Divine Root Bone

The roars of the pursuers were already close at hand. He had no time to think. He shoved his head through the rubble, his eyes quickly scanning the inside of the palace door. After a quick look, he felt that this stone chamber looked small and cramped, at most the size of an ordinary house, nothing special. Without further hesitation, he lowered his head and plunged straight into the crack in the stone door.

Just as his body brushed past the edge of the stone gate, a layer of spatial ripples, so faint as to be almost transparent, suddenly swept over his skin and flesh, causing a slight tremor. Before he could recover, his soul felt numb again, and a second, much thicker layer of spatial ripples swept over his body, as if he had stepped over two barriers that separated heaven and earth.

Zhang Yang paused, subconsciously turning around to look back at the way he came. He saw a thin, dark crack in the void at the edge of the stone gate behind him, with thousands of pale golden spiritual energies flowing within it, slowly closing inwards.

Once the cracks had completely disappeared, he turned to look in front of him and froze on the spot, his mind trembling beyond measure.

From the outside, it looked like a small side hall, no more than ten feet wide, but inside it was a boundless void that stretched as far as the eye could see!

The entire space was rippled with layers upon layers of continuous spatial ripples, and countless wisps of sparse spiritual energy floated between heaven and earth, spontaneously circling and paying homage to the center of this domain. The entire world was neither solid nor ethereal; distant scenery sometimes appeared solid and sometimes blurred, clearly indicating its instability.

A faint, ethereal mist permeated the air, forming an invisible, terrifying divine might that pressed down on Zhang Yang's dantian spiritual energy, causing waves of pain and a tremor in his soul. Tiny spatial rifts could be seen slowly opening and closing all around.

Zhang Yang was completely unaware that he had stepped into an isolated void that cut off the outside world. He continued to stride forward, his only thought being to evade the pursuers behind him.

A moment later, four Black Fiend Cult cultivators followed the trail to the stone gate and slipped inside. As they passed through the ripples of the stone gate, they only felt a faint layer of yin energy brush against them, nothing else. Inside, all they saw was the same small, dilapidated stone house that looked so cramped from the outside. The space was no bigger than an ordinary living room, with broken stones and rotten wood scattered everywhere, completely empty—not a trace of the boundless void. The four looked around, filled with doubt. They had clearly seen the boy rush in, but now they couldn't find even a trace of him.

A moment later, Su Qingyao followed closely behind, bending down to pass through the stone gate and step into the stone house. Looking up, she saw only the four demonic cultivators holding demonic weapons standing in the house, scanning around, but Zhang Yang was nowhere to be seen.

Su Qingyao felt a sudden panic, as if her blood had frozen instantly. She subconsciously thought that the four demonic disciples had already intercepted and killed Zhang Yang during the chase, and that they had also taken his storage bag. Her eyes tightened instantly, and her spiritual energy circulated involuntarily, preparing to fight back.

The four demonic disciples were stunned when they saw Su Qingyao suddenly burst in. Recognizing the unique Cloud and Water Daoist robe of the Azure Cloud Sect she wore, they exchanged bewildered glances. The leader, a peak Qi Refining Ninth Level demonic disciple, frowned and asked sharply, "Where did the boy who stole the storage bag go? Did you secretly hide and rescue him?"

One side was worried about the boy's death, while the other was puzzled that the boy had been hidden. The two groups stared at each other across the rubble, both lost in confusion. No one could have imagined that a two-layered spatial ripple had already isolated Zhang Yang into another boundless void. The two spaces were so close, yet they seemed to be thousands of miles apart, and they could no longer see each other.

The scene abruptly shifts back to the main battlefield in the distant Qingyun Mountains.

In mid-air, the earth-shattering battle between the Azure Cloud Ancestor Ling Xuanyuan and the Black Fiend Demon Sect Ancestor continued unabated. The golden and black Dao Foundation Auras collided violently, and the two unique and majestic Dao Powers at the peak of Foundation Establishment repeatedly crushed the entire valley.

Golden lotus patterns stretched out beneath Ling Xuanyuan's feet, drawing life force from the surrounding vegetation and causing spiritual energy to spontaneously converge in worship. Meanwhile, the Demonic Sect Ancestor's body was enveloped in a surge of crimson black lotuses, causing everything in his path to wither. Layer upon layer of overwhelming pressure continued to spread, locking away the spiritual energy of all the lower-level cultivators below. Even circulating their qi and blood was incredibly difficult; they could only look up at the two towering figures in the sky, watching the battle with tense minds. No one knew what was happening inside the ancient palace in the secluded valley.

at this time.

Standing in this mysterious side hall, in the boundless void left behind by some unknown being, Zhang Yang felt as if his entire body was being crushed by an invisible force. He was completely bewildered and helpless, filled with boundless fear.

This place retains a unique divine might, with layers of ethereal clouds swirling around it. Even the residual power, though only dissipated, is far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator can withstand. Even though he possesses a divine-grade root bone that is rare to find in ten thousand years, and his physical and spiritual resistance far surpasses that of others of the same level, he still couldn't withstand the pressure of this unknown entity for even a moment.

His legs gave way first, his knees slamming heavily onto the floating dust in the void, and he collapsed to his knees in a sorry state. In just a few breaths, the blood and qi in his chest surged wildly, his meridians were torn apart by excruciating pain, and all his strength was drained away. He could no longer support his upper body and fell heavily onto the cold void ground.

Cracks were visible everywhere in the surrounding space. Fine, dark cracks slowly opened and closed, and sharp spatial primordial power that could sever the primordial spirit flowed around the edges of the cracks. If one were to accidentally brush against them, the physical body and soul would be torn apart instantly, resulting in immediate death and annihilation.

The fear of death gripped Zhang Yang's heart. He was unwilling to perish in this unfamiliar void. He struggled to move forward with all his remaining spiritual power, crawling forward little by little with his arms. Crimson blood kept spilling from the corners of his mouth, dripping down his chin and onto the ground, where it was instantly dissolved by the power of space.

Looking out, the sky and earth stretched to the horizon, with layers upon layers of undulating spatial ripples everywhere. He couldn't distinguish east from west, north from south, nor could he find the closed void rift he had come from. He had no idea where to break through. Despair gradually devoured his mind, and his consciousness became increasingly hazy and blurred. The scene before him began to distort and blur layer upon layer.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness completely, the black jade pendant he kept close to his chest suddenly emitted a warm and gentle sensation. The soft light penetrated his clothes, broke free from the fabric, and hovered half an inch in front of him, trembling gently as if conveying some kind of guidance.

With his last ounce of strength, Zhang Yang raised his hand and gripped the warm black jade tightly. He clearly felt the jade pendant vibrating continuously to the left and forward, clearly indicating the direction of travel. Following the jade's guidance, he crawled forward with difficulty, covering a distance of three or four hundred meters. His body was completely exhausted, and each movement required all his mental energy. Anxiety welled up within him.

If I keep climbing like this, I'll die of exhaustion before I even find a way out. Where is this jade pendant going to take me?

He stretched his palm forward again with all his might, and his fingertips suddenly hit an invisible barrier. It felt warm and hard, like an invisible barrier. Looking ahead, there was still nothing but emptiness, and he could not see anything unusual.

The temperature of the black jade in his palm suddenly surged, and its light intensified. Immersed in the faint light of the jade pendant, Zhang Yang's eyes suddenly caught a tiny indentation on the barrier. The outline of the groove was exactly the same as the shape of the black jade in his hand, which was a hidden keyhole mechanism.

Without hesitation, he gripped the black jade tightly and pressed the jade pendant firmly into the groove.

hum-

A deep, ancient tremor reverberated from the barrier throughout the entire void. The void before them twisted, churned, and dissipated violently. In the place where there had been nothing, a heavy, giant stone door was suddenly revealed. The invisible barrier was the spatial disguise of the outer layer of the stone door, and the groove was the lock.

Zhang Yang, supporting his broken body, reached out and pushed the stone door. The heavy stone door slowly opened inward. Stepping inside, he discovered that the stone chamber was a completely different world from the perilous void outside.