novelsky Chapter 896: Stage Built High
Chapter 896: Stage Built High
Kunlun peak.The Immortals of Lingxiao withdrew back to the Nine Heavens, and the sky returned to its original clear state.
Only now, beneath the high sky, there stood an Immortal Mountain, impossibly majestic, piercing heaven and earth. Even though Kunlun was ten thousand miles from that mountain, its towering peaks could still be seen reaching into the clouds.
At Hua Jin the True One’s current level, she could clearly make out pavilions and towers on the mountain, waterfalls and streams, and the flying birds and running beasts darting through the forest.
She had heard Heavenly Emperor Hao Tian’s words.
They sounded pleasant enough, about there being opportunities within the Immortal Mountain…
Wasn’t that just sending her Ascenders in as guinea pigs?
But she could not refuse, nor did she have the power to refuse.
“Issue the order.” She said lightly to the group of Kunlun disciples behind her who had already been stunned by the scene, “All disciples below Golden Core, come to the hall for discussion. This Venerable One has an important announcement.”
This Immortal Mountain could for now be treated as a secret realm; whether it held danger or blessing was unknown. She needed some lower-ranked disciples to go in first and scout.
If it proved less dangerous than imagined, or if it truly contained great opportunity, then she could later send higher-ranked Ascenders in. At that point it might genuinely help improve the overall strength of the Kunlun Immortal Palace.
…
Hua Jin the True One acted swiftly.
Before long she had selected a batch of Ascenders of mediocre talent to come before the Immortal Mountain.
She could not bear to give up the talented ones.
The truly poor ones might miss whatever resources the mountain hid.
Those in the middle were the best choices.
In front of the Immortal Mountain, dozens of disciples dressed in Kunlun robes stopped at a hidden mountain hollow.
Before them was the base of the Immortal Mountain that had dropped from the sky.
A membrane, thin as a cicada wing and flowing with a faint golden halo, formed a barrier like a giant bubble, isolating the two worlds.
“Go in.”
The Golden Core elder leading them inhaled deeply and took a step forward.
Plop—
A soft sound, like a raindrop falling into a lake.
The elder passed through the luminous membrane without hindrance.
Then the Foundation Establishment disciples behind him exchanged looks, bit their lips, and filed in one after another.
Hua Jin the True One stood on a distant cliff, her gaze fixed on those backs.
What happened next made her heart skip.
At the moment those disciples crossed into the barrier, their bodies suddenly stiffened.
Then, as if by some unspoken cue, every one of them raised their heads, their mouths opening wide, chests heaving violently.
They were breathing.
Greedily, hungrily, like drowning people finally surfacing for air, or like beggars who had not eaten for three days smelling a pot of braised meat.
Even through the barrier, Hua Jin the True One seemed to smell that intoxicating scent—spiritual energy.
Perhaps it was an ancient spiritual energy hundreds or thousands of times denser than that of the Earth Star, so pure it was almost liquid.
“A good place…truly a good place! Such an Immortal treasure land must be seized for Kunlun Immortal Palace!”
The Golden Core elder turned, his face flushed with intoxication.
He bowed deeply toward Hua Jin the True One across the light membrane, then turned and waved his hand.
“Go!”
Dozens of figures quickly vanished into the lush ancient forest, swallowed by mist.
Hua Jin the True One tightened her sleeve around her hand.
She forced down the impulse to go in and experience it herself, then turned and sat cross-legged on a slab of green stone.
“Watch the soul tablets.”
Her voice was cold, echoing through the valley.
At this moment, the soul tablets of the Ascenders who had entered the Immortal Mountain were arranged before her. If anyone died, it would be known immediately. If the soul was not instantaneously erased, the tablet could even show how the Ascender had perished, and it was also a means to understand the Immortal Mountain.
“If one shatters, report immediately.”
Wind blew over Kunlun’s snow, bringing a chill.
Hua Jin the True One closed her eyes, yet the crease between her brows could not be smoothed.
This pie that had fallen from the sky smelled too good, and was…too hot.
She had the persistent feeling that something big was about to happen.
…
Cangyun Realm, Upper Realm.
Origin Core.
This was the end of causality, the origin point of the world.
White Sword sat cross-legged in the void, surrounded by billions of flowing bands of starry light.
He lowered his gaze slightly, his eyes seeming to contain the birth and death of the universe, fixed on his palm.
Floating above his palm was a miniature, duckweed-sized emerald mountain.
It was the Immortal Mountain on the Earth Star, a fully formed folded space he had created with his own hands.
Those “ants” who had just broken in were nothing but insignificant specks of dust in his eyes.
Their greed, their fear, every one of their movements were laid bare under his scrutiny, each detail clear as day.
“The stage is set.”
A faint curve of cruelty lifted White Sword’s mouth.
“The actors are in place.”
“Then…”
He extended a long, jade-like finger and lightly tapped the void.
Whoosh—
Countless shimmering points of light materialized out of nothing in the void,
like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, like a brilliant meteor shower, fluttering down toward the miniature Immortal Mountain in his palm.
Those were not spiritual energy.
They were various cultivation techniques, supreme-grade spiritual treasures, pills the cultivators of the Earth Star had never seen.
They were seeds of disaster sufficient to let a mortal become an immortal, to cause brothers to turn against each other, to make father and son become enemies…trouble.
“…Let this causality flood and become a plague.”
The smile in White Sword’s eyes grew increasingly savage.
He was raising a poisonous insect.
He was also fishing.
Only when blood flowed plentifully would the lines of causality tighten sufficiently; only then would the fusion of the two worlds be…absolutely certain.
…
At the same time.
Canglan Realm, Starry Sky Great Forest.
The trees here were outrageously tall.
Each ancient tree thrust straight into the clouds, their canopies blotting out the sky. Between the leaves twinkled spots of starlight, as if this forest truly bore a slice of the starry firmament.
The air was humid and heavy, carrying the metallic tang of earth and the unique musk of beasts.
“We’re here.”
Bixixi stopped, her magnificent pontifical robe miraculously immaculate amid the brambles.
She turned to look at Li Qingran behind her, and at the idle white-clad Battle Soul drifting beside Li Qingran with a languid expression.
“Core area of the Starry Sky Great Forest.”
Bixixi pointed to the dark, deep forest ahead that seemed capable of swallowing light.
“This is one of Canglan Continent’s largest congregations of World Beasts. Your husband…has quite the appetite, wants ones of high age. This place will fill him.”
She paused, her eyes sweeping over the faint golden World Ring on Chen Huaian’s body, a flicker of subtle apprehension and fanaticism passing through her gaze.
“However, World Beasts over a hundred thousand years old have already awakened intelligence, sly as foxes.”
“They hide within this boundless forest sea, with territories and concealment methods of their own.
If they do not want to come out, even a Titled Battle Master turning the forest inside out might not find a single one.”
Bixixi frowned, helpless. “This forest is too vast.”
“We’re like tigers trying to eat the sky, with nothing to sink our teeth into.”
“We need a way…”
Her phoenix-like eyes narrowed slightly, flashing with dangerous light:
“Lure them out.”
…