Chapter 146

"I..." Jiang Tu wasn't sure, "I'm keeping the spiritual fire guarded inside my sea of consciousness."

"Use this for now." Jiang Yu pointed a finger at her brow, commanding the Chaos Primordial Talisman to come forth.

The Talisman Script floated out reluctantly, yet without resistance, flying into Jiang Tu's sea of consciousness.

The two went their separate ways; Jiang Yu flashed into the Spirit Sword Space and saw the mound was slightly tilted.

He then flattered, "Your magic is truly extraordinary; after a few more times the mound will surely be lifted."

"It's not me; it's because you were just struck by a huge force, affecting the Spirit Sword, which caused the mound to deform."

"Just now I faintly sensed an unknown pressure; have you already left the desert?"

"Wherever you are now, I can possibly point you the way." At this moment, Thus: Xuantang Xingjun's divine sense couldn't reach outside; he could only occasionally expend soul power to sense outside movements. His physical body was stored by him in a hidden place; without his guidance, others would hardly find it.

Jiang Yu raised her eyebrows; this old man earlier tried to mislead that his physical body was in the Desert Ancient City, and now he changed his way of speaking—truly old and crafty, untrustworthy.

"I've entered the ancient city but haven't left." She wasn't sure if she was still in the ancient city, and didn't want to keep playing along with him, "Senior Xuantang, could you tell me how you got out of the ancient city back then?"

Xuantang pondered for a moment: "In the ancient city, you must never leave the two main east-west streets."

Its alleys and side lanes easily lead people into illusions.

Meanwhile, at the crossroads of the main street, the open shops on either side are where the Gate of Life lies, but one must find the corresponding switch to enable transport out.

"Help people?"

"Yes, you need a companion who sacrifices themselves to go out, opening the transmission."

Then that companion, upon meeting another person, might be able to transmit away, or might remain where they are.

"If I touch something while running on the main cross street, will it teleport people away?" Jiang Yu carefully recalled, she had first walked toward the street intersection, then Ouyang Nian and three others disappeared, later it was Wen Xin.

Thus: Xuantang Xingjun answered straightforwardly this time: "Yes."

Jiang Yu asked again: "When someone is fighting with magic and falls into a certain shop, it might also simultaneously trigger the restriction and be teleported."

Xuantang hesitated briefly: "In principle it won't, but there could also be accidental circumstances."

"You, have you triggered the restriction and sent someone else away?"

"Probably."

"Then we wait for the next person to come in and lure him into a certain shop."

"We'll see later depending on the situation; are all the teleportations to the same place?"

"What have you encountered?" Jiang Yu restrained herself from asking him what people he had schemed against when he left the ancient city back then.

"Being teleported to a place with living people, I went through many twists and turns before I could leave."

"Later I suspected those living people were very likely cultivators who had entered before." Thus: Xuantang Xingjun roughly guessed that the little lass was deceiving herself; she had probably already left that ancient city, which was truly fortunate.

"How did you, with your Divine Transformation cultivation, enter the cave heaven?" This is what Jiang Yu had always wanted to know; would the other party say yes or not?

While asking, her divine sense swept outward toward the spirit sword, still not seeing Jiang Tu enter.

And Thus: Xuantang Xingjun also hesitated, not answering immediately; in her impatient wait, he said, "I'll go out first to find a way."

Then he said: "Wait, the Great Luo Cave Heaven does not restrict Divine Transformation cultivators from entering."

"But those who enter will occasionally have their cultivation restricted, and the timing and segments of the restriction have no regular pattern, right?" Jiang Yu had been in the cave heaven less than a day, and her cultivation and divine sense had already undergone several involuntary changes.

Seeing him not answer again, Jiang Yu knew her speculation was correct: the longer one lives, the more one fears death, and cultivators are even more so.

A Divine Transformation cultivator entering the Great Luo Cave Heaven is always mysteriously suppressed in cultivation; it's possible that at some point, a low-level cultivator could take his life.

She also didn't want to keep guessing with him; with a flash she exited the spirit sword space, and just then, from the dragon stele, she saw Jiang Tu transform into a great dragon turtle.

Having gathered enough mana, he lifted the huge dragon bone in the water, then, holding his breath and jumping with a reddened neck, it smoothly brought the dragon bone into the space.

Although Jiang Tu, with a single thought, entered a place far on the mountainside, the immense pressure still made Jiang Yu unable to catch her breath.

Even if she grabbed the spirit sword trying to flash out of the dragon pearl space, she couldn't; she could only jump into the nearby magic array previously set up, still feeling very uncomfortable.

Trying again to flash into the spirit sword space, she discovered she was temporarily disconnected from the sword, and the sword blade instantly showed cracks.

Jiang Tu placed the dragon bone properly, then with a whoosh his body turned into a small fly and came over: "Jiang Yu? Where are you?"

"Inside the array, I can't get out of the dragon pearl." Jiang Yu circulated her cultivation technique, trying to counteract the pain on her body.

Only she didn't know: now Jiang Tu also couldn't get out of the dragon pearl space.

Nothing else; once the dragon bone was moved, the dragon prestige quickly vanished, causing this dragon region to collapse.

The water surged and swirled in the blink of an eye, but shortly it became like a storm whipped up by endless winds on the sea.

Instantly, a dragon's water suction formed here; with whooshing and booming sounds, the spring water they had entered through reversed deep flow with several bangs, then swished upward into the sky.

In the distant village, there were people who saw this scene, foolishly staring at the water flowing backward.

And the dragon pearl, at this very moment, was washed by the water into midair; under the last sunlight before the sun set, it shone brightly.

That glimmer flickered indistinctly in the water, making many people's hearts itch.

Jiang Tu wanted to control the dragon pearl, but the more he tried to press it and jump ashore to flee, the less he could grasp it.

Jiang Yu swayed with the space's movement; at this moment she could not be relied upon either.

"Senior brother, let's go take a look together." In the village, the little monk Guo Jue grabbed his senior brother, who wore a greedy expression, took the fruit the woman had given and then returned it.

But unexpectedly, he wanted to leave, but the fruit-selling woman wouldn't let him: "You've all softened the peaches; once you pay, you can't get a refund."

"Alright, I'll pay you." Guo Jue firmly pressed his senior brother's hand, then hurriedly searched his storage bag for silver.

But just as he, having brought his spirit‑lost senior brother, squeezed out of the crowd, both of their storage bags were snatched away without them noticing.

When he reached for the other storage bag hidden in his inner shirt pocket, the woman had already shouted for several sturdy men to surround them.

Guo Jue immediately spoke: "Don't move; if you move again, there will be no silver."

"Trying to dodge the bill."

"Beat him."

"Monks still eat for free."

Several sturdy men, without a word, rushed forward, grabbed the two little monks, and were about to throw punches.

And yet when Guojue wanted to strike back, he discovered that at the instant a burly man pressed his shoulder, his spiritual power throughout his body stalled.

As he gasped in shock and dodged the fist, the mountain spring water had already receded, and the entire spring pool turned into a riverbank, no longer the delicate little scene it once was.

After Jiang Yu steadied her stance, Jiang Tu sent her out of the Dragon Pearl space; she fell face-up on the river surface and quickly took a Nourishing Spirit Pill to soothe her dazed brain from the shaking.

But upon hearing Jiang Tu say, "Jiang Yu, Guojue is being beaten."

"Your senior sister Xia Bing came to rescue him, but she too was surrounded and attacked."

It turned out that, thanks to the protection of the Chaos Primordial Symbol, although Jiang Tu's cultivation was suppressed to the fifth level, his divine sense had recovered to the Golden Core stage.

Upon hearing its words, Jiang Yu without hesitation leapt onto her flying sword, ascertained the direction, and whooshed off toward that village.