A Shocking Change in the Forbidden Zone; A Vast Net That Stirs the Saint Lord

Violent winds raged like knives, running wild and crazily across the pitch-black valley mouth.

The Netherwind of Sorrowwind Valley was not ordinary wind; it was a wind of the netherworld laced with extreme yin terrestrial energy. If ordinary divine iron fell into it, it would be blown into a pile of debris within three to five days.

Lu Li, standing at the edge of the flying boat, had a somewhat pale complexion at the moment.

The spiritual power within his body was rapidly consuming to sustain the defense light barrier outside the flying boat. Yet compared to the depletion of spiritual power, what made him feel even more terrified was the nearly pleading tremor coming from the longsword in his embrace.

Could there truly be an peerless treasure emerging at the bottom of the valley?

Lu Li gritted his teeth, a flash of struggle crossing his eyes.

As a cultivator, not to feel moved when facing a fortuitous opportunity would be a lie. Yet he also knew that Sorrowwind Valley was a holy land forbidden zone; the slightest carelessness would result in the end of his life and the destruction of his soul.

I shall only take a look at the outermost edge. If there is danger, I will retreat immediately!

The desire to grow stronger ultimately conquered the fear. Lu Li slapped his storage pouch, conjuring a wind-averting talisman that emanated a faint yellow glow and affixing it to his body. He then put away the flying boat, his figure resembling a light wildcat as he cautiously slid down the steep rock wall toward the bottom of the valley.

The wind grew steadily stronger.

The rocks all around presented a heart-palpating, deathly black—the traces left behind by the buffeting of the Netherwind for tens of thousands of years.

Yet when Lu Li had descended about five hundred zhang and his feet had just landed on a pile of protruding, jumbled stones, his gaze suddenly froze.

Not far ahead, amidst a patch of pitch-black rubble and debris, a warm white glow was abruptly shining.

That was a white jade fragment roughly the size of a palm.

It simply lay quietly amidst the pile of jumbled stones. No matter how the Netherwind—which was powerful enough to erode divine iron—buffeted it, its surface remained crystalline and translucent, unstained by a single speck of dust, without even a trace of being weathered and eroded.

In this pitch-black, dead, and decaying valley bottom, this patch of white was as holy as a star falling from the nine heavens.

This... what kind of jade is this? Even the Netherwind is completely unable to harm it by the slightest margin?!

Lu Li's breath caught, and monstrous waves surged in his heart.

Enduring the shock in his heart, he walked step by step toward that white jade fragment.

When he was still ten zhang away from the fragment, a "boom" suddenly rang beside his ears, and the previous sacrificial chanting instantly magnified countless times!

That was definitely no auditory hallucination.

Vaguely, he seemed to see a magnificent and grand picture: countless tall figures wearing ancient immortal armor and possessing terrifying auras that made it impossible for him to even generate thoughts of resistance were densely kneeling before an unimaginably towering and majestic giant gate, kowtowing toward the void and chanting lost sacrificial songs in their mouths.

Pfft—!

Merely catching a glimpse of a corner of that picture, Lu Li was struck as if by a heavy blow, opening his mouth to spew a large mouthful of fresh blood. His entire body was sent flying miserably backward, crashing heavily against the rock wall.

Fresh blood slowly spilled from his eyes, ears, and nostrils alike.

Im... Immortals!

Lu Li could not spare the effort to wipe the fresh blood from his face; the shock in his eyes had already grown to the absolute extreme.

Merely the weak lingering might emitted by a single fragment had almost shattered his soul alive! This was definitely not an artifact that a practitioner of the Canglan Realm could possess, and even... Supreme-being-level great experts' divine weapons were utterly impossible to be terrifying to this extent!

Something huge has happened!

Lu Li struggled to his feet. He knew that this item was by no means something he, an inner sect disciple, could lay his hands on. He firmly memorized the location of that white jade fragment and, enduring the excruciating pain in his soul, ran frantically toward the outside of the valley.

Half an hour later.

Primeval Holy Land, Heavenly Sword Peak.

Within the main hall, Heavenly Sword Guest, the master of Heavenly Sword Peak, was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. Having witnessed the Heavenly Court phenomenon last night, the bottleneck in his sword dao had loosened faintly, and he was currently fully comprehending it.

Suddenly, a hurried and flustered sound of footsteps came from outside the hall.

"Peak Master! Peak Master, save me! Disciple Lu Li has a matter of supreme importance to report!"

Heavenly Sword Guest frowned slightly and slowly opened his eyes, a sharp strand of sword Qi flashing across them.

"What is so flustered? What kind of behavior is this."

The hall doors burst open. Lu Li, covered in blood and with a withered soul, scrambled in and directly collapsed to his knees.

Heavenly Sword Guest had originally been somewhat displeased, but when his gaze landed upon the fine steel longsword in Lu Li's embrace, his expression suddenly shifted.

The fine steel longsword that Lu Li usually regarded as a treasured possession was now covered in densely packed cracks across its blade. What was even more unbelievable was that at the tip of the sword, a trace of an extremely faint yet noble-to-the-extreme profound aura was actually stained.

That aura was identical to the supreme law that had appeared in the sky last night!

"Where did you obtain this aura?!"

Heavenly Sword Guest rose to his feet in an instant, and a terrifying sword pressure spontaneously emanated, pressing the void until it creaked.

Enduring the pressure, Lu Li cried out hurriedly, "Re... reporting to the Peak Master, at the bottom of Sorrowwind Valley! Today, when this disciple was patrolling the forbidden zone, I discovered a white jade fragment at the valley bottom. It contains supreme heavenly might; this disciple merely approached it, and my spiritual sword was shattered by its aura, while my soul was nearly destroyed!"

"What?!"

Heavenly Sword Guest's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of needle tips.

Without the slightest hesitation, he flicked a large sleeve, and a gentle surge of spiritual power immediately swept up Lu Li. His figure instantly transformed into a Heaven-Piercing Sword Radiance piercing through heaven and earth, heading straight for the Primeval Holy Hall!

A few breaths later.

Primeval Holy Hall.

Having received the news, Ji Changkong had already appeared out of thin air before the hall the moment Heavenly Sword Guest landed.

Not only him, but Void Peak Master Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws and several other reclusive supreme elders also transformed into divine light and sped over.

The "Heavenly Court collapsing" phenomenon of last night had already made them birds startled by the mere twang of a bow. Now, hearing that a mysterious white jade carrying a homologous aura had appeared within Sorrowwind Valley, this group of the absolute pinnacle bigwigs of the Canglan Realm could no longer maintain their past detachment and calm.

"Lu Li, is what you speak true?!"

Ji Changkong stared fixedly at Lu Li, the vast aura unique to a peak Dao-Slaying great expert causing the air in the entire hall to nearly congeal.

With a pale complexion, Lu Li tremblingly extended his right hand and pointed in the direction of Sorrowwind Valley, "This... this disciple is willing to make a heavenly oath; there is not a single word of falsehood! That piece of white jade lies right within the pile of jumbled stones at the deepest part of Sorrowwind Valley!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

Ji Changkong uttered the word "good" three times in succession, the fanatical look in his eyes nearly brimming over.

"Everyone, follow this old man for a trip!"

Ji Changkong did not even employ a flying boat. His entire body surged with purple Qi, transforming into a giant purple Qi palm that swept up Heavenly Sword Guest, Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws, and Lu Li together. Taking a single step, ripples formed in layers across the void, and he instantly vanished from the spot.

The bottom of Sorrowwind Valley.

The Netherwind still whistled ceaselessly, but under the protection of supreme great expert Ji Changkong, that gale capable of melting divine iron could not even touch the corners of everyone's garments.

"Holy Master, that pile of jumbled stones ahead is the place!" Lu Li pointed ahead, a trace of instinctive fear still lingering in his voice.

The group looked in the direction he pointed.

When they clearly saw the fragment emitting a faint white light amidst the jumbled stones, the breathing of Ji Changkong and the others halted at the exact same moment.

"This... this is..."

Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws stepped forward, and his hands began to tremble.

As the grandmaster of the Canglan Realm most versed in array formations and the operation of the heavenly dao, he had merely taken a single look to discover that the void surrounding that white jade presented an extremely bizarre collapsed state.

It was not because of gravity, but because the "status" of that piece of jade was so high that the incomplete laws of this realm were actually unable to properly support it!

"One hundred and twenty thousand years..."

Ji Changkong slowly closed his eyes, his vast divine sense probing forward extremely cautiously like tentacles.

Within the perception of his divine sense, the weathered traces remaining on this piece of jade had undergone the baptism of endless years. That mottled sense of time perfectly matched—on the timeline—with the catastrophe recorded in the sect's ancient classics that had caused the historical fault line of the Canglan Realm ten thousand years ago!

"One hundred and twenty thousand years of vicissitudes, the Netherwind blowing against bones. The Immortal Spirit Qi within it has nearly drained away completely, yet its essence remains superior to us mortals..."

Tremblingly, Ji Changkong extended his hand and summoned gently.

That white jade fragment—heavy beyond measure, which even the laws of heaven and earth faintly repelled—slowly descended into his palm.

Hum—

The instant the fragment came into his possession.

A vicissitudinous, ancient fluctuation carrying boundless sorrow surged instantly into Ji Changkong's mind along his palm.

In a trance, he heard the roars of countless powerhouses, heard the Immortal Palace above the nine heavens burning, and heard the reluctant cries of gods shedding blood:

["The Southern Heavenly Gate has been breached... Divine Strategy Army, obey my command, fight to the death and do not retreat!"]

["His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor has decreed... Severing the Connection Between Heaven and Earth, seal the Myriad Realms Passage, absolutely prevent the ominous taint from contaminating the lower realms!"]

["Kill—!!"]

The tragic battle song exploded in Ji Changkong's mind.

Pfft—!

Ji Changkong's body shook violently, his complexion flushing brightly, and he too could not help but spew a mouthful of essential blood.

Yet he felt not the slightest pain; instead, he laughed wildly, his laughter filled with unprecedented shock and ecstatic joy.

"The Southern Heavenly Gate!"

"This is... a fragment of the Southern Heavenly Gate!"

Ji Changkong raised the white jade fragment in his hand, pointing at the uneven fracture upon it, and roared hoarsely to the several elders beside him:

"Look at this fracture! This is by no means natural weathering; this was cleanly severed by a certain supreme sword Qi with a single strike! One hundred and twenty thousand years have passed, and the sword intent remaining upon this still makes this old man's soul tremble!"

Heavenly Sword Guest stared fixedly at the imperceptible scratch on that white jade.

Merely a glance, and two streams of fresh blood flowed from the eyes of this peerless heavenly sword master who was acclaimed as the number one in sword dao in the Canglan Realm. Yet he remained completely oblivious, instead crying out wildly as if he had obtained a supreme treasure:

"How terrifying sword intent... This single strike transcends the boundaries of time and space! This is definitely not the sword of a mortal, this is... the sword of an immortal!"

"It matches up completely!" Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws also had a flushed face, trembling all over with excitement. "In last night's phenomenon, the Heavenly Court collapsed and the immortal path was severed. And today, we discovered the fragments of the Heavenly Court's Southern Heavenly Gate within the forbidden zone!"

"What does this prove? This proves that during that Desolate Ancient catastrophe back then, there were plates shattered from the Heavenly Court that plummeted into our Canglan Realm!"

"Our Canglan Realm... was once part of the Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court, or rather, one of the myriads of realms governed under the Heavenly Court!"

For a time, all the bigwigs fell into crazy self-indoctrination.

They strung the illusion of last night and the white jade broken brick discovered today into an impeccably flawless logical chain within their minds.

No one suspected that this had been fabricated by someone.

Because the "immortal Qi" remaining on this white jade—its grade was so high that, let alone Ji Changkong, even the legendary supreme emperors in the history of the Canglan Realm would have been utterly incapable of forging it!

This was a dimensional reduction strike.

Using true immortal dao laws to deceive a group of mortal cultivators who could not even touch the gates of immortality was simpler than playing with children.

[Ding!]

At this very moment.

In the quiet Library Pavilion, Su Chen was holding a cup of clear tea, quietly listening to the torrential system notification sounds echoing in his mind:

[Detected that contemporary great expert "Ji Changkong" has discovered a mythic relic and brain-puzzled 'the mystery of the Desolate Ancient catastrophe and the Canglan Realm's historical fault line', achieving a perfectly closed logical loop.] ["Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court" entry dissemination degree increased: 5% -> 12%!] [Obtained Karma Points: +6,000 points!]

[Detected that great expert "Heavenly Sword Guest" contemplated immortal dao sword intent, generating self-doubt and extreme awe... Obtained Karma Points: +2,200 points!]

[Detected that great expert "Perfected One Ten Thousand Laws" refined the mythic worldview... Obtained Karma Points: +1,800 points!]

[...]

[Congratulations, host! Current total available Karma Points: 10,900 points!]

"Ten thousand exceeded."

Listening to the sound in his mind, Su Chen took a gentle sip of the spiritual tea, a profound look of mastery over the situation flashing within his warm, translucent eyes.

Merely a white jade brick worth 3,000 Karma Points had traded back a generous reward of over ten thousand points for him.

More importantly, this "seed" had completely taken root within the Primeval Holy Land.

From this day forward, the entire Primeval Holy Land would become the sharpest chess pieces in his hands. They would exhaust all resources and strength to verify this desolation ancient secret they believed they had "discovered."

Yet just as Su Chen prepared to check the system store and plan what to exchange for next, a red prompt abruptly popped up on the system panel.

[Warning: Karma Points have surged drastically, and heavenly dao induction has intensified. The residual heavenly dao will of the Canglan Realm is attempting to analyze the rules of the "Southern Heavenly Gate Fragment".] [If the analysis succeeds, the heavenly dao will see through the illusory nature of this fragment, causing the myth to collapse and provoking karmic backlash.]

Su Chen's movements paused slightly, the hand holding the teacup hanging suspended mid-air.

"Heavenly dao analysis?"

His brow furrowed slightly.

He had indeed overlooked this layer. Although the Canglan Realm possessed incomplete laws, it was still the will of a world after all; faced with "immortal dao laws" that did not belong to this world, it would instinctively attempt to assimilate and analyze them.

And this white jade brick was merely a lowest-grade item materialized by the system. Over time, once assimilated by the heavenly dao rules, the lie would collapse without attack.

"Before the heavenly dao completely analyzes it, I must add a 'lock' to this fragment."

Su Chen's eyes narrowed slightly as his sight returned to the system store.

He needed an ancient concept capable of overriding the heavenly dao of the Canglan Realm and even forcibly shielding against heavenly dao perception.

And this concept had to be personally unraveled by him, this "person in the know."

At that moment, outside the grand hall came the impassioned conversation of Ji Changkong and the others.

"Holy Master, upon this white jade fragment, there seem to be ancient divine scripts carved!"

"Pity... Having undergone one hundred and twenty thousand years, these divine scripts have been eroded by time, and they contain immortal dao laws. If we forcibly read them with our divine sense, our souls will inevitably be shattered by the immortal might!"

"Could it be that we stand before an immortal dao fortuitous opportunity, yet can only gaze upon it with envy and remain unable to take action?"

Listening to these sounds, the corners of Su Chen's mouth slowly curved into an unfathomable smile.

"Cannot understand the divine scripts?"

"Is this not the best lock of all?"

He gently set down the teacup in his hand, slowly stood up, and patted away the non-existent dust on his azure robes.

"It is also time for the avatar 'Su Chen' to reveal a trace of... negligible value before the various great experts."