Chapter 596: Spirit-Gathering Hall

He had once observed the activation of an ancient teleportation array at Shangyuan Tranquility Palace and remembered clearly that they had used middle-grade spirit stones. This array in front of him should be no exception.

Although it appeared smaller and more complex than the one at Shangyuan Tranquility Palace, the method to activate it should be similar.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Eight spirit stones landed neatly into their respective sockets.

Qin Sang hadn’t held out much hope, but he still tried to activate the runes on the ancient teleportation array.

Unexpectedly, the moment the final spirit stone dropped into place, the altar began to tremble. The runes on the array lit up rapidly, and the entire hall started to hum with resonance.

The array grew increasingly radiant, and a powerful spiritual fluctuation began to stir, on the verge of erupting.

Gasp!

Qin Sang’s expression changed at once. He immediately stopped the activation and forcibly retrieved the eight middle-grade spirit stones.

He had only intended to test it. He hadn’t expected the array to be completely intact. That meant after Senior Qingzhu used it, he hadn’t destroyed the receiving end.

By simply stepping onto the array, he could teleport across. But Qin Sang gave up without hesitation.

The decision was an easy one. He certainly had no intention of leaving the Small Cold Domain.

He had yet to obtain the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances. The Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid was still in Yuncang Marshlands. And he had yet to fulfill his promise to Wandering Man. These were his keys to successfully forming a Spiritual Infant.

Moreover, after he and the others issued the early warning and helped both domains thwart the Sin Abyss' ambush, they had earned public promises from several Spiritual Infant cultivators. His life-bound astra was already secured.

The road ahead looked incredibly promising.

Only a fool would abandon such a favorable position to head into the unknown.

Even though a great war might be on the horizon, the moment he left Ziwei Palace, he could form his core and shake off the status of cannon fodder. He would no longer live as precariously as Foundation Building cultivators did, facing death at every turn.

On top of that, his sect had two Spiritual Infant experts presiding over it.

As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold.

That war might very well become an opportunity.

Qin Sang’s expression flickered uncertainly. He was beginning to suspect that the other side of the teleportation array was not a safe place. Either Senior Qingzhu had encountered danger there, or something had trapped him.

Having been tempered by the sword path, Senior Qingzhu would have easily refined the killing symbols. With his talent, the likelihood of forming a Spiritual Infant was extremely high.

And it had only been around two hundred years since the last emergence of Ziwei Palace.

Leng Yuntian was still alive, and Granny Jing clearly had deep ties to Senior Qingzhu.

He had yet to take revenge, still had close friends waiting for him, yet he never returned.

This did not align with the way Senior Qingzhu had conducted himself. Something was clearly wrong.

Qin Sang’s current cultivation was far weaker than Senior Qingzhu’s had been back then. Time was also tight. Even if there were treasures on the other side, it was not worth the risk.

With that in mind, Qin Sang decisively gave up, put away the spirit stones, and swiftly left the ancient hall.

By the lakeside, Wandering Man was waiting in the same spot. When he saw Qin Sang return unharmed, a look of relief crossed his face, and he stepped forward to greet him.

Qin Sang briefly shared some of what he had found in the ancient hall, but Wandering Man knew nothing of it, which left him somewhat disappointed.

...

"The vegetation here is far too lush. There must be a reason for it!"

Qin Sang stood atop a mountain peak, pointing toward a river valley in the distance and speaking with certainty.

The valley ahead was broad, and like the surrounding terrain, it was overgrown with wild grass and ancient trees.

But upon closer inspection, one could see that the trees here were especially towering. The sea of trees nearly reached the height of the adjacent mountain ridges, and the oldest among them even surpassed the highest peaks. Their massive crowns looked like small mountains.

Even the wild grass was unusually thick and robust, nearly resembling small trees themselves. The wildflowers were the size of basins.

Ziwei Palace had long remained untouched by humans, and most of its terrain had flourished with dense vegetation. Yet rarely were there so many enormous ancient trees like those here.

Wandering Man agreed wholeheartedly and nodded. "You’re right. The life force here is too abundant. It’s most likely the work of the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances. That elixir gathers the essence of heaven and earth, and its vitality reaches such an extreme that it’s revered as a sacred healing remedy. The Spirit-Gathering Hall must have landed in this area. Even if the Jade Liquid was well sealed, after so many years, the surrounding creatures and vegetation within dozens of li would inevitably be affected."

"Yi Tianye said the Spirit-Gathering Hall is hidden in the void. Many experts have noticed the abnormal vegetation here in the past. They turned this valley inside out but were still unable to find the source," Qin Sang said as he lifted his head and looked into the sky.

Ziwei Palace had no distinction between day and night. The sea of clouds stretched endlessly overhead, and though the sun was nowhere to be seen, the sky remained glaringly bright.

Qin Sang squinted and stared toward the edge of the sea of clouds.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

There, the clouds drifted and rolled in waves. Just like the borders of the shattered floating lands, chaotic currents surged around it.

And the turbulence within the clouds was far more terrifying, its power rivaling that of the gales above the heavens. Even Spiritual Infant cultivators dared not intrude.

Fortunately, the Spirit-Gathering Hall lay at the very lowest layer of that turbulence. With their current strength, they could still withstand it. However, trying to break the residual array in a place like that would be much harder. That responsibility would fall entirely on Wandering Man.

"So that’s where it is. No wonder..." Wandering Man glanced upward twice before confidently soaring into the air, gesturing for Qin Sang to follow.

"The Spirit-Gathering Hall is only a fragment of an array. There must be many fissures. It won’t be too difficult to break. Brother Qin, I’ll need you to clear the path with your sword. Follow my instructions."

Qin Sang nodded, unsealed his corpse core, and transformed into a streak of sword light as he shot ahead.

Once he ascended into the sky, his field of view expanded greatly. The most striking sight was a massive mountain piercing into the cloud sea. Faint glimmers of unusual light shimmered on its slopes, like tiny specks.

He wasn’t sure whether someone had entered the mountain, or whether it had always looked that way.

Within his range of vision, he also saw several pillars of light piercing the heavens. Just as Qin Sang rose into the air, he saw one such light pillar vanish. He immediately realized that a restriction in that area had likely been broken.

"Brother Qin, ten zhang to the right. Strike toward the position of the Western Palace[1]!"

Receiving Wandering Man’s guidance, Qin Sang followed without hesitation.

Judging by Wandering Man’s tone, the residual array of the Spirit-Gathering Hall appeared to align with the constellations. But to Qin Sang, it looked like nothing but chaos.

If they had followed Yi Tianye’s memory, they would have no choice but to brute-force their way in and look for flaws along the way—a method riddled with uncertainty.

But Wandering Man was calm and confident, offering clear directions.

Whoosh!

Qin Sang shifted ten zhang to the right and thrust his sword into the sky.

It looked like empty space, yet the moment the ebony sword pierced it, a slit of starlight appeared, flashing briefly before vanishing.

In the next moment, both Qin Sang and his sword disappeared into thin air.

Ziwei Palace vanished from sight.

They were now surrounded by endless darkness. In the distance, a few points of light flickered faintly. There was nothing above, below, left, or right to anchor oneself. Immersed in such an environment, a sense of dread naturally arose, and the urge to move toward those faint lights became difficult to resist.

Qin Sang channeled his sword qi to shield them both and scanned his surroundings warily.

He knew they had entered the array. He also understood there were many weaknesses hidden within, but finding the way to break it instantly was beyond his capability.

Wandering Man made a quick calculation, his eyes sharp like a hawk as he locked onto a cluster of lights in the distance.

Pointing toward them, he said in a low voice, "That should be the position of Legs[2]. The Array Eye is circulating there now. It’s the key to breaking the array. It’s in a badly damaged state, which makes it easier to break. Let’s go."

1. Traditional Chinese astronomy has a system of dividing the celestial sphere into asterisms or constellations, known as "officials". The asterisms are divided into four groups, the Twenty-Eight Mansions along the ecliptic, and the Three Enclosures of the northern sky. The southern sky was added as a fifth group in the late Ming dynasty based on European star charts, comprising an additional 23 asterisms. The Twenty-Eight Mansions are grouped into Four Symbols, each associated with a compass direction and containing seven mansions. One of the symbols is known as the White Tiger of the West or Western Palace. ☜

2. This is one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions of the Chinese constellations. ☜