Chapter 699 381: 6th Floor (2)

Yang An was stunned by his words.

'The Earth Spirit Stele? How could the Earth Spirit Stele be related to finding Pan Yu?'

"Amidst the cataclysm, there is no solid ground. Even the Land of Shattered Armor is no exception. The path forward has been severed, so you must pass through the 6th Floor of the Xian Origin Land to reach your destination."

'The 6th Floor?'

Yang An froze, doing a quick calculation in his mind.

Even including the shallowest world, Gray Scale, there were still only five layers: Gray Scale, True Illusion, Cang Zhuo, Mirror Self, and Lower Hu. He had never entered a sixth layer of the Deep World, not even now that he had advanced to the Insect Dao.

He had originally thought the Fifth Floor, Lower Hu, was the deepest layer of the Xian Origin Land. He never imagined there was a sixth.

This was a layer that even his Identification Ability hadn't been able to reveal in his Cultivation Technique's information panel.

"I have been waiting for the 6th Floor to open. In this world, yin and yang were stripped apart, but what goes must eventually return. What has long been divided must unite.

Now, the time has finally come."

Life Crane spoke slowly. As He Tou smiled, it suddenly opened its crane beak and spat out a ball of flesh.

The ball of flesh hit the ground, squirming and swelling rapidly. Something inside seemed to be ramming against its walls, trying to break out.

Yang An subconsciously scanned it with his senses and suddenly detected a familiar aura from within, causing him to shudder.

With a SQUELCH, the ball of flesh burst open. Its thick skin tore, and a large pool of foul-smelling, bloody fluid gushed out.

And within the torn ball of flesh, a human figure was revealed.

Yang An's pupils trembled as he stared at the figure.

Wen Yin!

Ever since being besieged by the Golden Soul Sect at Earth Demon Cliff, Wen Yin had vanished without a trace after escaping.

Given Wen Yin's terrible sense of direction, Yang An had guessed she might have simply gotten lost, but he had never imagined she would end up in Life Crane's hands.

At this moment, Wen Yin was shrouded in a black, ghostly silhouette, her entire being coated in a layer of shadow. Numerous blood vessels, weeping black blood, crawled out from her pupil-less, hollow eyes, making her look both insane and malevolent.

Her body was still stained with foul-smelling, bloody fluid. She looked like a newborn infant, having just gone through the process of being birthed.

The instant he saw Wen Yin, a terrible premonition bloomed in Yang An's heart.

The next moment, Elder Life Crane flicked a finger. A crimson flame instantly ignited on Wen Yin's body, erupting into a roaring inferno that engulfed her.

Seeing this, Yang An instinctively moved to stop it. But before he could act, an immense pressure descended upon him, freezing him like a sudden frost. The Mana in his body was completely sealed, leaving him unable to move an inch. He could only watch helplessly as Wen Yin shrieked in agony, burning within the flames.

"Master! Why are you…"

Under the pressure of an Immortal Platform, Yang An was completely immobilized. Facing the power of an Immortal Platform head-on for the first time, the chasm between the Insect Dao and the Immortal Platform made him truly feel its might. Helpless, all he could do was try to stop him with words.

But his words were quickly cut off by He Tou. The old monster that had just spat out Wen Yin threw its head back and laughed.

On one side, the inferno raged, filled with Wen Yin's agonizing screams. On the other, He Tou's laughter echoed endlessly throughout the cave.

"Don't you understand yet? They… they are all just keys to open the different worlds of the Xian Origin Land. Only you—you are my one true disciple!"

'They?'

That word immediately made Yang An think of Fu Ming and the others.

People who had already died were appearing in the Xian Origin Land. If he followed that pattern, exactly five people had entered the Xian Origin Land.

'Could it be that the five of them correspond to the five layers of the Xian Origin Land?'

'And now that old bastard Life Crane is about to kill Wen Yin to open the 6th Floor!'

Sudden realization dawned on Yang An. He had always wondered why Fu Ming and the others had appeared in the Xian Origin Land after their deaths. It turned out the old bastard had planned it all from the beginning.

'The old bastard's scheme was deeper and far more long-term than he could have ever imagined.'

'Yang An even began to suspect that from the very beginning, his joining the Life Crane Sect and becoming the old bastard's disciple had all been part of the scheme.'

'From that moment on, he had been waiting for him, using a body created by the Shell Nourishing Technique and posing as Elder Life Crane.'

'Even his initial meeting with Pan Yu, and how he and Wen Yin had accidentally ended up at Sansong Mountain during a mission... all these seemingly unrelated events were actually connected.'

Yang An was suddenly struck by the absurd feeling that he was nothing more than a puppet on a string. It was a ridiculous thought, yet it fit the facts perfectly, with everything lining up one by one.

'Everything he had seen, everything he had experienced, whether here or in the Xian Origin Land—Life Crane was everywhere.'

"Senior Brother…"

The agonizing pain of the flames shocked Wen Yin back to her senses.

Through the fire, her pupil-less eyes could perceive nothing but a field of crimson, yet she could still clearly "see" Yang An.

The only person she could count on was Yang An, but he was currently suppressed by Life Crane's power, unable to do a thing.

He Tou's laughter continued to echo through the cave. As an Immortal Platform, Life Crane's flames could have killed Wen Yin easily, yet she lingered in the fire, not dying. The detestable old monster seemed to be savoring the process.