1289: Chapter 1289 Higher Dimensional Life

Everyone looked at each other, not understanding the meaning of these two words.

The Old Pavilion Master did not explain. He simply turned around, facing the gathered observers and Elders, and said in a deep voice: "Pass down the order: from this day forth, the Heavenly Secret Pavilion will change its operational strategy."

"Cease all external intelligence gathering and divert all resources to the observation and deduction of Law. I want to know how the Law structure of the Star Sea will change after the Heaven-Sealing Formation shatters."

"Pavilion Master, this..." an Elder said, looking troubled, "If we stop intelligence gathering, our source of income..."

"Foolish!"

The Old Pavilion Master slammed the table, shaking the entire pavilion. "Do you still not understand? Once the Heaven-Sealing Formation shatters, the eternal structure of the Star Sea will be rewritten!"

"Why are you still worrying about sources of income at a time like this? Survival is the greatest income of all!"

His voice echoed through the pavilion, and everyone lowered their heads.

The Old Pavilion Master took a deep breath and looked back at the pitch-black star map, his eyes reflecting the lines of Law that were slowly changing.

His voice lowered, as if he were talking to himself, or perhaps speaking to someone unseen.

"What a grand gesture by the one who set up the Formation... At the cost of the operation of the entire Star Sea's Law, they sealed the Dao, sealed the Heavenly Secret, and sealed the path forward for everyone..."

"Throughout the ages, countless Prodigies have been trapped and died at a Bottleneck, and countless brilliant talents have died without ever touching the true firmament..."

"And now, the seal has been lifted."

He closed his eyes, and a look of near-devotion appeared on his aged face.

"That person who broke the Formation... regardless of who he is, or what his purpose may be... he deserves for the entire Star Sea to owe him a massive favor."

Meanwhile, Li Wuji was still falling into the abyss.

He did not know what was happening outside, did not know what kind of chain reaction his actions had triggered, and even less did he know that countless powerful beings in countless Star Domains were looking up, feeling that long-lost sense of relief.

He only knew that the abyss was deeper than he had imagined.

Darkness pressed in from all directions, and the power of chaos wrapped around him like tangible seawater.

He continued to fall, passing through layer after layer of eerie spatial folds, and passing through piece after piece of shattered Law debris.

Fragmented images flashed by from time to time—ancient battlefields, fallen deities, collapsing civilizations—like fragments of the abyss's memory, or perhaps a warning left by some entity for those who came after.

Finally, his feet touched solid ground.

No, not solid ground.

It was something soft and slightly undulating, as if stepping on the body of a living creature.

Li Wuji looked down. Beneath his feet was a grey-white, pattern-covered "ground." He was all too familiar with those patterns—they originated from the same source as the patterns of the Formation, but were billions of times more complex than anything he had seen on any Formation.

This was not the bottom of the abyss.

This was the surface of something.

Li Wuji took a deep breath and looked up. In the darkness, something was slowly lighting up.

Those were two enormous, grey-white eyes, larger than any star he had ever seen, gazing down at him from the endless darkness.

There was no hostility, no goodwill; there was only a pure gaze that transcended time and space.

Then, a voice sounded.

It did not enter through his ears, but exploded directly in the depths of his consciousness. It was ancient and low, carrying the weight and exhaustion accumulated over aeons: "You have come."

"I have waited for you... for a very, very long time."

The abyss was bottomless, the darkness boundless.

The moment Li Wuji's feet touched that grey-white "ground," an indescribable sensation spread from the soles of his feet throughout his entire body.

It was not the firmness of stepping on rock or earth, but more like stepping on the back of a sleeping giant beast—warm, slightly undulating, and he could even feel a slow pulse coming from beneath his feet, one beat after another, like the echo of ancient war drums.

He didn't have time to dwell on this feeling, because something in the darkness was lighting up.

Those were two eyes. Grey-white eyes, larger than he could imagine.

Each one was vaster than any star he had ever seen, with a grey-white halo slowly swirling in the eye socket, like two suns whose sharpness had been worn away by time.

They emerged from the endless darkness without any warning, without any sound, as if they had always been there, and only now decided to let him see them.

Li Wuji's body instantly tensed.

His first reaction was not to retreat, but to mobilize all the power within his body—the God-Demon Flame surged in his Dantian, the curse poison lay dormant in his Meridians, the power of wind and thunder coursed through his bones, and the essence of his flesh and blood surged beneath every inch of his skin.

But immediately after, his brow furrowed.

He could not see the other party's face clearly.

Those two eyes were clearly there, like two great suns hanging in the dome of the sky, yet everything outside of those eyes was shrouded in a certain darkness.

It was not ordinary darkness, not a lack of light, but something more fundamental—as if the darkness itself were a part of the other party's body, a barrier that refused to be observed or recognized.

His gaze tried to pierce through that layer of darkness, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea; even his perception was swallowed up.

He could only see those two eyes. And those eyes were looking at him.

"Who are you?"

Li Wuji's voice echoed in the empty abyss, but there was no echo; all sound waves were swallowed up by the surrounding darkness.

His tone was calm, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying undisguised wariness.

Silence.

Those two eyes did not answer immediately.

They simply gazed quietly at Li Wuji, the grey-white light flickering, as if inspecting him, or perhaps remembering.

That gaze fell upon Li Wuji, having no weight and no temperature, yet it made his hair stand on end—it was not just a gaze; it was an examination.

It was a higher-dimensional being seeing completely through a lower-dimensional creature.

Then, laughter sounded.

"Hehe."

It was light and short, like a sigh twisted into the shape of a laugh.

But this simple syllable made the entire abyss tremble.

The grey-white "ground" beneath Li Wuji's feet heaved violently, as if the abyss itself had shuddered.

The surrounding darkness surged, and countless grey-white patterns lit up and extinguished in the Void Realm, like a fleeting expression on an unimaginably huge face.

"What do you think?"

The voice said leisurely, not entering through his ears, but exploding directly in the depths of Li Wuji's consciousness.

Ancient, low, and carrying the weight and exhaustion accumulated over aeons, every word was like a boulder whose edges had been worn round by time, heavy enough to make one unable to breathe.

Li Wuji's pupils shrank suddenly.

It was not because of fear, but because of a sense of familiarity that struck from the depths of his Divine Soul.