Besides the last time he had seen Liu Yue at the market stall, Liu Yue had not appeared again after that.
Even when the Silent Night Palace cultivators arrived at Jiuxia Mountain and participated in the contention for the Mustard Seed Realm, Xie Linlang had only heard Shen He mention it once. It seemed that Heavenly Charm Sect cultivators had also swung by the Pill Room, but after that, there had been no further involvement with Heavenly Charm Sect.
Encountering Liu Yue so suddenly on this gray wasteland left Xie Linlang somewhat surprised.
“……Liu Yue Daoist Friend.”
Xie Linlang’s gaze swept over Liu Yue before landing on the White Bone Puppet he was manipulating.
Why did the craftsmanship and style of this puppet seem somewhat familiar?
Liu Yue became excited upon seeing Xie Linlang. Strange lights flashed repeatedly in his eyes. When he noticed Xie Linlang looking at the puppet he controlled, Liu Yue generously said, “This was a gift from a friend in the White Bone Sect. He couldn’t afford the dual cultivation fee, so he paid with a puppet instead.”
Xie Linlang glanced at Liu Yue in surprise and slowly said, “I see. If it’s usable, then the puppet was worth its value.”
Liu Yue pursed his lips and smiled at those words. His eyes flowed with a natural air of elegant romance, as if he were made entirely of wind and flowers, making one unable to resist learning more about him—or even wanting to reach out and pluck him.
“Daoist Friend Xie speaks bluntly. You’re not one of those rigid fools.”
Liu Yue’s tone grew even softer. He stored away the puppet, smoothed his hair, restrained his charm, and turned serious. “Daoist Friend, those White Bone Monsters from earlier weren’t weak. If I hadn’t been carrying a puppet with me, I probably would have been torn to shreds. Yet they retreated upon seeing you. Why?”
Xie Linlang found it somewhat strange. “Liu Yue Daoist Friend, were those White Bone Monsters very strong? From afar, they seemed only at the Foundation Establishment Stage level.”
Liu Yue was also at Foundation Establishment Stage from Heavenly Charm Sect. Even fighting two at once would be difficult, but with a puppet’s help, he should have been able to escape smoothly. How could he speak of being torn to shreds?
Liu Yue glanced at Xie Linlang in astonishment and said meaningfully, “Daoist Friend seems unaffected? Here, we can’t use Demonic Qi, and there’s no spiritual energy in the world either. I could only barely protect myself with charm techniques……”
Xie Linlang was startled inwardly but remained outwardly composed. “This is a protective treasure I obtained from a perilous place.”
He pointed at the Soul Guiding Lamp on his shoulder. “This lamp is extraordinary and can protect me fully. I haven’t encountered the situation you described. Do you know anything about this place, Daoist Friend?”
Liu Yue examined the Soul Guiding Lamp carefully and hesitated for a few seconds before saying, “If I haven’t guessed wrong, this place is extremely similar to a certain special location recorded in my sect.”
“All around lay death, the heavens silent, only resentful souls remained, undissipated for ten thousand years.”
Liu Yue looked around. The surroundings were still black-gray earth, a black-gray sky, and black mists drifting in the air. “This is probably the Ancient Graveyard.”
Xie Linlang was stunned and drew in a sharp breath. “The Ancient Graveyard? During the upheavals of ancient dynasties and the changes of the Heavenly Dao, many great wars erupted. The battles were so fierce that the continent shattered countless times. Each time, the victors integrated the battlefield and pieced the continent back together, but those tiny fragments of the battlefield scattered outward.”
Countless scattered fragments gathered to form graveyards filled with crisscrossing time-spaces, bones, fragments of magic treasures, spirits of hatred, and auras of slaughter.
Some found world-shaking magic treasures in the graveyards, others obtained supreme inheritances, some witnessed the souls of ancient gods and demons from bygone eras, and still others saw illusions of the ancient demons’ golden age.
Time here was chaotic and leaping—one moment the primordial chaos of creation, the next dragons and phoenixes arrogantly spanning the skies, then scenes of dynastic changes and great powers clashing, followed by all beings prostrating in congratulations as Qi Refining cultivators ascended to immortality.
It was as if history’s verdict had already been rendered, its echoes rippling endlessly, allowing countless descendants to glimpse fragments of ancient myths.
Xie Linlang and Pei Ji had once entered a secret realm similar to the Ancient Graveyard, but that was merely a tiny spatial fragment of one. Even so, Pei Ji had encountered danger and nearly been trapped to death inside. Xie Linlang had searched for a long time before Pei Ji finally emerged.
After that, Xie Linlang always prepared a few spatial-breaking talismans whenever he ventured out, fearing he might be trapped in such a special space.
But spatial-breaking talismans were expensive, and Le Qingping’s rune manual did not include related runes. Xie Linlang had not stocked any this time and was caught off guard.
Fortunately, he had just obtained a protective treasure from the Kunwu Spirit that he had used before. With his low cultivation, he couldn’t activate top-grade treasures yet, but in the Ancient Graveyard, where neither spiritual energy nor Demonic Qi could be used, top-grade treasures were no different from ordinary ones.
Well, there was a difference—top-grade treasures had better materials and were more suitable as meat shields.
Hearing Liu Yue say this was the Ancient Graveyard now gave Xie Linlang a headache, along with some doubts.
Why had the gate to the Ancient Graveyard appeared inside Jiuxia Mountain?
As he pondered, he suddenly recalled the array Wen Jingyan had carved with his blood before dying, the secret method Wen Jingyan used to awaken the Great Xia Cauldron, and the Boxia Secret Method……
A bold guess suddenly surfaced in Xie Linlang’s mind.
In the depths of the Purple Radiance Mountain Secret Realm, amid those ruins, after he was pulled into the passage, the long, endless corridor on both sides was covered in marks from Pei Ji’s Spirit Sword.
If Pei Ji had met with trouble at Nine Spirits Sect, why had he fallen into that unknown corridor?