Chapter 1510: Shocking News
Ahead were two large, barren mountains. The entire mountain range was made of dark red rock, like two giant blood-colored curtains blocking the way. The mountains soared into the sky, their peaks lost in the clouds.
The moment the flying sword landed, it transformed into a serpentine shadow of light. After tracing an arc, it slipped into Xue Tieyi’s wide sleeve.
The moment Li Yan’s feet touched the ground, his gaze naturally fell forward.
At the spot where they had landed, at the base of the two peaks, there was a gap just wide enough for three people to walk abreast, forming a narrow passage.
From Li Yan’s position, the two peaks stood almost side by side, forming an inverted ‘V’ that stretched across the land, blocking all paths forward.
Behind them was the edge of the red desert.
In the crevice at the base of the mountain, there was a layer of hazy yellow light, like a membrane, obscuring the view of what lay inside.
“This is our destination for this trip. What you need to do next is… to continuously release the Power of the Cold Moon and infuse it into this mountain crevice!”
Great Master Lan turned around and looked at Li Yan, who was surveying his surroundings.
Xue Tieyi did not speak, but his eyes were fixed deeply on the path ahead, his gaze locked on the mountain crevice, as if lost in memory.
Hearing this, Li Yan’s eyes filled with confusion.
Great Master Lan did not explain further, but pointed to the mountain crevice.
“Now, use your magical power, then your ordinary soul power, and finally, the Power of the Cold Moon, and probe behind the membrane in the crevice one by one.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t attack you. After you have probed with all three methods, tell us what you sense. After that, I will give you an explanation.”
After listening, Li Yan immediately nodded.
Things had come to this point, and he was already here. What was there to hesitate about?
He immediately circulated his magical power and, with a raise of his hand, a stream of magical power shot out and struck the yellow-glowing membrane.
The moment his magical power touched the membrane on the mountain crevice, Li Yan felt as if he had entered a swamp. But after three sluggish breaths, it passed through.
After his magical power entered, it only extended less than fifty zhang behind the mountain before it was dispersed by a strange force within.
Li Yan was not surprised by this. This was a perilous land, after all. The fact that Great Master Lan had him test it with three different powers already indicated that she wanted him to confirm the feedback from each.
Next, he sent a stream of soul power in. This time, as his soul power drifted behind the mountain, it was a bit stronger than when he had used his magical power; it wasn’t immediately dispersed.
But soon, Li Yan lost all control over this stream of soul power. He was clearly still trying to control it, but it was as if he could no longer sense its existence.
This gave Liayan a feeling of extreme powerlessness, like having all the strength in the world but being unable to use it. He had no choice but to give up control of that stream of soul power.
Finally, he sent the Power of the Cold Moon into the mountain crevice. The Power of the Cold Moon was still soul power, but it was a special kind of soul power cultivated through a special cultivation method.
This time, to his surprise, Li Yan found that he could clearly control this stream of the Power of the Cold Moon, allowing it to roam freely behind the mountain.
The strange forces within merely brushed past the Power of the Cold Moon, no longer dispersing or weakening it.
But it was still greatly affected. First, as this stream of the Power of the Cold Moon extended further, the Power of the Cold Moon Li Yan had cultivated was consumed at an accelerating rate.
Second, although Li Yan’s physical body was outside the mountain, he couldn’t determine the exact position and direction of the Power of the Cold Moon he had sent in.
After a while, he couldn’t even judge how far it had gone. It was like entering a thick fog.
Li Yan could only guess the approximate distance it had extended based on how much of the Power of the Cold Moon had been consumed…
After several dozen more breaths, Li Yan withdrew the Power of the Cold Moon.
Then, under the solemn gazes of the three, he thought for a moment, chose his words carefully, and then recounted his feelings from the three probes, one by one.
Finally, as he described his feelings after sending the Power of the Cold Moon into the mountain crevice, a look of joy appeared on Tang Feng’s face.
Although Xue Tieyi and Great Master Lan’s expressions did not change much, their eyes showed a look of “just as expected.”
After Li Yan finished speaking, Great Master Lan and Xue Tieyi exchanged a glance. After confirming what was in each other’s eyes, Great Master Lan turned to Li Yan and said, “The situation you’ve reported is not much different from our previous speculations.”
“Then, you now have the right to know the full story of this matter. We have a very limited understanding of the space behind these two mountain peaks!”
“But within it, there is very likely a… a path to the outside world…”
As Great Master Lan spoke, her voice slowed down. The last sentence was spoken as if under the weight of a great mountain, slow and deliberate.
But when Li Yan heard this, his body trembled uncontrollably. He instantly lost all his previous composure and blurted out, “A… a path to the… outside world?”
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized his loss of composure. A look of apology immediately appeared on his face, and he bowed in a salute.
“Elder Lan, this junior was just…”
“Enough, you don’t need to explain. It’s not just you. Even when I first learned of this, I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t much better than you are now.”
“Although you were a rogue cultivator before, you should know the origin of the Earth-True Domain by now, right?”
Great Master Lan just waved her hand, her expression unchanged.
She did not blame Li Yan for his shock or for rudely interrupting her. Anyone who came here for the first time and learned of this would be unable to remain calm.
If Li Yan had reacted with indifference, that would have made the three of them feel strange and suspicious.
“Are you referring to the matter of the Earth-True Domain being formed from a Heavenly Demon Dream Return Ant? This junior knows a little about it, but not much, and I can’t be sure if it’s true!” Li Yan replied.
“Of course, it’s true. And this place was indeed formed by a Dream Return Ant. Those rumors are not baseless!”
“Through the many fragmented jade slips we have obtained and our investigations from all aspects, we have finally determined that we are indeed living inside the body of a… a fallen Heavenly Demon!”
“It is for this very reason that we have been cut off from the outside world. And this place you see now, we speculate, should be the neck and throat of the Dream Return Ant.”
“Beyond this crevice might be its head, or perhaps even the location of the Heavenly Demon’s giant mouth. So as long as we enter the area behind the mountain and find its seven orifices, we might be able to get out from here!”
Great Master Lan’s voice was soft, but Li Yan’s entire head was buzzing. He listened with a pounding heart, a storm raging within his soul.
‘This might be the throat of the Dream Return Ant, and behind it is the head…’
His mind was reeling from every word Great Master Lan spoke. He was always thinking about being able to get out, but he could never find any valuable clues.
And today, when he was supposed to be here to awaken the two secluded Supreme Elders, he had never imagined that, completely unprepared, he would receive such precious news.
“You… you’re saying the two Supreme Elders are in seclusion here?”
No matter how strong Li Yan’s will was, his voice had changed at this moment.
“I always thought you were very smart!”
Great Master Lan gave Li Yan a sideways glance with her purple eyes. Li Yan was once again shocked.
“The… the Supreme Elders lost contact because they were searching for a way out?”
Only then did Great Master Lan nod.
“Alright, you should calm down now! Next, I can tell you the whole story…”
Afterward, Great Master Lan began to narrate, revealing the secret of this place…
Ever since the Soul-Suppression Palace entered the Earth-True Domain, after their initial exploration and a period of joyous discovery, they gradually figured out the situation here.
But they had never been able to find an exit to communicate with the outside world. At that time, however, they were not in a hurry.
The territory within the Earth-True Domain was vast, and its resources were plentiful. They treated it as a secret realm and lived and cultivated here.
But when the first-generation old Sect Master broke through and became a Body Integration Realm cultivator, he handed over the sect to the next Sect Master and began to focus on his own cultivation.
However, no matter how hard he cultivated, his cultivation eventually stalled at the late-stage Body Integration Realm, unable to break through to a higher realm.
So, in the following years, the old Sect Master began to search everywhere for a method to break through his cultivation.
Later, he discovered that the reason he couldn’t break through was because there was a layer of shackles here that obstructed the normal operation of the Heavenly Dao’s laws.
If he wanted to break through to a higher realm, he had to break the shackles here. These were the laws of heaven and earth formed by the Heavenly Demon. How difficult would it be to break them?
The most likely hope was to open a passage to the outside world. That way, the laws of heaven and earth from the outside could influence this place.
Even if it couldn’t influence this place, or if he could simply go outside to advance and then return to guard this place, it would still be a paradise for the Soul-Suppression Palace.
Knowing that the highest level of cultivation here would not exceed the Body Integration Realm, no cultivator would be willing to just wait for death after reaching the Body Integration Realm.
Although the lifespan of a Body Integration Realm cultivator could almost be considered eternal life, it was ultimately not the same as the sun and moon. There would still be a day when they would step onto the great dao of reincarnation.
And the higher a cultivator’s cultivation, the more they feared death, and the more they wanted to master the stronger powers of heaven and earth to roam freely throughout the world.
So after the old Sect Master announced this situation, the cultivators here once again began to search everywhere for an exit. The one with the most hope of finding an exit was, of course, the old Sect Master himself.
Thus, the old Sect Master, with his own strength, explored all the perilous lands here. After searching far and wide, he finally discovered that the most likely place was the unexplored perilous land in the back mountain of his own sect.