Chapter 116: Heaven's Chain

The witch maiden commanded the wind-and-cloud banner, as if she had an innate ease with it.

Twisted light, thin mist, perfectly concealed the figures of Wu Tie and the witch maiden.

Wu Tie first arrived at the city gate, where several warriors belonging to the Changsheng Sect stood before the gate, eyes wide, staring fixedly at the vast plain outside the city.

The False Sun was dim, only the faint glow emitted by luminous plants; specks of phosphorescent light flickered uncertainly across the plain, and many luminous insects could be seen flashing up and down.

The beast-oil torches at the city gate were very bright, which instead prevented these sentinel warriors from seeing clearly the movements in the distant phosphorescence.

Wu Tie strode straight up to those warriors, and he did not use the White Tiger Split, for its momentum was really too great.

He clenched his fist with a blank expression, and the Vajra Subduing Demon Fist's Eight-Armed Vajra Form erupted, his fist landing lightly on the throats of several warriors.

With a light blow, several warriors' necks were shattered, blood continuously flowing from their mouths, their bodies tilting downward, yet bound by an invisible force field, they lay down gently and silently on the ground.

Wu Tie, with the witch maiden, rose silently into the air.

On the city wall, more than a dozen drunken dwarves huddled together, snoring loudly.

Around them lay scattered various sizes of wine barrels, and some unfinished large bone sticks were still tightly gripped in their hands.

Wu Tie floated three inches above the ground, his toes tapping each of their chests in turn.

During the day, those dwarves who had poured boiling water onto Shi Meng's leg and excitedly shouted "ah-ah" sank silently into the shadow of death.

All around still came no sound, and Wu Tie couldn't help exhaling a long breath… perhaps this truly was not a trap.

At least, Zhu Zixi really led people to attack the giant clan.

As long as that old monster Zhu Zixi left, Wu Tie's courage would grow considerably.

His body rose from the walltop, Wu Tie landed on the finely forged steel cage, his right hand's White Tiger Armguard spurting a foot-long spearhead shaped like a short sword; he casually swept it, and the steel rebar as thick as a child's fist was silently severed.

Some runes were even attached to the rebar, but they were useless against the edge of the White Tiger Split. One by one the runes cracked, sparks scattering, emitting faint sounds, all perfectly covered by the smoke expelled from the wind-and-cloud banner.

Inside the cage, the dazhi Shi Meng suddenly jerked awake.

He widened his swollen right eye, staring fixedly at Wu Tie, his face covered in wounds showing an expression of disbelief.

Wu Tie hastily raised his right index finger, making a gesture to stay silent.

Shi Meng nodded with difficulty, revealing an extremely complex smile.

There was embarrassment, sorrow, anger… in short, Wu Tie keenly sensed a multitude of emotions in his smile.

From Wu Tie being rescued by the Chief Steward to his arrival at Blackstone City, it had been a little over a month.

Think back to when Shi Liuye, high-spirited, raised his banner and led people in rebellion against the Changsheng Sect.

Now look at Shi Meng, a puddle of mud lying in the cage, struggling to survive; Wu Tie silently sighed, produced a bottle of healing elixir, and poured it down Shi Meng's throat.

The elixir, Wu Tie had personally prepared.

Its effect surely wasn't as strong as the white elixir inside the crystal ball of the Ancient Divine Soldiers' Camp, but it was still not bad.

At least after drinking a bottle of the elixir, Shi Meng's swollen, bruised right eye was rapidly reducing, and the blood threads in his eyeball were quickly disappearing.

Wu Tie grabbed Shi Meng in one motion, leapt silently out of the cage, the witch maiden nimbly climbed onto his shoulder and sat down, an invisible force field lifted the three, and they glided silently away into the distance.

After an hour, Wu Tie, Shi Meng, Lao Bai and the others had already hidden in a mining pit more complex than a spider's web.

The Shi Family excels at mining; outside Blackstone City, everywhere are pits so complex they drive one to despair.

Just a few people hiding in these mines—even if tens of thousands were mobilized and spent one or two years—could never hope to find them.

Lao Bai made two small beast-oil torches, lit them and inserted them into the stone wall; the modest mine shaft was instantly illuminated, and Wu Tie placed Shi Meng on a flat stone slab covered with a piece of animal hide.

"Shi Liuye." Wu Tie looked at Shi Meng, for a moment not knowing what to say.

"I've lost face." Shi Meng gave a dry, bitter laugh: "I never expected little Tie you to come rescue me… I never expected you could actually save me… well, don't worry about me, let's go, the Cangyan Realm is finished."

Shi Meng stared blankly at Wu Tie, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

"I and Old Two never imagined, we truly never imagined, that the elders who had defected to the Changsheng Sect within the clan were not just the few who showed it outwardly."

"It was almost a total annihilation of the army."

"Inside and outside colluded, inside responded to outside… we who dared to resist… had almost no power to fight back, and the army was utterly destroyed."

"The Shi Family is like this, the Yan Family is like this, the Lu Family is like this…"

Shi Meng said in a low voice: "Although each family managed to flee a few people out to the giant clan's territory, what good does that do?"

"Changsheng… is it really that alluring? Truly, even the ancestors' foundation, all the clanspeople, everything, can be sold?" Shi Meng stared blankly at Wu Tie, as if awaiting an answer.

Wu Tie could not answer Shi Meng, so he changed the subject: "I want to leave the Cangyan Realm to find my kin."

"But the secret passage to the outer realms has been completely sealed off by the Changsheng Sect. Lao Bai says the defenses are very tight, with many strange formations and ambushes; I cannot get through." Wu Tie looked at Shi Meng: "After thinking, the only way through is to destroy the Changsheng Sect."

"Uh…" Shi Meng was choked by Wu Tie's words, he oddly stared at Wu Tie, then shook his head vigorously.

"Little Tie, it's not that I'm discouraging you, but…" Shi Meng gave a wry smile: "How could it be possible? The Changsheng Sect—do you know how many people they've brought?"

"I have a very dangerous method. But perhaps it's not a bad one." Wu Tie earnestly regarded Shi Meng: "However, I hope the giant clan can hold out a little longer. I need you to take me to the giant clan, I need your help, to let the giant clan's patriarch believe in me and cooperate with me."

He patted Shi Meng's shoulder, Wu Tie said in a deep voice: "Give me a little time, I hope everything will be in time."

Wu Tie closed his eyes, firmly patted his own chest: "Believe me, I will surely make it in time."

He took all the dried meat from the Qiankun bag out, piled it before the witch maiden, and Wu Tie headed into the depths of the mine. With a flick of his right hand, he shot out a fist-sized fireball that illuminated the mine, then proceeded along the winding shaft for dozens of li.

Finding a secluded, dry cavern, Wu Tie sat down.

He took out all the primal grass he had seized from the Yan Family's primal aperture, arranging it neatly before him.

Previously, having spent over half a month traveling from Great Stone City to Blackstone City, Wu Tie had also consumed considerable lava grass along the way; now the golden light cluster at his brow had stabilized to the size of a fist.

Next, Wu Tie hesitated not, and began gulping down the primal grass in large mouthfuls.

Whether lava grass or higher-grade primal grass, he swallowed it mouthful after mouthful, continuously circulating the Primal Beginning Classic to transform it into magical power cultivation.

The formidable physique cultivated by the Primal Beginning Classic now displayed its terrifying efficacy; regardless of the surging torrents of energy transformed from the primal grass, Wu Tie's body perfectly withstood wave after wave of domineering, ferocious impacts.

The Primal Beginning Classic ran at full throttle, the righteous qi fully activated.

Within Wu Tie's body roared like thunder, surged like a tsunami.

Wave after wave of energy torrents harboring terrifying fire-attribute impurities and fire poison surged and scoured; the righteous qi was like a mighty god hoisting a great hammer, bit by bit forging the impurity fire poison to nothing, continuously erupting from Wu Tie's pores all over his body.

Soon, the mine where Wu Tie was became filled with flashing red light and rising heat waves.

The fire poison ravaged the mine, scorching the rock walls bright red; gradually the fire poison spread outward, baking the surrounding tunnels to a charred dryness, while thin blue smoke continually rose from the ground.

Strands of clear, water-like golden power continually arose, then burst into a sky-filling rain of light that ceaselessly merged into his whole body; each strand of golden power merged only a thread into the light cluster at his brow.

As the power continually arose, as it continually nourished and tempered his whole body, Wu Tie's soul power also grew stronger and stronger.

Gradually, Wu Tie's soul power swept over his whole body like a gentle breeze and fine rain, and he clearly saw his own blocks of bone, strands of muscle, strands of nerves and blood vessels...

Gradually, Wu Tie's soul power became ever more fine and subtle.

He saw countless crystal-clear cells, whether in bone, marrow, muscle, or blood; these extremely tiny cells continually devoured specks of swirling, falling golden light, and each devouring made the cells more robust, more solid and sturdy.

At first, these cells were weak, like bubbles.

As the golden power continually merged, as the vast righteous qi repeatedly cleansed and scoured, these cells gradually became like cast crystal—clear, moist, extraordinarily solid, extraordinarily tough.

Wu Tie's soul power gradually seeped into a cell glowing with bright light.

He finally saw, within the minute cells, an even finer layered structure—a wondrous, miraculous, indescribable micro‑structure.

He felt creation, he felt vitality, he felt boundless profound mystery.

Each tiny cell was like a small, complete world, with countless fine streams of light swirling around a radiant cluster at its center; that radiant cluster was like a vortex, its ends joined, turning slowly along a perfect structure.

Wu Tie immersed himself in this strange sensation.

This is the structure of creation within his body; this is the 'profound mystery' within his body.

The realm of sensing the profound, the realm of sensing the profound—perceiving the mysteries of heaven and earth, and even more so perceiving the subtlest profound mystery within his body.

As Wu Tie's soul power continually permeated his body's finest layers, his consumption of spirit grass grew faster and faster, and the amount he consumed increased more and more.

On the third day after entering this mine, all the spirit grass Wu Tie had obtained from the spirit aperture and carried away from the transport cart during Zhu Zixi's personal assault was completely exhausted.

Wu Tie's whole body emitted light; a moist luster filled his body, and his body shone like a crystal, giving off dazzling light.

Gradually, within that light, two dim light bands coiled into being...

All the light from Wu Tie's body slowly gathered toward those two light bands.

Countless fine streams of light streamed from each cell, converging toward the phantom of those two light bands.

It was as if countless tiny bulbs simultaneously emitted light, and countless fine rays simultaneously projected into the phantom of those two light bands.

Wu Tie rested one hand on the empty metal box; the spirit grass was used up.

He took a Blaze Triple Tribulation Fruit from his cosmos sack and swallowed it.

The Blaze Triple Tribulation Fruit entered his belly and then exploded with a boom. A mass of black‑red violent flame ignited fiercely in his marrow, burning his whole body to emit black‑red firelight.

Blaze Triple Tribulation Fruit—scorching the body, tempering the marrow, refining the soul… after enduring the three tribulations, it spontaneously adds three hundred years of power, and surely grants a fire‑attribute divine ability.

Wu Tie felt excruciating pain all over; the black‑red flame first burned in his marrow, then a green‑red flame ignited over his whole body, and finally a blue‑white flame shot out from his brow.

Unbearable pain assailed him, and Wu Tie merely silently circulated the Primordial Scripture.

He could not believe it—given his foundation, his base, his strong flesh and cultivation method, he actually could not withstand the mere tempering of a Blaze Triple Tribulation Fruit.

The flames raged, and the potent medicinal power continually merged into his whole body.

One Blaze Triple Tribulation Fruit's medicinal power was many times stronger than all the spirit grass Wu Tie had taken before; strands of pure, strong power continually arose, then burst into a sky‑filling rain of light that swirled downward.

Specks of golden light rapidly merged into his whole body; the light filaments sprayed from each granule of cell became ever more brilliant and dazzling, and Wu Tie's whole body turned into a huge bulb, continually releasing intense light outward.

Emitting divine light, the dark chamber glowing—this is an omen that all cultivators of the Sensing the Profound realm exhibit when they reach the final stage of their practice.

However, the vast majority of Sensing the Profound cultivators merely have a faint halo of light on their skin; those with better aptitude and superior methods often emit three‑foot bright light from some part of the body; and those of exceptional talent who cultivate top‑tier methods can have a body part illuminate several zhang, which is already enough to astonish people as heavenly beings.

Wu Tie's every pore sprayed forth zhang‑long radiance, and his whole person became a massive ball of light.

He was in this remote, uninhabited mine, so no one witnessed his cultivation phenomenon.

If someone saw it… perhaps he would be jointly erased by all the major powers aware of his existence.

Such a monster cannot be tolerated to exist; no power can bear his presence, and only by joining forces to erase him can everyone sleep peacefully and have tranquil minds.

Behind Wu Tie, strong light surged forth, and countless fine light strands outlined two broad bands like flood dragons.

More than three billion fine light strands crisscrossed within the bands, continually emitting various colors of elusive light.

A faint rumbling came from within Wu Tie's body; the over‑three‑billion fine light strands suddenly converged inward, accompanied by a rolling thunder sound, and countless phenomena appeared around him.

More or less of the light strands rapidly collapsed and assembled inward, finally forming a wavering, double‑helix band of light flame behind Wu Tie.

Within the double‑helix light band, thirty‑three variegated, bizarre light‑flame shackles rose overlapping; each shackle differed in shape, bearing countless large and small runes that flickered in and out, firmly locking Wu Tie's surging light‑flame body dead center.

Layered Tower

Heavenly Lock

Heaven's shackles, sealing the wondrous creation of all things—the heavenly shackles.