Chapter 73
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Chapter 73, A Figure from a Thousand Years Ago! [Please Subscribe!]
Three days later.
The back mountain of Yunlan Sect.
Su Ye stood in front of a bare stone wall.
This stone wall is about a hundred feet high, and its surface looks no different from any other cliff in the mountain.
However, he detected a very subtle spatial fluctuation coming from deep within the stone wall, which must be a technique left behind by Yun Potian.
Yunyun stood three steps away from him.
She changed into a plain white dress, her face was bare of makeup, and faint dark circles were visible under her eyes.
She had barely slept for the past three days; the mess at Yunlan Sect was suffocating her.
But she still came.
"This is the gate between life and death."
Yun Yun spoke, her voice calm to the point of being somewhat deliberate.
She took out an ancient jade pendant from her sleeve. The pendant vibrated and emitted a beam of bright white light that struck the center of the stone wall.
The stone wall rippled like the surface of water.
A dark rift, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, slowly emerged.
Su Ye looked at the crack and probed it with his divine sense.
Behind the entrance lies a chaotic spatial turbulence, layer upon layer, barely maintained stable by some ancient force.
This passage is not long, about thirty feet long, but without a special opening incantation, forcibly entering will only result in being torn to pieces by the spatial turbulence.
"This entrance can only be opened by a secret method passed down orally from the sect leader."
Yun Yun put the jade pendant back into her sleeve, pausing for a moment.
"The energy of heaven and earth within the Gate of Life and Death is different from that of the outside world. Only those who have reached the Dou Ling realm can enter it, and it can help people quickly improve their cultivation."
"But it's also fraught with danger, and the space inside is quite unstable—"
She looked at Su Ye.
"Though you are strong, please be careful."
Su Ye nodded slightly.
"Sect Leader Yun, you may wait here."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped into the crevice.
The dim halo of light engulfed him.
Yunyun stood in front of the stone wall, watching the crack slowly heal until it returned to an ordinary stone wall.
Su Ye traversed the spatial turbulence.
The moment my feet touched solid ground, a distinct aura wafted over me.
The energy of heaven and earth here is so concentrated that it is almost tangible, several times more abundant than that of the outside world.
An ordinary cultivator only needs to meditate here for a few months to achieve the same result as several years of arduous cultivation outside.
It is no exaggeration to say that a Dou Ling can directly ascend to the peak of Dou Wang upon entering this place.
But Su Ye's brows furrowed slightly.
These energies —
It's too thin.
-
Having grown accustomed to the essence of heaven and earth in the world of Shrouding the Heavens, the energy here, though much richer than that of the Dou Qi Continent, was still several levels below.
His sea of suffering simply circulated once on its own, absorbing all the surrounding energy, and then he lost all interest in it.
Deep in the sea of suffering, the golden seedling swayed gently.
It's as if it's expressing some kind of dislike.
Su Ye ignored it and released his divine sense to scan it.
This small world is not large, estimated to be about several hundred miles in size. The spatial barrier at the edge is weak, and spatial turbulence seeps in from the cracks from time to time.
In the very center, deep within, the spatial fluctuations are most intense, and a faint sense of oppression is spreading in all directions from there.
Su Ye stepped inside.
After taking only a few steps, the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed.
A barrage of azure wind blades, condensed from battle qi, surged in from all directions, moving so fast they left afterimages in the air, their sharpness enough to tear a Grand Battle Master to shreds.
Su Ye didn't even lift her eyelids.
The wind blades slashed three feet away from him before dissipating into wisps of breeze, not even managing to lift the hem of his clothes.
He continued walking forward.
Illusion array.
After taking three more steps, the scene in front of him suddenly distorted.
A magnificent golden palace appeared out of thin air, filled with countless jade slips containing cultivation techniques and top-grade elixirs, radiating an alluring glow.
Su Ye didn't even stop.
He walked straight through the hall, and the illusion shattered like a bubble.
A cloud of poisonous fog.
Dark green poisonous mist surged from the cracks in the ground, coalescing into ferocious venomous snakes that lunged at him.
He raised his hand and flicked it.
The poisonous fog and the venomous snakes vanished into nothingness.
Gravity array.
A tremendous weight pressed down on my feet, as if the entire earth were pressing down on my shoulders.
Su Ye's pace did not slow down in the slightest.
These traps and mechanisms are clearly a trial prepared for intruders at the Dou Ling or even Dou Wang level.
For Su Ye, it wasn't even a tickle.
He traveled through the area as if it were flat ground.
His divine sense swept across the strata and he saw the tomb chamber buried underground.
Seven stone coffins.
Each stone coffin contained a skeleton. Judging from the residual aura on the bones, the strongest among them was only a Dou Zong, and the weakest was a Dou Huang.
The stone coffins were inscribed with their birth and death dates and titles.
Yun Yuanhua, the third sect leader of the Yunlan Sect.
The fourth sect leader, Yun Qingyang.
Fifth generation —
Su Ye withdrew his divine sense.
Deep within these coffins, faint traces of lingering soul will still flicker, as if sensing the intruder in their slumber, wanting to awaken but powerless to do so.
He didn't stop at all.
Just as Su Ye had expected, the legacy of these Yunlan Sect sages, whose highest level was only Dou Zong, was of no value to him.
Their remnants of souls, worn down by hundreds of years, have long since faded away, unable to even maintain a complete consciousness, let alone pass on their legacy.
In his eyes, the forbidden area of life and death, which the successive sect leaders of Yunlan Sect were so proud of, was nothing more than a desolate ancient tomb.
He continued on his way.
The deeper you go, the dimmer the yellowish light overhead becomes.
The oppressive feeling between heaven and earth was slowly intensifying.
The deeper one goes, the stronger the oppressive feeling from heaven and earth becomes, and the soul perception of the battle qi system is greatly suppressed.
At first, it was just like a gentle breeze.
After five or six miles, the oppressive feeling had become as heavy as an invisible mountain pressing down on our shoulders.
Ordinary Dou Huang would have to stop here, and even Dou Zong would have to grit their teeth and endure.
Su Ye's pace remained unchanged.
His innate Dao embryo automatically activated, and his body was enveloped in purple light, keeping the oppressive force three feet away.
Ten miles.
The sense of oppression doubled.
Fifteen li.
Spatial cracks, several feet wide, began to appear on the ground, from which grayish-white turbulent currents surged, tearing everything they touched to dust.
The air was thick with a suffocating heaviness, like walking on the bottom of a bottomless ocean.
Twenty li.
Thirty li.
Forty li.
Fifty li.
Su Ye's speed never slowed down.
The oppressive aura that could crush an ordinary Dou Zong left no trace on him.
Those who can get this far must be at least high-level Dou Zong.
Su Ye withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.
They flew forward for a short while longer.
The sense of oppression had reached its peak.
This is the edge of the core area of the secret realm. Without the cultivation of a peak Dou Zong, it is impossible to get close to this place.
Su Ye stopped and glanced around.
The primordial energy floating in the air was so concentrated that it was almost liquefied, each strand crystal clear and radiating a soft glow.
But these are not the most important things.
His gaze fell on a spot a hundred feet ahead.
There is a crack there.
Spatial rift.
Unlike those grayish-white turbulent fissures, this fissure was about three feet wide, pure black, and its edges were covered with an extremely ancient sealing pattern.
The dense, layered patterns intertwined to form a dazzlingly complex sealing formation.
A mysterious and vast wave emanated from the seal.
Su Ye's divine sense reached out and was bounced back the moment it touched the seal.
His eyebrows were slightly raised.
The power level of this seal far surpasses that of a Dou Zun.
It would take at least the power of a saint to shake it.
It is precisely the existence of this seal that makes the spatial structure of this secret realm extremely unstable.
It was from the cracks in this seal that a stream of pure spiritual energy, far surpassing the energy of the world on the Dou Qi Continent, was continuously seeping out.
Su Ye stared at the seal, his gaze slightly narrowed.
The vast world.
These four words came to mind.
Only the spiritual energy of the vast world can possess such a high level.
Although it is still far inferior to the essence of heaven and earth in the world of Shrouding the Sky, it is far beyond the elemental energy of the Dou Qi Continent.
What lies hidden behind this seal?
Could it be a teleportation array leading to the vast world?
Su Ye took a step forward.
In that very instant.
An old, hoarse voice came from beside the seal.
"The latecomers—"
The voice was so weak that it seemed as if it could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
Su Ye turned her head to look.
A skeleton sat cross-legged beside the seal.
The bones were dark gold in color and as dense as jade. Even after countless years of erosion, they still exuded a faint sense of power.
That's the unique bone structure of a Dou Zun powerhouse.
The skeletal head drooped slightly, its empty eye sockets facing Su Ye.
A nearly annihilated trace of the soul flickered faintly deep within the skull, like an oil lamp about to burn out.
"This old man—"
The voice was broken and intermittent, each word uttered with great difficulty.
"The clouds break through the sky."
Su Ye stopped and looked at the skeleton.
The clouds parted from the sky.
The founding patriarch of the Yunlan Sect.
A legendary figure who dominated the Northwest Continent a thousand years ago with the power of a Dou Zun.
The name that only existed in a few words in the original work was now sitting cross-legged in front of him, turned into a skeleton.
"you----"
Yun Potian's soul imprint trembled violently, as if it had exhausted a great deal of strength to reform.
A faint, ethereal shadow emerged from the skull, barely outlining the silhouette of an old man with white hair and beard.
The illusory figure was fleeting, like a wisp of smoke, and could disappear at any moment.
"You are not a junior of my Yunlan Sect."
Yun Potian's phantom stared at Su Ye, his tone ambiguous, neither scrutinizing nor sighing.
Su Ye did not deny it.
"Your cultivation level—I cannot see through it."
Yun Potian's illusory figure remained silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
The laughter was dry and hoarse, tinged with self-mockery.
"For hundreds of years, those who have come and gone through this Gate of Life and Death have been either fighting spirits or fighting kings."
"I thought the Yunlan Sect was declining day by day, and that it couldn't even produce a Dou Zong among its younger generation."
"I didn't expect that those who came today were not from the Yunlan Sect at all."
His words trailed off as the phantom dimmed further.
Su Ye raised his hand, and a stream of pure purple divine power shot out from his fingertips, entering Yun Potian's soul imprint.
The dying embers of the soul were briefly nourished and shone a little brighter once more.
Yun Potian was slightly taken aback and gave Su Ye a deep look.
"Thank you, young friend."
He let out a long sigh.
"My remnant soul has lasted for a thousand years, and it is now at the end of its life. If it weren't for one unfulfilled wish, it would have long since dissipated."
Su Ye looked at him and said, "Your last wish was for the descendants of the Yunlan Sect to take your legacy back with them."
Yun Potian gave a wry smile.
"That's just one aspect."
19
"Once you enter the Gate of Life and Death, you will naturally be able to sense the unusual nature of this place."
"When I founded my sect here, I thought I had found a blessed land."
He raised his illusory arm and pointed to the dark seal.
"Until I found that thing."
Su Ye's gaze followed his pointing finger and fell back on the seal.
"What comes after the seal?"
The phantom of Yun Potian shook its head slightly.
"I don't know either."
"But I can sense that what lies behind the seal is greater than any opportunity I have ever encountered in my life."
"So big—big enough to change my entire understanding of what power is."
His voice became low and solemn.
"Back then, as a Dou Zun, I dominated the Northwest Continent, boasting of my invincibility and looking down on everyone."
2
"But standing before this seal, I finally understood what it meant for a mayfly to try to shake a tree—"
Yun Potian looked at his own skeleton.
The pair of dark golden bone palms were covered with dense cracks, each crack bearing traces of the seal's backlash.
"The power of this seal far exceeds my expectations."
"My full-force attack, using the power of a Dou Zun, was shattered by the backlash from the seal."
"He passed away here without even having time to leave a last word."
Su Ye's gaze fell on those bone palms, which were covered with cracks like a spider web, revealing the terrifying power of the backlash from back then.
Yun Potian raised his head, his illusory gaze fixed on the dark seal.
"What level of cultivation did you have back then?"
Yun Potian remained silent for a moment.
"Seven Star Dou Zun"
Su Ye hummed in agreement.
The Seven Star Dou Zun's full-force attack failed to even stir the slightest fluctuation in the seal; instead, it backfired and shattered his soul.
The grade of this seal is indeed above the Saint level.
Yun Potian raised his head, his illusory gaze fixed on the seal, and said in a heavy voice, "For the past thousand years, though I have only a wisp of remnant soul left, I have never stopped thinking—"
"What lies behind this seal is no ordinary object!"
"Do you know what my greatest discovery has been after sitting here in meditation for a thousand years?"
Su Ye looked at him.
"The energy that seeped out from the cracks in the seal."
Yun Potian's phantom suddenly lit up, as if he had found a kindred spirit.
"good!"
"That energy doesn't belong to the Dou Qi Continent at all!"
His voice became excited, and the phantom image trembled violently.
"When I was young, I traveled to the Central Plains, saw countless blessed lands, and absorbed all kinds of energy from heaven and earth."
"But there has never been any energy as pure as the one that seeped out after being sealed."
Yun Potian paused for a moment, then continued, "The power contained in that energy is a whole level higher than that of battle qi."
Su Ye nodded.
"That's spiritual energy—"
Yun Potian was taken aback.
"Spiritual energy?"
Su Ye explained: "The spiritual energy of the vast world."
""
Yun Potian's phantom image trembled violently.
"The vast world —"
He murmured those four words repeatedly, his voice filled with shock and realization.
"What place is that?"
Su Ye did not answer immediately.
His gaze fell on the dark seal, watching the crystalline energy seeping out from the cracks.