Published at 23rd of September 2024 1:54 pm

Chapter 859: Devouring

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Reverend Whitestone's surge of Immortal energy had also disappeared, and not only that, he had felt his energy reserve being pulled on. In shock, he grew even more suspicious of this formation.

But in the middle of his confusion, the mountain wall began to rumble, and then the passage opened.

After a moment of silence, everyone cheered, "All hail the reverend!"

Truth Embracer wiped the sweat from his forehead, as the effort to break the formation had been very taxing. Although he still found it strange, given that there should have been no effect from their actions just now, since the formation had opened, he decided to not make more trouble for himself and keep quiet.

The group began to enter the passage.

The passage soon opened up.

Before them was a pond, flanked by mountains on either side. Only by traversing the winding corridor installed over the pond could they get to the other side. While they were all cultivators, they also understood that it was best not to casually fly about in the court. Since there was a bridge over this pond, taking it across was the best option so that they didn't trigger any traps.

Sure enough, Reverend Whitestone said, "Everyone, be careful. Don't fly over the Ice Pond, or else you'll trigger a formation. If you fall into the pond, you'll be frozen into a block of ice for all of time."

There were numerous statues in the pond, of both humans and fiends, all of them extremely life-like.

After listening to Whitestone's explanation, everyone realized that these statues were those who had come before them and been knocked into the pond. Fear was instilled into their minds, and they all stared silently at Reverend Whitestone, afraid to advance.

Reverend Whitestone knew what they were thinking and chuckled. "Ah well, this old man will go first, then."

He stepped onto the winding corridor.

Everyone felt ashamed after seeing him being so "magnanimous", so they followed Reverend Whitestone onto the corridor.

Not long after they had gone through, Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran appeared.

Tang Jie stood in front of the pond and silently observed it.

"Husband, is there a problem with this place?"

Tang Jie replied, "There really is a flight restriction formation here that will knock down anyone attempting flight. As for the pond, based on the appearance of those statues, it doesn't seem like Whitestone was lying. But this place definitely isn't the Violet Firmament Palace. My memories are telling me that this is a part of the Unbounded Palace. I don't believe that someone who points at a deer and calls it a horse isn't up to something. He's being so magnanimous right now probably because he has yet to begin his plot. The real trap should be in the back."

Xu Miaoran happily said, "Then let's follow."

.

Tang Jie shook his head. "Earth Immortals aren't existences we can casually mess with. If not for the formation here interfering with energy signals, we would have been exposed long ago. With so many unknown factors, if we go in right now, we could easily be discovered."

"Then are we just going to wait?"

"Of course not."

After some thought, Tang Jie sat down and began to activate his Fate power.

He intended to use the Web of Fate to spy on Reverend Whitestone.

But what he saw left him flabbergasted.

Tang Jie found that the Web of Fate in the Unbounded Palace had been cut up, leaving only a few connections. This had practically severed the place from the Stellar Chiliocosm's Web of Fate, creating a semi-independent one.

Tang Jie was stunned by this discovery. This definitely wasn't natural. Some Titan in the Dao of Fate must have personally severed the Fate here.

But who could have done this?

Even Tang Jie, with his current profound understanding of Fate, couldn't sever Fate.

Just who had done this? And why had they done this?

Tang Jie didn't understand, but as he observed this isolated Web of Fate, he found it to be a different color from the main Web of Fate. It was gray and gloomy, like a plant deprived of water that had withered away over the ages.

And there were basically no points of light on this Web of Fate. This was normal. After all, it had been ten thousand years, so nothing could be living within the Unbounded Palace. What remained were ghosts and puppets, but these manifested differently on the Web of Fate.

But in the center of this drab web, Tang Jie saw a different kind of light.

It was a Fate light burning fiercely with vitality, sitting in the center of the web like a spider.

Tang Jie was stunned by such a vigorous Fate light.

What shocked him most of all was that the Fate lights of all the members of the Jadestone Alliance had begun to dim and flow toward that shining green beacon in the center.

It was devouring their Fates!

Tang Jie almost yelled.

Although he didn't know what the purpose of this was, he swiftly realized the enormity of the danger he faced.

Without hesitation, Tang Jie broke his trance, grabbed Xu Miaoran, and shouted, "Let's go!"

He turned and left.

He fled without stopping, trying to get out of the Unbounded Palace as quickly as possible.

Xu Miaoran was perplexed, having never seen Tang Jie in such a panicked state before.

A while after the two had fled, a vast will swept through the area. After finding nothing, it howled in anger.

This was not a physical sound, but a mental one, a roar of fury that only the Divine Soul could hear. It didn't shake the heavens, but it reached all the way into the soul and made it shudder.

At that moment, everyone who had entered suddenly felt like they were in great danger.

The cultivators of the Jadestone Alliance were all old hands who had been wandering for many years, so the moment they got this sensation, they sensed that there was some grave danger lurking in the depths of the palace and immediately began to retreat.

But it was already too late.

Dark clouds gathered in the air, and a mountain-sized figure emerged, radiating an ancient aura that left everyone shaking in fear.

With a mighty roar, the clouds swirled into a massive vortex, and a giant hand reached out from the center of the vortex, grabbing at the cultivators.

One cultivator tried to strike back, but all counterattacks seemed futile against this black hand. He was seized by the hand and pulled, screaming, into the vortex.

In shock, the cultivators tried to join together, but that will was so mighty that even all these Violet Palace experts couldn't resist. One by one, they were sucked into the vortex.

With each additional person sucked in, the dark figure grew more solid and more powerful.

Only one person was unmoved: Reverend Whitestone. He stood there with his hands at his sides, but that black energy ignored him and only attacked the other cultivators.

Seeing this, Kun Wu realized that he had fallen for Reverend Whitestone's trap. "Whitestone, you scoundrel! You colluded with a fiend in the palace to kill us all!"

Reverend Whitestone chuckled. "'A fiend'? Ignorant fool, you should consider it an honor to offer up your lives to assist the Immortal Elder in his return."

'The Immortal Elder'?

Kun Wu turned his head in shock and saw a blurry figure in that darkness, a figure wearing a Daoist robe. Simply by standing there, he exuded a stunning divinity.

"Unbounded… Immortal… Elder…" Kun Wu spat out.

He finally realized what was waiting for him.

The dark energy receded, the vortex having finally absorbed all the cultivators. The person in the air seemed more solid, exuding a transcendent aura rather than the dark wickedness from before.

Reverend Whitestone prostrated and said, "Whitestone pays respects to the Immortal Elder. Were the offerings brought this time sufficient?"

The man examined himself and grunted, "Still a little lacking. Two managed to escape, and that little bit would have been enough to break free and recover my true body."

"'Two escaped'?" Reverend Whitestone was confused.

"It's fine." The man casually waved his hand. "If they're gone, they're gone. After all, I have you to make up the number."

What?

Reverend Whitestone hastily retreated in alarm. "Immortal Elder, how could you go back on your word? You said that if I helped you break free, you would take me as your disciple. You swore an oath on the Heavenly Dao…"

The man laughed. "This one swore an oath on the Heavenly Dao, but that oath was for the Unbounded Immortal Elder. What does it have to do with me? Besides, when has this one ever feared the Heavenly Dao?"

The man suddenly began to exude large quantities of violet fog.

"What?" Reverend Whitestone seemed to have been struck by lightning, and when he saw the violet fog, he finally understood. "You're not the Unbounded Immortal Elder? You're a demon!"

"Just because I'm in the Unbounded Palace doesn't mean that I'm Old Unbounded," the man said in disdain. "I just fell for that old man's trap, which destroyed my body and imprisoned my soul here. But thanks to you deceiving so many cultivators here so I could absorb their energy, I finally have a chance at recovery. As thanks, I'll take all of your Immortal energy and use it to reforge my divine body."

The black vortex reemerged, pulling on Reverend Whitestone.

Whitestone was filled with remorse. When he had first inadvertently come across this place, all the other cultivators who had come with him had been devoured, but then this person had deceived him into thinking that he was the Unbounded Immortal Elder, and that the disaster had left him imprisoned here without a physical body. The man had told him that he needed the blood and energy of numerous cultivators to recreate his body, and he had promised Reverend Whitestone that if he brought enough cultivators the next time the court opened and helped him break free, he would take Whitestone as his disciple.

The Unbounded Immortal Elder was one of the Four Sages of the court, a Boundless Gold Immortal, so being his disciple was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Besides, that person had sworn an oath on the Heavenly Dao, which convinced Reverend Whitestone that the man had been telling the truth. Thus, he had brought all these cultivators to be devoured.

But in the end, he failed to escape the fate of being devoured himself, and the vortex finally devoured him. That man seemed to have eaten too much, letting out a burp and standing still for a while. Patting his stomach, he said, "Ah, I'm still too weak. It took me forever to digest all that."

With this sigh, the blurry features finally became distinct.

This was a handsome and refined scholar. With a wave of his hand, he drew the demonic energy back into his body. He examined himself, and once he confirmed that this was a completely physical body, he laughed. "I finally have a body. Mm, even though it's only at Earth Immortal, it's good enough to use. As for that man and woman who escaped, I don't care about the woman, but that man seemed rather familiar. Suspicious, suspicious!"

Waving his sleeve, he strode out of the palace.

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