193: Chapter 193 Whispers, Keeping the Appointment at Kunlun

They would first stand dazed in place, then begin attacking any object nearby without warning, sometimes even their own bodies. Those voices echoed repeatedly in their minds, like an infinitely looping delirium, gnawing away at their sanity bit by bit.

Some began frantically tearing at their own fur, while others repeatedly bashed their heads against rock walls until their skulls cracked and their breath ceased, yet those hollow eyes still churned with unspeakable agony.

Atop Yunfeng Mountain, Li Xiuyuan also heard that voice.

It was an extremely ancient whisper, as if seeping out from the deepest depths of the earth. The words were blurred, as if someone were speaking in thousands of languages simultaneously. The volume of these whispers was not loud, yet they were omnipresent.

Li Xiuyuan frowned slightly, attempting to listen carefully to the complex and bizarre whispers, only to find that he could not distinguish a single syllable. By the time the whispers ended, Li Xiuyuan still did not understand them.

"What is this?" Li Xiuyuan furrowed his brows.

The whispers were neither any modern human language nor any ancient tongue he was familiar with. While Li Xiuyuan wouldn't claim to have infinite knowledge, he could at least understand many regional ancient languages. He was well-versed in Ancient Chu, Wu, and some languages from the pre-Qin period. He could even read the ancient inscriptions of the Yao Race. Yet, Li Xiuyuan had no idea what those whispers were saying.

The whispers lasted for about half an hour before slowly fading from Li Xiuyuan's Spiritual Sense.

The turmoil in heaven and earth triggered by the Spiritual Qi surge was subsiding. The giant waves on the ocean surface did not crash onto land but dissipated halfway there. The storms in the South Pacific slowed their rotation, and the cracking sounds from the bottom of the Arctic ice sheet gradually fell silent. However, the Spiritual Qi remaining in the air did not dissipate; instead, it became even purer after the surge.

Li Xiuyuan could clearly sense that the Mountain Spirit of Yunfeng Mountain was also in a state of excitement, and all the living beings within the waters he controlled had experienced a significant improvement.

The first Spiritual Qi surge had fully descended. The Jiantian Bureau of the Xia Kingdom began to evaluate this surge, and the results of the evaluation sent a shock through everyone.

Initially, everyone thought this surge would allow some weak beings to improve, but at most by one major Realm. However, what the Jiantian Bureau did not expect was that the majority of Rising Beingss directly improved by two major Realms.

This meant that the weak Yao Race, which were once easy to control, had instantly gained power they could not manage, and thereafter, they were no longer willing to be controlled.

Suddenly, within many countries around the world, countless incidents of Rising Beingss acting maniacally and harming people emerged.

The situation in the Xia Kingdom was still manageable. In addition to the Jiantian Bureau, there were the Twelve Ancient Families acting as free assistants, as well as the graduates now being trained by major universities, all of whom could be deployed to suppress the unrest.

Especially since the strongest Rising Beings in the Xia Kingdom was not the type to cause trouble. This temporary chaos was promptly contained. Although Li Xiuyuan did not directly intervene to help, he suppressed the restless Rising Beingss in the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and many other water areas, which significantly alleviated the pressure on the Xia Kingdom.

During this period, Li Xiuyuan also encountered many Rising Beingss who had lost their sanity. It couldn't be said that these Yao Race had completely lost their minds; it was more like mania. One second, he could communicate and talk with them properly, but the next second, they would immediately become irritable and highly aggressive.

Yet, after being patted on the head by Li Xiuyuan to calm down, they could communicate properly again.

These Rising Beingss had been turned this way by those whispers; they had forgotten the content of the whispers, remembering only that it was something they were most unwilling to recall in their hearts. Li Xiuyuan, however, felt puzzled: why couldn't he hear those whispers clearly?

Three months had passed since the beginning of the first Spiritual Qi surge. Three months is neither long nor short. Now, the time was ripe.

Li Xiuyuan had obtained the knowledge regarding the Formation required to set up nine Dragon Gates in the two waterways from Lord River God. However, Lord River God indicated that he himself did not remember the content of those Formations, but they had been left in an Ancient Grotto-Heaven.

The good news was that the Ancient Grotto-Heaven had not collapsed. He had previously seen traces of the Formations left behind by Lord River God in those Ancient Grotto-Heavens; those patterns were exquisite and complex, certainly not something that could be drawn on a whim.

To establish nine Dragon Gates in each of the two waterways, he needed not only abundant Spiritual Qi for support but also a complete system of Formations to connect each Dragon Gate to the ley lines of the waterways, enabling it to bear the impact and accumulation of the beings crossing it.

Wrapped in clouds and mist, Li Xiuyuan left Yunfeng Mountain and arrived above the Yangtze River waterway, searching for the Grotto-Heaven guided by Lord River God according to his memory.

Li Xiuyuan had never entered that Ancient Grotto-Heaven; he had originally intended to visit all of them, but he hadn't expected Lord River God to be resurrected later.

Inside the Ancient Grotto-Heaven, everything was desolate; there were no living beings, only a few mountains and a little bit of Spiritual Qi.

Li Xiuyuan came to a corner of the mountains and found a stone wall with records of the Dragon Gate Formation engraved on it.

After committing all the Formations to memory, Li Xiuyuan left the Grotto-Heaven. However, he was not in a hurry to start the setup; instead, he planned to make a trip to Kunlun. He had an unfulfilled agreement with the Queen Mother of the West, which was to retrieve the seeds of that Flat Peach tree after the first Spiritual Qi surge. Now that three months had passed since the surge, it was time to make the trip.

The White Dragon flew into the sky, ascending into the clouds and mist, making it extremely difficult to be spotted by the naked eye. Crossing mountains and flying a thousand miles to the west, Kunlun Mountain stood in the twilight like a sleeping giant beast, its silhouette outlined with exceptional clarity by the accumulated snow.

When Li Xiuyuan arrived at the outskirts of Kunlun Mountain, the sky had already darkened. He stood on a mountain ridge, his gaze piercing through layers of twilight mist, landing on the silhouette of the mountain range he had traversed once before.

Three months of time seemed not to have left many traces on this land, but he could feel that the surrounding Spiritual Qi was more dense than when he had come last time, carrying a crisp, cold texture unique to extreme frigid lands. The influence of the Spiritual Qi surge had clearly touched this Ancestor of All Mountains as well.

However, what truly made him pause his steps slightly was the sight before him. Kunlun Mountain had changed.

Fine snowflakes fell silently from the grayish-white canopy of the sky, and the mountain wind, carrying snow particles, swept across Li Xiuyuan's robes, making a faint rustling sound. He stood still, his gaze slowly sweeping across that vast expanse of white; those ridges and ravines covered by snow connected into one in the twilight, like a blank canvas yet to be painted upon.

And in the distance of that canvas, the Golden Gate leading to the palace of the Queen Mother of the West had vanished, replaced by bursts of golden light where the mountaintop connected with the sky.