Chapter 203

Silver needles shot out like a torrential rain, and with every turn of Lin Yu's wrist, three men in black fell to the ground. His right hand fracture hadn't fully recovered, and every move pulled at the injury, pain surging through his whole body like an electric current.

"Still tough-talking!" The black-clad leader sneered and charged over with a sword, the sharp blade drawing a fierce arc in the air.

Lin Yu sank his waist and shoulders, his right foot stomping down hard, sending gravel flying. Borrowing the force, he dodged sideways, avoiding the fatal blow, while his left hand formed a claw, striking straight for the opponent's throat. The black-clad leader retreated in a panic, his collar torn, revealing a strange emblem on his chest.

Lin Yu was shocked; the emblem featured two intertwined dragons circling a tower—it was exactly the Shangyuan Society's sign!

"Sure enough, the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion is the descendant of the Shangyuan Society!"

More than ten men in black surrounded them in a fan shape, murderous intent surging amidst the flashing swords and shadows. At this critical moment, a crisp bell sound suddenly rang out, and invisible ripples seemed to sway in the air.

Xuanyuan Qing stood not far away, shaking the silver bell in her hand, chanting something. The footsteps of the men in black suddenly became messy, their movements sluggish, and several even covered their ears and groaned in pain.

"Soul-Absorbing Bell? The little girl has some skill!" A hint of surprise flashed in the black-clad leader's eyes.

Lin Yu seized the opportunity, the True Qi in his body surging crazily. Ao Fist Three Essentials—Fast, Ruthless, Accurate—were brought to the extreme at this moment. He stomped his feet hard, his whole body springing out like a cannonball, his left fist heading straight for the black-clad leader's chest.

Just as the fist was about to make contact, the True Qi in his body suddenly surged, as if opening some seal. Lin Yu felt unprecedented power surging toward his fist; with one punch, the black-clad leader flew several meters away, crashing heavily into a rock by the road, vomiting blood and falling unconscious.

"Ah!" Lin Yu groaned, his meridians in extreme pain, as if thousands of insects were gnawing at them. He knelt on one knee, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.

"Lin Shu!" Xuanyuan Qing ran over, exclaiming.

Seeing their leader knocked down, the remaining men in black retreated one after another, soon disappearing into the depths of the dense forest.

"What's going on? The aura in your body has changed." Xuanyuan Qing asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure, a strange force suddenly surged in my body, but my meridians seem unable to bear it." Lin Yu panted, slowly calming his chaotic aura.

"Is it because of that jade pendant?" Xuanyuan Qing blinked her big eyes.

Lin Yu recalled the situation where the jade pendant heated up after the Tianyuan battle, thinking thoughtfully: "Perhaps it's related. Let's keep moving; since the Tongtian Pavilion set an ambush in advance, it proves we've checked the right direction."

Two hours later, they finally arrived at their destination. Before them was a dilapidated ancient building complex, overgrown with weeds and desolate. In the center stood a circular high platform, with various broken astronomical instruments scattered on top.

"This is the observatory? It feels like it's been abandoned for a long time." Xuanyuan Qing looked left and right, quite disappointed.

Lin Yu didn't answer, but focused on scanning the surroundings, trying to find clues to the "heavenly eye" mentioned in the ancient books. They stepped over broken walls and ruins, crossed the overgrown courtyard, and finally arrived in front of the main observatory building.

"Lin Shu, look here quickly!" Xuanyuan Qing pointed to a stone tablet half-hidden in the grass beside the stone steps.

Lin Yu stepped forward, pushed aside the weeds, and saw blurry ancient characters carved on the front of the stone tablet: "Observe the stars with the heavenly eye, the earth vein reaches the sky." His eyes lit up, and he flipped the stone tablet over; on the back was a complex star map, with crisscrossing lines connecting different star points, converging into a special pattern in the center.

"This pattern... it seems to be a variation of the Big Dipper!" Xuanyuan Qing examined it for a moment, then suddenly pulled Lin Yu up, "I understand, this isn't just a star map, it's a grid map!"

Following the star map's guidance, the two arrived at the central platform of the observatory. There stood a broken stone pillar, covered in mysterious runes. Lin Yu circled the stone pillar, suddenly crouching down, noticing a small hole that was not easily noticeable at the base of the pillar.

"According to the star map, this should be the position of the 'heavenly eye'." Lin Yu thought for a moment, took the jade pendant from his pocket, and tentatively inserted it into the hole.

The stone pillar shook violently, and a dull mechanical sound came from the ground around it. In an instant, the ground under Lin Yu's feet began to sink! Xuanyuan Qing screamed in terror, hurriedly jumping onto the same sinking platform.

The platform stopped steadily more than ten meters underground. By the faint light cast from above, the two found themselves in an ancient passage. The walls of the passage were covered in strange runes, flickering with a faint blue light.

"There's actually electricity here?" Xuanyuan Qing asked in surprise.

Lin Yu shook his head: "It's not electricity, it's some kind of luminescent mineral, possibly containing phosphorus."

The two moved forward along the passage, and about five minutes later, the view suddenly opened up—a giant underground space appeared before them. In the center of the space stood a delicate, miniature model of the Kunlun Mountains, with every mountain and river carved accurately.

There was a small hole at the top of the mountain, aimed at a beam of light penetrating from an unknown source at the top of the sky. Lin Yu walked over to check and found that the angle of the light beam could be adjusted with some kind of mechanism. Looking at the surrounding walls, they were covered in exquisite murals, depicting the history of the Shangyuan Society and changes in the stars.

"Lin Shu, look at this!" Xuanyuan Qing pointed to a key mural, "It says that every hundred years, when a specific star pattern appears, the light beam will point to a certain location in the Kunlun Mountains. This is the method for calculating the entrance to the Kunlun Heavenly Ladder!"

Lin Yu stared fixedly at the date calculation below the mural, suddenly discovering—the next star alignment was in three days!

"The Tongtian Pavilion must also know this date, which is why they were in such a hurry to get rid of us." Lin Yu scanned the entire secret room and found an old desk and chair and a mountain of manuscripts in the corner.

Flipping through the manuscripts, Lin Yu discovered these were observation records from generations of Shangyuan Society astronomers. The last page recorded: "Heavenly Ladder appears, immortality arrives, but the entrance is extremely dangerous. Predecessors all died at the entrance mechanism, only by breaking the Ninefold Heavenly Pass can one step into the fairyland."

"Ninefold Heavenly Pass?" Xuanyuan Qing frowned.

Lin Yu thought thoughtfully: "It might be related to the nine tokens in the Shennong Secret Treasury."

The ground shook slightly, and countless dust fell from the top. Fighting sounds and screams came from the passage entrance.

"The Tongtian Pavilion has found us!" Xuanyuan Qing said nervously.

Lin Yu quickly thought of a countermeasure, suddenly noticing a small hidden compartment at the bottom of the Kunlun Mountain model. He reached out and pressed it; the compartment popped open, revealing a small jade tablet, carved with patterns similar to but not exactly the same as the jade pendant at Tianyuan.

"One of the nine tokens!" Lin Yu grabbed the jade tablet, feeling his True Qi resonate slightly.

"Lin Shu, the fighting sounds are getting closer!"

Lin Yu looked around and found an inconspicuous ventilation duct in the corner. He grabbed Xuanyuan Qing's hand: "Go, let's break out from here!"

The moment they crawled into the ventilation duct, a loud bang of the secret room door being smashed open and the angry roars of the Tongtian Pavilion crowd came from behind.

The ventilation duct was narrow and dark; Lin Yu and Xuanyuan Qing crawled forward, the roars of the pursuers behind them gradually fading away. Dust flew in the duct, making people cough.

"Lin Shu, how do you think the Tongtian Pavilion people found us?" Xuanyuan Qing asked in a low voice.