Chapter 479: s.h.i.+wan Grand Mountain In Shambles

Yun Jiuge surveyed her surroundings in shock. All she saw before her were miles after miles of brown, barren land. The place was a far cry from what it used to be.

What on earth did Yue Ling'er do to this place? Yun Jiuge wondered to herself.

The sight made Yun Jiuge feel extremely uneasy, and she decided to ask someone about what was going on. She immediately flew towards the valley where Wu Lan was at.

Upon reaching the valley, she noticed that the Ice Stone Building, the most prominent building in the whole valley, had vanished. There was nothing but empty land at where it used to be at. Yun Jiuge looked into the distance and saw a bonfire that was built from peach tree branches burning at the foot of the mountain.

There were countless Miao people who had been piled on top of one another above the bonfire. Half of their bodies had turned to stone, and their eyes were full of despair and fear.

“Elder sister, I don't want to die. Please don't burn me to death,” The person at the top of the pile was Wu Ya. The lower half of her body had already turned to stone, and her upper body was bound by a rope. She kept begging Wu Lan to spare her life.

“Younger sister, I'm sorry,” replied Wu Lan. Wu Lan, who had always been full of vigor and vitality, looked extremely worn out as she spoke. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face had turned pale.

Wu Lan stood before the bonfire with a firebrand in her hands and told Wu Ya in a pained voice, “The curse has begun to spread, and the Ice Stone can no longer hold back the curse on your bodies as well. The curse will only get worse if I don't burn your bodies. Younger sister, I beg you. Please don't hate me. I have no other choice but to do this.”

Wu Lan spoke in between sobs before she hurled the firebrand at the bonfire.

However, right before the firebrand landed on the bonfire, a piece of stone flew towards it out of nowhere and extinguished the fire in an instant.

“Who is it?” Wu Lan turned her head to the side and saw a familiar and ugly Yin Corpse standing a short distance away.

“It must be Big Brother Ye Yu! He must have come to save us!” Wu Ya yelled as she struggled to break free from the ropes.

She guessed that Ye Yu must have broken the curse because she saw him leaving with a Yin Corpse when she led others to charge into the Ice Stone Building earlier on. Also, he was the only person who was able to stop the spread of the curse.

“Ye Yu, did you come to save us?” Wu Lan said desperately.

She immensely regretted not handing the Tear of Blood to Yun Jiuge back then.

Now, the treasure was gone, and she could not save the lives of her younger sister nor her followers. If she could turn back time, she would definitely have handed the treasure to Yun Jiuge without hesitation.

Yun Jiuge did not say anything in response. She only made a gesture and asked Wu Lan to follow her.

Wu Lan followed behind her without hesitation.

Yun Jiuge brought Wu Lan to a secluded spot before she transmitted a message to her through her mind, “I'm Yun Jiuge.”

“Lady Yun, why did you take over a Yin Corpse's body?” Wu Lan was taken aback. She remembered that Yun Jiuge was only in the Foundation Establishment stage. Taking over another being's body when her cultivation was not high enough would only put a strain on her soul.

“I don't have time to explain. Tell me what happened at the Empress Mountain. Why are there so many cultivators who have turned to stone?” Yun Jiuge only had two hours. She had to return to the Celestial Palace before Zi Shang and Yue Ling'er found out what had happened.

“A surge of Devouring Power suddenly erupted near the Empress Mountain. It not only sucked the Spiritual Veins of the nearby mountains and rivers dry, it even made its way into our valley and devoured a lot of our cultivators' cultivation,” Wu Lan said with a heavy heart.

The Divine Temple at the Empress Mountain had been around for quite a long time, and it had never caused any trouble all this while. Wu Lan did not expect a surge of Devouring Power to erupt out of nowhere and be that fearsome. It was as frightening as a plague.

“Is the situation dire?” Yun Jiuge asked. Her heart sank after hearing Wu Lan's words.

“I don't know how to explain it to you. Lady Yun, just take a look for yourself!” Wu Lan called her black eagle, Da Shun, over.

Yun Jiuge followed Wu Lan out of the valley and towards the area where the rest of the ordinary Miao people were staying at.

Along the way, she saw a variety of wild beasts running towards the depths of the forest. They looked like they were trying to escape from some catastrophe.

The once bountiful rivers were almost completely dried up, and she could see the grayish yellow river beds beneath the water.

The poor and suffering Miao people knelt by the edge of the rivers and prayed for G.o.d to return the waters to their land desperately.

“Lady Yun, we're not the only ones living in the s.h.i.+wan Grand Mountain. There are also a lot of ordinary Miao people living here. The woman at the Divine Temple has devoured all the Spiritual Veins in this place and s.n.a.t.c.hed all the resources from us. We'll definitely be wiped out if this goes on. I beg you — please help me get rid of her,” Wu Lan implored. She suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to Yun Jiuge.

Yun Jiuge released a surge of gentle energy towards the bottom of Wu Lan's knees and propped her up before saying, “Do whatever you can to help them first. As for the Divine Temple, I'll definitely come up with a way to deal with it.” When she finished, she jumped off Da Shun's back and flew back to the Divine Temple.

Yun Jiuge placed Ye Yunzhi inside Ye Yu's house first before she went back to her own body.

“Are you crazy? You actually separated your soul from your body? What if someone attacked you and caused your soul to be scattered? You'd become an idiot for the rest of your life!” Zi Shang glared at Yun Jiuge.

He thought that something bad had happened to her because he noticed that she had remained motionless in the water for quite some time. He did not think that she would separate her soul from her body.

Yun Jiuge remained silent and only gave him a cold stare.

“What's wrong?” Zi Shang was quick to realize that something was off.

“You knew what Yue Ling'er had been doing all this time, right?” Yun Jiuge did not believe that Zi Shang did not know what was going on outside.

“What did Yue Ling'er do? All she did was to help you prepare a few Medicinal Pools, right?” Zi Shang turned his head to the side and avoided Yun Jiuge's gaze.

“What do you mean all she did was to help me prepare a few Medicinal Pools? She used the lives of others to help me prepare them!” Yun Jiuge exclaimed. She slapped the water in fury, and the deep red medicinal water splattered onto Zi Shang's das.h.i.+ng face.

“It's not like you were the one who got her to do those things. The heavens would never pin the blame on you,” replied Zi Shang, who was expressionless. It was not the first time something like this happened anyway. Cultivators had always battled with the heavens to try and lengthen their lives, and they were willing to resort to anything to achieve their goals.

Yun Jiuge had always known that Zi Shang was quite apathetic towards people living on the lands, but she did not expect him to be this apathetic.

She got up from the water angrily before she put on a long robe and walked out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Zi Shang pulled on Yun Jiuge's arm.

“I'm going to speak to Yue Ling'er,” answered Yun Jiuge. There was fire in her eyes which looked like it could erupt anytime and injure someone.

The people of the Ling Clan had always been well-loved due to their kindness. However, Yue Ling'er had turned into something that was even more fearsome than a beast right now. She was no longer the Yue Ling'er that Yun Jiuge knew.

“Everything Yue Ling'er did, she did for your own good. She'd definitely be sad if you went to her being this angry,” said Zi Shang, who did not want Yun Jiuge to get into a conflict with Yue Ling'er.

“I don't know what happened that has made the two of you so cold and heartless. Don't say things like 'doing it for my own good'. It makes me sick,” Yun Jiuge said as she glared at Zi Shang.

Zi Shang trembled intensely, and he did not dare to stop Yun Jiuge from leaving any longer. He watched on in silence as Yun Jiuge walked out of the palace.

Yue Ling'er was trying to prepare a bottle of Spiritual Liquid when Yun Jiuge found her in the Pill Production Room. Yun Jiuge noticed straightaway that the walls in the room were covered with numerous big, transparent tubes. They were transporting the Spiritual Energy from the mountains and the rivers into the room.

The Spiritual Energy in those tubes was what bestowed life to all living things on the lands. Only the Ling Clan, who was familiar with the usage of Spiritual Energy, could draw them out.

“Your Highness, what brings you here?” Yue Ling'er lowered the Spiritual Energy Gathering Bottle in her hand and looked at Yun Jiuge in surprise and glee. “Your Highness, congratulations. Your cultivation has gone up by another level.”

It was only then that Yun Jiuge realized she had advanced to the intermediate level of Core Formation stage just by soaking in the Medicinal Pool. Such a cultivation speed was unheard of.