Chapter 832: Xuanji Pavilion

Spatial turbulence tore at Yan Buji's body, and the energy unleashed by the jade tablet clashed violently with the laws of the Day Layer. Countless shattered scenes flashed before his eyes: a blood‑red battlefield, collapsing mountains, and... a pair of golden eyes slowly opening in the void.

Bang!

Yan Buji crashed heavily onto a glassy floor, while countless crystal prisms floated around, each reflecting a different world scene. Just as he was about to rise, a short sword of condensed starlight suddenly pressed against his throat.

"Human cultivator?" a bell‑like voice came from behind, "How did you slip into Xuanji Pavilion?"

Yan Buji's pupils narrowed. The aura behind him was as insubstantial as smoke, making it hard for him to grasp. He slowly raised both hands, but a sudden movement came from his waist: the half‑shattered jade tablet, somehow restored to its original state, now emitted a faint blue glow.

"Wait!" the woman suddenly sheathed her sword, "You're carrying the Xuanji Order?"

In the instant she turned, Yan Buji saw a girl of about twenty‑eight years, a star‑pattern embroidered at her brow, her moon‑white robe stained with fresh blood. Even stranger, a rust‑streaked bronze chain wound around her right wrist, its links engraved with suppression runes.

"You're not a Nine Heavens cultivator," the girl squinted, "Did you smuggle in from the Five Realms?"

A deep bell toll rang from afar, and the entire crystal palace began to tremble. The girl's complexion changed abruptly; she grabbed Yan Buji and leapt into the nearest prism: "The pursuers are coming!"

The world within the mirror spun wildly. When Yan Buji steadied himself, he found himself perched on a branch of a towering sky‑piercing tree; beneath it a sea of clouds roiled, and countless floating palaces were collapsing. The debris did not fall but instead surged backward toward a dark vortex deep in the heavens.

"Do you see those black spots?" the girl pointed to the sky, "The 'Devour Dao Mark' that started appearing three months ago can even Devour the birth‑star of the Elders."

Yan Buji suddenly pressed his left eye. Mutant Force roamed wildly beneath his skin, and the aura of those so‑called black spots was apparently sourced from the Mutant Zone of the Sun‑Moon Palace! He recalled a conversation he had overheard at the observatory, and a terrifying hypothesis rose in his mind.

"You collect Dao Fruit with the Nurturing Sky Pearl, but you're actually feeding these things?"

The chain on the girl's wrist suddenly flashed a blinding red light. She curled up in pain as the runes on the bronze links burst one after another. "Run!" she gritted her teeth and shoved Yan Buji, "Find the real Bronze Gate, and trust nothing..."

Her words cut off abruptly. The girl's pupils instantly took on a metallic sheen, her robe moved without wind, and a true‑immortal level pressure rose around her. The chain snapped link by link, turning into streaks of light that vanished into the star pattern at her brow.

"Another insect probing the heavens," a cold, mechanical voice forced from her throat, and she raised her hand, summoning a ten‑thousand‑foot bolt of lightning.

As Yan Buji retreated violently, he brandished his innate Celestial Accumulation Rift Staff. The moment the rift's bee‑stingers collided with the lightning, dense Dao patterns erupted, severing all the thunder.

"Huh?" the possessed girl showed a surprised expression, "A mere Martial Cultivation practitioner actually understands the Cosmic Dao?"

Seizing the opening, Yan Buji fiercely bit his own tongue. His essence blood sprayed onto the bone blade, activating the hidden Cosmic Dao seal. Where the blade cut, space tore like cloth, revealing a rust‑stained Bronze Gate phantom behind.

"Sure enough, a hidden backup!" the girl shrieked as she lunged, her five fingers turning into sharp claws.

Yan Buji sidestepped, and his left eye suddenly throbbed with intense pain. The Mutant Dao Mark awakened of its own accord, solidifying in his socket as a blood‑red vertical slit. The moment that gaze touched the Bronze Gate, the phantom solidified instantly, and thick black mist seeped through the doorway.

"Are you mad?!" the girl retreated in terror, "What's behind it..."

From the black mist, countless pale arms suddenly emerged, pulling both of them into the gate at once. In the final instant, Yan Buji saw the girl's star pattern at her brow explode, a vague consciousness screaming as it fled from her body.

The Bronze Gate slammed shut with a roar.

Darkness. A viscous, substance‑like blackness enveloped Yan Buji. He felt himself falling, yet also struggling within solidified amber. The Mutant Dao Mark in his left eye throbbed wildly, tracing a blood‑red path through the darkness.

"Cough…" a weak cough came from his side. The girl was floating nearby, her star pattern at the brow dimmed, but her pupils had cleared. The broken bronze chain on her wrist emitted a faint glow, illuminating the small area.

"We actually weren't devoured by whatever's behind the 'gate'?" the girl's hoarse voice said, scanning the surroundings warily. The glow revealed a massive chamber made of countless bronze gears, dark‑gold liquid flowing between them, exuding an ancient, time‑worn aura.

Yan Buji suddenly pressed his temples. The Mutant Force in his left eye resonated strangely with this space, and a flood of unfamiliar memory fragments surged into his mind!

He saw the massive Bronze Gate sailing through a sea of stars, its doors opening and closing with the rise and fall of civilizations; he saw Nine Heavens cultivators' Dao Fruit collected with the Nurturing Sky Pearl being injected into the dark‑gold liquid between the gears…

"This is the interior of the 'Heavenly Star Gate'," Yan Buji blurted, "We're traversing the Day Layer."

The girl suddenly seized his arm: "How do you know all this? Wait..." she stared at Yan Buji's left eye streaked with blood vessels, "You have a Mutant Dao Mark inside you? No wonder you can activate the Bronze Gate!"

"Mutant Dao Mark?" Yan Buji was taken aback.

Before he could ask, a distant grinding of gears roared. The dark‑gold liquid boiled, coalescing into vague humanoid shapes. These figures lacked facial features, but their chests bore blood‑colored vortices resembling the Nurturing Sky Pearl.

"Dao Fruit Guardians..." the girl's face turned ghastly, "They will Devour the Dao Foundation of any living thing!"

The first formed humanoid lunged right before him. Yan Buji swung his Rift Staff, and the bee‑stinger‑shaped spatial blade pierced straight through the opponent's body!

These monsters were somehow immune to Cosmic Dao attacks!

At the critical moment, the girl yanked her pendant from her neck and crushed it, the erupting starlight temporarily repelling the humanoids.

"Use Mutant Force!" she urged, "These guardians are formed from orthodox laws; only twisted‑rule power can harm them!"

Yan Buji's left eye throbbed even more intensely. He simply gave up control, allowing the Mutant Dao Mark to spread along his arm onto the staff. The staff's once silver shaft instantly became covered with blood‑red veins, and on the next strike, the spatial blade was sheathed in a writhing black mist.

Snort!

The struck Dao Fruit Guardian emitted a crisp, glass‑shattering sound, its blood‑colored vortex in the chest being eroded by the black mist in reverse. Yet more guardians rose from the liquid, beginning to merge into three‑meter‑tall giants, each step shaking the gears.

Yan Buji's pupils narrowed; at last he sensed something was wrong.

How could I possibly wield Mutant Force?

"Is it because, in the Mutant Zone created by Yunqing, I absorbed a massive amount of Mutant Force?" Yan Buji's face turned grim.