The entrance to the Jade Virtual Palace opened into a deserted hall lined with bronze pillars on both sides and ever-burning lamps. Past the hall was a cloister that led to a lake so vast that it seemed boundless. Yet there was not even a drop of water inside. The lake was so deep that it appeared bottomless. It was as if it led to the Nine Serenities of the Demonic World. One could not help shuddering upon laying eyes on this lake.
The cloister was constructed using timber that Meng Qi could not recognize. The timber was a blue so dark that it was nearly black and was suffused with a faint scent of greenery. When he stepped on it, he could not hear the sound of his feet landing on the floor. Neither could he feel anything concrete under his feet. He felt as if he was treading upon the void.
Meng Qi made haste and speedily moved forward while inspecting the protective spell of this place. He dared not fly higher than or move away from the cloister because he could detect a deeply unsettling sense of danger from the empty lake.
He had been flying for some time but all he saw was still the straight cloister and the serene empty lake. Nothing changed for he still failed to reach the end of this scenery. He immediately found this to be strange. The Jade Virtual Palace was the home to the descendants of the Kunlun lineage. Such a long cloister did not seem suitable for everyday use.
“Could the descendants have a way to quickly cross this place?”
“It would not be right to make a reckless and hasty journey. Perhaps I’ll be faster if I stop and think about it.” Meng Qi decided on his current stance and slowed his pace a little, taking the time to observe his surroundings.
“The lake is entirely empty, devoid of lotus flowers, fish, or even a bottom. That means that there’s nothing that I can use as a reference. It’s exactly the same as when I first started out. It feels like I’ve never moved forward at all…”Soon enough, Meng Qi discovered the oddness of this place. He focused on the cloister and noticed that it was perfectly straight and had no curvature whatsoever. Each of its columns was identical. It felt as if there was no difference whether or not he flew past the columns.
He turned to look behind him. The hall from which he entered had disappeared in the distance. Everywhere he looked, the scenery was still the same with the empty lake and the endless cloister.
Meng Qi once again took flight, flying for a long time in the eerie silence. However, without a referencing point, he could not tell whether or not he had moved forward even after looking around!
“I can’t keep flying blindly!” Meng Qi immediately landed on the floor of the cloister. He closed his eyes, blocked his ears, and began using his spirit to perceive his surroundings.
“I return to the same place with every step I take, over and over…” Meng Qi opened his eyes in alarm. “Have I been walking still all along?”
Even after attempting a variety of methods, Meng Qi was still stuck flying in the same spot. He could feel a breath of coldness down his back.
“Stay calm, stay calm! What you need to most in such situations is staying calm!” Meng Qi inhaled deeply, giving rid of the impatience he felt from worrying over his gains and losses.
Realization abruptly struck him as his mind became clear. The Jade Virtual Palace was Heavenly Primogenitor’s pure land and the Primogenitor was the emblem of everything. Without Meng Qi, the Primogenitor would not exist. There would be no front or back, top or bottom, past or future. Wasn’t this incredibly similar to his experience earlier?
This ought to be the key to the protective spell of the Jade Virtual Palace!
His anxious heart suddenly relaxed. He unsheathed his saber, unleashing an incomparably dazzling light that resembled the flash of a lightning bolt. He thrust it forward in a way that made his saber seemed invincible.
The Big Bang Technique—differentiating Yin and Yang, and forming his own path!
“Crack!” The saber radiance appeared to be condensed before his eyes and the “void” then split. The empty lake and cloister began to collapse in both directions. Behind the crevice was a hovering hall which was enveloped entirely in a blackish yellow hue.
Meng Qi sprang upward, making his way into the crevice. Before he could enter the hall, however, he saw the two persons standing outside the entrance of the hall.
One of them was like a muscular giant described in the legends, whose skin was an ashy black color. He was dressed in a Taoist robe in an earthy yellow hue. His hands, that hung naturally around his sides, were as fair as jade. They stood in stark contrast against his dark skin. The other one was a good-looking, dignified lady dressed in a purple-red robe. In her hand was a meter-long sword of frostiness. These two were none other than the grandmasters who had come here with King Zhuang of Chu.
“They’re here to block the path instead of hurrying to search for treasures?” Meng Qi was surprised. He would not be surprised if several other grandmasters would rush here after detecting him. To think that these two grandmasters would wait here patiently amidst all this chaos!
The giant wore no expression on his inelegant face. He slowly lifted his right foot as if trying to take a step forward.
“Our master says that killing you is more important than seeking treasures!”
Suddenly, a buzzing sound resounded. The giant arrived in front of Meng Qi with a single step and raised his right hand high up. He unfolded his jade-like fingers that exuded a radiance like that of a demon. The void in front of his palm turned dark as if the world had suddenly shrunk into that one point!
At that moment, Meng Qi felt as if he was looking at a mountain peak so tall that it pierced the sky. He had to greatly strain his neck to look at the peak—the giant’s hand. Then, the peak suddenly snapped. The sky titled in the northwest direction and the land titled in the southeast direction.
The dark, foggy palm fell, prompting the inversion of heaven and earth and the warping of the void around them. Not only did Meng Qi feel a binding force that made it difficult for him to move, but he also felt helplessly drawn to the palm. He was about to throw himself toward the palm as he felt his body collapsing.
“Grandmaster coupled with a genuine Fan-Tian Seal?” Having lost the ability to dodge, Meng Qi was like a trapped beast after losing the ability to dodge. Gnashing his teeth, he then expanded his body and became nearly three meters tall. Unfortunately, no matter how tall he became, the fair and jade-like palm was still descending upon him. It was an impossible struggle to match up to the giant.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Sounds of explosion burst from within Meng Qi as if his Law Phenomenon was tearing apart many shackles. Even though his body still felt heavy, preventing him from swiftly evading that attack, it was enough for him to make a move!
Feeling the weight of a mountain on his back, Meng Qi swung his saber while gritting his teeth. He attempted to take advantage of the calm to move. Using both the Big Bang Technique and the Chaos Vortex, he tried to meet the giant’s attack head-on and use offense as his defense.
Just then, a deep sense of danger rose within Meng Qi. In his mind was the reflection of the beautiful lady.
There was a fan made of feathers of a variety of colors in her hand. Each feather harbored a flame so hot that it was capable of destroying heaven and earth. The cries of phoenixes, rocs and peacocks resounded in the air. The front of the fan was etched with numerous seals and talismans. They emanated a great brilliance as they were about to burst out flames.
“Divine weapon!”
“The Fan of Flames and Aves?”
“This is truly a formation designed to send me to my death—with one person capturing all my attention by going strongly on the offense, while the other one locked onto me to deal a killing blow!”
The pores all over Meng Qi’s body shrunk as every strand of hair on his skin stood on its end. Two arms abruptly grew from his back, with one hand holding a wooden whip nearly a meter long. Without even stopping to think about it, he poured his Vital Spirit into the whip while invoking the Force of Heaven and Earth. He struck Yang Xizhi with a formidable force. He had nearly given up fighting the giant, though he did secretly leave behind a certain power.
The wooden whip emanated tens of thousands of golden light. Its shell fell off to reveal a golden body with visible etchings of seals. The fine lights scattered and immediately paralyzed the flames of red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, and purple hues bursting out of the Fan of Flames and Aves.
“Clatter!”
The wooden whip fell, extinguishing the flames. Yang Xizhi was flung away, with blood spewing from her mouth.
The Immortal-slaying Whip Truncheon was designed to counter treasures of deities and demons. Under the circumstances where he did not have the cooperation of the Investiture of the Gods, the whip was like an ordinary divine weapon to other races. The strike earlier was enough to kill Yang Xizhi, for the Fan of Flames and Aves was a divine weapon that was also a magical artifact, not a weapon designed for battles. For it to be used so abruptly in a fight, the fan would inevitably appear somewhat incompetent.
Right at that moment, the giant Gu Heng somersaulted in the air and came crashing down. Since Meng Qi had to focus all of his attention on wielding the divine weapon, he could only react fast enough to create a slight suction force at the tip of his saber as well as trigger the Magical Robe of the Diametric Charge in the nick of time. He twisted his palm slightly so that it would not have a direct opening in the opposite. Otherwise, it would be difficult for his Vital Spirit to escape in the terrifying domain within the warped void.
“Crack!”
With a flare of the golden light, part of the Taoist robe shattered. Meng Qi’s skin, from his left shoulder all the way to his nape, collapsed into his chest cavity as his flesh was pulverized.
Fortunately, his Eight Nine Mysteries technique was exceptional. Had it been someone else, this blow would have minced the person if not outright kill him.
Meng Qi inhaled deeply as he borrowed a little strength from the Immortal Pressing Art. He flew straight ahead, rushing past Yang Xizhi to enter the hall entrance.
He was close to collapsing after overexerting himself in using the divine weapon and Taoist robe!
However, he dared not to linger around. The giant was hot on his trail and he could feel the piercing pain on his back. He caught a breather before immediately using the last bit of his energy to ignite the Escape Talisman of the Earthly Charge. His speed abruptly exploded and he vanished from the giant’s perception.
The giant, Gu Heng, stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his Junior Sister, Yang Xizhi.
“It’s fine. This Jade Virtual Palace is so small. Where can he run to?” Yang Xizhi consumed a pellet of elixir and collected Meng Qi’s flesh and blood that was scattered on the ground. Even if these chunks of flesh and blood had lost all vitality, Meng Qi’s Blood Essence remained.
…
While Meng Qi was still making his escape, he felt an emptiness within him. It was to the extent that he did not even have the strength to lift a finger. He secretly prayed that he would not run into the protective spell. It was best that the flying light reappeared in the apothecary chamber, allowing him to find Exquisite elixirs like the Immortality Elixir of East Pole. Whether he consumed elixirs from Huamei Heights or Taoist Chixia currently with him, it would still take three to four hours for him to recover.
“Thud!” The effect of the talisman disappeared and Meng Qi fell on the ground.
Before he could get a good look at his surroundings, a sound that seemed to be reciting the Buddhist chants came drifting to his ears.
“The nine-headed snake demon with human faces and a green serpent body…”
“The deity of Mount Zhong, a mythological beast, is named Zhu Yin. When he opened his eyes, it was daytime. When he closed his eyes, it was nighttime. When he exhales, the world sinks into wintertime. When he inhales, summertime will arrive in the world. He never drinks or eats. Indeed, he has no breath at all. His body stretches as far as a thousand miles…”
“There’s a bird with a crane-like body with a single foot. Its body is blue and its beak white. Its name is Bifang. When it cries, it means there’s a fire…”
It was as if there were a hundred monks reciting the characteristics, origins, as well as the obsessions of the ancient great demons and deities. The buzzing and humming sound reverberated without an end. Meng Qi was stunned for this was exactly what he needed at the moment.
The first eighteen transformations of the Eight Nine Mysteries technique were a change in species. He could transform himself into a flying insect with the head of a fly and the body of a flea. He could also turn into a tiny star that gradually morphed into a Grand Sun. It was also possible to go from a newborn to an elderly man. These transformations depended on his cultivation alone. Yet the first part of the thirty-six transformations already involved even greater and even more minute changes. It involved transformations into mythological animals, big monsters, demons, and deities. He could even morph into the Glowing Beast of the Diametric Charge, Bifang, and Zhu Yin. The direction of the transformations depended on the cultivator.
However, this resulted in a problem: Even though there was a mnemonic chant to this Mystic Art, his cultivation might fail if he was not familiar enough with the object of his transformation. He might even fail to master it.
Right then, the chanting voice immediately resolved many of the problems Meng Qi would face in his cultivation in the future!
Meng Qi noticed that this was a private quarters after looking around. The sounds of recitations came drifting from behind all four walls.
“Is this the place to cultivate Eight Nine Mysteries?” Meng Qi first took out his elixirs and consumed a pellet each.
In front of the hall, Yang Xizhi and Gu Heng were chasing after Meng Qi. The place once again fell into what appeared to be an immemorial silence.
Just then, a figure clad in a black robe stepped out from the shadows. He glanced in the direction in which Meng Qi and the rest left in and muttered to himself. His voice was apathetic yet exuded the vicissitudes of life.
“To think that Luya would attempt to spoil my plans. Is he finding it hard to temper his ambitions that the Primeval have quelled?”
