Five Immortal Sects
Chapter 136: The Semicircular Arches

Li Yan contemplated for a moment, then shook his head and looked down at the earth below. Though his physical body outside was protected by the "Ghost Chariot Talisman," it was not entirely safe.

Now was not the time to dwell on such matters. Everything just now had unfolded within his divine sense. Though it appeared complex, at most only a single breath's time had passed in the outside world.

The ground below was also a deep azure hue. On this expanse stretched a winding path, and if not for its presence, Li Yan would not have been able to distinguish the sky from the land.

Looking carefully, Li Yan noticed ten semicircular structures standing along the path. They resembled the archways seen in the mortal realm. At this moment, the first arch was glowing, while the remaining nine were shrouded in darkness.

“So these must be the ten gates of this trial. If I’m not mistaken, the thirty-seven points of light in the sky represent the cultivators in this round. The largest one should represent the leading cultivator with the highest cultivation, and the thirty-six smaller ones represent the weaker cultivators.

This was already confirmed when I probed the blue prism crystal in Senior Sister Gong’s hand. Her crystal contained thirty purple lights and seven gray ones, meaning thirty people survived while seven had perished, matching the number in the group.

Here, however, all thirty-seven points are gray, signifying that every member of the Grand Profound Sect team has died. Though there are fewer than thirty-seven corpses inside the sphere, the missing ones must have died during earlier trials.”

Li Yan swiftly deduced in his mind, matching his prior speculation against the current evidence before him.

This winding path on the ground had also appeared in every core he had entered of the blue crystals. The paths in all three had been identical. Li Yan speculated that the terrain shown here was a map of the current stage.

The ten semicircular archways divided the path into ten roughly equal segments. From this, he could surmise that each segment spanned approximately one li.

The glowing arch should correspond to the current position of the team. Since Senior Sister Gong and the others had just set out, it made sense that the first arch was now illuminated.

Li Yan focused his attention and began to count silently. After about three breaths’ time, he noticed the glow from the first gate beginning to fade. At the same time, the base of the second gate faintly began to light up.

“It seems Sixth Senior Sister and the others are advancing at full speed, nearing the two-li mark. Hence, the second gate is beginning to show signs of illumination.

As they move farther from the first gate, its light dims gradually until it turns completely dark. Each gate likely marks the beginning of each li, which would mean the first gate is near where I stand outside…”

Within four breaths, Li Yan had formed a solid judgment.

The wind howled with snow swirling around him. Li Yan stood motionless amidst the flurry. The "Ghost Chariot Talisman" on his body pulsed with a flickering glow, ancient runes flowing continuously upon it.

Suddenly, his body gave a slight tremble. He opened his eyes, and in the next instant, he shot out diagonally like a streak of light. At the same time, the wisp of divine sense he had left inside the blue prism crystal locked firmly onto the first circular arch on the ground at the core.

Sensing the location of the gate through his divine sense, Li Yan momentarily paused in mid-air, adjusted his angle, and sped forth again. Within the blue prism crystal, the first gate rapidly magnified in his spiritual vision.

Outside the blue crystal, Li Yan remained expressionless. Through his divine sense, he made continuous micro-adjustments. The massive snowy mountain walls along the road loomed ever larger before him.

Then, with a thunderous boom, Li Yan slammed into one of the mountains. A muffled thump followed as he crashed heavily into the snow.

Several breaths later, he wobbled and climbed out of the snow pit, dazed. The "Ghost Chariot Talisman" on his body flickered rapidly. That collision had left him utterly disoriented. Without the talisman’s protection, his bones would surely have shattered.

Ahead on the path, Gong Chenying and her party had been pressing forward swiftly. Hearing the crash behind them, everyone instinctively hesitated in their movements. Turning back, they saw only a blizzard of snow with no sign of anyone.

Someone extended their divine sense backward and saw Uncle Li staggering out of a snow pit.

Gong Chenying’s divine sense swept over briefly before she gave a slight shake of her head.

“Seven breaths… Looks like it was just a guess after all. He couldn’t get out.”

Her hand gestures grew faster, and her pace quickened as she unleashed her full power. She knew that in just a few more breaths, Li Yan would catch up.

The others retracted their divine sense as well, faces full of confusion and astonishment, unsure of what Li Yan was trying to do.

“Be careful-”

Suddenly came a burst of crackling sounds. Just as some withdrew their divine sense, several strange, translucent giant birds swooped in, throwing the group into chaos. They scrambled to defend themselves, withdrawing their senses entirely to focus on the attacks flanking the road, no longer daring to be distracted.

Li Yan shook the snow from his hair. Only now did the dizziness begin to subside.

“Couldn't get out?”

His first reaction was that he had failed.

“Could I have been wrong? Are these gates not actually exits? Then what purpose do they serve in the core if they’re just markers?”

A flurry of doubts surged through his mind. He looked toward the vast snowy expanse ahead, hesitated briefly, and did not immediately give chase.

Instead, he returned his divine sense to the core of the blue prism crystal. There, just a step away, stood the circular archway. Most of its light had faded, leaving only a glow at the top.

The middle portion of the gate still retained some light, while the lower half had turned pitch black, like a gate of descending brightness. This indicated that because he had lingered, the light hadn’t fully vanished.

At the same time, the base of the second gate was now brightly lit, the middle part dimmer and the top completely dark, the exact opposite of the first gate.

“Seems Sixth Senior Sister and the others are already approaching the two-li mark. If I delay any longer, I might be struck down by the attacks from both sides before I can catch up. I have to make a decision quickly.”

Anxiety crept into Li Yan’s heart. He looked up at the azure heavens and earth surrounding him. The space wasn’t vast, his gaze could encompass its entirety. Aside from the thirty-seven gray points of light in the sky, there was only the winding path on the ground and the ten archways standing upon it.

He swiftly flew once along the path but found nothing new. In essence, it was merely a curved line on the ground. He reached out with his divine sense, no response.

Then, Li Yan slowly extended his divine sense toward one of the archways. Though anxious, he dared not act carelessly.

Li Yan’s divine sense quickly made contact with the circular archway. Aside from a faint emission of spiritual energy, nothing unusual occurred.

At the same time, Gong Chenying, who was pressing forward, released her powerful divine sense in a backward sweep. A moment later, her expression darkened.

"Why is Little Junior Brother so reckless? I said five or six breaths, and I even gave him ten. Now we’ve nearly gone a full li, and he’s still standing there?”

The thought had barely formed when Gong Chenying prepared to transmit a message to Li Yan, urging him to catch up immediately. If he remained behind, he would certainly meet his end alone.

Just then, Li Yan moved. The blue prism crystal in his hand suddenly flared with an intense piercing azure light and he charged straight into the mountain wall again.

As Gong Chenying stared in shock, a type of pure, immaculate wood spiritual energy emerged from Li Yan’s body, something she had never seen before. In the next instant, he slammed into the snowy cliff.

The moment his body touched the cliff face, the blue light flared and in the blink of an eye, Li Yan vanished completely. Only Gong Chenying witnessed this; the others were all fiercely battling for their lives.

Li Yan saw nothing but a burst of dazzling azure light before a tight pressure enveloped him, as if he were being squeezed into a narrow space. The “Ghost Chariot Talisman” and his protective light barrier emitted faint cracking sounds.

Just as alarm rose within him, he heard a soft pop as if a bubble had burst. The pressure suddenly vanished, and his body relaxed. Before him now was a kaleidoscopic world.

Li Yan quickly formed a hand seal, raising his guard as he scanned his surroundings. With no attacks in sight, he finally allowed himself a moment’s relief.

What lay before him was a surreal spectacle: a radiant world, aglow with brilliant shifting colors, like a space forged of flowing glass and shimmering light. Li Yan floated in midair, behind him trailing a massive purple ribbon of light that swayed and fluttered.

It looked like one end of the ribbon was anchored somewhere, while the rest floated freely in the wind. Purple light streamed along its surface, but the scenery within remained hazy and indistinct.

To his left and right, at a distance of several dozen li, two other massive ribbons of light, one white one yellow, also danced and shimmered in the void. Li Yan felt as though he were a solitary traveler adrift beneath the stars.

The blue light in his hand had already dimmed. Glancing back at the purple ribbon, a flash of insight flickered in Li Yan’s eyes.

“So it’s true. A single blue prism crystal can only be used by one person. Even if I had brought someone with me, we’d have gotten stuck halfway through the gate.

The compressive force was too terrifying. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator might not survive a single breath within it. Only under the protection of that azure light could I pass through. That pressure… it made me feel like I was standing at death’s threshold.

If that blue light had vanished before I made it out… I might’ve been trapped forever.”

...

A few breaths earlier, within the core of the blue prism crystal, Li Yan had searched every corner, but found nothing. The circular arch, the path, the thirty-seven gray light points in the sky, whether he used divine sense or spiritual energy, nothing responded.

Left with no choice, he had withdrawn and prepared to catch up with Gong Chenying’s group. Otherwise, he truly would be left behind to die.

Yet as his divine sense withdrew, sweeping past the five-elemental space outside the core, a sudden thought stirred in his mind.

“The five elements? Space? Ever since I arrived, everything I’ve encountered has been related to the five elements. Could it be that I need to use five-elemental power to escape?

But just now in the core, I tried touching everything with every attribute of spiritual energy, yet nothing happened. Why?

Wait. The core contains a single-attribute spiritual energy, while it’s surrounded by a five-elemental space. Is the purpose of this to prevent imbalance within the crystal?

If the core’s singular spiritual energy disrupts the balance of the five-elemental space, could the opposite be true? If I could reduce the five-elemental world to a single attribute, might that be the key to escaping?

But to unify the five elemental spiritual energies… that’s nearly impossible.”

At this thought, a sudden gleam lit up Li Yan’s eyes. While others couldn’t transmute five-elemental energies into a single spiritual attribute, he could. With the Guishui True Scripture, he could transform any five-elemental energy into one or more types of spiritual energy.

A brilliant light flickered in his gaze.

(Chapter End)