Chapter 203: Chapter 203: An Anomaly at the Gate of Life and Death!
Chapter 203: Chapter 203: An Anomaly at the Gate of Life and Death!
"You!" Nalan Yanran was so angry that she choked on her words. Her beautiful eyes glared at Xiao Yan as she lightly bit her lower lip. She really wanted to teach Xiao Yan a good lesson, but alas, she couldn't beat him!
"Yes, yes, yes. This servant knows her wrongs. Young Master, please this way." Nalan Yanran took a deep breath, bent slightly at the waist, narrowed her eyes with a smile, and made an inviting gesture.
Xiao Yan clasped his hands behind his back, adopting the demeanor of a young master, and said, "Lead the way."
Perhaps because she had been so thoroughly defeated, Nalan Yanran's attitude toward Xiao Yan had changed a little. At least now she knew how to joke around.
The pair naturally attracted a lot of attention along the way. Nalan Yanran was the Senior Sister of the Misty Cloud Sect and a beautiful candidate for the next Sect Leader. Moreover, Xiao Yan had caused a huge commotion at the Misty Cloud Sect yesterday. Even the Old Sect Leader, Yun Shan, couldn't do anything about him when he appeared, so he was naturally in the limelight.
"Is that Xiao Yan? You're saying such a young man defeated Old Sect Leader Yun Shan, who has advanced to the Dou Ancestor realm?"
"Not defeated; he relied on Queen Medusa to hold off Old Sect Leader Yun Shan."
"Relying on others and not his own strength? What's his cultivation level?"
"High-star Dou Grandmaster, the same as Senior Sister Yanran."
Xiao Yan maintained a composed and indifferent demeanor upon hearing the gossip along the way. He didn't mind people saying he relied on Medusa; after all, he really couldn't defeat a Dou Ancestor on his own.
As he followed Nalan Yanran through the various grand halls of the Misty Cloud Sect, he could see collapsed buildings and large cracks in the ground everywhere. Xiao Yan awkwardly rubbed his nose. If he guessed correctly, these were all the result of Ling Ying using the Open Mountain Seal.
"This is all your doing." Nalan Yanran glanced at Xiao Yan.
"Don't make false accusations. I don't have the strength to break your sect's protective grand formation." Xiao Yan quickly deflected the blame. This was Ling Ying's doing. Go find him.
The pair soon arrived at the back mountain. Glancing at the secluded forest beside them, Xiao Yan knew that on the other side of the peak was a hidden branch hall of the Hall of Souls. Yun Yun and Yun Shan had been waiting there for some time.
"The Gate of Life and Death is inside a Space Lock?" Xiao Yan asked leisurely.
"You even know about Space Locks?" Nalan Yanran was a bit surprised. This was the domain of a Dou Venerate; generally, even Dou Emperors didn't know about it!
Yun Yun nodded slightly and gently explained, "Mm, this Space Lock was left by the founding Sect Leader, Yun Po Tian. Without the Sect Leader's Token and a special method, even an elite Dou Ancestor can't break in."
Xiao Yan nodded. He had already experienced a Space Lock last night. Without the Soul Robe, he wouldn't have been able to enter the Hall of Souls either.
Yun Yun slowly extended her fair, jade-like hand from her sleeve and began to form hand seals, one seal at a time. As she formed the seals, Xiao Yan could clearly feel a powerful, intangible fluctuation emanating from her palm like waves.
The invisible fluctuations gradually spread out and finally came into contact with the spatial folds. The empty space in front of them immediately rippled like a mirror made of water at the moment of contact. After a moment, the ripples stopped, and Yun Yun took out a jade- green token from her storage ring and pressed it onto the surface.
With a buzz, the empty space opened like a curtain, revealing a passage in the middle.
"Let's go in," Yun Yun said softly.
Xiao Yan stepped through the invisible doorway and found that the view before him became much brighter than before. Clearly, compared to the eerie scene in the Hall of Souls, the environment within the Gate of Life and Death was still normal.
They slowly walked up the stone steps into the mountain valley, and before long, Xiao Yan arrived in front of a stone archway under Yun Yun's guidance.
Rather than calling it a gate, this stone archway before them was more like a semicircular ring with nothing in the middle.
"Even the genius disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect may not necessarily be able to activate the Gate of Life and Death. Only when someone can activate it will a passage appear to enter the gate." Yun Yun explained.
Xiao Yan had heard this from Nalan Yanran when he first arrived.
Every year, the Misty Cloud Sect held a ceremonial competition, and the top ten most outstanding disciples would be qualified to attempt to activate the Gate of Life and Death. If the gate reacted, they would gain the privilege to enter it for training and would automatically obtain the position of Little Sect Leader.
For the Misty Cloud Sect, only those with the highest talent and most suitability to become the next Sect Leader could provoke a reaction from the previous Sect Leaders and thus activate the Gate of Life and Death.
Nalan Yanran was the only one in recent years who had been able to activate the Gate of Life and Death; the one before her was Yun Yun.
"Place your hand on the stone pillar and circulate your Qi Method," Yun Yun said, her beautiful eyes looking at Xiao Yan. Generally, those who came to activate the Gate of Life and Death were disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect, so they naturally cultivated the sect's Qi Methods. She hadn't tested whether other Qi Methods would work.
Xiao Yan slowly walked forward and gently placed his hand on the stone pillar. Just as he began to circulate his Dou Qi, an anomaly suddenly occurred!
[You have finally arrived]
!!!!!!
A voice suddenly echoed in Xiao Yan's heart!
In the next second, that familiar heart-pounding feeling reappeared, and this time it was stronger than ever before!
Xiao Yan felt as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest. The blood in his body began to boil involuntarily, as if it were cheering, roaring, applauding!
Rumble rumble rumble!!!
The earth shook, and the mountain peak where the Gate of Life and Death was located began
to tremble.
At first, Yun Yun thought that Xiao Yan was forcefully pushing the stone pillar, but then she found that the tremors were absurdly strong, and the shaking of the land became increasingly
intense.
Rumble rumble rumble!!!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
The earth and mountains began to split apart. The stone gate suddenly emitted scorching heat, and even space itself began to distort.
In the blink of an eye, a huge fissure appeared before everyone, and the surroundings collapsed in that instant. Many disciples of the Misty Cloud Sect witnessed a terrifying scene. Quite a few mountain peaks and ancient trees within the sect suddenly cracked open, and ancient palaces and buildings collapsed one after another.
"What's happening!"
"It's happening again!"
"No, this is even more intense than yesterday!"
"Help!!!"
Countless disciples, deacons, and elders of the Misty Cloud Sect were frightened out of their wits. Some Dou King elders even took to the air to avoid the sudden collapse of the ground!
Yun Yun and the others abruptly looked at Xiao Yan. They sensed that the source of the earthquake was the Gate of Life and Death!
"Xiao Yan, what did you do!" Yun Shan shouted. This was the first time such a situation had
occurred!
Activating the Gate of Life and Death would indeed cause some commotion, but it absolutely couldn't be this intense. Normally, it would just emit a faint glow.
Xiao Yan didn't answer, because he himself didn't know what was going on!
At this moment, the originally ordinary-looking archway was flickering with a faint light. In the middle was a very thin, almost illusory light membrane that made it seem unreal. Xiao Yan's expression was extremely solemn as he looked at the Gate of Life and Death before him. It went without saying that normally activating the gate wouldn't cause such a situation!
His eyes sharpened. He didn't have time to think further; he knew that Protector Wu and Yun Shan were definitely keeping a close watch on him.
'If you encounter people from the Hall of Souls, be careful!!' Xiao Yan transmitted his voice to Yun Yun before stepping into the Gate of Life and Death.