Five Immortal Sects
Chapter 126: Gong Chenying’s Arrangement

Li Yan had already forgotten his original intent in seeking the blue prism crystal. Now, it felt as though a faint thread was guiding him, he could vaguely glimpse something, yet it was shrouded in a mist that gathered and dispersed unpredictably, leaving him unable to fully grasp the truth.

As he was lost in thought, that unsettling sense of dread struck again. He immediately stood up, and several urgent shouts rang out.

“The shadow is coming!”

“The black shadow has risen!”

Turning around, he saw that many cultivators had already taken up positions along the edges of the cliff, disciples who had now recovered.

As they remained on guard, they noticed strands of deeper black qi slowly rising from the dark clouds beyond the cliff. Having already passed through two rounds of trials, they were now quite familiar with this ominous aura.

The moment the black qi appeared, many of them immediately raised the alarm.

Gong Chenying abruptly stood up. Her beautiful eyes swept across the surroundings as she gave a crisp order.

“Move!”

As soon as the word left her lips, she was already striding toward the black hole ahead.

In truth, there was no need for her to call out. The more than twenty cultivators had already instinctively gathered into formation. However, they could no longer form their original six-man teams. After some quick adjustments, they reformed into four squads.

With a few quick leaps, Li Yan caught up to Gong Chenying.

“Sixth Senior Sister, in the next trial, when we’re fighting inside the sphere, can you try to preserve the blue prism crystal in the opponent’s hand?”

Hearing Li Yan’s voice transmission, Gong Chenying didn’t slow her pace. She continued swiftly toward the black hole ahead, where scorching air currents blew her hair back in waves.

“Is there a problem?”

She didn’t look back and simply sent a terse voice transmission.

“Mm, I have a theory...”

Li Yan quickly explained his speculation, omitting only the part about absorbing spiritual energy from the blue prism crystal. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her, it was just that they were moments away from entering the black hole, and time was short. He could only relay what was most important.

Besides, he didn’t understand it himself why after Gong Chenying had used the crystal multiple times, she hadn’t discovered that its spiritual energy could be devoured in reverse to replenish one’s spiritual power.

“Alright! But based on what you said, in my previous uses, aside from the crystal requiring a large amount of spiritual power to activate and then barely managing to delay the black shadow, I found nothing else. Oh, and what about your piece? I saw you pick up that blue crystal from the second-rank demonic beast just now!”

Gong Chenying knew that Li Yan wanted to study the blue crystal, and this time she had said quite a bit. For someone usually so reserved, that was rare.

“That crystal was destroyed,”

Li Yan replied, somewhat startled.

Just as Gong Chenying was about to step into the black hole, she paused in surprise upon hearing this and turned her head to glance at Li Yan. That glance revealed a trace of astonishment in her eyes.

“Your cultivation has improved a lot!”

With that, she stepped into the black hole.

Only then did Li Yan realize that he had been so focused on the crystal that he’d rushed over without suppressing the sudden surge in his aura.

Though Gong Chenying didn’t press him further, with her intelligence as sharp as snow and ice, she had already guessed that Li Yan’s request regarding the blue crystal wasn’t solely about the conspiracy of the three sects, as he claimed.

It was very likely that the blue crystal was deeply connected to Li Yan’s rapid improvement in cultivation over just two hours. But now wasn’t the time to ask questions. Moreover, this mysterious little junior had always kept things close to the chest. Since both their master and eldest senior brother had entrusted her with watching over him, she would simply follow orders.

Li Yan swept his divine sense across the surroundings. The others were all on high alert, so they didn’t pay much attention to his proximity to Gong Chenying. She only ever spoke a few more words to him. Toward the rest, her demeanor was cold as ever.

Li Yan quickly activated his cultivation technique to conceal his aura, suppressing his revealed level to the mid-stage of the eighth level of Qi Condensation. Even if someone noticed his advancement, it wouldn’t seem out of place in a secret realm like this.

It wasn’t that he wanted to play the pig to eat the tiger, he just didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention. That had always been his principle.

“So Sixth Senior Sister had already taken note of the blue crystal... but why did her investigation yield results completely different from mine? After injecting spiritual power, she only managed to activate its shadow-delaying function and found nothing else…”

Lost in thought, Li Yan followed the group into the black hole. A wave of heat surged toward them, fire sparks filled their vision, and the air was thick with bubbling sounds echoing all around.

...

Less than half an hour later, Gong Chenying's group arrived at the end of the magma path. Above them was the cave exit, yet once again, a yellow sphere blocked the way.

At this point, many people’s dark green and long sect robes were already tattered and stained.

Some had scorched holes in their clothes, others had lost their sleeves entirely, and some had their hair and beards singed into curls. Only twenty-three people remained behind Gong Chenying now, three more had been attacked by magma beasts, dragged into the crimson lava, leaving no remains.

Before even clearing the third trial, ten people had already died.

“This place is cursed. Those magma beasts can’t even be killed, break them apart and they’ll just reform. It’s maddening!”

Mei Caichu, panting heavily, complained to Ding Yiwei beside him.

He was in a sorry state, his plump body exposed in places, pale fat peeking through where his robe had burned away. The lower part of his robe had turned pitch black with charring.

A large hole gaped on his back, his undergarments burned through, exposing red, swollen flesh from a clear burn wound.

Even the handsome young Daoist beside him had lost all composure.

“Fatty, if you hadn’t grabbed my leg, I’d have made it to the front already! Because of you, I nearly drowned in that sprayed venom!”

“Little rascal, if I hadn’t shielded you with my spiritual power for a bit, would you have even had time to release that Glazed Talisman?

Wait a minute, so you had a Glazed Talisman hidden all along? You had that for protection and still drained my spiritual power? If I hadn’t held you back, did you want me to take the brunt of the venom? You little bastard, you’ve got some nerve!”

“If this magma could be extracted and refined into fire poison, it would make for incredible material.”

At that moment, a disciple from Boundless Peak stared at the roiling magma by the path and smacked his lips in awe.

“If you can get it out, just give me a drop and I’ll give you ten lower-grade spirit stones.”

Another cultivator stared longingly at the magma, desire and greed flashing in his eyes.

“How about you go get it? I’ll give you twenty lower-grade spirit stones for a drop.”

The Boundless Peak cultivator gave him a sidelong look and replied with displeasure.

“Those magma beasts are the real treasure. We don’t have anything like that on my Spirit Insect Peak. They’re at least mid-stage second rank, and they spray deadly venom. They could probably even stand their ground against a third-rank beast. Such a pity.”

...

While the cultivators were chatting, Li Yan stared at the yellow sphere blocking the cave exit, arms crossed, silent, his brows furrowed in thought.

Their journey here had been one of sheer sprinting. Sixth Senior Sister had been nothing short of ferocious in this trial, fully unleashing her spiritual power and opening the path ahead with a world of her own.

As she led the team flying forward, an inverted, arched barrier of light appeared ahead, clearing the way like dry leaves in a storm. Li Yan couldn’t understand why she was fighting this recklessly.

As soon as Gong Chenying reached the exit, she raised her halberd, spiritual light flaring around her body as she cautiously stepped into the yellow sphere.

She had been calculating all along. Though they had lost three disciples, they had made it here in less than half an hour. The opposing team likely hadn’t arrived yet, which was why she took such a big risk to rush ahead, just to beat them here.

After experiencing two rounds of trials, Gong Chenying knew that falling behind the enemy didn’t just mean losing a few people. There was a seventy percent chance of total annihilation. That last trial, where they’d survived the demonic beasts' attack, wasn’t something they could count on every time.

A few breaths later, Gong Chenying reemerged, a look of relief on her face. If, after all that effort and the loss of three fellow disciples, they had still fallen behind the enemy, it would have been crushing.

She glanced back at the glowing red cave, there was still no sign of the black shadow. Gong Chenying finally let out a long breath.

Soon after, she pointed to over a dozen cultivators and led them back into the yellow sphere. The rest stayed behind, some on guard, others meditating to recover.

Li Yan was among those who entered. Besides Gong Chenying, the rest were all disciples of Old Lord Peak and Four Symbols Peak, their faces brimming with excitement.

Mei Caichu’s chubby face was practically lecherous, as he made silly faces with a few fellow Old Lord Peak cultivators, causing the female disciples who entered with them to glare daggers at him, as if they were ready to eat him alive.

One of the female cultivators behind Mei Caichu reached around with a dainty hand, pinched a roll of his fat, and twisted it viciously. A blush crept up her pretty face.

Mei Caichu let out a miserable yelp, his expression twisting in pain. When Gong Chenying glanced back, he could only grit his teeth and shut his mouth.

A bit less than the time of a single incense stick later, Gong Chenying and the group emerged from the yellow sphere again. Even the meditating disciples opened their eyes to look. Gong Chenying didn’t speak. She only looked back in the direction they came from, silently hoping:

“Hopefully, they’ll arrive a little faster…”

Time crept by. As nearly a quarter-hour passed, Li Yan awoke from his cultivation. Looking around, he saw several people already on their feet, nervously watching the black shadow inch closer. Some glanced repeatedly at the yellow sphere, eyes filled with both anxiety and anticipation.

“If I haven’t returned after three breaths, be prepared to enter and fight to the death.”

Gong Chenying’s voice was calm, but her heart was filled with unease. If the enemy still hadn’t arrived by now, then she had miscalculated.

After speaking, she took a deep breath, her expression grim. A flash of spiritual light ignited around her, forming a protective barrier. Without hesitation, she stepped into the yellow sphere. Ripples shimmered and her figure vanished.

The rest of the group crowded around the yellow sphere. Many cast nervous glances back, the black shadow was now only three zhang away, and an overwhelming sense of destruction pressed down upon them.

Palms grew slick with sweat. Some cultivators’ legs trembled faintly, a biting chill creeping down their spines, even as the cave remained sweltering with heat. Anxiously, they turned their gazes back to the yellow sphere, unease written in their eyes.

Li Yan also felt a chill on his back despite the rolling heat.

Those three breaths felt like centuries. And just before even one breath had passed, ripples appeared once more on the sphere. A tall figure began to emerge from within the distorted light.

Hands were already on storage pouches, everyone ready to attack. The tall figure twisted slightly, then became clear.

“Martial Aunt!”

“Elder Gong!”

Soft cries rang out, relieved, joyful.

It was indeed Gong Chenying. As soon as her form solidified, she called out:

“It’s done! Get in, quickly!”

She vanished again into the sphere. Her voice carried exhaustion, but her fair face was filled with doubt and disbelief.

Hearing her words, many cultivators let out cheers of joy and surged toward the sphere.

Li Yan stood among the crowd. He noticed Gong Chenying’s weariness, and while he felt relieved, he also felt genuinely happy for her.

After entering the sphere earlier, he had understood her plan and also the pressure she bore. Though she had turned back swiftly, Li Yan still caught a glimpse of something strange in her eyes.

(Chapter End)