Chapter 29 (Part 2)

“Senior Sister Jiang, my father said staying alive is the most important thing, and the elders also said safety comes first. Why don’t we… not fight for it?”

Song Yuanxi sincerely felt that compared with his own life, whether there was a secret treasure or not did not matter. Only by living was there hope. The secret realm would remain open for an entire year, and the one who laughed last would be the winner.

But Jiang Lanyi frowned. “When a secret treasure emerges, everyone can fight for it. All opportunities are equal. Why not fight?”

“Huh?”

“When the palace appears in a while, Junior Brother Song, follow me and Senior Brother Du closely. We will take you inside. Once we are inside, listen to all commands and absolutely do not act recklessly. You are right. Your life is more important than anything else.”

Jiang Lanyi felt that she herself had to fight for it, but Song Yuanxi absolutely had to prioritize staying alive. If she had to choose between Song Yuanxi and the secret treasure, she would choose Song Yuanxi without the slightest hesitation.

“Do not worry. I will protect you,” Jiang Lanyi promised solemnly.

Song Yuanxi finally understood in a daze that this so-called secret treasure was not a treasure that would appear immediately. Instead, a palace would appear out of thin air, and everyone would enter the palace to begin various challenges. In the end, the fated person would obtain it.

Song Yuanxi maintained a smile. As long as I am not embarrassed, the embarrassed ones will always be other people.

…

More and more people arrived one after another at the center of the secret realm. Very soon, they divided their areas according to the three major camps. The disciples of the three great sects consciously gathered in one place, then each divided into smaller formations. The four great forces were more or less the same. Only the Loose Cultivator Alliance formed by loose cultivators seemed to gather together yet also keep to themselves, seemed united yet also very scattered.

Song Yuanxi was very curious about loose cultivators and kept observing their words and actions. The more he watched, the more he felt that this group was a very interesting existence in the cultivation world.

They were like revolutionary grass. Although they grew from barren soil and had no irrigation or nourishment, they still grew wildly. Moreover, they could not be eliminated no matter how one tried, quite like “wildfire cannot burn them all away; with spring wind, they grow again.”

“Do not have too much contact with loose cultivators, especially inside a secret realm. They are the ones you need to guard against the most.” A voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Song Yuanxi turned his head and saw Ji Wuyi walking toward him. He called out, “Senior Brother Ji,” but his gaze fell to the side.

Ji Wuyi smiled and introduced, “This is also a disciple of your Wanhai Peak. He should count as your senior brother. Yin Shang.”

Song Yuanxi had always heard He Man nagging about how Wanhai Peak had a young genius surnamed Yin and named Shang. He had dual metal and fire spirit roots, a talent value of eighty, and had already reached Qi Refining great perfection before the age of forty. He had a high chance of reaching Foundation Establishment within five years. Liao Xilin had established his foundation at forty-nine and was already called a “young genius,” but Yin Shang had the potential to surpass Liao Xilin.

“So it is Senior Brother Yin. I have long heard of your great name.” Song Yuanxi had a natural fondness for senior brothers from Wanhai Peak.

Unfortunately, Yin Shang was not He Man. He was very cold toward Song Yuanxi’s enthusiasm. He merely nodded lightly, which counted as a greeting.

They had not even exchanged more than two sentences before the other party said, “I have matters to attend to,” then turned and left.

Song Yuanxi was a little confused, but he sensed that the other party did not seem to like him much. “Senior Brother Ji, Senior Brother Yin and I should not have any grudges, right?”

Ji Wuyi thought of that old matter involving his friend and could not help laughing as he shook his head. “Do not mind him. Before Foundation Establishment, he is always like this.”

Song Yuanxi immediately understood. So this was another top student, focused on cultivation and disliking social interaction.

“I understand. Senior Brother Yin has great talent. He and a cultivation failure like me have no common topics.” Just like him and his own younger brother. Chatting about family matters was fine, but as soon as they talked about cultivation, the two of them were fundamentally not on the same level.

Ji Wuyi looked at the slightly admiring look in the other party’s eyes and immediately froze. After savoring it for a while, he could not help laughing loudly. He stepped forward, patted Song Yuanxi on the shoulder, and his smile became even gentler. “Junior Brother Song, you truly are an interesting person. Senior Brother likes you very much.”

The other party only patted him lightly twice, yet Song Yuanxi felt his mind instantly shake. It had much the same effect as He Man slapping his back.

“…”

This fondness was truly a sin.

As all parties communicated with each other and exchanged feelings, the barren Gobi finally welcomed the moment when its light became the brightest. Song Yuanxi personally saw a ten-thousand-zhang tower rise from the bare ground. The palace rose straight from the earth until it floated in the air. With one glance, he could not see its top. It was like an enormous creature blocking out the sky and sun.

He was still sighing over the creator’s miraculous workmanship when Jiang Lanyi had already dragged him over to line up.

“Senior Brother Du, let us keep a closer eye on Junior Brother Song,” Jiang Lanyi said uneasily to Du Tianyu beside her.

Du Tianyu looked at their junior brother, whose eyes were blank yet filled with delight, and deeply agreed. They really did have to keep an eye on him.

The two exchanged tacit glances, and the three of them instantly became a meat sandwich again, slowly walking into the palace…

The palace doors were wide open, and everyone could enter. However, after going inside, they discovered that ten doors stood within. Each door had ancient and simple floral patterns carved on it, yet they all looked exactly the same.

Someone soon discovered the hidden mechanism. “These are barriers set by the palace itself. This is the first stage, Floating Life Fate. The ten doors represent ten passages. Only those who successfully pass the challenge can enter the first stage.”

“What are the requirements for choosing a door?” someone else asked.

The person who first discovered the rules said again, “The ten doors are the ten types of spirit roots. They respectively correspond to metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, dark…”

“Why did you stop?”

The person reading the rules paused slightly before continuing, “They are metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, dark, heaven, and earth.”

“Heaven and earth spirit roots? What are those?” Song Yuanxi had heard of eight types of spirit roots, but he really did not know about heaven and earth spirit roots.

Beside him, Ji Wuyi said softly, “Heaven is round and earth is square. With heaven and earth as the axis, they divide the flow of time and the distance of space. Heaven spirit root represents space spirit, and earth spirit root represents time spirit.”

Seeing that Song Yuanxi only half-understood, he simply explained more directly. “In short, some people are born carrying the Dao rhyme of heaven and earth. They take comprehension of the laws of time and the laws of space as their cultivation standard, and raise their cultivation by perceiving Dao rhyme.”

Song Yuanxi could not help sucking in a breath. Did such existences really exist in the cultivation world? Wasn’t this a bug among bugs?

The person reading the rules read out a similar explanation. Just like Song Yuanxi, the crowd broke out in wave after wave of inhaled breaths.

Ordinary cultivators, especially those in Qi Refining, would never know that such heaven-defying spirit roots existed. Even among disciples born from the three great sects, very few people knew.

Song Yuanxi came back to himself and looked at Ji Wuyi with yet another shift in feeling. A pervert was indeed a pervert. Someone who could stand alongside the male lead as a heavenly prodigy was truly extraordinary.

“Senior Brother Ji is truly experienced and knowledgeable.”

“You flatter me.” Ji Wuyi calmly accepted the praise.

Song Yuanxi silently retreated two steps, consciously keeping his distance from Ji Wuyi.

The commotion in the crowd quickly calmed. The three great sects and the four great forces each formed teams. They divided themselves according to spirit roots and began choosing the challenge doors in front of them. Aside from a few who were on good terms, the Loose Cultivator Alliance fought independently, so they chose even faster.

In order to protect Song Yuanxi, Jiang Lanyi and Du Tianyu prepared to choose the same door as him.

Jiang Lanyi said, “I have three spirit roots: fire, wood, and metal. Junior Brother Song, any one of those three is fine.”

Du Tianyu said, “I also have three spirit roots: fire, wood, and metal. Junior Brother Song, you decide. Let us choose one door and go in together.”

Song Yuanxi looked at the two in front of him, and his heart instantly warmed. His senior brother and senior sister treated him so well. However, “We should still choose according to what you are good at. Let’s pick the fire spirit root door. I have five spirit roots anyway, so all doors are the same to me.”

“But, Junior Brother Song, you chose artifact refining…”

“I did not go to Wanhai Peak because I chose the metal spirit root. I primarily cultivate the metal spirit root because I wanted to go to Wanhai Peak,” Song Yuanxi said frankly.

The two thought it over briefly and understood. Song Yuanxi had purely gone there for Daoist Master Fanjian. So they no longer hesitated and brought Song Yuanxi toward the door belonging to the fire spirit root.

Song Yuanxi was very self-aware. With one hand on each side, he linked arms with Jiang Lanyi and Du Tianyu. “Senior Brother Du, Senior Sister Jiang, this junior brother is counting on you!”

“Junior Brother Song, rest assured.”

“Junior Brother Song, rest assured.”

The two spoke in unison.

Song Yuanxi was satisfied. His heart felt especially steady as he followed the large group inward. The passage behind that door looked very narrow, but no matter how many people walked in, it still could accommodate them, which showed that there must be folded space inside.

Song Yuanxi stood behind the door. While waiting for the door to close, he could not help reaching out to touch the stone wall behind him. The large door finally slowly shut. The light outside grew darker and darker, but the vision inside the door grew increasingly clear.

A flash of white light passed before Song Yuanxi’s eyes. It was like an illusion. When he came back to himself, his hand was still pressed against the stone wall, maintaining the touching posture.

However, in the next second, he heard someone call out, “Junior Brother Song?”

That voice was damned familiar, yet it absolutely should not have sounded behind him. Song Yuanxi turned his head and stared at Ji Wuyi, who was less than three meters away from him, then worked hard to pull out a faint smile.

“Senior Brother Ji, what a… what a coincidence!”

Song Yuanxi did not understand. Ji Wuyi clearly had not chosen the fire spirit root door. How exactly had he gotten in?

Ji Wuyi also did not understand. There had only been one person who entered this door, himself. Where had Song Yuanxi come from?

“Not a coincidence. The two of us are fated.” Ji Wuyi very quickly calmed down, but his smile deepened. “Junior Brother Song hid it so bitterly from us. Everyone thought you had five spirit roots. Who would have thought you also possessed space spirit? This truly is… a pleasant surprise.”

“Space spirit? Space spirit!”

Song Yuanxi realized something and looked at the surrounding environment. Aside from him, there was only Ji Wuyi. He had actually, for some unfathomable reason, teleported from the fire spirit root door to the space spirit door?

But the key point was, he fundamentally did not have any special spirit root like space spirit!

If he did, it should have been tested long ago. All these years, he would not have been bitterly practicing Body Cultivation. Instead, he would have held a proud-heaven script in his hand and walked a wildly arrogant road straight to the heavens!

“Senior Brother Ji, I do not have space spirit,” Song Yuanxi explained helplessly.

Ji Wuyi nodded. “Yes, Junior Brother Song does not have space spirit, and neither do I.”

“…”

This conversation was dead.

Song Yuanxi instantly fell silent. His mind was in complete chaos, yet he wildly sorted through the amount of information within it. Then he suddenly realized something and raised his head, staring fixedly at the person across from him.

“Senior Brother Ji, you are the one who hid it so bitterly from us. Never mind having a single earth spirit root, but you also have space spirit.”

Ji Wuyi gave a hum, yet what he said was, “Junior Brother Song, I do not have space spirit.”

Song Yuanxi: “…”

What was this? Lying through their teeth with eyes wide open? Who was blinder than whom?

Ji Wuyi merely smiled without speaking. His gentle expression also seemed to explain everything. Song Yuanxi increasingly felt that all of this was absurd.

Yet amid the absurdity, he could not help forming a guess: everyone present was in Qi Refining, so none of them should have such great ability. His door being switched was probably an autonomous recognition operation by the stone doors.

So was it because he had transmigrated to another world? Could his body be carrying the Dao rhyme of space spirit?

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