565 Hidden Ancient Faction
"Have you heard of this person named, Xu Fu? This person was the best alchemist during the Qin Dynasty and also Emperor Qin Shihuang's most trusted doctor! During that time, Emperor Qin desired for eternal life! In Xu Gu's book, he mentioned that there were three islands named Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou in the middle of the sea. Deities were supposed to stay in those three islands."
"After that, Emperor Qin started to work on a fleet. Xu Fu was assigned to bring thousands of young boys and girls to set sail to these three islands with various items that were needed daily. He was supposed to ask for a divine pill recipe from the deities."
"Somehow, Xu Fu and the rest of the people arrived on an island. The island is called Japan now! He then set up his self-proclaimed anarchy and stayed in Japan until the day he died – never to return to China!"
"With that being said, the ancestors of the Japanese were actually people from China?"
Chen Xiaobei was left in bewilderment after hearing Li Xiang's explanation.
"That's right! Before Xu Fu set sailed to Japan, he used to concoct pills for Emperor Qin at a place with perfect fengshui! After that, Emperor Qin wanted to build a tomb for himself and the place that he chose was where Xu Fu concocted pills! So, Xu Fu was asked to move out of that place!"
"Legend has it that Emperor Qin killed tens of thousands of people that took part in building his tomb to make sure the location of his tomb was kept a secret! In other words, Xu Fu became the second person that knew the location of the tomb other than Emperor Qin himself. After that, he decided to engrave the location of Emperor Qin's tomb on nine pieces of scales! He wanted the future generations to look for an opportunity to enter the tomb!"
"Sometime later, Xu Fu's family returned to China. However, the secret was leaked and his whole family was assassinated by someone from Jianghu. Eight out of nine scales were distributed among some powerful people in Jianghu! Only one out of nine pieces was delivered back to Japan!"
"So are you trying to ask me to gather all nine pieces of scales and enter the tomb together? This is like looking for a needle in a haystack! Where are we supposed to start?"
"That assassination ended for a few centuries. All those eight pieces of scales had changed owners multiple times since then! However, as a blood descendant, I have eternal life. After spending a few decades of time, I finally located all eight pieces of snake scales!"
"Hmm? Tell me more!"
"Other than the two pieces of snake scales that we have right now, Xuanjian Faction possesses another three pieces, and Mount Shushan Faction possesses another three pieces. I have talked to them about it earlier. They agree to explore the tomb together if we manage to locate the ninth piece of snake scale!"
"Mount Shushan Faction? D-Doesn't that faction exist only in films?"
"Well… It's not as magical as how they describe them in the movie. However, Mount Shushan Faction does exist. They are known as the hidden ancient faction. You should know that their strength is no weaker than Xuanjian Faction. No one really knows about them because they choose to stay hidden! This world is bigger than you thought! There are a lot of things that exist without ordinary people knowing them! Ancient factions like Mount Shushan Faction is one of many ancient factions in this very Jianghu. Once they reveal themselves, even Xuanjian Faction has to surrender the title as the most powerful faction in Jianghu!"
"That... That is amazing!"
It seemed that Chen Xiaobei was mystified after what Li Xiang told him about the hidden ancient faction. Initially, he thought Xuanjian Faction was the pinnacle ground of Jianghu. He never expected that this faction was only one of the steps that led to the true pinnacle ground of Jianghu! It seems like, he still had a long way to go!
"You don't have to care too much about those hidden ancient factions. All we need to do right now is to look for the ninth piece of snake scale!"
"Are you saying that we should depart to Japan to look for it? Actually, I've been planning to travel to Japan for quite some time now."
"What a coincidence! We should fly there as soon as possible!"
"Can't do that. I have to wait for at least seven days before leaving Dragon City!"
Seven days later, NeZha, Hong Hai'er, and Lin Nan were supposed to perform in a reality show. This reality show was broadcasted by Fruit Channel. The result of the bet with Jiang Ziya and Lei Zhenzi would be revealed on that day as well. Leaving Dragon City without settling this matter would make Chen Xiaobei felt uneasy.
"Seven days… Um… To be honest with you, the king of the Deathbane Family had given me an order earlier to kill you. I'm afraid that he will lose his patience if I drag any longer!"
"Oh? That's easy. All you need to do is show him my head, right?"
"I can't do that! Mr. Chen, you are my partner. I will definitely not kill you!"
"I'm not asking you to kill me. I know how to craft a super-realistic mask. All you need to do is look for a head and put on the mask. Then, you can hand in the assignment without questions raised."
"I'm afraid that won't work… A mask cannot fool the king of the Deathbane Family!"
"Don't worry. My mask is extremely unique in this world. He won't be able to spot any flaws on it. I will hand you a head tomorrow morning. After that, you can start to plan our trip to Japan. Seven days later, we shall discuss everything in details!"
"Okay… Alright…"
Li Xiang nodded his head in doubt. After five hundred years of waiting, he finally came across a golden opportunity to meet this special individual, Chen Xiaobei. Leaving him with no choice but to trust in him fully.
After that, Chen Xiaobei went and look for Feng Qingyang. He passed the manual for Art of Disguise to Feng Qingyang right after he finished concocting pills last time. By now, the Demonic Icy Spirit should have mastered this skill. Feng Qingyang was asked by Chen Xiaobei to craft two masks – one of them was his face and the other one was an old-looking mask. After giving the order, Chen Xiaobei then asked Yap Liangchen to purchase another batch of ingredients to concoct more pills.
Just like when he first started selling the spicy sticks to the deities, Chen Xiaobei already had a group of regular customers to purchase his pills. Through their help with advertising the pills, the orders would definitely increase. Seeing that there was some extra time, he decided to concoct some extra pills for himself or sell them to earn more money.
With the experience that he gained last time, the process of concocting pills went really smooth this time. All he need to do was wait three days after putting all the ingredients in two separate cauldrons and injected the well-controlled Transmogrifying Flame into the cauldrons.
"Done!"
He rubbed his hands and left the house where he concocted pills. Immediately, he retrieved an alcohol bottle from his treasure chest. Inside the alcohol bottle was the crimson worm that he captured last time. Seemingly, this weird looking worm did not like being locked inside the bottle. It gritted its teeth and glared at Chen Xiaobei.
"Voodoo… Modern science can no longer explain its existence… It seems like I have to ask those deities in the group…"
However, he did not enter the Red Envelope Group immediately – fearing that something bad might happen to him. He went to his group that he created for his close brothers and uploaded the picture of the crimson worm to the group.
Chen Xiaobei: My fellow brothers! Anyone familiar with voodoo here? Please help me to check out the species of this worm.