Chapter 69: Abbot’s Dao Domain
Li Weiyi carefully examined the two starry sky murals on the giant stone tomb door. The silver and yellow gemstones contained divine splendor, made of unknown material, large and small, densely dotted, in great numbers, truly conveying the vastness of a real starry sky.
He observed the “Milky Way Galaxy” on the door, comparing it to the starry sky in his memory, searching for Orion, the Big Dipper… and other simple, familiar night sky scenes, thereby seeking the answer he longed for in his heart.
But he couldn’t make sense of it.
Instead, the more he looked, the more dizzy and blurry his vision became, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
Clearly, the starry sky murals contained some ancient and powerful mind power, not mere embedded decorations.
Stone Coffin Senior noticed something wrong with his state and quickly reminded him: “Don’t look for too long. These two starry sky murals have a great origin, related to the Jiu Li God, involving the Jiu Li tribe’s most primordial secrets.”
Li Weiyi snapped awake and quickly withdrew his gaze.
As expected of the Jiu Li tribe’s Ancestral Realm; nothing was ordinary. With his current cultivation, if he had ventured in without Jar Master and the Nine Emperor Banner, he would have died more than a dozen times over!
Following Stone Coffin Senior’s instructions, Li Weiyi methodically injected magic power into some of the gemstones on the tomb door one by one.
“Be careful, don’t make any mistakes. The two starry sky murals on the Cang Wang Tomb door contain over ten thousand spiritual light formation script characters. If triggered, both of us will be reduced to dust.” Stone Coffin Senior’s tone was extremely serious.
Li Weiyi immediately held his breath, trying to steady his hand as much as possible.
It must be known that the more spiritual light formation scripts there were, the stronger the formation’s power.
A hundred scripts protect a town, a thousand scripts guard a city.
A single formation script of a thousand characters could defend an entire city.
Setting up a formation was not simply piling up formation scripts; each one was fixed, likely the crystallization of a formation master’s lifelong effort.
Over ten thousand spiritual light formation scripts guarding a single tomb…
No matter how many tomb robbers came, that many would die.
While carefully injecting magic power, Li Weiyi couldn’t help asking: “I’m very curious. Logically speaking, since Cang Wang is the Cang Li Tribe’s old ancestor, he shouldn’t want his descendants disturbing his peace. No one should know how to crack the formation scripts on this tomb door…”
Before Li Weiyi could finish, Stone Coffin Senior said: “I cracked it. It took me a hundred years.”
Li Weiyi said: “…”
Stone Coffin Senior knew what Li Weiyi was thinking at that moment—probably praising him as “truly filial”—and thus explained: “It was all out of necessity!”
“The Nether Realm world has experienced multiple heaven-destroying wars, not just the one a thousand years ago. The Jiu Li tribe’s inheritance is ancient, and during the warfare, part of the cultivation codex was damaged, especially the cultivation content after the Longevity Realm, which is extremely incomplete.”
“As the leader of the Jiu Li tribe a thousand years ago, I wanted to complete it, and at the same time seek my own immortal path, so I opened multiple ancestral graves in the Ancestral Realm, searching for the initial chapters of the codex. Unfortunately, after centuries of searching, I found nothing!”
“Finally, I tried to breach Jiu Li God Mountain and disturb the Jiu Li God’s tomb, but nearly perished inside.”
Stone Coffin Senior knew Li Weiyi had surely guessed his identity, so he no longer concealed it.
Li Weiyi was secretly shocked by Jar Master’s power in life; his lifespan had been so long, and Spirit Tablet Master and Jar Master were probably no different. No wonder the three of them hadn’t fully died even in this state.
It was also no wonder they had always been unwilling to reveal their identities earlier; the disparity between their former power and glory and their current flickering remnant soul like a candle in the wind was too great, naturally hard to accept.
They fundamentally didn’t want old acquaintances and descendants to know.
Moreover, once their identities were exposed, both they and Li Weiyi would fall into extreme danger.
“Done!”
Activating the last silver gemstone, Li Weiyi quickly retreated two steps.
The ground shook, and a rumbling sound arose.
Complex formation scripts resembling talismans were shaken to emerge from the stone door’s surface one by one, emitting faint light.
The two heavy stone gates slowly opened.
“Woo woo!”
Inside the door was pitch black, with icy, bone-chilling wind surging out, like ice blades cutting skin.
Faintly, strange cries could be heard from the depths of the darkness, extremely miserable and piercing, like voices from hell.
Li Weiyi’s expression changed, and he swallowed saliva: “Jar Master… why do I feel… something’s not right?”
Stone Coffin Senior was very confident: “Don’t be afraid! The tomb has been sealed for a thousand years; suddenly having a vent, when wind blows over some objects, it naturally makes strange noises. The dangers in Cang Wang Tomb were cleared out by me a thousand years ago. Just treat it like coming home.”
Li Weiyi was half-believing, gripping the Nine Emperor Banner tighter, and stepped into the tomb door.
“Rumble!”
The nearly five-foot-thick, dozens-of-zhang-high tomb door instantly closed.
The nine skulls at the top of the Nine Emperor Banner contained energy, making the nine white banners and scriptures emit shimmering light, illuminating the pitch-black, finger-wide tomb passage.
The ground was paved with smooth jade stones, and the walls were hard rock with metal particles.
The tomb passage ceiling was level with the stone gate, also dozens of zhang high, giving a grand sense. Compared to the emperor tombs on Earth, they seemed too shabby, like slum dwellings.
Stone Coffin Senior’s tone was very relaxed and natural: “Now do you believe there’s no danger here? Everything is peaceful and serene. I once lived here for… several years…”
Before the words finished.
A strange woman’s laughter echoed from the darkness deep in the tomb passage, both seductive and eerily yin.
With the layered echoes, it could almost scare one’s three souls and seven spirits out of their body.
Li Weiyi’s muscles tensed all over, staring dead ahead at the dark tomb passage, taking a deep breath and looking at the stone coffin on his shoulder: “This laughter… is very clear… it shouldn’t be the wind, right?”
Stone Coffin Senior was silent for a moment, then said: “Perhaps it’s some kind of hallucination.”
“Da da!”
Footsteps sounded in the darkness.
Then, pink mist surged from deep in the tomb passage, with wisps of white light gauze floating in the mist.
A tall, alluring beauty figure stepped out from the mist one step at a time; her face couldn’t be seen clearly, but her legs were slender and jade-white, long hair flying, countless flower rain accompanying her advance.
If seen elsewhere, Li Weiyi would naturally find it pleasing and couldn’t help looking a few more times.
But her appearance here made Li Weiyi feel his scalp tingle.
He turned to flee, only to find the tomb door already closed.
The voice from the stone coffin suddenly lost confidence: “It seems a little problem arose… Use the Nine Emperor Banner; it can ward off evil… Or collect it; see if you can take her in…”
The seductive laughter from the beauty figure ahead suddenly turned into a piercing shriek, like a malicious ghost, like a demon.
Blood mist, light gauze, petals, and her now ferocious terrifying figure flew toward Li Weiyi below the tomb door at extraordinary speed, arms spread wide.
Li Weiyi mobilized the magic power in his body, pouring it all into the Nine Emperor Banner.
“Swish!”
The light from the nine white banners surged, illuminating the tomb passage like daylight, scattering the blood mist and light gauze, colliding with that beauty figure.
With a boom, powerful shockwaves and light waves surged through the tomb passage.
The beauty figure seemed restrained by the Nine Emperor Banner, letting out a miserable scream and fleeing rapidly into the dark depths of the tomb passage.
Li Weiyi let out a long breath. Good thing the Nine Emperor Banner really could ward off evil. Still shaken, he said: “Jar Master, let’s get out of here quickly. I feel like I really could train for two more years before coming back.”
“Walk forward fifty steps first.” Stone Coffin Senior seemed to have thought of something and said this.
Fifty steps, Li Weiyi still dared to take.
After carefully walking fifty steps, Li Weiyi stopped. Without needing Stone Coffin Senior’s reminder, his gaze was already fixed on a mural on the stone wall to the left of the tomb passage.
The painting depicted a sea of flowers and a lake, with a young woman of peerless beauty standing lakeside, in green gauze feathers, her figure curvaceous, legs long and straight, lifelike.
Stone Coffin Senior said: “This mural was painted by me when I lived here back then. I added a bit of her demon blood to the pigment. What we encountered earlier was probably the painting spirit of this mural. An unintentional act from a thousand years ago nearly caused a disaster… Fortunately, she’s still very weak now…”
From the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish came Spirit Tablet Senior’s cold, deep voice: “No wonder you often disappeared for years back then; you were here painting a fairy. Don’t think I don’t know who she is—Qixia Lake flower demon, the beauty Xia Jin.”
Jar Master’s voice rang out, stirring trouble without disdain: “I’m familiar with Xia Jin; she deserves the title of beauty. If she were still alive, she’d surely be one of the demon kings in Lingxiao Life Realm now. Weiyi, after you go out, help Jar Master inquire. I want to rekindle our past with her.”
Stone Coffin Senior hurriedly explained: “It’s just a mural! During the demonic calamity back then, you all participated too; we collected quite a bit of demon blood from that battle. Living here, it was just something to do in idle moments!”
“Old Coffin, why are you getting incoherent?” Jar Master laughed.
Stone Coffin Senior said: “I painted more than just this one in the tomb passage? All the fiend demons whose blood I collected, I painted one by one… They wouldn’t have birthed painting spirits too, would they?”
Li Weiyi said: “…”
Spirit Tablet Senior said: “Weiyi, no need to fear these painting spirits. Use your sword to scrape off the mural, and the painting spirit will naturally annihilate.”
“Good!”
Li Weiyi’s heart was very panicked, so he was extremely decisive, immediately drawing the Yellow Dragon Sword.
Deep in the dark tomb passage.
That beauty figure seemed to sense danger and charged out again, driving red mist and light gauze.
Accompanying her was a four-armed saber-toothed giant ape demon several zhang tall, both spirits very ferocious, intent on stopping Li Weiyi from destroying the mural.
“Swish! Swish!”
Two sword swings.
A deep cross sword mark landed on the mural, gravel and dust flying.
That beauty figure annihilated amid screams.
“Roar!”
The saber-toothed giant ape demon roared in fury, its voice shaking the tomb passage, clenching its fists and swinging its arms at Li Weiyi. It came fiercely, but merely aura-strong, its power less than Five Seas Realm’s Tang Yan.
Li Weiyi didn’t clash head-on, executing Qing Xu Cicada Escape Step and slipping under it.
At his fastest speed, he rushed toward the depths of the tomb passage.
Dozens of steps later, sure enough, he saw the mural depicting the four-armed saber-toothed ape.
“Swish! Swish!”
Two sword slashes, and the mural was destroyed.
The pursuing saber-toothed giant ape demon let out an unwilling roar, then scattered like smoke and dust.
Li Weiyi pressed on, encountering demon murals whether they had birthed painting spirits or not; with “swish swish” two swords, he destroyed a full seventeen before reaching the end of the tomb passage.
Carrying the coffin out of the tomb passage, he arrived in a spacious open area.
The light from the Nine Emperor Banner couldn’t illuminate this place fully; the air was extremely cold, like entering an ice cellar.
Looking up, it was pitch black above, top unseen.
Walking in this open area for a quarter-hour, ahead appeared a circular formation piled of giant stones, dozens of meters in diameter, each giant stone several times taller than Li Weiyi, very majestic and spectacular.
But badly damaged, with many giant stones fallen to the ground, disrupting the original formation structure.
“Jar Master, is this your handiwork too?”
Li Weiyi exclaimed in admiration, feeling the giant stone formation before him was extraordinary, though he didn’t know its purpose.
Stone Coffin Senior said: “This formation has always existed in Cang Wang Tomb; it has nothing to do with me.”
“The stones for building the formation are quite special; I’ve never seen this material in Lingxiao Life Realm. I studied it for a while but got no clues. Ignore it; let’s go to Heaven Earth Spring for the insect eggs first. Go around to the right; there’s a hidden passage there.”
“Heaven Earth Spring” was the spring eye of heaven and earth, similar to the spring eyes in a martial artist’s body, drawing law from surrounding heaven and earth, transforming it into magic energy, surging out endlessly. A large Heaven Earth Spring could turn the surrounding area into a Dao Domain, like the one in Jiu Li City.
The Heaven Earth Spring in Cang Wang Tomb naturally couldn’t compare to Jiu Li City’s, just a small spring eye.
Passing the hidden passage, Li Weiyi saw the distant Heaven Earth Spring.
The Heaven Earth Spring hovered in mid-air several meters off the ground, the spring eye only bowl-sized, but extremely wondrous: not only spraying thick, visible magic energy, but also light particle specks, illuminating the darkness, making this vast space hazy and ethereal, like the Immortal Realm.
Moreover, the sound of spring water could be heard.
Beneath the spring eye, in a square-zhang area, magic energy condensed thickly into mist, forming a small Dao Domain.
From dozens of zhang away, Li Weiyi executed his breathing technique.
Immediately, his crown chakra trembled slightly; the sturdy barrier of the seventh spring was like a thin membrane, seeming breakable with a light touch.
“The magic energy is too thick; no wonder everyone fights for spots in Jiu Li Dao Academy. Cultivating in a Dao Domain absolutely doubles speed.” Li Weiyi sighed.
Stone Coffin Senior said: “This Heaven Earth Spring seems to have enlarged a bit, already forming a square-zhang Dao Domain. That cluster of insect nest is placed on the stone platform below the spring eye.”
