"Hiss, hiss..."
The shrill chirping of the gu insect within the black light grew increasingly piercing.
Inside the black light, a faint tinge of blood-red emerged.
As the bloody hue intensified, the gu insect stopped pointing toward the mountain. Instead, its ferocity flared wildly as it hissed back at its master, as if seeking to tear free of its restraints and devour the one who commanded it.
Poison King frowned deeply. He thrust two fingers into the black light and instantly felt a jolt of severe pain. An unnatural flush suffused his deathly pale face, and a muffled groan slipped from his throat.
No one could tell what secret art Poison King employed, but the gu insect's savagery gradually waned, and its cries grew less piercing.
Poison King took a deep breath, yet his aura was wildly erratic and remained unsettled for a long time.
Master Huaiyin had been watching Poison King's movements closely. At the sight, he sighed with admiration, "What a ferocious gu!"
Poison King silently circulated his arcane art to calm the roiling blood and qi within him. His voice sounded somewhat weak and hollow. "It cannot be blamed entirely. This secret art drastically stimulates the lingering savagery latent in its instincts."
"This art should be used with caution," Master Huaiyin warned.
Stirring a gu insect's ferocity was easy, but calming it down was far harder. If the same secret art were cast repeatedly in a short period, the hidden dangers would mount each time, and sooner or later, a day would come when it could no longer be suppressed.
Judging by Poison King's efforts to pacify the insect, it was noticeably more difficult than before.
"Thank you for the reminder, Master. I know my limits. If not for this secret technique's severe repercussions preventing me from maintaining it indefinitely, that scoundrel would never have remained at large. Fortunately, Heaven does not disappoint. This time, he must not escape again!"
Poison King flicked his sleeve to retrieve the gu insect, put his hands behind his back, and stared toward the mountain peak, his tone chilled to the bone.
They waited before the jade gate.
Meanwhile, Zhu Wudao and the others were still hard at work.
Joining hands, the four repeatedly attacked the jade pavilion.
The jade pavilion hung suspended in the void, unsupported from above or below. Under their assault, it swayed from side to side, looking as if it could be knocked down at any moment, yet it was far sturdier than it appeared.
Zhu Wudao bore the greatest pressure.
Even as he attacked the pavilion, he had to analyze the restrictions and guide the others. The mental toll was immense, yet he held on, showing no signs of mental or physical exhaustion.
This made Old Devil Fan even more wary.
Ever since reuniting with Zhu Wudao, Old Devil Fan had been quietly observing this familiar yet unfamiliar junior brother of his.
The two shared comparable standing and similar ages in Tianhao Tower. They had frequently dealt with each other and sparred covertly ever since the Qi Refining stage, and Zhu Wudao had always been kept a step behind him.
When Old Devil Fan broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage and securely took the seat of Grand Elder, he thought the rivalry between them had finally been decided. Who could have foreseen that Zhu Wudao had been hiding his cultivation all along?
For so many years, he had shown not the slightest flaw before him or the Sect Master!
Judging solely by this meticulous cunning, a chill ran down Old Devil Fan's spine.
While attacking the jade pavilion, Old Devil Fan tried to fathom Zhu Wudao's intentions. He felt it could not be so simple, yet Zhu Wudao's reasoning was sound—an opportunity for Deity Transformation was truly worth taking risks for.
Unable to grasp the crucial point, Old Devil Fan was lost in thought when he suddenly heard Mo Xingdao's warning:
"Careful!"
A crisp cracking sound rang out from the jade pavilion. A fracture suddenly appeared on the lintel, running all the way up through the second floor of the pavilion.
Their attacks had finally borne fruit!
Yet what happened next was something not even Zhu Wudao anticipated.
The appearance of that first fracture seemed to serve as a signal. Snapping and cracking sounds echoed incessantly, and countless fissures quickly spread across the entire jade pavilion like a spiderweb.
"The formation's layout has lost its balance!"
Su Zinan swept his gaze around, spotting the crux of the matter.
Their assault on the pavilion was certainly the trigger, but Dishou Mountain's grand formation had been sealed for ages, and shifts had already occurred within the formation itself. Built up over millennia, it was now detonated, which was why the pavilion was being destroyed so rapidly.
This was not necessarily a bad thing; their goal was to destroy the jade pavilion anyway.
The four had comparable cultivation and lightning-fast reflexes. They halted their offensive at once and shifted from attack to defense.
Golden armor materialized around Zhu Wudao as he raised the Metal Phase Token high, scattering golden radiance everywhere.
Su Zinan raised his hand to deploy the Dragon Sinew Net, draping it around himself.
Mo Xingdao exhaled profound qi, shaping it into a shield.
Old Devil Fan transformed into black mist, his form flickering in and out of sight.
The four had barely completed their defenses when the jade pavilion could hold no longer. It exploded with a thunderous roar, and a violent shockwave laden with countless shards engulfed all four of them.
In an instant, beginning from the jade pavilion, the entire flight of white jade steps collapsed. Like an illusion shattering, the sea of mist dissolved into primal chaos, shifting heaven and earth!
The four vanished without a trace.
...
Within Dishou Mountain.
An unknown place.
A cluster of light floated quietly amid the darkness.
Following the actions of Zhu Wudao and the others, the tranquility was shattered. Ripples stirred within the ball of light, and five-colored divine light gleamed in alternating flashes, pulsing rhythmically.
The moment the jade pavilion shattered, the ball of light blazed fiercely, illuminating all ten directions. At the center of the five-colored divine light, the phantom silhouette of a Five-Colored Crown faintly emerged, turning slowly.
...
Qin Sang was speeding through the void.
He could no longer remember how many times he had probed forward.
With his mind connected to the Heavenly Eye Butterfly, Qin Sang dedicated all his efforts to deducing the restrictions in the void. His work bore remarkable fruit: he worked out the most fundamental patterns and was now advancing into the subtle details.
"Phew..."
A faint sigh echoed through the darkness, carrying a hint of fatigue.
Deducing it alone took an immense toll on his mind, but as long as his deductions succeeded, he would be able to reach the other shore safely.
*I wonder if my incarnation managed to obtain the immortal jade pendant?*
The thought crossed Qin Sang's mind, and he was just about to press on and find the way forward in one go.
Just then, an unusual tremor suddenly rocked the void.
Qin Sang frowned. Such tremors had occurred before, but they had always been very faint; this one was by far the fiercest.
*Did my forceful intrusion cause this?* Qin Sang wondered.
Although he had spent considerable time deducing the restrictions, all he could perceive was the space inside this single jade pavilion. He had no way of grasping the full scope of Dishou Mountain's grand formation and did not understand what the tremor signified.
Soon, Qin Sang's expression changed.
The previous tremors had been intermittent, but this one showed no sign of stopping and was growing more violent by the second!
*Whoosh!*
Without hesitation, Qin Sang activated the Ruyi Pearl.
An astral energy barrier shielded his body, while a layer of demonic fire coated its surface.
The moment he finished these precautions, he noticed something abnormal in the void. It froze completely as though locked in ice, then shattered with a crash as the restrictions collapsed!
In that split second, multicolored beams of light burst in, banishing the darkness entirely.
Qin Sang felt as though he had fallen into a kaleidoscope. Countless fractured mirrors drifted around him, tumbling and flipping, their reflected scenes piecing together into what looked like the interior of a grand hall.
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than a colossal force struck. The astral barrier was squeezed, and he was swept along like flotsam.
Amid a dizzying shift of light and shadow, he was flung out.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Qin Sang forcefully stabilized his footing, only to find that he had been teleported into an unfamiliar hall.
...
Before another jade pavilion.
The pair from the Yutai Sect had just opened the doors to the jade pavilion using the Fire Phase Token. As they were about to step inside, the white-robed Daoist suddenly halted and held back the Daoist nun.
The nun was taken aback. She saw that her senior brother's eyes were somber and his expression grave.
Knowing his temperament well, she understood he would show such a reaction only when encountering extreme danger. A tremor ran through her heart. "Senior Brother, is there..."
The white-robed Daoist gestured for her to be quiet. Standing before the entrance, he said nothing, fixing his gaze unwaveringly on the pavilion.
Whatever he saw made his expression change drastically. Crying out in alarm, he grabbed the Daoist nun's soft hand and leapt backward in retreat.
She was almost pulled off balance.
Fortunately, the two shared a seamless understanding. She immediately channeled her sect's authentic movement technique, watching as the jade pavilion receded farther and farther away.
The pavilion's doors stood wide open, and inside the pitch-black doorway seemed to lurk something utterly terrifying.
Filled with bewilderment, the nun then saw the jade pavilion begin to shake violently.
Without pausing for a moment, the white-robed Daoist retreated rapidly down the white jade steps along the path they had come, abandoning even the Fire Phase Token. He finally remembered to explain, "Someone is trying to destroy a jade pavilion!"
"Who?"
There was clearly no one around their pavilion!
The nun froze for an instant before recalling what her senior brother had said: there were five such tokens in total, so there had to be five corresponding pavilions, and other people were on the mountain.
Having watched her senior brother open the pavilion with her own eyes, she knew full well how sturdy it was. The two of them could never have destroyed it.
Even two late Nascent Soul grand cultivators shouldn't be able to achieve that!
Why would those grand cultivators destroy a jade pavilion? What were they trying to do?
"Didn't they go to the immortal palace?" the nun blurted out in shock.
This was precisely what puzzled and alarmed the white-robed Daoist. No matter how extraordinary the Wuxiang Immortal Sect was, how could it compare to the opportunities in the immortal palace? Why would those grand cultivators forsake the essential for the trivial?
There was no one to explain it to them.
Before they could retreat very far, a muffled explosion boomed from deep within the sea of mist, and a surging, tempestuous shockwave erupted from ahead.
Amid rolling waves of energy, a crimson halo swept forward along with the shockwave, originating directly from the jade pavilion before them. Strangely enough, the halo contained not an impact force, but suction.
*Swish!*
The halo enveloped them.
Both figures jerked to a sudden halt, feeling an immense suction pulling them toward the unknown.
"Junior Sister, watch out! Do not let yourself be pulled in! The grand formation has shifted—Moving Mountains and Changing Forms has triggered the second transformation! The positions of all five elements will be shifted into one place!"
The white-robed Daoist shouted. His robes billowed as the Red Fire Sword slashed rapidly around him, ring after ring of sword light severing the suction by force.
Hearing this, the Daoist nun finally understood what her senior brother feared. There was no telling how many grand cultivators were on the mountain; if pulled into their midst, their situation would be perilous in the extreme.
Frantic with worry, she hurriedly summoned her life-bound magical treasure, attacking relentlessly in tandem with the Red Fire Sword.
Fortunately, the white-robed Daoist possessed some knowledge of Dishou Mountain's grand formation and had retreated early. The suction around them was far weaker than near the jade pavilion, allowing them to resist it.
The suction was like an invisible shackle.
They exerted all their strength to sever it. After a grueling struggle, the suction vanished without warning. The earth trembled and the mountains shook, and before they could react, a tremendous force hurled them through the air.
*Bang! Bang!*
The two slammed against the cliff face.
Fortunately, thanks to their profound cultivation, their protective astral qi activated on its own, sparing them injury, though they could not avoid looking disheveled.
The white-robed Daoist flipped upright and planted his feet. All around was a vast expanse of white; they were still in the sea of mist. Beneath their feet lay a wide mountain path leading upward.
The Daoist nun smoothed her robes as she approached. "Senior Brother, where have we been teleported to?"
After confirming no one else was nearby, the white-robed Daoist relaxed. He pondered for a moment, and once he understood their situation, his eyes lit up. "We are still inside the formation..."
Although they had not been teleported straight inside like those grand cultivators, they were better off than those left behind even if worse off than those ahead, and they had avoided a disaster.
They could still be considered to hold the initiative.
"Up the mountain!"
The white-robed Daoist decided resolutely.
Having learned the circumstances, the Daoist nun calmed her shaken wits and hurriedly followed.
...
The jade pavilion had shattered, and the formation had shifted drastically.
Before their respective mountain gates, Qin Sang's incarnation, Poison King, and Master Huaiyin all sensed the change. They rose abruptly, fixing their eyes deep into the jade gates.
They saw the sea of mist churn as boundless clouds surged upward, propelled by an inexplicable force, quickly rising past the summit of Dishou Mountain.
The already hazy scenery of the peak was completely submerged by the mist.
The tide of mist showed no sign of abating, continuing to surge into the sky with such momentum that it seemed poised to burst through the secret realm itself.
The higher it rose, the thinner the clouds became.
Gradually, a wondrous sight revealed itself amid the mist—another divine mountain!
Atop Dishou Mountain, a new divine mountain had seemingly emerged. To be exact, this was the true Dishou Mountain; its upper half had been concealed by the grand formation, and only now was its true appearance revealed.
The divine mountain towered ten thousand fathoms high; not even the highest peak in Zhongzhou could compare to it.
A jade path led straight to the mountain peak, extraordinarily wide, and the white jade steps before them connected to it.
Poison King and Master Huaiyin saw Old Devil Fan's secret marker and recognized that this was Moving Mountains and Changing Forms. It seemed Old Devil Fan had not lied to them. Exchanging a glance, the two hesitated no longer and stepped through the jade gate.
Qin Sang's incarnation did not know the underlying cause and watched the scene with a frown.
His true body was inside; he did not know whether this upheaval was connected to him.
Right then, the incarnation noticed that the shifts in the grand formation were far from over. The surges within the mist grew increasingly violent, and the jade steps behind the mountain gate were actually beginning to collapse.
If he did not seize this opportunity to charge in, other variables would likely arise, making it far more difficult to enter later.
Sensing no premonition of danger, the incarnation pondered briefly and strode into the jade gate.
...
The divine mountain had revealed itself.
This earth-shattering upheaval could be seen from any corner of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
East of Dishou Mountain.
The Buddhist nuns of Moon-Concealing Nunnery had just arrived near the Metal Phase Hall. Looking up at the sky, they stared in astonishment at the divine mountain deep within the clouds, then turned one after another toward the elder nun, awaiting her decision.
Further east.
The scale of the Earth Phase Hall far exceeded that of the other four halls.
The hall occupied dozens of mountain ranges. Even more astonishing was that it channeled the earth qi of these mountains, forging the vast region into a single, seamless grand formation.
At that moment, a figure darted back and forth within the Earth Phase Hall—none other than Yue Lingtian.
The upheaval at the immortal palace had bred estrangement between Yue Lingtian and the Daoist sects. He had come to the Earth Phase Hall alone, partly to watch how things unfolded, and partly because he genuinely placed great value on the Earth Phase inheritance.
Yet unexpectedly, even with his cultivation, he found himself obstructed at every step upon entering the Earth Phase Hall.
He did not know that when the Wuxiang Immortal Sect drew upon the earth qi back then to lay down the grand formation sealing the ancient demon and ending the demonic calamity, the person presiding over the formation had been the master of the Earth Phase Hall. The complexity of the Earth Phase Hall's formation vastly surpassed that of the other four halls, and it was also the most intact one surviving from the great war.
*Boom!*
Yue Lingtian stomped down hard. Waves of earth billowed in all directions, reducing a puppet that had just begun taking shape to fine powder.
In the next moment, the surrounding peaks shifted positions.
Yue Lingtian had already pinpointed the location of the Earth Phase inheritance hall. With a cold snort, he was about to break the formation when his movement froze. He turned his head westward and saw the divine mountain's emergence.
"They've already gone in?"
His pupils contracted slightly as he muttered to himself. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to obtain the Earth Phase inheritance first before anything else.
At the entrance of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
Outside the stony beach.
Two factions of Nascent Soul cultivators were locked in a standoff—the Daoist sects and the descendants of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect.
Having entered the Wuxiang Immortal Sect one after the other, they had crossed paths at the stony beach and already fought a battle, with the Wuxiang Immortal Sect descendants falling slightly behind.
At this moment, the divine mountain revealed itself in the direction of Dishou Mountain.
Catching sight of this spectacle from afar, neither side had the heart to continue the standoff, and they all hurried toward Dishou Mountain.
Chapter 1648