Chapter 836: Chapter 74 What About Me?

“If my divination is accurate, the builder of this Marsh Country of Cloud Dream should not be from the Human Race,” Jian Buyan said.

“Not from the Human Race?” Su Jian slightly frowned, but did not show much difficulty.

Normally, when thinking about a powerful entity of the mystical realm not being from the Human Race, the first concern should be that they might dislike the Human Race and might purposefully target them within the mystical realm.

However, Su Jian’s thought process was different from others; hearing that it was not a Human made him feel relieved:

Doesn’t this mean one could engage in a fierce and carefree battle?

In some sense, An Zhisu’s “fondness for practicing swordsmanship” wasn’t a result of genetic mutation either.

“Then how should we activate it?” Su Jian asked again for confirmation.

“One needs to be submerged in water,” Jian Buyan stated, “When a person is drowning, trapped in the terrifying brink of life and death, only then can the chance to trigger the opening of the mystical realm be activated.”

Everyone then fell silent.

The ignorant villagers who cannot swim naturally fear falling into water. But everyone present was a Cultivator, and for them, even being thrown into the sea without eating, drinking, or breathing wouldn’t cause any harm, how could they possibly experience the fear of drowning?

If it were the Demon Cult here, it would be simple – just grab a nearby villager, push them into the water and prevent them from breathing, and the opportunity would naturally arise.

But since Shushan claims to be the Orthodox Sect, they definitely lack the face to engage in such bullying of the weak, thus everyone was troubled.

“How about offering a hefty reward?” suggested an elder from Shushan.

With a substantial reward, stirred by greed, find someone who cannot swim to go over the water. Once they drown and the mystical realm opens, we can just rescue them, it won’t be against the baseline of the Orthodox Sect–it’s voluntary, after all.

Upon hearing this, Su Jian immediately decided:

“Let’s do it this way!”

Golds and jewels, useless to those of the Immortal Sect, held enough allure for these mundane people; thus, this could be considered meeting each other’s needs.

Several Golden Core Sword Immortals were tasked and dispersed. Not long after, they brought back dozens of people to the riverside.

Su Jian was very decisive, paying half upfront. Once the people had crossed the river, successful or not, he would pay the remaining half.

Those willing to risk their lives for this money were certainly not virtuous and honest folk, and immediately someone questioned:

“If we were to drown in the river, and you pull us out, wouldn’t you end up paying nothing? You must pay the full amount first, let us send it back home to keep it safe, only then it counts.”

Though this argument seemed reasonable, the moment the money is taken home, they would definitely find an opportunity to escape.

Upon hearing this, Su Jian nodded and said:

“Please escort this person away.”

The speaker’s complexion changed drastically, but seeing the surrounding Sword Immortals draw out their swords, he took them to be ruthless and uncommunicative people of the martial world, and could only leave compliantly.

With this example set, the others dared not bargain further, only going to Shushan to receive the money and then entering the river to swim to the other side.

Ling Yunpo watched from the side and saw them walk a few steps along the riverbed, gradually losing footing, flailing around helplessly–it turned out they truly couldn’t swim.

Soon, these folks ran out of strength and sank down, disappearing without a trace.

The people of Shushan silently watched over the river, on one hand wanting to rescue them, yet fearing that intervening might hinder the opening of the mystical realm, they truly did not know what to do. Suddenly, they heard Jian Buyan say:

“Someone has disappeared!”

Disappeared? Then they must have entered the secret realm!

“Rescue!” Su Jian quickly commanded, and everyone deployed their techniques to rescue the remaining drowned individuals, then treated them using Elixirs, and paid the money they had promised earlier.

These people had just skirted the ghost gates, each of them still shaken, not daring to speak much with the people from Shushan. They took the money and ran off, likely never to return to this river again in their lifetimes.

Jian Buyan then quickly initiated the Seven Star Gang Step, beginning to Divinate the exact whereabouts of the missing person.

Before they had stepped into the river, he had made sure to ask for everyone’s birth dates and times, and knew that the missing person was a female villager.

With hands forming seals and feet moving circularly, it took about a quarter of an hour before Jian Buyan finally spoke:

“The mechanism to open it is under the riverbed.”

He led the Shushan Sword Immortal with Sword Control to a specific spot at the riverbed, dug several feet deep, and indeed found a bizarre human figurine.

This figurine, buried in the riverbed mud, was all dark, with three eyes on its head, green-faced and with fierce teeth, and rugged in design, giving it an eerie sensation.

“It is this object that connects to the Marsh Country of the Dream Clouds,” said Jian Buyan to Su Jian, “If someone proficient in Illusion Technique, infusing it with Seven Emotions and Six Desires, could presumably open a path to the secret realm.”

“Does anyone here specialize in that kind of Illusion Technique?” Su Jian immediately looked around at the group and asked.

“I did recently obtain a sword technique of the Heavenly Demon Path called Six Desires Seven Emotions Sword,” one elder suddenly spoke up, “This sword technique, when deployed, infiltrates the opponent’s mind with a silent illusion. I thought it was not very useful, but did not expect it could be used here.”

“Then please, Elder Qingyan, perform the technique,” Su Jian said impatiently.

The elder was not offended, knowing well what Su Jian’s temper was like, and calmly went forward to perform the swordsmanship.

The performed swordsmanship looked graceful and magnificent, yet emitted a strange essence.

Shortly after, the double eyes of the figurine suddenly lit up, emitting a deep purple light. Everyone felt a pulling force and were quickly dragged inside.

The people did not resist, and amidst the spinning world, they were transported to another place.

Indeed, the area was a vast marsh, even the ground beneath was hard to find dry. Looking around, puddles and mud were interwoven, resembling the patterns on a zebra’s coat.

A bit ugly.

More uncomfortable than this grotesque environment was the pervasive and nauseating aura of Demons in the air.

Of course, for Shushan cultivators, the aura of Demons was just the scent of Demons, like the earthy smell commonly found in freshwater fish, quite noticeable.

But for Ling Yunpo, who has been in the Eastern Emperor Realm for quite a long time, he was able to discern a different scent factor from these auras.

There were mainly two types: the Scaled Clan and the Kun Race.

Both these Demon races are aquatic and it’s not strange to find them in Marsh Country. However, within the Scaled Clan, there was no dragon-like aura, rather more like that of snakes.

On the Kun Race side, there was no Xuan Gui aura, but rather a faint, rotting scent, likely insect-like Demons.

Snakes and insects, if appearing in front of a girl at once, might scare her into screams, however, for the Shushan Sword Immortals who are adept at exorcising Demons, there was utterly no fear.

“First, divide into four groups, explore twenty li in the directions of east, west, south, and north, then return back on the same path and report findings,” Su Jian quickly ordered.

Under his command, everyone quickly separated into four groups, only to hear An Zhisu suddenly ask:

“What about me?”

“You are not allowed to go anywhere!” Su Jian said annoyingly.