Simultaneously traversing: traversing countless heavens

Chapter 97 Zuo Ruotong

"Then you can all die."

Lu Linglong's voice was as soft as a sigh, the last syllable fading into the night wind, yet it sent a chill down the spine of every Quanxing disciple present.

Suddenly, the seemingly ordinary pendant on her chest radiated a warm yet profound halo of light.

She raised her hand, her slender fingers probing into the halo of light—the movement was not like taking something, but rather like picking up a sleeping lotus seed from a deep pool.

She slowly pulled out a talisman.

It is dark red all over, and its texture is neither paper nor silk, but more like some kind of solidified blood jade. There are deep dark gold patterns on the surface that flow slowly, like the blood of a living thing.

The space around the talisman was slightly distorted, and light passing through it became sluggish.

The moment this talisman appeared, it was as if a pause button had been pressed.

The air stopped moving, the chirping of insects ceased abruptly, and even the wind froze in mid-air.

An indescribable, heavy pressure erupted from Lu Linglong's center!

It wasn't the oppressive aura, but rather as if the entire sky had silently collapsed, transforming into an invisible giant mountain, pressing heavily on everyone's head, shoulders, and even the depths of their souls!

Breathing suddenly became difficult, like a drowning person trying to draw in thin air.

Those Quanxing disciples with lower cultivation levels felt their knees go weak, and the Qi flowing within their bodies became as sticky as glue. An impulse stemming from their life instincts—an urge to kneel down—frantically assaulted their will.

"retreat!!!"

Gong Qing's pupils shrank to pinpoints, and his roar changed tone due to extreme horror. Almost at the same time as he uttered the sound, his figure transformed into a blurry afterimage and shot backward!

But it was too late.

"Three Truths - Scattered King Sword Formation I"

Lu Linglong's clear voice rang out, like jade striking jade, exceptionally clear in the stagnant air.

She loosened her fingers.

The blood-red talisman did not fall.

It hovered in mid-air, as if it had become the center of heaven and earth.

The next moment—

"Zheng—!"

""

A clear and resonant sound, like the first sword cry at the dawn of creation, burst forth from the core of the talisman!

The dark gold patterns on the talisman suddenly burst into flames, transforming into a pure, blinding golden light!

That was not flame, but the essence of sword intent, which was highly condensed and contained endless sharpness and destructive will!

"Buzz—Boom!!!"

It was as if a volcano that had been dormant for thousands of years had suddenly erupted, or as if the Milky Way in the sky had burst its banks and overflowed!

The immense sword intent and pure magic power, beyond imagination, transformed into a golden pillar of light with a diameter of over tens of meters, tearing through the night sky and soaring straight into the heavens!

Within the pillar of light, countless golden sword shadows, like living, raging dragons, roared, swirled, and multiplied—

In an instant, a magnificent and despair-inducing three-dimensional sword formation, centered on the pillar of light, descended upon the entire abandoned factory area!

Thousands upon thousands of golden sword shadows, densely packed and layered, moved slowly along some extremely mysterious trajectory.

Each sword shadow was as solid as a physical object, its blade flowing with a cold light that seemed to sever the laws of nature.

The extremely sharp sword energy permeated every inch of space, illuminating the deep night as if it were a golden day!

The deep rumble of the sword formation in operation intertwined with the clear, melodious sword cries emanating from the trembling of countless sword shadows, transforming into a grand symphony.

A solemn yet deadly elegy of the sword sweeps across the vast wilderness!

Surrounded in the center, Wang Ye, Zhang Chulan, Zhuge Qing, and Feng Baobao looked up at the endless sword shadows that blocked their view and filled the sky and earth, their faces filled with pure, almost frozen shock.

The Quanxing group, who had initially appeared aggressive and completed their encirclement, including Gong Qing in a retreat, Lü Liang poised to strike, Yuan Tao with a contorted expression, and the three Zhang Kuangs with grave expressions—

Everyone stood frozen in place, like insects encased in amber, gazing up at the destructive, golden, divinely wrathful sky above.

In their eyes, the dazzling sword light was reflected, as was their own faces, which had turned deathly pale in an instant.

The sword formation is complete.

The trial is approaching.

Further away, the shadowy figures lurking at the best observation point almost simultaneously focused their gaze on the soaring sword light that tore through the night sky.

He quickly raised his night vision binoculars, his pupils behind the lenses slightly contracting.

"You can launch now." A calm, almost mechanical voice reported smoothly over the encrypted channel.

The instructions are transmitted and confirmed in an instant.

Within the sword formation, Extinction descended silently.

The golden sword shadows, like an inverted Milky Way or thousands of sentient dragons of judgment, suddenly split off a portion of the sword shadows under Lu Linglong's faint yet firm guidance, rapidly swirling and intertwining to form a flowing, hemispherical barrier of dazzling sword light. Like the most solid cocoon, it gently and absolutely protected Wang Ye, Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao, Zhuge Qing, and the caster herself at the center.

Outside the barrier, all the other sword shadows—that overwhelming golden tide—turned around at the same instant.

There was no howling, no warning.

It simply moved silently, carrying an annihilating will that originated from the level of laws and was pure to the extreme, pushing outwards in all directions.

Where the sword shadow passed—

The nine dragon sons that Yuan Tao offered up, those nine magical artifacts that embodied his life's work and each had its own strange and wonderful uses, were like ice crystals encountering the blazing sun. They turned into specks of light and disappeared silently without even making a crisp sound.

The moment the look of terror appeared on Gao Ning's face, the subtle field of the Twelve Labors Formation beneath his feet was just beginning to take shape when it was completely swept up and shattered by the vast sword intent, without even a ripple spreading.

Just as the colorless, odorless, and soul-corroding pollen from Dou Mei's sleeve was about to spread, it was instantly annihilated in the pure energy storm brought about by the sword shadow, as if it had never existed.

The soul banner in Xue Fan's hand, which was full of eerie and sinister energy, was instantly burned to ashes the moment it came into contact with the sword light, just like a withered leaf meeting a raging fire.

The dense black aura that tangled and twisted around Tu Junfang, capable of arousing the demonic thoughts of the Three Corpses, was instantly swept away by the mighty sword, like morning mist meeting the blazing sun, revealing his terrified face.

Lu Liang tried to escape quietly, but was still precisely pierced by several sword shadows that seemed to lock onto his soul, exploding like shattered glass and then disappearing again.

This included Gong Qing, the acting leader of the Quanxing Sect, who had retreated dozens of meters away and still had a look of horror on his face.

All the Quanxing masters who had gathered around were infamous figures in the world of supernatural beings.

Faced with this power, known as the "Three Truths - Scattered King Sword Formation," which transcends worldly comprehension—

There was no earth-shattering collision.

There was no dying roar.

It didn't even leave behind any kind of wreckage.

It was like sunlight focused by a magnifying glass of the highest power, shining on a thin layer of snow.

Dissolve. Vaporize. Return to nothingness.

In just one breath.

Within the area covered by the sword formation, apart from the five people firmly protected by the sword light barrier, there was no trace of any other life.

The ground was smoothed like a mirror by the invisible sword energy, leaving only countless crisscrossing sword marks, each about ten feet deep and with smooth edges, as if a god had once used a sword as a pen to write a silent judgment here.

The magnificent sword formation had completed its mission, and its light began to recede. The countless heart-stopping golden sword shadows slowly dissipated like the receding tide, returning to the void of the night sky.

The violent energy aftershocks transformed into a gentle breeze, sweeping across the empty and desolate factory area.

"cough----"

The moment the sword light dissipated, Lu Linglong's body trembled violently, and the last trace of color drained from her face, leaving it as pale as delicate porcelain.

A mouthful of sweet, metallic blood welled up in her throat, but she clenched her teeth tightly and swallowed it back, leaving only a shocking red mark on the corner of her lips.

Forcibly activating this "Great Divine Power Talisman" that far exceeded her current level caused her weak legs to buckle almost instantly, and her body fell backward uncontrollably.

Feng Baobao, who had been quietly watching over her from the side and behind, reached out at the same moment she swayed and steadily, almost gently, put her arm around her slumping shoulder, letting her lean against him and supporting her completely exhausted body.

Lu Linglong leaned on Feng Baobao's shoulder, which was not broad but unusually stable, and breathed heavily.

The night sky was once again shrouded in darkness, as if the golden divine punishment just now was merely a collective illusion.

Everyone stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the desolate and lifeless battlefield before them.

The sword marks were like cold inscriptions carved into the earth, and the lingering sharpness in the air stung the skin.

The exhaustion from surviving the ordeal and the shock of witnessing "divine punishment" left them almost speechless, and even their breathing became cautious.

However, just as the tension was about to ease slightly due to the annihilation of the formidable enemy, a point of white light pierced the night sky without warning at the edge of the deep black firmament.

It was initially tiny, like a distant star, but it moved at an eerie speed, leaving a bright white trail that was crystal clear in the night sky, stretching straight toward their location!

Extremely exhausted, the group reacted a beat slower.

Wang Ye narrowed his eyes, Zhang Chulan looked up blankly, and Zhuge Qing's lips moved slightly—"—A satellite? Or—a rocket launch?"

The thought lasted for less than half a second.

The white light rapidly expanded in the field of vision, transforming from a "star" into a "meteor," and then into some kind of entity with a clear intention to destroy!

The piercing, sharp sound of something tearing through the air was like the howl of a demon, coming from afar and getting closer, fiercely pounding into the eardrum!

"Whoosh!!!"

The most primal fear that living things feel when faced with an extinction crisis is like an icy hand suddenly gripping everyone's heart!

My blood seemed to freeze instantly, my hair stood on end, and an uncontrollable chill shot up my spine!

That's not a machine for exploring the universe.

That is—the death knell!

"That—that's not a rocket! It's—a guide tube!!" Zhuge Qing's scream suddenly rose, completely out of tune due to extreme horror, and even cracked.

Import the order!

Someone actually used the order tracking feature!

We must completely erase all traces of them, along with everything from that battle, from this ruin!

Why?!

who is it? !

How could they be so insane, resolute, and unscrupulous?!

Lu Linglong suddenly raised her head, her blood-stained lips pressed tightly together, and her eyes, slightly unfocused due to exhaustion, burst forth with a light mixed with anger, resentment, and determination.

She had no time for fear, no time for questioning.

Using the last ounce of strength she had just recovered, she once again focused all her attention on the warm pendant on her chest.

The pendant responded to her will, flashing a faint light.

A brand new talisman fell into her cold palm.

This talisman is more ancient in form, with extremely simple patterns. It only has a few strokes to outline a "palm" shape, but it exudes a majesty that is completely different from the "Scattered King Sword Formation"—it is an absolute will that makes words come true and can settle the world with a single palm strike.

One thought and one palm talisman.

No incantations or hand gestures are needed.

The talisman ignited on its own the moment it touched the blood and will in her palm.

It was not a blazing flame, but a warm yet incredibly stable and substantial golden flame.

Amidst the rising flames, a tall figure formed entirely from pure and vast magical power stepped forward!

The figure was clearly outlined, and the hem of his clothes seemed to flutter slightly in the wind, but his face was not human, but a slightly floating, illusory golden talisman face that was exactly the same as the burning talisman in Lu Linglong's hand.

On the surface of the talisman, the simple palm-shaped pattern slowly flowed, exuding a mysterious majesty that looked down upon all things and held the power of life and death.

This magical avatar stood before the crowd, slightly raising its head to "look" at the death star that tore through the night sky, carrying destruction as it hurtled towards them.

The next instant, he raised his arm, composed of pure golden light, and faced the ever-approaching, blinding white light, from afar, casually—

He thrust out with a single palm strike.

The hand gestures that the magical incarnation made seemed casual, even carrying a touch of nonchalant elegance.

However, at the very moment this palm strike was launched—

It seemed as if some invisible "string" in the world had been gently plucked.

In the void, a giant palm print made entirely of condensed golden light appeared out of thin air.

When it first appears, it is no bigger than the palm of an ordinary person, with clear palm lines. But in the next instant, it grows to the size of a storm!

As if absorbing the power and laws of the entire night sky, it expanded to a scale that blotted out the sun in the blink of an eye!

The palm print shimmered with golden light at its edges, and the lines on its palm were as clear as mountains and rivers. It carried an unparalleled will and an unquestionable majesty that said, "With one palm, all laws are broken and all evils retreat." It calmly and powerfully met the missile head-on, going against its trajectory.

"boom-!!!"

It was not a loud noise in the physical sense.

It was the sound of laws colliding, so dull it directly affected the soul! It was as if two different orders of heaven and earth had violently clashed!

The blinding white light of the missile warhead collided violently with the vast and imposing golden palm print in mid-air!

There was no expected fireball, no flying metal fragments, and no shockwave.

At the moment of contact, the missile, imbued with the ultimate destructive power of modern technology, vanished as if it had sunk into the sea, or as fragile ice shards struck an immovable ancient reef—

Silent and invisible, vanished without a trace.

Along with the enormous golden palm print, it vanished into the dark night sky, leaving only a few ripples of energy that quickly subsided, as if the thrilling duel just now was merely an overly realistic collective illusion.

"Attack failed." From the distant mountaintop observation point, that calm voice reported again through the encrypted channel. The speech was still steady, but if you listened carefully, you could detect a very faint, almost non-existent pause beneath that flat tone.

After finishing his report, the observer, dressed in camouflage and almost blending into the rock, habitually prepared to move the telescope away, but his fingers suddenly froze.

He suddenly lowered his head.

The pupil constricts to the size of a pinhead in a fraction of a second!

Sometime during the day, a palm print the size of a hand, emitting a faint golden light, was prominently displayed on the high-tech fiber woven tactical uniform on his chest!

The palm print was clearly visible, with even the mysterious palm lines clearly discernible. It appeared out of thin air on the surface of the clothes, as if branded with a hot iron, yet there was no burning sensation, only a bone-chilling cold.

"Pfft—"

A soft, sticky sound, like the cracking of a ripe fruit, did not come from the outside, but from inside his own chest.

He watched as his strong, powerful heart, pumping blood, was being squeezed and torn apart by an irresistible, invisible, yet absolutely real force!

With a soft "pop," his heart pierced through the muscles and clothing of his back, carrying a warm mist of blood, and flew into the air behind him.

That bright red heart, still beating slightly, paused for an extremely brief moment.

Then-

"Bang!"

Like an overinflated water balloon, it burst open, turning into a rapidly spreading, eerily colored crimson blood mist in the night vision.

The observer's final expression was one of utter horror and utter blank bewilderment.

He opened his mouth as if to make a sound, but only bloody foam came out. Then, his body lost all support and collapsed limply onto the cold rock, life extinguished.

Almost at the same moment.

Thousands of miles away, a top-secret missile launch site hidden in the folds of mountains.

Inside the control vehicle, instrument panel lights flashed as operators stood ready. Outside, several missiles, poised for launch, stood silently on their launch pads, pointing towards the distant night sky.

Without warning—

A huge, translucent golden handprint with shimmering edges appeared as if it had been "imprinted" directly from another dimension, covering the entire launch area out of thin air!

The moment the palm print appeared, time and space seemed to be strangely distorted.

There was no sound, no flash.

Under the palm print, everything in the space below seemed to be grasped by an invisible giant hand and then gently wiped away.

It wasn't an explosion, it wasn't shattered.

It is a more thorough and terrifying elimination of an existence.

Like the most skilled painter, who quietly and cleanly erased this piece of the pattern on the canvas with an eraser dipped in "nothingness".

Where it was, only a huge indentation remained, with smooth edges, several meters deep, and perfectly matching the shape of the palm print.

Inside the depression, the soil and rocks had a glassy luster, smooth as a mirror, barren of any vegetation, so clean it was chilling, as if it had always been a barren land. Only the residual, barely perceptible fluctuations of strange energy told the story of what had just happened.

All-Tong Company, a top-secret facility codenamed "The Bunker".

A command room completely isolated from the outside world, with walls cast from a special alloy and covered by multiple layers of energy barriers.

Ren Fei stood upright in front of the huge screen that occupied almost an entire wall.

The screen displays high-precision satellite images, infrared thermal imaging, and a waterfall of energy spectrum data.

In the center of the screen is a replay of the moment the missile was "erased" by the golden palm print, followed by the alarm that the observation point signal suddenly disappeared.

Beside her, an old woman sat in a simple and heavy rosewood armchair.

Her silver hair was meticulously tied into a bun at the back of her head, and her face, etched with the marks of time, had eyes as sharp as an eagle poised to pounce, fixed intently on every change on the screen.

The old woman's thin fingers were gently tapping the smooth wooden handrail in a steady and slow rhythm.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound was exceptionally clear in the silent command room, carrying a cold, unquestionable rhythm.

"Continue," the old woman's voice rang out, hoarse and dry, yet as hard as steel that had been tempered.

She didn't even pick up the communicator; she just spoke into the air, into the communication terminal on the table that was always lit up with a red light, her tone as calm as if she were ordering an extra dish for dinner.

"I don't believe she can wield this level of power without limit. Any extraordinary power comes at a price, and has its limits." Her gaze swept across Lu Linglong's swaying figure on the screen, who could only stand with Feng Baobao's support. The corner of her mouth twitched, but it wasn't a smile. "Even if it's exhausting, we'll exhaust her last bit of strength and bury her along with those things that shouldn't exist in this world."

"Great-Grandma," Ren Fei turned slightly, her brows furrowing almost imperceptibly, and said in a low voice, "Isn't it too much of a waste to just destroy it completely like this? That's immortal magic, a key that could potentially open up a whole new realm. Perhaps we could try to capture, isolate, and study it—"

"madness!"

The old woman turned her head sharply, her hawk-like gaze instantly locking onto Ren Fei. The coldness and sharpness contained within her eyes made this seasoned and experienced person in charge of all affairs suddenly feel a tightness in her heart, as if she had been pierced by an invisible ice spike.

"What do you think it is? A toy that a child can take apart and understand? Or an ancient relic buried in the ground waiting for you to excavate?" The old woman's voice suddenly rose, carrying an almost stern rebuke, each word like a stone hitting ice.

"That's a weapon of causality capable of annihilating enemies across vast distances, following the laws of cause and effect!"

"It's a Damocles' sword hanging over all of us, its fall uncertain, its fall unpredictable!"

She leaned forward slightly, her gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping across Ren Fei's face: "If you can't have it, you must destroy it completely! Not even a speck of ashes, not a spark, can be left! Otherwise, if it can wipe out an observation station or a launch site today, tomorrow it can wipe out this command center, wipe out you and me, wipe out anything it deems necessary to wipe out!"

"Look at her!" The old woman pointed to the screen, where Lu Linglong was bleeding from her mouth and nose, her face ashen, clearly at her limit. "She can't hold on much longer. This is the price, this is the limit."

She withdrew her fingers, placing them back on the armrest, the tapping rhythm slightly quickening, carrying a hint of finality.

"Command: All remaining units, all. Target area, saturate coverage."

"The final volley."

"Send her on her way!"

Abandoned factory buildings.

Lu Linglong's vision blurred, her ears rang constantly, and blood kept seeping from the corners of her mouth and nose, staining her clothes red.

The backlash from forcibly activating two powerful magical talismans far exceeding her current level was extremely severe. Her meridians were on the verge of rupture, and her soul was weakened. The fact that she could still remain conscious at this moment was an astonishing display of willpower.

However, before she could even catch her breath from this near-exhausted state, that familiar, despairing light shone through the night sky once more!

Not just one, but more than a dozen! Like the gaze of death, they trailed clear and deadly trajectories, coming from different directions and heights towards this ruin, towards these few tiny figures, weaving together an inescapable net of destruction!

Having just experienced a miraculous escape from death, they are now locked onto by an even more intense and merciless threat of death. Even the most resilient person cannot help but feel a profound sense of powerlessness and despair.

"Who on earth is it—" Zhuge Qing's voice was hoarse as he stared at the approaching white light of death. "It's almost unbelievable—"

That's too ruthless!

Lu Linglong gritted her teeth, enduring the tearing pain from the depths of her soul. She tried to communicate with the pendant again, but its warm luster had dimmed, and no matter how much she concentrated her remaining spirit, she could no longer activate it.

Its previous warm, moon-like luster has completely faded, and it feels icy cold to the touch, as if it were just an ordinary, unremarkable rock.

No matter how hard she tried to concentrate her scattered mind, or how hard she tried to squeeze out the last bit of her faint senses, she could no longer establish any connection with the mysterious space deep within the pendant.

She could vaguely sense that something far more vast was slumbering inside, but that "door" had been completely closed to her.

She doesn't even have the right to "look" at it now, let alone invoke any of its power.

"Linglong!" Zhang Chulan's shout was filled with barely concealed anxiety.

Seeing Lu Linglong's increasingly pale face and the completely lifeless pendant, his heart sank.

His survival instinct made him fix his gaze on Lu Linglong, as if she were the last piece of driftwood in a storm.

"Chu Lan—" Lu Linglong's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible, each word requiring immense effort, filled with deep exhaustion and endless regret, "I—I really can't go on—my magic power—not a single drop—is gone—even with the endless elixir in the wine jar—it's too late to recover—"

She paused, then added with even greater difficulty, her eyes filled with an overwhelming despair: "I—I can't even—draw out another talisman from inside—"

Despair, like a cold tide, washed over everyone's hearts once again.

Wang Ye looked down at his dust-covered Taoist robe, then looked up at the approaching, brighter light of death, and suddenly chuckled.

There was no fear in that laughter; instead, there was a strange sense of relief and nonchalance.

"I never expected this—to die like this in my life." He dusted off his sleeves, his tone as if he were commenting on a less-than-stellar performance. "But—it was quite 'spectacular,' befitting the commotion we just caused."

"I'm sorry—I'm so sorry—" Lu Linglong's tears finally broke free, mingling with the blood on her face as they streamed down her cheeks. Her voice was choked and broken. "It's all because of me—it was all directed at me—it's me—I've dragged you all down with me—"

"What's the use of saying all this now?" Wang Ye shook his head, his gaze sweeping over his companions: Zhuge Qing, whose sharp eyes couldn't hide his dejection; Zhang Chulan, whose brows were furrowed and lips were tightly pursed; and Feng Baobao, who remained expressionless, simply supporting Lu Linglong.

His tone softened, even carrying a rare, genuine smile that belonged to his age: "Linglong, Lao Qing, Lao Zhang, Sister Bao'er—I'm so glad to have met you all and gone through all this with you in this life."

He paused, gazing at the deathly white light that was about to engulf everything. His voice was soft, yet clearly reached everyone's ears.

"I hope we'll meet again in our next life. Then I'll treat you to tea and tell your fortunes—I promise it's accurate, no charge!"

"Damn it—" Lu Linglong bit her lower lip hard until she tasted even more blood. A flame of resentment burned in her dim eyes. "I haven't graduated yet—I haven't been in love—I haven't worn a wedding dress—I haven't truly—stepped on the immortal path my master walked—why—why—am I dying like this—I'm so unwilling—I'm so unwilling!"

"Ha—" Zhuge Qing also twitched the corners of his mouth, wanting to laugh, but only managed to let out a breathy sound. His handsome face was filled with unfulfilled regret and helplessness. "Who—isn't it?"

Zhang Chulan took a deep breath of the cold air, thick with gunpowder and dust, and turned to the silent Feng Baobao. His voice was hoarse: "Sister Baobao, I'm sorry—I promised to help you find your family—it seems I have to break my promise."

Feng Baobao raised her clear yet empty eyes, glanced at Zhang Chulan, then at Lu Linglong, who was leaning against her with a weak breath, and calmly shook her head, saying in her unique, blunt, and cruel tone, "You silly boy, it's not your fault."

She paused, looked at the night sky, and added, as if stating a very simple fact: "It's all fate."

Just as everyone was resigned to their fate and bidding each other their final farewells, the dozen or so pale beams of light in the night sky, representing ultimate destruction, had completed their final trajectory corrections. With a deathly shriek before its reaper's fall, they were about to plunge down with overwhelming force, reducing this place to dust in the very last instant—

The ancient pendant, which Lu Linglong had unconsciously clutched tightly in her palm, had become completely dull and cold like an ordinary object—

Without warning, it lit up again!

It was not the intense light that came with the previous talismans, but a gentle, stable, and profound radiance, like the first ever-burning lamp quietly lit at the end of an abyss of absolute darkness. Though not dazzling, it contained an indescribable sense of peace and immense power.

"Wait!! It's lit up! It's lit up again!!!" Zhang Chulan, who had been staring intently at the pendant and whose faint flame of hope had never been completely extinguished, was the first to notice the change. He was so excited that his voice almost cracked, and his hoarse shout instantly tore through the despairing silence!

Swish!

All eyes were drawn to Lu Linglong's limp, hanging hand as if by a magnet!

The pendant, as if possessing its own life and will, gently yet firmly broke free from Lu Linglong's exhausted fingers, slowly levitating and hovering in mid-air, the focus of everyone's attention.

The soft light grew stronger and stronger, and the illusion of stars being born and galaxies rotating within flashed by.

"Is this... a backup plan left by Master?" Lu Linglong stared blankly at the pendant that floated automatically and shimmered with light, her weak voice filled with disbelief and a glimmer of hope.

"Master? That... ascended... immortal?!" Wang Ye, Zhuge Qing, and Zhang Chulan were shocked, almost forgetting the impending threat of death above their heads, and fixed their gazes on the pendant that emitted a miraculous light.

Lu Linglong mustered all her strength and nodded gently. A complex expression appeared on her pale face, a mixture of awe, realization, and deep confusion.

Even for her, this was the first time she had seen this heirloom display such a self-reliant and vast aspect.

The antique pendant floated up in mid-air in front of everyone, becoming the absolute center of attention at that moment.

The light it emitted was not dazzling, but flowed steadily like mercury spilling onto the ground, with countless tiny runes seemingly being created, destroyed, and recombined within it.

Immediately afterwards, a illusory image of a talisman, far more complex and profound than the one Lu Linglong had previously taken out, and subtly influencing the laws of space and time, slowly projected out from the core of the pendant, transforming from illusory to real and solidifying into a physical entity.

At the center of the symbol is not text or a deity, but a miniature portal pattern that rotates slightly and is outlined by pure light!

Although the portal is small, it seems to connect to the endless distance and the unknown, emitting a strange fluctuation that communicates time and space and connects existence and non-existence, causing the surrounding space to produce subtle ripples like water.

The Three Truths Borrow the Dharma, Remotely Knocking on the Door of Today!

The moment the talisman solidified, without any prompting from Lu Linglong or anyone else, the dormant magical spirit within it, pre-set by the talisman maker, awakened and began to operate on its own!

"Buzz—!"

The blood-gold light suddenly surged, not spreading outwards, but collapsing and condensing inwards, forcefully "weaving" a door in the empty air before everyone's eyes!

A door about ten feet tall, with its frame made of flowing blood-gold light patterns, and the door itself is a translucent door of light with a texture like water ripples and glass!

The scene inside the door was initially blurry, with distorted and swaying light and shadow, as if leading to some indescribable dimensional rift. Just looking at it made one feel slightly dizzy and disoriented in time and space.

Then, this door of light that appeared out of nowhere slowly and solemnly opened inward under the influence of some unseen force.

The distorted scene inside the door quickly stabilized and became clear.

It seemed to be a natural cave dwelling located at the bottom of a deep mountain valley, so quiet that one could hear the faint sound of spring water dripping onto the stalagmites.

The true qi inside the cave was so dense that it transformed into a milky white mist that flowed slowly.

The stone wall is not naturally rough, but is engraved with countless ancient, obscure Dao patterns that seem to record the secrets of the beginning of heaven and earth, faintly glowing.

In the center of the cave, on a simple blue futon—

A Taoist priest dressed in a simple white robe is sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, peacefully entering a meditative state.

His long black hair was not tied up; it cascaded down like the finest black silk, falling over his shoulders and back.

His face was so handsome it seemed otherworldly, his skin was as smooth as jade, his eyebrows were arched and his nose was straight. Even with his eyes closed, he possessed an otherworldly air of profound tranquility, purity, and detachment from worldly affairs.

He seemed to be perfectly integrated with the futon beneath him, the surrounding stone walls, the flowing spiritual mist, and even the entire landscape outside the cave, harmonious and natural, like the most exquisite yet not abrupt stroke in an ancient landscape painting.

This person is none other than Zuo Ruotong, who has been cultivating in seclusion in the deepest part of the Sanzhen Famen (Three Truths Dharma Gate) mountain for countless years.

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