Chapter 367: Life Stone

Chen Yuan could only guess why one of the nine coffins was empty, and besides, now wasn’t the time to investigate it.

After shaking the entire Longevity Hall with his overwhelming power, Jiang Mu formed a seal technique, and an incredibly strong suction force suddenly erupted.

Seven Life Stones simultaneously shot toward Jiang Mu.

But how could the others present possibly let him get his way?

Ji Man, in particular, was determined to get those Life Stones. He immediately burned his Qi Blood. The cry of a phoenix erupted behind him with fiery intensity as he transformed into a Fire Phoenix, lunging straight for the stones.

Zhong Li, relying on his formidable physical strength, leaped forward like a cannonball in pursuit of a Life Stone. He clashed directly with the Power of the Divine King and snatched it from the air.

Qingchen, for his part, formed a seal technique and activated a Dao Essence Transformation Array. An array formation glowed to life on the ground, pulling one of the Life Stones directly into the earth.

Chen Yuan still had some Spiritual Power remaining. He used the Emperor’s Qi Observation Skill to discern the trajectory of the stones’ power, then fired a Mulan Continuous Jail-Piercing Arrow. It intercepted them mid-flight, blasting two Life Stones off course. He simultaneously shot forward to where they would land and scooped them both up.

There were a total of eight Life Stones in the Longevity Hall. In the end, Jiang Mu only managed to get three. Ji Man, Zhong Li, and Qingchen each had one, while Chen Yuan had obtained two.

Jiang Mu frowned. He hadn’t expected this group to be so difficult to deal with.

In truth, with his strength, if Jiang Mu had been on the previous generation’s Hidden Dragon Rankings, he could have defeated all the other prodigies single-handedly.

But this generation of the Hidden Dragon Rankings was teeming with top-tier geniuses. The top six, in particular, were all formidable. Even as the Heir of the Divine King from Unrivaled City, he couldn’t completely overwhelm them.

Just as Jiang Mu was about to fight for more, the array he had set up outside was finally broken. Cui Xuanye had breached it from the inside while Gu Lichuan and the others assaulted it from without, ultimately shattering it.

But Gu Lichuan and the others didn’t rush in. Instead, they roared at Chen Yuan, “Brother Chen! Retreat! The Endless Immortal Palace is collapsing!”

Stunned, Chen Yuan quickly looked outside. He saw that space itself was beginning to fracture throughout the entire Endless Immortal Palace, revealing the pitch-black void beyond.

Space had already begun to fracture in some of the other palaces within the Endless Immortal Palace, but those had been isolated incidents.

But the Longevity Hall was the heart of the Endless Immortal Palace. The fierce battle inside had completely damaged its core and shattered the balance. As a result, no matter how powerful the palace’s arrays were, they could no longer hold. They began to collapse and disintegrate on a massive scale.

The damage from a spatial collapse was something that not even a Grandmaster of the Eighth Realm Divine Platform could necessarily withstand, let alone cultivators at their realm.

Therefore, no one could be bothered with the Life Stones anymore. They all turned and fled.

Outside the Longevity Hall, Gu Lichuan quickly pointed in a certain direction. “We can get out that way! Let’s go!”

Although the Longevity Hall was at the core of the Endless Immortal Palace, the spatial collapse had revealed several intact portals leading to the outside world.

Everyone unleashed their top speed, stepped into one of the portals, and left the Endless Immortal Palace.

Only after leaving the Endless Immortal Palace did Chen Yuan realize they hadn’t emerged from the main entrance, but somewhere else outside the palace entirely.

Quite a few other Martial Artists had also escaped through this portal, among them Ji Man and Qingchen.

Ji Man’s expression was grim. He had suffered a major blow today.

Before entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower, Ji Man had been brimming with confidence. He had arrived with great pomp and circumstance, believing he was worthy of such a display.

He hadn’t paid any mind to the other prodigies on the Hidden Dragon Rankings and even fancied himself ready to contend with Jiang Mu and Si Bai.

But who would have thought that after entering the Endless Immortal Palace, he would be defeated head-on by Chen Yuan?

Even after using some of the trump cards of the Ji Family from Celestial Bright City, he had still failed to overpower Chen Yuan.

That battle had been fought in front of so many Martial Artists. Once they left the Heaven-Reaching Tower, Chen Yuan would surely supplant him in the rankings.

He had wanted to challenge Jiang Mu and Si Bai, but only after actually clashing with Jiang Mu did he realize just how terrifying the Divine King Bloodline of Unrivaled City truly was.

He had to use his full strength just to withstand one of Jiang Mu’s casual attacks. He would only have a chance of truly trading blows with him if he played his trump cards from the very start.

In the Longevity Hall, the three of them combined hadn’t gained any advantage against Jiang Mu, which just went to show how powerful he was. He and Ji Man were on completely different levels.

However, despite the blow to his pride, Ji Man hadn’t forgotten his mission in the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

Ji Man looked at Chen Yuan and Qingchen, his voice low. “Chen Jiutian, Qingchen, those Life Stones are useless to you. In fact, they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Hand them over, and the Ji Family of Celestial Bright City will owe you a favor. Once we leave the Heaven-Reaching Tower, I’ll let each of you pick any one item from the Ji Family’s Treasure Vault in Celestial Bright City!”

Back in the Longevity Hall, Ji Man had told them to get lost.

Now, however, though his expression was sullen, his words were far more courteous.

Snatching the Life Stones by force was out of the question. He couldn’t even defeat Chen Yuan alone, let alone with Qingchen also present. That’s why he chose to negotiate.

Qingchen said coolly, “I have no desire for a favor from Zhong Li of the True Martial Temple, and I certainly have no desire for one from your Ji Family of Celestial Bright City.

“Besides, we at the Yellow Court Temple cultivate the Dao Essence True Self and have no need for secret treasures. This Life Stone, on the other hand, I’d like to take back and study.”

Chen Yuan chuckled. “If you’d made this offer before what happened in the Longevity Hall, I might have actually considered it.

“But now? Seeing as you and Jiang Mu are both so desperate to get your hands on it, I’ve become quite interested in it myself.”

Ji Man’s face darkened. “Fine, fine,” he said coldly. “Be stubborn, both of you!

“But don’t say I didn’t warn you. ‘That person’ from Ling Yun Cave wants these Life Stones. I hope you don’t get burned for holding onto them!”

With that, Ji Man turned on his heel and left to find Xiao Jing of the Xiao Family and his other men.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Qingchen, have you ever heard of this Ling Yun Cave?”

Qingchen shook his head. “Never. I have, however, heard of the Fire Cloud Cave. I believe you’re quite familiar with that place, Brother Chen.”

Chen Yuan was, of course, familiar with it—he had trapped and killed over a hundred Condensing Truth Realm Martial Artists there in a single battle. He just hadn’t realized Qingchen was capable of making such a deadpan joke.

“But about this Life Stone… I just remembered something. I believe I’ve read about this object in an ancient text, but it wasn’t called a Life Stone. It was called a Reincarnation Stone.”

“Oh? What does it do? Grant immortality?”

The ultimate goal of the cultivators from the Endless Immortal Palace was to achieve immortality and ascend.

Every high-ranking Controller in the Longevity Hall carried a Life Stone, so it was highly likely the object was related to immortality.

Qingchen shook his head. “It’s actually not related to immortality. The greatest function of a Life Stone, or a Reincarnation Stone, is to defy heaven, change one’s fate, and re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

“According to the ancient text, everyone has a predetermined destiny. If you are fated to have a lifespan of a hundred years, you will only live for a hundred years.

“The Life Stone’s greatest function is to serve as a substitute. You use it to ‘die’ once in your place, allowing your Primordial Spirit to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation and live another life.

“In my opinion, however, this is pure nonsense. A person’s lifespan depends entirely on their cultivation. Where does ‘destiny’ come into it?

“If destiny were real, what would be the point of us cultivating? We might as well just wait to die.

“Besides, even if you could change your fate and be reincarnated, what if you’re just reborn as someone else destined for a short life?

“So, the record in that ancient text isn’t necessarily correct. But this object is definitely a Secret Treasure that has long since vanished from the outside world. It contains the Power of Life and Death and an unfathomable Divine Power. It’s absolutely extraordinary. I plan to take it back to the Yellow Court Temple for my sect’s grandmaster to study.”

Chen Yuan nodded. Just then, Cui Xuanye suddenly spoke up. “I think I have heard of Ling Yun Cave before, vaguely.”

As all eyes turned to him, Cui Xuanye thought for a moment before speaking. “You all know the depth of my Cui Family’s heritage. Our lineage is no less ancient than that of the Ji Family of Celestial Bright City, so my family has recorded an immense number of events, both great and small, over the generations.

“When I was young, I used to enjoy reading the journals of my Cui Family ancestors whenever I got tired of stargazing. I recall seeing the name ‘Ling Yun Cave’ in them—and more than once.

“Near the end of the Ji Dynasty, someone claiming to be from Ling Yun Cave came and asked the Cui Family to help them divine the changes in the imperial dynasty’s fortune.

“This person’s power was unfathomable. And even though such a task was taboo, my ancestor still helped them with the divination.

“Later, the fortune of the Ji Dynasty declined just as we had divined, but there were some minor discrepancies. It’s likely that the person from Ling Yun Cave had interfered in some way.

“The second time was four thousand years ago. The celestial phenomena underwent a great change, and powerful contenders vied for the throne. Again, someone claiming to be from Ling Yun Cave came and asked the Cui Family to help divine where the Dragon Qi would descend.

“Afterward, the location where the Dragon Qi descended was massacred. However, the one who ultimately established the great, unified dynasty was still a survivor from that very place.

“The final record is from five hundred years ago, before the founding of the Great Xia, when the world was in chaos. They appeared once more, this time with a portrait, asking Celestial Official City to help divine the subject’s location.

“By that time, however, the Cui Family had realized that this person seemed to be deliberately meddling with the workings of fate. So we flatly refused, willing to die rather than partake in such a fate-altering task again.

“Unfortunately, a traitor emerged from within the Cui Family. He was lured by their offer, stole the Myriad Phenomena Qimen, our Divine Artifact Incarnation, and set up an array on his own authority to perform the divination for them.

“The Cui Family doesn’t know the final result of his divination, but that traitor died from the backlash. We have no idea what he could have possibly divined to cause such a thing.

“In the five hundred years since, we have not heard that name again.”

As soon as Cui Xuanye finished, both Chen Yuan’s and Qingchen’s expressions grew grave.

‘No wonder they could order the Ji Family of Celestial Bright City around,’ Chen Yuan thought. ‘And no wonder Ji Man said these Life Stones were too hot to handle.’

Just from Cui Xuanye’s tale, they could get a sense of what the people from Ling Yun Cave were up to.

Every time the people of Ling Yun Cave made a move, they were attempting to defy heaven and change fate, interfering in the succession of the world’s dynasties!

Even powers like Unrivaled City and Divine Light City wouldn’t dare to do such things. Just what was the origin of this incredibly mysterious Ling Yun Cave?