Chapter 282: The Cocoon of Time

Li Youyi looked toward the Cocoon of Time, which had become extremely faint, immediately retracted the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish hovering above his head, left the Blood Mud Realm, and returned to his room.

Looking through the gap in the door and window, the sky was already bright.

Tuoba Butuo's voice sounded from outside: "Brother Youyi, it is already the hour of the Dragon (7-9 AM); we must depart punctually at the third quarter of the hour of the Dragon."

Li Youyi put away the formation flags and gave him a response.

As Tuoba Butuo's footsteps faded away, Li Youyi fell into deep thought: "Only the hour of the Dragon? How is that possible?"

When he arrived at Qifeng Ancient Juncheng last night, the sky was pitch black, and it was already very late.

Returning from Tang Wanzhou's camp, it must have been at least the hour of the Rat (11 PM-1 AM).

"I entered the Blood Mud Realm, and by any calculation, it was only four hours."

"In the Disaster Fire Realm, refining one Star Day Pill takes me at least three days. Even after reaching the Spirit Reader realm, with a refining speed two or three times faster than before, it should still take at least a day. But now, I have clearly completely refined the Star Day Pill I took... Where does the problem lie?"

"The Cocoon of Time?"

Li Youyi introspected into his Spirit Realm.

The mental power stars had not only fully recovered but had also grown a size larger and were even brighter.

Li Youyi let out a long sigh, temporarily suppressing his various doubts, put the seven little ones into the insect bag, wore the prefecture official robe underneath, the Blood Handprint Demon Armor as his middle layer, and draped over it the second-grade Hundred-Character Artifact battle robe stripped from the corpse of Zuo Shi.

He wrapped the Huang Long Sword in black cloth and carried it on his back.

Having prepared everything, he walked out of the room and, following the scent of meat, went to eat breakfast first.

After eating, Li Youyi met up with Tuoba Butuo and came to the open space outside the camp to select a mount.

The Tuoba clan of Tanzhou had quite unique skills in the way of beast taming and husbandry.

Tuoba Butuo chose a two-meter-long fire fox for Li Youyi and explained: "The fire fox's physique is not as good as other exotic beasts, but in the underground space, it is the most practical. Not only is it fast, but its reactions, jumping ability, and sensitivity to danger all surpass those big guys."

"Of course, even so, it is only a means of transport. When we truly encounter danger, we still have to rely on ourselves."

In the open space of the camp.

The Wu Xiu gradually gathered, and no one dared to be late.

They were all silent and reticent; half of them were over sixty years old, yet they only looked to be in their forties or fifties.

Tang Wanzhou walked out of the tent, dressed in profound black men's clothing, wearing metal arm guards and leg guards, her figure tall and straight, her bearing exceptional, with spatial energy flowing around her.

After giving a few words of instruction, she flipped onto a three-meter-long three-tailed snow fox and led the thirty-seven riders, marching majestically toward the entrance of the underground immortal mansion.

The loud sound of hooves kicked up rolling dust, startling the forces of all sides in Qifeng Ancient Juncheng.

Every move of the Snow Sword Tang Ting was watched by the world.

"That young monarch from the Northern Region is going to investigate the eighth path again. I wonder what she discovered inside to be so persistent."

"It is said that in order to enter the depths of the eighth path, the Snow Sword Tang Ting has already lost quite a few experts."

"Previously, they always entered on a small scale, with no more than ten people. This time, the scale is huge, with experts like clouds; either they have great certainty, or they are plotting something huge."

"How about... we follow them? Who knows, we might be able to pick up some scraps?"

The crowd was restless, all holding great confidence in Tang Wanzhou, this young monarch.

Greed overcame reason, so they followed one after another.

Two old men who looked exactly the same, short and thin, with sickles tucked into their waists, appeared at the city gate of the prefecture city and looked at each other, revealing strange smiles in their eyes.

The next instant, they disappeared along with the blood-colored wind and sand.

A desolate wilderness, with only dense grave mounds and tombstones.

For more than half a year, the ground had been trampled by countless Wu Xiu and exotic beasts, with not a blade of grass growing, resembling a Gobi desert.

A ground fissure over a hundred miles long appeared before Li Youyi's eyes, dozens of zhang deep, with steep cliffs; it was unimaginable that this was the destructive power caused by a transcendent battle.

He sensed carefully.

He could sense the transcendent power fluctuations that had not yet dissipated to this day.

"Boom—!"

Tang Wanzhou stopped first at the edge of the cliff, staring at the earth fissure that seemed to have no end at a glance, a look of longing in her eyes, and said heroically: "Qilin Zang used a supreme artifact to tear the earth apart; his combat power can be considered the best in the Lingxiao. At that time, this monarch will also be able to do so and surpass him."

"Let's go, down!"

The thirty-eight riders reached the bottom of the fissure and traveled another dozens of miles, where many giant stones appeared in the soil.

Some of the giant stones were tablet-shaped, with ancient scripts carved on them.

Others were stone pillars, stone gates, stone horses, stone tigers... the largest were over ten zhang high, magnificent and imposing. It made Li Youyi, who was visiting the underground immortal mansion for the first time, feel greatly shocked.

Here, it was nearly a hundred meters away from the ground.

The buildings were becoming more dense and orderly, with stone steps and huge bronze beams appearing.

The bronze beams were embedded into the soil and rocks, rusted and ancient, and could be seen everywhere.

Beside him, Tuoba Butuo told Li Youyi: "When this place was first discovered, there were still a large number of jade pillars, green glazed tiles, profound silver Buddha statues, black iron Buddha niches... everything valuable was completely emptied!"

Along the way, they encountered Wu Xiu from various major forces, who retreated one after another upon seeing the Snow Sword Tang Ting's team.

Formally entering the underground, the light suddenly dimmed.

On the neck of every mount hung a fist-sized stone lamp, illuminating the passage.

Li Youyi, Tuoba Butuo, and the other four Spirit Readers followed closely behind Tang Wanzhou, walking in the front.

The outer area of the underground immortal mansion had long been cleared, so everyone was relaxed, with no tense atmosphere.

Li Youyi was still thinking about the strange events of last night: "Even if the Cocoon of Time is truly extremely profound, it requires powerful mental power to weave. Otherwise, it would only last a day or two; what is the use?"

"I have added 16,000 methods of Qi; even if I go to the Tang Gu Sea and use the Fusang Divine Tree to temper it, it will still take three months to complete the cultivation of the sixth sea, and then start cultivating the seventh sea."

"If I activate the light cyan fish eye in the Tang Gu Sea, and the two are superimposed, will it be faster?"

"I still need to improve my mental power as soon as possible; otherwise, after one activation, the mental power stars are almost on the verge of collapse."

"If I become a two-star Spirit Reader, perhaps I can maintain the Cocoon of Time for longer."

Thinking of this, Li Youyi took out a Star Day Pill and swallowed it as if no one else was around.

Even with the artifact battle robe covering it, a large area of bright radiance still surged out from his skin.

"Little Friend Li, are you taking a Star Day Pill?"

An old voice sounded from the side.

Li Youyi looked over.

It was the first Spirit Reader of the Shan Li tribe, the old man Shan Ze. His mount was a green-eyed golden tiger brought from Lizhou, raised for sixty years, with combat power comparable to a Dao Seed Realm demon beast, and an extremely fierce aura.

The Jiu Li clan members Li Youyi knew, like Yin Jun, Li Songlin, Cang Li, Yin Jiu, Yao Xingyue... were almost all open and honest, so naturally, he had a good impression of Shan Ze.

There was nothing to hide.

With the other party's level of mental power attainment, daring to ask like this meant they must have some certainty.

Li Youyi said: "Senior Shan Ze also knows about the Star Day Pill?"

A smile appeared on the old man Shan Ze's round, fat face: "This is good stuff, a high-grade dharma pill, but the pill formula is in the hands of the imperial court; only in the Nether Market and the hands of the transcendent clans of the imperial court can it be bought at a high price. It is said that one Star Day Pill costs as much as 110,000 to 120,000 Gushing Spring coins."

"What? How much?"

Li Youyi exclaimed, realized he had lost his composure, and hurriedly lowered his voice: "Is it that expensive?"

Shan Ze said: "This is a high-grade dharma pill! With your mental power attainment as a one-star Spirit Reader, you only need to take three to strengthen your mental power stars to the limit and obtain the conditions to impact the two-star Spirit Reader realm. For other one-star Spirit Readers, this process takes at least two or three years of cultivation."

Li Youyi felt a pain in his heart and slapped his thigh hard.

Back then, he took nine Star Day Pills in a row for the Disaster Fire Nine Refinements, which was equivalent to eating a million Gushing Spring coins.

No wonder Master Lingwei said at the time that using high-grade dharma pills to cultivate Disaster Fire was a severe waste.

What made him even more speechless was that he had swallowed a Star Day Pill last night to restore his mental power, wasting more than 100,000 Gushing Spring coins for nothing.

Not counting the Star Day Pill he just swallowed, he only had nine left.

From now on, every single one must be used where it counts.

"Old Li must pay; Li Ling took away eight, worth nearly a million," Li Youyi thought to himself.

Hearing Shan Ze say that Li Youyi was already a Spirit Reader, surprised gazes were cast from the team.

They all knew the various jokes about this Jiu Li Hidden Sect God-Hidden person being crippled; who would have thought that he would pull himself together again and walk a new path in mental power.

No wonder he risked traveling with old-timers like them; it must be for the Spirit Platform Flame Star Stone fragments.

Shan Ze used mental power transmission and sighed: "The energy of your Jiu Li Hidden Sect is truly great; you can get all kinds of cultivation resources. Little Friend Li, does the Hidden Sect have transcendents?"

Although Li Youyi had a good impression of Shan Ze, it did not amount to trust.

Any force is bound to have good and bad people.

The Zuoqiu Sect governed their family with Confucian rituals, yet they still had ungrateful and greedy people like Zuoqiu Cangwu and Zuoqiu Qingying. The Jiu Li clan had long been severely infiltrated, so naturally, he needed to be even more cautious.

Li Youyi sighed: "I am just a junior; how could I know such secrets? Don't look at me as a God-Hidden person; in fact, I haven't seen many elders of the Hidden Sect. And as far as I know, there are several God-Hidden people in the Jiu Li Hidden Sect; Li Jiu Fu and Li Jiao at the Qianlong Lantern Festival are both God-Hidden people."

That Yin Jiu and Yin Eleven came from the Jiu Li Hidden Sect was no secret.

Shan Ze nodded gently: "The two of them are indeed extraordinary; they can actually communicate with the God of Jiu Li, and the title of God-Hidden person is well-deserved. Your Hidden Sect is still powerful, unlike the nine major tribes, which have only cultivated one Cang Li over so many years."

After walking for a full ten miles along the underground passage, the terrain gradually opened up.

Before their eyes appeared a magnificent palace complex, brightly lit; the valuable items had all been emptied, but just by looking at the copper walls that weighed over ten million jin each, one could see its former glory and prosperity.

The formation in the main hall had already been broken, so they could drive straight in.

As the mounts walked into the main hall gate, Li Youyi immediately felt a strong spatial fluctuation. The energy aura of the entire world changed accordingly, and ancient Zen chants and Sanskrit sounds entered his ears.

A burning sensation came from his chest.

Li Youyi did not dare to take it out.

He could guess that it must be the Buddha relic on the Taiji Fish, which might have sensed something and was glowing and heating up.

Li Youyi pretended to be calm and asked: "Is this considered our formal entry into the underground immortal mansion? Entering the legendary wind mansion of the ancient immortals? The ancestral court of the ancient Pogaluo Sect?"

Tuoba Butuo nodded: "This is the entrance main hall, enshrining the ancestral statue of Pogaluo Buddha; the entrances to more than a hundred passages are all distributed in the hall."

"Have you heard any sounds?" Li Youyi asked.

Tuoba Butuo was slightly stunned and listened carefully: "Killing and fighting? This is very normal; whether entering the underground immortal mansion or coming out, one must pass through this entrance main hall. Some old guys who think their cultivation is strong hide their identities and specifically hunt the Wu Xiu coming out nearby to rob them of their treasures."

"Don't worry, when they see the Young Monarch, they will naturally flee like frightened birds."

Li Youyi was naturally not referring to this; he stopped asking and followed Tang Wanzhou into the hall, which was several hectares in size. The magnificent feeling that rushed toward him caused a great impact on his heart; he had never seen such a building.

The hundred-zhang-high ancestral statue of Pogaluo Buddha stood like a mountain in front.

(End of chapter)