Yunzhong County is located in the northeast of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Within Yunzhong, there are few plains and many mountains and forest peaks. There are many peaks of thousands of feet or even thousands of feet. There are often clouds and mist on the peaks, so it is called "Yunzhong".
Going further east from Yunzhong County, it is no longer within the territory of Dazhou, or even belongs to Zuzhou, but has entered the boundary of Yingzhou.
Compared with Zuzhou, Yingzhou is just a barren and barren land.
Yingzhou has a harsh environment, with mountains, swamps and poisonous miasma. There is no human country and even most monsters are unwilling to live there.
The land bordering Yunzhong County and Yingzhou is an ancient mountain forest that stretches as far as the eye can see.
In the mountain forest, the trees are extremely lush, and there are often giant trees tens of feet high, blocking out the sky and the sun. After entering the mountain forest, poisonous miasma begins to rise from the ground. The people of Yunzhong County regard this place as a forbidden place.
At this time, outside the mountain forest, a figure came in the wind. When it was nearly a hundred feet away from the mountain forest, it slowly stopped and floated in the void.
Li Mu held a jade talisman in his hand and looked deep into the forest.
He spent three days traveling all over Yunzhong County, but Shangguanli's life talisman showed no response.
Just when he was about to give up, the jade talisman in his hand suddenly felt warm.
This means that Shangguanli is within a hundred miles of him.
Li Mu followed the direction sensed by the destiny talisman and found his way here.
Looking at the poisonous mountain forest ahead, Li Mu frowned slightly.
Stepping into this mountain forest, you step into the territory of Yingzhou.
Yingzhou is different from Zuzhou. Since ancient times, this place has been a barbaric land. The poisonous miasma in it is not suitable for human survival and is not good for practitioners.
Except for some poisonous insect monsters, ordinary monsters are not willing to enter here.
This place is called "the ancient forest" by the people in Yunzhong. The monsters born in it are nourished by poisonous miasma from birth, and their spiritual intelligence is eroded. They are more harmful than ordinary monsters. Sometimes they will run out and cause trouble to Yunzhong.
It brings trouble to the common people.
No wonder there is no news from Shangguanli. The terrain here is complex and there are many mountains. Master Mei did not receive the message from Shangguanli. It is most likely because the signal is not good.
Shangguanli was not far ahead, and Li Mu quickly flew into the forest without much hesitation.
At the same time, I don't know how many miles deep in the mountain forest, in a deep valley.
Shangguan Li looked up and saw that the crown of the ancient tree above them blocked the sky and the sun. They had been trapped here for three days.
During the chase all the way, Cui Ming was almost caught several times, but he escaped every time.
Later, their group was trapped here by Cui Ming's design.
In this valley, a large formation has been arranged in advance. This formation is extremely powerful. It is very easy to enter the formation, but getting out of the formation is more difficult than climbing to the sky.
The few of them joined forces, and with the magic weapon given to her by His Majesty, even the strong men in the early stages of the Sixth Realm were able to fight, but they were unable to break through this formation from within.
Not only that, this formation also blocked her transmission of messages, causing her to completely lose contact with the gods.
In the past few days, Cui Ming and the people who set up the formation did not attack them, but just trapped them, probably hoping to wait for their mana to be exhausted and then deal with them effortlessly.
A middle-aged woman came over, shook her head and said: "It still doesn't work. They probably want to trap us to death, or use us as bait to trap and kill more powerful people in the court."
The fact that Cui Ming was an undercover agent of the Demon Sect has already caused great loss to the court.
If he designs the court again and causes the court to lose more powerful people, it will not only cause the court to lose more prestige, but also increase the arrogance of the Demon Sect.
Shangguan Li took out a piece of spiritual jade and held it in his hand. After recovering his magic power, he said in a deep voice: "I just hope no one will come here again..."
Outside the valley, on top of a mountain.
Cui Ming stood with his hands behind his hands. The man wearing a black bejeweled crown glanced at him and asked, "Why don't you just kill them?"
Cui Ming said lightly: "It would be a pity to kill them. Shangguanli is the Queen's personal female officer. Keeping her is more valuable than killing her. What's more, only by keeping them, the court will send more powerful ones."
When the time comes, if we take their souls and absorb their cultivation, won't we be able to take a step further?"
"You people from the Mei Sect are really insidious and vicious." The man glanced at him and asked, "Aren't you afraid of recruiting extremely powerful people? When the time comes, the formation will not be able to trap them, and both of us will die."
Cui Ming showed a smile on his face and said: "Don't worry, I know the imperial court better than the Mei Sect. There are only a handful of strong men at the peak of the sixth realm in the imperial court. It is impossible to come here. At most, they can only send people in the early stages of the sixth realm."
, it took you so long to set up such a large formation, wasn’t it just to trap a few fifth realms, right?”
The man in black robe glanced at him and said: "I'll tell you what I'm saying first. Whether it's these people or those coming from behind, I don't want any of their magic weapons or anything like that. But their soul power, I don't want them."
Want them all."
Cui Ming didn't think much and nodded: "I promise you."
After the two reached a consensus on the matter, the man in black robe was silent for a moment and then asked: "You have been lurking in the Zhou court for so long, so you must know many secrets. Do you know what happened to King Chu Jiang's death about half a year ago?"
thing"
Cui Ming shook his head and said: "This matter is a top secret in the court. Except for the officials in Beijun, I am afraid that only a few people in the court know about it. Why, is there any problem with the death of King Chu Jiang?"
The man in black robe said solemnly: "His cultivation is even better than this king's, and he has been lurking in Beijun for five years in order to use the Eighteen Hell Formation to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of people in the county and get promoted.
In the sixth realm, once the formation of the Eighteen Hells is set up, it can trap the cave to death. It must be transcended and unbreakable. As far as I know, he had clearly set up the formation of the Eighteen Hells that night, but in the end it failed.
Still failed..."
Cui Ming looked at the valley below and asked, "How does this formation compare to the Eighteen Hell Formations?"
There was a hint of pride in the black-robed man's tone, and he said slowly: "Although I don't have eighteen ghost generals under my command, this valley is an excellent place to gather yin. With a little use of the surrounding landforms, we can borrow the power of heaven and earth.
With such power, even if you are in the Sixth Realm, you will find it difficult to escape by setting up this desperate formation. It is only stronger than the Eighteen Hell Formation..."
Cui Ming smiled and said: "Then don't worry. If the souls of these people can be refined, His Highness the Song Emperor will surely be ranked first among the ten palaces of Yama, right?"
The man in black robe did not speak again, but he snorted coldly in his heart.
His cultivation level has reached the peak of Ghost Soul, not inferior to the King of Chu Jiang at that time. If the Great Zhou Dynasty sent another strong man of the sixth level, with the help of that person's soul power, plus these people in the formation,
He had a glimmer of hope to take a step further.
By that time, he would no longer even have to submit to the Holy Lord of the Netherworld.
When Emperor Song thought of this, he couldn't help but curl his lips, but at the next moment, his eyes moved slightly and said: "Hide your breath first, someone is coming..."
…
Li Mu held Shangguanli's life talisman in his hand and flew all the way here.
This ancient mountain forest is surrounded by dangers. Even a practitioner cannot inhale too much of the poisonous mist and miasma in the forest. He walked without breathing and encountered many poisonous insects and beasts.
These insect beasts were nourished by the miasma, so it was difficult for them to develop basic spiritual intelligence, but their strength should not be underestimated, making them difficult to guard against, which greatly delayed his search for Shangguan Li.
Li Mu was walking in the air in the forest, the talisman in his hand getting hotter and hotter.
This means that the distance between him and Shangguan is getting closer and closer.
Until he flew to a certain valley, the jade talisman in his hand was already a little hot to the touch.
It shows that Shangguanli is near him.
In the valley, Shangguan Li looked at Li Mu floating in the air, his expression changed, and he reminded loudly: "Don't come here!"
Li Mu heard the sound, flew into the valley, looked at Shangguanli not far ahead, and asked, "What did you just say?"
After he finished speaking, he noticed something unusual and looked around.
Looking down from the valley, there seems to be nothing unusual here.
But after landing in the valley, Li Mu immediately realized something was wrong.
There was no trace of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here. There seemed to be a large formation surrounding it, blocking the spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside. Li Mu flew out, but encountered an invisible barrier.
He was trapped in a formation.
Shangguanli covered his face with his hands. After a long time, he asked with a serious face, "How did you find this place? Is there anyone else?"
Li Muyang raised the life talisman in his hand, threw it to Shangguanli, and said: "There is no one else, and Sister Mei can't contact you. I happened to be back in Beijun for vacation, so I asked your majesty for your life talisman. I will look for you by the way."
, what’s going on with this formation?”
Shangguan Li said with an ugly face: "We fell into Cui Ming's scheme and are trapped here."
She glanced at Li Mu and said, "I didn't expect that I would die with you..."
Li Mu also glanced at her, shook his head and said, "You want to die, but I don't want to die yet."
He took out the spirit snail, activated it with magic power, and then tried to contact the queen, but there was no response.
It seems that this formation is the reason why Shangguanli cannot send messages.
Shangguan Li came over and said: "We have been attacking this formation for three days with no results. This formation can trap the sixth realm. Cui Ming used this to attract the powerful men of the court. I didn't expect that.
It's actually you..."
Her words made Li Mu feel very uncomfortable.
It was as if he had come to die in vain.
It's not like he has never seen a formation that can trap the sixth realm. The last one named King Chu Jiang also set up a similar formation. There should be grass growing on his grave now.
If you ask Li Mu to set up this kind of formation, he may not have the ability.
But when it came to destroying it, he really wasn't afraid of anyone.
The formation was not the key point. Li Mu looked at Shangguanli and asked, "Where is Cui Ming?"
After Li Mu finished speaking, a burst of laughter suddenly came from outside the formation.
Cui Ming was suspended outside the formation, his face full of surprise: "Li Mu, it's you!"
Li Mu could tell that Cui Ming was very happy, and he was happy from the bottom of his heart.
There wasn't even a trace of hatred on his face.
But this is precisely the expression of the deepest hatred.
Li Mu made him lose his reputation and official position, made him go from being a fourth-rank official to being a prince-in-law, and then a wanted criminal in just a few days. He made him work hard for twenty years and return to the pre-liberation period overnight.
, if you think about it from his perspective, if Li Mu were Cui Ming, he would also hate him.
Hate to the extreme can turn into joy.
Of course, what he was happy about was not meeting Li Mu again after a long absence, but what he was happy about was that Li Mu fell into his hands.
The man in black robe floated next to Cui Ming and asked: "Is he Li Mu, the Li Mu who caused you to end up like this?"
The smile on Cui Ming's face gradually disappeared, and he looked at Li Mu with endless resentment and said: "Don't kill him directly when the time comes. I will make him suffer all kinds of torture in this world, so that I can relieve the hatred in my heart."
…”
He was just a minor cultivator in the fourth realm. Emperor Song didn't take him seriously at all and said, "It's up to you."
Cui Ming was suspended in the air and sneered: "Li Mu, Li Mu, you didn't expect that you would fall into my hands so quickly, did you?"
Li Mu looked up at him and said disdainfully: "You are no longer the consort, so why are you still calling yourself this palace? The princess's mansion now has someone else's surname. There is a new consort who calls himself this palace, lives in your house, and sleeps with your wife. Fortunately for you guys
The couple has no children, otherwise he will beat your baby..."
Cui Ming's face became extremely gloomy, and he gritted his teeth and said, "This bitch!"
Shangguanli asked in a low voice: "Is what you said true?"
Li Mu whispered: "I'm going to die anyway. Isn't it okay for him to feel sick before he dies?"
Cui Ming seemed to be really disgusted. He left with a sullen face without saying a word, not even taunting Li Mu again.
Shangguan Li didn't say anything else. He sat on a tree stump and stared blankly ahead, not knowing what he was thinking.
Li Mu sat next to her and asked, "Are you afraid of death?"
Shangguan moved his hips to the side and said calmly: "There is nothing to be afraid of in death, it's just that I don't want Your Majesty to be sad."
Li Mu turned his head and glanced at her, and found that when she said this, her expression was very calm, and she seemed to be really not afraid.
This made him look at Shangguan Li with admiration. He was about to die, and he was still thinking about whether others would be sad. She really loved the queen, and Li Mu would never be able to do this.
After a moment of silence, Shangguanli took out a talisman from his sleeve and handed it to Li Mu.
Li Mu glanced at her and asked, "What are you doing?"
Shangguan Li said expressionlessly: "This is a heaven-level talisman that allows you to teleport a hundred miles away. In a moment, we will try our best to break this formation. You can use this talisman to escape immediately and go to Yunzhong County.
…”
Li Mu asked: "You can break the formation, why don't you use it yourself?"
Shangguan Li said calmly: "A few of us will self-destruct our souls together and attack the weak points of this formation. We can break a gap in this formation and you can take the opportunity to escape."
The cultivation of a Taoist practitioner is all in the soul. After the physical body dies, the soul is immortal and can be reborn. If the soul self-destructs, the soul is truly gone.
Li Mu never expected that Shangguan Li would give him his only chance to survive.
She has always disliked him...
Li Mu looked at her and asked, "Why?"
Shangguan Li looked into the distance and said, "Your Majesty can live without us, but he cannot live without you."
At this moment, Li Mu suddenly admired Shangguan Li.
Although he didn't like her very much before, of course he coveted her position more and wanted to replace her and become the Queen's most intimate minister, but now it seems that in some things, he will never be as good as Shangguan Li.
Not only could she sacrifice her life for the Queen, but she could even sacrifice her life for herself, a love rival... a political rival who often competed with her for favor, which shows her unadulterated loyalty to the Queen.
Shangguan Li finally looked at Li Mu and said: "If you can escape, I hope you can assist His Majesty wholeheartedly in the future to govern the Great Zhou Dynasty, so that His Majesty can escape from that prison as soon as possible..."
Li Mu waved his hand and said: "It's so serious, isn't it just a formation-breaking technique? How big a deal..."
