“What’s happening?!” After his last experience of slipping and falling straight into a sand pit, Yu Qingtang was much more cautious this time. He didn’t even move his feet, simply grabbing Ye Chenyan tightly by the belt. “Another upheaval?”
“No.” Tu Jiaojiao stared warily behind them. “It’s more than that!”
Behind her, spiderweb-like cracks spread through the air, churning the spiritual energy throughout the surrounding world and making the entire earth tremble faintly.
“Don’t tell me...” Holding No Illness and No Calamity in his arms, Yu Qingtang turned to Ye Chenyan in disbelief. “I actually found the right place?”
“Scatter!” Tu Jiaojiao shouted.
Everyone immediately retreated in different directions.
The cracks continued expanding, nearly tearing heaven and earth apart as they spread at a terrifying speed.
Fortunately, Tu Jiaojiao had already evacuated the nearby residents. Otherwise, the descent of such an enormous immortal abode would have been an annihilating disaster for ordinary mortals.
Ye Chenyan scooped Yu Qingtang up and tossed him onto the spirit boat, speeding away from the ever-expanding network of cracks.
Only after they had fled an unknown number of li did the cracks finally stop spreading.
Ye Chenyan halted at their edge and turned back.
The entire world looked like a pane of glass struck by something sharp. Dense layers of spiderweb cracks spread across it—
Then, with a deafening crash, it shattered.
A vast structure broke free of the restraints of space, revealing a massive form like some colossal beast before crashing down.
The oasis, the deserted village, the desert vegetation—
Everything was buried in an instant.
Yellow sand exploded into the air. Dust billowed across the sky, blotting out their view.
The magnificent immortal abode plunged into the enormous depression and continued sinking.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes slowly widened. “Don’t tell me... the immortal abode didn’t actually emerge from underground. It fell from the sky and gradually sank beneath the ground?”
In the original novel, Ye Chenyan hadn’t been among the first group to enter the immortal abode. All he had known was that it lay underground, beneath a place that had once been an oasis...
So that was what happened!
Tu Jiaojiao stared in shock. “That immortal abode is enormous!”
“It’s almost as big as my entire Heavenly Fire Cult!”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He had been just about to say it was nearly a hundred times the size of his Biehe Sect.
Ye Chenyan surveyed it with interest. “Too bad there’s no sect plaque. No telling what sect it belonged to.”
“Are we going in?”
“Don’t be reckless.” Tu Jiaojiao clicked her tongue. “Why are you exactly like Chi Yantian?”
“We still don’t know why this immortal abode appeared. We shouldn’t charge in blindly.”
Ye Chenyan folded his arms with some disappointment. “Then what would count as not charging in blindly?”
“Hmph.” Tu Jiaojiao smiled smugly. “What do you think my Heavenly Fire Cult’s artifact-refining office is there for?”
She raised a hand. Several disciples behind her rolled forward a huge spherical lump of steel. Working together, they hoisted it up and hurled it toward the immortal abode.
The steel sphere flew straight through the entrance and vanished.
Tu Jiaojiao then took a crystal sphere from her storage ring. Inside it floated a miniature version of the steel ball, rolling steadily around at its center.
She looked extremely pleased with herself. “Want to know what this does?”
Ye Chenyan only glanced sideways at her, then deliberately turned his head away as if he couldn’t care less. “I’m not really that—”
Yu Qingtang yanked him back. “He’s interested! He’s just too embarrassed to ask!”
Then he clasped his hands together and obligingly played along. “Holy Maiden, please! Just tell us!”
“All right.” Tu Jiaojiao was finally, if barely, satisfied. She lifted the crystal sphere. “The miniature model in here moves exactly as the large sphere does. That lets us get a rough idea of the terrain. See? It’s been rolling straight ahead without much jolting, which means the ground inside is fairly level, at least...”
Before she could finish, the model inside the sphere suddenly began shaking violently.
Then it exploded.
“Whoa!” Yu Qingtang jumped. “What does exploding mean?”
Tu Jiaojiao’s expression turned grave.
“...It encountered something dangerous enough that even its durability couldn’t withstand it.”
Ye Chenyan frowned slightly.
Tu Jiaojiao arched a brow. “Don’t underestimate that thing. You may have reached Out-of-Body, but whether even your full-power attack could reduce it to nothing that easily is another question.”
“Then it really is extraordinarily dangerous.” Ye Chenyan didn’t dismiss the warning. “But we still have to go in.”
“Of course we do.” Tu Jiaojiao glanced behind her. “But we need to prepare properly first. Wait a little longer. I’ve sent someone to fetch a first-rank spiritual artifact.”
“What are you looking at me for? I’m not like you reckless lunatics. I know how to be cautious.”
“Mm-hmm. Caution is good.” These two always seemed to find each other vaguely irritating, so Yu Qingtang, caught in the middle, nodded along in an attempt to smooth things over. “Why don’t we admire the spectacular sight of it sinking while we wait?”
Tu Jiaojiao was about to agree when she suddenly looked behind them.
Several sharp whistles cut through the air. A number of cultivators approached, each riding some manner of treasure artifact. Evidently, the enormous commotion had drawn them here as well.
“Holy Maiden.”
The newcomers weren’t all from the same group, but the Heavenly Fire Cult was still Rongzhou’s foremost sect. Quite a few cultivators politely greeted Tu Jiaojiao and stopped rather than passing ahead of her.
“Does the Holy Maiden know what exactly is happening with this immortal abode?”
The group from Golden Craft Hall, another artifact-refining faction, was led by a chubby, round-faced man. He greeted everyone with a ready smile and looked remarkably easygoing.
Most of the sects behind him were local cultivators disturbed by the commotion and could broadly be considered allies.
But a sizable number of people had gathered separately nearby. Their gazes toward Tu Jiaojiao carried varying degrees of wariness.
Tu Jiaojiao raised an eyebrow. She didn’t bother hiding what she knew or withholding it from the others.
“This immortal abode has only just emerged. My Heavenly Fire Cult already sent a spiritual artifact inside to investigate. It’s extraordinarily dangerous in there, so I advise against entering recklessly.”
The leader of Golden Craft Hall smiled. “Then... does the Heavenly Fire Cult intend to enter later?”
Tu Jiaojiao nodded. “I’ve already sent someone to retrieve a first-rank spiritual artifact. Once it arrives, we can naturally go in.”
“You can come with us if you want. But I’ll make one thing clear beforehand: if you follow me, you listen to me.”
“Naturally.” The leader of Golden Craft Hall saluted with a smile. “We’ll follow the Heavenly Fire Cult.”
Tu Jiaojiao turned toward the other group.
They had apparently reached their own agreement as well. Their leader gave a cold laugh.
“We won’t be relying on the Heavenly Fire Cult.”
With that, he prepared to lead his people into the immortal abode.
“Wait!” Tu Jiaojiao barked.
“What?” The man turned back and regarded her coldly, clearly wary of her. He didn’t dare enter immediately, however, and merely narrowed his eyes. “Could it be that the Heavenly Fire Cult intends to monopolize this secret realm and doesn’t want us getting inside first to investigate?”
Tu Jiaojiao rolled her eyes.
“You think you’re worth scheming against?”
“I’m only warning you that this place may have something to do with immortals. If you insist on charging in anyway, you’d better prepare yourselves accordingly. That way, when you’re about to die, you can’t complain that I never shared what I knew.”
Everyone’s expressions changed.
“Immortals?!”
In ancient times, true immortals had still walked the world.
But after the battle to mend Heaven, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had been depleted too severely, and all traces of immortals had vanished.
Logically speaking, the immortals of those ancient legends should have left at least some traces behind for later generations.
Yet somehow, aside from the Esoteric Sect—which was rumored to still have a true immortal in existence—every other object connected to immortals, even their very aura, had been erased.
The immortals of antiquity seemed to have become nothing more than legends passed down by word of mouth.
The cultivators exchanged looks.
At last, the man gave another cold laugh. “If this place truly had anything to do with immortals, your Heavenly Fire Cult wouldn’t have sent only a holy maiden. Even if both cult leaders came in person, they wouldn’t dare take it lightly.”
He flicked his sleeve.
“Since you claim otherwise, I’ll see for myself whether this place deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as immortals!”
Yu Qingtang hadn’t interrupted their exchange. Only now did he quietly ask Tu Jiaojiao, “You’re not going to stop them? He obviously doesn’t believe you at all. He thinks you’re trying to trick him.”
“You can’t stop someone determined to get himself killed.” Tu Jiaojiao sounded thoroughly annoyed. “I already did my best to warn him. If he refuses to believe me, he can regret it himself on the road to the underworld.”
Yu Qingtang nodded solemnly. “Makes sense.”
“Then can I ask what’s so special about the first-rank spiritual artifact you sent someone to get?”
“It’s a bowl,” Tu Jiaojiao answered readily. “The Heavenly Fire Cult has its own artifact-refining office, so naturally we have a larger stockpile of spiritual artifacts than most sects.”
“This place is extraordinarily dangerous, and that Heaven-Swallowing Bowl happens to possess the ability to protect its owner even when no one is actively controlling it. It can even give advance warning of certain mysterious ill omens.”
“Whoa...” Yu Qingtang looked envious. “That sounds amazing. Does it have a good temperament too?”
“Well...” Tu Jiaojiao’s brows knitted awkwardly. “I’m afraid ‘good’ wouldn’t exactly describe it.”
“First-rank spiritual artifacts all have their quirks, after all. It doesn’t have any particularly strange requirements except one: whoever carries it cannot have a single other spiritual artifact anywhere on their person. Otherwise, it will bring disaster upon its owner.”
Yu Qingtang sucked in a breath.
“Good lord. That possessive?”
“Exactly.” Tu Jiaojiao sighed deeply. “That’s why, useful as it is, nobody can normally carry it around. We have to specifically send someone to fetch it whenever we need it. Judging by the time, it should be here soon.”
Her mention of “ill omens” suddenly reminded Yu Qingtang of something.
When he had broken through before and his Nascent Soul had gone out for a stroll, he had been able to see everyone’s good fortune.
He couldn’t normally see it afterward, but then again, he had never deliberately tried.
Maybe...
They had nothing else to do right now anyway.
Yu Qingtang sat cross-legged. “I’m going to study my cultivation technique for a bit.”
“Oh, all right,” Ye Chenyan answered automatically.
Then his eyes widened.
“Wait. What did you just say?”
Yu Qingtang looked up blankly. “I said I’m going to study my cultivation technique.”
Ye Chenyan’s expression turned bizarre. “Y-you’re voluntarily studying your cultivation technique? What disaster happened?”
Yu Qingtang stared at him speechlessly.
“...Am I not allowed to be diligent once in a while?”
Ye Chenyan reached over and touched his forehead.
“Tsk.” Yu Qingtang slapped his hand away in disgust. “Shoo, shoo. Stop distracting me!”
He closed his eyes and sank into his mind sea, searching for that far-too-leisurely Nascent Soul of his.
His research progressed remarkably smoothly.
Apparently, what had happened back then hadn’t been a lucky accident at all. This was simply one of the innate abilities of the Scripture of Awaiting Good Fortune.
Yu Qingtang stared in shock at the red glow covering his entire body.
He was practically radiating phenomenal luck.
No wonder he kept stumbling onto exactly what he was looking for. He really had been extraordinarily lucky lately.
Yu Qingtang swept his gaze around.
Ye Chenyan and Tu Jiaojiao were both surrounded by warm light as well. Their luck seemed fairly good too.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten a chance to look at the group that had just entered.
Who knew whether they could survive inside the immortal abode until the first-rank spiritual artifact arrived.
Yu Qingtang casually shifted his gaze once more and was just about to withdraw the ability when his eyes stopped on the round-faced leader of Golden Craft Hall.
...The man was wreathed in black energy from head to toe.
He looked like he was about to suffer spectacularly bad luck.
“Hiss—” Yu Qingtang opened his eyes in horror. “B-brother, you look like you’re about to have some seriously terrible luck!”
“Huh?” The leader of Golden Craft Hall froze. He clearly hadn’t expected Yu Qingtang to suddenly say something like that, and unease immediately crept into his expression. “This...”
“You’ve got the look of doom all over you. Maybe don’t go today?” Yu Qingtang thought it over. “No, wait. Staying here might not necessarily be safe either.”
“I know this sounds like fortune-teller nonsense, but you really do look like you’re going to be horribly unlucky today.”
The leader of Golden Craft Hall’s eyelid twitched. When he noticed that Tu Jiaojiao seemed to be taking Yu Qingtang’s words quite seriously, he hurriedly asked, “Then what should I do?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly.
“Huh? You’re asking me?”
“I don’t know.”
His Scripture of Awaiting Good Fortune cultivation hadn’t gotten that far yet!
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