Chapter 426: Refracting Illusory Maze

Heiyao and the others began to feel astonished; the withered figure that appeared and disappeared intermittently had already reached the point of exhausted oil and waning lamp, yet still had not died, which was truly worthy of deep thought, let alone that this forest was filled with countless powerful ferocious beasts.

The Dadi Ewei Xi halted its advance, hovering in midair; the cultivators all had piercing gazes, wanting to see through the locked, ancient figure.

However, everyone discovered that a layer of mist enveloped the ancient figure's silhouette, making its facial features utterly indiscernible.

"Indeed strange; the old man's body is filled with deathly aura, not at all like a living being, and the runes on the bronze lock seem to be ancient patterns."

Everyone was engaged in strange discussion.

"Why would that old man be sealed here with that side's mysterious power? After countless ages, the bronze chains still gleam with green light, preventing the old man from escaping the seal."

Even this stele forest hidden in the woods exudes eeriness; it is magnificent and astonishing, each stele enormous, standing upon black mounds, the mounds radiating a dark luster, full of ancient, weathered air.

That mound seems to possess an evil demonic nature, resonating with the massive steles; like the breath of a peerless demon king, it undulates with a regular, nauseating fluctuation.

The strange emotions on everyone's persons are clearly related to this stele forest, drawing their hearts and minds to resonate with this place.

"Let's go; besides us, others have come to this place, but that old man remains sealed in the stele forest—if we forcibly approach and encounter mishap, death is certain." Heifeng said with a trembling voice.

According to Huang Ao, the master of his Great Desolate Ancient Stele Clan also entered this mountain range, surely having encountered this old man as well.

"Even the mighty of the Ancient Desolate Aristocratic Family dare not rescue him; how many of us have the gall to involve ourselves in the stele forest's karma? Seeking death, aren't we?" A fellow cultivator companion also spoke up to advise.

"While that old man hasn't reacted yet, hurry and leave, otherwise we may invite great trouble."

Guinyin Shi's eyes flashed with an odd hue; he continually felt that the stele forest ahead was deeply sinister, even the corpse puppets in the coffins behind him began to grow restless.

After Heiyao finally obtained everyone's unanimous opinion, he began to command the Dadi Ewei Xi to change its direction of travel.

But in the instant they departed, the mist surrounding the bound and sealed old man surged, and in the blink of an eye transformed into a crimson demon mosquito.

As the aura on the demon mosquito's body undulated, a solitary crimson mosquito suddenly flew out from the white bones in the surrounding forest.

Those mosquitoes' wings bore mysterious Dao markings, now vibrating with a clanging sound, as if transmitting information; once the demon mosquito in the stele forest received a response, its surrounding thick mist condensed into its body, and it turned into a black‑clad woman beside it.

If Heiyao and the others were to return and observe again, they would surely be startled, for the black‑clad woman's silhouette is exactly identical to Heiyao's.

It is obvious that this demon mosquito is extraordinary, capable of imitating the silhouettes of those it sees, then emitting corresponding sounds to lure cultivators into danger.

As the crowd continued to penetrate deeper into this mountain range, they grew ever more reverent.

This mountain range is immensely vast, its end invisible; even probing with divine sense fails.

"That Ancient Great Sect is truly astonishing—how could it possess such a boundless mountain range? Without space‑type flying Dharma Implements, relying solely on flight would have no end."

Several fellow cultivators on the journey spoke fearfully.

This mountain range is profoundly uncanny; besides Huang Ao just now, there are terrifying ferocious beasts seen everywhere, and up to now no normal cultivator has been encountered—it is highly abnormal.

"Chilian, launch an attack toward the azure heavens to test it." At that very moment, Longling's eyes glowed, with a shooting light flowing.

Chilian heard this and offered no objection; she knew Longling's ability would never be aimless.

"Longling Daoist, have you discovered something?"

Qin Cang also hurried over to ask at this time, his face extremely tense.

This mountain range winds and extends boundlessly in all directions, making it impossible to distinguish time and space; over time, an intangible fear will permeate people's hearts, and their spirits will collapse.

Whoosh

A scarlet flame arrow shot up into the sky; the originally calm sky instantly became tumultuous with wind and clouds, as countless strands of thunderous power rampaged across the heavens.

What is extraordinarily strange is that the entire mountain range began to shake violently, and even more strangely, in the endless distance, the mountain range there suddenly vanished.

As the sky gradually regained calm, the distant mountains reappeared, and the undulating mountain‑range space also ceased its writhing.

This strange change frightened everyone into trembling; even Qin Cang felt his skin jump, his heart churning with huge waves.

"Longling Daoist.

"What on earth is going on?"

"This place is simply too evil‑laden, frightening indeed."

Guinyin Shi's face was already pallid; now his pale visage was threaded with veins, his sunken eye sockets almost having his green eyeballs pop out as he leapt behind Longling, asking in terror.

"Chilian, this time bombard the sky with even greater force, let's see what changes will occur."

Longling's face showed a thoughtful expression, the light in his eyes becoming even more fervent.

"Summon me!"

Beside her, Bibo Xianzi, seeing Chilian's face show a wary expression, spoke.

She stepped forward, her whole body exuding a rich yin‑cold power; her fair, jade‑like palm swiftly formed a mysterious seal, and a huge light ball emerged from her chest.

That light ball drew in Spiritual Power from the eight directions, then rapidly solidified, gradually expanding until its diameter reached ten zhang, at which point Bibo Xianzi fiercely clenched her palms.

The huge light ball was directly compressed to the size of a bright pearl.

Boom—

That pearl‑sized light ball suddenly shot from Bibo Xianzi's hands a vertical white pillar of light; amid the vigorous activity in the sky above everyone's heads, cold runes fluttered and sparkled, quickly condensing ice centered on the pillar.

Ziziza……

The sound of freezing spread at extreme speed, simultaneously extending outward in all directions.

At this moment all cultivators held their hearts and minds, never expecting that Bibo Xianzi could possess such terrifying power, actually able to freeze a portion of the heavenly canopy.

"Look quickly…"

At that very instant, a cultivator in the crowd let out a sudden cry, for the endless, winding, lush mountains surrounding the Dadi Ewei Xi as center had actually vanished.

That shout directly startled everyone present, making their hearts jump; they hurriedly turned their heads to look around, and what met their eyes caused every cultivator's face to change dramatically.

Some cultivators even felt a double tremor, squeezing out a few drops of urine.

As the area where the crowd stood, centered on the Dadi Ewei Xi, the mountains disappeared; all around was nothing but ink‑black darkness, as if everything had been dug away in an instant, vanishing without trace.

Yet far away in the mountains, the original ranges still wound on, unknown where they led, lush and profoundly uncanny.

"What on earth is happening?"

"Who can tell this lord!"

Among the fellow travelers, a female cultivator cried out loudly; her spirit, long oppressed, had borne immense pressure, and at this moment it felt as if it were collapsing.

Other cultivators hearing this, their faces all turned extremely grim; even they could not change anything, and the events unfolding now grew ever more bizarre, gradually overturning everyone's understanding.

They have encountered great trouble; if they do not leave, they will all die here.

Crack!

Bibo Xianzi's light sphere in her hand exhausted its energy; as the icy cold on the thick clouds in the heavens gradually melted, the pitch-black space all around suddenly returned to its original state; however, at this moment everyone seeing the suddenly appearing winding mountain ranges dared not act rashly.

The scene was too bizarre; they could not make sense of the situation.

If they continued to wander aimlessly among the mountain ranges, there would be absolutely no chance of leaving this place.

"Fellow Daoist Longling, have you discovered something?"

At that moment, Heiyao gathered his courage and approached Longling to ask.

The map he obtained only showed the entrance to this mountain range; as for what the mountain range actually held, he simply could not figure it out.

Boom!

From the forest ahead flew another huge beast covered entirely in azure scale armor; it was a four-winged azure wolf, its body suffused with heavenly-reaching rosy light, causing the surrounding trees to surge wildly, and its violent aura caused many diminished feral beasts in the thicket to explode one after another.

After the four-winged azure wolf opened its mouth and swallowed all the essence, it then flew off toward another direction.

That four-winged azure wolf was relatively close to the crowd, yet merely glancing at them, it flew off to the next location to hunt.

"This..."

All the cultivators present looked up to the sky and wiped away tears, not knowing what to do; a great trouble had appeared before them, and everything seemed bizarre.

They faintly sensed a terrifying killing intent gradually approaching them, and their hearts and guts turned cold.

"This should be a projected reflection of a mysterious mountain range in reality; this place is illusory."

"We are all lost in this illusion."

Longling gazed toward the direction the four-winged azure wolf had departed and said.

"Refraction?"

Everyone present, upon hearing this, showed puzzled expressions; this term had never been heard before in the Universe Cultivation World, and though some asked each other, they found that those questioned were all shaking their heads.

"Refraction?"

"Fellow Daoist Longling, could you explain?"

Heiyao's face also showed a hurried curiosity as he inquired.

"Refraction is merely the natural phenomenon where light passes through a substance and the object bends to the other side."

"In other words, it is like the person inside a bronze mirror and the person outside the mirror."

"The difference is that the person and the person in the mirror must appear simultaneously."

"But with refraction, that is not the case; they do not appear simultaneously in the same place, nor do they appear at the same time relative to each other."

After pondering, Longling explained to everyone.

However, seeing that all the cultivators present were shaking their heads, Longling realized he was playing music to a cow; these people before him simply could not grasp the principle of refraction.

After hearing Longling's words, everyone felt a sense of supernatural artifice, meaning that everything they now saw was false.

"Fellow Daoist Longling, if what you say is true, then where is the exit?"

Qin Cang's eyes flashed with a gleam; Longling could analyze the essence of this place, so he naturally knew how to break the situation.

As Qin Cang's words fell, everyone instantly felt as if injected with adrenaline, as if they had found hope to survive; all stared at Longling with tense faces, their expressions full of expectation.

"Longling, stop beating around the bush, just say it quickly." At that moment, Bibo Xianzi also became a little anxious.

Just moments ago, the entire space was pitch-black as ink, extremely tranquil, as if a sealed world had sunk into it, giving people's spirits an oppressive feeling hard to erase.

Upon hearing this, Longling gazed at the sky above the mountain range and began to silently analyze.

Refraction operates through a medium substance; it generally cannot be separated from two things: one is gas, two is water, three is a stratified substance within turbidity.

Here there are only towering ancient trees; water can be ruled out, leaving only gas.

Earlier, whether it was Chilian's or Bibo Xianzi's attack, the Divine Ability ripping through void produced no change in the mountain range; only when the Divine Ability struck the heavens did the mountain range begin to transform.

Therefore, the key to breaking the situation is the sky above the mountain ranges.

The sky itself is a mixture of countless gases, making it most susceptible to light refraction.

If someone were to combine a formation with this natural phenomenon, deliberately setting up a bewildering formation would surely fake the real, leading cultivators to sink into it unable to extricate themselves, ultimately dying of exhaustion within the formation.

After thinking this through, Longling poked the sky with the paper fan in his hand.

"If what I say is correct, the exit should be in the sky." Longling spoke with full confidence, analyzing for everyone.

"Hmm!"

"I feel that Fellow Daoist Longling's words make sense; just now everyone also saw that only when attacking the heavens could the mountain ranges undergo change."

After thinking, Guinyin Shi voiced his agreement in a resolute tone.

"Fellow Daoist Qin Cang, the golden willow branches on your body possess vast vital energy, able to extend infinitely and enlarge."

"Would you be willing to try using the golden willow branches?"

As Heiyao's words fell, Qin Cang nodded deeply.

The willow branches were brought from his own clan, possessing supreme mighty power; moreover, this is not difficult, as long as he attaches his divine sense to the willow branches.

When the willow branches swiftly rise, he will be able to probe the fluctuations in the void with his divine sense; if Longling's conjecture is true, a single strike of the golden willow branches breaking the heavenly clouds will make everything in the sky instantly perceptible with perfect clarity.

After Qin Cang figured it out, without any hesitation he decisively took out the golden willow branches and placed them on the ground; as the mysterious runes and seals were imprinted into the branches, they instantly began to sway.

Under the expectant gazes of everyone, the golden willow branches began to grow and shoot up rapidly; golden leaves on them spewed forth some symbols, and the golden willow branches, like a golden dragon, slowly rose into the air and danced.

In the void, a solemn, grand sacrificial chant suddenly echoed, and countless phantom silhouettes of ancestors appeared and disappeared on the golden willow tree.

Those ancestors would all pray beneath the golden willow tree, contributing their faith's power.

"Boom"

Just as the golden willow branches reached the thick clouds in the sky, they seemed to encounter an obstacle; the branches flickered, and the great Dao symbols on them sprang to life, slashing everything.

In an instant, the golden willow branches broke through the heavenly seal; then, amid everyone's astonished expressions, they heard several cries of anguish so piercing it felt as if their hearts were splitting.

Oh dear, what a damned ghostly place.

A tree branch actually jabbed into my ass.

Oh dear... it hurts like hell.