The upturned eaves and interlocking brackets, the gray tiles and white walls, the two stone guardian beasts standing before the main gate, weathered almost beyond recognition, and the sturdy dragon-carved pillars lining either side of the stone steps.
If one ignored the desolate, eerie surroundings of the secret realm, this place could have been the ancestral shrine of some venerable, century-old clan in the mortal world.
This was Zhou Shrine.
A Law Position wonder left behind by Zhou Guitianli True Monarch.
At the end of the passageway, roughly a hundred zhang from the main entrance of Zhou Shrine, stood several broken stone steles.
In the uneven ruins behind the steles, several figures lay in wait.
They all wore matching moon-white Daoist robes, embroidered with cloud patterns at the cuffs and collars, and carried fine Magic Swords at their waists.
From their attire alone, it was clear they weren't Rogue Cultivators who lived by the blade. They belonged to a righteous sect with a respectable heritage.
Their leader was a fair-faced, middle-aged Cultivator with three long wisps of beard. His name was Zhao Qingshi, an Inner Sect Elder of Qingyuan Sect, a prestigious and well-known righteous sect in the south. At that moment, he waved a jade-bone folding fan and leisurely lectured several young disciples beside him.
"Remember this well. If anyone follows the Law Position's guidance and comes this way, don't strike them down outright."
Zhao Qingshi folded his fan and tapped it lightly against his palm. "Our Qingyuan Sect is a prestigious righteous sect, so naturally, we must distinguish our conduct from that of wicked heretics. The rules in this Heavenly Gate are harsh: killing others lets you seize all their opportunities. But if we kill everyone we meet, not only will it go against the will of Heaven,