From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 530: Gate of the Void

The light from the teleportation array faded faster than I expected.

When the glint of light on my eyelashes faded, a damp mist first spread from the tip of my nose, like water-soaked clouds seeping into my lungs.

I instinctively reached for the boundary-breaking talisman in my sleeve, but Wen Chen's hand tightened around my wrist, his knuckles pressing against my pulse—his body heat seeped in through my sleeve, like a guiding star.

"Look at the bridge." Zi Ling's voice trembled with excitement.

I looked up and saw a white jade bridge suspended in the middle of the sea of ​​clouds. The bridge was carved with lotus patterns, some of which had been blurred by the passage of time, but the exquisite craftsmanship of yesteryear was still evident.

The end of the bridge was hidden in the mist, with only a corner of the eaves showing, but faint music drifted over, exactly the same as that in the illusionary palace last night.

"This is the 'Palace of No Form.'" The ethereal immortal had appeared by the bridge at some point, his white robes billowing in the wind, the silver lines at the corners of his eyes flickering in the mist. "Legend has it that this was the last barrier used by ancient powerful beings to suppress the Void Realm." As he finished speaking, the spirit crystal in my sleeve suddenly burned, followed by the shadow crystal beginning to tremble—those were two rare treasures I had found in the ruins, specifically used to sense the nodes of the Reverse Fate Array.

"The node is inside." I squeezed the spirit crystal, and I could feel it jumping in my palm, like a living creature hitting a cage.

Wen Chen looked down at me following my movement, but didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled my sleeves, which were damp from the mist, up a little.

Ziling leaned closer, her hair still damp with water droplets: "Sister Xiao, this stone is shaking so badly, are we almost there?" Her voice was tinged with excitement, but her fingers secretly hooked onto the hem of my clothes—this girl usually pretends to be bold, but when she's scared, she likes to find an excuse to touch me.

Elder Qingfeng stood at the back of the line. He took out his compass and spun it twice. Suddenly, the bronze pointer clicked and stopped, pointing towards the palace at the end of the bridge: "The spiritual energy is extremely chaotic; there are indeed traces of a great seal." He paused, then added, "I saw similar fluctuations in the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion back then; it was the lingering effect of an ancient mountain-protecting formation."

I took a deep breath; the mist carried a faint smell of rust—the residual spiritual energy from the magic array. "Let's go," I said, stepping onto the bridge. Wen Chen immediately followed half a step, his shoulders taut like a bowstring.

Zi Ling moved slowly, her shoes making a soft rustling sound as they rubbed against the white jade: "Does this bridge look sturdy?"

"The last time I stepped onto the floating bridge, the result was..." She suddenly fell silent because the bridge suddenly trembled slightly, as if something was supporting us from below and sending us upwards.

The palace gates were closer than I had imagined.

When we reached the end of the bridge, the magnificent building was fully revealed before us: vermilion pillars were covered with green vines, and the three golden characters "Wuxiang Palace" on the lintel were missing half a piece, yet they still weighed heavily on us.

I reached for the door knocker, my fingers covered in patina. Just as I was about to push it open, Wen Chen suddenly grabbed my wrist: "Wait." He formed a hand seal with his other hand, and a pale blue light shone from his fingertips—it was a spirit-detecting spell.

The moment the light swept across the crack in the door, a pattern of light suddenly lit up on the floor.

I took a half step back and saw that it was an ancient, intricately intertwined array, with a faint blue light flowing through its patterns, like living things moving in blood vessels.

Zi Ling gasped, “This, this magic array…” Before she could finish speaking, Elder Qingfeng pulled her behind him.

The elder stared at the ground, his brows furrowed deeply. "It's a 'Spirit-Locking Array,' used to isolate internal and external spiritual energy." He took out three talismans to stick them on, but the ethereal immortal raised his hand to stop him. "Don't move them. This is the outer gate of the palace-protecting array. Breaking it will trigger the inner array."

I took out the Shadow Crystal, which vibrated even more violently, almost flying out of my palm. "The node should be at the array's eye," I whispered. "We have to get in." Wen Chen released my hand, his fingertips lightly brushing against the back of my hand—our agreed-upon "be careful" signal.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

The door hinges creaked and groaned, the sound echoing from inside the hall, like someone screaming behind your ear.

Zi Ling's nails dug into my arm: "Sister Xiao, it's too quiet here..." Before she finished speaking, I heard a "rip" sound in the air, like silk being torn apart.

When she looked up, countless transparent threads were surging in from all directions, so thin they were almost invisible, but when they touched the tip of Zi Ling's hair, they pulled out a strand of her hair.

"Void Soul-Binding Net!" Elder Qingfeng's expression changed drastically. He waved his sleeve and summoned the Qingfeng Sword to cut the threads, but the blade was stuck as soon as it touched the threads. "This is made from the mist of the Void Realm. Ordinary spells can't break it!" I tried to move my feet and found that my ankles were already wrapped in the threads, and the more I struggled, the tighter they became.

Wen Chen stood beside me, a layer of golden light rising around him—that was his protective immortal energy. The threads of energy sizzled when they touched the golden light, yet they continued to surge forth.

"How could this be triggered?" Zi Ling cried as she tried to pull the thread on her wrist, only to have her hand immediately bruised and bleeding.

I gritted my teeth and pulled out the spirit crystal. Suddenly, it burst forth with blinding light; the threads, upon encountering it, recoiled half a foot like snow meeting fire. "It's the node interfering!" My eyes lit up. "The spirit crystal can break this!"

Wen Chen immediately grasped my hand, channeling his immortal energy into it through my fingertips, causing the light of the spirit crystal to surge instantly.

The silk threads retreated even faster, but just then, I caught a glimpse of a line of tiny ancient characters carved on a pillar at the deepest part of the hall—the reverse fate array runes I had seen in ancient books.

"Yaoyao." Wen Chen's voice was a little hoarse. He wiped the sweat from my forehead with his other hand. "Get out of trouble first, the rest..." He didn't finish his sentence, but I knew what he was going to say.

The light from the spirit crystal grew hotter and hotter, and I could feel the skin on my palm turning red, but the threads had already retreated three steps away.

Ziling suddenly tugged at my sleeve: "Sister Xiao, look at the ground!"

I looked down and saw new characters slowly emerging from the ancient array patterns that had just lit up—the activation symbol of the Reverse Fate Array.

Elder Qingfeng's voice came from behind: "This is..."

"Let's get out of here!" I grabbed Ziling and ran towards the door, with Wen Chen protecting us behind us. The light from the spirit crystal almost illuminated the entire hall.

But just as I stepped out of the door, I heard a "crack" behind me, as if something had broken.

Turning around, I saw that on the stone platform in the very center of the hall, a jade plaque engraved with a star map suddenly cracked, and black mist seeped out of the crack.

I recognized that mist—it was the turbid air from the void.

"Quick, let's go!" Elder Qingfeng's sword finally broke free of the silken threads, and he slashed at the gate. "This is our chance!"

As we stumbled back onto the bridge, a deafening roar came from behind us.

I turned around and saw the gate of Wuxiang Palace slowly closing. The gold paint on the character "Xiang" on the lintel fell off, revealing a line of small characters carved below. I squinted to make out that it read, "Defying fate leads to endless tribulations."

Zi Ling, panting, leaned against the bridge railing, blood still dripping from her hair: "That mist just now... it smelled awful, like rotten moss." Elder Qingfeng wiped the black stains off his sword, his face even more grim than before: "That was the sealed power of nothingness. It seems the seal of the Wuxiang Palace is looser than rumored."

The ethereal immortal had somehow arrived at the bridge. He gazed at the closed palace gates, the silver patterns flickering in the mist: "The Reverse Fate Array... is finally about to reveal itself."

I took out the ancient jade slip from my bosom; it had suddenly become extremely hot when I was in the hall.

As my fingertips touched the surface of the jade tube, I could feel the runes inside pulsating—it was a formation diagram I had never seen before.

Wen Chen tidied my wind-blown hair: "Let's go back to camp first, your palms are all red." His voice was very soft, but I knew that he must have also seen the jade tablet on the stone platform in the hall, and the runes of the Reverse Fate Array.

The fog around the bridge thickened, but the sound of the zither became even clearer.

As I gazed at the closed palace gates, I suddenly remembered the boundary-breaking talisman that Senior Brother Lin had given me, which was still warm in my sleeve.

“It seems…” I clutched the jade slip in my arms, “that the answer I’m looking for has only just begun.” When I returned to the camp, the red marks on my palms were still burning.

Wen Chen boiled mugwort water to apply to my hands, but I couldn't wait to pull out the jade slip from my bosom—it had been so hot at the entrance of Wuxiang Palace that it almost pierced through my clothes, and now its surface was still glowing with a faint blue light, as if it had been infused with life.

"Treat the wound first." Wen Chen pressed down on my hand, which was trying to unseal the jade slip, and gently rubbed his fingertips over the red mark on my palm. "Spiritual energy burns will leave scars if left untreated." His voice was very soft, but I could feel his fingertips trembling slightly—a habit he had when he was nervous.

I looked up at him; moonlight streamed in through the gaps in the tent ceiling, gilding the corners of his eyes with a silvery rim. "Just one look," I said, curling my fingers to touch the back of his hand. "Maybe there's a way to break the formation inside."

Wen Chen's Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally released his grip.

The moment my fingertips touched the sealing rope, the jade slip suddenly hummed softly, and the sealing rope automatically scattered into golden dust that drifted down.

The moment it unfolded, countless runes rose from the jade surface, weaving a pale blue net of light within the tent—the same reversal of fate array patterns I had seen on the stone pillars inside the hall, now moving about like living things, finally converging into a line of ancient characters: "Chaos draws in twin crystals, breaking through barriers to reveal the true essence."

"It's a trial step." I held my breath, and my spiritual power surged uncontrollably into my fingertips.

The spirit crystal and shadow crystal in my sleeve both became hot at the same time, so hot that my wrist jumped through the fabric.

Wen Chen clearly sensed the disturbance as well. He leaned closer, his hair brushing against my ear: "Twin Crystals?"

“Spirit Crystal and Shadow Crystal.” I pulled out two rare treasures. The Spirit Crystal glowed with a warm yellow light, while the Shadow Crystal was a deep blue like a pool. “Before, they always sensed their own nodes, but now…” Before I could finish speaking, the two crystals suddenly trembled and moved closer to each other, sparking tiny sparks in my palm.

Zi Ling approached the tent entrance at some point, the silver bells in her hair jingling softly in the night breeze: "Sister Xiao, they're glowing!" Her eyes shone like stars, but her hand was still clutching her clothes—the wound from the silk thread cut her earlier was wrapped in gauze, the edges oozing a pale red.

As Elder Qingfeng lifted the curtain and entered, the compass clicked in his sleeve. "The fluctuations of the Reverse Fate Array." He glanced at the runes in the air, then at the twin crystals in my palm. "It seems this jade slip is the token of the array spirit's recognition of its master." He paused, his gaze settling on my reddened palm. "Young friend, if you wish to trigger the resonance, you must use chaotic spiritual power as a catalyst."

Chaotic spiritual power... I clenched the twin crystals, and the seven-colored spiritual power within my body suddenly began to surge.

This is a special spiritual vein that I unexpectedly awakened after transmigrating. It can fuse the power of the five elements to form chaos, but it always backfires after being used intensely.

Wen Chen immediately grasped my other hand, and his immortal energy flowed into me like a warm current: "I will stabilize your spiritual sea." His immortal energy, carrying the scent of pine and mixed with the bitterness of mugwort water, wove a net through my meridians.

With my eyes closed, I slowly pressed the twin crystals together.

The heat of the spirit crystal and the coolness of the shadow crystal collided in the palm of the hand, like ice and fire clashing.

The spiritual energy surged upwards along his arm, first metal, then wood, water, fire, and earth, finally merging into a hazy gray mist in his dantian—that was chaotic spiritual energy.

As the mist reached my fingertips, the twin crystals suddenly burst forth with a dazzling golden light, and I heard a "crack" sound, as if some kind of constraint had been broken.

Exclamations came from outside the tent.

When I opened my eyes, golden light had already pierced through the tent, casting a beam of light into the night sky.

Zi Ling's voice was choked with sobs: "Sister Xiao, look!" I lifted the curtain and went out, and saw that in the direction of the Wuxiang Palace that had just closed, all the entangled void threads were being cut off by golden light, and were dissipating like snow meeting the scorching sun.

A deep, resonant chime echoed from the depths of the palace. One chime, two chimes, and on the third chime, a crack appeared in the stone wall beside the vermilion gate, revealing a dark, long corridor behind it.

"It's done." Elder Qingfeng sighed, stroking his sword. After the compass needle spun wildly, it finally pointed steadily to the crevice. "This is the entrance to the array's core." The ethereal immortal stood beside him, his silver markings shimmering with a pale purple light in the golden glow. "The trials of the Reverse Fate Array never offer a way out." His voice was clear and melodious, like jade bathed in water. "Go in, young friend."

I turned to look at Wen Chen.

He stood half a step behind me, the moonlight stretching his shadow long, almost enveloping me. "I'm here," he said, his voice as soft as a sigh, yet heavier than any vow.

Ziling sidled up to me and shoved her newly made poison-avoidance talisman into my hand: "Sister Xiao, take this. I... I'll wait for you outside!" Her eyes were sparkling, but her fingers were still trembling—I knew she was afraid of being a burden to me.

I squeezed her hand: "You have to stick close this time." She paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously, the silver bells in her hair tinkling.

The corridor was longer than I had imagined.

As we walked forward on the bluestone slabs, the wall lamps on both sides automatically turned on, and the warm yellow light brought the cloud patterns on the stone wall to life.

After walking for about half an incense stick's time, the space suddenly opened up, and a circular hall appeared before us.

In the center of the hall floated a talisman stone as tall as a person, its surface incantations glowing with a ghostly blue light, like countless small snakes swimming.

"This is the first sealing node," the ethereal immortal's voice echoed in the hall. "Unlocking it will slow the leakage of turbid energy from the Void Realm..." He paused, "but to trigger the unsealing, a life soul is needed as a catalyst."

"Life Soul?" Zi Ling's voice trembled. "Isn't that...?"

"It's the soul core." Elder Qingfeng's hand rested on the sword hilt, his knuckles white. "Extracting the life soul will shorten one's lifespan, and in severe cases, cause the soul to be scattered."

The temperature in the hall suddenly dropped a few degrees.

I stared at the rune stone, and the incantations on its surface suddenly twisted into familiar shapes—the peace charm my mother drew in my palm before she died, the bloodstains on my sleeve when Wen Chen first shielded me from a sword, the grasshopper that Zi Ling wove for me, the patterns that Elder Qingfeng drew on the ground with a twig when he taught me to recognize the array... It turns out that the price of the Reverse Fate Array is that I have to tear apart my most precious memories with my own hands.

Wen Chen's hand covered the back of my neck, his body heat seeping through my collar: "Yao Yao, we can retreat."

“It can’t be reversed.” I stared at the talisman, my throat tightening. “Just now in the hall, the foul air that seeped out when the jade tablet cracked had already stained Zi Ling’s blood.” I turned to look at Zi Ling; she was staring at her bandaged hand, her eyelashes casting small, fan-like shadows beneath her eyes. “If the knot isn’t untied, she’ll be corrupted by the power of nothingness, turning into…”

“I’m not afraid.” Zi Ling suddenly looked up, her eyes shining brightly. “Sister Xiao said we’d walk to the end together.”

Elder Qingfeng sighed and loosened her grip on the sword hilt: "I've lived for three hundred years; it's time I paved the way for future generations."

The ethereal immortal smiled, the silver lines at the corners of his eyes merging into one: "What's meant to come will always come."

I took a deep breath and took a step forward.

The runes on the runestone suddenly vibrated violently, as if cheering or warning.

Wen Chen's hand slid from the back of my neck to my waist, supporting me steadily—this was the most silent support he could offer.

“I’ll do it,” I said, raising my hand so that my fingertips were only three inches away from the talisman.

In an instant, the light and shadow before my eyes began to distort.

The incantations of the talisman stones scattered like countless stardust, and the sounds of Wen Chen's breathing, Zi Ling's silver bells, and Elder Qing Feng's sighs suddenly faded away, into the distance...