Chapter 463: True Singing Mountain Blessed Land, Seeking the Cave Heaven of Myriad Worlds

A variable?

Heng Xian startled, wondering how to save Ji Yaoyue, and what the variable meant.

He looked toward the midair, where a group from the National Elder Pavilion and the Heavenly Empress drew nearer.

Only the National Elder Pavilion's group aura grew heavier, shrouding half the sky and most of the imperial city; the sky turned dim, as if any stillness or movement would shatter mountains and split the earth.

This is the power of cultivators above Nascent Soul!

However, the Heavenly Empress suddenly formed a strange seal, lightly waved her hand, and the entire Purple Phoenix Mountain trembled slightly as a huge, terrifying phoenix shadow, seemingly from ancient times, suddenly appeared.

The entire Purple Phoenix Palace seemed merely a perch for it; its claws gripped the palace, its wondrous phoenix body already soaring into the high heavens, while its five-colored tail trailed across the entire rear palace and half of the imperial capital.

Its expression was extremely haughty, as if a divine spirit from the heavens, scorning all!

Those from all directions who had stepped aside to watch the National Elder Pavilion and the Heavenly Empress duel in spells couldn't help but change color.

Martial Absolute Emperor and his group, together with the National Elder Pavilion's people, halted in shock, faces full of dread and fear, as if they had long known of such a thing's existence!

Heng Xian instinctively moved to embrace Ji Yaoyue.

Ji Yaoyue in his arms suddenly trembled violently, reaching out both hands to clutch his neck: 'Don't abandon me!'

Just then, the huge, terrifying phoenix shadow suddenly lowered its head, locked its gaze on Heng Xian, opened its blood‑filled maw, and sucked him in.

Heng Xian, unaware why, made to move holding Ji Yaoyue away, but felt his body tighten as if bound by countless chains, unable to move an inch.

Immediately, the phoenix's beak seized him and swallowed him head‑first.

The little pet Dog Egg beside him panicked, grabbing Heng Xian's pant leg and following him in.

Ji Yaoyue drifted down and fell to the ground.

The Heavenly Empress in the sky looked astonished; obviously the phoenix shadow swallowing Heng Xian wasn't her doing—in fact, she could not command the phoenix shadow.

The National Elder Pavilion and the people from all directions were also bewildered, and for a moment not even a sparrow's chirp could be heard.

……

Dazed, hot flashes, then cold spells—that was all Heng Xian felt.

He struggled to open his eyes to see what the phoenix's esophagus and stomach looked like, but he simply couldn't.

After an unknown time, the icy heat on his body faded and his mind cleared.

He flung his eyes open to see only a mist‑shrouded place, everything hazy and indistinct.

Chirp‑chirp…

Beside him, Dog Egg clung tightly to his legs, looking terrified.

Heng Xian patted its head: 'Thanks, Dog Egg—let's turn into shit together!'

Dog Egg blinked, suddenly unafraid, wore a proud look, patted its chest, as if saying: 'Who's with whom?'

Heng Xian shook his head, surveyed the surroundings, and said: 'Although I don't know why this phoenix shadow singled me out to eat, one thing is certain—this place is definitely not a phoenix's stomach!'

Dog Egg nodded in earnest agreement.

'Are phoenixes egg‑laying or mammals?' Heng Xian asked offhand.

That question hit Dog Egg's knowledge blind spot, leaving it with a bewildered monkey‑like expression.

Come…

Just then, a call came from the thick fog ahead.

Heng Xian focused his gaze, but could see nothing.

Come come…

That voice kept calling, now more urgent.

Heng Xian thought, then took Dog Egg and went over.

He passed through layer after layer of fog, still seeing nothing; the summons seemed to flicker in and out, yet persisted.

After walking like that for half an hour, the view ahead suddenly cleared, revealing a green mountain stream.

At the stream's end, amid verdant woods and mountains blanketed with flowers, stood a few uniquely styled wooden cabins.

Heng Xian stared, never expecting the fog's end to be such a place.

Come come come…

That summons came from inside those few wooden cabins.

Heng Xian, with Dog Egg, walked along the stream toward it.

Halfway there, he saw a huge blue‑green stone beside the stream, its surface inscribed in vigorous, flowing script: 'True Singing Mountain Blessed Land, Myriad Worlds Seek Cave Heaven!'

Any place with such a saying is surely a divine abode.

But Heng Xian looked around and simply could not relate this place to a cave‑heaven blessed land.

He continued toward the wooden cabins.

Just as he reached the cabins, the summons abruptly stopped.

Heng Xian looked around in surprise, finding nothing special—it really was just an ordinary farmhouse in a mountain village.

He slowly approached the main house, peered inside, and caught a fleeting glimpse: a hazy figure of a girl sat within, who… bore a resemblance to Ji Yaoyue.

Just as he tried to look closer, a gauzy layer seemed to cover the window, obscuring everything.

A voice not far away said: 'I advise you not to look—it won't do you any good.'

Heng Xian turned his head and saw an elderly woman, frail and aged, sitting in the neighboring wooden cabin, fiddling with a chessboard—

"State Chess!"

This old lady had almost lost her teeth, wore plain coarse‑cotton clothes, her silver hair neatly combed, her old hands steady though her lips trembled slightly, as if she had Parkinson's.

Heng Xian's mind wandered, but he forced himself calm and asked: 'Why can't I look?'

The old lady didn't even lift her head: 'You're as lowly as an ant, as base as a bedbug—you have no right to look!'

Heng Xian had imagined ten possible replies from the old lady—things like men and women shouldn't be intimate, or it's inconvenient for a girl—but never this; he couldn't help but say: 'Old lady, I don't like hearing that—how am I lowly and base?'

The old lady said calmly: "Not only you, but a group of people inside the National Elder Pavilion, including the Heavenly Empress, are as lowly as ants; they are not even worthy to glance at the young lady!"

Heng Xian stared for a moment, then said: "What you say balances my heart a little, but I still can't quite understand!"

The old lady seemed too lazy to answer, she gestured and said: "Please!"

That means, you are to play a game of Go against him.

Heng Xian did not decline, strode forward, sat opposite the old lady, glanced at her, and upon that look felt a wave of dizziness.

This old lady seemed to possess an aura capable of shaking heaven and earth, moving mountains and overturning seas; an ordinary person could hardly bear even a single glance.

"Look at the board!" the old lady reminded.

Heng Xian had no choice but to look at the chessboard; upon looking, he involuntarily frowned slightly.

Because the game was actually the last move of an endgame that I had previously commanded the naked-bottomed kids and Hu Ye Ming to play.

The old lady was using Hu Ye Ming's side.

"You have already lost!" Heng Xian said.

The old lady shook her head: "There are three thousand great Dao in the world, each leads to immortality; how could one admit defeat before the final moment?"

Having said that, according to the rules, she placed eight stones!

As soon as the eight stones were placed, the whole board instantly came alive.

Heng Xian raised his hand, and suddenly he did not know how to respond; no matter how he played, he fell into a disadvantage.

"You lost!" the old lady said lightly.

Heng Xian had nothing to say; without the Heavenly Hexagram's help, he was at best a second‑ or third‑rate player, and he felt the old lady's victory was not very glorious.

At this moment the old lady suddenly looked at him, her eyes like a hawk or falcon hunting, as if she could see into Heng Xian's heart: "I just sensed a hint of familiar aura on you; what is it?"

As she spoke, a hint of strange fear flickered in the depths of her gaze.

Heng Xian exclaimed in surprise: "What?"

The old lady coldly said: "I am asking you!"

Heng Xian shook his head: "How would I know?"

The old lady was about to ask again when she suddenly noticed Dog Dan, crouched nearby with a slightly fearful expression, staring wide‑eyed: "... You, you how did you come down here?"

(End of chapter)