Li Hong's heart surged, and his chest felt as if it were breaking apart, yet he remained oblivious, his eyes fixed solely on the Azure Jade Door. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming need to enter, no matter the cost.
The Awareness vortex spun around the Fake Dan at its center, a light golden Awareness coursing through his body, while the Supreme Celestial Stone in his hand shrank visibly. Multicolored lights enveloped him, rapidly seeping into his meridians. His broken bones swiftly healed.
Li Hong took a deep breath. Yue Que was preparing to charge again for the third time when he suddenly heard Heavenly Torch shout, "Kid, look! Stop! Quickly stop! Oh heavens! Wait a moment, don’t recklessly open it—it's opening!"
Li Hong spat out two mouthfuls of blood, which splattered onto the Azure Jade Door. At first, only streaks of blood slid down the smooth surface of the door, but then a sudden change occurred.
A misty Azure Light swept across the door, and those sticky bloodstains surprisingly seeped into the door and vanished. Moments later, a flash of red light appeared on the door, and with a creak, the small door opened.
Heavenly Torch was overjoyed, jumping and shouting, "It worked! It worked! Kid, you're amazing; your blood can actually open Restrictions! I knew it..."
At that moment, however, Li Hong closed off his Divine Consciousness communication with Heavenly Torch, isolating him within the Fire Separation Pearl. For some reason, he felt compelled to do so.
Inside the Jade Cottage, that familiar feeling grew stronger. There was something inside that was extremely important to him—important enough that he had to use all his strength to keep it secret.
It was dark inside. He took a deep breath, ignoring the changing winds and clouds above him, and pushed open the small door to step into the darkness.
The small door immediately closed behind him.
In the darkness, a faint green glow lit up—a point of phosphorescence appeared, then another… countless points of light began to shine like fireflies swirling in the dark, breathtakingly beautiful. Gradually, they settled into a three-dimensional pattern that slowly rotated along a fixed trajectory. In that dim green light, Li Hong's eyes suddenly widened.
The pattern changed in an instant; the glowing points danced and combined again into another three-dimensional image. In a blink, it transformed once more… continuously reassembling itself.
Li Hong watched these patterns formed by light points as his heart gradually became entranced. The dim green light flickered on Li Hong's face; he felt neither joy nor sorrow as he silently observed these points of light, even unaware of what he was thinking.
Time seemed to stand still as the three-dimensional images kept changing. He did not know how long had passed when the light points began to disappear one by one just as they had come.
Li Hong found himself engulfed in darkness again but felt as if something had been added within him—perhaps understanding or perhaps confusion. He stood quietly in the dark, lost in thought.
At that moment, a light slowly brightened in the distance. There was something there.
Li Hong then realized that this small room was not as large as it appeared from outside. At this moment, he stood at the center of an endless dark space surrounded by chaotic glowing objects that were not far from him; they seemed to have appeared suddenly.
A thought crossed his mind, and the object unexpectedly flew up, slowly approaching him as if pulled by an invisible thread.
It was a crystal-clear Azure Jade Plate. About the size of a palm and two inches thick, it emitted Azure Light from within, with flickering points of light shimmering inside. It was it! Those glowing points were coming from within! Li Hong instantly understood, and the familiar feeling was emanating from it.
However, Li Hong had no idea what it was.
He tried to press his palm against it, feeling a cool sensation that seemed familiar, akin to the Awareness he had cultivated. He immediately infused it with Awareness. The Azure Light brightened gradually but suddenly, the light vanished, and the Azure Jade Plate showed no further signs.
His cultivation was still insufficient.
Li Hong solemnly stored it in his Cosmic Bag. Although he didn't know what it was, he sensed its immense significance and its deep connection to himself; it was undoubtedly very important.
Having obtained it, Li Hong felt satisfied and wanted to go outside.
As soon as he thought about it, everything before him suddenly brightened again. It seemed as if ripples of water were moving, with beams of bright white light shaking. Gradually, clear flat images appeared before him.
Li Hong was astonished; these were not cryptic patterns made of light points but rather truly clear pictures.
There were seven in total. The first depicted a vast grassland with a towering mountain in the background. Li Hong immediately recognized it—the first group of Basin space. He couldn't help but point at it when suddenly the image shook and rapidly enlarged, revealing a peculiar small dot somewhere on the grassland in front of the mountain. Li Hong suddenly realized what it was and quickly withdrew his hand. Just moments ago, he had been thinking about an exit, and an exit appeared on the image.
These images represented the entire Ancient Celestial Field's Center Restriction. The array eye was surprisingly located within this unassuming Jade Cottage.
Li Hong focused his thoughts and wanted to see the Spirit Monkey King. His gaze shifted to the third image. Sure enough, the picture shook and immediately displayed the familiar mountain shape of Second Peak, where the Spirit Monkey King was holding its most treasured Purple Fruit tree, its eyes darting around in confusion. It seemed quite anxious. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that monstrous spirit beasts were running amok all over the mountains; something significant seemed to have occurred in the Ancient Celestial Field.
Li Hong found this strange—he had no idea that when he had shaken the Restrictions earlier, an anomaly had occurred throughout the Ancient Celestial Field.
Realizing his thoughts were correct, he immediately wanted to see how Chu Xi and the others were doing. He directed his gaze toward the seventh image. On an endless gravel surface, there seemed to be no one present. But then, at the center of the gravel area, something began to bulge upward as if an unseen force from below was pushing outward.
Dust swirled up as a Purple Gold Bell flew up; beneath it appeared three figures covered in black sand, looking like sand people who were spitting out sand continuously—clearly indicating their mouths were filled with sand. It was Chu Xi and Chuxiong Huifeng.
What had just happened? As soon as he thought this, he saw an image before him depicting himself striking at a small door; as the scene shifted, images of the seven groups of spaces within the Ancient Celestial Field changed rapidly—chaos ensued among both humans and beasts alike.
The Restrictions could actually be controlled by thought, and Li Hong suddenly understood.
So, could he find the person from the Demon Sect who killed the solitary cultivator known as “Impersonate”? The images flickered chaotically, as if the Center Restriction did not comprehend what this meant. But soon after, a series of images appeared, mostly depicting disciples from the Eight Major Sects, either flying or battling monsters. In one image, Li Hong saw people from Emei, standing on a Summit, looking around cautiously. Among them were some who had been taken away, such as Chuxuan and Chu Hai.
Li Hong began to find it amusing. Just then, a warning surged in his heart. Seven images simultaneously shifted to show the same scene. On the black sandy ground, a terrifyingly fast shadow was rapidly approaching, its target—this place!
That Old Demon!
Li Hong was alarmed; his first thought was that Chu Xi and the others were in danger! Seeing that Chu Xi and the others were still oblivious in the images, he gritted his teeth and pointed at them, thinking—at this critical moment, what flashed through his mind was actually the “Red Coral” forest from the second group’s Basin space.
He had to try!
While Chu Xi and the others were brushing off sand from their bodies, suddenly everything went dark, and they felt dizzy. Before they could comprehend what was happening, they found themselves surrounded by a red landscape—the familiar “Red Coral” forest from the second group’s Basin. The three were taken aback. Before they could exclaim in surprise, a figure suddenly appeared before them with a swoosh.
Li Hong, panting heavily, said: “Run! The Old Demon is coming!”
The four of them fled for their lives. Yet Li Hong's mind lingered on that small room; what a truly marvelous Restrictions, capable of transporting him anywhere within the Ancient Celestial Field. How was this achieved? And who did it? What exactly was that Azure Jade Plate?
Comment 0 Comment Count