The Bronze Gate Opens for a Moment

Ning Yao looked back repeatedly, keeping an eye on Pang Jian's movements even as she leaped across the ravines, terrified that he might do something unexpected.

Pang Jian stood like a monolith, not moving an inch.

It was only when Ning Yao finally climbed the wooden ladder to the deck of the Indeterminate Ferry and disappeared into the cabin after a brief search that Pang Jian dismounted and moved toward that thick, broad Phoenix Bone.

The withered bone, left behind by a Heavenly Phoenix from the Upper Realm, towered like a massive, wide sword, piercing straight into the dim firmament.

The so-called towering ancient trees in the vicinity were nowhere near as tall as this single withered bone, and the majestic, sacred aura it exuded left Pang Jian in awe.

He paced around the Remains of the Heavenly Phoenix.

At times, he looked up at the end of the bone piercing the sky, and at others, he gazed at the section embedded in the earth, a glimmer of hope gradually appearing in his eyes.

Ning Yao was right; he was indeed no simple, naive youth. He found it difficult to trust others and was not one to share everything with anyone.

He had even withheld information from Zhou Qingchen, choosing not to reveal the aftermath he had witnessed through his Eye of Imprint, let alone share it with Ning Yao.

Only he knew that as the Bloodthirsty Vine retracted into the fissures of the earth and the rumbling vibrations slowly subsided, a cluster of mysterious light had wandered within that massive, otherwise unremarkable withered bone.

The mysterious light would drift for a long while before gradually fading away, with everything eventually returning to its original state.

—This was the aftermath he had kept hidden.

He was willing to risk returning to this place, but certainly not out of kindness, nor to collect the belongings of Luo Meng and the others for Shangguan Qin.

The reason he had returned was to see exactly what that mysterious light drifting within the Phoenix Bone was.

He had suggested exploring the Indeterminate Ferry because he knew Ning Yao did not trust him and had become wary of him at every turn, and would likely do the opposite of whatever he proposed.

—Facts proved his intuition was correct.

When he said he wanted to explore the Indeterminate Ferry, Ning Yao had indeed stopped him, insisting that he remain outside.

Ning Yao herself had hurried off to explore, hoping to uncover the mysteries inside the tattered sailing ship alone.

This played right into Pang Jian's hands.

"Calculating the time, it should appear soon."

Pang Jian stared intently at the towering, broad Phoenix Bone, keeping a certain distance. He did not attempt to touch it with his hands as Zhou Qingchen had; he was simply waiting for the mysterious light to emerge.

After a long while.

A cluster of hazy, white, glowing light, resembling liquid amber, truly began to rise slowly from the depths of the Phoenix Bone where it met the earth.

The mysterious, pearly-white light drifted like a living creature, flying upward from the base of the massive withered bone.

Pang Jian fixed his gaze on the profound light, his eyes unmoving, terrified of missing a single detail.

In his mind, the image of that white, jade-like divine bone piercing the Azure Vulture flashed, and seeing the light with its similar luster, he felt both nervous and excited.

If such a powerful Azure Vulture could be killed so cleanly when pierced by the Heavenly Phoenix's bone, did this light, with its similar luster, also contain heaven-shaking, earth-shattering divine power?

If he were this close, would he be caught in the aftermath and vanish into dust like those two guards?

Anxious and uneasy, Pang Jian held his breath, observing and sensing carefully, yet he detected no terrifying heat from the drifting light, nor did he see the scene of countless runes whistling like drills.

"No, this is definitely not the divine bone. Zhou Qingchen was right."

He gradually realized the truth, and the hope and longing in his eyes slowly turned into deep disappointment.

This withered bone embedded in the earth was not at all the one he had seen before; it lacked the power capable of piercing the firmament, retaining only a trace of strangeness.

"Since it's not that one..."

Having confirmed this, Pang Jian's courage finally grew, and he dared to stand extremely close to the withered bone.

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, a joyful exclamation from Ning Yao came from deep within the cabin of the Indeterminate Ferry.

She seemed to have made a discovery as well, shouting from inside, "Pang Jian, is everything normal outside? Zhou Qingchen and that Shangguan Qin haven't come over, have they?"

"No, everything is normal," Pang Jian replied aloud.

The mysterious light drifting along the massive, pillar-like Phoenix Bone seemed to be attracted by his voice, quickly moving to the section of bone in front of Pang Jian, as if silently observing him.

"Bang! Bang-bang!"

The palm-sized, pearly-white light suddenly seemed to possess a life of its own, repeatedly slamming against the bone wall, attempting to break out of the Phoenix Bone and enter Pang Jian's body.

Pang Jian's expression changed abruptly, and he immediately stepped back, terrified of letting that cluster of light succeed.

He did not know what kind of mutation would occur within his body if this cluster of white light were to enter him.

However, he had seen with his own eyes the fate of the Azure Vulture and those two guards.

He had returned on this adventure to see if there was any mystery within the light, to see if he could obtain some visible fortune.

He was absolutely not going to gamble his life when he knew nothing about it.

"Bang!"

After several consecutive impacts, the white light, as Pang Jian retreated, actually forced its way out of the bone wall!

Pang Jian looked on in horror, wanting to grab something to block it, only to realize it was too late.

The liquid amber-like light shot straight toward the heart in Pang Jian's chest, seemingly intent on burrowing into it, but as it tore through the clothes on his chest, its fierce momentum was suddenly and forcibly halted!

As Pang Jian's mind reeled, the Bronze Gate pendant on his chest—that copper door which seemed as though it would never open—parted by a hair-thin slit.

"Whoosh!"

The Liquid Amber Glimmer, which should have burrowed into Pang Jian's heart to lie dormant and undergo its metamorphosis, was sucked straight into the bronze door.

The glimmer vanished in a flash, and the slit in the Bronze Gate snapped shut, as if nothing had ever happened.

At that very moment, deep within the fissures of the earth where Pang Jian could not see, an Ancient Vine Tree buried beneath the surface underwent a sudden, strange transformation.

The entire Ancient Vine Tree had long been impaled into the ground by the Phoenix Bone, its countless vines swaying like a monstrous, evil, and bewitching entity.

The instant that cluster of Liquid Amber Glimmer was absorbed by the Bronze Gate in Pang Jian's chest, every single Bloodthirsty Vines that had been thrashing wildly, along with the Ancient Vine Tree itself, withered and died in the blink of an eye, stripped of every trace of its supernatural aura.

Yet, Pang Jian remained completely oblivious.

He stood there in bewilderment, still holding his hands up in a defensive posture, only to realize he had been blocking nothing but air.

The mysterious Liquid Amber Glimmer that had darted from the Phoenix Bone, looking as if it meant to devour him, had vanished into thin air right before his chest.

The surface of the withered bone showed no signs of cracking; it remained as smooth as ever.

Yet, for some reason, as Pang Jian looked at the withered bone again, he felt that all its supernatural essence had vanished, leaving it devoid of any mystery.

Looking left and right, Pang Jian only discovered a subtle, barely noticeable slit in the clothing over his chest.

It was as if someone had just taken advantage of his lapse in focus to slice through his robe with a thin, sharp blade.

Pang Jian's expression turned strange as he stared at the inexplicable slit in his clothes, wondering if it had any connection to the vanished Liquid Amber Glimmer.

"Pang Jian!"

Just as he was deep in thought, wondering where that cluster of light had gone, Ning Yao rushed out from the Indeterminate Ferry, looking exhilarated.

A large cloth bag was slung over Ning Yao's back, stuffed so full that it made her figure appear somewhat bloated.

"I knew it! You saw the cultivation materials left behind by the Blood Moon practitioners inside the Indeterminate Ferry!"

She slapped the bag on her back with her free hand and said gleefully, "Spirit stones—they are essential materials for every practitioner!"

"In our Fourth Realm, almost all spirit stones, much like the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, contain dross that is difficult to purge. But the spirit stones carried by the Blood Moon experts in the cabin of the Indeterminate Ferry, while not of the highest grade, are precious because they are free of impurities!"

Ning Yao's face was filled with pleasant surprise as she waved her hand vigorously and exclaimed, "These are things we don't have in our Fourth Realm."

Carrying the massive bag, she leaped over the cracked fissures of the earth; though her speed was noticeably slower than when she had left, she could not hide the excitement on her face.

"Congratulations."

Pang Jian offered a lukewarm congratulation, never having expected that Ning Yao would actually find something of value inside the Indeterminate Ferry.

"Put them in the net bag under the warhorse's belly first; it's too conspicuous for me to carry on my back."

Once Ning Yao came over, she tossed out all the worthless items that had belonged to Liu Qi from the net bag under the warhorse's belly and replaced them with her bag of spirit stones, then sneered coldly, "Still trying to play clever with me?"

Pang Jian was speechless. "I truly didn't know there were Blood Moon spirit stones in there."

"Don't give me that! You were carrying that bamboo basket just to stash those spirit stones, weren't you?" Ning Yao pouted as she questioned him.

Pang Jian shook his head in silence.

"Forget it, I can't be bothered to argue with you. In consideration of your service keeping watch outside, and since it's only fair to share with those who witness a find, I'll give you a few pieces to use for your cultivation." After a moment's thought, Ning Yao took a few pieces of jade that looked like broken brick fragments from the warhorse's belly and tossed them into the bamboo basket on Pang Jian's back.

"What is this?"

She suddenly froze.

Inside the bamboo basket, the grayish-white stone radiating a faint "Profound Yin Power" had suddenly caught her eye.

By this time, after Pang Jian's repeated absorption, the "Profound Yin Power" within the strange stone was so thin and wispy that it was hard to detect without physical contact.

When Ning Yao had been close to it earlier, she had only felt a chill from the basket and hadn't thought much of it.

Now, looking closely, she sensed something was wrong and frowned. "So it's a stone rich in Yin energy. Ordinary people can't use this; only those with sinister or deviant spirit arts can absorb it. Pang Jian, where did you get this, and why are you carrying it with you?"

"I picked it up in a pile of rocks. It felt ice-cold when I held it, so I planned to see if I could sell it later," Pang Jian replied.

"You know, this thing actually has some value on the market," Ning Yao said, her suspicions dispelled. "It's just that this kind of niche material is in very low demand, so its value is usually not very high."

Not paying much more mind to it, Ning Yao tossed the few spirit stones she deemed "highly valuable" into Pang Jian's bamboo basket and urged him to mount his horse so they could return.

"Remember this: not a word of these spirit stones is to be leaked," she warned with a cold face.

"Oh."

Pang Jian agreed indifferently, then mounted his horse once more and charged toward the location of Zhou Qingchen and the others.