Chapter 295: The Restriction on Star-Plucking Mountain
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Hua Tu rubbed his arms and sent a gloating look toward Tu Hua Zhang, who had just confessed the truth in a panic.
As for sympathy…
He wouldn’t waste it on someone as vile as Tu Hua Zhang.
A person like that wasn’t even worth dirtying his mouth over, even if offered up as food.
Yu Zhao’s fury burned like a raging storm.
According to Tu Hua Zhang’s confession, Han Xin Lan wasn’t the only one abducted—there were more victims.
Initially, Yu Zhao planned to extract Han Xin Lan’s whereabouts from him before deciding his fate. But now, she had changed her mind.
A person like Tu Hua Zhang, aiding and abetting such atrocities while still considering himself righteous, deserved his punishment.
Death!
Under the effects of Yu Zhao’s illusion technique, the already-fragile Tu Hua Zhang crumbled entirely, confessing every detail like spilling beans from a bamboo tube.
As it turned out, the Tu family ancestor, limited by his mediocre talent, was stuck at the Nascent Soul stage and unable to progress further. With his lifespan dwindling, desperation drove him to pursue forbidden methods. By chance, he joined a group called Heaven’s Punishment.
The leader of Heaven’s Punishment was a Nascent Soul cultivator known as Tian Pu Zi, who claimed to communicate with the heavenly will. He declared himself an agent of heaven in the cultivation world, spreading the so-called path to immortality.
Tian Pu Zi believed that a cultivator’s talent was determined by their faith in their past lives. In his view, every challenge faced during cultivation was a punishment from the heavenly will. To progress smoothly, one had to offer sincere worship to appease heaven and earn its forgiveness.
Yu Zhao, having been fortunate enough to live a second life, held profound reverence for the heavenly will. Yet, she couldn’t help but find the ideology of Heaven’s Punishment laughable.
More absurd was the fact that the Tu family ancestor believed it, treating it as sacred.
Following Tian Pu Zi’s instructions, the ancestor sought to extend his life by kidnapping and sacrificing 49 boys and 49 girls, each meeting specific astrological criteria: boys born under the strongest yang energies and girls under the purest yin energies.
Locating such individuals required great effort, and the Tu family ancestor, desperate yet cautious, avoided drawing attention in his home city of Southern Wind City. He instead traveled far and wide to capture his victims.
Han Xin Lan wasn’t among his original targets.
However, when he’d gathered the sacrifices and returned to rest at his ancestral home, Han Xin Lan coincidentally visited. He met her before Tu Yun Tian, another family member, had the chance.
Han Xin Lan’s exceptional spiritual roots, pure aura, and striking beauty fit perfectly with Tian Pu Zi’s “holy maiden” standard. Seized by opportunity, the ancestor decided to risk offending Hundred Flowers Valley. He ordered Tu Hua Zhang to drug Han Xin Lan and personally delivered her, unconscious, to Heaven’s Punishment’s base.
Currently, neither Han Xin Lan nor the ancestor was at the Tu family estate.
Yu Zhao extracted the location of Heaven’s Punishment’s base from Tu Hua Zhang before planting a Heart Demon Mark in his mind. The mark wouldn’t kill him instantly but would trap him in relentless nightmares until his spirit was exhausted, and he succumbed to terror.
Leaving the Tu family estate, Yu Zhao and Hua Tu headed straight for the base.
Tian Pu Zi, seeking to reinforce his divine status among his followers, had chosen the Star-Plucking Mountain, the highest peak in the Western Region, as Heaven’s Punishment’s stronghold.
The pair raced to the mountain and arrived at its base by the next day.
Hua Tu prepared to launch himself forward, but Yu Zhao grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.
“Uh…”
Feeling the grip of fate tightening around him, Hua Tu gave Yu Zhao a plaintive look.
Yu Zhao released him, motioning ahead with her chin.
Hua Tu squinted but saw nothing unusual—until he activated his third eye. Instantly, cold sweat drenched him.
What appeared to be a tranquil mountainside was actually shrouded in a web of fine black threads. The threads glimmered eerily, forming a massive spiderweb that enveloped the entire mountain. Though their arrangement seemed random, the threads were intricately linked, reacting collectively to the slightest disturbance.
If Yu Zhao hadn’t stopped him, Hua Tu would have blundered into the web, becoming its prey.
“Is it an array or a restriction?” Hua Tu, unfamiliar with human techniques, could only guess.
“It’s a restriction,” Yu Zhao confirmed, distinguishing it from an array despite her limited expertise.
Among those she knew, Ji Han Zhou was most skilled at unraveling restrictions. He had single-handedly dismantled one in the Undersea Palace.
The restriction around Star-Plucking Mountain was clearly far more complex and profound. Yu Zhao doubted she could bypass it unscathed.
As for the clueless leopard beside her…
Tsk. Counting on him was more hopeless than expecting a sudden flash of inspiration.
While Yu Zhao debated abandoning stealth and launching a frontal assault, she sensed several obscure presences approaching.
Hua Tu noticed them too, baring his teeth and adopting a menacing posture.
Yu Zhao shook her head, a faint smile curling her lips.
When one door closes, another opens.
She no longer needed to agonize over her decision. Others had already made it for her.
And they were familiar faces.
Yu Zhao and Hua Tu, both adept at concealing their presence, remained undetected as a group of disciples passed by, nervously whispering.
“Senior Sister Wei, are we really going up? Isn’t it too dangerous with just the few of us?”
“Junior Brother Sha, I’d prefer to seek help from our sect, but there’s no time. The ritual is tomorrow night. If we don’t act, the kidnapped children will die.”
“But we’re just Golden Core cultivators, and Star-Plucking Mountain supposedly has a Nascent Soul expert. We might fail to save anyone and lose our lives too.”
“Exactly, Senior Sister Wei. Shouldn’t we reconsider?”
“You’ve said it yourself—‘supposedly.’ We can’t abandon innocent lives based on rumors. If you don’t want to risk it, stay here and cover me from below.”
“That’s not what we mean. We’d never let you go alone.”
“Yes, Senior Sister Wei, we’ll go together. At worst, we die as one!”
“Right! Tai Bai Academy has no cowards!”
Yu Zhao, listening to their impassioned exchange, nodded silently.
Though reckless, their determination was admirable.
Recognizing them as disciples of Tai Bai Academy, Yu Zhao recalled Senior Sister Wei Ying, who had left a strong impression during a cultivation competition. Her courage and sense of justice shone even brighter now.
It seemed Tai Bai Academy had far more virtuous disciples like Wei Ying than arrogant ones like Li Jing Rang.