A pitch-black ancient hall stood alone in the center of the ruins. It was built entirely from some unknown black stone, its surface covered in mottled traces of time and blurred ancient runes.
A heavy, oppressive, heart-stirring aura spread from the hall, as if it were a slumbering primordial beast.
The hall's doors were tightly shut, shimmering with flowing light. They were clearly enveloped by an extraordinarily powerful restriction.
The woman in the black veil—Leng Weiyue, the Heavenly Demon Sect's Holy Maiden—brought Li Qingshan to a halt a hundred zhang from the ancient hall.
Her expression was grave as she took out a compass-shaped magical treasure. Its needle spun wildly, emitting a dim, murky glow.
"Stay close to me. One wrong step will trigger the killing array, and even a Golden Core True Person won't be able to save you." Leng Weiyue's voice was cool and firm.
"Yes!"
Li Qingshan replied respectfully.
She formed a hand seal. The compass's dark light flared, projecting a twisted path of light that wound toward the ancient hall's entrance.
She stepped onto the path first, moving like a phantom as she deftly evaded countless invisible restriction nodes in the void.
Li Qingshan followed close behind, extending his divine sense to its fullest and carefully placing each step in Leng Weiyue's footprints.
He could clearly feel the terrifying energy fluctuations hidden in the surrounding space, held in check yet powerful enough to tear him to shreds in an instant. Fine beads of cold sweat gathered on his forehead.
The complexity and might of the restrictions surrounding the hall far exceeded his imagination.
The two reached the enormous doors without incident.
Up close, the doors felt even heavier and more ancient. They were carved with old designs of the sun, moon, and stars, as well as birds, flowers, fish, and insects, though most had grown indistinct.
Leng Weiyue put away the compass, her expression growing even more solemn.
She extended her slender jade hand and forced out several drops of blood essence from her fingertip. Then she traced a complex, blood-red sigil in the air and pressed it against the center of the doors.
"Vrrrm—!"
The doors shuddered. The flowing light on their surface abruptly intensified, rippling like water before finally revealing three distinct, nested layers of restriction.
Different runes flowed across each layer, emanating either scorching heat, icy cold, or the weight of a mountain.
"As expected, the Lesser Tri-Origin Restriction guards this place."
A trace of fatigue colored Leng Weiyue's voice. The secret art she had just used had clearly taken a considerable toll.
She turned to Li Qingshan and pointed at the outermost layer, which shimmered with earthen-yellow light and emanated the heaviest aura. "The first layer, the Thick Earth Restriction, specializes in defense. It must be broken through with immense force or a specific earth-type magical treasure. Leave it to me."
She then pointed at the middle layer, where blue arcs of lightning danced. "The second layer, the Yin Water Lightning Restriction, is insidiously poisonous. It excels at corroding spiritual power and the body. I have a secret treasure that can counter it."
Finally, her gaze fell on the innermost layer. It looked the most unremarkable, yet faint ripples of distorted space emanated from its transparent surface. "The third layer is the most troublesome. It's the Lesser Void Restriction. It looks weak, but it's the best at reflecting attacks and distorting spells, making it extremely difficult to strike effectively.
"It requires an extraordinarily precise sense of divine awareness to find its ever-changing nodes and break it with finesse. Fellow Daoist, I'll leave this restriction to you."
Her tone remained calm, but her sharp gaze fixed on Li Qingshan, scrutinizing him with an air that brooked no refusal. "I know you must be holding something back. There's no need to hide your abilities now. If we can't break this restriction, we'll both leave empty-handed."
Li Qingshan cursed her cunning inwardly.
She had clearly planned this in advance. She had prepared for the first two restrictions herself, but had dumped the most difficult, most skill-dependent, and most dangerous third restriction on him.
It was both a test and an attempt to use him.
But things had come this far, and he had no way out.
If he refused outright, the veiled woman in front of him would likely turn on him at once.
Li Qingshan nodded gravely. "I'll do my best."
He stepped forward, closed his eyes, and sank his entire mind into his divine sense, carefully probing the transparent Lesser Void Restriction.
The restriction was indeed extraordinarily ingenious. Its structure was not fixed but constantly twisting and shifting by minute degrees, its nodes moving with it and proving difficult to pin down.
Even cultivators with powerful divine senses would struggle to catch and calculate its fleeting flaws in time.
But Li Qingshan's divine sense had been tempered again and again by the Longevity True Art and the Wish-Fulfilling Gourd. It far surpassed that of his peers, and his ability to control it with precision was astonishing.
Time ticked by. Sweat gathered on Li Qingshan's forehead again, but his mind had never been more focused.
At last, amid the endless changes, he caught a hint of a pattern!
"Now!"
He snapped his eyes open and joined his fingers like a sword. A razor-sharp streak of blue finger force, infused with a trace of his Longevity True Essence, soundlessly struck a tiny distortion in the transparent screen just as it was about to vanish!
Ssh!
A faint sound, like a needle pricking a balloon.
The seemingly resilient Lesser Void Restriction shuddered violently, then quickly vanished as if melting snow.
Right after, Leng Weiyue gave a sharp cry and brought out a great seal shimmering with earthen-yellow light, smashing it against the Thick Earth Restriction. At the same time, she threw out a small silver net over the Yin Water Lightning Restriction. Lightning flashed, but the net swiftly absorbed it.
Boom! Crackle!
Two explosive sounds rang out almost simultaneously as the first two restrictions were broken in turn.
The heavy, pitch-black doors creaked as they slowly opened inward, leaving a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through. A smell drifted out, ancient and desolate, carrying the dusty scent of old books.
"Let's go!"
A flash of delight crossed Leng Weiyue's eyes. Without hesitation, she darted inside first.
Li Qingshan hesitated briefly, then followed her into the hall.
The interior was far more spacious than it had appeared from outside, as if it had been expanded by spatial magic.
However, the sight that greeted them was somewhat disappointing.
It was a vast, circular hall. The shelves that should have been lined with jade slips containing cultivation arts now lay mostly toppled over and empty.
Broken pieces of jade slips and rotted wood littered the floor, leaving the place in a state of disarray and ruin.
Clearly, someone had visited long ago—perhaps more than once.
"Hmph. Just as I thought. The core inheritance was taken by those who came before us."
Leng Weiyue snorted. She seemed to have expected as much, though she could hardly hide her disappointment. Without pausing, she swiftly swept her divine sense across the entire hall and waved a hand, gathering the few intact jade slips scattered on the floor and sending them into her storage pouch without even looking at them.
Li Qingshan followed suit, searching the hall carefully and picking up a few jade slips that appeared intact.
His divine sense also swept meticulously over every corner. Suddenly, he sensed a dust-covered, dull-colored, utterly unremarkable black jade slip wedged in the gap between a fallen bookshelf and the wall.
The jade slip was made of a peculiar material. His divine sense met a faint resistance as it passed over it, and it was hidden extremely well. If not for his exceptional divine sense, he would never have found it.
His heart stirred. While Leng Weiyue was focused on collecting a few jade slips on the opposite side, he moved without a sound. With a slight sweep of his sleeve, he deftly drew the black jade slip into it, the entire motion silent and swift as lightning.
Before you continue