Using brute force on an immortal’s celestial palace, is that really appropriate?
However, reality gave them no choice. The iron-faced man’s gradually darkening gaze fixed upon them, and the four immediately showed fawning, submissive expressions. They promptly walked toward the city gate, reaching out to push against the void as they advanced step by step.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed intently on the four of them.
The four had just seen the iron-faced man touch it earlier, so they knew there was a restriction at the entrance. Soon, their hands touched something, and in the invisible air, ethereal ripples suddenly appeared, as if the calm surface of a lake had been broken.
A layer of shimmering void waves blocked the outside of the city gate with its upturned eaves and bracketed arches. Deep inside the gate, it was pitch black, impossible to see what lay within.
Seeing that the void waves were harmless, the four pressed their palms fully against them and began to push with force.
The iron-faced man spoke, “Pushing is useless. I tried before. Try blasting it open together with your combined strength.”
The four cloaked figures exchanged glances. They very much wanted to ask that person, why don’t you try blasting it open yourself?
But in the end, they had no choice. The four could only nod at one another, unified in their pace. After stepping back, they suddenly exerted force simultaneously, each striking out with a palm.
Clang! The impact sound was muffled, not particularly loud.
The void waves at the city gate were struck into violent turbulence. The undulating ripples began to reflect light at their edges, and suddenly, many arcs of electricity began to dance around. Amidst rumbling sounds, they transformed into beams of refined lightning, an instant backlash.
Beams of lightning struck the four like spiritual snakes. One of them reacted quickly, trying to dodge by flashing away, but he was still hit by seven or eight bolts, crackling as he was sent flying through the air.
Trying to compete with lightning in speed, his cultivation was far from sufficient.
All of them were sent flying. The four were all blasted away amid the flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.
That was a barrage of refined lightning strikes, an merciless spray of electric light.
The others were terrified, scrambling to cover their heads and scurrying away, leaping and flying off in all directions.
Only when the commotion completely subsided did the area near the city gate return to its calm, waveless state. Only then did the people near and far dare to cautiously approach again.
After confirming there was no further danger, the group gathered once more at the city gate.
The four who had acted already lay motionless on the ground. Each was charred black, still smoking. Some had clothes that had caught fire and were burning. All were in a state of torn skin and lacerated flesh. Some even had their bellies split open and intestines spilling out.
They were dead beyond dead. A miserable death.
The iron-faced man watched with lingering fear. Fortunately, he had felt that this was an immortal palace and that it was inappropriate to act rashly. He had not dared to use force earlier, or the consequences would have been obvious.
He swept his sleeve to extinguish the flames on the burning corpse, then said to the crowd, “Split into pairs and spread out to search everywhere. See if there is any place we can enter.”
This was also the reason he had brought everyone up this time. Previously, it had just been him and Gao Yuan. With such a large area, conducting a thorough search was somewhat troublesome.
As the saying goes, mountains look close but horses die running toward them. The same applies to distance for people.
Yu Qing’s group ran past evening and into the night before finally reaching their destination. Under the bright moonlight, they rushed to the summit of the high mountain.
There was snow on the mountain, thick accumulated snow. The cold wind pierced to the bone. Wu Hei and his son had already arrived early.
Along the way, after confirming the celestial palace was heading toward this high mountain, Wu Hei had told the others to be careful. He did not want to miss this opportunity, nor would he miss it because of Yu Qing and the others. He brought his son and rushed ahead first.
As for whether Yu Qing and the others would encounter the iron-faced man and his group, he could only say that one must choose what to do and what not to do. He would help if he could, but the premise was to take care of himself first. Speaking of selfless sacrifice for others, their relationship had not yet reached that level.
The group was also exhausted beyond measure, not daring to stop for a single step, afraid of missing the chance.
As for Yu Qing’s golden coffin, it truly required everyone taking turns to help. Otherwise, he really could not have brought it here so quickly.
One by one, they walked up to Wu Hei and his son, all slightly out of breath.
The cloud mass floating in the air was already very close. Due to the terrain, the summit of this mountain was actually slightly higher than the cloud mass, so everyone could see the glittering brightness within the clouds, the magnificent scene refracted by moonlight, as if an arc of rosy light enveloped it.
“It is the celestial palace. The celestial palace is coming over.” Shen Qingcheng pointed and shouted, still somewhat panting.
Everyone saw it. They were all expectant and relieved. They had finally made it, though they did not know whether the celestial palace would come close enough to this mountain peak.
Wu Hei suddenly took something out from his chest and said to everyone, “Take one each.”
Everyone looked and saw that he was holding a handful of golden eggs, each about the size of a quail egg.
Nan Zhu asked, “What is this?”
Wu Hei said, “Keep it on your person for now. If we can get over, having this on you is necessary to enter the celestial palace. Otherwise, you cannot get in.”
Since that was the case, there was nothing more to say. They immediately each took one. After receiving them, they could not resist carefully examining them, even using spells to inspect them.
“It seems like some kind of egg.”
Nan Zhu muttered after examining it. The others also thought so, and all looked at Wu Hei, wanting confirmation.
Wu Hei made no response. He stared intently at the slowly approaching cloud mass.
Ning Chaoyi suddenly stared at the main peak of the celestial palace and said in a deep voice, “Not good, there is a deviation. Looking at this, when the celestial palace passes by here, it will be about two li away from us, perhaps even slightly wider than the previous abyss. I fear we cannot get across.” He especially looked back at Yu Qing, who was carrying the golden coffin.
Just after he finished speaking, a large mass of mist surged toward them, instantly enveloping everyone.
Everyone’s vision immediately could not see far.
Yu Qing immediately used the Observation Technique to investigate, but he saw nothing of note. It was impossible to reason using normal logic, and he immediately realized that this cloud and mist were not normal clouds and mist. They were not entirely driven by wind. There was a different force field at play, from the celestial palace.
“I cannot see anything. What do we do?” Nan Zhu shouted.
Under everyone’s watch, Wu Hei suddenly closed his eyes and said nothing. After waiting a while, he suddenly crouched, then launched himself like a cannon shot into the sky, breaking through the sea of clouds to observe and calculate.
After landing again, he returned to the group’s side and spoke rapidly, “The celestial palace is actually drifting quite fast. The window of intersection with this place is not long. Miss it and it is gone. No unnecessary talk. I will speak, you listen. The main peak is indeed more than two li away from here, but the celestial palace covers a ground area of over a thousand mu. The main peak is in the exact center of the celestial palace, and it is also quite high above the base. The actual distance is closer than that abyss.”
He paused briefly, estimated the time, then suddenly said to Mu Aotie and Nan Zhu, “I will send you two across first. Shout an alarm immediately if you discover anything abnormal!”
The reason he singled them out was partly because he still harbored some caution toward Ning Chaoyi and the others, after all, they were people who had come from the other side.
However, the two fellow disciples subconsciously looked at the golden coffin Yu Qing was carrying, somewhat worried.
Wu Hei immediately said, “I will help him carry the golden coffin across. Do not dawdle. Hurry!”
“Old Seven and I will go first.” Yu Qing suddenly pushed the golden coffin to Mu Aotie to carry, then leaped up and landed toward Wu Hei.
Wu Hei immediately struck his foot sole with a palm, forcefully pushing him out, then struck another palm to send the leaping Nan Zhu flying out.
The two shot out from the cloud and mist with a whistling sound, once again seeing the bright moon. When they reached the critical point of the pushing force, they used qi to glide toward that golden mountain within the clouds.
The closer they got, the more they could see the full appearance of the golden mountain. The shock in their hearts was indescribable. They truly did not know how such an enormous golden mountain could remain floating in the air.
The result was as Wu Hei had said. The celestial palace indeed covered a large enough area. The two landed on a small golden hillock, quickly drawing their swords and looking around in all directions, on high alert.
Following that, the Thief Mandarin Duck couple, the Three Branch Flowers mother and daughter, Ning Chaoyi and Mu Aotie, all landed and arrived in succession.
Then there was another whistling sound from the air. Wu Hei arrived, holding the golden coffin in one hand and carrying his son under the other arm, landing beside everyone.
“Thank you, sir.”
Yu Qing immediately went over and expressed his thanks with great sincerity, then took the golden coffin.
Wu Hei put down his son, one hand always gripping his son’s wrist, his face also unable to conceal a look of shock.
In a mountain gully, Jiang Shan and a black-cloaked figure were hiding in the shadow of the gully depression, peeping furtively, not even daring to breathe heavily.
Their group had already split up to keep watch, in order to prevent the two old monsters holding halberds from arriving without them knowing. Unexpectedly, they discovered Yu Qing and the others’ arrival, and never expected they would come up in this manner.
After observing in secret for a while, Jiang Shan lightly made hand gestures to the person beside him, indicating that he would keep watch here and that the other should go report to the iron-faced man. He repeatedly indicated to keep the noise down. The latter nodded slightly and quietly slipped away from the gully.
After Wu Hei and the others gradually recovered from their shock, Nie Pinlan pointed at those pavilions and towers made of gold and said, “There are quite a few entrances.”
Wu Hei shook his head. “The entrances to those buildings have long been sealed. Unless the seal is lifted, one can only exit but not enter. If it were not so, the iron-faced man would have already entered long ago, and would not have wanted to cooperate with me. Remember, do not forcefully trespass any entrance. The protective grand array here is no trifling matter. Even top experts from the outside world, if they dare to trespass rudely, will find it hard to escape death.”
The celestial palace’s protection was this formidable? Everyone’s hearts secretly chilled upon hearing this.
Nan Zhu said, “Sir must have a way to get in, right?”
Wu Hei looked around again. “Our current position should be somewhere along the left-right orientation of the celestial palace’s front. It should be nearby. Follow me.” He turned and led the group to continue walking down the mountain.
Jiang Shan, hiding in the shadows, dared not move for the longest time. Only after he could no longer hear any movement did he get up and sneakily follow them.
At the foot of the mountain at the very bottom of the celestial palace, it could be said that cloud and mist drifted ethereally. Wu Hei led everyone to a massive cave opening. A person at the cave entrance was like an ant. Looking from here, the towering golden mountain seemed to be hollow.
Wu Hei took the lead, cautiously reaching out his hand. He touched the void waves, which rippled outward. Then he cautiously continued forward. His hand entered inside the void waves, his body immersed in them, and along with his son whom he was carrying, slowly immersed as well. After discovering that breathing was normal, he relaxed and passed through entirely, turning around to take out a fluorescent stone for illumination. He nodded to indicate that everyone should enter.
Even so, the others still did not dare to be rash. They had all just seen that transparent void wave, and still cautiously tested it. In the end, they all entered in succession. Even Yu Qing, carrying the golden coffin, passed through without obstruction.
“So does this mean we are inside?” Nan Zhu asked curiously.
Wu Hei gave an affirmative sound, then turned around and raised the fluorescent stone to advance.
Everyone also took out their light sources and followed, curiously looking around and examining this place of the immortals.