Chapter 271

This place is…

After a bout of dizziness, Wu Tie's feet landed on solid ground.

Lao Tie and Demon Chapter King were nearby; Lao Tie looked around nonchalantly, blowing smoke rings from his mouth.

The performance of Demon Chapter King and the others was even worse than that of the shamaness lying on Lao Tie's back.

The massive spatial turbulence jolted the viscera of Demon Chapter King and the others; they felt nauseous, each bending over and opening their mouths, straining to vomit.

But here there is a miraculous sealing power, like a stopper, plugging their throats.

No matter how they retched until their faces turned purple, they couldn't even spit a drop of saliva onto the ground.

"The master of this place is a cleanliness freak!" Huaguang, with loose long hair, struggled to sit up, habitually clasping his hands behind his back, nodding in praise: "I like it; being a cleanliness freak is good."

Wu Tie had already been shocked by the strange surroundings, and hadn't heard Huaguang's praise clearly.

This is a small island neither big nor small; Wu Tie's brow flashed with electric light, his soul power spreading out and quickly enveloping the entire island.

With a radius of less than a hundred li, the roughly circular island is flat around its edges; in the center stands a small mountain about a kilometer high, from foot to summit thirteen small halls are lined up in a row.

The mountain is filled with bodhi trees and udumbara flowers.

At the mountain's base lies a lake a dozen li in radius, its waters filled with crimson lotuses that spit fire, while the shores are overgrown with black and red mandrake.

A breeze blew, sending toxic mandrake pollen swirling everywhere, but the lotuses in the lake spewed sheets of flame, burning the pollen to nothing.

Sparks dotted the vast lake—this was the light emitted from the burning pollen.

The island is decorated serenely and elegantly, exuding an aura that makes the soul feel light and pure; Wu Tie smiled and nodded, for this aura was familiar to him—whether it was the Duo Xin Jing or the other scriptures he had taught the Sixfold Palace Master, they all carried this same tone.

In that case, Sanlian City and the Sixfold Palace must actually share the same ancestral sect.

No wonder the twelve lineage clans of Sanlian City, with their bodhi, udumbara, giant dragon, and lion motifs, all have special significance in ancient Buddhism.

The island itself is quite ordinary; what's extraordinary is the environment it sits in.

The island lies in the void, its surroundings dim to an extreme, exuding a sense of ruin and desolation.

Standing on the island, one can clearly feel the chaos and violence of the surrounding void; invisible, traceless, soundless spatial turbulence rages wildly around the island, and whenever a turbulence grazes the island, its edge erupts in sheets of golden sparks.

High above, a faint golden light curtain can be vaguely seen, like an eggshell, enveloping the entire island.

Gazing past countless spatial turbulences, straining to look far into the void, one can faintly see black holes of various sizes.

Pitch-black, they spin like vortices in 'slow' motion, resembling wormholes deeply embedded in the spacetime curtain; these black holes are scattered haphazardly in all directions, as if a handful of beans had been tossed randomly, their positions showing no discernible pattern.

But upon closer inspection, Wu Tie felt that the positions of these black holes seemed to have been carefully measured.

Between the black holes, immense gravitational forces pull at each other, forming an invisible massive barrier that shields heaven and earth; this chaotic yet vast gravitational field is like an invisible sea, and the island relies on it to remain stably suspended in this region of void.

Even the slightest shift in any black hole's position would unbalance the island, causing it to be instantly swallowed by a neighboring black hole.

The island is not stationary; it actually hurtles through the void at a terrifyingly high speed.

But with no reference points around, and those black holes being extremely distant, Wu Tie and the others standing on the island cannot perceive its motion at all.

"Is this the Sanlian Realm?" Wu Tie muttered to himself.

"This is the Sanlian Realm." Demon Chapter King's face flushed red, with blue, purple, green, and black rings flashing beneath his skin: "Truly, amazing—such a vast island, such boundless void, truly amazing!"

"Indeed, the ancestors of Sanlian City were truly remarkable." Wu Tie praised sincerely.

Looking up, there are at least hundreds of millions of black holes.

Calculating the positions of these black holes and the regularities of their mutual gravitational tugs allows this small island to remain intact while hovering at high speed in the void, without being swallowed by the black holes.

Truly the work of a sage; Wu Tie reckoned he could never accomplish any of this.

Just as he was pondering, a 'wicked wind' howled past from afar at high speed.

Wu Tie and the others stared in shock, seeing on one side of the island a landmass of unknown size but at least tens of thousands of times larger than the island, like a mad bull, roaring past at a speed many times greater than the island's.

This landmass was so huge that it barbarically shattered countless spatial turbulences; the chaotic remnants slammed into the island, causing the golden light curtain above it to burst into sheets of golden sparks.

The island trembled slightly, and everyone felt a jolt of alarm.

This scene was like a million-ton freighter speeding across a sea choked with turbulence and whirlpools, its huge waves striking a nearby dinghy, which could at any moment be sucked into a whirlpool.

Fortunately, the sealing power of this region of void is miraculous; the island's trajectory is firmly locked by the gravitational fields emanating from the countless black holes.

After the impact of that landmass, the island kept shaking, but its trajectory remained unchanged.

"What is that..." Wu Tie and the others exclaimed in unison.

Although extremely far away, the sheer size of the landmass flying past allowed everyone to see clearly that its surface was a landscape of clear mountains and pure waters, with mountains, water, rivers, seas, and lakes, and in some places there appeared to be traces of extensive buildings.

Demon Chapter King opened his mouth, his face turning purplish-red.

He had been marveling at how great his ancestors were when suddenly such a huge landmass shot past.

As that landmass sped by, its surface was also flashing with firelight, clearly indicating that it too possessed formidable seals striking against the spatial turbulence.

If that landmass were also the ancestral legacy of some power...

Such a handiwork would surely surpass the ancestors of Sanlian City by an unknown margin.

Especially Wu Tie, who stared blankly at the rapidly receding landmass, feeling as if someone extremely close to him were present there.

A surge of qi and blood welled up; Wu Tie swiftly formed a seal with his right hand, a tremendous backlash force struck him, he suddenly laughed, spitting a mouthful of blood several meters away, and gazing joyfully at the landmass he said: "Wu Jin... is up there... that landmass is the ancestral homeland of the Wa clan."

Wu Tie laughed especially brightly: "No wonder Wa Mu and the others couldn't say where the Wa clan's ancestral land was—turns out it lies in this strange void."

Demon Chapter King stared blankly at Wu Tie, instinctively sucking in a breath of cold air.

Comparing the sizes of their ancestral lands reveals just how great the difference in their strength is.

Sanlian City is already such a colossal entity; then the Wa clan...

"Lord Wu Tie, I don't know—does your little sister Wa Xiaoqi have a sweetheart?" Demon Chapter King tossed his golden hair with a flirtatious air: "I think my family background is fine, my appearance dignified, my character virtuous, I have no bad habits, and I am truly an excellent choice for a brother-in-law!"

Wu Tie glanced at Demon Chapter King, wiped the blood from his lips, and said coldly: "Heh... don't you think Xiaoqi and you, aside from anything else, have quite an age gap?"

Demon Chapter King's face darkened; his neck suddenly stretched three to five feet long, his head drooping limp and hanging beside his abdomen, swaying left and right.

Shi Fei, Lu Ji, and Yan Hanlu standing nearby stared, mouths agape.

Yan Hanlu even whispered to Mu Xu: "If it were me, I'd definitely not want such a man; in the middle of the night he could scare someone to death!"

Mu Xu nodded slowly, the corner of his mouth on the right side was harshly pulled, and he threw a contemptuous white eye at the Demon Chapter King.

A booming 'Boom' sound rang out.

Everyone looked up in fear and saw a winding, twisting mountain range stretching several hundred thousand li, like a giant dragon, roaring as it flew past above the small island.

The mountain range was towering and perilous everywhere, with cliffs of ten thousand ren, and among them the thirteen blood-red peaks were especially conspicuous.

The thirteen blood-red peaks were evenly distributed from the head to the tail of the mountain range.

Each blood-colored peak's top bore a blood-colored tower of varying layers; the tallest such tower had three thousand six hundred layers, shaped like a curved ivory tusk and also like a great-curved saber, defiantly pointing into the void, its whole body emanating a mighty demonic flame and killing aura.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded.

Whose mighty faction's ancestor could have done such a grand work?

"Let's go... this place is mysterious and unpredictable... it's best to leave early." Wu Tie clapped his hands.

His mood became very heavy.

Earlier, on a whim, he used the divination technique he had just grasped to calculate Wu Jin's whereabouts.

He clearly sensed that Wu Jin was on that huge continent flying past, but soon Wu Tie was backlashed by an irresistible terrifying force, sustaining many cracks in his five viscera and six bowels, and now his whole body aches severely.

Knowing full well that this place was full of strangeness, Wu Tie felt uneasy but still wanted everyone to leave as soon as possible.

But thinking about it, Wu Jin was on that continent; he had been in the Nüwa Clan's ancestral land for so long, and no one knew what had happened to him.

Wu Tie was very worried, but at this moment he had no recourse.

He only hated that his cultivation was too low; if his strength were sufficient, he should have broken the island's defensive barrier just now, directly chased after that huge continent, and gone to find Wu Jin.

Unfortunately, he cannot do that now.

The group walked toward the small hill at the island's center, went around the lake at the mountain's base, and arrived at the foot of the mountain's steps.

Along a straight line from the mountain's base to its summit stood thirteen ancient-style palaces lying still. Wu Tie and the others climbed the wide stone steps, with light smoke and rosy glimmer faintly flickering on both sides of the steps, layer upon layer hiding who knows how many seals.

The Demon Chapter King suspended a drop of his own essence blood before him, left hand gripping a seal of the Great Peacock King clan, right hand forming seals, mouth chanting a secret incantation, leading everyone upward all the way.

Along the way, none of the restrictions were triggered, and the group smoothly entered the first palace.

In the center of this palace stood a half-withered, half-flourishing bodhi tree, motionless. Beneath the bodhi tree sat cross-legged a withered bald-headed old man.

The bald-headed old man placed both hands before his chest, holding an ancient bronze-colored lamp; a point of firelight on the lamp was bean-sized, within the firelight a faint bodhi tree illusion could be vaguely seen, appearing and disappearing.

Lao Tie sneezed, two strands of green smoke spewed from his nostrils; he forcefully inhaled a big puff of smoke, then slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

"Don't look at me... smoking is harmful to health, but I can't help it, what's the big deal?" Lao Tie rolled his eyes at the people looking at him.

The Demon Chapter King walked over to the withered bald-headed old man's corpse, knelt on the ground, bowed several times to the old man, then muttered a few prayers.

The lamp in the old man's hand flew up silently, turning into a wisp of azure flowing fire that entered the Demon Chapter King's brow.

The Demon Chapter King's body trembled slightly, and he laughed with delight: "This is the Bodhi clan's inheritance supreme treasure, the Bodhi Heart Lamp, plus the inheritance of all the Bodhi clan's techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts…… excellent…… but……"

The Demon Chapter King sighed, a trace of pity in his voice: "The power left by our ancestors is scant; the round of Bodhi pure-heart light that should have condensed on the Bodhi Heart Lamp…… is only the size of a bean."

He shook his head, and the Demon Chapter King became delighted again: "However, with this speck of pure-heart light seed, the Bodhi clan's lost supreme divine ability for many years can continue to be passed down."

Wu Tie remained silent, focusing his inner vision; within his chest, a halo of light like a vast great sun, a lush bodhi tree swaying its branches and leaves within the light ring, continuously emitting clear radiance that poured into Wu Tie's flesh and soul.

Is this light cluster the fundamental supreme inheritance of the Bodhi clan?

Could it possibly be the condensation of that bald-headed old man's lifetime cultivation? Or perhaps there are other mysteries?

Wu Tie glanced at Lao Tie.

Lao Tie glared at Wu Tie, silently thinking, 'What are you looking at me for? The instigator is your Nuwa clan's ancient ancestor; I'm just her doing the first, I'm doing the fifteenth, the culprit isn't me!'!

In the second palace, the Demon Chapter King took a Udumbara glass cup; originally there should have been a round of Udumbara heart-light, but now it is only the size of a soybean.

However, the Udumbara glass cup contained a large amount of Udumbara flower milk; each drop could greatly nourish the soul's vital energy, also a rare treasure.

In the third palace, the Demon Chapter King took a Scarlet Lotus Double Ring; this is a supreme treasure for cleansing the soul and tempering the body, with immense power, a treasure that has excellent uses in both offense and defense.

Naturally, that round of Scarlet Lotus heart-light is also only the size of a soybean……

Wu Tie and Lao Tie straightened their expressions and continued forward.

The fourth palace, the fifth palace……

After collecting twelve treasures of the Twelve Appearance clan's inheritance along the way, the group finally arrived before the gate of the highest Great Peacock Palace.