Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 250 Nathan's Divine Guard, The Struggle for the Path, The Great Tribulation

Inside Tongtian Valley, the rampaging Three Calamities engulfed the entire expedition team. The shackles formed from wind, fire, and thunder were all-encompassing, and anyone who touched them would have their bones and flesh destroyed, their soul scattered and their spirit lost.

The flames of thunder and fire gradually dissipated, and the dust turned from the corpses of those outsiders was blown away by the gale and vanished without a trace.

In the blink of an eye, all the people Qu Tong had arranged were left with Elijah, who was trapped in the cage of the three plagues.

At this moment, Tongtian Valley returned to its usual silence. Lü Qian turned to look at Elijah beside him, a flash of crimson-gold light in his eyes.

"Alright, the small fry are all dealt with. It's time to take care of you, the big fish, one of the guardians of the sacred tree on Nathan Island."

"Oh, so you know who I am?"

Watching his hastily recruited teammates vanish into nothingness, Elijah sat calmly on the ground, the three calamities' chains intertwining and swirling around him, transforming into an impenetrable cage.

He looked at Lü Qian through the crack in the cage, and instead of refuting Lü Qian's accusation, he was somewhat surprised.

"We initially thought that not many people knew about Nathan Island, since we rarely contacted the outside world. But now it seems that the island could no longer be kept a secret?"

"That's true, we can never truly escape the world."

Inside the cage of the Three Plagues, as Elijah answered these questions to himself, he seemed to have confirmed something, and his tense expression suddenly relaxed a little.

Looking at his aloof demeanor, Lü Qian disdainfully flicked his whisk, "Heh, just a bunch of ungrateful bastards begging for food. They've been defeated for thousands of years, what's with the airs they put on?"

"They accepted our aid decades ago, and now they've turned around and stolen from our home."

"The company has been complacent these past two years; they didn't even detect such a large-scale smuggling operation."

Historically, Nathan Island was not originally an isolated island in the ocean; it was originally part of the western continent.

At that time, the western continent was still in the tribal period, and the sparks of civilization had just been ignited.

When the flame of a civilization begins to burn, the next step is the choice of path, which will determine the future direction of the civilization.

This choice concerns the entire civilization, and naturally, everyone within and outside of it.

Not only ordinary people, but also extraordinary people who were responsible for communicating with heaven and earth and worshipping the gods at that time.

Or rather, this is a contest over the path of civilization.

In this struggle for the Dao in the Western Continent, the then-dominant "Sacred Forest Divine Tree Sect" was defeated, and ultimately a part of the continent was torn apart and drifted into the ocean.

This part of the land that was separated, which is now "Nathan Island", became the last foundation of the lineage of the sacred tree.

However, the struggle for the path is cruel. The losers will naturally face pursuit and rejection, and their heritage and foundation will be coveted by those with ulterior motives.

Therefore, for thousands of years, Nathan Island, due to its isolated location overseas, took advantage of its geographical location to close its doors and restrict the entry and exit of outsiders, thus appearing as a secluded place.

But these "outsiders" are, in the end, a group of losers who can barely protect their own homes.

In recent centuries, as the means of navigating the seas and crossing oceans have become widely mastered, this island has become a "piece of meat" in the eyes of various powers around the world.

As mentioned in the original work, during the period when China was founded, Nathan Island was short of resources and had to send requests for assistance to various forces around the world.

To put it nicely, it's called a "request for aid"; to put it bluntly, it's just begging from house to house.

Planting flowers naturally helped them, but now it seems they helped a bunch of ungrateful people.

On Nathan Island, there are nine guardians of the Divine Tree, and Elijah, who is standing before Lü Qian, is one of them.

Now, this guardian of the sacred tree has brazenly smuggled himself into the country and even entered the heart of China—the Qinling Mountains—in groups.

This behavior raises the question: should we marvel at Qu Tong's "all-powerful connections" behind the scenes, or lament the company's massive loopholes?

"If a group of foreigners can openly roam the Qinling Mountains, has the company been focusing on dealing with its own people for the past two years?"

Lu Qian recalled the faces of the expedition team; apart from the guide arranged by Qu Tong, they were all foreigners.

Among them were Western magicians, American nature shamans, and even Southeast Asian ascetics...

"Little Lü Zu, don't speak too sharply. At least save some face for yourselves."

Before Lü Qian could finish speaking, Wang Zhenqiu and his group emerged from the valley behind him.

Wang Zhenqiu, nicknamed "Southwest Cancer," chuckled as he looked at Elijah, who was imprisoned in the cage of the Three Plagues, and then looked up at Lü Qian.

"Brother Lü, what do you plan to do with this man? After all, he's someone of status; we need to handle him properly."

"Naturally, since they stole it, they should be treated as thieves."

Lu Qian naturally understood what Wang Zhenqiu meant. Just as he raised his sleeve and the Three Calamities Shackles were about to fall, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to look at Xia Liuqing.

"W-what's wrong, Little Lu Zu?"

Xia Liuqing trembled as Lü Qian stared at her with piercing eyes, as if she had suddenly understood something.

He closed his eyes, bounced Mei Jinfeng on his back, pretended not to see anything, and started to walk away.

"Old man, I didn't see or hear anything. I'm leaving right away, right away."

"Wait a minute."

Before he could take a few steps, Lü Qian stopped his slightly flustered steps. He walked up to Xia Liuqing with interest and looked at the colorful glove on the other's right hand.

This glove is a ritual implement used by Nuo opera shamans to gather the power of faith and wear divine masks.

"Xia Liuqing, you are also a Nuo opera performer who has inherited the tradition. I suddenly remembered something I wanted to ask you."

"Please speak freely, the old man will tell you everything he knows."

Xia Liuqing opened her eyes upon hearing this, and seeing that there was no murderous intent in Lü Qian's eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief and asked.

"This old man has spent his whole life in the underworld; he knows a lot, but not many secrets. What would you like to ask?"

Lu Qian withdrew his gaze from the colorful gloves, nodded, and said, "My question is very simple; it concerns something about your lineage of witchcraft."

"Please ask."

"If I remember correctly, your shamanic arts of faith originated in the Shang Dynasty and took shape in the Zhou Dynasty, is that right?"

"Yes, what Little Lu Zu said is correct."

Xia Liuqing nodded upon hearing this, and said with some pride, "Although many people despise the art of witchcraft, as time has passed, they have forgotten that our witchcraft is one of the earliest schools of thought."

"We used to be rich, with songs and dances to thank the gods and sacrificial ceremonies."

"Understood, you can go now."

With a flick of his whisk, Lü Qian unleashed three thousand strands of dust that tangled and intertwined, resembling the interconnected affairs of the mortal world.

The world is vast, and the heavens and earth are high and far. Although the continents of the East and West are far apart, they have been inexplicably connected since ancient times.

While the conflict over the paths to enlightenment was taking place on the western continent, the eastern continent was also not at peace, as a similar conflict was unfolding there as well.

Or rather, the main theme of the world back then was the struggle between different paths.

The time when this debate over the Dao occurred is known in the East as the "transition between the Shang and Zhou dynasties".

In some traditional Chinese novels, this period is also called the "Investiture of the Gods Tribulation"!

Lu Qian looked up at the sky, a few thoughts forming in his mind.

"This world is quite mysterious!"