Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 414 Impending Omen

Chapter 414: Chapter 414 Impending Omen

True Man Yuanling had his brows furrowed, looking at the many words and images projected from the jade tablet before him.

These were reports just received from various locations within the Qianfeng Ling Mountain sphere of influence—concerning the abnormal movement of personnel from Taixu Spirit Hub to Shuji recently, and some suspicious phenomena occurring at Taixu Spirit Hub and surrounding planets following the "loss of control at the Demon Suppression Tower" event.

True Man Yuan He stood beside him, likewise watching the ethereal projection with a serious expression. Behind him floated another hazy illusion, which seemed to be a hidden beast leisurely curled up beside its master.

"According to the reports from various locations, indeed many people have suddenly set off towards the border these past few days—a flow nearly twenty percent more than usual," True Man Yuanling said solemnly, "Although we can’t directly say these people are all influenced by Yun Qingzi, there are certainly situations similar to Linglong and Shang An among them."

"Those who could be stopped have been stopped, and for those Immortal Boats that need to dock at the surrounding planets of Shuji for transit, I have already notified the local control authorities to temporarily detain them under reasons of ’route risk’ or ’facility malfunction’," True Man Yuan He slowly spoke, "The other side is now carefully inspecting the passengers on the Immortal Boats, any updates should come soon."

"Hmm," True Man Yuanling nodded lightly, "Fortunately Shuji is remote, with most routes not directly accessible—ordinary civilian Immortal Boats need to transit on planets like Yao Gate and Ten Courts, unlike the Otherworld Inn which can go directly, this has given us much time to react."

"Yet even so, there are those who reached there before our reaction," True Man Yuan He sighed, "Ultimately, we were a bit slow... Who knows how many victims like Linglong and Shang An are already trapped in Shuji at this moment."

True Man Yuanling stroked his beard: "Xuan Che and the others have critical tasks now, cannot move rashly, the local situation of Shuji is unclear, even the disciples on duty there and the ’Star Guardians’ could be influenced by Yun Qingzi, in the worst case, the whole planet may have an issue...

"I have already dispatched disciples from Yao Gate Star to assist Xuan Che and the others, and at the same time to track those ’travelers’ mentioned on the list who might have been influenced by Yun Qingzi... We cannot let Yun Qingzi’s power grow further.

"Let’s hope it’s not too late, and that those heading to Shuji under influence can still regain their senses like Linglong and Shang An. If we can save a few more, perhaps we may uncover the details behind Yun Qingzi."

As he spoke, another sound of the air being torn came from outside the hall, followed by True Man Qianji, a being driven entirely by machinery and looking no different from a Mechanical Man, striding in briskly from outside the door.

"Yuanling! I’ve arranged everything here!" True Man Qianji hurriedly shouted from afar, "The Lying Cloud Ten Halls and Hengxu have already sealed off all routes to Shuji—you controlling only that part outside of Qianfeng Ling Mountain’s area. Now unless another ’Yu’ opens the door from there, not even a fly can get close to Shuji..."

True Man Qianji suddenly paused at this point, then sharply raised his head to look at True Man Yuan He, asking with caution amidst the latter’s slightly bemused gaze: "...Your mountain doesn’t have flies that can shatter the void, right?"

True Man Yuan He’s face turned green: "No!"

"That’s good," True Man Qianji put down the cylinder, and continued, "Fairy Yun Yao from Yaolan Sect just replied, and she will later send a batch of materials regarding the exploration and mining situation over the past century in Shuji. Netherworld Valley also promises to send early development records from Shuji—if Yun Qingzi has been lurking there for a millennium, there might be traces left in those records..."

Listening to True Man Qianji’s words, True Man Yuanling’s countenance finally eased somewhat, and he slowly nodded.

Among the five prominent sects of Taixu Spirit Hub, Yaolan Sect and Netherworld Valley are most proficient in mining and alien planet development, even though Shuji’s mining industry has declined nowadays, several hundred years back, the planet was filled with mining stations and fortresses established by them. In fact, even now, eight out of the twelve giant Refining Towers reaching the cloud tops around Mo City were built by Yaolan Sect.

These two sects possess a wealth of data on Shuji’s geology, environment, and development history, and now they are willing to share this, partly due to the mutual trust and consensus built over many years of governance by the Five Sects, but also because they sense the pressure brought by the Yun Qingzi situation.

True Man Yuanling’s expression was serious, his gaze drifting past True Man Qianji, through the hall’s roof and the array dome of Qianfeng Ling Mountain, seeming to look toward the vast starry sky beyond the planet.

A sense of invisible, ineffable, ominous peril hung over Taixu Star—something unseen, untouchable yet dense as ink in the spiritual sense of cultivators, like it threatens to engulf the whole planet.

True Man Yuanling couldn’t define what it was, but he felt... merely a maddened Yun Qingzi shouldn’t bring such an eerie "shadow," even adding a group of sinister cultists isn’t enough.

Since he could sense it, then surely the other four sect leaders... would have felt it too.

"...What exactly is that thing?"

...

One by one, enormous Demon Suppression Stone Pillars stood within the spacious underground cavern, with the pathways of the earth light intersecting and spreading across the cave walls, silently streaming over the cave’s roof. Reinforced and spiritually tempered chains subtly swayed, making a rustling sound as they rubbed against each other, and among this friction sound, a gigantic stone sphere with a horrifying "appearance" lazily turned over, gazing toward a corner of the stone cavern.

A strange seven-headed snake coiled around a nearby Demon Suppression Stone Pillar, wrapped in a much smaller "Demon Binding Rope" than what bound the Omen Wandering Star, was soundly asleep.

The stone sphere slowly cracked a smile, its jagged stone "teeth" slowly opening. It floated up, its "eyes" two hollow black pits, seemingly reflecting chaotic shadows, and then it floated in front of the strange snake, baring its teeth in a grin at the latter, deliberately shaking the chains on its body.

The snake awoke with a start, its seven heads opening their eyes simultaneously, with all fourteen eyes reflecting the terrifying form of the Omen Wandering Star.

"Oh crap ah ooh awoo awooo—"

The snake let out a chaotic scream that not even three or five people together could make, immediately leaping down from the Demon Suppression Stone Pillar, only to get tangled up because its multiple heads were pulling in different directions (mainly because the dog head clearly wasn’t on the same page as the others), ultimately tying itself up among the chains and rolling around in confusion.

Omen Wandering Star let out a raspy, terrifying laugh.

"You damned thing, scaring me, a protected species!" The Snake Princess struggled to free one head from the ball formed by her body, glaring at the stone sphere, "I’ve already been unfortunate enough to be banished here!"

"I’m curious, how did you end up being ’banished’ to this lowest level?" The Omen Wandering Star floated leisurely to the Snake Princess, looking down at this creature it viewed as weak and inferior, "With your abilities, you shouldn’t qualify for suppression in the lower layer, let alone here—look around at these pillars, you sleep on them and they don’t react at all."

"Of course, it’s because that Yuan He bastard abused his power for personal vendetta!" Snake Princess immediately cursed loudly, "That pus-filled scoundrel cleric! I merely cursed at him a few times when being brought in, and he overheard, resulting in me being thrown here, saying I needed to reflect... Reflect my ass! Was what I said that harsh? The worst I didn’t even get to say!"

Omen Wandering Star listened to Snake Princess’s ranting, but its terrifying face showed no discernible reaction that human logic could interpret. After a while, a raspy voice came from its jagged mouth: "I have the feeling you volunteered to come down."

Snake Princess’s heads suddenly shrank back into her snake ball: "W-why do you say that?"

"You used to curse Yuan He often, sometimes I could hear you from the bottom level here—he wouldn’t throw you down for such a reason unless you asked him to."

"I asked him? I asked him to..." Snake Princess’s face turned red, but as she spoke, under the terrifying gaze of Omen Wandering Star, her words trailed off, mumbling, "Alright, mainly I was afraid of being beaten to death up there by some fools who think they were caught due to my tattling, saying if I hadn’t, they would’ve escaped the mountain."

"Did you tattle?"

"I did."

For the first time, Omen Wandering Star understood what humans meant by "speechless."

"What was I supposed to do!" Snake Princess defended herself, "In that situation, whoever didn’t yield was an idiot, the Qianfeng Ling Mountain clerics were indeed ruthless, I saw with my own eyes that Yuan He bastard setting a giant cauldron at the foot of the mountain, with Samadhi True Fire underneath, filled with five-spice spicy beef oil, throwing captured beasts into the cauldron, some sliced, some tied as butterfly knots, even some flattened out with -cross cuts and thrown in... Was my tattling? It was helping others to recognize the situation!"

Snake Princess cursed incoherently, her ranting filled with half-baked conglomerations from several muddled brains, continuing she suddenly stopped, as if it wasn’t her who had been ranting, now cautiously observing the "stone sphere" in front.

"Why did you suddenly come to talk to me?"

"Boredom, and curiosity," Omen Wandering Star slowly cracked its mouth, as if smiling, "You know, little creature—this planet’s ominous star is approaching, I can feel it, the long-awaited day of liberation is near. I always enjoy observing the so-called ’intelligent species’ on the planet during such times, and you... are an interesting entity."

Snake Princess gawked at the giant stone sphere floating before her, after a long while, her eyes slowly widened: "... So what?"

Omen Wandering Star: "..."

A moment later, the stone sphere suddenly turned, floating upward—it stopped at a critical point that provoked intense reactions from the Demon Suppression Chains and Pillars, shouting loudly up to the cave:

"Yuanling! Yuan He! Whoever you are, get this fool out of here! Swap it with something that has brains! Did you hear me? Swap it with something that has brains!"

Yet, no one paid attention to it at all.