Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  The elusive key that hasn’t been found by Excavation Management for three years was actually located in the Western Continent!

  Perhaps because there was no wall that separated areas in this world, or perhaps because recently the news that Spirit Sword Sect has been looking for information regarding Western Continent has spread like wildfire, or even perhaps in this world there would inevitably be very able people that were very good at treasure hunting that came to the same conclusion as the Eighth Elder… in short, the news about Western Continent has become the current hot topic in the immortal cultivation world.

  Western Continent, the word western referred to the west direction. To the west of Nine Regions, across the Endless Sea, there was a land, which was the Western Continent. It was a foreign place for sure. The cultivators of Nine Regions first arrived at the Western Continent several tens of thousands of years ago. At that time, the cultivators from Nine Regions have just come out from a great catastrophic era. Travelling far to the west, they thought they could find a hidden land of peace and prosperity. However, what they saw was a desolate, barren land. The surrounding spiritual energy was very thin, without the law of the main path of immortal cultivation; towards immortal cultivators, it was simply a dangerous place. Feeling disappointed, they withdrew from that place and went back home. Except naming it Western Continent, they didn’t find anything.

  Several thousand years passed by. When an oceanic ship came to the western coast of Nine Regions, the people of Nine Regions were amazed to find that a vigorous civilization has imperceptibly developed in the Western Continent. Then, along with the increasing contacts between the two continents, more and more Western Continent people came to the Nine Regions, increasing the people’s awareness beyond their initial barren place impression.

  Nevertheless, until now, the Western Continent was still a mystery to most of the people of Nine Regions. In addition to knowing that there are different races and civilizations, the specific situation was still unknown. Many people from the Western Continent have come to Nine Regions, but most of them were merchant class or mercenary soldiers, and on the other hand, people native to the Nine Regions were usually unwilling to leave their hometown to travel to Western Continent. After all, although the civilization on the Western Continent was good, nothing beat the familiarness of one’s hometown.

  Several thousand years ago, several enthusiastic immortal cultivator master and disciples went to the Western Continent and brought back the scriptures of the biggest religious doctrines in the Western Continent to Nine Regions. Not only this Western Continent religion flourished in the Nine Regions, it even brought the genuine seed of civilization of the Western Continent. Their heroic deeds of braving through countless dangerous difficulties in traveling to the west to bring back the scriptures were afterward compiled into a book, which was known as "Journey To The West". Unfortunately, a good thing doesn’t last forever. After they came back, they finally managed to establish a sect based on these scriptures.

  Later on, the Big Brother with surname "Sun", who was the Great Elder of the Sect accidentally fire-deviated and had his primordial spirit scattered. Even though his Master used his skill to save him, his temperament suffered a huge change, becoming incurably retarded from the initial upright and outspoken. All day long he would preach out some sensational speech, such as the civilization that was developed in Nine Regions originally came from the Western Continent… and other such things. His image eventually fell in the eyes of the people, from the famous brilliant saint of war into the a joke of a saint. In the following period, the sect that was established with untold hardship by the master and disciples became largely forgotten. Thus, a good exchange opportunity between the east and west civilization came to a premature end.

  In short, the Nine Regions’ people’s understanding about the west was still limited. Moreover, the contact between the two continents was also limited to businesses between several countries, while the countries and city-states within Western Continent were far more varied and numerous than Nine Regions, thus most of them remained mysterious. This time, it was speculated that the key to the group of immortal tombs was in the Western Continent. Before rushing off to Western Continent, however, naturally, they have to do some homework and preparation first. Suddenly, the books about Western Continent became all the rage in the Nine Regions, and the merchants that conducted business with the Western Continent have also become hot.

  This boom lasted for months. Eventually, the Excavation Management, in the name of the committee, consolidated a team of more than ten people, with a crowd of followers, translators, and so on, around one hundred people, to find the key to the group of immortal tombs. At the same time, various sects, big and small, have also acted as soon as they heard this news, by organizing their own expeditionary force. After all, the key to the group of immortal tombs was very important, and the reward by Excavation Management for finding it was also exceptionally attractive.

  Even the Five Uniques have also sent their own forces to try to get the key before the others, which would provide them greater persuasion power within the committee.

  As for the Spirit Sword Sect, this personal force position landed on Wang Lu.

  Of course, to be precise, Non-Phase Peak volunteered itself hard for this position.

  At first, Sect Leader Feng Yin didn’t want Wang Lu to participate in this Western Continent expedition. During the last three years, Wang Lu has been consolidating his foundation, the crucial phase in preparing for the Jindan Stage. Moreover, Western Continent was also not a good place for cultivators, because the world’s main path and the rules were different.

  Ordinary cultivators simply could not display their ability in the Western Continent; their cultivation base would be inadequate and unstable, even so much that their magical power would dangerously fell apart. Only when one advanced to Jindan Stage did the Nine Regions’ main path condense inside the Jade Mansion and different rules would not decrease one’s strength. This was the reason why nearly all the expeditionary forces sent by the Excavation Management and private forces of the sects were Jindan Stage or above; there was only a very miniscule amount of Xudan Stage.

  Of course, Wang Lu’s foundation in immortal cultivation was very stable that even if he were still in Xudan Stage, his Jade Mansion would not collapse when entering the Western Continent. At most, his strength would just be limited. Nevertheless, since his cultivation base was advancing by leaps and bounds, suddenly changing the immortal cultivation environment was not a good thing.

  However, Wang Wu proposed that having a wide variety of experience before him reaching Jindan Stage was a good thing for Wang Lu’s future immortal cultivation. Since she was Wang Lu’s Master, which made her the most authoritative person in regard to Wang Lu’s immortal cultivation, after quarreling with her, seeing that this seemed to be a serious proposal from her and did not stem from her usual lack of moral integrity, Feng Yin no longer insisted and acquiesced to her.

  ——


  "Thus, you are in charge of going to the Western Continent to look for the key to the group of immortal tombs that are filled with immortal treasures, to enrich my Non-Phase Peak treasury."

  "The key point is the last part right? Rest assured, I’m confident of my success."

  Wang Wu was particularly surprised. "So confident? You know that this is the mystical Western Continent that we’re talking about right? Even the assembled talented teams that would be led by Senior Sect Leader, having the full support from their sects, none of them dares to say that they are certain about the outcome, so where did your confidence come from?"

  Wang Lu laughed. "Those assemblages of talented heroes? I think they’re just a rabble army. As the Chairperson of the Excavation Management, Senior Uncle Feng Yin is a bit muddled. Although many are powerful in the team that he formed, they completely lack mutual understanding of each other, and many harbors hatred and desires for revenge. At the Western Continent, that unfamiliar place, it would be very good if they don’t end up killing each other. To hope that they would cooperate with each other with absolute sincerity is not realistic. I’m afraid this team could only display forty to fifty percent of their potential. Hehe, I heard that even Supreme Tian Yue is within the team, this makes me doubt the sincerity of Uncle Sect Leader in searching for the key."

  Towards this, his Master smiled and said, "Then what about you? You’re just a Xudan cultivator, can you do better than them? Even if they only have their skill, it’s still far better than you."

  "Tsk, so what if I’m just a Xudan? Aren’t you just a Jindan?"

  "Hey, hey, I’m the number one Jindan in Nine Regions, you should speak to me with some respect."

  "In short, this is a mission to find a thing, and not going to war, so what’s the use of having high cultivation base? If you want to look for something, you use your brain and not your fist… I think Uncle Sect Leader didn’t think too clearly about this. Instead of using an excellent shortcut, he bent on having a group of rabble as teammates and ignorant people as entourage."

  "You mean, you have a shortcut?"

  "Of course, just wait for the good news."

  ——


  After the conversation with his Master, Wang Lu went straight to the Misty Peak Cafeteria.

  Speaking about shortcut, wasn’t it obvious? Going westbound, the biggest problem was its unfamiliar-ness. Therefore, within the group of translators, those who acted as the guide was actually a group of Daoist Masters or Supreme who relied on brute force. Actually, when it came to the guide, there was already a readily available guide here.

  Through years of day to day communication, Wang Lu was very clear that their Western Continent chef was not an ordinary person. Her speech and mannerism all reflected the characteristics of a member of the upper-class people in the Western Continent. When he occasionally talked in-depth with her, it was clear that she was experienced and knowledgeable.

  These characteristics usually belonged to people with noble origin, far better than those so-called professional guides expensively hired by the Excavation Management from the west coast of Nine Regions. These guides were nothing more than locals who lived for a period of time on the eastern part of the Western Continent. Most of them were of civilian origin, which barely qualified them as part of the expeditionary team. If you want them to help find an item that has been lost for more than ten thousand years in the Western Continent, it would simply be indulging in fantasy.

  After he entered the cafeteria, Wang Lu didn’t immediately get to the point. Instead, he ordered several dishes first and finished them all as fast as he could, making the chef smile before he cut to the chase.

  "Aya, have you ever heard a treasure that could split the heaven and earth apart (epoch-creation) in your Western Continent?"

  Aya blinked her pair of green eyes and said with a smile, "Of course, and there are many of them. Solely based on what I know, for the various ethnicities in the Western Continent, there are no less than a thousand of creation legends. Among which, for the objects that are used for that, there are nearly one hundred of them…"

  Wang Lu said, "The more specific thing about it is, not only it has a genuine epoch-making ability, but it’s also, according to the standard here, an immortal treasure."

  Aya said with amazement, "That’s some high requirement! Epoch-creation, but also immortal treasure… Then there’s only one that meets those requirements. As far as I know, Golden King’s Creation Sword is a genuine epoch-creation sword. Why? Do you want to find it?"

  "Exactly. Actually, if possible, I wish that you, Aya, can go together with me."

  Aya seemed quite surprised by Wang Lu’s invitation. "You want me to go with you? I’m afraid I can’t."

  Wang Lu said with a smile, "Rest assured, this is a publicly funded travel with unlimited budget. All expense is paid for!"

  Just as his voice fell, Aya’s face turned serious as she said, "I’m sorry, then I can’t do it even more."

  "Excuse me?" Wang Lu curiously looked at Aya.

  Aya sternly said, "I oppose using public money for private use."

  "…"

  In the face of Aya’s extremely righteous countenance, Wang Lu was stunned speechless.

  "You, you say you’re opposed to using public money…"

  Aya nodded. "From as small as a family to as big as a country, I always work according to the rules. As for public money, even a tiny bit of it I always deal with carefully and prudently, never arbitrarily spending them at will; this is my standard of conduct."

  Wang Lu asked, "You actually can say these words righteously… all these years, have your Misty Peak cafeteria never taken any public banquet money?"

  Aya’s voice became even more indifferent. "Never has, so no need to persuade me anymore. The cafeteria is closed now, please come back again tomorrow." At the end of her sentence, her voice has turned cold.

  When he came out of Misty Peak cafeteria, Wang Lu finally scolded himself for being muddled.

  With Aya’s craft, which braindead elder would want to spend public money to eat and drink in Misty Peak Cafeteria? And even if they don’t cherish the public money, they definitely cherish their own stomach!

  Alas, no wonder Aya is angry. In the end, she is indeed a chef who is separated from vulgar interest.

  But, the more you’re like that, the more I want you. Hehe, as a qualified chef, how can you shirk the heavy responsibility of saving the world?