novelraw Chapter 114 : That One from the Corrosive Slime Plane
Chapter 114 : That One from the Corrosive Slime Plane
Chapter 114: That One from the Corrosive Slime Plane
【Written here, I hope readers remember our domain Taiwan Novel Network → ᴛᴡᴋᴀɴ.ᴄᴏᴍ】
Upon returning to the Prince of Anxi’s Mansion, Jiang Zhaoming and Xiao Hongye devoted themselves to research for nearly half a year.
At last, they had pushed the Ground Vein Transmission Method to a stage far more refined and practical.
The newly constructed “Kan Mountain Divine Road” channel required only five thousand Spirit Crystals.
Within merely two hours, it could transport ten thousand fully armed soldiers across a distance of five thousand li.
Although the cost of a single transmission was still considerable, its strategic value was beyond measure.
It meant that the Anxi Army had truly obtained the ability to instantaneously deploy troops on a large scale across extreme distances.
Jiang Zhaoming immediately decided to secretly establish these Ground Vein Transmission Nodes—named “Kan Mountain Divine Road”—at key locations throughout the Anxi Prefecture.
To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, the existence of this method was kept under strict secrecy. Only a handful of people knew its core secret.
Curiously, regarding Jiang Zhaoming’s astonishing “infrastructure” efforts within Anxi, his Emperor Father Jiang Xuanhao in the Imperial Capital seemed completely indifferent, never recording this achievement—enough to shake the entire court—into the Dragon Ranking or Imperial Destiny Value.
This subtle tacit consent allowed Jiang Zhaoming to continue consolidating the foundation of Anxi Prefecture in relative peace.
Ronglu County, Sea of Death.
Jiang Zhaoming had just finished setting up a Kan Mountain Divine Road Node and was preparing to head west to arrange the next one.
Suddenly, the Communication Talisman in his robes grew faintly warm. A quick sweep of his Divine Sense revealed it was an urgent message from Wan Donglai.
Jiang Zhaoming’s brows slightly furrowed.
Since the pacification of all Anxi territory, the main task of that military camp had shifted to guarding the Other-Dimensional Passage leading to the Corrosive Slime Kingdom.
Now, only forty thousand elite troops were stationed at the Anxi camp. Life there had improved drastically—no longer the hardship it once was.
More importantly, the ordinary soldiers no longer had to live in constant fear, facing the direct threat of Corrosive Slime Monsters.
This hard-won peace was largely thanks to the Divine Artifact · Lunar Soldier Altar that Jiang Zhaoming had entrusted to Wan Donglai. The only unstable factor within the prefecture now was that Other-Dimensional Passage.
At present, the Corrosive Slime Clan troops emerging from it were still within controllable strength—serving as an endless source of nourishment for the Lunar Soldier Altar.
Though Jiang Zhaoming harbored doubts, he still decided to personally visit the camp for inspection.
Using military secrecy as a reason, he turned to Xiao Hongye and said, 「General Xiao, this King must attend to an urgent military matter ahead of time. Please wait for a moment in Ronglu County.」
Xiao Hongye nodded knowingly, asking no further.
「As Your Majesty commands, this general will await in Ronglu County.」
Jiang Zhaoming nodded, then swiftly departed, heading straight for the Anxi military camp.
After several traversals through the Ground Veins, Jiang Zhaoming arrived at the camp.
No sooner had he stepped inside than he noticed a corner of the camp shrouded in chilling Yin energy.
There stood, in perfect formation, over a hundred thousand eerie figures exuding a cold, deathly aura—the Corrosive Slime Yin Soldiers.
These were the Dao Soldiers refined from the Corrosive Slime Clan by the Lunar Soldier Altar.
Through them, Jiang Zhaoming had even managed to decipher part of the Corrosive Slime language.
「Your subordinate Wan Donglai greets Your Majesty!」
Wan Donglai, who had been waiting, immediately stepped forward and saluted respectfully, his expression grave.
Jiang Zhaoming gave a slight nod and asked directly, 「What change has occurred in the passage?」
Wan Donglai’s face was solemn as he reported in a deep voice, 「Replying to Your Majesty—since two months ago, the scale of Corrosive Slime forces emerging from the passage has continued to increase.
After a detailed investigation, this subordinate found that the Other-Dimensional Passage itself seems to be slowly expanding.」
「Expanding？」 Jiang Zhaoming’s brows knitted tightly. 「Can the cause be determined?」
Wan Donglai solemnly shook his head. 「This subordinate is incompetent and has not yet discovered the root cause.」
Jiang Zhaoming pondered briefly before decisively saying, 「Come, follow this King to inspect the passage personally.」
Moments later, the two appeared near the Other-Dimensional Passage. The deep, shadowed entrance resembled the throat of a colossal beast, and at that moment, scattered Corrosive Slime Monsters were still struggling to crawl out.
As soon as they landed, they greedily twitched their strange pig-like snouts, letting out ear-piercing hisses.
「Delicious—how delicious the air is!」
「So much better than that wretched place—」
Hearing those greed-laden whispers filled with strange satisfaction, Jiang Zhaoming’s heart stirred, a vague suspicion taking shape.
He ordered Wan Donglai to continue strict surveillance of the passage while he swiftly returned to the camp.
In a heavily guarded open courtyard, Jiang Zhaoming sat cross-legged and took out the Fortune-Appraising Treasure Mirror from his robes.
He took a deep breath and poured most of his spiritual power into the mirror.
At once, radiance flowed across the surface, slowly revealing a peculiar scene.
Centered on that dark Other-Dimensional Passage, countless fine yet resilient golden threads extended outward like living veins, interweaving into a massive, dense network covering an immense range.
The vision lasted only a few breaths before a wave of intense exhaustion surged through him.
Jiang Zhaoming was forced to cease the spiritual infusion, and the image in the mirror faded away.
「Treasure Mirror,」 Jiang Zhaoming asked with focused intent, his tone heavy, 「does this passage lead to a Blessed Land or Celestial Realm?」
Unexpectedly, the mirror’s Artifact Spirit responded with rare hesitation.
「Master, this mirror senses that the aura at the other end of the passage does not seem to belong to an ordinary Blessed Land.」
Jiang Zhaoming’s heart tightened, and he quickly asked, 「Then what kind of place is it?」
「That aura is vast and complete—it seems that the passage leads to an independent, fully formed world.」
「A complete world？」
Jiang Zhaoming’s expression changed dramatically, his brows furrowing into a 川 shape.
This was no good news.
If the Corrosive Slime Clan originated from a fully developed and powerful alternate plane, its potential threat could overturn all of Anxi—and perhaps even endanger the entire Great Zhou.
「Then in your view, how dangerous might that world be?」
「Apologies, Master. Based solely on the passage’s aura, I cannot gauge its strength. Perhaps… only by personally stepping into that world can its true nature be seen.」
「I see. Then, do you think that plane might be dangerous?」
The Artifact Spirit hesitated for quite a while before giving an uncertain answer.
「The beings emerging from the passage so far are not strong. The area around the entrance should not be too dangerous.」
Jiang Zhaoming nodded slightly, then began considering whether to enter the passage himself.
On one hand, it was to examine the state of the passage. On the other, he was genuinely curious—about what might very well be a brand-new world.
And he also wondered whether, upon reaching the other side of the passage, he could discover the source of the Body-Tempering Demon Crystals.
If he could obtain more Body-Tempering Demon Crystals and allow the soldiers of Anxi Prefecture to temper their bodies daily with the aid of those crystals, the military strength of Anxi would undoubtedly rise swiftly.
「Very well, I shall explore this world myself.」
After making his decision, Jiang Zhaoming summoned Lilian and Yue Fei, while instructing Xiao Hongye to depart first.
Soon, Jiang Zhaoming, Lilian, and Yue Fei appeared outside the entrance of the Other-Dimensional Passage.
Jiang Zhaoming gripped the Zhu Xie Sword tightly in his left hand, its blade gleaming faintly with restrained cold light, while his right hand held the pitch-black Divine Artifact · Lunar Soldier Altar, upon whose surface faint runes shimmered.
The interior of the altar was limited in space, able to accommodate only fourteen of the strongest Lunar Dao Soldiers at the Myriad Phenomena Realm.
The rest of the Dao Soldiers refined from Corrosive Slime Monsters stood in disciplined formation outside the passage, awaiting orders.
「Go!」
At Jiang Zhaoming’s command, the army of Corrosive Slime Dao Soldiers surged forward like a dark tide, flooding into the shadowed passage.
Moments later, a Dao Soldier of the Divine Power Realm returned, delivering a signal of safety.
「Move out!」
Jiang Zhaoming barked softly, exchanged a glance with Yue Fei and Lilian, and the three stepped into the passage together.
A familiar, intense sense of weightlessness instantly enveloped them, as though they were traveling through nothingness.
After more than ten breaths, solid ground returned beneath their feet, and their vision opened wide.
A dim sky stretched endlessly overhead, devoid of stars or sun, illuminated only by a hazy dark-purple radiance.
The air was thick with moisture, decay, and an indescribable chill.
Beneath their feet lay fertile soil of deep black, soft and elastic underfoot, yet exuding an eerie coldness.
Their field of view was filled with enormous, bizarre plants—trunks twisted like wyrms, their leaves dark purple or ink-green.
The trees emitted faint phosphorescence, lending the scene a haunting glow. In the distance came the strange shrieks of unknown creatures, echoing sharply through the silence.
「Spread out and scout—stay alert!」
Jiang Zhaoming ordered at once.
The Corrosive Slime Dao Soldiers silently dispersed into the surrounding darkness.
Yue Fei and Lilian took positions to his left and right, guarding him closely as their vigilant gazes swept the surroundings.
Jiang Zhaoming once more took out the Divine Artifact · Fortune-Appraising Treasure Mirror, sat cross-legged, and focused his mind to activate its ability of “Observing Fortune.”
Ripples of light flowed across the mirror’s surface, soon reflecting an image of fortune across a radius of ten thousand li centered on their location.
At a single glance, Jiang Zhaoming was struck as if by lightning—his pupils contracted sharply, and he nearly stopped breathing.
The mirror revealed that though living beings were sparsely distributed throughout this ten-thousand-li expanse, the intensity of their fortune-lights was terrifyingly strong.
Within this vast area alone, there were tens of thousands of purple fortune lights.
What made his scalp prickle even more were the towering red pillars of fortune—symbols of power at the Late Golden Body Realm and above—numbering over a hundred.
Among them, several glowed a blood-deep crimson, their oppressive aura palpable even through the mirror, likely belonging to terrifying beings of the Profound Core Realm.
「Hiss—」
Jiang Zhaoming drew in a sharp breath, his teeth tingling.
The depth of this world’s foundation was a hundred times more terrifying than he had imagined.
Within this small portion of land alone, there might already be over a hundred cultivators at or beyond the Late Golden Body Realm.
Suppressing the shock in his heart and confirming that no powerful auras were nearby, Jiang Zhaoming immediately shifted the mirror’s function and activated “Appraising Heaven and Earth.”
He sought to examine the leyline directions and the distribution of mineral veins.
A new stream of information poured into his mind, and Jiang Zhaoming froze completely.
The vision the Treasure Mirror returned revealed that within this ten-thousand-li land, ordinary iron and copper veins had nearly vanished.
In their place were veins of rare metals scattered everywhere.
More astonishingly, Spirit Crystal Veins rich with pure spiritual energy glittered like countless stars across the land.
What made Jiang Zhaoming’s heart pound wildly was that near a suspected large-scale settlement of another race,
the Treasure Mirror distinctly marked a vein—one of Body-Tempering Demon Crystals.
Its scale was close to a medium-sized vein, the sheer number of crystals within enough to drive any great power insane.
That Body-Tempering Demon Crystal Vein, nearly medium in size, contained a quantity of crystals that was utterly staggering.
Jiang Zhaoming’s eyes burned with desire, but when he noticed the several red fortune pillars surrounding that settlement, he quickly calmed himself.
Even so, what he had discovered already left him deeply shaken.
Yet as he began to appraise the Blessed Lands, a revelation nearly shattered his composure.
White light flowed gently across the mirror’s surface, and a line of clear information appeared.
But what the mirror indicated was not a mere Blessed Land—it was something countless times more precious—ㄧㄧa Celestial Grotto!
What made Jiang Zhaoming’s blood nearly freeze was that the Treasure Mirror explicitly showed—
the location of this Celestial Grotto was none other than the very land beneath their feet.
No—more precisely, what the Treasure Mirror reflected was their own home world.
Jiang Zhaoming stared fixedly at the mirror for several breaths, dumbstruck,
before finally asking in a trembling voice of disbelief: 「Treasure Mirror… this Celestial Grotto—it refers to where?」
The Artifact Spirit of the mirror seemed to sense its master’s inner turmoil, its voice unconsciously hushed.
「Master, the ‘Celestial Grotto’ shown within the mirror… is our Great Zhou, the very plane we reside in.」
「Our world… is merely a Celestial Grotto?」
Jiang Zhaoming took a deep breath; the icy air filled his lungs, yet it felt as though it ignited the fuse in his mind.
In that instant, countless past doubts erupted within him—the powerful enemies the Great Zhou faced, the vanished Divine Generals and armies—ㄧ
All the mysteries burst open at once, forming a suffocating truth.
If the Great Zhou World truly was only a Celestial Grotto, and it possessed multiple passages leading outward,
then the identity of those incomprehensibly powerful enemies had become clear.
They likely came from beyond the grotto—from the greater Main World.
The battlefields that had swallowed the mightiest forces of the Great Zhou must have been far more brutal than anyone could imagine.
Beside him, Yue Fei and Lilian both sensed the gravity of the situation; their hearts tensed involuntarily.
After several breaths spent calming himself and organizing his thoughts, the confusion on Jiang Zhaoming’s face vanished, replaced by a faint smile.
Yue Fei and Lilian exchanged glances, unsettled by their lord’s abrupt change in demeanor.
Could His Majesty have been overly shaken?
「Your Majesty, there’s no need for excessive worry. In the Cavern Plane, some small worlds are not necessarily inferior to the Main World in strength.」
Lilian was the first to speak, attempting to comfort him—but Jiang Zhaoming raised a hand to signal that reassurance was unnecessary.
「If it truly is as such, then for us… there is no need to overly fear this realm.」
His eyes gleamed as they swept across the eerie land before them.
「If the heavens collapse, there will always be someone taller to bear it. On the contrary, this may well be this King’s opportunity.」
Yue Fei looked puzzled and asked, 「This subordinate is dull-witted—may Your Majesty enlighten me.」
Jiang Zhaoming pointed toward the ground beneath them, then toward the passage behind, his thoughts perfectly clear.
「If the true enemies of Great Zhou are the beings of this realm, and their main assaults are clearly not directed toward our small passage here in Anxi—
then that is our chance. Once I explain the situation to Father, perhaps we can secure permission to develop this place.」
Judging from the attitude of his Emperor Father and Divine General Qin, this passage in Anxi was far from the main battlefield.
That meant—as long as it was handled carefully—
Jiang Zhaoming might just have the chance to “snatch chestnuts from the fire” on the very edge of this world.
Of course, all of this depended on one crucial condition: he had to gain his father’s approval and support.
Otherwise, if he acted recklessly here and disrupted his father’s or even the entire Great Zhou’s strategic layout,
then he would become nothing more than a foolish teammate ruining the grand design for personal gain.