Lu Yang was deeply touched by the bond between the Five Ancient Celestials.
Setting up an unprecedented cage to imprison the culprit, which could only be unsealed by gathering the power of all Five Ancient Celestials—what grand spirit, what a magnificent stroke. Lu Yang admired them immensely.
At present, Lu Yang had no other thoughts, leaving only one question: Immortal Suiyue was gone, so how could they gather the power of the Five Ancient Celestials?
The Immortal Fairy was stumped by this question as well. After pondering for a moment, she proposed a plan that sounded utterly impossible on its face: "How about you become a celestial and form the Suiyue Dao fruit?"
Lu Yang: "..."
*Fairy, aren't you overestimating me a bit too much?*
How difficult it was to master the rules of time! Relying on his nature as the Jianmu tree, Immortal Suiyue had ground away with endless lifespan, trading time for time, before he finally mastered the rules of time.
I'm only eighteen this year, and already you're planning ahead for me to master the Suiyue Dao fruit?
How am I supposed to master it? By seizing Immortal Suiyue's corpse, or will you teach me the rules of time, Fairy?
"It's a pity whether Ying Tian and the others are alive or dead remains unknown. Even if they're alive, no one knows where they are staying. Otherwise, we could find them directly and ask to clear things up." The Immortal Fairy shook her head in regret, yet Lu Yang could tell she was in good spirits.
Previously, she had never known the culprit's identity and suspected it might be one of the Four Ancient Celestials. After this investigation, that possibility had finally been ruled out, allowing her to relax.
"Alright, time to head back."
They had finished exploring the lowest layer of the continent, and there was no need to linger.
The mortal and celestial regrouped. Lu Yang cast Shrinking the Earth, swimming through the ground just like swimming through water.
He kicked his feet and parted layer upon layer of soil with both hands, like a fish darting through the continent... except he didn't dart anywhere.
Lu Yang blinked. His form was standard, yet he simply couldn't swim upward.
Gathering his resolve, he kicked his feet and pushed aside the dirt with both hands, like a fish darting through the continent... still, he didn't dart anywhere.
He looked down at the barrier at the continent's very bottom. It was this thing holding him down.
Seeing Lu Yang's predicament, the Immortal Fairy came to a sudden realization and remembered something. "Oh, I forgot. This place still has gravity. You're being held fast by it."
The methods of the Four Ancient Celestials were superb. Refining stars into a continent wasn't like kneading clay together; during the process, they had preserved gravity, or rather constructed a gravitational formation using spells... Whatever the case, the continent possessed gravity.
"Just use more strength, and you'll get up," the Immortal Fairy cheered him on.
Lu Yang hadn't expended much effort when sinking. At most, when his descending speed got too fast, he used Drawing a Prison to slow himself down.
Going back up now proved to be an immense hassle.
With no alternative, Lu Yang could only swim upward with all his might.
It had taken him five days to sink to the core of the earth, but returning to the surface took thirteen days, leaving him gasping for breath from exhaustion.
Fortunately, he had the Immortal Fairy guiding his direction so he didn't drift off course. Had he veered even slightly, he might have swum straight into the territory of the Suanni Clan or the Qiongqi Clan.
"That took you long enough." Meng Jingzhou was meditating with his eyes closed. Sensing Lu Yang burrowing up like an earthworm, he woke early.
Lu Yang shot Meng Jingzhou a glare. "If you went down and came back, it would take you just as long."
Third Senior Sister looked at Lu Yang's early arrival with a hint of surprise. The junior brother's round trip had taken a few days less than she had estimated.
*At this speed, I'm afraid even someone at the Nascent Soul stage would feel inadequate,* she thought to herself. Her junior brother was even stronger than she had imagined; no wonder Eldest Senior Sister had made him Acting Sect Master.
"How was it? Did you gain anything? Senior Sister didn't lie to you, did she?"
Lu Yang nodded. The excursion had yielded immense gains, but the contents were too impactful to disclose to others.
Besides, speaking of the Four Ancient Celestials' Dao fruits was useless anyway—anyone would forget as soon as the words left his mouth.
"Now that you're back, the two of you keep watch here. I'll go outside to see if those old fellows have left." Third Senior Sister stood up, stretched her limbs, and warned the two not to run around, saying she would be back shortly.
Third Senior Sister pinched a talisman, which spontaneously combusted. Right before their eyes, she vanished into thin air. Whether with the naked eye or divine sense, she was utterly invisible.
This was an extremely sophisticated invisibility talisman; only the Immortal Fairy could see her.
After about an hour, Third Senior Sister returned as promised, bringing good news. "They've all left. We're safe!"
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they were out of danger.
"Where are we heading now?"
"The Qiongqi Clan. My second stronghold is there."
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gasped in unison. *Third Senior Sister, you're leading us straight into their headquarters!*
"Don't worry. I've been to the Qiongqi Clan more times than I can count. Despite their formidable reputation in the outside world, their internal management is quite lax—nothing like our Dao Seeking Sect."
The two followed Third Senior Sister out of the cave, only to realize upon stepping out that the cave was not inside the mountain, but beneath it. To leave, they had to climb upward.
The mountains were shrouded in thick fog and dew. The muddy trails were full of potholes and scattered puddles; it must have rained not long ago.
Third Senior Sister suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Senior Sister, what's wrong?"
Third Senior Sister pointed to a small puddle and said, "Jump in after me."
"Huh?"
Without explaining further, Third Senior Sister leapt into the puddle. Strangely enough, the puddle was merely rainwater gathered on the ground, appearing only two or three inches deep, yet the moment she jumped in, her entire figure vanished.
Though perplexed, the two harbored no doubts about Third Senior Sister and imitated her, jumping in.
Lu Yang felt as though he was completely submerged in water, plunging into the depths of the East Sea. He lost all sense of direction, unable to tell east from west or north from south. He swam desperately in one direction, took two strokes, and felt his head lighten. Breaking the surface, he climbed out of the puddle.
The surrounding scenery was identical to what it had been before he jumped in.
"This is the outside world," Third Senior Sister said with a smile. This was a place she had constructed when she first arrived in the Demon Domain. For it to remain undiscovered all this time, it naturally held hidden ingenuity.
Lu Yang understood. Utilizing the rainy nature of the mountain forest, Third Senior Sister had used a puddle as an entrance to establish a mirrored subterranean space. They had been hiding in that underground space all these days.
"This was the second lesson Master taught me: learn to hide."
The first lesson Daoist Buyu taught Third Senior Sister was fleeing for one's life, and the second was concealment.
Lu Yang recalled Eldest Senior Sister's teaching methods: the first lesson was twirling a giant vat like an acrobat, and the second was taking a bath in boiling water.
It was hard to say which master was superior.
"It's a hundred and fifty li from here to the Qiongqi Clan," Third Senior Sister said, pointing in a direction. "Along the way, we'll have to pass through a branch tribe of the Qiongqi Clan."
"Hold on to these two Invisibility Talismans. Ignite them once we approach the branch tribe." Third Senior Sister handed each of them a talisman.
"A branch tribe?"
"Impure-blooded Qiongqi. These Qiongqi aren't qualified to enter the Qiongqi Clan genealogy. You've seen the situation in the Demon Domain—it's very dangerous. So they attach themselves to the vicinity of the Qiongqi Clan to survive, acting as guards and servants."
"Was the first demon beast we killed a mixed-blood Qiongqi?" Meng Jingzhou asked in a low voice.
Lu Yang nodded. Indeed it was. Back when he, Meng Jingzhou, and Man Gu went to eliminate that tiger demon, it possessed Qiongqi bloodline—a mixed blood.
Chapter 575