Chapter 91: The Third Person
Chapter 91: The Third Person
Cheng Lingyu chuckled awkwardly and instinctively extended his left hand again.
Lan Xiaozhu seized Cheng Lingyu’s left hand, carefully sensing it.
“Correct. This is the hand.”
Closing her eyes, Lan Xiaozhu’s still body began trembling rhythmically, releasing an indescribable aura.
Caiyun and Song Xuejiao watched intently while Cheng Lingyu furrowed his brows, sensing an eerie power flowing from Lan Xiaozhu into the mysterious space within him.
The chilling force carried curses and malice yet held profound mystery, making Cheng Lingyu’s entire body shiver.
Strange patterns resembling a spectral mask emerged on Lan Xiaozhu’s face as her eyelids slowly lifted.
These weren’t Lan Xiaozhu’s eyes but those of the ghostly visage, seeming to pierce through the hidden mysteries of time and space to witness past, present, and future matters.
Song Xuejiao and Caiyun stared in shock while Cheng Lingyu felt oppressive yin energy enveloping him, cold and sinister beyond words.
The phenomenon lasted briefly before Lan Xiaozhu’s trembling subsided. The ghostly face faded, revealing her own eyes again.
“I saw… four people.”
Lan Xiaozhu appeared exhausted, as if drained of all strength, yet maintained her iron grip on Cheng Lingyu’s hand.
Cheng Lingyu paid no mind, asking eagerly, “Who are they?”
Lan Xiaozhu scanned her surroundings, her gaze settling first on Hua Yuehong, Saintess of the Baifo.
Caiyun blurted, “She’s one of them?”
After a slight nod, Lan Xiaozhu turned toward Mingyue Gate’s Bai Ruomei.
Song Xuejiao gasped, “Bai Ruomei too?”
Cheng Lingyu pressed, “What about the remaining two?”
Lan Xiaozhu softly said, “Only three faces were clear. The last… merely a silhouette.”
Outside the palace, countless cultivators argued and schemed to breach the entrance.
Hua Yuehong stood near the threshold, bright eyes fixed on the grand hall’s golden body, strange emotions stirring within her.
Abruptly, vibrations pulsed from her core – the beautiful jade coffin inside her awakened, urgently demanding palace entry.
This compulsion overwhelmed her, propelling her toward the entrance against her will. Though aware of the coffin’s profound connection to the palace, she moved like one possessed.
Since even the Spirit Master had failed to enter, others paid little attention to those lingering near the entrance. Many noticed Hua Yuehong’s approach but none intervened.
Without warning, Hua Yuehong lunged toward the entrance.
“Look! The Saintess of the Baifo’s trying to force entry!”
“Impossible! If the Spirit Master couldn’t… wait – she’s through! Am I hallucinating?”
Screams erupted as experts witnessed flames from the Golden Crow Blazing Flag intercept Hua Yuehong at the threshold – the same flames that had repelled the Spirit Master earlier.
Hua Yuehong also encountered a barrier of flames, but as she approached, a jade-like radiance emerged from her body. A beautiful jade coffin materialized before her, emitting a mysterious aura that caused the flames to part and form a passageway.
In the next instant, Hua Yuehong vanished abruptly, as though sucked into thin air, her figure disappearing completely.
A Spirit Master detected this immediately and charged forward, attempting to slip through during the chaos. However, he was violently repelled by a surge of dark flames, left in a wretched state.
“That’s the beautiful jade coffin—a treasure of Lanling Holy Palace! Could it be the palace’s key?”
This declaration caused an immediate stir. Those holding Lanling Holy Palace treasures suddenly became targets of public scrutiny.
Ouyang Lie sprang upward, summoning a bamboo plate adorned with an orchid pattern—the emblem of the ancient Orchid Saintess—which emitted a distinctive aura.
Flames flared as dark energy surged forth. A powerful shockwave rocked the heavens, brutally hurling Ouyang Lie and his bamboo plate backward.
“What’s happening? Ouyang Lie failed! Was the assumption incorrect?”
“Maybe because he’s male. Perhaps only women can enter.”
Though baseless, this speculation gained traction. All eyes turned to Ouyang Lie and City Lord Yun Ao, the only ones present with Lanling Holy Palace artifacts.
The Shenhuo Sect’s Ruyi Treasure Vial remained absent, the Xuanhuo Sect’s Purple Cloud Banner guarded their headquarters, and the Situ family’s red lily remained missing. This made the bamboo plate and scale armor the focal points of discussion.
Caiyun, Song Xuejiao, and Cheng Lingyu kept their gazes fixed on the palace entrance, dismissing the rumors. They trusted Lan Xiaozhu’s divinations more.
Yet Hua Yuehong’s successful entry raised questions—how was it connected to the beautiful jade coffin?
Lan Xiaozhu observed Bai Ruomei stealthily approaching the entrance.
Bai Ruomei’s expression turned peculiar as an overwhelming compulsion surged from her sea of consciousness, propelling her toward the portal.
Following Hua Yuehong’s breakthrough, numerous cultivators swarmed the entrance. Bai Ruomei blended into the crowd, avoiding notice.
Greed-driven cultivators charged forward—some testing their cultivation strength, others deploying magical artifacts. All met disastrous ends, many incinerated by Golden Crow flames.
Bai Ruomei’s graceful ascent resembled a drifting plum blossom, drawing sympathetic sighs from onlookers.
As one of Yunyang’s top ten beauties with numerous admirers, her potential demise would have been lamented.
Contrary to expectations, she successfully breached the barrier, sparking fresh speculation.
Cheng Lingyu witnessed peculiar energy ripple from Bai Ruomei’s forehead as she neared the Golden Crow Blazing Flag—as if an ancient presence awakened, emitting an immortal aura that compelled the flag to withdraw, swallowing her whole.
This baffled observers. Beyond being female, Hua Yuehong and Bai Ruomei shared no obvious similarities. Why were they alone among thousands granted entry?
Hua Yuehong employed the beautiful jade coffin’s power, while Bai Ruomei concealed secrets within her consciousness. What connected them?
Yun Ao and Ouyang Lie sighed in relief as attention shifted from them following Bai Ruomei’s success.
Subsequent female attempts resulted only in death or severe injury. No others succeeded.
Caiyun turned to Lan Xiaozhu. “Who’s the third?”
Lan Xiaozhu smiled cryptically at Cheng Lingyu.
“Why me? You can’t mean…”
Cheng Lingyu stared in disbelief. Caiyun and Song Xuejiao mirrored his shock—Lan Xiaozhu’s expression confirmed he was the third.
“But how? We tried earlier and failed!”
Caiyun pressed, “Who’s the final candidate?”
Lan Xiaozhu replied, “I glimpsed only a silver-haired silhouette—features obscured.”
Song Xuejiao frowned. “Silver hair would stand out. None here match that description.”
“Let’s wait and see,” Cheng Lingyu suggested.
Lan Xiaozhu shook her head. “He won’t appear unless you enter.”
She grasped Cheng Lingyu’s left hand, tapping his palm thrice with jade fingers.
“Go. You’ll understand inside.”
Cheng Lingyu’s eyes narrowed—had she discovered his palm’s secret?
Caiyun urged, “Proceed carefully. You’ll be alone in there.”
Song Xuejiao added, “Good fortune.”
Cheng Lingyu smiled at the three women. “I’ll be cautious.”
Approaching the entrance reluctantly, he felt their concerned gazes.
Soaring upward like an arrow, Cheng Lingyu extended his left palm. The Fang Tian Bao Yin materialized automatically near the entrance, its Burning Sky Fire Seal activating as spiritual diagrams whirled.
Instead of granting passage, the Golden Crow Blazing Flag unleashed deadly flames capable of killing Blood Martial Realm experts—yet the relic devoured them all.
Suspended mid-air momentarily, Cheng Lingyu seized the flame’s cessation to burst through violently.
His forceful entry contrasted with the women’s graceful passages, sparking frenzied imitation attempts. Predictably, more greed-driven cultivators perished in flames.
The five Spirit Masters seethed with frustration—strongest yet defeated, while the weakest True Martial Realm cultivator succeeded.
Within the underground palace containing experts from Soul, Blood, and Spirit Martial Realms, Cheng Lingyu alone—a True Martial practitioner—achieved this miracle.
As Cheng Lingyu disappeared inside, Caiyun turned to Lan Xiaozhu. “Did you shift the heavenly way’s backlash onto my junior brother?”
Lan Xiaozhu admitted softly, “His unique constitution absorbs heavenly backlash. First I’ve witnessed—this explains how he healed me.”
Song Xuejiao questioned, “Can curse backlash truly be transferred thus?”