Chapter 294: Chapter 294: Biyue Villa, Thousand-Year-Old Pagoda
Atop Misty Peak, Jia Yulan, Li Jiaojiao, Yu Su, and Yu Wei, four disciples, voluntarily stayed behind to take care of the Spiritual Medicine Garden and the Spiritual Beasts.

All the others headed to Tongpan City.

Five hundred li away from Misty Peak.

This place was already beyond the northernmost edge of the Yunxiao Great Forest.

Near a mountain range shrouded in fog all year round and extending over a hundred li, there sat an ancient city with only a little over a hundred thousand inhabitants.

The city was not populous, but the people were simple and honest.

The city was rich in resources, self-sufficient in production and supply.

This city was none other than Tongpan City.

“Our Biyue Villa may not be famous on the outside, but within a radius of over a hundred li, it is second to none and revered by the people of Tongpan City as a Holy Land of the immortals,” Xia Tiantian explained as she landed on the ground and introduced it to Gong Qingqiu and his party.

At that moment, a middle-aged man dressed in green walked towards them and, from a distance, clasped his hands in greeting, “Tiantian, Long Qitian, you finally made it back. Is this Elder Gong from Misty Sect? Please follow me.”

This man exuded the aura of the peak of Qi Refining Realm, and although he had failed in his attempt to break through to the Element Gathering Realm, his combat strength was comparable to a Demi-transformed Demon Beast.

“This is my father’s friend, Uncle Meng Ding and also the steward of our Biyue Villa,” Long Tianxing introduced, pointing to the man in green.

“Steward Meng, please lead the way,” Elder Gong nodded in acknowledgment.

“Distinguished friends from Misty Sect, please follow me,” said Meng Ding as he took out a Spirit Boat, carrying everyone over Tongpan City and flying towards the center of the mountain range.

The Spirit Boat soared over a series of cliffs.

The faint mist in their field of vision suddenly dissipated.

Looking down, everyone saw a mountain peak that had been cleaved in half at the waist, leaving a flat piece of land several li in circumference, on which a villa spanning several hundred acres had been built.

The front court, middle courtyard, backyard, Martial Arts Ground, Main Hall, Scripture Pavilion, Spiritual Medicine Garden, Spirit Beast Garden, and other buildings were all complete.

Besides, within the villa, there were quite a few lodgers.

“Such a huge Biyue Villa, and yet it only houses one or two hundred people. By that count, each person has a whole building to themselves!” Shi Lei’s eyes were filled with envy.

He wished he could draw the layout of Biyue Villa and, once back in Misty Sect, find a piece of land to replicate it.

Xia Tiantian explained, “Actually, it’s not that many. Our Biyue Villa only has over a hundred people, mainly cultivators. Additionally, there are dozens of menials who can barely be counted as attendants. With that calculation, the living space for each person is just barely sufficient.”

“Eh, what’s that?” Long Tianxing, with his keen eyes, pointed to a valley behind Biyue Villa where stood a nine-layered stone pagoda, a hundred meters tall and imposing.

Huo Yunjie looked over and his pupils contracted.

This shape, this aura—so familiar!

“That looks a lot like the Demon-locking Tower,” Huo Yunjie murmured.

Steward Meng turned his head, his eyes full of surprise as he looked at Huo Yunjie, “This friend knows about the Demon-locking Tower?”

“I’ve seen it in the Ancient Town of Quicksand,” Huo Yunjie nodded.

“The Demon-locking Towers outside are actually replicas built in imitation of our Biyue Villa’s Demon-locking Tower,” Steward Meng said.

“So it turns out the Demon-locking Tower originated from Biyue Villa!” Huo Yunjie expressed his amazement, yet he didn’t understand why people outside would want to construct such towers.

In his opinion, if a member of the Demon Race committed a crime, wasn’t it enough to execute them?

Why lock them away?

This was something Huo Yunjie couldn’t comprehend.

Meng Ding did not continue to explain and led everyone to the front gate of Biyue Villa.

There were already several people waiting.

The leader was a middle-aged man with high cheekbones, dressed in a long blue robe with wide sleeves and his long hair bundled up with a wooden crown. His hands were hidden in his sleeves, and he carried a sword on his back.

Beside him stood a regal middle-aged woman of outstanding beauty.

The man’s cultivation level was extremely high, already at the sixth layer of the Element Gathering Realm.

The middle-aged woman was slightly weaker, but also at the fourth layer of the Element Gathering Realm.

Behind them stood three young men and women with similar features.

“Elder Gong Qingqiu, esteemed Daoist friends from Misty Sect, I am Luo Cheng, the seventh-generation master of Biyue Villa, along with my wife Gao Lan and our three children, we welcome your arrival,” said the man as he performed a cupped-hand salute.

The man performed a cupped-hand salute.

“So, you are Master Luo,” Elder Gong responded with a respectful salute, accompanied by his disciples.

After the exchange of pleasantries, both parties entered the villa.

“For this New Year gathering, our villa has invited many hidden powers as friends, and of course, Star-Level Sects similar to Misty Sect. I hope this event will be very lively,” Luo Cheng explained as they walked.

“Oh, which other powers are coming?” Gong Qingqiu asked curiously.

“You will know at the banquet tonight,” Luo Cheng replied, deliberately leaving some suspense.

Huo Yunjie looked at the nine-layered Demon-locking Tower in the distant valley and asked, “If I may inquire, what is the origin of that Demon-locking Tower in the valley?”

Huo Yunjie did not have a good impression of the Demon-locking Tower.

“That is the legacy of our first-generation master—my old sect master. It has nearly a thousand years of history. It is said that when our ancestor was young, he received the inheritance of the Demon-locking Tower Master and later became the new Tower Master. This has continued to this very day,” Luo Cheng explained without any evasion or concealment, “To put it simply, our Biyue Villa acts as the guardian of the Demon-locking Tower.”

“Another tower guardian, huh?” Huo Yunjie frowned slightly.

He fell silent for a moment before recounting his experiences in the Ancient Town of Quicksand.

Hearing this, Luo Cheng clarified, “Three hundred years ago, my father was the Tower Master of the Demon-locking Tower at that time. He had a friend from the Divine Wind Sword Sect who, after seeing the tower, took a set of blueprints and built another one outside. What they used it for is not our concern anymore.”

“It turns out that the Demon-locking Tower under the Divine Wind Sword Sect’s command originally came from Biyue Villa. That is quite a surprising revelation,” Huo Yunjie said, as if clearing away a layer of clouds.

At that moment, the group arrived at a guest compound.

“Esteemed Daoist friends from Misty Sect, this will be your temporary accommodations. If you need anything, feel free to seek me out,” Luo Cheng said with a cupped-hand salute, before leaving with his wife and children.

The guest compound covered more than ten acres, with several wooden buildings where each disciple found their own room. After a short rest, and finding themselves bored,

“Big Brother, Second Brother, why don’t we go have a look at the Demon-locking Tower?” Long Tianxing couldn’t sit still and wanted to stroll around.

“Sure,” Shi Lei agreed.

After reporting to Gong Qingqiu, the three of them dashed out.

“Wait for me!” Wang Ping’an, with his iron pot in tow, joined the others, reuniting F4 of Misty Sect.

“Boring,” Mo Ying shook her head, watching their retreating figures.

The other disciples chose not to go, opting to cultivate or rest instead.

Thousands of miles away,

a vast, endless desert unfolded.

This was the southernmost part of the Southern River Basin. One must cross this desert, stretching tens of thousands of miles, to reach another kingdom.

“Sect Leader, is this the Barren Desert?”

Hu Feifei floated in mid-air, her fluffy tails waving comfortably.

No one was beside her.

Those unaware might think she was talking to thin air.

Inside a dimensional space within Hu Feifei,

Ye Feng lay on his side on a grassy knoll strewn with white flowers, looking out through the Heaven-Asking Mirror at the vast expanse of desert, and said,

“According to the legends, this desert harbors many Demon Kings who choose not to transform. Their powers are terrifying. Let’s go and fight them, and at the same time, accumulate energy for you.”

“What is energy?” Hu Feifei did not understand.

“Don’t worry about it, just go and fight,” Ye Feng replied, not bothering to explain further.

At this stage, Ye Feng discovered there were two ways for Hu Feifei to accumulate energy.

The first was by absorbing Upper Grade and Supreme Grade Spirit Stones.

The second was to absorb the energy of powerful spells.

However, only spells cast by cultivators of the Spirit Sea Realm or higher were effective. Spells from the Element Gathering Realm or the Qi Refining Realm had no use for Hu Feifei.

Thus, Ye Feng had come to the Barren Desert.