Hidden Nether Mountain, about thirteen hundred miles from the Cyan Mountain Sect, is geographically close to the Yanhuang Desert, belonging to a rarely visited no-man's land.
"What does marking this Hidden Nether Mountain mean?"
"When I was conducting Doorway Affairs exploration before, this red dot didn't show up on the map."
Lu Ping couldn't figure out the origin of the small red dot.
Curious, he clicked on the red dot.
As soon as it was clicked, a dialog box appeared.
[Hidden Affair: Randomly appearing hidden affair, please go to the marked location to explore and gather detailed information about this hidden affair]
"Hidden Affair, it seems I need to personally go and investigate to get the affair's outcome?"
Understanding the reason, Lu Ping wandered around in the cave mansion: "Should I float over there to take a look?"
This operation is a bit puzzling.
Isn't the system capable of conducting Doorway Affairs exploration, selecting an area and then directly completing the exploration?
How can a hidden affair suddenly pop up, requiring personal exploration?
Luckily, this thing is free and doesn't need Reputation Points, so Lu Ping wouldn't complain about having to go personally.
"There's nothing much to do within the sect right now, how about I go check it out."
After hesitating for a while, Lu Ping decided to leave the cave mansion and take a walk around the area marked by the red dot.
After all, he is currently in a Consciousness State, cannot sleep, entertain, or cultivate, and feels quite bored all day long, so going out for a stroll isn't a bad thing.
Having made up his mind, Lu Ping controlled his consciousness body to float outside the cave mansion and quickly left Cyan Lotus Mountain.
Over thirty years of development, the landscapes around Cyan Lotus Mountain have changed very little, almost matching his memory.
As a former Golden Core Ancestor, Lu Ping has almost roamed all over the ten thousand miles range surrounding Cyan Lotus Mountain, including the entire Lushan County.
He frequently appears throughout Lingxi State; is there a place he hasn't visited?
Getting lost is something that never happens to Lu Ping.
However, without a physical body, unable to maneuver magical artifacts to fly and escape, relying on the floating speed of his consciousness body is really a bit worrisome.
After slowly leaving the Cyan Lotus Mountain area, heading westward, the first area he passed through was Lingxi.
The Cyan Mountain Sect is built next to the Qinghe River, with its base at Cyan Lotus Mountain, just ten miles away from Lingxi.
As the mother river of Lingxi State, the main flow of Lingxi stretches millions of miles, traversing the entire Lingxi State.
The main flow region Lu Ping needed to cross had a width of more than ten thousand feet, with many ancient vine bridges constructed above it.
These ancient vines were all harvested from the Heaven-Reaching Divine Vine, very resilient and sturdy, able to endure the passage of a thousand years without decaying, all crafted by the Dubhe Institute to encourage the prosperity of Lushan County.
In his current state, whether there's a bridge or not made no difference to Lu Ping, he directly crossed Lingxi, floating leisurely over.
After crossing Lingxi, there was a plain oasis of about a hundred miles in size, with fertile land distributed among many towns, families, and Immortal Sects.
Among them, the Western River Market, famed alongside Qinghe Market, is also situated here.
The Western River Market was named for its location on the west side of Lingxi.
Lu Ping had no intention of going to Western River Market, just focused on hurrying on.
After spending a day or two, Lu Ping crossed the Impact Plain.
After ten days, as he approached the eastern part of the Yanhuang Desert, he finally reached the vicinity of Hidden Nether Mountain.
It's worth mentioning, having left the physical form and floated for about eleven or twelve days, Lu Ping didn't feel any discomfort or sense of fatigue.
As it turns out, he doesn't need rest and can roam freely.
Moreover, due to the consciousness body, along this journey, Lu Ping seemed to be non-existent; no cultivators or creatures could perceive his presence, allowing him to roam as he pleases.
It's safe to say he has no sense of presence.
This state is considered a good thing for Lu Ping, at least he can avoid dangers.
Who would let him possess no strength to restrain a chicken? If the consciousness body is caught by some demon cultivators, who knows what inhumane, non-human methods they might employ; the consequences are chilling to think about.
But there's an issue: the movement speed is really too slow.
"Nearly fourteen hundred miles, and I actually floated for half a month, if only I had an instant teleportation ability."
The floating speed is truly slow, Lu Ping couldn't help but complain, stopping near Hidden Nether Mountain.
After spending half a month, he arrived here through much toil and journeying, naturally not forgetting the purpose of exploration.
He began observing Hidden Nether Mountain, a small remote, quiet, and cold peak.
Even with sunlight shining, the temperature here always carried a bit of coldness.
Lu Ping surveyed around Hidden Nether Mountain and found the area scattered with some abandoned buildings: stone halls, ancient pavilions, dilapidated sect gate, stone bridges, martial arts training grounds, etc.
These buildings had long since decayed, full of weathered marks, enduring extensive years, difficult to trace their origins.
This used to be a sect, but for some reason, it was destroyed.
Lu Ping felt somewhat uneasy, reminding him of the Cyan Mountain Sect.
If I fail in management, Cyan Mountain Sect won't expand, its outcome will be the same as this destroyed sect, perishing in the dust of history, remembered by no one.
Competition in the cultivation realm is always fierce and intense.
After a slight reflection, Lu Ping calmed his thoughts and began carefully wandering around Hidden Nether Mountain, trying to find traces of demon beasts or treasures.
The system provided exploration hints that needed personal exploration, and indeed, it only pertained to Hidden Nether Mountain.
"Hidden Nether Mountain is deserted, not vast, mostly composed of marshlands. To explore each corner thoroughly, it'll take quite a bit of time."
"Patiently searching should have exploration significance, idling in the cave mansion is just idling, might as well travel out."
The place was unusually silent; after patiently exploring for about half a day, Lu Ping finally understood what was going on with this Hidden Nether Mountain.
Upon entering a deep cave, Lu Ping discovered a huge dark silhouette intermittently visible in the darkness.
It was a black giant python, over four feet thick, more than a hundred feet long, covered with black scales, with a white snake belly, a pair of green snake eyes particularly striking, like a beacon in the darkness, making one shudder upon sight.
Being able to reach the Golden Core Stage, Lu Ping is considered knowledgeable and has contacted many demon beasts, at this moment, he immediately recognized the origin of the creature before him.
This is a Black Water Profound Snake, a species belonging to Tier Three Demon Beasts, with a long lifespan, mostly dwelling in marshes and Boundless Sea areas, seldom appearing on land.
It has a bloodthirsty, murderous nature, any creature can be its prey.
However, the black water profound snake before him is still immature based on its appearance, not reaching the Tier Two Demon Beast level, let alone Tier Three.
A mature Black Water Profound Snake develops a soft tissue resembling a fin between the snake head and the seven-inch mark, highly distinctive, easy to differentiate.
Even a Tier Two can have glimpses of this characteristic appearance.
But this one here, its head to the seven-inch spot is bare, only covered with black scales, showing no change, evidently still at Tier One level.
Yet even an immature Black Water Profound Snake has at least Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation strength, quite challenging to contend with.
A Tier One Black Water Profound Snake appearing on Hidden Nether Mountain is quite intriguing.
For a while, Lu Ping couldn't take his eyes off.