Chapter 562: Entering the Relic

Lin Youjian scared off the Ghost Octopus, and the rest of the journey was relatively peaceful; although there were a few places where spatial ripples faintly undulated, no High-Tier Beast launched an attack on them.

The group traveled by Wind Riding, and after about an hour, they saw a large expanse of cyan light curtains flickering in the distance ahead.

In this land where the pitch-black soil seemed to stretch endlessly, the cyan light curtain was very conspicuous and quite massive, like a great mountain, stretching out and obscuring…

Looking at that cyan light curtain, the heartstrings that Lin Youjian had kept taut slightly relaxed. "Finally here!"

Duan Rong and the others had imagined countless times what the God-Demon Relic would look like, but they had not expected it to be such a massive, flickering cyan light curtain. "Could this be the God-Demon Relic?"

They did not know that what they were seeing now was merely one of the sixty-four Zhou Tian Arrays, and not the full appearance of the great array, but just the look of the outermost ring.

During the ten days of intensive training, neither Lin Youjian nor Liu Su had spoken to Duan Rong and the others about the sixty-four Zhou Tian Arrays surrounding the God-Demon Relic. After all, this knowledge was useless for their survival inside the God-Demon Relic. The ten days of training were already very tight on time, and it was mainly focused on the situation inside the God-Demon Relic.

Therefore, Duan Rong and the others were all confused when they saw the massive cyan light curtain, thinking they had already seen the God-Demon Relic.

Under the lead of Lin Youjian, the group picked up their speed, and not long after, they arrived before the cyan light curtain.

Lin Youjian flew up into the air, suddenly flipped her hand, and held a wedge-shaped Array Tablet in her palm.

As soon as Duan Rong approached and looked at the nimble, flickering appearance of the cyan light curtain before him, he could already tell it was a Symbol Array; seeing the Array Tablet Lin Youjian held in her hand further confirmed his judgment.

Lin Youjian held the Array Tablet and cast a spell, pointing it at the cyan light curtain; the cyan light curtain before them suddenly blurred and shifted, and then an oval-shaped opening flashed out.

Seeing the scene before them, Duan Rong, Jiang Hanyan, and a few others were relatively calm, but there were also a few who were unfamiliar with Symbol Arrays, and expressions of astonishment appeared on their faces.

Duan Rong noticed that among the few, the one with the most bewildered expression was Su Xinjue. Shentu Ying had lived in seclusion in the Purple Bamboo Forest for many years, and although Su Xinjue had followed her in cultivation for ten years, she had also been dormant within the Purple Bamboo Forest and had not seen much of the world.

Lin Youjian turned her head and said, "Liu Su, take them in!"

"Alright!" Liu Su responded, looking at Duan Rong and the others, saying, "Line up, and follow me in order!"

The group subsequently entered the cyan light curtain; Lin Youjian was the last to retrieve the Array Tablet that had been hovering there, and with a flicker of her figure, she flashed inside.

The moment she flashed in, the cyan light curtain shook and shifted, the oval-shaped opening vanished, and the cyan light curtain returned to its original state.

Upon entering the cyan light curtain, the space before them was not very large, only about the size of two rooms, and all around were flickering arc-shaped light curtains, with shades of color that differed slightly.

Lin Youjian looked at them and said, "It is very safe here now; you may rest for a while."

Hearing this, everyone finally let out a long sigh; they were all quite exhausted.

Lin Youjian walked up to Liu Su and said, "Liu Su, watch them and don't let them run around. I am going inside to take a look. See if the array that opens the passage to the God-Demon Relic has been activated yet?"

Liu Su looked at Lin Youjian with a smile and said, "Rest assured! Go ahead."

Liu Su and Lin Youjian were both elders of the younger generation in the Elder Council, and the two had known each other for decades; twenty-nine years ago, the two had even entered the God-Demon Relic together.

In fact, from that time on, Liu Su had been moved by Lin Youjian. But alas, the prince was willing, but the goddess was heartless!

Lin Youjian had suffered emotional wounds in her early years and was very repulsed by matters between men and women! Liu Su naturally could sense Lin Youjian's attitude, and therefore had never revealed his inner thoughts.

Lin Youjian nodded, then turned and left, coming before an arc-shaped light curtain; she tapped the light curtain with the Array Tablet and flashed inside.

Duan Rong and the others were all there, sitting cross-legged, meditating and recuperating.

As soon as Lin Youjian entered that light curtain, she discovered that the vast space before her was permeated with pale cyan mist.

She saw a blurred figure walking toward her from the mist; it was not until she was close that she recognized it as Fu Xingjian, the presiding Elder of one of the sixty-four Zhou Tian Arrays.

Fu Xingjian looked at Lin Youjian not far away with a smile and said, "Little Girl Lin, are you leading the team this year?"

Lin Youjian smiled and said, "That's right! Elder Fu, it has been a while."

Fu Xingjian said, "After I stepped down, I was sent to this godforsaken place to preside over the array; where would you have seen me?"

Lin Youjian smiled and said, "This place is the foundation of the Sect; how has it become a godforsaken place in Elder Fu's mouth?"

"Of course it is the foundation!" Fu Xingjian said, "But it is indeed godforsaken!"

Lin Youjian knew that this Fu Xingjian had been lazy by nature back in the Sect in his earlier years and had caused some unseemly incidents, but he happened to have a very glib tongue, which made Yang Sixuan of the Ruling Sect Justice Division and Zhu He of the Inner History Department quite troubled, which was why he was sent here by Sect Master Chu Qiushan to preside over the Zhou Tian Array.

Lin Youjian looked at the mist permeating the vast space and asked, "Is the great array almost ready?"

She asked this because she knew that the pale cyan mist in this space was not a pretense, but mist that generated spontaneously after the great array was set up.

Fu Xingjian nodded and said, "It has been set up; we are just waiting for the Ancestor to come and preside over it personally, and then it can be activated!"

Just at this moment, a wind suddenly rose for no reason behind the two, blowing the cyan mist there into a surge.

Amidst the surging cyan mist, a figure had already walked over slowly.

Speak of the devil, and the devil appears. Ancestor Lv Yinlin had already arrived.

Fu Xingjian and Lin Youjian immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings, Ancestor!"

Following their voices, mountain-shaking cheers also came from far and near in the depths of the cyan mist.

Lv Yinlin raised his hand and said, "Everyone rise!"

Fu Xingjian and Lin Youjian subsequently stood up.

Lv Yinlin looked at Lin Youjian and asked, "Have you brought the people?"

Lin Youjian said, "Reporting to Ancestor. They have all been brought and are waiting outside."

Upon hearing this, Lv Yinlin turned his head, and his Divine Sense moved lightly, already passing through the light curtain and enveloping Duan Rong and the others.

Moreover, as his Divine Sense swept over, none of Duan Rong and the others noticed.

Among the eight, only Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue were women, and Lv Yinlin had seen Jiang Hanyan before, so the other woman with striking appearance was naturally Su Xinjue.

Lv Yinlin's Divine Sense only swept over Su Xinjue before withdrawing; he looked at Lin Youjian and asked, "They are not allowed to carry any Dharma treasures with rule-based attacks; did you check before bringing them here?"

Lin Youjian said, "Rest assured, Ancestor, I have checked carefully."

Lv Yinlin nodded; his Divine Sense had just swept over, and he had not discovered any abnormalities.

Lv Yinlin turned his head to look at Fu Xingjian and said, "Activate the great array fully!"

Fu Xingjian cupped his hands and said, "Yes, Ancestor!"

Fu Xingjian then flipped his hand and grasped an Array Ruler; the runes on that Array Ruler were complex. He cast a spell onto that Array Ruler, and the runes on the Array Ruler flickered with light and shadow, then trembled incessantly, emitting a faint humming sound.

After the runes on the Array Ruler flickered with light and shadow, they suddenly shone brightly; at this moment, Fu Xingjian suddenly let go, and the Array Ruler turned into a bright ball of light, flying into the depths of the permeating pale cyan mist.

Once the ball of light flew in, the pale cyan mist that had been peacefully permeating the vast space began to roll violently...

At the same time, Ancestor Lv Yinlin and Fu Xingjian each turned into a black streak of light and flew toward the depths of the mist.

Fu Xingjian flew toward a spot on the side, but Lv Yinlin flew into the center where the mist was rolling most intensely.

Seeing the two figures disappear into the depths of the mist, Lin Youjian also flashed out of this space and returned to the place where Duan Rong and the others were sitting cross-legged in meditation.

Just as Lin Youjian walked over, Liu Su glanced at the arc-shaped light screen behind her that was constantly shifting and said, "The great array has been activated!?"

Lin Youjian said, "Yes! However, it will take several hours from the activation of the great array to opening the passage into the God-Demon Relic. We have to wait. Let's rest for a while."

Liu Su nodded.

Only then did the two sit down cross-legged on the two sides of the group and begin to circulate their Qi.

Along the way here, Liu Su was fine, but Lin Youjian had been leading the vanguard and could be said to have been killing the whole way, so her consumption was actually quite significant.

Several hours later, Duan Rong and the others had already recovered and were full of vigor.

At this time, the ground where they were sitting cross-legged began to tremble slightly, as if it were a precursor to an earthquake, and with the trembling of the ground, various strange lights began to constantly pierce through the arc-shaped light screen not far away and shoot into this space.

Those strange lights that pierced through the light screen and shot in had already dimmed significantly, floating and shifting in this space like auroras, leaving everyone staring in a daze!

This situation lasted for nearly half an hour, when suddenly that arc-shaped light screen rolled violently, and then a vortex the size of a fist suddenly appeared in the center of the light screen.

As soon as the vortex appeared, it kept spreading and expanding, and within just a few breaths, it had turned the entire arc-shaped light screen into a huge vortex.

Then, a great gale suddenly blew out from the vortex, sweeping through this space, and suddenly flying sand and rolling stones filled the air, blowing so hard that Duan Rong and all the others could not open their eyes.

At this time, ripples of space faintly permeated the surroundings, wrapping them up.

The center of those space ripples was none other than Lin Youjian, who was sitting there.

Those space ripples finally blocked the storm and sand outside.

Only, at this time, the outside was already filled with yellow sand, and nothing could be seen at all.

This situation did not last long; soon the storm stopped, the sand dissipated, and the space ripples wrapped around them also disappeared along with it.

"Everyone stand up!" Lin Youjian suddenly shouted.

Duan Rong and the others immediately stood up.

Lin Youjian said, "Come over, line up in order!"

Only then did they realize that Lin Youjian had already stood not far from the original arc-shaped light screen.

When the yellow sand was filling the air earlier, that arc-shaped light screen had turned into a huge vortex, but at this moment, the arc-shaped light screen had returned to its previous appearance of faint, greenish light, except that a hole half a zhang wide had appeared in its center.

That hole was quite eerie; looking at it from here, it was as if endless flowing clouds were floating inside, and those white clouds were changing and flashing by rapidly, dazzling the eyes. More importantly, those flowing clouds were layered, and although they flashed in a dazzling manner, it was clear that the space inside the hole was incomparably deep and seemingly endless...

Duan Rong and the others had already lined up beside Lin Youjian.

The order of the eight people had already been arranged during the intensive training: Guo Tian first, Duan Rong second, Jiang Hanyan third....

Guo Tian looked at Lin Youjian with an inquiring gaze.

Lin Youjian noticed Guo Tian's expression and said, "It won't work yet; the passage is not stable right now. When it is stable, I will tell you."

Guo Tian bowed respectfully and replied, "Yes, Senior!"

Not far away, inside the hole on the arc-shaped light screen, layers of flowing clouds were still flashing by. This situation lasted for a full stick of incense's time, when suddenly the hole blurred and shifted, and then it looked like a dark crystal, flashing with cold, dark light.

Lin Youjian looked at the hole that resembled a black crystal mirror surface and said, "It should be stable."

At this time, a figure suddenly flashed not far from the black crystal mirror hole, looked at Lin Youjian, and said, "It's ready! Let them go in."

The person who came was the Ancestor, Lv Yinlin.

Lin Youjian said, "Yes, Ancestor!"

Su Xinjue had never seen Lv Yinlin before; seeing an old man flash out, she did not know who it was, but upon hearing Lin Youjian call him Ancestor, she suddenly realized and stared blankly at Lv Yinlin.

Lv Yinlin stood there, his gaze only sweeping faintly over Duan Rong, and then he disappeared on his own.

Lin Youjian looked at Guo Tian and said, "Go in!"

It was truly possible to enter the passage now, but Guo Tian, standing at the very front, was somewhat hesitant, because the black crystal mirror surface at the entrance of the passage flashed with cold, black light, which indeed looked somewhat ghastly.

Seeing that Guo Tian did not move, Lin Youjian frowned, grabbed Guo Tian by the shoulder, and threw him in.

Guo Tian was thrown by Lin Youjian into that black crystal mirror surface; Duan Rong watched with his own eyes as Guo Tian's burly body disappeared into the mirror surface, and that mirror surface, shimmering with cold black light, was just like a magic mirror leading to an eerie world.

With a gloomy face, Duan Rong jumped into the black crystal mirror surface and also disappeared in an instant...

(End of this chapter)