Chapter 352: The Intended Goal

“Yuanmo?” Qi Zhengyan slightly frowned, as if he felt an inexplicable fear toward it, a fragment of the Devil World that had taken physical form.

Jiang Zhiwei was first taken aback, then nodded thoughtfully: “Even if Yuanmo hasn’t fully awakened, it likely surpasses ordinary Exalts. If the task involves it, then it will be extremely difficult, even for a Myth or Immortal Trace mission.”

Zhao Heng’s expression turned grave: “The monk Jiuzhen probably had the power of a Dharma Body, meaning Yuanmo at its peak was no less powerful. Even though it was severely wounded by a palm strike from Nirvana and hasn’t fully awakened, its power must be close to that of a Grandmaster. For Myth or Immortal Trace missions, at least famous top experts would be involved. We must be extremely cautious.”

Thinking this way, they should keep a lower profile and avoid meddling in side missions, lest they meet their doom. Previously, the “Thunder God of the Nine Heavens,” merely at the second or third level of Exalt, had wiped out their well-prepared team, leaving only themselves barely escaping. A top expert would be even more fearsome.

“It might not be avoidable…” Ruan Yushu said coolly.

“Exactly,” Meng Qi nodded heavily. “If their mission is to eliminate Yuanmo, they must delve deep into the Devil World fragment. In other words, they must use the Devil World channel within the Extreme Heaven Temple and won’t let others destroy it, or their mission would fail prematurely. If so, our mission timing will be difficult to coordinate. If we act too early, they won’t have entered the Devil World yet. If too late, the deadline will have arrived.”

“No, I feel the mission has become very strange,” Jiang Zhiwei pursed her lips, refuting Meng Qi’s speculation. “If I were them, unless we had an abundance of manpower, I wouldn’t deliberately guard the channel. Instead, I would seize the opportunity when the Extreme Heaven Devil is out, eliminate the remaining devils, and take control of the Devil Crystals. That way, others couldn’t destroy them.”

“As for us, we either have to go deep into the Devil World, seek out other powerful devils, kill them, and obtain their Devil Crystals, or gather items to complete side missions and accumulate enough Virtue Points.”

In fact, even if Meng Qi and others returned now, they wouldn’t be eliminated for lacking Virtue Points. The Master of the Sixfold Samsara would first deduct the Virtue Points equivalent to their weapons, pills, etc., but in such cases, the conversion rate would be very low. All the items Meng Qi had on him would barely amount to a thousand Virtue Points.

Hearing Jiang Zhiwei’s hypothesis, Meng Qi inhaled sharply. If the opposing side was indeed powerful and their mission was as such, it was highly likely they would act accordingly!

Jiang Zhiwei acted like a swordsman, always aggressive and direct. When deducing the actions of powerful individuals, she was more likely to get close to the truth.

“Normally, if two teams of Reborn weren’t in factional conflict, their missions shouldn’t be so conflicting, which directly increases our difficulty…” Zhao Heng was quite puzzled.

Meng Qi smiled bitterly: “Perhaps we were able to successfully kill the Three Devils thanks to them. Otherwise, why would we suddenly start seeking the Three Treasures of Suppressing Fate? If the Seven Devil Generals were either in the Extreme Heaven Temple or guarding various places, our choices would be limited due to time constraints. We might have had to confront the Extreme Heaven Devil directly. It’s both advantageous and disadvantageous.”

“We’ll head to the Extreme Heaven Temple first. If the remaining devils are gone, we’ll directly enter the Devil World and kill other powerful devils, hoping to exit before Yuanmo awakens.”

They only needed to kill three more devils, which should be relatively quick!

“There’s no other choice,” Zhao Heng said again, revealing his noble air that made Meng Qi unable to look directly.

“You still have another option,” suddenly, a faint female voice entered their ears.

Someone had approached without them sensing it?

Meng Qi was startled but managed to steady his mind, turning his head to see a woman in a cyan dress slowly stepping from the edge of the woods. Her face was covered with a mask. Her demeanor seemed both nimble like flowing water and fire, yet also steady like mountains and ancient trees.

The mask was cyan with a delicate, lively female face painted on it, with a green mole between the eyebrows.

“Bi Xia Yuan Jun?” Zhao Heng said gravely.

This mask could be seen in many operas; it belonged to the famous female immortal of the Daoist Sect, Bi Xia Yuan Jun!

Was she from “Immortal Trace”? Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei exchanged glances.

The woman stopped ten zhang away from Meng Qi and his companions, not hastily approaching to avoid making them uneasy. Her aura was somewhat unstable, as if she had sustained a serious injury.

“I am Bi Xia Yuan Jun from ‘Immortal Trace’,” she stated directly.

“May I ask why Yuan Jun has come here?” Meng Qi asked, secretly wondering if she was the one who had taken the Suppressing Fate Cauldron.

Had she been following them all the way from the ruins of Changchun Temple?

With her clearly Exalt-level power, what could her purpose be?

“Besides entering the Devil World, you also have the option to cooperate with us,” Bi Xia Yuan Jun said calmly.

“The ‘Queen Mother of the West’ from ‘Myth’ took the Suppressing Fate Cauldron from Changchun Temple,” she continued.

Another Myth team appeared? Meng Qi frowned. Was it their confrontation mission?

Bi Xia Yuan Jun continued: “At that time, besides the Queen Mother of the West, there was also the Star Lord of the Northern Dipper. I was injured by him. But if not for worrying that I might be lurking nearby, the Star Lord of the Northern Dipper and the Queen Mother of the West would probably have attacked you. To them, fewer variables are better.”

Never imagining they had been in such a dangerous situation, Meng Qi increasingly felt the mission was strange. Without doing anything, they had narrowly escaped death, and the main mission had become more difficult…

“Is their mission to eliminate Yuanmo?” Meng Qi got straight to the point.

It seemed Bi Xia Yuan Jun had indeed been following them since the ruins. Her concealment technique was truly excellent!

“Accurately speaking, it’s our mission,” Bi Xia Yuan Jun slightly explained. “They discovered a certain piece of information, forcibly gathered several members, and used Rebirth Talismans to enter, competing with us for the Three Treasures of Suppressing Fate to go deep into the Devil World and suppress Yuanmo.”

“What information?” Zhao Heng asked concernedly.

In the Reborn World, a piece of information was often worth a fortune, even capable of saving one from a desperate situation.

Bi Xia Yuan Jun did not answer directly but instead said: “‘Myth’ sent in Yi, the Star Lord of the Northern Dipper, the Star Lord of the Martial Progress, and the Queen Mother of the West. Except for the Queen Mother of the West, who is a newcomer, the other three are genuine veterans, especially Yi, who is closer to a Grandmaster.”

“Yi” was the name of an ancient deity, passed down to the present.

“On our side, those who came to complete this mission are myself, Guangcheng Tianzun, and Yunzhongzi. We are slightly inferior in strength and fewer in number, so we want to cooperate with you.” She introduced the comparison of strengths between the two sides.

Guangcheng Tianzun, also known as Guangchengzi, was one of the Nine Venerables of the Daoist Sect. Meng Qi had long heard of him and was no longer surprised. However, the name Yunzhongzi was unfamiliar to him from any Immortal Trace records. He had only seen it in a classical novel from his previous life.

So he asked casually: “I heard that ‘Immortal Trace’ members are named after ancient immortals. Why have I never heard of ‘Yunzhongzi’?”

As he spoke, he noticed Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu, and others nodding slightly, indicating they had never heard of it either.

Bi Xia Yuan Jun replied indifferently: “There were countless ancient immortals; how could they all be known to people?”

Hearing such a perfunctory answer, Meng Qi’s heart sank, unsure whether to be happy or surprised. Could it be related to the Fengshen World?

Did Yang Erlang have such a name? Or Tongtian Jiaozhu?

As for Yuanshi Tianzun, there was no need to say more. The first three of the Daoist Sect’s Nine Venerables in the main world were Yuanshi Tianzun, Daode Tianzun, and Lingbao Tianzun.

“I see,” Meng Qi feigned realization. “May I ask how Yuan Jun wishes to cooperate? What exactly is ‘Myth’ trying to achieve? If we are kept in the dark, it will be detrimental to our alliance.”

Bi Xia Yuan Jun coughed lightly, showing her injury had not healed: “If the information hadn’t come so suddenly, why would we only have three members to complete the mission, and why would ‘Myth’ only gather four formal members? This matter is of great importance. Please take an oath on your Yuan Spirit not to disclose it.”

She was not worried that Meng Qi and others could gain great benefits from it, as their strength determined that they couldn’t interfere in core matters.

Meng Qi and others exchanged glances, feeling that merely not disclosing the information was acceptable, so they all took the Yuan Spirit oaths.

“It was precisely because of ‘Myth’s’ intrusion that your main mission’s difficulty changed. If it were only us, as long as you were willing to wait, we would leave the Devil Crystals before you entered the Devil World,” Bi Xia Yuan Jun said a redundant sentence, intending to make Meng Qi and others share her enmity. After all, once they entered the Devil World, she had no intention of exiting normally.

“The reason they invested so heavily to enter is because they obtained a piece of information about the monk Jiuzhen.”

Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei held their breath slightly. For ‘Myth’ to forcibly gather and use four Rebirth Talismans, their goal must be significant!

“If given enough time, even ‘Dongwangong,’ ‘Ziwei Star Lord,’ and other Grandmasters from ‘Myth,’ or even the mysterious ‘Heavenly Emperor,’ would come,” Bi Xia Yuan Jun teased them again.

“Dongwangong” couldn’t come; he had died long ago… Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei exchanged glances, silently commenting.

Bi Xia Yuan Jun’s voice turned serious: “The monk Jiuzhen once had an extraordinary encounter, from which he gained a supreme Chan cultivation technique, allowing him to achieve the Dharma Body. Later, he took the items he obtained and went deep into the Devil World to suppress Yuanmo, where he eventually passed away in meditation.”

We already know this… Meng Qi was extremely curious, hating how Bi Xia Yuan Jun paused instead of finishing in one breath.

“According to the information, that should be…” Bi Xia Yuan Jun paused, her voice lowering, only vibrating nearby without leaking a single word:

“The First Strike of the Buddha’s Palm!”