Chapter 411: Lingxi Celestial Palace

“Alright. First, after you enter the Lingxi Celestial Palace, take out the jade token I gave you earlier and follow the directions on the map. You absolutely cannot make a wrong turn. A single misstep will land you in an Array, and you’ll be doomed forever!

“Second, once you’re inside the Celestial Palace, trust no one. There will be Illusion Realms inside. No matter who it is, just kill them. You must not hesitate!

“Third, when you reach the end of the map, you will see a giant spring. If the spring speaks to you, do not be afraid. Find a way to make it happy. The happier it is, the higher your affinity with the Spirit Rhinoceros Spring Water will be, and the greater the chance our Dieyi Manor has of winning the championship!”

Mu Ruo solemnly laid out the three points.

“Manor Master, I understand!” Nie Yun nodded quickly.

“Good. Remember what I said. Go on!”

After giving one last reminder and seeing that the young man before him understood, Mu Ruo nodded repeatedly. With a leap, he flew off in the direction of the Lingxi Celestial Palace.

Knowing the competition was about to begin, Nie Yun pushed off from the ground with his toes and followed closely behind.

As they flew, Nie Yun maintained a speed that was neither fast nor slow, perfectly fitting his guise as Mu Jie. As a result, Mu Ruo didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

They soon arrived at the Lingxi Celestial Palace. Nie Yun saw that the square outside the palace gates was already a sea of people.

The death trial had been decided only by the Five Great Manor Masters and the City Lord; everyone else was unaware. Many had no idea of the dangers this journey held. They still believed they could make a stunning debut in the competition, gain supreme benefits, and were eagerly preparing to show off their skills.

In reality, they had no idea that a nightmare was quietly descending upon them.

‘How incredible!’

Glancing around, Nie Yun was still deeply shocked, even though he knew about the effects of the Spirit Rhinoceros Spring Water. To see hundreds of Ultimate Venerable Peak powerhouses under the age of twenty was astounding.

In the Divine Wind Empire, besides himself and his brother Nie Tong, it would probably be impossible to find a third person who had reached the Ultimate Venerable Peak before the age of twenty.

This was the gap!

No wonder the people of the Ancient City dared not venture outside. If the outside world learned of such a treasure, this city would have likely been annihilated long ago.

“Go on. Get into the crowd and don’t stand out at the beginning. Otherwise, you’ll become a public target, which will be even more troublesome!”

Just as he began to fly down, Mu Ruo’s quiet Sound Transmission reached his ears. Nie Yun nodded to show he understood.

‘It seems this trial is extremely important to Mu Ruo,’ Nie Yun thought. ‘The great Manor Master has turned into a nagging old woman.’

Flying into the crowd, Nie Yun looked around and saw these so-called geniuses. Each one had a vibrant, powerful aura, and their eyes were filled with fiery desire as they gazed at the Lingxi Celestial Palace directly ahead.

Many of the people here did not belong to the Five Great Manors. For those unaffiliated with the manors, the only way to obtain the Spirit Rhinoceros Spring Water was to participate in the Holy Spirit Disciple Competition!

For the sake of their dreams, many of these youths had staked everything on this, hoping to become famous overnight and rise above the common person.

‘Hmm, there’s an old acquaintance. Mu Shang is over there…’

A casual glance swept across the crowd, and Nie Yun suddenly spotted an old acquaintance, causing him to smile.

It was none other than Mu Shang, the one who had caused trouble for him the moment he arrived in the Ancient City!

Mu Shang’s strength now faintly carried the aura of the Secret Realm. He had somehow managed to break through and now possessed the power of a Secret Realm expert.

However, his Secret Realm power still occasionally leaked the aura of an Ultimate Venerable, which meant he had likely just broken through and had yet to fully consolidate his new realm.

‘It seems that after I killed Mu Xiang, Muaixia Manor’s rising star, Mu Qi must have forcefully raised Mu Shang’s strength to make him a contender for the championship, gambling everything on him.’

Just as Nie Yun was looking at Mu Shang, Mu Shang glanced back. A contemptuous smile appeared on his face, as if he was confident he could kill this “Mu Jie.”

Seeing his expression, Nie Yun paid it no mind. He simply gave a faint smile and turned away.

After scanning the crowd once more and finding no other acquaintances, Nie Yun stopped looking and closed his eyes to regulate his Spirit.

About an hour later, a fluctuation of Spiritual Qi rippled through the earth, and a deep, powerful voice boomed from the sky.

“The decennial Holy Spirit Disciple Competition now begins! The Lingxi Celestial Palace is now open. All you talented youths, please enter!”

As the voice faded, the grand doors ahead opened with a RUMBLE, and the countless Arrays before them were completely deactivated.

“Go!”

Accompanied by a series of sharp whooshes, the disciples standing before the gates all flew inside like a swarm of locusts.

Following the stream of people, Nie Yun rushed through the gates. When he opened his eyes, it was as if he had entered another world.

This world was bizarre and fantastical, completely different from the world outside the gates. The Spiritual Qi inside was so dense it felt like it could drip, instantly invigorating one’s Spirit.

‘An Array Space? To be able to set up such a vast Array Space… what kind of expert was capable of this?’

Nie Yun’s heart jolted as he took in the scene before him.

An Array Space was a space formed by an Array. Even third or fourth-stage Secret Realm powerhouses couldn’t create one. The larger it was, the harder it was to construct. This place looked like a cave from the outside, but it contained a world of its own. The skill of the person who set up this Array was likely no less than his own in his past life!

‘In my past life, I was at the Peak of the Dantian Acupoint Realm. Could it be that the ancestor of the Ancient City who created this Array also reached such a Realm?’

At this thought, a grave look appeared in Nie Yun’s eyes.

“Kill!”

As he walked forward, he saw several people fighting to the death. Entering this place was tantamount to starting a campaign of slaughter. Only the brave would walk out alive!

SLICE! SLICE!

Two heads were lopped off by a young man’s long saber. Immediately, Nie Yun saw two faint rays of light shoot out from the corpses and slowly flow into the young man.

This light was invisible to the naked eye; Nie Yun could only see it because he had activated his Celestial Eye. It combined with a special Energy Body in this space, forming a strange shape in the air. Less than a tenth of it flowed into the young man’s body, while the vast majority vanished into the depths of the space.

‘Could this be the so-called potential transfer?’

Nie Yun was taken aback.

He had heard Mu Ruo mention potential transfer before but had never understood how it worked. Now it seemed some sort of Array in this place could devour a person’s potential and transfer it to their killer.

‘Transferring potential? That’s too heaven-defying!’

Even on the Floating Heaven Continent, he had never heard of such an ability!

‘The Demon Race!’

A name suddenly popped into Nie Yun’s mind.

If anyone could create something like this, it would have to be the Demon Race. The members of the Demon Race were known for being ruthless and cruel, willing to spill rivers of blood to achieve their goals. This method of absorbing another’s potential to benefit oneself was likely some kind of Secret Technique of the Demon Race—and an extremely evil one at that!

‘I have to be careful. This place isn’t as simple as I thought!’

Having figured this out, Nie Yun’s expression grew solemn.

He had previously thought that with his strength and methods, snatching the treasure from a group of Ultimate Venerables would be a simple matter. Now, it seemed that wasn’t the case. The Secret Techniques of the Demon Race were always strange and unpredictable. The slightest carelessness could lead to the Death of the Body and Fall of the Dao, no matter how strong you were!

As the saying goes, of the Ten Thousand Great Dao, the Demon Race has comprehended seven thousand while the Human Race has only comprehended three thousand. This was proof of how powerful the Demon Race’s Secret Techniques were—more than twice as strong as those of humans!

“Brother, this place is extremely dangerous. Why don’t we team up? We can kill everyone else first and then split the rewards evenly!”

As Nie Yun continued forward, the youth from earlier, seeing that he was a Secret Realm Powerhouse, adopted a respectful attitude.

“Alright,” Nie Yun replied with a faint smile.

“Then let’s go!” Seeing Nie Yun agree, the young man nodded. Then, with a sudden flip of his palm, he thrust a sharp spike toward Nie Yun’s back.

The attack was swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation. The spike carried a sharp whistling wind, stinging Nie Yun’s skin before it even arrived. This sneak attack was fast and effective. An ordinary Secret Realm Powerhouse would have been stabbed through the heart, completely unable to defend against it. Unfortunately for the attacker, Nie Yun was no ordinary Secret Realm expert. Although he was only an Ultimate Venerable, his soul was far more formidable than that of a typical Secret Realm Powerhouse!

He delivered a backhanded slap!

SLAP!

The young man was splayed out on the ground, turned into a meat patty.

Upon his death, another special wisp of aura slowly rose up. A portion of it flowed into Nie Yun’s body, while the rest dissipated into the air.

‘It really is potential? Can it actually be transferred?’

Nie Yun’s eyes widened as he felt the unique nature of the energy flowing into his body.

As soon as this aura entered his body, his Late-Stage Ultimate Venerable Cultivation actually stirred. It seemed that if he absorbed enough of this energy, he could break through directly to the Ultimate Venerable Peak!

This wasn’t energy, nor was it Spiritual Qi. It was purely a mental sensation!

It was as if under the influence of this aura, all barriers were like floating clouds, posing no obstacle at all!

It was said that in the eyes of some peerless geniuses, the realm barriers that were like Chains to everyone else meant nothing to them. It was just like how after Nie Yun had achieved a Spirit Level Bloodline, the barrier to the Secret Realm no longer existed for him!

The higher one’s potential, the simpler the barriers, and the easier the breakthroughs.

The fact that absorbing this aura could allow one to break through realms was simply unbelievable!

‘I’m afraid this is not only related to the Array but also has a strong connection to that Spirit Rhinoceros Spring!’

A thought vaguely formed in Nie Yun’s mind.

‘The Spirit Rhinoceros Spring… the fact that I can communicate with it using my Beast Taming Dantian is extremely strange in itself. How can my Beast Taming Dantian communicate with something that isn’t alive? And just now when I killed that man, nine-tenths of the aura representing potential flew off into the distance. Where did it go?’

‘Time for the map!’

With that thought, Nie Yun flipped his palm and took out the map Mu Ruo had given him. He swept it with his Spirit, memorizing it, then opened his Celestial Eye and looked ahead.

The map was indeed extremely detailed. The marked gaps indicated the weakest points in the Arrays. Following this path would not trigger any traps and posed no danger.

In addition, with the City Lord’s jade token, even if you were to accidentally fall into an Array, you could use the token to weaken its attacks, allowing you to escape with ease.

The combination of the two greatly reduced the danger.

Following the path marked on the map, Nie Yun moved forward quickly. After just a few steps, he saw several disciples who had teamed up and were slowly advancing, hunting down others.

Although this was a place where you either killed or were killed, there were still alliances. Most of them came from the same faction and had teamed up to protect one person, with the goal of helping that individual win the championship.

When these people saw Nie Yun approaching alone, they all turned simultaneously, a predatory green light shining in their eyes. (To be continued.