The Shennong Altar in Shennongjia was built close to a mountain. It was divided into a heaven altar and an earth altar. There was a cow-headed Shennong Yan Emperor sculpture erected in the middle of the heaven altar. The earth altar was beneath the heaven altar. It was a square that could contain thousands of people. There were two ten-meter-high totem poles that looked like ceremonial columns erected on both sides in front of the earth altar’s square. A cow head was carved on the poles too.
There was a sacrificial altar between the totem poles. It was completely designed following the ancient imperial sacrificial altar. There were nine tripod cauldrons and eight sacrificial vessels made of bronze placed in the middle. Meanwhile, there was an incense burner, a table, a golden bell, and a drum in front of the altar.
At that moment, the square on the earth altar had close to 1,000 people. People in various attires clasped their fists and greeted each other. It was crowded. It was not an exaggeration to describe the place as being saturated with a cacophony of noise.
The siblings, Yu Lei and Yu Lian were looking at the crowd in a corner of the square in shock. Zhizhi could not help but say, “There are so many people participating in the Longmen Convention this year.”
“That’s right. Other than a concert, it’s my first time seeing such a private convention organized by an unofficial organization.” Yu Lian could not stop nodding. She was looking at the crowd that was passing by.
Yu Lei said in an absent-minded manner, “Yu Lian, why don’t we head back? After all, Sir Ye…”
“Brother, didn’t you already tell the captain over the phone? He doesn’t sound mad. Since that’s the case, let’s check out the Longmen Convention for a little bit,” Yu Lian said indignantly.
“But…” Yu Lei sighed. He had been ready to be punished when he called the captain and updated what happened to Ye Chen. However, the captain had merely replied, ‘Got it’.
Yu Lei thought it was rather strange.
“No buts.” Yu Lian glared at him and said, “It’s a rare opportunity that we get to be here. It’ll only take one to two hours, right? Besides that, Deng Chan said the Longmen Convention this year will be interesting.”
She was secretly beaten. The mission that had gone well had ended with Ye Chen dying in lava after he insisted on going into the sinkhole. Although the captain said nothing, she was still worried.
She could not help but secretly scoff as she thought to this point, ‘Forget the fact that you’re dead, but we’re living in fear because of you. We’re afraid that you’ll drag us into trouble. What did I do in my past life for you to have done this to me?’
A commotion came from behind the crowd as they were chatting. The people turned their heads to see a few hunks in black walking quickly while carrying a sedan. Meanwhile, a skinny old man who seemed ferocious in black robes sat on the sedan.
The old man sat still with his legs crossed. What shocked the onlookers was that the sedan was hovering, meaning that the hunks in black were walking on air while carrying the sedan.
Yu Lian and the rest were stunned while the crowd gasped.
“Oh my god, are they walking on air while carrying the sedan? Won’t they fall? Or am I dreaming?”
“It’s Master Xiegu. I can’t believe he’s here too!”
“Master Xiegu? The one who conquered Southern Xinjiang?”
The four hunks hovered above their heads. As the people watched, feeling dumbstruck, Master Xiegu laughed out loud and flew out of the sedan. He subsequently landed on the stone steps between the heaven altar and the earth altar.
“Greetings, Master Xiegu!”
Many people clasped their fists at him while Yu Lian, Yu Lei and Zhizhi watched blankly. They were stirred inside as they felt like their world view had collapsed.
“Why is this man here too?” Yuan Qitai, who was next to Yu Lian, frowned. He seemed to be in disdain. He disliked Xiegu for being a descendent of the Corpse-herding Sect from Xiangxi.
Corpse-herding used to be a profession to honor the dead and to comfort the living. However, ever since Xiegu took over, he smuggled drugs and took advantage of the ceremony in the early years. Besides that, he was cruel and would do anything to achieve his goal, including stealing corpses from mortuaries and funeral homes.
Although the four tomb-raiding sects, including Banshan that Yuan Qitai belonged to, used to raid ancestral tombs and commit other filthy businesses, he would not do anything ill to the living. After all, he had his bottom line.
In the next second, three silhouettes came from far away. They arrived within the blink of an eye. The people saw three people in hats descend from the sky while each of them held a black umbrella. The umbrellas were spinning fast as they braced their bodies firmly.
“Who are they?” Someone was puzzled.
However, nobody responded to him.
Among a portion of them, their pupils shrunk slightly. They recognized that the three of them were from Xieling, one of the four tomb raiding sects.
Legend had it that among the four sects, Xieling and Faqiu were the most mysterious. They had never been in contact with outsiders. However, instead of raiding tombs, why were they at the Longmen Convention?
Yu Lian also recognized they were the three people who had saved Zhizhi before.
The three people in the hats walked to the side directly and stood still silently. They merely peeped at Yuan Qitai when they passed him, while Yuan Qitai looked at them too.
More people came before the crowd could react.
Two men in yellow robes were leading.
“That’s Master Zabu from Tibetian Tantra!”
“And Elder Priest Meng Haoran from Laoshan!”
Within ten minutes, more than ten people appeared at the earth altar. The people were shocked to find out that almost all the spell sects and organizations in China were there.
Someone took a good look at the few people next to Yuan Qitai and secretly thought to himself, ‘Taoist monks from Banshan, soldiers from Mojin, officers from Faqiu and Battle Mechanics from Xieling…the four tomb-raiding sects are here. They must be going after some emperor’s tomb to be going all out this time!’
At that moment, countless eyes were glancing at Yuan Qitai and the rest, including Yu Lian, Yu Lei, and Zhizhi. Yu Lian could not tolerate those stares, so she dragged Zhizhi and Yu Lei aside. She dared not stand too close to Yuan Qitai and the rest.
Yuan Qitai did not mind that at all though his lips were moving. Meanwhile, the people next to him were moving their lips too. They seemed to be communicating by reading each other’s lips.
The blind, old man among them said with his lips moving slightly, “Old Yuan, have you been to the Heavenly Tomb?”
“I have!” Yuan Qitai shook his head lightly. “But there was an eruption, so I couldn’t get closer. I’m not sure if there’s really a tomb in there.”
“There has to be!” An old lady next to him coughed and spoke, “The general of the past generation from Faqiu left behind a hand-written book. They suspect an Origin Energy powerhouse’s tomb lies beneath a sinkhole. It was recorded in the book.”
They had a burning desire in their eyes as soon as they heard that, including Yuan Qitai.
Origin Energy!
That was above Illuminating God!
It was what every Spell Master was after in their lives!
The spell world had been passed down for hundreds of years in China, but there was no Origin Energy powerhouse until now. Judging by that, one could imagine how hard it would be to get to Origin Energy.
“No matter what, the four tomb-raiding sects will have to work together even if we have to risk our lives this time. If there really is an Origin Energy powerhouse’s tomb, we’ll discuss again how to divide the loot!” one of the people in the hats said in all seriousness.
The few of them nodded. Just when someone was going to speak, they heard a scream that came out of nowhere, “Celestial Master Zhang from the Dragon Tiger Mountain is here!”