Beyond the stone gate lay a whole new world.
There was no seawater as expected, nor any of the dense, overlapping fog.
A long bridge paved entirely with translucent jade stretched beneath their feet. A gentle glow radiated from it as it extended deep into the boundless starry sky.
At the far end of the bridge stood a magnificent temple, so immense that words could hardly describe it, quietly looming amid the sea of stars.
The seven who had entered first, along with Chen Yan and Yu Qingmeng, who had come in right behind them, made nine in all. They stood together at the beginning of the bridge.
Jiang Wanjun gazed at the sight before her, then looked toward the temple in the distance. For once, her usually composed expression was now filled with barely contained excitement.
She drew a deep breath, her voice trembling with a hint of emotion she herself had not noticed.
"I once saw a few fragmentary references to the core inheritance grounds of the Sea of Enlightenment in an ancient, one-of-a-kind book kept by my family. I always thought they were just the imaginings and legends of our ancestors. I never expected... it to be real."
The young man who had awakened the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon knitted his brows and immediately stepped closer.
"Miss Jiang, you recognize this place? What kind of inheritance is this? Why go to such lengths to set it up?"
The others immediately pricked up their ears as well.
If even the favored daughter of an ancient Dao lineage like the Jiang family was this shaken, then this place's origins had to be beyond anything they could have imagined.
Jiang Wanjun did not answer right away.
Her gaze swept over everyone, one by one, before finally settling on Chen Yan.
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