering the nine classics he bought previously, such as "Pills, Talismans, Artifacts, Formations", he did not look at any other classics.

But even so, he now knew quite a lot about "Pills, Talismans, Artifacts, Formations", medicine, poison, zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. If placed in the mortal world, any one of these disciplines would be at a top-tier level.

Take calligraphy, for example; if placed in his previous life, as long as he was willing, he would absolutely be a master of calligraphy, an existence praised by the world.

And this was merely mastering the basics, which goes to show the terror of the Cultivator world.

In addition, more than four months ago, Nangong Yu spent 1,000,000 points to purchase a piece of low-grade spirit marrow from the Time-Space Merchant Guild.

spirit marrow belongs to the spiritual objects of heaven and earth; it contains a massive amount of pure Spiritual Qi and can even absorb the energy of heaven and earth to convert and release Spiritual Qi. Most of this Spiritual Qi is absorbed and stored by the spirit marrow, while a small portion returns to heaven and earth.

If it were placed underground for a hundred or even a thousand years, it could even give birth to a Spirit Stone mine.

However, Nangong Yu did not do this; instead, he threw it into his first grotto-heaven.

Besides Spiritual Qi, one can actually store bound Spiritual Artifacts and spiritual objects of heaven and earth in a grotto-heaven.

It is rumored that when a Cultivator reaches a certain Realm, a grotto-heaven can even store all things with spirit, including living beings!

Of course, whether this rumor is true or not, Nangong Yu did not know.

The reason he threw the spirit marrow into the grotto-heaven was that he wanted to use the Grand Void Origin Returning Art to absorb and refine the Spiritual Qi released by the spirit marrow, and even the Spiritual Qi within the spirit marrow itself!

Facts proved that his idea was exceptionally good!

Since he had that piece of spirit marrow, even without using spirit nurturing pills, his speed of refining and accumulating Spiritual Qi was three times faster than when using spirit nurturing pills!

In just a short five months, he had successively opened thirty-six grotto-heavens and broken through to the Peak of the Grotto Heaven Realm!

But at this moment, Nangong Yu encountered a bizarre problem.

That was, just as he broke through to the Peak of the Grotto Heaven Realm, the Grand Void Origin Returning Art actually allowed him to know and master 72 types of grotto-heaven inscriptions.

This left him a bit dumbfounded!

When he broke through to the Perfection of the Spirit Absorption Realm, he only suddenly knew and mastered 8 grotto-heaven inscriptions. When he reached the Perfection of the Early Stage of the Grotto Heaven Realm, it was only twelve grotto-heaven inscriptions...

Now that all thirty-six grotto-heavens were opened, it suddenly told him that he could still open seventy-two more grotto-heavens. How could he not be dumbfounded?

In other words, above the Peak, there actually exists an Extreme Realm!

Nangong Yu took a deep breath and decided that after the thirty-sixth grotto-heaven was filled with Spiritual Qi, he would continue to open new grotto-heavens.

He wanted to see just how many grotto-heavens the human body could open.

Of course, he could make this decision based on considerations of his own strength.

After all, he was only half a year old and had already reached the Perfection of the Grotto Heaven Realm, possessing a Lifespan of six hundred years. He had the capital to be proud!

Moreover, the more grotto-heavens opened, the more Spiritual Qi one would have. Strength might not necessarily be greater, but endurance would definitely be stronger!

Now that he could continue to open them, why not?

Just as Nangong Yu was thinking this, he saw Shangguan Yuexi walking in with a solemn expression.

"Mother!"

Seeing Shangguan Yuexi enter, Nangong Yu could not help but show joy and reached out his short little arms to ask for a hug.

The solemn look on Shangguan Yuexi's face faded, and she picked up Nangong Yu, revealing a smile.

"Yuer, did you miss Mother?"

"Yes!"

Nangong Yu nuzzled in her arms and said crisply. His tender voice emerged, causing Shangguan Yuexi to smile slightly.

Although her son only called out "Mother" half a month ago, which was a bit late compared to other Genius infants, she was still very happy.

At least her Yuer could understand most of her words and could give simple replies, couldn't he?

Moreover, her requirements for Nangong Yu were not high to begin with. Nangong Yu being able to have his current performance was enough to make her happy, wasn't it?