The ruins of Fane of Origin were incredibly vast. Secret areas were everywhere, and every step was filled with killing intent. Even though Zhang Ruochen and the others had high cultivation, they still took a long time to reach the area that Guye Jing had mentioned.
The seawater here was as black as ink and extremely cold.
Zhang Ruochen’s vision and perception were greatly affected. He couldn’t help but be on guard.
Xue Tu couldn’t help but shiver. Looking at the endless darkness ahead, he said, “This place is so cold and can even affect a Supreme Saint. But why isn’t the seawater frozen? This is definitely a place of murder.”
Seven-Armed Elder released his spiritual power and formed a small world that enveloped Zhang Ruochen, “There seems to be a strange power in the seawater. It’s eroding my body all the time. If a cultivator below the Supreme Saint came here, he’d probably be instantly corroded into a monster by that power.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “It’s Demonic Qi.”
“How could it be Demonic Qi? I’ve seen many demonic cultivators. Their auras are similar to this power, but they’re different,” said Seven-Armed Elder.
“It’s indeed Demonic Qi.”
Guye Jing said, “This area has existed for ten thousand years. There must be something different between the Path of Demon in the past and present. According to the iron book, the Earth Sparrow, also known as Demon Geospiza, is the earliest record of Path of Demon in the world.
“It is precisely because there is such a dense ancient Demonic Qi here that I guessed the Demon Geospiza might be hiding here.”
Xue Tu said carefully, “I don’t know what kind of Divine Artifact the Demon Geospiza is. What if the vessel spirit is still in it and has a strong demonic nature? Wouldn’t it be suicide for us to barge in like this?”
“The vessel spirit of Divine Artifact will also have to go through the Yuanhui Tribulation. After so many years, the vessel spirit has long disappeared,” Master Ye You said.
Xue Tu said, “Since it has been so many years, what if a new vessel spirit is born?”
“This…”
Master Ye You was speechless. His eyes couldn’t help but turn cold. He felt that Xue Tu liked to argue with him too much. He secretly decided to find an opportunity to teach him a good lesson.
Guye Jing said, “The materials used to refine a Divine Artifact are all the ultimate materials in the universe. Even if they go through the ages, they will not decay. It is indeed possible for Divine Artifact to give birth to a new vessel spirit. However, if the vessel spirit wants to cultivate on its own and reach divinity, it is as difficult as ascending to the heavens. Therefore, we don’t have to worry too much.”
Seven-Armed Elder said, “There is one thing that I think we should clarify in advance.”
“What is it?” said Guye Jing.
Seven-Armed Elder said, “If we find Demon Geospiza and subdue it, who should this Divine Artifact belong to? It can’t all belong to you, right?”
“This is indeed something we should discuss in advance!” Master Ye You said.
Guye Jing seemed to have expected that they would raise this question. She said with a smile, “The place where the Divine Artifact resides must be extraordinary. There are probably other rare treasures.
“Our biggest problem now is that it’s difficult to enter this area. Why don’t we join hands and break in? We can divide the rare treasures we encounter equally. And if Demon Geospiza is really inside, we can subdue it with our abilities. The Divine Artifact will belong to whoever can subdue it. What do you think?”
“In this way, doesn’t everyone have a chance?” Xue Tu’s expression was significantly boosted.
Guye Jing said, “Yes! Legend has it that many Divine Artifacts choose their owners. There was even a case where a Divine Artifact submitted to a saint.”
This suggestion made Seven-Armed Elder and Master Ye You’s eyes light up. They didn’t have any objections.
As for Guye Jing, if she wanted to take the Divine Artifact for herself, it wouldn’t be so easy for them. After all, if they worked together with Zhang Ruochen, she might not be able to gain any advantage in this place filled with the remnants of a Dimensional Array.
Zhang Ruochen was calm from the start. He mobilized Heart of Truth, activated Eye of Truth, and carefully sensed and observed.
Unfortunately, this area was too strange. The Heart of Truth was greatly affected and could only detect a tiny area.
“Let’s go in and talk about it. Ye You, and Guye Jing, go ahead and open a path,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Master Ye You’s attainments in Path of Dimension weren’t low. Guye Jing had broken in twice, so they advanced slowly. They didn’t encounter too much danger for now.
Xue Tu was still at the back, cleaning up the tracks.
Zhang Ruochen had been studying and observing along the way. Suddenly, he said, “There are a lot of dimensional bubbles and folded dimensions here. You better follow closely, so you don’t get separated or lost in the layers of space.”
“There’s a shadow!” Xue Tu exclaimed.
Everyone stopped in unison and looked at the sky on the right.
About 10 miles away from them, 300 to 400 feet above the ground, there was a road made of giant stones. It connected from the ground up to the end of their line of sight.
Although it was in the water, it was like a road to the sky, leading to an unknown place.
A long line of human figures appeared on the road.
“Why is there a floating road, and it’s slanting upwards?”
“It’s too far. I can’t see who it is. It can’t be an image left from ancient times, right?”
“Why don’t we go over and take a look?”
Zhang Ruochen stopped Master Ye You, who wanted to go over, “The space here is very complicated. Although it looks like it’s only ten miles away from us, it might be thousands of miles away. That road looks like it’s slanting upwards, but it’s very likely to be a flat road.
“And the figures walking on that road. I’ve seen them clearly. They’re not ancient images but cultivators from Fane of Death. The one walking in front is Yuan Qianmo.”
“Master, you can see that clearly?” Master Ye You didn’t believe it.
How could a Hundred-Shackle Realm Supreme Saint’s eyesight be so assertive?
Guye Jing walked over and asked, “Is it really Yuan Qianmo?”
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
Seven-Armed Elder’s expression became solemn. “Didn’t Yuan Qianmo and the Paramount Realm Supreme Saints of Fane of Death go to the hinterland of Fane of Origin? Have we already reached the hinterland?”
Yuan Qianmo was too famous. Who in the secular world wasn’t afraid of him?
They’d just killed Deathkin’s Hai Ke, so they felt weak.
Guye Jing said, “Your Dimensional attainments are profound. Can you roughly estimate how far they are from us?”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “It’s too far. It’s hard to tell.”
“Why don’t we go closer and take a look?” Guye Jing suggested.
Master Ye You was a little scared. He said, “Let’s not do that. Yuan Qianmo alone is enough to destroy all of us. Besides, he has many Neverwilt Realm warriors of Fane of Death. If we go closer, the consequences will be unimaginable.”
Guye Jing said, “Yuan Qianmo is such a character. He didn’t fight for Canon of Origin, but he appeared here. He must have an important purpose. Besides, the book collection of Fane of Death is above The Rāhu Mountains. It may contain more information about Fane of Origin and Demon Geospiza.”
“If that’s the case, why don’t we follow them? We can wait for them to wear themselves out.”
“It’s too risky!”
Master Ye You was very timid. He didn’t dare to provoke the powerful Fane of Death.
Zhang Ruochen thought for a while and said, “It is not a good idea for us to search aimlessly. Since the cultivators of Fane of Death gave up fighting for Canon of Origin and appeared here, they must have some useful information. It is indeed our best choice to follow them.”
Guye Jing was happy. She knew that Zhang Ruochen had enough courage and boldness.
Zhang Ruochen was worried that Ji Fanxin might be in extreme danger if she fell into this area and was found by the cultivators of Fane of Death.
Zhang Ruochen ordered, “I’ll lead the way next.
“Ye You, set up a formation to hide our aura. Don’t let Fane of Death sense our presence.
“Seven-Armed Elder, be alert. Deal with the unknown dangers that may appear.
“Xue Tu, clean up the traces.”
Zhang Ruochen looked to the far right and saw that the road that extended from the ground to the top was rapidly fading and was about to disappear.
“Open!”
Zhang Ruochen secretly mobilized Canon of Dimension and pointed forward.
Crack! Crack!
The invisible Dimensional Inscriptions were broken one by one. Where there was no road, Zhang Ruochen forcefully paved the way.
Then, Zhang Ruochen worked out every difficulty, like when they encountered the broken cliff of space, the primitive realm of Dimensional Array, the chaotic Dimensional Array…
The broken cliff of space was like a natural cliff. There was no road there.
Zhang Ruochen only pointed forward with his finger, and a road of space automatically extended to the horizon.
The primitive realm of Dimensional Array was even stranger. It was only a few hundred feet wide, but after Guye Jing fell in, she found herself in a Ruins Realm that was hundreds of thousands of miles wide. She could not get out, no matter how hard she tried.
In the end, Zhang Ruochen broke in and brought her out.
…
Gradually, they caught up with the cultivators of Fane of Death.
They were still more than ten miles apart, but even with Xue Tu’s cultivation, he could clearly see Yuan Qianmo’s face. This meant that the distance of more than ten miles was accurate and not separated by layers of space.
Just as Zhang Ruochen had speculated, the cultivators of Fane of Death did not walk up the giant stone path diagonally but straight forward.
It had been an illusion caused by Dimensional Warp.
“They seem to have stopped. What are they doing?” Xue Tu asked.
The cultivators of Fane of Death had indeed stopped. They used crystals emitting divine light to build a simple altar.
Guye Jing stood to Zhang Ruochen’s right. She used her slender arm to gently bump into him. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Do you know who is the young cultivator standing next to Yuan Qianmo?”
Zhang Ruochen observed carefully and said, “Strange! Why is a Demi-Saint youth following a group of top elites of Fane of Death? Is he Huan Zhen?”
“Yes, he’s one of the only six Masters of Origin in Celestial and Infernal Court that I’ve mentioned to you before, Huan Zhen. Yuan Qianmo must be up to no good if he brought Huan Zhen here.” Guye Jing smiled. She seemed to be very interested in this situation.
Master Ye You and Seven-Armed Elder were trembling with fear. They were highly cautious, afraid that Yuan Qianmo would notice them. Guye Jing was the only one who could still smile at this moment.
Guye Jing said, “Why are you so afraid? The god of Xue Jue Family is nearby. Why are you afraid of Yuan Qianmo?”
“The deity must also look for fortuitous encounters. They can’t stay by my side all the time,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Guye Jing smiled in her heart. This was normal.
How could a deity enter Fane of Origin without going to the hinterland to investigate?
On the way, Zhang Ruochen didn’t sense any cultivators following him, so he determined that Chi Yao was most likely restrained by angles’ deity!
Zhang Ruochen wasn’t too shaken. In his opinion, Chi Yao had come to Fane of Origin mainly because of Dragon Lord. Dragon Lord probably wanted to use this opportunity to resolve the hatred and conflict between the two.
Unfortunately, Dragon Lord was just an outsider. He didn’t understand the love-hate relationship between Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao.
How many subjects of Shengming Central Empire had Chi Yao’s soldiers killed?
How many disciples of the Chi family had Zhang Ruochen killed when he led Shengming Central Empire’s old subjects to break into Lingxiao Heavenly Palance?
The hatred didn’t belong to just the two of them.
Besides, the conflict between them wasn’t as simple as hatred.
Without Chi Yao, Zhang Ruochen felt much more relaxed. He didn’t want to owe her too much today. He didn’t want to be too soft-hearted when they fought in the future.
The two people on opposite sides shouldn’t get too close.
Chi Yao should understand this.
