522: Mystery and the unknown, stone carving reappears (52k words)

"Go to the Unknown Space?"

Kong Shan Yu couldn't help but be startled.

"It's like this, Old Kong..."

Seeing this, Tea Banquet explained the matters they had discussed earlier.

Kong Shan Yu immediately nodded in understanding: "In that case, I certainly have no problem with it. Are we entering with our true bodies directly, or...?"

"You should enter using power projections first!"

Lin Yang spoke directly:

"It's better to be cautious. I'm only guessing that we can return to the Ten Thousand Universes through the Unknown Space, and I'm only guessing that the Mysterious Space is the Unknown Space. It's best not to enter with our true bodies."

"Then what about Your Excellency Lin Yang?" Kong Shan Yu couldn't help but ask.

If one hasn't reached the Old Ancestor level, they cannot condense a power projection.

"I will naturally enter with my true body," said Lin Yang.

He has no way to condense a projection, so he can only go in with his true body.

"This... why don't we go explore it first?"

Kong Shan Yu hesitated for a moment and offered another suggestion:

"We can scout the path first. If the situation is indeed as Your Excellency Lin Yang guessed, and everything goes smoothly, we will return immediately and enter the Ten Thousand Universes with our true bodies. If there are accidents, we don't have to worry about being trapped; we can destroy our projections on the spot."

Ziyun nodded in agreement: "That is indeed a good idea."

Lin Yang shook his head: "That won't work. I must go in. Assuming my guess isn't wrong, there might be a strange Stone Statue inside that will come after me. I need to go in and lure that Stone Statue out to see if we can fight it!"

"Strange Stone Statue??" Kong Shan Yu, Ziyun, and the others were all stunned.

"Yes," Lin Yang gave them a brief explanation.

However, he did not mention the existence of the "Realm," only saying that the strange Stone Statue might pursue him again, so he needed to go in and check the situation.

If he didn't go in, even if Kong Shan Yu and the others scouted the path smoothly, when he entered later and encountered the Stone Statue, there might be an accident.

Therefore, the best solution now is for Kong Shan Yu and the others to use their power projections to enter with him first.

If the Stone Statue reappeared and chased them, they could be 100% certain that the Mysterious Space was the Unknown Space.

Moreover, if Kong Shan Yu's projections can successfully scout the path and penetrate deep into the Unknown Space, then their true bodies will certainly have no problem entering later.

After hearing Lin Yang's explanation, Kong Shan Yu, Ziyun, and the others understood the necessity of Lin Yang entering:

"Then Your Excellency Lin Yang should enter. We can also determine the relationship between the Mysterious Space and the Unknown Space based on whether the Stone Statue appears. If danger arises, we can destroy our projections to buy you a chance to escape."

"Yes, the projections go first. If the projections can traverse it, then the true bodies will definitely have no problem. If the projections fail, we can assess the situation and determine whether the true bodies can successfully traverse the Unknown Space. In any case, using projections first is safer," Lin Yang nodded and said.

"So, shall we depart now?" Kong Shan Yu was eager to try.

"We can. I have been preparing for this for many years and can leave at any time. Do any of you need to prepare anything?" Lin Yang looked at Ziyun and the others.

"We can also depart at any time!"

Ziyun, Pan Tian, and the others exchanged glances and spoke one after another.

"Then, I thank all of you first!"

Lin Yang solemnly bowed to the group.

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, you are too kind!"

Ziyun and the others moved aside.

Tea Banquet suddenly said, "If we're entering with projections, I'll go with you too."

When dealing with Old Ancestor Yuan Chen, the power of one more projection makes a difference.

Since he couldn't kill Old Ancestor Yuan Chen by himself anyway, he might as well condense a power projection and go in with them to increase the chances of success.

Lin Yang did not refuse: "Then let's explore the reality of the Mysterious Space together."

The next moment, the group simultaneously appeared at the edge of the Mysterious Space.

A deep, dark void.

On the surface, it looked no different from the Unknown Space.

"I hope everything goes smoothly!"

Lin Yang silently prayed in his heart and was about to step into the boundless darkness.

However, Shang Chengfeng suddenly arrived and softly asked, "Your Excellency Lin Yang, are you leaving?"

Lin Yang turned his head to look at him: "Why did you rush over?"

"I... I came to see you off!" Shang Chengfeng lowered his head slightly.

In his heart, he really wished he could go along.

But he knew he didn't possess the necessary strength yet, so he held back from saying anything, feeling only a pang of sadness.

"Haha, silly boy, this isn't a farewell forever. Don't look so down. If things go smoothly, we'll have plenty of chances to meet again!"

Lin Yang looked at Shang Chengfeng and shook his head with a smile:

"Besides, I'm going home this time. You should be happy for me, not sad."

Shang Chengfeng looked up, took a deep breath, and forced a smile: "I will work hard to improve and strive to visit you in the Ten Thousand Universes soon. I wish you... a safe journey!"

"Alright, go back. Strive to advance to the Ling Realm sooner." Lin Yang accepted Shang Chengfeng's blessing with a smile.

"I... I'll watch you enter the Mysterious Space." Shang Chengfeng stood rooted to the spot.

"Then... suit yourself." Lin Yang said no more, understanding that the young man wanted to see him off.

Immediately, he turned and stepped into the darkness.

Beside him were the power projections of Tea Banquet, Ziyun, and the others.

Shang Chengfeng bowed several times toward Lin Yang's retreating figure, stood there for a long time, and then slowly departed.

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, we are heading straight into the depths, correct? Since you don't have a specific direction, we will traverse directly toward the deepest part."

After entering, Tea Banquet spoke.

Lin Yang nodded: "For now, there is no direction. Let's head toward the depths and explore. If this place truly connects two Universe Zones, then as long as we can cross the deepest area, we should be getting closer to the Ten Thousand Universes."

"Understood."

Immediately, the group stopped talking, maintained their vigilance, and rushed toward the depths of the Mysterious Space at high speed.

"Wait a minute, let me see if I can teleport directly!"

A few minutes later, Kong Shan Yu suddenly spoke up, stopping everyone.

"Huh? Old Kong, what are you doing? The space inside here isn't stable. If you teleport, and you happen to be sent into a ruin, that would be a dead end!"

Ziyun immediately frowned.

Given the strength of the few of them, their power projections could easily tear space, but they absolutely dared not tear space to travel here.

They had all tried before; tearing space here prevents them from independently locking onto their reappearance coordinates, leading to random teleportation.

If they were unlucky, they would be teleported into a ruin, in which case they would have to destroy their projections on the spot.

In this regard, it was even inferior to a battleship.

Inside here, battleships could still perform warp jumps, but they themselves should not tear space to travel.

The reason they didn't fly a battleship in directly for warp travel this time was that although battleships can warp jump, after continuous long periods of warping, the recorded coordinates become invalid, and they can no longer accurately sense the direction.

Therefore, they did not pilot a battleship in directly this time.

When traveling on their own, they could lock onto their coordinates, preventing them from being completely lost.

Although battleship warp travel is faster, in the Mysterious Space, it is more suitable for aimless warp exploration or for quick, precise rescue when there is an accurate target inside emitting a signal source for rendezvous. It is not very suitable for this current operation.

Their purpose this time was to help Lin Yang find the way back to the Ten Thousand Universes. Therefore, they needed detailed coordinate sensing from the start, and they needed to record all unexpected incidents.

If the current direction didn't work, they would change it next time.

Now Kong Shan Yu wanted to risk trying teleportation, which was indeed too risky.

Kong Shan Yu chuckled: "My improvement this time is significant, very significant. It's not just an increase in power, but also a high-level comprehension of spiritual abilities. Let me try it first. If it doesn't work, we can just travel slowly."

"You old fellow, if you want to try, then try." Seeing this, Ziyun said no more.

He also wanted to see just how "significant" the improvement Kong Shan Yu spoke of was!

The next moment, Kong Shan Yu teleported on the spot without a word.

Lin Yang and the others waited where they were.

Time passed little by little.

A few minutes later, Kong Shan Yu's projection reappeared before everyone.

"How was it? Can we use teleportation to travel?" Ziyun immediately asked.

Kong Shan Yu chuckled: "I just tried it. As long as I don't teleport too far in a single jump, I can accurately lock onto the reappearance coordinates and won't lose my sense of direction. This avoids the possibility of being randomly teleported into a ruin."

"It actually works?"

Hearing this, Ziyun, Tea Banquet, and the others were all surprised:

"After Space Power is raised to the Old Ancestor Realm, one can actually perform accurate teleportation within the Mysterious Space?"

Kong Shan Yu nodded: "I told you, my improvement this time is significant. Next, I'll take you all and use teleportation to travel."

"Old Kong, you keep saying you've improved a lot, but how much exactly? What's your current strength?"

Ziyun immediately pressed him, annoyed.

The others at the Tea Banquet also looked at him.

Ever since Kong Shan Yu came out of seclusion, he'd been saying he'd improved greatly, but he never specified how, always keeping them in suspense. This made them incredibly curious.

Especially now, being able to teleport through the Mysterious Space was truly astonishing to them.

"Haha, alright, no more suspense. I'll just say this: I can now go toe-to-toe with Tea Banquet!"

Seeing everyone's gaze, Kong Shan Yu stopped being mysterious and immediately uttered words that made Ziyun and the others' jaws drop.

"What?"

Ziyun and the others were stunned:

"Old Kong, what did you say?"

"You can now go toe-to-toe with Tea Banquet?"

"You..."

"Are you serious?"

All of them, including Tea Banquet himself, looked incredulous.

Lin Yang's eyes also narrowed.

Tea Banquet was an Old Ancestor of the third tier, and an experienced one at that. Kong Shan Yu had just broken through to the first tier of the Old Ancestor Realm, yet he dared to claim he could go toe-to-toe with Tea Banquet??

This left him equally shocked.

Spatial power was indeed strong, but could it be strong to this extent?

Kong Shan Yu smiled slightly: "I suppose you don't believe it, but that's the reality of the situation."

"Of course, I'm referring to the former Old Tea. He also received half a portion of the top-grade spiritual universal material from Your Excellency Lin Yang. I don't know how much he's improved now, so I wouldn't dare say 'now,' but at least I can go toe-to-toe with his former self."

At this point, Kong Shan Yu paused, then added: "At the very least, he absolutely cannot kill me!"

"This..."

Upon hearing this, Ziyun and the others were truly startled!

Kong Shan Yu didn't seem to be joking, nor did he have any need to exaggerate his own strength.

Then... "My goodness, Old Kong, is spatial power that abnormal after advancing to the Old Ancestor Realm?"

Ziyun couldn't help but exclaim.

Tea Banquet and Pan Tian also widened their eyes.

Although Kong Shan Yu kept saying he had improved greatly, they had thought that being able to contend with a second-tier Old Ancestor right after breaking through would already be very impressive.

But they never expected that Kong Shan Yu would claim to be able to go toe-to-toe with a third-tier Old Ancestor like Tea Banquet!

This was somewhat beyond their imagination!

Lin Yang also suddenly felt a inexplicable excitement.

He also controlled spatial power!

If it became so formidable after improvement, wouldn't he also be able to contend with a third-tier Old Ancestor powerhouse after his breakthrough?

Kong Shan Yu slowly nodded: "After advancing to the Old Ancestor Realm, my spatial power indeed underwent a qualitative change. However, there's no one else to use as a reference for now, so I don't know if spatial power will always become this strong after improvement."

"My current guess is that it might be related to me staying in the Ling Tong Realm for too long before."

"Although I was slow to break through, I often exchanged experiences and insights with you all. While you couldn't provide me with advancement experience in spatial power, other aspects of experience weren't useless. At least, when I broke through, the harmonization of all your insights allowed me to comprehend too many things in that instant."

"Coupled with some help from the top-grade spiritual universal material, it's possible that after my breakthrough, I gained some additional improvements in the power of spiritual abilities compared to others."

Upon hearing this, Tea Banquet and the others fell silent, pondering.

A moment later, Tea Banquet looked up and said: "No matter what, such a great improvement for you is a wonderful thing. I was a bit ashamed earlier that I couldn't truly follow Your Excellency Lin Yang back to the Ten Thousand Universes to help him. Now that we have you, you'll have to exert more effort!"

Ziyun also nodded: "Yes, with an Old Ancestor of the third-tier battle strength like you now, we'll have more confidence in dealing with Your Excellency Lin Yang's enemies. Moreover, it will prevent them from looking down on our Ten Thousand Realms Universe, thinking we don't even have a third-tier Old Ancestor!"

Pan Tian and the other two also chimed in.

Kong Shan Yu's formidable strength greatly surprised them.

Lin Yang also temporarily suppressed the excitement in his heart.

He was also nearing a breakthrough to the Old Ancestor Realm.

Whether it was Kong Shan Yu's unique personal reasons that made him so strong after his breakthrough or something else.

In short, he was confident that he wouldn't be too weak after his own breakthrough.

"Alright, let's teleport ahead and scout. Now that I can teleport in here, the success rate of escaping danger is higher. There's no need to self-destruct our clones unless absolutely necessary."

Kong Shan Yu said, a force enveloping Lin Yang and the others, carrying them all as he teleported.

Although the distance of each teleportation couldn't be too far, it was still many times faster than their previous travel efficiency.

Three days later.

Kong Shan Yu suddenly stopped teleporting, a grave expression appearing on his face.

"Old Kong, what's wrong? Are you tired?"

Ziyun asked, seeing his expression.

"Tired?" Kong Shan Yu shook his head, annoyed, "There's no way I'd be tired. I could teleport continuously for months without a problem."

"Then what is it?" Ziyun looked at him.

Kong Shan Yu looked in a certain direction in the darkness and said gravely:

"I feel something approaching us rapidly. It's moving faster than my teleportation, as if it can cross incredibly vast distances in an instant. The moment I tore through space, I felt a sense of dread."

"Hmm? Something's approaching? What is it?"

In an instant, Ziyun and the others' expressions changed.

Lin Yang also became serious.

Kong Shan Yu shook his head: "I can't say for sure, but you'll all see it soon!"

Saying that, he counted to three, and solemnly said:

"That thing... it's here."

Swish.

And just a second after Kong Shan Yu's words fell.

A colossal Stone Statue pierced through the dark void, suddenly appearing before everyone's eyes.

"This is..."

"The Stone Statue!"

"Is it the strange Stone Statue Your Excellency Lin Yang mentioned?!"

Ziyun and the others immediately turned to look at Lin Yang.

At this moment, Lin Yang's mood was indescribable, a mix of excitement and something else!

Because the Stone Statue before him.

It was precisely the one he had encountered last time!

This meant that the Mysterious Space and the Unknown Space were indeed the same place!

He should have been happy.

Because he had found the right place!

However, the feeling this thing gave him was infinitely more dangerous than when he encountered it last time!

An incredibly strong sense of danger filled his mind.

Last time, perhaps because he was too weak, he couldn't perceive the terror of this Stone Statue at all.

But now, he could deeply feel the chilling aura emanating from the Stone Statue, making every pore on his body stand on end!

Although the Stone Statue was still in a closed-eye state, he could feel a cold, emotionless gaze distantly locked onto him.

At the same time, he also felt a faint will emanating from the Stone Statue.

As if to say, this time, there was no way he could escape again!

Boom!

Just as Lin Yang felt this will, the Stone Statue suddenly raised its hand.

That massive palm slammed down towards Lin Yang.

Just like it did back then!

"Run!"

Lin Yang instantly roared out.

He could tell that this Stone Statue was unmatchable!

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, is this really that strange Stone Statue you mentioned encountering before?"

Although Tea Banquet and the others also felt the terror of the Stone Statue, they didn't seem to feel it as deeply as Lin Yang, instead taking the opportunity to ask a question.

Ziyun was even more direct, his lightning power erupting, intending to test his strength against the Stone Statue.

"It's that one!"

Lin Yang responded, speaking quickly:

"We can't defeat it, let's go!"

"If it's that strange Stone Statue, then let's give it a try and see how strong its power truly is!"

Tea Banquet also made a move.

Kong Shan Yu, Pan Tian, and the others also acted at the same time.

After confirming that this was the Stone Statue Lin Yang had mentioned before, they all wanted to test it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

However, just as Lin Yang had sensed.

Whether it was Ziyun's lightning power or the combined might of Kong Shan Yu and Tea Banquet, it was as if they were nothing before the Stone Statue's massive palm.

The huge hand continued to descend on Lin Yang without any pause.

"This..."

Ziyun and the others were instantly shocked.

Their combined efforts couldn't even delay the Stone Statue's attack!

"Your Excellency Kong Shan Yu, can you still teleport now?"

Lin Yang's expression was grave.

This Stone Statue clearly held a grudge.

Last time, it didn't actively attack him upon meeting; it waited until he and Que Tian had removed the 'Suppress' character from its body and it opened its eyes before attacking.

But this time, it attacked him the moment they met!

The situation was not looking good!