Originally, Lu Ye was sowhat hesitant about his decision to invite Hai Tang to go to the Nine Provinces together, but hearing Jian Guhong's words, he imdiately realized that his decision was correct.
When he was with Fong Rumo before, although he heard so information about the starry sky from Fong Rumo, that information was not systematic and quite scattered, mainly because Fong Rumo spoke whatever ca to mind.
However, if Hai Tang could help popularize the information, it would undoubtedly have great benefits for future Nine Provinces cultivators entering the starry sky.
Explaining this to Hai Tang, she readily agreed, happy to be able to help Lu Ye.
A few days passed.
The battlefield marking stirred again, and upon investigation by Lu Ye, he found it was a transmission from Number Nine.
"What's the matter?"
Number Nine's tone was sowhat hesitant: "There's sothing, I'm not sure if I should tell you, but I don't want to keep it from you either, it's quite difficult."
Lu Ye was speechless: "If you don't want to tell , why bring it up?"
Number Nine said, "But if I don't tell you, you'll bla when you find out later."
"What could I bla you for?" Lu Ye was curious, "What exactly is the matter, if you don't say it now, I'm going to bla you."
Leaving things half-said is annoying. If Number Nine hadn't ntioned it, so be it, but since it did, it must be sothing related to him, and he had to know.
"Then I'll tell you," Number Nine hastily said. Although it possessed spiritual intelligence, its nature was akin to a child's. In the entire Nine Provinces, only Lu Ye could occasionally chat with it; no one else knew its exact existence. Hearing Lu Ye's insistence, how could it dare conceal anything?
"A woman nad Nian Yuexian has disappeared."
Lu Ye's figure paused, his brows furrowed: "Disappeared? What do you an?"
"She's gone missing, suddenly vanished!" Number Nine replied.
It knew Lu Ye had a good relationship with Nian Yuexian. When Lu Ye first joined the provincial guard, Nian Yuexian took considerable care of him. If it were a Nine Provinces cultivator unfamiliar or unknown to Lu Ye, it wouldn't bother telling him about this.
Lu Ye realized things were amiss.
On Jian Guhong's side, he still needed to investigate the state of the battlefield marking's imprints to determine the condition of those in the Constellation Realm who had left the Nine Provinces, such as when Lu Ye previously left a range where communication was possible, Jian Guhong was unable to contact him.
But Number Nine was different. As the Heaven's Augury of the Nine Provinces, it could always sense the location of those in the Constellation Realm. When it says soone has disappeared, things aren't that simple.
"Wasn't she out of your sensing range?" Lu Ye asked.
"No, although her original position was near the edge of my sensing range, if she gradually moved out, I would have noticed, but in reality, I suddenly lost the sense of her battlefield marking."
Indeed, sothing had gone wrong.
Lu Ye remained silent for a mont, then asked, "Is she alive or dead?"
"I don't know, without sensing the battlefield marking, I can't determine life or death."
Within the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury coverage range, if a cultivator dies, the imprint will shatter, allowing others to determine their death through this thod, but outside its range, even if they die, the imprint simply remains in a state of no contact and won't shatter.
This was also why Number Nine was reluctant to inform Lu Ye. If Nian Yuexian truly died, the place where she disappeared must harbor great danger. If it didn't inform Lu Ye, he wouldn't investigate, but since it did, Lu Ye certainly wouldn't ignore it.
"When did it happen?" Lu Ye asked further.
"Just four hours ago!"
"Point to the location!" As Lu Ye said this, he quickly turned and flew.
Number Nine sighed, knowing things would develop this way, and with no choice, it guided Lu Ye's direction.
Not to ntion the many favors Nian Yuexian had done for Lu Ye in the past; even if unacquainted Nine Provinces Constellation cultivators t with danger, upon learning about it, Lu Ye would still investigate.
Since it's within the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury sensing range, the nature of this danger and its extent must be understood; it's his responsibility as the first generation Constellation in the post-Nine Provinces era.
Sitting perched on Lu Ye's shoulder, Hai Tang, who was recovering, sensed sothing and slowly opened her eyes.
Lu Ye transmitted, "Senior Sister Hai Tang, I'm temporarily not returning to our ho world, a senior sister is missing, I need to investigate."
Hai Tang understood and nodded: "Then be careful."
She continued to hasten her recovery to ensure that if Lu Ye encountered danger, she could promptly assist.
The location where Nian Yuexian vanished was not far from Lu Ye, only a month's journey away. This was why Number Nine chose to send the transmission to Lu Ye, because of all the Nine Provinces Constellations who ventured out, only Lu Ye was closest.
Although there are quite a few Constellations on Nine Provinces' side now, once in the stellar space outside Nine Provinces, it's like fish in the sea, very dispersed. Usually, unless accompanied like sect master and Yun Xuechu, Nine Provinces' native cultivators rarely encounter each other in the starry sky.
A month later, guided by Number Nine, Lu Ye arrived at the location where Nian Yuexian had disappeared. He did not rush to reveal himself but hid from afar, quietly investigating.
However, looking around, there was nothing in this stellar space, not to ntion celestial bodies, there wasn't even a single teorite in sight.
What kind of danger could such a place possibly hold to cause the sudden disappearance of Nian Yuexian?
Just as Lu Ye was puzzled and prepared to investigate more thoroughly, Hai Tang suddenly uttered a light sound of surprise and flew off Lu Ye's shoulder.
Seeing this, Lu Ye followed closely behind.
Soon after, Hai Tang stopped at a certain location, glanced around, and then raised her hand to form a magic spell.
A peculiar light suddenly flashed in her eyes. After observing for a mont, her face broke into a smile as she exclaid with joy, "Junior Brother Lu, I found the aura of ho."
"The aura of ho?"
Hai Tang's small head nodded repeatedly, "Mount Fangcun was here for a while!"
Lu Ye carefully observed, but even with Insight Spirit Runes, he couldn't find anything unusual nearby. It imdiately beca clear to him that this must be a secret technique unique to the Dwarf Race, and only they could perform it to see the "aura of ho."
His heart stirred.
Nian Yuexian disappeared at this location a month ago, and Hai Tang said Mount Fangcun stayed here for a while...
Could it be just a coincidence?
If there were no other possibilities, then this would be the only one.
"Can you find it?" Lu Ye asked urgently.
Hai Tang nodded, "I should be able to. They must have noticed my disappearance, so they stayed here for a while waiting for and left so traces. But since I never showed up, Mount Fangcun had to move on. There should be so traces left along the way, and I can find them."
With that, she continued to look around, finally determining a direction, "This way!"
As she spoke, she landed back on Lu Ye's shoulder. Lu Ye then urged his body forward, heading in that direction.
Although concerned about Nian Yuexian's safety, Lu Ye couldn't help but be curious, "Can Mount Fangcun dock at will?"
An entire domain, unlike a spirit ark, can't just stop at will, can it?
Like the Blood Refinent World back then, if not for the combined effort of many Heaven's Augury Pillars, it wouldn't have stopped near the Nine Provinces. It required imnse thrust, and to stop the Blood Refinent World, considerable resources were consud.
Hai Tang smiled, "Mount Fangcun might be sowhat different from what Junior Brother imagines. You'll know when you see it."
Originally thinking she'd never return ho, Hai Tang felt noticeably better with this unexpected discovery. However, she quickly realized sothing else, "Junior Brother Lu, is that position where your Senior Sister disappeared?"
Lu Ye nodded, "Indeed."
Hai Tang imdiately understood, "In that case, she might have entered Mount Fangcun."
Lu Ye asked, "If so, would there be danger?"
Though Hai Tang seed nice, the exact nature of the Dwarf Race's character couldn't be assud. If they were hostile to the human race, Nian Yuexian might be in trouble.
Hai Tang replied, "If she really entered Mount Fangcun, Junior Brother need not worry too much. While my Dwarf Race does not welco other races into our domain, so cultivators do occasionally wander in. Generally speaking, those who enter aren't in mortal danger, but..."
"But what?" Lu Ye knew nothing good usually followed the word "but."
"But they must serve a hundred years of hard labor to earn their freedom." Hai Tang glanced at Lu Ye sowhat sheepishly, "This has been a longstanding rule of Mount Fangcun. Most cultivators in stellar space know this rule, so they generally don't venture into Mount Fangcun."
The Nine Provinces cultivators were unaware of the rules of stellar space.
Nevertheless, learning that Nian Yuexian wasn't likely in mortal danger eased Lu Ye's worries a bit. His greatest fear was sothing bad happening to her.
As things appeared, Nian Yuexian most likely entered Mount Fangcun unwittingly and was thus retained there.
As for Mount Fangcun stopping at this location...
Since ancient tis, Mount Fangcun had been wandering, with its cultivators following the ho's voyages, venturing out to gather spirit jade. However, they never strayed too far. Hai Tang hadn't gone far before encountering the Ghost Ship. Though she had read many records about the Ghost Ship, she hadn't taken it too seriously at the ti and boarded out of curiosity, only to end up trapped.
If not for Lu Ye bringing her out, she would have likely faced dire consequences.
This was simply a lack of experience wandering stellar space. Despite having read many chronicles and knowing the wonders of stellar space, carelessness still led to mistakes.
It also had to do with the Ghost Ship's deceptive nature—that wrecked vessel. Lu Ye had thoroughly investigated it before boarding, determined it was safe, yet it was easy to board and nearly impossible to leave when trying to depart.
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