435: Chapter 435 Re-entering the Void

Gao Feng nodded: "Rest for a day, we depart tomorrow."

During the days Su Ning was in seclusion, Master Xuanyang increased the monitoring frequency of the Sect's Spiritual Vein from once a day to three times a day.

The Wuxiang Spirit Gathering Array was operating normally, the Seal on the rift was stable, and the Spiritual Qi was slowly recovering, but that expanse of gray-white Void Realm remained like a thorn, stuck in the heart of everyone who knew the truth.

The Void Lord existed, had taken human form, possessed immense magical power, and had a wife by his side.

The information transmitted by the Spirit Fox was sparse, but every piece was unsettling.

Chu Lan moved the replicated array base stone slab to the Spirit Source Cave and began the work of integrating it into the Wuxiang Spirit Gathering Array.

Tianxin set up a Talisman array around the stone slab to ensure the Fusion process would not affect the normal operation of the main array.

Luo Li sat in the cave holding the flowing sound zither, silver-white light flowing over the strings; it was the melody of "Void Invocation" echoing in the cave.

Yaoguang sorted the Void Soul-Returning Pills, rejuvenation pills, pulse-renewing pills, and anti-toxin pills into categories, preparing one portion for each person.

Lin Yue checked the protective jade pendants again; the array patterns on every single one were intact.

Lin Jingyu and Situ Lan polished their swords until they shone brightly; the cloud patterns of the flowing cloud sword shimmered with silver-white light in the sunlight, and the ice-blue Sword Intent of the frost sword was poised to strike within its scabbard.

As the sun set, nine figures stood on the peak of Lingxiao Peak.

Gao Feng gripped the vajra sword tightly; the phantom of the War God on the sword body lit up slightly, and the golden sword light illuminated the determination on everyone's faces.

Tomorrow, they would step into the Void Realm once again to search for that Void Lord who had taken human form, to face an enemy at least at the Nascent Soul Stage, or perhaps an even more powerful existence.

No one backed down.

On the morning of the thirty-second day of Su Ning's seclusion, the stone door deep within the Immortal Cave finally opened.

When she walked out, her steps were slightly unsteady, but the light in her eyes was more refined than before.

Silver-white Spiritual Qi flowed around her, and when one brushed past her, they could feel the surrounding space slightly distorting.

Her cultivation had broken through from the sixth level of Foundation Establishment to the eighth level, and her comprehension of the Space-Time Deduction Technique had reached a new height.

"It is ready." Su Ning's voice was slightly hoarse, but her tone was firm, "The passage can be stably maintained for twelve hours, and this time I can control the precision of the landing point; it will not deviate again."

Tianxin summoned the Spirit Fox from her shadow.

The Spirit Fox jumped onto her shoulder, stretched its neck to sniff, and silver patterns on its fur glowed slightly.

Its injuries had completely healed, and its size was a circle larger than when it first accepted its master.

Its thoughts were transmitted into Tianxin's Sea of Consciousness—*The Lord's aura, I can sense the direction.*

Chu Lan checked her Storage Pouch.

The fruit vine was sleeping quietly in the jade box, the silver-white patterns on its leaves glowing faintly in the darkness; the replicated array base stone slab had already been integrated into the Wuxiang Spirit Gathering Array, so there was no need to bring it.

She brought along the shadow-eating vine seedling and the Void sensing grass, just in case.

Luo Li tuned the strings and ran through the melody of "Void Invocation" in her mind.

Yaoguang distributed the Medicinal Pill to everyone and stuffed two extra Void Soul-Returning Pills into everyone's Storage Pouch.

Lin Yue checked the protective jade pendants again, confirming that the array patterns on every single one were intact.

Lin Jingyu and Situ Lan were not accompanying them this time—the Sect needed people to remain behind, and their Sword Intent had limited effectiveness in the Void Realm.

Before leaving, Lin Jingyu drew the flowing cloud sword half an inch; a flash of sword light appeared before it returned to its scabbard: "Be careful."

Situ Lan gripped the frost sword and glanced at Gao Feng: "Sword Intent follows, even if we are not in the same place."

The seven of them stood before the spatial passage.

Su Ning formed hand Seals, and silver-white light surged from her palms, tearing a rift in the Void Realm.

The rift was more stable than before, its edges neat, with no leakage of Spiritual Qi.

Behind the door was the gray-white Void Realm mist, with shadows faintly wandering in the distance.

Gao Feng stepped in first.

There was no direction in the Void Realm, only the guidance of the Spirit Fox and Su Ning's spatial anchor bead.

Tianxin placed the Spirit Fox on her shoulder; the Spirit Fox sniffed and chirped in one direction.

Su Ning extended the guide line of the anchor bead in that direction, the silver-white line appearing and disappearing in the gray-white mist.

About an hour later, the mist ahead became unusually dense, and its flow was much slower than elsewhere, as if it were obstructed by something.

The Void sensing grass in Chu Lan's arms suddenly curled up, its leaves tightly shrinking into a ball.

"The concentration of resentment is very high, even higher than that altar of General Zhao Wuji."

Luo Li's fingers were already resting on the strings.

Lin Yue's Rock Demon Phantom emerged from behind him, crossing its arms to protect everyone.

Tianxin's Spirit Fox was shivering on her shoulder, and a vague warning was transmitted in its thoughts—*There is something very terrifying over there, but it is not the Lord; it is those resentments that cannot dissipate.*

It was a ruin floating in the Void Realm.

Countless broken Magical Artifacts—snapped longswords, shattered shields, dented armor, and countless bones.

Some of the bones were intact, some scattered, and some had already crumbled into dust.

Most of the runes carved on the Magical Artifacts had dimmed, though occasionally one could see a few faint glimmers; that was the last trace of resentment remaining in the weapons.

A Void graveyard.

Luo Li sat cross-legged in the air, placing the flowing sound zither across her knees.

The melody of the "Requiem" rang out in the Void Realm, and the silver-white sound waves spread like ripples, soothing those restless lingering Souls.

Tianxin took a stack of purification talisman from her sleeve, and the cyan flames from the burning Talisman spread through the graveyard, dispelling those solidified resentments bit by bit.

Chu Lan's shadow-eating vine poked out from her sleeve, its roots piercing into a denser cluster of resentment.

The shadow energy was absorbed by it, the silver-white patterns on its leaves brightened, and the entire Spirit Plant trembled slightly, as if savoring a rare delicacy.

It became somewhat addicted and plunged into an even larger cluster of resentment.

Chu Lan hurriedly pulled it back: "Don't eat indiscriminately, what if you get sick from eating it?"

The shadow-eating vine retracted its leaves aggrievedly, but still snuck another bite when Chu Lan wasn't looking.

The deeper they went into the graveyard, the denser the wreckage and the heavier the resentment became.

Several skeletons were wearing armor from the ancient era, still gripping broken weapons in their hands, maintaining their postures from before death—some raising their swords to block, some curled up holding their heads, some reaching forward, as if trying to grab the last straw of hope.

Su Ning's spatial perception caught a powerful Soul fluctuation.

"There is something deep in the graveyard, not an ordinary lingering Soul, it is very strong."

The Spirit Fox buried its head into Tianxin's neck, not daring to look in that direction anymore.

A female phantom drifted out from the depths of the graveyard.

Her figure was much more solid than General Zhao Wuji's, almost indistinguishable from a living person.

Her jet-black long hair hung to her waist, her features were exquisite like a painting, and her skin was as fair as jade, but there was no luster in those eyes, only endless sorrow.

She wore a light cyan dress, the hem of which drifted slowly in the Void Realm.

The black Qi around her body surged constantly, shredding the surrounding wreckage into pieces.

Twisted faces could be vaguely seen in the black Qi; those were the resentments she had devoured, struggling.

She looked up and saw the seven of them.

A glimmer of light flashed in those hollow eyes, not hope, but fear.

"Are you also here to kill me?"

Her voice was shrill, carrying a sobbing tone, sounding exceptionally jarring amidst the surging black Qi, "I have finally obtained a body, I do not want to disappear! I do not want to disappear!"

The black Qi around her body suddenly expanded, transforming into countless black hands that reached out to grab the seven of them.

Lin Yue's defensive array was activated instantly.

The black hands struck the light barrier, emitting a sizzling corrosive sound, and fine cracks appeared on the surface of the light barrier.

Lin Yue gritted his teeth and reinforced the array patterns; the cracks would heal and then reappear, over and over again.

Gao Feng drew his sword.

The golden sword radiance of the vajra sword slashed toward those black hands; wherever the sword light passed, the black hands dissipated like smoke.

But new black hands kept growing from the female phantom, as if infinite.

Luo Li held up the flowing sound zither; the melody of the "Requiem" changed, shifting from soothing to suppression.

The silver-white sound waves collided with the female's black Qi, erupting with a piercing sound.

The female phantom's movements stalled, the madness in her eyes fading slightly, revealing confusion and pain.

But the black Qi soon surged up again.

Gao Feng sheathed his sword.

He took a step forward, standing at the edge of Lin Yue's defensive array, no more than a few yards away from the female phantom.

He did not draw his sword, did not circulate Spiritual Qi, but simply looked into her eyes, his voice low and steady: "Who are you? Why are you here?"

The female phantom froze.

The black Qi around her lost control and drifted in all directions.

"I am..."

She lowered her head, looking at her own semi-transparent hands, "The Void Lord's wife."

Chu Lan whispered to the person beside her: "Is she trustworthy?"

Tianxin shook her head: "I don't know, but her resentment is even heavier than General Zhao Wuji's; it doesn't look like she is faking it."

"Moreover, there is indeed no malice in her Soul fluctuations, only fear and sorrow."

Tianxin walked forward from Gao Feng's side.

The Spirit Fox lay on her shoulder; although it was still shivering, it did not hide away.

Tianxin looked up at the female phantom who was a head taller than her, her voice very soft, yet it could clearly carry in the Void Realm: "What did you experience before you died? Why did you become like this? Can you tell us?"

"You do not want to disappear, and we do not want to harm you."

"But if your resentment does not dissipate, you will sooner or later be swallowed by the black Qi and become a mindless shadow."

The female phantom shuddered violently.

Her body swayed in mid-air, the black Qi receding and surging like the tide.

Tianxin's words were like a needle, piercing through her heart that had been closed for thousands of years.

She lowered her head, looking at her hands entwined with black Qi.

Those black Qi surged between her fingers like countless tiny venomous snakes.

"Before I died... I was of the Human Race."

"A Disciple of a small School, with mediocre Aptitude and low cultivation."

Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself, "When the Void Realm invaded, my School was destroyed."

"I was abducted by a Void Beast and brought to the depths of the Void Realm."

"The environment there eroded my body, destroyed my Meridians, and I thought I was going to die."

She looked up, gazing into the distance.

There was nothing there, only gray-white mist.

"The Void Lord saved me."

"At that time, my consciousness was blurred, and I only remembered a mass of shadow wrapping around me."

"By the time I woke up, I had already become like this."

"Without a physical body, I could only exist as a phantom, but I could still think, still speak, and still remember who I am."