ccnovels #429 - Stone Fairy Palace
#429 - Stone Fairy Palace
“Don't feel pressured. Opportunities are fleeting, but we can try many times.”
“Roughly count to two in your mind… one, two, just like that, and then hide the alien soul in this stone.”
“I'll handle everything else.”
Wang Jixuan listened to Shen Qionglin's introduction, slightly taken aback.
“I only need to do this one thing?”
Shen Qionglin nodded: “Having two people coordinate isn't as effective as having me take the lead. You just focus on protecting your alien soul.”
“Alright… my alien soul and this stone won't end up in some other dimension, will they?”
“Not enough energy.”
Shen Qionglin said calmly:
“I've studied the Ina Civilization's dimensional fissure plan. That kind of energy is about thirty thousand times greater than what we're using in this experiment.”
Daoist Wang nodded calmly.
He looked at Shen Qionglin, hesitating to speak, but Shen Qionglin seemed to know what he wanted to say and smiled nonchalantly.
“Don't worry about me, boss. I'm used to handling pressure.”
Shen Qionglin clicked her tongue softly:
“Over the years, the scientific research results I've contributed to human civilization are more than enough to offset the resources I've wasted, with plenty to spare.”
Wang Jixuan gave a thumbs up, not being pretentious, and went straight to the 'sailboat' deck.
Although it's called a sailboat, the sail is actually a pseudo-interstellar gate.
Two interstellar gates lit up in sync.
Shen Qionglin slowly pushed the lever on the control panel in front of her.
Several high-level mechanical bodies appeared beside Shen Qionglin, seemingly to protect this valuable research brain of human society in the shortest possible time in case of an explosion.
Wang Jixuan's alien soul enveloped the Stone of the Past.
“Walk to the marked point below Gate One.”
“Okay.”
“After I finish counting down and say 'start,' you count those two counts and then start protecting your alien soul. We must ensure that the energy of the space-time distortion hits the Stone of the Past.”
“Okay, if it doesn't work the first time, we can try several times.”
“Three, two, one, start.”
Oh crap!
The two pseudo-interstellar gates opened instantly.
A space-time tunnel was established, and Wang Jixuan's alien soul disappeared in an instant, about to appear below Gate Two.
In that instant!
Daoist Wang's alien soul, wrapped around the Stone of the Past, drilled into the hole in the Stone of the Past.
He deliberately chose the hole where his second life slumbered, so he could protect the remnant soul of his second life.
After all, he only had an alien soul. If the alien soul was gone, he could rebuild one, at worst, Blade Beast would suffer a little.
In that extremely short time when his alien soul contracted.
Buzz!
This space-time tunnel, which would only exist for a fraction of a second, simultaneously lost contact with the two gates at either end.
The tunnel collapsed with a bang, and space-time energy, beyond the control and understanding of low-level cultivators or current human technology, radiated wildly in the void like chaotic light arcs.
Only a small portion of the light arcs bombarded the Stone of the Past.
But just as Shen Qionglin's intuition described…
The Stone of the Past reacted!
This irregularly shaped stone, its surface full of holes, suddenly burst into colorful rays.
The rays completely enveloped it and quickly spread in all directions, and the turbulent space-time in this area immediately returned to calm.
Wang Jixuan's alien soul and the remnant soul of his second life were simultaneously expelled by the colorful rays.
Wang Jixuan was overjoyed at the sight, and also breathed a sigh of relief.
He was happy that the thing finally lit up; he breathed a sigh of relief… because he had really been worried that the Stone of the Past would be damaged.
“What did you do?”
The remnant soul of the second life transformed into a faint figure of an old man in a white robe, standing in the void and frowning at the Stone of the Past.
Wang Jixuan didn't answer immediately, but looked around.
Cosmic space was too vast, and his spiritual consciousness had a limited range.
However, when he saw Earth and the Moon and realized where his alien soul was located, between Earth and the Moon, and slightly closer to Earth, he breathed a sigh of relief.
It's good that he didn't get lost.
His alien soul raised his hand and summoned a spiritual force to wrap the remnant soul of the second life and drag it into his alien soul body, then rushed towards the Stone of the Past.
The stone was just emitting light continuously, with no other reaction for the time being.
But Wang Jixuan felt that a powerful, pure spiritual force related to the Great Dao of Time was awakening from within the Stone of the Past…
“No,” the voice of the Three Realms Wanderer sounded in the alien soul's head, “What did you do? Why aren't you talking?”
“It's hard to explain specifically. I'm using the power of the broken space-time tunnel to activate this Stone of the Past… It's actually working.”
Wang Jixuan explained the experiment simply, full of joy.
The Three Realms Wanderer was silent for a few seconds.
Wang Jixuan's alien soul had already reached near the Stone of the Past, and he raised his hand to grab the Stone of the Past.
The Three Realms Wanderer suddenly said: “That Shen Qionglin, you must focus on cultivating her.”
“Yes,” Daoist Wang responded simply, his alien soul about to grab a corner of the Stone of the Past.
He was just about to say to the Three Realms Wanderer, 'There's no need to say more about such things,' when a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart.
It was as if the stone was calling to him.
Desiring him;
Wanting to get a response from him.
What's going on?
Wang Jixuan hesitated for a second, and his alien soul frowned and grasped the Stone of the Past.
Suddenly!
A powerful tearing force erupted, and Wang Jixuan's alien soul instantly turned into a black light and drilled into the hole in the stone, his aura disappearing, and Wang Jixuan's main body directly fell into a coma.
Along with the alien soul being pulled away, there was also his main consciousness and mind.
The colorful rays surrounding the Stone of the Past illuminated the remnant shadow of the white-robed old man.
The Three Realms Wanderer's remnant soul was isolated outside.
He blinked his eyes and tried to lean in, but found that he had no way to get close to the Stone of the Past.
The old remnant soul was immediately tearful.
What's going on?
His consciousness could collapse at any time. The Stone of the Past wouldn't let him deposit his remnant soul. In a few days, he would self-destruct.
And he couldn't move this stone now. It ignored the gravity of Earth and the Moon.
“It's bad.”
The corners of the Three Realms Wanderer's mouth twitched lightly a few times, then he laughed dumbly and sat cross-legged in the void.
Death is death. Anyway, he has lived long enough.
Of course, the Three Realms Wanderer still hoped that his subordinates and partners from his third life could come as soon as possible so that he could live a little longer.
He also wanted to witness the sight of his ascension to immortality.
Even if it was a luxury in his own eyes.
How free it is to become an immortal.
How difficult is the mortal world, the soul cannot be at peace.
…
On the other side.
Wang Jixuan frowned as he looked at the painting that appeared in front of him, his expression changing from astonishment to shock, and then he fell into a kind of inexplicable sadness.
This sad emotion was transmitted to him by this strange space.
In front of him was a misty immortal palace.
Immortal?
Yes, he felt that he shouldn't have felt wrong. This Dao rhythm was the immortal spirit rhythm that he had been pursuing but could not obtain.
The background of the painting was the boundless starry sky. Huge elliptical galaxies hung in the pure black background. These huge galaxies were approaching each other, and it seemed that after countless years, they could collide and merge into one, blooming the most beautiful light and shadow in the void.
From far to near, one could see continuous, undulating, jagged mountains, a white jade immortal palace piled up by dozens of halls, a huge laurel tree beside the palace gate, and a semi-substantial human figure standing dazedly under the tree.
Who else could that figure be but him?
He was looking at the painting, and he was also in the painting.
Wang Jixuan felt all kinds of wonderful insights in his heart.
After the Mahayana stage, the Dao realm insights, which had no major breakthroughs, actually found a brand new door at this moment.
What good fortune, what wonderful creation.
Just this trip alone made Wang Jixuan feel that this trouble was completely worth it.
The Daoist closed his eyes to comprehend, and when he opened them again, there was no longer a painting in front of him. What he saw was the high courtyard wall of the immortal palace.
He turned his head to look at the laurel tree on the side. The trunk needed at least ten people to hug it, and the trunk was light yellow 'crystal' from the inside out.
Wang Jixuan suddenly remembered something.
Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang chopping the tree.
He curiously approached and walked around the laurel tree, but did not find any axe marks, but saw a black iron block on the ground.
The Daoist blinked his eyes and was about to put this thing away when he suddenly realized that his alien soul could not summon any storage treasures at all.
Not only that, but he couldn't use any power at all. Spiritual power, soul power, demonic energy, spiritual consciousness, etc., seemed to have disappeared now.
He was like a lonely soul, floating around here, and couldn't even get himself more than three feet off the ground.
Wang Jixuan's heart was hot, and he floated to the front of the immortal palace gate.
This white jade gate, several feet high, was ajar, with a vertical plaque on it, with three large characters written in dragon-flying and phoenix-dancing style.
Daoist Wang tilted his head.
He… didn't recognize them.
This seemed to be the Great Dao pattern that needed to be carefully understood, but Wang Jixuan stared at these characters for a few eyes, and his head was dizzy, and there was a clear feeling of vomiting.
He quickly withdrew his gaze, and his heart was dumbfounded.
He was also a Mahayana stage foundation, and the peak of his second life could be called a half-immortal, but he couldn't even see the name here.
What's going on.
The Daoist hardened his heart, climbed up the steps in front of the gate, and directly drilled into the ajar palace gate.
There was no obstruction, and nothing unusual.
Behind the palace gate was a wide square, with a main hall in the distance, and behind the main hall were twelve white jade steps extending diagonally upwards, each step connecting three to six palaces.
These palaces were distributed in a receding style, and they themselves were like layers of larger steps.
One-third of the plaza was enveloped by laurel trees.
Wang Jixuan hadn't yet stepped out of the shade of the laurel trees.
He looked around.
On both sides were numerous side halls, each with a stone pillar and arch structure, revealing dance stages and pavilions, and Hua Pools filled with immortal light.
The Daoist Master kept his hands in his sleeves, like a farmer who had just entered the city, curiously drifting around.
Within the Hua Pools were water essences condensed from immortal light;
But just as his alien soul wanted to take a bath, a warning signal blared in his heart.
It would explode.
Even a single drop of the water essence inside would cause his alien soul to explode directly.
The Daoist Master shook his head regretfully, inhaling a few mouthfuls of water vapor, feeling as if his alien soul had been sublimated from top to bottom, and more insights welled up in his heart, washing away the alien soul's nature of slaughter and madness.
'What the hell is this place? Just a breath of air, and it's this beneficial?'
Wang Jixuan pursed his lips and frowned, drifting towards the other side halls.
He discovered that those purely decorative items seemed to be rare spiritual treasures even in the cultivation world, not to mention the weapons displayed on some weapon racks.
Those weapons had existed for who knows how long, and Wang Jixuan's alien soul was completely unable to approach within three zhang.
Otherwise, his alien soul would be directly crushed by the murderous aura emanating from the weapons.
He had arrived at a treasure mountain;
But the treasure mountain told him, 'You're too weak,' unable to even pick up half a grain of gold dust here.
Wang Jixuan could only smile bitterly at this.
Good heavens, the space that Shen Qionglin helped him open was truly... a bit too astonishing.
Wang Jixuan reluctantly left these side halls full of treasures, drifting towards the main hall in the center.
There were still dozens of large halls behind the main hall, and there might be even more treasures inside.
On the way, Wang Jixuan kept thinking in his heart, did a group of immortals once live here, spending their days drinking, making merry, composing poetry, sparring, and comprehending the Great Dao?
He arrived at the open gate of the main hall, and was once again stunned.
The main hall was full of white bones.
Thousands of skeletons were piled up here, each maintaining a meditative posture, with each person having a three-foot space to place a futon, and these skeletons just filled the entire hall.
Wang Jixuan was stunned there;
He stared at these white jade-like bones, his mind blank, his heart full of confusion, as if he saw the long river of time, as if he glimpsed a little bit of immortal light.
Is becoming an immortal really that good?
Why are there so many immortal bones here?
What did they experience?
Judging by the looks of it, it seems they peacefully passed away here, with no traces of fighting around.
The clothes and storage treasures of each skeleton had 'evaporated'.
Wang Jixuan stood in front of the gate for a long time, and then let out a long sigh, standing in front of the door, bowing to these white bones.
He didn't say anything, nor did he rashly step into this place, just standing there dazedly, quietly watching.
In a恍然間, Wang Jixuan saw men and women.
They walked in that starry sky, laughing and joking, teasing each other, walking towards the end of the long river of time, and then each found a place, sat down peacefully, telling of their regrets and past, their heads gradually drooping.
An emotion of 'uniqueness and desolation' surrounded Wang Jixuan's heart.
He had the thought of 'better to just pass away here' in his heart, and sat down blankly.
Fortunately, he was just an alien soul here, and when the alien soul was disturbed by this thought, trying to perish, it suddenly woke up.
That's not right, was he influenced by the remnants of the thoughts on these immortal bones?
This was not a formation, nor was it intentionally done by the owners of these white jade bones, but just a strange emotion, transmitted for who knows how many thousands of years, affecting him, a small cultivator who had not yet become an immortal.
Wang Jixuan secretly said a word of luck.
His alien soul entering here was indeed a clever move.
Suddenly.
"Alas—"
Wang Jixuan's body stood up one by one.
He stared at the corner of the hall as if he had seen a ghost.
No other, this sigh was truly happening, not a mark of time, nor a remnant of some supernatural power, just, his alien soul heard it.
The sigh came from a white jade bone in the corner.
The white jade bone slowly stood up, carrying his hands forward, slowly walked to Wang Jixuan, a pair of empty skull eyes looked up and down.
He slowly opened his mouth, using the common language of the cultivation world, and his voice could not be distinguished between men and women;
Although the tone was different, Wang Jixuan could roughly understand what he said.
"It's not easy for a living being to come here, how can it be a demonic cultivator?"
"Before!"
Just as Wang Jixuan was about to speak, the white jade bone gently slapped out a palm, and Wang Jixuan's alien soul seemed to fall into a void in an instant, and a picture appeared again in front of him, and the picture quickly drifted away.
And Wang Jixuan's alien soul, when he came back to his senses, was already standing in front of the Stone of the Past, crying uncontrollably.