"Your Highness, it appears this place was left behind when the Ancient Xuan Continent was reassembled, otherwise there wouldn't be traces of such a process," Mu Anning said after scanning the surroundings.
"It must be. Perhaps when they were piecing two parts together, they found this piece wouldn't fit, so they discarded it. But these are not things we should be pondering. Let's first see if the fragments of the Heavenly Star Cauldron might be here."
Ling Luoyi released all her contracted beasts, and Mu Anning also released hers.
Mu Anning had three contracted beasts, with similar cultivation levels: one was a Mist Spirit Wolf, another a Star Luo Sparrow, and the third a Crimson Brocade Tiger. All three had already cultivated into human form. Ling Luoyi's Jingchen and Xintan were a Nine-tailed Spirit Fox and a Charming Phoenix respectively. Originally, they too had cultivated into human form, but now they had to re-cultivate, so among Ling Luoyi's five contracted beasts, only Wei Yu was in human form.
"Then let's start searching from here."
"Yes."
The four humanoids and four beast forms received their orders and ran in all directions. Seeing them all head off in their respective directions, Ling Luoyi said to Mu Anning, "Commander Mu, let's go too."
"Yes."
Mu Anning followed Ling Luoyi closely. Whenever spiritual power was needed, Mu Anning would rush ahead. Ling Luoyi felt a little helpless but indulged her.
"Luoluo."
As Ling Luoyi was walking, Gu Yuncheng's voice echoed in her mind.
"Asu, what is it?"
"Luoluo, the Asura and Demon tribes have sent their people into the Ancient Spirit Continent."
"Asu, I understand. I will speed up."
On the other side of the Ancient Spirit Continent, in a mountain hollow, a rift appeared out of nowhere. The rift gradually widened until it was large enough for a person to enter. One by one, people emerged from the rift. The first to appear was the Asura squad leader whom Ling Luoyi had previously interrogated.
The rift disappeared after the last person entered.
The Asura squad leader and the Demon squad leader were studying a map together, while other Asuras and Demons waited nearby.
"Captain, we've been searching this continent for over three years, almost turning it upside down, and haven't found the fragments our King spoke of. Could the intelligence be wrong?" a person among the Asuras, clearly subordinate to the Asura squad leader, said with dissatisfaction.
Without looking up, the Asura squad leader replied, "That fragment last appeared 2,700 years ago, during a major war between our tribe and the human race. It should logically be in the Ancient Xuan Continent. The Ancient Xuan Continent had split before. We have searched the current Ancient Xuan Continent for ten years, going over it again and again, even venturing into secret realms whenever possible, but we haven't found any trace of it. Therefore, the fragment should be in the abandoned lands of the Ancient Xuan Continent. Two abandoned lands are unaccounted for, and other squads are looking for them. We are solely responsible for the Ancient Spirit Continent."
"But Captain, we've searched it meticulously several times. We can't be blamed for not finding the fragment, can we? Prince Yan even punished us." This Asura clearly harbored dissatisfaction towards Zhao Yan.
The Asura squad leader, still without looking up, said, "Stop spouting nonsense. When has Prince Yan's command ever been up for our questioning? Be careful, if Prince Yan hears this, you won't even know how you died."
The Asura sighed, saying with a hint of envy, "If only our master were Prince Ye. Prince Ye wouldn't treat us with beatings and scoldings all day."
"Prince Ye and Prince Yan are brothers. There's no way Prince Ye would go against Prince Yan."
"That's true. Prince Ye is Prince Yan's most loyal strategist. Prince Yan is not only his elder brother but has also saved him countless times. However, I still wish Prince Ye were our master, so I wouldn't have to live in fear every day."
"Enough! You're saying more and more inappropriate things!" the Asura squad leader shouted sternly.
The Asura was clearly frightened and dared not continue, obediently standing aside.
They were speaking in the Asura language, which the Demon squad leader standing beside the Asura squad leader could not understand at all.
After a while, the Asura squad leader and the Demon squad leader confirmed the objective of this mission and issued orders to their respective teams: "We have searched the outside. Now only the secret realms remain, which we haven't searched because we couldn't enter them. We also don't know where the abandoned lands of the Ancient Spirit Continent are. We can only resort to the most rudimentary method: searching one by one."
Upon hearing this, someone immediately asked, "But Captain, even if we search one by one, we still can't enter the secret realms."
"You don't need to worry about that. His Highness Prince Ye has given me some talismans that can temporarily convert our Asura bloodline into human bloodline. This will suffice. However, time is limited. Each talisman can only be used for one hour. We must come out before the hour is up, otherwise, the Heavenly Dao will directly expel us from the human realm, and that would be troublesome."
The Asura squad leader distributed the talismans in his hand. Since the two tribes were allies, the Asura squad leader also gave some to the Demon tribe.
After confirming that everyone had received one, the Asura squad leader said, "Listen, we need to hurry this time! Not long ago, our master received news that the Human race's Saintess of War is also looking for the fragments. We must get there first!"
"Yes!"
After speaking with his own team, the Asura squad leader turned to the Demon squad leader and said, "Demon Captain, shall our two tribes join forces to overtake the humans? After that, whoever gets the fragment first will claim it, how about it?"
"Agreed," the Demon squad leader replied. This was something they had discussed earlier, but at that time, the human race had not intervened. Now, on human territory, they had to get ahead of the humans first, and then how to divide it would be their own affair.
"Then let's go. We are looking for the abandoned lands of the Ancient Xuan Continent. The talismans are limited now, so it's best to confirm before entering."
"I understand."
If you ask why they didn't plan to reap the benefits of others' labor, it's naturally because the Demon squad leader and the Asura squad leader knew they couldn't defeat Ling Luoyi. It wasn't about reaping benefits; it would be walking into a trap.
On Ling Luoyi's side, they had been in this secret realm for several days. The eight contracted beasts had searched every corner of this secret realm, short of digging up the ground.
At the entrance of the secret realm, all the contracted beasts drooped their heads, looking dispirited.
"It seems the fragments of the Heavenly Star Cauldron are not here," Ling Luoyi said. She didn't feel much. If it were that easy to find, why would it be their turn?
"Master..."
"Your Highness..."
"Alright, since it's not here, let's leave. The Ancient Spirit Continent has more than just this one secret realm. Isn't there still one more abandoned land that hasn't been found? I know of another secret realm that was also formed by piecing together abandoned lands. Let's go check there now."
"Okay."
After putting away their respective contracted beasts, Ling Luoyi and Mu Anning left the secret realm and headed towards Nanxin City in the Longqing Kingdom, their target being the secret realm used by the Longqing Kingdom for the final round of the genius selection.
Ling Luoyi had previously interrogated the Ghost Poison Spider King in there. The Ghost Poison Spider King had told her that this place was also formed by piecing together abandoned lands of the Ancient Xuan Continent. Although the Ghost Poison Spider King had stayed there for over a thousand years without discovering anything, Ling Luoyi still wanted to visit it again.
This secret realm originally required a fixed time to open, and it was not currently the opening time. However, Ling Luoyi had previously altered the formation that maintained the secret realm, allowing her to enter through the formation.