Blind Spot
Chapter 642 - 590 Dator 2

Chapter 642: 590 Dator 2

"Blood...!?" Li Chengyi watched as the battleship slowly decelerated, its hull hitting these droplets of blood, the ship transforming fluidly like water, skirting around the droplets to regain its original form on the other side.

He himself was inside the battleship, following it as it morphed and twisted, circumventing the droplets together.

"It’s hard to imagine, clearly already dead, yet one’s own blood can still remain for so long without dissipating..."

"This is what’s called transcending beyond the three realms and not within the five elements," Xuan Yunzi shook his head, "Only such entities, after death, their bodies do not enter the cycle of all things, they remain unchanged for eternity, truly unique. Because in all things, no matter the time-space, no matter the area, there is no food chain capable of decomposing them, that’s all."

Li Chengyi nodded, he had also heard this famous Taoist saying in his past life, but he never imagined it to be interpreted in this way.

The battleship quickly descended in altitude.

The gray land below gradually came into clear view.

Tall traditional Chinese pavilions were scattered across the ground.

The gray mist also faded quite a bit, with neat ancient streets crisscrossing between the pavilions.

There were people walking on the streets, but all of them wore gray-black cloaks, their heads down, faces unseen.

Those ancient blood droplets were still suspended in the air everywhere.

The dense blood droplets blocked all vehicles, and even pedestrians had to be careful not to bump their heads.

"Let’s go down," Xuan Yunzi said. He pointed towards the ground with an outstretched hand.

A fish-shaped gap opened below the battleship.

He leapt out, jumping through it.

Li Chengyi also followed suit, jumping down.

No sooner had he emerged than he felt a bone-chilling wind sweep over him, making his body ice-cold.

His body temperature, normally over a thousand degrees, actually began to form a thin layer of white frost on the surface.

His hair, eyelids, and beard all began to freeze.

Pfft!

One after the other, using the suspended blood droplets to slow their descent, they landed gently on the ground.

"This is Silent Oblivion City," he said.

"Don’t wander around outside unnecessarily, these ancient blood droplets move during the blood wind, and many have been struck dead by it," Xuan Yunzi warned.

"Struck dead?" Li Chengyi frowned, even at this realm, one could still be struck dead?

"Here, the laws are extremely chaotic during the Silent Oblivion moment, no cultivation system can be activated. Normally, even our own existence wouldn’t be possible here, but because of the Ancestor Founder’s great mana, we are able to enter this place." Xuan Yunzi’s landing spot was on a spacious plaza.

Two five-story red-painted pavilions stood around, dark and eerie.

Right in front of them was an archway bearing a placard with the words ’Locking Birth, Ceasing Death’.

Under the archway shaped like the character ’门’, there was sparse foot traffic coming and going.

All were enveloped in gray-black cloaks, but Li Chengyi could glimpse the Taoist robes they wore beneath the edges of their cloaks.

"Come, I’ll take you to the City Master Mansion," Xuan Yunzi led the way, checking the direction before heading towards a six-story spire not far away.

"Don’t talk to people casually here; many are not living beings but mere illusions lingering for a long time. If you talk to them, you might gain some knowledge, but if you do so for too long, you will be pulled into their time-space, unable to return to your own. I once had a junior sister who was thus dragged into a calamity from tens of billions of years ago and never returned," sighed Xuan Yunzi.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengyi felt a chill in his heart. Since joining Tian Ju Pavilion, the shocks and subversions he had experienced were countless.

He had thought that in this world, this Black Sea, as long as one kept increasing strength and speed, one could overcome anything.

It now seemed to be not the case at all.

The two quickly arrived at the base of the spire.

Someone from within the tower came to meet them, a man with a three-foot white beard, slender figure and forehead covered in numerous tiny blood-colored eyes—an obviously non-human being.

"Disciple Xuan Yunzi, I can’t believe you, the true inspector, are personally bringing a newcomer. How rare," the Taoist greeted with a grin.

"Sage Qianyan, this is Bai Lu, a disciple recently taken in by my master," Xuan Yunzi quickly pulled Li Chengyi forward and introduced him.

"This is Sage Qianyan, who stays behind to guard this place. You can address him as senior brother."

Li Chengyi quickly bowed.

"Bai Lu pays his respects to Sage Qianyan."

"Truly a disciple of the Four Elders??" All of Qianyan’s eyes blinked, clearly surprised.

"How long has Tian Xuanzi not taken a disciple?"

"It’s been tens of thousands of years," Xuan Yunzi replied.

"Tsk, tsk... one lucky guy," Qianyan seemed a bit envious and without further words to Li Chengyi, he turned and pushed the door open, entering the spire.

"Come in. We have two other newcomers who have just arrived as well. You can all get processed together."

The two followed inside, where the tower’s interior was a normal ancient Chinese hall.

In the middle of the wall hung a painting of the Phoenix Eating Rice.

Li Chengyi felt as if he had seen it wrong, so he looked again carefully. Was it really a painting of the Phoenix Eating Rice???

A flock of phoenixes stood on the ground like chickens, continuously pecking at the rice grains.

"Oh, that is a genuine relic left by the Great Ancestor. It’s exactly what you’re thinking, the ’Phoenix Eating Rice Painting,’" Sage Qianyan introduced casually.

"Can phoenixes really eat rice?" asked not Li Chengyi, but a youth in white short clothes standing elsewhere in the hall.

The young man was handsome, carrying on his back an incredibly lavish scimitar, inlaid with countless gems, gold, and crystals.

Upon entering the door, Li Chengyi had noticed him.

This fellow, like him, was looking around curiously, clearly also a newcomer.

"Hmm, previously, phoenixes did not eat rice, but before painting this piece, the Ancestor didn’t know this. Once the painting was completed, it became reality. Consequently, in countless blind spots in time and space and within regions of the Black Sea, all phoenixes had to start eating rice. Eating rice became a part of their destined diet. If they didn’t, they’d suffer from malnutrition and fall ill," explained Sage Qianyan.

"This..." Li Chengyi and the youth exchanged glances, both wearing expressions of not knowing what to say.

"I am known as Chun Fan, may I ask how to address fellow brother?" The youth approached and asked in a low voice.

"The honor is mine, I am called Bai Lu," replied Li Chengyi courteously.

"So, you’re Disciple Bai Lu. We truly are fated. I didn’t expect to be able to choose our paths together upon just arriving at Silent Oblivion City," sighed Chun Fan.

"Indeed, it’s fate," Li Chengyi nodded. At this moment, Sage Qianyan left again, quickly returning with a young female Taoist with a somewhat familiar appearance.

"Que Ru?" Li Chengyi instantly recognized her. It turned out to be Daoist Queru, who had undergone the initial test with him and was also a student of Uncle Guangli from Midlane.

It was a surprise for both to suddenly see a fellow townsman so far away.

"Disciple Bai Lu?"

"Daoist Sister Queru, all is well?" Li Chengyi stepped forward with a smile.

"All is well. You’ve also passed the initial test so soon?" Queru was surprised. She had gained entry to this place, Silent Oblivion City, due to inheriting a Saint’s legacy and knowing some tricks – cleverly taking shortcuts to pass the tests.

To be in this place, one had to either have a background like hers as a descendant of someone with connections, or be a true genius with immense natural talent.

Thinking of this, her gaze toward Li Chengyi softened even more.

"Alright, now that everyone for this batch is here, let’s head inside," Sage Qianyan said, greeting Xuan Yunzi and starting to lead the three people up to the spire’s second floor.

Xuan Yunzi bid farewell to Li Chengyi before turning to leave.

His coming in person was to show a stance. Some matters were best left hinted at.

The higher-ups of Silent Oblivion City would surely understand.

Li Chengyi followed the three in front, stepping slowly up to the second floor.

The second floor was an exhibition hall adorned with various paintings.

"These are other paintings by the Great Ancestor. If you’re interested, you can come here to see them. Among them is the quite famous ’Immortal Dragon Eating Qi Painting,’" Sage Qianyan said with a smile.

He pointed to a painting depicting several white dragons coiling and ascending, inhaling and exhaling white breaths.

"Once, the Immortal Dragon clan was carnivorous and incredibly brutal. The Ancestor, unhappy with their excessive predation on humans, decided to advise the dragon clan. But the leader of the Immortal Dragons was arrogant and discourteous, refusing to heed the advice.

Aggravated, the Ancestor declared: If you refuse to eat less of humanity, then eat air for this poor Daoist.

Upon returning, the Ancestor created this painting. Since then, the Immortal Dragon clan could no longer consume any food but had to subsist on breathing Qi to sustain their lives.

As a result, the entire Immortal Dragon clan rapidly declined in strength and eventually devolved into Rainbow Dragons, who also continued to devolve until they disappeared from the stage of history."

Li Chengyi was shocked to learn that Immortal Dragons were actually the ancestral progenitors of Rainbow Dragons.

And the fact that a mere casual painting had completely extinguished a powerful dragon clan made him wonder just how profound the state the founding master, the Taoist Yuan, had achieved...

After that, Sage Qianyan introduced several other paintings, all similarly about monstrous tribes who initially consumed humans. Yet with a stroke of the Ancestor’s brush, their diets were changed.

Through Sage Qianyan’s introduction, the three soon learned how the Ancestor silently cleared a safe and stable area for humanity during that dark, brutal, and chaotic era.

Because of the Ancestor’s works, over fifty different species were forced to become vegetarian, including six that now only eat air, three that drink water, and one gluttonous tribe that ate so much that it was wastefully changed by the Ancestor to consume without excreting. Their bellies grew larger until they finally exploded, exterminating themselves.

Li Chengyi thought he recognized that tribe as resembling the mythical Pixiu he had seen in a previous life...

"Alright, having witnessed the brilliant past of our sect, it’s now time to choose," Sage Qianyan said, leading the three up to the Third Layer.

"All of you are at the Qi Fire Realm, and to step into the Divine Fire requires enlightenment of all the principles within a small range of space-time. But before that, you must choose the forbidden knowledge systems you wish to study to determine the direction of your future efforts," Sage Qianyan put it simply.

The Third Layer was an exhibition hall resembling a museum or gallery.

Along the walls stood illuminated crystal columns, each displaying an assortment of items of different forms and styles.

There were ancient masks, decomposed weapons, twisted and wriggling purple tentacles, melting candy-colored chocolate castles, broken technological firearms with electronic glows, old-fashioned porcelain vials of elixirs.

And so on—numerous crystal columns, most marked with metal tags inscribed with names.

"Inside each of these crystal columns is a forbidden knowledge path. Each path leads to its ultimate pinnacle, with the potential for you to achieve your own Saint Position.

Furthermore, mastering a complete forbidden knowledge system will greatly support you in developing your personal dimensional universe in the future," Sage Qianyan warned.

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately approached to examine closely.

One went left, another right, and Li Chengyi, staying at the back, simply headed towards the middle.