Chapter 198: Strange Altar

Seven days later.

Above the cloud sea.

The stream of light that Yunhe transformed into swiftly passed, sensing the vicinity of Liu Fang Island.

Although Liu Fang Island is a subordinate cloud island of Liu Zhang Island, it is actually closer to Nanxiu Island.

As for it, are the Liu Clan and Wang Clan scheming?

Although during this period Yunhe took over He Wen's identity, and the Tiandu Gu Corpse joined the He Clan as a guest elder, allowing the He Clan to slightly recover its decline.

But the fact that He Wen's remaining lifespan is small cannot be changed; if he is the manager of the Liu Clan and Wang Clan, all he needs to do is wait for He Wen's lifespan to be exhausted and sit in meditation until death.

There's no need to take the initiative again.

Moreover.

It's normal for the Liu Clan and Wang Clan to know what He Wen needs, but it's somewhat unlikely that they would know what Yunhe wants and then scheme against him.

Even if we concede ten thousand steps, even if the Liu Clan and Wang Clan really wanted to scheme against "He Wen," facing the Core Formation cultivators of these two clans, I wouldn't dare say anything else, but Yunhe still has confidence in his ability to escape.

Boom—

Yunhe flew out from the escape light, hovering above the cloud sea, gazing at the distant mountain that continuously exhaled black smoke, accompanied by flickering thunderlight, his pupils gleaming.

According to the cloud map given by He Yuanlin, he quickly found this cloud island.

To be honest.

After being in the Upper Cloud Realm for so long, Yunhe is also seeing the legendary Thunder Mountain for the first time.

Because the entire Upper Cloud Realm lies above the cloud layer, below surges rolling thunder fluid.

When the thunder fluid breaks open, it can form a Thunder Mountain like the one before us.

Actually, it's similar to a volcano on land, except it spews thunder instead of magma, and its danger level is no lower than that of a volcano—if anything, higher.

It is said that in the Outer Cloud Realm there is a place where the cloud sea thunder fluid is especially violent, forming a Thunder Sea, also extremely dangerous.

He lightly tapped his toe, and in an instant his body flew toward that mountain.

Azure arcs of light continually leapt down, like extremely sharp swords, leaving pits and depressions on the ground and mountain.

Approaching closer.

Moreover, the thunder fluid constantly surged from the open mountain mouth, and the erupting arcs resembled a peacock spreading its tail—gorgeous and dazzling, yet accompanied by great danger.

He Clan cultivators have already surveyed the area around this Thunder Mountain, found nothing, and the thunder here also poses a certain danger to them; they cannot linger too long, for if they are carelessly struck by a larger thunderbolt, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator's outcome would be uncertain.

But Yunhe strode straight into the mouth where the thunder fluid surged.

These thunder arcs and fluid pose considerable danger to other cultivators, but before his Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword they are rather insufficient.

He infused his mana into the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword within his Qi Sea dantian.

Golden thunder rays appeared on his body's surface, weaving a shimmering thunder net.

This is a method of commanding heavenly thunder he learned over ten years of continually refining the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword; as long as the stored heavenly thunder in the sword is not exhausted, he can barely be considered a cultivator possessing half a thunder spirit root.

Moreover, the thunder light and fluid from the Thunder Mountain, when they fall upon the thunder net woven from heavenly thunder, not only fail to damage the net but actually make it appear more conspicuous.

After a brief observation, Yunhe leapt into the thunder fluid.

These are merely naturally formed lightning; even without the protection of the Five Elements Heavenly Thunder Sword, with his flesh comparable to a late Second Stage demon beast, the danger is not great.

After entering the thunder fluid, Yunhe unfolded his divine sense.

Due to environmental restrictions, his divine sense was considerably affected, greatly limiting the search range, though the effect is not severe.

He Clan cultivators have already searched this island and the area outside the thunder fluid; if there is any place left unexplored, it is only the interior of this Thunder Mountain.

Yunhe's eyes flickered with a faint light.

Spiritual Eyes!

All the way down.

"Huh?"

In the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, Yunhe descended about two to three hundred zhang.

Finally, on a rock wall, he discovered some clues.

He came before a naturally formed huge rock; the surrounding rocks, after being washed by the thunder fluid, though not shattered, had turned black.

Only this rock was jet-black and lustrous, faintly glowing.

Lightly touching the rock, a cool sensation came from his palm.

At the same time, trying to probe with his divine sense, he only managed to penetrate a few meters before being bounced back by a force.

Even a fool would realize something is wrong here.

Gripping the rock with both hands and exerting force, he slowly shifted it aside, revealing a bottomless passage in his view.

And at a point three to four meters inside the passage, there was a seal blocking the way.

Yunhe entered the passage, turned around, and blocked the rock again, stopping the surging thunder fluid, while also retracting the heavenly thunder net.

He tried again with his divine sense.

"Being able to block my divine sense means it is at least a Third Stage formation; judging from its damaged state, however, it might originally have been even higher."

Who would set up a formation in such a place?

He again employed Spiritual Eyes to examine up and down.

"It has existed for at least nearly a hundred years."

After a brief consideration, Yunhe decided to break the formation.

Given his current proficiency in Formation Dao, even if this formation is severely damaged, solving it would still be quite troublesome.

Anyway, judging from how long the formation has existed and its degree of damage, it seems to have been unattended for a long time; he therefore directly summoned a large swarm of Crimson Shadow Golden Winged Bees, breaking the formation in the most direct and brutal way.

Buzz—

Under Yunhe's control, the Crimson Shadow Golden Winged Bees directly clung to the formation barrier and began to gnaw at it.

Because of the size of the passage, not all the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees could swarm up at once.

But Yunhe was not in a hurry; he sat down cross‑legged and, in turn, commanded the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees to gnaw in batches.

As long as no one maintains the formation, slow grinding will eventually wear it away bit by bit.

After one day and one night.

Clack—clack—clack—

Fine cracks appeared across the formation barrier, and Yunhe immediately rose and summoned the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees back.

He exhaled softly.

"Finally it's worn away."

He slightly opened his mouth, formed a sword technique, and a Flying Sky Thunder Sword shot out from his mouth, striking straight into the soon‑to‑break formation.

Accompanied by a "boom," the barrier shattered and scattered, breaking into several mirror‑like shards that finally dissolved into specks of light.

Yunhe carefully took two steps forward, withdrew the Five Elements Sky Thunder Sword, and once again projected his spiritual consciousness, descending the passage inch by inch.

This time.

There was no further obstruction, and his spiritual consciousness also discovered a spacious area beneath the passage.

Yunhe immediately leapt down.

Soon, he arrived in that space.

The huge cavern was lined with countless glowing stones that fully illuminated the area, and occasional arcs of lightning leapt from the rock walls, making the space rich with thunder‑electric energy.

However.

What caught Yunhe's attention most was, in the middle of the cavern, a strange ancient jade altar, its surface engraved with odd patterns that resembled erratic thunder and winding vines.

On the altar were seven pits of varying sizes, arranged in a 4‑2‑1 pattern.

The four lower pits were empty, containing nothing—or rather, whatever had been there had already dissipated.

But in the two side‑by‑side pits lay an unknown beast egg that had already lost its vitality, and a pile of scattered eggshells.

It seemed something had already hatched.

The strangest thing was at the very top of the altar, presumably the most important spot, where a pitch‑black gourd was placed.

From its open mouth the gourd faintly emitted lightning.

"This is…"

To be honest.

Even after all the years Yunhe has been cultivating, not to claim he's extremely worldly, his knowledge is still considerable, and this is truly the first time he's seen what lies before him.

"Sacrifice?"

"Ritual?"

"Catalysis?"

But one thing Yunhe could be sure of is that the person who set up this altar likely wasn't weak.

Yunhe stood still for a long while, exhaling softly.

His spiritual consciousness swept the area and sensed no danger; his spiritual perception gave no warning, yet he still adhered to the principle of caution, lightly tapped his spirit‑insect pouch, and summoned three Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees.

The Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees, upon appearing, immediately showed a strong desire for those eggshells.

Obviously.

These broken eggshells were the ones the He family had received at the market earlier, and they aid the evolution of the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees.

However, under Yunhe's command, the three bees, though eager, did not disobey; while slowly approaching the altar, they each flew toward the pitch‑black gourd, the lifeless egg, and the broken eggshells.

At this moment, Yunhe's spirit tightened.

First, the eggshells.

The Red Shadow Golden Winged Bee that touched the eggshell showed no abnormality.

This let Yunhe relax a little.

At least.

The trip was not without gain; his original goal was these unknown beast eggshells, and although he didn't know why, they indeed can promote the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees' evolution.

He immediately summoned more spirit bees, retrieved every eggshell of varying sizes without leaving any behind, and placed them into his storage bracelet.

With these eggshells, the evolution speed of the Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees could at least improve considerably.

Next came the lifeless egg.

The Red Shadow Golden Winged Bee, after touching it cautiously, also showed no change.

However, the egg was extremely heavy; after confirming no danger, Yunhe intended to command the bees to move it, but found that three or four bees alone could not accomplish it!

Reluctantly, he commanded a large swarm of Red Shadow Golden Winged Bees to exert force together, moving the egg away from the altar.

When it landed in his hands, even with his current mortal strength, he found it somewhat taxing!

"What exactly is this egg?"

Though clearly lifeless, it somehow gave him a faint sense of unease.

Swish—swish—swish—

But before he could ponder, as the egg left,

the pitch‑black gourd atop the altar suddenly made a sound.

Its blackened outer shell peeled away as if burnt, revealing a vivid blue form, seemingly its original appearance.

However, after only a brief glimpse, the gourd dissolved like grains of sand with the leaping arcs, leaving only a thoughtful Yunhe.

As the gourd vanished, the once‑raging thunder‑lava, the arcs leaping on the rock walls, and the dense thunder‑electric power in the cavern all subsided at a visible speed.

"So it seems that gourd was the cause of the thunder‑lava surging within the clouds here?"

"Attempting to use these two eggs as a catalyst to stimulate the gourd? Or using the gourd as a special medium to induce change in the two beast eggs?"

Yunhe thought that the latter's possibility was somewhat higher.

Otherwise, could the evolution and metamorphosis of the Crimson Shadow Golden‑winged Bee really be accelerated just by an egg shell? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?

"Or rather, whether it's a gourd or a demon‑beast egg, they're both special items! And this altar!"

Altar!

It is also one of the main forces that stirs the thunder magma within the cloud layer here.

When Yunhe looked again toward the altar, he was startled, as if something suddenly occurred to him; after rummaging in his storage bracelet for a while, he took out the token he had found in the thatched hut of the ancient alchemist's secret realm.

He noticed that the vine pattern on the altar seemed somewhat similar to the coiled vine pattern on the token.

"Hmm?"

Because he couldn't discern anything from the token, he had left it aside for a long time without taking it out.

But this time, when he took it out, he found that a portion of the coiled vine pattern on the token had actually unfolded.

Moreover.

The unfolded vine pattern shimmered with specks of emerald glow.

The token can change?

However.

After the token's vine pattern unfolded, it indeed became more like the pattern on the altar.

"Is there a connection between the two?"

This made Yunhe vaguely realize that the token was not simple.

Then the withered vines hidden in the thatched hut, which were even more concealed than this token, were they perhaps even more complicated?

Crack—

Suddenly.

A massive crack appeared on the altar.

Yunhe's expression changed slightly.

He hurriedly took a Jade Slip from his storage bag and copied the altar and its chaotic patterns onto it.

Though he couldn't understand it now, it didn't mean there would be no chance to "interpret" it later.

After completing this, the crack on the altar grew more evident; Yunhe dared not linger, lest the altar's damage cause a bigger commotion, so he immediately formed a seal and used the Five Elements Escape Technique to leave.

As he left, he found that the thunder magma surging from the Thunder Mountain had indeed subsided considerably.

Yet as soon as he left Liuguang Island, before forming a seal to escape, he suddenly seemed to sense something.

With both hands behind his back, he chuckled lightly and said:

"Fellow cultivators, looking for He for something?"

(End of Chapter)