Hua Yuan's gaze deepened as he pointed to the tightly closed palace doors. The two empty, logical vacuums of the Primordial Stillness Lion began to slowly rotate. Three ancient restrictions were set up around Hua Jingyun's palace: the first layer monitored the Fate Soul force of those who entered.
The second layer records the presence of anyone who touches the barrier, and the third layer connects to the inner palace. Once any external object crosses the boundary, the protective Dao patterns will immediately notify Hua Jingyun of the disturbance. Hua Yuan never touched it in the slightest from beginning to end.
Since Hua Yin dared to send them here, he had already made it clear that this place was dangerous. If they forcibly broke any of the restrictions, their whereabouts would be completely exposed, regardless of whether they could find out Hua Jingyun's whereabouts.
The Primordial Stillness Lion slowly moved one of its front paws. Without any violent force striking the restraints, it stood before the birth of definition and narrative.
The monitoring Dao patterns that were slightly flowing on the palace gate, attempting to sense the Primordial Stillness Lion, suddenly came to a standstill. The Dao patterns themselves were intact and could be used to identify the Fate Soul imprint of the intruder, but they could not find an object to carry them.
The Dao patterns sought to discern the identity of the newcomer, but the Primordial Stillness Lion had no name to inscribe; the Dao patterns also sought to preserve its existence, but could find no boundary to record or define it. The judgment, which was about to take shape, was severed at its source the moment it touched that layer of dim golden light.
This is precisely why; Before Words; the Primordial Stillness Lion had not damaged even a fraction of the palace's restrictions, it merely prevented these restrictions from fully describing themselves. Seeing this, Hua An's eyes lit up, and she immediately lowered her voice. "Now."
Hua Yuan's hands moved swiftly, forming hand seals, and a delicate, subtle probe extended from between his brows. It did not directly leap over the palace gate, but instead relied on the dim golden silence surrounding the Primordial Stillness Lion, slowly seeping into the hall.
Hua An also sent out a branch of his Fate Soul perception. The two perceptions, one after the other, slowly advanced inside the palace. The dimly lit corridors, the closed side halls, the meditation rooms, and the underground secret chambers appeared one after another in the perception. The two of them firmly controlled the scope of their exploration, focusing on searching for any trace of Hua Jingyun's Fate Soul.
Just as the two senses passed through the second layer of restrictions, a sensing pattern deep within the palace suddenly became alert. Buzz! An ancient pattern hidden in the void instantly lit up, tracing back the path of Hua Yuan's probing senses. Hua Yuan's pupils contracted sharply.
But the moment this tracing wave touched the Primordial Stillness Lion, the originally sharp and clear vibrations quickly dissipated. The Primordial Stillness Lion didn't even raise its head. The silent force field that enveloped the entire palace rippled outwards with a hazy golden ripple.
The tracking pattern was incorporated into it, and all vibrations were regarded as an incomplete oscillation. The originally rising sensing frequency gradually fell back, eventually almost returning to nothingness. The section of Dao pattern that maintained the tracking deep within the restriction dimmed, and the lock that had just been established completely collapsed.
All Sounds Return to Stillness. A fine layer of cold sweat beaded on Hua Yuan's forehead. He dared not delay for a moment, and took this opportunity to extend his senses deeper into the hall. However, a strange scene unfolded. Nothing. He could not find Hua Jingyun.
Hua An's brows furrowed tightly. The two continued their meticulous search. Inside the main hall of seclusion, clear traces of the Fate Soul remained, and the original imprints accumulated over many years of cultivation at the True Annihilation Realm level were still visible around the futon. Many of the restrictions within the hall were still operating automatically according to the settings Hua Jingyun had made during his seclusion. These signs alone were enough to prove that Hua Jingyun had been staying here for a long time.
But they couldn't find Hua Jingyun alive. "What happened..." Hua Yuan's eyes grew increasingly suspicious.
He glanced at the Primordial Stillness Lion, then at the tightly closed palace doors. After a moment's hesitation, he finally raised his right hand. The Primordial Stillness Lion's giant claw, which had been hovering at the Threshold, slowly rose, its palm pointing towards the palace.
The Overtone Recollection did not fully resonate; Hua Yuan merely borrowed a faint resonance. He dared not command this ancient divine beast to trace back the entire palace, for once Hua Jingyun's secluded cultivation place was irreversibly altered and destroyed, everything that happened tonight would no longer be able to be concealed.
A faint, almost invisible ripple spread from the base of the claw. Everything in the hall that already possessed a definite form responded subtly when the ripple swept over it. The stone walls, the futons, the array patterns, the lingering aura of Fate Soul, and all the traces left by Hua Jingyun in the past, all trembled slightly at their own inherent frequencies.
Hua An and Hua Yuan simultaneously closed their eyes, waiting for a response from Hua Jingyun himself. One breath, two breaths, three breaths... still no response. Hua An suddenly opened her eyes, her expression drastically changed. "Could he really be..."
Before he could finish speaking, Hua Yuan suddenly turned his head. Dozens of powerful auras were rapidly approaching from afar! The leading aura was far more powerful than the True Annihilation Realm, and wherever it passed, the protective Dao patterns of the Hua Lineage in the sky responded in response.
"Someone's coming!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Hua Yuan slammed down the dark gold seal with a powerful palm strike. The enormous Primordial Stillness Lion immediately began to shrink inward. The dim golden halo surrounding the palace rapidly converged towards the stone steps, and its four legs, body, and the still time strings all transformed into dark gold streams of light, merging into the seal.
Finally, what dissipated was the two slowly rotating logical vacuums. The entire process left not a trace of the Fate Soul's imprint that could be traced. In Before Words, from the very beginning of its existence, the restrictions of this place had no way to record it.
Hua Yuan grabbed the seal. "Go!" Hua An had already rushed to his side, and the two of them tore through the void in front of them at the same time, stepping into the rift. The spatial rift closed, and their auras completely disappeared.
Just a few breaths later— Whoosh! The space above Hua Jingyun's palace trembled violently. Dozens of figures stepped out from the void, led by a woman— Hua Qingyan, the fifth elder of the Hua Lineage, Eternal Silence Realm · Supreme!
Behind her were dozens of disciples of the Hua Lineage, all possessing the True Annihilation Realm · Supreme. The moment they appeared, they scattered in all directions. Hua Qingyan did not immediately land on the ground. Her robes fluttered gently in the night wind. Her cold gaze swept from the stone steps all the way to the palace gate, and then surveyed the sides of the palace and the surrounding void.
Her brows furrowed deeper and deeper. "Impossible..." Hua Qingyan slowly descended to the front of the stone steps, her gaze fixed on the spot where the dark gold seal had been placed. Emptiness there.
She looked around again. "How is this possible? I clearly sensed the aura of an ancient divine beast. No, no, how could my senses be wrong..."
A disciple behind him hesitated for a moment, then bowed slightly, his expression respectful. "Elder Qingyan, did you truly sense the ancient divine beast?"
Hua Qingyan suddenly turned around. Her pupils contracted sharply, and the oppressive aura of the Eternal Silence Realm · Supreme's pinnacle poured out, instantly turning the disciple's face pale. "Stop talking! Quickly search the surroundings!"
"Yes!" The disciple dared not say anything more and quickly called the others to scatter and explore. Dozens of True Annihilation Realm · Supreme cultivators split up and acted separately. Some carefully examined the stone steps, some went deep into the outer forest, and several others leaped into the sky to search for any remaining spatial fluctuations.
Hua Qingyan slowly closed her eyes. She brought two fingers together in front of her chest. A slender, pale white Fate Soul pattern unfolded from between her brows, rapidly spreading across the surrounding void. This was a source-tracing divine ability specifically designed to track residual auras. As long as a powerful life form had once resided here, its subtle fluctuations would be almost impossible to completely conceal.
The senses swept across the stone steps— Emptiness. They swept across the palace gate—still Wuhen. The senses continued to extend outwards, covering the entire area surrounding the palace. Still, nothing was found.
Hua Qingyan opened her eyes, genuine confusion on her face. Her lips moved slightly. "Could it be that my perception is playing tricks on me?"
Before long, the disciples who had scattered to investigate returned one after another. "Reporting to Elder Qingyan, no abnormalities were found." "No unusual phenomena in the western area." "No unfamiliar auras were detected in the outer perimeter." "Does Not Exist traces of tearing in the void either."
Reports came one after another, Hua Qingyan remained silent for a long time. Finally, she raised her hand and waved. "All of you, step down and return to your posts!" "Yes!" Dozens of disciples withdrew one after another.
After everyone had left, Hua Qingyan still stood alone before the stone steps, her cold eyes slowly sweeping over Hua Jingyun's tightly closed palace door one last time, the cold light in her pupils lingering for a long time.
"Perhaps it was indeed a perceptual error; otherwise, how could Elder Hua Jingyun have been completely unaware?" She no longer lingered there. With a flick of her sleeve, her figure rose into the air and instantly disappeared into the dark palaces and buildings of the Hua Lineage. Hua Jingyun's secluded palace returned to its former silence.