Chapter 25: Heaven’s Gate Sect
Chapter 25: Heaven’s Gate Sect
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean what’s going on? Run, quick!”
Holy crap!
Are you kidding me?
Ling Yi almost broke down on the spot.
He had finally made it inside and was staring at the imposing, majestic mountain gate standing before him, thinking to himself how amazing her grotto abode was, and then she told him to run?
“You only taught me how to get in; you never taught me how to get out!”
Right at that moment, a cold voice suddenly came from the sky above—
“Who dares to trespass at our mountain gate?”
Ling Yi’s face went pale, and he roared in his mind, “We’ve been discovered!”
The enchantress in his mind also could no longer care so much. She directly unleashed a powerful burst of Divine Sense. A set of incantation words spilled from Ling Yi’s mouth.
Throughout the whole process, Ling Yi had absolutely no control over himself.
In the next moment, the scene before his eyes changed. Ling Yi found himself back at the mountainside.
At this moment, Ling Yi couldn’t be bothered with anything else and took off running.
His speed was even faster than when he was being chased by a Fourth-Grade Golden Body cultivator.
Heaven knew what kind of place this Heaven’s Gate Sect was. Having lived in the Capital City for so many years, he had never heard of this name.
Ling Yi vanished from there like a wisp of smoke.
A short while later, ripples like those on water appeared in the empty space at the mountainside. Then, a figure emerged from there.
It was a young man, who looked only in his twenties, with delicate features. He wore a confused expression, frowning as he looked around.
Immediately after, several more figures walked out from those watery ripples.
There were men and women, old and young.
A fifty-something elder in a long robe asked gravely, “The person is gone?”
“Reporting to the Elder, when I came out, the other party had already fled without a trace,” the young man who had emerged first replied respectfully.
“Did you see the person’s appearance clearly?” the elder asked again.
“Earlier, this disciple noticed someone trespassing through the Water Mirror Terrace and only got a hurried glance. It should have been a middle-aged man in his forties, less than 1.8 meters tall, slightly hunched. He looked very surprised at the time, so perhaps… he accidentally wandered in?” the young man said.
“How could it be an accidental intrusion?” a crimson-skirted maid of about eighteen or nineteen spoke up. “Our Formation Array, how could mundane commoners possibly enter? If anyone could just wander in casually, wouldn’t that mean any stray cat or dog could get in?”
“Don’t speak nonsense,” the elder scolded her in a low voice. “What ‘mundane commoners’? Who taught you that? You’re nineteen, and you’ve only just opened your Acupoints for less than a year, haven’t you? Among the so-called ‘mundane commoners’ you speak of, there are plenty more excellent than you!”
The young woman lowered her head, her big eyes darting around, somewhat unconvinced.
“Previously, for convenience of entry and exit, the Sect Leader once reduced the power of the Formation Array here,” the elder mused. “So the possibility of an accidental intrusion is not impossible. Enough, from now on, you all just need to be more vigilant. If any malicious guests with ill intentions appear at our door, our Heaven’s Gate Sect is not afraid of them!”
“Yes!” the several people answered in unison.
“Let’s go back,” the elder said indifferently.
The young man and the crimson-skirted maid both looked somewhat longingly toward the direction of the faraway Capital City, their eyes filled with yearning.
Without turning his head, the elder said, “Stop looking. That is not a place for the likes of you.”
The young man and the crimson-skirted maid could only follow the elder reluctantly back through the watery ripples, disappearing once again from that spot.
Afterward, the ripples vanished, and the place returned to quiet.
Half an hour later.
Collapsed in the fishing chair, wiping sweat with a tissue, Ling Yi angrily questioned the enchantress in his mind.
“You can control my body?”
“Could you even possess me?”
“You liar, you even lied and said that was your grotto abode!”
An extremely weak thought came from his mind. “That was originally my grotto abode! And control my foot… you heartless dog, your sister is almost dead. Do you know what price I paid to help you escape just now? Don’t disturb me; I need to rest for a while to recover.”
“As for possession, you don’t need to worry. I have absolutely no interest in stinky men’s bodies!”
Ling Yi remained unmoved. When the enchantress used his mouth to speak that incantation earlier, he had no ability to resist at all.
“Stop overthinking it, little one… Sister shares your breath and fate, prospering and declining together. If you have bad luck… I won’t fare well either!”
“What’s the deal with that Heaven’s Gate Sect?”
Ling Yi didn’t quite believe the enchantress’s explanation, but he also had no way to drive her out of his body. So, for now, he could only set this topic aside.
“How should I know? Probably some small, insignificant sect?”
“Back in the day, I found a Spirit Stone Vein here, so I casually built a grotto abode and came here occasionally to cultivate.”
“How was I to know this place would actually be occupied by someone else? Daring to take over my territory…”
The enchantress managed a feeble, fierce remark, seemingly quite frustrated herself.
“So, what do we do now?” Ling Yi asked.
“What can we do? You fish your fish, I’ll sleep my sleep. I’m exhausted!”
After saying that, there was no more movement.
“Hey?” Ling Yi felt very displeased. I spent five hundred bucks to come here, and I’ll spend another five hundred going back. I came all this way just to fish?
Within the Heaven’s Gate Sect.
The elder over fifty reported the recent events to the Sect Leader.
The Sect Leader appeared to be a middle-aged man in his forties, with a fair complexion and no beard, wearing a cyan Daoist robe. Though not tall, he sat with an imposing air.
“When I was young, I heard my master say that there is a grotto abode in the back mountains of our Heaven’s Gate Sect that no one can open. Master said this grotto abode must have existed for many years, far longer than the establishment of our Heaven’s Gate Sect. Elder Feng, do you think it’s possible that descendants of that grotto abode… have come looking?”
Heaven’s Gate Sect’s Sect Leader Lian Ziqing narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Elder Feng Bubian sitting across from him as he asked.
“That can’t be, can it? Our Heaven’s Gate Sect has existed for over a thousand years! I’ve also heard the elders speak of that grotto abode; it must be at least several thousand years old. If there were descendants, they should have come looking long ago. Why wait until today?” Feng Bubian’s tone carried strong doubt.
“That’s true, but there must be good treasures inside that unopenable grotto abode…” Lian Ziqing murmured.
After thinking for a moment, Feng Bubian said, “Sect Leader, do you think we should contact a Star Gate Disciple and cooperate with them…”
Lian Ziqing’s expression changed. “Absolutely not!”
He looked at Feng Bubian with a serious face. “This matter must not be spread! Have you forgotten our sect’s ancestral teachings? Have as little contact with those people from above as possible.”
Feng Bubian smiled awkwardly and nodded. “I understand. I will send people to guard the area strictly and also protect this secret.”
Lian Ziqing said, “Good, you may go.”
After Feng Bubian left, Lian Ziqing stood up and paced around the room. He murmured, “Inside that grotto abode, there might be a treasure that could allow me to break through. If only it could be opened… how wonderful that would be!”
At the fishing spot by the reservoir, the fish basket already held more than a dozen lively, wild golden carp, each weighing over three or four jin.
The biggest one was a full eight or nine jin!
The Jingyun Reservoir had excellent water quality and a rich variety of wild fish. With no fishing for many years, the fish here had long since multiplied out of control, each one acting like a starving ghost reincarnated.
There was no need to lure them with bait; even an empty hook with a bit of fishy smell from bait would get pecked at a couple of times.
Seeing the sun begin to tilt westward, Ling Yi hesitated for a moment. He finally took out that Third-Grade Crimson Wolf Crystal Core from last time.
It simply wasn’t an option to keep delaying his cultivation. Through these past days of adjustment, he had gained some understanding of the enchantress in his mind.
Especially the incident earlier, where she used his mouth to recite the incantation to escape Heaven’s Gate Sect, made Ling Yi understand one thing clearly—
If she really wanted to do something to him, given his current strength, he probably wouldn’t even have the right to resist.
The Enchantress wasn’t Qin Jiuyue. If she really coveted something from him, he could always just stay far away.
But this one was stuck inside his body and couldn’t be driven out. Where could he possibly hide?
In that case, it was better to simply ignore her. He would cultivate when it was time to cultivate and do whatever needed to be done.
Who would stop farming just because they heard crickets chirping?
With a Third-tier Demon Beast Core in his hand, he sat cross-legged, began circulating his cultivation technique, and started cultivating directly!
Ling Yi always said he was timid, but in certain moments, he could be incredibly bold!
Heaven’s Gate Sect wasn’t far from this place. If those sect disciples came out searching, there was still a good chance they might find him.
But Ling Yi had his own reasons. He had already waited here for a long time, yet the other side showed no movement at all.
This could only mean one thing—
This Heaven’s Gate Sect… was a hidden sect!
He had heard his Adoptive Father mention that although spiritual energy had flooded into the world for only about a hundred years, there had actually been ancient sects existing long before.
The so-called influx of spiritual energy was simply due to the appearance of spatial rifts, which caused the barriers that originally sealed this world to shatter. The spiritual energy that had been isolated in another dimension flowed in.
And those sects had originally lived in that other dimension!
Unless something major happened, people from those sects almost never interacted with the outside world.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to have lived in the Capital City for so many years without hearing even a whisper about Heaven’s Gate Sect.
Even an expert like his Adoptive Father didn’t know of its existence!
So Ling Yi concluded that the people inside wouldn’t come out easily. He might as well cultivate right here in this picturesque place.
The spiritual energy here was much richer than in the Capital City, and the environment was comfortable enough to easily calm his mind.
As for demon beasts… the aura he emitted while cultivating was enough to intimidate those low-tier ones. Even if they approached, they would be wary and not dare come close.
The human body had many acupoints, the most crucial of which were the 361 major acupoints distributed along the fourteen meridians.
The so-called Acupoint Opening Realm’s Great Perfection meant opening all 361 acupoints and filling each one with vast spiritual energy.
During battle, the spiritual energy stored in the acupoints could be transformed into power.
A powerful Second Order Acupoint Activation expert could throw a punch with a fist imprint carrying explosive force!
That explosive force could kill invisibly!
Before Ling Yi was injured, he had already opened 340 acupoints, making him a genuine Second Order, Eighth Layer expert!
He was only 20 acupoints away from the Ninth Layer.
And from the Ninth Layer to Great Perfection, there was only one key acupoint left.
Once opened, he could step into the Meridian Opening Realm!
So the current Ling Yi was actually just one step away from Meridian Unlocking.
That was also why he was considered a talent that Zongwu Academy produced only once every fifty years.
Most young people called geniuses, at his age, would only be at Second Order, Third or Fourth Layer at most. Reaching the Fifth Layer would already be quite impressive!
So even among Second Order martial artists, combat strength could be worlds apart.
Normally, one Third-tier Demon Beast Crystal Core could open about three to five acupoints.
With exceptionally good luck, you could open six!
Ling Yi had used Third-tier cores several times before and opened six acupoints.
But most of the time, it was around four or five.
He hoped he could open a few more this time.
In the mountain forest, the chirping of insects and birds gave a particularly comfortable feeling.
As Ling Yi circulated his cultivation technique, a unique Domain Field gradually formed here.
Large amounts of spiritual energy also flowed in.
After an unknown amount of time, Ling Yi opened his eyes, sensing the single acupoint he had just opened. His face darkened, looking extremely frustrated.
“Is it really okay for you to quietly steal my spiritual energy like this?”
“Don’t be so stingy. I’ll pay you back later!” The Enchantress in his mind seemed to have revived, saying with a giggle, “I originally needed to sleep for many days, but I never expected you to cultivate at such a time. I just casually took a tiny bit…”
“Really just a tiny bit?” Ling Yi said grumpily.
“Really! How much spiritual energy could a mere Third-tier Little Red Dog’s core have?” the Enchantress replied dismissively. Then she said, “Alright, young master, don’t be angry. Big sis will take you to stir up some trouble right now!”
“Do what?” Ling Yi asked warily.
“A bunch of clueless fools dared to occupy my territory. Let’s go over and wipe them all out!” the Enchantress declared, her tone full of towering rage.
“Are you crazy?” Ling Yi’s face was covered in black lines.