LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 34: The Murals in the Immortal Court
Tianyi's long and delicate eyelashes fluttered as he began to arouse from his unconscious state. Upon seeing the unfamiliar ceiling, all hints of drowsiness instantly disappeared as Tianyi quickly planted his two feet on the ground and stared warily at his surroundings. "This is a hall in the Immortal Court?"
He was in a dilapidated hall, the walls and pillars were cracked, but even so, it could not hide the grand magnificence of its history. Tianyi's mind instantly recalled the dream-like experience he had and instantly connected the dots. Although the memory was a bit blurry and unclear, Tianyi still remembered the important bits.
As for waking up alone, Tianyi wasn't surprised. He had already expected such a thing when he entered the door, and all the people in his surrounding disappeared.
Tianyi wandered the hall a bit, but there were no hints of what hall it was, nor were there any treasures or anything of value left behind.
The spiritual qi, however, was incredibly dense. Far denser than even the Jade Lotus Clear Pond that Mengfei had created for Tianyi.
But so what?
Spiritual qi wasn't anything rare, and although the rate of progress cultivating here was more than ten times faster anywhere else, it was useless for Tianyi, who couldn't cultivate at the moment. Even if he could cultivate here, Tianyi would still prefer to look for treasures. It was not like he could bring the ruin of the immortal court with him, right?
After checking that he could still access the items inside of his spatial bag, Tianyi released a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the hall.
The outside was even worse than the inside of the hall that Tianyi walked out of. Tianyi didn't know what the road resembling marbles were made of, but holes and cracks littered them. Some of the cracks had white mist rising while the blue skies and clouds peaked out from the holes.
Tianyi unsheathed his sword and stabbed the ground with it, but as expected, only a few sparks resulted from the clash. Morbidly curious as to what was below the ground of the Immortal Court, Tianyi first observed the hole filled with white clouds.
The clouds were too dense for Tianyi to make out anything, so he kicked a small piece of rubble into the cloud. As Tianyi expected, once the rock entered the clouds, there was no sound of it hitting anything.
'So there's nothing under the cloud. Tripping and falling into one would not be a laughing matter.' Thinking so, Tianyi navigated the ruins until he discovered a large hole that almost severed the path but also allowed Tianyi to see the land below the Immortal Court.
It was a giant landmass with no end in sight. Tianyi had a feeling that it was even bigger than the Heaven Continent by severalfold. There were even large lakes that he couldn't estimate the size of, but what surprised Tianyi the most was that he could see the "edge" that connected the end of land and the sky.
"The Immortal Court exists in the sky of a planet?" He had thought all the realms of the universe were like the Huang Realm, flat planes.
Just as Tianyi was about to retract his site, his eyes suddenly glued onto a certain spot. It was a place he was very familiar with, although it looked a little different with different structures upon it. Tianyi could never mistake the Buzhou Mountain Range, where the Buzhou Immortal Sect was based.
It wasn't exactly the same. It was far larger, and a giant pillar of light connecting heaven and earth, the ground to the Immortal Court. Tianyi couldn't see it clearly as the complete picture was limited by the size of the hole. He would have to descend into the hole to see if it truly connected the Immortal Court.
Tianyi recalled that the base of the pillar was situated at the forbidden ground of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, Broken Heaven Valley. Although Tianyi flew into the air several times and didn't see such a pillar originating from there, there were numerous formations that could hide such a thing.
He was curious about if his sect did contain such a pillar, but the more pressing question was why a fragment of the Immortal Court would have such a landmass beneath it.
Tianyi's thoughts ran at a million miles an hour.
"Legends have it that the Huang Realm was created from a fragment of the Immortal Court, so the Buzhou Mountain Range here should be a fake. Or more like a remnant scenery created from the fragment?" Tianyi guessed. He shook his head, there were not enough clues, and he didn't have the pre-requisite information to reach a conclusion.
Filing the information for later, Tianyi continued to explore the ruins.
Tianyi unsheathed his sword once more and used a spell to make it fly, only to see the sword clank lifelessly on the ground. His face instantly darkened. Without being able to fly, the danger of falling increased immensely.
After testing a few more times, he discovered there was a limitation that prevented people from flying or even using artifacts. Thankfully, talismans could still be used, allowing him to feel a sense of security.
Tianyi sighed and picked up the sword from the ground. So what if he couldn't fly? He would just have to be a little more careful. If Tianyi didn't even have this little bit of courage, he can just lie on the ground and wait for Lei Jingye to kill him.
Despite the Immortal Court being in shambles and so desolate, there was a hidden beauty in the vestigial structure, but the silence made such a beautiful scenery incredibly eerie. Tianyi wondered where the disciples from his and the other sect were. Don't all the novels write about people competing for treasures in a ruin? Why was he alone?
After nearing a building, a pleasant medicinal aroma wafted into Tianyi's nose. Just by smelling it, Tianyi felt the aches in his body lessening significantly. Even his true qi of chaos became calm and malleable.
'Could this be the legendary pill hall of the Immortal Court, where the legendary Eight-way Trigrams Crucible and Samadhi True Fire resides?' Tianyi's eyes began to glisten with light. As a fanboy of Journey to the West, and especially Sun Wukong, his knowledge of the pill hall could be said to be comprehensive. 'Maybe there is a pill that can help me. Even if I don't recognize it, my mother or the elders surely will be able to.'
As Tianyi came closer to the pill hall, the medicinal fragrance enveloped Tianyi like mist, making him feel comfortable all over. It was a pleasant feeling he hadn't experienced in years.
When Tianyi entered the Pill Hall, it was dilapidated as the rest of the Immortal Court ruin, but Tianyi wasn't deterred as he searched the hall, but sadly there was nothing for Tianyi to take. In the concocting room, there was a dent where the Eight-way Trigrams Crucible should have been placed. There was even a hint of melted metal where the Samadhi True Fire once was, but now it was all gone.
"Seriously? There's nothing even left. I had thought that there would be something for me with how strong the pill fragrance was." Tianyi sighed in regret as he spoke aloud.
Suddenly, he snapped his head behind him. He furrowed his brows, 'Was it my imagination? I was sure I felt that someone was staring at me.'
While searching for the source of uncomfortable feeling, Tianyi's eyes brightened at a small round pill on the ground next to a few pieces of rubble.
It was perfectly spherical and had a dim golden luster, different from the surrounding rubble. Tianyi kept his vigilance as he neared the golden pill and kneeled down. He wrapped his hand around it and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled.
Tianyi's face hardened as he discovered that he couldn't even roll the golden pill. It was not even the size of his palm. Yet, a core formation master like Tianyi, who had qi reservoirs a nascent soul grandmaster would be jealous of, could not even make the pill budge.
After several tries of physically moving it, Tianyi finally used both hands and pulled with all his might. His legs were in an "M" shape as he used his legs and his waist to try to pull the pill up. After several more tries, Tianyi gave up and stood up. Before leaving, Tianyi looked around to see if anyone saw his unseemly appearance trying to take the pill. He kept having the subconscious feeling that someone was looking at him.
Tianyi sighed as he slapped his hand onto his forehead. Tianyi's eyes brightened as he felt the cooling sensation of his ring against his forehead. 'Right, why didn't you think of this. If I can't physically move it, I'll just put it in my spatial ring. After all, this pill isn't an artifact or anything.'
Tianyi, who had an epiphany, knelt and touched the pill once more. The pill showed no signs of shifting into his spatial ring, contrary to his expectations. Tianyi's facial expression froze like an ice sculpture.
Tianyi tried several more ideas, but all of them were fruitless. Tianyi felt his veins bulge.
"This pill is too strange, even the rubble would be able to be stored into my spatial ring, yet the pill couldn't. Is this pill special or something?" Tianyi began to doubt whether it was a pill but some strange material instead.
If it were an immortal artifact, then he wouldn't be able to refine it since he was a far cry from an immortal, but there was no harm in trying. So Tianyi sent a strand of his true qi into the sphere in an attempt to refine it.
"Cough, cough" Tianyi quickly covered his mouth with a handkerchief as he felt his blood rise up once more from his usage of his true qi of chaos. He wasn't worried but rather excited as he felt a reaction from the pill.
Even as Tianyi continued attempting to refine it for over two hours, there was still no reaction. Never one for patience, Tianyi decisively gave up. Although the fake pill seemed special, Tianyi gave up on it. This was the ruins of the Immortal Court, there would be a lot more fortuitous encounters for him to discover.
The fake pill can just wait for its fated person like in those cliche novel plots. Since I can't enter your eyes, I don't want you either.
Tianyi stood up and left, but he turned back to look once more just before stepping out of the doorless exit. Although he gave it up, there didn't mean he didn't have any regrets about not obtaining it.
He blinked when he saw the spotless ground around the fake pill. He recalled that a few drops of his blood should have spilled on the ground, but there weren't any traces of blood. "Maybe I remembered wrongly. I mean, it's not the first time I coughed blood. I could just be having deja vu."
The pill hall could make him feel pleasant, but it did not solve the root of the problem, so it would be pointless to waste any more time there, especially since it was empty.
'Speaking of which, why is it so empty> Did the members of the Immortal Court take them away before the downfall, or was it someone who discovered it before the three hegemonic forces? What could cause the legendary Immortal Court to perish, though?' Tianyi one wasn't the only one with a similar question. The end of the primordial era and the disappearance of all the experts was one of the greatest mysteries of the modern era.
As he moved through the hole-filled road, Tianyi kept feeling that something or someone was staring at him, but no matter what Tianyi did, he could discover no one. His spiritual sense was as strong as a nascent soul grandmaster's, so Tianyi should have been able to sense them unless they had a unique method.
As for a Unity Realm Venerable? Why would a Unity Realm Venerable be so bored as to spy on him without doing anything? Tianyi wasn't so arrogant enough to believe he could fight a unity venerable.
Attributing it to his imagination, Tianyi continued on his way. The next structure Tianyi came across looked more complete and stable than the first hall and the pill hall Tianyi visited. Raising his awareness, Tianyi entered the hall and was instantly stunned.
The new building Tiany entered was a pagoda with nine levels, but the inside, aside from the stair and walkways, was completely empty. Tianyi could even see the ceiling when he walked into the center.
But that wasn't what stunned Tianyi.
It was the murals on the inside of the pagoda. From a single glance, Tianyi could already recognize the Jade Emperor on the mural, but he was fighting a Caucasian man with long graying hair and beard who wore a toga and wielded a lightning bolt in his hand.
"Why is Zeus fighting the Jade Emperor?"
